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Lucas looked entirely different and unfamiliar than what she remembered of him. His gorilla stood twice her height, and that was down on all fours! His shoulders and arms were covered in coarse, pitch-black fur, but his back and hind legs had lightened to a silver color. His powerful arms were massive, and when his knuckles hit the ground with each charging step he drew closer to Torren, the floorboards beneath him splintered. He was covered in thick muscle, his long canines were bared, and his glowing eyes were trained on the ring.
Jenna had heard about the wars.
War had peppered Damon’s Mountains in the early days as the Crews had carved out their territory lines and battled with outside forces to claim their right to be here, but this…this wasn’t for anger. It wasn’t for territory lines. It was just to prove who was the bigger silverback, and the worry in her chest morphed into a cement blockage in her throat that made it hard to breathe.
Lucas bolted for Torren. As both massive silverbacks leapt through the air, Jenna gasped. They collided like two cannonballs, and she was nearly knocked over with the wave of power that emanated from the collision.
There was no posturing. There was no bluff.
There was ripping, hitting, fists slamming, teeth shredding, rip-roaring, fur shaking, everything breaking…
Everyone plastered back on the walls and scrambled out of the bleachers as the enormous animals slammed through the ring barrier and into the seating. It was hard to tell who was who.
Her skin tingled.
Don’t. A voice whispered against her ears and she yanked her eyes to the man staring at her from the other side of the barn. He stood alone, eyes glowing green against the shadows. Beaston shook his head. Don’t.
The falcon didn’t listen to advice from grizzlies, and though the human side of her respected Beaston, she was a Boarlander, and Boarlanders didn’t heed the warnings of Gray Backs.
The falcon ripped out of her before she could stop it, and she screeched as she aimed her talons at the silverback war.
Torren was a lighter shade of black. Lucas had pushed him off, and he was charging for him, closing the small gap to engage again. She aimed for his eyes. And just as she reached him…just as she stretched the razor-sharp tips of her talons for his widening eyes…
Something black hit her from the side like a torpedo.
The air whooshed out of her lungs as she slammed into the ground. Strong arms went around her, pinning her wings, and she fought against the grip.
“Stop! Fuck! Stop!” Cadence’s voice rattled her head, and she glared at the raven that had leveled her.
Aviana Novak’s massive raven sat on the ground, staring at her, panting.
I’ll fucking kill you!
Enough! A voice roared in her head, and she dragged her pissed-off gaze to Beaston. To the dragons who sat there watching the war between the silverbacks with matching gazes. To Nox, who knelt by the ring, barking out orders. To the crowd, veins popping in their necks as they cheered. To the silverbacks who were killing each other…
Fuck all this. Fuck anything that made Lucas bleed.
She scrabbled hard, clawing and struggling to free her wings as Cadence dragged her toward the door.
The last thing she saw before Cadence wrestled her out of the door was Damon. He blinked and lifted his eerie dragon eyes to her. And he did something she would never understand as long as she had breath in her lungs.
Slowly, he smiled.
“Fucking stop, Jenna!” Cadence demanded, and threw her onto the ground.
Jenna looked up at her, ready for war, but she froze. Cadence’s arms were bleeding. God, they pouring rivers. And she hadn’t Changed into her white tiger, even though her eyes were the color of blue frost.
Anger wafted from her, but something else did too. Something Jenna couldn’t figure out.
“He’s good, Jenna!” Cadence roared. “He’s fucking winning! Let him win!”
What?
Jenna looked to the open doorway, but she couldn’t see anything through the crowd of humans that had gathered to block her view. They were cheering and yelling.
When she looked back at Cadence, the woman was kneeling, looking her directly in her eyes. “I get it. I used to feel like that, too. You have to let him do this. You can’t fix it.” She pointed toward the doorway. “He can fix it.”
And she wanted to cry.
