Page 3 of Corbin (Wild Wolf Pack from the world of Gallize Shifters #2)

A much deeper roar shook the air, then a massive brute with thick brown hair hanging to his shoulders and a bushy beard to his chest stomped out of the cabin.

This guy looked at the shifter on the ground, who might not be Dagger after all, then pointed at Corbin. “You’re dead.”

With his next blink, the kidnapper began shifting into a ... grizzly. Of course.

No time to get another dart. Corbin shed his warm-up pants, telling his wolf, Showtime, Ares. You’re off the leash . Do what you want to him. Adrian’s people would have the other shifter to interrogate.

Ares and Corbin could shift as quickly as that bear when they worked together, but multiple shifts were beginning to strain them.

The grizzly stood on his hind legs and let out a furious roar. That might be the last sound Corbin and Ares heard before this monster cut them to pieces with sharp claws longer than Corbin’s human fingers.

Ares stood six feet at the point where his thick neck met a wide pair of muscular shoulders.

He snarled a vicious sound. Corbin had been going deep into the woods on the pack compound to let Ares run so the others wouldn’t see the abomination he kept hidden.

His wolf stood a head taller than any wolf shifter he’d ever seen in animal form.

Except for Adrian’s red wolf. Another monster.

Scratching the ground with both front paws like a bull ready to rip prey apart, Ares growled low and menacing. They’d fought a damn polar bear shifter once and almost lost, saved only by the Romanians who shot the bear in the head with titanium rounds.

Adrian and Ladrón weren’t here yet.

No one to save them now.

Dagger’s bear dropped down to all four legs and lowered his head, opening a wide set of jaws packed with vicious fangs. He wasted his time trying to put fear in Ares.

Corbin’s wolf had only feared one thing, and dying wasn’t it.

The grizzly charged in a loping run, which meant he planned to launch his bulk and leap on top of Ares—Slam dunk. Dead wolf.

Corbin sensed adrenaline flooding his wolf’s body. They’d been in battles before where he hadn’t expected to survive. They might not win this one, but he and Ares had never backed down. This was the only time they functioned as a team.

If they lived, Ares would go right back to being a jerk.

Right now, Corbin would welcome that possibility.

The bear dipped low in the front and leaped.

Ares ran forward, dropped low, and lunged.

Still in motion, the grizzly’s eyes rounded in disbelief at the aggressive move.

Ares twisted as he went airborne, his jaws wide open, and latched onto the side of the bear’s throat. He let his body drop to hang like dead weight. The grizzly rocked his head from side to side and lifted a paw, trying anything to knock off Ares.

Corbin felt the jarring yank that should have ripped Ares’ jaws open but didn’t.

Dagger’s bear hit the ground and batted Ares away with an arm as thick as Corbin’s body. Ares had unlatched his jaws before they reached the ground and bounced away with blood slinging everywhere.

Pain seared Corbin’s senses. The bear had gouged Ares across his ribs. They were bleeding, but so was the grizzly. The gash in the grizzly’s throat poured out a river of blood, but the bear pushed up. Adrenaline would fuel him for a bit longer.

If Ares could race around and dodge strikes to keep the grizzly moving, the bear would bleed out fast.

Corbin hoped.

Ares stood tall, but Corbin struggled to breathe along with his wolf. His side and lungs burned from the clawed wound.

Functioning on rage alone, the bear charged Ares.

Corbin advised his wolf, Just stay out of reach.

I will kill this one , Ares replied.

Well, they wouldn’t last long against a damn bear.

Even bleeding out, that grizzly could barrel into Ares and knock him off his legs. With one deep swipe across his soft underbelly, the bear would drag Ares’ entrails out.

Game over.

Dagger’s bear attacked, and Ares evaded a strike but put no distance between them. He instead ran around and bit down on the bear’s lower leg, ripping tendons when he jerked his head.

The grizzly kicked out with his other rear leg, catching Ares in his right side.

Mother, that hurt!

Damn wolf kept jumping back and forth, jaws open to find another spot he could tear open.

The grizzly had been on the ground, defending himself. He lifted his head and shoulders as Ares came at him, then swung another humongous leg, hitting Ares like a tree limb gone mad. Corbin’s wolf went flying into a jarring roll.

Corbin saw stars. This was it.

Ares could hardly breathe and fought to stand. He would not die lying down.

Corbin clenched against the pain they suffered.

They’d survived the worst life imaginable growing up. Daily inhumane treatment at the hands of their Romanian captor, while forced to kill other shifters who murdered for fun had savaged his soul. No innocent humans or shifters were killed, but even a justified death cut deeply into Corbin’s soul.

Was this how it all ended? He’d gotten his hopes up for a new life. A real life where maybe they could mend the damage done over so many years.

Ares pissed him off every waking minute, but Corbin didn’t want him to die this way. His wolf had reason to hate everyone, including Corbin.

Through blurred vision, he watched the bear struggle until he lifted all that weight off the ground. He took a step forward and went down on his front legs. Blood oozed from his jaws with every snarl.

He shoved up again and came like a drunken elephant for Ares.

When the grizzly got within two feet of striking, Corbin prepared to feel the final blow. He told Ares, You did your best .

I am not done .

Corbin would have laughed if he’d been in human form. Arrogant son of a bitch.

Standing still, the grizzly stared down at Ares. The skin around his bloody mouth pulled back to a vicious grin. Blood soaked the coat below his throat. How was that bear still moving?

The bear’s uninjured rear leg gave out, dropping him into a lopsided sit.

Ares returned the grin by pulling the skin back along his jaws and showing off his own bloody fangs. He acted as if his life fluid did not flow from the wound on his side.

Grin gone, the grizzly lifted a paw and pulled it to the side to swing with all his might for the killing blow.

Ares tried to move backward, but he couldn’t. His legs started to buckle. He widened his open jaws, ready to bite that claw.

The bear’s arm hung in the air, then moved forward. Halfway to Ares, that mountain of brown fur crashed over on its side.

Hell. Corbin told his wolf, Damn good fight.

I know.

Hard to compliment an egotistical wolf. Corbin said, Give me the body.

Safer with me.

Miserable wolf! Corbin suffered the physical hurt along with Ares and had run out of patience long ago. Whimpers near the tree reminded him that the woman he’d come to rescue had to be even more traumatized after that battle. Ares glanced over. She hugged her legs against her chest and sobbed.

Corbin couldn’t take much more of this. You can’t help her, but I can. Give me the body!

Ares snarled. We will not shift again soon. You kill us both.

Yes, they’d pushed too many changes too quickly. They’d have to wait an hour or more to shift again or risk not completing the change.

Corbin had no choice. He had to take that woman to safety, anywhere but here. I didn’t question you when I handed you the body.

Because I am superior.

Right now, the only superior skill that wolf had over Corbin’s human body was faster healing. Ares could not carry the woman anywhere. The cut on his wolf’s right side had stopped bleeding and begun to close enough for them to shift without adding even more damage to what they suffered.

Corbin and the woman could move out as soon as he returned to human form and determined if she could walk at all.

With no idea how much time they had to put a mile or more between them and the slumbering bear shifter, Corbin gambled and began forcing the shift. If his wolf refused to help, Corbin could end up falling to the ground with a mix of wolf and human parts. Then they’d both be in dire straits.

Ares needed his energy as much as Corbin needed his wolf’s.

He had not seen other shifters stuck in a change, but Ares had tried taking the body once when Corbin refused to let the wolf out. He shuddered to think back on that nightmare.

Ares yelled in Corbin’s head , Who stuck me with a stupid human half? In the next few seconds, he thankfully pushed energy to force the change along faster.

As soon as Corbin became fully human again, the pain ratcheted up to a new level of misery.

He sucked in air as he hurried to grab his pants and boots from the backpack.

With those on, he found the long-sleeved green pullover he’d tossed aside earlier.

Lifting his right arm sent pain racing through his banged-up ribs, but having the shirt on might help stanch the blood flow.

When he reached the woman who sat like a ball of shivering arms and legs, he spoke softly. “Hey, there. Let’s get you out of here.”

She’d been staring ahead but stopped moving.

They had to get going quickly, but he needed her cognizant of her surroundings first. He dropped down on one knee. “I’m Corbin. I’m with a team here to rescue you.”

She looked at him with confusion. “Are you ... human?”

Seeing any woman in shock and terrified hurt him.

He’d like to soothe her with the words she wanted to hear, but he made a point of not lying to females.

He could not promise she’d survive this if he didn’t.

Men were another story. He had his own set of rules for life.

“I’m a shifter in human form now , but the wolf you saw fighting the bear is part of me too. ”

The best part , Ares interjected.