Then she played dirty and slammed her fist right into the place she’d hit with the crowbar.
I wish I could say I took the blow quietly—that I didn’t scream out and cower before her, but I did. I might’ve even blacked out for a second there.
Aggie continued to roar from the crowd. “Natalya, damn it, fight!”
Lights danced in my vision, but I managed to thrust the back of my head into her chin. The sensation jarred my skull, but the effect jolted her enough for me to free myself. I scrambled to the other side of the circle. The blood from my arm dampened my coveralls and trailed down my side. The healing process was much too slow in human form, but I had to use the advantage, since Erica, as a more dominant female, was stronger in wolf form. I couldn’t allow her to change. Before she could initiate the transformation process again, I ignored my leg and ran full speed and rammed into her hunched body. She sidestepped my movement, caught me, and slammed me into the bitterly cold snow. Erica pounced again, this time wrapping her hands around my throat. Her legs held mine subdued, and all I could do was stare her down while she choked me.
“Your life belongs to me,” she whispered. “In your death, I will live on.” Her eyes, once blue and regal, became amber. She said more words, but I missed them as she faded away. Everything went numb except the sensation of her blood dripping on my face. “And as you die by my hand you’ll know it was I who killed you. It was me who flooded your little piece-of-shit house.”
Give up, whispered the wolf. Play dead. Set me free.
Erica giggled, sweet and melodic. “It wasn’t too hard to release the locks on one of the levies. And watch the water spill forth.”
My flailing arms ceased while I faded again. I heard the cries of my grandmother begging Erica to let me live. The nonchalant snort from my aunt Yelena. My brother had attempted to intervene as I laid still. Slow your heartbeat. Calm yourself. Slow down.
The spell that Grandma had taught me flowed through my head and emerged from my lips. No matter how much she’d beaten me down she couldn’t take away the fire I had within. The spell calmed me and helped suppress the wolf that never surrendered. The wolf wanted to fight, but now wasn’t the time. Soon my chance would come. Nick was right, if I believed enough, the magic was there waiting for me.
As expected, Erica shook my shoulders. When I didn’t twitch, she stood to scream out, “I win!” She kicked my side, the force propelling me onto my belly. With wide, staring eyes, I watched my blood turn the snow crimson. I breathed into the snow once and then no more. Let her gloat. “Let me go to her,” Alex snarled. “If she’s dead, it shouldn’t matter.”
Not far away, I spied Thorn with his fists clenched. He hadn’t intervened—there was no sorrow on his face. From the way his gaze bore into mine, he probably knew what I was about to do next.
The roar of the crowd dulled the sounds of my heartbeat. Erica would never see me coming. I set the wolf free. Unchained the vengeful animal within. Rage over the flood that had occurred a few months ago and ruined my belongings. All my precious ornaments. All the cleaning my family had done on my property. All those new memories I had due to the flood. I should thank her for bringing my family together—after I beat the living shit out of her. I slammed into her back. With my left hand wrapped around her golden mane, I lifted her head up and belted her face with the other. Again and again.
The stunned crowd fell silent to see Lazarus had risen from the dead. The change enveloped me. Fur sprouted along my back. The bloodlust filled my vision with crimson. Soon enough the hissing from my bruised throat turned into grunts as I gave into the fury. Must. Kill. Her.
But then I stopped.
The landscape around me turned white again. The all-consuming anger left as quickly as it had come. It took me a moment to realize I’d won this time. My gaze went to my hand, which held a thick portion of her hair. I dropped it. My opponent gasped in wet breaths, but didn’t stir.
Somehow, I found my voice. “I refuse to lower myself to treat you as you’ve treated me.”
Everyone, except Thorn, stared with wide eyes. My mother and aunts huddled together with handkerchiefs over their faces, drying their damp cheeks. They’d mourned too soon.
Even Auntie Yelena, who’d cheered—for Erica—had been silenced.
Farley finally spoke. “Kill her, Natalya. End this now.”
I didn’t waver. “No.”
Every head bowed before Farley except two—Thorn’s and mine. “No? You defy me?”
“If you want her to die, you come kill her.” With my entire body yearning for me to rest on the bitterly cold snow, I stood my ground with a straight back.
Farley nodded to Rex and Will. “Finish this, now! A challenge has been made. According to the Code, the challenge must be completed.”
Before they touched Erica, Thorn stepped in front of us. “That’s enough.” He growled deep in his throat. “It’s over!”
“Thorn! Stand down.” Farley’s withered body shook with anger. Erica’s father seethed as well. Their deal had been broken—in front of everyone. Farley poked his cane at Rex and Will. “This has gone on long enough.”
Thorn thundered, “The alpha female has been chosen by me and, as my father decreed five months ago, I am the new alpha male.” He shifted his gaze to his father. “Unless you want to stand before me and contest your decision.” A battle of wills ensued as father and son stared each other down. In all my years, I’d never witnessed a fight for the position of alpha. Whines and growls of anger accompanied the tension in the air. But it was the elderly wolf Farley who backed down and bowed his head.
“We had an arrangement—” Erica’s father cried.
“Oh, shut up!” Aggie pushed him into a snowdrift. He attempted to stand, to snap at her, but Will jumped between them. “It’s over, Blake. Go get your daughter. She needs medical care.” Erica’s father rose, but his gaze never left Aggie’s as he walked backward to where I guarded his daughter.
When he got close, I stepped back so he could pick her up and cradle her in his arms. Becky approached, with her eyes averted, and wrapped Erica’s coat around her still body.
In one fell swoop, the cold air and my injuries gripped me in a savage vise. I clung to Thorn’s back as my legs became warm custard.
“Nat!”
“No!” I ground my teeth together as the chill bit into the soles of my feet. “Don’t turn around. This is my time. My moment. Don’t take it away by babying me.”
“Still the same stubborn Nat. You do realize you’re bleeding all over the place.” He chuckled and placed his hand over mine to make sure I didn’t let go.
“No shit, Captain Obvious.”
When Erica’s father carried her away, I took an unsteady step to reach for my shoes. Thorn grabbed them for me. Gently he placed my coat over my shoulders.
“You want to try to put them on?”
I grunted—even that hurt my ribs. “Bending over right now isn’t a good idea.”
My limp was painfully obvious, but I managed to walk through the crowd with my head high. What happened next was something I wasn’t sure how to take in.
In between the shouts of congrats from the pack, I noticed that no one made direct eye contact with me. Every man, woman, and child lowered their head when I passed. The whole scene felt surreal.
But then I stopped before Auntie Yelena. Proud Auntie Yelena Torchinovich. Our gazes locked for a moment, and I could almost hear her virulent words, “They tolerate you since they pity you.”
This time I didn’t back down—I didn’t turn away. After everything I’d been through, she could take me down with a single flick. But tonight I’d been pushed over the edge and survived. No one could take away my victory.
Auntie Yelena trembled, and then slowly turned to gaze at the forest ground, exposing her long neck. Thin fingers pushed her coat down to further expose her collarbone. Her acquiescence to me was complete.
The whole time, Thorn didn’t speak or l
ook my way.
At the edge of the crowd, I found my parents waiting. They quickly surrounded me in a hug. My knees buckled again, but Mom and Dad held me up without the others noticing. Grandma reached between them to sprinkle kisses along my forehead.
I managed to whisper, “Thank you, babushka.”
“No worries; you rest for now.” She blew me another kiss then hugged for my brother.
I thought my father would offer to carry me to a car so they could take me to the healer’s house, but instead he took Thorn’s hand and extended mine to him.
“She’s yours to take care of now.” He gave Thorn a stern look that melded into a grin. “Be careful, though, if she’s like her mother you may need to keep her busy in the kitchen.”
I rolled my eyes as Mom swatted Dad’s arm.
Thorn kissed my forehead, and I winced. Every step to his SUV was pure torture until he set me down on the passenger’s seat. Instead of closing the door after me, he stopped and stared.
“Did you doubt me?” he asked.
I didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I kinda did, but that doesn’t matter now. I know the truth about my heart.”
“What’s that?”
A smile snuck on my face. “You never lost it. You just kept it.”
With that wide grin of his, he shut my door then moved around the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. Once the car was started, he set the heater on full blast. “Looks like I have some work ahead to patch you up.” He took my hands and rubbed the palms. “I want to make everything right between us. We got a lot of talking to do.”
Yeah, we had many conversations ahead of us. But then again, didn’t all relationships have baggage—or in my case, baggage in the form of boxes? “We’ll figure things out, but there is something I need to make clear right now.”
“What’s that?”
I took a deep breath. Right after I won the fight I knew I’d need to say this. “I’m not completely ready yet to be alpha female. And after a night like tonight, I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.”
With a slight smile, he set out to reassure me, whispering, “You won’t ever need to do anything you don’t want to, not anymore.”
I returned his smile. “Thank you for understanding.”
As I settled into the seat and turned my head to look at Thorn more directly, I knew pain still loomed in the future. He still had a blackened wound on his soul that would eventually eat away at him, and even though I now had him back, I knew our time together would be all too brief. All because of me.
Dark thoughts threatened to creep further into me, but I pushed them away. I’d won a major victory tonight. Thorn was all mine, and I planned to have it that way. If I kept my wits about me and quickly found a solution to his problem, I could keep him forever.
And I would find a way to save him. One thing I knew for sure was that the Stravinskys never backed down when it came to family.
As Thorn pulled out of the parking lot, he smiled and tapped the steering wheel to Creedence Clearwater Revival belting out “Midnight Special.” “I know you’re tired and all, but I have an important question to ask you,” he said. “How the hell do we live with my stuff and your ornaments?”
I snorted—and it even hurt to do that. “Oh, we’ll make it work. You’ll make room after you see this adorable red and green bra and panties set I’ve been dying to show you.”
He appeared somewhat satisfied with my response and flashed me a wide grin. “I think with those kinds of terms, I’m more than willing to find some space.”
To Ade, Deji, and Ronke,
I love you and thanks for
not burning the house down
while I wrote this book.
Acknowledgments
Coveted was a wild ride, but Kept even more so.
First of all, I have to thank my husband, Segun, and my kids. Your patience and willingness to eat out and take care of yourselves when I’m busy writing is appreciated. Also, I have to thank my mother as well as my extended family, who have offered their support and time. I’ll never forget your kindness. To my critique partner-in-crime, Sarah Bromley, you’re the best support system a gal could have. Huge thanks go to Amanda Bonilla for quickly reading Kept and offering critical feedback that helped make my manuscript shine.
To my critique partners Amanda Berry, Dawn Blankenship, Kristi Lea, and Jeannie Lin, you ladies rock! Thanks for supporting my work and keeping me in line.
I have to express my gratitude to my agent, Jim McCarthy. Jim, you make me want to work harder to be the best. I appreciate that. You ride the keep-it-real train and I value your advice.
Kept is such a great book thanks to my editorial team at Del Rey/Ballantine! First of all, an enthusiastic high five goes to my editor, Tricia Narwani. Tricia, you have a great eye for editing and I’ve learned so much from you! Thank you for having faith in me and my work. Thanks also goes to Mike Braff for his hard work.
My fabulous cover is astounding! Huge thanks go to Gene Mollica and the design team at Random House for such a mesmerizing cover. I’m still staring at it on most days.
Thanks to my Magic & Mayhem Writers blog sisters: Amanda Bonilla, Amanda Carlson, Nadia Lee, and Sandy Williams. You’re a cheering squad that makes the journey a less bumpy one. Also, I’m so appreciative of the ladies of Missouri RWA for reading the opening of Kept and giving me wonderful feedback. Several authors have also given their valuable time to read Coveted and I want to thank them: Angie Fox, Michelle Rowen, and Ann Aguirre. Maggie Mae Gallagher, I will remember what you told me when we had our “talk.” Thank you for your words. Another round of thanks goes to Tom Czuppon.
And finally, to the two laptops I’ve pretty much destroyed as I wrote my first two books, you were good while you lasted, but I guess not good enough. The 4-key that popped off had it coming and got what it deserved.
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