Chapter 39
THIRTY-NINE
MAVE
Alpha Monroe’s giant white wolf prowled around me with slow, deliberate steps, taunting me into attacking first. Ben darted in seconds earlier to cut off Nikka’s dad’s wolf from interfering to protect his Alpha, and they were snapping at each other somewhere behind me.
Over the Alpha’s shoulder, I kept a wary eye on Blake, who was currently brandishing a fire sword at the Pack’s top enforcer like he was motherfucking Kylo Ren.
My nerves over his safety settled considerably because as highly trained as Pack enforcers were in combat in both wolf and human form, they had no experience facing off against magic.
Alpha Monroe and I continued to circle each other as I took quick stock of the rest of the field.
Ben and Blake had taken out the other Pack enforcer who’d been guarding Blake’s prison shack, and he was still passed out and handcuffed in a heap next to the building.
I didn’t see Harriet, and I hoped she was laying low somewhere nearby where she wouldn’t be spotted by the wolves.
Ben was expertly dodging Angelo Parker’s harried attacks, wisely allowing him to tire before he fully engaged.
I brought my focus back to the Alpha, who hadn’t taken his eyes from my wolf since he’d burst into the clearing.
If he was at all concerned for his beta or his enforcer, he didn’t show it.
He growled and pushed his considerable Alpha power in my direction, and my wolf immediately met the push with our own power.
The sensation brought me right back to the day in Gym when I’d locked power with Knox in our human forms. Ice Man and I had been as evenly matched as Alpha wolves could possibly be, and we’d worked ourselves into a stalemate before anyone could get hurt.
That was not going to happen here. Alpha Monroe was stronger than his son, and I knew deep down that the best I could hope for was holding on as long as possible, avoiding serious injury and refusing to submit, until Knox or Ian or my dad were able to find us out here.
I could take a few hard hits, and I’d do it a thousand times over if it meant I could keep the Alpha and his degenerate wolves from taking Blake away from me again.
If he somehow slipped into the clutches of the National Shifter Council, I had no idea whether we could ever get him back, and that terrified me like nothing I’d ever felt before.
I felt another hard push of power trying to suffocate me into submission. My wolf stumbled and snarled at the intrusion, but we held on. The Alpha smiled at me with his big white wolfy teeth, then he shocked me by releasing his power completely.
He flashed back into human form, his naked form bloated with muscle and towering over my wolf. He looked almost giddy, still focused only on me and not the battles that raged around us.
My wolf eyed him warily, keeping light on our toes. He was probably trying to distract us, and we wouldn’t be fooled.
A flash of fire in my periphery pulled my focus to Blake, and I watched with equal parts awe and horror as he plunged his flaming sword straight into the enforcer’s wolf body right before he was tossed off of the wolf’s back. The wolf fell, and Blake scrambled to his feet and turned to face me.
I shook my wolf head slightly, urging him not to interfere yet. This was between the Alpha and me.
“I must say, I’m impressed, little girl,” he said with that silky insincere tone of his, ripping my attention away from Blake.
“I’ve never encountered a more powerful Alpha than you, except of course for my own son.
But you’re still no match for me, and I think you know that.
If you think I’m going to let you carry on with a dangerous illegal mage instead of mating my son as soon as possible, you are dumber than you look. ”
I growled. If he thought he was going to goad me into shifting to clap back at him, he was the one who was dumber than he looked.
“I’m sorry it had to come to this, Mave, I really am,” he said, trying and failing to inject faux sympathy into his words.
“It’s my duty as your Alpha to remove all threats to you and to this Pack.
How do I know this boy hasn’t worked some kind of spell over you to keep you away from your own fated mate?
How do I know this isn’t some ploy to weaken the future Alpha of this Pack so that he and his kind can one day bring us down? ”
“That’s not how it works, you fucking psycho!” Blake shouted as he paced the perimeter of our little battleground. “Stop acting like your hard-on for power and money isn’t the only thing at play here. No one’s buying it.”
“Shut your mouth, you little freak,” the Alpha snapped at him.
I heard more snarls, growls, and whines from behind me where Ben and Angelo Parker were now fighting in earnest. I wanted to turn around to check on my brother or to call to him in our mental link, but I refused to take my eyes off of the Alpha for even a second, and I didn’t want to distract Ben from his task.
He continued, “This isn’t going to go how you want it to, Mave. I don’t want to injure my son’s mate, but I will if you continue to disobey a direct order from your Alpha. Stand down and submit to me, and I’ll make sure Angelo doesn’t cause further injury to your brother.”
A wave of terror shot through me. Was Ben hurt? He hadn’t called to me for help. My wolf ears easily picked up the sounds of both wolves continuing to clash behind me, so he couldn’t have been seriously injured.
“He’s fine, Mave,” Blake called to me. “Don’t let him fool you.”
“I’m fine, Magic,” Ben echoed in my head. “Just a few scrapes and bruises.”
I narrowed my eyes at the Alpha. I was finished listening to his bullshit.
I growled menacingly at him as I began to stalk forward.
“You stupid girl,” he spat at me, then he lunged in my direction, shifting back into his massive white wolf in the space of a second.
And so began the fight of my life.
I’d sparred with Dad’s wolf plenty back in Utah, but he’d always stopped short of actually hurting me—instead just chastising me for the opening I’d left him to strike, the wrong move I’d made, or for being too slow.
This was real. The fear was real. The stakes were real.
The Alpha’s white wolf was bigger than mine—probably as big as my Dad, who was the largest wolf I’d ever seen. Knox’s wolf was almost identical, but he was leaner—he just didn’t seem quite so giant.
The Alpha used his massive hind muscles to launch himself high into the air, aiming to land right on top of me and no doubt pin me to the forest floor.
While I hadn’t anticipated he’d be able to leap the full distance between us, I was able to duck and roll out of the way at the last second, but not before the Alpha’s knife-sharp six-inch claws swiped at my backside.
I felt the gashes open on my left haunch, and my wolf yelped in pain.
I rolled to my feet and had to immediately duck his next attack, which missed me by millimeters.
And it went on like this for what felt like hours—but was probably closer to ten or fifteen minutes.
The Alpha attacked me relentlessly while I ducked and dodged out of his way with my quick reflexes and superior speed.
Still, he was able to slice new wounds into two of my legs and had taken a big chunk out of my right shoulder with his teeth, having narrowly missed my neck, which would have cost me the fight.
Blood trickled down my legs and matted my fur while my shoulder wound gushed with more fervor, leaving little puddles of blood around my feet everywhere I moved.
I was beginning to tire, and the blood loss would weaken me soon.
My front paws were still sore and tender from the wolfsbane.
The Alpha’s snow-white stomach was marred with some seeping red gashes from where I’d managed to swipe my claws at him from underneath him at one point, but he was otherwise unharmed.
At least he was starting to slow a little since we were both getting tired.
Still, I didn’t submit. I’d keep him focused on me and only me, and away from Ben and Blake, until help arrived.
Please let help arrive.
Blake was pacing around the area of the clearing we’d worn to dust during our fight, wild blue magic spinning around his hands. It was obvious it was killing him not to intervene to help me or even Ben, who I could now see was still going full speed at Angelo to my right.
I knew Blake would start throwing magic before he’d let the Alpha kill me, honor be damned, but I prayed to the Moon it wouldn’t come to that.
I couldn’t have the Alpha attack Blake, no matter how well equipped he might be to defend himself.
He had magic, but he didn’t have much experience in combat.
Alpha Monroe lunged for me, jaws snapping and trying again for my throat.
I rolled away again, swiping my claw at his muzzle as I fell.
Somehow I connected this time, and I felt the skin of his wolf’s face rip under my paw.
He whined and jumped backwards, shaking his head like it would clear the sting of the pain.
Take that, asshole.
I panted, trying to catch my breath, as we circled each other once more. I was fading—the wounds on my legs were starting to close up but blood was still flowing steadily from my shoulder. The Alpha could tell I was weakening, and his wolf smiled while he stalked around me.
At least he was now bleeding from his face, rivulets of bright red blood staining his white muzzle.
I was probably growing delirious and desperate, which is the only explanation for why, in that moment, I’d crouched low and prepared to throw myself directly at him in some kind of last ditch effort to take an eye out or nick an important artery in his neck.
But before I could strike, I heard a crack, followed by loud yelp and a whine.
Fuck, please no….
I jerked my head sideways in time to see Angelo removing his jaws from Ben’s hind leg, which was now torn, bloody, and broken.
“Ben!” I called through our link. When he didn’t respond, I moved almost involuntarily in his direction.
I watched as he tucked his injured leg up into his body and evaded Angelo’s next strike on three legs.
Blake ran towards him, launching the blue magic into the space between Ben and Angelo, which bloomed into a nebulous sort of wall that Angelo bounced off of as he tried to attack Ben again.
It bought Ben precious seconds to regroup, then he ran straight at the wall while Angelo staggered and attempted to regain his balance.
Blake released the magic holding the wall, and Ben jumped off his three good legs and straight through the airy magic, and he tackled Angelo to the ground.
He immediately sank his teeth into Angelo’s neck, snarling savagely, and unleashed what I’m sure was the last of his Alpha power.
Angelo went limp in submission, blood gushing from his neck. Blake conjured vines from somewhere in the ground which he wound around the black wolf’s body, securing him to the floor. Ben released his neck and collapsed onto the grass.
“Ben!” I shouted again, panic overtaking all rational thinking, and I turned my back to the Alpha to run to him.
“Magic, watch out!”
I dug my paws into the ground and came to a sudden halt, then I whipped around to face the Alpha, who was already airborne with his claws outstretched and teeth barred, headed straight for my neck.
I had no time to duck out of the way, so I braced for impact.