Page 96 of Bearly Hanging On

You know when people realise they’ve fucked everything up? Yeah, watching Dax come to grips with the situation he was in was delicious, now I had hundreds of kilos of furry fury by my side. His face fell, his eyes going wide as he stared at the people I’d managed to gather together. Mira and Dina emerged from the bushes, freshly dressed and smirking as they tossed empty grenades behind them. Even Anya and Tor’s grandmother appeared seconds later. Bears shifted back into Kieran’s dads, but there were far more than just them. The quarry filled with naked men, leaving the cops somewhat nonplussed.

“Put the gun down!” one of the detectives snapped. “Now!”

The rustle of the other officers redirecting the aim of their guns at Mack had him putting his hands up, then slowly lowering the rifle to the ground. They moved forward to take it from him and arrest the two of them.

But that was never going to be the way this went down.

I saw the futility then. Family was a bond that seemed to be unbreakable, and when it turned dysfunctional, it forced you and everyone else in that family to keep repeating the same shit over and over. A scream built in my chest as I saw Dax lunge forward, ready to warn Mack, but he knew. This was all so very familiar.

The mental link that formed the moment Mack marked me snapped back into place right now. Rather than hear his very annoying thoughts, I saw, felt, exactly what he was going through. Again, that was his gut reaction. The people who were supposed to love him, have his back, were trying to end his existence again. The scream rattled in my chest, escaping the moment I saw Dax shift into a massive black wolf.

But Mack would never need my warning. He’d prepared his whole life for just this moment.

His transition from man to wolf was so very smooth. Muzzle pulled back, his fangs flashed as he crashed into Dax, clampingdown as they both crashed to the ground. Wolf Mack shook his head from side to side, as if to break Dax’s neck, but he had his brother’s thick ruff in his jaws, not his throat. Dax whirled around and lunged at Mack, but Mack wasn’t there. In a blink, he was in human form, grinning through a mask of red blood, his fingers transformed into claws that he used to rake down his brother’s side, right as the wolf lunged. Mack was back in fur in a blink, sailing over Dax’s back and then landing neatly on his feet.

“Split shifting…” Tor said, coming back to skin beside me. “I didn’t know he could do that.”

“And we need to leave him to it.” Kieran grabbed my arm, a frown forming when I winced. My sleeve was peeled back, his head shaking as he saw the marks there. “And get you some help.”

“And who’s helping Mack?”

I jerked my arm free and turned in time to see the black wolf slam the grey into the ground. When his jaws lunged forward, ready to snap down on Mack’s bare throat, I was moving. Their shouts, the cops, everyone’s, ignored as I ran across the clearing, collecting up the discarded rifle.

Nanna had lived on the farm she bought with my grandfather for most of her life. Spending time there on the holiday breaks, I picked up some skills most city girls missed out on. I was dimly aware of a whole lot of noise coming from behind me, but focussed on aiming the gun instead. The rifle felt a little weird, but I knew to set the stock against my shoulder, using the bolt action to load a bullet into the chamber.

“Aim true.” I could hear my grandmother’s voice in my ear. “Focus, then shoot.”

Easy when it was just a couple of cans lined up on a fence post. Not so easy when it was two wolves trying to kill each other. Dax wolf made a muffled snarl of victory, ready to savageMack, but that turned into a wail when Mack wolf’s claws raked his unprotected belly. Blood splattered across the ground, Dax whining in obvious pain, but Mack kept on moving. Head down, muzzle bloodied, his intent was clear. Mack had insisted that the only way forward for us was when Dax was dead.

Perhaps that’s why he came back to skin right now.

“Looks like living with humans didn’t weaken you like I hoped.” Dax tried for a self-deprecating smile, but that was ruined by him spitting blood onto the ground.

“Tell me we can finish this idiot, Tor.” Mira appeared beside us, a fierce snarl on her face. “My tiger was not satisfied with dispatching his flunkies.”

Tor shook his head slowly.

“This is Mack’s fight.”

I blinked, hoisting the rifle higher, tracking Dax’s every move, especially when Mack came back to skin.

“Are we done?” Mack threw his arms wide, blood smears revealing all the little scars across his body. “Is this finished?” He glanced around, as if seeing the police for the first time. “It didn’t have to be this way. The past doesn’t have to be repeated over and over again, getting bloodier and more shit with each iteration.”

He paced in a circle around the now panting Dax.

“You’re my brother. We shared everything, including a womb. It should have been me and you out there, trying to find our mate.” Dax glanced at me, then sneered, but the expression had none of its former ferocity. “But you… You had to take on Dad’s toxic bullshit.” Mack looked up at the quarry behind his brother. “I can’t believe I put my life on hold for you. Lived in fear of the moment you’d rise up and try to take everything from me. You’re nothing.” Dax jerked back at that. “You always were. Picking on those that are weaker than you, living in a hole like a fucking animal.”

“Better than putting on a skin suit, pretending to be something you’re not,” Dax replied. He rose to his feet on shaking legs. “You think you’re the hero of this story.” He scanned the crowd. “You all do. In your minds, he’s saving his pretty mate from the mad, bad shifter, but I know the truth.”

That jagged smile, it still sent a wave of cold fear rushing through me.

“Will Harper whimper when your hand goes around her throat? Will she make that tiny little sound of pain, right before you snap her neck? Maybe in front of the sons you get on her, passing on the legacy.” Dax stood before Mack now, a cruel smile on his lips. “Let them stare into their mother’s now empty eyes, until the flies come to lay their eggs in them.”

“You fucking bastard…”

Dax knew Mack was going to punch his claws into him for this insult, but he was already there. He ducked under Mack’s arm, his own claws ready to stab into his chest. He had to know the only way he was leaving this quarry was in cuffs or a body bag, and he’d made a decision for the both of them. Joined in death, as they were in the womb.

But Dax hadn’t anticipated me.

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