‘That is not my name,’Bitch growls in my head.
“Bitch?” Knox asks, glancing down at me with those beautiful green eyes.
“Yes, the voice in my head. She won’t tell me her name, so I’m calling her Bitch until I get one,” I explain.
‘Gah!’ she screams.‘Fine! My name is Zareen,’the voice—I mean, Zareen relents.‘Just stop calling me Bitch, especially to my mates,’she growls.
“Oh, excuse me. Her name is Zareen.” I smile up at Knox.
His chest rumbles beneath my chin, but I squeeze his waist and send love down our link before raising on my toes and blinking my eyes.
“You know you love me, so stop your growling and kiss me to wish me a quick kill. Or just wish me that I make him pay for torturing you for all those years.” Knox’s eyes flash with warning. “Either way, he’ll pay,” I promise him.
He meets me with a scorching kiss, making the room spin as he deepens it.
“Just follow your instincts and block out everything around you, okay?” Knox cups my face as he stares into my eyes.
I understand how hard this is for him, as an Alpha, so I nod and give him a reassuring smile.
Reaper’s barking pulls my attention down to him at my feet.
“Okay, buddy, I’ll give you some love too,” I tell him as I get down on the ground.
I spend what time I have left hugging and kissing on Reaper until Lynx comes over and pulls me up.
“Come on, Rezzi-Bear, let me carry you out like a true warrior.” He gives me the biggest smile, and I giggle as he bows to me.
As I bounce along the path back to the ring, I can’t help but smile as Knots groans.
‘I can’t believe you actually let him carry you like that. Aren’t you supposed to portray a badass persona before battle?’Knots points out.
‘Maybe that’s what warriors do.’I smile at him over my shoulder as Lynx continues to bounce me on his back.‘But remember, I’m just a human to Captain Brooks.’I wink.
“Why don’t I ever get a ride like that?” Moni whines.
“Because you can fly,” Ryker snickers.
“I want a back-to-chest ride.” She turns and looks at Chester expectantly.
“It’s called a piggyback ride,” I tell her, and she cocks her head back at me, turning a seafoam green.
“Piggyback? Since when did Lynx become half a pig? Oh my God. Is he sick? Did something happen to him during the Gauntlet? Is it contagious? Should you be on his back? Do we need a shot? I don’t want to turn into a pig and become bacon. I heard that’s worse than slop in the human world. Chester!” She wails, and I watch as her eyes roll back before Chester picks her up and continues to carry her.
“I think this might be for the best if she sleeps it off during your trial,” he suggests.
“I agree,” Levi concurs as we come upon the rowdy crowd.
Once they see it’s us, they part ways and allow Lynx and me to step forward, but they don’t make it easy for us. They heckle and squeeze into us, and I can feel the frustration boiling in Knox, but we take it as we travel up to the platform once again.
Captain Brooks snorts when he sees me on the back of Lynx and then straight up laughs when Lynx bends down to let me off.
“Pathetic,” he says, while taking off his shirt and throwing it aside.
“The only thing I see is a pathetic grown unmated shifter, following orders against his pack leader to harass and harm a mated human,” I say nonchalantly while putting on fingerless gloves.
Captain Brooks snarls and spins around so fast that I swear I see gorilla fangs poke out of his mouth.
‘Oh, someone has hit a sore spot,’Zareen practically squeals in joy.
