Chapter Twenty-One
Betty belonged to him. Would always be his. Ken ducked under Chris’ claw swipe. She might have been with him, but that was ancient history. Chris just had to accept the fact.
The next swipe turned into a punch that sent Ken staggering against the cage wall. He shook his dizzy head. Nobody had rung his bell like that except Ryota. The deafening noise of the crowd suffocated his senses. He moved to the left. Always keep moving, he heard Ryota’s voice from a distant memory when Ken had trained as a young wolf. A moving target was much harder to hit.
Ken’s head cleared in time for him to duck another aggressive strike. Damn, Chris was fast. No wonder he’d made alpha so young.
Still, he wasn’t as fast as Ryota, who Ken sparred with weekly. He twisted back the way he came, kicking Chris in the kidney.
The Riverbend alpha went down onto his hands and knees with a grunt.
“Why are you trying to take her away from me?” Ken couldn’t keep out the snarl in his voice.
Chris jumped to his feet. “Because you can’t keep her safe. With you, she’ll die.” Like a ghost, he slipped past Ken’s defenses to land consecutive punches to his ribs. Hammer-like fists pounded against his bones until he heard a crack.
He cried out and fell away. “She won’t die.” He gasped for air. “I won’t let anything happen to her.” His right side burned and he coughed up blood.
Popped lung? Chris didn’t want to beat him. He wanted Ken dead.
“You declared her your soulmate when she can’t shift. Every shifter in the country will be crying for her blood. You should have kept your mouth shut.” Chris sidestepped Ken’s counter attack. The Riverbend alpha’s left knee twisted and he tried to hide his grimace of pain.
As an apex predator, part of his training had been spotting weakness in others and how to exploit them. Being a dominant hunter was fifty percent strength and speed, the other fifty was knowing how and when to use them. At this point, Ken’s problem wasn’t skill, it was inability to catch his breath. Only one side of his chest worked. Spots developed in his vision and his lungs were on fire from both injuries. Accelerated healing wasn’t always a benefit. Trying to land a punch while ribs tried to rearrange their order was impossible. He could barely lift his arms.
Spectators stood in the stands, the floor trembled with their screams. Behind Chris’ looming form, Ken spotted Betty’s pale face.
Her dark hair was a wild storm cloud as she jumped to her feet. Ryota caught her by the waist, keeping her from leaping against the cage wall. Her red lips opened as she shouted something he couldn’t hear over all the noise, but he read her lips. She shouted his name over and over.
Not Chris’.
His.
Clutching his sides to ease the pain, Ken ducked Chris’ next strike. Claws grazed his spine. Sharp pain in his chest made it impossible to breathe yet he managed to press close to Chris and use the heel of his foot to kick the knee the other shifter favored.
A satisfying crack reached Ken’s ears before Chris’ howl masked all other sounds. Ken stumbled until he hit the cage wall. It held him up for a couple of seconds before his knees turned to water and he sank to the floor.
Chris lay on the floor across the ring, his leg bent at a wrong angle. Claws extended he crawled toward Ken then his face contorted in agony. The alpha’s tongue lolled out from the side of his muzzle as he panted. He paused to heave.
Ken swallowed with a mouth gone dry. “I’ll die before I’ll let you win.” He managed to say between gasps.
The cage wall supporting his back shook with the impact of the door opening. Metal against metal clanged, even over the roar of the crowd.
Ryota strode across the challenge mat. He held Betty with an arm around her waist.
Tears slid down her face as she reached out both arms toward him. Her mouth moved but he still couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything but the thready beat of his heart.
The cage spun slowly.
Ryota held a microphone in his hand as he announced something. Ken wished he could hear it.
Chris’ prone body had shifted to human form. He lay on his stomach, naked and unconscious.
Ken’s ribs didn’t hurt anymore but he still couldn’t catch his breath.
Ryota shoved the microphone in Betty’s face. “It’s a draw. Choose a winner,” he ordered.
She blinked her vision clear of tears.
“Choose, damn it.” Ryota looked pale, his gaze darting to Ken’s slumped form against the fighting cage wall.
“Ken Birch is the winner.” She stammered. Her voice echoed in the arena. The crowd responded with both cheers and boos. She fisted the microphone. “Riverbend Pack, come gather what’s left of your alpha.” She dropped the mic.
Ryota gave her a fast nod of approval.
Ken sat slumped to the right, staring in her direction. He looked…wrong.
She walked slowly toward him. He seemed injured but she couldn’t see any wounds. She knelt by his head and stroked his thick fur. “You won. You can shift now.”
“Can’t.” He was short of breath.
“Why not?” Her voice cracked and she sniffed. “Ryota?” She smelled blood and combed through his fur with her fingers, looking for the wound.
The alpha was at her side instantly, hands probing his adopted son’s body. No, his son’s body. They might not be blood but the worry lining the alpha’s face was of a father who loved his child with all his heart. “Only one side of his chest is rising. I think his lung is punctured.”
“Shouldn’t he be able to heal that?” She swiped the wetness from her face and dried her hands on her jeans.
“Heal it, yes. Not re-inflate it.”
She roared. Tendons popping in her neck and jaws. Fingers stiff with fury. These types of wounds were fatal for their kind if not treated quickly and she hadn’t a clue how to help. She had just found Ken. He completed her like a lost puzzle piece. He was everything she dreamed of being—responsible, successful, dependable.
Perfect.
And now fate would rip him away.
She twisted around, narrowing her eyes on the Riverbend Pack members as they tended their alpha’s broken leg. Not fate. Chris. She bared her teeth. If Ken died, so would he.
Ryota cupped her face, pulling her attention from the others in the cage. His alpha power calmed the feral beast within her, trying to tear free. “I need the medical kit in the prep room.”
“O-okay.” She stammered, trying to hold back a sob. Jumping to her feet, she raced to the prep room. New Port hunters had gathered outside the door and she parted them with a few desperate shoves. Inside the room, she came to a sudden halt. Where the fuck was it? She hadn’t asked Ryota.
Nothing obvious stood out. She yanked open empty lockers and searched the cupboard under the sink. Where would they store it? Crouched, she took a quick look around and spotted a duffle bag under one of the benches lining the wall. She scurried on hands and knees, pulling it out. Inside, she found the medical supplies. Yes! She wiped her wet cheeks again. Flipping tears were blinding her. Clutching the bag to her chest, she ran back to Ryota’s side.
Ken’s hand moved toward her.
Incomprehensible words fell from her lips. Things like stay, no and please stay. They didn’t mean anything in that order but the love in Ken’s eyes said he understood. She rested his head in her lap. Her tears dripping onto his fur. She’d barely ever cried but she was making up for a lifetime of tears in minutes.
Ryota held a huge syringe with a big ass needle in his hand. Using his thumb, he felt around Ken’s collarbone.
“What are you doing?” She managed to string words together to make sense.
“Saving him.” Ryota punctured Ken’s chest and drew back on the plunger to create a negative pressure to re-inflate the lung.
Ken gasped, his chest rising properly as his lung re-inflated. He coughed and sat up, pulling her onto his lap. He held her tight as he gulped for air and coughed some more.
The quiet crowd exploded with cheers.
She pressed her face into his chest. “I almost lost you.” She clung to his broad shoulders, hugging him so hard her back ached. “Don’t do that again.”
He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled. “No one will take you away. Not Chris or the other packs.” He paused. “Or my own alpha.”
“Sit still for a minute longer while your lung seals itself.” Ryota knelt next to them. He offered Ken a hand. “She still has time to learn to change shape. I’m feared enough that the other packs will hesitate to trespass, but that won’t last forever.” He helped Ken up and she slid to her feet. The alpha gave her a small smile. “You cured my doubts about your being soulmates.” With another nod, he straightened his suit, then exited the challenge ring.
She hugged Ken close. He didn’t need her support but he was going to get it anyway.
Chris’ hunters had apparently set his leg while they had been saving Ken’s life. His intense dark gaze drank her in from head to toe. With a little help, Chris managed to get to his feet and limp over on his splinted leg.
Ken tensed as if ready to pounce.
Chris extended his hand. “I came here to save her.” He waited, his gaze still wandering to her.
Ken gripped his hand tight. She could hear knuckles pop. “She doesn’t need saving.”
Betty shook her head in disbelief. “She can speak for herself.” She stepped between the two shifters, Chris in his human form and Ken still in his beast’s. “What the fuck, Chris? How did this play out in your mind that you would think I’d ever come back?”
He had the courtesy to look ashamed, a blush creeping along his cheeks. He ducked his head, and waited until his hunters backed out of the cage. Giving them a small amount of privacy. “I would have married you if you had stayed.”
She slapped her forehead. “No pack would allow their alpha to marry a human. You know that.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I would have quit being alpha. We’ll never know now.” He limped away, exiting the challenge cage.
Her jaw dropped open. After all these years, he still carried a torch for her? What they had experienced was puppy love. She and Ken had the real deal. Maybe one day Chris would find it.
“I almost feel sorry for him.” Ken licked her face—chin to forehead. “Almost.”
“You’re better.” She wiped her face clean. “Stop licking me. I’m going to drown in your spit.”
He waved to the remaining crowd. A few cheered his name.
Someone gave him the finger and shouted, “You suck, Birch!”
Ken snorted. “Can’t be popular with everyone, I guess.” He led her out the way they came. Inside the prep room, he shifted to his human form. The change looked slow and painful. He slumped on to a bench, skin covered in a sheen of sweat. “He kicked my ass.”
Betty helped him dress.
“I wonder who would win between him and Ryota.” Ken rubbed his bruised sides. Those injuries must have been real deep to still be present.
“Ryota.” She had briefly felt his power tonight. Scary stuff. She buttoned Ken’s shirt.
His gaze riveted on her as she made sure she had them done right. “I’ve never had someone dress me.” He stroked her hair. His hollow tone broke her heart. He’d been an orphan until ten. Alone. Those things didn’t go away after adoption and Ken had only had an adopted father. “No one will ever take you away from me.” He kept repeating this as if trying to convince himself. He gripped her shoulders. “I wouldn’t force you to stay, but as long as I draw breath, don’t worry about being stolen. I don’t care what Ryota or my pack decides. I will stay at your side no matter if you want to leave New Port or not…”
She laid a gentle kiss on his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere.” He’d become an integral part of her life in such a short amount of time. Now that she knew how it felt to be truly loved by a mate, she couldn’t continue without him. “I’m so sorry about Chris. The last thing I expected was for him to challenge you. I didn’t know he still had feelings for me. In all those years after leaving the pack, he hadn’t once called me.”
“Being a soulmate means you are a shifter. That changes everything.”
“I still can’t shift.”
“I believe in you.” He returned a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Let’s go home.” He handed her the keys to his car. “You drive.” He pushed himself on to his feet slowly and limped to the exit.
She moved to his side but he shook his head, refusing her support.
Once on the other side of the threshold and into public view, Ken’s limp vanished. No weakness. He strode into the crowd. From the mass scent and cheers, she would guess they were all New Port Pack.
Her stomach flip-flopped and she paused outside the group as they swallowed him.
A chant began. “Ken! Ken! Ken!”
Ryota seemed to materialize next to her. “They love him.”
“I can see that.”
“You can’t keep him all to yourself. Do you know what entails being a dominant’s mate? The pack must come first.”
“My parents taught me well.” She met his stare for a hot moment. “I can share.”