Inevitably Yours

It took about ten very tense minutes for the Alpha and Beta to appear before us, both looking incredibly disheveled. After what Courtney told us, I shuddered to think of what they could have been doing in the packhouse.

“How dare you!” Wilkes yelled, the rest of the ranked members slowly coming out of the front door behind him and warriors starting to surround us. I wasn’t bothered by the show of strength; I could cut most of them down myself, and I had Nic and more warriors with me. Wild Paws was not well trained; we didn’t need comparable numbers. “After escorting my Beta off your packland, why do you think you’d be welcome on mine?”

“I know what you’re doing, Wilkes. I know about the chosen mates. I know about selling the pups. I know all of it,” I growled. Wilkes stopped halfway to me, laughing nervously.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, looking around at the warriors that weren’t in the packhouse with him. While some looked like what I was saying wasn’t news, many looked surprised. “There’s nothing to know. They’re our mates, and we take care of them.”

“They’re no better than slaves. You’re forcing yourself on them,” Quinn said beside me, her volume soft but anger evident in her tone.

“You shut your mouth, little girl,” the Alpha demanded. “I’ve let this Alpha and his child bride make accusations of my pack for long enough. I should have killed you after your Alpha ceremony for trying to embarrass us then. I’d say to send my Beta’s mate back. He could smell her in your packhouse, but we know what you did. You can keep her now. Leave now with your lives and consider our packs enemies from this point on.”

“No,” I told him simply. “We’ll not be leaving here without what I came for.”

“What is that?” he asked, almost screaming in anger. His face was flushed and bright red.

“His head,” Nic said, pointing at Tyson.

“And yours,” I answered, nodding at Wilkes.

“This is absurd; are you challenging me?” he roared.

“We are challenging you,” I clarified. “This is between Alpha and Beta. Mine would like to finish something yours started in my packhouse. You know the day you ‘didn’t’ send him.”

Wilkes laughed loudly and from his belly, wiping tears from his eyes as he finally finished, “You want that little girl to fight my Beta?”

“She’s the reason he came back with one eye. He wasn’t doing so hot the first time he attacked her,” I shrugged.

“How does this even work?” he asked, no longer laughing once I reminded him she’d already hurt his Beta once. “Is this an Alpha challenge or not?”

“Yes, it’s an Alpha challenge, but I thought we’d make it interesting. My Beta fights yours. If she wins, we will continue with the Alpha challenge. I think deep down, regardless of your pride, you know how that will go. If she loses, we’ll leave, and I won’t have the right to challenge you again.”

“Fine,” he agreed without pause. “Tyson will kill your b***h, and I won’t have to hear you at my door whining about challenging me again. It’s a win for everyone. I assume you want to do this now?”

“I see no reason to wait.”

Wilkes ordered his warriors to stand back and allow room for the challenge. I ordered ours to stay with Quinn. They already knew their job was to get her out of Wild Paws if something went wrong with my part of the challenge.

Wilkes pulled Tyson to him violently and, in front of everyone, told him, “If you lose, I will kill you myself.”

“Yes, Alpha,” he replied, his face blank.

We walked over to Nic, and Quinn hugged her tightly, “Kick his a*s for me.”

Hugging her back, Nic replied with a wink, “Of course. Anything for my Luna.”

I touched my forehead to hers, “He doesn’t stand a chance. Just think of what he did to her. Then he came into our packhouse and attacked Quinn. Attacked you. End him; then it’s my turn.”

“Done,” she told me fiercely, turning towards her prey. I stepped back, grabbing Quinn’s hand to keep her close. Tyson growled at her from across the lawn as he stalked toward her.

“Weapons or no?” Nic asked, holding up her karambits.

“Use whatever you want, b***h. It won’t make a difference,” he spat before shifting to his pitiful wolf form.

He left his clothes in tatters on the grass and launched toward Nic. She dodged his initial attack, and he skidded past her, unable to stop himself. She waited for him calmly, standing in the same place without moving. He howled and coiled himself on his back legs to strike again. Once more, he blew past her. This time, tripping and falling into a heap onto the ground. She was like a matador teasing a bull, and Tyson was growing increasingly frustrated. He didn’t seem intelligent enough to change his tactics, though, and after he was on his paws once more, he launched himself headfirst at her again. Nic dodged his attack again, but this time as she side-stepped, she grabbed the scruff of his neck as he whizzed by and used it to mount him like a horse.

I almost wished Adi could have been here to see how Nic used the skills in crazy horse to stay on his back, but as Nic plunged a karambit in his eye again, I quickly changed my mind. He howled while kicking like a bronco trying to lose its riders at a rodeo. Nic held on like a pro, not letting it phase her at all. Her feet were locked into his sides, one hand held the karambit in his eye, and the other tightly hugged his neck. As Tyson began to tire and wasn’t bucking so heavily, she brought out the other karambit to take his second eye. His howl of pain echoed off the packhouse as my voice had done earlier. The assembled Wild Paws warriors looked shocked, and Wilkes’s face was white as paper. Ending the show, Nic pulled one of her karambit free, reached across his neck, and drew the blade sharply back toward herself, cutting a smile into his throat where his b***d poured onto the grass below them. He dropped heavily to the ground into the puddle of his quickly escaping life, Nic landing neatly on her feet beside him. We watched him die as he slowly shifted back into his human form in death.

Nic turned toward Alpha Wilkes and bowed deeply, “Alpha Michael’s ‘b***h’ has finished. You may proceed with the Alpha challenge.”

“You f*****g cu-” Wilkes spewed.

“No,” I interrupted. “It’s you and me now. No need to insult the only competent Beta here.”

“Do you intend to use those weapons, you coward?” he asked, stepping away from the warriors surrounding him and walking toward me slowly.

“If you feel that strongly about it, we can let our wolves handle this?” I offered, undoing the buckle of my sword belt.

“YES!” Eros screamed within me. He came out almost daily, but I rarely used him to fight.

“Are you sure? From everything I’ve heard, you never use him. I was starting to wonder if you were even a werewolf in the first place with your pretty little swords doing the killing for you.”

I smirked as I deposited my swords and belt into Quinn’s waiting arms. I turned to my unfortunate opponent. “Oh, I think you misunderstand, Alpha Wilkes. I don’t need Eros to kill other wolves, I’m not weak, but I don’t keep him inside me for my protection because he’s weak. I keep him inside for your protection because he’s not.”

I stepped away from Quinn, having already said what we needed to. Once I was a safe distance away, I let Eros free. He ripped through my clothes, howling with Alpha power as he came forward. The sun shined brilliantly on the silver of our fur, and now we towered over Wilkes, who hadn’t shifted yet. He was looking up at us, mouth agape. Eros growled at him, his head lowering and laser-focused on Wilkes.

Finally snapping out of his stupor, Wilkes shifted too. His wolf was several feet shorter than us; most were. Since I’d become Alpha, the only one I knew of that was of comparable size was my father’s. Wilkes’ coat didn’t look as bad as Tyson’s; he was healthy, at least. He was a dull brown in different shades all over. Eros snarled down at him, not caring what he looked like. He wanted Wilkes’ b***d.

The Alpha carefully stalked toward us, learning from Tyson’s before him. Not wanting to wait anymore, Eros lunged first, batting away Wilkes’ attempt to bite us and biting down on the back of his neck. Lifting Wilkes into the air over our head, Eros shook him viciously as b***d spilled from the bite down our muzzle. With a heavy jerk of the head, Eros threw our opponent away to land in a disheveled pile on the ground quite a ways away from us. As Eros eyed the injured Alpha, Wilkes made it back up to his paws, although he was shaky. This time, he sprinted toward us in desperation. Eros spun and cracked Wilkes in the jaw with our a*s, sending him sprawling into the dirt once more. Using the advantage, Eros pounced onto Wilkes and stood over him dominantly. Wilkes rolled over onto his back submissively, whining like he wanted to give up.

“I’m sure they’ve all asked him to stop, too,” I told Eros, not wanting him to allow Wilkes to submit to us.

“He’ll get no mercy from me,” he growled as his muzzle flashed down and closed on the Alpha’s throat. I felt our teeth come together, and our coat was sprayed with arterial b***d from ripping out Wilkes’ throat. He was gone. After a few moments, the former Alpha’s body stopped twitching and lay still beneath us. Eros turned our muzzle to the sky and let out a victorious howl that dropped all of those around us to their knees, except for Quinn. She was beaming at us in pride, and I could tell Eros wanted to hear her say it. We leaped over to her and kneeled as she reached up to scratch behind our ears.

QUINN

Eros jumped into the air, landing only steps away, and was soon kneeling in front of me. I reached up and scratched behind his ears. “Good job, Eros,” I whispered so only he would hear me. I knew he wanted praise, but I didn’t want to embarrass my Alpha wolf. I planted a k**s on the top side of his muzzle above his nose, choosing a small spot with no b***d. He had fought impressively, never seeming like he had to try very hard. Sapphire was a gooey mess, dying to be let out. Eros stood, stepping back and shifting, so my mate was once again in front of me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me flush to him, kissing me hungrily. “You did great too, Alpha,” I giggled as he let me go.

“You didn’t do too bad yourself there, Luna. You put an Alpha in his place,” he chuckled. I didn’t mean to interrupt their argument, but anger got the better of me.

Michael looked around at the Wild Paws and Stary warriors that surrounded us. Everyone from Wild Paws looked nervous. I grabbed some shorts from a warrior and handed them to Michael. Suddenly, I could feel the connection forming; we were becoming Alpha and Luna of Wild Paws as well as Stary.

“You are no longer members of Wild Paws. You are now wolves of Stary Pack, and I am your new Alpha. The way your Alpha and ranked members treated their mates and positions was appalling, and those remaining who were a part of this will be punished accordingly. As we work to integrate you as new pack members into our existing pack structure, I ask for patience. Questions will be answered, and this pack’s life will improve, especially for those oppressed under Wilkes’ rule.”

Michael’s statement was clear, and I knew it would spread quickly. Looking past us, there was a small crowd forming down by the road. I knew we made the right choice coming here, but I worried we might have bitten off more than we were ready to chew.

“If you knew what was going on in the packhouse and were okay with it, kneel.” Michael’s tone was filled with Alpha command. A lump formed in my throat as some began to kneel. “The rest of you, take those kneeling along with your Delta and Gamma into custody. I will deal with them later. I assume you have a place to hold them?”

“Yes, Alpha,” one of them answered. The standing wolves began to take control of the kneeling ones, dragging them to their feet to be taken away.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Michael looked at me, “Can you take Nic and Andrea with you and let those women know they’re free?”