48. Ever Wood Portal #2
Fear spikes through me, and I try to send it down our link to warn her of what she’s getting herself into, but I don’t think she’s getting it. Damnit.
“Yes,” she says simply, and my heart plummets as I hear the next words out of the shadows.
“Oh, this should be good,” the person walking out of the shadow says. “Then I challenge you to a special meeting at the Blood Matches. Now.”
My blood freezes as Captain Brooks walks out of the shadows. The look on his face is one of someone who caught his grand prize, and nothing can touch him.
Traitor.
Technically, since he has called the Blood Match, he is untouchable, at least from me, the Alpha, and the other pack members, until the winner of the Match is called. The only person who can punish or even hurt him right now is Rez.
“After you,” Rez agrees.
“Thankfully, it’s right through these trees.” Captain Brook sneers down at Rez before leading the way to our Blood Matches.
I try the best I can to let the nausea that I’m feeling pass and focus on being strong for Rez. She needs her Alpha to back her and give her the strength that she needs in this fight. Fuck. We need a damn miracle, actually.
‘Not a miracle, just knowledge,’ a deep growl rolls inside my head as my lower back heats and I rub the soreness for a moment—such a weird place to get a cramp all of a sudden.
“Knox, does Rez know anything about the Blood Matches?” Ryker asks as he bumps into me as we walk.
“No.” I keep my voice low. “I told her that I’ve killed in them, but not the dynamics.
I never had the time, nor did I think she needed to know them at the moment.
So, she has no idea what she was walking into, and it’s all my fault.
If she knows anything, she would have had to do her own research into it,” I admit as beads of sweat appear on my upper lip.
Ryker shakes his head.
“No, it’s not. You know Rez as well as I do.
First, if she had questions, she wouldn’t have been embarrassed or scared to ask.
Second, it’s her decision, and no matter whether she knew or not, we can’t stop her.
All we can do now is support her. Okay?” Ryker squeezes my bicep, trying to get through to me, but the guilt is still mine, and it’s eating me.
Knots comes up on the other side of me and hits the back of my head. Hard.
“Listen up, beef cake,” Lynx grumbles. “The doorknob has some shit to say to you.”
“Don’t let that guilt tear you and Rez apart. You would be doing the same thing I did: allowing what I thought of as my purpose to supersede my love. So, be a man, the Alpha, and grow some ovaries and support our woman,” Knots tells me.
I pull out of my head for a moment as I continue walking behind Rez and Captain Brooks, but I stare back at Knots and Lynx for a moment.
“Did something happen to the two of you while you were melded together?” I ask, arching an eyebrow.
“Why do you ask?” Lynx asks, tilting his head.
“No reason.” I shake my head, dismissing the weird wording Knots used a moment ago. Grow some ovaries? It’s something Lynx would have said. Or it might be the stress getting to me.
As we continue to walk, my back starts to heat to an ungodly inferno to the point I’m breathing out of my mouth like those women do when giving birth, and I have to slow down my strides.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Right as I drop down to one knee, the world around me freezes, and I’m hit with a blast of air so cold that it burns.
‘So, you are the one to take my place,’ a deep voice shakes me down to my core. Lifting my head, I take in a broad figure cloaked in shadows with a flaming white sword in his right hand and a red horse standing slightly behind him on his left; War.
No need for introductions, I can feel the power and fury rolling off of him.
The strum of drums beating as my chest syncs up with their call, powers through me to join an invisible fight that I didn’t know was there.
The ache in my chest is so strong that my animals call out to change and join the fight; to win.
‘What you feel is the Call of War,’ War states, his voice deep and steady as he holds my gaze.
‘It’s a good power to have, but honestly, it’s a weak one,’ he chuckles.
The deep, guttural sound must be foreign to him, as he jerks back in shock at the sound and clears his throat.
‘Conquer’s power is better, to be honest. Oh, where are my manners? ’
War tilts his head as he looks at me on my knee, panting like a dying dog that I’m reduced to, and finally releases me by snapping his fingers. He sheathes his sword on his back and looks at me as I stand eye to eye at my full height.
‘As you were.’ He motions for me to move, and the world unfreezes, and I’m jolted back into live action mode.
A quick searching glance verifies that I am indeed going nuts because I don’t see War anywhere around. Did I just make him up?
The bonfire comes into full view as we walk, and the outline of the ring is off to the right.
This was definitely planned and isn’t a last-minute call, since there are already shifters present, music playing, and the smell of alcohol.
The fact that my senses are fucked up and I can smell that tells me they’ve been partying for a while.
Captain Brooks turns to look over his shoulder and gives me a sinister smile.
I wonder who he got to fuck with the portal to bring us here, to a place Father forbade to have cameras.
Our Blood Matches are never to be recorded; the only thing saving the rest of the group is the fact that they are my family.
‘Someone has definitely been naughty,’ War’s voice sounds before he appears. His shadows develop next to my left, hiding everything beside those familiar green eyes staring at me, and now I’m really unsure if I’m nuts or not.
‘What you must master is the Rage Induction,’ he continues our conversation as if we never stopped. ‘It could solve so many problems with disloyalists, especially those who think they are above their station, and you don’t even have to raise a finger.’
I look back at Captain Brooks, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t even care about following orders and the rules.
Shit, isn’t he wanted by Dad? Shouldn’t these shifters be reaching out to Father to turn Captain Brooks in?
He’s part of the rebels, isn’t he? Didn’t we prove that?
Down in Hell, Levi did that spell on that list showing who wrote it, and Knots said he saw a Silverback Gorilla running off towards the rebels during the attack on the school.
We only have one fucking ape here, and I’m looking at the asshole.
As we move closer to the ring, the crowd parts and watches us with greedy and bloodthirsty eyes.
‘How do we do it?’ I ask, wanting to take down this asshole and anyone who’s looking at my mate.
‘That’s the correct answer.’ I can only hear the smile in his response because I refuse to look away from the audience in front of us. ‘I’m about to teach you how to emit an invisible aura that strips away logic, forcing allies to fight each other in a blind frenzy.’
I want to shift and pluck every single eye out for even looking in Rez’s direction. No one should be looking at my woman with any emotions, let alone any type of desire.
‘Perfect. Destroy themselves from the inside,’ I purr.
“Knox, can you tone it down a little?” Chester comes up and whispers to me. I turn to see him pulling at his collar, and I realize my Alpha power is suffocating some of the weaker shifters.
“Sorry,” I tell him. “Please help keep me in check, I have a feeling I need someone to make sure I don’t go to the dark side, so stand next to me,” I tell him, and I see him immediately stand taller and puff up his chest in my periphery, not even blinking an eye at my comment.
“Yes, sir.”
Fuck me, I just gave my first order as an official leader, and I gave it to my brother-in-law.