On par with my visual, the beta straightens to his full height. “Hunter Varyn, I challenge your claim on Sabrina Slaughter.”
Scrunching up my face, I tilt my head back to face Bo again. “Did this guy just challenge Hunter to a duel?”
He scrubs a hand over his jaw while the other wraps possessively around my waist. “He did. Have to give them credit for being upfront about it, though. Guys back in Shadow Ridge tried to orchestrate our deaths from the shadows or kidnap you; I guess this is what they were bitching about in regards to people being more direct out here.”
I eye the newcomers in a different light, sizing them up and trying to look unimpressed despite the fact that the beta could probably stand a decent shot of squishingBo. “You know, you see this sort of thing in movies, but it really doesn’t do the situation justice. It one hundred percent is going straight to my head.” I pop another tiny cookie in my mouth like it’s a piece of popcorn. “It’s kind of flattering if you think about it.”
He whispers in my ear, “Youdorealize a formal challenge means a fight to the death, right? And if Kaige, Hunter, or Damian lose, the victor takes their place as your mate?”
I shake the last of the crumbs out of the bag into my mouth, feeling worlds better, physically at least, as the sugar kicks in to combat my blood loss. “Oh, like they’d lose. Besides, even if one did, I don’thaveto do jack shit and I’d melt the new guy’s esophagus, so that part’s null and void. I’m simply saying it’s flattering that these strangers are willing to fight to the death for me without even knowing if I’m a raging bitch or mind-numbingly dull to be around.”
His soft laughter as he presses a kiss to the crown of my head assuages some of my unease. “If that’s all it takes to put you in a good mood, I’m sure we could find a few more takers and make a whole afternoon of it.”
Shaking my head with a small smile, I face the newcomers. “Sorry, guys, but you can head home. I give you props for the valiant effort, though, and Adrian, you can tell Ash I said thanks, but no thanks. I’m good.”
“Sabrina,” Damian says softly, and as I face him, my smile gradually falls as I take in his serious expression. “That’s not how this works. If we refuse, it’s equivalent to forfeiting and they win by default.”
“I’m sorry, did I miss the part when we teleported back into the seventeen hundreds? You’ve got to be kidding me. This sort of thing is only an issue if everyone decides to humor it. Just... don’t, and it’s not a problem.”
Before the final word is out of my mouth, the first face appears in the tree line, setting off a chain reaction of dozens of men appearing around the circumference of the clearing to close in around us as witnesses. Sighing, I get to my feet and step around Bo.
“Let me pee and grab another snack before you tear each other apart in case I need to be prepared to melt someone’s eyeballs.”
***
Leo takes a seat besideme on the steps as I munch on a bag of chips, giving Hunter bonus points for managing to keep his stash a secret until now.
“This is ridiculous.”
“You literally said it was flattering twenty minutes ago.”
That was in theory, not application. Who the hell actually challenges people toduelsin this day and age?
“You’re still thinking of them as human,”she replies with all of the patience that I’m currently lacking.“We’re neither human nor demon anymore, Sabrina, but a breed of our own. And the wolves are more archaic in their beliefs than other modern-day shifters, it appears. Regardless, honor and pride are important to the vast majority of us.”Sheepishly, she adds,“That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.”
As I tilt the bag his way, Leo helps himself to a few chips. Word spread about what was happening swiftly enough and he rushed over to watch over the proceedings that would determine the fate of his daughter, unnecessary as it may be. The others are busy figuring out how to integrate my blood into the serum, and they all agreed after I brought them to their knees on my first day that it was overkill sending all of them, so Leo’s here more for show than anything.
“I don’t know about ridiculous,” he objects, crunching obnoxiously loud next to my ear. “It’s a good opportunity for those boys to prove their worth. If they’re going to get themselves killed by this lot, better to find out now than when you’re actually relying on them to hold their own and keep you alive at the same time.”
Giving him a sidelong look, I raise an eyebrow. “You’re only saying that because you don’t like them.”
He smirks, stealing another chip. “Nothing personal. I don’t likeanyof the bastards in this place. The fact that they’re all competing over who gets to get in my daughter’s pants only makes it worse.”
Chuckling, I turn to Adrian where he’s leaning back against the railing, standing beside us on the steps. “I should have known you were working for Wilder instead of the Slaughters. But I have to ask; does that mean you’re only a part of Pack Ronen out in Shadow Ridge for the sake of keeping an eye on Ash’s test subjects?”
He faces me fully now, guarded expression firmly in place. “You have quite the wild imagination.”
Rolling my eyes, I tilt the bag his way in offering. “Everyone does whatever they have to in order to survive, Adrian, especially people like us. And honestly, I should thank you. If you never outed me to the Slaughters, I'd never have met them or three of my mates.” At that, I grimace. “Okay, maybe I would have eventually if Ash is to be believed, but whatever, you know what I mean. We've all been used for one reason or another by that asshole. We're doing the best we can with the shitty hands we've been dealt in life. So, what I’m trying to say is, you and me? As far as I’m concerned, we’re good.”
Suspicion clear as day on his face, he reaches a tentative hand my way and takes the olive branch. "For now."
Waiting until he takes a bite, I smirk. “Agreed. The next time I catch you playing peeping Tom, I won’t let things slide so easily.”
His face pales slightly, highlighting the scar cutting across his face as Leo stiffens, demanding, “Excuse me,whatdid you say?”
“Ssh, the fight’s starting.”
Taking another bite, I run my gaze over the parallel line of men widely spaced apart in the clearing before us. Damian, Kaige, and Hunter are each paired off with a single opponent while the rest of my guys are loosely spread out around the crowd that gathered to watch and place their bets, more animated than I’ve seen people in my entire time here. At this stage, we have no clue how they’ll react depending on the outcome, but none of us would put it past them to interfere simply to spite the guys. While the treaty is apparently temporarily suspended so that members of Kaige, Damian, and Hunter’s packs can witness the fate of their alphas, primarily, these are the Slaughters’ men. It’s easy enough to tell them apart; there’s a cruel glint in their eyes that’s absent in others’, like the life hasn’t completely been sucked out of them yet.
