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Starr cursed, his chair crashing backward as he jumped up to avoid the red wine, food, and shards of glass. The buzz of energy snapped away, the shock of it making me gasp softly. My gaze met Rhoan's. He raised an eyebrow, and I nodded, just enough to let him know I was okay.
For now, at least.
The giant righted himself, and with a roar, charged back into the fight. Rhoan sidestepped neatly and gave the giant a passing punch for his troubles. That punch sent the giant flailing again. I frowned, hoping like hell my brother didn't use his vampire strength too much.
"For a scrawny piece of wolf, he sure has some power in him," Merle drawled. "There's not many who could throw Middy like that."
"No." Starr wiped spots of red from his shirt, then righted his chair and sat back down. Surprisingly, no one came running to clean up all the mess. Not until Starr clicked his fingers, anyway. As the loin-clothed waiters hurried to the table, Starr continued, "Hasn't he had military training, though?"
"Yeah, but I haven't seen many military men move like that wolf moves."
"And you spend a lot of time around wolves, do you?" I asked mildly.
Merle's grin was all anticipation as he briefly dragged his gaze away from the fight. "No, but I'm intending to."
My gaze slipped down his body. The fighting had aroused him - which undoubtedly meant another session of uninspired sex coming up. Oh, joy.
Though I'd take a weekend of uninspired, boring sex over spending five minutes more in Starr's company, any day.
"There are two types of males in the wolf world - those who are alphas - pack leaders or would-be pack leaders - and those who are betas - pack followers. Alphas lead not just because they are fast and strong, but because they are willing to go to extreme lengths to protect pack and kin. I'm betting that wolf there is an alpha."
"But he's not protecting pack here," Starr said.
I glanced at him. His expression might be giving little away, but his suspicion was just about drowning my "other" senses. I forced a smile. "You can protect a pack of one, you know."
"Does that mean you consider yourself an alpha female?"
I raised an eyebrow. "I've never really thought about it, but maybe I am."
"Then perhaps we should let you fight this wolf and see what happens."
I couldn't help the glance I cast Rhoan's way. Nor could I help another surge of worry and fear. Rhoan must have felt it, because he stumbled briefly - for no reason - and barely righted himself to avoid another blow. "He's military. I'm only street trained. I hardly think that's a fair match, do you?"
His grin was another one of those chill-inducing things. "One thing you have to learn, little girl, is that what I want, I get."
Most little dictators thought that - right until the moment death looked them in the eye and ripped out their stinking, rotten hearts. And more and more, I wanted to be there to see that. If not do it. I might not want to kill on a long-term basis, but on a short-term, one-off basis, yeah, I could handle it.
But why did he want to see us fight? What was the point of it, beyond seeing if we were willing to bash the crap out of each other... my thoughts stilled.
That was it exactly.
It was just another test. Just another way to check his suspicions.
Shit, shit, shit.
He clapped his hands, and the giant stopped instantly. Rhoan was a little slower on the uptake, dropping the suddenly still giant with a kick to the back of the knee, The sound of bone snapping seemed to echo around the room. The giant dropped like a stone and grabbed his leg, and though he made no sound, the look he cast Rhoan's way suggested my brother wouldn't want to go near him anytime soon.
And I very much suspected it wasn't so much that Rhoan hadn't heard the signal, but rather, had wanted to ensure the giant could play no further part in proceedings. For which I was extremely grateful. After my comments about the giant's lack of assets, I'm sure Starr would have allowed him into the fray. And that wouldn't have been pleasant in any way.
"Change of plans, gentlemen," Starr said. "The lady to my right has mentioned her interest in entering the fray."
"The lady in question said no such thing." Which Starr knew. I was just reiterating it for Rhoan's sake, lest he think me a complete moron.
"A moot point, considering it is what I desire. Merle, escort her to the arena, please."
Well, fuck. What the hell was I going to do now? Logically I might be able to hold my own against my brother, but I wasn't playing myself here. And Poppy was a street scrapper who wouldn't last three minutes with a fighter of Rhoan's ilk. I was going to go down, and I was going to get bloody. There was no other choice - for either of us.
And the bleakness in my brother's eyes as his gaze briefly met mine suggested he'd reached the exact same conclusion.
