by A. J. Downey
He howled and ducked to the side, spinning faster than I expected and kicked me out of the air with a blow like a sledge hammer. I felt at least one rib crack under the impact and I flew through the air, tumbling end over end until I landed on the grass just beside one of the fire-pits with a heavy crash and a groan from some of the observers.
“William!” I heard Chloe shriek and a second later a choking sound as Lucinda jerked on her leash again.
Not going to be that easy, motherfucker, I thought, growling low in my throat. Come on… come on you son-of-a-bitch. Come at me. I stayed down, rising slowly to one knee as Romulus stood tall and stalked his way toward me. My chest hurt like hell from where he hit me, which just proved that I was right when I thought that one solid blow would be all he would need to end me. His strength was monstrous, even by our higher than human standards.
He stopped near me, arrogant and overconfident. He reached down and lifted me into the air by my throat, holding me easily aloft with one hand. That was when I lifted my legs, planted my toes into his chest and kicked down as hard as I could, drawing ten deep gashes through his flesh with the sharp claws on my feet. He howled and dropped me, hunched over to grasp at his chest and stomach. I scrambled to my feet and reached low, bringing my hand almost from the ground up and slashing my claws right across his face. The impact sent him tumbling like a top and he sprawled on the ground.
The howl he had let out when I kicked him was nothing compared to the ear shattering shriek that left his throat as my claws raked across his face, digging deep into his cheek and when he stood again the gaping, bloody socket of his left eye gave evidence to the true reason for his scream. I felt a surge of satisfaction at that. Even if he still managed to defeat me he wouldn’t last long as Alpha. He had lost too much support and eyes didn’t tend to regenerate after that much damage to them. A half blind Alpha would never be tolerated for long.
The air-horn went off a third time and I backed away several paces as Romulus fell to the ground and began to change again. Ten minutes, I thought as I, too, began to change into my wolf form. Seems like it’s been longer than that.
My breath came in heaving gasps, streaming from my mouth in a visible cloud in the rapidly cooling evening air, each lungful burning my throat like a cold fire. Wolf-kind are stronger and faster and have greater stamina than humans, but I don’t care who you are, fight with the intensity that Romulus and I were fighting with and you would feel like keeling over too.
Romulus lunged at me again, snarling viciously and I leaped to meet him. We collided in midair, a heavy thud that echoed throughout the clearing and finished the job of breaking my fractured rib completely. My jaws snapped at his bloodied face and we both rolled away from each other only to join together again, smashing into each other like linebackers. The minutes wore on as we circled and leaped, bit and pawed at each other but we couldn’t find an advantage. Romulus had the greater strength but I had speed and two working eyes. I tried to keep to his left in his new blind spot and he circled tightly keeping me in sight as best he could. No matter what I tried I couldn’t move fast enough to keep out of his sight and my mind began to work feverishly, analyzing the situation, searching frantically for a solution.
I paused for a moment as a thought occurred to me and in that moment he lunged again. I had been fighting like a wolf, but I had a human mind. It was time to use it. That time, instead of lunging forward to meet him as I had been, I ducked, letting him fly over me and my teeth flashed once. I bit down on his hind right leg as he passed me in the air and spun, following him until he hit the ground. My teeth ground down tightly, blood filling my mouth and he howled in pain as I jerked my head hard from side to side, breaking his leg with a wet snap that echoed throughout the clearing.
The Pack had gone silent again. The only sound now was that of our harsh panting and his pained whimpers. Off to the side I could hear Chloe muttering to herself. I circled him slowly as a low thump reached my ears. The Pack stomped their feet. Once. Again. Then again, and again, and again, faster and faster until the frenzied drumming of their feet on the wooden bleachers became a constant rumbling roar of thunder.
I stopped, breathing hard and stared down at Romulus just as he lifted his head to face me. I lunged forward, my teeth flashing a final time and a gout of blood erupted from between his jaws as I simultaneously crushed and ripped open his throat with a single, vicious shake of my head.
I changed slowly back into my human form and stood as tall as my broken ribs would let me. Blood stained my mouth and ran down my chin and chest all the way to my groin as I turned to face the Pack.
“My name!” I roared, “Is William Reese! And from this night forward, I am your Alpha!”
The responding roar, pouring forth from the throats of two hundred and fifty wolves, was so loud that I was sure the sound alone split the night sky and the cloud cover that had been so constant broke apart, letting the first rays of the full moon illuminate the clearing.
Chapter 20
Chloe
Lucinda dropped my leash and went forward, stalking across the field in her impossibly high heels, a swing in her step. Remus stood beside me, his face unreadable as he stared at his brother’s cooling body and I sympathized, I really did, but as the moonlight washed through the field I could feel a hum in my body.
“Remus,” I gasped, clawing at the buckles of the collar at the back of my neck, “Remus!” he stirred and looked at me, “Get it off!” I pleaded and he shook himself as if waking from a dream. I bowed forward as my skin shivered in the most disconcerting way imaginable.
“Just let it happen Chloe,” he murmured and the collar fell away. I bent at the waist, hands on my knees and closed my eyes, going very still. I breathed, calmly, in and out, one after the other, slow and steady and I can’t really describe it. I slipped my skin, but didn’t. It was as if I stared my wolf in the eyes and we came to an understanding.
I was in control.
I swallowed and looked across the field and my wolf and I knew rage as one. Lucinda was attempting to hang off of William as if she had some sort of claim and though William leaned away, she was not relenting. I marched across the field, came up behind them and gripped Lucinda by her hair. I pulled her backwards off of William with a snarl and my lover looked at me dazed.
“Hands off my mate, bitch,” I snarled.
“You little bitch!” Lucinda exclaimed and she swiped at me, a glancing slap across my face. I pulled hard on her hair, yanking her off her feet and sending her tumbling away across the grass.
“Challenge declared and accepted!” someone shouted, almost gleefully, and I heard William shout.
“Sharon, no!”
I would deal with her later, right now, Lucinda was rolling to her feet and the air horn blasted and she lunged. I side stepped her easily. She lunged at me again, I put the requisite amount of space between us, grabbed her and followed through, bringing my knee up into her face, using her hair as a hand hold to drive her head down as I drove my knee up.
She snarled and I threw her to the ground and put some more space between us. I felt my wolf growl and the sound rumbled out from between my lips unbidden but not unwanted. I snapped and snarled at Lucinda, who was struggling to her feet in her strappy gladiator heels. She looked at me, crimson staining her face from her nose that I had bloodied and she was afraid. I could see it in her eyes, scent it on the breeze. A bitter tang of sour sweat overlaying the rich earthy forest smells.
Lucinda and I circled one another for what seemed like forever and the air horn blared again. She smirked, a slow grin spreading across her lips and I cocked my head to the side. Her smile slipped, melting away as I let go my humanity and felt the fur flow. My wolf and I were in agreement. This was how this would end. With both of us in the driver’s seat.
My body was unfamiliar, but not terribly so. My arms a little longer, my legs a bit thicker. Lucinda’s coat was as black as her heart but mine resembled the sun through a
misty morning. I didn’t ponder it long because she tackled me, her arms around my waist, driving me back.
I linked my hands and drove both of my elbows down with as much force as I could between her shoulder blades. The Pack gasped and there was a sickening crack. A sharp sound, a broken howl of pain emanating from Lucinda as her arms fell away and she face planted in the grass.
I kept my balance, barely, and breath heaving looked at the sky. William’s words echoed back to me, “Among Wolf-kind, you haven’t won if your enemy is still breathing.”
I didn’t want to kill anyone. Life was sacred, so incredibly sacred. I looked down at Lucinda who looked up at me, fear in the one eye I could see. She was paralyzed. It was evident and I knelt by her. I gripped her head between my monstrous hands and closed my eyes, giving it a swift twist and a jerk. The snapping sound was loud and awful and I felt it reverberate up my arms. It made me sick and my stomach lurched as I let her body fall, threatening revolt but I managed not to retch or vomit in front of the Pack.
I let the wolf have her way then, shifting completely and Remus was right. It felt incredible. Beautiful and freeing but I couldn’t stay this way. I wasn’t done, the wolf was telling me with thought and feeling that I needed my voice. I needed to speak to my people and seal this. I came back to myself, crouched beside Lucinda’s cooling body, tears gathering in my lashes. I closed my eyes and turned my head so I wouldn’t have to look at what I’d done, what I’d had to do.
“Chloe,” William’s voice, his scent wafted along the breeze. His hands gently gripping my upper arms in a reassuring touch, as he held me up. I turned to him and open my eyes.
“I’m not done,” I whispered and the look in his eyes was equal parts sympathetic and empathetic. I rose to my feet, a bit shaky at first and looked out over the throng of the Pacific Northwest Pack. The clearing was silent, its inhabitants in one varying form or another, mute.
“My name is Chloe Young, daughter of Mathias Young,” I called out. I looked from one wolf-kind to another to another and finally settled on Sharon’s ashen face.
“I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to protect you, to help our Alpha lead you, and to be here for you. I will learn and be a good Alpha Female for this Pack but don’t you ever mistake my kindness for weakness. You come at me, you come at my Mate, you will find out just how very unkind I can be. Am I understood?”
My proclamation was met with weighted silence. William was a warm presence at my back, and slowly, one by one, the Pack began to kneel. I tucked myself into William’s side and looked up at him. He looked down at me and as our gazes met, I said what I had been longing to ever since I’d woken up in Romulus’ gilded cage.
“I love you, William Reese,” and the tears threatened to spill. He cupped the side of my face and smiled, and it was everything I could do to maintain the appearance of control, when all I wanted to do was fly apart. Have a meltdown so I could pick up the shattered pieces and move on, stronger in the places I’d been broken.
William dipped his head, his warm brown eyes, so beautifully flecked with amber, full of emotion. His lips touched mine, a bare whisper of a touch through the blood that still coated him. I didn’t care. I drew from the strength he offered me to get me through this moment, in front of our people. He drew back from the kiss and smiled at me and all I wanted was for him to take me home.
Chapter 21
William
Home…
That was all Chloe wanted right at that moment. I could feel her desire as clearly as I could feel my own and I smiled quietly, aware of the ghastly image it must’ve been with the blood still smeared across my lips and chin, but I nodded and handed her my coat as Nora brought it up. I draped it over her shoulders, impressed that she had been so calm facing the entire Pack nude as she had, and tugged on my pants as quickly as I could.
Things always seem to happen really fast right after a huge event, like two Alpha challenges in a single night, for example. People were milling around in small groups. Largely they were discussing my fight against Romulus but a good portion were in awe of Chloe’s battle with Lucinda, of her control and her ability to stave off her change, her first change. That was huge, that was monumentally huge.
“Markus, we need to get out of here,” I muttered and Markus snapped to attention.
“Yes, Alpha. Follow me.”
He led us through the crowd, easily redirecting those that attempted to greet us or introduce themselves. Nora and Brent ran interference at our backs. I didn’t really hear what excuses they gave, I wasn’t exactly paying attention. My focus was on the tiny shape of my mate pressed against me.
We somehow got through the crowd and into Markus’ Jeep. Chloe and I sat in the back, seat belts be damned, with her leaning against my chest and my arms wrapped securely around her. I barely even noticed the pain from my healing broken ribs.
“Alpha,” Markus called from the front and I reluctantly pulled my gaze away from Chloe to meet his eyes in the rearview mirror.
“What is it, Markus?” I asked.
“You understand things are going to have to move now, correct?”
I nodded even though he wasn’t looking at me. “I understand.”
“The Pack is going to want to see some leadership. Some decisions need to be made on a few members as well.”
“Remus and Sharon,” I said with a low growl and he nodded. “What the fuck did that old bitch think she was pulling tonight with that challenge crap?”
Markus shrugged. “I long ago gave up trying to understand how that woman’s mind works. Sharon might not have survived her captivity as intact as we thought.”
“That doesn’t excuse her. Find out why she did it, I’ll decide what needs to be done with her later.”
“Umm… actually, Alpha. It’s your mate who should make that decision…”
I blinked, surprised for a moment before I cursed quietly to myself. I had totally forgotten that. This was going to be even dicier than I had thought. Chloe was the Alpha Female of the Pack. That meant that, while the entire Pack deferred to me as the Alpha, the women deferred to her first. And as the Beta Female of the Pack, Sharon could be in a significant amount of trouble.
“We need teachers,” I told Markus and he nodded. I suspected he was already considering that very thing. “Chloe needs a crash course in Pack structure and politics and I will leave it to her to decide how to dispense with Sharon. Remus is going to be another issue entirely. Request another meeting, set it for tomorrow night. All members not immediately leaving Seattle are required to attend.”
“As you command, Alpha.” There was a gentle smile on Markus’ face and I couldn’t help but return it. Despite everything that had gone wrong, something went right at least. I was the new Alpha and I had Chloe back with me.
When we pulled up outside my house I got Chloe out of the Jeep and the door unlocked. By the time I turned back to wave Markus off, it was to see his tail lights vanishing back up the drive toward the road.
The old Wolf had a good head on his shoulders. He certainly knew when he wasn’t needed. Chloe followed along as I led her up the stairs, through the library and up to my room with its master bath. I settled her on the closed lid of the john and turned on the shower. It was scalding hot as I jumped in, quickly rinsing Romulus’ blood from my face, neck and chest. The water that poured down the drain was a muddy pink mixture of blood and dirt; I didn’t want to touch her with that. She deserved better. She deserved everything.
I climbed back out, leaving the shower running to find Chloe still wrapped in my coat and still sitting on the toilet where I’d had to leave her. She was shaking, so minutely that I wouldn’t even have been able to tell if I hadn’t put my hands on her shoulders.
“Sugar?” I whispered, and when it didn’t immediately garner her attention I tried again, “Chloe, look at me.”
When she lifted her head, her eyes were overflowing with tears, they streamed down her cheeks making tracks in
the lingering makeup and dirt smeared across her cheeks. “I’m s-s-sorry,” she stuttered, brokenly. She wiped at her face with her hands, smearing yet more dirt across her fair skin. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to fall apart.”
“Shh-shh-shh,” I shushed her. “You don’t have anything to apologize for,” I whispered and gathered her into my arms, holding her close.
“I don’t think I can get used to that. I don’t think I can get used to k-k-killing someone.”
“And you shouldn’t,” I told her. “We aren’t monsters, Sugar. We aren’t beasts that kill indiscriminately. We’re half human, half wolf. Romulus lost the human half of himself, if he ever even had one, and that’s why he needed to be put down. We’re wolf-kind. And sometimes that means law of the land, so to speak, survival of the fittest… Sometimes we have to end someone and you should never get used to it. If you could end a person’s life, even someone that deserved it, and not feel anything I would be very worried about you, and so would the rest of the Pack.”
She nodded but appeared to have lost the ability to speak. She choked and gasped, sobbing almost uncontrollably for a time and I simply knelt beside her and held her, offering what strength and support I could.
I knew enough from the first time I was forced to take a life, there was little I could do to make her feel better. All I could do was be there for her and let her work it out herself. When it was my time, Markus had taken me to a bar where I’d gotten blind drunk and had played pool for eight straight hours.
Eventually, her sobs subsided and I carefully pulled the jacket from her shoulders. She loosened the death grip she had on it, letting it slip away. I caressed her skin, reveling in the warmth of her, letting my hands glide softly down her arms as I carefully inspected her for injury.
