Irish Bear's Bride (Boston Bear Brothers 3)

“If she wheeled herself out here to the courtyard, then why am I not seeing her anywhere in sight? It’s raining. No one is out here, including my mother!”

“Oh! Oh, no,” the man replied, looking toward the woods.

He had spotted the empty chair and now made his way toward it with Trill in tow. Trill quickly bypassed him and arrived at the chair, looking over it. His brows were pinched together in a growing rage against one another, it seemed.

“I’ll get the team members out here. We-we’ll fu-find her,” he stammered.

“Fuck you and your team. I’ll find her myself,” Trill yelled at him, shoving the wheelchair back against him violently.

The man let out a pitiful welp and stood looking on helplessly as Trill stormed into the woods, making sure he was out of sight before quickly stripping off his clothes and shifting. Niall used the cover of the crackling, popping noises that filled the ears of shifters when they changed to move further into the woods, waiting quietly behind a mass of undergrowth to mask his presence.

It was likely that the rain was killing his smell, the wind blowing it away from Trill for now. That would change as he grew closer, and there was a distinct difference between the scent of an Alpha and that of an Omega, especially when that Omega was your mother. It wouldn’t be long before Trill realized this was some sort of trick and that he’d stepped right into it.

He watched as Trill threw his nose to the ground and began to sniff and seized the moment, leaping up and over the bushes in front of him and catching him off guard. He recovered quickly, too damned quickly. Niall was once again painfully aware of how much better trained Trill probably was than either he or Ronan could manage in the time they’d had to prepare.

Their roars filled the woods, bouncing off the sides of trees and away from the outside world as they ripped at one another’s coats, rolling around on the forest floor. Niall let out a howl of pain as Trill pinned him and sank his teeth into his side, jerking his head sideways to tear at the flesh. He could feel the skin and fur tear away, the moisture trickling down onto his hip.

Everything went blurry for a moment, the pain overwhelming him. Was it really going down like this? Some Alpha he was shaping up to be. He and Ronan were sent here to end this piece of garbage and he was going to be defeated so easily? Fuck that.

He summoned every ounce of strength he had, just as Trill bore down on him once again, intent on taking out one of his hind legs. Instead, he rolled to the side, sending Trill sideways onto his back. He threw his weight onto him, swiping at his abdomen and making full contact. Now it was Trill who roared in pain as a gash opened up across his midriff.

It wasn’t deep enough to do the damage Niall was going to need to take such a powerful shifter down, but it would at least slow him. Of course, from the burning he could feel on his own side, he might be just as degraded.

Everything around him seemed to go gray as he focused on Trill, using every ounce of strength he could muster to end him. It was a bit like death from a thousand cuts as he slashed him repeatedly with his claws, successfully dancing most of Trill’s return swipes.

Niall became fueled by his desire to win this, at all costs. Deidre might never be safe as long as Trill existed in the world. He’d gotten her away from this, and perhaps she would be safe for a while, but men like Trill had their ways of getting what they wanted. It didn’t matter how far someone ran. His own family was proof of that.

The McNally’s had escaped the fate of the clans now depending on them for their freedom. They would have been happy enough to have stayed in Boston and tended to their business as the toughest mafia on the south end, but Sorely Maguire couldn’t stop his greed, and now, his successor couldn’t stop his own. This had to end, for everyone’s sake.

Niall shot one paw forth, dragging it across Trills brow and leaving a dark furrow. Blood spurted out, matting his already dark fur together and spilling into his eyes, obscuring his vision. Niall didn’t let up, slashing and biting at his limbs until he was bleeding everywhere, staggering around on the forest floor.

Trill hurled himself forward, knocking him backward and standing over him. Trill’s massive form was too much to push away as he bore down on him, his huge teeth bared in a hideous snarl. Niall used every bit of strength he had left to heave to one side, upsetting Trill’s balance.