Page 72 of Wolf Tamer

I stagger into Tasha from the force of the blow, sending us both down to the ground. Catching myself at the last minute, I take the hit in my shoulder and roll so that my weight doesn’t crush her. My ears ring, and I have a bad feeling that if I open my eyes, I’ll be seeing double.

“What the fuck! Who are you?” Bullet’s curse echoes throughout the silent woods.

My wolf is already pressing for freedom, tension curling through my body from the surprise attack, and I snarl as I rise once again, squaring my shoulders. The man doesn’t look familiar, and my next breath assures me he’s not part of any pack I know. He’s not even from the area, if his scent tells me anything. He’s large, broader in the shoulders than I am, and much skinnier in the torso.

He looks like the type of guy you’d throw into a ring and he’d come out a champion despite the odds.

“I smelled you,” the stranger growls. His gaze darts to Tasha. “And I smelledher.”

Rage fizzles in the air between us and presses against my skin.

“Get the hell out of here,” I howl to the others. And when I rear back to punch the intruder in the face, I don’t hold back.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Reid

Alaugh tears through me as the man’s eyes widen, and I slam my opposite fist into his solid chest in a one-two punch. What better punching bag than a trespasser?

He recovers quickly enough, and a deep lunge takes him beneath my right swing. He sweeps his opposite leg out and knocks me in the back of the ankle. I’m on my back with the wind knocked out of me a second later, wondering how the hell I got there.

The stranger looms over me with a shit-eating grin, barely winded. “You all right there?”

“How dare you!” I see Bullet from the periphery of my vision with his fists drawn and his knee cutting through the air to hit the stranger in the side of his leg.

The man is strong, and taller than me by a good three inches. But he’s got nothing on me and the tornado force of anger crashing through my nervous system.

I’m back on my feet—my knees aching—to see Bullet grabbing for him from behind, but he darts away too fast. I can see the magic of the shift ripple over his entire body.

Suddenly, something slams into the intruder, knocking him sideways and sending him tumbling across the ground until he slams against a tree.

None of us took Tasha into account. And there she is, landing perfectly in a crouch next to me.

“You chose the wrong people to fuck with,” she says.

The man groans as he struggles to stay conscious. As he pushes himself up to his elbows then knees, Tasha is about to pounce again, but I throw out a hand to stop her. “This isn’t your fight.”

“Everyfight ismy fight,” she snaps. God, she’s a wonder with enough snarl and bite in her to make any wolf proud. “I live for this shit.”

Seething, Bullet steps between us and the stranger, trying to fight off the change for now. The muscles under his shirt are bunching and shifting still. “Who the fuck are you, and how did you get into our territory?” he demands.

As the stranger finally gets to his feet, he lets out a wheezing laugh. “Fuck you.”

My beta shoots me an incredulous look. “Can I kill him now?”

“You might have to get in line. I think someone else wants a piece of him.” I gesture toward Tasha, where she stands with her fists out and her posture tense, poised for action.

“Do you know this man?” Bullet whips the question at Tasha.

“Nope, I’ve never seen him before in my life, but he’s encroaching where he doesn’t belong. And he’s a fucking witch.”

I’m not sure if she’s angrier with herself or with the guy.

“As much as he cansmellme,” she spits out venomously, “I can smellhim, too. His magic.”

A witch? Crap, Tasha was right when she said I’m not batting a thousand.

“Then he has opened himself up to pack justice by breaking our laws, and let me assure you that we do not take kindly to interlopers on our territory,” Bullet says with a snarl. I know he’s taking this intrusion personally. “Especially ones who try to destroy our magic.”

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