Blown Away

  By Holly Day

  Published by JMS Books LLC

  Visit jms-books.com for more information.

  Copyright 2021 Holly Day

  ISBN 9781646567683

  Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

  Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

  All rights reserved.

  WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

  No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

  This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America.

  * * * *

  Thank you Gabi Cervenka, Leonie Duncan, and Susana Perez. I never could’ve done this without you!

  Blown Away was written for National Big Wind Day which is on April 12. Back in 1934, Mount Washington Observatory in the US recorded winds at 231 miles per hour. It was the highest natural wind gust measured until 1996 when a typhoon hit an island outside of Australia with wind blasts of 256 miles per hour.

  * * * *

  Blown Away

  By Holly Day

  Espen Urso sniffed the air and snarled. There were intruders in his territory. He’d known the moment they’d come to town, for a clawing, desperate need to slaughter every shifter within a ten-mile radius had bloomed in him, and he didn’t know why.

  He didn’t allow other shifters into his territory. He made sure they understood it was his, and that they weren’t welcome, but normally, he didn’t want to kill them. He did now.

  What right did they have to walk on his land? The humans in the town didn’t need any trouble from hot-headed alphas with testosterone leaking from their ears. Espen could scent them. There was a frenzy, and since there were several of them, he suspected it would end in a bloodbath.

  The wind made it hard to track scents; the rain attacked him like a swarm of bees defending their honey. He hissed, wishing he’d had honey.

  Lumbering through town, he held up his arm to shield his face. The wind was so strong it was impossible to breathe when it came right at him.

  He should go home, let whatever was happening with the other alphas play out as it would, but he couldn’t.

  They were in his territory.

  He roared and hunched his shoulders as the rain attacked his ear and the side of his face. Of all the days strangers chose to trespass, did they have to pick the windiest day of the year? Idiots.

  Someone was running toward him, and his arm shot out without thought. He curled his fingers around the man’s throat, his claws threatening to come out as he slammed the man against the wall of the house. He hoped Rosalinda Ayala, who lived in the house, wouldn’t hear him. She made a divine tres leches cake. His stomach rumbled as he recalled the sweet taste.

  It made him angrier. If it hadn’t been for these idiots, he could be at home in his nice warm farmhouse, and he could be eating.

  Being a bear, he towered over most people both in human and in shifted form, even alpha wolves. When shifted, his teeth might not be as impressive as a wolf’s, but he was bigger and stronger, and his claws could do a lot of damage.

  Snarling in the wolf’s face, he met his gaze full on. “Give me one reason not to rip your throat out?”

  Espen couldn’t think of one. The man was in his territory. He was hungry. The man was keeping him from eating. None of those things worked in the wolf’s favor.

  “Omega.”

  Espen refrained from rolling his eyes. As far as he was concerned, omegas were a myth. He was forty-three years old and had never met one. Often when a group of alphas ganged up like this to hunt down an alleged omega, it was some poor submissive running for her life. “I don’t care. You’re to leave my territory. Now.”

  The wolf snarled, so Espen snarled back. If they were having a competition in who could be the loudest, there was no question who’d win. Only…he didn’t want to frighten Rosalinda. What if she wouldn’t make him the chocolate cake with cinnamon and cayenne frosting again? Before Rosalinda moved here, he’d never had cayenne and chocolate together. If he’d been into women, he’d marry her to ensure he got access to her baked goods.

  A door banged against the wall on the other side of the house. With a sigh, Espen pulled the wolf closer to the corner so he could look down the side of the house. Rosalinda was struggling to get the door to close, probably having lost her grip when the wind took hold of it when she’d opened it. He squinted against the rain hitting his eyes.

  “Go back inside, Rosa. It’s not a nice weather for a late-night stroll.”

  “Espen?” She shielded her eyes. Her long black hair blew into her face as the wind hit her from behind. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing to worry about, dear. I’m taking care of it.” He had to shout to make himself heard. He glanced at the wolf, who frowned at him.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes, go back inside before the roof tiles come off.”

  She nodded and took a step toward the door. “Be careful!”

  “I will.” He smiled and nodded, but when the door closed, he snarled in the wolf’s face again. “Get your band of gorillas and leave. Now.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. You can guard the border outside my territory. When the little she-wolf sneaks out, you can take her.” Poor girl would be forced to spend the rest of her life with one of these cockerels.

  Most alphas mellowed once they got mated, unless they deemed their mate-to-be in danger, in which case they were worse than ever. Espen had never included himself in the bunch. He was an alpha, but since most submissives were female, he’d never wanted to mate with any of them. And few of the male submissives he’d met wanted a male alpha.

  “It’s a bird.”

  It took a couple of seconds before his words made sense to Espen. A bird. He almost laughed. A bunch of wolves were trying to catch a bird? “You might as well give up then.”

  The man tried to shake his head, but Espen held fast. “Can’t fly in this wind.”

  Ah…That sucked for the bird. “I don’t care. You’re leaving now or your friends will have to drag your dead body out of here. Understood?”

  “We’re six. You’re alone.” The wolf flashed teeth, and Espen sighed. He wasn’t in the mood to kill anyone today. He wanted to go home and eat.

  “As far as I see it, you’re alone now.” He applied more pressure on the man’s throat and watched as his eyes bulged. “Do we have a deal or am I to kill you? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve killed trespassers.” He wasn’t lying. When he’d first moved here, there had been many who had tried to challenge him for the area. Most pack-living shifters didn’t think he should have the territory when he was only one individual.

  They didn’t understand bears.

  The man gave a slight nod, and Espen eased up on the grip. Right as he was about to let go, the man sliced his claws down his torso, aiming for his throat but missing in his haste to get away.

  Espen roared, his clothes splitting at the seams as his bear pushed forth.

  * * * *

  Arvid watched in horror as one of the alphas turned into a giant cat. Shit. He’d assumed they were all wolves. He’d assumed wolves wouldn’t climb trees to get to him. He’d assumed they’d wait on the ground for him to come down while he waited in the tree for the weather to change. As soon as the wind lessened, he’d fly.

  The tree swayed as the massive, T-shirt wearing cat—leopard was Arvid’s guess—buried his claws in the bark and heaved himself up. He moved effortlessly, graceful and fast, and before Arvid could hop away, they were on the same branch. His heart drummed a staccato in his chest as he jumped out on a smaller twig. The wind pushed at him, his feathers ruffled, and he swayed. He had to flap his wings not to fall, but it made him more exposed to the wind.

  The cat took the opportunity and jumped. Arvid saw it coming, launched into the air, but the wind knocked him back. The cat’s massive paws smacked into him, forcing the air out of his lungs.

  With a thud and a screaming pain radiating from his right wing, they hit the ground. The cat roared in triumph. It was followed by another roar, farther away and far more threatening. Arvid tried breathing through the pain, but it didn’t subside. The dark forest swam around him, the wind howled in his ears only to be drowned out by his hammering heartbeats.

  Would this be the day he died?

  He tried calming his heart. Even if he had to spend his life with Cat Grabbyhands, it was better than being dead. Probably. He took in the massive cat, the sharp teeth, and yellow eyes. Maybe not.

  Filling his lungs, he tried to calm his heart. The pain grew more intense. The man on top of him shifted into a dark-haired man, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles—they always did. At least he was still wearing his T-shirt.

  “Change.”

  Arvid would’ve rolled his eyes at the command, had he been in human form. They all chased the omega, they all wanted the omega, and they all forgot he didn’t have to do what they told him to. He might not be an alpha, but he wasn’t a submissive either. For some reason, they disregarded that part.

  “Change back!” The growly order made Arvid look straight into the man’s eyes. It usually set them off more. Changing would have him passing out from pain—not something he wanted to try—and staying bird made it extremely hard for the man to mate with him. How did you fuck a bird when you were a human or a leopard? How did you bite a small bird’s neck when you were a huge human or a leopard?

  Desperation crawled into the man’s eyes. “Change!” He slammed Arvid against the wet ground, forcing all air out of his lungs. He cried out as a slicing agony cut through his every thought.

  Arvid closed his eyes and tried breathing through the pain as the angry roar came again. It was closer now, and Arvid feared he’d be stepped on if there was a fight.

  Branches broke, twigs snapped, and a giant brown bear cantered into the woods—Grizzly, perhaps? Arvid wasn’t familiar with the different bear species. It was massive and brown and had long claws.

  Someone cursed, and his mate-to-be—unless he got away from him—curled his fingers around him and lifted him off the ground.

  The giant bear melted into a huge man. “Get out of my territory. Now.” Blood was trickling down his chest. He had to be insane. Alone against five alphas and wounded—did he have a death wish?

  The rain fell on his naked chest—Arvid didn’t look farther down—but the blood kept oozing from long claw marks.

  “Your friend is alive.” The bear looked at them, one at the time. His gaze was hard, his hands still clawed. Arvid took a shivering breath. So much power.

  “We only came for the omega.” Arvid’s mate-to-be—unless he, of course, could get away from him—held out his hand with Arvid in it.

  The bear’s gaze hardened. “I don’t care. You let the poor girl go or you take her with you—” Arvid gave a tweet. Girl? Take him with them? Not that he’d believed the bear would save him. He’d try to mate him too, and who wanted to be mated to a bear? “—and get out of here.”

  The bear’s gaze zeroed in on him. “You trespassed too, birdie. I don’t allow any shifter into my territory uninvited. The humans in my village have already been disturbed enough.”

  His village? Humans? Few shifters Arvid had met cared about humans.

  “We’ll leave.”

  “Now. And bring the idiot in the village.” He crossed his arms over his chest while glaring at them.

  The group of alphas—Arvid was amazed they weren’t fighting each other now when they’d gotten him—edged toward the village.

  “Put on your clothes!” The roar made Arvid tremble despite the large hand holding him. “You’re not walking naked into the village.”

  One of the wolves—not the idiot tightening his hold on him—turned to the bear. “It’s faster if we shift and go.”

  “I don’t care.” The bear peeled his lips back and showed off large teeth. They weren’t as pointy as the leopard’s had been, but Arvid wouldn’t want them buried in his flesh. Bears ate meat, so he assumed they could do their fair share of damage.

  The man holding him changed his grip, and black dots danced before Arvid’s eyes from the pain. His wing hung uselessly along his body. He hissed, but it came out as a tweet.

  “You will not litter my territory with your clothes. Pick them up and put them on. You will not walk naked through the village. You’ve caused enough damage.”

  Arvid’s mate-to-be-if-he-got-his-wish looked at him for several seconds before reaching one-handed for his jeans.

  “Shoes too.” The bear still had arms crossed over his chest, his gaze jumping from Arvid to the leopard and back to Arvid again.

  “But I—”

  “I don’t care. You’re not walking through town barefoot in this weather.”

  The leopard huffed but lowered Arvid to the ground. “Stay.”

  Arvid would’ve snorted. A command? He still hadn’t realized what he’d caught, had he?

  He didn’t hop away the moment his fingers uncurled as he wanted to, instead he waited. When the man had one foot half-way through the leg of his jeans, Arvid flitted toward a spruce. He couldn’t fly, so he needed low branches, and the boughs of the spruce reached the soaked ground.

  He steeled himself and flapped with his left wing to get higher as the leopard roared.

  * * * *

  Espen didn’t care what they did with the bird, he’d gladly let them take it out of his territory, but when he saw they’d broken its wing, fury bubbled up inside of him. Force-mating was a terrible tradition. Hurting your intended should be forbidden.

  He growled, and when the—he sniffed the air—leopard dove for the spruce, he intercepted. “You’re leaving.”

  “My mate—”

  “You don’t have a mate.” There would be a fight. By getting between the leopard and the bird, he was challenging him for the one he wanted to claim, but Espen didn’t care. He might not want to mate the bird, but he couldn’t let this asshole take her. He was amazed she’d gone against his command of staying put. Brave. Espen liked her already.

  If she turned out to be a pleasant person to be around, he’d offer her a place in the village.

  The moment the man’s muscles tensed, Espen shifted. Claws sliced through the air, but Espen side-stepped and swiped the leopard’s face with his paw. Many underestimated the power of a blow from a bear, and when the cat stumbled to the side, Espen roared. Fucker coming to his territory. He advanced on him, hit him yet another time. He could’ve used his claws, but he didn’t. If he could get them to leave without having to kill them, it would make his day easier.

  One wolf rushed the spruce where the bird was hiding, and Espen whirled around, tackling him. For a second, Espen believed he’d be able to counterbalance the impact, but then he lost his footing and slid on the wet ground.

  Sharp claws dug into his flank. His fur shielded him from most of the damage, but a new set of claws dug into his buttock, making him roar.

  Turning, he no longer cared who or where he hit. He attacked, ramming his paws into the closest body, piercing the skin with his claws. When teeth cut into his shoulder blade, he saw red. He turned, flung a wolf into a tree, broke the leg of the next, knocked one out with a blow to the side of his head. Fucking wolves.

  He looked around. Where had the leopard gone?

  Tilting his head, he spotted him on a branch above, nearing the spruce from a neighboring tree. Pain sliced into his side, and he swiped his paw down hard on the attacker. A whine followed the impact before the wolf fell to the ground.

  Four wolves formed a circle around him—two out cold and two whining and nursing injuries. Espen’s fur was mattered with blood, and he struggled to keep upright. The bite on his shoulder burned, the cuts on his ass had blood trickling from them.

  All this over a fucking bird.

  He focused on the leopard. Did he think he could climb a spruce? A large cat climbing beech trees, Espen understood—he could climb beech trees—but a spruce?

  He moved closer to where he suspected the bird was and changed back to his human shape, though keeping his claws. “How are you holding up, birdie?” Espen had only had a glimpse, but he guessed it was a blue jay. Beautiful, but not a big bird of prey. How could a blue jay defend itself?

  The leopard glanced at him while proceeding out on the branch.

  “You might as well come down.” Espen sighed. He wanted to go home. “I’m not letting you have the bird, and unless you get these idiots out of my forest within five minutes, I’ll be twisting necks. Understood?”

  The leopard met his gaze, looked at the spruce, then back to Espen.

  “Be reasonable now. There are plenty of chicks in the world, you don’t need this one.” Why would a leopard want a tiny bird, anyway? If Espen ever found someone he wanted to mate, he wouldn’t care what species he was, but he wanted a big animal. Someone he could enjoy strolls in the forest with in shifted form. Someone to race, wrestle with…maybe. Not many animals could wrestle with a bear, so maybe not.

  The leopard hesitated.

 

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