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Marco picked up his speed again despite his wounds. He raced around Julius, biting and clawing at the tiger’s legs at every opening, leading the tiger in a whirling chase around the arena. Julius pounded after him. With each turn, his orange and black fur darkened with more streaks ofblood.
“All right! Let’s end this!” someone hollered from the crowd. I didn’t know which of the shifters he wassupporting.
For a moment it seemed like Marco was gaining the upper hand. Then his pace started to lag. He nipped the tiger’s hind leg and barely scrambled out of the way of Julius’s smack. But the tiger kept coming, his lips curled back over his huge fangs. The jaguar stumbled, and Julius pounced. Marco tumbled underhim.
A cry broke from my throat then. My hands flinched where I was gripping the rope. Aaron’s arm came around me, holding me steady as Nate held onto metoo.
Marco lay, his black-furred body limp, under the tiger’s huge form. Julius raised his head with a victory roar—and the jaguar leapt up. Marco caught the tiger by the neck, sinking his teeth in deep around the most tender point of his opponent’s throat. At the same time, he kicked out at one of Julius’slegs.
All his scratches and bites and the strain of running around the arena must have weakened the tiger’s muscles. The bigger cat toppled over, Marco rolling with him. The jaguar came to rest poised on Julius’s vulnerable chest. He raked his claws over the paler fur there and yanked at the tiger’sthroat.
Julius’s eyes rolled back. He heaved at the ground, but Marco held on tight, managing to keep himpinned.
My breath had stopped in my lungs. I let it out in a rush. A cheer rose up around the ring. “Marco! The alphawins!”
Marco sank his teeth even deeper with a low growl of warning that was almost a question. The tiger’s head swayed as if he couldn’t quite find the will to keep it off the ground. Then Julius slumped down, his body sagging. The shift rippled through him. Marco sprang off as the tiger turned back into aman.
The cheers grew louder, the crowd whooping and clapping hands. A few of the waiting attendants darted into the arena to tend to the unconscious Julius’s wounds. And to their alpha. Marco listed a bit to one side, blood smearing the grass under his paws—and plenty of it was his own. He pushed off the ground and shifted back into his human form, raising his hand invictory.
The tension in me broke, relief rolling through me. I raised my voice with a cheer of myown.
Chapter 18
Nate
“How long haveyou been in league with the rogues?” I said, barely managing to keep the growl out of myvoice.
Julius slumped silent in his chair in the small room, his neck still marked with red where Marco had bitten him yesterday night. The wounds had healed but left behind scars that wouldn’t fade for months, if not years. The tiger shifter had resisted forfeiting the challenge until he’d been on the verge ofdying.
Marco, standing next to me, had scars of his own. Even after a night’s rest, his movements were still a little stiff. I’d volunteered to help him lead this interrogation after I’d seen him at breakfast. And I might have had ulterior motives aswell.
Someone had sent the rogues to corrupt my kin. I wasn’t leaving here without finding out how—and who else they might haveturned.
“How long?” I repeated. The other alphas and Ren stirred where they were watching behind us. Julius swiped his hand across his mouth, the chain that linked his restraining cuffs clinking. He thought a lot of himself, all big and posturing, but he had nothing on me. I loomed over him, letting him think about what it’d be like to take on an animal more his ownsize.
“Since we got the news that the dragon shifter had been found,” the traitor said in a reluctant voice. “Notlong.”
“So you admit that you’ve conspired with them?” Marcosaid.
The tiger shifter inclined his headslightly.
“You gavethemorders? Was it your idea to send them to attack the disparateestate?”
“I thought it would be better if you were all dead,” Julius said. “I might have given some advice about how they could manage that. I’ve been here on the estate the whole time,though.”
“You sent them aftermypeople,” I snapped. “What did you tell them to say to my kin to persuade them to help? The rogues wouldn’t have come up with any argument strong enough on their own—I know theycouldn’t.”
“Oh, it wasn’t that hard,” Julius said with a twitch of his hand on his lap. He didn’t look up at me. “Sweet talk them a little, give them the idea they’d be better off without some boss alpha running theshow.”
No. It had to be more than that. The answer set my teeth on edge. But maybe it was only because I didn’t want to admit that my kin might be so easily swayed? Suddenly I was unsure of myjudgment.
“You expect me to believe that’s it?” I said, letting my voice rumble louder. “Exactly what were the rogues supposed to offer my kin that would be better than what they alreadyhave?”
Julius shrugged, his head still bowed. “What makes you think they have it so good rightnow?”
That wasn’t an answer at all. I bristled and caught myself, taking a step back before I swung athim.
It wasn’t an answer, and it also was. My kinhadbeen swayed. Maybe the how didn’t matter so much. They had their weaknesses, as much as I hated to admit it. But I had to admit it if I was going to address those weaknesses and help them get through whatever trouble lay ahead ofus.
