Killing the feral.
Meanwhile, the feral was gearing up to kill Ronan.
To the death? So be it.
The Lupine suddenly launched himself straight at Ronan. Ronan opened his big arms and let him come.
The wolf landed against Ronan's chest, claws digging into human skin. Ronan endured it for the few seconds it took him to shift.
The Lupine now found himself inside the grip of a two-ton Kodiak bear.
The crowd went crazy. Ronan had told Elizabeth that he'd been nervous with all the Shifters watching him when he'd first come to Austin. Now he had to ignore a hundred Shifters surrounding him and shouting for blood. He made himself shut them out and focus on the wolf.
Ronan's strength was, well, his strength, and he used it to crush the feral between his huge paws. The Lupine twisted, and faster than Ronan could have guessed he'd be able to, tore himself out of Ronan's grasp. The Lupine landed on his feet, mouth open as he leapt for Ronan's throat.
Ronan roared, paws coming out to stop the leap, but the wolf moved like smoke to close on Ronan and sink his teeth into Ronan's neck. Ronan shook himself like a dog, but the Lupine held on, his body flopping.
The crowed shouted, and Elizabeth cried his name. The sound of her voice galvanized him. Ronan grabbed the wolf and yanked him away, feeling his own fur and flesh come away in the Lupine's teeth.
The wolf landed on all fours. Ronan rose up on his hind legs, roaring again, fur rising on his ruff, a Kodiak at his most intimidating.
Ronan came down and charged the wolf. Ronan's Collar sparked, but his fury didn't let him feel it. He went for the wolf, who suddenly wasn't in the spot he'd occupied a second ago.
The bastard could move. Ronan swung around. The wolf was waiting, but evidently thought Ronan's bulk would slow him more than it did. Ronan's blow caught him on the side of the head, even as the wolf danced aside.
The watchers roared. The noise swelled louder and louder, until Ronan could hear nothing but it and the crackling of his Collar. He ran at the wolf again, who was feinting and snapping. Ronan's animal was taking over, lust for the kill overcoming all reason, but the human part of him still felt the Collar.
This is going to hurt like a bitch, was Ronan's last coherent thought before he charged.
Chapter Fifteen
Pablo Marquez heard the noise of the fighting long before he reached the barn at the top of the hill, the edgy roar of people in a blood frenzy.
He and his four bodyguards had had to park at the end of a long line of cars on the dirt road and hike up to the door of the huge barn. A massive number of people and Shifters crowded around one of the rings inside, no other fights going on.
A large Shifter stepped in his path. Pablo recognized him as one of the Shifters who'd come to the body shop, the black-haired one called Nate. "No weapons," Nate said. "You gotta leave your guns in your car."
Rules of the fight clubs. But the space between Pablo's shoulder blades was itching, a sign he'd always learned to heed. His instincts had saved his ass more than once. At the moment, they were telling him to keep his gun close at hand. "We're not going in," he said to Nate. "Just tell me who's fighting."
"A bear called Ronan, and a feral Lupine. Don't know his name."
Mother of God. What was Julio doing? "Stop the fight. The Lupine's mine."
Nate narrowed his eyes. "Shifters fight by their choice, not for someone else."
"Yeah, well, that Shifter's insane and doesn't know what he's doing. My brother's running him, and he has no right to. The Shifter belongs to me."
Nate didn't move, but Pablo felt the man's anger like a cold front. "No one owns a Shifter."
"My brother thinks he does. Stop the damn fight."
"It's against the rules."
"Cristo." Pablo started to say more, but he sensed, rather than saw, shadows under the trees to the left of the barn. He signaled his guards to follow and noticed, distractedly, that the Shifter faded back inside the barn, out of sight.
"Julio," Pablo said as he approached his younger brother. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
His brother detached himself from a fairly large group of men, some Latino, some white. "Oh, good," Julio said. "I was hoping you'd come."
"Idiota. You cost me the biggest deal I was ever going make in this town. To do what? Run my Shifter and try to get back at that girl? Let it go. If you make me lose the bail money because you do something stupid, I will beat you until you can't stand."
"You're running scared from Shifters, man," Julio said, his voice filled with disgust. "You backed down from them. You let them do what they wanted."
"I didn't back down because I was scared, you shit. I've learned how to weigh risk with reward. The risks in this case are too great, and I'm not going to get a big reward going up against a bunch of Shifters."
"Whatever, man. It's another way to say you let them walk all over you. I think you aren't strong enough for this business now. So I'm taking it."
"Don't be such a dumb-ass." Pablo glanced at the white man who had a big, shining Sig in a holster under his jacket. "Who the hell is this?"
Julio started to speak, but the man forestalled him. "The name's Casey. Zach Casey. I don't really give a damn which of you wins this family spat, but Julio says if he wins it, I get my girlfriend back. Thanks for finding her."
Pablo looked him up and down in impatience. Another person who couldn't cut their losses. Elizabeth Chapman, or Rachel Sullivan, whatever you wanted to call her, had left this S.O.B. six years ago. Move on, already.
Julio had his hand on his holster. "You were the dumb-ass to come out here, bro," he said to Pablo. "All I had to do was have one of Zach's crew call you and tell you I was running your feral in the fights, and you came charging out here to stop me. So let's talk."
"Yeah, let's," Pablo said. "Somewhere a little more private."
"Fine by me." Julio nodded at one of his crew. "Take his gun."
The guy stepped forward. Pablo didn't move, but he didn't have to. His own men got in front of him, ready for a fire fight.
Julio didn't look as afraid as he should have. "If you come fight for me," he said to Pablo's men, "I'll let you work for me on the same terms as you did for Pablo. If not, I'll shoot you alongside him. You're outnumbered. You want to die tonight?"
Pablo knew full well that most of his crew worked for him for money. There was some friendship, sure; but in the long run, they worked for Pablo because he paid them well. What surprised him was not that two of the men immediately went over to join Julio and Zach, but that two of them stayed.