were moving, too, giving the two men room to fight. Seth was scrabbling at Chaz’s arms, fighting for air as his pack leader’s grip tightened on his throat.
“See, this is why you’d never make pack leader. You’re big and tough, sure. But you don’t think things through.”
Chaz shoved Seth back in a move that looked casual, but had enough force behind it to partially uproot the tree he slammed the shifted Were into. The snap of roots was audible under the mud, and the tree listed dangerously to one side, swaying unsteadily as Seth used it to lever himself back up to his feet. Chaz didn’t give him the opportunity to get his balance, one fist lashing out to punch Seth’s jaw hard enough for blood and a few sharp teeth to go flying into the underbrush and mulch.
“Instead of leaning on low tricks and pranks, you could’ve fought your way up the ranks and gained some respect in the process.”
He kicked Seth in the ribs, hard, as he tried to crawl away, whimpering in pain. Even I winced a little in sympathy at the thud of Chaz’s hiking boot connecting with furred flesh, sure to leave a bruise deep enough that it would probably show even when Seth shifted back into his human form. Seth’s buddies were all looking green around the gills, their gazes creeping up to the canopy above instead of watching their friend get the shit beaten out of him.
“Right now, you’re just pathetic. You will continue to be pathetic until you realize that the pack structure is in place for a reason.” It was painful to watch as Chaz tangled his fingers in the fur at the scruff of Seth’s neck, yanking him up to grind the harsh words home, speaking right into one of those triangular, tufted ears. “You don’t fuck with the structure unless you’re ready to take a higher place in it. You. Are. Not. Ready. You won’t be ready for a long time, not unless you learn some fucking respect. If you start showing me and your superiors that respect, maybe we’ll teach you how to climb in the hierarchy without getting your ass handed to you.”
With that, Chaz let Seth drop to sprawl gracelessly on the ground, tail tucked between his legs as he curled up on his side. Blood trickled down the side of the Were’s jaw as he voiced low, pained whimpers. Throughout the entire fight, if you could call it that, Chaz hadn’t broken a sweat and had barely ruffled his hair. The only signs he’d even taken part in it were the gouges in his forearms and the slightest spattering of mud around the hem of his jeans.
He brushed his hands off, staring down at the fallen Were for a long moment, and I soon realized he was waiting for something. Seth eventually managed to work himself up to a position where he could reach out and lick at one of Chaz’s hands, keeping crouched low to the ground with his head down, looking like a dog that had just gotten a kick from its master. Chaz reached out and absently ran his hand over the silken fur between Seth’s ears, at once a comforting and a warning gesture.
“Let’s not do this again for a while, hmm?”
Without waiting for any sign of agreement, he turned away from Seth and walked over to me. Dillon and Sean moved aside so he could wrap an arm around my shoulders. Though I was grateful for the warmth and protection he afforded, the casual violence he’d just visited on Seth made it difficult to relax against him.
“Sorry you had to see that, love. They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“No, I’m okay,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder to see Curtis and Gabe moving over to Seth’s side, helping him to stand. At Chaz’s light nudge, I turned my attention back on him, and we started on the path back to the cabins. “What about you? And is Ethan okay? Seth said something about bane… .”
“Don’t worry about Ethan.”
The way he said it made me quiet for a moment, biting my lower lip. The silence stretched uncomfortably, punctuated by the crackling of twigs underfoot.
“That was really something,” I ventured, hesitant. He didn’t look terribly upset, but his eyes were still glowing with agitation. “I didn’t know you could beat up a shifted Were like that.”
“If he’d stayed human, or if I’d shifted too, it might have gotten ugly. He was