Lillie jogs to my side, back in her human form. “How was it?”
A grin spreads across my face. “Awesome.”
She links her arm through mine and guides me up the hill to where the others are gathering. As we go, some of the pack members approach me and congratulate me on my first shift. Others wave and call out from groups dotting the hillside.
I catch a glimpse of Jack as he, Sawyer, and a couple of other guys head into the meeting house. I wonder if they are going to get some food. My stomach growls. All that running left me hungry.
I’m about to head in to see if there’s anything I can do to help when someone steps into my path. At first I assume she’s simply going to congratulate me as others have done, but when I see her face, my stomach sinks.
Mel.
I haven’t seen her since our challenge fight my first night with the pack. I force a smile. “Hey, how’s it going?”
Her lip curls back into a snarl. “I told you this wasn’t over.” She grabs my hand and lifts it straight up. “I challenge the beta female Ava to a dominance fight,” she yells.
Chapter Ten
All eyes flick in Mel’s direction. Skye’s eyes flash gold as she steps forward. “Mel, don’t be like this.”
“I know the rules. I waited until her first shift.” Her nails dig into the flesh of my wrist. “I simply want her to prove she really deserves my place in the pack,” she growls.
“It’s not your place anymore,” Lillie says. “She won. She already proved herself.”
“What’s going on?” Jack calls, emerging from the meeting house. His gaze passes between Mel and me, and he seems to glean the answer himself. His shoulders sag and he sighs before turning toward the rest of the pack. “A challenge has been issued,” he calls. “And it will be answered.”
Mel smirks as she drops my hand and walks into the center of the circle of bodies that’s quickly forming. I turn to Lillie. “What the hell is going on?”
Lillie tugs me toward the outside of the circle. “I knew she was pissed when you took her spot as beta, but I never thought she’d do this.”
My eyebrows hike upward. “Really? Because she told me she would that first night.”
Lillie shakes her head. “I know, but I figured she was all talk. She’s always kind of been that way—ever since she joined us.” She runs her hands over her hair, smoothing it against her head. “I’ve heard about other packs where dominance fights happen all the time, but it just doesn’t happen here. This isn’t the way Jack runs things.”
“Then why is he going along with it?”
Lillie sighs. “Because he has to. The rules—they’re bigger than him. Think of it as werewolf law. If the challenge is issued, it has to be accepted, or Mel could go to the convocation—like, the bosses of all the werewolves. If she goes to them and says Jack isn’t obeying pack laws, they could come in and…”
I wait for her to go on. “What? Fire him as alpha?”
She presses her lips together. “Kind of. Only it’s not like being alpha is a job. If the convocation sends someone to take over a pack, the alphas—and sometimes the betas, too—are all killed.”
I swallow. Obviously, refusing to accept Mel’s challenge is out of the question. “So, what? Now I have to fight her again? Why don’t I just give her the spot back? I never asked to be the beta. I don’t care if she takes the title.”
She shakes her head. “It’s not the way it works. When you and Mel initially fought, you got the best of her, despite the fact that Mel’s a better fighter. You’ll understand more now that you’ve shifted, but that night changed the way the pack sees Mel. Our wolves don’t believe she’s the right one to be our beta anymore. We trust you. If Mel wants the spot, you can’t simply give it over. Mel has to prove she’s worthy of it.”
I run a hand through my hair. “This is nuts.” I blow out a breath, trying to formulate a plan. Fine, so I have to fight her. No big deal—I’ve done that before. I’ll just let her win. Then it will be over and I won’t have to worry about her holding a grudge, of there being some kind of target on my back.
Jack approaches and Lillie steps away. He puts a hand on each of my shoulders and leans in close. “The rules of a challenge like this dictate that you, as the one being challenged, get to choose which form to fight in.”
I’m about to ask what he means by which form when I realize what he means. I have the choice to stay human or to shift back into a wolf. “What should I do?”
“I think you should stay human because you’re far more familiar with this body than your wolf form. But now that you have shifted for the first time, your wolf instincts will have kicked in. Trust them. They’ll help you even in this form.”
I nod, trying to process all he’s telling me.
“This fight isn’t going to be like your first one. Unlike that night, when we were just trying to get a sense of where you belong in the pack, the point isn’t simply to gauge your abilities. This time, the fight doesn’t stop until there’s a clear winner.”
My jaw drops. “And by clear winner, you mean—”
“It’s not a fight to the death,” he says grimly. “But something like this usually doesn’t end until one of you is incapacitated. Your best bet is to try to knock her out, but if you can’t do that, pinning her so she can’t gain the upper hand should be enough.”
“Should be?” I don’t like the sound of that at all.
“Get out here!” Mel shouts from the center of the circle. “This is the beta you chose over me?” she asks the crowd. “She’s too afraid to even come start this fight.”
Inside me, my wolf’s consciousness rears her head. She knows she’s being threatened, and she doesn’t like it at all. I need to face Mel now before she angers my wolf further.
Only a few yards separate me from Mel when someone catches my hand and tugs me backward. It’s Jack, and he pulls me flush against his body before swooping down to kiss me, hard. My whole body flushes, partly with the heat of his kiss, but also with embarrassment at how public this display is. But none of it bothers my wolf. She likes the fact that Jack is claiming me here, now, before the fight, letting everyone know that no matter the outcome, my place with him won’t change.
When he releases me he nods, and I turn back toward Mel. Her eyes narrow and she glares at me. I didn’t think it was possible for her to be any angrier with me, but my relationship with our alpha seems to have done it.
“I choose to stay human,” I say, pleased when my voice sounds sure.
A grin flashes across her face. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She lunges toward me and strikes out, hitting my jaw before I can even react. She lands another punch to my stomach and I fall to the ground.
Everything is happening so fast. I can’t get my bearings. I try to push myself to my feet, but Mel is there, kicking my sides. I want to curl into a ball to protect myself. I want to yell out to Mel that she’s won already, that I can’t beat her. No position in the pack is worth this.
But my wolf won’t let me. The primal instincts rise up, and without thinking, I grab for Mel’s foot the next time she tries to land a kick. I yank her off balance. She doesn’t quite fall, but the reprieve gives me enough time to get to my feet. My eyes prickle, and I’m sure they’re flashing gold as I allow my wolf’s instincts to take over.
Mel circles me, more cautious now. Her initial attack didn’t bring me down, and she needs to be more calculating going forward. When she comes at me again, I manage to block her punches, and I even land one on her jaw. She bounces backward for a moment before rushing me again, and I wind up and aim my fist at her stomach. She doubles over and I back up, giving myself space and time to make a plan.
I need to end the fight. I’m not sure I can knock her out, but I’m pretty sure I can pin her. Mel stands again and I rush her, shoving her to the ground. We tumble one over the other. She was closer to the edge of the hill than I anticipated, and the slope pulls our bodies down. When we finally g
et to the bottom, we wrestle for the dominant position.
A trickle of blood escapes from the corner of Mel’s mouth and a jolt like electricity courses through me. In that instant, I’m able to knock her to the ground and climb on top of her. I straddle her waist and lock my shins over her thighs, pressing her arms down with my hands.
In this position, the red rivulets by her lips catch the moonlight and glisten. I feel a burning in my incisors, the same way I did before I bit Jack, and without thinking, I remove my right hand to cover my mouth.
Mel uses my distraction and swings her arm at my abdomen. But the pain isn’t like her earlier punches—this one is a sharp stab, and in an instant I smell my own blood.
A predatory grin spreads itself across Mel’s face and she attempts to push me off of her, but I resist. Her expression changes to shock, and she tries to knock me over again. The burning in my mouth subsides as my wolf rises up again. I drop my arm back and punch her hard on the side of the face. Her eyelids flutter for a moment before closing, and her body goes limp.
In the next second, the rest of the pack is rushing down the hill. Jack, Sawyer, and Skye lead the way.
“Skye, you and Sawyer take care of Mel. She broke the rules of the fight by bringing a knife. Determine an appropriate punishment for her,” Jack says.
I spring to my feet and Jack rushes to my side. He brings his lips close to my ear. “Lean on me. Make it look like you’re hurt badly.”
“What? Why?”
“Do it.” His voice is low and almost menacing, and my wolf recognizes his dominance. I shift my weight so I’m depending on him to support me, even though it’s unnecessary.
Maggie and Lillie push their way through the crowd until they’re at my side. “You can take Ava back to my house,” Maggie says. “I’ll see to the wound.”
“It won’t be necessary,” Jack says.
The girls exchange confused glances. “But it might need some attention so it heals right,” Lillie says cautiously. “There’s no one better to look after it than Maggie.”
When Jack turns his gaze on them, they shrink back. “I’ll take care of her. If I need your help, I’ll send for you.”
His words settle the matter, and my friends step out of his way as he swings me up into his arms.
I wait until we are nearly to my house to speak. “Jack?”
He shakes his head. “Wait until we’re inside.”
I do as he says, allowing him to carry me over the threshold and to my room the way he did after bringing me back from the vampire’s mansion. He lays me on the bed and lifts my shirt unceremoniously to check the area where Mel stabbed me. I look too. The flesh has already knit itself back together, leaving only what looks like a small scrape.
I glance up at him. “See, I’m okay. I’m fine.” But he’s still staring at the mark, and I get the sense there’s something I’m missing. “This werewolf healing thing is pretty awesome.”
My attempt at humor falls flat. Jack doesn’t smile when he looks up at me. “It was a silver knife. I’ve seen Mel use it a thousand times.”
A memory clicks into place. My first night, Maggie told me that as a werewolf I’d need to avoid silver. My brow knits with confusion when I look at my nearly healed wound again. “I thought silver was supposed to keep a were from healing quickly like this.”
He nods. “It does. There’s a thick rubber grip on Mel’s knife, because if she touched the silver with her hand, it would burn her skin. It’s toxic to weres. That’s why she hit you with it. The injury plus the effect of the silver should have weakened you—at least temporarily. Long enough for her to win the fight. But it didn’t.”
The seriousness of his expression starts to make sense. “Is this because I’m not totally a wolf? Does it have to do with me being part vampire?”
He sighs and settles himself on the mattress beside me. “That’s just it—silver has a similar effect on vampires. It’s a poison to them just like it is to us.”
I try to make sense of what he’s telling me. “Then why isn’t it having an effect on me?”
“I have no idea.” He covers his hand with mine. “I think we need to loop someone else in on what you are.”
“Like Lillie?”
He shakes his head. “No, not someone in the pack. Someone I’ve known many years and trust completely. She may know more about what you are than I do.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I was hoping you being a hybrid was something we could deal with on our own, but it looks like things are more complicated. She’ll be able to help.”
I detect unease in his voice. “You don’t sound particularly sure about that.”
“I’m not,” he admits. “But she’s our best shot.”
Chapter Eleven
It’s a two-hour drive to the small cabin tucked away deep in a thick forest. Jack tells me it wouldn’t have taken so long except we had to be sure not to cross into any other alphas’ territories. Under normal circumstances, he could reach out to the pack leaders and get their permission to pass through, but these aren’t normal circumstances. The fewer people who know where we’re going, the better.
I’m nervous when we climb out of the car and approach the house. There’s nothing particularly ominous about it. To the contrary, it’s rather cheery. Sweet-smelling flowers and herbs line the stone walkway to the porch, and wind chimes made from sea glass tinkle and shine in the sunlight.
My nervousness has everything to do with who’s inside the cabin.
Jack reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “I’ve told you, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“I’m about to meet a witch. Sorry if I’m a little apprehensive.”
The corner of his mouth quirks upward. “She’s not dangerous. You’ll like her, I promise.”
Before I can respond, the door swings open to reveal a short woman with long, wispy white hair piled on top of her head. She wears an ankle-length patchwork skirt and a bright blue blouse, and she spreads her arms wide in greeting when she sees Jack.
“It’s been too long,” she says, embracing him.
He returns her hug, lifting her off the ground and eliciting a girlish giggle. “Cassandra,” he says as he sets her down, “this is Ava.”
She turns her warm brown eyes on me and studies my face as I study hers. Her skin is thin and there are soft laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, but I can’t even hazard a guess as to how old she is. Jack told me immortals cannot wield magic, so she must be mortal—but that doesn’t help me pinpoint her age. She could easily be sixty or ninety.
After a moment she extends a hand toward me, and following an encouraging nod from Jack, I take it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ava.”
I manage to smile. “It’s nice to meet you too, Cassandra.”
She takes a step back and waves us toward the house. “I made snacks,” she informs us as she leads us toward the door.
Jack doesn’t bother hiding his smile. “I expected nothing less.” He inhales deeply before releasing a happy sigh. “You didn’t.”
“Of course I did,” she says as she walks toward a small kitchen area.
The cabin is entirely open on the inside. The kitchen is in the far left corner with a dining room area in front of it. In the back right corner is a bed covered in a spread with the same kind of patchwork as Cassandra’s skirt. A rocking chair sits in front of a large fireplace directly to my right. The whole place is warm and cheery, but it does nothing to dispel the sense of foreboding in the back of my mind.
Jack pulls out a chair, and it takes me a moment to realize he’s done so for me. Once I’m seated, he settles down beside me. “Have you ever had a canelé?” His eyes glint with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning.
“I don’t even think I can spell it,” I say as Cassandra joins us at the table. She sets down a platter lined with little circular pastries. They smell strongly of vanilla and something spicy I can’t quite place.
Jack loses no t
ime scooping one off the plate and biting into it. He closes his eyes and groans softly as he chews. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had one of these?”
Cassandra smiles. “I’m guessing since the last time you came to visit. But I know you didn’t just come for my cooking.” Her eyes stray to me and I swallow. I didn’t ask what kind of powers a witch like Cassandra possesses, but now I wish I would have. Can she read my thoughts? Can she sense my discomfort?
Jack shoves the rest of the pastry into his mouth, giving it a couple of good chews before gulping it down. “No, I didn’t.” A muscle in his jaw jumps before he continues. “I’m here because I trust you. I need to know what we say here will stay between us.”
Her eyebrows hitch upward. “Have I ever given you any reason to question my loyalty?”
He covers her hand with his and squeezes it. “What I’m about to say will test it.”
Something passes between them, and I wonder just how long they’ve known each other. I didn’t think to ask Jack how he knows Cassandra or why he’s so sure she’ll be able—and willing—to help us.
After a moment, Jack removes his hand and nods toward me. “Ava is newly changed.”
Cassandra nods. “I’m not so old I can’t tell that.”
Jack can’t quite hide a smile. “She’s not like any other wolf I’ve ever met.”
The corners of Cassandra’s mouth quirk upward. “I can tell that, too.”
He shakes his head. “It’s more than that.”
I want to ask him what he means, but he’s speaking again before I get the chance.
Fate Bound (Fate Bound Trilogy Book 1) Page 7
