When she walked in, her breath left her at how stunning everything was. The place was very crowded. There had to be more than a hundred people in the rooms around her alone and she couldn’t imagine how many other people must be milling around as well. She began to walk through the crowd, wondering if she’d be able to find Charles but she finally spotted him standing with a few other men, deep in conversation.
She decided to take a step in that direction, but hesitated when she saw Charles begin to speak very heatedly. She could tell because he was using his hands for a lot of gesturing. She gulped and decided instead to head over to the bar where there was a long enough line that would allow her to be busy for a few minutes.
She was nervous about being at the mansion and she was nervous about being at the Ball. What had she been thinking? She knew absolutely no one here except for Charles and she was too afraid to even approach him. Maybe she could just leave and go home. But she had promised that she would come for his sake and she knew that if she left it would be a bigger repercussion than she wanted to deal with since her child wouldn’t have a father if she left.
Still she gnawed on her bottom lip as she decided what scenario would be best.
“Well if it isn’t the woman of the hour,” a voice said from behind her.
Julia whipped around and came face to face with Bradley, the one person she really could’ve done without seeing ever again in her life. She realized, looking upon Bradley’s face, that he was creepy and she had no intention of spending any more time with him than was necessary. She hoped to God Charles would win this stupid duel because she was definitely not staying with this man for the rest of her life.
“Charles told me you were coming,” he said, leaning in to her.
She took a step back and gave him a stiff smile. “I’m here,” she said shortly.
“Did he tell you about the duel?” he asked, leering at her.
“He did.” She was trying to keep her responses short and to the point.
“So what do you say you and me go upstairs and get a little head start on our life together.” He was smirking down at her.
She blinked, appalled by his suggestion and opened her mouth to respond, but was swiftly cut off by an arm wrapping around her waist. She stiffened at the sudden contact and looked up to tell the person to go away when she found Charles standing beside her, scowling down at Bradley.
“Bradley, I do believe you're hovering over my mate. I suggest you go somewhere else.” He said it casually, but there was an underlining note of threat in his tone.
Bradley frowned, “Are you telling me what to do, Charles? Because I seem to recall we have a duel to fight and I will love to see how well you stand against me. I cannot wait until I can taste your beautiful mate for myself, as well. She does look simply delectable in that dress.” The look on his face was lecherous as he took in her revealing dress.
Julia felt suddenly uncomfortable standing there in a room full of people as the two panthers stared at each other. She wished she had gone with a less revealing dress too, but there was nothing she could do about it now, but stand there and try not to let her emotions show on her face.
“How about we duel right now, Bradley. Forget about the end of the night. You seem to want to threaten my Alpha status enough that you will do and say anything that it takes for you to be in my shoes. So let’s do this. Now.” Charles announced making the previously loud room go silent.
Julia froze beside him, not knowing what to do or say. Should she even say anything except stand there and look pretty? She hadn’t been briefed on this part yet and a portion of her wished she had just gone to find Charles when she first arrived instead of avoiding the situation.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a slight change in tonight’s events. Bradley is going to duel me now. He seems to have a problem with my leadership and wants to take my mate, who is carrying our child. We'll meet in the basement in ten minutes to duel it out. Life or death.” He said and everyone seemed to run for the basement at once.
“See you downstairs, brother,” Bradley said, smirking at Charles and then turning to Julia. “And you, fair maiden, go warm our bed for me.” He winked at her. Julia glared at him, appalled, and then turned to look at Charles in disbelief. “Life or death?” Julia breathed, staring at him in awe.
He gave her an apologetic look and kissed her on her forehead. “I’m sorry, Julia, but I need to do this. He has said his peace for the final time and I will not stand to be disrespected anymore.” Charles said.
Julia gulped and then nodded slowly. “Good luck,” she said and then pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.
“Thank you.” He kissed her back, hard on the mouth. They got lost in each other’s presence before Charles violently ripped himself away from her. He gave her a sad smile and then placed a hand on her baby bump. “I’ll see you on the other side.” He then kissed her again hard before heading downstairs with the rest of the people going to the basement.
Julia took deep steady breaths and tried to tell herself that everything would be fine. Charles would win and she wouldn’t have to ever see Bradley again. But a traitorous voice in the back of her head kept asking what would happen if Bradley did win. Could she get away before they caught up to her? Would she be able to live a life with Bradley and not cringe when he looked at her?
She seriously doubted it and she had already made up her mind to run if Bradley did win. She refused to ever be touched by that man. Yes, she’d run if she had to, to escape Bradley. But hopefully that wouldn’t be the case, especially since she wasn’t sure if she could get away. Would the crowd force her to be with Bradley? From what she could tell most of the people in the pack and crowd were avid supporters of Charles, if the yells were anything to go by.
The crowd grew louder as words were exchanged, but Julia couldn’t hear what they said from her placement near the door. She stood on tiptoe, trying to see what was going on and then she watched in awe as both men began to strip off their clothes. She looked around to see if this was a common occurrence and then her eyes widened when she saw the two men get on all fours and transform themselves into panthers.
She knew they were panthers, but to see them shift before her eyes was anything short of amazing. She couldn’t believe her eyes as two men became animals before her. She held her breath as they began to circle each other. She couldn’t tell who was who, since they both looked so similar, but for some reason, she had a suspicion that the crowd could. As the panthers circled each other, the crowd became louder and louder until Julia wondered if they would disturb the neighbors.
She watched as one panther lunged for the other and tackled him to the ground. She brought a hand up to her mouth and watched them as they wrestled together, angry grows and roars being heard over the din of the room. One panther clawed the other panther’s face and she gasped when she saw blood begin to pour from the panther’s eye. The panther that wasn’t bleeding lunged again at the bleeding panther and took his neck in his mouth.
The bleeding panther roared and head butted him away. She watched as they began to circle each other again and then the bleeding panther lunged for the other one and they were tackled to the ground once again. The bleeding panther got the other panther’s neck it its mouth, but the other panther flipped them so that the bleeding panther was on the bottom.
Julia watched as the fight progressed and each lunged at each other or clawed one another. As the fight went on, both panthers were scratched and bitten. She could tell they were getting tired and she continued to gnaw her lip in anxiety as she wondered who was going to win.
It didn’t help that she couldn’t tell them apart either. Finally, the panther who had drawn first blood lunged for the last time at the other’s neck and snapped it before the panther could do anything else. There was a gasp of silence and then the crowd watched as the panther shifted into human form.
Julia held her breath as she waited to see who won and then she let out a cheer with t
he rest of the basement when Charles stood up in all of his naked glory on shaky legs. He raised his hands in victory, even though he was a bleeding mess, and he said a thank you to the crowd. His right hand man, Stuart, came over with a blanket and draped it over him as he hobbled through the crowd. The crowd seemed to part before him and then as if he had been drawn to her, he came to Julia with a tired smile and blood staining his skin.
“My mate.” He greeted, taking her hand in his and kissing the soft skin.
She smiled shyly at him and tried to ignore all of the other people staring at them in interest. “You won.” She wanted to hug him, but didn’t want to hurt him anymore.
“Did you doubt me?” he asked smirking at her.
She blushed and looked down. “Only a little.”
He laughed and wrapped an arm around her to bring her close. He bent down and placed a soft kiss to her lips. A chaste kiss that tasted like promises, hopes, and dreams.
Despite the difficult journey they had taken to get to that point, Julia was glad she had stayed and had faith in Charles. She knew the journey before them would be difficult, as well with the baby, but as long as they had each other she knew they could do it.
THE END
Message From The Author:
Hiii
I hope you enjoyed my book. If you did I would really love if you could give me a rating on the store! :)
If you want to check out my other releases including those from the “Shifters Surrogates” series then just check out my Amazon page here!
Angela x
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The Panther's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Page 20