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"Hey." Kai gasped. "P’Kao krap, you can't be serious!"
"I am," Kao retorted, not even bothering to look Kai's way.
"You?" Del questioned with a snort. "You're going to challenge Pierce for the title of Alpha?"
Kao nodded looking more serious than I'd ever seen him.
"From what Rosie said to me, your own twin tried that stunt and it almost got him killed. Now you're willing to die too?"
I reached out a hand and gripped his arm. "Del's right, Kao. Let me challenge Pierce. You won't stand a chance against him."
I had hoped Kao would back down, but to my surprise he shrugged off my hand before standing from his seat, so he was eye-level with Del. "I won't die. I'm not like Kai, I was trained to fight as a beta. And with Joaquin absent, I'm the best chance we have at taking Pierce down."
Del and Kao stared at one another with such intensity, it was suffocating. It was as if Del was mentally assessing whether Kao would be successful or not, and Kao was standing firm with his decision. Looking to my own brother, Javier eyed me and shrugged. After a few seconds, Del shook her head.
"Sorry, but you wouldn't stand a chance," Del said.
Kao's fists shook with anger. "How could you possibly know that?"
"Because I can see it in your eyes. You're soft, weak, inexperienced. I may not have met this alpha of yours directly, but judging by how calculating he's been so far, I can tell he's not someone to fuck around with. You wouldn't stand a chance. None of you would. Your best bet is to come back to the Blue Moon Pack and let us deal with Pierce ourselves."
Her words pushed me down like the weight of the world piled on top of me. As much as I wanted to say she was wrong, as much as I wanted to deny it, Del was right. Time wasn't on our side, and neither were the odds. We were outnumbered and outclassed. We weren’t ready to fight him, and with the limited time we had, we wouldn’t be ready by the time my wolf overpowered me and forced me back to Kingsrose to rescue Joaquin. Maybe it was best for us to go back to Javier's pack. I truly failed at carving my own path and it sucked.
Kao's growl shook me out of my pity party. He stepped closer to Del until their noses were almost touching. Javier's posture straightened, and Caleb and Raph looked ready to jump out of their seats to protect their mate from mine. Even Kai and I stood up getting ready to stand in their way if we had to. No, everybody had to calm down. Now wasn't the time to turn on each other.
"I am not weak," Kao said through gritted teeth. "And I will prove it to you."
Del seemed unfazed by Kao's wrath as she kept her composure while staring down with Kao. "I see, and how will you do that?"
"By challenging you to a fight."
KAO
The words left my mouth before I could process what I'd just done. I just challenged Del to a fight. Delphinium Young, the human wolf hunter. The word suicide didn't even begin to describe how majorly fucked I was. That said, I wasn't planning on backing down. Del thought of us as weak, and I felt a duty to prove her wrong. My honor was on the line now.
The white-haired guy—Caleb, I believe was his name—burst into a fit of laughter. "Dude, I'd retract that statement if I were you."
His laughing only served to feed the flames used to light up the anger within me. I was being mocked for wanting to prove myself, for wanting to stand up for Rosie, for Kai, for my pack. It wasn't the first time I was laughed at, but this time it bothered me. Because I had something to prove and something to lose.
"P'Kao." Kai gripped my arm and tugged me back, fear licking our twin telepathy. "Don't do this."
Looking into my brother's face, all I could see was how Alpha Pierce almost killed him. He challenged Pierce to an official fight, and I was too weak and helpless to stop him. Because of my own weakness, I almost lost him. I didn't interfere because I respected the rules of the challenge, despite knowing that Kai had no chance of winning against Alpha Pierce. In the end, Rosie did what I couldn't. She defied the rules of the challenge, not caring what anyone else thought. Kai's safety was her only priority.
I felt guilty for not doing it and that guilt festered as I watched over Kai while he was unconscious. Rosie snapped me out of it but that didn't mean the regret left me. Both Rosie and Kai demonstrated bravery in ways I could never. It was time I did the same.
I rested my free hand over Kai's hand that held my arm like a lifeline. "I have to do this."
Rosie groaned in frustration. "Kao, you do realize she's a professional hunter, right? One of thebesthunters. She almost killed my brother, an alpha, when they first met."
"True story," Javier piped up.
"I know who she is," I said, my eyes trained on the blue-haired warrior in question. "But I don't care. I still challenge her."
"Then you're either very brave or very stupid," Del commented. "Don't let the fact I'm human fool you, pup. I wouldn't have made it as far as I had in my career if I wasn't capable of killing you, and I'm not talking about using bullets either. Think carefully before issuing a fight with me."
"Are you done trying to intimidate me? Because now you're starting to bore me. I don't even work this hard to pimp myself out to girls before mating Rosie," I retorted, already fed up with the talking. I knew who I was dealing with, but I still wanted to face her. I've fought people who were supposed to be stronger than me before, and I came out on the other side. This would be no different.
It needs to be no different.
