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“You will have everything you need. His plan is to cheat, and that will not happen," Damon explained. "My assistant will take you to your room, where your mate will join you when the girls are done. All of us will meet for supper, and we will go through the plan and anything else of importance.”

Xantos thought about taking a nap, but he wasn't sure if he could calm his crazy mind. Rest should help, shouldn't it? It was the only thing that he could think of that might. If he could sleep, maybe his mate would be there to wake him when she arrived. This whole plan seemed crazy, but the justice that he had wanted to be had been with him for a long time, and if he could manage to beat his father, he would certainly feel better, and his heart wouldn't be so heavy every time he thought of his mother. His mother wasn't the only one who had been mistreated, but he had not been the same as some of the other alphas who had gone through women quickly. His father had enjoyed keeping them long enough to completely break their spirit and turn them into mindless puppets. Xantos had been the only child as far as he knew. At least it saved some children from a painful experience at the hands of a cruel man.

The assistant left him in the room that turned out to be a luxury suite. This was nice, and both rooms in the suite were the same, so it didn't matter which one he took. He stripped out of his clothing and went to the bathroom to clean up a bit, then lay down with his mind racing, hoping to find a way to get some sleep. When he woke, it was because his mate was lying down next to him and whispered his name. He pulled her into his arms and went back to sleep with her back against his chest. Xantos figured that sleep was also what she needed more than anything.

A phone call woke them up, and he realized that it was probably time to get ready for supper. It was immediately evident that her hair had been fixed, she was wearing makeup,and her clothing was completely different than anything she'd had before. Her confidence was greater, and she smiled more. That would make it easier for her to make it through what was coming. It was unfortunate that there wasn't anything like that to make things easier for him. Seeing his father would be hard on him and bring back all the sad memories of the difficulties his mother had gone through. Xantos wondered if his father even remembered his mother or him at all.

When he and Damon had made the challenge, the old man hadn't seemed to realize that he even had a son. Damon had assured him that he did, and his comment was, 'I thought he was long gone.' That hadn't hurt the way that he had expected it to because there had been no relationship, and he'd not expected any acknowledgment. Alpha Elias might be his biological father, but as far as Xantos was concerned, he was nothing to him. Tyne passed him a picture, and all he saw was a sad old man in poor shape. It was hard for a wolf to get in that kind of shape, but somehow, he had managed. He had heard of it happening to some of the alphas in the past, like the one who led the James’ pack.

That might give him an edge, but the fact that his father was unstable would cancel out that edge. There was nothing worse than a crazy, cornered wolf that didn't want to die and didn't care what it had to do to live. The only positive thing was that Damon and Tyne both assured him that there would be no way for the old man to cheat. It was late at night by the time they headed back to their room, and somehow, they managed to fall asleep again. He thought it was because his mate was in his arms, and she calmed him. That alarm was grating, but he knew that he had to wake up. They both got up and dressed, hurrying to the kitchen so they could get a good meal and hopefully gain some strength.

There was a huge breakfast, and everyone was eating a large plate. Xantos made sure to eat a lot of meat and other protein sources so that he would have the energy he needed to win the fight. Once everyone had finished eating, they loaded into the large vehicles and headed down the road. They arrived early, which was always best for situations like this. An alpha named Roger had been called in by Elias to judge the fight. Damon let him do the judging while he sat next to him, and he would also watch every move that was made. Harry and Marissa cast some spells that would prevent anyone from getting into the circle that didn't belong there.

They had perfected this spell over time and found every possible issue, correcting them. Harry was eating more than usual, and even Marissa had extra food on her plate. And that was compared to the others who were all eating more than usual because this was going to be a very trying day. They loaded into two vehicles after breakfast and headed out to the location at the pack. No one was at the circle yet, and the circle looked old and had probably been brought over from Ireland, where many of the pack had initially come from. It had started as a small pack, but it had grown.

It wasn't long before people began to gather because they had heard of the challenge, and they wanted to see someone die. Some had an opinion on who they wanted to die, and others just wanted to see someone die, and they didn't care who. There were even some who thought the outcome was already decided and didn't bother to show up because of that. Everyone knew that Elias cheated, and they expected the new challenger to die just as easily as the others had. The time finally came when Elias arrived with a group of his buddies. Time had not been kind to him, and he looked older than Xantos had ever seen a wolf, especially a pack alpha, appear. He would not be fooled intoassuming that meant he couldn't fight with strength because he had the pack alpha's power on his side.

It was also true that, regardless of what Damon assured him, it was possible he could find a way to cheat, and he needed to be on the lookout for anything like that. Elias might look like hell, but he was sly, and if there was a way to cheat, he would find it. Another alpha appeared and explained to Damon that he had been told Elias wanted him to be the judge for the challenge. His name was Ronald, and Damon deferred to him. There was little that a judge could do, and none of it should have made a difference, except when there was no clear winner, and then it was up to them to make a judgment call. Xantos knew that that call would always be in favor of the current pack alpha.

That wouldn't matter because this fight would be to the death. One of them would not be walking away from this. Or at least that was what he thought. He saw Damon talking on the phone but thought nothing of it until Damon approached him.

“The Council will consider it a large favor if you somehow manage to stop before you kill him. They want him for questioning because apparently there are some important people that he may have killed, and they want to know where the bodies are so they can be returned to the family.”

“Wouldn't those bodies be somewhere on the property?” Xantos asked.

“Probably not because a witch already searched the property without his knowledge, and there are bodies here, but not the ones they are concerned with the most.”

That was a sad commentary on the value of a person’s life. Every life should have value.

“I’ll do the best I can, but you know how hard it can be.”

"I do. Just do your best." Damon clapped him on the shoulder and then left to find his seat.

Xantos nodded and then took his place in the circle, facing Elias.

“I guess you're the one claiming to be my son. You don't look a thing like me," Elias claimed.

“Don't worry. They ran a check on DNA, so there is no doubt."

“Now you want to kill me?”

“More than anything. I saw what you did to my mother. Only a monster could do something like that.”

He only caught the last of what the judge said, but he saw him slamming his fist into his palm. Xantos immediately punched Elias twice in the nose, and the blood flew. Elias immediately changed into his wolf, so Xantos did as well. The pack alpha’s wolf looked terrible. Instead of the glossy black fur that he should have had, it looked shaggy and dull. The wolf was so rough it was hard to describe. It was slightly shorter than his and not yet filled out, and he still had a large stomach. There was no doubt that his horrible lifestyle had left its mark on his wolf.

Xantos felt sorry for the wolf, but there was no choice but to fight, so he went for the throat. At the last moment, the wolf pulled away and tried to jump on him, but it was unable to. They circled each other, looking for any sign of weakness they could use to bring the fight to a quick end. His wolf was feeling aggressive, and he had to reel him in and use logic for this battle. That's why they continue to circle because he didn't see a clear opportunity to take him down. Finally, the packed alpha seemed distracted for a second by something he saw in the crowd, and Xantos went for his throat. He managed to get his fangs aroundit just enough to draw blood, but then the other wolf pulled loose. Damn! This wasn't going the way he had planned.

His wolf quickly lunged again and caught the throat, and this time, he took the wolf down. The wolf struggling just made the bleeding worse and more serious. Xantos knew that he would have to gauge when the wolf was weak enough to stay down because there would be no tapping out. Everyone knew that life in the council prison was worse than hell. Elias continued to weaken until he just lay there in a pile, ready to die. When it became apparent that Xantos wasn't going to finish him off, he tried to struggle to a standing position but fell back down. Damon whispered something to the judge, who didn't appear to be going to call the fight but finally did. Had he not done so and made Xantos kill Elias, the Council would have come after him, and he knew it.

Xantos looked at the pitiful wolf lying on the ground, barely alive, and he wondered how the alpha had gotten control of so many people for so long. Two wardens stepped forward, and Harry was asked to force the change back to human. Special handcuffs were put on him, and he was led away. He'd wanted to be killed rather than sent to the Council's prison, and Xantos couldn’t blame him. Maybe this was a fairer punishment for all the pain he’d caused. Not that it mattered because the decision wasn’t his to make.

Sally was waiting for him as he exited the circle. He took her into his arms and hugged her tight. Damon approached them.

“You’ve been declared the pack alpha. Now the real work begins.” Damon declared.

Xantos had to admit he dreaded what would come next. It was a solid pack in many ways. The worst aspect was theemotional outlook of the pack members who had been bullied and abused by the pack alpha. At least he had allowed them to get an education if they could afford one on their own and to have good jobs outside of the pack. They've been allowed to mate as long as he approved the mating, and they could even own homes on pack lands or nearby. That made this pack better off than many of the others that had recently gotten new alphas.

There would still be things to deal with, but financially, the pack was comfortable. Emotionally, it was a wreck, and he had no idea where to begin. Females had been harassed, and possibly some of the males. There were bodies hidden all over the property, although Damon admitted it was not as bad as the previous property had been. He and Sally would be thrown into the fire and have to figure out what to do with this place. They would get little help even though they were inexperienced at leading a pack. Harry would stay two days to do what she could do, and a former pack alpha would stay for a week. Someone who Sally knew would come with the former pack alpha and stay to assist her in any way that she could. It was the least help that any of the new pack alphas had gotten, and that was because the financial situation was stable, and it was only emotional and pack assistant programs that needed help.