Free Ride the Wicked Woodsman (A Night Falls Alpha Werebear Shapeshifter Romance) by Christa Wick

rage to listen. She feinted another slash at Clover before changing directions at the last minute and aiming for my eyes.
    I dodged it, grabbed her arm with one hand, ducked as she tried to get me with her free arm. Twisting to her side, I took hold of her arm again with both hands and started to turn in a hard, fast circle, the velocity of my swing lifting her off her feet.
    Letting her go as I had her airborne, I watched her slam into one of the solid concrete pillars that supported the building's roof.
    Landa hit the floor, her body motionless and twisted in ways that were unnatural -- even for a cat shifter. Trying to move, she groaned, then screamed as she forced her spine straight with gut wrenching cracks.
    I had thought my pulse was running out of control when she started the fight, but seeing the puma looking broken on the ground, my heart beat so fast I thought it would burn out or explode any second.
    Had I crippled her?
    I looked at the column and saw the force of impact had cracked it vertically. Not all the way through, only a spidery line that ran around eight inches, but cracked nonetheless.
    How had I done that? How had I matched her speed and thrown her with such force?
    While I stared at the shifter on the floor, Clover clutching my arm and whispering "oh shit" over and over, one of the men ran into the meeting room. Taron came out first, followed by Braeden and half a dozen Woodsmen.
    Taron looked from me to the woman on the floor, his gaze darkening.
    "She totally attacked us," Clover blurted, tilting her head to show him the fast healing wound and bloody smears on her neck. "Onyx didn't say a single word to that bitch, she just came out all fucking pissed from the meeting room and started talking smack then attacked us!"
    "Is this true?" Taron asked me.
    I nodded as Clover started to have her own meltdown.
    "Do I ever fucking lie?"
    "No, little wolf," Taron relented. "Lying requires you to think before you speak and that's not your style."
    He looked down at Braeden who had rolled Landa onto her side and had his hand pressed solidly against the center of her back as she moaned and writhed.
    "Are you healing that bitch after she attacked me?" Clover asked.
    Green eyes that matched her own glared up and stopped the flow of her indignant protests.
    "Let Mallory finish her," Taron said, grabbing me by the elbow. "Take your sister home."
    He nodded at the other males who had been in the meeting room with him.
    "Church is over."
    ********************
    Hands wrapped tightly around Taron's waist, I waited for him to shut the bike off and lower the kick stand before I slid off the back. The drive down the mountain in daylight had been sufficiently terrifying. The trip up in the dark -- my nerves frayed by the fight at the club meeting -- was merciless.
    "We'll go to the city tomorrow, get you a riding jacket," he said as I hugged my arms against the cold that gripped me. "And whatever else you need."
    "I need my car," I sniped then clamped my mouth shut before exposing my reason.
    The longer I stayed, the more I would ruin his life. That whole scene at the clubhouse wouldn't have happened if I wasn't there.
    He was too proud and protective to back down from the unconventional claim he had made. It might already be too late to save his position as pack leader, but if I stayed much longer, he might find himself outcast, as well.
    I mean, she was a fucking shifter and I had hurt her so bad with so little effort that she couldn't recover quickly and had to have an alpha help her.
    "None of that nonsense about needing your car so you can leave," he growled. "At least not tonight. I've had enough people arguing with me for the day."
    Mute, I followed after him and stood to the side as he slatted the door once we were in the cabin. Seeing me stand there like an idiot, he nodded at the kitchen.
    "You didn't have time to eat at the meeting. You should fix yourself something."
    I shrugged. At that moment, I didn't feel like