Page 82 of Alpha Games
We need to go.
I turned around, intending to fight my way out if I had to, when the pinprick of something sharp pierced the skin of my neck.
I jerked away and swatted at the needle that fell to the floor in front of the security guard who blurred in my vision. My wolf snarled and I lungedforward. Our claws dug into his uniform, ripping flesh. Then my hands were numb and my arms fell uselessly at my side. The guard held me back with no real effort as I swayed on my feet. My mouth was dry. The world was spinning, fading to black.
This feeling was strangely familiar.
I hate green apple martinis…
32
Ranger
Ding. Ding. Ding.
The announcer who wasn’t Jay Renfro shut the door of the cage just as the bell finished ringing.
“Where is she?”I growled through our pack link, circling Chad on the mat. After all day of painstaking boredom, the last five minutes passed in a blur. I barely had time to jump into the ring while Fallon explained there was some sort of phone call.
“I’m going to find her and Beau,”my sister cried.“Focus on the fight.”
I continued to circle Chad with my hands raised to block, giving him my full attention. He was smiling like this was some sort of game, but I wouldn’t treat him like a moron.
No. Until I won, he’d get the concentration any opponent deserved. And now I knew I needed to watch out for whatever move he’d pull.
“What was it?” Chad reached out, taunting me with a tap on the arm and jumping back out of reach. “None of these other Alphas made a good enough match to impress the little she-wolf?”
“Something like that.” I grinned, wishing I’d just gotten my favor. A hundred times I’d played the conversation through my mind where justice was finally served. Now I wasn’t getting it. Not today. ButAspen and my pack were right, it was going to feel good to knock some sense into him.
“You think you can beat me?” He was full of that bravado confidence most Alphas had.
Unlike him, I’d actually earned mine. “Yes. You’ll go down before the end of the first round.”
“Care to make a wager on that?” His smile grew bigger as he kicked, catching me off guard for a brief second. He looked relieved, like he might have a chance, and I’m sure the shock showed on my face too.
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“A bet you say?” I inched back toward the cage, feeling the metal leeching the strength of my wolf. “What are your terms?”
“A merger.” Chad nodded. His humor faded for a moment. “I want unfettered access to Seattle and a trade route established through the region to Canada. Plus ensured safety traveling through McCaw territory.”
I almost tripped over my own feet.
The cocky son of a bastard.He’d been planning this. The one thing I’d made sure to revoke from Tulia Pack when I took over as Alpha. He was playing the big leagues now. No doubt trying to impress daddy.
“You really think you’re going to win?” I asked to make sure he was in his right mind.
“No.” Chad shocked me with his honesty. “I just need to make it to the second round.”
I glanced at the clock as he swiped out at me, realizing his play as I shoved him back. He’d been talking and dancing so long I’d already lost two minutes.
Time moved much faster when you were the one in the ring.
“Accepted.” I lunged, tackling him against the rope where the cage of metal burned into our skin, blistering and smoking like barbecue.
I ripped him off, tearing flesh. “And I want all your holdings in Canyon City and western Oregon plus yearly reparations for shifters your family fucked over in the desert there.”
He was still screaming as he shook himself off. The skin slowly knit together on my arms. Not as fast as it would if we weren’t in this cage.