The Clawed Squad: Tyler (The Bear Shifters of Clawed Ranch Book 4) Read online

  “Why would she need to be guarded?” Layla asked, shaking her head and looking like she put a lemon in her mouth.

  “Her husband hired me,” Tyler said, “to keep her away from the bar.”

  “Sounds like my kind of chick,” Layla said, raising her wine glass. “But where does the espionage fit in?”

  Tyler sighed. “After a few years as a bodyguard, I got offered a job in the secret service guarding the Vice President. I saw some shady stuff. Extravagant personal expenses paid with taxpayer money, briefcases of stacked hundred dollar bills from CEOs of major corporations, that kind of crooked stuff. It wasn’t right. I was about to expose it to the press when I got knocked out. I woke up in a prison cell. No lawyer. No phone call. No nothing.”

  “That’s horrible,” Kylee said, looking horrified. “How did you get out?”

  “The same way we all did,” Tyler said. “General Samson.”

  Thorn nodded. “That’s when he joined the team.”

  Tyler smiled, looking down at his drink. There was a rumbling in the distance which sounded like muted thunder. He thought nothing of it until he glanced down at his glass of beer. Little circles were erupting out of the middle like the classic T-Rex scene from Jurassic Park.

  Izzy stood up from where she was lying beside him. She lowered her head and growled at the empty road as the rumbling got louder. The nervous hair on her back was standing straight up.

  “What is that?” Stetson asked, standing up. His hands were already clenched into fists.

  “Camilla, Layla, Kylee,” Thorn shouted as the rest of the boys jumped up. “In the forest. Now.” He thrust Scrappy into Camilla’s arms and turned towards the road.

  The three girls just stood there looking confused. “You want us to-”

  “Now!” Thorn snapped. “Run!”

  They didn’t need to be told a third time. They ran.

  The rumbling was getting louder with every passing second. The squad walked out into the clearing and stood in a line while the women ran to safety.

  “Could just be a truck,” Royal said with his hands on his hips.

  “I’ve never heard a truck like that,” Slate said.

  Karl nodded. “Or smell like that.”

  “Tyler,” Thorn said from beside him. “Grab one of those hawks will ya, and get a bird’s eye view.”

  Tyler just stared at the road with a sour taste in his mouth. He shook out his hands as cold chills sank into his body. He should have known that his past would have caught up to him sooner rather than later. It had to be him.

  “Tyler,” Thorn repeated but it was too late.

  The beast came charging down the road and turned right at them.

  “Holy Crappucino,” Slate whispered, staring at it in disbelief.

  A huge rhinoceros was charging them down. Its thick head was lowered with his enormous horn pointing right at them. The ground shook and thundered as it kicked up dust, sprinting towards them.

  “That was not what I was expecting,” Royal said with his mouth dropped open. “At all.”

  “I got this,” Stetson said, running forward. He lowered his shoulder and ran like a linebacker about to pulverize anything standing in his way. He pivoted at the last second, missing the horn by a strand of fur and slammed his shoulder into the rhino with a grunt. The huge polar bear shifter bounced off the animal’s body like a ping pong ball hitting a brick wall. He flew through the air and landed on the ground with a thud, skidding across the dirt with his feet in the air.

  Slate and Karl burst out laughing but it was short lived. The rhino turned and charged right at them.

  “Holy Mocha Crappucino!” Karl hollered as he dove out of the way.

  Royal lunged onto the animal’s back, grabbing his horn with one hand while wrapping his other arm around the rhino’s front leg.

  Tyler swallowed hard as he headed for the road with Izzy by his side. The rhino wasn’t the real threat. It was just a warm up. He had tried to channel the rhino when he first burst into the camp but there was a familiar energy blocking him. And it felt stronger than he had remembered.

  His stomach rolled as he came to the end of the road, staring down it. He glanced back at the boys. Royal was ten feet in the air as the rhino crashed through their chairs, breaking them to pieces.

  “Jacob,” he whispered when he turned back to the road. His older brother was walking towards him with his golden eyes shining brightly.

  “Brother,” he said with a grin on his lips. Tyler’s stomach dropped as his chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. This wasn’t good. Jacob wasn’t here for a social call. He was coming in guns blazing.

  “This is between us, Jacob,” Tyler said, locking eyes on his brother. “Leave my friends out of it.”

  “What that?” he asked with a grin. “That’s just a little fun. I picked him up at the zoo on the way over here.”

  “Release him,” Tyler warned, squeezing his hands into fists. Isabelle was telling the truth. Jacob was a master skin shifter. He was easily controlling the rhino, giving the whole Clawed Squad a run for their money while he was having a conversation, fully awake. Tyler had never seen anyone do anything like that before. He had never even believed the elder’s tales about master skin shifters until now.

  “Did you see my pretty little wife today?” he asked, his grin fading into a sneer. “Your stench was all over Isabelle. I could barely stay hard when I was fucking her.”

  Tyler’s whole body tensed as he stared his brother down with his nostrils flaring. “You took my leg, you took my girl, and you took my home,” he hissed with a tight voice. “And now, I’m going to take your life.”

  “That’s the brother I was hoping to see!” Jacob said with a smile. “If you only would have joined me. What a team we could have made.”

  “I’ll never be on your side,” Tyler said, stepping forward. Izzy was growling and snarling at his side, looking ready to lunge at Jacob. “There’s a clearing not too far from here. Let’s go finish this. Just me and you.”

  Jacob frowned. “And let your friends miss out on all of the fun?”

  Tyler’s stomach dropped as he turned to the boys. All five of them were on the ground as the rhino just stopped, shook his head, and slowly waddled away, smelling the dirt as he moved.

  “What the hell was that?” Slate asked, picking up a broken chair as he watched the beast walk away.

  “We have company,” Stetson said, pointing to Jacob.

  “Nobody phase!” Thorn ordered in a stern voice. “He’ll use our bears against Tyler.”

  Jacob just smiled.

  “No,” Tyler gasped as his brother raised his hand. His face flinched and Stetson burst into a snarling polar bear.

  “What the hell, Stetson?” Thorn screamed. “I just fucking said-”

  One by one the boys exploded into their bears.

  Thorn was the last one. “Is no one fucking listeni-”

  His Kodiak bear ripped out of him before he could finish his sentence. The five enormous bears turned towards Tyler, approaching with their backs arched and their lips curled up showing their deadly teeth.

  “I learned a few tricks since you’ve been gone,” Jacob said, looking smug.

  Tyler took a step back. At least Izzy was still by his side. Jacob gestured towards the wolf, trying to override Tyler’s hold on her, but it didn’t work. He wasn’t fully alone. Not yet anyway.

  “Release them,” Tyler said, walking backward with his heart racing. Tyler had seen first hand what those five bears were capable of and he wasn’t about to take them all on at the same time. They would shred him to pieces.

  “I hope for your sake that you can still run on that peg leg of yours,” Jacob said with a smirk. The psycho was loving every minute of this.

  The ground rumbled as the five bears picked up speed, charging at him full sprint.

  There wasn’t much that Tyler could do but run.

  He turned and took off as fast as he could with Izzy
by his side. The poor wolf had a wounded back leg but she was a tough one and she was keeping pace with him.

  Tyler ducked under the branches of a tree and sprinted into the forest pumping his legs until they burned like acid. The bears were fast but he was faster. He glanced back as he approached the river. Izzy was struggling, finally slowing down on her wounded leg.

  “Shit,” he cursed as he turned back and scooped the wolf up in his arms. Thorn’s grizzly caught up to him as he turned back around and swatted his massive paw at him. His razor nails grazed Tyler’s lower back, slicing his skin in a shallow wound.

  Tyler didn’t turn back. He kept sprinting forward, trying to ignore the searing pain as the wound ripped open with every step. Blood trickled down his back and onto his jeans as he ran.

  Izzy was whimpering in his arms as he squeezed her to his chest. He jumped into the waist-high water of the slow moving river and crossed it as fast as he could.

  He heard five splashes before he was even out of the water. The bears were close behind. This was bad. He couldn’t even fight them if he wanted to. He would rather die than hurt his innocent friends.

  Tyler kept running past the tall cedars, leaping over the thick roots sticking out of the dirt. He was tired and sweaty but he kept pushing. If he slowed down for a second he would have to wrestle Stetson’s polar bear while fighting off the four other bears.

  The trees began to thin and he could see an open field in the distance. He burst out of the forest and ran forward, the cool wind washing over his hot, sweaty face.

  The Vega brothers. He was on their ranch and he could see their log mansion up ahead. Maybe they could help. Or maybe Jacob would control their bears as well and he would have four fresh bears to deal with. It was a gamble but he didn’t have much of a choice. Even a master skin shifter had to have a limit. Right?

  “Khan!” he screamed as he ran with Izzy in his arms. “Julius! Hannibal!” He glanced back over his shoulder and cursed as the five bears rushed out of the forest. “Alexander!”

  He was ready to pass out with black spots dotting his vision but got a second gust of energy when the four bear shifters walked out of the house.

  “What the hell is this?” Khan shouted.

  “Yeah,” Julius said with a frown. “Why are you interrupting me when I’m eating pizza?”

  Tyler took a breath of relief. They hadn’t exploded into bears. Well, not yet anyway. Jacob appeared to be back on the Clawed Squad’s ranch. It must have been too much to control five apex predators and run through the forest at the same time.

  “I need your help,” Tyler said as he approached them. “They’re being controlled. Can you stop them without hurting them?”

  Alexander grinned as he ran forward with his fierce eyes set on the charging polar bear. “We can stop them,” he said as he ripped off his shirt, tearing it to shreds. “But I sure as shit am going to hurt them.”

  The big man exploded into a snarling polar bear and charged forward, crashing into the wall of bears.

  Khan smiled as he ran to join him. “Finally a fight,” he said before his grizzly bear ripped out of his skin.

  Hannibal rushed forward phasing into a brown bear. He lunged on the twins’ bears who were ganging up on Khan.

  “Ava, don’t you dare eat my pizza!” Julius yelled back at the house. He shook his head with a frown as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt.

  “What?” he asked when he saw Tyler staring at him. “This is a hundred dollar shirt!”

  “I’ll buy you a new one,” Tyler said in disbelief.

  “Fine,” Julius said, rolling his eyes. His grizzly bear burst forward and joined in the fight.

  Stetson and Alexander were going at it pretty hard, swatting and snapping at each other with their killer jaws. Alexander was getting the upper paw and Stetson’s bear was starting to act defensively more than anything.

  Julius’ grizzly slammed into Royal’s bear and the two tumbled to the ground. Hannibal and Khan were fighting both of the twins, holding their own against the Ember brothers.

  “Thorn,” Tyler said as he placed Izzy on the ground. “Easy.” Thorn’s Kodiak was stalking him with pure murder in his charcoal gray eyes.

  Tyler took a step back as his alpha approached with his teeth bared. He was so big. So deadly.

  He couldn’t hurt his alpha. But more than anything, he couldn’t hurt his friend.

  “No!” he cried out as Thorn lunged forward. Tyler closed his eyes as the vicious bear came crashing down on him. His two heavy paws landed on his chest like two sledgehammers, knocking the air out of the skin shifter. Tyler tried desperately to override Jacob’s control on the bear but his brother was too strong. Even while controlling five bears he was too much to handle.

  The hot breath of Thorn’s bear hit Tyler’s face like a slap as the Kodiak opened his ferocious jaws, about to deal the killing blow.

  Tyler closed his eyes and thought of her. Isabelle.

  He was still in love with her. Completely.

  Maybe they would be able to start fresh in the afterlife.

  Tyler grimaced as he waited for the sharp teeth to sink into his flesh. It never came. He opened his eyes as the bear stepped off of his chest. The Kodiak looked at him curiously and then began to shake and convulse.

  “Oh, thank God,” Tyler said with a gasp. The rest of his squad had stopped fighting and seemed to be phasing back as well.

  Stetson’s polar bear was looking around in confusion. The fight was clearly over but Alexander’s bear gave him one last hard swat across the head before phasing back.

  One by one the bears turned into their human forms. Tyler couldn’t help but laugh, partly out of relief, but mostly due to the bizarre scene in front of him. There were nine naked men standing around all looking confused.

  “What the fuck was that?” Royal asked as he phased back into his human form. “The last thing I remember was getting thrown through the air by a rhino and then I wake up naked here. Was I date raped?”

  “Nobody would date rape you,” Julius said. “Your pecker is too small.” He turned to Stetson whose cock was almost hanging to his knees. “This guy on the other hand…”

  “Do you guys mind explaining what the hell just happened?” Hannibal asked. Tyler didn’t know whether to look at him or read him. He was covered in tattoos of sayings and quotations. He looked like a human billboard.

  They gathered around while Tyler explained everything.

  Ava walked out with a stack of empty pizza boxes in her hands, which was fitting because her eyes were as wide as extra large pizzas. She walked into the garbage can, knocking it over as she stared at all of the naked muscular men.

  “Uh,” she said with her jaw dropped open. “Why are you guys all naked?”

  Julius shrugged. “Just an old-fashioned penis party,” he said. “We’ll be inside in a minute.”

  She nodded slowly as she gawked at them the whole way back to the house. Her cheeks reddened as she looked at Stetson. “Wow,” she mouthed as she walked into the door frame with a thud and then disappeared inside while rubbing her forehead.

  “Great,” Julius said, pointing to Stetson’s huge, swaying cock. “Now I have to measure up to him.”

  Thorn was ignoring all of the commotion, watching Tyler closely. “Why did he release us?” Thorn asked, looking worried. His alpha never looked worried.

  “I don’t know,” Tyler whispered, running through explanations in his mind. “Something must have happened.”

  “The girls!” Royal yelled. They all sprinted back to the forest like a marathon of naked men. The ten of them crossed the river and ran back to the Clawed Squad’s side of the ranch.

  “Oh, thank God!” Slate said as they saw the three women by the pickup trucks. Layla was clutching a frying pan in her hands, Camilla was holding a spatula out like a sword, and Kylee had her gun in the air like a Charlie’s Angel.

  “What happened?” Thorn asked as they approached. All three women we
re staring at them with raised eyebrows.

  “Eyes up here,” Slate said with a frown.

  “Who was that guy?” Kylee asked as Stetson wrapped his arms around her.

  “Wait a minute,” Julius said, looking baffled. “That thing goes inside of you? How are you not split into two people right now?”

  “What happened?” Thorn repeated, this time in a tone that got everyone’s attention.

  Camilla stepped forward, squirming out of Royal’s protective arms. “Layla hit him with a frying pan.”

  “I did,” Layla said, swinging the frying pan around like a kid with a toy sword. Slate and Karl backed out of the way. “I hit him right in the back of the head.”

  “It’s true,” Camilla said with a nod. “And then I kicked him in the balls. Kylee ran inside to get her gun and he just ran away.”

  “We have pizza waiting for us,” Julius said with a grimace, “so if you guys have this under control then we’re going to bounce.”

  “Alright,” Thorn said. “Thanks again, guys.”

  “No problem,” Hannibal said as the four Vega brothers turned back to their ranch. “Just holler if you need us to kick your asses again.”

  Julius turned to Tyler with a grin. “And I’ll be expecting that hundred dollar shirt delivered any day now.”

  “Man, I hate those guys,” Stetson said as they disappeared into the forest. “We should have smoked them when we had the chance.”

  “I smacked him right upside the head with a frying pan,” Layla said with a proud look on her face as Slate and Karl hugged her. “It’s over.”

  Tyler and Thorn glanced at each other. It wasn’t over. It wouldn’t be over until Jacob was dead.

  He was most likely on his way home right now so at least it was over for tonight.

  The cawing of a flock of ravens echoed through the gray sky. Tyler looked up over the trees as a swarm of black birds descended on the camp. He cringed.

  I spoke too soon.

  six

  “Why are they just on my fucking cabin?” Slate asked, staring at the fifty or so ravens sitting on his roof. “They’re shitting all over my tiles.”