Huge paws latched onto Titan, yanked him away from the bear’s body, and threw him against a tree like a rag doll.
The bear dropped onto all fours, roaring and raging. It came for Titan even though blood flowed from its throat.
Bosse realized, in addition to blood running a stream down Titan’s side, that one of his front legs had also been slashed. He told his wolf,If you can’t end this now, you have to run. We’re losing blood fast.
Without saying a word, Titan raced toward the bear and zagged unevenly to the right just out of claw-swiping distance. Titan ran around the bear, cutting hard despite the damaged front leg that threatened to buckle any minute. Adrenaline kept the pain at bay.
The brown bear jumped about, trying to claw Bosse’s wolf.
Titan stayed ahead until he had a tiny lead. When he circled the bear again, he wrenched hard to stop and slashed his claws across the bear’s back legs.
The back end buckled hard, dragging a long howling moan of pain from the bear.
Bosse praised,Good job, but Titan limped away, moving slower. His wolf had given all he had.
Still fighting, the bear came after Titan, dragging its rear legs that flopped loosely behind.
Titan tried stepping farther away, but his front leg collapsed. He pushed up to hop on three legs. Even Bosse started seeing stars—a bad, bad sign.
The wild-eyed bear snarled and clawed deep into the ground, pulling its body forward with two useless hind legs. That demon would not stop.
Titan struggled to move and weaved sideways, dizzy.
Bosse could feel the pain from the gash in his wolf’s side. If that bear didn’t stop, they couldn’t outrun it. Titan would fall soon.
Titan stumbled hard as the bear continued to close the distance to Bosse’s wolf, slapping one huge paw down at a time.
Everything blurred in Bosse’s vision. He told his wolf,You fought well. Thank you for being the best friend I’ve ever had.
Titan said,I feel the same, but do not like to fail. He fell over on the ground, panting hard. He raised his head to watch the bear make one last lunge.
A paw as big as Bosse’s head lifted with razor-sharp claws extended for a killing strike.
A boom sounded close by.
Blood spewed from the bear’s head. It fell forward. The paw raised to gut Titan dropped an inch short of its goal.
Bosse would like to think this was a hopeful sign, but it might only be another group preying on them—even humans who would love to brag about bagging a shifter of any kind.
Titan panted hard and stayed down.
Bosse kept giving his wolf encouraging words, hoping to survive this or at least ease him into death.
The sound of someone walking through the woods preceded a big man who smelled of bear. He was built like a freight train, wore his hair short, and had concerned eyes, but power radiated from him.
Not just an average shifter. What was he?
Someone who could easily kill them with one strike right now.
The bear shifter stood over Titan. “Damn, he gouged you good. Can you shift back?”
Titan asked,Shift or not?
Bosse replied,Let’s try.
While he shifted, the man spoke into a radio. “Need the medic now. Shifter down. Slashed badly by a bear. The Black River Pack team leader is dead.”
It took time for Bosse to end up in human form. He was in incredible pain and lightheaded. He kept losing blood fast. Slapping a hand over his chest where warm liquid oozed through his fingers, he rasped, “Who are you?”
