Chapter 2

“It’s a bird.”

It took a couple of seconds before his words made sense to Espen. A bird. He almost laughed. A bunch of wolves were trying to catch a bird? “You might as well give up then.”

The man tried to shake his head, but Espen held fast. “Can’t fly in this wind.”

Ah…That sucked for the bird. “I don’t care. You’re leaving now or your friends will have to drag your dead body out of here. Understood?”

“We’re six. You’re alone.” The wolf flashed teeth, and Espen sighed. He wasn’t in the mood to kill anyone today. He wanted to go home and eat.

“As far as I see it, you’re alone now.” He applied more pressure on the man’s throat and watched as his eyes bulged. “Do we have a deal or am I to kill you? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve killed trespassers.” He wasn’t lying. When he’d first moved here, there had been many who had tried to challenge him for the area. Most pack-living shifters didn’t think he should have the territory when he was only one individual.

They didn’t understand bears.

The man gave a slight nod, and Espen eased up on the grip. Right as he was about to let go, the man sliced his claws down his torso, aiming for his throat but missing in his haste to get away.

Espen roared, his clothes splitting at the seams as his bear pushed forth.

* * * *

Arvid watched in horror as one of the alphas turned into a giant cat. Shit. He’d assumed they were all wolves. He’d assumed wolves wouldn’t climb trees to get to him. He’d assumed they’d wait on the ground for him to come down while he waited in the tree for the weather to change. As soon as the wind lessened, he’d fly.

The tree swayed as the massive, T-shirt wearing cat—leopard was Arvid’s guess—buried his claws in the bark and heaved himself up. He moved effortlessly, graceful and fast, and before Arvid could hop away, they were on the same branch. His heart drummed a staccato in his chest as he jumped out on a smaller twig. The wind pushed at him, his feathers ruffled, and he swayed. He had to flap his wings not to fall, but it made him more exposed to the wind.

The cat took the opportunity and jumped. Arvid saw it coming, launched into the air, but the wind knocked him back. The cat’s massive paws smacked into him, forcing the air out of his lungs.

With a thud and a screaming pain radiating from his right wing, they hit the ground. The cat roared in triumph. It was followed by another roar, farther away and far more threatening. Arvid tried breathing through the pain, but it didn’t subside. The dark forest swam around him, the wind howled in his ears only to be drowned out by his hammering heartbeats.

Would this be the day he died?

He tried calming his heart. Even if he had to spend his life with Cat Grabbyhands, it was better than being dead. Probably. He took in the massive cat, the sharp teeth, and yellow eyes. Maybe not

Filling his lungs, he tried to calm his heart. The pain grew more intense. The man on top of him shifted into a dark-haired man, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles—they always did. At least he was still wearing his T-shirt.

“Change.”

Arvid would’ve rolled his eyes at the command, had he been in human form. They all chased the omega, they all wanted the omega, and they all forgot he didn’t have to do what they told him to. He might not be an alpha, but he wasn’t a submissive either. For some reason, they disregarded that part.

“Change back!” The growly order made Arvid look straight into the man’s eyes. It usually set them off more. Changing would have him passing out from pain—not something he wanted to try—and staying bird made it extremely hard for the man to mate with him. How did you fuck a bird when you were a human or a leopard? How did you bite a small bird’s neck when you were a huge human or a leopard?

Desperation crawled into the man’s eyes. “Change!” He slammed Arvid against the wet ground, forcing all air out of his lungs. He cried out as a slicing agony cut through his every thought.

Arvid closed his eyes and tried breathing through the pain as the angry roar came again. It was closer now, and Arvid feared he’d be stepped on if there was a fight.

Branches broke, twigs snapped, and a giant brown bear cantered into the woods—Grizzly, perhaps? Arvid wasn’t familiar with the different bear species. It was massive and brown and had long claws.