Chapter 11
A Challenge
Harlow
I never expect Gabriel to be this reckless. He has lost control of the situation and now looks ready to wipe us all out. Instead of keeping a living witness quiet with threats, he chooses a full-blown killing spree.
“You really figure you’re gonna walk away after pulling a stunt like this?” I ask, raising both fists in front of my chest. “You honestly think nobody’s coming after you later?”
“Hell yeah,” Gabriel says with a grin. “I’m stronger than you. I’m the Alpha.”
Alexa and Lorraine burst out of the dressing room with panicked screams. Gabriel lunges at me. We crash together and roll across the floor, slam into a table, and scatter makeup everywhere. Pinned against the overturned table, I stop our momentum with the upper hand.
I straddle his body, trapping him beneath me. His claws slash toward my ribs beside my left chest. He’s aiming straight for my heart. Unfortunately for him, it’s not enough to make me surrender.
My claws retaliate, tearing deep into the side of his face and ripping the corner of his eye. Blood splatters across the floor. The sight distracts me for half a second. Gabriel swings his palm hard into my right cheek and knocks me to the floor.
He jumps on top of me, driving both claws into my shoulders and waist. His snout, lined with sharp fangs, sinks into my shoulder. Pain explodes through my body.
“Harlow!” Alexa screams.
I force myself to pull away from his jaws, but escaping those pointed teeth isn’t easy. My face twists as I fight through the pain. My free right hand reaches for the fallen table lamp. I grab it and swing at his head as fast as my injured shoulder allows.
The impact knocks him down hard. For a moment he lies there, stunned.
I push myself to my feet. My breath comes out ragged as I call for Eldritch, my wolf, to take over. A roar tears from my throat while my body feels like it’s being pulled apart in every direction. Heat sears through every inch of my skin.
My bones shift. My muscles stretch and swell. I stand in my gray Lycan form.
“Damn you,” Gabriel mutters as he pushes himself up. “Alright then. Let’s settle this right here, right now. The final Alpha test you should’ve shown up for nine years ago.”
“I don’t give a damn about that title anymore,” I growl. “You can keep it. I just wanna live free with Alexa out there.”
“Aw hell, don’t start chickening out now,” Gabriel says with a harsh laugh. “Let’s fight for that Alpha title and I’ll shut that cocky mouth of yours.”
His body shifts. Bones crack and lengthen. Fur spreads across his skin until a massive wolf stands where he was.
I don’t even know if the Alpha title still matters to me. But when I glance at Alexa, she’s watching me with fierce confidence.
She nods. “Harlow, I know you can do this!” Alexa shouts. “Show the world what you’re worth. You’re a whole lot more than you think. Lorraine and I will witness it!”
“So will they!” Gabriel jerks his head toward the doorway. “Plenty of witnesses today!”
I turn in that direction. Beside Alexa, two bridal makeup attendants stand frozen in fear. Their pupils are wide, their fists clenched against their chests.
“Please call Mrs. Geeny to treat Lorraine and the elders. Hurry!” Alexa orders.
“Y—yes,” one of them stammers.
They scramble down the corridor. I glance back at Alexa. The fire of determination still burns in her eyes.
“Well now,” Gabriel chuckles. Blood and saliva drip from the corner of his snout. “This just got a whole lot more fun.”
He spits on the floor. His four legs pace slowly back and forth while his gleaming hazel eyes stay locked on me. Every movement screams predator ready to pounce.
“Fine,” I say. “I challenge you for the Alpha title.”
“Dumb, you’ll lose,” Gabriel snarls.
A second later he launches at me in his massive wolf form. He leaps for my arm, jaws snapping, but I swing a full-force punch straight into his head.
Gabriel spits blood as he crashes onto the floor. In less than a heartbeat, he springs onto my back while I’m turning. His teeth clamp down on the side of my snout and yank hard, forcing a roar of pain from my chest.
I swing my arm back and drive my elbow into his neck. He howls as I slam him against the wall. My elbow presses into a vital point along his throat. But his snout moves faster. His teeth tear a chunk of muscle from my arm.
I scream at the top of my lungs as searing pain rips through my shredded right arm. Gabriel kicks me away with brutal force. I stumble back several heavy steps. My breath catches in my throat as I struggle to stay upright and endure the burning agony through my arm.
My steps wobble as I put distance between myself and Gabriel. My vision blurs.
Damn it. Am I going to lose here? Am I not fated by the Moon Goddess to defeat him?
My body collapses onto the floor with a heavy thud, knocking over the table in the center of the room.
“Harlow! No!” Alexa screams, her voice shaking.
The cold floor presses against my head. From where I lay, Alexa is crying a river. She calls my name again and again between choking sobs.
“No. Don’t cry for me, Alexa.” My mind link drifts across the invisible wavelength between us. “I ain’t worth crying over. Your eyes are already red and swollen. Please… don’t make it worse.”
“No!” Her voice bursts into my mind. “Harlow, please. Don’t say that. You can beat him. I know you can.”
“Back off, Alexa!” Gabriel snaps. “I’m finishing him right now.”
“Fuck you!” she spits.
“You’re gonna kneel in front of me, suck my dick, and obey me as your Alpha from now on,” Gabriel growls, drunk on victory.
“Go screw yourself!” Alexa shrieks.
My ear rests against the floor, and my sharpened hearing catches the sound of many footsteps rushing toward us. The elders have arrived.
“Oh my Goddess! What happened, Alpha Gabriel?” Mrs. Geeny’s panicked voice rings through the room.
“Lorraine?” Mrs. Gertrude cries out. “How did you get hurt?” She pulls her daughter into a desperate embrace.
“Alexa? You alright?” Alpha Romero asks, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t touch her.” The thought flickers through my fading mind. “She’s mine.” But the next thought arrives colder. “I’m about to die. Maybe Romero will defeat Gabriel and save her instead.”
“Everybody, watch closely!” Gabriel announces.
“I’m Gabriel Scott, Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack.
Today I shall defeat my challenger, Harlow Phillips.
This cursed Omega.” His sharp, condescending gaze drops to me.
“After this, anyone who dares challenge my authority in this territory will end up just like him.”
Damn. My breathing refuses to settle. My wounds are too deep. Pain rules every inch of my body.
Is this really how it ends for me?
“No. We will survive.” Eldritch’s voice echoes inside my mind, steady and certain.
“It’s over,” I mutter.
“Harlow!” Alexa screams. “Please get up! Please!” Her voice pierces straight through our mind link. “Please, Harlow. Stay alive for me.”
My eyelids close. The pain is crushing, pressing through every nerve in my skull. If I can just survive tonight, the torn flesh in my arm might heal within weeks. Wolves heal fast. Soon it will be like the wound had never existed.
“Alpha Gabriel… did Harlow challenge you for the Alpha title?” Mr. Pascoe asks carefully.
“Yes,” Gabriel answers, breathing hard. “Alexa and Lorraine witnessed it.”
“If Harlow defeats you until you pass out or die, you step down as Alpha,” Alexa says, forcing the words through her sobs.
Gabriel bursts into loud laughter. He looks down at me lying helpless on the floor. I bite my lower lip, trying to find even the smallest pocket of calm, any fragment of strength my wolf still holds.
“You all see it,” Gabriel scoffs. “Harlow’s already down there, gasping his last breaths. Just look at those wounds. No way he’s beating me.”
“As long as he hasn’t passed out, he still has a chance,” Alexa insists.
“Fine,” Gabriel says. “Your call. I’ll kill him right in front of you.” His voice rises into a roar. “Now where’s the best kill spot for a Lycan like him?” He tilts his head mockingly. “Right. His spine.”
I steady my breathing and wait. I don’t know why Eldritch sounds so confident. Or Alexa. Even now, I still cannot understand how she can love me this much.
Where does that certainty come from? The certainty that I will survive. That I will defeat Gabriel. But one thing burns clearly inside me.
I want to win. I want to live.
Gabriel charges toward me on all fours. He launches into the air above my body, ready to tear me apart. His jaws open wide, teeth gleaming, prepared to shred whatever remains of me.
Then something changes. Heat ignites inside my chest, deep within my rib cage. It spreads like wildfire through my body, flooding every limb. My brain fires with a violent pulse that surges through my nerves like thunder. I gather every last shred of strength into one movement.
My healthy left arm swings faster than him. My claws grab the base of Gabriel’s neck and slam the massive gray wolf into the floor with brute force.
My jaws clamp down hard into the Alpha wolf’s shoulder and neck. With one savage pull, I tear through his muscle, dangerously close to the vital veins beneath. A sharp crack echoes as his shoulder bone dislocates.
A piercing howl slices through the room. The gray wolf trembles violently for one second. Two seconds. I spit the blood from my mouth onto the floor. Then Gabriel collapses.
His massive body lies motionless on the ground, though his breathing remains ragged. Blood pours from the deep wound near his neck, dangerously close to the artery running beneath the flesh.
“Gabriel!” Lorraine screams, her voice hoarse with pain. She rushes past me and drops beside him. “Mrs. Geeny! Help!” Tears stream down her face.
Everyone gathers around Gabriel. Mrs. Geeny begins a healing ritual through Lorraine. The elders crowd close, their faces tight with worry. Meanwhile, I slump on the floor, alone.
“Harlow.” Alexa crouches beside me, her brows pulled together with concern.
A faint smile forms on my lips despite the sweat dripping from my face. She takes both my hands and traces small circles across them with her thumbs. A moment later she starts a healing ritual.
My heavy breathing slowly eases. The burning pain in my right arm fades, replaced by the strange sensation of cool water washing over it. The torn muscles knit themselves together.
Red flesh reforms piece by piece, building fresh, healthy tissue. As my wounds close, bruises bloom across Alexa’s right arm from the backlash of the ritual.
“That’s enough.” I pull my hands away, breaking the energy chain.
“But your wound’s still open,” Alexa insists. She tries to grab my hands again, but I raise my right arm to stop her.
“Hey, look at me. I’m fine now,” I say with a tired smile. “I’ll patch it up with some healing herbs later. Besides, you ain’t forgetting I’m a Lycan too, right?”
“Yeah… you’re right.” Her eyes study my face carefully. “You’ll heal. You’ll live.” Her voice softens. “You won.” Her hands slide up to cup my neck. She presses our foreheads together.
“You won,” she whispers again and again, like the words themselves can keep the pain away.
“Yeah.” One of my arms wraps around her waist. “I made it. I won.”
Her breath brushes across my face, warm and trembling. She closes her eyes, whispering thanks to the Moon Goddess for sparing my life.
Her hands move to my cheeks, then her lips crash against mine. The kiss is hungry, desperate, almost frantic, like she needs proof that I’m still breathing.
I kiss her back just as fiercely. Through the warmth of her mouth and the press of her body, I tell her the only thing that matters.
“I’m here for you.”
She lets out a shaky laugh between kisses. Tears spill down her cheeks again, but I brush them away with my thumb. Alexa kisses me once more before another breathless laugh escapes her.
“Your clothes.”
Alpha Romero’s voice comes from behind her. He steps closer and holds out my white shirt, now missing every single button.
“Thanks.” I take it with my left hand.
“Wait.” Romero’s voice sharpens. His eyes widen and his brows draw together. “That necklace… where’d you get it?”
My heart drops. I glance down and see the silver wolf-head pendant hanging from my neck.
“Why?” Alexa asks. “You recognize it or something?”
“Answer my question first.” Romero’s tone turns firm. “Where did you get that necklace?”
The warmth in his usual demeanor disappears. His face flushes slightly, like something inside him has snapped tight.
“It belonged to my mother,” I say. “My late mother.” I let out a slow breath.
My heart is pounding again. The rush of battle may be gone, but something else burns through my chest now. After all these years, someone finally recognizes it.
“I see,” Romero mutters, still frowning.
“Well?” I grip his arm with my left hand, holding his gaze. “If you know something about this necklace, you better tell me. It’s the only clue I’ve got about who my real father is.”
“Harlow, Alexa. We need to talk.” An elder steps forward, cutting off the conversation. Mrs. Gertrude and Lorraine stand behind him.
Gabriel’s emergency treatment is finished. Mrs. Geeny and several servants carry him past us on a stretcher. They hurry down the hall without even sparing me a glance.
“Explain what happened here,” the elder says, his voice tight. “We need to understand this mess.” His eyes widen and his jaw hardens, like fury is barely contained beneath the surface.
The burly old man is the same one who fired the gun at Alexa during her Luna trial.
Gabriel’s uncle, Darius Scott. He speaks with the authority of the elder council, and he doesn’t even bother to ask how I’m doing.
After all, to him, I’m nothing more than a lowly Omega servant who attacked his nephew.