Alpha's Last Fight: A Paranormal Shapeshifter BBW Romance

by Rose, Aubrey

  Stay down.

  I prayed silently that he would give up. Hutch wasn’t the kind of guy to give up, though, and before the ref could call the game, he staggered back up on one knee. Blood ran freely down one cheek from a cut on his brow. The scars on his back glistened with sweat and accreted dirt.

  No, Hutch, I said silently. Don’t do it. Stay down.

  It was almost as if I’d spoken the words out loud to him. He raised his head and looked out into the crowd.

  Straight at me.

  One hand on the ropes, he clambered to his feet. Behind him, the other fighter danced and shifted his weight from one foot to the next. Hutch put two fingers to his heart and kissed them, then pointed at me. His hand shook as he pointed, blood and sweat mingled on his lips. Then he turned back to the fighter.

  He was straining not to shift. I could tell by sight and by smell. His wolf was close to the surface, and the balance he’d talked about was nowhere to be found. He growled, and I could see the glint of wolf eyes behind his eyes. He lunged forward, and there was a flash of claw before he was human again, swinging at air. The fighter had ducked.

  A single hit was all it took. A single hit to the side, and Hutch fell over, coughing blood.

  The crowd screamed at him to get up, but I knew that he wouldn’t be getting up again. The light in his eyes had died out, and he was ready to lick his wounds. The ref called the fight, and the other fighter howled triumphantly. The floor trembled with the stomping cheers of the crowd, and I trembled along with it.

  The mob of spectators was packed too tightly for me to get any closer to the ring. Instead, I wiggled my way out to the side and edged around the pack of screaming fans. Nodding at the security guard, I made my way to the locker room to wait for him.

  “Natalie.”

  I looked up to see someone I only barely recognized as Hutch. Half of his face was coated in blood, a bandage hastily applied to his eyebrow. The bruise on his hip had spread halfway across his body already, and I knew it would be a shade of blue-green by the morning.

  “Hutch—“

  “You came to my fight,” he mumbled. He sat down on the locker room bench.

  “You said you weren’t fighting for a while,” I said, swallowing as I saw his injuries up close for the first time. “You said—“

  “Another guy had to drop, so I took his place. Don’t worry about it, honestly, Nat. It looks worse than it is. And I won’t fight again for a while; I was just substituting for this kid—”

  “That’s not what Gina said.”

  “Ah, fuck.”

  Hutch looked up at me, caught in his lie. Anger shivered inside of me.

  “She called you?”

  “You lied to me.”

  “Nat, I didn’t want you to worry. That’s all.”

  “That’s not all. You lied to me. You’re hurt bad, and you have no business fighting—“

  “What are you, a doctor?”

  “What did your doctor say?”

  Hutch looked away, licking his lip and shaking his head.

  “Let me guess, he told you to stop, and you wouldn’t listen to him either.” I was shaking with anger now. That he had lied to me made me mad, but putting himself in danger was too much. “Hutch, you could have died out there!”

  Hutch barked a laugh.

  “Sure, died. Really, Nat? What, you think I have a death wish?”

  “It looked like it, out there.” When you kept standing up...

  “Why are you here? Huh?” Hutch stood up in front of me. I could smell the other fighter on him. I could smell him, his scent, and it turned me on even as the smell of his blood sickened me. He towered over me and raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “You here to kick me when I’m down?”

  “I’m here because I care about you!”

  “You have no idea what it takes to run this place!” His voice rose to a shout, echoing through the locker room. “You have no idea what kind of pressure I’m under!”

  “Maybe if you told me—“

  “You have no idea—“

  “Maybe if you didn’t lie to me—“

  “How could you even understand? You’re just a dog!”

  My breath stopped, and rage numbed my entire body. I had no idea how to respond to the insult. He locked his jaw for a split second, and then his face crumpled.

  “Natalie, I’m sorry.”

  “No.” The world was dark, spinning around me. I had to get out of there. Away from him. I could feel my monster coming out, and I didn’t know if I would be able to control it now.

  “Natalie, I didn’t mean—“

  “You don’t want me to come here? Fine. I won’t ever come to one of your fights again!”

  “Nat—“

  Tears spilled down my cheeks as I ran from the locker room and brushed by Gina. She called after me, but I couldn’t stop running.

  ***

  Back at home, I parked on the street and stumbled into the garage. I couldn’t face my dad now; I was still fuming and the monster in me was still raging to be let loose.

  The paintings I’d hung up to dry earlier taunted me from where they hung. I tore one down and held it in trembling hands. My thumb moved across the lines, the perfect red lines on the perfect ochre background. I held the paper tighter, tighter, until my tears blurred the lines and I was no longer human.

  I felt myself shift in pieces. My hand first. The claws came out. I held up my arm and stared at the paw where my hand used to be. I flexed my muscles and the claws retracted. The hand came back, all pink skin and polished nails. I’d made myself pretty for him, and he didn’t care. I relaxed and the claws emerged again, glad to be allowed free.

  The painting I’d made spoke to me. It whispered words I didn’t want to whisper to myself.

  Dog.

  Animal.

  Monster.

  “I’m not a monster!” I screamed. With each word my hand came down, slashing. “I. Am. Not. A. Monster!”

  Claws sliced through paper as easily as they’d sliced through the air. I cried and howled as I tore through the painting. I stopped myself only once I’d turned the painting into scraps of red and yellow. I turned to my other paintings. All of them I’d painted for Hutch. I wanted to ruin them all. He had lied to me. All of his lies piling up on top of other lies. Did he want me for a mate? Or was that another lie? My sobs sounded like growls in the air.

  My hands tore at the paintings and my teeth ripped them to shreds, and I could not tell whether I was woman or wolf.

  ***

  I woke up hours later, lying on the couch. My dad was sitting next to me, rubbing my back slowly.

  “Pops?” My throat was hoarse, and I could only whisper.

  “It’s okay, sweetie,” he said. He looked down at me and I saw love mixed with sorrow in his face.

  “I’m sorry, Pops,” I said. “I’m so sorry—“

  “Don’t.”

  His voice was stern, and I looked up in surprise. Although the expression he wore was gentle, his words came out emphatically.

  “You’re not like your mother, you know,” he said. “I know you’re scared of what’s inside you, and that’s okay. It’s a scary thing. But you don’t have to be sorry for it. Ever.”

  “I want to be a good kid,” I said. Tears sprang to my eyes. “I don’t want to do bad things.”

  “You’re the most wonderful daughter in the world,” my dad said. “And you’ve got a kind heart. That’s what matters. Anything else...”

  His words trailed off and he let them fade in the stuffy air of the garage before speaking again.

  “I was worried that you would be like your mother. But you’re not. You’re not. You’re your own person, and you’re a good person. So talented. So beautiful. So kind. Natalie, I’m so proud of you.”

  I sat up and he wrapped me up in a big hug.

  “Thanks, Pops,” I said.

  “Hey. If this guy is the one making you cry, you just let me know. I’ll beat him
up for you.”

  The image of my dad fighting Hutch in the ring made me burst out laughing through my sobs.

  “I’ll take him down and wipe the floor with any man who thinks he can make my daughter cry. Okay?” he said. “Are you okay?”

  I wiped the last tears from my eyes and looked around at the mess I’d made in the garage. Shredded paintings littered the ground. Despite everything, I couldn’t help but smile.

  “I’m okay,” I said. I would be okay. Even with the monster inside, I would be okay. If Hutch had only given me one thing to keep from our relationship, it was that.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hutch

  “Nat?”

  “Yeah, in my dreams I have tits as big as hers.”

  “Fuck off, Gina,” I moaned.

  “You need to get your ass out of bed.”

  She stood in the door of my trailer, looking for all the world like the living personification of pissed off. I really couldn’t deal with her bullshit right now.

  “I’m recovering. Fuck off.”

  “They’ve scheduled another fight for tonight.”

  What the fuck?

  “That’s a mistake, they don’t schedule the fights. I do.”

  “Bullshit. I don’t know what’s going on, Hutch. But you need help. You won’t survive another beating like that. The pack is in trouble, and don’t even get me started on how badly you’ve screwed things up with Nat.”

  I’d heard enough. I was getting sick of Gina’s constant bitching and moaning.

  “No.” I hauled myself off the bed, ignoring the pain in my chest, and stood facing her. “You screwed things up with Nat. You called her. You’ve been on my case since I started going out with her and you fucking called her just so she could come and see me get beaten like a bitch. I get it. I get it now.”

  “What?”

  “You’re pissed because I chose her over you. This is what this is all about.”

  I regretted it before I even said it. It was one of those things I’d never be able to take back and whatever came next, I knew things would never be the same between me and Gina again.

  Her slap hit me like a truck and sent me reeling. I didn’t feel like getting up. I just sat on the floor where I landed.

  “If you think that’s what this is about, then you’re even dumber than I thought you were. She was good for you. How many times do I have to say this? What’s good for you is good for the pack. I was your friend, Hutch. And I liked being your friend, but I love this pack. This was never about you, and it was never about her. It’s about this pack. About our family.”

  “What do you want, Gina?”

  “I need to look at the books. I need to figure out where the money is going. Why we can’t make payments.”

  “No.”

  “I stood by you. I stood by you when you challenged Quinn. I stood by you when you hauled our asses halfway across the state chasing your stupid dream. I’ve been at your side when you’ve won, and I’ve been at your side when you’ve got your ass beat. I’ve been obedient. I’ve been loyal. I’ve been a friend when you needed a friend. A lover when you needed a lover, and yeah, even a pain in the ass when you needed a pain in the ass. I’ve stood by you for five years while every single person in this pack has given their all to make your dream a reality.”

  Her eyes sparked with a furious passion as she spoke.

  “And now that dream is falling apart and I need to know why. We all do. We’re on your side, Hutch. We’ll do anything for you. But you have to let us. I need to see the books. Maybe talk to the people we owe. Change the terms of the loan. Buy us a little time.”

  It was a pretty speech. I felt for Gina, I really did, but I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing.

  “What’s so fucking funny?”

  “There is no loan, Gina.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s no loan. There never was. There’s no loan. There’s no books. There’s no repayments.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “There’s just a deal. I was just a kid and they promised me so much more than what we had and I made a deal. It was a really bad deal.”

  “I don’t understand. This is our place. That was the dream. That’s what we’ve been working for all these years. Stop fucking around, Hutch.”

  “What we’ve been working towards is surviving. The dream just helped make it easier to keep on going. We don’t own shit. They own everything, including us.”

  I’ve broken a lot of hearts in my life. I’ve told a lot of lies and I’ve hurt a lot of people. But I don’t think I’ve ever hurt anyone as badly as Gina was hurting right now. I’d pulled the rug out from under her entire life.

  “Let me tell you something, Hutch.”

  “When have I ever been able to stop you from talking?”

  It was meant to be a joke, but the look on her face was so serious that I shut up. When she spoke, her voice was distant and far away. Like she was a memory of someone else.

  “I think I was about ten when my father first invited my uncle and his buddies over to take turns fucking me. I fought, even shifted, but there were a lot of them and they weren’t afraid to use their fists. The weird thing is, he didn’t do it for money and he never joined in. I never found out why he did it. I think he just wanted everyone to have fun. He was that kind of person. He just got a kick out of being the guy everyone liked.

  “When everyone else was in high school, I was a prisoner in my own home. I don’t know what the end-game was. Probably would have killed me eventually if I hadn’t killed him first. To be honest, I don’t think he ever thought that far ahead.

  “You know what the difference is between you and him?”

  I didn’t dare even try to answer that one. I knew Gina had had a rough childhood. But she’d never talked about it before. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I looked around the trailer. I looked at the floor. Anywhere but her eyes.

  “Hey! I’m talking to you, asshole. You know the difference between you and that piece of shit? He never lied to me and told me things were going to get better. At least with him I knew where I stood.”

  I was stunned. Not just in response to Gina’s revelation, but the fact that she was comparing me to scum like that. I wanted to tell her I was sorry, but couldn’t. Sorry wouldn’t cut it. I just let her go and said nothing.

  Alone again, I closed my eyes and leaned back against my bed.

  At this rate, I wouldn’t last another week. The pack wouldn’t last another month. Something had to give. I stood up and started looking for my boots. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the sort to wallow in self-pity. I was a leader. I was a fighter. Something had to give. And it sure as fuck wasn’t going to be me.

  ***

  When he opened his front door and saw me standing on his porch, Walter Hopkins literally pissed himself. Not a complete loss of bladder control. Not something most people would have noticed. But I could smell it on him. Urine and fear. Behind that, something else. A hint of defiance. I sensed Mr. Hopkins was a man who would die protecting his family if it came to it. I respected that.

  “I’m not here to hurt you, Walter… or them. I brought back your wallet.”

  “I… uh… thanks.”

  I pulled it back as he reached for it. “But first I need a favor. I need a name.”

  He frowned and stepped out of the house, closing the door behind him.

  “I can’t do that.”

  I sighed and looked over his front lawn. It was covered with children’s toys. It needed mowing. But it had been a hot, wet summer. If he mowed it today, it would probably need mowing tomorrow as well. Better off just letting it grow.

  I was tired and I ached all over and I didn’t want to hurt this man. But I needed a name.

  “We got kids too, you know?”

  “I’ve… yes, I’ve seen them.”

  “We do it for them, just like you do it for yours. I don’t hold it against you, man. I get it. We
do what we can, right?”

  “Sure, I guess.”

  “I’m hurting, Walter. I’m hurting and pretty soon we’ll be done. And if I’m done, they’re done too. I need a name.”

  “Everything OK out here honey?” Mrs. Hopkins might have been pretty once. But she looked tired. Tired and all used up. A chubby little snot-nose girl clung to her leg.

  “It’s OK. Take Jenny back inside, I’ll be there in a minute. Look,” he turned back to me, “I can’t give you a name. I don’t have a name. I have a number.”

  “For the guy in charge?”

  “Not even close. This thing is big. The guy in charge probably doesn’t know either of us exists. But it should put you in touch with someone who knows more than me. Maybe they can help you.”

  It would have to do. I took the number and headed back to my bike.

  “Mr. Hutch.”

  “Just Hutch.”

  “Never come to my house again, OK?”

  I took a last look around. The overgrown lawn, the faded paint, a pale husk of a wife and a kid with too many toys and nowhere to put them. Yeah, not much chance of that. I made a mental vow to myself. If I ever end up living like this, put a bullet in me.

  ***

  The number led to another number and that number got me a meeting. I wasn’t a fan of this kind cloak and dagger bullshit, but they insisted it be out of town. A tired old diner on the tired old road that cut through the forest behind the interstate. When I pulled up, there was a single car in the parking lot. A big silver sedan. European, a BMW. The sort of car you’d expect a diplomat to drive. Not the sort of thing you saw very often in a dying town like this.

  The man who met me inside looked familiar. Average build, smartly dressed. I wasn’t too good with faces, but scents are something else.

  Fear, hate, a hint of desperation, but something familiar.

  “I know you.”

  “We’ve met. Once.”

  I glanced down. The cane.

  “Holy shit. You were there with Nat. You know her?”

  He smirked, “She was my date. Until you swooped in with your… your—”