I punched her in the nose and she fell against the wall, her hands flying to her bloody face. Silver flakes appeared in her eyes as she lunged.
I sidestepped her attack and followed up with a leaping roundhouse. Lydia stumbled headfirst into a tree and cursed a blue streak.
“Lydia, I don’t want to fight you but I’m going in this house.”
“I have my orders,” she mumbled around bloody teeth.
“Sorry.” I kicked her in the face and she dropped like a sack of potatoes, not even grunting as she hit the ground.
I pushed open the latch and slipped inside the massive oak door. Galen’s house was magnificent, everything screaming power and control. Damn, his foyer was bigger than my living room and that coat rack in the corner would cost me six months’ salary.
The raw smell of musk was so heavy it took my breath. Muted sounds of a crowd drifted from an open door leading to a basement. I’d been to Galen’s house a few times, but never inside. This was one big-ass house.
I snuck past a group of werewolves leaning along the step railing and made my way into a shadowy corner of the basement. At some point the wolves would pick up my scent, but for now the fight was all they cared about.
The scene was like something out of a movie. Werewolves, all in human form, gathered in the basement. Blood-splattered mats covered the floor and the stench of sweat, blood, and musk hung in the air. The crowd cheered, shouting encouragement to one of their own as he threw another werewolf onto the mat.
I recognized Ordy’s hulking, shirtless form immediately, his eyes fully silver, blood flowing from his mouth and eye. He was breathing heavily and intently watching his opponent. I’d seen Ordy fight and rarely did he need more than a couple minutes to dispatch any opponent. From the heave of his shoulders, he’d been at it for quite a while.
Lucas. Damn it. He was fighting Lucas.
Lucas looked much worse than Ordy but was holding his own. His face was bloody and swollen, one of his eyes almost completely closed. His silver eyes locked onto his opponent, his hair matted with sweat and blood, knuckles dripping with blood. His ribs were already black and blue and splattered with blood. He rolled to his side and quickly sprang to his feet.
Holy shit, he’s gorgeous.
Ordy charged, his signature move to force an opponent to submit, but Lucas was quicker and side-stepped the attack. A sickening crunch resounded in the room as Lucas nailed Ordy in the gut with a wicked snap-kick. Ordy dropped to a knee and Lucas struck again, a crushing elbow to the back of his head.
I’d never seen another wolf take Ordy down. The crowd went completely silent as Ordy fell toward the padded training floor. Lucas stumbled backward and pitched into a corner. He was sucking air and fighting to get back to his feet when Galen stepped onto the mat.
“I’ve seen enough. I declare this challenge a draw.”
A devastatingly handsome blue-eyed blond vampire emerged from the shadows and knelt beside Lucas. The Alpha looked over to the battered Italian werewolf. “Do you wish to continue?”
Lucas whispered to the vampire as the crowd waited. The vampire frowned as he answered. “He will fight the next challenge.”
Damn, how many challenges did he have?
Mikalev Sherposki stomped onto the mat. “I’m next,” he snarled as he closed in on Lucas, who had yet to regain his feet.
Do something, Welker.
The need to protect Lucas tore through me. Rage at his pain pushed my magic forward, my fingertips itching to fire up anyone responsible for hurting him.
“Don’t touch him, Mik.” I pushed past the outer wall of werewolves and stepped onto the mat. The werewolves parted and allowed me free access to the ring. Mik wasn’t happy to see me. Oh well.
“Not your concern, Bre,” Mikalev said. “Pizza Boy wanted a fight and we’re gonna give it to him.”
“Yeah, real fair fight, Mik. How many of you guys has he fought already?” I didn’t stop until I was in the middle of the ring between Mikalev and Lucas. “And his name is Lucas, not Pizza Boy.”
“Hello, Breanna. I wondered when you’d show up,” the salt-and-pepper-haired Galen said solemnly as he joined me on the mat. I’d always liked Galen. He really cared about his wolves and did his best to keep the peace. He hadn’t been exactly friendly when I first arrived in Bravo, but after an incident in which I’d rescued three werewolves who would have otherwise drowned, Galen had seemed to accept me. Some days I even thought he liked me. Today wasn’t one of them.
“Alpha McGregor, what’s going on here?”
Galen swept his hand toward Lucas and the vampire. “Lucas Benelli, a member of the Italian Pack, has requested to be in Wisconsin Pack territory. Challenges have been lodged by members of my pack regarding his request.”
“Why?”
A soft murmur filtered through the room. Maybe questioning an Alpha wasn’t exactly the best decision I could have made.
Galen looked annoyed. “Why what?”
I was annoyed but tried not to roll my eyes. “Why did they challenge him? Out-of-territory wolves visit here all the time and I don’t ever remember them being challenged.”
A bloody-shirted Aaron nudged forward. “They weren’t here for you.”
A wave of dominance washed through the room. Galen’s head slowly swiveled toward Lucas, who was glaring, silver-eyed, at Aaron.
“I would never hurt her,” Lucas answered in a voice much too deep and gravelly to be human.
I think Galen said something, but I didn’t catch it. My heart thundered in my ears, drowning out everything around me. Lucas was here, mere feet away, and all I could think about was running my fingers through his hair, feeling those muscles along his chest ripple under my hands, tracing that line of dark hair that disappeared under the waist of his sweats. Oh, and killing anyone who threatened him again.
“Breanna?” Galen asked.
Damn, he’d asked me something. “Oh, I’m sorry, Alpha. What did you say?”
A second murmur floated through the crowd and Galen looked perplexed. I guess he wasn’t used to repeating himself. “I said the Italian wolf has asked to be in our territory so he may speak with you.”
I made a point to look Galen in the eye. Every wolf in the room could hear my pounding heart. “I’d like to see him.”
The wolves murmured again. That was really getting on my nerves. “Something to say?” I asked the churning group. “Something I need to be aware of here?”
I was directly challenging the group and every wolf there knew it. Galen cocked an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t react.
Mikalev took a step toward Lucas and I blocked his path. “Leave him be, Mik.”
“He took the challenge, Bre. He has to fight me.”
I stepped toe-to-toe with Mik and looked up. “Then I challenge you for the right to challenge him.” I glared at the familiar faces. “And anyone else who wants a piece of me can take a number and step right up.”
“What? You can’t do that.” Mikalev looked at Galen. “She can’t do that, can she?”
The big Alpha huffed. “Actually, she can. Do you want to fight her, Mik?”
“Oh, hell no.”
“I will.” Zeke Trenton shoved aside the wolves around the mat. “I will take the witch’s challenge. It would be my pleasure to put her in her place.”
A wave of anger raced through the room, sending me to my knees. Lucas leaped over me and had Trenton by the neck.
“Do not threaten her,” Lucas growled, tightening his fingers around the major’s throat.
Zeke kicked and clawed but Lucas had him pinned off the ground, against the wall. He held the formidable Trenton easily by one hand. All I could do was gape. Holy cow, nobody did that to Zeke Trenton.
“Lucas, do not kill him,” Galen ordered.
Lucas blinked at the Alpha’s command. Dominance and compulsion choked the room, but Lucas didn’t let go. He bared his teeth at the struggling wolf. “No one threatens her.”
Everyone saw the shock on Galen’s face when Lucas’s grip didn’t loosen. An Alpha wolf always maintained control. Galen laid a hand on Lucas’s shoulder and I sprang forward, ready to step in if the Alpha attacked. Trenton was purple.
“Wolf, I am the Alpha of this territory and you will not kill one of mine.”
Lucas flinched under Galen’s touch. I ducked and came up between Lucas and Trenton.
“Easy, Wolf, it’s okay.”
Eyes that were totally silver peered at me. His grip on Trenton tightened.
“Wolf, if you kill Trenton, the Alpha will kill you and then I’ll have to kill the Alpha and this will all get very messy.”
Maybe Galen didn’t hear that.
Lucas looked down at Galen’s hand on his shoulder and back at me. With a deep sigh, he dropped his hand from Trenton’s throat and closed his eyes. Trenton fell in a heap. Galen closed his eyes and the dominance in the room increased. Every werewolf in the room, except Lucas, dropped to the floor. Lucas squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head.
I’d never seen anything like what was going on between Galen and Lucas. I was afraid Galen may retaliate against the defenseless Lucas, who was now standing with his shoulders sagging and his fists clenched at his sides.
Galen laid a second hand on Lucas and watched as Lucas dropped to his knees. The room was absolutely still, the other wolves in some sort of trance. Slowly, deliberately, Lucas turned his head to the side and exposed his throat, the sign of submission among wolves. I shoved the Alpha but he didn’t budge.
“Don’t hurt him, Galen,” I said, touching the top of Lucas’s head. “He was protecting me.”
“I know,” the Alpha acknowledged. Galen didn’t sound angry, but there was huskiness in his usually perfectly controlled demeanor.
Lucas drew in several deep breaths, as if he was struggling to breathe. I dropped to my knees beside him.
“Lucas?”
He opened his eyes and smiled at me. The smile faded when he realized the other werewolves were behind me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to his chest, his wolf surging. His heart pounded, the pulse in his throat clearly visible.
“It’s okay, Wolf,” I whispered in his ear, but it wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay. There should have been growling and snarling, but Lucas was doing neither. He was holding me as if my life was in danger. I tried to pull back and look at his face but his arms locked around me in a grip a bear couldn’t break.
Someone brushed against my back and a growl rumbled deep in Lucas’s chest. Dominance and power slammed into me as Galen came closer.
No words were exchanged, but something happened between Galen and Lucas because Lucas collapsed in my arms, his eyes clenched shut.
“Damn it, Galen, you said you wouldn’t hurt him,” I yelled as I eased Lucas onto the mat. He was breathing normally and appeared to be unconscious.
Galen leaned forward and I called up a ring of flames to prevent him from coming closer. Lucas was out cold and I’d be damned if I’d let anyone hurt him.
The Alpha jumped as the flames leaped and licked toward the ceiling. They weren’t real, just an illusion to keep the Alpha back, but they looked and felt real.
“Lucas? Hey? Can you hear me?”
Nothing. Nada.
I looked around for somebody to trust, but found nobody. I stroked his hair and gingerly touched the bruises on his face. Lucas had taken a much worse beating tonight than at Ederle but once again, he’d held his own. There was lots of blood on the mat, not all of it his.
The flames danced and I held Lucas. I knew every wolf in this room but right now, there wasn’t an ally among them. They were pack wolves and would always follow Galen’s orders.
The blue-eyed vampire had left his shadowy waiting place and was in deep conversation with Galen. Geez, he must have been crazy or maybe he wasn’t as good a friend as I’d thought.
How would I get Lucas out? I couldn’t carry him and it didn’t look like he was going to wake up in the next few minutes. I could take him to my house and ward the door so nobody could come in. Okay, think, Welker. How the hell to get him out of this basement?
The pack wolves remained in whatever type of trance Galen had put them in and Lucas wouldn’t wake up. Now what to do? Okay, worse case, I could call Christopher and Simon, but the vampires generally stayed clear of pack crap. Guess they were smarter than me.
The blond vampire looked through my flames. He didn’t seem concerned about angry werewolves surrounding him. His gaze drifted from me to the flames and a tiny smile played on his lips before he stepped through my fake flames and knelt beside Lucas.
I shielded Lucas with my body. “Do not touch him.”
The vampire nodded and placed his hands on his thighs. “You must be Breanna. He’s talked about you non-stop since the night on the mountain road.”
Ah, classic technique of trying to make me feel comfortable. This vampire was good.
“And you would be?”
His smile would have been charming under normal circumstances but now it didn’t faze me. “I’m Tristyn Ziccardi, Lucas’s best friend.” The smile faded. “My mate is the witch representative to the Divine Council.”
This was the guy Christopher talked about. This seemed legit.
“How many did he fight?”
Tristyn sobered. “Three. This last one was tough. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.”
He could have died tonight because of me.
“He’s okay, Breanna,” the vampire said as he nodded toward Lucas. “He needs rest. Galen has given us use of his guesthouse for the night.”
I wanted to believe him. All my senses said the vampire was telling the truth, but if I was wrong, Lucas would be in danger.
“If you’ll allow me, I’ll carry him out of here.”
I swallowed hard and looked down at the helpless wolf on my lap. “If you hurt him, I will kill you.”
The vampire acknowledged my threat and slipped his arms under Lucas’s legs and shoulders. He stood in one fluid motion and carried Lucas toward the stairway. I broke my fire illusion and walked behind the vampire as the wolves began to stir. All this musk and dominance was giving me a headache.
Galen watched as we climbed out of the basement. I was halfway up the steps when I wheeled around and went to Galen.
“What did you do to him?”
The Alpha looked me dead in the eyes. “You aren’t the only one who can speak to wolves, Breanna.”
It wasn’t surprising an Alpha could talk to a wolf directly, but I’d never heard any of the guys say that had happened to them. Maybe that was part of the Alpha mojo magic thing that allowed Galen to control his wolves.
But Lucas wasn’t his wolf.
“He will be fine after he rests and I give my word my wolves will not go near Lucas or Tristyn.” The green eyes twinkled. “You, however, have some things to work out with my pack.”
I did not take orders from Alphas. “Excuse me?”
Galen nodded toward Aaron and Ordy. “They felt the need to protect you. That’s why they challenged him.”
I snorted. “I told both of them I wanted to see Lucas and they did this territorial bullshit anyway.”
Aaron and Ordy were bloody and bruised. The two were the strongest combat fighters we had, but apparently Lucas had bested them. The pack wolves moved around the basement. They all looked dazed.
“Anyone who goes after Lucas will deal with me.”
Galen watched the vampire climb the final steps leading to the foyer. “You would do best to go home tonight. Lucas needs to heal and he will need to deal with his emotions. Tristyn will look after him.”
“What the hell does that mean? His emotions for what?”
Galen leveled a glare and I was almost intimidated. Almost.
“When he is ready, Lucas will tell you.” The Alpha put his hands on my upper arms. “Be patient with him, Breanna. Life has not always been kind to Lucas.”
Chapter 16
I took a breath and opened my eyes. Nothing looked familiar. Nothing smelled familiar. Nothing sounded familiar.
Fuzzy memories of a big wolf charging toward Breanna came to mind. I shook my pounding head and rolled to the side. “Breanna?” Where the hell was she? What had happened?
I was dressed in gray sweatpants and a gray sweatshirt that smelled much too strongly of musk. My heart stuttered. The bed creaked. “Breanna?”
Blood stained the shirt. My knuckles looked like hamburger. My jaw rebelled at opening and my ribs hurt like hell.
“Hey, little brother,” Tristyn called from the doorway. He was leaning against the frame.
“Where is she?” I yelled. How could he just stand there like nothing was wrong?
“Calm down, Lucas. Breanna is fine.”
“I have to find her.”
He tossed a phone in my direction. “I promised you would call as soon as you woke up.”
“I have to go.”
Tristyn shoved me back onto the bed and my wolf surged.
“Don’t,” I warned. He knew not to push me when my wolf was ascending.
“Call the witch before she comes over here and kicks my ass.”
“What?”
Trist grumbled under his breath as he glanced at his watch. “Just call her, Lucas. I’ll explain later.”
My best friend looked genuinely alarmed. Tristyn was the calm one, the level head in tough situations. If he was worried, things were bad.
I called and Breanna answered before the end of the first ring. She sounded tired and concerned but said she could get a little sleep now that she knew I was okay.
It was four in the morning when I hung up. She gave me directions and I promised I see her around noon for lunch.
“She’s okay,” I said to Tristyn as I shuffled stiffly out of the bedroom. “Where the hell are we, anyway?”
“Galen’s guesthouse.”
I had been so worried about Breanna, I’d forgotten about the Wisconsin Pack and the challenges. I’d only fought three. There were supposed to be ten.
“I told her I’d meet her for lunch.” Maybe we could meet somewhere on the way out of town. If it had been just my ass on the line, I’d take a chance, but I wouldn’t endanger Tristyn.
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