Page 2 of Contested Crown

“Awwwww.” One of the groomsmen cackled. “Did we hurt you?”

“I’m leaving,” I said, forcing the words through my anger, talking more to myself than them. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“See, I hear you saying the words, but what I see is a reject werewolf on our pack’s territory, messing with our alpha’s wedding.” The one in front rolled his shoulders back, then gestured with both hands: two finger guns pointed straight at me.

The groomsmen on either side of him pulled off their jackets, half shifted before the fabric hit the concrete.

A nauseatingly sweet smell rolled off them. It didn’t smell like alcohol, not even some fancy individualized wedding cocktail. It definitely wasn’t Reaper, most werewolves’ drug of choice. After years of overseeing Declan’s Reaper operation, I could spot a user a mile away.

I didn’t have time to think about it because the wolves were on me instantly. They moved fast, faster than they should have been able to. I dodged to the side, leading them back down the alley. If I could get to the end, I would be able to climb the chain-link fence that blocked off the cultural center’s parking lot in the back, and they would have to shift back into their human form before following me.

Their wolves looked similar, both gray with golden eyes. They weren’t just from the same pack; they were from the same family.

“I don’t want any trouble,” I repeated, even as the alpha inside me howled with rage. How dare anyone threaten me?

That should have been the end of it. This was a celebration. Even drunk wolves didn’t like to fight at someone’s wedding.

The wolf on the left had a scarred patch of fur over his left eye and lunged forward, but I spun out of the way, straight into the gray wolf. I turned it into a tackle, shoving him down hard enough that he slammed into a dumpster.

The scarred werewolf followed, and the gray wolf ducked low. They were used to working as a pack, and my heart twisted, missing a time whenIhad worked as a pack, when this would have been me and any of my siblings.

Ducking low, I slid out from between them, dropping the paper bag and pulling out the bottle of vodka in one fluid movement. I spun, swinging it up in a long arc so that it smashed the scarred werewolf in the face.

He yelped, the sound of a jaw breaking audible, and then he was down, one paw covering his head.

“This can be the end of it. I’ll leave. I’ll be out of your territory by morning.”

The gray wolf growled, low and fierce. Then he howled, and I heard another answering howl, half human, half wolf. At the entrance to the alleyway, the massive linebacker began to shift.

Bones snapped and popped. The other wolf narrowed his eyes at me, darting back into the building. I wasn’t just about to fight two wolves. As soon as he got everyone together, I was going to fight a pack.

I needed to end this, and I knew how. I felt my shoulders draw backward, the part of me that was an alpha coming to the front. They would submit because I required it. They would submit because I was an alpha, and they were not.

I swallowed down the taste of blood in the back of my mouth.No. I was not that sort of alpha. I would never be that sort of alpha.

The gray wolf leapt, and I dodged, bringing my knee up under his ribs, hitting him where it hurt. He yelped, tossed backward by the momentum, but I kept half an eye on the other wolf.

That sickly sweet smell hit me again, like rotten fruit. He bounded halfway down the alley in one massive leap. I needed to shift, and I yanked at my own wolf, even though I knew it wouldn’t come.

All I managed was claws, the talons thick and sharp enough to tear through metal. The enormous wolf was on me, his teeth long, his mouth open, ready to tear my throat out. I brought the vodka bottle up, slamming the neck between his jaws. He bit down, the glass shattering.

Vodka and spittle dripped down onto my face, burning my eyes, but I didn’t dare close them. The wolf yelped, choking and staggering backward, the glass digging further into the soft flesh of his open mouth as he opened and closed his teeth, trying to get it out.

I pressed the advantage, using my claws to rake across his stomach as I leapt up. The chain-link fence was only fifteen feet away. I could make that.

I ran, jumping halfway up the fence and scrambling toward the top. Something grabbed hold of my pants, yanking me down, and I hit the hard asphalt with a thud that knocked all the air out of my body, leaving me gasping.

The gray wolf dug his teeth into my forearm, but the thick sweatshirt I was wearing kept him from breaking the skin. He lunged forward, claws scrabbling at my torso, teeth biting hard. With my free hand, I grabbed his face, digging my fingers into his eyes hard enough that he screamed, pulling back, releasing my arm.

Then I was up again, scrambling for the fence, pulling myself over, and falling to the other side, where rows of cars were parked. Blood trickled hot on my chest and neck, and I didn’t have any time. I ran straight into the wolves that had come out the back door to the cultural center.

There were three of them, smaller than the two I had just fought, but they looked so similar that I couldn’t tell them apart. One leapt up, grabbing at my throat with his teeth and making contact. The wolf dug into the soft flesh where my neck met my shoulder, blood coating my collarbone. I reached up, grabbing for his jaws, trying to pry them open. Even as I did, something crashed into my stomach, and I was down on my knees, panting. I raised one hand, trying to defend my exposed face, but I could feel the slow beat of my heart, the thud of it in my chest and the blood dripping onto the asphalt.

The three of them were on me, nipping and biting, tearing at my skin and the fabric of my jacket. I knew I had to move, but they were a pack, and I was a lone wolf.

Reject.

The word rattled around inside my head. I was always going to be a reject. The idea of reclaiming the Castillo Pack name was just as impossible as trying to climb back into the Emperor Wolf’s throne.