Page 45 of A Bear's Secret

He looked almost casual as he slugged the kid in the stomach, making him double over in pain.

Trevor felt like he might throw up. Had he just been tossed into bizzarro-world, where one minute he was telling his niece to write a book report and the next he was supposed to punch a kid not much older than she was?

“Your turn,” his father said.

Trevor walked up to the kid, his mind spinning. The kid was on his knees on the floor, and when he looked up at Trevor, there was nothing but pure terror on his face. He couldn’t have been older than fifteen.

He could go to school with Lizzy, Trevor thought.

“Get up,” his father said to the kid. The burly wolf behind the kid yanked on his arm, and the kid stood.

“Untie him,” Trevor managed to say. “Make it a fair fight.”

His father laughed.

“Fine,” he said, then pulled out a pocket knife and cut through the rope around the kid’s wrists.

Trevor raised his fists, taking the kid in, and the kid did the same, even though he clearly had no idea how to fight.

Then Trevor swung. His fist sailed past the kid’s face and got the wolf behind him, blood spurting from the man’s nose.

“Run!” Trevor shouted, and the kid didn’t have to be told twice. What he lacked in fighting skills he made up for in escaping skills, as he darted between all the men trying to grab him. Trevor stopped to punch someone else, though this time he was off-balance and he could feel something snap in his hand.

It didn’t matter. They were at the door, then they were out of the workshop, both sprinting across the lawn, the wolves not far behind. Trevor reached in his pocket, grabbed his keys to the truck, and tossed them to the kid.

“Drive like hell and don’t look back!” he shouted, and didn’t wait to hear a response before he shifted, sprinting across the grass and into the woods at top speed. Every time his right front paw hit the ground, it hurt a little more, but he didn’t stop, barely slowing down to watch a pickup truck zoom down the long driveway, then crash through the gate, stop, lurch forward, stop again, and then finally pull onto the highway, three wolves coming up behind it and stopping short.

Trevor ran. It was all he did, blanking out everything in his mind except for the need to get away and the pain in his paw. That was the only thing he couldn’t blank out, but after a little while, he came to terms with it.

He hoped the teenager got away and went to the police. He was on the highway, and that was a good sign.

I hope I at least saved that kid,Trevor thought. His lungs burned in his chest, and his tongue lolled out as he ran, practically dragging on the ground. The pain in his paw was slowly becoming torture.

Finally, Trevor slowed to a walk, limping along.

The wolves behind him were gone.

I don’t know anything, he thought. I think dad probably just wanted me out of the pack.

He didn’t even know whether the pack knew about Austin. Maybe it had been coming for months, and now was just the time that they chose. It could be a coincidence.

All the same, a pang of loss shot through his heart, and he closed his eyes for a moment. His whole life, he’d had his pack and his family, almost no matter what. When his older brother David and his mates had died, they’d taken in his kids without question. When his Papa died, the pack had coalesced around his father Buck, supporting him through that awful time.

For just one moment, Trevor had the urge to turn around. He could find some other high school kid and beat him to a pulp if that would get him back into the pack.

Then he saw the lights up ahead, and realized where he’d run to: the Double Moon Ranch. He’d jumped a fence without even noticing.

Trevor sat for a moment, catching his breath. His paw felt like murder. There was a slowly-expanding hole in his heart: for his pack, his family, his niece and nephew.

You should just leave,he thought. Let Austin and Sloane have a nice life together.If you stay, you’re just going to cause them trouble.

Trevor didn’t move. He just watched the lights of the ranch house, knowing that his mates were inside. He could practically feel them there, moving around inside its walls, happy and warm and safe.

All he wanted was to be safe in his mates’ arms, and damn the consequences. He couldn’t make himself leave. He couldn’t even make himself look away.

Trevor stood, trotting out of the forest with a limp. He walked across the driveway, shifting as he went.

Then he walked up to the door, stark naked, and knocked twice with his left hand, since his right was swollen to the size of a baseball.

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