I slammed into Kade with every bit of strength I had, knocking him off of Matias and sending him rolling across the ground. Before I could make my next move, two of his betas attacked.

They leapt at me from either side, jaws snapping at my legs. There were two of them, but I was bigger and faster and managed to dodge one of them. The other’s fangs pierced my ankle. I kicked hard, freeing my leg and leapt back.

The bite stung a little, but that was it. If that blow had come from an alpha like Kade, my leg would be useless right now, possibly broken. But the beta didn’t have the strength needed to take me down. It would take a lot more than a bite from one of them to stop me.

Kade was on his feet and staring me down, his lips curled to expose his teeth. My eyes darted to Matias, who was whining a few feet away from me. He was bleeding pretty bad, but it looked like Kade had somehow missed a killing strike. He’d live – if we could get him out of here before he bled out.

I heard the sound of the rest of my pack as they raced up behind me and took my side. We were outnumbered. Six betas, and two more alphas, not counting the fallen Matias. But we were five strong alphas and I liked our chances.

One of the betas was twitchy. His coat was shaggy, with scar patches across his body. He’d obviously seen some shit, but I could tell he wasn’t handling the pressure well. He was going to strike.

Kitchi saw it too, and reacted almost as the attack happened. The beta leapt forward, jaws open, but Kitchi caught him midair before he reached us. His fangs found the beta’s neck and I heard the sickening crack as he hit the ground dead. Kitchi snarled at the rest of Kade’s pack as he stepped back to us.

The other betas were frantic, terrified. Their eyes darted from me to Kade and back again as they waited for their leader’s next move.

Kade stalked forward slowly, deliberately, eyes on me, doing his best to intimidate. But as I thought about Harry, back in the lodge wondering what was happening, a courage filled my heart like nothing before. I could have walked through the very fires of Hell and back again. A goddamn white wolf wasn’t about to scare me.

Matias wheezed and coughed on the ground and I glanced at the other alphas on Kade’s side. They weren’t moving. Nobody was.

Why aren’t they doing anything?

But as I looked at them, I realized…None of them want to fight for Kade!

It made sense and I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Kade ruled with cruelty and fear, and even Matias, one of his top alphas, was sick of his shit. I should have seen it before.

I shifted, and felt the rest of my pack behind me go tense. Kade’s alphas instantly turned to him, and the betas started to get jumpy.

“Kade,” I said firmly. I let his name hang in the air and waited for his reply. I could see his apprehension, but after a long moment, he took human form as well.

“You trying to get yourself killed?” He said coldly. “A human is easy prey for my pack.”

“Well…that’s the thing, Kade. I don’t think your pack wants to fight for you.”

My words had an impact – I could see that. But I couldn’t tell if I’d just pissed him off, or if he knew what I was getting at. But I did know one thing; all the eyes of his pack were on him. No one was paying attention to me.

“That’s an awfully big risk to take,” Kade replied, his eyes probing me for information. He still didn’t get what was going on.

“I think I’m all right,” I told him, indicating to his dead beta on the ground between us. “And you know what else I think?”

“What’s that?”

“I think that if I kill you, the rest of your pack wouldn’t even bother fighting. In fact, I think that if I kill you, the rest of your pack would be happy!”

Kade scoffed, tilted his head back and laughed…harder than he should have. It was a show of bravado, an attempt to save face. But he knew that was I was saying was true; the rest of his pack was only here to fight because they feared him. But without Kade, they’d have no reason to fight.

“Now we can do this one of two ways,” I continued, taking a step forward. He was right of course – in human form I’d die instantly if his boys chose to attack. But I had a theory, and I was willing to bet my life on it. “Either my pack and I can attack you, five on one, and probably kill a few of your boys before we manage to kill you, or you can take me on right now – one on one.”

“What will that prove?” Kade sneered.

“Prove? Nothing. But that’s not the point.”

“What’s the point then?” He asked. I could hear his voice getting shaky. He was playing dumb and we both knew it.

“The point is, I will kill you and do your pack a favor. Isn’t that right, boys?”

I turned my attention to Kade’s alphas, who were looking pretty neutral. A minute ago they were pumping themselves up for a fight, but now they looked less than enthusiastic. The betas were frightened. It wasn’t in their nature to revolt, and I could still see them hedging their bets, waiting to see what Kade’s decision would be.

“What’s wrong, Kade?” I asked him, goading him on. “Scared of a little one-on-one?”

He reacted when he heard that. Kade’s ego was the size of a planet and he didn’t like to feel threatened. He could feel the strength and loyalty of his pack collapsing behind him and knew that he was teetering on a very dangerous edge. And if I could see that, they could too. I doubted that even if he ordered them to attack that they would.

“Fine, you son of a bitch!” He roared. “Let’s do this!”