by Dana Archer
Snarls and growls filled the room with the sounds of their battle. She’d seen many fights between shifters, both in wolf and human form. Living among them exposed her to violence. She wasn’t shocked by it, but the battle playing out before her wasn’t a scuffle between pack members or even a fight to assert dominance. The wolves before her would fight to the death.
Her chest tightened. Fear gripped her, but she couldn’t stop them. If she got in the way, they’d rip her throat out. Conscious of where Chris and his opponent fought, she inched her way toward the broken door. She needed help.
Chris clamped his mouth around the neck of his opponent, but the wolf John had been fighting rammed into him, stopping Chris from taking the killing blow. Both wolves took turns snapping at Chris. John didn’t come to his help. Why? She jerked her gaze to him. John lay on the floor, blood seeping from bite marks on his sides and his neck bent at an odd angle. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp.
Dead. He was dead. The empty look in his eyes told her the truth. It was one she’d seen too many times over the years, especially the last one.
She stretched a hand out, searching for the open door. Terror kept her gaze on Chris as he fought the two wolves, holding them at bay and away from her. He would protect her at all costs. Still, she had to get away.
Fingers curled around her wrist. She screamed. A hand clamped over her mouth, muffling the sound. Riley was yanked outside and pulled into the tight embrace of a shifter. The curves of a woman pressed along her back. Riley whipped her head to the side and collided with the pale blue eyes of the one woman Riley never wanted to lay eyes on again.
Maria hooked an arm around Riley and tugged on her shirt, exposing her shoulder and the bandage covering Nic’s bite mark. Maria ripped the gauze off and grinned, showing fangs. “So I was right. You are the reason Nic turned me away.”
Chapter 25
“Hurry, Nic,” Hannah called out.
Nic lunged at his latest opponent, a lone shifter. Nic had never seen him before, but it didn’t matter if he knew him or not. No dominant would die at his hands. So far, Nic had outmaneuvered every rival either through words, talking them down as he’d done with Quinn, or inflicting an injury that left them too weakened to continue fighting.
The male in front of Nic, however, didn’t want to talk. He wanted to get inside the circle Nic guarded. The rays of the full moon had almost reached its peak. Nic felt the pull of the mystical window on his soul. Twined into the powerful magic was the call of his pack’s spirit. It awaited its new host.
He took a step backward. The lone shifter lowered his head and matched Nic’s move. Blood dripped off the guy’s jaw. More ran in rivulets down his chest. Nic swept his gaze over him, looking for the male’s weakness. The lone shifter’s unfocused eyes gave it to him. Nic had pummeled the guy’s face moments before. A few more punches would knock him out.
“The Kagan spirit wolf will refuse you. It knows I’m close. I feel its breath on my neck and its tempting call in my mind.” And Nic did. Tiny tendrils of power reached out to him from the circle. The spirit wolf’s call would lure him closer any way it could.
The guy offered a lopsided smile even as he swayed. “So do I. The spirit wolf might recognize you, but it doesn’t care who houses it at this point. It wants a new vessel. I can almost feel its desperation.”
Nic inwardly sighed. He felt the same. The spirit wolf wanted Nic, but it’d accept the lone wolf too. Nic curled his fingers. “Then come. Let’s finish this, either here or in the circle.”
The male grinned. “So be it.”
He rushed forward. Nic sidestepped at the last moment and swept his leg out, toppling the other shifter. He landed hard, grunting with his impact. Nic followed him down, straddling his chest, and rammed his fist into the guy’s face, breaking his nose for the second time. Cartilage shifted and blood flowed. Nic punched him, again and again, not allowing the other male a chance to recover.
The shifter went limp beneath Nic. Nic jumped to his feet and crossed the ceremonial circle’s border moments before a tremor shook the world. A shimmering wall burst from the ground. The sides curled inward, forming a dome over the field and securing Nic inside with the female witnesses and the spirit wolf. He breathed a sigh.
He did it. None of his friends would die today.
Even as the thought took hold, trepidation unfurled within him. Several hours had passed from the time his father had been killed. If the knowledge of his death had reached even lone wolves, there was no reason the Tanner pack wouldn’t have heard. No dominants had showed, however. After Derek’s threats to take over the Kagan pack, it struck Nic as odd that the Tanner wolf hadn’t made a play for him.
Nic scanned the woods even as power beat at his skin, urging him to open his soul. With the magical barrier in place, Derek wouldn’t be able to get to Nic. He was the only dominant in the circle. He’d won. Yet he couldn’t shake the apprehension settling over him. His thoughts drifted to Riley, and his chest tightened.
No. He wasn’t going to allow fear to weaken him. She’d be fine. He refused to allow any other thought to take hold.
He moved to the center of the sacred ring and dropped to his knees. Then stretched his arms out and tipped his head back exactly as Riley had depicted in the painting she’d created. No special position was needed for the transfer, but for her, he would accept his destiny the way she’d painted. The rays from the full moon caressed his skin, heating him and spreading warmth throughout his body.
He inhaled deeply and let his breath escape in a long rush. His tension eased. For a long endless moment, he was at peace. The feeling didn’t last. The spirit wolf’s insistence grew. It wanted him as its vessel.
The time to greet his fate had arrived.
On a sigh, he opened himself to the Kagan spirit. Power flooded him. Every cell in his body hummed under the magic seeping into him, making him stronger than he could’ve ever imagined. It was the draw every dominant who’d fought him over the course of the night had sought. The alpha experienced a tie to the heavens, the earth, and everything in between. Every full moon until the day he passed the spirit wolf on, he’d feel the raw force of his pack’s magic, renewing and uplifting him.
A smile spread over Nic’s face as the purity of the Kagan wolf’s spirit filled him. On his next breath, however, pain lashed him. The first wave of fire raced over his skin as tiny threads wove through him, body and soul. He shuddered. A rough groan ripped from his chest. Each Kagan wolf, both past and present, twined itself into him. He felt every one as extensions of himself, knew them as if he shared their souls too.
Flashes of images danced across his mind’s eye, too quick to focus on any particular one. He squeezed his eyelids shut and accepted the occurrence, knowing it was part of the monthly ceremony. His pack members’ emotions whipped through him—happiness, pleasure, and pain. Anger and despair gripped him last. The slideshow stopped. One scene lingered, his worst nightmare.
The inside of Nic’s living room no longer looked the way it had when he’d dropped Riley’s bag on his desk. The contents of her tote were scattered among shards of bloody glass, and two gray wolves fought with Chris.
“No!” Nic pulled himself from the out-of-body experience. The concerned faces of Hannah and his younger cousins met him.
“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked.
“Riley. She’s in danger.” He shifted into his wolf form and ran. He only prayed he’d get to her in time to save his true mate’s life. If she died, the month until he could join her would be his hell on earth.
Chapter 26
For the third time, Nic ran full out. His sides heaved, but the power of his pack pushed him forward. He felt stronger, more powerful, and more agile than ever before. Still, worry gripped him. As soon as he cut his tie to Chris, the view through his eyes had ended too. Nic couldn’t help but imagine the worst. He shoved the thoughts out and allowed his wolf’s protective instincts to flare. Failure was
not acceptable in either his or his animal’s mind. They would save their mate.
He pushed on, skidding on the wet leaves on the forest floor. The quickest path from the ceremonial circle to his house was down the steepest part of the hill. A rocky outcropping loomed ahead of him. He ran toward it and jumped, landing on his paws at the bottom. His backyard stretched out in front of him.
The sounds of wolves fighting reached his ears, but he focused on the sight of Riley held against Maria’s body. Riley struggled to free herself, and both Nic and his wolf growled.
Maria whipped her head to the side.
Riley’s eyes widened. “Nic!”
He glanced from Maria’s hands to the fangs filling her mouth. While claws didn’t tip her fingers, the danger to Riley remained the same. Nic wanted Maria’s blood. If she chose, she could unleash her sharpened nails and kill Riley before he could get to her. He shifted, knowing brute strength or speed wouldn’t save his true mate. Words would.
“Let her go, Maria.” Nic stepped closer, his hands held loosely at his sides, an attempt not to look as threatening. He didn’t want the female he’d dismissed to take her anger out on Riley.
“John is dead, and Chris is—” Maria clamped her hand over Riley’s mouth, muffling her words.
“Fighting for his life,” Maria finished her statement.
He swept his gaze over the house, noted the broken door leading out to the deck that spanned the back of the house and the small, black female wolf leaping through the open doorway. Two more of Nic’s pack members followed Hannah. Help had arrived. The foolish shifters who’d killed John would suffer before joining him.
“Not for much longer. Your pack members who thought to attack my female will soon be dead.”
“Along with one of your own, honorary or not. There was no reason for anyone to get hurt tonight.” Maria motioned from Riley’s exposed bite mark to the house where the sounds of fighting grew louder. “But you see, Nic? This is what happens when you fall in love with the wrong person. They become a liability, and people die.”
“Riley’s not a weakness.” He walked closer, not taking his gaze off of Maria. “And finding your true mate is never wrong. Neither is mating them.”
Maria laughed, a bitter and broken sound. “It is when they’re human. They’re weak.”
He sighed. Apparently, he’d misread Quinn’s interest in Maria. “So, what? Do you think if you kill my true mate that I’ll want you instead? I won’t.”
Wide-eyed, Maria shook her head. “Is that what you think? That I’d kill an innocent? For you?”
“Prove me wrong. Let Riley go.”
“I was trying to save her. I know those wolves.” Maria dropped her hands and stepped back. She pointed toward the house. “They’re friends of my broth—”
The low snarl of an enraged wolf stopped Maria’s words. She pivoted on her heel at the same time as Nic lurched forward. He placed himself between both females and the gray wolf standing several feet away.
Four more wolves loped closer and placed themselves on either side of Derek. He shifted and glared at Maria. “You whore. You’ll bleed for interfering in my affairs.”
“Maybe, but you’ll die tonight, brother.”
“You’re wrong, sister. The Kagan alpha and his mate will be the only ones who die.”
Nic unleashed his claws but resisted his first instinct to rush toward the male who’d threatened Riley’s life. The presence of the wolves flanking Derek kept Nic in place. He couldn’t risk them going after Riley the moment he attacked Derek.
Movement from the shadows near the house caught Nic’s attention. Hannah approached along with Chris and several more of their dominants. Nic only had to wait until the right moment to leap the distance between him and Derek.
Nic took a single step forward, drawing Derek’s attention back to him where Nic wanted it. “And this is how the great Tanner wolves take over a new pack, by attacking the weakest members first?”
Derek shook his head. “No, it’s called planning. I’ve been waiting until tonight to take out your human bitch. I’ve known about her partial bite for weeks. Ben was kind enough to tell me before he died.”
Nic’s heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t allow the shock to show. He couldn’t. The other male didn’t need any sign of weakness to exploit.
“You’ve got your facts mixed up.” Nic motioned behind him. There was no point in denying the evidence visible on Riley’s body. “Do you not see the raw wound on her shoulder? I’ve only just mated her tonight.”
Derek’s gaze drifted to the woods and the movement among the trees. More of the Kagan pack’s members approached. Derek grinned, not the reaction Nic expected.
“Good.” Derek curled his fingers. “Our witnesses have arrived.”
Nic’s wolf tensed. Its low snarl filled his head, warning him to tread carefully. No doubt it sensed the same thing Nic did. The one-hour window marking the full moon’s peak hadn’t passed. The future of the pack could still be altered.
Nic took a step forward, allowing his werewolf form to alter his image. “And what would we need witnesses for?”
Derek matched the partial shift but didn’t close the distance between them. “Our challenge, of course. I will take your life and your pack.”
Nic cursed. He couldn’t back down from a challenge made in front of his pack, nor could he attack the other shifter outside of the ceremonial grounds. It would mark him as weak, too afraid to accept the fight. He couldn’t risk allowing anyone to think he wasn’t worthy, not with Riley’s life on the line.
“If you wish to die tonight, so be it. Send your wolves home.” He motioned to the shifters flanking Derek. “And we’ll take this to the circle.”
Derek waved his arm. “Go.”
Nic waited for the shifters to retreat before he met Hannah’s gaze. “Take Riley somewhere safe until I return for her.”
Hannah, still in her wolf form, dipped her head slightly in acknowledgment.
“Oh, now that would be against the rules. An alpha’s mate must be present at a challenge. Only death excuses her absence.” Derek grinned. “And your pretty little mate looks alive to me.”
“Riley is human. She’s not allowed on our sacred grounds.”
“That is a problem, isn’t it?” Derek rubbed at his chin. “So is the whole issue of not being able to carry your child.”
“Don’t worry yourself over the challenges my pack faces.”
“But if I don’t, who will? Your weak pack members don’t seem to care that you’ve damned them.” Derek shook his head. “I’m only bringing about the inevitable end.”
Nic inwardly cursed but couldn’t say anything. He’d already implied they were mated. He tipped his head in Hannah’s direction. “Bring the car around.”
He held Derek’s gaze until Hannah returned with their SUV. Out of the corner of his eye, Nic saw Chris ushering Riley into the vehicle and climbing in next to her. Nic breathed a sigh once the SUV drove off, but his relief didn’t last long.
Derek shifted and trotted toward the ceremonial grounds. Nic followed behind him. The meadow where he’d knelt less than an hour ago loomed before him. Riley waited with Chris and Hannah next to Nic’s SUV. No worry showed on Riley’s face. Confidence did. It was what was expected of an alpha’s mate. She stood as his beacon of strength and a reminder of what Nic fought for—their future, no matter where it took them.
He caught her gaze and held it, showing all those watching she was his equal. A smile spread over her beautiful face. She dipped her head slightly, never breaking their gaze. He matched her, acknowledging her and letting her see the love he felt. Time didn’t allow for more, however.
Nic turned away and faced Derek, who stood just inside the circle’s edge. Once the current alpha crossed the line, the world would be sealed off, enclosing the challengers inside until only one remained alive.
Long strides closed the distance between them. Nic stepped over the ceremonial bo
undary. The shimmering wall he’d seen earlier in the night encased them. Without another wasted moment, he rushed Derek.
They collided and rolled. Clawed hands raked Nic’s sides. The sharp pain meant nothing to him. He grabbed the other male and slammed him into the ground. Derek’s moan satisfied his need to make the shifter suffer, but Nic couldn’t give in to the urge to torture him. The sooner Nic won the challenge, the better.
Derek brought his knees into Nic’s chest and shoved Nic back with a kick that centered on his gut. Nic landed on his hip and hopped to his feet a moment later. They circled each other, once then twice more, each looking for an opening to strike. Derek’s nervous glance toward the full moon gave it to him. Nic too felt time slipping by. No more than a couple of minutes remained of the moon’s peak.
Nic dove at Derek’s legs, knocking him off balance. Again, Nic followed him down. He dug sharpened nails into Derek’s gut, holding him in place, and clamped his other clawed hand around Derek’s neck.
The muffled sound of squealing tires reached Nic’s ears. He whipped his head to the side in time to see a black truck skidding across the grass behind his house. It turned onto the same road Riley had taken to reach the top of the hill. It was the only way a car could reach the pack’s sacred grounds, both their burial plot and the ceremonial circle.
He jumped to his feet, instinct driving his actions. There was only one reason an unknown vehicle would be on their private road. Riley was in danger. He had to save her. Nothing else mattered.
Nic ran toward the edge of the circle. He never made it there. Derek dug his sharpened nails into Nic’s shoulders and slammed him into the wall enclosing the circle, reminding him of their situation. He had to kill Derek before saving Riley. In the next breath, Derek tossed Nic backward, away from Riley.