Chapter 5: Fur and Good Intent

Maxx’s POV

“Storm, dammit!” I cursed as we toppled to the ground. But Storm wasn’t interested in communication. He just wanted to get at me because I had gotten at him. It was a typical mentality for a lot of shifters, where power and pack status are the only things which matter.

“You made me look weak!” Storm cursed.

We both rebounded and squared off, ready to continue our fight. It was incredibly stupid that we were fighting each other, even as there was an entire other enemy pack available to fight right now. But this is where we were.

Except for, I had no interest in fighting Storm. For once in my life, and for however improbable it was, I wasn’t interested in fighting at all.

The only thing I wanted was to keep my AJ safe.

I took stock of my mate now, glancing back to where I’d left him. He was still on the ground, a little terrified, a little confused. And I needed him to get moving. Now.

“AJ!” I bellowed at him.

Storm scoffed. “My name’s not AJ, idiot!”

It took a beat for me to realize how dumb I’d been. Then I reached inside, and specifically sought that space AJ took up in me.

I’d have to get used to this whole mate-connection thing.

“AJ!” I said again, this time to the right person. “Get going!”

It was clear my mate was no warrior, because AJ had to struggle to find his feet and stand up. “But I can’t leave you!”

I wished I could have bantered with him more, or tried to get him to see reason. But I had no time for that, because my idiot pack mate had a temper and was getting ready to charge.

“Storm! Back off!” I shouted, directing my link to the right person. But Storm clearly wasn’t interested in diplomacy. He leaped and came at me full force. This time, I dodged off to the side, not wanting to take another tumble to the ground.

My reasoning was that I could more easily defend AJ if I was up and on my feet. Yet, in my infinite wisdom, all I actually did was move out of the way, bringing AJ and Storm closer together.

I was grateful that Storm was so ill-tempered and short sighted. I had made him mad by making him look weak in front of the others. It made me the only thing Storm was concentrating on. Which was perfect, actually, since now AJ could make a clean getaway.

Then I saw my blessed, beautiful, stark white wolf, with his shimmering blue eyes and generally cheerful disposition—even though there was a brawl happening around him—start nipping at my pack mate, who was about twice AJ’s size.

It would have been a hilarious scene if I hadn’t been terrified of AJ coming to harm. But it looked for all the world like AJ had the energy of an enthusiastic puppy, trying to tell some big bad guy that he’d better leave the two of us alone.

I wanted to shoo AJ away. I wanted to force him to run away. I wanted to run away with him.

Also, for his absolutely stupid show of bravery, I quite desperately wanted to kiss him. It seemed like my mate was adorable, and also a little dumb. Perhaps in equal measure.

Storm rounded on my mate. “What!? Didn’t you get enough of me earlier!?”

AJ shouted back at him, “I just wanted a piece of your gray ass myself! You leave my mate alone!”

“AJ!” I yelled, throwing myself at Storm. “You can’t communicate across pack lines. He can’t hear you!”

“...oh,” was all my mate had to say for himself. Not that I could have concentrated on having a mid-fight conversation anyway, because, for as much of a temper as Storm had, he also had the muscle to back it up. If I wasn’t careful, I could get pretty injured fighting him.

I shuddered to imagine what chance AJ could have in such a fight.

No matter how much effort I put into engaging with Storm, he was ready for me. Instead of toppling to the ground, he withstood my blow and came at me with a heavy swipe of his claw.

I was grateful that we shifters don’t scar easily, because Storm’s claws dug in deep as they tore at the side of my face. I had never considered myself especially vain. But I liked my face how it was, both in wolf form and out. I had no interest in my pack mate messing that up for me.

“Leave him alone!” AJ said, using our mate bond again. What part of pack communication lines did he not understand? Then he leaped at Storm and bit him. To see my white wolf actually connect the hit surprised me. His teeth dug in, and when Storm shook him off, I saw blood.

Go AJ! But also, get out of here, you largely harmless ball of fur and good intent.

Storm rounded on AJ once again. I came in to save AJ’s hide. Only, this time, I bypassed Storm entirely, and gunned straight for my mate instead.

If AJ would not clear the battlefield, then I would make that choice for him.

It was a good thing, too. AJ was so oblivious to the fight around him, and focused solely on Storm and nothing else, that he hadn’t noticed me rush in. If I had been an enemy instead of his mate, I could easily have killed him. He was such an easy target that it hurt even knowing he was near a shifter territory dispute. Those got messy at the best of times. At the worst of times, shifters died. Sometimes a lot of them did.

So, what I did as I ran past Storm, was grab AJ by the scruff of his neck and pick him up. He wasn’t actually puppy-sized, it just looked that way when you compared him to other shifters. He was probably about as big as you’d expect a normal wolf to be. Maybe he was a little smaller than that, it was hard to tell exactly as I was carrying him away like a mother might carry an unruly pup.

Point is, he was small. And he was not happy that I’d decided that he had had enough.

AJ squirmed in my grip. “Put me down, Maxx! I want to fight!”

I paid no heed as I continued sprinting away from the battle raging on behind us.