Page 35 of Leave Me
Mate.
Should I shift fully? Anyone could drive up or walk out and see us, and the first rule was always to protect the pack. The public aspect didn’t factor into my wolf’skill, protect, mine, alpha mind.
Twin Two tried me next, and I transformed my other hand, clawing at him and keeping him away as I heard Riley finally start my bike up. I’d taught him when we were fourteen, and I was glad he remembered.
Still, it was two Alpha bear shifters who might be high and not thinking clearly, to my one partially shifted wolf.
If only Ricky and Rel were there, I could get the upper hand to make my exit with Riley. I needed to get him somewhere safe, though I wasn’t sure where that would be.
“Boys, I’m going to need you to calm the fuck down and back off,” I tried, hoping they’d listen to reason before this escalated. I never couldtell these assholes apart, and they both had the twitchy appearance of people I saw all the time in San Francisco.
“Not a chance.” Twin Two spat at my feet, and I saw his pupils were blown. “You’ve got an unmated omega in heat.”
“Riley isn’t a bear,” I pointed out. I remembered stories about Alphas going into a rut at the smell of an omega in heat, and I worried it was too late. I tried one more thing to deter them. “And he’s a man.”
“We don’t care.” Twin One licked his lips, and I saw his teeth had shifted to the giant maw of a beast. “We want a taste.”
“We could beat you up in high school, and we can do it again. But we’re not letting you leave here with our new toy,” Twin Two insisted as if Riley wasn’t human, and I could feel he was putting Alpha power behind his words. When I stood my ground, he grinned, “We outnumber you, dog. You may as well give the omega up.”
Twin One charged me while I was staring down at his brother, but I was faster and I caught him on the chin. He snarled an inhuman sound of anger and pain, and I saw him pull his hand away. Red dripped from his fingers. I’d drawn first blood.
There was a rule among shifters. Once you drew blood, the other party could attack without prejudice.
Fuck.
Where were Ricky and Rel when I needed them? Hell, I’d take Kono’s help, even though he could try to claim Riley, too. I’d wish Hudson were here, but he was no match for full-blooded shifters.
As if I’d conjured them, I heard the gym doors slam open, and I sensed my packmates as they barreled out to flank me. Ricky rounded the left side of my bike, and Rel came up to my right. They both stayed unshifted, but I noticed their jackets were off as they took the stance to show they were ready to fight.
It was my turn to smile at the bears in front of me.
“Who outnumbers whom now?”
Chapter twenty-four
Riley
Sitting on Fowler’s motorcycle, I was glad for the muscles I’d built. It was heavy as fuck, and I was trembling at the display taking place a few feet in front of me. If shit hit the fan, worse than it already had, I could barrel past the MacTaryn twins. But I didn’t want to leave Fowler behind.
Logically, I knew he was a wolf-shifter and an Alpha. He could take care of himself, but not against two bear shifters. I’d never seen them shift, but I had to imagine they’d be bigger than a wolf.
Fowler was holding his own, and he’d pissed one of them off by making him bleed, the claw marks bright on his pale neck. I simultaneously wanted to cheer for him and also tell him to run away.
A presence beside my leg had me flinching, but I held the bike steady when I saw it was Ricky. I hadn’t heard him approach over the soundof the motorcycle and the helmet on my head, which had me missing most of what Fowler and the twins had said.
Ricky nodded to me, and I looked past Fowler to see Rel on his right. The three of them were advancing on the bear shifters, making them step back. Ricky and Rel weren’t Alphas, but they knew how to fight.
Rel shouted something I didn’t catch to Fowler, who stepped back and threw his leg over the bike to sit behind me. Finally, he listened to someone.
His red, furry paw wrapped around my waist as he yelled over the engine, “Get us out of here!”
Twisting the throttle while releasing the clutch and shifting gears, Fowler put his unshifted hand over mine, and we peeled out of the parking spot. I didn’t look back to see if anyone followed as I turned onto Main Street towards Blue Lake.
We passed BJ’s Bi-Lo, and I shivered at how close I was to the twins taking me before I’d made it to Fowler. I wouldn’t have had a clue I was an omega in heat and didn’t want to think about what they would have done with me.
“Turn here, on Wolf Creek,” Fowler yelled over the engine and wind whipping our faces, and I noticed his hand had shifted back to the human form.
We slowed only a little to take the turn, Fowler putting his leg out in a move that would have broken the leg of a human, before I sped upthe hill. I passed my mom’s, not wanting to bring any trouble to her door.
