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"Let's do it, then,” said the pack alpha. Before he shifted, I caught sight of something in his eyes I had never seen in them before.
Excitement. What the hell was wrong with him? Unfortunately, something told me I already knew the answer to that. He was a bored ruler, a king to subjects he deemed far beneath him. A challenge was not something that came his way often, and now that it had, he was like a kid in a candy shop.
His claim about Castor being a hybrid stuck in my mind, though. It would certainly explain his anomalous appearance, even though I had no idea what a hybrid was supposed to look like. Still, the idea that my Castor could be the kind of beast both wolves and vampires saw as an abomination…
Arrow hesitated, looking over at Castor with his left hand on his gun, and one of his blades in the other.
Castor shook his head as if some unspoken question had passed between them. Judging from how long they had known each other, it probably had.
He took a step forward.
They were really going to do this. As bizarre as my life had become, I still never would have put two alpha shifters fighting over me on the bingo card. This had to be some alternate reality.
I watched in horror as Leonidas took his dark-furred wolf form, and although it wasn't quite as spectral as Castor's, it was nearly as large. He opened his mouth, his jaws stretched wide and his fangs dripping venom as he roared. Castor returned the roar, which was somehow even more hellish.
Leonidas was the first to lunge, and I did the same instinctively, but the thick chain dangling from my collar stopped me and yanked me back onto the floor by the throne. All I could do was watch helplessly as the alphas met midair, teeth bared and claws slashing.
My heart lurched in my chest as Castor took a hard hit to the ribs and went flying, slamming into the stone wall. Leonidas was right behind him, using his weight to drive Castor into the ground. This had to be the first time Castor had even shifted, and here he was, fighting the lead alpha of the Graystone pack.
I strained uselessly at the chain as they continued to fight, even knowing any intervention on my part would be unwelcome. The fact that the other wolves and even Arrow were standing back was proof of how seriously the concept of honor was taken, even in battle. Especially then. Of all the things hunters and wolves had to have in common, it had to be this.
While Castor had managed to dodge all but the first of Leonidas's blows, he was still on the defensive. Where the other alpha struck out, he always managed to dodge just barely in time. Each time Leonidas struck out with his claws or snapped down with his fangs where Castor's limbs had been a split second earlier, I was sure the blow was going to land.
Then, it hit me. This was familiar. Back in the early days, when I had first started being able to hold my own in the gym with Castor—or so I thought—he had seemed to be just a step ahead of me as well. Always just in time to dodge a well-timed strike.
I glanced over to find Arrow watching the fight, having sheathed his weapons, his arms folded and his expression blank. He wasn't hard to read. If he thought Castor was on the verge of death, I was pretty sure he would’ve shown some sign of apprehension on his face, but at the moment, he seemed more concerned with making sure none of the wolves around us got any ideas of violating the rules of the fight.
Castor was in control. He had to be. He was just learning Leonidas's moves, baiting him to strike so he could figure out his strengths and isolate his weaknesses, just as he had with me.
That knowledge brought me some relief, but I still watched with bated breath as the fight continued. I was terrified of losing Castor, more than I had ever been afraid of anything, but a strange part of me was enjoying the sight of him in his element. He really was something to behold, especially now that he was starting to show more of his potential.
Even his defensive maneuvers were fluid and graceful, and the fact that he was a thousand-pound hellhound did nothing to change that. I had always been like a tornado, wrecking everything in my path, and Castor, too, was a force of nature. The difference was that he was lightning, focused and lethal rather than wild and chaotic.
It felt like the fight had been going on for hours, even though it couldn't have been more than minutes. They seemed evenly matched, but Castor was slowly gaining the upper hand. This time, when Leonidas lunged, he was ready for it, and he caught the other alpha by the throat midair. For a moment, they hung there, locked in place, before Castor slammed him into the ground hard enough to make the floor shake.
I couldn't help but wince as Leonidas's head hit the stone hard enough to crack the tile, but even though that blow would have been devastating to a normal human—or even a hunter—the alpha was already getting back to his feet.
There was a feral gleam in his eyes now, and I could see the bloodlust starting to take over. He wanted this fight as much as Castor did, and he wasn't going to give up. Not until one of them was dead.
Castor wasn't one to make clumsy mistakes, but neither was Leonidas. Castor was larger in general, but Leonidas still had him beat in terms of muscle. Where Castor was tall, lean, and wiry, Leonidas was a brick wall, even more imposing in this form than he was as a human.
It was impossible to tell who would win at this point, and I suddenly realized that I was holding my breath. I forced myself to exhale slowly and evenly, trying to stay calm. This was far from over, and I needed to be ready for anything.
I knew something had shifted when Castor made the first move, and judging from the look in Leonidas's eyes, so did he. Was he beginning to realize Castor had been holding back?
No... he already knew. I could see it in his eyes, and hear it in the increasingly agitated intonations of his snarls. I wondered if Castor was baiting him into anger as he had done with me so many times in training.
Either way, Leonidas's claws slashed his chest before he could land his intended blow, and I whined anxiously as Castor had to redirect himself midair, skidding to a halt on the tile a few feet away from the other beast. He turned on Leonidas with a snarl, just in time to meet the other alpha as he took Castor down onto the tile.
They went for each other's throats again with a single-minded focus that would have been admirable if it hadn't been so deadly. I could see the blood flowing from Castor's chest where Leonidas's claws had raked him open, and his breathing was starting to come in ragged gasps.
He wasn't backing down, though. If anything, he was fighting harder, driven by the need to end this. I could see it in his eyes. Leonidas might not have been the one who had orchestrated the hunt on his family, but he was of the same bloodline, and that was enough for Castor. This confrontation had been a long time coming, and I was terrified that after all I had done to avoid it, it was going to end the way I feared.
With losing him. With losing everything.
Castor’s rear foot hit a puddle of blood the next time Leonidas attacked, slipping just enough to throw him off balance. He regained it less than a second later, but it was enough of an opportunity for Leonidas to seize upon. His jaws clamped down on Castor’s shoulder, and Castor let out a snarl of pain and rage before he managed to throw him off.
Blood sprayed the floor, and the scent of it made my head spin. Castor’s blood. Horror roiled in my gut as Leonidas took advantage of his disorientation and struck out, only for Castor to tackle him head-on. Claws met flesh, and fangs gnashed against bone as the wolves viciously attacked each other. The next time they separated, I saw my chance.
