“I’ll never run from you, Fox. I don’t feel fear when I look at you. I see nothing but a pathetic man who covets what isn’t his to have. You’re not an alpha, and no matter how hard you try to wear the coat of a Packmaster, your pack will never respect you the way they would a true alpha. You’re an embarrassment to our kind.”
He smiled with closed lips and put his arm over the back of his chair, leaning casually toward me. “Ivy, Ivy. We’re peas in a pod, aren’t we? What are you doing with this pack? Or with that Indian Packmaster? Looks like I’m not the only one playing house.” He held up my cane and rolled it between his fingers. “This is just one more thing to add to your dirty-laundry list. No respectable pack will ever accept you as an alpha female. If any man gives you kind words, it’s only for sex. In the end, that’s what we all want, and we’ll say anything to get it. But the way you sat all high and mighty in that Indian’s chair when I came to speak with you was a joke. Holding that spear in your hand like some kind of princess. Don’t you get it? I can give you everything you want without all the bullshit of lies. If you want kids, I’ll give you those. We probably won’t have an alpha since you couldn’t produce one with our firstborn, but I don’t care. Maybe we’ll have a girl.”
Every thought revolted. The idea of this man wanting a girl child sent me over the edge, and I slapped him.
My eyes scanned the room and I saw no sign of Lorenzo. I hadn’t seen him since the night before. I was certain he had left to return to his pack, where he belonged.
Color bloomed on Fox’s cheek, and he grinned wolfishly. “Fighting turns me on. Maybe it’s better if you don’t fight.”
“Speaking of fight,” Austin interrupted, appearing in front of the table, “I think it’s time you and I settle this once and for all.”
Chapter 19
The Blue Door wasn’t prepared for a Shifter battle that day, but the Weston pack was armed to the teeth. When Austin confronted Fox, I moved to get up and Fox snared my wrist. With my free hand, I grabbed my cane and struck him on the head. The silver snout of the wolf left a deep gash, and blood trickled down his forehead in thin rivulets.
Austin pulled out his gun, but before he could aim, Fox flipped the table over and used it as both a shield and a weapon. The gun went off and Fox knocked Austin onto his back. I stood up and drove my cane into Fox’s side, wishing it still had the pointy tip. Shouting, he flung the cane across the room. The air stilled when it clacked against the floor.
“Attack!” Austin shouted, and his words galvanized his men into action. Austin shoved the table away, sending Fox flying backward.
Some of the customers merely watched, as if this were a form of entertainment. One man called for the bartender, and another was throwing punches at anyone who got close.
No one had shifted and it was just fist and brawn.
Several women ran toward the door and Wheeler unlocked it to let them out. After the panicked customers exited the building, Wheeler slid the deadbolts back into place on the top and bottom of the doors.
The staff had specific orders not to kick us out, so they appeared uncertain of how to defuse the situation. The blue-haired bartender slammed his Mage energy into a Shifter’s chest, launching him across the floor.
In a swirl of magic, that Shifter transformed into a black animal made of pure muscle.
“Panther!” someone shouted.
Denver leapt onto the bar and took aim with his gun. The panther lifted his predatory eyes and bared his long fangs at him. He pulled the trigger and a bullet struck the panther in the side, knocking him over. Before Denver could finish the animal off, someone yanked him off the bar by the ankles. A large crash sounded when he fell backward against the liquor bottles and then onto the floor.
Austin must have dropped his gun, because he and Fox were throwing punches at each other. I scanned the floor in search of the weapon.
Two men had pinned Trevor to the ground, and I raced toward him as fast as my body would allow. I grabbed a chair and slammed it over one man’s back.
“Get off him!” I shouted.
When the man spun around, I recognized the Chitah who had smiled at Maizy. He had a crooked nose—the kind a man gets who’s been in a number of fights. But he made no move toward me since Chitahs wouldn’t fight a woman, even if she were stabbing him with a fork.
Which crossed my mind when I glanced at the table beside me.
“You’re on the wrong side,” I said. “Stand back and give us the respect to finish this out.”
He stood up, towering over me by over a foot. “And how do I know which side is the right one?”
Trevor smeared blood across his face with the back of his hand before he scrambled up to help our pack.
“Because if you choose the other side, you’ll be fighting beside a rapist.”
Darkness swallowed up his bright amber eyes, and his upper and lower canines punched out. Chitahs had an internal switch that, when they were provoked, would flip. They didn’t shift into animal form as Shifters did, but their inner animal took control of their human mind and body. When it happened, their eyes would roll black and a unique spotted pattern would erupt across their skin like a mirage.