“Leave my mate alone,” I snarl at Tessa.
“She slapped me first.”
“I’d say you fucking deserve it.”
“You might be about to fight my mate,” Red says to Tessa. “But you will never run this pack. I don’t know what Lex promised you or what you promised him, but the two of you will never have the respect or the decency required to keep these wolves in line. When Nash and I have our mating ceremony, you can bet your ass I’ll bet he best Alpha’s bride this pack has ever seen because these wolves? These wolves are my family.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, little girl.”
“Red,” I murmur, and she nods, getting the message loud and clear. Then she slips back into the crowd. I can still sense her presence, but she’s not in the front row, so I don’t have to worry about her getting hurt.
This fight is about to happen, so I need to know my darling is safe.
“I got her,” Ryder calls out, and I take a deep breath and turn back to Tessa. I open my mouth to speak, and Lex slams into me from behind.
Ten
Red
I can’t look.
“You need to look,” Ryder’s words force me to open my eyes.
“I can’t.”
I can’t see him fight. I can’t see him get hurt. I can’t see him die. Not today.
“Red, you have to.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
He places his hand on my shoulder and I take a deep breath, then I lift my eyes from the dirt ground in front of me and raise them to Nash.
This man is going to be the death of me. This is the second time I’ve seen him fight, but somehow, this is so much worse than seeing him kill my brother. That time, he was fighting a murderer. This time, he’s fighting people he thought he knew.
We’re all going to have sca
rs when this is over and not all of them are going to be physical. Something tells me Nash’s scars are going to take a long time to heal. Something tells me all of ours are going to.
Tessa and Nash are facing off when Lex leaps from the crowd, shifting as he barrels toward Nash. His clothes rip and tear as he changes from his human form to his wolf body. Lex has never been a huge guy, but as a wolf, he’s bigger than most. His dark grey fur looks mangy and matted as he nails Nash from behind.
Nash falls forward on impact and immediately shifts. He’s a wolf before he hits the ground. Then Tessa changes, too.
“Look,” Ryder grips my chin and forces me to watch, but I’m already watching. “He’s doing this for you, Red. He loves you.”
“I love him, too.” I whisper the words and they hang in the air. I know Ryder has questions for me. He’s always considered it his job to look after Nash, so there are absolutely things he wants to ask me.
Like why I ran away or why I came back.
Like why I stood up for Nash to Tessa if I’m just going to be scared to watch them fight.
Those questions are going to have to wait, though. Right now Nash needs our full support and attention if he’s going to survive this. Jeffrey may have been the first wolf I saw Nash fight, but I know enough about the pack to know he’ll have to do this again. It might be once a year or once every five years, but any good Alpha will occasionally have to fight.
Nash is lean and strong as he duels two wolves at once. Snarling, biting, snapping, he moves with grace and agility as he battles Tessa and Lex at the same time.
Lex circles around Nash and leaps at him, but Nash dodges and Lex hits Tessa, instead. She lets out a squeal and rolls, but hops back up quickly. Still, it’s not fast enough to hide the red stain on her fur. He got at least one good slice with his claws. In fact, it was such a good hit that I can’t help but wonder if Lex and Tessa are as much on the same team as they’re pretending to be.