Page 50 of The Night Movers: Season One

Ridley’s mouth fell open, stunned. Rurik grunted in pain, spitting blood onto the ground before him, looking at Ridley with disgust. “Fuck your queen,” he snarled, though his voice wavered, his bravado cracking as Titus stepped in front of him.

Ridley stared at his mate’s broad back, no longer able to see the other alpha. All he heard was Titus growl, “Wrong answer,” before delivering a brutal kick to Rurik’s chest, sending him sprawling onto his back in the center of the ring.

Alpha strength was wild. Ridley wished he possessed even half of it.

He almost felt sorry for Rurik as Titus circled him, his movements slow and deliberate, stalking his prey.

The crowd was wild now, their chants for blood filling the air.

Titus gave it to them, kicking Rurik’s side, his stomach, his face…

blow after blow, but still Rurik didn’t call it, didn’t beg.

“Can Titus just…do that?” Ridley asked, his heart beating hummingbird fast behind his ribs. “Rurik can’t even stand. ”

“He had the chance to apologize,” Diesel said. “He chose his pride. Even now, he could forfeit, pray for mercy, beg for a quick death, even.”

“Would Titus let him go if he…begged?” Ridley asked, frowning.

“Truthfully?” Steele asked. “No.”

Ridley squirmed as Titus delivered blow after blow, each time leaning down and asking Rurik something.

Or maybe he was taunting him. By the time Rurik struggled to his knees, his face was unrecognizable.

Part of Ridley felt a sick satisfaction at seeing the alpha pummeled, but another part just felt sick.

The smell of rust permeated the air, overwhelming with all the other equally heavy scents.

Rurik held up a hand, barely able to keep his balance, swaying on his knees, like a parishioner during the church hymns.

“Go hold the mic so everyone can hear this piece-of-shit coward beg,” Steele said, handing it back to Sugar.

The other alpha nodded, taking the mic and flicking it on. It squealed in protest as Sugar stood with Ridley in his arms. He expected the alpha to put him back in his seat, but instead, Sugar set him on his feet, taking his hand and dragging him into the ring with them.

This wasn’t in Ridley’s vision. Did that mean they’d already changed the outcome? Ridley prayed that was the case, even though he didn’t really believe in any kind of higher power.

Sugar placed Ridley where Rurik had no choice but to look up at him, though still far enough away where the man couldn’t lunge at him. He crouched down beside the battered fighter. “Did you have something you wanted to say? Final words, perhaps?”

“Yeah, how should I kill you?” Titus taunted. “I could rip off your head, but my queen requested that I…what was it you wanted, Strawberry?” Ridley blinked at him in shock. Had he asked for something? “Oh, that’s right,” Titus continued. “The choke chain.”

Ridley’s stomach dropped .

Titus nodded towards Steele, who stood, moving to Rain, the chain loose around his neck. Jensen helped lift the boy’s head up for Steele to slip it off. Rain startled, gasping as he jerked away from Steele and Jensen, like he wasn’t sure who they were or how he’d gotten there.

Steele left Jensen to calm the boy, bringing the bloody chain into the ring, swinging it casually before handing it to Titus.

“Wait! I’ll… I’ll apologize,” Rurik stammered, his earlier bravado replaced with an embarrassingly pathetic sense of desperation.

Titus stopped, tilting his head as if considering it.

“Okay,” he said, tone bored. “Go on, then. He’s right there. Apologize to my mate.”

“No! Not—Not to him. To you,” Rurik managed, then coughed, spitting something at Ridley’s feet. Ridley’s stomach lurched when he realized it was one of his teeth. “I’m not apologizing to some omega cun?—”

Ridley stepped closer, stomping down right between the alpha’s legs, feeling soft flesh grind against the concrete as Rurik screeched in agony. The alpha began to turn an off-putting shade of gray.

“I’m sorry!” he screamed, collapsing when Ridley finally relented, stepping back a few paces. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have insulted your queen.” He looked at Ridley, barely able to hide his disgust. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry. Please?—”

Titus took the mic from Sugar, shouting, “Why don’t we let the crowd decide?” When Steele handed him the chain, Titus said, “Take him back to his seat.”

Before Ridley could protest, Steele and Sugar were dragging him out of the ring. Titus slipped the chain around the man’s neck, synching it until he gasped wetly, tiny rivulets of blood sliding down his neck.

“Should I let him go?” Titus shouted.

The crowd’s response was a deafening, “No!”

Their thirst for violence was insatiable, and Titus’s smirk grew wider. He held the end of the chain as he paced. “Do we show mercy here at the arena?”

“No!” they shouted again.

Titus grinned. “What do we do with cowards?”

“Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!” they chanted, adrenaline rippling through the crowd, infecting the alphas and causing a shift in atmosphere.

The alphas’ sudden craving for violence was souring their scents, sending danger signals to the omegas, their own scents responding in kind. It created a feedback loop that had the air smelling like rotting fruit and burnt flesh.

Titus continued to egg on the crowd, slowly wrapping the choke chain around his hand as he walked circles around the other alpha. Rurik appeared to be fighting to stay conscious. Titus just needed to put him out of his misery. Titus needed to put an end to this. Ridley wanted to go home.

Ridley opened his mouth to ask Steele or Sugar to do something.

That was when it happened. That was when Titus turned his back on Rurik.

The other alpha’s face twisted into a mask of fury as he clumsily pushed himself up off the ground.

With a roar, he lunged, baring those steel teeth as he closed the short distance between them. This was just like Ridley’s vision.

Time seemed to slow as Ridley shouted, “Titus!”

But Titus was already moving. He dropped the mic and spun on his heel, using the chain to drag Rurik down as he brought his knee up, smashing Rurik’s already destroyed nose, sending blood spraying into the air. Rurik collapsed onto the concrete, eyes open, though just barely.

Titus’s gaze locked on Ridley as he planted one booted foot between Rurik’s shoulder blades as he pulled the chain tighter and tighter while Rurik clawed at the steel around his neck, but it was no use.

Ridley could see in Titus’s eyes that this was Rurik’s end.

There was no hesitation. No mercy. Just one quick flick of Titus’s wrist, one efficient motion…

The discarded mic picked up the nauseating sound of Rurik’s neck and spine snapping, whole body jerking twice, then stilling, his sightless eyes gazing out at the very crowd that had called for his execution .

Titus stood over him, his face a mask of controlled fury. He grabbed the mic once more, shouting, “Nobody insults my pack and walks away. Nobody!”

Ridley heard the crowd roar, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his alpha…his mate. He licked his lips, a delicious sensation he couldn’t quite name bubbling within him as Titus began dragging Rurik’s body around the cage. Just as Ridley said he would.

This was Titus totally unleashed, raw and untouchable. This was the alpha who would lead the others. He would be the gun in Ridley’s hand, his weapon to aim wherever he saw fit.

It was clear now that Titus would do anything— anything —to protect his pack, to protect their mission…

To protect his queen.