Page 48 of Forbidden Love

Fangs bared, Brock snapped down, his jaws closing around the wolf’s throat—not to kill, not yet, but to make a point of who was more powerful, more alpha. The other wolf stilled, blood streaking its pelt, eyes wild with shock. With one last warning growl, Brock flung him like a rag doll, sending the bastard crashing into a tree.

The wolf scrambled up, already limping, but Brock didn’t give chase...yet. He slowly took a step toward Deb, who sat on the ground soaking wet, her white t-shirt plastered to her and splattered with blood from the scratches on her face and arms. His wolf growled as Brock roared inside his wolf at seeing her hurt.

The one thing he noticed as they stared at each other is she didn’t fear him. She slowly gave him a nod as if telling him she was okay. Knowing he couldn’t stay but had to finish what had been a threat to her, he turned and took off. It was the hardest thing he had ever done.

Brock caught the rogue easily, bursting through the trees with a speed that left no room for escape. But what stopped him in his tracks wasn’t the coward running—it was the circle of wolvesalready surrounding the bastard. Hunter. Dell. Garrett. Marcus. Taz. They’d closed in like a pack of shadows.

Without hesitation, Brock shifted back into his human form, his breath steaming in the cold rain, muscles coiled and ready. He didn’t bother with modesty—his body was still smeared with blood from the earlier fight, the claw marks down his side pulsing, but he didn’t feel a thing.

Only rage.

He mind-linked Asher, informing him where Deb was and telling him to go to her until he was finished.

Brock’s voice then cut through the downpour like a gunshot. “Shift!”

The massive, black-furred, defiant wolf stood its ground, panting heavily. Brock’s eyes narrowed, fury radiating from every inch of him. “I said… fucking SHIFT!”

Slowly, the wolf began to contort, bones snapping, fur retracting until Gary stood there, naked and shaking, but not from the cold. The moment Brock saw his face—Tammy’s ex, the one who put fear into her and scars on her—something inside him snapped.

“You son of a bitch.” Brock closed the distance in two strides, his hand clamping around Gary’s throat and lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing. Gary gagged, legs kicking, rain sluicing down both of them. “You dare come here after what you did to my sister? To my nephew? And then you assault my Mate?”

Low growls rippled through the others as his mind filled with their confusion, but Brock didn’t care. Let them hear it. Let them know the truth. Deb washis.

Gary’s eyes widened in panic, clawing at Brock’s arm. “I just—I just wanted to see my son!” he choked out. “That woman—she’s the one letting them stay there! I wasn’t going to hurt her!”

Brock slammed him to the ground but kept a crushing hold on his throat. “How do you know she’s the one helping them?” He didn’t like the fact someone was telling things they shouldn’t be telling. It not only put Tammy and Ben in danger, but Deb as well.

“A woman in town told me,” Gary wheezed. “I don’t know her name. I was digging around, asking a waitress at the diner some questions. Some lady overheard. She said the woman at the edge of town—Deb—was letting them stay at that big house on the hill. Said someone named Clare got them out of the Pack.”

Brock’s eyes flicked to Dell, whose wolf nodded once. Brock sneered.

Gary kept scrambling to explain. “I just wanted to scare her. Make her kick Tammy and Ben out. Then they’d have no choice but to come back. Tammy has no right to keep my son! You know the Shifter way—he belongs withme! He’s my firstborn!”

“You lost any right when you laid a hand on my sister,” Brock growled, his voice cracking with the force of his fury. “And you sure as hell weren’t counting on me showing up, were you?”

The other wolves shifted one by one, now standing as men, stone-faced and tense. The circle tightened. “With that terrified look on his face, I suspect that answer is a big fuck no.” Hunter snorted without humor.

“Any backup coming?” Dell asked, arms crossed, glaring at Gary.

“I don’t have a Pack anymore,” Gary muttered, defeated.

“Shocker,” Hunter deadpanned just as Leda jogged into the clearing, bag slung over her shoulder. Without a word, she tossed a pair of sweats to Brock, who caught them with his free hand, finally letting Gary drop.

Brock yanked them on, not taking his eyes off Gary for a second.

“Give him a pair,” he ordered.

Leda glanced at Dell, who gave a nod. She tossed another pair of sweats at Gary.

Gary stared at them, confused. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re about to get your ass handed to you,” Hunter said, tugging on his own pants. “And no one here wants to see your junk flopping around while it happens.”

“Put them on,” Brock growled, his voice a steel blade. “Or don’t. I’m giving you a choice you never gave Tammy.”

The forest fell silent save for the distant thunder. Gary pulled the sweatpants on with trembling hands.

“Now we settle this.” Brock’s voice was low, lethal. His eyes never left Gary as he stepped forward, muscles coiled and crackling with fury. The rain poured harder, soaking the earth and muffling sounds, but Brock’s words carried like a war drum.

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