He understood why his brothers were upset. He had an incredible pain tolerance that had allowed him to continue to fight, but with most fighters, that would have been a debilitating blow. He could have been killed.
But thoughts like that were pointless. He had a purpose and he meant to see it through to the end.
Lucas cleared his mind and thought of Lily. He couldn’t wait to see her again.
* * *
That night there was another party, this time exclusive to the remaining contestants and their families as well as a handful of other special guests.
The contestants had been cut in half from the day’s fights, and the mood at the party was more serious and somber than the one before.
Lucas arrived alone, wearing a sharp-looking black suit. The event took place in a small hall in another part of the house, with a small string quartet providing music for the attendees.
How pretentious, he thought as he scanned the crowd for Lily.
Lucas weaved through the small groups of people until he found her. He suppressed a growl when he saw she was accompanied by two large men with dark curly hair and gray eyes that seemed to be watching her every move. But when she saw him, she touched one of the men on the arm, whispered something to him, and the man nodded and let her leave.
His heart pounded as she walked toward him. She looked beautiful tonight in gold silk. He walked forward until they were nearly touching, and when she looked up at him, he didn’t like the look in her eyes.
It wasn’t pride or pleasure. It was fear.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, throat tightening as he said it.
“We need to talk,” she said.
Not good. In his experience, nothing good ever came of those four words. But he followed her as she led him out of the hall. Everyone else was too busy speaking about the fights of the day and who was expected to win the tournament.
Bruce McGavin had apparently made a clean sweep of his opponent and seemed to be the one most thought would claim Lily.
Yeah, over Lucas’s dead body.
Lily took Lucas’s hand and led him discretely through the kitchen into a large hallway with adjoining rooms.
She kept going until she opened the door to a side room and led him into what looked like a small library.
He waited for her to speak, but she didn’t, so he broke the silence.
“How are you feeling?”
She whirled to face him. “How are you feeling? You’re the one who was injured,” she said.
His face tightened. “I’m fine. You’re the one who seems to be worried.”
“Worried for you,” she said, coming toward him and running her hands over his shoulders and down his arms as if trying to reassure herself he was fine.
“No need, sweetheart. I can take care of myself.”
She was quiet for a moment, and he resisted the urge to pull her closer. He needed to feel her near, needed to know she still believed in him, still wanted him there.
He tilted up her chin, making her look at him. “Lily, it’s going to be fine.”
“I thought it was, but I’m not sure anymore. Lucas, they’re full alphas. They have powers you don’t. Maybe we were stupid to…”
He took a step back, his expression darkening. “You don’t believe in me.”
“It’s not that,” she said, putting out a hand. “Do you know what it was like, seeing him put a crack in the ground and then put his fist into your ribs? I can’t do that again.”
“I’ll be more careful,” he said.
“You can’t,” she said. “You were already careful. You don’t know what these men can do.”
Anger buzzed inside him. All of his life, he’d felt second to full-blooded alpha males. Ever since her dad had taken her away from him because he was a half breed, he’d burned with anger at the thought that anyone could think of him as less than.
And now, thanks to a stupid mistake on the mat, Lily was seeing him the same.
As inferior.
His heart felt like it was closing up to protect itself.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked. “Walk away?”
She folded her arms and avoided his gaze as she nodded.
His mouth tightened into a line and a muscle in his jaw twitched. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She should have known this would be a hard challenge, but he’d never be able to give up until she was safe.
But what was the point when she kept insisting on running away from what they had whenever things seemed too hard?
“Did you ever even try to reach me?” he asked in a broken voice. “All those years you were gone?”
“There was no point,” she said. “I couldn’t leave.”
“And you didn’t trust me to save you,” he said.
She gave him a stricken look. “It’s not that. No one can.”
He exhaled. Didn’t she understand that wasn’t good enough? She should believe that he could do things no one else could, because he loved her. She made him stronger than anyone could normally be because she believed in him.
At least she had until one stupid trip-up had ruined her faith in him.
Then again, if it was that easily ruined, could it ever have been real in the first place?
“So you want me to go? You want Bruce to win?” he asked, folding his arms to resist the urge to pull her against him and kiss the sense back into her.
She bit her lip. “I want you to be safe. I don’t want to watch that again.”
“Lily, I’m going to win this.”
“How?” she asked, turning to him with wide, hysterical eyes. “You’re so strong, Lucas, but you’re not full alpha. They are going to have much worse powers than that.”
And he had none. Other than the fact he loved her, which felt like enough up until a moment ago.
Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose. “So you’re basically saying we’re done. We’re over. Just because you’re afraid I’m too weak to win this tournament.” Lucas walked forward and stood close to Lily at his full, intimidating height.
“Not in those words. I’ve never seen you as weak. But yes, I need you to leave. You have to forget me.”
Lucas chuckled spitefully. “Fine. Message received. But let’s be straight on something. I’ll never forget you. I’ll never forget this.”
He yanked her against him and kissed her forcefully. She sank against him with a small moan as his tongue entered her mouth, exploring, feeling, owning. His wolf howled to keep going, to take her back to her room and continue what they’d started the other night.
But it was too late. The wheels had been set in motion, and Lily couldn’t, or wouldn’t, believe in him.
Lucas turned and left the room quietly before he could change his mind and beg her to stay.
5
The next day, Lily woke up filled with dread and remorse. The best thing that had ever entered her life was gone. Again. Her wolf howled with sadness at the loss of her fated mate.
She got ready, took the car to the arena, took her seat in the box where her cousins were already waiting for her, and counted the hours until this whole thing would be over.
The matches went by like blurs. Lily may or may not have drunk a lot of champagne, hoping to drown out the sadness weighing upon her heart and her wolf howling in protest at her decision.
She knew she’d done the right thing, but she still felt physically sick at the thought of a future without Lucas. But she couldn’t let him get killed for a prize that in all likelihood would never be his.
When they’d been teens, people had said it was puppy love. That it wouldn’t last. But Lily had known from the moment she’d met him that he was the one. And the fact that all it took was for both of them to see each other to feel everything all over again just proved there was something special there.
He was everything. That’s why she had to make sure he got away, even if she couldn’t.
She lifted an empty champagne flute to her lips and
hesitated when nothing touched her tongue.
“All right, there. I think you’ve had enough,” Tim said, taking the glass.
“Have not,” she said. It wasn’t enough to dull the pain anyway.
“Look,” Tom said. “The next match is that Asher guy you were so interested in yesterday.”
“He isn’t here,” she muttered, bitter about the fact that no one would even know his real name. He was Lucas, not Asher, but this world only wanted one and not the other.
She looked down at the ring. One competitor was there, waiting. Asher Vale’s name was called again.
Nothing.
And again. There was murmuring and hushed voices heard in the crowd. Still nothing. The silence around her rang like a fatal blow. He was gone. It was over. A silent tear fell that she quickly wiped away before her cousins could notice.
Then there was the muffled sound of clapping, which grew quickly as voices could be heard calling Asher’s name from the crowd.
And then Lucas was there, tall and proud and storming down toward the arena in the same colors as yesterday. His dark hair was loose and tousled, his powerful body flexing with each step. Damn, his body was mesmerizing. The arena seemed to agree as the applause grew to an almost deafening level. They probably remembered the fight from yesterday and were eager for more.
“Wow, he sure likes to make an entrance,” Tom commented.
“Everyone loves an underdog,” Tim added.
It was true. Lucas came from a relatively unknown family, and many of the spectators included common shifters that had no chance of being associated with any of the families that most people were betting on to win. It made sense he had this much support. She just wished he’d run before it was too late.
She felt like she was buzzing, not only from the champagne, but also from the relief of seeing he hadn’t left her and the worry she’d have to watch him get hurt again. Maybe worse this time.
“You seem nervous,” Tim commented, putting an arm around her that she immediately shrugged off.
“I’m not,” she said, sounding unconvincing even to herself.
“Oh, come on,” Tom said. “We’ve known you since you were little and terrible at hide-and-seek. You can’t lie to us. Besides, Tim has a knack for that stuff. You aren’t going to hide it from him.”
She sent her cousin a glare. He was right, but she didn’t have to like it.
“It’s okay, Lily. We’re rooting for you,” Tim said, sitting forward and threading his fingers together. “My only question is, is that really Asher Vale? Because I happen to have met him during an alpha challenge… and I don’t recall him looking exactly like that.”
Her gaze snapped to him, but he put up a silent finger as if to say he’d keep her secret, and her heartbeat returned to normal.
She turned her focus back to the fight. Lucas stood in the middle of the ring, but his bearing was different from the other day. His jaw was tight, his stance was focused, and when he looked up and met her eyes, the searing heat of his emerald-green gaze nearly melted her on the spot. He wasn’t saying anything, but the message was plenty clear.
He wasn’t leaving. He meant to win.
She was aroused, scared, and mad all at the same time.
The match began, and Lucas went straight at his opponent with a speed and precision unmatched by anything she’d seen. Yesterday, he’d been calm, almost like he needed only half his effort to win. Today, he was a lion, constantly on top of his opponent, relentless in his attacks.
As the match progressed, it became clear his opponent had an alpha power. The alpha was tall with curly blond hair, and as the match wore on, it was clear to see he had natural speed that increased with his effort. His kicks were a blur of motion. Her heart stammered in her chest, remembering what the other alpha’s super strength had done to Lucas yesterday.
But Lucas was unaffected. He simply moved out of range of his opponent’s blurred movements, and then in a lightning-fast strike, took him down to the ground. There, he was able to pin him within seconds, putting his arm in a painful arm bar. His opponent was forced to tap out, and Lucas stood, brushing off his shorts like he’d done this a thousand times before.
He had done this a thousand times before. He’d gone into fighting professionally after she left. Now he’d just made a powerful alpha with natural advantages look like a noob.
There was a hush around the stadium that then erupted into a full roar. For a long time, blood had been everything in the shifter world. Pure blood and alpha powers. But Lucas was proving sheer hard work and effort could fight even the most amazing natural privileges. The excitement in the crowd around her was tangible.
As was the murmuring from others in the area. For every pleased commoner, someone from a powerful family was looking at the arena with narrowed eyes. Lucas had come into their sandbox and kicked up dust, and they didn’t like it.
She stood, wondering how soon she could meet him. She wasn’t sure what the future held for them, but this time she would tell him everything that stood between them, and let him decide whether to stay or go.
* * *
Lucas had made up his mind. He wasn’t going to give up. He’d be damned if he let some other man mate his woman. His Lily.
Matt’s advice had been perfect for the fight: keep close and take it to the ground as soon as possible. Part of him was sure he would have been able to figure that out in the ring regardless, but it helped to be able to anticipate what sort of tricks his opponent had up their sleeve. Lucas made a mental note to thank Matt personally the next time he saw the enigmatic alpha again.
As he got ready for the event at Lily’s family’s mansion, he wondered how he would tell her he’d decided to go directly against what she’d asked. Hey, sorry for everything. I’m still going to win this and we can figure it out later. Or maybe… I can’t bear to see you with anyone else, so I’m taking you for myself. He shook his head.
He finished tying his expensive tie, put in his cuff links, and hopped into his powerful red convertible that was perfect for summer nights like this.
Their family hadn’t been poor growing up, but they were far from the super-rich shifter families that lived life in the lap of luxury, like Lily’s. But as business picked up at the dojo through some good connections and as the family made some smart investments with the help of close friends, things had picked up. It was right around that time that Lucas and Lily had fallen in love, she had disappeared, and Lucas had pursued a career in professional MMA.
The past few years had been good to him, though. Ridiculously good. But he was at the point in his life when he wanted to settle down. Wanted to share it with someone. The last few years had been empty and cold, driven purely by the need to forget that the only thing he’d ever wanted was completely out of reach. And now, just when things had felt simple, they were complicated again.
But one thing the last few years had taught him was when you got knocked down, you had to get back up.
Nobody had made him happy like Lily had. And meeting her again, he was certain his feelings were still the same for her. Every time he saw her smile, it filled him with immense joy.
He pulled up to the mansion, and a valet took his car. He couldn’t wait to see Lily, though he was uncertain what her response would be.
Lucas was able to find her in the crowd instantly this time, again flanked by her two guards. They saw him before she did, and they exchanged a knowing nod and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Lily alone, nursing a glass of wine.
Lucas wanted so badly to pick her up right there and then, take her in his arms, and run off. But the rules for an alpha tournament and the interaction between the potential winners and the female they were competing for were very strict. And they’d already broken almost all of them. He’d be pushing his luck asking for more.
It was several moments before Lily turned and saw Lucas standing there, watching her intently. Her eyes sparkled, and in an instant, he could see a wave of d
ifferent emotions cross her mind. When it settled, she smiled and looked relieved to see him, and he smiled back, wanting to speak with her in private again.
She motioned with a finger for him to follow, and he trailed behind her as she moved to the fringe of the crowd, then down a back door into yet another new place in the house.
Lucas was starting to get tired of sneaking around like this. He wondered if a day would come when they would never have to hide again. He doubted it.
They found a quiet corner in the conservatory, surrounded by plants and fountains in a big, beautiful greenhouse, having a seat on a comfortable-looking bench.
Lily looked happy, then seemed to remember she was supposed to be angry. “So you decided to fight against my wishes,” she said petulantly.
“Well, yes. Of course. I’m not going to let you be mated to someone else, Lily. I’m going to protect you, no matter who it is I have to fight to do it,” Lucas replied sincerely.
Lil’s countenance seemed to warm after that. She snuggled in close to Lucas, who put an arm around her. They’d been through trying times before; they would get through this.
“What if there is something you can’t fight?” she asked. “Something you can’t solve through violence.”
“I’m not all about violence, Lily. In fact, I prefer not to use it unless someone needs my protection.”
She nodded. “You were amazing today. I’m sorry I sent you away. I panicked. To be honest, I’m still panicking. I still don’t see how this can work out. There are too many factors.”
“Like what?” he asked, putting an arm around her, loving the feel of her small, curvy form under his.
“It’s not just the tournament, though I’m still worried about who you have to face. If something happened to you…”
“What?”
Alpha Champion (Wolf Fighters Book 1) Page 5