Chapter 18 #2
I rolled my eyes and dashed out of there.
I normally didn't give a shit how people got their rocks off as long as it was consensual and safe, but Knox had just had his hands on my ass like two hours ago.
He was such a gross pig, and it bummed me out that the girls in the school, human and wolf alike, worshipped him the way they did.
Fortunately the next door I came to was an unoccupied bathroom.
I did my business, ran my hands through my hair, and refreshed my lip stain from the tube I'd stuck in the built-in bra of my dress.
I breezed out the door, ready to head back downstairs and jump into Blake's arms, when suddenly a large body slammed me up against the wall of the hallway, holding me there by my throat.
Ice Man, still shirtless but at least wearing pants that were fully buttoned, glowered down at me, with a vice grip on my throat so tight that I could barely breathe.
He dipped his head and ran his nose up my neck with a deep inhale.
I stiffened as my mind ran over every option I could come up with to get myself out of this without wolfing out in a house full of humans.
I was coming up with pretty much nothing.
"Did you enjoy the show, little omega?" he asked, his mouth up against my ear. "I'm about to fuck both of them if you want to join us."
"Get your hands off me, you pig," I choked out, his hand around my throat making it hard to breathe, let alone speak. I gripped his wrist with both hands.
"Baby, I'd have gladly been fucking you and only you all night long if you weren't so insistent on being such an uppity bitch. Instead, you'll have to wait your turn."
I lifted my knee to ram him in his balls, but I was too slow (blame the lack of oxygen), and he caught me.
I was desperate enough that I was about to attempt a partial shift of my hand to at least try to get some claws into him, but that was an extremely hard skill to master, and I wasn't sure I could do it.
Fortunately for me, Nikka appeared in the hallway with a loud gasp, distracting him.
"Knoxy! Is this why you broke it off with me earlier? For her?" she screamed.
He rolled his eyes upward, exasperated, but fortunately he released me. I slumped against the wall, ashamed he'd gotten the jump on me in the first place.
"Babe, you know it's normal for us to take breaks," he said, trying to placate her. "I've told you a hundred times, I don't want to be tied down until I have to choose my mate."
"Plus, we weren't hooking up, he was assaulting me, you dumb bitch," I added helpfully, rubbing my neck. "If you have a problem, go take it up with Claudia and Tits 2.0, who he was in the middle of fucking before he decided to attack me."
"SHUT UP, YOU LYING WHORE!"
Ugh, they never learn.
She stomped off in tears, headed back the way she came.
While Knox's full attention wasn’t on me, I too darted down the hall.
I owed him an ass-kicking, but it wasn't happening in the middle of this party and probably needed to involve a full-blown wolf fight for me to stand a chance.
I heard him chuckling like a dick as I ran out of the hall and headed for the stairs.
I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler next to the fridge.
I didn't immediately spot Blake, Ben, or any of my friends, so I just took a few minutes to perch at the bar top, drinking water, and attempting to control my emotions and calm my wolf.
I couldn't believe I let Knox get me in such a vulnerable position, and I'd be kicking myself for days over it.
A few minutes turned into twenty, and I'd just decided to go on the hunt for my people when a vaguely familiar girl approached me timidly.
"Hey, uh, Mave, right?"
I nodded, looking at her quizzically.
"I'm Emma; I'm in your Chem class. I just thought I should tell you... I saw Nikka, Madison, and some other girls dragging Harriet out into the woods behind the house. She was trying to fight them off but she was pretty drunk. I thought you'd probably want to know."
Fuck!
Fuck those nasty, underhanded bitches for picking on a weaker shifter.
I guessed Nikka had finally gone over the edge and was taking her hatred of me out on poor Harriet, who I'd left unsupervised and very, very drunk.
"Yes, thank you so much, Emma," I said, springing out of my chair and running for the back door. My phone was in my purse in Blake's car, so I called over my shoulder, "If you see my brother Ben, will you tell him what happened and that I went after them?"
"Sure, yeah, ok."
Thankful for my sneakers and my cardiovascular fitness, I ran at top speed through the backyard until I reached a gate leading to the vast forest behind the property.
I wasn't sure where Pack territory began, but I didn't give a fuck because I was on the hunt now and about to destroy any bitch who'd dared hurt my best friend while she was drunk and vulnerable.
I contemplated shifting to sniff them out faster, but I didn't know if they had enlisted any humans in their little revenge errand.
I could still employ some enhanced senses in human form, and the Alphawhore brigade was heavy-handed in the perfume department, so I pretty quickly picked up a scent as well as the tracks of their stilettos as I wove my way through the piney woods.
After about five minutes of jogging through the trees, I entered a clearing.
It was about the size of our school gym, surrounded by thick, tall trees and containing nothing but lush green grass and what looked like a fire pit that had seen regular use.
Nikka, Dani, Madison, and a couple of the junior AWITs that were not the ones I'd seen with Knox or Mason this evening all stood around the lit fire in their party dresses, arms crossed and evil smiles on every face.
They watched with rapt attention as I approached them.
"Where the fuck is Harriet?" I demanded. The warm light from the large fire lit up each one of their features and cast a faint glow over the entire clearing. I looked around but didn't see her anywhere.
"Mave!" I heard her shout. "Help! I'm over here!"
I stalked closer to the fire. I was finally able to spot Harriet at the opposite edge of the clearing, hands tied above her head by a rope that had been thrown over a high branch above her.
Her feet were just barely touching the ground, and she was struggling mightily.
Her eyes looked glassy, so she was probably still pretty drunk.
"You fucking bitches—" I started to say, before Nikka cut me off.
"Good, I'm glad you're here already," she said curtly. "I just texted Knox to make sure he didn't miss the show. I was just about to text someone else to deliver the news to you."
"I'm s...sorry, Mave!" I heard Harriet shout, slurring. "I tried to fight them... like you taught me. I'm just... really drunk."
"It's okay, babe," I called to her. This was one thousand percent not her fault. "I'll get you down in just a second."
"Wrong," Nikka snapped. "She will stay there until I say she can be released.
She is under orders not to shift if she doesn't want us to attack you outright rather than give you a chance at a fair fight.
I will release her after I've finally put you back in your place, you lying, skanky, omega whore. "
Her minions snickered. As I'd suspected, we were on Pack land now, and she was challenging me to a dominance fight, and she'd used Harriet to lure me out here so I couldn't refuse.
Good thing there was no way I'd refuse. My wolf was now snarling in my chest, ready to be released at her full power.
I pretended to think it over. "A real challenge, huh? I've never been in one of those."
True.
"Yes, bitch; it's time you knew your place here.
I'm the most powerful female wolf under thirty in our pack.
I'm the future Alpha Mate. Knox is finally going to get to see how much better I am for him. He's going to see how fucking stupid it is for him to even consider mating a weak omega whore. I’m tired of seeing his attention on you all the damn time.”
As we were exchanging words, I'd moved over to the side of the clearing closest to Harriet as Nikka and the rest of the bitch brigade stalked out into the middle of the space, away from the fire, and lined up facing me. Nikka stepped out in front and they fell in behind.
"You worried you might need back up from your girls over there?
" I called to her. It was forbidden for other wolves to enter a challenge fight once it began, but I did not trust Nikka as far as I could throw her to be honorable about any of this.
Her intense desire to mate Knox had made her a crazy person.
"Of course not," she sniffed. "They're here as witnesses, and they're here in case you try to cheat your way out of my thoroughly destroying you."
Dani said something from over Nikka's shoulder, and she turned to confer with the group. I heard Harriet's voice again behind me, then a soft "oomf!" as she hit the ground hard. I tried to discreetly glance over my shoulder, and I saw Harriet looking dazed and rubbing her wrists.
Blake was standing next to her, flicking a pocketknife closed. He looked at me and put a finger to his lips, then he faded back into the trees, out of sight. Harriet wisely remained in her spot so as not to alert the Alphawhores that she'd been cut loose.
I quickly whipped back around to face Nikka, fighting to keep my face expressionless and free of the immense relief I felt at Harriet no longer being trussed up like an animal. I knew Blake wouldn't have strayed far, keeping an eye on both her and me as I prepared for my first real challenge fight.
I couldn't be more fucking excited for this, but Nikka didn't need to know that.
"Alright, let's get this fucking over with!" I shouted to the huddle of skanks in front of me.
"Scared, bitch?" she taunted as she turned to face me.
The rest of her group stepped back to give us room. I expected her to start removing her clothes, and I would follow suit, but instead she just burst into a sleek black wolf without warning, tearing her clothes to shreds.
I had no choice but to do the same (RIP, hot dress) as I released my wolf in an instant. My giant golden girl burst forward, and I growled menacingly. I saw Nikka's wolf eyes widen in shock, and the rest of the girls gasped loudly.
"Ben!" I called through our mental link as soon as I'd shifted, praying he'd been informed of the situation and had also shifted to find us. "I'm about to fight Nikka to submission but she has backup. Get here if you can!"
"Already on the way Magic. Fuck her up and don’t hold back!" he said back, to my immense relief.
With that, I lunged forward, snarling and ready to put a bitch in her place.