Chapter Eleven
Erik watched his opponent. Hall was better than he expected, and his rib blow still smarted. More than he wanted to show in front of the pack.
But it seemed like the blow Erik landed on Hall’s chin was affecting him more than it first appeared. The other man shook his head several times, as if trying to clear it.
The younger men always shifted too soon. The point wasn’t who could win in their wolf form. That would do them no good out on the streets. It was about control. About keeping the wolf in check for as long as possible before shifting.
Again, Hall shook his head.
“Breathe through it,” Erik shouted over the men. “Don’t let it take over.”
Hall came in wild this time. A loud growl ripped from his throat. Erik landed another blow into his stomach and swept his feet down low. The young man crashed to the floor with a loud grunt.
This was almost too easy. They had a lot more training to do if this was the best the younger generation had to offer. The vampires were fast, and their werewolf strength meant dick if they didn’t use it properly.
Hall growled loudly.
“Fight it,” Erik shouted. “Fight it, damn you.”
He could already see the change starting to take place. They had barely even started, and Hall was ready to shift.
Erik cursed under his breath. If this was how the night was going to go, he’d have to fight the whole lot of them to even think about burning off the kind of energy he needed to. Maybe that was for the best. He needed to knock more sense into them anyway.
Hall launched himself at Erik. His body shifted mid-leap, his remaining clothes falling off. A huge wolf replaced the man.
Erik reacted, shifting in an instant, and met the wolf midair with his own wolf form. Their bodies collided as the two snapped and snarled at one another.
When they landed on the ground, the two stared at one another, circling carefully. The men around them continued to cheer.
Erik took the moment to stretch his long, lithe form, glad to be able to feel the freedom his wolf form gave him.
It wasn't as if he didn't enjoy being a man, but he was always of two minds, two natures: the beast and the man. It was the curse they were doomed to live with, and a blessing of sorts. In his wolf form, he felt the freedom the human form often lacked. It had been a long time since he'd shifted. Over a month for sure.
He didn’t head back to the land often enough, a place where he could be freer. Between meeting deadlines and making sure employees did what they were supposed to, he just couldn’t find the time. Not exactly the glamorous life he thought he would lead. But it had served its purpose.
From what he’d seen, though, it may have been at the expense of the pack.
His taut body moved in time with the other wolf, as they surveyed one another in their animal forms. There was no question he'd be able to make the younger submit, but that wasn't always the point. The point was to teach him. It was to help mold him into something more than what he was.
Hall snarled at him, his white teeth snapping as he did so. They circled one another once again before stopping.
A soft breeze floated through the garage and brought with it a soft white feather.
What the hell?
Erik’s head whipped around scanning the crowd for a brief moment as he looked for Lillian. She had to be there.
The other wolf snarled, and Erik glanced back before returning his attention to the crowd.
He saw her. Soft blonde hair billowing around her face as Leif half pulled her away from the fighting.
Shit.
Something about the scene made the hackles raise on the back of his neck. A loud snarl erupted from him. Several men standing nearby stepped back, and the shouting and cheering died to near silence.
Leif glanced over his shoulder, a slight frown on his face. His hand fell away from the small woman, and he shook his head. Erik’s anger subsided almost instantly. She shouldn’t be there, but the wolf in him wasn’t about to argue over what he wanted.
And Lillian was exactly what he wanted.
From the corner of his eye, he watched as she made her way to the front, her pale blue eyes fixed on him.
He wondered what she was thinking. If she liked him in wolf form. Outside the family and pack, she was the first to see him this way, and he wasn’t certain just what the hell he was planning to do when this was all over.
“Erik!” Lillian shouted. “Look out!”
With Erik distracted, Hall had taken the opportunity to attack. He sprang forward toward Erik, and the older wolf had only moments to escape the powerful jaws.
Erik jerked around. The two skidded to the floor and scuffled there.
The young wolf might be unskilled, but he was strong. Erik knew when they were finished, he would have bruising.
Erik glanced over to where Lillian stood, her hand covering her mouth with worry. Hall tried to snap at him, but he leapt out of the way.
The other men in the room started cheering and shouting again.
The wolf inside him rumbled with excitement over Lillian. She saw him as the wolf, but she was still worried for him. She had even called out his name.
Hall leapt atop him. With ease Erik tossed the young wolf off and changed their position, this time snapping his jaws at the younger wolf's neck. A common move used when fighting. The point wasn't to hurt him of course, but to teach him to submit. These fights wouldn’t be useful if they ended with pack members dead.
Hall squirmed out from underneath him, scratching Erik’s chest as he did so, to escape.
They stood on separate sides now, opposite of where they had been before. The wound on Erik’s chest freely bled on his fur, matting the spot with blood.
“He’s hurt,” Lillian said from the side. “Shouldn’t you stop it?”
“Leave them be,” Leif said.
Erik watched in what felt like slow motion as Hall swiveled his head around to stare directly at Lillian.
Something seemed to change in Hall. His head thrashed from side to side, and his snarling intensified.
“Hall,” Tyr called out to his brother. “Control the wolf.”
A low, menacing growl came from the other wolf. Erik had been uncertain what the hell to do until Hall stared at him from across the ring, his eyes now blood red.
Hall lunged for Lillian. Erik leapt out. Just barely, he grabbed Hall by the scruff of the neck and tossed him to the other side of the room. The younger wolf landed with a thud.
Erik spun around to face Hall, but remained directly in front of Lillian. Where she was concerned, no one was touching her. His wolf would make sure of that.
This time as he squared off, he watched the young wolf throw his head back and forth again. Hall snarled and snapped as he did so, foam crusting the corners of his mouth.
The crowd fell into silence. This wasn't a match, this was a challenge.
Only the challenge didn't make sense. What was Hall challenging Erik for? The girl?
Erik snarled loudly, unwilling to relinquish the woman.
There was something wrong with Hall. His behavior was strange, and those blood-red eyes were something Erik had never seen before. He didn’t know what had caused his eyes to look like that, but it was unnatural, even by the standards of cursed werewolves.
This time when Hall lunged out, Erik was ready. He slammed his body into the other wolf before jumping back to his own spot in front of Lillian. Hall rolled across the room to the other men.
They shouted at him to stop.
Hall didn't take long to recover from the blow, hopping to his feet and shaking his head. He lunged away from the men and ran full force at Erik, his blood red eyes fixed on Lillian. Erik charged this time and jumped on to the wolf’s back to drag him down to the floor by the scruff of his neck.
Hall thrashed and snapped as he did so, all the while staring at Lillian.
“Hall, control the wolf!” Tyr shouted at his brother. It didn’t seem to reach him.
Hall thrust hard to one side, knocking Erik over and bit him hard on one of his forelegs. He grimaced. As soon as he’d let go, Hall charged Lillian again.
Ignoring the pain, Erik pushed off the ground and rushed toward the wolf.
She screamed as the wolf knocked her to the ground. Leif snatched him away from the downed woman and held the massive wolf back with his bare hands.
Erik leapt over to where she was on the ground. He stared down at her. She stared back. Each of them took the time to look at the other.
When he turned around, Tyr had stepped in between Erik and Leif, whispering something to his brother to help pull him back from the wolf’s control.
Erik stared the other wolf in the eye before letting out a loud snarl. Someone needed to end this, and he was the man about to do it.
Tyr shifted in front of him as Leif lost his hold on the pup.
The two brothers stared at one another in wolf form. More of the pack began to shift. It was now clear to them that whatever had happened was now something else. Erik still wasn’t totally sure himself what the hell had happened.
Hall shook his head several more times before sprinting forward. Erik tensed, preparing to bite him. Only instead of charging for the woman again, the other wolf sprinted away and jumped through a small window just off the alley.
Erik shifted into his human form and hollered to the men that surrounded him. "After him, we can't let him out when he’s out of control like this.”
The men all around him began to run out the side door. Those in wolf form grabbed up their clothes, hurrying to put them on before chasing Hall. It’d be too conspicuous for them to chase Hall in their wolf form. It was bad enough with one wolf running around the Twin Cities.
Erik glanced down to where Lillian lay silently. Her eyes now were closed and breathing shallow. He tensed and then leaned down. There were no signs of wounds. No blood.
He let out a breath. She’d fainted likely when Hall started to run again. He was amazed she’d made it as far as she did.
Erik stood and carefully scooped up the small woman into his arms. Leif held out his arms to take her, and for a moment, Erik resisted, the wolf in him still unable to let anyone else touch her but him.
"You’re naked," Leif said with a shrug. "It might be a good idea to get dressed."
Erik knew it was stupid. There was no question in his mind that his oldest friend was not a concern. And even if he were, Lillian was not his to take.
He glanced over at his clothes in the ring. They’d torn when he shifted. Sometimes a werewolf could avoid that, but not always. He handed Lillian over and stepped over to his locker. He pulled out a pair of sweats and a T-shirt he had for when he wanted a workout. When he turned around, Leif was waiting for him by the door.
"What do we do now?" Leif asked.
Erik shook his head. It was the first time they had been exposed. All these years of being so careful, and she'd found out about them in just a few days. Maybe she was a spy after all. He couldn’t be sure.
He ran a hand through his sweat-matted hair. There was way too much shit going on, but for some reason, in his mind she became priority number one.
Erik took her back into his arms and instantly felt as if all were right in the world. It was unsettling to say the least, considering his current problems.
"We take her back to my office and wait for her to wake up," he said. “Then we figure out what our options are.”
That was about all they could do. Wait. Wait for news on Hall wait to see what the blonde beauty even remembered.
He didn’t like the way that Hall had looked at her, as if he wanted to take a chunk out of her. None of his men were violent toward women. In his pack, mates were a rare thing. Even rarer was the woman that could handle a man like himself. Or so his Nan said.
“Call Corso,” Erik said. “Tell him we need a favor.”
“You sure this is a good idea?” Leif asked. “You saw what happened. She’s different.”
This wasn’t something he wanted to argue over. Whatever they’d seen in the street, he still was convinced that Lillian was just a normal-ass woman living her normal-ass life. Maybe all this feather crap had something to do with them, and she’d just gotten caught up in it.
It didn’t matter. Hall being out of control was on them. That mess had nothing to do with her, and he didn’t plan to drag her right into the middle of it all.
Erik shook his head. He wasn’t thrilled bringing in outside help, but they were out of options.
“He owes us one,” Erik said. “We get him to do a shine job and tell him nothing else. I don’t want those leeches poking in our business.” He looked over to Leif as he held the door open. “We handle Hall ourselves. They don’t need to know.”
Leif raised a brow. “And if he can’t be handled?”
Erik hardened his features. “Then we take him out our own way. He’s not getting sucked by them.”