Gunnar only grunted in annoyance as his fist met Harry’s face, and the wolf yelped, a huge bruise forming around his eye almost immediately, and Harry leapt back to avoid another punch.

  “Don’t underestimate me,” Harry said angrily. And suddenly, the gray fur on his back grew longer, sharper, turning into steel needles the length of April’s arm as his whole body became covered with a metallic, chrome-like sheen.

  April just stared in horror. She’d heard of alpha powers like strength or speed, but this was something else entirely.

  What was Gunnar going to do?

  Harry’s hackles went up, and the spikes that had been his fur a second ago pointed forward. Then, without any warning, dozens of the needlelike things flew toward Gunnar like huge arrows made of pure metal, and Gunnar raised his arms to shield his face as they hit him all at once. Some missed. Others glanced off his rocky scales, while several pierced his arms and chest, hitting their mark, sticking out of him like something from a horror movie.

  Gunnar quickly appraised the steely barbs as they protruded from him like deadly porcupine needles and pulled out several with a gag-inducing sound that made April wonder if he was all right.

  Please be safe, Gunnar, she begged silently.

  Rick, bruised but not done fighting, leapt for Gunnar, using the momentary opening offered by Harry’s alpha power to try and catch Gunnar off guard.

  In a flurry of black paws, Harry tore at the air around Gunnar as he ducked beneath blow after blow.

  Then she saw Gunnar’s claws extend onto his right hand as they had his left earlier.

  And the air filled with horrible ripping sounds as Gunnar retaliated.

  At first, the huge bear shook off the blows, his thick brown fur offering some protection from Gunnar’s talons. But before long, she could see dark liquid mottling the bear’s hide as Gunnar deflected and ignored the bear’s blows, returning each cut or scrape or gouge with three times the fury.

  “How. Dare you. Threaten. My mate?” Gunnar growled furiously as he caught Rick in the shoulders, on his legs, anywhere that was in reach of his long arms.

  Wounded, Rick snarled and backed away, trying to retreat. In the same moment, another volley of spikes came from Harry, pelting Gunnar’s side, but he ignored the spikes like they were paper airplanes or something.

  Harry, seeing Rick on the brink of defeat, charged at Gunnar. Even his long, jagged teeth seemed to be made of metal, and Harry leapt onto Gunnar’s back, mouth clenching Gunnar’s neck even as the spikes in Gunnar’s back and shoulders cut into Harry at harsh angles.

  “Why won’t you die?” he growled, mouth full of Gunnar’s rock-hard-looking scales.

  In response, Gunnar plucked the huge wolf off his back and threw him onto the ground, so hard Harry’s gaze went stunned for a moment. Then, with a huge foot that resembled a more human version of his basilisk’s paw, Gunnar kicked Harry so hard he flew backward twenty feet and slammed into the skeleton of a dead tree.

  The tree cracked, buckled at its midsection, then toppled forward, missing Harry by inches and causing his fellow pack mates to scatter where the top of it landed.

  Gunnar whirled on Rick, eyes glowing even brighter.

  The glossy black eyes of the Clawson bear registered only terror.

  As Gunnar moved, the seams between his scales began to glow red as well, undulating with a bright ethereal energy that emanated only pure rage as he took long strides toward the cowering bear.

  To April’s surprise, the claws on his hands retracted. And when the bear lunged for him one more time, Gunnar’s fist flew forward, catching him in the snout.

  But Gunnar wasn’t done.

  He grabbed the humongous beast by the scruff and began punching Rick over and over in the face, beating him with loud thumps that echoed through the eerily silent clearing as both bear and wolf shifters on both sides watched aghast.

  “Stupid.” Thwack. “Greedy.” Thwack. “Power-hungry.” Thwack. “Bastards,” Gunnar growled loudly, his harsh words punctuated by the hail of blows.

  Until, with one final, devastating punch, the bear toppled backward, and April covered her eyes as the bear disappeared, leaving Harry sprawled out facedown in the dirt in his human form.

  Off to the side, partially covered by tree branches, Rick groaned in pain as he tried to get up in his human form as well.

  It was over.

  But Gunnar still glowed, and he looked down at Harry in disdain. And for a moment, even as Harry’s supporters rushed forward to cover him in a blanket, April feared Gunnar wouldn’t back down until he’d finished the job.

  She leapt off the fence and ran for him with all her might, only satisfied when Gunnar looked over his shoulder at her, and she saw that the glow in his eyes was slowly abating.

  He turned to meet her, and in the moments before she leapt into his arms, his huge, hulking form shifted back into the Gunnar she recognized. His shirt was tattered in a few places, and she could see deep cuts that were rapidly healing, but based on the expression she saw, he seemed relatively unharmed.

  His arms came around her, pulling her in tight, and all her worries melted away.

  “Damn, how did that happen?” someone muttered as they helped Rick stand up.

  Not far off to their left, several of Harry’s friends were helping him limp toward them, a wool blanket wrapped around his midsection.

  Someone from behind them muttered something about, “This is far from over,” and in a fit, Gunnar whirled around to face the mixed group of bears and wolves standing together, eyes wide with anger.

  “Why can’t you coexist, dammit?” Gunnar bellowed, and Rick’s eyes went so wide in fear April would never forget the image.

  “You don’t have to take it so personally,” Rick said, acting tough despite being covered in deep gashes that looked like they needed stitches.

  Or would if he wasn’t a shifter, April supposed.

  “You all made this personal when you fucking threatened my mate,” Gunnar, still on edge, replied.

  “If you want, we can go another round. And next time, I won’t hold back,” Harry said, surrounded by his friends.

  “Will you all just calm down a damn minute?” April said at the top of her lungs, feeling a surge of something inside her that had finally had it with all the taunts and threats and male posturing.

  The clearing went quiet, and everyone, including Gunnar, stared down at her.

  Like a mouse with dozens of cats watching her, April considered whistling a tune and walking off. Pretending she hadn’t said anything.

  But if she had their attention, then she was going to be brave and speak her piece for once.

  “I’ve lived in this town almost my whole life. And I’ve loved Clawson’s Creek like only someone who really knows this place could love it. The air here. The forests. The wildlife. The feeling of home every time I walk down Main Street.”

  Everyone continued to watch.

  “But all of that has been ruined over the years by your incessant, nonsensical rivalry. You’ve torn the town apart with your fighting. Frightened the good people here who are all just trying to make the most of the little they have. Terrorized both humans and shifters who all just want peace and who would have it if you could all just get along for two minutes!”

  To her surprise, there were some nods of assent on both sides, and Gunnar nodded gruffly as well.

  “Especially you two.” Emboldened by their attention, she strode up to Harry and Rick and pointed between them. “Always bickering and trying to one-up each other. What’s stopping you from making peace and finally setting aside your differences?”

  They paused a long time and looked at each other, then her. Rick spoke first. “Nothing, I guess.”

  “Just pride,” Harry added.

  “Then put away your pride for a dang second, shake hands, and make up. Then work together so we can all enjoy this wonderful, beautiful place we share together, humans and shifters.” She didn’t even know where the words or the courage were coming from. She just didn’t want to stop.

  The two stubborn men glanced at each other, and Rick surprised her by coming forward first and offering Harry his outstretched hand.

  “Friends?” the bear shifter offered.

  “Friends,” Harry replied, and they shook slowly at first, then more eagerly. “Your people are welcome on our land whenever they want, as allies, not enemies.”

  “The same goes to your wolves.”

  “There you go. Was that so hard?” April exclaimed.

  She felt big, comforting arms wrap around her as the two men started to talk more, and Gunnar carried her off to the side, placing kisses on her cheeks and ears.

  “Of course my cute mate would sort this mess out faster than any fists could,” he said, sounding pleased.

  “What was that thing you changed into?” She couldn’t hold back her curiosity as well as a rising anticipation to start her future with Gunnar as soon as possible, quickly filling her body with warmth. “How did you do that? You were amazing!”

  “It’s my half-basilisk, half-human form.”

  “Can the others do that?”

  He shook his head, and as she looked up and saw his eyes, one red, one blue again, it all kind of made sense. “The connection to our beast is different for each of us. I’m able to hold the place between the monster you saw in the quarry and my human form best, which allows me to take a shape that isn’t so… huge. It’s been useful for settling territorial disputes like these in the past with other rival shifter groups.”

  “Holy… Wow! What can Diesel and Ajax do, then?”

  He grinned. “I’ll tell you some other time. For now, let’s just get you—”

  But he was interrupted by someone patting him on the shoulder, and Gunnar looked behind him angrily.

  “Sorry, Gunnar was it?” a blond man asked sheepishly. “Sorry to interrupt, but you’re the new alpha of Clawson’s Creek. So you need to decide what the rules are.”

  Gunnar rolled his eyes. “I forgot about this part.” He looked at the crowd behind him and sighed. “This might take a little longer than I thought. But Reno should be on his way to help sort it out faster.”

  She reached up and kissed him on the cheek as an idea that had been forming since last night was reaching a boiling point in the back of her mind.

  “While you do that, I’m going to go take care of something real quick.”

  He frowned, not liking the idea, but she spoke before he could get too worried.

  “I just need to talk to my uncle. Tell him it’s over, that I’m done with the family, and that I’m leaving.”

  “I’m going with y—”

  “I know, I know. But all the shifters that were threatening me are here, right? I’m a grown woman, and I’m not scared of my family any longer. Not like I used to be. And besides, the sooner I’ve taken care of this, the sooner we can start our adventures, right?”

  His face said he didn’t agree with her at all, but he didn’t stop her when she pulled the keys to his car out of her pocket and jingled them.

  “Their house is only five minutes from here. I’ll go there, tell them, and be back before you’re even finished up with this, okay?”

  Gunnar bristled but calmed slightly when she kissed him on the cheek again.

  “Besides, I’m still thinking about that promise we made last night and all the things you’re going to do to me when we mate…” she said, batting her eyelashes at him.

  Gunnar blushed, looking to the side, and she gave him one last kiss before jogging toward where his car was parked.

  Her heart clenched with excitement that he’d be hers, all for herself, very soon. Mates for life.

  She drove away. And as the clearing, and Gunnar standing in the middle of it, disappeared in the rearview mirror, she counted the seconds until the moment she’d get to be back in his arms.

  Now that the dispute between the Clawsons and O’Dells was finally over, there was only one final thing to see to.

  Nothing could possibly go wrong.

  19

  In no time at all, April turned a corner to a familiar cul-de-sac in the nicest part of town, seeing a brilliant white-painted mansion at the end that was two stories high and sprawled out in every direction, looming like some specter from her past that needed to be confronted one last time before she could start a new life with Gunnar, clean slate and all.

  Her excitement mixed with fear in turbulent ways inside her as she pulled up the familiar driveway.

  She’d lived like a pauper here her whole childhood, made to feel like a burden while the brunt of the family’s labors fell on her for no other reason than because she was unwanted by her own parents.

  April felt loved and wanted now, by Gunnar. These people’s opinions didn’t matter to her any longer.

  She parked, headed up the front steps paved in clean, unmarred brick, and knocked on the front door.

  There was no answer. She considered ringing the doorbell, but if her aunt and uncle were power-tripping like they’d been the last two times she’d seen them, they’d probably shut her out just to make a point.

  But she wasn’t timid April anymore.

  And she was family, technically, though not for much longer.

  She tested the front door and noted, to her surprise, it was unlocked. Good, they didn’t deserve the satisfaction of screaming at her through the intercom while they made her wait.

  The tall, lacquered oak door opened quietly, and she heard voices speaking inside. Emboldened by the thought of Gunnar’s love, she strode through the familiar entryway, headed toward the sound, which seemed to come from Uncle Marvin’s study.

  She shuddered at the thought of the room. The only time spent there was either staring at a corner in timeout or being berated, sometimes for hours on end, by her uncle.

  Another second in this place would be a second too long.

  She realized the voices were male, and she found herself tiptoeing as the sound became clearer.

  “What do you mean they’re cooperating? They were supposed to be fighting,” her uncle hissed.

  “My contact in the wolves says they reached a truce. Something about the basilisk intervening,” the other man said in a simpering voice, too quiet to distinguish.

  “Those damn basilisks. They’ve been a thorn in my side since the second you agreed to let the double dragons invite them to the treaty signing, Mansley,” Marvin said.

  So the mayor was here with her uncle? And what were they talking about?

  “They were supposed to be stupid as rocks. How should I have known that they’d get involved so personally?”

  “You’re a useless waste of space. Now the shifters are working together. It’s only a matter of time before they find out who was behind the fire.”

  April’s body froze, like icicles were crawling down her fingers and toes, as the horror of her situation dawned on her.

  “You were supposed to keep them at each other’s throats. After all, it’s good for business, is it not?” Marvin said.

  “I-I’m not sure anymore. I should have never agreed to this thing in the first place, all for a little insurance fraud and news exposure,” Mansley replied.

  Not good.

  April’s thoughts of confronting her uncle rapidly vanished as she began to walk backward toward the door.

  When she was halfway back, she turned on her heel and made a run for it.

  And ran, unsuspectingly, face first into a familiar person.

  “Whoa, what are you doing here?” Carl, her neighbor, stopped her in her spot as he put his hands on her shoulders.

  “Carl, the fire, it was a setup,” she said rapidly. Hopefully, her longtime friend would help her, though why he was here, at her uncle’s home, she wasn’t sure.

  In the back, she heard muttering. Then her uncle said, “Someone’s here.”

  “What are you talking about?” Carl asked.

  “We have to go, immediately,” April said hurriedly, trying to get Carl to move out of the way, run, do anything but stand there and stare at her.

  Then his surprised expression fell, and his bluish-green eyes went cold as his lips flattened. “I don’t think you’re going anywhere, April.”

  There wasn’t time to move as footsteps came up behind her, and she looked over her shoulder to see Marvin, who went wide-eyed as he spotted her, then bored as he looked behind her at Carl.

  “Oh, it’s you. You’re late,” Marvin said with a wave of his hand. “What’s that little ingrate doing here?”

  “I think you have a visitor,” Carl said coolly, turning her around to face Mansley and her uncle, his grip surprisingly firm on her shoulders.

  Marvin scoffed. “Another loose end. Just what I needed before the golf tournament tomorrow.”

  April tried to pull away from Carl, but he held her there. “Is it true? That the fire was your fault? That this whole thing was a setup!” The rest of the house was empty, echoing her words around her, and she clenched her fists at her sides in frustration.

  After all, without Gunnar, she would have died in that fire.

  And no one would have mourned her death, it seemed.

  “It was supposed to go much easier than this. Torch the bar, which was already hemorrhaging money, collect on the insurance. Meanwhile, the shifters in town get uppity, start a conflict, and the town profits from the tourism and increased interest. More and more people want to see shifters in person, and we’re one of the only towns in Texas that is openly aware of shifters. A perfect business opportunity,” Marvin said calmly.

  “You’re a monster!”

  Her uncle strode forward and grabbed her chin roughly. “You’re a thorn in my side. And when the shifters implicated you, instead of the man we hired, we almost got away with it too.”

  She spat at him, and her uncle moved away as Carl chuckled behind her.

  Then it dawned on her.

  “Carl. No. It couldn’t have been you,” she said, looking over her shoulder at the man that was supposed to have been her friend, her neighbor, for so long.

  Carl shrugged, much colder than she’d ever seen him be before. “I’m a half wolf. Not shifter enough to attract any woman’s eye, not wolf enough to be allowed into the pack. I’ve wanted nothing more than to stick it to the damn O’Dells and Clawsons. Watch them rip each other apart. Then maybe you’d finally notice me.” He tried to grin suggestively, but she only saw cruelty there.