by Zoe Chant
I’m only going to get to see my little boy during school holidays? For just a few weeks, out of months?
“Of course,” Reiner said to the judge, surprisingly meekly. His amber eyes gleamed as he glanced at Hayley. “I will be happy to do so…once Danny is firmly established in my pride.”
“LYING!” Hayley leaped at Griff’s sudden, explosive roar. He surged up from his wheelchair, his concealing sheets slipping away. “He is lying!”
Reiner recoiled in horror from Griff’s bestial, snarling features. In that split-second, unguarded moment, Hayley read the truth in Reiner’s eyes. He was lying. He had no intention of ever returning Danny.
If Danny went to Valtyra, she’d never see him again.
“Your Honor, please, you can’t do this.” Ignoring the shocked gasps at his appearance, Griff took a step toward the judge. His tail lashed from side to side, the feathered tip sweeping across the floor. “Reiner’s lying. Every school holiday, he’ll just claim that Danny isn’t ready-”
“Your Honor, these are baseless slanders against my client!” Paucus interrupted. “I petition that Mr. MacCormick be removed immediately!”
Griff bared his fangs at the shark, making him flinch. “You’re the one who made a big song-and-dance of my eagle abilities. You can’t pretend not to believe in them now. He is lying!”
“Mr. MacCormick!” The judge had visibly paled at Griff’s twisted form, but she banged her gavel down decisively. “You are not under oath, and your motivations are suspect.”
“Then put me under oath-”
“I am not dragging this case out indefinitely, when there is a vulnerable shifter child’s welfare at stake! My decision is final. Stand down, or be held in contempt of court.”
Hayley rushed to Griff’s side as he opened his mouth to say something that would doubtless get him arrested. “Don’t,” she hissed in his ear. She could feel his arm shaking under her hand, and realized he was perilously close to a full-blown seizure. “Not now. We’ll- we’ll think of something, we’ll find a way to fight this.”
His eyes met hers, blazing with intensity. He took a deep breath, and some of the rage left his features…replaced by determination. “Yes. I will.”
Then he turned toward Reiner, drawing himself up to his full height as best he could. “Reiner Ljonsson, I challenge you!”
Chapter 28
Griff
Reiner let out a disbelieving bark of laughter. “You cannot possibly be serious. You can barely stand.”
“Then you won’t have any trouble defeating me, will you?” Griff’s muscles were screaming in agony at the effort of standing upright on his backward-bent legs, but he refused to show any sign of weakness. “I challenge you for your pride, Reiner Ljonsson. Face me like a lion.”
“Oath-brother, what are you doing?” John’s blue eyes were wide with shock. “You are in no condition to attempt this.”
Hayley too had gone pale. “Griff, no! He’ll kill you!”
Griff ignored them both, focused on Reiner. “Well, Reiner? Answer the challenge.”
Reiner hesitated, looking from Griff to the judge as if seeking higher intervention. “This is ridiculous. I’m not debasing myself by acknowledging a challenge from that twisted freak.”
The judge banged her gavel down, the sound echoing like a gunshot around the room. “Order! Mr. MacCormick, I will not have you disrupting my courtroom!”
Paucus leaped in to back up his client. “Your Honor, we petition to have Mr. MacCormick removed from court. His condition is clearly causing him to become irrational-”
“Mr. MacCormick’s mental state is of no relevance,” Michael interrupted. He shot Griff an I hope you know what you’re doing sort of look. “Alpha challenges are an inviolable right, protected by law and enshrined in lion tradition. With all due respect, Your Honor, you have no power to intervene.”
“Lions,” the judge muttered under her breath. She fixed Griff with a piercing stare. “Mr. MacCormick, as a wolf shifter myself, I must respect the sacredness of an alpha challenge. Nonetheless, I will ask you to reconsider. Even if you somehow defeat Mr. Ljonsson and become Daniel’s legal alpha, I will not change my ruling. Daniel needs the guidance of a true shifter, and a true pride. You cannot provide those things.”
He’d been expecting her to say something like that. “I understand, Your Honor.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Furthermore, in the unlikely event that you kill Mr. Ljonsson during this challenge, I will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Accidental deaths during alpha challenges are protected. Deliberate murder is not.”
“Is that your plan, cripple?” Reiner clenched his fists, glaring suspiciously at Griff. “What is this, suicide by lion? You think you can entrap me into a murder charge?”
“Your Honor, my client has a valid concern,” Mr. Paucus interjected. “In Mr. MacCormick’s state, he is highly unlikely to survive the stress of an alpha challenge. Mr. Ljonsson cannot be held responsible for that.”
The judge sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Mr. MacCormick, Mr. Paucus is correct. Since you are the challenger, and seem fully cognizant of the risks you are taking, Mr. Ljonsson will not be held liable in the event of your death. For the last time, I ask you to reconsider. Will you withdraw your challenge?”
“I will not. My challenge stands.”
Hayley’s fingers dug into his arm. “Griff,” she whispered, for his ears only. “What are you doing?”
“Buying time,” he muttered back. “I’m going to die anyway. Let me make it mean something.”
He turned back to Reiner, who was still looking mortally offended by the entire situation. “Reiner, I repeat my challenge. What is your answer?”
“You’re deranged.” Reiner’s lip curled as his scornful gaze swept Griff from head to toe. “You don’t stand a chance. I refuse to take part in this mockery of lion tradition.”
“I’ll happily accept your surrender, if you’re too cowardly to fight.” Griff smiled at Reiner, aware that his bestial features turning the expression into a mocking snarl. “Get down on your belly. Show me your throat…beta.”
As Griff had intended, the taunt raised Reiner’s hackles. “I’m not frightened of you. I accept your challenge!”
“In which case, court adjourned.” The judge rapped her gavel down again. “Gentlemen, you will settle this immediately. I am not having this farce drawn out any longer than necessary. Stewards, please prepare the arena.”
“Mr. Griff, Mr. Griff!” Danny broke free of his social worker at last as officials started clearing away chairs. Without the slightest sign of repugnance at Griff’s monstrous form, Danny wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face in Griff’s side. “Don’t fight Daddy, please. He’ll hurt you.”
“It’ll be all right, lad.” Griff dropped down to his haunches to embrace the boy. He rubbed his furry cheek against Danny’s tear-streaked one in a leonine gesture of love and comfort. “Sometimes this is just the way lions have to settle things.”
“He’ll hurt you bad,” Danny sobbed. “And it will all be my fault.”
“No.” Griff put a flex of alpha power into his emphatic tone. “None of this is your fault. It’s mine and your da’s fault, because we can’t come to an agreement like grown-ups. Don’t ever, ever feel like this was your fault. Promise me that.”
Danny’s shoulders shook, but he nodded.
Griff looked over his blond head at the judge. “Your Honor, I don’t want him to see this. Permission to let his mother remove him until this is over?”
The judge motioned at the social worker, and at one of the security guards. “Please escort Daniel and Ms. Parker to a waiting area.”
“No!” Hayley exclaimed. “I mean, yes, Danny can’t see this. But I’m staying. I’m not leaving you to face this alone, Griff.”
“He will not be alone,” John rumbled. “I shall be here, my lady. Oath-brother, if you cannot be dissuaded from this, then I will be your s
econd.”
“No, you won’t,” Griff said firmly. “You’re going with Hayley. I need you to make sure she and Danny are safe.”
“But-” John and Hayley started together.
Letting Danny go, Griff grabbed John’s arm. Under the pretext of using the sea dragon as support to stand up, he leaned in close to his ear. “I am calling in your debt. On your honor, you will make sure they are safe. Do you understand?”
John went absolutely still for an instant. Griff felt his muscles tense as he understood his meaning.
*They will be safe.* John’s telepathic voice was a dirge of grief and loss and utter, unbreakable determination. *I will spirit them away. I will hide them in the wilds where none shall ever find them, and I will lay down my life in their defense. I will repay my debt.*
Unable to respond telepathically, Griff could only embrace him briefly, fiercely. He knew that he could count on the sea dragon to get Hayley and Danny away while everyone else was distracted with his challenge to Reiner.
Hayley was still looking stubborn, unaware of what had passed between John and Griff. “I’m not leaving. John can take Danny, but I’m not leaving.”
Letting go of John, Griff turned to her. For the last time, he took her in his arms. For the last time, he breathed in her scent. For the last time, he felt her soft warmth against his body as she clung to him.
“Go with John. He’ll explain.” He touched her face lightly, hoping that the brief, simple caress could say everything that he didn’t have time to put into words. “I love you. Always.”
There was no more opportunity for goodbyes or explanations—the stewards had finished clearing away the chairs, and erected the barriers that turned the center of the large, round chamber from a courtroom into an arena. Alpha challenges were not exactly common, but they happened often enough for there to be an established procedure.
To his relief, Hayley reluctantly allowed John to pull her away. Griff waited until the doors had swung shut behind them all before turning to Reiner. “Let’s do this, then.”
Reiner was already shrugging out of his suit. Quietly, so that the watching witnesses couldn’t hear, he snarled, “In a hurry to die, freak?”
Quite the opposite, actually.
Every second he survived was another second Hayley could use to escape. Every second increased the distance between her and the officials who sought to deprive her of her child. Every second increased her chance to save Danny from growing up under Reiner’s harsh, misguided influence.
Griff would do whatever he could to buy her those seconds.
He was under no illusions that he would be able to defeat a fully-grown lion with his bare hands. Reiner was going to kill him. The best he could hope for was to make him do it slowly.
Reiner shifted, leaping lithely over the arena barriers in lion form. Taking a deep breath, Griff shrugged off his sheets, though he left his pants on. It wasn’t like he needed to shift, after all.
Rather less elegantly than Reiner, he struggled over the barrier. It was a relief to drop to all fours, having been upright for so long. Even with his right arm more wing than forepaw, his body worked a lot better this way.
He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain that shot through his chest. His erratic heartbeat steadied as he focused on his opponent.
We will not sell our life cheaply. We will make him tear us apart piece by piece. We will fight to the last drop of blood, to the last breath. We will not fail our mate.
“Begin,” said the judge.
Chapter 29
Hayley
“I changed my mind, I can’t just leave him.” Hayley tried to stop, but John had her wrist engulfed in his huge hand. “John! Let me go. I have to go back.”
He shook his head at her, his face set in grim, hard lines. He continued to drag her after the social worker and the security guard. The two had Danny between them, as if they thought Hayley might try to snatch him and run off.
“Here we are,” the social worker said in a horribly fake cheerful voice as she opened the door to a small break room. “We can all have a nice little rest in here. Would you like a snack, Danny?”
He glared back up at her, scowling beneath his tousled blond hair. “No. I wanna go back to Mr. Griff.”
The security guard rolled his eyes, shoving Danny forward. “Get in, kid. An alpha challenge is no place for you.”
John pulled Hayley into the room too, though he had to duck to get through the doorway. Letting go of her arm at last, he shut the door quietly behind the five of them. Catching her eye, he put one finger over his lips.
The social worker and the security guard were still arguing with Danny. John loomed over them, one enormous hand falling onto each of their shoulders.
“My sincere apologies,” he said. With one quick, sharp motion, he banged their heads together.
“John!” Hayley exclaimed in shock, as the social worker and the security guard fell into limp heaps. “What-”
“My oath-brother has charged me with your protection,” John interrupted. He opened the door again, casting a quick glance either way down the corridor before motioning them to follow him. “I will get you to safety. Hurry. He cannot buy us much time.”
Hayley sucked in her breath as she realized Griff’s plan. She grabbed Danny’s hand. “Come on, baby. Sir John’s taking us on an adventure.”
“Is Mr. Griff coming too?” Danny asked hopefully, trotting along at her side. “Is he going to meet us later?”
Hayley couldn’t bring herself to answer him. Somewhere behind them, Griff was fighting for his life, for their lives. Every step away from him felt like a noose tightening around her throat.
I have to get Danny away. But…I can’t leave Griff.
Her head said one thing, and her heart screamed another. She felt as trapped between them as Griff did with his two animals. The conflicting instincts tore at her soul until she couldn’t bear it any longer.
“I can’t,” she burst out, balking in the middle of the street outside the courthouse. “I can’t leave him.”
John sang a low, agonized chord. “We must. You must. He is doing this for you. Do not waste his sacrifice.”
“I won’t.” Dropping to one knee, she took Danny’s shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. “Danny, you have to go with Sir John now. Do exactly what he says, understand?”
“Are you going back for Mr. Griff?” At her nod, a smile broke through Danny’s worried expression. “Good. The pride is supposed to stick up for the alpha, just like he does for the pride.”
Hayley hugged him, hard. “I will find you. I promise, I’ll find you.”
“And I too swear that you shall,” John said to her, as she released Danny. “I will take your son to safety, and then return for you. There is no stone, no wall, no prison ever built that can withstand my kind. I will keep my oath.”
Hayley staggered as an abrupt, burning pain lanced through her chest. Somehow she knew, knew that it was Griff’s pain that she was feeling. He’d been mortally wounded.
He needed her. Now.
Without another word, she ran back into the building. She’d dressed up for the trial in her nicest shoes, but now the heels hobbled her. She kicked them off carelessly, her feet slipping on the polished floor as she raced down the corridor.
Another lash of agony twisted her guts. The hallways seemed to stretch endlessly before her, like a bad dream. She charged past a couple of confused security guards, heedless of their shouts. Up ahead, she could hear other noises—bestial snarls and shrieks of rage. The sounds of battle drew her like a magnet.
She didn’t know what she could do to help. She didn’t know if there was anything she could do to help. She just knew that she couldn’t leave her mate to die alone.
She burst back into the courtroom, just as an almighty crash rattled the walls. A scene out of a nightmare met her horrified eyes.
The protective barriers that formed the arena had seemed so thick and sturdy, but
now two of them were overturned. Griff lay unmoving in the wreckage, broken and bleeding. A wide crimson smear marked his trail, showing where Reiner had thrown him straight through the arena wall.
Witnesses screamed, fleeing higher up the tiered levels of the room as Reiner’s massive golden form leaped through the gap in the barriers. The lion had deep scratch marks on the side of his face, and his eyes were alight with savage rage. His tawny coat was splattered with Griff’s blood. He left red paw prints behind him as he stalked toward his fallen opponent.
Griff stirred a little, struggling to push himself up on broken limbs. Reiner roared at him, lips wrinkling back from his dripping fangs.
Griff raised his head, meeting Reiner’s glare without flinching. Despite his shattered body, he roared back, defiant, undefeated.
Reiner’s eyes narrowed. His powerful muscles bunched as he gathered himself for one final pounce.
“NO!” Hayley hurled herself toward them. Her bare feet skidded in Griff’s blood as she threw herself between him and Reiner. “NO!”
Reiner was either too blind with bloodlust to notice her…or he just didn’t care.
Claws extended, he leaped straight for her.
Chapter 30
Griff
Get up! Get up!
Griff raged at his useless body, struggling to force his broken limbs to obey him. His vision was going black around the edges from blood-loss. But if he could just move, he could buy Hayley another five seconds. Those extra five seconds were worth any amount of agony.
It was no use. He couldn’t push himself up, couldn’t even roll away from Reiner as the lion stalked toward him. All he could do was roar defiance. All he could do was refuse to surrender.
All he could do was hope it would take Reiner at least five more seconds to tear out his throat.
