“He’s the Alpha,” Coyote grunted, gesturing at the cats. “If I interfere, Jamison automatically loses.”
“The Alpha? You mean the Changer who locked Jamison in a cage and treated him like a lab rat?”
Coyote didn’t answer. Naomi’s blood ran hot. She uncocked the gun and moved toward the fighting pair, treading carefully in the snow. Maybe Coyote’s assistance would negate the testosterone contest, but would that happen if Jamison’s own mate helped him?
Naomi dug her boots into the snowy ground. She cocked the gun, and as soon as the Alpha flung Jamison underneath him, she shoved the barrel of the gun into the creature’s ne
ck.
“Let him go,” she shouted.
The mountain lion screamed. With lightning speed, he yanked his head around and leapt at Naomi.
Naomi shot. The boom of the gun deafened her, and several things happened at once.
Coyote dragged Naomi out from under the Alpha’s flailing claws at the same time Jamison flung the Alpha to the ground. Blood spattered across the snow, but the Alpha rolled away, still alive.
Naomi’s shot had ripped into his side, but he’d been moving fast, and she hadn’t killed him. Jamison morphed back into his human form with a grunt of pain, his skin scored and bleeding.
The Alpha stood upright, his wildcat body changing to that of a tall man. But his shape shimmered and changed again, unfolding into something even taller. He was huge, his hair tangled and coarse, his eyes red. An overpowering stench rolled off him.
“A skinwalker,” the man who’d been a bear rasped. “He’s a fucking skinwalker.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jamison panted.
The Alpha clutched his side, blood pouring from it. He snarled, then turned and loped off under the trees. Coyote started after him, but after the Alpha had run five paces, the man vanished. The snow whirled where he’d been, then the storm stopped. The wind died away, and clouds parted to let the sun through.
Jamison collapsed. Naomi dropped the shotgun and caught him in her arms, kneeling with him in the snow. He was bleeding from many wounds, but his eyes were clear and alert.
“I’m all right,” he rasped. “A lot of scratches and bites, but nothing too deep.”
“You’re a good fighter, Jamison,” Coyote said above Naomi. “No wonder he was afraid of you.”
Naomi turned toward Coyote then immediately whipped away when she saw the man’s very long, flaccid cock hanging right next to her.
“He’s a skinwalker,” the male bear Changer snarled. He limped toward them, supporting the woman, who was pale but upright. “All this time. We will tell the pack, choose a new leader.”
The woman looked at Jamison with narrowed eyes. “Do you wish to challenge for Alpha?” She spoke with an accent that told Naomi English wasn’t her first language.
Jamison shook his head. “I’m staying here.” He glared up at Coyote. “Why did you send me to be trained by a skinwalker?”
“I didn’t know. I never met the man until today.” Coyote gazed off into the woods where the Alpha had disappeared. “He must be a damn good skinwalker if he fooled you all for so long.”
“He will not be allowed to return to us,” the man vowed. “We will retreat, and I will care for my mate. We have no quarrel with you, Jamison.”
Jamison sat up, brushing the snow off his body. Like Coyote and the other two, he didn’t seem to notice the cold. “Then why did you attack me?”
“On the orders of our Alpha,” the man said. He spat into the snow. “But we take no orders from skinwalkers.”
Without another word, the man and woman turned and walked together into the woods, each supporting the other.
“Will they be all right?” Naomi asked.
Coyote grunted. “They’re Changers. They’ll heal quickly, and the skinwalker will be more interested in coming after Jamison.”
Naomi looked at him in fear. “But I wounded him. I drove him off.”
“Temporarily,” Jamison said. “We’d better go.”