The wolf stilled, as if surprised, and stared down at him. Cooper just registered bright blue-gray eyes before a dark blur knocked the wolf from his chest with a furious snarl.

Cooper rolled and scrambled across the floor away from the sounds of growling and the thumps of bodies against glass. Using the wall, he dragged himself to standing just in time to see both Park in fur and the black wolf standing on their hind legs wrestling, teeth bared and snapping at each other’s faces before they both tipped over into the same display case Cooper had slammed into before. This time the already weakened glass gave out and they knocked into the bear, which swayed precariously before also falling, taking out the remaining glass with an ear-piercing shatter.

Cooper started forward to help when he heard a voice shout his name.

“Cooper?” His father was in the entryway, mouth open in shock. The black wolf scrambled out from beneath the bear and ran at Ed, who just stood there, unmoving.

Cooper leapt forward, but Park beat him there, jumping on the wolf’s back and rolling them both over in a tumble of fur, claws and teeth, and shattering a second case, this time knocking over a caribou.

There was a sharp yelp of pain and Cooper’s heart jumped into his throat. He couldn’t explain exactly how he knew that was Park, but he did.

“No!” Cooper shouted, running toward the sound. “Leave him!”

The black wolf emerged stumbling from the case and made eye contact with Cooper for a moment before darting around him to Arthur Crane’s body, grabbing the phone in its mouth and sprinting down the other end of the room and out of sight.

Cooper couldn’t follow. Not when Park was hurt. He hurried to the fallen caribou and found Park pinned underneath.

“Hold on, hold on. I got you,” Cooper said, trying to lift the animal’s stuffed body, but it was absurdly heavy.

Then his dad was beside him. “Count of three,” Ed said. “One. Two.” They lifted the caribou together, standing it upright, and Cooper knelt on the ground.

Park blinked at him woozily, then lifted his head like he was going to try to get up.

“Stop that,” Cooper said, running his hands over Park’s body, searching for injuries. Only when he didn’t find anything obvious—such as an antler running through him like a Park kebab—could Cooper breathe again. “Always have to be a hero.”

Park squinted at him, then his eyes flicked to the left just before Genevieve’s piercing voice rang through the room.

“What the hell happened in here? What—?”

Cooper stood, belatedly remembering who else was in the room with them, but it was too late. Genevieve had seen Arthur Crane’s body, knocked to his back during the fight. His bloody shirt and shifted face in plain view.

Genevieve started to scream.

Chapter Ten