Page 20 of Corbin
Corbin stepped in front of him. “If any of us are forced to leave here because you trigger our wolves, we’ll likely die in an SCIS cage. Think of someone else for once.”
Badger growled back, “I did one time. Not making that mistake again.”
Badger’s eyes were wild. His head began to warp, and incisors grew longer.
“Oh, that’s right,” Corbin scoffed. “You can’t fight in this form. Come on, coward.” Calling Badger a coward might be worse than pussy. “If you can’t fight like a man, I’ll stay in this form and still kick your puny wolf’s ass.” Sweat ran down Corbin’s face. He was pretty sure his wolf could rip up Badger’s, but he doubted he could win a battle with Badger’s wolf if he stayed in human form.
Ares shouted in his head,Let me out or we both die.
Corbin had only one play. To keep hammering at Badger, who flipped between snarling and shaking his head while shouting, “No! Don’t!”
His wolf had to be as much of a misery as Ares.
As if something clawed the inside of Badger’s skull, he grabbed his head and yelled, “No! No! No!My fight!” He ran at Corbin, who shoved him off to the side.
Badger spun and dove at him, swinging those clubs he called fists while shouting, “Schtay put! No. I’m winnin’.Schop itt!” His jaw extended even more, garbling his words.
Corbin dodged his wild swings, listened closely, and figured out that Badger argued under his breath with his wolf. Trying to end this, Corbin shouted back, “I’m not the one still fighting.” He got up and feigned a limp, hobbling toward the barn in hopes that would be enough ass-kicking to make Badger take a breath.
“Watch out,” Bosse called out softly.
Corbin turned in time to see the fool shifting into a rusty-brown wolf almost as big as Ares and with rough scars crisscrossed over the saddle of his coat. Anguish bled from Badger’s human eyes. He mouthed the wordNo!but the only sound that followed was the loud snarling of a predator. His wolf came for Corbin.
This was it.
Faster than a thought, Jaz raced forward, ripping her clothes off as she shifted.
The stunning pale gold alpha wolf took two long strides and hit Badger’s wolf on the side, sending his beast rolling eight times before his wolf’s body hit the side of the barn. Wood creaked and rattled. Dirt fell off the roof in a sheet.
Silence blanketed the training ground.
Jaz called her wolf Tarski, which sounded like a name for a pleasant female wolf, not an apex predator prepared to crush any opponent.
Badger’s wolf pushed up to stand, wobbling to the left and shaking his head after being knocked into next week. He snarled and growled. When the wolf finally looked up, he ceased snarling and recognized the miscalculation he’d made.
Towering over him, Tarski took a step forward. The deadly noise rumbling deep inside her raised the hair on Corbin’s arms.
Badger’s wolf dropped to the ground and exposed his neck, but murder still boiled in his eyes. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
Taking one precise step after the next, Tarski continued toward Badger’s wolf.
Corbin thought Adrian might cut Badger some slack if their wolves fought, but none of them knew Jaz’s level of mercy when pushed too far. She had put down two shifters from the original pack. One snapped, and no one could reach the human inside. The other one got pissed when Jaz refused to feed them a home-cooked meal after he’d shifted in training. He went after her, racing past Adrian, who stepped aside and watched.
Tarski had been fast and efficient ending that one.
This Tarski was terrifying.
A self-proclaimed healer, Jaz hadn’t been happy about either one of the kills, but as she’d said, she would not shy away from her duty as alpha.
Would she give her wolf a nod to be done with Badger?
When Tarski reached the growling wolf, she opened her massive jaws and placed them over the throat of Badger’s wolf. His white-silver eyes widened, and a deep rumble vibrated from his chest. His body shook, but he didn’t move or snap at her.
Having made her point, Tarski removed her jaws and turned to walk away, which meant she didn’t consider that wolf a threat. What confidence!
Badger’s wolf watched for a nanosecond and got up on all four legs. Skin pulled tight across his teeth, he exposed vicious fangs and stepped toward her.
Corbin glanced at Adrian, who stood watching it all unfold.
