Chapter 32 Protect What Is Mine
Protect What Is Mine
AVA
It was a bad idea, challenging him, maybe I was still dealing with a concussion, but I didn’t want to back down.
I wanted to protect Eli.
Protect the boy from the forest.
The one that protected me.
That promised me.
I stare down Xavier.
"So, it’s come to you and me fighting all because what? You want power? You want what?”
"Everything,” he says clearly, his blue eyes focused on mine.
“Eli was born into the pack but had a human mom, he’s not worthy, and he knows it, and yet he still was able to rise to where he’s at now, and honestly he doesn’t deserve to be Alpha.”
I laugh.
“Wow, have you ever thought that he really doesn’t care?”
Gabe chimes in.
“It’s in his blood, it doesn’t matter, eventually he’ll get called back and eventually he’ll have to challenge the new leader.
It’s how this works, so whether we kidnapped you or brought you here on your own—this has to happen, there has to be a winner and a loser and I say this as an adoptive brother who loves him. It was time.”
“Wonder why he had so much anger management therapy?”
M steps up and raises his hand.
“An Alpha who hasn’t met his mate goes slowly crazy, an Alpha that could eventually lead his pack will lose everything if he doesn’t fight for it. So, at the end of the day, as they said, it’s inevitable. Fight, get it over with, go back to your lives.”
I look around the forest.
Tons of people are watching us, like at least two hundred.
Was I part of this?
I think I was.
No, I know I was.
Am I something other than human?
I look down at my hands. I see no claws. I just see. Human.
Somehow, I’m able to shove Eli away.
“Me. I’ll fight him.”
Xavier laughs again.
“You realize this isn’t a normal fight and even if it were, you would lose?”
I take a deep breath.
“I’ve run my entire life. Lost memories. People. So many precious things, what’s one more fight after a lifetime of darkness? What I do know is that I’m a mate, and what we do is protect what we love.”
Eli groans.
“Ava don’t—“
“Shut up!” I yell at him.
“Let me have this.”
“Let me have you!” he roars.
“It’s not worth it!”
Something burns in my chest as I walk toward Xavier.
“Oh, but it is worth this, I’ve been waiting for this.” What are these words coming out of my mouth? I glare at him.
“You want to be Alpha, then fight me. Take over, if you can.”
“I’ve been head-to-head with Eli for years in business, you think I can’t beat him in battle?”
I laugh.
“One thing you never thought of with my mate, what if you fight me instead, what if you lose?”
Gabe steps in.
“While this is how things are done, you have to know…Ava, if something happens, both you and Eli die. If Xavier wins without killing you—he gets you. You will be his new mate.”
I'm stunned.
I back away.
“But I’m Eli’s.”
Gabe sighs.
“What belongs to the Alpha? Everything, you included.”
“Well, that’s dumb!” I yell.
“That’s so archaic! I get a choice!”
"You do.” Gabe nods.
"So choose. Will you fight?”
I turn to Eli and my entire world switches into slow motion.
I look around. He doesn’t want me to fight.
Xavier thinks he’ll win. There are tons of half-human werewolves surrounding us in the forest and I’m brought back to the time when I was one of them, they’ve fathered to witness and I need them to see.
I’m brought back to my birth, watching people get forgotten, abandoned, left, and I refuse to let that happen again.
Back to when I ran in the opposite direction from Eli.
But now, I want to run toward him, even if it means I’m captured.
Even if it means I die.
I'll keep him safe.
I’ll do this.
He fed me.
He fucking fed me.
He hired me.
He took care of me.
He took himself away from me to keep me safe because he had no control.
And here he is on his knees for me.
I turn around again and again, and finally lock eyes with Eli.
“I love you.”
He shakes his head.
“Let me.”
“No.” I smile.
“I think some battles should be won where the hero sits it out and the underdog tries their best to save the person who always sacrifices. I want to be that person. I don’t want to run anymore.
I may not remember much of my past, but I know this—I’m yours.
And I protect what is mine!” I start shrieking.
“I protect my pack! I am you, you are me, and I am here to defend, to rule, but most of all.” I turn to Xavier.
“I’m here to prove to you that just because you have a fucking dick does not, for one second mean, you will own me.”
Xavier smiles.
“Guess we’ll see.”
Gabe grabs his phone and looks down at the screen.
“Okay, time to hunt.”
“NO!” Eli screams.
“Don’t do this! I’ll go, I’ll do it!”
"No,” I say with an authority I didn’t think I possessed.
“I’ll hunt. What’s the game?”
Gabe sighs.
“Find one, find just one, find a lost one, a lost one from the pack in the forest and you’ll be okay. Bring them back here. Save one. Save just one, and you win. Save nothing and you lose.”
"And you?” Eli jumps up, then stumbles.
“My brother, what’s your part in this?”
Gabe smiles, then hesitates.
“Bringing it all back together again. It’s been the same since my family took you in. It’s always been this goal. Being whole.”
“At the cost of us!” Eli roars.
Gabe shakes his head.
“No, brother, this is to bring us together again, but in order to do that, you need to face what you fear.”
Eli pauses.
“What the hell do you think I fear?”
Gabe takes a deep breath.
“Yourself, your own power, your own rage, you do not fear others, my friend, you fear yourself.”
He nods.
“You’re right. I use it to protect others. I use it for us. My mate.” I don’t stand down. I get up and I face him.
“So fight me. Fight me now. And we’ll see how this ends.”
He nods.
“Okay, we’ll see how it ends, but know, in the beginning, the only thing we thought was, keep him safe, love him, and teach him, maybe this is your final lesson, brother.”
"You dare call me brother?” I yell.
He smiles and watches Ava.
“You finally found her, and now it’s her time to find someone else, someone else missing in this forest. We’ve been searching for years for the lost children of your pack.
If she finds one, is it all worth it? All these years?
All the rage? I say yes, I say yes to this fight.
And I think if you really thought about it, you would too.
Besides, it’s time to let someone else be the hero, why can’t it be her? ”
She’s my hero.
It settles in my soul.
I stare at her.
And I watch her walk.
I grab her hand and pull her back.
“Go.”
"Will you be by my side still?” Her eyes fill with tears.
I smile.
“It’s not my job to save you. It’s my job to be by your side.
Go, go be a hero, fight him, and I’ll wait.
And if in the end, it is my end, I won’t die sad, I’ll die knowing that you are half of me and that you fought, and that even if we lost, I still had you.
It’s life. And I haven’t been living it.
I’ve been stuck, you are what was missing, so worst-case scenario, I’m a sad werewolf who dies, best-case scenario…
We live. But I trust you, and this isn’t my journey. It’s yours.”
I nod and walk into the forest next to Xavier.
“You want to be Alpha?”
He sighs.
“I’m born to be Alpha.”
"So, was it all a lie with me?”
“Absolutely.” He turns toward me.
“I just wanted to get close and look how close I got without even trying.”
"Cool. Good to know.”
“You won’t win against me.”
"I have heart.”
“I have strength.” He laughs.
“This won’t even be a competition.”
“Weird, since it shouldn't be, we’re saving kids, this should be a mission, not a competition.”
He pauses.
“I was one of those children. It will always be a competition on who can save who.”
I reach out and I grab his hand.
“But why?”
He doesn’t grip my hand right away, then looks down at our interlocked fingers.
“You’re warm.”
That’s all he had?
You’re warm.
A tear slides down my cheek.
“Why should that stand out? Do you think they’re warm? Those kids lost in the first, away from the clan I’ve never known? Everything comes at a cost. What’s yours?”
Xavier squeezes my hand.
“Power.”
“For what?” I ask back.
“Should I be the bigger person and ask you?”
He looks away and squeezes my hand.
“I wanted control. The clan could be powerful, but in the end…” He goes to his haunches and starts crying.
“It’s my family and they’re gone! They’re fucking gone! It’s my job to help my clan reestablish, and Eli, being who he is“—he sighs—“he’s my brother or half-brother, and it’s a threat.”
"Then,” I say gently.
“You don’t know Eli.”
He looks up at me.
“He’ll take everything from me.”
“Have you ever thought”—I sigh—“that he might give instead?”
Xavier frowns.
“What?"
"How many are lost in the woods, how many lost children?”
"Seven,” he whispers.
“Good. We can get that done right now. They’re terrified. Let’s go build back your clan, not just yours, but Eli’s.”