by JJ King
“I’ve been fighting and destroying my enemies for longer than you’ve been alive, bitch,” Viktor said smugly. “Some I ripped apart with my hands, some with my bare teeth. Others, like your parents, died at the end of my knife. Some are more worthy than others to die as warriors.”
I bit down on my cheek and tried to hold back the grief and anger his words unleashed. I’d known he’d use them against me, like a weapon, so I’d braced for it, but it hurt all the same. He’d stolen lives in the dead of night like a thief and regretted nothing. He’d murdered children, his blood kin. He was a demon and needed to pay for his crimes.
My wolf surged forward, pushing against my consciousness, offering her strength without taking over. I couldn’t shift, not now, it would leave me too vulnerable. His wolf was bigger than me, too, so it really didn’t matter. Either way, we were unevenly matched.
“Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. I didn’t care if he saw that his taunts made me furious. I just wouldn’t let them distract me from my goal. “You’ve said that before. You’re repeating yourself, old man.” When he growled, low and throaty, I shrugged. “You should have probably come up with some new material before facing me.”
He moved forward like a snake, throwing his weight and strength into the attack. He was fast, but I was faster. I was also still seeing the world through a filmy layer, so my other senses would have to step up. I blessed Tomas’ tyrannical ass for making me practice with a blindfold or in the dark on the regular.
I blocked a kick that would've sent me to the floor with broken bones but, instead, deflected off my forearm, leaving the bone bruised but intact. Viktor rained blow after blow down on me, tireless in his advance. I stood my ground, feet planted wide to absorb the shock of his punches and kicks and avoided as much as I could. Those that I couldn't avoid, I blocked.
Pace yourself. Let your opponent show off and grow tired, then attack. I heard Tomas's voice as if he were standing over my shoulder and slid to my right to avoid Viktor's battering fist.
He fought well, as any Alpha should, but he favored his left hand, even though he tried hard to disguise the preference. I didn’t think I would've noticed, not in the midst of a life or death battle, but I'd noticed too much, or just enough, while he'd tortured me. I didn't know how I could use it to my advantage, but I kept it in mind. Viktor wouldn't blink at using someone's weakness against them, so neither would I.
My body ached, everywhere, and, to my dismay, was growing weaker with every passing moment. I was holding back, keeping my reserves steady, but I hadn't eaten in at least twenty-four hours, had only gotten small sips of water during that time, and had been battered, bloodied, and tortured. If help didn't arrive soon or if I didn't find a way to take Viktor out of the game, I'd lose everything.
He threw a punch that grazed my chin and spun me. I staggered back, keeping my fists high to protect my face, but he was too fast, too strong, and I didn't see it coming. Using his momentum, Viktor swung around, pivoting with his arm held high, and smashed his elbow into the side of my head.
Bright lights exploded behind my eyes, shattering my world. I felt like a stone to the floor as the room went hazy and Viktor's triumphant laughter burned my ears.
Get up! I shook my head, trying to brush off the confusion, and wondered who was yelling at me this time. It wasn't Tomas's voice and it wasn't the long-lost memory of my mother, either. It wasn't even one voice, I realized as I planted my hands on the floor and pushed to my feet.
It was a chorus of voices, all speaking together, all talking as one, and all saying the same thing.
Right jab, now!
I didn't think, didn't pause, I just acted. My right hand squeezed into a tight fist and dropped down to my waist, pulling back as my body pivoted and lowered, giving me the momentum I needed to fulfil the voices' instruction. With a scream of effort that ripped through me, I drove my fist into his ribs, which were unguarded and vulnerable.
The crunch of bone beneath my fist was like music to my ears. I wanted to cheer, to dance on the spot, but this was it, my opportunity. I threw out a mental “thank you!” to my inner coaches and grabbed for Viktor’s head, sinking my fingers into his thick hair. With a vicious yank, I pulled him down until his skull made contact with my knee.
“Now we’re fucking even!” I spat the words at him, barely noticing the blood that sprayed from my mouth. I was on my feet, that was all that mattered. The fight wasn’t over yet.
The sound of helicopter blades approaching twisted my stomach in fear and hope. That was either The Sisterhood or Viktor’s escape plans. Either way, this was it. Viktor wouldn’t leave me alive, not again. Not if he could help it.
The door pushed open and one of Viktor’s guards strode into the room, face set and eyes hard. “Our ride is here.” He jutted a chin towards me and swung a familiar gun around, leveling it at my heart. “You want me to take the shot?”
Viktor hissed and waved a hand towards the man. “No! She’s mine. Get out!” he roared the order and the man obeyed.
“You should have taken him up on the offer,” I said snidely, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. My head still rang painfully but I’d been through worse. The voices chattered again, incomprehensible but managing somehow to bolster my confidence. They’d helped me more than once and I trusted they would again. Viktor might know my secret but he didn’t know about them.
Viktor laughed and spit on the floor. “I’m done playing with you, little wolf. You have spirit, I’ll give you that, but you cannot be allowed to live.” He pulled himself up to his full height, abandoning his fighting stance and drew back his shoulders. “You might think you have power, but you are just a child, playing with things you don’t understand.” He took a step forward, facing me without any distractions, and summoned his Alpha power.
The air filled with what felt like static electricity. It grew thick and heavy, scented with the tang of ozone as Viktor pulled from the gifts given to him when he’d stolen the position of Alpha from my father. He gathered his power, held it for a moment that seemed to waiver in time, balanced by the weight of the moment, then he released it.
His Alpha voice hit me with the weight of a stampede, trampling my head and shoulders as he reigned down orders that would have decimated an ordinary wolf under his command. I felt the impact of it and staggered but, where it would have driven another wolf to their knees, it only awakened what was inside me.
I reached for something to brace myself on as a shock of raw power burst from somewhere so deep inside my being I hadn’t realized it existed. I wanted to quake, to shudder and cry out for help but, in an instant, it was filling me, driving out all thought of uncertainty.
“I am the rightful Alpha of Russia!” Viktor’s face twisted in horrible convulsions as he shouted his claim, trying to use it to push me back, to deny me my birthright. He meant to use it as a weapon, but it only infuriated me. That he would dare to lie to my face!
“You are nothing!” I screamed back, balling my fists at my sides as my body shook with power that could barely be contained. It felt like I would be torn apart if I didn’t let it out. I gasped for breath, wishing I weren’t alone, but knowing there was no one else, besides Sylvie, who could be in this room and not be driven mad. The whispers in my mind were deafening now, raging screams that tore at my mind, tempting me back towards the darkness.
I wasn’t prepared when Viktor lunged forward. I didn’t see it coming. He wrapped his hands around my neck, digging his long fingers into my flesh as he leaned forward, aiming the full devastating extent of his power straight into me and squeezed.
His power hit me like a tidal wave, drowning out everything else around me so that only he and I existed, locked inside a struggle that would destroy one or both of us.
I grasped his wrists, but not to break his hold on my neck. From inside the wave of power he aimed like a weapon, intent on destroying what I was, the cacophony of sound and pressure disappeared, surrounding me i
n a silence so complete, I lost myself in it for a moment.
In the silence there was life and love, so perfect it rocked me to my core. I let it caress my mind like a loving mother and realized that, perhaps, that was exactly what it was. A gift of a moment with my lost loved ones, a place of peace where I would welcome death and what came after.
No, the voices spoke as one again, piercing the silence. This is not your time. Fight, Elena. Fight, now, and win.
I sighed beneath their words. It was so peaceful here in the silence. Outside, in the real world, I was broken and bloody, my mind was at war with itself, my body about to implode. If I just stayed here, if I just closed my eyes and stopped fighting, it would all be over.
It will never be over if you give up. Fight, now, and win, they repeated.
It would never be over, I agreed. Even in death, it wouldn’t be over. Viktor had cheated, stolen, and killed for his position, and he was involved, somehow, in the attacks against The Sisterhood. My sisters were dying, paying for the protection they’d given me as a child and for all the world they’d accomplished over lifetimes so that girls, like me, could step forward and fight back.
No, it wouldn’t be over even if I bowed out. The fight would never stop as long as there were people like Viktor in this world, free to use his power against others like a battering ram. I took one last breath, gathered myself, and turned back to the battle.
My body pulsed, already filled to bursting with the power that flowed from my bones, from my cells, from my soul, and from my connection to the elements. His power, the sheer force of it, hit me but, rather than pushing me down, it flowed into me, merging with the pulsing life within. Together, they melded, gathered, crested to a peak, and poised for a second as they pushed forward, too strong for me to hold back.
Not that I wanted to hold back.
I let go. It was as simple as that. Inside my mind, I opened a door, releasing a flood gate, then stood strong as the totality of it, too much to comprehend even as it surged through me, burst free.
A sound like a thousand thunder strikes filled the room, ripping from my throat, driving Viktor to his knees in an instant. His fingers fell from my neck and I threw my head back, purging the pain and fear, everything that had eaten away at me for months. It washed through me, emptying every dark hidden corner of my being, and then it was gone.
My head fell to my chest, too heavy for my neck to hold up. Bone deep exhaustion dragged at me, whispering that I was done, that I could sleep now. I watched through still-filmy eyes as Viktor’s gaze locked on my face and his electric blue eyes went wide with understanding then dark as he fell to my feet, dead.
I loomed over his body, held up by invisible strings that stretched then snapped, one at a time, until there was nothing but stubborn pride holding me up. My body swayed, as if suddenly surrounded by a soft summer breeze that welcomed me home. It wrapped around me, bringing an explosion of twinkling stars and loving voices that encircled me, calling to me like long-lost friends.
I was safe now, we all were. Viktor was gone. I could rest.
I smiled into the silent darkness, letting it gather me close, then whispered Bash’s name and left the world behind.
Next In Alpha Wolf Academy…
Will the darkness keep Elena captive, or will she fight her way back? Find out in Bad Moon, the fourth book in the Alpha Wolf Academy series!
(Cover coming soon)
GET IT NOW!
A broken mind, a long road to recovery, a new threat from within, and a whole shitload of trouble.
Elena Jensen should be relieved, she should be happy, she should be free, but the powers she tapped into to destroy her greatest enemy came with a heavy price.
After months of training and therapy, she’s returning to Alpha Wolf Academy, even though she isn’t sure it’s the best idea. Her future might be safe, but it’s uncertain at best. The Sisterhood have been covering for her, keeping the Russian pack at bay, but Elena needs to decide, and soon, or risk anarchy.
Elena struggles to rebuild herself, to find control and her place, and is starting to feel like her old self when she’s side railed by two new students who seems to be out to get her. Bash and her friends just don’t see it, but Elena can’t shake the feeling that she isn’t safe.
Doubting your own sanity makes seeing the wolf at the door a little bit harder.
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Before There Was Alpha Wolf Academy…
If you want to start at the beginning and meet Katherine LaFlamme, why not grab a copy of Blood of Eden, book one of The Guardians trilogy.
GRAB IT HERE!
Trouble's brewing in the pack... and Katherine is willing to risk her life if that's what it takes to save her family.
When Katherine LaFlamme is summoned home by her father, the Alpha of the North American wolf pack, she drops everything and answers the call. Despite her desire to experience the human world before she settles down, Katherine is fiercely loyal and, as the pack's best tracker, she's an essential part of stopping the darkness encroaching on their territory.
A hunter has invaded their territory and murdered several of their kind, while a rogue wolf has been stalking the female members of the LaFlamme family. To make matters worse, a secondary claim to the Alphaship of North America has risen, setting the entire pack on edge.
Then Katherine meets a mysterious wolf named Quinn and things begin to get interesting... and very deadly. Katherine and Quinn are swept up in a puzzle of ancient rites, prophecies, and mythic lore which reveals that there's more to both of them than first meets the eye.
GRAB IT HERE!
About the Author
JJ King is the USA Today Bestselling paranormal loving alter-ego of author Janice Godin. She was born and raised on the beautiful island of Newfoundland and makes her home there still with her amazing son. She attributes her love for the supernatural to Buffy and is thankful there are so many other people, like her, who love a little otherness with their romance.
Oh, and she loves sushi and cats!
To find out more about JJ King and all her upcoming projects, check out her website at http://janice.godin.com
