47

47
BRANDON
It’s a relief to let the wolf take over.
Now that I’m in my strongest form, I really feel as if I’m protecting my mate and our child. I feel powerful enough to keep anything from touching them. I circle Lonnie slowly, sizing him up, waiting to see if he’s going to make the first move. I want him to. I like to fight reactively, not offensively. I like to see how my opponent attacks before I respond.
I don’t have to wait very long. He lunges at me. I leap nimbly aside, and he goes sprawling in the dirt.
He scrambles to his feet, snarling, and wheels around on me.
“This isn’t the fucking ballet!” one of his men yells. “We want to see some damn teeth from you!”
I’m happy to oblige. The next time Lonnie jumps at me, I twist my head and stink my teeth into his shoulder. I whip down hard, slamming him against the ground.
He lets out a little whine, like a kicked puppy, and I feel a pleased growl start to rumble in my chest. That’s what you get when you fuck with my mate.
I release him and back away a little, waiting to see what’s going to happen next. I don’t have any need to kill Lonnie. If he decides he’s willing to surrender, I’ll accept. I’ll throw him out of the pack, of course-I don’t want him living here, now that I’ve seen what he’s capable of-but I’m perfectly content to leave him alive.
But Lonnie clearly isn’t ready to give up. He falls into a slow circle around me, growling steadily. I watch his gait and see that he’s limping thanks to the bite I gave him.
Good. I like knowing he’s in pain. He fucking deserves it.
Now that I’ve gotten a feel for the aggressive style of his attacks, I’m ready to take the lead. I watch for his tells. Before he pounces, he always rears back a little, and his tail stiffens.
The next time I see it, I dodge just in time for him to go flying by me again, but this time, I don’t wait for him to regain his footing. I pivot on my back feet and fling myself at him, knocking him face-first into the dirt. He rolls over and kicks me off, but I circle around and jump at him again. This time, I lock my teeth around his neck.
Lonnie kicks at me with all four feet, but I don’t let him go. I know that I could kill him like this, and I’m sure he knows it too. This fight could be over right now.
But I don’t do it. I hold off.
He senses my hesitation, though, and in that moment his flailing hind legs find the target they’ve been looking for. He connects with the middle of my stomach, a gut punch that sends me reeling and gasping for air.
I roll away, feeling the hot spill of blood against the tender skin of my abdomen.
Lonnie is grinning now. He knows he’s gotten his first really good hit in,
and suddenly this fight isn’t quite so one-sided anymore.
I will kill him. If that’s what it takes, I’m willing to kill him.
“Finish him, Lonnie!” someone yells.
I turn slowly, looking for the next opportunity to strike, and for half a second, I catch Alicia’s eyes.
I would have expected her to look panicky in this moment. To be afraid. But that’s not how she seems at all. She looks calm. She looks like she already knows how this is going to turn out.
Fuck. She has so much faith in me. It makes me feel stronger. It makes me feel like I can do anything.
The wolf in me exults at my sudden burst of confidence. The wolf has known all along that we’re going to win this fight. It was only a matter of time.
I back away from Lonnie slowly. He might think I’m retreating, but in fact I’m giving him a chance to run away if he wants. If he stays, if he decides to see this fight through to its conclusion, I can’t guarantee he’ll live to see another day.
Lonnie doesn’t back down.
Fine. I guess he’s ready for whatever I can do to him. If that’s the way he wants to play this, I’m not going to back down either.
This time, when he attacks, I meet him in midair. Our bodies collide like boulders and we fall to the ground, teeth gnashing. Pain radiates out from the back of my neck as he bites into it. I roll over and slam his body against the ground, but he doesn’t let go, so I slam him again.
And I feel him go limp beneath me.
His jaw slackens, releasing me. I roll away and stagger to my feet.
Alicia runs over to me. I catch a glimpse of Emmy in Vern’s arms as my
mate braces her shoulder against mine, helping me support myself. I’m a little dizzy from blood loss and pain, but my wolf is triumphant.
“Is he dead?” someone whispers.
Kayla moves to Lonnie’s side and examines him carefully. “Just unconscious,” she says.
“Tie him up,” Vern says.
It’s an order. Lonnie’s men look at each other for a moment, but there’s nothing they can do. Vern tosses a length of rope in their direction, and they set about tying Lonnie’s wrists.
“Make it tight,” Vern says. “I don’t want him shifting his way out of that.” I watch as they cinch the knots.
“You can shift,” Alicia murmurs to me. “You can come back to us now.
It’s safe. It’s over.”
I close my eyes and wait for the wolf to retreat.