Page 43 of Pack to the Wall

He laughed. “Yeah, the rock was one. What we did on the rock was two. And three… well it’s something I can’t do easily while indoors.”

“Okay?” I said, curious. “Go ahead.”

I crouched in the shallow, rocky stream and scooped up the cool water, dousing myself over and over as Colt moved away. He walked backward, his steps sure as he watched me with a grin. When he was about twenty feet from me, he winked and…

His body tore itself apart and reassembled.

It was quick — seemingly painless — and when he was done, there was a massive, hulking bear where he’d been.

For just a moment, I froze, terrified. People weren’t supposed to be this close to bears, especially bearsthatbig! This was one of those massiveone-swipe-of-those-huge-claws-will-take-your-head-offtype of bears. Then he gave a whuffing sound and shook himself and somehow that broke the spell on me. It almost seemed like he was smiling as he ambled over to me and nudged me softly with his broad, flat face.

I reached up and stroked his thick, soft fur, and he made a noise that sounded half-way between a growl and a cat’s purr and pressed into my hand. I scratched harder, and he gave a contented huff then sat next to me in the river, splashing water everywhere, making me laugh.

Sothiswas a werebear. No— They called themselves shifters… right? A bear shifter?

Bronn was a lion shifter and Tyson was a wolf shifter… though I hadn’t seen him as a wolf yet, only that strange half-wolf-half-man thing.

That got me thinking. “Do werewolves—” I quickly corrected myself. “Do wolf shifters look like wolves when they change?” I asked. I was going to be one, so I should know.

Colt-the-bear nodded.

“But Tyson… I saw him as a sort of wolf-man-thing.”

Colt nodded again. Then he got up and ambled away a bit and shifted again. This time it took a bit longer and looked a little more painful. The clearing filled with the strange thousand-bones-breaking noise I’d heard with Tyson. And when he was done…

I gasped, eyes wide.

His bear had been terrifying, but this form… this half-man-half-beast form was truly horrifying. He was as big as the bear, but seemed larger still because he stood on two thick legs, and his arms were massive affairs ending in those same huge claws. His head was that of a bear, but facing forward and a bit lower,sunken into his mountainous shoulders. There was a more feral and dangerous quality to this form and thankfully, he didn’t stay that way for long before returning to his human self, which again took a moment and sounded painful.

He shook himself, as if that form made his skin crawl, then strode back over to me, still completely naked and all the more glorious for it.

“Yeah, we have a mid-way form, a hybrid beast-man, that we can use. It’s harder to get into and harder to stay in it, but it’s far more dangerous than either of our other forms. All the agility of a man and all the power of a beast.” He crouched next to me and put a comforting hand on my back, stroking me softly. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“You did, but I… I had to see that, I think.” Then, as if teasing that thought out to its logical conclusion, I asked, “I’ll have to become one ofthoseto face Brick, won’t I?”

He nodded. “Yeah, probably. Sorry.” He pulled his hand from my back and began splashing the cool water on himself. “Now that he knows you’ve got a gun, he’ll be ready for that. He’ll shift as soon as the challenge starts. Bullets don’t affect our hybrid forms as much. We hardly feel the pain. And something tells me you’re not a crack shot, that you got lucky with those shots on Harley, didn’t you?”

I didn’t want to think about it, but… “Yeah. Never used a gun before that. I only bought it a week ago after…”

He grunted. “After we attacked the man down the street?”

“Yeah.”

Another grunt. “That was… unfortunate… and all Tank’s fault.”

I knew a bit of what had happened and knowing it was Tank made all the more sense. Apparently, one of the bikers — Tank — had seen Carrie Pearson leaving her house and harassed her, getting a little too close, blocking her from getting into her car.He’d apparently said something about taking her into the woods to be with a “real man.”

She’d been terrified, of course, and screamed. That had caused her husband James to come running out to try to defend her, which had earned him a sound beating. James Pearson had been in the hospital for three days and still looked rough. I didn’t know the Pearson’s well, they’d only moved into 109 at the end of the cul-de-sac a few months back, but talk was, they were thinking of moving out now.

It hadn’t been the only altercation with the gang either. The Herrera’s in 107, had also had a few run ins with the bikers. Elena was pregnant and there’d been some shouted comments about “sharing some milk” and things along that line. Hector, her husband had been pushed around a bit as well, but the thing with the Pearson’s had been the worst altercation so far.

Colt sighed. “Brick’s going to know you a lot better at the end of this week, and he’ll use everything he can against you. He knows he can’t let you just have the pack.”

“Why can’t he?” I asked heavily. “Why can’t he just get on his bike and leave?”

A chill shivered down my spine. The water I’d splashed over me had done its job and my body had cooled, so I went back to the large rock and pulled on my shirt. Then I hopped up onto it and sat. I’d let my feet dry before I put my jeans and shoes back on.

Colt sauntered over, his cock swinging heavily, slapping his thighs. God he was impressive, and sexy as sin.

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