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I sawJoshua stop to talk to Amelia and took a step forward, ready to rush to her defense.
“Do you still think you could take him?” Ben mused, stepping to my side. I glanced at Stone, who was across the dance floor, talking to a knot of shifters. Stone never danced.
“Give me a little longer,” I said, tilting my whiskey glass. “And give it some time for the potion to kick in.”
“Oh, I imagine it already did,” Ben said. “After all, it’s had a few hours to kick in.”
I turned to him, frowning.
“You ran straight to Stone with our plan, didn’t you? Then since he thought he knew the plan, he’s really let down his guard. Will drew the short straw to slip the potion into his coffee.Idrew the short straw to challenge him.”
“To challenge himfirst,”I corrected.
“He’ll go down. Every shifter yields to magic.”
The words were chilling to me, but I kept a bored look on my face. “Funny that it’s really Joshua pulling both your strings. He’s making sure you go first so Stone burns his energy ripping out your throat.”
“Your jealousy is the part I believed. You almost had us fooled,” Ben said. “Once I kill Stone, you can have the girl. Isn’t that what you really want?”
I’d wrestled with the question of what I would do for Amelia since she walked into my life. “Not at that cost.”
“Well. Thatisthe cost.” Ben offered me a smile. “So cheer me on!”
He clapped my shoulder. Will and Joshua had just reached us then, and Joshua clinked his glass with mine.
Across the dance floor, I saw Amelia see us, the way her face clouded when she saw me standing in a knot with these idiots.
Then Ben stepped into the center of the dance floor and said loudly, “I challenge Stone King for alpha.”
The music stopped.
A hush spread through the crowd.
Stone stepped up, already shedding his jacket. “Finally.”
He looked as emotionless and implacable as his namesake.
* * *
Amelia
Fear clutched my heart,no matter how nonplussed he appeared. I didn’t want anything to happen to Stone. I looked for Karissa, who had a look of horror written on her face. She had seen Brennan kill their father to take over the pack. She shouldn’t have to see Stone fight for his life.
I made my way quickly to her side. “What’s going on?”
“Stone thinks it’s been coming for a long time, I know, but I wish he would just… deal with it another way.” We both know what she was saying. She wished that he would just kill the people that were disloyal instead of risking his own life. “He always goes for the fight. Gives his opponent a chance. It gets him in trouble.”
I thought of what Shaw had said, about how Stone just played dirtier, he would have quickly killed Nathan.
It was maddening to watch Stone shoulder his way through the crowd, standing taller than anyone else, unfazed by the rebellion.
Because he was Stone. And he would always do what he thought his duty was. No matter what it did to any of us.
Not even if it meant our hearts got torn apart watching him get hurt.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Stone sounded weary as he shed his shirt too, dropping it at his feet before he stepped into the ring. His muscles shifted under his tattooed skin.
“I’m sure. There are better ways to run this pack.”
