I had trained for this moment, spending hours sparring with Dad, Rhodes, and other betas since I was ten. Luke had invited me to Brooks Ridge every summer so I could train with him and Dante.
It was strange; I always imagined I would feel nervous or jittery before a challenge. No Alpha ever went his entire life without a challenge. Either a beta with a massive ego or a lone wolf on a power trip would inevitably issue a challenge. Dad had seen his fair share.
But I didn’t feel any worry. Maybe because all my anxiety was currently focused on my missing mate, I didn’t have any left to spare on myself.
I rolled my neck, loosening the tight muscles on my shoulders as I shook my arms out.
My wolf was already awake, eager for the challenge. I had kept him locked down for too long. My only concern wasn’t if I won the challenge, but what would happen when I did.
A challenge ended when someone submitted or died.
Usually I would have focused on getting Lodge, or any opponent, to surrender, but I could feel the bloodlust in my wolf. If given the chance, he would go for a kill shot, and I probably wouldn’t be able to hold him back.
Fuck. I didn’t want to hold him back.
I scrubbed a hand down my face and started walking. I felt everyone fall into step around me. We didn’t stop moving until we reached the clearing behind the line of trees in the backyard.
There were at least three hundred shifters here, loosely standing in groups that fell silent as we broke through the treeline.
Lodge was on the other side of the clearing, his friends and mate standing at his side. They all paused to glare at me, like I issued the damn challenge, as we approached.
One person from his entourage broke away.
“Ainsley!” Lodge’s voice boomed across the clearing as she pulled away from him and started in our direction.
I raised my brows as she openly defied her father.
“Aren’t you on the wrong side?” Katy asked once Ainsley stopped in front of us.
Sighing, Ainsley glanced back over her shoulder then shook her head. “I love my dad, but he’s wrong.” Her eyes met mine briefly before skittering away in deference. “I think Remy is the one who needs to lead us now.”
“She could be a spy,” Katy said with a shrug, not giving an inch.
“Katy,” Larkin muttered, her voice full of reproach. “Stop.”
“I’m not a spy,” Ainsley snapped. “And it’s not just me.”
No, it wasn’t.
The other GPA students had slowly migrated to our side, along with most of my father’s betas and a solid chunk of the people who had come to watch. Having the support of the pack was humbling.
“You lead us at school, Remy,” Ainsley told me as Kyle, Konnor, and Will stood behind her. “We trust you.”
“And we’re sorry about your dad,” Kyle added.
His twin nodded in agreement. “He’ll pull through, man.”
I nodded back instinctively. The alternative wasn’t even an option I would entertain.
Michael approached from the side, giving me a tight smile. “Remy.” He glanced at his watch. “You need to get ready.”
“Yeah.” I pulled my shirt over my head, barely pausing before I kicked off my shoes and jerked down my jeans.
Katy and Larkin dropped their eyes; neither had any interest in seeing me naked. Ainsley whirled around when I growled at her curious gaze and finished stripping.
I didn’t really give a shit about shifting in front of my pack, and a year earlier I wouldn’t have cared that she was checking me out, but all of that changed with Skye.
My body wasn’t mine now; it was hers. She owned every part of my anatomy from skin to soul, and my wolf took offense to someone looking at what belonged to my mate.
Usually males and females separated when they took off their clothes to avoid mates getting territorial over wandering eyes, but the rules of the challenge stated that both parties had to shift in front of the pack so there was no denying or hiding who was fighting.
Unlike humans who came in a variety of shapes, colors, and details that could be changed and altered, wolf coats were only so many variances of so many colors. The rule was put in place generations earlier when an Alpha, who had been injured days before his fight, convinced his brother to take his place so he wouldn’t lose his place as Alpha when challenged. Their coats were identical and his brother won.
But the joke was on the Alpha when his brother shifted after his win and declared he had been fighting for his brother in challenges all along.
After that it happened with more frequency as families tried to usurp and protect each other indiscriminately. After years of this, the Council ruled on the issue and made it a Pack Law that both participants shifted in front of whomever was watching.
Shifting only took a few seconds, the snapping and ripping of my bones and muscles heating my blood as they reformed until my wolf form was all that remained.
It was instinct to reach out for Skye as soon as my paws landed on the soft earth.
The deafening silence that greeted us was crushing.
I funneled that pain into fury as I watched Lodge shift.
Katy moved in front of me, kneeling until she was eye level with me.
“Kick his ass, Remy,” she ordered. “If Skye comes back and finds out you lost to Lodge, she’ll be pissed.”
I snorted as Katy flashed me a grin and gathered my discarded clothes. She turned and tucked them beneath a large pine tree.
Michael moved to the center of the clearing, motioning for Lodge and I to move into the challenge area.
“William Lodge issued a challenge to Remington Holt for Alpha of the Blackwater pack. If either party wishes to withdraw, now is the time to do so. Withdrawal means an automatic forfeit.” Michael looked from me to Lodge.
Neither of us moved to step away.
With a nod, Michael continued, “Both parties will fight until submission or death. The victor will be declared Alpha of our pack.”
He gave me one last look and stepped back to the outskirts with the rest of the crowd.
Lodge stood ten feet away from me. His massive body easily had fifteen pounds on me, but it was aged muscle. All mass and no definition. He might have been heavier, but I was willing to bet I had more endurance and speed than he did.
And, judging by the dangerous growl rumbling from my chest, he didn’t have the rage my wolf did.
His gray ears flicked back and forth, his pale eyes narrowed as he watched me.
I kept still, not moving, not giving anything away. He would have to make the first move.
His initial lunge almost caught me by surprise.
I had misjudged how fast he could move, but I was still able to spin around before his teeth made contact with my shoulder.
But that first move showed me all I needed to know. Lodge was a straight-up fighter who relied on his size and brawn to fight. He wasn’t smart about his moves.
I had spent years learning to fight as a human and a wolf. Countless hours had been spent pushing my body to work better. Lodge probably hadn’t fought in close to a decade, and it showed.
I backed away, putting enough space between us that he had to charge me again.
It was easy to sidestep his second attempt. I swiped a massive paw at him, catching his shoulder. His weight and momentum were too much; he stumbled. With a snarl, he whirled and lunged at me again.
Instead of moving, I waited to twist until the last second. His front paws landed on the ground, and I managed to drive my body up into his. My jaws clamped onto his throat and dragged him into the dirt.
I shook my head, my jaws crushing his windpipe as he wheezed out a low whine. His legs scrambled for traction, but it was pointless.
Now the question was would he give up? Or would I need to rip his throat out?
Blood coated my tongue as he kept struggling. The more he writhed under me, the harder I clamped down and the more I shredded his throat.
A lo
w moan across the clearing caught my attention.
His mate, Ainsley’s mom, had covered her mouth in horror.
I had won, but Lodge wasn’t giving up.
If he didn’t give up soon, I wouldn’t be able to keep my wolf from ending this fight permanently. As it was, the taste of blood was driving us both into a frenzy that was making things hazy.
I gave another hard jerk, and he finally relaxed under me. He rolled onto his back as much as he could, the fight draining from him as he submitted.
My jaw tightened briefly, reminding him of his place in the pack. His pitiful whimper caught on the breeze as I released my hold on him and moved back as the sun dipped beneath the mountain. The dwindling rays of twilight barely illuminated the clearing.
Lodge rolled onto his belly with a low groan, his massive body heaving as he struggled to catch his breath.
I was barely winded.
Michael again moved into the center.
“Remington Holt is the victor,” he declared.
I started to head back, shifting when I was by my clothes. I pulled them on quickly and turned back to my pack. Flashing my friends a grim smile, I walked back to Michael, wiping my mouth with a towel Katy tossed me.
Lodge was just getting to his feet, swaying uneasily. Blood dripped from his throat. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but it would probably scar.
That made me smirk.
Michael inclined his head to me. “You are the Alpha of Blackwater.”
Lodge shifted back then, his body naked and bloody as he crouched on the ground. He pushed himself up to his knees and looked at me a second before lowering his head in surrender. Michael joined him a second later.
The others slowly dropped to a knee, heads bowed as they acknowledged me as their Alpha.
9
Skye
Cold seeped into my bones as I listened to Remy’s voicemail for the third time. I closed my eyes as a buzzing noise started in my ears. Panic clawed at me as my breath caught and the room started to spin.
I almost dropped Nikolai’s phone. At the last second, I felt someone pull it from my numb fingers.
“I can’t breathe,” I gasped, my legs starting to shake. My teeth chattered as ice water filled my veins. Everything that wasn’t frozen was hard and brittle, threatening to crack and shatter. The air in the room seemed to disappear as I tried to breathe.
“Fuck,” Dimitri muttered. “She’s having a panic attack.”
Gentle hands guided me back down to the sofa. My knees gave out, and I crashed onto the leather with enough force to click my teeth together.
If Remy wasn’t answering …
Oh, God.
“Look at me, Skye.”
The firm, commanding voice cut through the chaos in my head. I pried my eyes open to see gray eyes level with me, staring at me hard.
“That’s it,” Nikolai encouraged, his hands covering mine and warming them. “Breathe, little wolf.”
I sucked in a shaky breath, tears filling my eyes and spilling over.
I hated that I was falling apart now, showing weakness. I had held it together for so long, but it had never occurred to me that when I called, Remy might not answer.
That he might not be able to answer.
What if he was really hurt? And I was on the other side of the damn world? I was sitting here and he needed me.
I felt the wave of anxiety start to rise again. The air was sucked back out in a rush and I grew dizzy.
“Skye, breathe,” Nikolai ordered. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
My eyes snapped back to his.
“That’s my girl,” he encouraged, squeezing my hands. I focused on the feel of his rough hands surrounding mine. They were huge and calloused. This close I could see the different shades of gray swirling in his irises making them look like melted silver.
“Breathe in,” he commanded.
I managed to pull in a strangled breath.
“And out.”
I exhaled, the air wobbling as it escaped me.
“Good girl.” He smiled warmly and the effect was incredible. The light of his smile chased away the dark shadows lingering in his eyes and eased the tightness around his mouth.
I licked my lips. “I’m okay,” I whispered.
“I know you are,” he told me firmly. “You’re my daughter. I would expect nothing less.”
But I wasn’t just his daughter.
“I need …” I cleared my throat. “Can I call my mom?”
“Of course.”
Dimitri handed me the phone over Nikolai’s shoulder, giving me a worried smile.
“I’ll see if my guy can find out anything about who was on the plane that landed in Blackwater,” he assured me, already pulling his own phone from his pocket and turning away as he called Viktor.
My eyes dropped to the phone screen. The lock screen was just a black background with the time. 6:37 in the morning.
I frowned. “What time is it in Washington?”
Nikolai glanced down, his brow furrowing as he did some kind of mental math. “It should be early evening. Maybe seven or eight?”
I had lost track of time and time zones, but I was suddenly, exhaustingly aware that I was running on fumes. The only sleep I had gotten was when I was knocked out from the blast.
“I’ve been out of it for three days?” I stared at the date under the time, trying to reconcile the missing hours.
“Technically no,” Nikolai replied, pulling the phone from my hands and unlocking it before handing it to me. It was another black screen with a few apps in Russian.
“The states are a day behind us. You crossed several time zones on your journey,” he explained.
That only made me acutely aware of the headache I still had. “So, I’m in the future?”
He smiled again and chuckled. “Sort of.”
I stared at the phone. “I’m scared,” I confessed, not sure why I felt the need to confide in him.
“Of what?” He seemed genuinely curious.
“What if Mom doesn’t answer?” I whispered. A sickening thought ripped through me. “What if they took her back? The Council wasn’t going to make her go back, but maybe Linden already had it set up. He was working with Damien … He could have arranged to have her kidnapped like the others.”
“You mean your other pack? Long Mesa?” His lip curled in disgust. “You believe they would want her back?”
I stared at him for a beat. “You really have no idea what happened to her, do you?”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “I thought I did, but I’m beginning to have my doubts.” He closed my hand around the phone. “Call her.”
Nodding, I dialed her phone number and hit the ‘send’ button. I lifted it to my ear as it started to ring.
“Hello?”
I choked on a sob as Mom’s voice came across the line. “Mom?”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Skye? Baby, is that you?”
“Yeah,” I replied as I started to cry. I squeezed my eyes shut, reveling in the liquid comfort of her voice as I let the tears fall unchecked.
“Oh, thank God,” she whispered, her voice catching. “Honey, hang on, I’m with Mallory. I’m going to put you on speaker phone.”
A second later, I heard Mallory. “Skye! Sweetie, where are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” I replied quickly, swallowing down my emotions.
Nikolai gave me a soft smile and stood up, backing away to give me privacy.
“Where are you?” Mom demanded again.
“I’ll explain in a minute. Mom, where’s Remy? I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer. Is he …” I couldn’t say it.
“Baby, no,” she assured me quickly.
“Goddammit,” Mallory swore. “I bet he was in the middle of the challenge. They can’t have their phones there.”
“Hell.” Mom sounded as frustrated as I felt.
“What challenge?” I snapped, needing answers. “Is he okay?”
“Honey, he’s fine,” Mallory assured me. “One of the betas issued a challenge. He’s handling it.”
“Why would a beta challenge Remy?” I frowned into the phone.
Dimitri caught my words and turned curiously, watching me.
A pause stretched between us until I wondered if the call had dropped. I wasn’t sure how reliable cell service was out here in the middle of the freaking mountains.
“Skye, Remy is the Alpha now,” Mom finally said softly.
It was like someone punched me in the stomach. Air whooshed out of me so fast I felt sick. “What?”
“Gabe was hurt in the explosion,” Mallory added quietly, her voice breaking. “He’s … he’s in a coma. Remy and Dante brought him home.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“What about Luke?”
Another pause, but this time I knew the answer.
“No,” I moaned, shaking my head.
“He passed early this morning,” Mom told me.
“How am I going to tell Tate?” I wondered as tears kept rolling down my cheeks.
“Tate’s with you?”
I nodded, and then realized she couldn’t see me. “Yeah.” My gaze moved to Dimitri again.
“Skye, where are you? I’ll come and get you tonight,” Mom swore. “Are you safe?”
“Yeah, I’m safe, but … it’s a long story, Mom.” I sighed and looked at Nikolai. His metal eyes stared back at me. “I’m with Nikolai, Mom.”
Her breathing hitched. When she found her voice, it was hushed and strained. “What did you just say?”
“I’m in Russia. With my … father,” I finished slowly.
Nikolai’s mouth twitched.
“Russia?” Mallory exclaimed, stunned.
“But you’re with Nik?” Mom pressed, her tone deceptively calm. She was trying not to freak out.
“Yeah. He’s right here. This is his phone.”
“He took you?” Her voice vibrated with building anger.
“It’s a little more complicated than that, Mom,” I answered uneasily. “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but I need to talk to Remy.”
“There’s no telling how long the challenge will last,” Mallory murmured.
My heart sank. Remy was on his own, now in charge of our pack, and already dealing with challenges. And I was here. Completely, totally, uselessly here.
Legacy (Blackwater Pack Book 3) Page 7