Chapter Twenty-Seven
Instead of fighting back in the way Alec seemed to expect—meeting the leap head-on—Hayley instead rolled to the right. The agony of her injured side raking over the wet pine needles took her breath away, but there was no time to think about that. No time to see the look of despair on her mate’s face as the world tilted with her movement.
She took Alec’s momentum and turned it against him, spinning with him in a whirl of claws and fangs and fur until he was on the ground, and she was on top of him. Before he could get a sense of what had happened, she clamped her jaws over his furry neck. She shook him once, twice, ensuring that her fangs punctured his skin. He growled, and kicked with his legs, but it would be no use. Her hold was solid.
She raised her eyes to look from Gregorio, to Boris, and back again without releasing her hold.
“The challenge has been won,” Gregorio said, not even bothering to disguise his disappointment. “The Dark Pines territory remains under the power of the Jaynes family.”
She didn’t trust him. Why should she? He’d lied when confronted with the truth of her bond to Marius. Now, she could easily kill this shifter and decide this challenge definitively. He’d nearly killed her a second ago at the urging of his father, and he and his family were a threat to her freedom and the land which would nourish Hayley’s family for generations to come. This land was her survival, as was her place upon it. And they wanted to come and take it, despite the fact that she’d found a mate who nullified the original agreement? Screw that. She tightened her hold on Alec’s neck. He went limp beneath her, no longer struggling.
“It’s up to you,” Boris said to Hayley. “The challenge is lost. Do what you want.”
He turned away to walk back toward the ruined house and his car. Gregorio followed him.
A minute later, Hayley heard two cars start up and drive away.
A sound escaped Alec’s throat. Disbelief, maybe. Dismay. To be turned on by his own father like that? Harsh.
The poor asshole had been abandoned, essentially. His alpha—his father, who should care about his well-being—had just taken off without seeing whether Alec would live or die. Despite the strange deal her parents had made, using Hayley as a bargaining chip to ensure an alliance, at least she’d never felt like they would throw her aside like Boris was doing to Alec now.
Looking down into Alec’s face, she stared at him. I am the boss here, she said with her eyes.
He blinked slowly up at her and then the defiance melted from his gaze. He closed his eyes in defeat.
Hayley let him go, but she didn’t let down her guard. Instead, she remained in her lion form, ignoring her bleeding wounds, until he shifted into his human form. Then she limped after him while he walked to his car.
Marius and her brothers followed her, unspeaking. She would have some apologies to make in a moment, but first she needed to make sure this threat was off her territory and far from the people she loved.
Alec found his clothes on the ground and gingerly pulled them on while Hayley watched, impassive. Her enemy was leaving, broken and bruised, while she sat as a queen on her territory, having defended it for her pride.
Once his car’s taillights faded from sight, she shifted into her human form. Marius was at her side instantly, examining her ribcage where the wounds were concentrated. She had some lighter scratches and puncture marks on her forearms, but those were nothing compared to her side.
She looked at Marius, kneeling on the ground next to her so he could carefully prod her injuries. She winced when he found a particularly tender spot, but the pain didn’t seem so intense with him here, next to her. His eyes, the color of melted chocolate, were full of tenderness, not reproach. Although she was pretty freaking sure she deserved some reproach.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “And I’m sorry.”
“Hayley Ann Jaynes, what the fuck?!” Will shouted, stepping toward her. “You nearly got killed!”
Ah, there was the reproach she’d been expecting.
“I had to,” she said.
“The hell you did,” Will said. His hands were clenched in fists, his jaw rigid. His pale eyes flashed with electricity.
She’d never seen her brother so angry. Not even when Jackson had left them to come back to the territory and Will had muttered curses all the way up to the Canadian border.
“Shut up, Will,” Jackson said. “She saved our territory. It’s ours, and the Spokane Pride can’t touch it. So chill the hell out, okay?”
Marius wordlessly handed Hayley her clothes. She tugged on her jeans and t-shirt, which were damp from the rain. Her side burned with the movement, but she could tell it was already healing. She took Marius’s hand and turned to face her brothers.
“I did this. I needed to do this,” she said. “All my life, you two have been stepping in to fight my battles for me. And when it counted the most, four years ago, I still wasn’t allowed to fight. I knew I could beat Alec. Something in me, some instinct, said it was possible, and when I saw the opportunity, I took it. So you can be mad all you want, Will, but it doesn’t change a thing. And the Dark Pines is ours again, for good. We’ve shown them that we’re not going to give up at the first sign of threat, okay?”
Will looked at first like he was going to start shouting again, but instead he grabbed Hayley in his arms. She yelped as he squeezed her just a little too tight. He let her go immediately. “Sorry,” he said.
“Well, maybe I deserved that,” she said. “I should have been up front and told you all what I was doing. Next time I plan on being responsible, I’ll let you know.”
“You better,” he said.
Jackson slung an arm around Will’s shoulders. “Drinks tonight? I say we all go home, rest for a few hours, and then come out again to celebrate. The Jaynes siblings are here in Huntwood, back where we belong—if that doesn’t call for a drink, I don’t know what does.”
“Can’t,” Will said. “I gotta run.”
“What?” Hayley squawked.
She felt Marius’s comforting arm around her. A Goldilocks hug—not too loose, not too tight. It was a good thing he was holding her, or she might have hauled off and tried to strangle her older brother.
Will rubbed a hand over his leg. “I’ve already stayed too long.”
“You were going to stay until tomorrow morning at least, for the challenge,” Jackson pointed out.
Hayley watched her older brother carefully. What was it, really, that had him so reluctant to be in Huntwood?
“Look, I just gotta go,” he said.
Jackson made a sound of disgust and stomped toward his SUV. “Great, then, I guess I’ll see you whenever I see you. Hayles and Marius? The A-Hole tonight?”
“We’ll be there,” Hayley said.
Will stepped forward and gave her a more tentative hug. “Take care, okay?” he said.
“Yeah. You, too. And when you’re ready to come back, we’ll be here, you know?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I know.”
He shook Marius’s hand. “Take care of each other,” he said.
“Will do,” Marius said, his voice a comforting rumble against Hayley’s side.
Then Will limped over to his Raptor and got in.
Marius bent his head to kiss Hayley’s cheek. “He’ll be back soon,” he said.
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Territory like this? It calls to a person. He doesn’t actually want to leave—he’s just afraid of liking it here too much.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said, leaning into him. “Now what do you say to us going back to my place and getting out of these wet clothes?”