Marie Harte - Gunnar's Game

“like a reflection of deepest night, speckled with stars.” Hayashi had described him so poetically, while Morgan had likened him to a demon's bitch, come to drag the unworthy back to hell.

Tersch's berserker preferred Morgan's description. Hell, fire. Death, destruction…

The creature lived to destroy everything in its path. A good thing when in the presence of the enemy, but a bad thing when surrounded by friends or family.

Family who could be taken and tortured, like what had happened to Jules just two months ago. Friends who could be thrown from a building and nearly killed, as Hayashi had experienced months before that. Every one of his teammates and their mates had suffered because of men like the ones he now hunted.

He'd be damned if he'd let them get away with it. Accepting the rage, he used it to fan his aggression as well as his abilities. He followed the trail of his enemies with ease and loped through the forest on silent feet.

He found the rogues waiting for him, having caught his scent on the shifting wind. Four large Circs led by Raul LaGarda, their target. Perfect.

When they spotted him, they froze, and he scented fear. Tersch chuckled with glee, pleased at the rush that overtook him.

“Which one of you wants to die first?” he growled in a voice less than human.

Need to keep Raul alive for questioning. Don’t forget . Tersch fought to get through to his berserker, the monster, but he feared it was too late.

As the rogues leaped to attack, he met them fist for fist. He countered with deliberate slowness, absorbing the blows and press of claws against his rough hide but not feeling much more than featherlight taps. He clawed through one rogue's chest and another's back. Both dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Though changed , his enemy couldn't withstand the power behind his punches, his sheer animalistic rage. The remaining two flailed as they tried to run away, but Hayashi had caught up and stopped one of them with a kick to his face.

“Not so fast.” Hayashi stood ready to attack Raul, the last one standing.

Hayashi glanced at Tersch and quickly looked away, careful not to make eye contact. “Oh shit. This cannot be good.”

Raul struck out, but Hayashi retaliated with a kick to his ribs and a following roundhouse that took Raul off his feet. The rogue fell and hurried to right himself.

Too late.

Tersch lifted him off his feet by his neck. Though Raul must have weighed a good three hundred pounds of solid muscle, he didn't come close to straining Tersch's muscles. Tersch smiled through his fangs, his berserker pleased at finally being allowed to play. Though he often exercised his beast by letting it come to the surface to frolic and fight, his berserker had to be kept on lockdown for fear it would kill everything in sight. The raging creature hated being cooped up, on a leash, and scolded into behaving by everyone on the goddamn team. Including Tersch.

While Hayashi took care of the Circ he'd kicked trying to regain his feet, Tersch shook Raul like a rag doll.

“Fuck! Let me down, you freak!” Raul choked, barely able to breathe.

“What? I couldn't understand that.” He felt his back teeth form. When Tersch transformed, his canines grew into fangs. But when he allowed his berserker to emerge, his entire physiology changed. All his teeth grew sharp, and a second row grew to reinforce the front, increasing his ability to inflict greater damage.

His berserker loved the thought of biting into prey, and Tersch forced himself to keep Raul at arm's length. He shook Raul again, taking care not to accidentally break the fucker's neck. Playing with this new toy amused him, and he didn't want it to end too soon.

“Hell.” Hayashi swore next to him. “Gunnar, buddy, you can hang on to him all night if you want, but don't kill him. Jules wants him alive for questioning.” Tersch frowned, his inner berserker not pleased. More orders. More rules. No fun. The Circ challenges me for dominance ? He grumbled at Hayashi and took a threatening step nearer, even though Tersch knew he stood next to his friend. I’m a fucking monster.

“Come on, Tersch. It's me.”

Tersch leaned down to sniff and nodded, pleased when Hayashi bared his throat and turned his head away. The berserker knew and trusted that scent.

Friend. Family. Hayashi had been his before and would be again. No matter that the others had all taken mates. At heart they belonged to each other. When the mating heat struck—as it did just about every month and sometimes more often—

gender and marital ties meant less than satisfying their inner beasts.

At the thought, he grew hard. Both his berserker and his beast wanted sexual play. So long since I had that ass . Tersch glanced down at Hayashi and grinned.

Hayashi swore again before lifting a radio out of the small pack he carried.

“Jules, it's me. We have them. You'd better hurry before the Viking kills Raul. He's ultrahuge again, and his eyes are that funky striated black and blue. Freaky, yeah.” He rattled off a set of coordinates he read from the GPS on his radio and signed off.

“Okay, Tersch. You'd better put him back on his feet again. He's turning purple.” Tersch lowered the rogue to the ground but kept his hand around Raul's neck.

Every now and then he squeezed to remind Raul he lived because Tersch allowed him to live. His berserker thrived on dominance as much as Tersch did. He had to be in charge, because to lose command of a situation would be deadly. As he well knew.

“Why did you take Melissa Keiser?” Hayashi asked Raul while they waited for the others to join them.

“Who?” Raul answered in a hoarse growl.

Tersch shook him. “Melissa Keiser.”

Raul swallowed hard beneath Tersch's palm. “Fuck. You want to know? Fine.

Like I give a shit about her. Melissa Ramirez is working for some bigwig in Washington. Keiser was the name she used to sucker you assholes into believing her.”

Hayashi snorted. “We figured that much out ourselves. How long has she been working for this bigwig?”

“As long as I've known her. Nine months or more, I'd guess.” Tersch had a bad feeling Melissa had been working for the enemy for as long as she'd been working at the mansion, what the team had dubbed Circ central.

Their home. And it had never been as safe as any of them had thought.

His anger grew. Someone had dared put those he loved in danger.

“Easy, Gunnar.” Hayashi spoke softly, and Tersch realized his claws had grown another inch and darkened in color.

His vision blurred as he strove to remain in control. He nodded, pushing past the layers of sheer feeling into thought. Hayashi gently stroked his forearm, helping to soothe him. The familiar touch and scent eased his berserker, as well as his beast.

Hayashi continued his interrogation of Raul. “But you don't know who she's working for, right? I know the name Colonel Ricardo Montaña rings a bell. You worked for him, remember?”

They'd killed the asshole drug runner just two weeks ago. Jules had pulled Montaña's heart from his fucking chest. A thing of beauty, but Tersch had been too busy trying to save Ava's sexy, sorry, lying ass at the time to witness it.

As if thinking about him had conjured him, Jules appeared, followed closely by Fallon and Morgan.

“About time,” Tersch said with a grunt.

Fallon swore and gave Tersch a wide berth.

Morgan groaned and did the same. “Shit. I hate when he turns all freakish.”

“Pussy.” Tersch chuckled and showed Morgan his teeth, delighted when Morgan's green eyes widened.

Morgan shook his head. “You are one spooky Circ, you know that?” Tersch took it as a compliment.