Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(57)

“Our land.”

“Yes, our land! You are trespassing on our property, and for what, Miller? To steal from me again? To clean me out because you aren’t man enough to fend for yourself? You’re too lazy to provide for yourself so you have to prey on other people? Well, f*ck you. You’re not welcome here, and let’s face it. You never really were.”

“He killed my brother!” Miller screamed. Half of his face was covered in red now, but he was a fast healer. He probably wouldn’t bleed out from the head wound. Pity. “Did you hear me? You’re sleeping with your mate’s murderer, you stupid bitch!”

Elyse’s eyebrows arched primly like she gave exactly zero f*cks. “Cole who killed that trapper? Cole who killed that little girl? Cole who cheated on me, stole from me, hurt me, and nearly f*cking starved me because he didn’t want to work when he could drain someone who loved him instead? Ian did the world a favor. Your brother was shit. Just. Like. You. Get out of here before my mate kills you.”

Miller rocked back on his heels and looked back and forth between the two of them.

Ian clenched his hands. They tingled to strangle the life out of him, but Clayton hadn’t given the order for Miller, and killing a shifter un-sanctioned was against their laws and would bring punishment on him and Elyse both.

Miller huffed a laugh that echoed through the clearing, followed by an insane giggle that toppled from his lips as he hunched forward. Hands on his knees, he laughed from his belly, louder and louder until the air shook. “You stupid f*cks.” Miller spat red, but the crazy smile still lingered on his lips. White eyes, red blood, yellow teeth. “Do you feel that?” Miller inhaled loudly and lowered his voice. “Can you smell it? Winter is almost here, and you,” he murmured, locking his inhuman eyes on Ian, “you’re gonna go to sleep for a long time. I told you I was gonna hunt you slow. I told you I was gonna hurt the people you loved.” He backed toward the woods, step by careful step. “Sleep tight, Silver, ’cause when winter comes, I’ll be hunting your girl.”

“Clayton will put a kill order on you,” Ian warned. All he wanted to do was kill Miller now. Rip him limb from limb. Maul him because Miller didn’t deserve the honorable death he’d given Cole. He didn’t want to wait, but he had to. Clayton gave the orders. Clayton was judge and jury.

“Nah, he won’t get to me in time, and some things are just worth it, you know? Like with you. I told you I’d hunt you and anyone you loved if you killed my brother and what did you f*cking do? You tracked him down. Did you think I was joking, Silver? Did you think I was talking to hear myself speak? You aren’t untouchable!” Miller’s voice pitched high and shaky, and he shook his head hard and gripped his hair. “Not untouchable,” he muttered to himself through gritted teeth, slapping the side of his bloody face. Crazy wolf. Miller dragged his narrowed, blazing eyes to Elyse and jammed a finger at her. “I’ll see you soon, pretty bitch.” With one last empty smile, Miller disappeared into the thick grove of trees.

“Ian,” Elyse said in a frightened voice.

“I know,” he said, pacing the tree line.

“Ian!”

“Get inside,” he gritted out, right before he sprinted for the trees.

Waiting on an order from Clayton wasn’t going to work. Ian’s bear was already ripping out of him and seething for Miller’s blood. He’d threatened his mate, and the price for that was death.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ian’s bones snapped and his body reshaped and grew. Dark fur shot out of his skin, prickling like millions of needles, and long, curved, black claws replaced his fingernails. Shaking off the last tingles of the Change, he inhaled deeply and bolted through the woods. A long, lone wolf howl lifted and echoed through the night woods, a taunt that urged an answering snarl from himself. He was going to kill Miller. Hang shifter laws, he was a f*cking McCall, and he was sinking deep into insanity just like all his ancestors. And now, that crazy sonofabitch’s attention was on Elyse in some twisted game of vengeance. Miller couldn’t live another day to plot and plan against everything that meant anything to Ian. He couldn’t be allowed to hurt his Elyse.

Rage pounded through his blood, urging his heart beat faster, like a pounding war drum. Perfect—because this was war.

Ian pushed himself faster through the woods, around pines and western hemlock, yellow cedar and spruce, across the prickling pine needles that blanketed the floor. The moon was half full above him, peeking through the trees and casting the wilderness in blue rays of light that trickled through the canopy.

Miller’s scent was stronger now, and he dug his claws into the earth, pushing his muscles faster. Ian was at his prime at this time of year. Strapped with muscle and power, not yet affected by the fatigue that would come for him soon.

The sound of a car engine revved. No. Ian pushed himself harder, faster, panting as he charged through the woods behind that crazy wolf.

He could see taillights now, and from the open window of an old beat-up, mud-brown Bronco, Miller’s insane laugh cackled. Miller hit the gas just as Ian swiped the back end, sending the SUV spinning. Ian skidded sideways through the loose dirt and scrabbled for traction behind the Bronco.

Miller was accelerating, getting away as Ian dug his claws in and gave chase. He was fast, but Miller had worn a path through the woods where he’d probably parked to steal from Elyse many times, and he was hitting forty miles per hour, then fifty. Fuck!