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Miranda immediately realized her words hadn’t been comforting. “Just try to support them the best you can,” Miranda continued. “If Deacon Claw weren’t so stuck in misguided tradition, maybe you could appeal to them with logic and diplomacy. But they only honor the old ways.”
For a moment, she thought surely Miranda was mistaken. There must have been some way she could help, some manner in which she could jump in and offer moral support to Graham.
But looking around, Delilah realized how little she could do. If she stepped in at all, she would only be justifying the engagement of the entire Deacon Claw pack. The bloodshed would be horrific.
Graham cast a knowing glance at her as he and Travers continued to pace around the fountain, and Graham just barely dodged Travers’s forward lunge. She could sense that he knew what she was thinking, and his gaze comforted and reassured her.
As Travers tried to leap backward, Graham ripped into him, snapping at his neck. Travers pried himself free, moving back and continuing their dance.
The plaza had gone quiet. It was like watching a sporting event, only real lives were on the line. Jude tried to fixate on the two in conflict, but over and over he tore his eyes away and back to her.
That’s when she noticed Clark staring at her in wolf form with Edward coldly standing beside him. His eyes were unwavering. Would Clark attack her if given the opportunity? Did the laws he clung to really mean that little to him?
Delilah caught Jude’s eye and dragged her front paw backward, digging into the ground in an attempt to signal vigilance. He nodded back and they returned their gazes to the fight.
“They’re both being very careful,” Miranda said. “This could go on for a while.”
“Do you think he’s trying to wear him down?” Delilah asked.
“Who? Travers or Graham?”
“Either.”
“Hard to say at this point.”
Travers leapt recklessly forward again, attempting to sink his fangs into Graham’s haunches, but Graham parried this time, biting into his front paw.
“I think if Travers keeps attacking like that, Graham has already won this,” Miranda said.
Delilah wondered if Miranda was just being optimistic, or if she was really watching this from the same lens Delilah was. To Delilah, it looked like Travers was attempting to unnerve Graham, to put him off balance and force him into making costly mistakes.
She wondered if Graham and Jude had to fight for Miranda when she was in this situation, if this was the second time she’d experienced this. Once upon a time, after all, Miranda had been the focus of a pack exchange, promised to another pack with her own independence stripped away.
Granted, she hadn’t been their mate, but there was still so much Delilah didn’t know about Miranda. And she had no idea how Miranda could keep so calm when Delilah felt like she was falling apart.
She watched as Graham, in a moment of overconfidence, took the initiative to attack this time. At this, Travers took the opportunity to throw Graham off balance, casting him to the ground.
“Oh my god,” Miranda said under her breath as Travers took a huge chunk out of Graham’s stomach.
Shifters healed quickly in wolf form, so it was hard to estimate the real damage, but the wound was brutal. Graham managed to throw Travers off of him, putting strength into his back paws, but Delilah swore she could see a bit of a limp.
They returned to their positions, closely monitoring each other as they circled. She could see their eyes darting over each other, looking for weaknesses. They were doing more than just attacking each other blindly. Every move was a calculated risk, a game not just of brute strength, but of strategy.
She wondered what Travers’s weakness was. He seemed desperate to return home, and his actions seemed to speak to his desire to end this. She thought of what might happen if Graham lost, and briefly imagined herself having to care for the Silver Paw pack before vomiting in her mouth a little.
That isn’t going to happen, she reassured herself.
Graham had become noticeably more careful. She could see his movements faltering on his right side a bit, but he had started leading with his left paw to protect himself.
With every forward lunge, Travers found himself systematically broken down. When he charged forward, Graham evaded and bit back. At a certain point, Delilah realized they were almost evenly matched again.
“Say… beta.”
Delilah heard a familiar voice from her right side in the distance. It crept along her spine like ice as she looked to see Jonah now approaching Jude.
“You’ve sided with the violating pack in this matter,” Jonah said. “Technically, I believe I’m supposed to bring you to heel.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jude snarled. “I’ve got a pack to watch. My duties as beta trump any ego trip you might be having.”
