The lights behind the bastard’s eyes flickered out immediately.
Such a wound was too grievous to survive, and she’d wanted him out of the way. He’d been the one high on something during their last meeting. That wasn’t something she wanted to have to handle on the arena. The Gods only knew if he’d have some kind of fucking apoplexy and turn super strong on her ass.
With both Haraldsson and Kinnock out of the way—well, Kinnock almost, he was laying on his back staring up at the stadium ceiling which had to hurt his eyes considering the floodlights—she returned to her original stance. The blood on the sword ran free and she held it, tip downward, so that it didn’t roll over her hands. Her palms were sweaty from exertion, her body too, but this wasn’t a dance that tired her.
She’d fought too often with Theo to be fatigued now, but that didn’t mean in the humidity of the city, in the lights of the stadium, at the center of an arena filled to the brim with Lykens who all ran hot, she wasn’t feeling the heat. Because she was.
She wanted a long, cool drink. ASAP. And after she took the trash out, she’d get one.
When she was back in position, she pushed the tip into the sand and leaned on it. Nonchalantly staring at Stevenson, she murmured, “Care to rethink surrendering? You could have all walked out of here. I’m a woman of my word.”
“What fucking word?” the Alpha growled. “You’ve a cunt. That means your word means nothing.”
She smirked at him. “This cunt is your next fucking leader. You think I’m going to let you do more than beg for mercy now?” Thalia laughed, and the adrenaline that whipped through her made her shiver with delight.
Gods, this felt good.
She felt right here. Like she wasn’t missing her She-Wolf, like the natural aggression in her veins had a way to vent free. The past few days, the situation with her baby’s fated, it was a problem that made her feel like her hands were tied.
She hated that.
Loathed it.
She was a Lyken. Simple. To the point. They didn’t play games. Or at least, didn’t get off on it. They knew what they wanted and went after it. That was how it worked.
Here? This? It was exactly that. Simple. These fuckers had tried to have her killed, the coward’s way, and now she was making them pay.
Humming with happiness, and knowing that was insane but refusing to be bothered about it, she called out, “Getting humans to do your dirty work, what kind of Alpha does that?”
His eyes flared wide with ire as the murmurs in the stands turned into a roar of outrage.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” He looked to the stands, a beseeching expression on his features. “I’m innocent. I was your Alpha. When have you ever known me to do anything like what she’s suggesting?”
“I have proof. I have a paper trail.” She grinned at him. “Oh yes. One my mate found, actually. Leading you right to the bastards who shot me. Your money. Their bank account. Now, why would a Lyken Alpha have any dealings with human hunters?” She patted her chin with her other hand. “Could it be this isn’t the first time you’ve dealt with people who don’t kowtow to you?”
She knew she was bang on the money when his nostrils flared.
“I’d almost commend you for it, if you hadn’t been so fucking sloppy,” she spat at him. “A paper trail? Could you be anymore stupid? You thought you could take out the Triskele of the North American Pack, and you didn’t think there’d be any questions?” She snorted. “You’re too stupid to live.” With that free hand, she beckoned him forth. “I’m getting bored. Let’s end this.”
At her fingers, at the come-hither motion she made with them, his nostrils flared again.
Then, he shifted.
And five hundred pounds of pissed off Wolf came her way.
****
Rafe
“I don’t think I can look,” Rafe whispered.
Theo, snorting, murmured, “She’s toying with him.”
“I know she is.”
“Just stay out of her mind. She only fucked up last time when you spoke to her.”
Rafe scowled at Mikkel. “Do you think I’m a moron? Of course I’m staying out of her mind.” As the sound of a Wolf’s keening howl echoed around the stadiums, he flinched, then looked up.
He knew Thalia could handle herself. Was under no illusion to that fact. He wasn’t scared for her, just didn’t particularly appreciate her fighting three males who, in his life, had treated him like shit.
Knowing he was safe from that didn’t diminish the power of the past.
He wanted her to do this even as he cringed at it.
When a yelp echoed around the arena, he looked up, unable to help himself. Stevenson was limping. Rafe didn’t know what she’d done, but his leg looked… broken? He was trying not to stand on it. The Gods only knew how she’d managed that. When she’d knocked Haraldsson off her like she was a DiMaggio at the home plate, he’d known that whatever kind of training she’d had, had been out of this world.
Fitting, really. Theo taught her on Heden, after all.
Her confidence, her ease with the weapon, and her strength?
It got to him like dynamite.
The need to taste her was a heavy pulse in his blood. His mouth watered with the urge to sample that iron-strong lifeblood that hummed with her power. And then, he jolted, because for the first time, Thalia spoke with him.
She opened the channel between them.
Not him.
I can feel your desire.
Caelus, Thalia! Concentrate.
Don’t need to. Old man’s waning. Just toying with him for a bit. Gotta make the people realize they can’t fuck with us.
Us.
Gods, how she managed to make him feel like a man when he’d been a pussy all his life, he wasn’t sure. But she did it every fucking time.
I need you to focus. He’s a trickster. That’s how he wins. Focus on him.
I will. In a minute. You want my blood again, don’t you?
Could he lie?
Her laugh tumbled down the channel between them. You can’t hide that from me. I could feel it. I could feel it when you started craving it.
He shuddered. Watch Stevenson, he repeated, but the lust crawling through his veins made him feel overheated.
I will, she promised, then I’ll watch you. I want you to do what you did to me the other night.
His eyes opened. Whatever the hell the other night had been, he wasn’t sure if he could replicate it.
He knew something had happened, he just didn’t remember what.
Something was going on with him. Him and Mikkel. The male had always been gnarly, but he was getting bloodthirsty. Was that to do with him meeting his father? Rafe had no idea. All he knew was, at the moment, Theo was the most stable of Thalia’s mates.
And he loathed that.
He’d always wanted to be a haven for her. A safe and peaceful place for her.
Now?
He’d done something to her in bed that had made them both sleep for close to a full day, and when she’d awoken, she’d been so sore she’d waddled out of bed! Then, when he’d tried to heal her, she’d stopped him, saying she liked the ache.
What the hell was that about?
I wanted the memory of it, she told him, her voice losing the purr and turning dead serious.
None of this makes sense.
Doesn’t have to, does it? I wanted to feel you deep inside. I wanted to remember how you made me feel. A day of hobbling around was worth it.
He shook his head, unable to comprehend that. A movement from Stevenson had him gasping and his heart racing. Thalia! Watch out!
But she had it in hand.
Stevenson rushed her. He leaped at her, aiming his body her way. Momentum and his weight knocked her on her back and just as fear for her, just as the terror that she’d have her throat torn out and yield a wound that was impossible for him to heal—like decapitation—he saw it.
At hi
s side, Mikkel laughed. Theo shook his head, but snorted.
The tip of her sword had gone all the way through Stevenson’s belly.
With a surge of power, she pushed him off her and dragged the sword out of the killing stroke. Except, on the way out, she twisted it as she leaned down and spat something at the dying Alpha.
As she wiped her sword on the Wolf’s fur, she reminded him of some kind of ancient warrior Queen. Had Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, been like this?
Furious, throbbing with her outrage at the Romans who had invaded her land, raped her daughters, butchered her men?
Had she stood there, a righteous Valkyrie intent on righting wrongs?
She was his mate, and he loved her, but earlier, she’d been right. The power would and could get to her head. Already she was changing. Not for the worse, but she was getting stronger.
Not even losing her She-Wolf, being separated from the beast, had taken her down for long.
And this situation with Morningstar?
That was only going to change things more.
He needed to be that haven of peace for her. He needed her to know that she could be free when she was with him. She didn’t have to fight, look strong, or put on a front.
I know, darling. And you worry too much. I know I’m changing. But as are we all. We’re merging into a unit, and that unit is going to change the status quo.
So saying, with the roar of the crowd soaring around her, she pushed her sword back into the scabbard she’d placed over her shoulders rather than at her hip as she’d trained with in Heden, and held out her arms. Turning in a full circle, she eyed the stadium with her arms still aloft.
“My people, for that is what you are. My brothers. My sisters. You are not ranked to me. You are my kin. My family. And today, unlike last time, I did not do this for you. I admit that. I avenged myself. I avenged the Triskele. I proved to the world at large that this rank cannot be taken out by corrupt officials.
“I proved that this position is sacrosanct, and that I will defend it with my life and with my sword. You, my people, are why this position exists. I am here for you. I fight for you. For all of you. I know this video will be transmitted around the world. I know Gammas, Omegas, Betas, and Alphas alike will watch this and wonder at my agenda.
“But, let it be known, there is no agenda. I have no desire to do anything, to be anything other than what my pack needs. I am not a tyrant. I did not do this to show my might. I do this because these men thought they could take my life from me. I protected my people, and they tried to kill me for it.” Her head sliced to the side. “No.” She paused, her teeth clenching as she bit off, “I will kill to protect each and every one of you. And I will kill to protect me and my own.” She dipped her chin and started to stride through the arena, passing her kills, and heading toward the gate that had opened for her less than thirty minutes ago.
Much had changed in that time, yet had stayed the same too.
He got to his feet, nodded at the Summerford Pack Alpha who was looking as winded as the rest of the crowd. Behind him, Theo and Mikkel followed suit as they traipsed down the corridor that ended at the gate that led to the arena.
By the time they’d made it, Thalia was stepping inside, her eyes squinting as they adjusted to the difference in atmospheric light.
She was covered in blood. Again. As she’d been so recently in this same location—except, it wasn’t recently, it was months ago, and she was utterly unlike the Thalia who’d stumbled through that same passageway, covered in the blood of a Beta who’d had a hard-on for all things Gamma.
That night, she’d shivered and shaken. Had dealt with her first kill.
Now?
There was no shaking. No shivering. Just a gleam in her eye that spoke of a job well done.
And how could he blame her?
The words spilled from his lips before he could catch them, “Let’s go home.”
She frowned. “We are, aren’t we? Back to your place?”
He turned to look at Theo. “No. Our other home.”
Theo nodded, but Mikkel murmured, “What about the situation here?”
“That’s not going anywhere, is it? We have other, more important things to deal with at the moment.” He’d been thinking about this. “We need to stop Morningstar. That’s our priority.”
“The Gammas need us,” Mikkel countered.
“We can return to this very day. But we must go home now.” He firmed his lips. “The Dark Fae… are they the ones who whisper in Betas’ ears? Did they encourage Torres to beat me, to rape those females? Were they the ones who pushed Stevenson into contacting his hired guns?” Just as she’d done in the arena, his head swiftly swiped to the side as he declared, “Enough. We need to regroup. We need to figure out a plan.” And, he said to himself, we need to keep Thalia safe.
She eyed him. Warily. Not because she didn’t trust him, he thought, but because she was weighing his words. “Time won’t change a thing for us,” Theo murmured, seeming to read her concerns.
“I know. I just don’t understand why we aren’t dealing with this now. Let’s not put off for tomorrow, what can be done today.”
He cocked a brow at that quote. “We could return to this realm yesterday, sweetheart,” he rasped. “We have other priorities.”
“I’ll always be pack,” she countered, her jaw clenching. “No matter how much things change, I’ll always be Triskele and the future leader here.”
“Of course,” Theo inserted before Rafe could say a word. “But here, you have less concerns. Rafe is correct. We have direct threats to you and our child. We must deal with these issues now. If those aren’t addressed, you will not be here to resolve the situation in the pack.
“You are our priority, dearling.”
The arctic blue eyes turned to Mikkel. “You’re quiet over there, soldier.”
Mikkel, studying the blood on her form, murmured, “Whatever gets me inside of you the quickest, I’m game for.”
Rafe winced at Mikkel’s crudeness. “Do you ever not think with your cock?”
The other male just shrugged. “Not when she’s looking like some kind of marauding harpy.” His nostrils flared. “The scent of her. It’s like fire.”
The three of them froze at his words. “You can scent her arousal?”
He cut them each a look, nodding, but he said, “I can scent more than that. And I want a taste of it.”
The arctic melted as she studied him. Rafe watched the hardness from the fight, the adrenaline, dissipate at his words. It was her turn to bite out, “Heden. Now.”
Relief filtered through him, and they turned to Theo. Then, as she had a way of doing, Thalia surprised him. Her nerves bled through as she murmured, “I-I’ve never really been totally conscious when this has happened before. I feel like traveling through time will be easier than crossing over to Heden.”
Theo tilted his head to the side. “Not even with Magda? You weren’t conscious?” The rage he felt at that had his eyes flickering from mossy green to silver.
“I was mesmerized. Then, there was some kind of vortex. I-I don’t really know what it was. It was like something from a movie. It sucked us up and I passed out again.” She blew out a gusty breath. It puffed out her chest, making her breasts pop out—but what he noticed was the blood on them. The strands of fur from the dead fuckers who’d thought they had the right to butcher her in the most dishonorable way ever. The stains of sweat from her honorable challenge.
Caelus, how could he hiss and spit at Mikkel for thinking with his cock, when his was doing the same thing now?
But even as he contemplated getting her under him, over him, hell, between him and one of the others, those needs were put on the back burner.
“Thalia!”
The voice jolted them all. But only he and Thalia recognized it. They shot one another surprised glances, then they turned around and looked at the reigning TriAlpha as they strode down the corridor toward them.
; 10
Thalia
“What are you doing here?” If her voice was wooden, then that was because the sight of her fathers here came as a hell of a surprise.
She’d have expected to see Santa Claus before she’d have thought to see her fathers heading for her, the look of intent on their face making her edgy.
“We wish to speak with you.” Damien, as ever, was soft-spoken.
Had he always been like that?
Sometimes, she had memories from when she was really young. Of him laughing and joking, of him teasing her mother, of playing with her and making her giggle and laugh.
What had happened?
Had she truly ruined their lives?
For so long, she’d been in her own quagmire of pity and fury that she’d not really thought of looking at it from their side. They’d denied her everything. Freedom, friendship, a future. That was all she’d seen. Their lack of faith, their fear of her strength…
Now? With her men at her side, her world view was growing broader.
Rubbing her forehead to massage away the ache gathering there merely made her realize she was covered in blood and gore—her fingers slid over her temple like she was covered in oil, but it was really one of the challengers’ lifeblood that had spurted onto her.
“We’re leaving,” Theo told them, his voice gruff, authoritative.
Her eyes widened at the tone, because no one ever spoke to her fathers like that, and that was only confirmed when they, as one, stiffened, their shoulders straightening in outrage.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll excuse you pups when I understand the reason you treated your daughter like a third-class citizen.” Theo’s nostrils flared with distaste. “She’s my mate now. You cannot hurt her. She answers to a higher power than you.”
His words stunned her further.
She answers to a higher power than you?
What the fuck was that about? Did he mean that? Or did he mean Isaura was her Queen?
Gnawing at her bottom lip, she watched Luca, the most aggressive of them all, stalk forward. Before he could take a step closer, however, he froze. A wind appeared from nothing, in the tunnel they were in only a tiny draught should have been possible. Instead, that breeze was like a hammer strike. It dragged her father back, and no matter how hard he tried to push against it, using his body like a battering ram of sorts, the wind gave no quarter. His hair blasted back, the skin of his face rippling with the power of the air pummeling him.
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