by ZL Morris
Through gritted teeth, she seethes, “I told you! I challenge her. My reward will be the future Alpha and Betas. They are mine, have always been mine, and I won’t allow this little slut to take them away from me!”
My body vibrates with the anger that rolls through me. I purposely avoid eye contact with the boys. I’m still injured from the last attack, and they won’t want me to fight her. But I’ll be damned if I’ll let her talk about me like this.
My voice comes out strong for everyone to hear, “I accept her challenge!”
All at once, the whole pack jolts as one and begins to shout. My three boy’s shouts and curses are drowned out in the uproar. I probably shouldn’t have accepted the challenge and let Alpha Henrique handle it, but the bitch has it coming.
Alpha Henrique’s voice booms across the backyard as he shouts for everyone to be quiet. The noise finally settles down to a point my ears no longer hurt from the cacophony of sound. Soon only a baby cries, while the mother attempts to sooth them, and a bunch of irritating girls cheering Lana on still sound in the yard.
“If this is what you want, Lana?” He waits for her nod of consent. “As your Alpha, I can’t stop you from issuing the challenge. However, I can make this as fair a fight as it can be between a shifter and non-shifter. You fight as a human. The minute a whisker, tooth, or claw appears, the fight is over, and Tallulah will be deemed winner. You will be banished from the pack.”
Kenji shouts over the top of his brother’s curses. “What are you doing, Dad? You can’t be fuckin’ serious! I won’t let you put my mate in fuckin’ danger like this!”
The desperation clear in his voice makes me cringe. No wonder they didn’t tell me after they learnt of the Blood Moon pack’s threat. They’ve known they were my mates for years and spent the whole time worrying about me, only to have me throw myself headlong into danger.
I could kick myself for putting them through this, but I can’t allow people to assume they can challenge me at every turn. If I let them fight for me, I’ll never earn the pack’s respect as Luna.
Lana roughly lets go of my hair and shoves me forward. I manage to catch myself before all my weight lands on my already injured leg. If I didn’t think this was a bad idea before, the twinges I get when I fully put my foot down is reason enough to convince me. My vision narrows and focuses solely on her. I need my head in the game to defeat her. Dad trained me for stuff like this; I’ve fought bigger and scarier men than her. Focus on what moves to pull and how to successfully avoid a hit from her.
I drop my stance farther, hide the wince as my weight shifts, and watch as Lana continues to stand there with her hands positioned on her hips, and her chest pushed out. She makes a show of wiggling her hips slowly from side of side to try and grab Theo, Kenji, and Quimby’s attention. She turns her focus back to me and mocks me with a laugh, as if I’m stupid enough to fall for her flirtatious act towards them.
She’s waiting for the perfect moment when I think she won’t attack and drop my guard, offering her the perfect opportunity to go on the offence. I’m grateful I was kept away from the pack. I’m not known for fighting, but rather as the poor little, defenceless half-mutt.
Which gives me the upper hand.
I watch in mild fascination as she peels her dress off and throws it towards the boys with a wink. My anger boils up more, but she gave me an unknown advantage. Now that she’s dressed in only her underwear, it reveals how skinny she really is. By the looks of her body, she’s not eating the right number of calories to fuel her body’s needs as a shifter. It’s hard to injure a shifter when broken bones heal almost immediately. But with as scrawny as she is, I can at least bruise her, and she isn’t in top form to heal.
Her attention focuses back on me with a smirk. “Why don’t you do us all a favour and die like your mother? Hell, we’d all be better off. At least then we wouldn’t have to worry about the poor little helpless human here.”
My fingers jolt. They desperately want to wrap around her throat and throttle her. Instead, I beat the anger down and try to remain nonchalant. She smirks at the way my eye involuntarily twitches, I failed miserably. I could kick myself for giving it away, but I’ll channel the anger into beating the shit out of her instead.
She moves towards me, and I hold my ground in wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. The sweat runs down my back in anticipation; this fight will get bloody, fast. The guys won’t want to stand on the side-lines and watch, so I pray someone has the common sense to hold them back and keep them quiet. I can’t afford any distractions when so much is at stake.
Lana takes another step towards me. She assumes I’ll back down the closer she gets to me, but she’s wrong.
“Do you really think you can take me, mutt girl?” She giggles manically at me while she pushes her barely covered boobs out to grab the attention of the guys.
My nose wrinkles in distaste before I can stop it. I don’t know how the hell she can think her ribs can be attractive. I shouldn’t answer her, but I can’t help bait her. “I don’t think, Lana, I know I can. I might not be able to shift, but at least, I haven’t starved my body down to bones. I’ll take pleasure in beating your ass. And then, when I’m done, I’ll enjoy the rest of the afternoon with my boys.”
I know the moment my words register because her nostrils flare in the anger, her face scrunches up, and she flies at me in a fit of rage. Her body collides with mine, and her nails dig into my cheek. Ignoring the pain in my face, I grab her by the shoulders, throw my body backwards and flip her over my head.
Her body slams to the ground behind me, and I barely manage to bite back a whimper at the pain in my leg, weakness I can’t afford to show. Immediately, I jump back to my feet and turn to face her. My body drops back into a fighting stance.
Surprised when she doesn’t get up right away, I can see her chest heave for breaths. Maybe her body is even more fragile than I first considered? Either way, I can’t afford to underestimate her. In the end, she’s a shifter and, well, I’m not.
She warily gets to her feet and briefly narrows her eyes at me before she sneers. A warm wetness trickles down my cheek. She’s done some sort of damage, but I don’t allow her the satisfaction of lifting my hand up to check.
Lana places a hand on her hip and begins to ramble like I’m her best friend. “You know, I’ve known for a while you’re their mate. Sure, they’ve kept it quiet, but a certain Alpha told me if I eliminated you, I could have it all: the pack, the throne, the boys.”
It sounds like an everyday conversation between friends instead of her attempt to destroy my whole world. “He told me to be patient, and he’d handle it, but he hasn’t. You’re still fuckin’ here! Why couldn’t you just die when the house was attacked? The pups were only there as bait, they were supposed to kill you!”
My body has a mind of its own and launches an attack on her before my brain has a chance to catch up. I slam her to the ground and pin her with my body. Raining blow after blow on her face, neck, and shoulders. I don’t give her a chance to get a hit in because I took her completely by surprise.
The conniving little bitch had this all set up from the start. I don’t care she put my life at risk, but how dare she put the life of the babies at risk? Innocent little babies who shouldn’t have to be witness to the evil of the world because of one crazy bitch who has a crush and thinks she’s entitled.
Her body begins to shake beneath me, but I ignore it and continue to hit her. Repeatedly, full force in the face, using the weight of my body behind my blows. It’s only when I feel fur beneath my thighs I realise she’s shifting. I do the only thing I can to try and stop her shift. Grab her by the hair-come-fur on her head and slam her head into the ground.
Her head slams down twice before her nose grows into a snout and her mouth opens to razor sharp, canine teeth. My eardrums almost burst as Lana releases a howl, which abruptly turns into a whimper as I slam her head into the unforgiving ground for a third time.
&n
bsp; Several voices shout my name, but it barely cuts through the fog in my brain. Too worked up to take my attention away from Lana and too set on wanting to kill her.
Lana’s hind legs try to lift, and the sharp nails of her paws dig into my sides, desperately scrabbling to get me off her. A slight breeze against my sides tells me her claws have cut through my beautiful new cover up. My eyes narrow in on her; it solidifies the fact I want to kill her.
Lana tries to claw my face with her front paws, and I stop her by dropping my forearms and force her legs out. But it puts me at a disadvantage because I’m almost nose to snout with her. I just pray she doesn’t try to snap at my face, because I don’t think I’ll be able to avoid it.
Eye to eye with her, I can clearly recognise her desperation. There is no coming back from this. She’s got nothing to lose. She already lost because she shifted. Best-case scenario, Henrique kills her. Worst-case, he sends her out of pack territory, and she’s forced to fend for herself.
Who knows what will wait out there for her?
I almost feel sorry for her, but she’s brought it on herself. If only she could’ve accepted she’d never have a role as Luna. Too wrapped up in my thoughts, I unconsciously loosen my grip on her. Before I realise what’s happening, she writhes and twists underneath me. I’m barely able to move out of the way when she bites my shoulder. Her sharp teeth tear the skin of my collar. She was targeting my throat.
Six sets of roars drown out my scream of pain. Lana clamps down even harder on my shoulder as I desperately try to pull away. Her teeth grind against my bones, my skin breaks out in a sweat, and I convulsively swallow to force my breakfast to stay in my stomach. My body itches and trembles with the need to make her release me.
Momentarily helpless, I scramble to get my brain back together enough to find a way to free myself of this predicament. Lana rolls us, and my open wounds scrape against the ground, sending shards of pain through me.
She half drags herself up until she’s above me standing on four paws, and her jaw never once let’s go of my shoulder. Her nose snorts and huffs out against my bare skin, celebrating her victory at catching me off guard.
When their end comes, people say their life flashes before their eyes, but mine doesn’t. All I see is my lifeless body lying in a pool of blood, and Lana curled up around the boys. Instantly, my body burns.
She will never have what’s mine!
Ignoring the grind of her teeth in my shoulder, I pull on what bit of strength I have left, and my flesh tears even more as I reach up with my thumbs. Desperately, I dig them into her eyes.
She immediately releases me with a yelp. I roll onto my good side, away from her. It’s about to be over. With the way my body screams in pain, I can’t fight her. I pull my knees under me; one last chance to fight for my boys, to not give up.
Slowly, I get one foot positioned properly on the blood-soaked ground and attempt to stand. As my weight shifts onto my injured leg, it gives. Strong arms wrap around my waist and catch me. Through puffy tear-filled eyes I see my guys. All three of them curl their bodies around me, supporting my weight as I stand.
A whine, followed immediately by a yelp, causes me to push the guys to the side. The Alpha is in wolf form, and he has a whining Lana’s throat in his mouth.
I don’t know what possesses me, but I immediately step towards them. The guys hold my body upright and move us closer to where the Alpha holds Lana. There’s a kernel of gratitude she disobeyed the Alpha and shifted, but now he’s pissed. The way he holds her throat, he no longer wants to follow through on his first threat of banishment; he wants to kill her instead.
But I can’t allow it to happen.
Death is too harsh a consequence for a pack challenge, even if I want her dead. If Alpha Henrique does this to protect me, it sets a poor precedent for me as a future Luna. Banishment from the pack is the best thing.
“Wait!” Several people gasp and turn towards me in shock, especially because I shouted directly at the Alpha. I’m in a sticky situation, and I need to play by the rules. Otherwise, it could be my head on the chopping block next for being disrespectful.
“I-I’d like to put forth your earlier threat. If you offer her up the salvation of death, it will be a kindness for her. Go with your earlier judgement and release her from the pack. Banish her, and she’ll suffer. If she truly loves my men, she’ll suffer by not being with them like she predicted she would.” With nothing more to say, I slam my mouth shut, but I truly believe death will be far too easy for her.
Based on my feelings alone, I wouldn’t survive out in the wild without the guys, but if my body was like hers, I wouldn’t last more than a few days. I’m puzzled by why she let herself get into the mess she’s in. The only explanation I can come up with would be to either make herself appear more attractive or to sabotage her shifting abilities. Why would anyone want to do that, though? Making herself more appealing would be the logical reason because she wants the guys.
But even I can’t see them finding that attractive.
The Alpha shifts into part wolf, part man and stands to his full height. When he turns, he’s shredded his clothes, and I now have to divert my eyes away from his manhood.
His voice rings out, slightly deeper than normal because of the partial shift. “You sound like a true Luna, Tallulah, by putting the packs health before your own.” He stares down at a snivelling Lana. “Get up!”
Her body slowly shifts back to her human form, cowering before the Alpha. My nose wrinkles at how many bruises and cuts cover her bony body.
“Ten minutes. That is how long you will be allowed to pack a small bag, keepsakes only. You, Lana Ellis, are no longer a part of the Argent Pack.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- Tallulah -
The guys close ranks around me and cut my view off after the Alpha banishes Lana from the pack. Tremors go through their hands as they gently run them over me, in part to reassure themselves I’m still here with them. I terrified them by throwing myself into a fight. As for the other part, I’m not sure if they are trying to evaluate the damage or ingrain my shape into their minds.
It sinks in how foolish it was of me to accept her challenge. I let my bull-headed stubbornness decide my actions for me. But I couldn’t let her get away with it. Not the babies in danger, nor her slanderous words to me. A more reasonable part of me knew, if I didn’t accept, it’d show the rest of the pack I wouldn’t be a good future Luna.
Although, I’m kind of glad she lost her temper and shifted. If the Alpha had not added the condition, which limited her ability to fight, I wouldn’t be here now, to feel the arms of my mates around me. I only just found out about them, and I did stupid shit to jeopardise it.
Now dressed, Henrique commands, “You four, in my office. Now. Blaise, you make sure Lana finds her way out, without getting lost. I’ll call ahead and have Doctor Andro meet us there.” Then immediately turns on his heel, Rosalina and Leverette follow.
“Okay, guys, let’s do what your dad wants,” I mumble into Theo’s chest as the exhaustion goes through me. “Can someone contact my father? I don’t want him to worry when he hears about this.”
Kenji picks me up, and I wrap my one good arm around his neck. He places a tender kiss to my forehead and takes a deep breath. My ribs hurt, but I don’t mention it to them because I’m comfortable where I am. He walks us confidently across the yard, and Theo holds the door open for us. Once inside, Quimby shields my head with his hand when we step through doorways. Kenji wouldn’t bounce my head against the doorframes on purpose, but I appreciate Quimby’s gesture.
Moments later, I’m deposited into the seat situated in front of the desk where I spoke to the guys’ parents only yesterday. The only difference is today I’m not in the stupid wheelchair. It’s hard to believe it’s been only a day since the attack at the house. After everything that’s happened, it feels like a week.
Behind us, the door bursts open, and Doctor Andro flounces in with his
medical bag. “We need to stop meeting like this, Tallulah.” He drops the bag on the floor with a huff and a frown. “I might be the only doctor here, but surely I should be able to get through a crossword without you getting into some sort of trouble.”
He crouches down and lifts my leg up to inspect if I did any more damage to it first, before he moves further up my body and tries to assess the rest of my injuries. “Well, at least the leg appears alright. From what I can tell from how you sit, I can’t say the same about your abdomen and shoulder, though. They’ll both likely need stitches. You’ll need to lie down, so I can assess them better and make sure she hasn’t damaged any internal organs.”
Doctor Andro briefly offers me a hand so I can stand without putting too much strain on my stomach. Henrique and Leverette make quick work of moving all the paperwork out the way, so we can use their desk to fix me up. Once situated, Rosalina brings over a blanket for me to use to protect my modesty while the doctor cuts away the rest of my cover up.
Shock shoots through me when Doctor Andro leans down and takes a sniff at my midsection and shoulder. Confused, I demand, “What are you doing?”
“I have the ability to sniff out if any of your organs have been damaged in your fight. The last thing I need is to stitch you up and then have to cut you open to fix whatever damage I may have missed.”
His explanation surprises me. “Oh… And is there?”
He takes his glasses off and rubs his nose with his wrist. “You’ve been lucky. None of them are deep enough to cause any serious damage. I’ll need to clean them, stitch you up, and you’ll have to wear a dressing for a few days.”
Hydrogen peroxide stinks the room when he soaks the gauze, causing several bouts of sneezing around the room. I barely manage to hold back a hiss when he begins to clean my wounds. When finished, a small pile of used gauze sits next to me, and under the strong smell of the antiseptic, there’s a metallic tinge of blood. He quickly threads the needle, and I cringe when it pierces through my side. It’s not the first time I’ve had stitches; it feels annoying more than anything else.