Page 62 of Confusing Hearts

I had never seen Chad in his animal form, but even knowing he was a squirrel shifter could never have prepared me for the sight before me. Chad was the fattest squirrel I had ever seen. The kid was chubby in human form, but I didn’t even know how he could stand on his tiny squirrel feet because he was so fat, let alone fight.

Even more shocking was when he turned and nodded my way before taking off so fast I had trouble tracking him when he hit the trees. How in the hell did that roly-poly creature move so quickly?

Brett, already in his coyote form, started to laugh. He sounded and looked more like a hyena, but soon others were laughing, too. Shaking our heads, we started to part. Two groups were heading to the back of the house in case the tigers came out that way, while two more groups were setting up on either side of the front of the house. Basically, we had groups spread out around all four corners and ready to close in.

I was at the front and to the right, closest to the front door. I watched as Chad jumped up onto the front porch. He scurried around and scratched at the front door just enough to get the tigers’ attention. It seemed like an eternity, but finally the door cracked open and a head peeked out. I didn’t recognize the man, but he was big, easily six foot two and I’d guess pushing two-fifty. Five of them that size and I’d have been on the losing end by myself, but there were thirty-eight of us now and we’d easily take them down.

“It’s just a squirrel. A fat, lazy squirrel looking for food,” the man yelled back into the house. “Hi, there. Shouldn’t you be hibernating, little fella?” The big guy spoke to Chad like he was a small child.

The next thing I saw was when Chad leaped into the air and wrapped his fat arms and legs around the dude’s face. He screamed, and Chad jumped off of him, flying in the air and through the open front door. There was lots of banging and squealing and soon four more men came running out the front door.

It wasn’t even two minutes later that Chad, back in his chubby human form and entirely naked, waved from around the side of the house. No one else was inside. He signaled the others at the back to close in. Five large canines and one fierce-looking jaguar came walking in a line of battle. Five more rounded the corner on the far side, when the tigers finally noticed.

They started to rush back into the house, but Chad in all his naked glory stood on the front porch with a baseball bat in hand. The sight was so comical, it was downright scary.

“I really wouldn’t if I were you,” he warned, but two of the men turned and took off at a full sprint heading for the driveway.

I howled and the rest of my brothers moved in to surround them. The two who made a run for it, didn’t get very far before rejoining their brothers. Four of the guys shifted to tiger form, shredding their clothes in the process. The fifth put his hands up in surrender and backed up to the porch.

“I’m tired of their games. I don’t want any part of this,” the man said, sitting down on the porch steps.

“So why were you guys even here?” Chad asked him.

“This place has been abandoned for a long time. I’ve settled into the area here, but the others are just passing through. They use this place to crash whenever they’re in town. I told them something smelled different this time. So why are you guys here? And what the hell is a squirrel doing with this pack of mutts?”

Chad laughed. “Can’t you see the resemblance? These are my brothers!”

The man shook his head in annoyance.

“I’m serious,” Chad continued; “My fraternity brothers. We all go to the ARC. Chase just bought this place last week and you and your buddies apparently upset his girl. Wolves are pretty territorial, and he’s really pissed.”

“I teach over at the ARC. My girl showed up here with a friend earlier. I told them to get out of here. These guys, well, they tend to find trouble. We’ve done a lot of terrible things over the years. Some really bad, I won’t lie. Then we were incarcerated for years and—” He shook his head as a shudder wracked his body. “I don’t want to talk about it, but I’m never going back there again. My brothers, they just don’t seem to have learned anything and are running wilder than ever. I don’t know what to do about it,” he confessed. “Which one is your friend who owns this place?”

“Big, black, scary wolf taking the lead.” Chad pointed to me and I briefly shot him a look. Having to stand there and listen to the two of them prattle on was not helping the situation.

I stared down the biggest of the tigers as they all walked in circles within the perimeter we held. I could see from their movements they were used to fighting together. They were trying to intimidate us, but it wasn’t going to work.

I tried to calculate the time. Kyle was coming with even more reinforcements and judging by what I’d just heard from Chad’s conversation with the tiger that surrendered, we needed to not only get them off my property, but contain them.

For the first time in my life, I wished there was a jail for shifters. Sending them to a regular prison seemed like the cruelest punishment possible, as they’d never be able to shift while there. That alone could drive a sane shifter crazy, and I suspected these tigers weren’t entirely on the sane side.

I had thought I was overreacting by calling in all my favors to run off a couple tigers squatting on what had been a mostly abandoned cabin in the woods until a week ago. My agitated wolf and my heightened temper, knowing how scared they had made Jenna, led to this. I hadn’t thought they were going to fight back. I simply wanted to intimidate them off my land and ensure they wouldn’t consider returning.

I had been wrong. These guys were looking for a fight. The gleam in the eye of the biggest one told me he would enjoy it, too.

He lunged in my direction, but I held his gaze and didn’t budge. He tested a few others and to my relief, none of my brothers backed down, though a few began to snarl. When they moved towards Matt, his jaguar roared, causing one of the tigers to back up. It was their first sign of weakness. I could work with that.

Studying them more closely, I noticed that the two milder ones kept looking back to the man on the steps. I still wasn’t sure if he was setting a trap I’d regret, or genuinely wanted no part of it. I only hoped that if it came down to it, Chad would keep him occupied long enough for us to snare him within our circle and not take an attack from behind.

In the blink of an eye, everything changed. The lead tiger lunged my way, but this time he didn’t stop. He went straight for my throat, but I was too quick for him as I rolled us both sideways until I was on top with the advantage. It was clear he did not like being pinned on his back.

The circle tightened and despite protests and attempts, my brothers would not let the remaining three pass and assist. I snapped my teeth and snarled then I growled in warning when the tiger tried to squirm from under my hold.

I didn’t want to hurt the guy, but neither would I back down if he persisted. We were in another standoff. I felt him loosen his grip and relax beneath me. I knew it was a trick and pretended to let up some, too. The second I did, he pushed back full force, as I had expected.

He was stronger than I estimated, and managed to get to his feet. We circled each other. He roared, but all it did was piss off my wolf even more. I had to fight to maintain control and not fully give in to my wolf. If I did, I knew I would kill this tiger. I growled back and watched the fur on his neck stand up.

He made his move to attack and I sidestepped him. He shifted direction and knocked me to the ground, but I was back on my feet before he could advance further. He tried to come in low, but despite the incredible size of my wolf, his tiger was much larger, giving him no advantage there. He tried to go high and come at me from above, but that was easy to roll away from.

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