Page 9 of Corbin (Wild Wolf Pack from the world of Gallize Shifters #2)

Power flooded around Corbin, causing his wolf to sit up fast. If he’d been in animal form, the scruff on his neck would be standing.

Jaz walked up to the group. Tall and athletically muscular with short, scattered black hair, she moved with fluid motions. Nothing about her outward appearance warned of what she hid inside.

Corbin hadn’t realized she was anywhere near them. That burst of power had been deliberate. She and Adrian had made it clear they were a different type of shifter from the rest of them.

Would her mystical power be enough to back Badger down?

When she spoke to Badger, her words were clear and firm.

“You would have to challenge me to be alpha. You must be suffering from short-term memory loss. It wasn’t that long ago when you were present when Adrian’s red wolf destroyed five of the Blood King’s pack with zero help.

Red would break his own record in how fast he could rip out your wolf’s throat.

Since you’re about as sharp as a bowling ball, I feel the need to put this in even simpler words.

If you choose to shift into your wolf and challenge me to be alpha, I’ll accommodate you.

Attacking me will prove you have lost your ability to control your wolf and manage your emotions, as well as possess any sense of survival.

As a healer, I prefer to offer sick wolves mercy, but in this instance, I will call up my wolf to put yours down.

She will do it without hesitation. Choose wisely. ”

Corbin spoke telepathically to Ares. I hope you heard every word she said and felt the rush of power she barely released.

Ares made a grumbling sound, but for once had no comeback.

The other three shifters moved back in anticipation of the battle. Corbin cut a quick look at Adrian, who seemed content to allow the silence to force Badger into withdrawing.

A minute passed.

Badger had stilled the moment Jaz’s power swept through the opening. A tiny muscle flicked in his jaw that had shrunk back to normal. Then his eyes changed from a dull gray to the unholy white silver that had to be his wolf.

Adrian and Jaz exchanged looks filled with silent dialogue. Corbin figured the others had become as accustomed to those two speaking telepathically as he had, even though no one asked about it.

This was about to turn bloody.

Badger’s breathing kicked up. His heartbeat pounded loud enough for every shifter to hear. A sure sign of fight-or-flight mode. The mad shifter’s gaze flicked between Jaz and Adrian. He spoke softly in a voice turning more guttural by the second. “Gonna let a woman fight your battles, non-alpha?”

Was that his wolf driving his tongue?

Shrugging, Adrian said, “This is Jaz’s circus and her monkeys.

As her mate, I will kill anyone who harms her, but she doesn’t need my help to put down a wolf with a death wish.

If you’re still determined to spend the last minute of your life posturing, go right ahead.

Nothing will be left of you but a fleeting memory. ”

Corbin angled his body slightly between Jaz and the pack dumbass. Even as he did it, he questioned what he thought he was going to do.

Ares didn’t leave him confused for long. He is not a friend. You interfere when no one wants your help.

Jaz made a grumbling sound. “I’m cooking dinner. If you want to eat good food and drink beer, go get cleaned up. If you want a spot in our new cemetery, let’s do it so the rest of us won’t have to eat late.”

She tended to have even less patience than Adrian when it came to dealing with stupid people. Badger’s intelligence had been smothered beneath a pile of shit for brains.

He stomped around, mumbling in a low voice, “Don’t want to die. No! Stay put! No! ” Then some less discernible words. “No killing tonight .”

Corbin’s eyebrows lifted. Was Badger arguing with his wolf and trying to keep the animal from breaking free? About time. Corbin grinned at the change until he glanced at Adrian and Jaz.

Neither one appeared convinced this was over.

Badger clamped his hands over his head as it began to change shape. “No! Stop!”

Jaz told Adrian, “He’s had enough chances.”

“I hear ya, babe.”

She started unbuttoning her shirt.

Panic ran through Corbin cold as an icy river.

Hell. This can’t happen. If Badger’s wolf came out now, Ares would not be stopped.

Jaz and Adrian would finally know what a screwed-up wolf he harbored.

The minute Ares lunged into mindless attacks on everyone, Adrian’s big red wolf would rip Ares apart while Jaz handled Badger.

Ares had never been bested, but Adrian and Jaz did not brag about their wolves.

They merely warned the pack of what an out-of-control wolf would face.

Badger’s jaw warped out of shape. He took a step toward Jaz.

Corbin stepped in front of him. “If any of us are forced to leave here because you trigger our wolves, we’ll likely die in an SCIS cage. Think of someone else for once.”

Badger growled back, “I did one time. Not making that mistake again.”

Badger’s eyes were wild. His head began to warp, and incisors grew longer.

“Oh, that’s right,” Corbin scoffed. “You can’t fight in this form.

Come on, coward.” Calling Badger a coward might be worse than pussy.

“If you can’t fight like a man, I’ll stay in this form and still kick your puny wolf’s ass.

” Sweat ran down Corbin’s face. He was pretty sure his wolf could rip up Badger’s, but he doubted he could win a battle with Badger’s wolf if he stayed in human form.

Ares shouted in his head, Let me out or we both die .

Corbin had only one play. To keep hammering at Badger, who flipped between snarling and shaking his head while shouting, “No! Don’t!”

His wolf had to be as much of a misery as Ares.

As if something clawed the inside of Badger’s skull, he grabbed his head and yelled, “ No! No! No! My fight!” He ran at Corbin, who shoved him off to the side.

Badger spun and dove at him, swinging those clubs he called fists while shouting, “Schtay put! No. I’m winnin’. Schop itt! ” His jaw extended even more, garbling his words.

Corbin dodged his wild swings, listened closely, and figured out that Badger argued under his breath with his wolf.

Trying to end this, Corbin shouted back, “I’m not the one still fighting.

” He got up and feigned a limp, hobbling toward the barn in hopes that would be enough ass-kicking to make Badger take a breath.

“Watch out,” Bosse called out softly.

Corbin turned in time to see the fool shifting into a rusty-brown wolf almost as big as Ares and with rough scars crisscrossed over the saddle of his coat.

Anguish bled from Badger’s human eyes. He mouthed the word No!

but the only sound that followed was the loud snarling of a predator. His wolf came for Corbin.

This was it.

Faster than a thought, Jaz raced forward, ripping her clothes off as she shifted.

The stunning pale gold alpha wolf took two long strides and hit Badger’s wolf on the side, sending his beast rolling eight times before his wolf’s body hit the side of the barn. Wood creaked and rattled. Dirt fell off the roof in a sheet.

Silence blanketed the training ground.

Jaz called her wolf Tarski, which sounded like a name for a pleasant female wolf, not an apex predator prepared to crush any opponent.

Badger’s wolf pushed up to stand, wobbling to the left and shaking his head after being knocked into next week. He snarled and growled. When the wolf finally looked up, he ceased snarling and recognized the miscalculation he’d made.

Towering over him, Tarski took a step forward. The deadly noise rumbling deep inside her raised the hair on Corbin’s arms.

Badger’s wolf dropped to the ground and exposed his neck, but murder still boiled in his eyes. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Taking one precise step after the next, Tarski continued toward Badger’s wolf.

Corbin thought Adrian might cut Badger some slack if their wolves fought, but none of them knew Jaz’s level of mercy when pushed too far.

She had put down two shifters from the original pack.

One snapped, and no one could reach the human inside.

The other one got pissed when Jaz refused to feed them a home-cooked meal after he’d shifted in training.

He went after her, racing past Adrian, who stepped aside and watched.

Tarski had been fast and efficient ending that one.

This Tarski was terrifying.

A self-proclaimed healer, Jaz hadn’t been happy about either one of the kills, but as she’d said, she would not shy away from her duty as alpha.

Would she give her wolf a nod to be done with Badger?

When Tarski reached the growling wolf, she opened her massive jaws and placed them over the throat of Badger’s wolf. His white-silver eyes widened, and a deep rumble vibrated from his chest. His body shook, but he didn’t move or snap at her.

Having made her point, Tarski removed her jaws and turned to walk away, which meant she didn’t consider that wolf a threat. What confidence!

Badger’s wolf watched for a nanosecond and got up on all four legs. Skin pulled tight across his teeth, he exposed vicious fangs and stepped toward her.

Corbin glanced at Adrian, who stood watching it all unfold.

When Badger’s wolf took a second step, Tarski paused in mid-step but did not turn around. She emitted an even deadlier growl of warning. Power rushed out from her.

Static energy raced across Corbin’s skin. Ares howled. Ha. Didn’t like that, huh? Corbin forced every muscle to remain still as did the rest of the pack. They had to look like a bunch of stone statues.

Tarski’s snarl picked up volume.

Badger’s wolf stumbled backward as if shoved. He dropped to the ground once more and exposed his throat in submission again. Whining, he begged her wolf to pull back the power.

Corbin’s muscles relaxed when Tarski’s power dissipated.

Tarski trotted over to Adrian, able to look him in the eyes with a slight tilt of her head due to how tall that wolf stood.