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And Walker’s flippant hush, plus the way he said the show’s about to start…
As far as I can tell, the Wicked Wolf of the West has the honor of fighting the most Alpha challenges. Growing up, I’d heard rumors—rumors that my mother would have a fit over if she knew they reached my ears—that he would pick a fight with whatever wolf pissed him off that day, acting as if the lower-ranked shifter challenged him over some perceived slight. It was his way of being a pack-sanctioned murderer. A freaking serial killer who then turned around and made his packmates applaud his kills.
If I’ll say one thing for Walker, he’s not a coward. Most of the time, he was the one walking into the pit—and when he did, he was always the wolf who walked back out of it. But, when he was feeling particularly bloodthirsty, he would force two of his wolves to fight to the death in front of him.
The show’s about to start…
A vampire versus a shifter would be one hell of a show to a sadistic bastard like Walker.
I want to get up and go to Aleks. I don’t know what it’ll cost me—probably more than I can pay—but I can’t let this happen. With the way things are between us right now, this is probably just another move on the chessboard for the Wicked Wolf. Somehow, he found a way to involve Aleks in his sick game. Whether he knows what this vampire means to me or not doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t want to sit here and watch anyone have to fight a nearly feral wolf.
Especially not my best friend.
He’s still looking at me. Then, almost as if he knows what I’m thinking, he gives his head the tiniest shake.
No. He’s telling me no.
As if that’s going to stop me.
I shift in my seat. I’m just about to get up when, suddenly, his gaze slides from me to the female sitting just behind me.
His pale eyes bleed to a shocking red in an instant. With the whole crowd watching, Aleks’s fangs shoot out, longer than I’ve ever seen.
Behind me, I hear a gasp. I spin around, following Aleks’s unblinking stare to Elizabeth.
She looks like she’s seen a ghost.
Honestly, I feel the same way.
What is going on here? Why is he down there?
What is he even doing in California?
It has to be because of me. That’s not even a self-obsessed thing—it’s fact. This is Aleks. If he’s here in the Wolf District, it’s because I am. That’s not what has me so confused, though. Say Aleks found out I was here; possible, especially after I sent Jace back to Accalia. There’s a huge difference between him knowing I was in the Wolf District and him ending up in the pit, about to fight a challenge against a wolf shifter.
Before I can understand how this happened, Walker clears his throat. My head swivels back to him just in time to see him lift his arm, holding out his palm.
The crowd falls silent.
His smirk is enough to have me curling my fingers beneath me to hide my furious claws.
“For tonight’s challenge,” he announces, deep voice echoing, “we have a parasite. Our ancient enemy. Let’s see what it takes to kill him.” He drops his arm. “To the death!”
* * *
Ryker toldme once that Aleks had thrown their fight.
At the time, I didn’t want to believe iem. Mainly because, back then, I wanted to think the worst of Ryker. Watching him brutalize Aleks definitely helped me with that—which, I later discovered, was exactly why the vampire did exactly what Ryker accused him of. He wanted me to hate Ryker, and playing the victim worked.
Some part of me still wasn’t so sure that Aleks would’ve been able to handle Ryker even if he wasn’t holding back. I’ve seen Ryker take on another Fang City vampire; after the vamp threatened to stick me with a silver dagger, Ryker ripped his freaking head off. Then there’s the vampire I killed myself after he just missed tearing out Jace’s throat. They weren’t that big of a challenge to either of us.
And, if I’m being completely honest, I’m a shifter. A wolf. I’m always going to think my kind of supe has the edge.
Within seconds of the fight beginning, I quickly change my mind. Who knows? Maybe we only found it easier to dispatch those vamps because they were low-level bloodsuckers and me and Ryker are alphas.
Aleks is Cadre. He is one of the most powerful vampires in Muncie. And, as I watch him take on the snarling wolf, there isn’t a single doubt left in my mind that Aleks let Ryker carve him up the way he did.
This isn’t a challenge. It’s not a fight, either.
