Page 80 of Corbin
Corbin replied,I will as soon as I get Eirene and Pixie set.
Corbin dragged Eirene away from the jackal. “Follow me. Get out of your clothes when I tell you and start changing. Tell Pixie to hide behind us. I’m turning Ares loose.”
He pulled her into the woods and said, “Now.”
While he ripped his clothes off and started shifting, a ginormous grizzly pounded toward the jackal.
Mitch screamed and tried to run, but the bear was on him instantly. Massive paws as wide as Corbin’s head with long claws tore into the jackal.
Then the bear began eating him.
Ares ripped free in a blast of energy. He turned to where Eirene and Pixie were still in their shift. It allowed him to ignore the grizzly shifter eating another shifter in human form.
Corbin told Ares,Watch the grizzly. Pixie should back away and hide.
Yes.Ares turned back as the grizzly had paused and stared at him with blood dripping from his long fangs. That jackal had been a momentary distraction. The intelligence behind those almost black eyes of the bear confirmed they faced a shifter.
When the grizzly stood on his hind legs, his head reached over twelve feet tall, bigger than any natural bear, which removed any lingering doubt. His yellow eyes weren’t even natural for a shifter.
That bear had been sent for Corbin and Ares.
Corbin said,This bear has probably been tortured and may be jacked up on drugs. Kill him as fast as you can.
I will. Ares said less and less when he went up against impossible odds.
Ares made no move, waiting on the bear to come for him. That could be a good strategy, or it might end with one fatal swipe of those deadly paws.
The bear started forward, not dropping down.
Hell. Corbin wondered why. Bears were so aggressive that they didn’t take the time to dance around in a fight.
Ares took a step forward, then another.
Corbin had no idea what his wolf had in mind, but he would not distract Ares.
Then Ares turned to walk off to the left of the bear and into the trees, pausing to swing around and howl as if he’d taken down the giant.
The grizzly opened his wide maw and let out a roar of fury that chilled Corbin, then he dropped and went hard after Ares.
Ares waited, waited, then dove into the woods and spun to run around a thick area of underbrush.
Roaring the whole way, the grizzly’s claws ripped up ground, lumbering after Corbin’s wolf, who slowed for the bear to catch him. When Corbin could smell the putrid breath of the cannibalistic bear, he feared Ares had cut it too close.
Halfway around the thicket behind Ares, the grizzly stopped to swing a paw at Ares’ hindquarters.
Ares leaped up and flipped back around, hitting a small tree with his shoulder. Ouch.
Before the bear could push up taller, Ares jumped on its back and did his buzz saw routine to rip a large gash through the thick fur. He dove off as the bear stood.
Corbin still recalled the bear Ares had attacked the same way, rising quickly to slam Ares against a boulder. This time, Ares had been ready. With the grizzly standing upright, Ares now attacked the bear’s ankle—one of the only weak spots on a Goliath animal.
His wolf clamped down and shook his head, trying to rip out tendons.
The bear dipped down and swatted Ares, catching him across the face and knocking him away.
Corbin tried to breathe past the agony of the head strike. He lost track of Ares and the fight. Forcing his vision to clear, he looked through his wolf’s eyes at a towering bear coming down fast to crush him.
Ares rolled away and stood, wobbling.
