Danny’s shoulders shook, but he nodded.
Griff looked over his blond head at the judge. “Your Honor, I don’t want him to see this. Permission to let his mother remove him until this is over?”
The judge motioned at the social worker, and at one of the security guards. “Please escort Daniel and Ms. Parker to a waiting area.”
“No!” Hayley exclaimed. “I mean, yes, Danny can’t see this. But I’m staying. I’m not leaving you to face this alone, Griff.”
“He will not be alone,” John rumbled. “I shall be here, my lady. Oath-brother, if you cannot be dissuaded from this, then I will be your second.”
“No, you won’t,” Griff said firmly. “You’re going with Hayley. I need you to make sure she and Danny are safe.”
“But-” John and Hayley started together.
Letting Danny go, Griff grabbed John’s arm. Under the pretext of using the sea dragon as support to stand up, he leaned in close to his ear. “I am calling in your debt. On your honor, you will make sure they are safe. Do you understand?”
John went absolutely still for an instant. Griff felt his muscles tense as he understood his meaning.
*They will be safe.* John’s telepathic voice was a dirge of grief and loss and utter, unbreakable determination. *I will spirit them away. I will hide them in the wilds where none shall ever find them, and I will lay down my life in their defense. I will repay my debt.*
Unable to respond telepathically, Griff could only embrace him briefly, fiercely. He knew that he could count on the sea dragon to get Hayley and Danny away while everyone else was distracted with his challenge to Reiner.
Hayley was still looking stubborn, unaware of what had passed between John and Griff. “I’m not leaving. John can take Danny, but I’m not leaving.”
Letting go of John, Griff turned to her. For the last time, he took her in his arms. For the last time, he breathed in her scent. For the last time, he felt her soft warmth against his body as she clung to him.
“Go with John. He’ll explain.” He touched her face lightly, hoping that the brief, simple caress could say everything that he didn’t have time to put into words. “I love you. Always.”
There was no more opportunity for goodbyes or explanations—the stewards had finished clearing away the chairs, and erected the barriers that turned the center of the large, round chamber from a courtroom into an arena. Alpha challenges were not exactly common, but they happened often enough for there to be an established procedure.
To his relief, Hayley reluctantly allowed John to pull her away. Griff waited until the doors had swung shut behind them all before turning to Reiner. “Let’s do this, then.”
Reiner was already shrugging out of his suit. Quietly, so that the watching witnesses couldn’t hear, he snarled, “In a hurry to die, freak?”
Quite the opposite, actually.
Every second he survived was another second Hayley could use to escape. Every second increased the distance between her and the officials who sought to deprive her of her child. Every second increased her chance to save Danny from growing up under Reiner’s harsh, misguided influence.
Griff would do whatever he could to buy her those seconds.
He was under no illusions that he would be able to defeat a fully-grown lion with his bare hands. Reiner was going to kill him. The best he could hope for was to make him do it slowly.
Reiner shifted, leaping lithely over the arena barriers in lion form. Taking a deep breath, Griff shrugged off his sheets, though he left his pants on. It wasn’t like he needed to shift, after all.
Rather less elegantly than Reiner, he struggled over the barrier. It was a relief to drop to all fours, having been upright for so long. Even with his right arm more wing than forepaw, his body worked a lot better this way.
He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain that shot through his chest. His erratic heartbeat steadied as he focused on his opponent.
We will not sell our life cheaply. We will make him tear us apart piece by piece. We will fight to the last drop of blood, to the last breath. We will not fail our mate.
“Begin,” said the judge.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Hayley
“I changed my mind, I can’t just leave him.” Hayley tried to stop, but John had her wrist engulfed in his huge hand. “John! Let me go. I have to go back.”
He shook his head at her, his face set in grim, hard lines. He continued to drag her after the social worker and the security guard. The two had Danny between them, as if they thought Hayley might try to snatch him and run off.