Moira Rogers: Deadlock

A man Carmen didn’t recognize rushed to kneel by Hughes, and his face was ashen as he looked up at John Peyton. «He’s dead.»

The Alpha stared at the fallen council member for a moment, then seemed to shake himself. «Andrew Callaghan. What belonged to Drummond Hughes is now yours, by right of tradition.»

«I don’t want his stuff,» Andrew rasped. «Just the seat.»

A ripple of reaction ran through the crowd. Before it settled, before anyone could speak, Julio stepped forward. «I challenge Sam Hopkins for his seat on the Southeast council.»

Not silence, not this time. Outright pandemonium. Someone shouted a denial. Someone else cheered, a sound cut abruptly short when a middle-aged, slightly overweight man stepped out of a knot of suit-clad men to Carmen’s right. «This is outrageous. We were summoned to witness a challenge, not be challenged ourselves. This is outright duplicity.»

«Quiet!» The Alpha’s roar cut through the outrage. «There’s no law that prohibits this, nor are you guaranteed advance notice of a challenge. It stands. Now, will you answer it or forfeit?»

Hopkins sighed, as if tremendously put-upon. «I’ll answer it, of course. We’ll fight as wolves, if someone would clear the field.»

Several younger wolves hurried to do so as Julio began stripping out of his clothes, but he hesitated as he caught Carmen’s gaze. He looked grave, almost sad, and her heart thumped painfully.

She’d seen that look a hundred times before. Her mother had called it a Cassandra moment, when she’d had a prophetic vision or dream that spelled a doom she couldn’t share because doing so was useless.

Julio. There was no time to speak. The Alpha had already confirmed the challenge, and no one could stop it now.

Alec appeared at Carmen’s side, claiming the hand Kat wasn’t holding. «I think your uncle’s trying to convince himself that the challenge was a bluff,» he murmured. «That he’s getting out of this.»

It didn’t matter, not with that bleak look in Julio’s eyes. «Something’s wrong.»

He stiffened at her side. «What do you feel?»

«It’s hard to explain.» Hopkins had stripped down already, and now he knelt, shifting forms so quickly it was all a shimmering blur of magic. As a wolf he cut a menacing figure, large and powerful and absolutely vicious.

«Your brother’s survived plenty of challenges,» Alec said, his voice steady. Unwavering. «He can do this.»

Maybe she’d imagined it all, a product of her own nervousness and tension. «He can do this.»

Julio bent low and shifted too, though Hopkins barely waited until the magic settled before pouncing with a snarl. They rolled through the grass, jaws snapping, and Hopkins landed his first blow, a rake of claws across Julio’s snout. He yelped and bit, closing his teeth on the older wolf’s leg.

More snarling. The wolves twisted over and over, moving so fast that sometimes she couldn’t follow the fight at all. Julio was powerful, but Hopkins had cunning and experience. More than one feint turned into an attack, claws digging into Julio’s body again and again. Shallow cuts, but they were slowing him down.

One strong rush knocked Julio off his paws, and only a last-minute wrench of his body kept Hopkins’ teeth from sinking into his throat. They bit into his chest and shoulder instead, and Julio howled.

Closing her eyes wasn’t an option. Closing her eyes would mean she couldn’t watch what came next.

Julio struggled to stand. Hopkins aimed his next biting attack at Julio’s other front leg, and he didn’t even try to avoid it. Stunned, or maybe even going into shock—

A single loud roar, and Julio closed his massive jaws on the back of Hopkins’ neck.

Hopkins howled in pain. He shook. He twisted. Julio’s teeth dug deeper, until even Carmen could smell the blood in the air. The older wolf hit the ground, back legs kicking frantically, his paws scrabbling at the dirt.

A loud growl echoed through the clearing, followed by a loud crack. Hopkins twitched and fell still, and Julio slowly released him and stumbled back. Carmen breathed a sob of relief when he didn’t fall.

This time, the Alpha himself bent to check Hopkins, but stopped short at the sight of his glassy, lifeless eyes. «Julio Mendoza. What belonged to Sam Hopkins is now yours, by right of tradition.»

All hell broke loose.

Through the planning and the schemes, it still came down to this — bloodstained dirt and violence.

Alec stood in the spot where Andrew had caved Hughes’s face in and stared at the bloodied ground. Hughes had signed his own death warrant, not only through pride but cruelty. Alec had been close enough to hear the hissed challenge, the threat that had turned Andrew from merciful to murderous. So which one of the pretty little bitches is yours? I’ll take good care of her when you’re dead.

Ten seconds for Hughes to mutter the challenge, and half that time to die. Hopkins had lasted longer, but his blood also painted the clearing, metallic and sharp, sullying the place that had been his only a short time ago. His and Carmen’s, where he’d stretched her out on the grass and let himself taste the sweetness of her mouth.

The first time. By God, it wouldn’t be the last.

Chaos reigned around him, loud voices and shouts, people arguing or just talking to hear their own voices, as if any of them could make sense of what had just happened. A coup, a revolution—

Not the end.

Cesar met his gaze across the twenty yards that separated them. Hope had filled the man’s face earlier, the need to believe that Hughes had been right, that Alec and Carmen had used a challenge to situate friends or family on the Southeast council. Even now, he looked uncertain.

Quietly, deliberately, Alec stripped his shirt over his head and let it fall. Cesar nodded, then glanced over to where Miguel and Carmen were taking stock of Julio’s quickly healing wounds.

«Enough.» Peyton didn’t shout, but his command quieted the crowd all the same. «Do we have another challenge?»

«Mine.» Alec hooked his thumbs in his belt and waited until Cesar looked back to him. «I picked the time. You pick the method. Do we fight as men or wolves?» Or not at all? A futile hope, but in the face of all the violence, all the blood, maybe Cesar would come to his senses.

Cesar began to unbutton his shirt. «We look each other in the face and fight as men.»

Which meant Alec would have to stare into eyes too much like Carmen’s and decide whether to end the man’s life. Clever and cruel — a gambit Alec couldn’t allow to succeed. «You refuse to yield?»

Another short nod. «I refuse.»

Alec hated the senseless waste of it almost as much as he hated how his wolf yearned for it. He was furious at being denied, ready to rend Cesar limb from limb. Rage still lived in his heart, and his knuckles itched to slam into flesh. To utterly destroy his enemy.

He sought out Carmen in the crowd and held her gaze for a moment. She met his stare evenly, with resignation but also understanding. He’d tried, and that was all he could do.

I’m sorry. He couldn’t say it with words, but they didn’t need words. They never had.

The blow came from nowhere, a dirty punch that slammed into the side of Alec’s head with a force that rattled his teeth. Someone in the crowd gasped, and Alec ignored the sudden murmurs as he recovered from the blow, resettling his weight and facing Cesar.

Fury etched the man’s face, as if being forced to fight angered him. «Couldn’t back down, could you, Jacobson?»

«No.» Alec shifted his attention to Cesar’s shoulders, watching for the minute clues that would telegraph the man’s next move. «You should back down. You’ve got nothing to win. All of the assets you transferred to Carmen and her brothers are gone.»