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36
“No!” Adrian bellowed, from where he stood beside the fire. “It’s not possible. You’re supposed to be dead.”
The pack all turned around in surprise. My lips curled back from my teeth, and a feral growl ripped from my throat.
“The challenge continues,” Gregor announced as I padded forward.
“She’s supposed to be dead. I won,” Adrian protested again. His eyes flashed yellow as his wolf began to rush back to the surface, and I smelled him beginning the change.
My instincts screamed for me to attack. A werewolf was at its most vulnerable mid-change, and Adrian was right there, in striking distance.
But that was something Adrian would do. Something a coward would try. I wouldn’t be like him. The one lesson I’d held onto after my father’s death, was that even the worst of wolves deserved a fair fight. If we didn’t at least offer them that chance, then we were no better than the monsters we fought.
I did, however, charge the moment his change completed. My feet flew across the altar floor, and I lunged for his throat. It wasn’t my fault if he was too slow.
Adrian reared up, catching my weight and we kicked at each other, biting and snapping at each other. I felt teeth graze my neck, and claws raking over my flanks even as my teeth found purchase in his hide.
Adrian cried out and wrenched away from me, but I kept up the attack. Unrelenting. This was the man who killed my father, this was the coward that killed my grandmother. I wouldn’t let him be the one to drive our pack into slavery. I wouldn’t let him be the one to destroy everything my family stood for.
I bit down hard on Adrian’s neck, and I felt my teeth hit bone as we rolled, and just before I finished the strike, I felt his panic spark through the entire pack as his Alpha bond snapped. A small part of me hesitated, but then the wolf inside me took over. I yanked my jaw back and ripped his throat out with one swift motion.
Blood spirted over the ground, and I spat out the chunk of flesh between my teeth. A strange power rippled through me, and I felt it mix with the chaos already cycling through my body. Adrian was dead. I’d won. My father’s killer was gone. My grandmother’s killer was dead. I was Alpha.
“No!” Ronnie screamed. “No! Adrian!”
“Hold her,” Gregor bellowed, standing beside me. He looked out over the pack and then finally down at me, standing covered in Adrian’s blood. “The challenge is complete. Eve Corwin has reclaimed her father’s seat. Eve Corwin is our Alpha.”
“You evil little bitch,” Ronnie cried breaking down into chaotic sobs. “I’ll kill you.”
Gregor rolled his eyes and extended his hand in the direction of the cliffside. “Alpha. Claim your power.”
I gave him a curt nod and turned slowly walking myself back through the crowd to the space I’d fallen from. But instead of going to the edge, I walked up the ramp I’d climbed to howl for Annie the night of her wake. I sat down and turned my eyes to the moon that rested high overhead. Nearly full, it’s light seemed to zero in on me, and with a great sigh of relief, I let loose a howl that resonated from deep inside my soul, and out through every bond now tied to my heart.
I felt it reaching out to the pack mates I barely knew, to the ones I’d gone to school with, to the pups. I felt it reach as far as Maria in the distance, and then finally it hit the one person I wanted to see most when I turned around. The one person who’d understand how incredibly exhausted I was. The one person who truly understood me. Jamie.
As the howl ended, I turned back, and my wolf released it’s hold on my body, letting me step from my fur in one smooth motion. I met Jamie at the bottom of the ramp.
His arms caught me as I staggered into him. His warmth radiated deep into my bones, and I relaxed against his chest smiling.
“Hi,” I whispered, unable to summon any more strength into my voice.
“Hi.” He chuckled, kissing my forehead.
I lifted my face to his and brushed my fingers weakly over his jawline. “I told you it was gonna be okay.”
He shook his head and leaned his forehead against mine, smiling. “I love you, you crazy, beautiful, brave girl. You know that? I love you.”
My body shivered, but I couldn’t be sure if it was from the wind or his words. “Are you sure you can love an Alpha?”
“I have no doubt I will love you for the rest of my life, no matter what happens, no matter what station you hold. I love you, Eve Corwin. Always and forever.”
I smiled and started to say more, but he held up his hand and backed away just enough that I could see the pack, standing around, watching me with bated breath. Somewhere in the chaos the witches had disappeared, but that would be a problem for another day. For now, the pack had a choice to make. Accept the outcome of fate or raise another challenge.
“Let me be the first,” Jamie said, flashing my favorite of his crooked smiles.
I gave him a curious look, and then my cheeks burned as he knelt on one knee in front of me. I watched him carefully, and without hesitating he turned his head to the side baring his throat to me. Submitting to my rule as his Alpha.
I swallowed and looked up at the pack again. There was a moment of hesitation, and then one by one they dropped mimicking his posture, accepting me as their leader.
