“Stop it!” Jazz ordered.
Rafe came running down the back set of stairs that led from the second floor to the kitchen. His eyes glowed in the darkened room. He slid his gaze from her to Mira. He ignored the two men rolling around on the floor and approached Jazz.
“What are you doing?” Jazz pointed to where Josh held Devin in a choke hold. “Stop them.”
“No. They need to do this or Devin will never view Josh as dominant.” Rafe shrugged. “It’s a shifter thing.”
“A shifter thing! What—”
“Devin, no!” Mira screamed.
Blood ran down the side of Josh’s face. Devin raised his clawed hand, but Rafe tackled him, knocking him away from Josh.
Devin bucked, throwing Rafe off, then jumped to his feet. Gaze locked on Josh, Devin approached him with his fangs bared.
Rafe hooked an arm around Devin’s ankles and toppled him, then bent close to Devin’s face and hissed, a sound that made the tiny hairs on Jazz’s arms stand up.
“Look at me, Devin.”
With his gaze still locked on Josh, Devin shoved at Rafe’s chest. Rafe pressed his hands to Devin’s shoulders and leaned over him, pushing Devin to the floor. Rafe’s muscles bulged from the effort, but Devin stayed down.
“Get yourself together. You hear me, Devin?”
Devin growled, and Rafe shook him hard enough to smack his skull off the wooden floor a couple of times. “Focus on me, not your crazy cats.”
Devin lifted his lip, revealing a wide fang, and snarled, but he slowly turned his head and focused on Rafe’s face.
“You probably woke up the kids. Do you want them to come down and see you like this? A crazed animal?”
“No. I don’t.” Devin’s voice was gravelly but clear. “Get off me. I need to get out of here.”
Rafe did, no hesitation.
The moment Devin was free, he bolted out the kitchen door, and Rafe took a step after him.
Mira blocked him. “No. I’ll go. It’s my fault he’s like this.”
She was going to blame herself for her brother losing control?
Jazz shook her head. “It’s not. You weren’t doing anything. You—”
“This wasn’t because of tonight.” Mira gripped the door handle. “But trust me when I say, it’s my fault. I broke the law. Devin paid for it. Is still paying for it.”
“What do—”
Mira left before Jazz could finish her question, but whatever had happened hurt both Devin and Mira. And Jazz couldn’t help but wonder if his name had been Edmund.
The door banged shut behind Mira, and a muttered curse yanked Jazz’s attention to Josh. With one eye already swelling, bruises around his neck, and blood running in steady rivulets from the slashes across his cheek, Josh looked horrible.
He sat up slowly and chuckled, then immediately groaned and pressed an arm over his chest. “Think he broke a rib.”
She rushed over and hesitantly touched his side. He cursed more. She dropped her hand. “Maybe only bruised it.”
“Either way, it’s going to hurt for a while.” He grinned.
“Yes, it will, so why are you smiling?”
Josh gripped the edge of a wooden chair and dragged himself up. “Because that was the best fight I’ve had in years.”
She shook her head. He’d always liked to fight and had even boxed for a couple of years after college. “You’re certifiable, you know that?”
“Probably. Felt good, though. If he hadn’t unleashed his claws, I would’ve held my own against him. Maybe taken him out.”
She bit back her words of warning about how he shouldn’t be picking fights and dug out the first-aid kit. She dumped the contents and selected the few items she needed, then glared at Rafe. “Why didn’t you stop them?”
Rafe leaned against the cabinets in a relaxed slouch only a man could pull off. With his legs spread slightly and elbows on the countertop behind him he looked both sexy and nonchalant.
“I told you. Josh needed to prove himself if he’s going to be hanging out with shifters. So I let him.”
Josh swiped his tongue over his split lip. “And did I?”
“Well enough.”
“Good. It was worth it then.”
“I don’t know how you can even say that. You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days.” She dabbed at the cuts with an alcohol wipe.
Josh jerked back, then groaned. “You could’ve warned me. That stuff stings.”
She ignored him and cleaned the rest of the wound. Without the blood masking it, she got a good look at the slashes. “These need stitches.”
“No way.” Josh opened the freezer and pulled out a bag of peas. With the impromptu ice pack on his swollen eye, he faced Rafe. “That’ll make me look weak. Won’t it?”
“You’re only human. You don’t heal as quickly as we do. Nobody would blame you for seeking medical help.”
“Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.” Josh picked up a pack of butterfly closures. “These’ll have to do. I’m going to get cleaned up and check on the kids.”
“I’ll help you put those on,” she offered.
“Don’t bother. I’m fine.”
Chapter 27
Jazz waited until the hallway door swung closed, then glanced at Rafe. “You heal quickly?”
“Very. We’re hard to kill too. Well, Royals are. Single shifters heal quicker than humans, but they’re not as strong as a Royal. They can still die from their injuries.”
“Royals?”
“Multi-animal shifters. We’re direct descendants of the goddesses so the single shifters slapped the title ‘Royal’ on us. It stuck.”
She stared at him for a moment, then snapped her mouth closed. “Direct descendants of the goddesses? Care to clarify that?”
“A few thousand years ago, the gods created the first shifters by joining their human warriors with the souls of predators.”
“How did they do that? And why?”
“No idea how. The why is simple—they wanted stronger, more cunning, and vicious warriors.”
“For what? Battles?”
“Yes. According to the stories passed down to us from our elders, the gods used to settle their arguments by pitting their chosen warriors against each other. They’d searched the mortal world looking for
