Page 95 of Bearly Hanging On

Harper

It was right about now I realised I’d made a very big mistake.

“Mack’s here.”

Dax grinned, all fangs flashing as he shoved me against the wall. The bruises on my arms now had a headache to keep them company. I winced and let out a little hiss, which dragged Mr. Fucking Crazy Pant’s attention right back to me. Dax was like a fucking cat, intent on playing with a mouse until it ‘broke.’ I was just trying to stay alive, because apparently my cavalry wasn’t very effective. Of course, that was the moment an explosion rocked the den.

Well, wasn’t it reassuring to see rocks dropping from the ceiling to the ground?

“What the fuck was that?”

In my mind, I’d started to call this guy Weasel. A wolf shifter and one of Dax’s associates, but he was the skinniest, mangiest looking dude I’d ever seen. He flinched as the more debris dropped, which I admit I was doing the same. But I wasn’t a supposedly bad ass shifter, was I?

“How about you go and take a look?” Dax snarled, forcing all of his flunkies to go scrambling.

Fine by me. That stopped them from leering every time his back was turned, making clear they were looking forward to their turn. And I was just as determined that none of them would get within ten feet of me. I straightened up, ensuring I didn’t make eye contact with Dax, because oh baby, had I underestimated the threat Mack’s brother posed.

We all had.

That made me feel sad, mad, then really, really bad, because that meant Mack had been going through this crap, living with this nutbag and a father that was even worse, only for us to blithely dismiss his concerns.

“So.” Dax’s hand slapped down on the wall above my head, pretty much just to watch me jump. That jagged smile was back in force. “Where were we?”

“Playing Little Red Riding Hood?” Look, when I’m scared, I blather complete bullshit, OK? “Oh, what big teeth you have!”

“Doesn’t that mean I get to?—”

“Dax!”

There was no sound sweeter than Mack’s shout. Hang on, make that Mack’s shout and the snarl of tigers, and the roar of bears, accompanied by the screams of what I assumed were Dax’s associates. Maybe the cavalry had finally arrived.

“Go time,” Dax snapped, grabbing my arm and disregarding my little yelp of pain as he hauled me towards the door. “I’m going to kill my brother and those weaklings you call mates, then fuck you on their still-warm corpses.”

“Didn’t you say that before?”

Shut up, Harper! I told myself. Shut the fuck up!

He didn’t get to answer, because that was the moment he threw the door wide, the two of us emerging out into the sunlight.

Police officers pulled out their guns, aiming them at Dax, but he held me close.

“Nothing says big alpha male like using a woman as a meat shield,” I muttered.

The cops were here, but where the hell were my guys?

A roar caught my attention as a very familiar looking bear emerged from the bushes, tossing a now limp body onto the ground. A groan made clear that Weasel was still alive, just. I tried to feel sorry for him, I really did, but then I remembered Daria’s bruises. Maybe Bear Boy needed to tread on Weasel’s head and pop it like a watermelon, accidentally on purpose, of course. Tor tiger emerged seconds later, several smaller tigers at his side as they threw their victims down.

“Let. Harper. Go.”

Pretty sure Mack holding a rifle, the butt against his shoulder, the muzzle trained on his brother’s head, wasn’t how Dax saw this going. The rumbly snarl in his chest confirmed that.

“You’ve been living amongst the humans for too long, brother.” Dax spat that title out. “Lowering yourself to use their weapons against me.”

“Let Harper go and I’ll fight you with fangs and claws,” Mack replied, his eyes never leaving the rifle sight. “We can scrap this out, finally find out who ends up on top.”

“Me.”

Dax’s grip on me loosened as he went to thump on his chest, and I didn’t need someone to draw a map for me. My pathetic little human instincts said run, run, run, and so I did. Dax snarled, ready to lunge after me, but Mack squeezed off a shot, the bullet hitting the ground inches from Dax’s hand. That and the fact a massive bear and tiger were at my sides in seconds, roaring their defiance, had Daxy boy questioning his life decisions.

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