“You don’t speak to me,” Fiona said, eyes livid. “How dare you—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Layla yelled, fury blasting through her like a grenade. Red tinged everything. Red gorillas, red Fiona. “You are so desperate to keep Kong at your beck and call.” She dragged her gaze across the gorillas inching closer out of the trees. “Are any of you happy? Are you? Are you so weak you would put a monster like Fiona on a pedestal and allow her to make all the decisions for your lives? How many of you has she broken? Huh? How many! Are you happy with the family groups she places you in, or do you wish you could choose your own? Do you wish it was about more than just some scientific chart that shoves you together regardless of your feelings? Regardless of your similar interests? Kong chose me. Me! He doesn’t want to be with you, doesn’t want to head a family group. He doesn’t want to breed mindlessly. He’s happy with me. And P.S.,” she snapped at Fiona. “I tainted his seed, like, ten times already.”
Fiona clenched her fists and crossed her arms. Her eyes blazed the color of snow, contrasting eerily with the darkness around her. “Bring her out.”
The back door of her sedan opened, and a man emerged, dragging a shorter woman by the arm.
“Kong!” The woman screamed past a swollen, bloody lip. “Don’t you dare give into them!”
Something powerful blasted through the air an instant before Kong lifted his arms into the air. His skin ripped apart, bones breaking as an enormous gorilla exploded from his skin. He slammed his closed fists onto the ground and shook the earth beneath her feet so hard Layla stumbled backward.
The man shoved the woman, Kong’s mother, to the ground and gripped the back of her hair. A pained sound wrenched from her throat.
Beaston stepped forward beside Layla. “We sure do appreciate you bringing the mother of the Kong so we don’t have to track her down.”
“You’ll watch her die,” Fiona spat out. “Stupid silverback. You’ve just killed all of your little friends. Do you think I give a shit that you’re surrounded by a handful of grizzlies right now? You’re outnumbered a hundred to one!”
Layla panted in horror as she watched Kong’s towering form pace in front of the Gray Backs, eyes on his mom. His massive shoulders flexed with each step he took, and his ebony lips pulled back to expose three inch long canines. He was bigger than the other gorillas by a head at least.
“Oooh, look at those pretty markings,” Willa said as she approached Kong slowly. She jerked her chin. “Look at that gray back. You want to hear something terrifying about the Gray Backs?” Willa asked Fiona through a smile.
A long, prehistoric roar bellowed through the trees and shook the mountains. Birds flew from the evergreen canopy in droves, and the gorillas behind Fiona jumped, screamed, and stumbled backward.
Willa quirked her head. “Gray Backs fall under the protection of the last immortal dragon.” She lifted her voice higher above the rising discord of the screaming, frantic gorillas behind Fiona. “As almost alpha of the Gray Backs—”
Creed sighed and corrected, “Second of the Gray Backs—”
“I claim Kong and his chosen family group as honorary members of this crew. So unless you want to be burned into crispy gorilla bacon and devoured by a grumpy dragon, I think you should release Momma Kong and kindly fuck off.”
Fiona had the good sense to at least look nervous as she yelled, “Kill them all,” behind her at the panicking gorillas.
Fiona’s army shook the trees but didn’t advance any closer.
“Perhaps you didn’t understand her,” Creed drawled out. “So I’ll explain it like this. The Ashe Crew and the Boarlanders are charging through the woods right now, boxing you in. You have maybe two minutes before they’re on you, and then the entirety of your fucked up shifter species will be dead. Dead, Fiona. All for a man who doesn’t want you. He isn’t Kong of the Lowlanders anymore. He’s Kong of the Gray Backs.”
The gorillas behind Fiona were melting back into the forest as Fiona screamed at them to, “Hold your ground!”
Now the woods echoed with the roaring of the bears.
“One minute,” Creed said blandly. “What’ll it be?”
An enormous figure flew overhead, blocking out the moon and bending trees under the powerful beat of its wings.
Beaston shook his head sympathetically beside Layla. “Mad dragon. Had to stitch our Kong back together. He’s going to eat you. Chomp.”
“Shut up,” Fiona said, looking at the sky.
“Chomp,” Beaston said again through a feral smile.