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‘Have you been practising what I taught you?’ He quirked an eyebrow.
‘We have,’ I confirmed. Unsuccessfully, but even so we had.
He grinned suddenly. ‘Excellent. Best of luck, my Queen.’
‘Thank you, Jacob. And thank you for your help and support thus far.’
He bobbed me a bow and I set off for Fellworth House, a baby unicorn prancing beside me with her tail held high.
The patio around the mansion was heaving with werewolves; they may have been waiting for my death but they hadn’t been doing so sober. It was hard for a werewolf to get drunk, but a good number of them seemed to have been determined to try.
The crowd was raucous and loud. Even from a distance I could see ripped clothing and a few black eyes; fisticuffs had evidently broken out, along with the booze. Men: someone always wanted to be top dog. Well, they were in for a shock because it turned out Lucy Barrett was indeed the Queen of the Bitches, and by tooth and claw she was about to prove it.
I dismissed the sight of the revelling alphas and betas as my eyes searched for something in particular, and I let out a breath of relief when I found it. Across the distance, I met icy blue eyes that I knew as well as my own. I saw the tension leave Greg’s frame as he flashed me a grin and a thumbs-up.
I appreciated that he didn’t start towards me. I’d given all of my ‘suitors’ strict instructions: this needed to be my fight. Ready? I asked Esme, trying to stifle my nerves.
Of course! she snapped, affronted by the very idea that she was ever not ready.
I say, Terrance butted in, how do you feel about a spot of drama?
I frowned. What do you mean?
When you shift, I can add a certain … je ne sais quoi, if you like.
I wasn’t sure what exactly he was offering, but the assembled wolves were falling quiet as they realised that I wasn’t quite as dead as they’d been expecting. People murmured and pointed then a deathly silence fell.
I heard the crunch of the grass as I walked toward the assembly – and then I stopped. Here was as good a place as any to make my stand. There was plenty of space to fight and the brawl wouldn’t embroil any innocent third parties.
I stood beneath the breaking dawn and waited for my foes to come. I wondered if there would be many attackers simultaneously; realistically, that was my worst-case scenario. It would be far harder to hide my powers if I had to fight three or four wolves at once. I expected Jimmy Rain to lead the alphas against me – but I should have remembered that he rarely got his own claws dirty.
Evidently Daniel Hughes had drawn the short straw. He was the alpha of the Yorkshire East Riding pack and had met me for the first time the previous night. He had introduced me proudly to his pregnant wife, a rarity for the werewolves indeed. He hadn’t seemed evil: maybe he wasn’t, maybe he was just easily led or maybe Rain had some blackmail material on him. Whatever the reason, he was looking at me with the promise of violence in his eyes.
His mate is with pup, I said to Esme as Hughes shucked off his tuxedo. He stood naked for a moment, then was wolf the next. Reconnecting all the wolves to the Great Pack sometimes felt like a mistake: I’d given up one of my advantages in doing so.
He has made his choice, Esme said indifferently. He challenges us for our throne. He must die for it.
I knew in my gut that she was right but my heart was sick with it. He had made a terrible choice, but I was going to be the one that had to live with killing him. Selfish bastard.
Thankfully, he – and the other alphas – did not think I was much of a threat. Presumably Rain and the others had assumed that only one male wolf would be needed to dispose of me. It was symptomatic of their disdain that they had only sent one challenger, but they had underestimated me and I’d kill Hughes because of it.
Presumably Rain wasn’t concerned that Hughes would take the crown because after I was dead my challenger wouldn’t live long. Rain used underhand, despicable methods to win his fights, poisoned claws included. The wolves had expected me to die at the seat of power; failing that, they didn’t think that one little female would pose much of a threat. How little they thought of the Great Pack’s judgement.
It was notable that, bar me, there were no female alphas and I’d seen only one female beta. The glass ceiling was standing firm in the pack hierarchy. I would enjoy the sharp shards of glass that rained down on them when I destroyed it.
Shifted and ready, Hughes pounded the ground towards us at full speed. Moments before he reached us, we shifted. We felt heat with this shift, like lying in warm summer sunshine, but we had no time to question why it was different. Our enemy was at the gate and he was planning to huff and puff our house down; sadly for him, he didn’t realise that I was the big bad wolf.
We braced ourselves for his attack, aware that we needed to make a show of this and time everything to perfection. Esme was in control but I was near the surface, ready to seize back control if necessary. We turned to face him, paws firmly planted, daring all who would defy us.
We didn’t intimidate Daniel in the slightest. He and his wolf crossed the remaining distance ready to snap at us, to rip and rend our flesh and take our life and crown. He dived towards our legs, trying to cripple us, take us down and end us quickly.
Well, not today. Esme was in fine fettle and she twisted and turned so that our supple body and speed beat Daniel’s lunge. Our teeth raked the slower wolf’s side; he stumbled, rolled once and landed back on his feet. We were on him before he could spring again.
We clamped our teeth down on his nose, cutting off his air and taking the fight out of him. As we growled and shook him from side to side, he was silent, hurting. When we stopped, he whipped his head around and twisted his snout out of our grip, trying to slice us with his teeth. We were quicker and we jumped sideways out of reach. He was losing – he just didn’t know it.
He got to his feet and we waited patiently, showing no fear or concern. He ran straight at our side. We waited until the last moment, then leapt over his body and landed in time to hamstring him. He yelped and his back end collapsed.
As we sprang on him, Esme snapped her teeth into the back of his neck and severed his spine. He dropped like a stone, dead. We jumped off him and faced the others.
