Diesel grabbed a deck chair that was already falling apart at the hinges and swung it at Gunnar. Gunnar didn’t even flinch as the plastic and metal frame shattered into bits, and Diesel’s face met the working end of Gunnar’s fist as the plastic fell like sharp snow around them.

  Bruised but far from beaten, Diesel lunged at Gunnar, catching him around the midsection and bringing him onto the ground. With a feral shout, Diesel’s fists came down like two-ton hammers, and the ground at April’s feet trembled from the continuous heavy impacts.

  Dani made a worried sound beside April, surprising her. “Oh no, it’s Diesel this week. He’s—”

  “I’ll stop them if they go too far, honey,” Reno replied, and April saw a flicker of something blue in his hand that crackled like electricity.

  But she couldn’t take her eyes off the melee.

  Come on, you can do it, Gunnar, she thought, her whole body tense.

  Gunnar took another hit to the face. And another. Then, positioning his leg between the rampaging Diesel and himself, he kicked upward and flung Diesel over his head, making Diesel land hard on his back. Diesel tried to get up, but Gunnar was there in an instant, reversing their positions as Gunnar’s swift blows slammed Diesel’s jaw and nose repeatedly.

  “Give up, dammit,” Gunnar swore angrily.

  “I’m the strongest protector. I’m the apex basilisk,” Diesel said, his voice having a strange, low boom to it that sounded nothing like he did normally.

  With a surge of strength, he pushed Gunnar away and leapt to his feet, and his eyes glowed red like he wanted to kill Gunnar if he could.

  Gunnar, though, squared off with Diesel, taking heavy breaths. And in the noon sun, she could see his eyes were red too, turning reptilian like they’d been when she had seen his basilisk form at the quarry.

  Diesel bellowed, and both men charged each other simultaneously. As they met, their hands locked, both of them heaving with all their strength to overpower the other.

  “I’m the apex,” Gunnar said, his voice low and strange like Diesel’s, but different. And when Gunnar’s eyes glanced past Diesel to look at April, she felt a shiver go through her at the sheer ferocity she saw there, though it was more reassuring than terrifying.

  Still looking at her, he clenched his teeth and growled. “Mine.”

  She shuddered.

  With a grunt, Gunnar quickly grabbed one of Diesel’s wrists and yanked him backward, tossing Diesel over his head and slamming him into the dirt behind Gunnar. The ground shook like a mini earthquake, sending dust flying upward into the air while Gunnar kept Diesel trapped, not letting go of his wrist.

  For a moment, Diesel struggled, trying to get back up, but Gunnar held him down, twisting Diesel’s arm back behind him.

  “Give up, you stupid basilisk,” Gunnar said angrily.

  “Never!” Diesel shouted.

  Then April heard a snap as Gunnar pulled hard. To her shock, Diesel didn’t even make a sound, just slumped forward as the two men remained locked together, breaths slowing gradually.

  Reno stepped back and put his hands in his pockets, suddenly more at ease.

  A moment later, Gunnar finally helped Diesel up, and she noticed that Diesel’s eyes were slowly going blue again.

  “Surrender sooner next time, or I’ll break both your arms, you big bastard,” Gunnar said, wiping his hands off.

  Diesel just appraised his arm hanging limply at his side like a nuisance, and April covered her eyes as he went to unceremoniously set it back in place with a pop and a grunt.

  “Next time, I’ll win,” Diesel said resolutely, unbothered by his injuries. Then he clapped Gunnar on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. “Good fight.”

  “Good fight,” Gunnar responded, and Diesel walked off like the whole thing had gone perfectly normal and it was just another Tuesday.

  “Well, that’s definitely the most exciting basilisk beatdown we’ve ever had. Glad you could come watch,” Reno said, tipping an imaginary hat and taking Dani’s hand as they walked back inside.

  As Gunnar strode toward her, she got up to meet him halfway.

  She didn’t know if she should be amazed or worried, given the fact that his entire chest and arms were covered in dirt and blood, though she wasn’t even sure whose it was at this point.

  “Looks like I’m the apex for another week,” he said, giving her a solid smile.

  “Even if you weren’t, you’d still be my overprotective basilisk.” And she pulled herself into him willingly, rising on her toes to give him a kiss.

  The second her lips met his, fire shot through her veins, and he cupped the back of her neck to deepen their connection even further.

  When they pulled away, she was already panting.

  “I need a shower,” he said, appraising himself. “Want to come—”

  “Can I come?” she asked simultaneously, and his grin made her laugh loudly at the absurdity of how perfect they were for each other.

  One thing was for certain: Life with Gunnar and the basilisks would probably be crazier than a tornado in a hailstorm.

  But so long as they had each other, she would never get tired of it.

  If only all the problems in town and her dread of the upcoming meeting could go away permanently.

  16

  After the basilisk beatdown, Gunnar and April spent the afternoon locked up in his room, relaxing and watching TV to try and keep her mind off the town hall meeting.

  But as night fell over Clawson’s Creek, even as Gunnar tried to dissuade her from going, April’s mind had been made up.

  So together, with Reno and the other basilisks following in the truck behind them, they went into town to see what was up.

  By the time they’d parked and gone into the aged brick building that served as the community meeting place, Gunnar’s hackles were already up as loud voices spoke angrily inside.

  To his surprise, the building was packed, full of humans, wolves, and bears.

  “I’ve never seen this many people in one place before,” April said, keeping close to Gunnar’s side as more people pressed inside, looking for seating. “I didn’t even know so many people lived in town.”

  From the smell of it, and the sight of two news vans outside that didn’t seem local, they weren’t all residents.

  Nothing brought flies like this faster than the smell of violence.

  And by the way insults were being flung back and forth between the Clawsons and O’Dells, this town was on the brink of it.

  “Stay close,” Gunnar said, and not too soon, as Marvin and Barbara Keller came striding in like they owned the place a second later.

  With disdain, they spotted April, and Gunnar stood in front of her, though it didn’t keep them from hurling their own verbal daggers.

  Barbara came rushing toward April, arms outstretched for a hug, and Gunnar just glowered down, making her back off.

  “You were like a daughter to me. One of my own children!” she said dramatically as people nearby stared.

  “She’s gone astray just like my brother. An insult to the family. A disgrace—”

  Gunnar cracked his knuckles, loudly, and Marvin paled, stopping his tirade.

  Gunnar had never wanted to beat something to a pulp like he wanted to beat Marvin in that moment. But he knew the second his fist flew, other fists would start flying, and he needed to show restraint, for April’s sake if nothing else.

  Marvin and Barbara walked off in a huff, several people who apparently knew them joining them with nods of assent.

  But when he looked at April, she looked pissed, not sad this time.

  She scoffed, her hand still on Gunnar’s bicep. “Yeah, a daughter they let sleep on the floor of a dark attic her whole childhood. A daughter who worked for less than minimum wage. Good riddance.”

  Good girl. Keep fighting them, Gunnar thought proudly.

  As a basilisk, Gunnar didn’t have family, except the family he made with those around him. But tight familial bonds, the kind April was struggling against even now, took more than brute force to get away from.

  And as much as he wanted to whisk her away, he knew his part in her story was to help her become the amazing, proud, courageous woman he knew she was inside.

  And punch everything and anything that tried to get in her way.

  Diesel and Ajax, already experts at crowd control, patrolled the rows of folding chairs that had been set up, stopping arguments and otherwise keeping mayhem from breaking out.

  After a short wait, the mayor, who looked disheveled as ever, stepped up to a podium, and the air split with the sound of feedback before he adjusted the microphone and started to speak.

  “Thank you all for being here. Tonight, we’ve gathered to discuss—”

  “Where’s the criminal that tried to kill our alpha?” Some wolf interrupted, standing up and shaking an angry fist.

  Ajax was there in an instant, shoving the man back into his seat with a low growl. “Sit your ass down.”

  Mayor Mansley frowned. “Currently, we are looking into the source of the arsonist’s attack on Mr. Keller’s business. We don’t have any leads as of yet, but I assure you, we will get to the bottom of this.”

  “Bullshit,” someone yelled.

  “This place should be run by bears, not humans,” a bear shifter retorted.

  “I’d rather torch this whole town than let a stupid bear make the decisions!” a wolf yelled back.

  This was bad.

  If the room was a pressure cooker, Gunnar could hear the squeal of a pot about to blow.

  “N-n-now please keep order. After all, we all live here.” The mayor attempted weakly to deescalate the situation. But it wasn’t working.

  The boisterous crowd hushed slightly as a huge man (though still small by basilisk standards) rose from one end of the seated crowd, his long brown beard done in a braid.

  Rick Clawson, the leader of the Clawson family.

  “This place belonged to my family long before any of you ingrates showed up. I think it’s time we settle this like shifters. No more talk.” He pointed a meaty finger toward the alpha of the O’Dell pack and frowned. “An alpha challenge. We settle this once and for all. Winner takes all.”

  Mansley tried to interject. “L-let’s not be so hasty…”

  But the wolf alpha, Harry, along with several of his friends (including Bill), rose in unison, and Harry shook a fist a Rick. “I accept. And when I win, we’re gonna boot you bears out and interrogate every last human in this damn place until we find out who did it.” His mean eyes settled on April, and Gunnar stood in front of her, glaring back at Harry.

  “Tomorrow morning at dawn. At the border between our lands,” Rick said gruffly.

  “Wait, stop this immediately. You can’t—” But Mansley’s voice cut out suddenly as someone over in the corner unplugged his microphone.

  Several more wolves rose, and in response, the entire Clawson family stood up. “Why wait until tomorrow? Let’s settle this now!” Rick shot back.

  The crowd was getting rowdier by the second, and as more insults flew between the shifter groups, human bystanders started either running for the door or watching with rapt curiosity.

  Gunnar nodded at Diesel, who broke up a scuffle off to the left that was moments away from a real fight. And when Bill tried to harass a bear sitting near him, Ajax hurled a hardcover book (which Gunnar had no clue where it came from) that slammed Bill in the cheek, knocking him back into his seat and shutting him up for a second.

  Beside him, Gunnar could feel April’s tension and fear, and he backed farther into the corner, shielding her from everyone else in case something broke out.

  She was his number-one priority. Everyone else could go to hell in his opinion.

  “Everyone, return to your homes.” A loudspeaker suddenly broke over the rising dull roar of everyone talking at once.

  Gunnar looked over and saw Reno holding a blue and white speakerphone in his hand.

  Rick and Harry both looked over at the alpha wolf with suspicion, as if both determining whether it was worth it to defy him.

  Reno grinned sharply. “Do it, or I’ll let the double dragons decide for you.”

  That seemed to work, and with snarls sent in every direction, the Clawsons and O’Dells separated, walking out different exits of the building as, slowly, the tension abated. In the back, Mansley spoke animatedly with Uncle Marvin and several others, though Gunnar couldn’t hear them.

  “I thought the double dragons were on a mission for the next few days,” Gunnar grunted to Reno.

  Reno shrugged. “What they don’t know won’t hurt ‘em. You two get out of here. I’ll stick around with Diesel and Ajax and make sure no one gets up to any shenanigans tonight.”

  “What do we do about the challenge?”

  “I don’t know what we can do. Shifter rules are rules, whether people like it or not. I’ll make some calls, but I don’t know if I can make anything happen on such short notice.”

  Gunnar wrapped an arm around April and started moving them toward the exit. “We’ll think of something,” he said, turning his focus to April and getting her back in the car and out of this place.

  He wasn’t going to keep his mate in this town’s mayhem any longer.

  If he had his way, he’d stomp everyone in April’s path and take her far away, someplace where she would never have to be around people like this again.

  But life wasn’t always that easy.

  And as they got in the car and drove back to his place at Reno’s, Gunnar’s mind tumbled with possible solutions.

  Whatever it took to protect his mate.

  Anything.

  17

  Once he and April were safely back at the mansion and Gunnar had procured something hot for both of them to drink (black coffee for him, hot chocolate for April), he took his mate onto the back deck and set her in his lap. Immediately, she snuggled against him, the worry and tension from the fiasco that had been the town’s meeting finally washing from her expression and muscles.

  For a few minutes, they just sat there watching the Milky Way sprawl above them in millions of white and blue sparkles as scattered crickets continued their nighttime serenade.

  “Thanks for watching out for me back there. I honestly didn’t expect things to go so… poorly,” April said softly, her hand relaxed against his chest, curvy body already teasing him with its softness.

  Poorly was a definite understatement.

  “I’ll always watch out for you, April.”

  She looked up at him with beautiful gray-blue eyes that looked even more blue in the darkness, like a clear winter sky at dusk. “You keep saying things like that. How can I not fall for you?”

  His basilisk sat up in interest. “What do you mean?”

  He’d fallen for her from the very start. He knew how badly she wanted him, knew how desperately he craved her.

  “I just… This town and its people were my whole life before I met you. The customs, the habits, the quiet times, and the chaotic times. I thought it was the way things were always going to be, stuck between my family, the O’Dells, and the Clawsons. Then you came along, and… it all changed overnight.”

  Just the mention of this shitty town made Gunnar growl, though he tried to hide it. “This place never deserved someone as wonderful as you. I hate it.”

  She sighed, shifting her position in his lap slightly so she could look up at him better. “It’s not the town I hate. In fact, it was one of the only reasons keeping me here for so long. Well, that and the misguided belief I owed my uncle and aunt anything.”

  Gunnar grunted.

  “I know, right? Using me for free labor as a kid, then treating me worse than their own employees as an adult. It was toxic from the start. But I still love these hills. The forests. The quarry. All the quiet places I’ve become familiar with after so long. I hate to see it all torn apart over some squabble between a bunch of jerks.”

  His heart swelled with pride and amazement at how sharp his mate was. How kind and merciful while still being strong and determined in all the important ways.

  There was no doubt in his mind she was his mate.

  He hadn’t known if a monster like him that knew only fighting and protecting could find love, such a seemingly warm and passionate emotion.

  But he knew he loved her completely.

  And he would turn the very earth on its axis if it would make her happy.

  “Can you see a life with me, April?” Gunnar asked, surprised by the turbulence in his own heart at the possibility she could say no.

  She paused and looked him straight in the eyes, so different from the scared, timid person he’d met back in that dingy bar. “I can. I mean, I do. I honestly can’t stop doing it.”

  Gunnar felt hot inside at her words. “Do you want to be with me?”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Gunnar B. Basilisk, are you having doubts you’re not telling me about?” She playfully batted him on the shoulder.

  In an instant, his hand caught hers by the wrist gently, and he pulled April closer into him as his lips crashed over hers. She made a muffled sound against him, then relaxed into his kiss, groaning as he thrust his tongue in to explore her for a minute before pulling back, leaving April panting in his lap.

  He let her hand go, and she nestled against him, blushing furiously.

  “Fuck no. Not once. You’re my everything. But…” He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. “I’m a basilisk. I’ve never been in a relationship. I don’t know how humans do things. I don’t want you to feel rushed.”

  “Tell me what you do know, then,” she said quietly.

  “That I want to protect you more than I value my own life. That I want to make you happy more than anything else in the whole world. That I want you to be mine, forever, and I never want to let go. I’m too possessive to allow anything else.”

  Her smile was so wide he nearly kissed her again. “Well, I’m pretty sure that’s what we normal humans call love, Gunnar.”

  “Then I love you. I need you.”

  She giggled happily and suddenly started moving in his lap, changing her position so she was straddling him with her sexy hips as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “And I love you too, Gunnar. You’re a more perfect man than I could have possibly imagined, though maybe that’s because you’re a basilisk. Either way, I feel the same for you. And I don’t see those feelings changing anytime soon. Or ever, if I’m honest.”