by C C Solomon
“Sorry. I usually sleep naked. Weres like to be clothes free from time to time. Helps us connect with the animal part of ourselves. And it’s more comfortable,” he explained.
I nodded quickly, still keeping my back to him. “Uh-huh, keep your pants on, player.”
“Not a problem,” he replied. I felt the bed lower under me as he laid down. I remained in a seated position. “Is that how you sleep? You don’t lay down? I don’t recall that from last time.”
Get it together, girl. I needed an ice-cold shower but I wouldn’t give him that pleasure of seeing me so distracted.
I turned the bed side light off. “Remember, you’re just here to sleep,” I reiterated, lying down, my back to him.
“I want to hold you. Is that all right,” he said, more than asked, in a low voice.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He moved closer to me until I felt my back press up against his chest.
The feel of his arms around me, strong and tender, felt good.
“You’re going to win, Erik. I believe in you,” I said, softly.
He kissed my neck and went to sleep just as I asked.
When I heard him lightly snore, I whispered, “Please don’t die.”
The pack was larger than I expected. As Phillip implied, they were over one-third of the town’s population. The town gym was packed. There was something very ancient Rome and all-out sick about people wanting to witness two people beating the crap out of each other. But I suppose that since Monday Night Football wasn’t coming on anymore, this was the next best thing. Except football didn’t end with the losing team dying.
The crowd spread out among the treadmills and ellipticals that were pushed away from the center of the large gym space. I stayed in the peripheral next to the door. I didn’t want to be there at all, but Mae made a visit to my apartment when I was out and told Charles that I needed to go. When Mae says something, I was definitely going to listen but I didn’t mind that most of the pack members blocked my view.
“I smell popcorn in here,” Charles muttered besides me. “Who would eat popcorn for this? These people are sick.”
A woman with severe blunt bangs turned around and glared at Charles, who avoided eyes with her. I gave a toothy smile to her. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the center of the main gym floor.
I glanced to my right and met eyes with Phillip, who was walking through the door.
“Hey, corazon,” he said, touching my arm. “How are you holding up? I know you didn’t like how our talk ended the other day.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“Is that why you’re staying in the back?”
I let out a sigh. “I’m staying in the back because I’d rather not watch the bloodshed.”
Charles leaned forward and looked past me to Phillip. “So, who are you hoping to win?” he asked.
Phillip gave a cover boy smile. “The best fighter. Ultimately, that’s who I need. Excuse me, I need to get to the front.” He winked and walked through the crowd.
“He could have at least lied and said Erik,” I mumbled.
“You can’t be mad, sis, that he didn’t say Erik,” Charles began. “He’s known this third guy longer and things have been working. He doesn’t know Erik like that and Erik’s technically his competition.”
“I’m just ready for this nightmare to be over.”
“Attention, everyone!” Seth shouted from the center of the room. He raised his muscled arms in the air. His tight blue T-shirt strained over his defined chest. Were all alpha weres muscular? Seriously, the powerful weres I’d encountered in the past nine years had all looked like action movie heroes or heroines. “Erik Bennett challenged our third in command, Donte Harris, for his spot. Now, we have all known and loved our guy Donte for almost a year. He’s a good guy but no one can get too comfortable as a top five. Anyone can challenge us for our spots. Even me.”
Some people booed and shook their heads. Seemed a lot of people actually liked this guy. I strained to look over at Donte. He was a tall black man with shoulder-length dreadlocks shaved on the sides and in the back. He matched Erik in size.
“Erik here is a strong, standup guy. He’s new to town but that doesn’t mean he can’t jump in and bring some power to our community.”
I looked around as people murmured and nodded in the crowd.
Seth turned to Erik and Donte, who were standing next to each other “Okay, so the main rule here is fight to the death. There is no time limit, unless a person clearly has the upper-hand. Then you must go in for the kill in thirty seconds or you become the loser and die. No one can tap out or take a break. You can’t ask to be spared. If you refuse to kill, you die. The fighting is in human form, although you can use your were strength. You can’t use any weapons. It’s basic hand-to-hand combat. Are you ready?”
Both men nodded and my heart pounded against my chest.
A horn sounded and the fighting began. The two circled each other like wrestlers. I didn’t know Erik’s fighting style. Did he know martial arts? What had the military taught him? As a body guard, was he accustomed to only using weapons or did he use his hands? I had no idea about the level of his expertise.
The wait to see who would attack first was too much. As if he heard my thoughts, Donte rushed at Erik who centered himself and pushed against him, their shoulders connecting. Erik then quickly moved away and gave a hard punch to the middle of Donte’s back. Donte arched his spine and let out a cry. I bit my finger nails. Maybe Erik could win.
Before Erik could land another punch, Donte spun around and pounced in one movement on top of Erik, tackling him to the ground. He then lifted his hand, now enhanced with claws, and slashed Erik across his forearm, which he put over his face to block the attack. The cut was enough to need stiches if he were an ordinary human.
“Oh God,” I said, turning away. “I can’t do this. I can’t stay.” I touched my chest, feeling my heart threatening to tear through. I felt like throwing up. I couldn’t lose Erik. That stubborn, cocky, grouchy jackal had grown on me.
I felt a hand grab mine. I looked down at the hand and then up to see Lisa give me a weak smile. Beside her were Faith and Felix who had his dog, Dexter, a golden retriever, on a leash. I shook suddenly, hearing the grunts, and cries from the fighting.
“You don’t have to look,” Lisa said. “If it gets too tough, squeeze my hand.”
I looked at her and nodded. My eyes started to fill with tears to match her own. I forgot that she cared about Erik just as much. He’d saved her life.
And so, I turned away. Time passed agonizingly slowly and I remained unsure of which man on the floor grunted, growled, or cried out in pain. The crowd yelled out in unintelligible excitement, egging whichever man was on top to finish and claim victory. At moments, Lisa squeezed my hand and I wasn’t sure if it was because Erik was winning or because he was getting hurt. My legs were threatening to give out.
“Why don’t we stop this? We don’t have to stay here. This is stupid!” Faith stated, shaking her head in anger.
With her response, I already knew who was losing.
“At this point, they’ll kill him if he taps out,” Felix replied. His voice sounded strained.
“He’s stronger than this guy. He can win,” Charles muttered. I looked over to him and his profile didn’t seem as certain as his words.
They were giving up.
“Not if he has magic to help him,” Felix said back.
We turned to him. “What are you talking about?” I asked.
“There’s magic in this room, can’t you feel it?” Felix asked.
We shook our heads. I frowned.
“There’s a lot of magical people in here,” Faith guessed.
“No, it feels like magic is being used. There’s a difference!” Felix said, growing visibly frustrated. He craned his neck, searching around the room. He was taller than just about everyone in the space but I was sure any magic user wouldn’t be usin
g magic blatantly.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I focused on my breathing like I did with meditation. It helped me control my magic and was a tool I tried to perfect when I was locked up. The panic attacking my mind receded. My heart rate slowed. I let go of Lisa’s hand and then I felt it. Hot, thick air; sticky to my skin. Then the smell of lemongrass? I couldn’t tell. It wasn’t there before. None of what I was feeling was there prior.
“Magic, someone’s using magic and they tried to disguise it,” I whispered.
“But it didn’t work on me or you,” Felix replied.
I let out a deep breath. “No, it didn’t.” I turned around just in time to see a bruised and battered Donte body slam Erik, who was on the floor and a bloody mess. He had two scary cuts going down the length of the left side of his face, that eye was shut, and his lip was cut as well. He was holding on to his side, so I could assume ribs were broken and there was blood under that hand so perhaps more damage. A cut, bite? Overall, he was in scary shape.
I grimaced and cut through the crowd, moving closer to the center. My eyes avoided the fighting. I looked across the center and spotted a white male in his early forties with thinning, sandy-brown hair. His eyes were half closed and his fingers wiggled slowly. His lips weren’t moving but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t done a spell.
I had no doubt that the magic was coming from him.
I would kill this man. I had no idea how he was helping Donte but I didn’t care. I only needed to figure out how to discreetly help Erik as well. Running back to my room to search for a power spell was out of the question. There was no time. Erik could be dead by then
I went farther through the crowd and into the empty weight room to the left. It wasn’t hidden away, the room had glass windows but it was dark inside, lit only by the light from the larger gym space. No one could see me doing magic or feel the magic. I didn’t know how to disguise it like the man had but I knew how to cloak and cloaking would not only make me invisible but also conceal the magic. I quickly whispered the spell and then racked my brain for any spell or power I could use to help Erik.
I looked up at the ceiling. I could control Erik’s body with magic but that wouldn’t stop him from getting hurt. I needed to give him a boost of power, the same way I would someone who needed healing. Just as Phillip had done for me. Except I couldn’t heal him; that’d be too obvious. Could I control his body to make him stronger? It was worth a shot.
I hid in a dark corner behind a machine and dropped my cloaking spell to use my full powers to help Erik. My mind focused on the vision of a standing Erik. I thought of his muscles; the red ropes under his skin. I thought of his strong heart and lungs. His abs as hard as rocks. His fists hitting like steel. In my mind he glowed with power.
A sudden wave of wooziness washed over me and I grabbed on to a weight machine. I’d never tried anything like this before and it was taking every ounce of my strength. But I couldn’t stop. I shut my eyes tightly and balled my fists, imagining a superhero Erik over and over again. I pictured him picking up Donte like a small child and tossing him like it was nothing. The tips of my fingers itched and my arms tingled with sharp pricks of pain all the way up to my shoulders. I wanted to open my hands and rub my arms but I couldn’t stop. I had to keep this going. Who knew if it would work, but I was feeling something.
I kept going, willing my power into Erik. The longer I tried, the more the pain in my arms intensified, turning into a burning numbness. I felt like vomiting. Until I heard a gasp from the crowd.
I opened my eyes and walked quickly to the weight room entrance, holding on to my head as a bout of dizziness hit me. I pushed through the crowd, the pain in my arm now suddenly gone. I spotted Felix and stood next to him, looking on at the fight. Erik was standing now and he was lifting Donte up in the air with barely any visible strain. He then dropped the man down hard on the tile floor with incredible force. Donte’s elbows hit the floor first and I heard a loud crack. Bones in both arms were surely broken. Erik, limping, moved to Donte’s left leg and stomped down on the ankle, shattering it. Donte howled with a spine-shaking loudness and I gasped, slightly sickened.
Donte sat up and struggled to stand on his good foot. A normal person would be down for the count but the fighters didn’t have the luxury of writhing around in agony. That meant death. If he got up, I didn’t know what could happen. Yet, for him to heal well enough to even attempt to stand made it clearer to me that he was being helped by magic. Erik had to finish him before Donte healed even more. My magic assistance was gone now but I hoped it was the edge Erik needed to win this.
As if on cue, Erik limped over and punched Donte in the face, hard, sending the man back to the floor. Erik’s fingernails were now talons and his fingers were arched out posed to attack.
The crowd, which at one point had been Donte’s biggest supporters, were now yelling for Erik to finish him. Donte looked up at him, face swollen, angry, and tired.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Erik said to him.
Donte spit a mixture of phlegm and blood at Erik and it landed by his boot. “Do it or die!” he croaked out. “And I’ll come for your witch bitch as soon as you’re gone.”
I raised my eyebrows. Was he referring to me?
The crowd was counting down now. Erik had thirty seconds to finish him or he would die too. But thirty seconds was also enough time for this male witch, or whatever he was, to heal Donte. Erik had to make a move now.
Erik looked down at his feet. His shoulders rose and fell from exhaustion. When he looked up, his eyes were those of a jackal. With a speed I’d never seen from him, he grabbed Donte’s hair, forcing his head back, and slashed Donte’s exposed throat with his claws. I looked away as the blood began to pour.
I honestly expected the crowd to cheer but no one did. The room went silent. When I assumed Donte took his last breath, I heard Seth speak. “We have a winner. Erik Bennet is now my third in command,” Seth announced, slapping Erik on the back in a less than friendly way. “We will celebrate Saturday. But until then, we mourn the passing of our brother Donte. He was a good man and will be missed.”
The crowd agreed. There were cries of anguish and sobbing. A woman, maybe a wife or girlfriend of Donte, was being consoled by Carter, Raya and a third Hispanic man who appeared to be in his late thirties. I was guessing he was the fifth in command.
I let out a deep sigh, feeling suddenly exhausted as the adrenaline from the battle subsided. I couldn’t let anyone see my state. If I fell now it would be a giveaway that I had used magic. I looked to Erik, who had dropped to his knees and fallen to his side. He looked like he was hanging by a thread. I had to heal him, but if I did I wouldn’t be walking out of here. Yet, another giveaway.
Felix linked his arm with mine and led me to Erik, as if knowing I was not strong enough to move on my own. I looked up at him and smiled before leaning heavily on him, thankful that the massive guy could take my extra weight.
When we reached Erik, I fell to my knees and touched his slashed cheek. He winced with ragged breath.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I can heal myself, Mina,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“I know you can, but you’ll be covered in ugly scars. I can keep you pretty,” I replied.
He gave a faint chuckle before coughing.
I then closed my eyes and pushed my magic down through my fingers and into him. Since I was weak, his healing was slow; I wasn’t going to be able to heal every part of him.
“Hey,” Lisa said. I opened my eyes and saw her sitting down on the floor beside me. She laid a hand on Erik’s hand, closing her eyes. I soon felt her magic beneath my fingertips. It was cool and feathery. Vastly different from my own heated magic.
I looked back down to Erik and felt another layer of magic, and then another surrounded us in a small cocoon. Waves of coolness, warmth, soft feathers, and even a gel-like touch waved over me as the differing magics mixed and combined. Even
my own low energy level began to rise. The magic wasn’t just healing Erik but me too. Felix sat a few feet from me with his hands hovering over Erik’s feet and Charles sat across me, hands over Erik’s chest muttering a healing spell. Faith sat on my other side and touched Erik’s shoulder. I didn’t even know she had healing powers. At least not the type of power to heal others. I smiled at them. We really were a team. Maybe there was something to this connection that Mae thought we had. More than ever, I was thankful that she insisted I come.
Chapter 21
When the morning alarm blared through the town that Saturday, I rolled my eyes. The monthly mind control seemed a bit early. I hummed a tune in my head, planning to ignore his words.
“Good morning citizens of New Silver Spring, I am here to tell you that I care about each and every one of you and I am here to protect you and make sure we thrive as a community. There is nowhere else that will be as safe and as prosperous as New Silver Spring. While I am a merciful and wise leader, sometimes I have to make uncomfortable decisions,” Phillip’s voice blared through the speakers.
This was new.
“It has, regrettably, come to my attention that during a challenge for the seating of third spot for our local pack, magic was used.”
I paused my humming. Shit, Phillip knew. But why hadn’t he confront me before?
“The perpetrator of this magic broke the rules and assisted one of the fighters. As you know, in order to maintain a peaceful and successful community, we must abide by rules no matter how big or small. Therefore, today at noon, at the town center, we will have punishment. Everyone over the age of seventeen must attend. Thank you.”