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"No!" I cried, shifting back into my human form. The collar was just loose enough for me to get my hands beneath it, and with strength I could only explain as adrenaline, I tore the collar open.
I threw myself between them. Leonidas froze, a look of rage on his face.
It was matched on Castor's.
Get out of the way,Castor snarled.Are you crazy?
It was a valid question, and the answer was, unequivocally, yes. When it came to him, there was nothing sane or rational about what I was willing to do. I would happily die if it meant keeping him in this world for another second. If it meant protecting him from his self-destructive impulse to protect me at any cost. I found myself newly terrified of the fact that he loved me enough to sacrifice himself when losing him was the one fate I couldn't bear.
Out of the way, omega,Leonidas snarled, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me to my feet. He wasn’t being particularly rough, but the rage in Castor's eyes made it clear he was about to attack anyway.
Suddenly, Leonidas’s expression shifted and he took a step back from me, staring down at my neck.
What the hell is that?the pack alpha demanded.
I touched the spot where he was focused. Castor's mark. I wasn't sure how to respond at first, but his eyes narrowed.
He marked you?
I hesitated. "Yes?" It hit me that it was the first time he had seen me unclothed in this form. Guess it figured he wouldn't have noticed before.
A snarl of frustration tore from the other alpha's throat, but something kept me from being as afraid as I probably should have been of that reaction. If his interest in me was hinging on the fact that he thought I was an unmarked omega, him finding out about the mark couldn’t mean anything good, but for some reason—probably just naiveté—I didn't want to believe that he would hurt an omega, mated or not.
Yeah, that was definitely probably just wishful thinking. The kind I was better off not indulging.
Castor had already put himself between us, a murderous look in his eyes as he pushed me behind him. And he would kill, of that I had no doubt. He would die, too, without a second's hesitation, and that was what scared me more than anything.
Son of a bitch,Leonidas growled.You didn't mention that before.
"Sorry?" I asked warily.
He gave me an exasperated look I had seen on Castor's face on more than one occasion. They had more in common than either of them probably wanted to admit, it seemed. I should've known.
"So… this changes things?" I asked hopefully.
Leonidas narrowed his eyes.I have no interest in an omega another alpha has already claimed.
I blinked. "I don't know whether to be relieved or insulted."
Leonidas blew a puff of air through his nostrils.
Castor rose to his full height, still keeping himself between us even though it seemed like my initial assessment that Leonidas wasn't willing to hurt an omega was turning out to be correct. That annoyed me in its own way, but I wasn't about to complain.
You can give it a rest,Leonidas told Castor.I'm not willing to fight over your sloppy seconds. Unless, of course, you simply have a death wish.
I scowled. Okay, now I was definitely insulted.
Castor watched him through narrowed eyes, and I could tell he wasn't sure he believed the other man.
A smirk twitched on Leonidas’s muzzle.As I said, hunter, I keep my word. And I rescind my challenge.
As if to prove it, he shifted back into his human form, although he wasn’t much less imposing than he was as a wolf.
Castor lingered another moment before he shifted back. The wound in his side was deeper than it had looked in his beast form. "Seriously?" he growled. "After all that, you're just going to let him go?"
The other wolf shrugged. "I'm not my father, or my brother. I have no problem finishing their business, but I see no point in risking death for no reason. Besides, you did me a favor. You took out half my opposition, and since the alpha of the pack can’t very well dispatch his own men…"
So I had been right about that. I was getting decent at sorting out werewolf politics. I just wasn’t sure it was a skill I wanted to have.
