The leg held. The leg held strong enough to stop Rhys knocking Riskin over. It held strong enough to push Riskin back upright and force Rhys a step back. Riskin pushed Rhys off. Rhys broke free and stood off again, but Riskin closed in a heartbeat.
Riskin tried to grapple with Rhys face to face again, but Rhys changed his strategy just as fast. He dropped down on all fours and dashed around Riskin’s flank. He swooped in low and made a grab at Riskin’s hind leg. That leg offered him his best chance to defeat Riskin’s strength and confidence.
Riskin saw him coming, but he didn’t even try to counter that flanking move. He let Rhys move in. At the same moment, Riskin swiped his open jaws and slashed one razor-sharp fang down Rhys’s side. The shaggy fur parted, the white skin split, and the blood-red muscle shredded under that brutal cut.
Rhys never got his teeth around Riskin’s leg. He let out a sickening grunt and jumped clear. He would have stood off the way he did before, but Riskin wouldn’t let him. Riskin snapped his jaws to hound Rhys back. Rhys retreated again and again, all around the yard, before that rabid demon-bear snapping at his heels.
Men scattered in all directions, but Riskin never let up. Rhys yelped like a puppy. Riskin gnashed and snapped. One nip pinched the skin on Rhys shoulder, and Rhys tore Riskin’s teeth out to leap clear. Riskin slashed his open mouth in Rhys’s direction and caught his brother’s chest. He ripped a gaping hole across Rhys’s collarbone, and the flowing blood matted Rhys’s fur.
Briar heard muttered curses coming from all directions.
“Holy canaries! Look at him!”
“Don’t get in his way. Make room.”
“Cripes! I’m getting out of here. This is a bloodbath.”
Briar clenched and unclenched her fists, but she couldn’t relieve her dreadful tension. This fight could end only one way. What made her think she could stand by and watch Riskin kill his own brother? She couldn’t watch this any more than she could watch Rhys kill Riskin. Were Virginia and Addison inside that house right now, watching their own sons fight to the death?
Rhys tried everything to retreat far enough away to round on Riskin again, but Riskin kept after him. He drove him right up against a parked car. Rhys spun around and rose on his hind legs. The two brothers closed in a death grip. Riskin slammed Rhys back against the car so hard that the vehicle rocked on its tires.
Riskin drove in for Rhys’s throat, but Rhys arched his head sideways at the last second so Riskin’s jaws closed on Rhys’s shoulder instead. Riskin’s teeth sank into his brother’s flesh. The hot blood sent him into a foaming rage. He shook his powerful neck side to side while Rhys howled to the heavens.
Their bellowing voices shook the forest. Briar clapped her hands over her ears, but she couldn’t get that noise out of her head. That was the sound of a Bruin dying a terrible, bloody death.
The reality sank into Riskin’s rage-embattled mind. He wasn’t getting a better grip on his brother’s throat. He gave Rhys one massive twist and knocked him off the car. He rode Rhys down to the ground without loosening his bite. Rhys’s back shook the ground when he hit the dust, and Riskin came down on top of him.
Rhys would never get away from Riskin now. Riskin would find a way to sink his bite on his brother’s neck, and that would be it. Briar couldn’t watch. She started to turn away, but the moment Riskin slackened his hold, Rhys reacted.
Rhys thrust his muzzle into the air and rammed Riskin under the chin hard. Riskin’s jaws clicked, and his head flew back. He lunged straight back down for the killing stroke, but Rhys already curled himself into a ball. He tucked his head between his forelimbs, rolled under Riskin’s chest, and tumbled sideways.
He hit Riskin’s legs out from under him on his way through. Riskin landed on his knees, but Rhys already rolled clear and kept on rolling. Riskin sprang up and spun around to follow, but the big bear disappeared in front of his eyes.
In full view of all the onlookers, Rhys shifted on the ground. His limbs straightened out, and his fur vanished into his white skin. The man bounced off the car’s tires and came to rest.
Before Briar could blink, Rhys set his hands on the ground and vaulted onto his feet. His arm swung out, he grabbed a rifle leaning against the fender, and he raised it to his shoulder.
The moment he got to his feet, he steadied the weapon, took aim at the enormous Bruin bearing down on him, and fired. The onlookers froze in mute shock, but Riskin already galloped forward to assault his adversary again. That gun didn’t phase him in the slightest.
The bullet whizzed off Riskin’s shoulder and zipped into the trees. The bear bellowed in pain and rage. He paused for one instant. The next, he thundered across the ground heading straight into the gun’s path. Rhys’s fingers tightened around the trigger to fire again.
Briar couldn’t watch this. She couldn’t watch death stalk these two reflections of the same Bruin force. She had to protect her heart from what happened next, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Her whole destiny played out in front of her eyes.
Voices rose all around her. Men moved in on the fight, but they couldn’t move as fast as Riskin. He hit his brother full force and sent him flying back against the car. Rhys’s body shattered the side window, and the gun fell out of his hand.
Riskin never planned to fight an unarmed man, but the bear understood how to deal with this helpless foe. He swept his paw and flattened Rhys to the ground. He leapt on the fallen man and clamped his jaws around Rhys’s throat. Rhys never got a chance to cry out or make the slightest move to defend himself.
Riskin pinned him to the ground with his weight until Rhys’s prostrate frame stopped moving. Rhys’s head lolled sideways, and he lay still.
Chapter 18
Riskin straddled Rhys’s still form. He balled his hands into fists and his flashing eyes dared any man to step out and face him. He bared his teeth, and he shook the sweat-drenched hair out of his eyes. He swelled out his chest with a big breath and thundered over the landscape. “Who wants to challenge me? Who wants to challenge me as Alpha of this tribe?”
No one moved. No one breathed. Briar’s throat hurt. She couldn’t recognize him. He was Alpha. He was as Alpha as any Bruin could be. No one dared challenge him after that fight.
Riskin spun around. He waved his arms at the assembled men. “Get him out of here. Don’t let me see his face again.”
He strode over to Briar, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Rhys. Blood stained every part of him—every part except his throat. In the haze of fury and bloodlust, Riskin kept his self-control. Rhys’s chest rose and fell in peaceful, subconscious breath. He was still alive.
Men rushed in from all directions. They grabbed Rhys by his arms and legs and heaved him into a truck bed. Vehicles skidded every way at once in their haste to clear out.
Riskin kept his back turned until the last screeching motor dwindled into the distance. Briar fought to breath. “You did it! You beat him.”
He caught his breath and combed his fingers through his hair. He coughed. “Of course, I did. I knew I would. Didn’t I tell you I was stronger? He knew it all along. That’s why he had to cheat.”
Briar started to relax. “His friends won’t give you any trouble. They all saw him. He’ll be humiliated for the rest of his life after the way he acted.”
Riskin let out a shaky breath. “I’m glad that’s over.”
Just then, the house door flew open and Virginia rushed out. She threw her arms around Riskin’s neck and burst into tears. She babbled, but no one could understand a word she said.
Riskin frowned down at her hanging off him, but Briar had to smile. The blessed relief of Riskin’s victory started to sink in. He was home. He was where he belonged.
The tension lifted off the whole Homestead. Rhys’s tyranny no longer overshadowed the place. Virginia could weep on her prodigal son’s neck without worrying about Rhys finding out.
Briar’s smile vanished when Natalie stepped out of the house. Natalie leaned on a
post and watched her mother fawning over Riskin. Riskin managed to pry his mother’s arms off his neck, but when she touched the scar next to his eye, she broke down sobbing all over again.
Natalie kicked the ground and hugged the post. Briar looked away. She didn’t want to see Natalie or hear her call Riskin nasty names. She kept her head turned when Natalie stepped into the yard and walked over to them.
Natalie murmured in her ear, “Welcome back, Briar.”
Briar’s head whipped around fast, and her eyes widened when she saw Natalie smiling at her. Natalie held out her hand to take Briar’s. “Come inside. Mom’s kept Riskin’s old room exactly the same since he was seventeen years old when he went to Mackenzie Homestead. You don’t want to stay there. You two can stay in the guest suite. It’s much nicer—bigger, too.”
Briar could hardly believe her ears. “Thanks, Natalie.”
Virginia laid one hand on Riskin’s arm and one on Briar’s. She sniffed back her tears. “Come inside, both of you. We have more than ten years of catching up to do.”
Virginia and Natalie escorted the couple inside. Briar found herself in a cool neat house totally unlike her old home. Dodd Homestead sat all on one level, with bedrooms and hallways leading off the main living room with no stairs in sight.
Briar looked all around her at every detail. So, this would be her new home. How could her life change in the space of a few minutes? She glanced over at Riskin. He changed, too. He no longer lowered his eyes when someone looked at him or talked to him. He surveyed the house with casual familiarity. Nothing surprised him. He owned the place. The master came home to rule.
Virginia couldn’t keep still. She raced around the house. “Sit down here and I’ll make you a cup of tea. Get up, Natalie. We have a lot of work to do. I’m going to make a big dinner. We should have a feast and invite all the other tribes to celebrate. You’ll have to send word to the other Alphas, Riskin. They’ll want to come over and negotiate with you.”
Riskin sat down at the kitchen table and draped one arm over the seat back. He pulled out the next chair for Briar. “I don’t have to send word to anybody. The news will spread all over the mountain faster than you can say ‘twink’.”
“You still have to negotiate with the other Alphas. You’ll have to…”
An engine roar and brakes screeching broke in on their conversation. Natalie looked out the window. “Who’s that?”
The family clustered around the window in time to see a shiny red pick-up speeding into the yard. It skidded to a stop, and the door flew open. Briar’s heart sank when a tall man stepped out and slammed the door. “Oh, no!”
The man paced back and forth in front of the house. He tossed his jacket back to prop his hands on his hips. He fixed his burning eyes on the house and shouted at the top of his lungs. “Come on out. Come on out and face me.”
“Who is that?” Natalie asked.
Riskin went back to the table. He rested both hands on the tabletop. “It’s Mattox Farrell.”
Mattox kept yelling, “Come on out of there. I’m not leaving until you come out and face me.”
Briar rushed to Riskin’s side. “You can’t go out there. You can’t get into another challenge with him when you just fought Rhys.”
Riskin straightened up. “I don’t want to fight him, but I have to face him. I’m Alpha now. I can’t back down when I just won my place back.” He took another glance through the window. “I don’t want to back down. If he wants to fight again, I’m ready. I’ll never be any readier than I am right now. I’ll die before I let anyone take this away from me.”
Briar clasped her hands over her heart. She couldn’t lose him now, after everything they went though. She couldn’t beg him not to go, though. One look at his face told her everything she needed to know. He was in his element, here and now. He could face anything Fate threw at him, even this.
He was Alpha now. If he ever hoped to stand on this mountain and win the respect of other Bruins, if he really was worthy to lead his tribe, he had to seize this and every other challenge with both hands.
No one could stop him on his way out that door. He yanked it open and paused under the wide veranda. Mattox stopped pacing and squinted against the sun. The two men regarded each other across the yard. Neither made the first move.
Briar moved back and forth inside the house. Fevered torment wouldn’t let her stand still. What would happen out there? Would Mattox tear Riskin to pieces all over again?
Mattox took a few steps forward, and Riskin strode into the sunshine to meet him. Mattox paced one way and came back. Step by step, the two Alphas faced off on the same ground stained with Rhys’s blood.
Natalie put out her hands to Briar. “He’ll be okay. It’ll be okay. He’s strong enough to do this.”
Briar fluttered her hands in deadly agitation. She kept repeating those words, but she couldn’t stop the tension racking her being. He couldn’t go down like this. Their love couldn’t end like this.
Virginia snuck out to the veranda to watch, and Natalie and Briar inched out behind her. Riskin stopped in the middle of the yard. He didn’t pace or stick his hands on his hips like Mattox. He stood still and waited until Mattox approached him. When Mattox came near, Riskin raised his voice loud enough for the women on the veranda to hear him, “You want a piece of me? Come on and take it.”
Mattox took a few quick strides right up in front of Riskin. Briar held her breath and braced for the worst when, all at once, Mattox stuck out his hand. “I heard what happened. Austin told me this morning you were on your way over here to challenge Rhys, and I just met my cousin Logan down the hill. He told me everything, and I want to be the first to come over and congratulate you.”
Riskin frowned down at that hand.
Mattox waited for him to reply, but he didn’t lower his hand. “Come on, Riskin. Make peace with me. We’re both Alphas on this mountain. We’ll be working together from now on. I don’t want to fight you anymore. You take your place at the head of your tribe, and you won’t get any more trouble from me. What do you say?”
Riskin looked up from Mattox’s hand. His frown deepened. “Make peace—with you?”
Mattox nodded. He pushed his hand farther forward.
Riskin hesitated a moment longer. Then his shoulders relaxed and he grasped that hand in his firm grip. “All right, man. All right.”
Mattox broke into a grin and clapped Riskin on the shoulder with his free hand. “This tribe needs a strong Alpha. You’re your father’s strongest son. You were made to run this tribe.”
Riskin nodded down at their clasped hands. “Yeah. I understand that now. Briar said I lost the Mackenzies when I lost Lyric. She says me leaving the Mackenzies’ didn’t have anything to do with you at all.”
Mattox cocked his head. “Did she say that? It sounds like you have a very sharp mate. That’s the kind of woman an Alpha needs. It sounds like you’re all set to take over.”
Riskin couldn’t stop nodding. “Yeah. Thanks, man.”
Mattox swept the Homestead with his eyes. “Do you need help with anything? Do you have anything you need?”
“I’m all right. I just got here, you know. I gotta find a place for me and Briar to spend the night, and my mother wants to throw a feast to celebrate, and I expect everybody else on the mountain will be stopping by to shake my hand, too.”
Mattox laughed. His voice echoed across Bruins’ Peak. “I’m sure they will. You’ll be the man of the hour.”
Riskin’s head shot up. When he caught the gleam in Mattox’s eye, he smiled, too. “Thanks for coming over, man. I wouldn’t have had the guts to make peace with you myself.”
Mattox waved his hand and headed for his truck. “Forget it. It’s done now. You let me know if you need any help with anything, and you let me know if Rhys gives you any trouble. I’ll back you.”
Riskin muttered under his breath, “Rhys won’t give me any trouble.”
Mattox pulled open his truck door and wav
ed over his shoulder. Riskin waved back as Mattox threw his truck into gear and backed out of the yard. Riskin stayed where he was until the dust cloud blew away into the clear sky.
Briar rushed off the porch and startled Riskin out of his trance. She grabbed his arm and breathed into his face. “Thank heaven for that!”
Riskin didn’t respond. He stared into the distance where the truck disappeared. Briar kissed him on the cheek. “Come inside, Riskin.”
He still didn’t move. She tugged his hand. “Come inside.”
He shook himself out of his reverie and shot her a sidelong glance. Briar flashed him a brilliant smile. “It’s all right now. Everything’s gonna be all right.”
He let out a sigh. “Yeah.”
She tugged just a little harder. Her smile broadened, and he took a step toward her. Ever so slowly, the grin spread across his face to match her mischievous smile. She backed toward the house. He broke out of his reserve and matched her stride. Briar spun around, and they walked together to the veranda where Virginia and Natalie waited to welcome them back home.
The Hills Box Set (1-4)
Erin D. Andrews
Book 1: Shifter’s Heart
Chapter 1
Moving Day
“The Hills. A beautiful, shifter-only community for you and your family. A place to feel safe. A place to grow. The Hills is a new development that the city of Fort Bachmann offers, built by the goodwill of our volunteers, our leaders, and shifter friends. Reserve your place today and enjoy life more starting right now.”
Grey watched the commercial with wide, eight-year-old eyes. He loved the female narrator’s sweet, encouraging voice and the images that moved across the screen as she said the words “safe, grow, goodwill.” His favorite image was that of President Bachmann hard at work at a construction site, surrounded by beautiful green landscape.
Bachmann’s sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he had on a hard hat. He pointed to the horizon as if commanding the sun to rise, and the sun complied, pouring over the nearby mountain range and onto a completed housing development. The houses were small but colorful and cozy, and surrounded by pink and yellow flowers. Grey couldn’t wait to go there.
Briar on Bruins' Peak (Bruins' Peak Bears Book 7) Page 12
