Travis was done waiting for something else to happen. He bunched his muscles, preparing to shift.
Travis, be ready, warned Jenny, and Travis paused.
Wrench had all of the man’s attention. “Make a call? What are you in kindergarten calling your Mommy?”
Now! Jenny cried, and she twisted in the eagle shifter’s hands and sank sharp teeth into the tender webbing of his thumb.
Chapter 26
Jenny was unsurprised when the eagle shifter dropped her and then missed at grabbing her again. His hands scrambled for her lithe, flexible otter body as she twisted and kicked away with clawed feet. While she struggled, she caught sight of Travis out of the corner of her eye, clothing shedding from him as he shifted, and leaped impossibly high into the air as a lynx to land on the driftwood beside her captor.
Jenny landed on her side with a thump in the sand that left her dazed, and scrambled to her feet, shifting back to human as she went.
Naked man versus enraged lynx was no match, but eagle was better suited for the battle.
Powerful wings battered at Travis, and sharp, wicked talons tore into his thick-furred shoulder.
Jenny bit back her cry of alarm, not wanting to be a fatal distraction at an inopportune point.
Travis shredded in return, using long, curved claws on powerful paws, sinking snarling teeth into the eagle’s wing.
The eagle gave a cry of agony and rage, and snapped his strong, sharp beak at Travis, who was too fast for the assault.
Their battle sent them tumbling off the driftwood, and Jenny might have been knocked by one of the eagle’s massive wings if Laura hadn’t pulled her back out of the way.
Then there was a second big cat in the fray, and a massive brown bear waded in, snarling ferociously.
Jenny and Laura held each other and watched in alarm as claws and teeth flashed and feathers flew in the howling wind.
Knowing he was outnumbered, the eagle tried to shake them off and escape into the sky, but between the bleeding teeth marks in his wing and the wild, erratic wind, he was easily dragged back to the earth.
He was quickly overwhelmed, and shifted back to his human form with Travis’ teeth at his throat.
“Mercy!” The shifter begged pathetically.
Travis, still a lynx, remained at his throat, growling, but didn’t close his grip. The others backed away, but not far.
“You can’t kill a man who’s begging,” the mobster whined.
Wrench had stayed back from the battle, but stepped forward now. “I thought you didn’t have a code,” he said scornfully.
Travis shifted back into human at last, and Jenny had to hold herself back from running to him. Blood oozed down his shoulder.
“Well, you’re just lucky I do,” he said, standing up and backing away.
Just then, the skies opened up and it began to pour.
Chapter 27
It took all of Travis’ self-control to back away from his prey, helpless and bloody in the wet sand now.
But he was aware of Jenny, behind him, and was so glad and relieved that she was unharmed that the fate of the eagle shifter swiftly became unimportant to him.
When Breck and Wrench moved forward to secure the now-sodden shifter, he could finally turn away, and Jenny ran into his arms.
She was soaking wet, her sundress plastered to every gorgeous curve. Travis gathered her up in his arms, giving a little gasp as his shoulder reminded him that it had recently been pierced by eagle talons. It wasn’t anything a few shifts and a couple of hours of healing wouldn’t fix, but it was still bleeding sluggishly and Jenny exclaimed over it in concern when he set her back down on her feet.
It was a subdued party that returned to the Jeep, scavenging the parts of their clothing that they could. Tex and Travis, with the help of Wrench, were able to push the Jeep back out of the driftwood tangle that Travis had driven it into.