Page 26 of Ruthless Alpha (Nightfire Islands Alphas #3)

Blood dripped into my eyes. The exposed guts of my last opponent steamed in the cold air as his body was dragged away to be added to the pile.

I had won, but barely. After four days of endless bloodshed, I was hanging on by a thread, but I was more determined than ever.

I’d come home every evening, sore and weary, to find Lenise and Gina on my porch, ready to patch me up.

I’d killed the man responsible for Gina’s scar on the second day, and hadn’t said anything about the tears that had streaked her face that evening.

“Anyone else?” I roared. The crowd of dissenters had thinned significantly over the last few days and was now almost entirely made up of males who were either too young or too old to stand a chance against me.

If any were left who wanted to challenge me, I could only hope they were smart enough to know better, smart enough to see the blood of their Packmates shining on the ground and decide it wasn’t worth it.

I stared them down for several long minutes, met with nothing but silence. Was it really over? Had I really forced a new way of life onto this Pack and lived?

“I challenge the Alpha.”

The voice that came from behind me was familiar and trusted. My heart sank.

“Cole, are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, trying to ignore the ripple of renewed energy from the crowd. Cole leaned in close, his voice thick with repressed anger as he hissed,

“You’re too cunt-struck to see what’s good for this Pack. We won’t be run on the whims of a little girl from Arbor.”

I felt sick, unmoored, but I couldn’t lose focus. I couldn’t fall at this final hurdle.

“Alright then,” I snarled. “Let’s go.”

A fresh wave of enthusiasm had come over the dissenters, and they cheered as Cole took center stage. It was a victory for them before the fight even started, to know that one of my most trusted Betas was standing up against me.

Cole didn’t bother with grandstanding, didn’t need to rile up his supporters, instead simply shifting into the gray wolf I’d run with so many times. His yellow eyes were sharp, his claws quick, and his knowledge of my fighting style potentially deadly.

I’d been wearing the Telaxis prototype for the last two days.

So far, it had only functioned as armor, but if I was going up against Cole, I was going to need all the help I could get.

I loosened the clasps to allow expansion with the shift, flicking the release mechanism as I shifted.

The crowd gasped as wicked spikes emerged from the sides of the backplate, ready to slice the flesh of anyone who got too close.

Cole’s eyes narrowed. Already, I could see the cogs and wheels of his brain turning, looking for weak spots and making a plan of attack. He was no cocky fighter, no bullheaded youth who thought he could do anything. Cole was smart—it was the reason I’d promoted him to Beta when I took power.

We circled each other for what felt like hours, neither making the first move. Him because he couldn’t find a gap in my armor—I was going to give Jace whatever he wanted forever—and me because I couldn’t stand the thought of going for the throat of a man I’d had at my side for almost a decade.

My first attack was low, aiming to take him out at the legs. If I could incapacitate him, make him utterly incapable of fighting without killing him, I might be able to save him. In the time it would take to recover, he would see how much happier our Pack would become, and he would come around.

Cole danced around my attack, his gray wolf lithe and nimble.

I should have known he’d see that attack coming.

I’d put myself at a disadvantage by trying to incapacitate a fighter who was going for the kill, but I could pull it off.

I might be down to the last reserves of my strength, but that only made me more determined.

I swiped again, then again in the direction I knew he would dodge.

He growled as his front leg went out beneath him, blood matting the fur.

His returning snap caught my own paw, teeth digging in deep and worrying the limb until I opened my jaws and snapped at his neck.

I could have gone for the kill— would have gone for the kill if I were smarter—but it was only a warning.

Cole dropped my paw, and pain lanced up my leg as I put weight on the injured pad.

I refused to limp, refused to appear weakened. The bite of pain with every step was a boon, I told myself, a shock to the system to wake up my tired body. My eyes were fixed on Cole as he assessed a new angle for attack, and I prepared myself for claws to my face or my injured leg.

Cole did neither. Instead, he rolled onto his back as he came forward, slipping beneath the spikes of my armor to rake his claws across the underside of my chest. I howled in pain, rearing up onto my hind legs.

Cole scrambled back to his feet, but not quite fast enough—I lashed out as I landed on all fours again, my jaws sinking into the meat of his right haunch.

He yelped, and I dug my teeth in harder, blood welling in my mouth.

I hung on for several long seconds, the sound of Cole’s pained howl ringing in the air until I finally let go.

In any other fight, Cole would have yielded—smart enough to know he was cooked. Blood was dripping from the deep wounds in his hind quarters, his back leg hanging limp and useless.

Stop now. I tried to tell him. You don’t have to die today.

Cole ignored me. He hauled himself forward, snapping at my neck, but the move was reckless; he was no longer fast enough to move out of the way of my counter, and despite my hesitation, despite the reluctance with which I closed my jaws around his throat, he didn’t stand a chance.

I made it quick, at least. I couldn’t say that for every man I’d fought today, but despite the betrayal, despite the hatred in his eyes when he’d talked about Rosie, I didn’t want Cole to suffer.

The sight of my brother in arms lying in a pool of his own blood brought me no joy, no victory, and when I shifted back to my human form, I pushed my other Betas out of the way, taking Cole’s body in my arms to lay him with the others myself.

The room was utterly silent, and when I dragged myself back to the center of it, all the tension was gone from the air.

“Are we done?” I said, knowing the answer before I saw the dissenters nod as one. Already they were beginning to slink out of the room, their tails between their legs, muttering under their breath. This wouldn’t be the last I heard from them, but that was a problem for a later date.

“Vince will oversee the removal of the bodies to the morgue,” I told the Pack members who were still present.

“Patrick and Oliver, I want patrols of loyal fighters tight on the male dorms tonight. Damien, make sure everyone who couldn’t be here knows their Alpha is undefeated, and the new rules are enforceable immediately. ”

My Betas all nodded, clapping me gently on the back as they moved to carry out their duties. I was grateful for every one of them, and even more so as I caught sight of Cole’s body being lifted onto a stretcher.

I kept my guard up as I walked through town, only allowing myself to breath out and go limp as I closed my front door behind me. For one blissful, glorious second, I basked in the quiet, in the relief of being alive, before my radio crackled to life.

“Come in, Xander.”

Whatever it was could wait.

“Xander, come in,” the voice came again. Through the distortion of the old radio, I couldn’t tell who it was, only that they were male. Probably someone checking in, or trying to. I should pick up, but I was so tired. My limbs were lead, and the wound on my chest ached.

“Xander, for fuck’s sake!”

“What?” I snapped as I flicked my line open. A harsh, loud crackle made me flinch.

“It’s Ethan. Rosie didn’t come home last night.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. I was going to throw up.

“ What? ”

“The girls reported her missing from work this morning, and when I went over to check if she was okay, her bed hadn’t been slept in. There’s a scent trail out toward the woods and then…” he trailed off, reluctant, and I couldn’t contain a growl.

“Then what?” I demanded.

“It’s weak, but—there’s another Arbor scent there. And blood.”

I was in a nightmare. I’d come home and sat down and fallen asleep and now my brain was conjuring a new terror for me.

“You didn’t go after her?” I pressed.

“You know I can’t.”

I did know that. I knew that tensions still ran high between Ferris and Arbor, that Ethan couldn’t incite violence on Arbor without igniting those tensions again, without putting his Pack and his son and his pregnant mate in danger.

I knew all of that, and I didn’t care. Anger rushed through me, and I didn’t want to hear any more.

“Whatever.”

I slammed the radio down, readying myself for another fight.

My mind warred with itself—time was of the essence, but I was worn thin from fighting.

I needed rest, or at least sustenance, before I left, otherwise I’d be no use to Rosie by the time I found her.

I compromised by chugging a protein shake that had been left in the fridge before I raced for the door, pausing only for a moment to grab Rosie’s sword from its pedestal, tucking it into the straps that still clung to my torso.

I almost ran Damien over in my hurry to leave the house, and if there had been room in me for humor, I would have laughed at the shock that froze him in place.

“Hold the fort,” I told him. “Make sure that any new widows are taken care of, and make sure every dead man gets a proper funeral. I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

“Where are you going? Are you sure you should be—” Damien started to protest, but he crumbled beneath the fierceness of my stare. “Absolutely. Can do, Boss.”

I left him standing, dumbstruck, on my porch as I shifted mid-stride, my wolf utterly uncaring of his injuries as he sprinted out of town and toward the Argent bridge. I could not have fought this hard only to lose her now.

It was easy to ignore the ache in my muscles and the sharp pain in my side. I was going to get my mate. I would run through the night, swim across the ocean, and climb a mountain if I had to. I would have run bleeding through winter cold and summer heat to make sure she was safe.

The landscape became a blur. Ensign’s cold rock and dark forests eventually gave way to its gravel beach and the imposing stone of the Argent bridge.

Then it was nothing but blue, nothing but endless ocean until I was on the other side, among the lush green of the southern islands.

I could stop here, see if I could find Leo, get some back-up, but there wasn’t time, and part of me feared that if I stopped now, I wouldn’t be able to start again.

I lost track of time, barely noticing the rise and fall of the sun as I ran, but by the time I was halfway across Argent, the sun had disappeared entirely.

Leo needed to up his night patrols, because I encountered no one as I moved southeast toward the Arbor bridge.

If I could reach Arbor town while it was still dark, I might be able to pass unnoticed, my black wolf camouflaged in the deep shadow of the night.

I had to stop before I reached the second bridge, my breath coming ragged and my throat raw from lack of water, but I knew the Argent landscape well enough to find a stream without much difficulty.

I allowed myself a few deep gulps before I had to keep moving.

My muscles screamed, but the adrenaline in my system forced them to quiet.

I would not stop before I reached her, would not give up until she was back in my arms again.

The Arbor bridge had once been an impressive structure, but Argent lacked the interest and the funds to keep it any more than functional over the last few years.

The wooden planks that lined the crossing creaked beneath my paws as I thundered over the bridge, coming to an abrupt stop on the other side as I caught sight of a small white wolf running as hard and fast as I was.

Rosie.

I recognized her instantly, shifting on instinct to catch her as she barreled into me, shifting in mid-air to leap into my arms. For a few blissful seconds, I buried my face in her neck, breathing in the wildflower scent that I had missed so acutely, until the tang of copper hit my nose.

When I pulled back, panicked, I saw that Rosie’s golden hair was matted with blood on one side, and my wolf snarled within me.

“Who did this to you?” I growled, but my question was answered as three wolves emerged from the woods in the distance. I placed Rosie back on the ground, readying myself for another fight, but then there was a small hand on my chest.

“Don’t.”

There was no time for this. The wolves were approaching, slower than Rosie had, but fast enough that they’d be on us in less than a minute.

“I need to do this myself,” Rosie insisted. “I need to know I saved myself.”

I thought about the first days of our “marriage”, when she was so small, scared, and desperate to please me.

She’d been beautiful then, and I’d wanted her, but the version of Rosie I’d fallen in love with was the one who’d railed against her imprisonment, who grinned as she wrapped me up in her magic, who demanded that I be better, not only for her, but for all the females of Ensign.

The same Rosie stood before me now, eyes blazing with determination, and it took everything I had to nod.

“You can do it, angel,” I told her, “but you’re going to need this.”

I pulled the sword from its makeshift sheath, holding it out for her to take. With one hand on the hilt and the other winding in my hair to tug me down toward her, she pressed a hard, passionate kiss to my lips.

“I love you,” she promised.

She’d turned before I could reply, sword raised and already glowing, ready for battle.