Page 63 of Confusing Hearts

Steadily and slowly I moved us towards the house, cornering him at the porch and protruding bay window. He spit and snarled when he realized what I had been doing, and then he made his first direct attack. I barked for the others to hold back, leaving him to me, even as his large paw swiped at my hind leg and made contact that caused me to howl out in pain.

The fight was on. I bit out, catching his front right arm as he moved to strike again. He snarled, pulling back. That gave me time to steady my feet. My leg was throbbing, but I pushed aside the pain and instead channeled it towards the tiger.

He was injured from my bite, so I went for his left side. I missed his arm but landed a chunk out of his side. He growled and hissed back. Still cornered, he had nowhere to go. The fear in his eyes was evident and my wolf had tasted blood. I gave a menacing growl that had him backing up even further against the house.

That’s when I noticed the commotion around us had stopped.

“Stan? Just give it up, man, we’ll find a new place to hang,” said one of the three tigers my brothers had trapped who was now standing naked—still surrounded, but surrendered.

The tiger I was fighting roared in anger. He was alone, trapped, injured, and scared. I took a step back to give him a little space. He seemed to be more subdued, but I didn’t know how much of it was for show.

The standoff finally ended when his body shook and he shifted back to human form. My leg was injured pretty badly, so I didn’t want to shift back yet, as we heal faster in animal form.

“Who the hell are you?” he spat out, obviously still in anger.

So much happened all at once in that moment—whirring sounds from above indicated helicopters arriving which were Kyle’s reinforcements, and lastly, out of nowhere, a beautiful panther appeared. Of course I knew instantly it was Jenna. Her violet eyes gave her away, but more than that, I’d know my mate in any form.

Seeing me injured didn’t sit well with her. She roared and hissed at Stan, positioning herself between us to protect me. She was the scariest beast I’d ever seen, and even Stan cowered in response.

Boots on the ground came running.

“Stan,” I heard a stranger’s voice say from behind me, and I watched the large man fold in fear.

“No, please, no. Don’t let them take me,” he begged.

“I think it’s time you and I had a little visit,” Jacob Winthrop said. I had never met the man before in person, but I had spoken to him briefly on the phone over the holiday break when he’d called the house looking for Maddie, Liam’s mate. The man had a very distinctive voice, one you didn’t forget.

“Chase,” another voice boomed from behind me. I turned around quickly, putting my back to the tiger for the first time. I knew that voice; it was Kyle, and I was safe. Even still, I felt Jenna guarding me from behind as she continued low hisses at the man.

My fraternity brothers were mostly scattered now. I saw several walking back towards the cars, some in their skin and some still in their fur, no doubt going to get their clothes.

I stared at Kyle and motioned my head towards the house.

“Go on, we’ve got this,” he told me.

I turned back to Jenna and nuzzled the side of her face. She stopped hissing and looked at me. I nodded my head towards the door. She reluctantly followed. Chad opened the door for us and we walked in and headed to our bedroom before shifting back to human form. Most shifters were perfectly comfortable with nudity, but I had absolutely no desire to show off my mate in that way to all my brothers, both of blood and fraternity.

“You really did bring in the full cavalry, huh?” she teased as she opened a drawer and took out an outfit we had bought the previous weekend to leave there. She grabbed some clothes from my drawers too and tossed them on the bed.

“I thought I told you to stay away until I gave the all clear,” I scolded.

“I tried. I just couldn’t sit there and do nothing and think about what may or may not be happening. I was envisioning the worst, and from what I walked in on I’d say it wasn’t too far off. What if something had happened to you? What if you’d been hurt? I would never have forgiven myself.”

I hadn’t thought about it from her perspective, I just needed to know she was safe. I took a step towards her and grimaced as pain shot up through my leg. I looked down. The wound had already closed and looked like it was days old, but it was still red and very sore.

“You’re hurt?” she questioned, rounding the bed quickly to examine my injury.

“Jenna, it’s fine, really. Another few hours in wolf form and it would be entirely gone.”

As she looked around the cabin, I could tell she was questioning more than just my injury.

“Princess, don’t. Don’t overthink this. I know I overreacted. I just couldn’t stand the thought of anyone scaring you in our home. This is our territory and I had to defend it. I didn’t really expect them to fight back. I’m glad now I did overreact. That big one, Stan, he knows Jacob Winthrop. He was terrified of him, Jenna.”

“I noticed. Who’s Jacob Winthrop?” she asked.

“I don’t really know, aside from that he and his wife took Maddie in when she ran away. That’s Liam’s mate, wife, whatever. I remembered Maddie as Lily’s friend growing up. She’s from a different pack so I never saw her all that often. They’re four years older than me, so I never really hung out with them. I got to know her and her son over Christmas break. Not all of her story made sense. Like, I know Jacob was basically her adopted father and they were close, but Jenna, he’s human. I’m certain of it, so how does he know Stan? It doesn’t make sense.”

“He came with your brothers. I saw him get off the helicopter with the one you called Kyle, Chase. I’m assuming that’s your brother, at least. You guys sorta look alike.”

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