Kenzie wanted to protest. No, I need to stay with you, make sure you’re all right . . .

Bowman must have sensed what was in her head, because he said, “I need someone there to keep an eye on everyone. I’m down, Kenz. I need you.”

He did. If a Shifter wasn’t strong enough to fight, his mate needed to fight for him. Otherwise, those next in power would sense an opening and try to fill it. In the old days, such a thing happened often, and whoever pushed out or killed the leader would steal his mate and offspring. Hardly ever occurred these days, but this Shiftertown was still divisive, and there were those who liked to challenge Bowman’s power. Kenzie knew exactly who Bowman was worried about, and exactly why she needed to keep up a strong front.

She gave him a nod, as though leaving him while he was hurt was no big deal. “You mean keep these buttholes in line?” she asked, meeting Bowman’s gaze. “I can do that.”

Jamie pretended to look offended, but Cade grinned. He knew what was going on.

Speaking of offspring, Bowman’s and Kenzie’s decided at that moment to walk in.

CHAPTER FIVE

Bowman’s protective instincts went off whenever his cub was near, no matter how much he trusted the other Shifters in the room. It made him cranky, which Kenzie would be quick to point out.

Bowman scented twelve-year-old Ryan’s fear, his worry. His extraordinary love for the boy rose up and made him soften his question to only a faint snarl.

“Why the hell aren’t you still with your great-grandma?”

“I couldn’t stay,” Ryan said. His hair was dark, like Kenzie’s—in fact, he looked a lot like Kenzie in the shape of his face, and in his eyes, which were golden like hers. He’d also inherited Kenzie’s back-talking sass. “Had to come make sure you hadn’t been knocked off, because then I’d have to take over Shiftertown. But it looks like you ran fast enough this time, Dad.”

Kenzie should have said, Ryan, don’t be a smartass, but she only gave her son a look of sparkling good humor. “I made sure the monster didn’t catch him.”

“Yeah, your mom kicked some good ass,” Jamie said. “Your dad was down in the first five minutes.”

“The other guy looked worse,” Cade said. “But not because of your dad. Kenzie was fighting like crazy. You should have seen her. She didn’t even get hurt.”

“Didn’t get hurt much,” Kenzie said. She’d been bruised and winded, but she’d recovered quickly. “But, sure, I did pretty good.” She huffed on her curled fingertips and rubbed them against her shirt. “Think I should go a few rounds at the fight club?”

“Girls can’t fight in the fight club,” Ryan said, but he sounded uncertain. “It’s the rules.”

Cade broke in. “Because they’d all win, and make us big, lumbering males look bad.”

Ryan’s smile came through. “Actually, I’d like to see that. I bet my mom could beat the both of you.”

They all laughed, including Jamie, who prided himself on being the top fighter in Shiftertown.

Bowman shot his son a smile, though his pain was still intense. Ryan’s fear had climbed down, and Bowman silently thanked Kenzie and the others for that.

Ryan still needed reassurance, though. He needed touch, a hug, the close confines of family. Ryan was trying to hold it together in the presence of Cade and Jamie. One day, Ryan would become a tracker—those Shifters who guarded the leader and helped him keep an eye on everything in and around Shiftertown.

“So, why are you all still sitting here?” Bowman asked them. “Get out there and start hunting.”

“Got it.” Cade levered himself to his feet. He was a head taller than Jamie, who was long and lanky, but Cade was just big. Bears grew that way. “The sooner we find and get rid of it, the sooner I can start fixing my truck.” He threw Bowman a pointed look.

“I want to help track it too,” Ryan said. “I’m old enough—”

He was cut off by both his parents’ sharp, “No!”

They hadn’t kept the fact that they’d been attacked by some unknown, huge creature secret, because neither Bowman nor Kenzie believed in protecting their cub through lies. The problem with that approach, though, was that Ryan thought he should be able to join his parents in tracking, fighting, and dealing with anything, no matter how dangerous it might be.

Ryan raised his hands, looking pained. “All right, all right. Don’t have a cow, Mom.”

“Moo,” Kenzie said, frowning at him.

She unfolded herself from her chair, setting down the empty soup bowl, and caught Ryan in a rough hug, ruffling his hair. Nothing that would make him look weak in the eyes of Cade and Jamie, but enough that her closeness would ease his fears.

Bowman always felt a touch of envy for other Shifters, whose cubs climbed all over them—Ryan was always conscious of his position as the alpha’s first cub and liked his dignity. He’d run the pack one day, and everyone knew it.

The way pack leaders in the wild had been replaced by their offspring had been a father-son fight to the death. But a few years ago in the Austin Shiftertown, the leader, Dylan Morrissey, had defied convention by stepping down and retiring, letting his son, Liam, take over. No deaths necessary.

The handoff hadn’t been as simple as that, from what Bowman had heard, but they’d all pretended it had. The Morrisseys had set a new precedent—sons didn’t need to kill their fathers.

Even so, there would come a time when Ryan and Bowman went at it, and both Ryan and Bowman knew it.

Not now, though. Ryan was still a cub—the little wolf he became was adorable—and it might be another hundred or so years before there was need for confrontation. And hell, whatever that thing in the woods was might kill them all in the next week.

“Out,” Bowman said. “Ryan, stay here. Someone needs to protect me while I’m healing.”

Ryan stood up from Kenzie’s embrace, surreptitiously wiping his eyes. “Yeah, that’s true. Don’t worry, Dad. I got your back.”

Kenzie ruffled Ryan’s hair again as Cade and Jamie left the room—Cade with the slow, long strides of a bear, Jamie with the lightning-quick moves of the fastest wildcat on earth.

Kenzie gave Bowman a long look, golden sparks smoldering deep in her eyes. Kenzie needed him, and he needed her, their mating frenzy always close to the surface. Healing would speed with Kenzie in his bed, and both of them knew it.