The Panther's Rival

by Emilia Hartley

  Something wasn’t right. A plume of thick gray smoke rose from above the clearing. Tess hoped it was just Crunch starting the fire early tonight, but she could tell that was a lie.

  When they entered the clearing she was greeted with a horrible sight. Three of the six small cabins along the right hand side were smoldering from a recently extinguished fire. The other three had scorch marks but were otherwise fine. Tire marks filled the grass that had at one time covered the entire clearing floor. On the patio of the largest cabin sat two bikers, neither of them Crunch. Both were catching their breath with a beer in hand.

  “What the hell happened?” Connor shouted. As the truck came to a halt, he leapt from the passenger seat. The two bikers looked at each other but before either could talk, Crunch shoved his way through the cabin door.

  “Dammit, you better have some goddamn good news or I’m going to-” Crunch screamed, it sounded like more of a guttural roar. He punched the door frame. The force of the blow sent shards of wood clattering to the ground, knocking the door from its hinges. “See what I mean!”

  Tess was glad that Connor was there, but even he might have some problems dealing with a pissed off Crunch.

  “The Cliff Walker den has been attacked,” Connor said.

  “Dammit, tell me something I don’t already know,” he screamed. Crunch advanced but Connor stood in his way. If he needed to blow off some steam, Connor wanted to be sure he wouldn’t let it off on Tess, or Samantha.

  Crunch stopped short, shaking his fists.

  “How do you know about Cliff Walker den?” Connor asked, “We came as soon as we found out. We were hoping that Alex and Cynthia managed to get out.”

  Crunch clomped over to the cooler. He produced a bottle of bourbon, tore the stopper out with his teeth, then proceeded to down almost half the bottle in one guzzle.

  “Who the hell do you think did all this?” he asked, “This was Torque’s boys lookin’ for revenge.” He took another large swig from the bottle. “I know they used to be my boys but I’m prepared to kick them out of the gang permanently, if you know what I mean.”

  “How the hell did Torque get here so fast?” Connor asked.

  “I didn’t say it was Torque, I said it was Torque’s boys doin’ his dirty work,” Crunch replied between drinks. He stopped mid pour and locked eyes with Connor. The weight of his stare would have made a lesser man break, but Connor was a proud wolf, and an alpha. He would bow to no other wolf. “Are you tellin’ me that stupid sunovabitch got out of the bear den?”

  Connor rubbed at his nose again. Tess would have spoken for him, but she couldn’t bring herself to interrupt their conversation.

  “He got out this morning, just after breakfast sometime,” Connor said.

  Torque downed what remained of the liquor then threw the bottle at Connor. He sidestepped the bottle, letting it smash into pieces on the side of the truck.

  “Goddamit!” Crunch shouted, “Do those idiot bears know what they’ve done? You shoulda just let me beat his face in when I had the chance. But, No. You had to take him to the damned bears.” Crunch belched loudly.

  Samantha giggled just under her breath. The raucous from his belch caused birds to flee from the safety of their trees. Despite the situation, even Tess had to hold back a laugh.

  “Fuck,” Connor said with a sigh, clearly he was too distracted to laugh. Crunch plopped down on the edge of the patio. The weight of his body hitting the floor caused the cabin door, already off its hinges, to clatter to the floor.

  Crunch broke the silence, “Those dumbass wannabe badasses rode around, tossing flaming liquor bottles. Good waste of liquor. But, one of them must have known what was goin’ on.”

  “How do you know?” Connor asked.

  “I nabbed one of them off the back of one of the motorbikes before they’d taken off. I’ve been beating information out of him for the last fifteen minutes,” Crunch replied. He pointed to the inside of the cabin with his thumb. Tess took a few steps to the side so she could see what he was pointing at and wasn’t surprised when she saw a biker covered in bruises trying to recover in a bed.

  “What did he tell you?” Connor wondered.

  “That bastard took Cynthia,” Crunch said, “Again.” He stumbled back to his feet. The alcohol was having an effect on him already. “I oughta beat you for sending her up there.” He made to punch at Connor, but his already blurred vision didn’t help. Connor side stepped every blow that Crunch threw but eventually caught his last punch before Crunch tumbled to his knee.

  “You oughta beat yourself,” Connor replied, “You’re the one that gave Eli the map to Cliff Walker den.”

  That blow hit Crunch harder than any punch could have. As he pulled himself back to full height, leaning against the truck to balance himself, he leaned in close to Connor, who backed away from Crunch’s foul breath.

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Crunch said. He returned to the patio to sit once more. “Listen. The only other information I got out of this bastard inside is that the hunter, Eli, hit that mountain den earlier today. Everyone was trapped inside. Alex and Cynthia were leading people out the back but were caught in a trap. Eli wants revenge on all of us for what we did. He wasn’t using Torque’s guys for the attack though. I guess he was using some humans.”

  Humans?

  “They knew about the raids you guys have been workin’ on. Those won’t lead to nothin’. This bastard took them back to the lake. I guess there’s more there than we thought. Torque’s gang has been into some bad shit and they been using some old caves around the lake to hide their goods. No wonder they got enough money to buy all that silver for bullets.” Crunch hiccupped. “I wouldn’t doubt that’s where they’re keepin’ your pals.”

  They went back to the lake?

  Tess lost herself. She didn’t want to go back. Nothing but bad memories waited for her there if she went back. Eli scared her enough already. He’d shown himself to be ruthless and crafty. What if this was all just a trap?

  “I’m going,” Connor said. He motioned to Samantha to get the truck started. The engine roared back to life.

  Tess stood still. Connor reached out a hand which she took.

  “You don’t have to come with us. You’ve seen enough as it is. You can stay here with Crunch and stay safe. I doubt they’ll come back here again.”

  Tess shook her head no. This mattered to her, her brother mattered to her. She needed to see this through to the end. Inside her head she wished she could have called out to her wolf, but it wasn’t responding. Her pregnancy was quieting the voice that she grew up with her entire life. She wondered if it would ever come back even after she gave birth.

  “I need to go,” she said, “Alex needs my help.”

  “If you come with, you do exactly as I say this time. No running off. I say hide, you make yourself scarce, got it?”

  She nodded her understanding then sidled her way into the truck. Samantha revved the engine beside her to keep it running.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can get my new bike up and running,” Crunch said. He pointed to a motorcycle, much smaller than his normal one. It must have been the bike his captive rode in on. “The next time I see Torque will be the last time he sees anything. And, I gotta get my damn bike back from that hunter.”

  Connor nodded then offered a hand. Crunch eyed it wearily but accepted. They shook; one giant meaty paw over another. When Connor got back in the car, Samantha was in no mood for waiting any longer. The truck trudged onward, bringing them ever closer to their quarry.

  CHAPTER 5

  Connor clenched his teeth harder when he thought about the hunter attacking the Cliff Walker den. The brave warriors fought and died to protect each other. There was no way Eli could have taken on an entire den by himself, he would have had help. The first man to come to mind was Mutt.

  If only Alex hadn’t gone so far, Eli might not have so much support from the bikers now. His one sided vendetta to kill Alex fo
r breaking his arm and taking his bike gave rise to someone even worse.

  The feeling of powerlessness stabbed at his chest. He wondered if this was how Tess felt all those time he’d run off into danger and left her alone in safety.

  “Can you drive any faster?” Connor asked Samantha.

  “Are you kidding? I’m flooring it right now. This old truck is barely holding together as it is. Can either of you remind me why we took this one instead of my grandpa’s?” she asked.

  “Because your grandpa trusts me about as far as he can throw me,” Connor started, but then shook his head, “Okay, that’s a bad analogy. He could probably throw me pretty far now that I think about it.” He scratched at the stubble under his chin, “Listen, he doesn’t trust me. He thinks that one of us let Torque escape.”

  “I can’t believe Torque escaped!” Samantha said, still in disbelief, “What the hell?”

  “That’s what I said. I guess they found his lock undone. He had help on the inside. There’s a traitor in the bear camp.” All was silent for a second. It was clear that Samantha was thinking.

  Tess caught Connor’s gaze and opened her eyes wide as if to scold him, as if to say that now is not the time for that. Connor shook his head to say he had no choice, she’d find out soon enough anyway.

  “No way, nuh huh,” she finally spoke up, “Every single one of those bears follows my grandpa as though their life depended on it. There isn’t a traitor among them.” Samantha bit her lip, still deep in thought.

  “I’ve been wracking my brain for the last few days trying to figure all this out. You told us that bears are fiercely independent, but yet your grandpa managed to bring them all together to fight against the wolves. How does he command so much power? If he’s the alpha, he’s supposed to be the biggest and the strongest. There were way bigger guys in the camp, they could have easily taken him down,” Connor wondered.

  Samantha shook her head, much to Connor’s frustration.

  “You look at my grandpa and see a weak old man. I look at him and see a man that would do anything to make sure his people were taken care of,” she said, turning the wheel around a corner. “That house he lives in, he built that with his mate, Annie. You know what that house represents? Loyalty. That’s not the first one he built. Most of the bears that you saw in that den, they owed not only their livelihood but also a debt they couldn’t ever possibly repay. He gave them the chance to live their lives.”

  “Your grandpa built their homes?” Connor wondered, “There was only one house there.”

  Again, Samantha shook her head.

  “You don’t get it. My grandpa not only built their homes but also their lives. They own businesses, they open property, and it’s all thanks to my grandpa. I told you that bears act independent? That’s because my grandpa invested in them. He gave them each a bit of land, he helped them build their homes, and he gave them a life and a future.” She said. “Tell me, what kind of a future do the wolves that live in your den have?”

  Connor was stunned. She was talking bad about his den. But, was she right? The most that they could look forward to was living huddled around fires during the winter, or the sow fields in the spring. It was a simple living, but was it what they really wanted?

  He thought about Crunch, the big man that didn’t belong at all. Didn’t he say that he built his own pack from the ground up? He accepted the castoffs and the exiles. They all came together under his leadership, and even though they were on the outside of society they were still capable of having a life.

  “They have a home, isn’t that enough?” Tess said.

  “I didn’t mean-”

  “Didn’t you?” Tess said, cutting off Samantha. “Wolves aren’t bears. We hunt as a pack. We know that each of us needs the other to move forward. Sure, our life might be a bit simple, but as long as we have each other we move forward.”

  Connor felt emboldened by his woman, but somehow he felt weak when she was able to speak up but he couldn’t. She was a strong woman in her convictions.

  “Listen, what the bears have for my grandpa is respect. A strong man might stand tall and order around a bunch of weaklings, but that’s not a leader. A real leader doesn’t drag the rest of the group behind him; a real leader moves and everyone follows behind him. That’s respect. That’s what I was taught from the day I was born.” Samantha went silent. There was no use discussing the matter any further.

  Connor leaned an arm out of the cabin. The broken glass caused the wind to howl past his ear as they drove. The mid-day sun beat down on him and the heat was a welcome friend, even if the biting wind still tore it all away.

  “Why did you save me?” Samantha asked from the silence.

  “What?” Connor asked.

  “You jumped in the way of the gun to save me,” she said, “Am I really that important to you?”

  “You’re the only one that knew where the bear den was,” Connor replied, with a chuckle. Connor could tell he’d struck a nerve in her as she sunk into the driver’s seat. Honestly, he knew he was lying to himself.

  “Don’t make that face,” he said.

  “What face?” she asked.

  Connor sighed.

  “I said the wrong thing, okay?” he said, “I’m just upset with everything that’s going on and you’re doing your best to make everything right. You don’t deserve that from me.” Connor wasn’t sure what words to use. Samantha had grown on him. She was willing to do things that few of his own boys in the pack would volunteer for and he was starting to consider her a friend. “Listen, Samantha. I had one thing in mind when I saved you, and that was keeping you alive. There was no special reason, no powerful emotion; it was just my need to make sure you survived.”

  “I wonder if I could have done the same,” she said. She sat up a little higher in her seat. “Seeing all those dead wolves in the den was a real eye opener for me. I know I look tough but I hate fighting.”

  “We all hate fighting like this. Anyone that prides themselves on their ability to kill doesn’t belong in my pack. It’s one thing to kill for defense but another to go out and cause trouble.” Connor said.

  Tess kissed Connor on the shoulder then rested up against him.

  “You ask me if you would have done the same thing,” Connor asked, “You’re a strong young woman. I’m glad to call you my friend, even if I did leave you in a prison cell for a few days, I’m sorry for that,” he said sheepishly. “That’s not the point, though. When you have something that you need to protect, like I do, then you won’t hesitate to protect it no matter what.”

  “Thank you,” she said. She returned to her thoughts but she didn’t seem so glum anymore. For that, Connor was thankful.

  Connor wondered where this self-sacrificing nature was coming from. His own father forced him to spend so much time away from his pack in his youth. Something his father said would ‘toughen him up’, a line that was losing all of its meaning. What did he mean by that? Was he really trying to make him not care for the rest of the pack? If so, it seemed to have the opposite effect.

  Maybe he was becoming entwined with the idea of becoming a father. Perhaps his own need to protect the young one that would be a part of his life soon was stamping a new idea in his head about what it meant to lead.

  But, then it hit him. He’d spent so much time away from the pack, pulled apart from lust, alone and frustrated. The nights he spent hungry because he was unable to find enough food gnawed at him. If he’d had others with him he could have easily taken down a deer and feasted like a king. The times when he was frozen, huddled around a tree for warmth made him beg for the heat of a group. Is that what he was supposed to learn? The pack was strength and the alpha was the one to make sure that everyone had a share.

  “This is some shit situation we got ourselves in, isn’t it?” Samantha broke the silence with a laugh. “It almost reminds me of the time my dad caught me with one of the local boys.”

  Tess cocked an eye; Connor leaned forwar
d in his seat, surprised.

  “When you say caught, do you mean …”

  “Caught,” Samantha replied. Her smile lit up her tiny face. She didn’t even look old enough to be dating. She brushed her hair out of her face, the leather of her jacket squeaking as she did.

  Connor and Tess had such looks of surprise that Samantha decided she needed to clarify.

  “You guys know I’m 22, right?” she said.

  “You barely look 18,” Connor replied, shocked. “How long ago was this?”

  “About six months ago,” she said, she looked a little embarrassed but continued to share. “He was sweet; I’d known him for a little while. We would chat, maybe play in the lake. He was super into me, but I wasn’t really havin’ it. Still, I was super horny one day and he was the closest thing.”

  “Are you always so cavalier with your sex life?” Tess asked.

  “Are you?” she retorted.

  Tess was shocked she’d say such a thing, but had to admit she had a point. Granted, Tess had never slept with a guy she wasn’t at least dating.

  “How the hell did your dad find you two?” Connor wondered.

  Tess slapped him in the chest. Why was he so curious about where she got caught? Did she need to put a muzzle on him?

  “Well, my dad was busy around the house and I thought he wasn’t going to be working in his shop. So, we snuck into the shop. I was on the work bench and we were goin’ at it pretty hard. I guess I was being a little loud because when dad came in, he was on a warpath.” She laughed, “I swear to god I had never seen a boy run so fast with his pants around his ankles. I thought he was goin’ to die at first, but I knew I’d be in for the worst of it. Ended up stuck doing chores without a single second of free time … till lately anyway.”

  Tess just pictured Connor trying to run away from her father with his pants around his ankles. It tickled her a bit and she laughed into her hand. Meanwhile, Connor had his hand on Tess’s leg which he massaged gently. She could tell there was only one thing on his mind. Was he really that easy to turn on?