Page 25 of Watch Me

“Last time you touched me it didn’t go so well,” Channing snapped her teeth, and I noticed there was blood at the corner of her mouth, and Zac was missing the tip of one finger.

Good for her.

Zac visibly paled at her words and leaned away, but kept the knife at her neck. The right side of his face was freshlyscarred from my attack the day before. Or was it early this morning? I’d lost track of time with everything going on.

Outside, I heard the sounds of a fight and hoped it was Kono and Rel taking out the fourth guy. There was a bear snarling, then it cut off, followed by a howl, and I knew we were down to their new Alpha. The three of us stepped closer.

“I mean it, I’ll cut her throat,” Zac warned, and I saw the blade cut into the flesh just above her collarbone.

The idiot didn’t have his knife in the right place. And it was only a shitty steak knife. Still, we all stopped our movement.

For once, I wanted to shift and ask what his plan was. There were five of us and only one of him. Or maybe I could talk him down? I was about to shift when a new sight made my blood run cold.

Through the open back door, a large red bear filled the doorway and I froze. Did Rel and Kono not win? No. That would mean they were too hurt to stop the bear from coming back for their Alpha’s pathetic ass.

Zac saw the bear and grinned. He lowered the knife as the bear squeezed through the doorway. “Good, you finally joined us. Kill these three while I get the girl out.”

The bear burst forward and I moved in front of Ricky, expecting the attack. But no claws met my flesh. Zac screamed and I turned to see the bear had him on the ground. It was tearing into his flesh when I caught the scent. This was a female alpha bear, not one of Zac’s men.

Janessa was helping us take out her brother. Using the four-inch daggers at the end of her paws, she tore at his stomach while his arms started to shift.

Fowler shifted beside us and ran to untie Channing. Seeing the danger of getting between two bears, I moved to get between them and my packmates who were vulnerable in human bodies.

Ricky joined me, creating a barrier between us and the bears, who took up all of the space in the room. Fowler got Channing loose and was helping her to the back door when Janessa reared up on her hind legs. Her ears touched the ceiling before she brought her weight down on Zac, who was still only half shifted.

He screeched until she bit down on his skull and we slipped out the door. I tore my eyes away to find Kono shifted back beside Rel and a bloody body shifting back to human form.

Ricky ran to his friend, running his nose along Rel’s flank where there were four claw marks. He licked at the wound and Kono frowned like it was unsanitary.

“How did he get hurt?” Fowler asked, holding a weak Channing up beside him.

“The guy shifted as he came out the back door. We had him injured, but he caught Aurelius,” Kono gestured to Rel’s injury. “Then Janessa showed up and distracted him.”

Shifting back myself, I growled at Kono, “And you let her inside?”

“She said she would help,” Kono told me without changing his expression besides the raise of one eyebrow. “And I was too busy checking on your omega to stop her shifting into a massive bear.”

My jaw tightened at the excuse, because Rel was an omega and should have been protected. Kono wasn’t pack, anddespite being an alpha, his coyote was no match for a bear. In the end, Janessa did help us.

“Thank you, Kono,” Fowler said before we all turned to watch the bear in question shifting in the doorway before walking outside and down the back steps.

“It’s done,” she said.

She had blood on her face and hands, and a scrap of fabric clung to one wrist. Janessa likely shifted too fast to get undressed. She was naked now, but didn’t appear to care that we could all see her like this. Hell, we were all naked except Channing and Rel, who was still furry.

Ricky shifted and immediately walked over to shake her hand. “Thank you for showing up.”

“We have a long history of killing our predecessor in this pack.” Janessa took a deep breath and held her head high, glancing at Channing. “As reluctant as I was to be part of the pack, to shift at all, it was time to step up.”

“Thanks for coming back,” Channing said, and her voice was stronger than I expected considering how she was barely staying on two feet. “I could tell you were different.”

“Any time, blondie,” Janessa winked at Channing and walked back into the house.

“You’re Alpha now,” Kono called out. “I hope you plan to run the pack better than the men in your family.”

“I have a lot of cleaning up to do before I go back to college next week,” She replied, not looking over her shoulder, eyes on her dead brother. “But I promise things will be better.”

We watched her close the door before looking to Fowler for instructions.