Page 25 of Wolves’ Midlife Reunion (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #3)

Dex could taste blood in his mouth, but at this point, he didn’t know if it belonged to him or Chris. He was barely aware of the destruction they caused around them as they locked into their fight. Jaws snapped, claws ripped, throats rumbled with growls.

In his mind, though, he was back in the high school gym—not the way it looked right now, half decorated in party supplies, but the way it’d looked twenty-five years ago.

As the chaos of the present blurred into the frenzy of the past, the fight replayed itself, starting out of the blue, or at least that’s how it felt now:

Chris had just come out of the locker room, cocky and looking for a fight. “I don’t like the way you’ve been looking at me, Heywood.” Then, he’d clocked me.

The memory dissolved as Dex felt the weight and push of someone else attacking in the current moment, someone trying to get Chris off of him.

It only worked for a second. Chris wouldn’t give up.

Once he set his mind to something, he’d fight until he got it.

Pain from the present brawl drew Dex deeper into the past, where the echoes of shouts and laughter in the gym mingled with the snarls and growls filling the covenstead:

Sharp pain echoed through my face and ribs as Chris pounded me in front of a bunch of other kids at the Academy, but I fought back. I slung my fists and twisted myself, trying to get away. I was strong, but Chris had the advantage of surprise and sheer stupidity.

The illusion shattered when something crashed hard into Dex’s back—probably furniture—forcing him to refocus on his opponent. He opened his jaws and snapped, catching Chris’s lip. More blood flooded his mouth as his brutal trip down memory lane continued:

I could see the future unfolding in front of me.

Chris was already a bully. He picked on anyone and everyone, even those who wisely tried to stay out of his way.

Students cowered in fear when he came down the hall.

He’d lunge at them, growling, and then he’d laugh when they tried so hard to get away from him that they ran into the lockers. One kid even pissed himself.

Chris’s teeth crunched down on Dex’s paw, drawing his attention back.

Dex reeled as the pain flooded through him.

He could feel the bones giving way, the joints snapping.

Chris was strong, but he also didn’t know when—or how—to stop.

That unrelenting brutality dragged Dex's mind back to the gym floor:

I was going to lose, unless I used the one thing Chris didn’t have.

Fueled by my anger, I let out a burst of magic.

It propelled Chris away from me, flinging him across the gym floor.

Chris landed on his ass, and the other kids in the gym roared with laughter.

His face contorted with hate, Chris got to his feet and barreled across the room.

My confidence had grown now. I knew how to defeat him, and it wasn’t with punches.

I raised my hands and lifted them into the air.

Chris cried out as his feet left the ground.

“I’ll fucking kill you for this!” I only lifted him higher.

A sharp, high-pitched sound brought Dex back to the present moment, a worried whine.

Dex’s pain was more than just physical—it was in his very soul.

It was Tina. They were hurting not just him, but his mate.

Her coven was fighting, too, but he was losing.

He was losing the same way he had back then, because he’d spent his time living his life instead of focusing only on dominating others.

The parallel hit Dex like a kick to the chest, steering his mind back to that moment of fleeting triumph in the gym:

“Okay! Okay!” Chris squealed, flinging his arms and legs helplessly in the air.

“I give up. Just put me down!” I felt a rush of victory, but it was quickly vanquished as Mrs. Sharp came bursting into the room, demanding to know what was going on.

My concentration slipped, and Chris slammed to the floor.

Horror flooded through me, even through my very soul. I’d never meant to kill him.

Shaking off the memory of that atrocity, Dex noted Chris was very much alive now, kicking and stomping with the same relentless fury.

Chris leveraged the weight of his body to keep himself on top, never giving Dex the advantage.

The yelps and cries from his coyote friends told Dex that they weren’t nearly as talented, but Chris was the one who threatened them all the most.

He had to change the balance of this fight. There was plenty of magic all around him. It came from witches who were far more experienced, far more talented, than he could ever be. True fear quivered in his soul. He didn’t want to kill anyone.

Tina’s words echoed in his mind. Magic was about intention and emotions.

If he could keep himself in check, then it wouldn’t get out of hand this time.

He thought of Sage and how excited she was when Dex had combined his talents with hers.

It was a halcyon moment, one that felt like a brief dream of the past, though it’d only just happened that afternoon.

He didn’t have his hands to guide his magic. Dex had to do it himself. He had to bring it up from the deepest part of himself, summoning an ancient ability that’d trickled down through his ancestors and had chosen him, of all people, to carry it.

Intention.

Was that Tina’s voice in his head, or his own?

Dex’s magic radiated from him, shoving Chris away.

The other wolf rolled across the floor, coming to a stop as he hit a bookshelf.

Several volumes tumbled to the ground around him as he stood and shook himself off.

He took a step forward and brought his human back out.

His face was twisted into that same hate-filled countenance, only older now.

“That’s how it’s going to be?” Chris demanded. “You won’t fight me like a man, so you’re going to use your magic on me?”

“It doesn’t have to be like this!” Dex hardly even remembered shifting back. He had his hand out and at the ready. He could feel the energy pulsing there, just below the surface of his skin, waiting only for him to send it out into the world.

“You think you’re so fucking noble!” Chris started for him again.

“Don’t you hurt my Daddy!” Sage cried, running down the stairs.

“Sage, no!” His heart contracted. Time slowed as he watched her little legs charging down the stairs, her hair flying out behind her, her face pinched and angry.

She flung out her hand and swiped it through the air. The coffee table slid across the floor with a screech.

Chris tumbled over it, but his reflexes were quick. He caught himself before he smashed his face on the glass inlay. “What’s this, Dex? You’re such a fucking wimp that you have to bring a little girl to fight for you?”

A growling bark split through the air as Jacob, still in coyote form, made a flying leap for Sage.

Dex’s heart ripped straight out of his chest.

In a flash, a small green dragon came swooping down the stairs, its wings spread and its face fierce. Smoke streamed from its nostrils.

On its back sat a young bobcat, crouching down and digging its claws in between the dragon’s scales as it held on. Its ears were flattened against its head, and its sharp little teeth were bared.

Dex realized this was Corbin in his dragon form, and little Arden as his bobcat. Pure horror ripped through him. It was bad enough that he’d accidentally brought his own fight to the covenstead, but now the children were at risk.

Arden didn’t seem to see it that way. The little bobcat coiled on his haunches as Corbin divebombed over Jacob. Arden launched off of Corbin’s back and landed directly on the coyote’s head. He clawed and bit, his screeching hiss muffled because his mouth was full. Tufts of gray fur went flying.

Sparkling green magic quickly lifted the young wildcat into the air. He was still hissing and spitting, swiping uselessly with his fierce little paws as his mother Erin brought him back to safety.

It all happened so quickly, but Dex was already on his way. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to Sage. Chris was there for him, but he abandoned that fight to protect his daughter. He dove for Jacob.

To his surprise, so did Chris. The two wolves slammed into him at the same time, knocking him back down to the floor. Chris brought his jaws down on Jacob’s throat, growling and snarling until Jacob yipped in submission.

As quickly as it’d begun, the fight was over.

The orbs and sparks of magic instantly dissipated.

John shifted back into his human form and put his hands in the air.

“We’re cool, we’re cool,” he kept repeating.

Amanda stood watch over him, making him twitch whenever her bear’s hot breath reached him.

Jacob was also a human again, though he was still on the floor.

“What the hell?” Chris asked him, getting up. “Why would you go after a little girl?”

“Dude, I was just being your backup,” Jacob protested. “I don’t know.”

Dex left the two of them. He scooped Sage up in his arms and held her tightly. “Are you okay, baby? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Daddy. What about you?” She touched the fresh scar along the side of his neck.

“Don’t you worry about me.” The scar had been a deep gash a moment ago, but his shifter genes were already healing it quickly. By the next day, even that pink line would be gone.

He turned to Tina, who was hovering nearby with tears in her eyes. “Is she all right?”

“What about you?” His wolf was still very present within him, and it urged him to reach out and pull her into his embrace. Dex stood there for a moment, holding Sage and Tina and trying to absorb the fact that they’d all lived through this nightmare.

“Get him out of here,” Chris was commanding John. “I’ll deal with him later.”

“I’m really sorry,” Jacob muttered as John grabbed him by the back of the collar and led him out of the house.

“I’m not really into curses, but I’m sure I could come up with one,” Maeve said, glaring after him.

“Dexter.”

He turned to look at Chris. For the first time, his high school foe looked truly remorseful.

“I—I hardly know what to say.” His voice was quiet, and Dex thought he saw Chris’s hand shaking as he swiped it through his hair. “I’m horrified it went that far. It’s one thing to fight man-to-man, but a kid…That wasn’t okay.”

“I think my Sisters and I should take the kids into the kitchen to get a bite to eat,” Tina said, reaching out hopefully for Sage.

She lunged into Tina’s arms. “Do you have any cookies?”

“I think we can find some,” Tina promised as she moved past Dex toward the kitchen.

The other witches followed. Chelsea was giving Corbin an earful. “I’ve told you not to use your dragon in the house. Before you know it, you’ll be far too big. And what were you thinking, getting involved, anyway? You could’ve been seriously hurt!”

“It was Arden’s idea,” Corbin protested. “He said we needed to protect Sage.”

“We did a good job of it, too,” Arden added. “Did you see me, Mom? The way I ripped his fur out? It was awesome!”

Erin pressed her finger and thumb to her forehead. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, Arden.”

Amanda and Maeve exchanged amused glances as they followed the others.

That left Dex alone with Chris.