No way could any man hit that hard. Her lover wasn’t human. The realization rolled through her, brought home by the evidence of her eyes. He was something out of myth and legend, a creature labelled a monster in modern film and literature. But she didn’t care.
She didn’t care what Creed was, bear or human, or something in between. He was hers, all hers…just as she’d always wanted him to be. Warmth filled the center of her chest, tempered with panic. The man she loved could die, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The tension and worry would kill her.
Harrison staggered to the side, shaking his head. The last blow had obviously rattled him and his balance was off.
“Go down, you fucking asshole,” Lilly urged with a mutter, her fists clenched. “Learn your fucking lesson and stay down.”
It seemed the big bear heard her and obeyed. His back legs folded under him and he sat heavily, a surprised expression on his face. It was almost comical.
Creed backed off, dancing lightly on his feet with his guard still up. He didn’t take his eyes off his opponent for a second. The crowd all looked around to Dean Sterling sitting on the other side of the pit from Lilly and Kait.
Now she knew he was a bear, and the leader of the clan, Kait easily recognized the aura of command that lay over his shoulders like a mantle. If she hadn’t known about bears, she would have attributed it to his time in the army. But now she knew the source was something else. The creature inside him.
Dean rose to his feet, his expression set in forbidding lines as he looked down into the pit. Harrison remained on his ass, swaying slightly from side to side with the confused expression on his face.
“Since Harrison looks to be unable to continue the fight,” Dean announced, his deep voice easily reaching those who stood at the back. “I declare Creed the winner.”
A cheer went up from most of the crowd, a few of Harrison’s supporters muttering and turning away in disgust. Relief exploded through Kait and she moved forward to the edge of the pit as Creed turned to walk toward her.
Movement behind him caught her eye and she screamed a warning as cunning returned to Harrison’s eyes and he surged forward to swipe lethal looking claws over Creed’s unprotected back.
* * *
“No! Creed, watch out!”
Kait’s scream brought Creed’s head up a moment before fire exploded across his back in four thin lines. He roared, his bear given voice as agony enveloped him and he whirled around. But something was off, and he staggered to the side. Crap. Trying to right himself didn’t work. He simply staggered again as though he’d been out on a three-day bender.
“What the fuck?”
The evil glint in Harrison’s eyes gave it away and he realized the fight had never been about Kait. It had never been about the hierarchy in the clan, or claiming rights. It was about the fact he was a half-skin, and an enforcer. It was about Anderson and Harrison’s elitist agenda.
“The bastard used Carve!” Lilly dropped into the pit next to him, her beast in her voice and fur already flowing over her exposed skin.
Carve? Crap, no wonder he couldn’t stand up straight.
“You want to poison someone, asshole?” Lilly snarled, backing Harrison up into a corner. “How about you try that on me?”
“And me.” The Itan dropped down into the pit next to her, his broad back becoming broader as the two bears got between Harrison and his target.
Creed tried to go for him but his left leg wouldn’t cooperate, the poison filtering through his system. Shudders racked his body and he dropped to the mud floor of the pit, all his muscles contracting and releasing in chaotic unison. His heart raced, pumping blood and the poison around his system. Carve was deadly, so he didn’t have long. Instead of panicking and fighting it though, he simply accepted his imminent demise and turned to look up at Kait.
Her eyes were wide, fear in their tear-filled depths. Without a thought for her own safety, she scrambled down the side of the pit and raced over to him. Dropping to her knees, she gathered him up into her arms.
His Kait. His mate, if only for one night. At least he’d made her his own, his bite on her neck and, if the fates were kind, she might even be carrying his cub. The thought pleased him and he managed a smile. She’d be a fierce mama, protecting her cubs, unlike his own mother, who’d simply abandoned him here and fled. A helpless child without any idea who his parents had been.
“Creed, no! Please, you have to be alright.” Her voice was broken as she wiped mud from his cheek. “You can’t leave me. You have to fight. You’ve always fought…so fight for us now. Please? I love you.”
Lying there, in her arms, Creed finally felt at peace. For years, he’d waited for Kait to look at him the way she did now. And she loved him. Emotion burst through his body, his heart the epicenter of the storm. Pity it was finally happening as Carve filtered through his system, killing him from the inside out. Heat rolled through him in a flash fire, burning the inside of his veins as something surged up from deep within him to just under his skin.
But then he didn’t feel pain. Oh shit, no pain meant things were bad. Really bad. Not wanting to close his eyes, he watched Kait and lifted a hand to smooth her hair from her face.
“I’ve always loved you, Kait. Ever since the moment I first saw you.”
His admission was soft, but not as thready as he’d expected. Wasn’t Carve supposed to shut down the central nervous system or something? If anything, the pain was receding and he felt good. Certainly better than any dying man had a right to feel.
She smiled through her tears. “You certainly took your time telling me. Why?”
He shrugged. “You were Mark’s sister. Off limits.”
“Fucking stupid me and your honor code!” She swore. “Didn’t you ever think to ask me what I wanted. All these years… I’d never have left if I thought…”
She bit her lip looking away. Surging upward, Creed caught her around the nape with a big hand. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t have left? Left Lizard Lick for the city, you mean?”
She nodded, meeting his eyes. “After Mark, I didn’t want to be here. Everyone told me it was best to make a clean break… But if you’d have asked me, I’d have stayed. But I didn’t think you saw me that way. I thought you just saw me as Mark’s irritating kid sister. A brat.”
He chuckled, thumb stroking her neck softly as he sat up with her in his arms, cradling her smaller body with his. “You are a brat. But no, I never saw you as a kid.”
“Creed?” she asked, hands splayed out over his chest, her gaze intent on him.
“Yes, love?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be ill or something?”
He blinked, then looked down at himself. Shit, she was right. He felt better than he had in years.
“See? See! It wasn’t Carve!” Harrison all but screamed, his face pale as he gestured at Creed. “How could he be on his feet if it was Carve? He’d be deader than a dodo!”
His voice brought Creed back to the matter at hand and he rolled to his feet, levelling a murderous expression on Harrison. Urging Kait out of harm’s way, he stalked toward the guy, only stopping to slide a sideways glance at Dean.
“He’s mine.”
The Itan shrugged and spread his arms. “He attacked while your back was turned. He’s all yours.”
The Itan turned away. Lilly looked Harrison up and down before nodding curtly. “May your soul be welcomed with loving arms.”
“What?” Harrison babbled as the two bears walked to the edge of the pit and hauled themselves out, Dean boosting Kait up to Lilly. “No, no, no…you can’t leave me here with him. It wasn’t Carvix. It was horse sedative mixed with rat poison. Just something to slow you down.”
Was it fuck. He didn’t trust a word that came out this lying little asshole’s mouth.
“Makes no difference,” he growled, and anger boiled within him. This piece of shit had tried to end him. Why didn’t matter. How, or the fact that it hadn’t worked, didn’t matter. What mattered was that he hadn’t managed it…
Creed grinned nastily.
“You’ve had your fun. Now it’s my turn.”
The change ripped over him in less than a heartbeat. Fire raced through him, his body contorting as it snapped from one shape to another. Within an instant, he went from a six-foot two-hundred-pound guy to over four hundred pounds of pissed off werebear as he advanced on the terrified Harrison.
“Please, no, don’t hurt me…” the smaller man whimpered, eyes wide and no hint of his bear in them at all. Obviously the creature had decided it wanted no part of the retribution that was coming Harrison’s way.
Creed roared, jaws wide, and swiped. His massive paw cut the air, lethal claws heading for Harrison’s face. At the last minute he pulled the blow, parting the skin almost delicately. Surgically. Something deep inside told him that, with whatever the little bastard had used on him still in his system, the claw marks would scar. They’d always be there for everyone to see. For everyone to know that Harrison had tried and failed. That he’d been found wanting and begged for his life.
Standing, Creed folded his bear easily back within himself. “Fuck off, Harrison, and remember today. Remember you owe me your life.”