“Is there someone who can stop this?” Martin was back on his feet, standing shoulder to shoulder with Shaun as the circling group of bears took random swings and lunges their direction.
“Like the police?”
“Yes.” Gem slammed a hand over her mouth to capture her gasp of fear. Shaun ducked at the last moment before landing a solid punch on another attacker.
“There are times it’s better to let the guys beat each other senseless. Being shifters and all, it gets messy when they think they’re being bossed around, especially by us females.”
Gem snuck a quick peek to her side and finally saw who stood next to her. “Oh. It’s you.”
The lynx shifter who had been with Shaun in the bar eyed her curiously. “You have an issue with me, sweetie?”
The intensity of Gem’s simmering fear as it burst into blazing anger surprised her. “Hands off my mate from now on, okay?”
The woman backed up. “Hey, I’m all about the peaceful stuff. No problem.”
Someone called out Nadia, and the lynx turned, waving her hand at the summons as if annoyed. Gem spotted an abandoned walking stick leaning against the wall beside the door, and desperation sent a terrible idea into her head.
She snatched up the stick. Her mate was in trouble, and she was not going to stand there and watch.
“What are you doing?” Nadia asked.
Besides shaking with fear? “Letting them fight is not the way to solve matters. Fighting is childish and unproductive.”
Gem slipped toward the street. In the short time she’d had her attention elsewhere, Shaun and Martin had knocked another couple of the gang to the ground, but there was blood pouring down Martin’s arm, and more smeared across Shaun’s face. Gem swallowed hard. Getting involved wasn’t what Shaun had asked for, but she simply couldn’t stand there and watch him be outnumbered.
She raced forward and swung with all her might.
Of course, if she hadn’t squeezed her eyes shut, she would have had a better chance of hitting any one. The sudden thunk as the stick made contact with something surprised her enough her eyes popped open just in time to see one of the bears go down with a satisfying crash.
That’s when she realized she was a touch too close to the continuing action, and twirled to race out of reach.
A cooling mist floated past her.
Gem stared at the sky in confusion, looking for a cloud, or barring that, a water hose being used on the fighters, but there was nothing. Still, her heart rate slowed, and the stick grew impossibly heavy. The impromptu weapon slipped from her fingers as the blonde lynx walked past.
Nadia stepped over the prone bodies to stare in disgust. “What a waste of energy, boys. You want to fight, do it properly. Give us time to organize bets and make it a real evening’s entertainment. Otherwise, you simply piss off the locals, and that’s no fun for anyone.”
One of the men snarled at her, and she planted her fists on her hips and glared harder.
He dropped to his knees without another sound.
“See, that’s what I mean. When you’re all growly and stuff? No one likes you.” She clapped her hands and motioned to the bar with her head. “Everyone, time to cool down. Grab a broom, get that dance floor cleaned up and go back to relaxing. No more fights tonight. Got it?”
A steady stream of curse words spilled from the lips of one of the fallen bears. Shaun pointed toward him. “You have a first aid center in town? That one needs more than a beer.”
Nadia motioned at the crowd, and a couple stepped forward to pull the bear away, his heels dragging on the ground. All the tension in the air simply dissipated, and understanding finally hit Gem. She turned to stare at the lynx in wonder.
“You’re an Omega—and you can control all the shifters.” Gem had never heard of pack hierarchy crossing shifter species boundaries before.
The blonde blinked at her. “And you’re black.”
Gem paused, taken aback for a moment. “What’s that—?”
“Getting described like that is rather offensive, isn’t it? Because that’s not all you are. Don’t define me by the obvious.”
Shaun had a supporting arm around Martin, and a disapproving frown on his face as they paced forward. “Cut her some slack, Nadia. She didn’t mean anything by it.”
A smile twisted the corner of Nadia’s mouth. “So the mighty Shaun is mated. I’m interested to hear how this turns out.”
“You know each other?” Gem eyed them suspiciously.
The blonde batted her eyelashes. “No worries, it was a long time ago. He’s all yours now. Really, I don’t poach.”
Gem jerked back, moving toward her mate instinctively.
Martin pushed off Shaun’s assistance. “Thanks for calming things down.”
“Part of the job, you know.” The blonde held up her hands like they were guns, blew smoke from the tips and pretended to holster them.
“Sheriff Nadia. Good one.”
She turned and walked away.
Martin sighed, then faced Shaun. Gem slipped in close, tucking herself against his torso. Her pounding heart matched the tempo of his.
The bear shifter held out his hand and Shaun shook it. “Thank you. There’s bad blood between that clan and mine. I appreciated your help.”
“No worries. Shit this bad happen around here often?”
The big shifter laughed, the sound turning into a groan as he wrapped an arm around his ribs. “The fights? Off and on all winter. Typical shifter stuff. But with territorial debates going on, tempers amongst the bears are running shorter than usual. The ballots close in a month or so. Until then, there’s a lot of maneuvering happening. Plus, the more unscrupulous clans are going after the undecided with intimidation, or buying their votes outright.”
“I’ll say it again, you bears have weird ways.” Shaun squeezed her shoulders, his touch reassuring. Most of the discussion washed over Gem. All she wanted to do was to haul Shaun aside and make sure he was okay.
It seemed to take forever to get back to their hotel room after they said their farewells to Martin, the big man rumbling down the street, small clusters of shifters moving away as he passed.
Gem stared into the mirror at Shaun as he removed his shirt. He groaned as the material slipped from his shoulders. She helped him tug the fabric free, noting the bruises rising on his torso.
“You’re a mess.” She pressed a kiss to his chest as a penance for her words.
He cupped her face, letting his gaze trickle down her body. Her new dress was dirty and ripped, the pretty fabric stained from a combination of liquids off the barroom floor and the dust of the street.
The expression in his eyes—she’d never felt more beautiful.
“I should be a mess. That was a hell of a lot of bears.” He leaned closer and touched his lips to hers before groaning again.
She rushed to turn on the shower and help finish stripping his clothes off. “You were very brave.”
“I was?” He shuddered as the water landed. Gem tore off her tattered dress and grabbed a facecloth, stepping into the shower with him. His eyes were closed, but he smiled as she touched the soaking cloth to his torso to clean away the blood and dust from the fight.
“You were. I was proud of you.”
“You were mad at me.”
Well, yes, that too. “Shaun, what were you doing with Nadia?”
He sighed, a weary sound full of confusion. “Same thing I was doing back in Dawson when you got mad at me for not explaining myself. I was looking for information, trying to make sure… Well, it’s northern politics and I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
She stroked the cloth over his right pectoral and higher to where his shoulder muscle bulged. With every touch he responded, a small moan or a twitch. Gem wiggled behind him and carried on, thinking hard. He had known she was upset in Dawson and didn’t say anything.