“At least I’m not a bastard,” Rudy snarled.
“Better to be a bastard, than a wanted man,” Tristan replied, drolly. “At least I don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder, wondering if the High Council is on my tail. Why they might even be hiding in the woods right now, waiting for you.”
Pausing for a moment, then Rudy smirked. “For such a small, weak Alpha, you sure do have big balls.”
“Maybe, but if I were you, I’d hightail it off my land before I’m forced to throw you off myself.”
Bursting into laughter, Rudy turned around and said to his men, “Can you believe the audacity of this bastard? He’s gonna throw me off land that rightfully belongs to me.” Turning back to Tristan, he smirked. “I think it’s time for you to go…and, because I’m such a nice guy, you can have a five minute head start.”
“Seems fair, but I have a better proposal.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I’m challenging you for the Alpha position of the Silver Point Pack,” Tristan announced loudly. “And just so there aren’t any misunderstandings…the fight will end when you die.”
Stunned, Rudy stared at Tristan. It took several moments before he understood exactly what had been proposed. Josiah’s son was not only weak, but stupid, too. Winning the title of Alpha in a formal challenge would make it impossible for the High Council to do anything except to acknowledge Rudy as the true and rightful Alpha of the Silver Point Pack. “I accept,” he sneered.
Handing his gun to one of his men, Rudy murmured, “If you get a clean shot, shoot him.” Stripping off his shirt, Rudy stepped to the middle of the clearing and beckoned Tristan to join him. He half expected the man to chicken out after seeing the size of him.
Tristan nodded, then slowly straightening up and stepping out of the shadow, he removed his shirt. Taller than Rudy by six inches, he flexed his arms, letting Rudy see how big his muscles were. Then, as the piece de resistance, Tristan unleashed his Alpha Power, flooding the clearing with a power so strong every man submitted until there was only Rudy left. Increasing his power, Tristan watched as Rudy struggled against it but eventually was forced to tilt his head.
Anger coursed through Rudy. The bastard had tricked him into accepting his challenge. When Tristan finally pulled back his Alpha Power, giving Rudy the freedom to act, he grabbed a gun from the man standing next to him, aimed it at Tristan, and fired it. Expecting to hear the noise of a bullet leaving the barrel, Rudy heard only the sound of a click. Surprised, he pulled the trigger again but the results were the same. Angrily throwingthe gun down, he grabbed another, but had no better luck with that one, either. Fury twisted his features as he shouted to his men, “Fire! Kill the bastard!”
Tristan stood still, smirking at the sounds of multiple clicks of as triggers were being pulled, and yet, not one gun fired a bullet.Nice work, Remy. Then, speaking softly, he said, “Reeve, Groose, Heath…now!” At his command, the squads of men emerged from the woods, surrounding Rudy and his men. “You’ve lost, Rudy,” Tristan growled.
Wildly glancing around, Rudy found his men meekly laying down their weapons and raising their hands in surrender. “You fucking fools!” he raged. Finally, looking at Tristan he snarled, “I accepted your challenge…you have to fight me or else you forfeit, according to the law.”
“Oh, so now we’re going by the law, are we?” Tristan laughed. “Well, in that case, you lost your bid as soon as you attempted to use your gun to kill me, instead of shifting into your wolf.”
Staring at Tristan, Rudy’s body began to shake, fury turning into uncontrollable rage when he realized it was over—his dream of being Alpha, his life, everything—gone. “Fuck you!” Rudy screamed, shifting instantly and rushing towards the man who stood in his way of his imagined destiny.
But before Rudy’s shift had been completed, Tristan’s wolf emerged to answer the call to fight for his pack. With a powerful leap, Tristan’s wolf landed on the back of Rudy’s wolf, sinking his teeth through the fur and into the flesh and around the spine. Then with a mighty snap of his huge jaw, he bit down, causing Rudy’s wolf to stumble to the ground and lie there, unable to move.
Tristan’s wolf stalked around Rudy’s wolf until he stood at his head, staring into the wolf’s pain-filled eyes; yet he had no sympathy for him. He listened to the whimpering pleas Rudy made, begging to be spared from the killing bite of Tristan’s wolf, but they fell on deaf ears. Any mercy Tristan might have felt, had disappeared when Reeve explained Rudy’s roll in the massacre of the Fox River Pack. The younger siblings of Jackson and his brothers were his cousins and they deserved justice. And then there were his own pack members who all suffered terribly under Rudy’s iron fist, a rogue enforcer who was supposed to protect the pack, but had used it instead to enrich himself.
When the images of the starving and sick pups of his pack filled his mind, Tristan’s wolf grabbed the throat of Rudy’s wolf and tore it out. Then lifting his snout, his wolf announced the kill with a loud and long howl that echoed around the clearing and into the woods.
His front paws resting on the body of Rudy’s wolf, he proudly howled again and again in victory, assuring his pack that their Alpha had bested their enemy.
Then, one by one, the Silver Point Pack members who had stayed to fight alongside their Alpha, shifted and gathered around Tristan’s wolf, joining in with their own howls of victory.
Heath looked at his mate’s wolf and knew Tristan was waiting for him. Turning to Reeve, he said, “Tell the High Council to come and get their prisoners…and tell them to hustle.” Not waiting for an answer, Heath shifted and bounded over to his mate, nuzzling Tristan’s face with his own. The joy felt by the pack upon the death of Rudy was contagious and prompted Heath to lift his face and let loose with a series of howls, thanking the Fates for his mate, the Alpha of the Silver Point Pack.
~/~/~/~/~
Tristan watched as the prisoners were loaded up into the buses and handcuffed to the metal bars running up the aisles to prevent them from shifting. When the job was finished, he asked Reeve, “Anything else you need?”
“Nope, the prisoners don’t seem to have any aggression left in them.”
“That’s good. It’s should make it easier for you.”
“Yeah…” Reeve said, glancing at the escapees before turning back to Tristan. “I’ve never seen anything like it…they lost their desire to fight, all at the same time.”
“Maybe they saw Rudy for what he really was,” Tristan conjectured. “Someone who didn’t care what happened to them just as long as that fucker got what he wanted.”
Shrugging, Reeve replied, “I’m not complaining if that’s the case. What about the rest of your pack members? Are they staying the night in San Fransico?”
“I decided to let them stay where they are for the night. Kahn told me the pups are asleep along with their parents and the older members, my grandparents included. The rest will be taking turns standing guard.”
