Chapter Twenty-Six
The bleachers were arranged in a massive ring around the field. There were thousands of pack members there; all businesses had shut down for the day. This was their future. This fight would determine the direction that the rest of their lives would take.
There were cameras set up to record the fights from every angle. As usual, Jerrold’s pack, and his group of supporters from Cliff’s pack, sat on the opposite side of the field from Cliff’s pack members. Taylor sat with Mandy, Serafina, Roger and Dax in the front row. There were two empty seats next to Taylor. Chantelle and Rusty hadn’t showed up yet.
The matches were drawn at random, with Grant fighting Jerrold first.
The two walked to the center of the field and bowed to each other before shifting.
Cliff stood with Austin and James and Truman, watching as the two wolves circled each other. The fight was shockingly brief. They snarled and snapped and hurled themselves at each other. Grant flipped Jerrold onto the ground, and Jerrold lay there with his paws waving in the air. No blood had been shed at all. He’d surrendered without a fight.
Impossible.
Grant backed up, growling. He stared at Jerrold suspiciously. Jerrold lay there, tongue lolling out, belly and throat exposed.
He’d forfeited.
The Elders walked onto the field and signaled to him to get up. He shifted back into human form with a shudder and a snarl, and met their gazes calmly.
“He wins. I forfeit,” he said, and walked off the field without another word.
“No fucking way,” Cliff growled. Austin shook his head, staring at Jerrold narrow-eyed. Jerrold glanced back at them, and there was a hint of a smile on his face that Cliff didn’t like. Austin’s low, frustrated growl said that he agreed with him.
Jerrold was up to something. But what? How could he possibly win by forfeiting?
Next it was Grant and Austin. This fight lasted a lot longer. Grant and Austin ripped into each other, and Cliff forced himself to remain calm as the blood flowed and the fur flew.
Finally Austin flopped on the ground and exposed his belly. Cliff had expected that he would, and he strongly suspected that Austin had fought just long enough to put on a good show.
As the two men limped off the field, still in wolf form, he looked around for Anita on the sidelines, and didn’t see her. There was one other healer there, a man named Saul, from a pack on the far western side of the state, who’d come to provide backup in case the injuries were severe. Strong healers were rare, and Saul would be headed back home at the end of the day.
“Where’s Anita?” he asked James.
James glanced at his cell phone. “She texted me that she had to go see Chantelle. Chantelle is having some kind of relapse. That’s why she didn’t make it here this morning.”
“After she turned? That’s odd.” Cliff glanced up at the bleachers. Now Taylor was gone too. That was too bad. He wanted her near him. She lent him strength and calm. He’d expect her to be with Chantelle if her best friend was in bad shape, though.
That was terrible news. She’d be crushed if anything happened to Chantelle.
But he couldn’t afford to be distracted. He’d go to her immediately after the fight. She’d need him, and he’d be there for her.
He sat down with James and waited for Grant to be sufficiently healed. In about half an hour, Grant came strolling over with a fierce grin. James was looking at his cell phone with a troubled look on his face. Cliff didn’t ask him what was wrong; no distractions.
Grant was tough, and he fought hard. He scraped a long, bloody furrow across Cliff’s flank with his claws, and held him at bay for several tense minutes with vicious leaps, barking savagely, jaws flecked with foam. He kept low, and each time he lunged, he snapped for Cliff’s throat.
Cliff barely deflected another leap, snarling as Grant scored an ugly bite to his muzzle, then put all his strength behind a powerful spring, bowling Grant over onto his back and setting his jaws against his throat.
Grant thrashed and struggled, growling defiance, but Cliff just held him in place, teeth planted in his throat, not biting down but not releasing him either. He wasn’t going to kill his brother unless he forced him to. And Grant would rather die than concede.
Finally the Elders intervened, declaring Cliff the winner, and he released his brother and stepped back.
Grant gained his feet mid-shift, seeming to explode back into human form. His face was dark with rage, and for a moment it seemed like he’d hurl himself at Cliff again.
“How dare you?” he demanded bitterly. “You arrogant son of a bitch.”
And he stormed away, back rigid with fury, looking like a thwarted force of nature.
Cliff hurried over to James, with an odd sense of unease clenching at him. Truman and James were talking to each other in low, urgent voices.
Jerrold stood across the field, on the sidelines, with an enormous smirk on his face. He and his men were near an opening in the bleachers, right by the parking lot. Oswald, Sylvester, Minnie and Phineas were with Jerrold’s men. They were up to something.
“Sir, I can’t get hold of Anita,” James said as Cliff reached him.
“I’m on it,” Truman said. He spoke into his walkie-talkie, telling someone to go check on Anita immediately. He put one hand over his free ear, walking away from Cliff and James as he talked.
Cliff looked at the crowd, searching for Taylor – and his heart dropped. Chantelle and Rusty were walking hand in hand towards their seats. Their hair was mussed and they were smiling hugely. Chantelle’s shirt was buttoned up wrong.
Chantelle had never been sick – she and Rusty had missed the fight because they’d been screwing their brains out.
Before Cliff could say a word, the crowd of Jerrold’s men parted and Joel stepped out.
Fucking Joel. On his land.
The smile on Jerrold’s face was enormous.
Shelley stepped out of the crowd too, and a nasty smirk twisted her lips.
Through the red haze of his rage, Cliff heard Truman speaking. “An armored car has been stopped at the gate. Taylor and Anita inside. Our men have surrounded it, and they scented them in the car, but the driver is refusing to open the door.”
James let out a bark of rage, and his fangs shot out. “No,” he groaned in an agonized voice.
Cliff stalked over to Jerrold, with Grant, Cliff, Truman, and a group of Hidden Hills Police closing in behind him.
All the Elders were gathered by Jerrold now, yelling at each other. “I will fucking. Kill. You.” Cliff’s claws curved out of his fingertips as he fixed a look of hatred on Joel.
“Actually,” Jerrold said. “I’ve been studying pack law very carefully. Now that the full moon has passed, Joel has the right to claim Taylor as his mate, since he was the one who sired her. My men are simply ensuring that Taylor is delivered to a location where he can take possession of her. And Anita attacked my men, so we’re holding her for disciplinary purposes for the time being.”
Before Cliff could lunge at him, Grant and Austin laid restraining hands on his shoulders. “Do it by the book,” Grant muttered.
“Joel is subject to the death penalty,” Cliff spat at Jerrold. “He’s a lone wolf, and he killed Serafina’s parents. His father told Taylor that.”
“Well, neither his father nor Taylor are here right now, are they? So we have no proof of that,” Jerrold said. “Joel says he was attacked and forced to defend himself. And Joel is not a lone wolf, he’s now a member of my pack.” Phineas, Oswald, Sylvester and Minnie nodded, exchanging triumphant glances.
They would do anything to get their way. They wanted to set the clock back three hundred years, back to times when the Alphas ruled by sheer force and savagery.
And Shelley’s gloating smirk revealed just how bitter she was about Cliff’s rejection. She had undoubtedly helped hook Joel up with Jerrold, so the three of them could figure out a way to get rid of Taylor.
“That law is insanely outdated,” Grant argued. “It came from a time hundreds of years ago when there was much less risk of exposure, and when pack population was low. It came from a time when the law allowed human men to rape and beat their wives. Slavery was legal back when that law was passed. People believed the Earth was flat. Not only that, the law is in contradiction with our primary responsibility to keep our existence hidden. Aside from the fact that kidnapping a woman to turn her is a sick, despicable thing to do, it will also invite the attention of the human police and the media.”
“Nevertheless, the law is in the charter.” Oswald smiled nastily at Grant. “You’re the last one to argue against it.”
“I challenge Joel for Taylor, as is my right.” Cliff growled at Joel.
“If he does that, he has violated the charter,” Jerrold said. “He loses the position of Alpha.” He grinned at Cliff. “But you will, won’t you? Because you’re weak. Because you’d sacrifice everything for a woman. I’ll give you one chance. After you kill Joel, take Taylor and drive off the property and never return. If you agree to do that, then when I’m Alpha, I’ll spare Serafina’s life. Otherwise…she’ll die very, very slowly.”
“Wait, what?” Joel’s voice went up a notch, becoming high and shrill. His eyes widened in fear. “You set me up! You bastard!”
“Not so fast. I’m next in line for Alpha,” Grant said. Oswald started to argue, and Grant added, “The charter is very clear on that point. Jerrold and I were just about tied. I know the scoring system. Jerrold was a couple of points ahead, but because he forfeited to me, rather than Austin or Cliff, according to the point scoring system, I’m actually ahead. And if you choose to argue, I’ll call in a vote from the entire pack. You haven’t been making many friends here, Jerrold.”
Jerrold flicked a nervous glance at Oswald.
“He may be right,” Oswald allowed. “I’d have to consult the specific rules again…”
“Your bad luck that it was me you ended up matched against.” Grant’s eyes gleamed with triumph. “It puts me ahead. Never try to out-lawyer me, motherfucker.”
Cliff nodded at his brother. He could only pray that Grant would be ready to handle the enormous responsibility of being pack Alpha.
“Lead the pack well,” he said. “If you want me to leave, I will be gone by tomorrow morning.”
Joel tried to run to Jerrold, but Cliff shifted and pounced so fast that he never made it.
He clamped his jaws around his throat and shook him like a rat, so hard his neck snapped, then dropped his limp corpse to the ground. It was swift, savage and bloodless.
He shifted back and stood over Joel’s body. “Order the return of my mate. Now,” he spat at Oswald. “Or I will go on a killing spree the likes of which this pack has never seen.”
Oswald scowled, but he pulled out his cell phone. Jerrold started to object, but Oswald shook his head. “Now that Joel is dead, we have no legal right to hold Taylor.” He spoke into the phone. “Bring the women back to the field,” he said glumly.
This was followed by a quick consultation with the section of the pack charter that dealt with the Alpha trials. The Elders conferred, and glanced at Jerrold, and their expression said it all
“This is bullshit!” Jerrold wailed. “You want me as Alpha! I have majority vote!”
“We are bound by our laws,” Oscar said, his voice stiff and formal. He avoided Jerrold’s eyes.
“My first act as Alpha, now that the trials are over, is to demand that Jerrold be challenged as to who sabotaged the course,” Grant said.
Jerrold’s face went white, and he turned and tried to flee. Truman and Taurus pounced on him and held him in place while James walked over.
“Tell us who sabotaged the course, and who shot Austin.” James’ lip curled in a feral snarl as he sent his power out in a wave, pouring over Jerrold.
Jerrold turned white, and sweat poured down his face as he thrashed in the grip of the two men holding him. Finally, he broke, with a sob.
“I won’t…I won’t…”
“You will.” James’ eyes blazed with hatred.
“I sabotaged the first part of the course! I did it!” Jerrold screamed, face red with fury. “I didn’t shoot Austin, but I did sabotage the course!”
Jerrold’s own packmates looked at him in horror and disgust. He’d just disgraced their pack for life. They were all tarnished by what he’d done.
“Cheating in the trials? That’s a death-penalty offense,” Grant said calmly. “As you all know.”
Oswald nodded grimly.
Jerrold went mad, screaming and wailing and struggling as the Elders withdrew once again to confer among themselves. His packmates gathered together, murmuring and shooting hostile looks at him.
“Jerrold is sentenced to death,” Oswald said resignedly. “So say we all.”
Truman and Taurus glanced at Jerrold’s pack, who were now advancing on their Alpha with murder in their eyes.
“No! No!” Jerrold screamed as Truman and Taurus let go of him and ran for their lives. Jerrold’s pack shifted and swarmed over him in a wave of fur and fangs. Jerrold’s screams of agony went on for almost a minute before they changed to desperate gurgling, and then silence.
Grant raised his voice, shouting so that everyone gathered around them could hear. “My second act as Alpha is to declare that Cliff is Alpha.”
“You can’t be serious,” Phineas said, staring at him.
“I’m dead serious. Cliff was in first place.” Grant looked as if he wanted to spit nails. “I won’t take a pity win. I’ll be the one who’s leaving.”
“No! If Grant declines his position, Austin is Alpha!” Minnie argued.
Austin threw his head back and brayed with laughter. “Fuck that. I shot myself with the silver bullet so I could get out of the trials,” he said. “I don’t want to be Alpha. I don’t want to share oxygen with you people, much less lead you.”
There were exclamations of fury and disbelief from the Elders and the pack members who were thronging around them now.
“You dumb bastard!” Grant snapped at him. Then he sighed heavily.
“But since he didn’t disqualify himself in order to win, it’s not a death penalty.”
“He’s banished, then,” Minnie said.
“I wasn’t planning on coming back anyway.” Austin shrugged. “And frankly, if I want to see my niece and nephews, I will. You can’t stop me.” He turned and walked away, extending a middle finger and holding it up high as he did so. “Ciao, losers.” He yelled that last bit over his shoulder.
A car drove past him in the parking lot, pulling right up to the bleachers, and Anita and Taylor climbed out.
Taylor’s hair was ruffled, her lip was bleeding, and she looked furious.
“Can people be done with kidnapping me, just for one damn day, even?” she snapped as Cliff rushed to her side.