“I’ll make a deal with you,” he said coolly. “If you can defeat me in a spar, then I’ll let you govisitNiko.”
My heart leapt into my throat. A spar? Thatwasit?
“What’s the catch?” Iasked.
“No catch. You only need todefeatme.”
A smirk crossed my lips and I didn’t even bother trying to hide it. Virgil might have been one of Gunner’s elite alphas, but that wasn’t saying much. He was taller than I was, but more lanky, more lean than muscular. If playing dirty was out of the question, then I was sure I couldbeathim.
“Alright,” I said. “You’reon.”
Something like the hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but was gone within a second. He nodded and said, “Followme.”
We ended up going to the training ring anyway, which was in a building right next to ours. It was a rundown place without much but a packed-dirt ring in the center. Crude, but apparently functional, judging by all the claw marks leftbehind.
A few Scarlet Ridge alphas were hanging about, but they didn’t seem on alert until we walked in. Immediately their eyes zeroed in on me and narrowed into hateful glares, just like the ones in the housing building did earlier. Ilookedaway.
Virgil neatly began removing his clothes and setting them aside, which I thought was strange. Most of the time shifters either threw off their clothes in a hurry, or didn’t even bother removing them before changing into their animal. I didn’t think it was a behavior unique to Scarlet Ridge, either, judging by the strange looks the other lingering alphas weregivinghim.
“Well?” he asked, crossinghisarms.
“Any rules?” Iaskedback.
“No killing. Nomaiming.”
“Alright.”
I stripped and threw my clothes aside in a quick pile. Then we bothshifted.
Virgil’s wolf was sleek and black, just like his hair in human form. It had a strange, almost iridescent glint, even indoors. It reminded me ofspilledoil.
We circled each other. The alphas who had been hanging around were now paying full attention. They leaned on the metal bars surrounding the ring and started to take loose bets on who would win. None of them were in myfavor.
I’ll show them,Ithought.
I attacked first. I lunged at Virgil, feigning a frontal assault before quickly pulling back and then biting his leg. My teeth had barely scraped the surface of his fur before he shot out of my grasp, darting ahead and out of my reach. Growling, I turned around to face him. Virgil just staredatme.
I tried again. This time I didn’t pretend - I went straight in and lunged for Virgil’s chest to knock him off balance. Just as my teeth connected, he leapt up and over me, letting me fall into the dirt. Sputtering, I got to my feet andgrowled.
Why wasn’t heattackingme?
I waited to see what he would do, but he never lunged or attacked. I was starting to get confused, but also angry. Wasn’thethe one who wanted to spar? Why wasn’t he initiatinganything?
The thought of Niko cold and alone in his cell flashed in the front of my mind. Then I remembered that I wasn’t doing this to fight Virgil; I was doing it to seemymate.
My drive solidified. This time when I attacked, Virgil didn’t leap out of the way. I dashed towards him, a growl burning deep in my throat. The building echoed with the excited cries of the watchingalphas.
I slammed into Virgil full on in the side and knocked him over. He rolled a few feet away before gettingbackup.
“Hit himagain!”
“Claw hiseyesout!”
Both of us ignored the yelling. Now Virgil seemed more awake, more energized. He lowered his head and circled towards me, but I wasn’t going to let him get a single hit in. I leapt up and onto his back before he realized what was going on, and he even yelped in surprise as I dug my teeth into the nape of his neck and flipped him ontohisback.
“Yes!”
“Killhim!”
