Warriors of Poseidon 02.5 - Shifter's Lady

caught her head, trapping it in his hands so that she was forced to look at him. “If I‟m defeated, promise me you‟ll get out.”
     
    She stared into his golden eyes that burned with determination and realized her assent would relieve some measure of his burden. “I promise.”
     
    He studied her as if to measure the strength of her promise, then, evidently satisfied as to her sincerity, he nodded. “Then now we prepare.”
     
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    Two hours later, Ethan strode past the ring of shape-shifters who surrounded the newly formed arena. They‟d carved the space out of a dense spot of swamp forest only a few miles from his headquarters. He spared a moment of regret for the fallen pines and dwarf cypresses that had been hastily chopped down to form the challenge circle.
     
    “What part of nature preserve don‟t you bozos understand?”
     
    Travis laughed that high, skittering laugh of his again. “You won‟t have to worry about little details like that after tonight, Ethan. You‟ll be as extinct as your pathetic Florida cats.”
     
    A deep rumbling voice thundered from out of the shadows. “Neither of them are extinct yet, Travis of the Texas panther pride. And if you keep talking so casually about the extinction of your own kind, you‟re going to piss me off.”
     
    Travis snarled at the sound of the newcomer, but Ethan threw back his head and laughed. “Jack! Never thought I‟d be so glad to see a tiger.”
     
    The hugely muscled weretiger strode into the circle as the wary panthers backed away from him. No matter how fearless, no panther was going to be a match for a shifter whose true shape was a five hundred pound tiger.
     
    Jack shook Ethan‟s hand and then turned to greet Travis. But Travis snarled at him and backed away. “Get away from me. You stink of the jungle.”
     
    Jack‟s eyes narrowed, but his smile never slipped. “Nice manners. Lucky for you I‟m Switzerland in this challenge.”
     
    Travis stripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground. “What are you talking about?”
     
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    “He‟s neutral,” Ethan said. “Just here to observe and make sure that all the rules are followed.”
     
    Travis sneered at them. “Is that so? Maybe Switzerland is a little too late.”
     
    The sound of dozens of guns being cocked echoed through the clearing, and Ethan, Jack, and Ethan‟s pride members all crouched into position, ready to shift and face the threat.
     
    “Oh, better wait for your girlfriend to join us, Ethan,” Travis said, his eyes glittering with malice as he pointed to the path Ethan had just traveled.
     
    Ethan sensed her before he saw her. Marie.
     
    The bastards had Marie.
     
    Primal rage poured through his body at the sight of the two men dragging her into the circle, her beautiful hair tangled around her. They shoved her to the ground, and Ethan moved to help her, but Travis wagged a finger at him as the two thugs both pointed pistols at her head.
     
    Marie held up her hand as if to tell him to stand down, no sign of fear on her face this time. She was far tougher than she knew.
     
    “They can shoot faster than you can leap, Ethan,” Travis said. “So now we fight, without the help of your tiger buddy. And after I rip your intestines out and wrap them around your head, I‟m going to fuck your woman right here on the ground next to your dead body.”
     
    A red haze of intense fury washed over Ethan‟s vision until he was nearly blinded from it, but he forced it back. Forced cold logic to wrest control from his rage.
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    He couldn‟t make a single mistake in the coming battle. More than his own life depended on it. If they hurt Marie…But he forced the thoughts back. He needed icy logic and cold control.
     
    Ethan looked at Jack and made a nearly imperceptible gesture, subtly signaling that he didn‟t think they could rush the guns and win. Jack returned the gesture, agreeing.
     
    “You want to fight or stand around boasting, Travis?” Ethan went for the emotional reaction. “Fallon always said you were all bluster and no balls.”
     
    Travis screamed a high, thin scream of pain and anguish. “I loved her! I loved her, and she left me for you. You never loved her, you bastard. You let her die. So now I‟m going to kill you, and my men are going to shoot every member