Brooklyn shoved the last of her things in her bag and walked through the locker room, making sure everyone was gone. She locked the door and checked her surroundings. She hadn’t taken years of defense classes for nothing. She knew how to do it. Keep alert, look around, be ready. Her bag was already slung across her body, and her keys were in her hand. Her other hand was a fist.

She should have heard him. Later, she’d analyze that moment again and again. But when the hand suddenly clamped down over her mouth, it took her completely by surprise. She reacted out of instinct.

The hand closed down, she felt an instant of shock, then her elbow came back into the soft flesh of her attacker’s stomach. There was a grunt of pain. She stomped hard on the first foot she saw, and grabbed the hand, spinning to twist out of the grip. All she knew at that moment was that he was male and apparently, judging by his hat and coat, was a Polar.

She brought her knee up hard into his groin, twisted his wrist as he fell, and watched him crumple into a heap on the ground. He whined in pain and cradled his hand. Then, she realized who it was. Dustin.

She burst into laughter. “Are you kidding me? You’re the one who’s been hitting on my ladies, trying to get a hook up? Is this your new technique? You don’t have enough charm, so you just attack them now?”

She continued to laugh as he lay there, clearly in pain, clutching his groin, then his wrist, then back to his groin.

“What is—wrong with you?” he grunted.

“Me? You attacked me. What is wrong with you? God, you’re such an asshole. You attack me and have the nerve to say I’m the one with the problem?”

“You didn’t have to hurt me like that.”

“I did. You came up behind me and grabbed me, and it’s my right to defend myself. I don’t know where you’re from, little boy, but that’s called assault here in Fargo. Maybe you should learn the law before you go trying to pull some shit. Keep your hands off me and off my ladies. Or next time, I won’t be so nice.”

“Screw you,” he said.

She pulled her foot back and kicked him in the side. He gasped and screamed the most girly scream she’d ever heard a man scream. She burst into a fit of giggles. She couldn’t help it. It was so ridiculous hearing this big tough guy scream like a five-year-old girl.

“Shut up,” he barked, holding his side.

She kept laughing, and he gave her a chilling glare. To this, she looked away but kept laughing.

With a loud tear, his clothing shredded, and in seconds, he was standing in front of her in bear form.

Brooklyn looked up at the animal and anything humorous quickly fell away. She was trained to fight humans—men, specifically—not bears. He had claws and speed that she couldn’t dream of standing up against. She would not win a fight against him.

She gulped and took a step back. He roared at her but didn’t come closer.

Brooklyn was frozen. She wanted to run, but didn’t want to take her eyes off him for fear he might bound after her and rip her to pieces with his huge claws. Sweat broke out on her forehead, and her heart was so loud, it drowned out the sounds around her.

After a minute, Dustin shrunk back into human form. He stood before her now as a man, naked.

He leveled her gaze then broke into a grin. “Not laughing at me now, are you?”

She swallowed hard and tried to calm down.

“I thought that might impress you. Was that the first time you ever saw a shifter in person?”

She nodded. He’d better not take that to mean that she was impressed. She was about the farthest thing from impressed she could be. She was pissed and unnerved.

He’d been holding his hands in front of his groin, but now he dropped them to his sides. “I’m sorry if I scared you. Maybe you can let me make it up to you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. Was he serious? He was really going to try hitting on her again?

“Do you like what you see?” He glanced down at his naked body, his dick hanging long but limp between his thick legs.

“All I see is a huge dick… head.” She smirked.

His smile faltered. “Come on, don’t be like that. I said I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll take you out, whatever you want. What do you say?”

“No way. Like I said before, stay away from me and from my ladies.”

“What if some of them don’t want to stay away from me?”

“I’ll make sure they know how much of an asshole you are.”

“Wow, really?” Dustin said. “A guy tries his best to impress you, tries to make up for it when he scares you by accident, but you won’t budge. You can’t hate me that much. You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough. And I know your type. I don’t date football players, and this is why. They turn out to be full of themselves and think that women—cheerleaders especially—somehow owe them something. Just because we’re on the same field and it happens to be our job to cheer for you idiots doesn’t mean we have some loyalty to you. Honestly, what we do is all about the dancing and competitions. The fact that it happens on the same field you play on is almost irrelevant. We don’t belong to you. And you hardly scared me by accident. Last time I checked, shifting doesn’t just happen unexpectedly. You tried to scare me.”

“Well, do you blame me? You beat the crap out of me then laughed at me. That wasn’t necessary.”

“You attacked me! By God, are you that stupid? You attacked me, and I defended myself. I’m sorry that your scream sounded like a child and I couldn’t help laughing. But you certainly got me back by shifting and using everything you could to intimidate me. You’re right. Why wouldn’t I just go out with you and let you make it all better?” She shook her head and stepped toward her car. “I’ll say it one more time. Stay away from me and from my ladies.”

Brooklyn hurried to open her car door and then locked it once she was in. The last thing she needed was him trying to get into her car. She slammed it into reverse to back out, then peeled out of the parking lot. From now on, security would walk her out, and she would definitely make sure that Coach Sarah and Coach Kent knew about this incident. She would not have her ladies being constantly hit on and assaulted for just trying to do their thing.

Her drive home found her lost in thought. There had to be some sort of self-defense technique that could be used against shifters in bear form. There had to be something she could do to protect herself. Maybe it was time to start carrying a gun. No matter how strong they might be, or how fast, a bullet would at least slow a bear down.

Then her thoughts shifted to her squad. She’d warn them about him again, tell them exactly what he’d done. Maybe they’d listen after this second warning. They all should have self-defense classes. Maybe she’d even bring someone in to teach them as a group. And maybe she needed to make her warning a little stronger about not dating the players.

Eventually, her mind wandered back to the day. Their practice had been good, but they had a long way to go before they were ready for competitions and performances. They needed to tighten up and learn new moves. They were off to a good start, and it was a fabulous squad, but much of what made a squad good was knowing each other well and working together. When they could read each other without speaking, anticipate each other’s moves, and be able to make adjustments on the fly if someone missed a step, then they’d have a solid squad.

They would get there. She knew it. It would take practice and conditioning and a whole lot of focus.