18. Diana
CHAPTER 18
Diana
C ammon stood across from me, yellow eyes locked on my face, yellow teeth partially bared, a low growl rumbling through him.
There was no referee in a Holmgang, not really, but today we’d made sure there would be someone neutral present to ensure others didn’t interfere. Teeter and his people would pull any trick they could, and we all knew it.
A beat of wings above us, and eyes shifted upward—but not mine. I waited, keeping my gaze locked on my opponent.
Gabe dropped down through the trees, his wings tucked tight to his body as he landed in the middle of the ring with a soft thud, positioned between Cammon and me. He straightened and held out his arms wide, as if he were a ringmaster and not a referee.
“I’ll be overseeing things. If either party cheats, they will forfeit the match for their contestant.” He swept his cobalt eyes around the crowd. “Anyone interfering with the fight will also forfeit the match for their contestant.”
I noted he looked hard at the men on my side, saving a special, telling glare of warning in Raven’s direction, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Cammon. At this point the match was on, the only thing between me and him was Gabe.
“No time limit, this goes until it is done. The mark of the ring shall come into play only if someone is bodily thrown out. If both contestants work their way across the line, the fight continues wherever it may lead. The crowd will shift to make space as needed.”
“To the death they fight, no quarter given this time!” someone shouted, a younger male by the sounds of his broken cry.
I didn’t know who spoke, but they were on Cammon’s side.
I let out a bark of laughter. “I look forward to holding you all to that when Cammon is on his knees, begging me to spare his life like my father did before me.”
Gabe stepped out of the ring and then sliced a hand through the air. “Begin!”
Cammon and I did a slow circle.
“You’ll be the one on your knees, bitch, sucking my cock and praying I fuck you before you die like a squealing pig!” His side of the ring erupted in cheers and jeers.
I loosened my body, knowing that, even if I had retained my wolf, I was still not stronger than Cammon. Female wolves were smaller and lighter than their male counterparts. The only way to win here was by using my wits and speed. And as a re-born vampire, the latter was something I had in spades.
This motherfucker had no idea what was coming for him.
I snarled, unable to keep the sound in as I bared my teeth right back at him. And then the fight truly began.
Cammon lunged at me, one meaty hand swiping through the air where my neck had been a split second before. I ducked and slid away from him, making sure to not go too far.
Running from him would do me no good and tipping my hand at just how fast I was…I needed to hold that until the end.
“Slippery bitch,” he growled, spinning to face me.
“Simple words from a simple man,” Raven said from our side. “How many times did you get dropped on your head as a child?”
“Three.” Someone from Cammon’s side answered.
Raven laughed, Will and Dominic joined him, and the sound buoyed my nerves. Lochlin even chuckled. “He ain’t known for his smarts.”
“And I’m sure all that psycho ‘roid rage isn’t helping with the few brain cells you have left, is it?”
Cammon took a look back at Raven to give him a side eye, and it was all I needed. I shot forward, dropping low and driving a fist toward Cammon’s left knee. He wasn’t fast enough to fade the blow, but he lessened it by sidestepping.
I flowed with the forward momentum, spinning and kicking out at his right knee, catching it fully. It cracked under the heel of my boot and Cammon howled. I’d have cheered if I thought one good blow would do the trick, but it was going to take more than a busted kneecap to put someone his size down.
I rolled and turned as Cammon leapt through the air, his arms going around me as he tackled me to the ground. We hit hard, the wind leaving me in a whoosh as I took the brunt of the fall, his forehead snapping into mine with a force that drove the back of my skull into a rock below.
Fuck.
Stars burst in behind my eyelids and the sound of the crowd seemed far away as I blinked rapidly, trying to pull my shit together.
Eyes glazed with adrenaline and rage, Cammon threw one thick thigh over my hips to straddle me with barely a wince at the surely excruciating pain in his knee.
“Just like that, boys! Look at her, all dazed and confused from a single blow!” He smacked my cheek hard enough to draw blood on my lips, and I let my head bobble, unresisting.
I took long slow breaths as I lay there, gathering myself, feeling the fuel that I’d consumed earlier spinning through me. Lochlin had donated, as had Raven. The blood of my best friend and advisor sung hot. Raven’s sung sweet, rolling through me with a power that he always kept in check.
Cammon kept on talking, as if he were a preacher at a podium, frothing at the mouth as he whipped up the masses with his words.
I was already through the worst of the blow, my head was ringing, for sure, but that didn’t mean I was out.
“You want a show, my new King? I can give you a show!” Cammon tipped his head back and howled, as he ripped his shirt, his hands then going to his…was he going to try and rape me?
I think not, motherfucker.
Raven’s panic-tinged rage came through loud and clear, and I sent him a soft soothing thought.
I got this. I got this.
Cammon pawed at the waistband of his pants.
“Just finish her!” Teeter yelled. “We don’t need to be?—”
I bucked my hips upward hard, while bridging off my arms at the same time. Not only did I throw Cammon off me, but we were close enough to the edge of the circle that he ended up outside, pausing the match.
“Restart,” Lochlin yelled.
“He’s right,” Gabe confirmed. “Time for a restart.”
I rolled to my feet and stood. I could already feel the knot swelling on the back of my head, but I would deal with it. No open wounds yet, so that was a bonus.
Cammon strolled back into the ring, barely limping, bare chested, and…fuck…I grimaced as he reached into his pants and gave himself a long, lazy stroke. “I like you under me, bitch, that’s where you belong. I’mma fuck you into the ground in more ways than one.”
Two more strokes and he pulled his hand free.
“I’d watch my words, mutt.” Raven’s voice was a near whisper, and probably no one else heard the edge to it, but I did. If by some chance I didn’t survive this, Cammon was a dead man.
But I had no intention of losing this match.
“Jealous?” Cammon let out a low rumbling growl in Raven’s direction. “I’ll fuck you next, pretty boy.”
“You can try.” Raven’s icy rage probably couldn’t be heard by anyone listening to him taunt Cammon, but I could feel it under my skin, fueling me.
Lighting a dual blaze of anger in me. One of my own, and one of his. How dare this piece of shit try to humiliate me like this, while making a mockery of the whole fucking contest?
“You going to circle around me all night? Lazy cunt. Waiting for a man to do a job that you should have never had. We shoulda killed you the night you were crowned.”
I had a plan, I could see the pieces in my head, coming together. I just needed to get him into position.
“Regrets…” I smiled and gave a mocking bow, sweeping my arms wide. “They will haunt you all this night. Every single one of those who backed you, Cammon, will regret this moment. But you…you won’t regret it. You’ll be dead.”
He laughed.
I feinted to his right, and he lurched, stumbling from the pressure on his already busted knee. Seeing my chance, I leapt to the left, slamming a fist into his side to put him even more off balance.
He staggered back, roaring, but it was too late. My left hand rammed into the side of his neck with a squelch, burying itself deep into the flesh of the side of his neck. I gritted my teeth, squeezing down on the tendons there for a handhold, to pull myself around and onto his back.
Locking my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, I knew that this was now a game of will. “Time to die, Cammon.” I whispered in his ear, but I knew they all could hear me. I knew they all could see what was about to happen.
I closed my arms down on his windpipe with everything I had in me, and squeezed his middle, cutting off his air in two places. He bellowed—which was stupid as he only lost more air—and clawed at my arms with his dirty fucking nails, blood and flesh ripping under them.
He reached back and grabbed at my hair, but he had no flexibility to reach me, tucked as close to his back as I was.
“Do something, rip her off your back you fool!” Teeter yelled.
“Kill her!”
“Fuck her up!”
Those were my people, once. And now they were out for my blood—they wanted to see me raped and killed. Because I was a woman—because they’d always hated that I’d led them instead of someone with a cock and balls.
Cammon spun and I kept my head tucked tight, my arms and legs clenching with everything I had. Elka came into view as we spun. Her eyes were bright, and I saw the fierce wolf in her, how hard she was fighting to hold back leaping in to help.
Because wolves fought at each other’s sides, not at each other’s throats.
“Hold!” She screamed, “You got him, Diana! Don’t you fucking let go!”
I grinned. Gods, she was the one, if there was ever any doubt, it washed away with the fury of her words supporting me.
My brothers—they were at the very edge of the circle, their bodies tense. “Lock him down!” Dominic growled.
They all had worry etched on their faces but Raven…he was grinning. Pride shone in his eyes as I looked to him, and that feeling rolled between us.
I could almost hear his voice.
You got this, Frostbite.
Cammon, of course, took that moment to try and turn the tables. He rushed out of the ring and toward a tree. Fuck. I gritted my teeth and breathed out, trying to make myself smaller before we hit. I knew what was coming.
“Allowed!” Gabe bellowed, “Stay out of their way.”
Cammon spun and slammed himself—and me—into the tree trunk. Bark and splinters busted through my shirt, jabbing deep. Ribs cracked, shooting bolts of pain through my torso. He stumbled forward and then rushed back, slamming me against the tree again.
Pain erupted through the entire length of my body each time he went flying backward, using me as a battering ram. My bones rattled and groaned, some of them breaking.
The urge to sink my teeth into the back of his neck almost overcame me as I fought to stay latched to his back.
Four times, five, six…I couldn’t let go. I refused to give in. I would not let this man destroy my family, my home, the people I loved.
“You got that bitch! One more, Cammon!” Teeter yelled.
It was time to make my move.
As Cammon started back toward the tree, as fast as ever, I let my legs unhook from around his waist.
“You got her now, she’s relaxing!”
No, he fucking well didn’t have me. Time to show them just how fast I was.
Ignoring the pain lashing me, I ran backward up the tree as he got us close, and then leapt sideways, taking Cammon’s neck and head with me, putting everything I had into twisting his neck. My hand found his jaw, and I pulled for all I was worth, my body weight helping me.
The crack of his spine was as loud as a lightning bolt striking a tree, and about as shocking, I think, at least for Teeter.
Cammon’s head lolled loosely, and he went to his knees as I released his neck. I could have let him drop, but instead I reached over and grabbed his greasy hair, holding him steady on his knees.
His heartbeat was still going. He was alive. For the moment.
“For those who think a queen is weak. For those who thought to stage a coup, let this be a lesson to you.” I turned and dragged Cammon’s limp body with me. He wasn’t dead yet, which made him a lot more useful for the example I was about to make of him. I pulled him all the way back to the center of the circle, ignoring the wounds in my back, ignoring the way I struggled to breathe.
I stood there and made sure to lock eyes with Teeter first, then the others on that side of the ring. Even Mary.
Then I wrapped my fingers around Cammon’s windpipe, dug my fingers in deep, all the way till I could feel the edge of his spine—and then and only then did I pull, ripping his throat clean out—showing dominance in a wolf pack in every sense of the word. His flesh dripped in my hand as his body slid sideways, the sound of his heart finally stopping.
I threw Cammon’s throat to the ground and stood over it.
“I will not be defied, nor will any leader who follows me. Right now, you will bend your knees to your queen, or I will consider you a traitor, and have you executed before dawn. No burial rights, no trials. But a leader as you wish to have—violent and prone to killing to prove a point.”
The gasps that rumbled through the other side did not bother me.
I stood and waited.
Easily half dropped to their knees, their heads bowed. But the other half? Teeter and his gang were gone before I could tell my guards to gather them up. No surprise there.
“They are traitors to the crown,” I said. “And will be marked as such.”
Those on their knees were trembling.
I turned to look at Elka. “I am still queen, and, as such, I take this moment to name my successor. Elka of Clan Killian…will you step to the throne when the time comes for me to pass the crown?”
Gasps slid through the clearing.
Elka stepped into the ring and went to one knee. “My queen, I humbly accept this offer.”
I nodded, the relief fleeting, already knowing what I had to ask next. “And the traitors, do you agree with me that they should all be slaughtered for their treachery?”
She lifted her head and met my gaze, the first test as soon-to-be-queen at her feet. I could only hope she understood just what I was offering her.