Corbin: Wild Wolf PackThe World of Gallize Shifters

Fifty-nine minutes left.  

The damn time kept disintegrating faster than his patience.

If Corbin and his pack mates were late to the rescue … they might find only a few body pieces.

Sweat streaked down his face and pooled around his neck despite cool air in the sixties. He lowered himself, carefully feeding out the nylon rope a few inches at a time. Decent summer temperature for rappelling down a difficult face in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia … if he did this sort of thing for fun.

Not in this lifetime.

He’d been an idiot to say he’d done a little mountain climbing in the past. Being a wolf shifter made it damn near impossible to lie to other shifters, but saying he’d done it before had been true. Although he’d failed to admit he’d been forced to climb and rappel in the past with zero professional instruction.

The climbing rope slipped in his hand, yanking him back to his priority of staying alive. His heart tried to blast out of his chest. Was he doing this correctly? He gripped both ropes like he’d been shown, took a breath, and kept easing his way down, or he’d never get to the base of this almost vertical drop. Agreeing to join Adrian and Ladrón on this mission had sounded like a good way to secure his place in a pack where he could hide from worse dangers than falling off a mountain. Mated to their female pack alpha, Adrian had asked for volunteers for this operation.

Offering to go didn’t make Corbin special, just stupid.

He flicked a quick look left, but he could not see Ladrón, aka Ghost, who rappelled thirty yards away out of view due to a bulge of mountain between them. Being a better-trained person at this, Ladrón had to be lower down the face than Corbin by now. 

Get going. If you fall, I’ll heal the body, Ares bragged telepathically.

Yeah, I bet you will, Corbin muttered back at his arrogant wolf. 

Ares snorted.

That offer might sound reassuring and supportive, but his beast would bust free and go homicidal if Corbin ever ended up unconscious. He spent most of his waking and half-asleep hours keeping Ares locked inside. As insurance, he wore a braided metal collar when he needed to sleep hard. If he allowed the wolf to go on a rampage, Corbin would lose his sanctuary and very likely his life.

You too slow. Get off this mountain, Ares demanded, as if he expected Corbin to jump when he shouted in his head.

Still feeding out the rope to keep moving, Corbin sent back a reply lacking any patience. You want me to shift and let you figure out this rappelling bit or have you learned how to fly?  

Silence followed for a moment, then his wolf muttered, Shut up and get us down.

Another day in paradise with a combative wolf.  

“Ladrón, check in.” Adrian’s tense whisper came through Corbin’s tiny earbud with minimum distortion. The device had been specially crafted for their sensitive hearing. They were all three on the same channel. 

Mild cursing came back first, then Ladrón said, “This mountain sucks.”

Corbin perked up. Could the pro climber be having difficulty? Petty of him to feel a little smug, but with his background, he rarely got that opportunity.

Adrian snapped, “What’s wrong?”

“The trailing rope is bound. Caught in a crack.”

“Shit fire!” Adrian roared softly. “How’d that happen?”

“I slowed to move around an outcropping. Could not see the wide fissure in so little light.”

That’s all Corbin had to hear to convince him not to slow down.

Adrian had skills based on what Corbin had seen on their way climbing up the backside of this mountain. He sure moved like an expert. Corbin had gained minimal climbing experience while trying to stay alive under the thumb of his Romanian mafia captors. He knew enough to comprehend Adrian and Ladrón’s instructions but wouldn’t pass a test on terminology.

The main problem was that none of them had prior experience with this mountain range.

Attempting this during daylight when they began the ascent on the opposite side of the peak had been fine. That all changed once twilight had settled in at the top of the mountain and cast a dingy glow over everything. This sucked.  

“What about you, Corbin?” Adrian asked next.

Breathing hard more from stress than physical strain, Corbin admitted, “I’m still descending, but I’m not the fastest at this.” He felt the need to point out, “We’re running a little behind on time.”

Fifty-two minutes to go, to be exact.

Adrian had quieted. Clicks and thumps sounded as if he were rigging up to descend.

Glancing over his shoulder, Corbin considered the tall evergreens soaked in dark shadows far below and sighed. He’d only volunteered for this crazy stunt to build goodwill with Adrian in case Ares did something stupid.

None of that mattered now. Corbin had to admit the obvious. “Since I’ll land before you two, I’ll take off to locate the kidnapper’s shack.”

Cursing burst in his ear from Adrian and Ladrón arguing about his point.

He whisper-shouted, “Too loud. Cut it out.”

Both quieted.

Adrian grunted something, then came back to say, “I’m on my way down to free Ladrón. We don’t know what we’re going up against with this bear shifter, Corbin. He could be a behemoth grizzly.”

Corbin’s nylon rope made a soft whirring noise as he kept dropping at what felt like a fast pace, but in truth was more steady than quick. “I’m going to get as close as I can and then wait near whatever structure he’s using to hold the woman captive.”

Damn bear shifter had a human female he’d threatened to kill and eat if her family did not pay the ransom of a million dollars. A private security firm had advised her father to contact Adrian’s boss, the Guardian, for help because he couldn’t get his hands on even half that much cash.

Ladrón spoke up. “Is good idea, Adrian. You and I would do the same if we landed first.”

Coming from a military background where Adrian had probably led his men into battle, he’d stayed back at the peak to make sure Corbin and Ladrón descended safely first in case someone ran into a problem.

Like the one right now.

A frustrated Adrian agreed. “Okay, but don’t engage. I didn’t bring you here to be a sacrifice.”

No, that had not been the plan, but they’d had little time to plan at all for more than one option. The bear shifter had holed up in an old shack in the valley below and would likely expect a threat to come from the lowlands spreading outward from his position.

Not the mountain Corbin had just descended.

“I know you didn’t, Adrian.” Corbin chugged deep breaths and kept his boots moving against the mountain with every foot of rope he fed out. “We volunteered knowing we were going up against a bear.” Corbin would not regret his intention of paying it forward because of the support he might need later. He still had a deadly group of Romanians hunting him. If they ever found him after this, Adrian and Ladrón might fight to help him survive.

That was more than he’d expected the day he crawled into the compound.

On the other hand, Adrian’s mate, Jaz, might kill him herself if he brought a deadly threat to the pack.

“Be careful and watch out for booby traps,” Adrian sent back between harsh exhales. He had to be dropping at a fast rate.

“Roger that.” Corbin sharpened his focus on making it off this mountain without breaking bones.

Ladrón added, “Cuídate, amigo.” Take care, friend.

“Thanks.” Corbin smiled to himself. His Spaniard pack mate had barely spoken to him when they’d been paired up to train in mock battles. Adrian worked daily to teach the pack how to win a fight without shifting from human form to wolf.

Corbin won the last match-up with Ladrón, leaving the bruiser puzzled.

Keeping both hands busy, Corbin began considering places he might encounter traps. If the kidnapper anticipated an attack from between the cabin and the mountain, anything was possible.

His feet slid too quickly over a smooth section. He scrambled to prevent losing his footing where he might land in a worse situation than Ladrón. Stupid mountain. Drawing in a deep breath to calm his nerves, he tossed another quick look over his shoulder. Damn, he hadn’t thought the trees would grow so close to the base of the mountain.

Two directly beneath him were forty feet or more tall with an umbrella of leaves preventing him from seeing any opening to the ground.

How was he supposed to get down through that?

“One more thing, Corbin,” Adrian said in a tight voice. “If Ladrón and I don’t make it in time before the bear calls her father … try to draw him away from the structure if you can but stay ahead of the bastard.”

“Roger that,” Corbin muttered, fingers and arm muscles burning from gripping the rope for so long. He slowed his erratic pace and began a more controlled descent to avoid getting tangled up in tree branches with a backpack adding to the size of his upper body. 

Stupid idea to climb mountains, Ares pointed out, since his wolf had nothing better to do than provide commentary.

I’m not getting into this argument again, Corbin sent back. Trying to calm his chaotic pulse, he pulled in deep breaths of crisp air filled with the fresh scent of pines.

Undeterred, his wolf argued, I can sneak up on any bear. Not very smart shifter. Easy to kill.

What an asshole. Corbin wished counting to ten, or even a hundred, would help. You think everything is easy to kill. I’m sick of killing unless we’re trying to survive.

Must kill to survive. Ares lived to get the last word.

Corbin’s back ran up against a bushy branch. He stopped and felt behind him with his boots for a branch that would hold his weight. Nope. No way past these trees unless he could fly twenty feet to either side.

Hanging on tight as he let out rope, he lowered one foot at a time through a mass of branches and searched blindly for a thick limb. He began squeezing his body through the crisscross of branches while death-gripping the ropes. Leaves smothered him in darkness when he sank lower.

His boot thumped against skinny branches that rattled.

Finally, his knee whacked one solid enough to not move. Shit! That hurt.

Ares snarled, Stupid!

Just once, Corbin would like to get his hands on that wolf’s throat and shake some sense into him. Moving his arms through this living gauntlet took all his effort. Bending his knee, he lowered himself to sit on the branch and shook out one cramped hand at a time.

A couple of deep breaths, and he was back in his element.

With a new surge of energy, he tested the branch before creating slack in the rope. No sound of cracking. He made fast work of shedding his climbing gear, then dropped it to the ground before lowering himself all the way until he touched solid ground. He tied his gear as high as he could on the trailing rope.

For the first time since getting on the back side of this mountain, something felt natural.

Even in the dark, he made it down the tree with ease and leaped to the uneven ground.

His wolf growled and pulsed angry energy through his body.

Corbin pulled the vinyl cover off the face of his digital watch. Thirty-eight minutes left. He should be able to reach the cabin in twenty to twenty-five minutes, right? He pressed the flap back in place.

Adrian and Jaz had given them great equipment.

Shrugging off the comfortable backpack that Jaz had stocked for each of them, Corbin checked the contents. She’d sent a lightweight tranquilizer pistol to stop the bear, and a change of clothes should theirs get shredded. Where had their people gotten tranqs that packed enough punch to stop a bear? Having to be within seventy feet to discharge the tranq dart left little room for mistakes.  

Flexible metal rods had been built into the looped straps of the backpack for holding it off the ground so a wolf could step through the opening and wear the pack.   

That had been an irritating negotiation with Ares.

Corbin got what he wanted in the end, having only surrendered one token agreement he hoped not to regret.

Give me body! Ares shouted.

Corbin grabbed his aching head. Stop yelling. I’m almost ready.

Too slow.

Ignoring that, Corbin reminded Ares, We have an agreement. Wait for my directions and for me to approve any killing.

Keep talking and there will be no one to kill.

That had been the one concession Corbin had made. Ares could kill the bear shifter if Corbin’s team failed to contain the kidnapper. Adrian wanted to keep the kidnapper alive, if possible, to find out who else might be involved.

Corbin should be able to make that happen with the dart gun. Adrian and his people were hoping the undependable cell reception in this area meant a shifter holed up this deep in the woods would be delayed in learning from a partner if the money got dropped. Unless the kidnapper waiting with the woman had a satellite phone like Adrian’s, the odds were good they’d reach the cabin before he found out he’d been screwed.

But any gambler would say odds are never dependable.

A niggle of worry argued with Corbin’s confidence, but he had no time to kick this around. After stripping down, he tucked both his boots and clothes into the backpack. He dropped onto his knees and hands, then called up the shift.

Ares needed no help. His monster wolf intentionally blasted out of their skin fast to punish Corbin for making him wait. It felt like hot needles stabbed into every muscle.

The minute Ares shoved his head and paws into the backpack openings provided, he wiggled his body, moving the pack to where he wanted it, and got serious.

Corbin always did his best to leave his wolf alone when on the hunt.

He only hoped Ares could keep his head screwed on in the right direction.

Ares dropped his snout to the ground, sniffed a couple of places, and took off at a steady trot. He’d covered twenty yards when he paused, lifting his head and sniffing. Then he lowered his head, continuing to scent everywhere as he moved more slowly.

Minutes ticked away too quickly in Corbin’s mind. He remained silent. Pushing his wolf to run could get them caught in a trap or killed.

Ares suddenly paused and abruptly backed up.

What is it? Corbin asked.

Trap. Hole in ground. Bear scent heavy a few steps forward, but skunk scent dripped in a line going out to left and right. Sniffing faster, Ares made his way around the boundaries of the hole, which was well-camouflaged by brush and very likely armed with vertical spikes. Ares had a talent for sorting scents and quickly determining if any seemed out of place.

The skunk scent should be more concentrated in one spot, not dribbled in a straight line.

Smart move by the bear shifter, though. Where a natural animal would more likely change directions and avoid the area, a shifter hard on the hunt would leap over the stench to keep moving forward and land in the pit.

Not Ares.

He and Corbin had learned about traps the hard way over the years.

Without access to his watch, Corbin had no way to be sure of time, but it felt as if they were down to less than ten minutes. Ares paused again and lifted his head. Looking through his wolf’s eyes, Corbin spotted a tiny flicker of light through the trees.

He urged his wolf, Keep moving but without making a sound.

You insult me. Ares started forward, avoiding downed branches and anything else dead that would make a snapping sound to alert the shifter kidnapper. Forty yards from a small shelter that had once been a decent shack, Ares hesitated again. Bear scat everywhere.

Corbin had caught a whiff, but the lack of sounds in the cabin worried him more than a shifter right now.

Were they too late?

He told Ares, Let’s move closer.

We are upwind, his wolf argued.

True. The wind had shifted while they headed this way. Regardless, he had to know if the woman still lived. Be careful and get close enough to hear if one of them is speaking softly.

No argument this time. Ares had all but tiptoed a short distance when a woman screamed, “Noooo! Don’t touch me!” Sobbing followed.

A loud roar came next that should have shaken the old wooden shack into a pile of rubble.

Ares stepped behind a thick bush and held his nose up to catch scents.

Corbin had to get to the young woman. He couldn’t handle seeing any female being abused. Give me the body.

No. Ares lowered his head and backed out of the pack he’d been carrying. He wanted to fight.

Give. Me. The. Damn. Body, Corbin shouted at Ares internally.

Wait. Bear coming out in human form.

Before Corbin could argue another word, a bull of a man stepped from the shack with a rope in his hand. The other end was tied around the waist of a skinny young woman. She looked more like sixteen than nineteen as stated on the report.

She limped on a bad ankle or a broken foot. Her ripped pale-yellow shirt and dirty white shorts showed the least of her mistreatment. She’d lost her shoes. Blond hair tangled with sticks and leaves fell to her shoulders. Scratches ran down her arms, some with dried blood.

The bear shifter dragged her to a tree and tied the rope around it, leaving little slack.

She yanked back and cried, “Let me go. He’s wrong. My father paid. I know he did.”

Ah hell. No, her father had not paid because he had expected Adrian’s team to save his daughter before the payment was due. Even if he had paid, the kidnappers would have killed her.

“No, he didn’t, bitch. You humans think you’re smarter than a shifter. He’s going to find out what happens for lying to Dagger.” He yanked off his gray T-shirt and started unbuckling his belt—a true wacko who spoke of himself in third person.

She fell to her knees, hands clawing at the rope. “Please don’t do this.”

Come on, Ares. We can’t let him rape her.

You let me kill him?

Son of a bitch. Ares would pull that card now. Corbin said, Let me have the body so I can shoot him with the dart gun. He might have to give in to Ares if this went on too long.

Ares grumbled, Asshole.

The shift came hard and fast again. Corbin ground his teeth through the pain and got ready to act. The moment he had human arms and legs, he dug the gun from the pack. It already had a dart chambered, and he grabbed a second one.

Cursing the whole time, the bear shifter shucked his jeans, leaving him naked.

The woman’s wild eyes dropped to Dagger’s groin area. She screamed a gut-wrenching sound.

Just as naked, Corbin ran out and ordered, “Stop!”

That froze the bear shifter long enough for Corbin to get a shot into his rump, the only part of that body that didn’t look carved from a tree trunk.

Corbin ejected the dart and jammed a second one in as the bear shifter turned on him and started changing. Shit. He pointed at the man’s neck and discharged the gun again. Luck was with him. The shot struck true.

A black bear, Dagger lifted his hand with claws ready to slash, stood a moment, then slid down to his knees. His eyes rolled up, and he fell forward.

Corbin wanted to help the woman, but she’d been terrified already, and he’d make it worse heading over with all his male glory hanging out.

He called over, “Give me a minute and I’ll free you.”

Every pack also held a few medical supplies and an extra-large black T-shirt for the female. Jaz had prepared Adrian’s team for the possibility that the victim might be in any condition. Rushing, Corbin snatched a pair of loose warm-up pants, stepped into them, and then ran to the woman.

She stared at him open-mouthed. Okay, she was in shock. He had to go slowly. “I won’t hurt you. I’m here to save you.”

Then she started shaking her head and talking between sobs. “There’s … there’s … another—”

A much deeper roar shook the air, then a massive brute with thick brown hair hanging to his shoulders and a bushy beard to his chest stomped out of the cabin.

This guy looked at the shifter on the ground, who might not be Dagger after all, then pointed at Corbin. “You’re dead.”

With his next blink, the kidnapper began shifting into a … grizzly. Of course.

No time to get another dart. Corbin shed his warm-up pants, telling his wolf, Showtime, Ares. You’re off the leash. Do what you want to him. Adrian’s people would have the other shifter to interrogate.

Ares and Corbin could shift as quickly as that bear when they worked together, but multiple shifts were beginning to strain them.

The grizzly stood on his hind legs and let out a furious roar. That might be the last sound Corbin and Ares heard before this monster cut them to pieces with sharp claws longer than Corbin’s human fingers.

Ares stood six feet at the point where his thick neck met a wide pair of muscular shoulders. He snarled a vicious sound. Corbin had been going deep into the woods on the pack compound to let Ares run so the others wouldn’t see the abomination he kept hidden. His wolf stood a head taller than any wolf shifter he’d ever seen in animal form.

Except for Adrian’s red wolf. Another monster.

Scratching the ground with both front paws like a bull ready to rip prey apart, Ares growled low and menacing. They’d fought a damn polar bear shifter once and almost lost, saved only by the Romanians who shot the bear in the head with titanium rounds.

Adrian and Ladrón weren’t here yet.

No one to save them now.

Dagger’s bear dropped down to all four legs and lowered his head, opening a wide set of jaws packed with vicious fangs. He wasted his time trying to put fear in Ares.

Corbin’s wolf had only feared one thing, and dying wasn’t it.

The grizzly charged in a loping run, which meant he planned to launch his bulk and leap on top of Ares—Slam dunk. Dead wolf.

Corbin sensed adrenaline flooding his wolf’s body. They’d been in battles before where he hadn’t expected to survive. They might not win this one, but he and Ares had never backed down. This was the only time they functioned as a team.

If they lived, Ares would go right back to being a jerk. 

Right now, Corbin would welcome that possibility.

The bear dipped low in the front and leaped.

Ares ran forward, dropped low, and lunged.

Still in motion, the grizzly’s eyes rounded in disbelief at the aggressive move.

Ares twisted as he went airborne, his jaws wide open, and latched onto the side of the bear’s throat. He let his body drop to hang like dead weight. The grizzly rocked his head from side to side and lifted a paw, trying anything to knock off Ares.

Corbin felt the jarring yank that should have ripped Ares’ jaws open but didn’t.

Dagger’s bear hit the ground and batted Ares away with an arm as thick as Corbin’s body. Ares had unlatched his jaws before they reached the ground and bounced away with blood slinging everywhere.

Pain seared Corbin’s senses. The bear had gouged Ares across his ribs. They were bleeding, but so was the grizzly. The gash in the grizzly’s throat poured out a river of blood, but the bear pushed up. Adrenaline would fuel him for a bit longer.  

If Ares could race around and dodge strikes to keep the grizzly moving, the bear would bleed out fast.

Corbin hoped.

Ares stood tall, but Corbin struggled to breathe along with his wolf. His side and lungs burned from the clawed wound.

Functioning on rage alone, the bear charged Ares. 

Corbin advised his wolf, Just stay out of reach.

I will kill this one, Ares replied.

Well, they wouldn’t last long against a damn bear.

Even bleeding out, that grizzly could barrel into Ares and knock him off his legs. With one deep swipe across his soft underbelly, the bear would drag Ares’ entrails out.

Game over.

Dagger’s bear attacked, and Ares evaded a strike but put no distance between them. He instead ran around and bit down on the bear’s lower leg, ripping tendons when he jerked his head.

The grizzly kicked out with his other rear leg, catching Ares in his right side.

Mother, that hurt!

Damn wolf kept jumping back and forth, jaws open to find another spot he could tear open.

The grizzly had been on the ground, defending himself. He lifted his head and shoulders as Ares came at him, then swung another humongous leg, hitting Ares like a tree limb gone mad. Corbin’s wolf went flying into a jarring roll.

Corbin saw stars. This was it.

Ares could hardly breathe and fought to stand. He would not die lying down.

Corbin clenched against the pain they suffered.

They’d survived the worst life imaginable growing up. Daily inhumane treatment at the hands of their Romanian captor, while forced to kill other shifters who murdered for fun had savaged his soul. No innocent humans or shifters were killed, but even a justified death cut deeply into Corbin’s soul. 

Was this how it all ended? He’d gotten his hopes up for a new life. A real life where maybe they could mend the damage done over so many years.

Ares pissed him off every waking minute, but Corbin didn’t want him to die this way. His wolf had reason to hate everyone, including Corbin.

Through blurred vision, he watched the bear struggle until he lifted all that weight off the ground. He took a step forward and went down on his front legs. Blood oozed from his jaws with every snarl.

He shoved up again and came like a drunken elephant for Ares.

When the grizzly got within two feet of striking, Corbin prepared to feel the final blow. He told Ares, You did your best.

I am not done.

Corbin would have laughed if he’d been in human form. Arrogant son of a bitch.

Standing still, the grizzly stared down at Ares. The skin around his bloody mouth pulled back to a vicious grin. Blood soaked the coat below his throat. How was that bear still moving?

The bear’s uninjured rear leg gave out, dropping him into a lopsided sit.

Ares returned the grin by pulling the skin back along his jaws and showing off his own bloody fangs. He acted as if his life fluid did not flow from the wound on his side.

Grin gone, the grizzly lifted a paw and pulled it to the side to swing with all his might for the killing blow.

Ares tried to move backward, but he couldn’t. His legs started to buckle. He widened his open jaws, ready to bite that claw.

The bear’s arm hung in the air, then moved forward. Halfway to Ares, that mountain of brown fur crashed over on its side.

Hell. Corbin told his wolf, Damn good fight.

I know.

Hard to compliment an egotistical wolf. Corbin said, Give me the body.

Safer with me.

Miserable wolf! Corbin suffered the physical hurt along with Ares and had run out of patience long ago. Whimpers near the tree reminded him that the woman he’d come to rescue had to be even more traumatized after that battle. Ares glanced over. She hugged her legs against her chest and sobbed.

Corbin couldn’t take much more of this. You can’t help her, but I can. Give me the body!

Ares snarled. We will not shift again soon. You kill us both.

Yes, they’d pushed too many changes too quickly. They’d have to wait an hour or more to shift again or risk not completing the change.

Corbin had no choice. He had to take that woman to safety, anywhere but here. I didn’t question you when I handed you the body.

Because I am superior.

Right now, the only superior skill that wolf had over Corbin’s human body was faster healing. Ares could not carry the woman anywhere. The cut on his wolf’s right side had stopped bleeding and begun to close enough for them to shift without adding even more damage to what they suffered. 

Corbin and the woman could move out as soon as he returned to human form and determined if she could walk at all.

With no idea how much time they had to put a mile or more between them and the slumbering bear shifter, Corbin gambled and began forcing the shift. If his wolf refused to help, Corbin could end up falling to the ground with a mix of wolf and human parts. Then they’d both be in dire straits.

Ares needed his energy as much as Corbin needed his wolf’s. 

He had not seen other shifters stuck in a change, but Ares had tried taking the body once when Corbin refused to let the wolf out. He shuddered to think back on that nightmare.

Ares yelled in Corbin’s head, Who stuck me with a stupid human half? In the next few seconds, he thankfully pushed energy to force the change along faster.  

As soon as Corbin became fully human again, the pain ratcheted up to a new level of misery. He sucked in air as he hurried to grab his pants and boots from the backpack. With those on, he found the long-sleeved green pullover he’d tossed aside earlier. Lifting his right arm sent pain racing through his banged-up ribs, but having the shirt on might help stanch the blood flow.

When he reached the woman who sat like a ball of shivering arms and legs, he spoke softly. “Hey, there. Let’s get you out of here.”

She’d been staring ahead but stopped moving.

They had to get going quickly, but he needed her cognizant of her surroundings first. He dropped down on one knee. “I’m Corbin. I’m with a team here to rescue you.”

She looked at him with confusion. “Are you … human?”

Seeing any woman in shock and terrified hurt him. He’d like to soothe her with the words she wanted to hear, but he made a point of not lying to females. He could not promise she’d survive this if he didn’t. Men were another story. He had his own set of rules for life. “I’m a shifter in human form now, but the wolf you saw fighting the bear is part of me too.”

The best part, Ares interjected.

He’d give her twenty seconds, then he might have to drag her out of here. Adrian and Ladrón could come back to figure out this mess. He had no idea if there were more kidnappers in this ring, and every second sitting here sent dread crawling up his spine.

She blinked hard as if trying to wipe away the horror clouding her mind. Pale blue eyes stared at him with confusion. He’d once fallen hard for a girl with unusual aqua-blue eyes.

He’d never seen that color since.

A cursed color that starred in his nightmares.

Twenty seconds were up. “I’m going to cut the rope loose, okay?”

No response.  

He withdrew a switchblade that had been strapped inside his pants pocket with elastic and thanked Jaz for her forethought again. He first cut the rope end tied to the tree, hoping the idea of being free would lessen the grip terror had on her. With no words from her yet, he slowly reached for the rope around her waist. He slipped his finger between the coarse rope and her torn shirt to give him room to cut without harming her.

She flinched, and he felt sick to his stomach.

He’d never frightened a woman. “I’m sorry.” She might believe him if he hadn’t sounded irritated. He couldn’t help it. If any more shifters showed up, he could not hand Ares the body again yet.

Tears ran down her face. “No, I’m sorry. I’m, uh …”

Relieved at her talking, he supplied, “Shook up? That’s understandable. You’ve been through an awful time here, but I’m getting you out of this place. What’s your name?” He knew her name but wanted to keep her distracted with easy-going dialogue. He finished slicing through the rope and pulled it away from around her waist.

She whispered, “Judith.”  

“I’m Corbin. Nice to meet you.”

Ares casually said, Bear waking. You want to fight this one?     

What? Corbin swung around to find the first bear shifter still lying on the ground with claws poking out of his meaty hands covered in black fur from where he’d stopped in mid-shift. His distorted mouth moved, and he clenched his jaws.

Ares snickered.

No. Don’t wake up, Corbin silently begged the universe. He stood and reached for the woman’s hands. “Let’s go.”

She clamped his hands, and he pulled her to her feet. She took a step, limped, and whimpered. “My ankle is hurt.”

Corbin still needed forty-five minutes to heal enough to battle. At least she didn’t require clothes. He had no time to spare. “I’ll carry you.” He tossed her onto his left shoulder in a fireman’s hold and said, “Stay quiet.”

Hurrying as much as possible with pain stabbing him, he swung around and headed back the way Ares had come in. He’d like to have his gun, but he’d left it and his comm unit where he’d shifted. With every second counting, he had no time to search the area.  

Even if he did, the damn tranqs had barely affected that bear.

The slumbering shifter let out a loud snarl and shook his head, clearly waking up.

Judith screeched a terrified squeal. His muscles clenched against the shrill sound.

An understandable reaction, but not helpful right now. Corbin took a quick glance to see how fast the shifter was coming around. Dark eyes in the shifter’s distorted head filled with the promise of a bloody death. He ground out a sluggish roar but with energy building. 

She passed out. Finally, a gift from the universe.

Corbin could feel warm liquid seeping down the side of his chest from his worst gash. Should he spend time hunting for the gun? Would the tranq slow down a disoriented shifter? Not worth the gamble.

Where were Ladrón and Adrian? Had Ladrón been in more trouble than a snagged rope? Corbin would call them if he had his comm unit, but that was with the backpack.

Corbin asked Ares, Can you do anything to heal our wound quicker?

I can heal any wound when I have the body.

You do realize that bear shifter will catch up with me soon, right? Corbin bit out at the annoying wolf.

Because you are not as fast as me.

Corbin fought his way through thick brush and low branches. He tried to reason with Ares again. I’m asking for help healing so we can survive.

Maybe I am ready to die.

Corbin's book is coming out September 23, 2025. Preorder at the retailers listed below.