Page 18 of Rival Love

Something powerful.

Deadly.

You are what you were always meant to be, Lunai’s voice echoed between my ears. Born Omega, but destined to be Alpha.

Well, okay. Sign me up.

I advanced on Vince again, but he backed up, and Geo and another one of Vince’s goons, Anthony, both stepped in front of him. They were his top two guys so it wasn’t any surprise that they were willing to protect him with their lives.

Hell, they were willing to murder Pearce and Archer for him.

“Selena?” Vince angled his head at me then sniffed the air between us. “Is that really you?”

I couldn’t answer him in my wolf form. Not with words anyway. Instead, I snapped my jaws, first at Geo and then at Anthony. Both of them put up their clawed hands, shielding their faces as they backed away. It delighted me to smell the fear coming off all three of them.

It delighted me even more when a regal, all-white wolf appeared beside me. I knew in an instant that it was Archer with those glowing hazel eyes and muscles flexing under that snowy hide. I pushed my nose into his neck, loving how he let out a low rumble in response.

Then we both turned our attention to Vince and company.

Chapter Ten

Archer

I didn’t think it was possible for Selena to get more beautiful, but seeing her in wolf form took my breath away. Her hide was as black as a moonless night and silky against my nose when I pushed it into her neck in response to her doing the same to me. Though her human form was much smaller than me, her wolf was larger than I would have thought possible. I’d seen a few Omega wolves in my time, and they always looked a little scraggly and were twitchy as shit.

But Selena was neither of those things. She stood on four solid legs, her broad paws claiming the space. A confident tilt to her head let everyone in the room know she was not about to take Morelli’s shit.

As if communicating telepathically, Selena and I stalked toward Morelli together. The heat from the fire in the packhouse was intense, and it wouldn’t be long before the building caved in on itself. The firefighter in me wanted to take this fight outside so I moved forward, Selena by my side and my pack behind us, ready to launch if need be.

We backed Morelli and his packmates to the front wall which had the least amount of damage. They filed outside then immediately fanned out, defensive positions taken, but Selena and I were ready.

The rest of my pack had shifted to full wolf as well, and soon Morelli was the only human.

Though, in my opinion, he made a pretty crappy human.

“Look,” he said, focusing on me, “you can’t expect me to let you have my mate.”

I let out a low growl and bared my teeth at him. That was the only warning I gave before pouncing. I knocked Morelli off his feet, and the moment he hit the ground, he shifted into a brown wolf a bit smaller than me.

He pushed me off him, and I skidded back a few feet. I shot forward again, but Morelli dodged my strike. He attempted to get behind me for a rear attack, failing when Selena blocked him. A snarl ripped out of me when Morelli pinned Selena to the ground.

You don’t touch her, bastard.

As my pack fought Morelli’s and my packhouse burned behind us, Morelli and I tumbled around the field, growling and biting. I seriously wanted to pulverize this fucker. He was the reason my father was dead. He may not have been the one who’d pulled the trigger, but the prick who had was following Morelli’s orders. My father’s blood was certainly on Morelli’s goddamn paws.

Selena yelped as a gray wolf tackled her to the ground. In that moment of distraction, Morelli flipped me onto my back. He fit his jaws over my neck, but before he could close them, before he could pierce my hide, I got my hind legs between us. Using every ounce of power I had in my wolf body, I jammed my legs into Morelli’s chest. I heard ribs crack under the force of my kick.

Morelli howled in pain as he staggered back then fell to the ground. It wouldn’t take long for his bones to start healing so I instantly rose to all fours, Morelli’s neck my only target.

He shifted back to human and writhed in the dirt. “She’s my fucking wife, Sinclaire!” Morelli slapped a palm to the ground. “Lunai paired us.”

“I also paired them.” Suddenly, the Moon Goddess, Lunai, wafted toward us from the woods surrounding my burning packhouse. She came to a stop near Morelli and me. “You made some less-than-brilliant moves, Vincent Morelli.” Lunai shook her head, her long red hair swishing about her shoulders. “You know as well as I do that infidelity breaks a pair bond. Some mates decide to forgive and stay together. They move past the incident, and many times their bond grows stronger afterwards.” She gestured to Selena. “In this case, however, Selena has chosen to accept the new mate I offered her. Your rival. The one you attempted to steal territory from. The one you committed a grave act against in killing his father, the Alpha of his pack. The one you tortured with silver.”

Selena let out a growl, her glowing amber eyes laser-focused on Morelli as if she wanted to tear him to bits.

One hundred percent on board with that plan, my queen.

Lunai’s gaze shifted to me. “You are well within your rights as the new Alpha of the Sinclaire pack to punish the Morelli Alpha in any way you see fit.”