CHAPTER 9 #3
There was nothing for it. Like this, with my powers neutered, I was at a disadvantage. I had to loosen my cage. Then, I might be able to see some subtle cue before an attack. My enhanced senses might give me the advantage I needed to play this fight out the way I intended.
I comforted myself with the fact that I wouldn’t be giving anything away, not really.
After all, I’d already put on one hell of a display protecting Amy in the city, not to mention the night Michael and I fought that vampire.
There were enough witnesses to those incidents that I wouldn’t be revealing any new information to these assholes if I let my power out to play.
But knowing about that power and feeling it up close were two different things, and I already distrusted these wolves enough that I worried they would find some way to turn it against me.
After all, Mary already had, if I was right and she had set this fight up.
The man lunged at me again, and I shoved the bars of my cage outward, letting what made me a MacKenzie Valley wolf slip out through them.
He stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden bombardment.
Around us, the forest rang with the sound of indrawn breaths.
Surprise and alarm spiced the warm summer air.
Drink it in, you bastards, I thought, turning my focus onto the man in front of me. He came to life anew. Nothing was hidden. I saw the slight dilation of his pupils, heard his heartbeat stutter, and knew him to be afraid. Good.
It was a mark of how well trained he was that he hesitated for only a moment.
Despite his wariness, he came at me once more.
He was still almost too fast for me. Or no, that wasn’t it.
He wasn’t too fast. If I really tried, I could block him instead of dodging.
The real issue was that I was simply outclassed.
Nothing rattled him. Nothing threw him off-balance for long.
If I ducked, he altered course. He must have come into this fight expecting my superior speed because he never overextended himself.
He didn’t put too much force into his punches, knowing that if I ducked one, he’d get pulled off balance by it.
Instead, he put in just enough that he could still stop himself.
But when your opponent is that big and that strong, even a punch that can be stopped can hit hard enough to do serious damage if it lands.
I learned that firsthand a heartbeat later, when he grazed my shoulder with a blow.
I thought I’d gotten clear of it, but I was wrong, and it struck hard enough that it spun me around.
I knew it was bad because I didn’t feel it right away.
Michael must have, because I heard a low grunt slip through his lips from somewhere nearby. Then the pain hit, and, oh, fuck, ow!
Hurt blossomed not just through my shoulder but all the way down to the fingertips of that arm and halfway through my chest, like muscles had torn from the force of the blow.
Thank the Goddess I had enough sense to jump away from him again and buy myself some time.
I healed fast, but this was a lot of damage to repair.
His steely blue eyes were fixed on me as he advanced across the clearing.
At his sides, his hands were loose, ready to curl into fists at the absolute last moment, so he gave nothing away.
I used my improved sight to try and suss him out.
There must be some tell to find. Increased blood flow to a limb, a hitch in his heart rate.
Anything that would make it easier for me to find some way to get him into a headlock and end this.
One thing was certain: I needed to stay on the defensive.
I was too off-balance to attack him. My plan of using Michael to anchor me had gone up in smoke with that first punch.
I didn’t have time to spare a thought for our bond or Michael’s steadiness; it was all I could do just to keep from getting seriously hurt.
If I went on the offensive now, I might hit him too hard by accident and permanently maim or kill him.
That vampire was enough to tell me I didn’t want to be a murderer.
And really, what had this guy done to deserve that kind of sentence?
For all I knew, Mary might have forced him into this, and he wanted to fight me as much as I wanted to fight him.
A subtle motion caught my eye. I glanced away from the Scandinavian to see Michael standing at the very edge of the clearing. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked relaxed, but as my gaze met his, he mouthed, End it.
Trying, I mouthed back at him.
My opponent lunged again, and I spun away, my back to Michael once more.
Five slow, terrible minutes passed where I did my very best to stay on my feet.
Would I look too skilled if I blocked his attacks?
I didn’t know, and so I dodged and fled again and again.
My arm was still killing me, but it felt marginally better than it had just after the impact, so at least I was healing.
That was about the only good thing going for me.
Around us, the crowd was starting to let their displeasure be heard.
Whispers of disappointment and disgust filled the dale.
“This is it? This is the great MacKenzie legacy?”
“She’s not even attacking him.”
“So much for all of Mary’s bragging.”
“Look at the alpha’s face. She’s so mad right now. I love it when someone embarrasses her.”
And all the while, an awareness grew in the corner of my mind. Goddess help me, I’d been so focused on the fight up until now that I hadn’t felt it: Michael’s mounting rage. Someone was attacking his mate, someone had hurt her, and there he was, doing nothing to stop it. He must be going crazy.
Before I could figure out how close he was to snapping, a fist flew at my face.
I barely dodged in time to avoid it. I couldn’t focus on Michael.
If I did, this guy might destroy any hope we had of hiding with one well-aimed kick.
Michael felt like he was holding on by a thread.
If this guy actually hurt me, really hurt me, there was no way my mate wouldn’t step in.
I was going to have to give myself away.
My strength and my true speed could still remain hidden if I pulled this off.
These wolves already knew about my power; I wouldn’t be giving them much if I uncaged it, just a little bit more, enough to intimidate my opponent.
So far, I’d done little more than run away from his attacks. It was time to turn the tables.
I blew the cage on my power wide open and lunged at him at the same time.
Submit! I screamed at him internally, focusing the full force of my power down onto him.
It was enough. He stumbled. I put on a burst of speed and skirted behind him, leaping up to wrap my arm around his throat, locking it into place with the crook of my other elbow.
His neck was so thick and sweaty that it was hard to get a grip.
Careful. I had to be so careful right now. Too much force, and I would crush his spine. Not enough, and he might slip my grip. Goddess, my arm was killing me, but I gritted my teeth and held on despite it. Nothing was broken. Any further damage I did to myself, I could heal later.
The world tilted as the man threw himself backward.
I had just enough time to brace myself before I landed on my back with the full force of him on top of me.
The breath exploded from my lungs. Ow, he was heavy.
I didn’t even get a chance to suck in another breath before he started trying to pummel me with his elbows.
I squeezed his neck a little harder and shifted beneath him.
Thank the Goddess I had enough strength to move.
If his weight had pinned me, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge, and his elbows would have broken every single one of my ribs.
Go to sleep, you big sonofabitch, I thought. Just go to sleep!
Something new, something that felt alien, slipped outward from a darkened corner of my mind, and the man’s struggles slowed down, turned lethargic like he had heard me and was actually obeying.
A shadow fell over us.
I looked up just in time to watch Michael bend down and snap the man’s neck.
The man collapsed, dead, on top of me.
I screamed, shoving the corpse away from me and kicking myself clear of it.
Oh, Goddess. That alien feeling. I was on my back. Sweating. I’d gotten so caught up in the fight, had been in such a blind panic, that I’d forgotten about my spell. It must have smeared, and some of my magic slipped out. The man had been falling asleep, because I’d spelled him.
“We need to leave,” Michael said, his gaze rising to take in the hostile wolves surrounding us. “Now.”