Page 21 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

T wo of Rally’s men grabbed hold of Ginger and myself and dragged us back, away from the fighting. We were next to Hunter who had taken the baby out of the stroller and was now holding him in his arms.

The men fanned out in front of us, keeping us separate from the fighting and everything else. They were there to keep us safe and I was betting Rally had given them specific orders regarding how to treat me and what to do with me before everyone had gotten here tonight.

I didn’t mind because it kept Ginger and the baby safe but I did not need protection from anyone.

I didn't know what to expect when I came here tonight. I hadn’t put much thought into it really but it hadn’t exactly been this.

Rally and the man who’d challenged him stood toe to toe with each other and they were exchanging blows. It was like some kind of backyard boxing match that nobody had shared the rules with me for or told me what to expect.

I was glad that so far, they’d kept it to just between the two of them and hadn’t involved anyone else. I was grateful for it since there were indeed women and children here.

The man, whose name I still did not know, sucker punched Rally in the stomach, taking him down to a knee in the grass.

I desperately wanted to scream at him to get up and off the ground, damn it, but I kept my mouth shut. Everyone else was strangely quiet as they fixated on the fighting. I didn’t want to further do something wrong by yelling at the Prince or cheering him on.

Why weren’t people cheering their Prince on and telling him to get the fuck up? What was the matter with these people?

I flinched when the man hit Rally in the cheek with a solid thwack. His head jerked to the side and before he’d had a chance to right it the man hit him again. This time in the mouth, splitting his lip open and spilling first blood.

I’d had enough and would no longer remain silent. Fuck that.

I moved up until I was standing between two of Rally’s men. They didn’t try to touch me but the look in the both of their eyes said they’d try to stop me if I tried to go any further. I wasn’t stupid and I wasn’t about to jump in between two male shifters beating the shit out of one another.

“You need to stay back,” the one on the right told me.

Mr. Helpful was this one. Someone give him a gold star for the evening.

I shrugged without taking my eyes off of Rally. He had climbed to his feet and punched the other man in the gut. He let out a pained groan as he hunched over, bending at the waist.

“You don’t need to tell me not to go running into the action. I’m not stupid. I just wanted a better view; your big asses were blocking me from seeing the action.”

He looked down at me as if he couldn’t tell if I was being serious or not. I shrugged again because I didn’t really care what he thought.

“Don’t do anything to make me have to drag you out of here,” he growled at me and I thought just maybe he was kind of a dick. “That could distract my Prince and get him killed. You don’t want to be at fault for that.”

He didn’t need to say something like that to me. I didn’t think I wanted to be Rally’s mate but I already considered him to be a friend and I never would have wished any harm on him. Not ever.

The other man lunged at Rally, wrapping his big arms around Rally’s waist and taking them both down to the ground.

I gritted my teeth as I watched them roll around on the grass, fighting for the dominant position on top. If this was the level Rally usually fought at then I did not understand how he’d gone this long being undefeated. It must have been a goddamn miracle.

“What is he doing?” I muttered angrily under my breath. “This is bullshit.” and it absolutely was. He should just kill the other man if he could and be done with it.

Sometimes, in order to be a good leader, you had to be a little bit ruthless. Sometimes, for the sake of your survival and the betterment of your people, you had to be able to do the unthinkable, even when it was the very last thing you wanted to do.

The man who previously spoke to me answered my question. I hadn’t been expecting an answer, it caught me slightly off guard.

“Rally always tries to be the peacemaker first. No matter how badly they behave or insult him, he tries not to severely injure them unless it cannot be avoided. As much as I hate it, I hate being forced to stand by and watch him take the abuse, he is my Prince, I have sworn my absolute allegiance to him, and I must do as he says.”

Huh.

Okay, so, his little speech had changed my opinion and I no longer thought of him as a total dick. Maybe just a partial one.

“What’s your name?” I quietly asked.

“Fox,” he stated, answering me just as quietly.

That caught my full attention and I finally looked away from the fighting to openly stare at him. “You’re a wolf named Fox?” I asked him in disbelief. He had to be messing with me.

“It’s my last name.”

“What’s your first name?”

He didn’t answer me and I went back to watching the fight. I figured I’d gotten as much out of Fox as he was willing to give me for the time being.

I watched in horror as the man’s hands shifted into vicious looking claws and he thrust them towards Rally’s face. Rally ducked out of the way and the claws missed his face, sinking into his shoulder. They went in so deep the tips of them tore open the back of his t-shirt as they came out the other side of him.

Fox hissed and I heard Ginger’s shocked gasp before she whispered, “Oh my god.”

“Talk to me, Fox,” I demanded in a harsh whisper. “What’s with the outrage? I thought these sorts of things were supposed to get bloody and violent?”

“Terms were discussed beforehand and it was agreed upon for this first challenge that they not shift forms. If he can’t win in human form then our people will see him as too weak to lead them. I know that this whole thing is very violent but that does not mean that we need to be uncivilized about it.”

Rally was back on his feet but his shoulder was leaking so much blood that his shirt was soaked through and clinging to his body. I’d be surprised if he’d be able to use his arm or lift it after a few more minutes of this. It was probably already numb and then he’d likely lose all feeling in his left hand.

“Since that asshole cheated shouldn’t the fight be over now?”

Please let it be over before Rally got cut up any more. I didn’t think I’d be able to stand by and watch that happen. I didn’t want to undermine Rally’s authority but I would have no problem slitting his opponents throat before I idly sat by and watched him harm Rally to the point of no return.

“It stops when Rally says it stops,” Fox ground out between his teeth.

I could completely understand why this pissed him off. I had no idea how many times he’d been forced to stand on the sidelines to witness one of these bullshit challenges. Hell, this was my first one and I was pissed off, too.

The man swiped at Rally with his claws again but Rally dodged him at the last second. But only just barely.

“Come on, Rally,” I shouted and I felt Fox jerk in surprise from beside me. “I didn’t come here tonight to watch you bleed to death or get your ass kicked. Stop playing games and put him down already.”

“Babe,” Hunter said in a hushed voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk—”

The man fighting Rally stopped to turn and glare at me. And Rally hit him in the face while he was distracted.

But he didn’t stop there.

Oh no, he kept hitting him in the face over and over again. The man tripped over his own feet and stumbled backwards. He fell heavily to the ground. Rally stayed on him the whole way down and he kept hitting him in the face over and over again.

Rally backed off when the man stopped moving, stopped attempting to push him off and away, and his face was a bloody disfigured mess. I had no idea if he was still breathing but I did know he was lucky to be a shifter because I didn’t think even multiple surgeries would be able to fix the damage done to his face. If he was alive to do it he could just shift forms and he’d heal.

Or so the stories said. I’d never seen it done before but it did have me very curious to witness it.

Rally sat back, breathing heavily. He lifted his hands and stared down at them. They were a bloody mess. His t-shirt was soaked through with blood. And half his face was swollen and angry looking. He needed to ice it but tomorrow it’d still be black and blue.

“Is he dead?” someone close to me asked loudly into the otherwise silent space.

Rally shook his head but said nothing.

“If he’s not dead you should just kill him so that he can’t do this again,” I suggested. “It’ll make other people think twice before challenging you again.”

Rally looked at me and for the first time ever it wasn’t a friendly look. “We are not killing any of my people here tonight.”

I shrugged.

Who said anything about we?

“She’s not wrong, my Prince,” Fox said and Rally’s unfriendly look shifted from me to him.

Maybe Fox wasn’t so bad after all.

Maybe we could even be friends. I could always use more friends.

The rest of the shifters were looking at me like they might just be a little afraid.

You couldn’t win them all.