Boarlander Boss Bear (Boarlander Bears #1)(37)

Holy shit, she was beautiful. This whole time, her entire life, Audrey had been hiding a badass brawler beast inside of her.

Clinton went down hard and froze on the ground. Smart grizzly because Audrey’s long teeth were clamped on his neck. One twitch of her head and she could end him.

In a rush, Harrison shrank back to his human form and called out, “Audrey, don’t! It’s over now. Let him up.”

She hesitated for a terrifying moment, then released him and slunk gracefully back toward Harrison, placing herself between him and Clinton. Brave, protective mate.

Clinton dragged his maimed body upward until all four paws were splayed on the ground. His fur was striping with wet crimson, and he swayed on his feet.

“I retract my challenge for Second,” Bash said, crossing his arms over his bare chest as he leveled Harrison with a steady, bright-eyed look. “Call it.”

Rocked to his core, Harrison dragged his gaze from Clinton to the white tiger with her lips curled back in a hiss, exposing long, razor sharp canines that dripped red.

Beaston had been right. She’d bled Clinton.

Softly, Harrison murmured, “Audrey takes Second.”





Chapter Sixteen




Second? She wasn’t even a Boarlander, and that wasn’t what she’d meant to do at all. She’d only meant to protect Harrison from Clinton’s unexpected attack.

She’d seen Clinton’s eyes as he’d charged Harrison, who had his focus on her and getting her to safety, instead of Changing to defend himself. It was so messed up that Clinton would charge his alpha while he was in human form. Her fury had spurred on a quick Change the second she’d decided to protect Harrison. He’d been attacked like that before by his dad, and she would be good-goddamned if she was going to stand by and watch that happen again.

Clinton shrank into his human skin with a grunt of pain, and Audrey winced at what she’d done to him. She’d never let loose like that before, but he’d hurt her, too. The sting of claw marks and puncture wounds zinged up her nerve endings, and her ribcage was too warm, too wet.

“What have you done?” he asked her through gritted teeth. Clinton turned and limped toward his trailer.

“Clinton!” Harrison barked out.

“I’m leaving!” Clinton yelled over his shoulder. “I should’ve left the minute she came around, but I didn’t. I gave you a chance to fix this, and now she’s our damned Second? Hell no.”

Leave? Clinton couldn’t leave. Already, Harrison was cursing under his breath, bent over, arms locked on his knees like he was being gutted.

Audrey bolted after Clinton. When Mason came out of his trailer and stood in her way, she snarled. He lifted his hands in surrender and backed out of the way. Good pig.

Kirk sat on top of Mason’s trailer in his gorilla form, tension oozing from him, eyes zeroed in on Clinton as the injured idiot made his way into the next singlewide.

“Audrey, let him be,” Bash said half-heartedly from behind. Maybe if Harrison had given the order, she would have to obey him, she didn’t know, but Bash was easy to ignore. She wasn’t hunting Clinton. She was trying to help him.

She skidded to a stop, her wide paws going flat against the gravel as she slid. Heaving breath, she closed her eyes and Changed back. It wasn’t instant, or even quick. In fact, it took too damned long and felt like she’d injected every cell of her body with gasoline and lit a match, but she had to fix this.

With a sob of pain, she stumbled upward and sagged against the splintered railing of Clinton’s porch. Her body hurt, and not just from the Change. She was healing some massive claw marks on her side, and as she forced her legs up the stairs, wetness dripped down her hip. Clinton had left a blood trail. She’d hurt him. She gagged and steadied herself on the door handle, then shoved the door open.

“Clinton?” she called in a hoarse voice.

“Fuck off, Second.” His pissed-off snarl came from the bedroom on the other side of the kitchen, so she padded unsteadily in there. At the open doorway, she halted. Clinton was packing a duffle bag.

“You can’t leave.”

“Well, I sure as shit can’t stay!”

“Clinton, this isn’t what I want! I didn’t even know I was fighting for Second. I was just trying to keep you off Harrison until he could Change. Until it would be fair.”

“Yeah, I know.” Clinton gritted his teeth and clamped his hands onto the unmade bedspread, clutching the comforter in his fists. “I shouldn’t have attacked him.” He dragged his bright gaze to her. “I’m not okay with you around. I can’t do this.”

“Please don’t run.”

“Don’t you know? That’s what I do. Crew to crew.”

“And where does it stop? When do you decide this is it for you? That it’s enough? Clinton, you’ll hurt Harrison if you go. He’s put up with all your shit, with you pushing his damned crew away, and he did that for you. So he could keep you.”

“Audrey?” Bash asked from the front room.

“No!” She and Clinton both yelled.

“Okay,” Bash said in a small voice, then slammed the door behind him.

“Look,” Clinton said, looking sick. “It’s not you. It’s me.”