With every ounce of strength I had.
And that quickly, the fight was over.
Her head flew from her neck, ripping off completely, soaring through the air and obscenely thumping against a vehicle parked up on the hill. Blood flew into the night air and I quickly stepped back as her body fell to the ground. Covering my mouth with the crook of my arm, I turned my back to the gore, my head falling. No, I hadn’t wanted this.
A moment later three wolves’ howls rose into the night’s silence, giving voice to the turmoil inside me. King Kincaid, Elder Merrick, and Elder Talus were in their shifted forms as was tradition for a challenge. They sat on their haunches, spread in a triangle around the beach, far enough away to give the challenger and me plenty of room to fight. Elder Talus began taking a few steps in my direction, and I quickly held out a hand. “No. Leave me.” It came out brusque and choke-full of the misery that had taken hold. He stopped moving, lowering his head in understanding.
I moved downwind, breathing in the cool air coming from the ocean before turning my head, and shouting, “Medic.” A Mage rushed forward from the cave’s entrance, sidestepping the decapitated Shifter. I held my hand out. “It’s broken.” I had felt the bones snap, but there was no physical pain. Nothing overrode the sorrow for taking her life.
The medic quickly fixed my hand, popping noises erupting over the sounds of the waves crashing and the wind picking up. I didn’t watch as the Mage worked, his hands glowing as he healed the injury, instead staring up at the silent Shifter who had wanted this challenge. Once the medic moved away, I leapt into the air, landing at the edge of the sand dune he sat on.
He wasn’t as big as King Kincaid, but by the length of his legs in his sitting position I gauged him to be at least a foot taller than me. His muscles were well defined under the black t-shirt and jeans he wore, his black-and-light streaked hair glistening silver under the moon’s light. His features were beautiful in their harshness while he stared at me with unflinching dark eyes, digging his shoeless feet further into the sand, preparing for an instant attack, even though he didn’t rise.
But there was one thing that gave me pause.
Where the previous Shifter had power pouring from her in an effort to intimidate me, he was the exact opposite. In fact, I sensed nothing from him. Not a damn thing. He was completely masking, which shocked me just as much as it made me wary. The only indication he was Shifter was the heavy scent of wolf pouring from him, thanks to a recent shift. Pushing all thoughts of the previous fight aside, I walked toward him. Cautiously. “How did you get mixed up with her?” They were nothing alike.
“She only saw me writing the note.” He shrugged, his shoulders tense for action. “She wanted to be added to it.” He surveyed me as I made my trek toward him. “Our fight won’t be as easy as yours with her.”
I knew this. “And your reason for wanting to challenge me?”
“I don’t agree with the Laws you enforce.” Another shrug. “I plan to change things when I’m ruling.”
“You don’t know what I believe in,” I stated softly. “I’m not Queen yet. I currently hold no true power.”
“You are no different than them,” he said just as gently, his voice void of emotion as he nodded at the King and Elders. “And I plan to kill you for it. It’s no more than you deserve for living your life with your eyes shut.”
He attacked.
He sprung so quickly and landed so close that I didn’t have time to deflect as his fist pounded into my stomach. I could only jump back to lessen the blow. Still, it felt like a sledgehammer to my gut. A shout echoed the night — my shout — as I flew backward through the air, barely tucking and flipping in time to land on my knees on the beach, heaving oxygen that didn’t want to fill my lungs. My sense of smell gone, I ducked, rolling as I gasped for air, knowing he would be coming.
And he did, the sand billowing out from beneath his feet as he landed next to me. I hit him squarely with my power, letting it all flow into him. Bad thing was, he did the same thing, at the same exact moment. My God. I did get air in as I screamed and as my body bowed in fierce, relentless agony, his magic something damn powerful. Luckily, he dropped, holding his chest and head, shouting right along with me, my power hitting him.
As quickly as we attached magically, both of our powers switched off. Like they short-circuited. Gasping, I rolled to my hands and knees, a deep growl erupting from my throat. The f**ker had damn near killed me with that shit. Hearing his own growl, I tried to hit him again with my power. But, crazily, he did the same thing.
With the same damn effect.
“Well, f**k it,” I panted, rising on unsteady legs after another pain-filled screaming match. “I’ll just kill you the hard way.”
He growled, wobbling in front of me, in the same condition. “Good luck, Red.”
I sniffed with a bored air then sprung at him, hitting him square in the gut with my shoulder, returning the favor from earlier. He landed hard on his back as I rolled, coming clean — okay, a little shakily — to my feet. I aimed my boot straight at his crotch, giving it all I had, but he adjusted at the last second. The contact wasn’t exactly what I was aiming for, but I still heard his leg snap.
He only grunted.
I snorted at his show of ‘manliness’, and then lunged on top of him, going straight for his throat with my mouth. It didn’t happen quite like I wanted. We ended up rolling around on the sand, fists flying, but nothing connecting as we dodged the blows, his bum leg not giving him any problems. He got lucky after a few minutes when I felt my left wrist break. He had managed to grab it and crush it within his grip. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I slammed my fist into his forearm before he could rip my hand clean off.
A satisfying snap sounded, and I dove at his neck when he jerked. And, f**king finally, my teeth latched onto his throat. What I didn’t expect was for shock to freeze my body as his blood filled my mouth. He shouted, grabbing at my head with a last attempt to get away from the killing blow I had him in. My wolf growled long and hard, but I used my Shifter power differently this time, pushing soothing pulses toward him.
He grunted, his body relaxing for the barest moment. Just enough to quickly flip him under me, pressing his chest to the sand, and hold his thumbs behind his back with my good hand. Quickly, before he retaliated when figuring out I didn’t have the killing blow on him anymore, I breathed quietly at his ear, “Think carefully because I can only ask this once. Do you want to stop this?”