Jared, with nothing to lose, had no reason not to kill Sean. He was fighting for his honor, not Andrea, while Sean fought to stay alive to save her from Jared.
Sean sensed his sword in the tall grass where he’d left it, the blade waiting to see which Shifter it would send to the afterlife. It offered no help while he and Jared tumbled through the field, wildcat on wolf, kicking up dust into the clear blue sky.
Jared’s Collar sparked around his neck, driving blue veins of electricity into his body, and Jared snarled in pain. Sean’s Collar did the same, but adrenaline ran so high that they both went on fighting.
Jared hooked a claw around Sean’s Collar and twisted. One link that Liam had dislodged before easily came loose, giving Sean a surge of feral-spiked rage.
Sean roared and shook his head. Sean’s sides were already bloody from Jared’s claws, Jared’s dark fur dripping scarlet from Sean’s. For seconds they stood back to catch their breaths, and then they were fighting again. Grappling, clawing, ears back, each trying to close jaws over the others’ throat.
Savage snarling filled the air, but it didn’t come from Sean or Jared. Before Sean’s enraged brain could reason out what was going on, a half-dozen Felines sprinted across the parking lot and leapt on them both.
Sean rolled from Jared and fought this new attack. His nose told him who they were—Callum’s followers he’d seen in the bar. Of Callum or Sean’s clansmate Ben, there was no sign.
The Felines had one thing on their minds: to rip Sean and Jared to pieces. Their Collars sparked too, but they fought right through the pain.
Sean turned on them. He roared a mane-shaking roar, proclaiming to all who heard that he was in command here. One Feline started to back away, but the other four didn’t give a damn who was in charge and renewed their attack.
Jared, the idiot, didn’t run off, go for help, or even join the others to kill Sean. This wasn’t his fight, and yet he turned and started battling the Felines alongside Sean.
Sean roared and plunged, snapped teeth and raked claws, fighting furiously. He saw and sensed the Feline who’d dropped back make for the sword.
The sword. Damn it.
But if Sean broke away and made a dash for the sword, the Felines would tear Jared to pieces. If Sean didn’t, the shite slinking toward the Sword of the Guardian would snatch it and run off. Sean couldn’t let that happen.
Dimly he heard cars squealing to a halt in the parking lot, and far away, the sound of sirens. Help coming?
From the scent, the people who piled out of the cars were human. Ben had assured them that the human shooters they’d hired had gone, so were these friend or foe? Sean couldn’t afford to wait around and find out.
He sprinted for the sword, knocking aside the Feline that had almost reached it. Sean’s Collar was sparking like fireworks and the later payback would be hell, but he didn’t have time to worry about that right now.
Sean morphed to human as he rolled over the Feline, landing on his human feet and sweeping up the sword. The Feline backed off, looked up at Sean with red-rimmed eyes, and turned to dash back to the fight around Jared.
“Jared, you gobshite. Run! Get out of it!”
Jared continued to fight, and the Felines continued to savage him. They were in a killing frenzy, instinctively taking out the Lupine, the competitive predator. Jared, enraged at the interrupted challenge, was fighting for all he was worth.
So this was Sean’s choice—again. Help Jared and risk the sword, or watch Jared die, just as Sean had with Kenny. Jared was nothing to Sean but the asshole who had persecuted Andrea, but the situation was the same. Sean guarded the sword, and others died for it.
Sean dropped the sword and shifted. He bounded into the tangle of wildcats shredding Jared and fought them hard. The humans from the cars moved toward them. They had weapons, but they stood at the edge of the fight, watching.
Sean shoved one of the Felines in front of him, snarling as he rolled over and over with him toward the five humans. Sean came out of the roll and barreled into the human men, scattering them like bowling pins. They cursed and shouted and then they started shooting.
The sirens grew louder, nearer. Two of the gunmen ran, jumping