Rainier stood and moved to join me. “All right, real talk, you gonna kick this guy’s ass or what?”
“That’s the plan,” I said.
“Won’t be easy, you know,” Rainier said. “I checked him out. He’s the absolute worst kind of bully. And those bullies can usually handle themselves. No one, and I meanno one, can remember a time when he lost a fight. When he showed up all bruised and battered, it got a lot of tongues wagging.”
“I’ll take care of him.” The fact that so many people were telling me how dangerous Anders was put me on edge. I’d broken his nose a few hours ago. Didn’t any of them think I could handle the little prick?
While I stood there with Rainier and the other alphas, one of Anders’s men, Brock, strode up.
“’Sup, fuckface,” he sneered, looking at me.
Rainier growled and took a step forward. “Watch that mouth, brother. I’d hate to have to remove a few of your teeth.”
Brock snorted. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Fight’s gonna be at the football field. Twenty minutes.” He jabbed a finger toward Levi. “Be there, or forfeit. Either way, your ass is grass.”
“I’ll be there,” I said. “You make sure your buddy is there too. I wouldn’t want to have to hunt him down.”
Brock shook his head. As he turned away, I caught the words he muttered to himself. “Fucking dead man.”
“Let’s go,” I said. “No time like the present.”
The other alphas and their mates followed me and Rainier to the football field at the high school. Brock’s words had spread, and the rest of the town moved as one, like a herd of cattle or flock of birds.
Rainier and I stopped outside. He patted me on the shoulder.
“You good, bro?”
“I’m good,” I said. “I want this over so we can get down to business.”
“You stay that way, and he’s done.” He glanced at his watch. “We got a little over ten minutes. You want to go on in?”
“Might as well,” I said.
From what I could see, most of the town had already made it to the field. No one sat in the bleachers, but they’d formed a circle in the center of the field where Anders stood with Eugenia and his friends. The other alpha had removed his shirt, revealing the rigid muscles beneath and a black dragon tattoo that covered most of his chest and left shoulder. When he saw me, he smirked.
“Surprised you didn’t chicken out.”
Ignoring him, I searched the faces around me for June. She stood off to the side with her grandparents, who each had an arm around her. Beatrice stood with them, and all four of them looked at me with concern.
“You ready, Levi?” Anders asked. “I’m good to start early if you are. Unless you need to go clean the piss out of your pants first.”
The other alphas filed in, each giving me a nod of encouragement as they found spots near the front to watch. I turned to Anders, giving him a cold, steely smile.
“I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Let’s do this!” he shouted, then slammed his fist into his chest in some macho display as he walked to the center of the circle.
“God, what a douchebag,” Rainier muttered. “You better not let that dude beat you, bro.”
“I’ll do what I need to do,” I growled as I strode toward Anders, ready to end this.
76
JUNIPER
My heart crept into my throat as the two men circled each other. I knew Anders. He wouldn’t stop until he’d killed Levi. Terror gripped me, and Beatrice grabbed my hand, squeezing it to steady me.
“It’s gonna be okay,” she whispered.
