Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears #4)(10)

Beck held out her hands in a beseeching gesture to the Boarlander alpha. “I guess I just don’t understand why they need to bleed—”

Pop, pop, pop! A pulse of raw power blasted against her skin, and Beck hunched defensively. The dust had kicked up, but it didn’t hide the enormous beast that rose up from the earth.

“Oh my God,” she murmured, straightening slowly.

She’d imagined Mason’s animal as a two-hundred-pound feral hog, but she’d been so wrong. The muscular hump between Mason’s shoulder blades was taller than the bed of his jacked-up truck. Pitch black, coarse fur covered his body, and longer hair spiked up like a Mohawk down his back. Huge barrel chest, smaller back end, glossy black hooves, and when the dust settled enough and he looked over his shoulder at her, Beck’s breath was sucked straight out of her lungs. He had long, curved, razor-sharp tusks and demon-bright blazing eyes full of undiluted rage.

She’d been so wrong. He absolutely stood a chance against these predator shifters because Mason Croy was a beast. Emerson grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the trailer, and then Alison was there, hand on her back, urging her forward faster.

“They’re gonna fight,” Beck murmured, stunned.

“Yep, that’s what they do.”

“But they’re friends,” Beck argued. “Friends don’t fight.”

Alison and Emerson shared a loaded look, and they all hunched under the deafening roar of a grizzly.

“Shit,” Alison muttered. “Run now. They aren’t careful brawlers.”

In horror, Beck realized what she meant when a loud clash of animals locked in battle swung their way. Panicked, Beck bolted beside the girls and took the porch stairs two at a time. She froze in the doorway as Audrey’s white tiger leapt onto the boar. Bash’s black-furred grizzly burst from him, and he charged with a speed that was dizzying. “Three against one,” she murmured. “That’s not right.” Not fair. She should Change and help, but what difference could she make in a battle like this? Her animal wasn’t like theirs.

“Not three against one,” Emerson rushed out. “Bash and Audrey are trying to keep them from killing each other. Clinton has been on a tear since Mason left. He has no control. And Mason feels…” She shook her head. “He doesn’t feel right.”

Harrison was in the fight now, and Kirk had Changed into a massive silverback, pacing the outskirts on long, powerful arms and legs, his eyes blazing gold.

Beck couldn’t decipher who was winning. The white gravel road was speckled with blood, and the roaring of the bears rattled the park. They were all so fast, so lethal, their movements blurred, she only got flashes of the battle. Audrey with her claws sunk deep into Clinton’s back. Bash swiping a massive claw at Mason’s front hooves just before he lunged his tusks into Clinton’s exposed belly. Bear slaps echoed through the trailer park and then, in an instant, it was done.

Harrison shrank into his human form and yelled, “Change back. Now!”

The result was instantaneous as Clinton and Bash shrank back into their human skin with pained grunts. Audrey, too, but Mason refused, lifted his tusks higher, and glared down Harrison.

“Please,” the alpha said breathlessly, putting pressure on his bleeding hip.

Mason shrank back but landed hard on his knees.

“Fuck!” Clinton yelled, gripping the underside of his right arm. Red streamed through his fingers as he glared at Mason, then struggled to his feet. “You did this. You made this place Hell, just like I knew it always would be. It wasn’t the girls who screwed us. It was you! You’re the reason Bash can’t smile anymore. You’re the reason Harrison’s so quiet. You’re the reason none of us can look at your damned trailer without feeling empty, why the girls won’t say your name, why Kirk can’t stop his Changes.” He jammed his crimson-soaked finger at Mason. “You’re the reason my chest hurts. I didn’t break the Boarlanders. You did.” Clinton spat red, and with fury in his silver eyes, he strode off toward the trailer across the street with the burns in the yard.

Mason disappeared behind his truck, and when he reappeared, Harrison was following closely behind. Mason wore his jeans, but his shirt was still MIA. He yanked Beck’s belongings out of the back and strode toward the porch she stood on.

“Clinton’s having a hard time,” Harrison said.

“Yeah, and you think I meant for any of this to happen?” Mason barked out, rounding on the alpha. He looked from one face to the other as the Boarlanders gathered around in a loose half-circle, tugging on clothes, averting their gazes, completely silent.

“You think I’m hurting you on purpose? Really? My animal is so f*cked up right now I have no control. All I want to do is fight and wash away everything that’s going on in my head, and I’m stuck feeling all this shit I don’t know how to deal with. My time here made that harder. It made me too soft. I wasn’t trying to hurt you!” Mason shook his head and looked like he was about to retch. He lowered his voice. “I was trying to protect you.”

Slowly, Mason set her luggage at the bottom of the stairs and dragged a hollow gaze to Beck. “I can’t be your driver. I’m sorry.”

With that, he spun on his heel and strode back to his truck, then peeled out of Boarland Mobile Park, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Leaving a trail of friends in his wake. Leaving Beck with a strange hole in her middle that felt as if it would never be filled again.