10. Tank
Tank
Tate was the only wolf on campus capable of resisting my alpha dominance, so seeing such a small shifter refuse to submit to me took me by surprise.
I blinked as he met my challenge and smirked. Meanwhile, the pathetic meathead from the Durant pack lay naked in a puddle of piss with his nose to the floor. If I wasn’t so taken aback by the little wolf shifter, I’d have laughed.
Nothing but a faint whimper from the wolf clutching his balls broke the heavy silence. I waited, happy to let these idiots feel the weight of my displeasure before releasing them from my alpha hold.
If this had happened outdoors, I would have shifted and inflicted some serious damage on the trio of wolves who thought they could get away with acting like assholes under my nose.
My brothers and I ruled this campus. All the wolf shifters here knew better than to harass the younger students or pick a fight with another shifter in a public place. It was one of our unwritten rules, a rule the principal had agreed to.
He stayed out of wolf shifter business, preferring to let Tate and me handle things.
I paid no attention to name calling and immature bullshit of that nature, but anything physical had to be dealt with in the fight ring under our watchful eye.
The small wolf held his ground as I strode across the canteen, ignoring the stampede of lesser shifters as they scrambled to leave. By the time I reached the asshole trio, only wolf shifters remained, all of them continuing to stare at the floor in submission.
All except the pretty little wolf with the vibrant red hair and green eyes.
The closer I got to him, the antsier my wolf became. He seemed excited about the wolf, which made no sense. I sniffed when I reached him, my sensitive shifter nose filtering out the acrid smells of urine and body odor until only burned sugar remained.
That added to my confusion. Male wolves typically had a musky scent, not a sweet one.
The wolf smelled female, but his features were male.
He was far slighter than most adult male wolf shifters, and half the size of me, but his shoulders were broad and his face appeared vaguely masculine, albeit much prettier than the males I knew.
I cocked my head to one side and studied him as the three wolves who’d attacked the little guy edged away.
“What happened?” I asked, genuinely curious.
The little wolf shrugged, peeking up at me through his shaggy bangs. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“Not what I asked,” I said. “Did they hurt you?” I scanned him but saw no signs of any injury. No blood or torn clothing.
The small wolf snorted. “In their dreams.”
His confidence was surprising given his stature. Dirk, Clay, and Dave were all big fuckers. More than big enough to take down a smaller shifter. So how had this little wolf gotten the better of them?
“Dirk,” I said as the wolf in question pulled himself to his feet. “Since you enjoy picking a fight, I’ll expect you in the ring on Monday night. My brothers and I will be there. You can fight me.”
Dirk gulped. It wouldn’t end well for him, but I’d enjoy kicking the absolute shit out of him.
“That’s not fair,” he tried to say. “The little hybrid asshole deser—”
To my shock, my wolf burst from my skin, tearing our clothes to shreds. His jaws snapped around the shifter’s neck, drawing blood as the pathetic piece of shit whimpered and pissed himself all over again.
“He’ll be there!” Clay pleaded in terror. “Don’t kill him!”
My feral beast snarled and sank his teeth into Dirk’s neck, biting deep enough to leave a nasty wound as a reminder of the fucker’s foolishness.
“The next time you challenge me will be the last,” I told him after wresting control back from my wolf. I wiped the blood from my mouth, grimacing at the metallic taste.
The small shifter sneered at Dirk but said nothing.
“Monday night, eight p.m. Be there or suffer the consequences,” I told the trio. Clay and Dave nodded vigorously while Dirk just whimpered.
The little shifter’s attention slid from Dirk back to me, skating over my chest and then dropping lower. A burst of arousal hit me hard as my wolf preened.
He liked that this small—hybrid—shifter found us attractive.
I scrubbed my jaw, utterly baffled by my beast’s response. My wolf had never shown this much interest in another shifter. Mostly, like me, he ignored the attention we invariably received.
We preferred running alone, even during the full moon when other shifters like Tobias partied and fucked all night long.
Before my body could react, I spun on my heels and hauled my naked ass out of the canteen, ignoring all the simpering looks from the few wolves still hanging around.