“You look like shit, Levi,” he said, and spat a wad of blood and saliva on the grass. “Last chance. Say uncle, and Imightlet you go live in the forest again.”
Levi straightened, no longer unsteady on his feet, and raised a hand, beckoning Anders toward him. “Let’s finish this. Man to man. No more wolves. Unless you’re scared.”
“Scared?” Anders laughed and stood. He glanced at his friends. “This prick thinksI’mscared. He’s the one who looks like a used tampon. Okay then, Demon Wolf. I’ll beat your asswith my fists instead of my jaws. Your funeral either way.” He smirked. “Told you it wasn’t so easy to fight me when my back wasn’t turned.”
Levi wiped the blood from his eyes as he chuckled to himself. “You know, when I broke your nose, when you were naked on the floor and looking like a little bitch, I should have made you call medaddyinstead ofsir.”
Anders’s face twisted into a mask of hatred and rage that made him look like a monster. Screaming an unintelligible war cry, he rushed Levi, heedless of danger or style. From the look on his face, all he was thinking was murder. He wanted to kill Levi more than I’d ever seen someone want to do anything.
Levi stood still, hands at his sides, watching Anders. Why wasn’t he moving? What was he thinking?
Then, at the very last second, he kicked out. His boot flew off his foot and slammed into Anders’s face, the steel toe of it slamming into his already broken nose.
That’s what he’d been doing with his boot! He’d untied it.
I screamed in excitement as Rainier cheered. Fresh blood sprayed from Anders’s nose, and his hands flew to his face, a muffled curse of shocked pain gurgling up from his throat. Levi tackled him, spearing Anders with his shoulder and driving him to the ground. Anders’s face went scarlet, and his jaw dropped open as he tried to suck in a breath. Levi gave him no respite, straddling him as quickly as he could, fists raining down on his face, chest, collarbone, and forehead.
After what had to have been a dozen blows, his knuckles were bloody. Levi rolled Anders over, put him into a headlock and yanked him around to face the crowd of alphas.
“Yield!”Levi cried, his lips so close to Anders’s ear that the other man may have a ruptured eardrum when this was over.
Anders shook his head, feet scrabbling at the grass, and fingers clawing at Levi’s forearm, digging bloody scratches onhis skin. His face was turning purple now. Growling, Levi twisted and slammed his knee into Anders’s kidney. The other man’s face twisted in agony, and his lips parted on a single word, barely audible above the sounds of grunting and heavy breathing coming from Levi, but itwasaudible.
“Yield,” he murmured.
At the sound of that lone syllable, Levi released him, shoving him once in the back so he fell face first on the ground. Eugenia shrieked and ran forward, sliding into the grass to cradle her beaten and broken mate.
“You fucking monster!” she screamed at Levi.
Rainier and I ran to Levi. He’d fallen backward onto the grass, his chest heaving. I reached him first, gently putting my hand at the base of his neck and lifting his head. “Levi? Are you okay?”
He coughed once, blood dripping from his lips. “I’m okay.”
“Did you really need to be so dramatic, you asshole?” Rainier said. “I mean, chicks dig scars, but holy shit, you didn’t need to add another three dozen.”
“I’m fine,” Levi grunted as he sat up.
Anders, having regained his bearings, pushed himself up on his hands, blood dripping from his nose, eyes and lips. He waved a hand at everyone, the entire town, as they gaped at their fallen alpha.
“Grab that son of a bitch,” he said, his voice garbled from the damage to his mouth.
“Grab who, exactly?” my grandfather asked, peering at Anders with a mix of derision and confusion.
“Leviathan Cross,” Eugenia spat. “He attacked your alpha. Take him into custody.Now.”
No one moved. A murmur of unease rippled through the crowd, and Elias Crowder, one of the elders, stepped forward. “Anders, I’m sorry, but you’re not the alpha anymore. Thechallenge was clear and duly witnessed by the whole town. With your loss, you relinquish control of Idlewild. Levi is the new alpha.”
Spurred to strength by the words, Anders leapt to his feet and rushed the older man, grabbing him by his collar and shaking him, his face an inch away from Elias’s. “You listen to me, you old bastard. I’m the alpha. Anders Burnell is the alpha. No one takes what’s mine, you hear me?”
Anders yelped as two pairs of strong hands dragged him away from the Elder. Hakeem and Blaise had leapt in to separate the two. Anders struggled against the other two alphas, but rapidly lost whatever strength he had left. Eugenia screamed curses at them as Levi struggled to his feet.
“Take them both into custody,” Levi said, waving at Anders and Eugenia.
Hakeem glanced at the townsfolk. “Hey, y’all, I don’t work here. Someone want to take this jackass?”
A group of men stepped forward, dragging Anders and a cursing Eugenia away. Levi leaned on me and Rainier as we walked off the field. Anders’s group of friends and lackeys had already fled the scene, but the rest of the town looked on in quiet respect. All I could think of was how relieved I was that Levi had won and that he had survived.
77
