by M. L. Briers
When the fist came out of nowhere, connecting with her jaw in a brief moment of blinding pain, there was only one thought that entered her mind and that was for Max, before the world went black around her and she crumpled to the floor.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Doug heard the obvious sounds of two wolves fighting. The scent in the air, as he gained ground towards them, left him in no doubt that both sides had drawn blood. How much and who was worse off was yet to be determined.
Moving with caution he made his way towards the battling Alpha’s. The last thing he needed was to come out in the middle of the battle, especially as this one was to the death and he knew that neither wolf would be pulling their punches.
It was his duty to witness the kill. His alpha might have thought he had to wage this battle alone, but that wasn’t necessarily Doug’s view. A rogue was everyone’s problem, and there was nothing wrong, or dishonourable about attacking as a pack, to take down a rogue.
But he knew where Max was coming from, ordering everyone else to back off from engaging Mike due to the fact that the young Lycan was an alpha in his own right. But Doug had no qualms about getting in the thick of it if by some chance the rogue looked like he might take out his alpha.
The sound of a yelp of pain followed by a whimper and then a snarl all from Mike’s wolf told him that Max was at least holding his own against the feral beast and it heartened him as he drew towards the clearing ahead. His eyes took in the scene with rapid need.
Max looked a little worse for wear as he swiped one large paw and a set of razor sharp claws down the rogue’s ribs, opening up a glistening mosaic of red through the grey and black fur.
Blood clung to Max’s fur and Doug couldn’t tell if it was the alpha’s own blood or that of his Beta. Doug cursed himself for thinking of this rogue in those terms anymore. He was no longer park of their pack, and he was no longer a Beta. He was a feral beast without the humanity that kept a wolf grounded to reason and morals.
Max saw the opening and went for it. The right side of the rogue’s neck was exposed as he threw his head back and let out a yelp of pain. Instinctively Max knew that the next move by the beast would be to snap his head around and his jaws would be looking for any piece of Max’s flesh he could sink his fangs into.
Striking hard and fast, Max dug his front claws into the earth and launched himself at the beast, opening his jaws wide before snapping them shut as his fangs sunk into flesh, clamping down hard as the weight of his body propelled the beast to the floor with Max over him.
Max had a heartbeat to decide what to do. He had the beasts neck, but not his throat, if he released his flesh to try to rip out the wolf’s throat he might lose the upper hand, if he tore out what he had he was almost certain he would take the major vein with him.
Max gave a powerful shake of his head and tore away the flesh. The kill would take longer, but at least this way the rogue stood no chance of retaliating or worse, getting away from him.
Max’s heart thundered within his ears as he realised that the battle was over and the rogue wouldn’t be getting up from this fight. Taking a step forwards he clamped his jaws down over the beasts throat and tossed his head, ending it quickly for the man he had known Mike to be.
Doug watched his alpha back away from the kill and tossed his head back; howling into the night with both loss and victory for the kill. Doug’s wolf joined him in chorus, announcing to the pack that the challenge had been met, that the alpha had won, and that once again they were safe.
Max looked down at the beast, he couldn’t help but mourn the loss of a brother, the loss of a friend, and the loss of a beta.
‘It needed to be done, Max.’ Doug offered as he kept his distance from his alpha, knowing that the bloodlust would not have fully receded within him yet after that kind of challenge.
‘I know.’ Max didn’t have the capacity for words at that moment. This was no ordinary rogue that had wandered onto their land. He was of them and every member of the pack would mourn his passing. He would be buried in the Lycan tradition, with honour for the man and wolf he once was.
‘Your injuries?’
‘Minor. They will heal by the end of the moon tonight.’ Max couldn’t tear his eyes away from his kill, his brother….
‘You should get back to your mate.’ Doug offered giving Max something else to think about, something good to concentrate on to bring him back from the dark place he knew his alpha to be in.
‘We will bury him with honour. He never took a pack life.’ Max backed away slowly. Finally able to pull his eyes from his dead beta too look at Doug.
‘Sounds right.’ Doug agreed, taking one last look at mike’s beast before he turned his back on him. “So how goes it with your mate?” Doug asked over his shoulder as he started away from the clearing, making sure that he heard Max’s paws on the earth behind him before he picked up the pace.
‘She’s marked…’ He confirmed and heard the faintest snort from his Beta before he tossed him another backwards look of interest.
‘So we are keeping her then?’ Doug heard the low growl of annoyance from his alpha and wanted to throw his head back in a howl of laughter, but now wasn’t the time.
‘Did you doubt it brother?’ Max asked, even though he himself had doubted it, the way Doug and Lisa had acted he didn’t believe they had for one moment.
‘I had my moments of doubt, Lisa however, was very sure you were keeping her.’
‘Female intuition, the one thing we males don’t possess and could do with…’
Lisa’s voice cut through Max’s musings and had both wolves snapping to attention in an instant.
‘Max, Darby is missing from the house…’ Max’s heart lurched within him. Where the hell could the woman have gone, and why would she leave?
‘Can you track her scent, Lisa?’ Max growled out in annoyance. If she had decided to turn tail and run out on him…
‘It’s not just her scent, Max. I scent Paula as well. I’m tracking them.’
‘What the…?’ Doug spat out, biting down on all the thoughts that swept through his mind. Paula was Mike’s sister, but she had never shown herself to be a threat to the group in Doug’s mind, not like Mike…
‘Find her, Lisa. Paula’s sure to have heard the howl that told her Mike was defeated. If she harms Darby…’ Max couldn’t finish that sentence. He couldn’t put into words the thoughts that clogged his mind and caused his wolf to run like the wind through the woods, Doug hard on his heels. He needed to get to his mate, it was the only thing that mattered to him now. He should never have left her unprotected. They hadn’t even bonded yet. He had no link to her, no way to feel for her in his mind to know if she was alive or dead…
Paula had heard the victory howl from the alpha and knew that her brother was dead. Tossing the witch that she had carried into the woods on her shoulder through the air, she felt a sense of satisfaction from hearing the woman’s body make contact with the hard ground. Even unconscious Darby’s breath was expelled from her body, and she groaned with the pain that tore through her.
Paula had never expected Mike to go rogue. She knew he was a natural alpha and they had been planning for the day when he would challenge Max for leadership, when her brother would become the alpha of the pack. Now he was dead and it was this witches fault.
Paula spat out the disdain in her mouth. If the witch hadn’t of forced her brother to turn rogue he would still be alive.
Damn Fae, they were blight on the world that should be extinguished, not just run out of town as Max had ordered. If her brother had been Alpha then no subterfuge would have been necessary in getting the witches out of town. They could have just killed them and been done with it, and that was what would happen now, an eye for an eye. Her brother was dead because of this damn witch and she was going to make her pay in blood.
Paula knelt down and grabbed a handful of Darby’s hair, wrenching her head backwards on her neck, she heard the protest of pain from t
he woman’s lips and it gladdened her heart. Not only was she going to make this bitch pay, she was going to make it as slow and painful as possible.
“Wake up bitch…” Paula spat out between clenched teeth as she flicked out her claws and allowed her wolf to push forward within her. Raising her arm in the air, she took a moment to savour the sweet knowledge that she was going to rip this Fae’s face to shreds with just one swipe before she went to work on the rest of her body.
Alpha’s mate or not, this was a Fae, a Fae who had all but murdered her brother in cold blood and she had no qualms about ending her life right here and now in the clearing, fitting even, that the witch would die on the same day as her brother.
“Now you pay.” Paula spat out between clenched teeth, moving her arm further back to enable her to get a good swipe as she brought her hand down, claws ready to tear through the soft flesh and mark the witch, not as the alpha’s, but as retribution demanded.
‘Lisa, where are you?’ Max growled out, desperate for information. They were nearing the house and Max had already picked up Darby’s scent in the air, his wolf whined within him for their mate, but he silenced the beast. He wanted information and fast. He didn’t want to have to slow his pace down to follow the scent, and Lisa was already tracking them.
‘East. Down by the old brook… the scent’s getting so strong, Max…’ Lisa’s words both heartened him and dismayed him at the same time. She was close, but not yet close enough to be with his mate, to protect her from Paula’s wrath, and that wrath was a dark scent that lingered in the air as he chased towards his mate.
He knew that Darby had her powers, but who knew what Paula could have done to Darby to get her away from the house. He very much doubted that Darby would have walked off with her of her own free will, unless the She-devil had used so kind of subterfuge and he wouldn’t dismiss that so easily after what had happened with the local Fae.
When he got to his mate he was never going to let her out of his sight again, no matter what, no matter how she may protest, or whine, it just wasn’t going to happen.
Max couldn’t believe that so much had happened in such a short time. He couldn’t believe that he had even entertained the idea of denying his mate, of sending her away. Right now he would give anything to have her at his side, he needed her to breathe. The crushing feeling within his chest was fear. He knew it. Just the thought that he would lose her now sent a shiver through him and made his guts twist in pain.
Living without her would be no life. He might even go rogue as Mike had and need Doug to end him. Damn, but he needed her…
Darby felt the sharp constant pain of someone trying to yank her damn hair out and centred on that pain. If she could feel pain she was still alive, if she was alive she needed to drag herself back into reality. Floating somewhere in the mist of not-really-with-it, she couldn’t do much to help herself like this.
Visualising her pain she pulled her mind free from the netherworld of floating aimlessly and back into the present. She heard the words of her captor, she felt the darkness that the woman projected and snapped her lids open.
The woman’s face looked familiar, and it should, it was the last thing she had seen before everything went blank. But it wasn’t her face that Darby knew she needed to worry about right now, it was the hand that was coming towards her face, and those damn sharp claws that were aimed right for her.
“Inpello.” Darby forced everything she could muster into that one word, that one action, and hoped that it would be enough.
The hard tug on her hair as the woman was propelled backwards away from her nearly forced her face down into the dirt, and she was sure she had lost a fistful of hair as she heard the yelp of both pain and disbelief from her attacker.
Snapping her head back up, she saw the moment that Paula landed awkwardly on the ground. The sound of bone snapping made her feel slightly more in control of the situation. Her magic hadn’t been strong enough to do any real damage to the woman on its own, but the ground had done the real work for her.
The second yelp of pain from the woman confirmed Darby’s suspicions that she was damaged in the impact. Paula reached for her leg and rolled away on the ground onto her other side. The long low growl told Darby that the She-wolf was pissed, and that was music to Darby’s ears as she centred herself and pulled the energy within herself, like a flaming ball of plasma it gathered inside, every moment getting stronger.
“Bitch!” Paula hissed out between clenched teeth against the pain of her broken leg.
“Takes one to know one…”Darby pulled herself up onto her knees. A smile of knowing just what was growing inside her, readying itself for another attack, and more than eager to be called upon, stretched her lips as the She-wolf’s body quivered with the desire to shift to her wolf.
“I’m going to end you for what you did to my brother.”Paula growled out. The beast within her was eager to shift to help heal the injury that they had sustained and it pushed to the surface making Paula’s body quiver.
“Give it your best shot.” Darby spat out with all of the venom she felt inside. Readying herself for what was next.
Paula’s beast appeared in the ripping of fabric and the snarl that closely followed as the wolf felt the bone meld together with excruciating pain and was looking for some payback for that injury.
Darby wasn’t one to rush to judgement on anyone normally, but it was as clear as day to her that this She-wolf was out for her blood, and that made this a fight for her life. The way she saw it, it was either her or the wolf that would walk away from this, and she damn well wasn’t going to give the wolf the opportunity to try to kill her again.
Paula’s beast pulled itself up on all four paws with a growl that sounded like pain to Darby’s ears. The broken leg she had sustained must still be vexing her, and Darby didn’t know how long it would take for that leg to be fully healed, but she wasn’t about to give her the opportunity to let it either.
Drawing all of the energy she had built within her hands, she cupped them against her chest as if she was holding a ball, before thrusting them out towards the wolf that had started towards her.
“Inpello, Ignis.” The impact of her magic hit the wolf in the chest, burning into her flesh as the animal was launched backwards, further this time, faster, and the beast hit the ground with a sickening crunch of bone that shattered the peace of the small clearing, a moment before the sound of fast paws echoed through the night, a heartbeat before Darby felt her body collapse in on itself.
The energy she had expended in killing the beast had drained her, not only of her magic, but also of her own strength. Whoever had come for her didn’t matter, she was now powerless to defend herself, weaker than a kitten she couldn’t even lift her head to look about her.
“Darby…” Max’s voice echoed through her mind like a homing beacon and she tried to answer him, tried to stay conscious, but the darkness claimed her again just as she felt his strong hands on her body.
Max felt her slip away from him, and he didn’t believe his heart had any more speed to give him and yet it hammered faster within his chest as he gently turned her in his arms.
Cradling her head in the crook of his arm he checked over the injuries to her body like a man possessed, looking for any damage that she had sustained in her fight with Paula.
He wasn’t sure that he actually took a breath until his inspection of her body was complete. Sitting in the small clearing, with two of his pack guarding them, he went over every inch of her body, cataloguing each injury, until he was satisfied that his mate would survive her encounter with the She-wolf.
His heart might have been hammering in his ears, but he had centred in on the sound of her heart beating within her chest and he wouldn’t let go of that sound until he had her awake and responsive.
When he collected her into his arms he pulled himself up to his feet and adjusted her head to gently rest against his chest before he started off, both wolves following behind him, as
he made his way home with his mate.
Lisa had turned into a den mother. The only time she had left either Max or Darby’s side was when she was getting something for them, and although Max appreciated it, he still wanted to wring her neck.
Max had insisted that he washed and cleaned his Mate’s wounds himself. Carrying her up the stairs and laying her in their bed, he had stripped her naked and gone over every inch of her body again looking for anything he might have missed, before he fetched the water and towels from the bathroom and washed her from head to toe.
The cuts and abrasions that she had sustained during the fight with Paula were pretty much superficial, but he still took his time to clean and seal them himself. There was a mosaic of hair that had been torn from her scalp and he paid special attention to that area. He didn’t care if his mate was completely bald, but he had the feeling that she would be self conscious of that for a while until it grew back in properly, so he helped the skin to heal as quickly as possible.
Every time he found a bruise on her body he couldn’t help but growl in anger and disgust at what one of his pack had done to her. He blamed himself for not protecting her, remembering that she had asked him to stay with her. If he had just climbed back into bed beside her she wouldn’t be in this state now. Paula wouldn’t have been able to get to her, she would still be in his arms and he would be making love to her, maybe even bonding with her…
That thought gave him some comfort at least. Bonding with his mate, she was still alive. She had used her magic to save herself and he was grateful that she was Fae. A mere human would be dead now, he was almost certain of that, and he would have lost his one true mate forever.
Max’s guts twisted and clenched inside him. The thought of not having her at his side made his wolf whine within him. The beast was eager for her to wake up, as he was, but he didn’t believe that any of the injuries she had sustained was the reason for her being unconscious.