Sondrae Bennett: Worth Fighting For

Despite the understanding in Jason’s eyes, his mouth remained wrapped around the other man’s throat.

“Your rage makes sense after what he did to your family. But don’t let it rule you. Go. Take care of your sister. If your pack will help bring him to our jail, I’ll make sure he’s delivered to the council for judgment. You and I both know what will happen to him.”

Cody saw the internal struggle as Jason eased off the cat. Every muscle bunched with the wolf’s movement. He couldn’t help but feel for his friend. Not only had his pack been attacked, his sister had been kidnapped. Sympathy filled him, but before comforting the man, he had a job to do.

As an only child, the closest thing he had to siblings were his best friends. He thought about Misty being kidnapped, and rage bubbled up, almost blinding him. Claws bit into his palm as his hands fisted, telling him how close he was to losing it. He needed to get it together.

Gesturing to the wolves holding the cat down, Cody turned to head back to town but stopped in his tracks. It was mean to tease the wolf when he was down, but the devil inside him couldn’t resist. Besides, a little teasing would help keep his own beast at bay.

With a smile, he swung back around. “Oh, and call Samantha as soon as you can to let her know you’re okay. She’s freaking out. Made me promise to come out here and save your ass.” He swallowed a laugh as Jason’s growl filled the night.

Misty strained her neck, trying to see over the heads of the foxes in front of her. She huffed in annoyance as she realized the pointlessness. If she hadn’t promised Cody she’d stay in back, she would have already crept forward. Admitting she wouldn’t see anything, she swung both ears forward, trying to at least hear what was happening.

Even the words were muffled. Her curiosity almost forced her forward, but she bit her inner lip, remembering her promise. At least the tone of the conversation didn’t seem confrontational.

Giving up trying to hear anything either, Misty dropped her butt to the ground and sat. She might as well have stayed at the bar. At this point, it didn’t seem like she would see anything interesting.

Misty coughed to cover the chuffing laughter bubbling up as Jen looked over and rolled her eyes. At least she wasn’t the only bored one. A couple foxes glared at her over their shoulders at the noise, before turning back to the action. Apparently they had a decent view.

With a tilt of her head, she gestured Jen forward. Cody had made her promise to stay back, but he hadn’t said anything about Jen. If Jen saw what was going on, she could fill Misty in later over beers. Not ideal, but at least she’d know what happened. How sad would it be to come all this way and still be out of the loop?

Luck was with her and Jen understood the unspoken request. Misty watched her snake through the crowd to get a better view. After she was gone, Misty raised her head and stared at the pattern the leaves on the trees made against the sky.

She should be grateful the situation was settled before they’d gotten here. It wasn’t like she knew how to fight. But the pull of adventure had been too strong to resist. Like those people who strapped a bungee cord to their ankles and jumped off bridges, the element of danger excited her. Personally, Misty thought those people were crazy, but then again, many people would think running toward a potentially lethal shifter fight was crazy, too. To each their own.

Besides, the thought of Cody fighting, potentially hurt, while she sat in a deserted bar, sipping her warm beer, would never sit well with her. She’d be half out of her mind with worry if she’d stayed behind. It would never have worked.

Bored from lack of action was a better alternative to crawling out of her skin with worry. Plus, Jen could give her all the gruesome, or not-so-gruesome, details later. Even if the skulk had arrived late, surely something exciting was happening or else they wouldn’t still be here. They’d have turned around and gone back to town.

A stick snapped behind her, the noise jerking her to her feet. She twisted to find the cause, but it was too late. A giant black cat, unlike anything she’d ever seen, leapt straight toward her. Misty had no time to move before being tackled to the ground.

The impact forced the air from her lungs as the ground scraped against her cheek and shoulder. The weight of the animal crushed her as they slid to a stop.

Misty lay stunned, struggling to breathe. Her mind screamed to fight, to get out from under the cat, but her body refused to listen. She heard foxes barking, growls from nearby wolves, and even some human shouts, but pushed up against the belly of the beast, couldn’t do anything to help or reassure.

Her lungs fought to drag in air but could only take in shallow breaths, even as her mind compelled her to move, to struggle, or wriggle, or something. She heard the foxes and wolves surrounding her, knew they fought the black cat, but none managed to remove him.

Without warning, the cat moved, his heavy weight crushing her chest. Her lungs, still struggling to draw breath, became even more constricted.

Finally, her body registered her mind’s pleas to fight. Her arms flailed uselessly against the beast. The longer he sat on her, the harder it was to focus. If she didn’t get him off soon, it would be too late.

Idiot. I’m surrounded by idiots. It had been glaringly obvious from Stella’s viewpoint, hiding in the bushes upwind of the locals, any type of rescue for her brother would be suicide.

Even before the foxes had arrived, there were too many wolves for their small party of hybrids to overtake. And then the foxes had shown up and the numbers became even more overwhelming.

Yet, for whatever reason, her idiot brother’s idiot right hand man had run out and attacked one of the foxes. Did he really think he could take on two entire packs?

On second thought, she didn’t want the answer to that question. Although he resembled his mother–a panther shifter–apparently, there was enough coyote in him from his father to make him dumb as a dog.

As soon as the human bitch, Julie, had escaped, they should have abandoned the plan and left, getting as far away as possible. But nooo, her brother hadn’t even told her. Had instead chased down the car the woman had used to escape. Anybody with half a brain should have known the wolves would be out in droves searching for the woman. Once she’d gotten to the truck, leaving was the only intelligent option.

Then again, intelligence had never been her brother’s strong suit. Stella was the thinker. She had as much brains as her brother Jay had brawn, which made the two of them a formidable pair.

She should have known he would screw this up for her. For months, she’d been working her ass off to line everything up.

A shiver snaked down her spine as she remembered the cheetah council member she had slept with in order to get her bill proposed. His rough hands yanking on her hair as he shoved into her… There’d been bruises on her hips and breasts for days after each of their get-togethers. Bile rose in her throat, but she pushed it back down.

Everything had fallen into place. All she’d needed was a little canine support, and who better than a Premier with a radical new take on pack leadership? Word about Jason of the Callahan Pack had even reached the hybrids. Rumor was he accepted all types of shifters into his pack. Even the humans in the town.

Stella spit on the ground.

Accepting humans when she and her brother had been rejected at every turn, banned from their mother’s pride and scorned from their father’s. What an insult. So Stella and Jay had hatched a plan to not only give hybrids the respect they deserved, but power. More power than any other breed. And no one would see it coming until it was too late.