Three large men came walking throughthe clearing behind a thicket of trees followed by four wolves. One of the mensmiled and his teeth shown in the setting sun. They were capped in silver; allof them. Oh shit. This must be Dane. Silver immunity.
“Excuse the intrusion, Kai, but Ibelieve you have something that belongs to me.” His eyes roamed over my bodyand Kai let loose a growl.
“She’s mine,” Kai said, barely containinghis humanity. I could see patches of fur rippling over his body.
Dane flashed his silver-pointed teeth.“I was hoping you would say that.”
Our pack began circling them andopening up an area for them to fight. My wolf was itching to come out. I feltthe need to shift, to fight instead of Kai, to protect him. I didn’t even knowhow to shift but I wanted to. No one should die for me.
Dane stood in the center of thecircle and bowed. “I enact the right to fight the Mount Hood Alpha formywolf, a human that was born inmyterritory. A female. According torules, this fight ends in death or forfeit.” The word female sounded dirty inhis mouth.
The words barely left Kai’s mouthbefore he began shifting. “I accept.”
In a blur of motion, Kai was humanone second and wolf the next. He lunged at Dane while he was mid-shift and sankhis teeth into the meat of Dane’s thigh, coming away with a chunk of flesh.Something between a howl and a human wail cut through the night. Kai wasfast,really fast and he had the most beautiful markings. He was all black with awhite star on his forehead and white socks on his paws. My wolf approved. Thevegetarian in me wanted to close my eyes. There was blood and flesh flyingeverywhere, but the wolf in me stared. My hands were clenched, my breath comingout short.
Compared to Dane, Kai was a blur ofmotion. Dane had just finished fully shifting and Kai has already torn off mostof his leg meat.
I leaned into Emma. “So is that Kai’sgift? He’s fast?”
Emma nodded and kept her voice low.“He can shift instantly, and he can move faster than anything anyone’s everseen.”
I watched as Kai dodged Dane’s silverjaws and ran from left to right in a blur of motion. Then, he swiped a claw atDane’s belly and Dane used the close proximity to bite Kai in the shoulder. Ahowl ripped from his throat as Kai darted to the other side of the clearing. Hewas still fast but slower than before. The silver must be affecting him. Emmalet out a low growl. Dane’s wolf grinned and blood glistened on his metallicteeth.
Kai came closer to Dane and lunged,biting right into his neck. He shook Dane like a rag doll until his bodystilled. Kai’s wolf relaxed for just a second and Dane jerked violently, looseninghimself and grabbing Kai’s left front paw in his mouth. He bit down hard and weall heard the crunch of bone. I made a move to run into the circle, not surewhat I was going to do, but someone grabbed my arms from behind.
“Easy there.” It was Devon, Emma’smate. Kai was limping away, getting slower by the moment when Dane stalkedafter him. Dane’s leg, I could see, was already healing.
“Why isn’t Kai healing like Dane?” Iasked Emma as Devon loosened his grip.
“The silver. One more bite and hewill probably be poisoned beyond repair.” Tears shown in her eyes. That’s whenI realized I could stop this fight. I just needed to tell Dane I would transferto his pack and stop this. Kai said he wouldn’t keep me against my will. Two yelloweyes caught my attention and I stared at them. ‘Mine,’ Kai said andlunged at Dane with more speed and strength than he had before. Dane was slow,too slow, and Kai landed on him as they both rolled. Kai had Dane’s head in hisjaws and he was chewing. Oh god. I was going to see someone decapitated.
The muzzle of Dane’s wolf began shiftinginto human lips. “I forfeit!” he croaked in a half human voice that would hauntmy dreams forever. Kai held his jaws over his throat. A man stepped forwardfrom the Portland pack. “The rules say you can forfeit and still walk away withyour life,” he reminded Kai firmly. My wolf recognized that this man must be Dane’ssecond. Kai released Dane’s head from his strong jaw.
My inner wolf pushed me to stepforward. “A foreign Alpha who trespasses onourland, picks a fight withmyAlpha and then forfeits, is a coward. As second in command, I willtell you this once. Get off our land and don’t come back without permission.”My inner wolf had taken over, I could feel the power radiating off of me. Thedominant wolves in my pack howled their agreement. Dane’s wolf took oneappraising look at me and began trotting away. I scowled as I watched his packleave through the trees, taking their foreign smell with them.
Challenge
Dane and his men retreated but Kailay where he was, his yellow eyes boring into me. He was panting and hadn’tmoved. I started towards him but his voice stopped me. ‘Don’t let the packsee me weak.’He told me in a strained voice.I stopped where Istood.
“Fight’s over. Go home.” I pushedpower into my words to the rest of the pack. The submissive wolves whined.Sadie growled and stared at me. I don’t think they liked my giving orders sosoon. I didn’t care.
“Go home,” I told her again, harsher thanI meant to. I caught Emma’s hand as she was moving to leave, indicating Ineeded her to stay. I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew is that Kai hadsaved me from my accident. He kissed me like I was the last female on earth andhe just fought to keep me in his pack. I was finding that I didn’t know muchabout being a werewolf but my inner wolf did. He was hurt and I needed to helphim. The more I let my wolf bubble to the surface, the more I ran on instinctand the easier it felt to fall into this new role. Somehow I knew that keepingEmma back with me was good because she was submissive and wouldn’t be a threatto my injured Alpha.
Kai stood shifting into human form, favoringhis injured hand and gazed around at the retreating pack, looking strong.‘Iprotect what’s mine, remember that.’I could tell by the looks on theother’s faces that he had sent that to everyone. When the last person had leftthrough the trees, Kai shifted back into wolf form and collapsed panting.
Emma looked at me with fearful eyes.
“Help me get him inside,” I told her.
Who knew that two petite girls couldlift a 250-pound bleeding and halfway unconscious werewolf into the house. Ihad strength I couldn’t even dream of before. I was barely winded after gettinghim to his bedroom. I ran to the adjoining bathroom, ripped the plastic showercurtain down and lay it on the bed to protect the sheets from getting bloody.We placed Kai on the bed and waited.
I stroked his fur, unsure of what todo. ‘When an Alpha is weakened like this, a dominant member could take thischance to challenge me for the pack.I can feel their thoughts. Two ofmy highest are considering it. Max and Jake. They are torn between being myfriend and respecting me, and their wolf’s inner urge to be Alpha.’Kai’swords sent chills down my spine.
‘What do I do?’I asked him.
He was fading in and out. It took hima few moments to respond.
‘Don’t let them get a single wordout, if they say the word challenge. I’m gone. A fight for Alpha status ends indeath; there is no forfeit.’
