It felt like my heart had momentarily stopped as that psychotic bitch, Chesca, launched herself at Kit. She moved so damn fast, and Kit wasn't even looking. My girl was still staring after the old lunatic who had been speaking, so she probably wouldn't even see the attack until it was too late. Just as my mouth dropped open to yell a warning, Kit just moved. We'd seen her use her superspeed a handful of times in the past few months, mostly in training, but it was nothing compared to the way she moved now. One second she was standing there, her back totally exposed to the crazy girl's incoming fist, and the next she was just a blur as she darted out of the way and reappeared some half-dozen yards from her opponent.

“Holy shit,” Caleb whispered from beside me, and I was inclined to agree with him.

“Come on, Vixen,” Cole muttered from behind me, his shackles clinking as he most-probably clenched and unclenched his fists. “Why isn't she attacking her back?”

Cole was right; Kit was standing well clear of the other girl, her hands raised as she spoke in a voice too quiet for any of us to hear. Chesca prowled closer to Kit, her hands morphing into lethal looking claws, and the fading afternoon light glinted off the tips, almost like they were made of metal. Kit lowered her hands cautiously, and the older girl darted across the short distance at a speed only fractionally slower than Kit's, her clawed hands extended. Kit ducked and twisted out of the way right at the last second, but one of Chesca's claws must have clipped her because she clasped a hand to her arm and I saw red well up from under it.

“Shit,” I swore. “Careless. Why is she being careless?” The careful control I kept over my raging emotions was cracking, and I could feel it testing the barriers.

“She thinks she can still talk reason into that crazy bitch,” Wesley suggested. “I think she probably doesn't want to have to kill someone based on a misunderstanding.”

“She'd better fight back soon, or we will intervene for her.” Cole's voice was quiet but loaded with menace.

“Damn right,” Vali grunted, agreeing with his brother.

Kit cried out, mostly in anger by the sounds of things, but it cracked my control just that little bit more, and I felt rage sweeping through my body as the frantic beast in my mind tried to take over. Closing my eyes, I took a couple of long, deliberate breaths to regain my balance and reinforce my mental cage. After the many years I had spent practicing control, I would not let it break now while Kit's life was in danger.

“Yes, that's it baby girl; hit that bitch.” Austin's words were muttered so softly under his breath that I doubt he even realized he's said them out loud. It made me bring my awareness back to the fight at hand, though.

Kit had obviously landed a few blows on her opponent, as the darker girl’s nose was streaming blood and she was favoring one leg just the slightest bit.

“Why isn't she healing?” I asked Wesley quietly, but he looked just as puzzled as I was. Thankfully though, our guards seemed to have relaxed a bit since the fight had begun, and it was one of them who answered me.

“It’s her claws,” he grunted. “When she was kept captive in that testing lab, they did all sorts of weird shit to her. One of them was that they coated her claws in a silver-iron alloy.”

“How does that stop Kit from healing, though?” I frowned, hoping this guy was willing to share his information while he was so focused on the fight in front of us.

The guy turned to look at me with a frown of his own. “Fuck, you really are human, aren't you? Figured those two would have known this, though. They're sure as fuck not human.” He jerked his head towards Cole and Vali, who glowered back at him.

A furious scream came from Chesca, dragging our attention back to the fight in the clearing for a moment. It looked like Kit had just snapped one of her wrists, as it was hanging useless by her side, as she cursed at my girl. A surge of pride rushed through me at seeing Kit get the upper hand, and I curved a grin hearing the boys around me mutter their own support.

“All, or at least most, shifters are allergic to silver. The majority of all other magic users are allergic to iron. By coating her claws in an alloy of the two, they made Chesca into a deadly weapon against her own kind. Only downside is that it has all but eliminated her own ability to heal herself like any normal shifter can,” the guy continued with his explanation. “So this should be an interesting fight. Come on, Chesca!” He screamed the last bit out in support of his pack member.

“That's it,” Cole whispered under his breath. “Stay clear of those claws, Vixen. Use her anger against her.”

Kit was dodging and weaving, for the most part just staying out of reach of the furious brunette whose swings were becoming angrier and therefore sloppier.

“You!” Granny Winter's gnarled old face popped up in front of me, her wrinkled finger jabbing into my chest. “Explain this.” She stabbed her pointer finger at Kit stalking carefully around Chesca, whose face was flushed bright red as she panted with what seemed like a mixture of anger and exhaustion.

“Explain what?” I replied, giving her a disdainful look. Sadistic old bitch.

“You told them to fight. It's hardly our fault that our girl is better than yours,” Cole added, stepping a fraction closer to my shoulder to glare down at the little woman.

“I hope you're not too close with this Chesca,” Austin smirked with a nasty look in his eye. “You did say this was to the death, didn't you?”

The old woman's face paled slightly, and her confidence faltered just a fraction before she visibly pulled herself back together.

“Explain why she still has shifter speed and strength. None of her guardians are here, and she hasn't even seen her strongest one for almost two decades. She should be weak! Why isn't she weak?” Spit was flying from her wrinkled lips as she raged, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see Kit land a heavy blow on Chesca's shoulder. The crack of something breaking echoed across the clearing, and several of the spectators sucked in a gasp.

“Look, crazypants,” Caleb snapped, his lip twitching with barely contained fury. “How many times do you need to be told that she is not Bridget. She's her daughter, Christina. None of us have ever even met Bridget, so she could already be dead for all we know.”

“He's right,” I agreed. “How much more is it going to take before you believe that you've got the wrong girl? Does she need to kill your psycho pet out there?”

From within the arena, there was an explosion of sound and movement as Chesca shifted into a huge, scruffy-looking gray wolf.

“Well, now we will see who kills whom,” Granny smirked, watching the wolf with pride. My attention was already gone from her though, my focus glued to the huge wolf prowling closer to my Kitten as she backed up.

My inner beast howled, desperate to defend her from this new threat. The muscles in my shoulders were bunched so tightly it felt like I was about to explode, but I knew we needed to stay put. If any of us intervened, it would create chaos. There were well over one hundred spectators around the perimeter of the arena, and if they were all shifters, then we would be lucky to make it out with our lives.

A low, menacing growl rumbled from behind me—either Cole or Vali—and I sensed they were just as tightly wound as I was.

The wolf pounced at Kit, and she held her ground, taking the huge animal's weight as it hit her and rolling when they smacked into the snow covered ground. For a moment, I couldn't see who had the upper hand. They rolled over and over, a ball of fur and snow and flaming copper hair as they fought for domination, until finally they came to a stop with my Kitten on top.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Finish it.”

Kit was on the wolf's back, her arms around its neck and her hands gripping its gaping jaws in an angle which could easily allow her to rip the animal’s head clean off.

“Stop!” A bellowing voice echoed across the clearing, and everyone seemed to freeze. “Christina, let her go. You're not killing her.”

“What the fuck…” Caleb muttered as Mr. Gregoric stepped out of the crowd of onlookers and into the arena.

Kit didn't move, not to finish Chesca off but also not to release her. Good girl.

“N,” she panted, raising her voice to be heard at the distance he was from her. “What makes you think I'll do anything you say? This slut would have killed me.”

“Don't be so dramatic.” He sounded like he had just rolled his eyes at her, which was probably not the wisest move given how furious she was.

“Fucking excuse me?” She hissed, and I fought back a grin. I loved when she got all fired up; it was ridiculously sexy. “Did you just call me dramatic? I was just told to fight to the fucking death”—she paused for dramatic effect; the irony was not lost on me—“with a goddamn, motherfucking werewolf. Who, I might add, is batshit crazy. But I must be the one being dramatic?”

It was so incredibly not the time, but fuck if my cock wasn't hardening a little at hearing her flay this guy with her words.

“Christina.” The former teacher sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. “Let her go, and step back. Where the hell is Annaliese anyway; how is she letting this happen?” He looked around the circle until he spotted Granny Winter and zeroed in on her.

“Don't you dare interfere in this, Nicholai.” The old woman scowled, straightening her spine and stalking forward into the arena as well. “She deserves to die, and you know it. She's brought nothing but pain to this town since the day she showed up, and I told you, I told you, that if I ever saw her again, I'd make her pay.” There was an emotional wobble in her voice which spoke of immeasurable pain and heartache caused by Kit's mother.

Mr. Gregoric stared at the old woman for a moment then, of all things, began laughing. “You let her think you were Bridget?” he asked Kit, a stupid grin across his face that I wanted to plow my fist straight into.

“I didn't let her think jack shit,” Kit snapped. “This stupid old crone wouldn't listen to me when I said I wasn't Bridget.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” the man groaned. “Kit, let Franny go, please. She won't try to kill you again, will you Franny?”

The wolf under Kit whimpered but did nothing to attack when Kit slowly released her killing hold on the wolf's head.

“Franny?” Caleb snickered from beside me, and one of our “guards” snorted a laugh as well.

“Her real name's Francesca, but she thinks ‘Chesca’ is more badass.” A few of the other men around us laughed quietly as well.

“Nicholai, I swear to God if you do not let Chesca finish her off—” the old woman started but was silenced by a snarl from Nicholai's throat.

Noticing everyone's attention was now on the arguing pair, I took a step into the arena and away from the man supposedly guarding me. When he made no move to stop me, I took a couple more steps. When still no one stopped me, I quickly crossed the space to where Kit stood, warily watching her former opponent as the huge animal slinked behind Nicholai, her tail hanging low between her legs.

“Hey,” I murmured as I came up behind Kit. “I'm here, love.”

She didn't take her eyes off the defeated wolf, but reached her hand out to me, and I took it in mine. Her body was running with small, barely noticeable trembles, and now that I was close, I could see her chest heaving as she panted. There were several tears in her clothes where Chesca had landed blows with her metallic claws, and Kit's body must be running overtime trying to heal them all.

Stepping in close, I wrapped an arm around her middle and pressed my body to her back. The beast in me was still raging, demanding I defend her, that I kill anyone who might be a threat, but her nearness helped me keep him contained.

“River,” she whispered, leaning back into me and relaxing her tightly wound body just a tiny bit. “You're here.”

“Always, love,” I swore, “always here.”

The tension seemed to be draining out of her quickly, and I suspected if I wasn't there holding her, she might have collapsed.

“—stupid, stupid woman!” Nicholai's voice drew my attention back to the argument going on between himself and Granny Winter. “I sent her here to see Victor! He would have known in a heartbeat who she is! Where the fuck is he, anyway?”

“He's on vacation,” the old bitch snapped back. “He deserves a vacation once in a while, you know!”

“Oh my fucking lord, woman.” Kit's former teacher sounded like he wanted to strangle the old bat. I didn't blame him.

“If you two don't mind,” Caleb drawled, having approached with the rest of our team. “We have had just about enough of your hospitality, and our girl looks like she's half-dead on her feet. Can we wrap this up?”

Kit was indeed looking half-dead, or at least extremely exhausted as she sagged slightly in my arms and began shivering.