Zane, acting as if being wet from head to toe was a normal everyday occurrence, took a step forward. “This is a fight for the human, Becky, between one of our own, Ross, and one of the wolves’, Rushe. It has been agreed that this will be a fight until one of you concedes or until one of you is down. It is not a fight to the death.” He growled the word while looking each of them in the eyes.
Ward stepped forward, he raised his hand showing that he needed to speak. Zane nodded.
“Let it be openly mentioned that should one of the males accidentally kill the other, no punishment may be put forward. This is still a fight and accidents happen.” Ward kept his eyes on Zane.
There was a long pause, cut only by the sound of the falling rain. Just as Zane wanted to speak, there was a particularly loud crack and a crash of lightning. It forced the male to wait.
Ross was no fool, he knew that Ward wanted to ensure Rushe’s safety, because he knew the wolf would most likely end up killing him. This request was proof of that distinct possibility. A berserker was rarely capable of controlling themselves. While the beast could try and end him, he planned on using all of his hard earned skill and wouldn’t go down easily. Becky was the only female for him, he would not concede, and therefore he would probably die.
Even knowing this, he refused to allow fear to steel its way into him. He would focus on his strengths and on the prize. Miracles happened, maybe he would win.
“We already discussed this but I will openly agree. Let it be noted.” Zane was sure to project his voice. “This is still a fight between two males in their prime. I would like to still urge the two of you to please use caution. There is no need for one of you to die.” His king looked at the wolf as he spoke. It got Ross’ back up.
“This is not a fight to the death, therefore there will be no weapons permitted. Hand-to-hand combat only. No one else is allowed to assist.” Zane and the alpha wolf moved away in large swift strides to opposite sides of the circle. Zane lifted both of his hands and roared as a sign for them to begin.
It was normal during such occasions for two males to first size each other up. Then they would slowly test one another before the real fight would begin. The only thing Ross had on his side though was the element of surprise. With this in mind, he went at the wolf full force, both fists flying and even head-butted the male for good measure. He didn’t give Rushe any time to recover, instead he went at him with two well-placed punches to the face. Ross kneed his opponent in the stomach, then followed that with another head-butt.
He was surprised when Rushe didn’t come back at him or even try to defend himself much. No matter, he would take the advantage. Ross went at the male again in a similar fashion, not holding anything back. He only had one chance, this was it. This time, at least, Rushe put up his arms to deflect the blows and even head-butted Ross back with a hefty smack to the face.
Pain flared, blood flowed down the back of his throat. Salty and thick. He took a few steps back using a hand to try and remove some of the water from his eyes. The rain continued to fall, if anything, it was coming down even heavier now. He made sure that one of his feet was placed in front of the other and that his right hand was up and ready, and the wolf did not come at him as expected.
Fine, if the beast wouldn’t come to him then he would go to it. Ross closed the space between them, coming at him hard with all he had.
“Don’t,” Rushe growled trying to deflect his punches. “Please…”
Ross punched the male again, feeling satisfaction as teeth loosened beneath his fist and blood flowed. The wolf’s lip was split and bleeding heavily. Ross’ next kick was hard enough to crack ribs. He heard them snap even through the heavy rain.
“You need to concede.” The wolf growled, his mouth was filled with blood.
Concede? Was the beast mad? Ross had the upper hand at the moment. It wouldn’t help to listen to the male’s bullshit. It would only take a few more well placed blows and he might just win this thing. He punched Rushe again, aiming for his left eye because it was already practically shut from the swelling. The iris of his other eye flared, turning a brighter more icy blue.
“I said to concede,” the wolf growled. His lip curled back revealing extended canines.
Oh, so this was how it was going to go down. The wolf knew that he had witnessed him fight and seemed to hope to use fear as a motivator to get him to concede. There was no way he was putting his hands up. He would rather die.
Ross shook his head, coming at Rushe again. He sprang up into the air and kicked the male solidly on the side of the head, landing in a readied position. Rushe’s head snapped to the side and blood sprayed.
The wolf snarled. The sound deafening. By now the rivulets of rain water on his face and chest were streaked with red. “Dammit, Ross.” The male looked at him. His one open eye glowed an eerie blue. His face was a mask of rage. “Fucking concede. I don’t want to kill you.”
“Too fucking bad, wolf. You wanted this fight.” Ross felt his lip curl. “Well here I am. I don’t plan on conceding any time soon.”
Ross knew that the wounds were mostly superficial. He needed to up the pace. There would be no stopping and no turning back until only one of them was left standing. On a loud roar, he threw himself at the male. With teeth, claws and fists he attacked. Rushe merely defended, which irritated the hell out of him. He couldn’t worry about that though, if he was going to have a chance in hell then he would need to manage to get him down before he went into berserker mode. If he couldn’t, it would be over for him. It irritated him that the wolf thought that he could use his berserker tendencies to get him to concede. The male had no honor, that much was clear.
Someone was shouting for them to stop. He didn’t care though, he continued to pummel the beast. Blood flowed, bones cracked. It was only when someone physically pulled him off of Rushe that he regained enough of his composure to realize that it was the alpha.
“Stop!” Ward snarled.
Ross was shocked to see the damage he had caused. The part of him that was fast becoming something akin to friends with this male cringed but he pushed down the emotion. The wolf had brought this on himself. His face was a bloody mess. Rushe staggered, grunting as he brought both of his hands to his cracked ribs. One of his arms was bent and obviously broken.
“You can’t stop the battle once it has begun. You’ve only done this because your wolf is losing,” Ross practically yelled the words in the alpha’s face.
“That’s not it,” the alpha growled. “There is something that I need to say. Hear me out please. Once I’m done, you can decide whether or not you want this to continue.” Ward looked up, addressing the two kings. “There is something that I wish to discuss with you as well. Something very important for the future of your species. All the non-humans as a whole. We can all successfully breed and take human females. This male”—the alpha gestured towards Ross—“can mate that human female.”
“No.” Rushe growled softly, wincing as soon as the word was out. “You don’t have to,” he managed to continue between clenched teeth.
Ward turned his green eyes on Ross. “Rushe didn’t want to fight you. He only did this because I asked him to…that’s not right. I made him do it. Your kings and I decided that this fight would happen.”
Ross felt his brow crease. He turned to face Zane. The male remained passive and calm. “Is what the alpha is saying true?”
Zane walked towards them. “The fight already started, you had no right to stop them.” He turned to face Ward. “Leave them be. This whole thing is already in motion. The fight must continue until there is a winner.”
“I told you that I have information that will change everything,” Ward said. Thankfully the rain had let up slightly, but it was still coming down in a soft mist.
“What the hell is going on?” Ross growled. His hands were still fisted at his sides.
“I told you.” Ward scrubbed a hand over his face to try and remove some of the moisture tha
t had gathered. The alpha pulled a hand through the strands that clung to his forehead. “Rushe didn’t want this. He didn’t want to fight you. If I hadn’t stopped the fight just now, then you would’ve killed him. He was allowing you to win because he couldn’t go back on your agreement.”
“Ward’s right,” Rushe sounded a bit stronger now. His more superficial wounds were healing.
“Fuck!” Ross looked away for a few beats. “You wouldn’t have conceded though either.”
Rushe shook his head.
“How the hell did you keep a handle on your beast?” He swallowed hard. “You would’ve allowed yourself to die if Ward hadn’t of intervened?”
Rushe nodded, this time wincing. He held his broken arm gingerly and then turned to Ward. “Why did you intervene?” he muttered
“Because I care dammit! You are one of mine, you were supposed to win,” Ward growled. “He was supposed to concede.” The alpha gestured to Ross.
What the fuck?
“You shouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place,” Rushe growled.
Ross noticed that the wolf looked pissed. Rushe stood more upright, his lip curled away as he did belying the pain that he still felt.
“I didn’t wish for any of this. You know why I made the agreement with the kings in the first place. I didn’t want you hurt. I can see that this vampire is a worthy male in your eyes. You wouldn’t have lost on purpose otherwise.”
“This is bullshit, we had an agreement.” Zane said, his eyes on Ward.
Ross felt his blood turn icy as a feeling of betrayal settled in. “Are you saying that this was planned?” His eyes were firmly on Zane. “You told me that the wolf wanted to fight me. That he had insisted on it.”
“Your place is with this coven,” Zane growled. “You had no business going after that female. Striking up a deal with this wolf. Potentially becoming mated to a human. Your place is here.” He snarled the last.
Shock and anger coursed through him. “You bastard! The only reason you insist on my place being here is because you don’t want this union. It has nothing to do with me. You were ready to throw me to the wolves.” He didn’t care if he was beaten for speaking his mind. It would be worth it.
“I can understand why you’re upset. I’m going to therefore let that comment slide.” Zane’s whole demeanor eased up. “Maybe we went about it the wrong way. The agreement was for the wolf to beat you. You are one of our best warriors and yet that beast in berserker mode would have taken you. Then you would’ve come back here to where you belong. It is where you still belong.”
“It irritates the shit out of me that you insist on not hearing me.” Ross took a deep breath. “I’m going to repeat this one last time. I have chosen the female. Claimed her.” He paused, “I have an agreement with the wolf and you should not have interfered. Brant told me that if I left, I would be exiled.” He took another deep breath. “I no longer consider myself a part of this coven. I want nothing to do with you.” Ross turned and strode away, making for the SUVs.
“Wait up.” He heard a loud grunt behind him.
From the heavy panting and painful moaning. Ross knew that it was the wolf. He was tempted just to keep walking, to get into the vehicle and to drive away but how could he? On a heavy sigh, Ross paused.
“I’m sorry.” The still bloodied torn up male said as he arrived at Ross’ side.
“I’m the one that should be apologizing to you,” Ross said. “I should’ve actually stopped for a second and used my brain. You weren’t fighting back. Zane was right, you are the stronger of the two of us.” He sighed again. “I should’ve known and realized that I was winning far too easily. That you were holding back.” It hurt him to admit it but he owed the wolf that much.
“Yeah, well. I should have given Ward and your two kings the middle finger but I couldn’t.”
“Why the fuck did they need to interfere anyway?”
“Ward explained to me that your kings are fearful of human females becoming hurt. Apparently a whole bunch of your males tried to head up to Sweetwater yesterday. The consensus was that if you are allowed to rut with the human then so could they.” The male nursed his broken left arm.
“What they don’t seem to realize is that the vampire males are eventually going to go after these human females whether they want them to or not. Fact is that we are naturally driven to procreate. It will need to be strictly controlled, managed, but there is no reason why it couldn’t work if done the right way.” Ross shook his head “In the end though, I don’t care. I’m out of here. Can I give you a lift?”
“I meant what I said yesterday…” the wolf said. “Vampires are able to successfully mate with humans. They become stronger whether the male is royalty or not. Most of the lores are bullshit.”
Ross could see that Rushe believed what he was saying. The male had no reason to lie. If anything, it would be in his favor to say the opposite. He eventually nodded. “About that lift?” Ross raised his eyebrows.
“Please.”
“I think you need some help with that first.” Ross said, looking at the broken arm. It was already setting at the wrong angle, which meant that he was going to have to break it again.
“I think I’m good thanks.” Rushe grinned, his healing lip split open all over again, blood dripped down his chin. The male made a pained noise. “It’s hardly even noticeable,” he looked down at his arm and started to chuckle. He made another pained noise using his good arm to clutch his chest. “You really fucked me up, man.”
“I told you that I’m sorry,” Ross said. “I really think we should take care of that before we go.”
Rushe nodded.
“This is going to hurt like a bitch.” Ross said while taking ahold of the other male’s arm. “On the count of three. One…” He gave his arm a sharp twist and he actually heard the bone re-break.
Rushe hissed through clenched teeth. “I think someone needs to teach you how to count, vampire.”
Ross chuckled.
“Thankfully it doesn’t hurt one bit.” Rushe somehow managed to get out. Ross could see that his skin was pale. Although some of the swelling had gone down on his eye, it was still puffy. The male’s skin looked taut, pain marring his features. He knew that it wouldn’t take long for the wolf to heal but until then, Ross would feel seriously guilty. He should’ve realized something was up.
“I just need to stop at the castle to grab my bag.” Ross hadn’t even unpacked the thing yet. “And then I’ll take you to Becky. She can patch you up. You should be able to score yourself some serious sympathy points in fact, she will probably hate me for doing this to you.”
They made their way to the SUV, although Ross was tempted to help the wolf. He knew it wouldn’t go down well. What he did do though was open the passenger door for him. Rushe gave him a look of thanks and carefully got into the vehicle, wincing and grunting as he did.
Thankfully no one tried to stop them. Ross could see the alpha talking with Zane and Brant, then all three males moved off in the direction of another waiting vehicle. He and Rushe would have to hurry, he was sure that the males were headed for the main castle as well. The last thing he wanted was another confrontation. He just didn’t feel like dealing with those bastards. If he didn’t see any of them again, it would be too soon.
“Buckle up.” He glanced at the wolf who lay back in his chair, his eyes closed. “I’ll get that for you.” He carefully leaned over the male and pulled the device across his body, clicking it into the slot. “You’re already banged up as it is.”
Trying to be as careful as he could, Ross pushed his foot down on the accelerator. The dirt road was slick. Ross could hear the small sounds of pain that Rushe made whenever they hit a pothole or drove over a particularly rough patch, so he had to ease his weight off of the accelerator. Looking in the rearview mirror, it seemed as if they were still ahead of the others. He didn’t want to hurt the male any more than he already had.
****
&nb
sp; Becky adored wet weather. She always had. It was cold rainy days like this that her mother had allowed her to stay in bed till late. She could hole herself up and just read. She wouldn’t be forced to run around the block, or to play tennis or any of the other methods that her mother had devised to try and help her to lose weight. She loved the sound of the pitter patter as raindrops fell on the roof. Loved to watch as it hit against the windowpane. Rain was life-giving and she liked to think of herself in that way as well.
“All right, Miss Taylor,” she addressed the middle aged lady on the chair across from her. “You can lie down on the bed now please. I need to do some palpitations on your stomach.”
The woman was suffering from a simple case of the 24 hour bug, but Becky just needed to make one hundred percent sure that there wasn’t something more sinister going on. Miss Taylor positioned herself on her back and lifted her blouse so that her midsection was exposed. Becky got right to work.
After performing the necessary examination, Becky looked up at her patient. “All done. I’ll write out a prescription and your sick note.” She smiled at the woman and made her way back to her desk.
Becky had only just sat down and grabbed a pen when there was a knock at the door. Her assistant stuck her head around the jamb. “Mr. Ross just arrived.” Her eyes were wide and her voice held an edge of panic. “He has brought a friend along with him. Not the same one from last time. A different one and this guy looks badly injured. There’s blood everywhere.” She spoke so quickly that Becky could hardly make out what she was saying, but there were two very distinct words that she had heard. The one was Mr. Ross and the other was blood.
Within ten seconds, Becky had scribbled out the prescription as well as the sick note and was handing them to Miss Taylor. “It seems that we have an emergency. I put you down as off tomorrow as well, just as a precaution, but you are free to go to work if you are feeling up to it.” She practically shoved the poor woman through the now open door and turned to assess the situation.
3#Unlikely Mates: BBW Shifter/Vampire Romance (Their Everything) Page 11
