The image of her was the only thing that kept Tyler from going completely feral. Her face was in his mind, her voice in his head. The expressive what-the-hell-do-you-think-you’re-doing raised eyebrow contrasting with the whispered request for his reassurances.
It was eerie the details his bear remembered about her. Not only expressions and words, but the force surrounding her. The energy and wild impulses that so suited his shifter side.
The peace she exuded in far more rare moments—the part his human hungered for.
The fight became a blur as he let his bear take charge, but pulled his human brain into a kind of side chamber so he could think things through. It was in that place he grasped ripping a chunk from Ainsworth’s throat and letting him bleed out on the deck would not be productive in the end.
His bear complained it was unfair, but the realization was true. Change had to come to the bear clans without the winning answer being the old-fashioned urge to eviscerate their enemies.
He’d just figured this out, the no-killing-Ainsworth bit, when the other shifter made a mistake and let his guard down for long enough that if Tyler had chosen, the fight would have been all over.
Humanity, and Caroline’s lessons, held his claws and teeth in check. Ainsworth got to live.
Tyler’s feet were knocked out from under him as a reward for his benevolence. His beast complained about the indignity of being toppled by someone like Ainsworth, not impressed at all, until Tyler pointed out it was Caroline’s idea, and his bear settled down.
Another flash of memory had him smiling. Tyler had to agree with Caroline’s summation. His relationship with his shifted side? Was
Then he wasn’t thinking about her or the new rules he needed to follow, but protecting his throat from Ainsworth’s fangs. Flat on his back wasn’t the way to win the fight, but there was nowhere to go. Ainsworth stepped on his lower limbs, knelt on his thighs and pressed a paw to his chest in such a way Tyler couldn’t get any leverage.
He warded off a paw swipe that would have blinded him, scrambling his own claws down Ainsworth’s throat, but it wasn’t the best of circumstances. Tyler didn’t want to kill the other shifter anymore, and that knowledge made it difficult to protect himself.
Damn it. Tyler didn’t want to lose—not with so much at stake—but winning and not leaving his enemy dead would take more pain to his bear than he’d like.
Caroline stepped to the edge of the roof to examine the situation. Fighting had slowed. In some places, groups had single bears pinned to the ground, and those trapped were giving up the fight and shifting to human. It was easy to tell which were friends, as Takhini wolves had joined in and stood menacing the bears still struggling to escape.
She couldn’t spot Tyler anywhere, and that made her concerned he was one of the two still clawing each other wildly near the very edge of the pool. A grizzly and an enormous brown bear, both bleeding profusely as they struggled.
Everywhere she looked, signs of violence marked the ground. Blood, fur. The peaceful haven she’d grown up visiting had turned into a horrid bloodbath.
A single bear lay to one side, motionless.
Caroline’s breath caught in her throat, and she hurried down from the roof, using her makeshift ladder to get back into the storage room. She paused only long enough to grab the black hose off the wall, adjusting the nozzle to the tightest setting, then cranking the water to full.
She jerked the door open and raced out, pulling the hose with her toward the pair still fighting.
No more. Maybe they were bears, maybe they fought and killed without thinking, but not here. Not when she could stop them.
The sound of helicopter propellers echoed in the air, but she was too focused on her task to even look up. She opened the water pressure all the way and aimed the tight stream at the brown bear who was preparing to take another swipe at the grizzly he had pinned beneath him.
Out of nowhere, icy-cold water dripped onto his fur. Above him Ainsworth screamed his disapproval.
Tyler stopped struggling while Ainsworth reared and twisted away, his head thrust forward and his angry scream echoing off the walls of the pool house.
Ainsworth dropped to all fours and charged.
In that second Tyler spotted Ainsworth’s target. Caroline stood on the deck, the high-pressure hose in her hands aimed straight at the bear who was narrowing the gap between them with frightening speed. Tyler shifted, shouting even as his vocal cords were in midtransition.
“Jump.”
How she’d heard or registered his meaning, he didn’t know, only she obeyed. Hands free of the hose, her slim body propelled into the air, seeming to hover over the surface of the pool.
Tyler was back in his bear and after Ainsworth before Caroline had time to create a splash. He leapt from behind and wrapped his arms around the other shifter. Squeezed him tight, forcing the air from Ainsworth’s lungs. Instead of seizing him like a bear would, though, Tyler had also grabbed on like a man. One arm in a chokehold to the throat.
If he’d been human it would have been easier, the way his elbow bent in his man far more conducive to cutting off an air supply. The bear elbow didn’t bend the right way.
But it didn’t really matter. Tyler was a lot stronger in his bear than his human, and that was enough. Especially when he took one step to the left, off the pool deck and into the water.
Ainsworth went insane with panic, struggling like a possessed demon. Tyler held tight and took a deep breath. He lifted his lower limbs and wrapped them around his opponent as well, dragging Ainsworth under the water.
Sound cut off. The shrieks and the crying. The strange thumping sound that had begun right around the time Ainsworth had abandoned their fight to attack Caroline. There was nothing in Tyler’s ears but bubbles. His vision remained clear and sharp as he kept Ainsworth trapped. He checked for Caroline, pleased to see her at the opposite side of the pool, her long limbs vanishing as she exited the water.
Good, she was safe.
An extraordinary sense of peace came over him. It must have had something to do with knowing Caroline was all right. That she’d be able to move on after this event was over.
Ainsworth wiggled. Tyler attempted to hang on, his breath of air nearly exhausted as the water grew sparkling bright around them. He couldn’t seem to hold his quarry anymore. Tyler fought the urge as long as possible before he could no longer resist. His arms opened, and Ainsworth floated away.
Tyler drifted toward the bottom of the pool. It was rather peaceful down there. No one chewing on him, no one ripping his fur.
A splash disturbed the surface, and slender legs came into view. Pretty legs, followed by a pretty body. His bear figured that human Tyler would like the bits and pieces more, so the animal part took the initiative to shift. Tyler’s humanity returned in a rush as Caroline swam down, her blonde hair waving in the water as if she was a beautiful and delicate mermaid. Her eyes blinked, her smile so…Caroline.
Then she caught him by the hair and dragged him to the surface.
Chapter Eighteen
She’d spoken to Nadia before. Had heard about the petite lynx shifter’s abilities from Shaun and Gem, but Caroline had never seen anything like the Omega in action.
Right about the time Caroline had leapt into the water, the pack helicopter landed on the roof of the building. By the time she’d swum across the pool width and scrambled back to dry ground, Nadia stood at the lip of the roof, shaking her head sadly. Caroline stared in amazement as the small blonde sat on the edge then jumped
