BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (133 page)

“If she’s not going to be part of the pack anymore, we’re going to have to replace her,” I said. There was a ripple in the power around us even though no one said anything. I knew what they were thinking. I could feel it in the air. This was when the meeting was open for challenges. Any wolf could challenge any other wolf for the position, and they could fight it out. John was the natural choice because he had been second before, and he was third now. Higher up than the rest of them.

“The challenge is open,” I said, even though I didn’t need to. I knew they all understand.

They looked at each other. The tension grew, I could feel it crawling over my skin. I felt the tightness in my chest.

“Reid?” Allegra called from the passage, and then she appeared in the doorway. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the other wolves.

“Oh, I didn’t know we had company. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said, holding my arm out to her. She hesitated. If she turned me down now she rejected me in front of the entire pack. Did she know that? She looked for a moment like she was thinking, and then she came to me. I was silently relieved.

“She shouldn’t be part of pack meetings,” Sarelle said and her voice was cold and hard.

“She’s still my second until she tells me in so many words that she doesn’t want it,” I said. I looked up at Allegra. She had horror all over her face. She’d told me she didn’t think she could do it, but she never said she gave up her position. I’d said it more for the pack’s sake, but maybe I should have told her that.

“Well, good. Then I’ll challenge her,” Sarelle said. She stood up and power blasted from her like a wind that shuffled everything in the room.

“You can’t do that,” I said, standing up to counter her.

“You said the challenge was open for the position, and you said she’s still in it. So I challenge her.”

“You can’t fight a human,” I said.

“Well, if she can’t fight our battles she shouldn’t be here,” Sarelle said. And she was right. I sighed. I turned to Allegra, put my hands on her shoulders.

“She’s right. You’re in position and I declared the challenge open.”

“What?” she said and her eyes were big and liquid. Fear pour into them.

“I can’t get around this. I said it and I’m alpha. My word is law.”

“Unsay it,” she said. “If it’s law?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t work that way.”

She sighed. “What happens if I don’t do it?”

“I take you place,” I said.

“Which will be a real shame, because I’d love to kick your ass,” Sarelle said. Her face and her voice was calm but I could feel her gloating undercurrents.

Allegra rolled her eyes and turned her back on Sarelle to leave the room. Sarelle swore under her breath and there was a split second where the power got so strong even I struggled to breathe. Then she launched for Allegra with a scream. She hit her on the shoulder with a closed fist. Allegra gasped and stumbled but she didn’t go down.

“Sarelle!” I barked but she didn’t listen. She was crouched in a battle stance. Allegra glanced at her feet, and the mimicked her stance, moving her own feet wider apart.

“Come on, bitch. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Sarelle sneered.

“Rules,” John said, looking at me over Sarelle’s head. “If she’s pushing this fight you have to set the rules, Reid.”

“No shapeshifting. Keep it fair. First one to draw blood wins,” I said. The fight was in motion. There was nothing I could do to stop it now. With Allegra’s reciprocation she was accepting the fight. I didn’t know if she knew that, but she looked like she was ready.

Her face had changed. She looked serious.

“Pity it’s not to the death,” Sarelle said. She didn’t take her eyes of Allegra. She mock-charged and when Allegra flinched she laughed.

“Come on, you think you can deal with the pack when you can’t even take a hit?” she said.

Allegra didn’t answer. When Sarelle started circling her she mirrored her. Sarelle struck out, knocking Allegra on the jaw. The movement had been fast, too fast for her to react. I was suddenly scared. Sarelle was stronger than any human would ever be, even if she was in human form. And Allegra didn’t even know how to fight.

But Sarelle didn’t care. She barely stuck to rules as it was. She charged for Allegra, real this time. Allegra tried to dodge her, but she got a kick to the shin and a punch in the stomach. She doubled over and coughed. Sarelle was still taking it easy on her. If she really tried Allegra would go down.

And I couldn’t interfere because it was against the rules.

“Reid?” Allegra said, a plea for help in her voice. She back away from Sarelle, toward the wall. Her back was to the window. Sarelle smiled a devious smile, one that even scared me, and then she charged again. Allegra was far enough for her to pick up speed. Allegra’s face had fear written all over it.

When Sarelle reached her Allegra grabbed her shirt and yanked it toward her, guiding the already forward momentum up and over. She fell back with the effort, but Sarelle flew through the window.

The sound of broken glass accompanied Sarelle’s outraged scream as she tumbled through the broken glass. Allegra turned and looked out the window, breathing hard. Her hands were trembling slightly.

Sarelle let out a growl that wasn’t human, and climbed back in through the window. Her eyes had gone an ugly black, and her face was changing like a hand was pushing it out from the inside. Her fingers extended into long, thin claws and a muzzle grew from her face, with sharp teeth. Blood trickled from cuts on her face and neck.

“Stand down, Sarelle,” I ordered, but she kept coming. Her eyes were locked on Allegra.

“She’s dominant, back off,” I said again. But she kept changing. She was a bi-pedal monster now. Fur crept over her body and I heard her clothing rip. I shook my head and forced my own change. I ripped right through my jeans and t-shirt – I hadn’t dressed for changing – and the pain of the change flooded through my body.

Sarelle was in wolf form before I was, and she jumped onto Allegra.

“No!” I heard the other pack members shout in unison. She could kill Allegra now, but if she broke skin at all while she was a wolf, Allegra would become one too. That was how it worked.

My changed finished. John shot past me, in human form, and knocked them both to the ground. Allegra’s head hit the wall and her eyes closed, her body crumpling limp to the floor. My change was finished and I charged Sarelle. I hit her shoulder full on with my chest and grabbed her neck with my teeth, forcing her onto the floor. She whined and rolled onto her back.

She was submitting. Finally.

I let her go and growled at her. She turned her head away, and squirmed on the floor. Her tail was tucked between her legs and she made small whimpering sounds.

The others were all huddled around Allegra when I pushed through them and sniffed her.

“No broken skin, but she’s unconscious,” Carlos said. He was the medic in our team. She was going to be safe. She wouldn’t change. And she’d won the fight.

Chapter 8

Allegra

I woke up staring at my own ceiling. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten in bed. The room was dark and a thick line of moonlight fell through a crack in the curtains. When I moved, my head throbbed painfully. I groaned and pressed the palms of my hands to my forehead.

“Are you okay?” I heard a man’s voice, and it wasn’t Reid. I turned my head to see Carlos sitting on a chair at the foot of the bed.

“Where’s Reid?” I asked.

“He’s taken the pack out to hunt. They need the extra meat.”

“Why aren’t you out with them?” I asked.

“I’m on medical watch,” he said and he smiled. “Can you remember what happened?”

I thought back for a moment. I remember Sarelle coming at me and me flipping her through a window.

“Did I hurt her?”

Carlos chuckled. “Just enough to win. You drew blood. You bruised her ego a lot more though. She’s going to be liking those wounds for a while.

I lay back down on my pillow. My head throbbed something awful.

“How did I pass out?” I asked.

“She changed on you and John knocked you down so that Reid had time to change and stop her. You hit your head pretty hard, you have a mild concussion.”

“Oh,” I said and closed my eyes. I’d won. I’d been challenged by a damn werewolf, and I’d won the fight. A feeling of pride and warmth welled up inside me. It made me feel good to know that I’d stood up for myself. Or at least, defended myself.

“I hear them coming,” Carlos said, and when I looked at him he was listening into the night. He turned his head, hearing sounds I would never hear. I noticed he was sitting the shaft of moonlight. I was willing to bet he’d opened the curtains a little on purpose.

It took a while before Reid was home. Carlos had very good hearing. When Reid walked into the room, Carlos got up.

“Alpha,” he said and bowed his head for a second or two. Then he looked at me and did the same, averting his eyes. When he left the room, I looked at Reid.

“What was that all about?” I asked. Reid smiled and sat down on the bed next to me.

“You fought for your position as the pack’s second, and you won. Which means that they respect you as the second now,” he said. Something flickered across his face that was too fast for me to read, but then he smiled.

“How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts,” I said. Reid nodded.

“Sarelle was out of line. She shouldn’t have done that. If she keeps being a problem I’m going to have to do something about her. I can’t have someone who keeps challenging authority that way. She could have hurt you.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I survived it, right?”

Reid smiled beautifully. “You did. You surprised everyone.”

“Including me. That wasn’t skill it was self-preservation. I don’t think I could do it again.”

Reid smiled and shook his head, and crawled onto the covers next to me. I turned on my side and he curled his body around mine, and put his arm over my waist. I let sleep pull me under.

When I woke up again it was much later. Morning light fell into the room, and I felt better. My head had dulled down to a light ache. Reid wasn’t on the bed next to me anymore. I wondered if he’d slept at all. I got up and padded through the house on bare feet, looking for him. He was in the kitchen making eggs and toast.

“Well, I don’t see you cooking every day,” I said, leaning against the door post. He turned and looked sheepish, like he’d been caught in the act.

“You’re up,” he said. He looked at the food and scratched his head. “I wanted to bring you breakfast in bed.”

I sat down at the table in the breakfast nook. “We can eat here, I’m feeling okay,” I said. Reid brought two plates and put on down in front of me. The other was piled with food.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said after he sat down. He pushed the egg around on the plate, trying to find the words. “I  know your response to Sarelle’s attack was self-defense, but in the wolf world an acceptance of any kind of fight is a bigger deal than it is for humans. We take self-defense a lot more seriously, because we ask for another wolf’s protection when we don’t want to fight.” He took a deep breath. “I know you don’t want this,” he started, but I shook my head and cut him off.

“I know what it means. I’ve been looking up werewolves and normal wolves and behavioral patterns and stuff. I know what I did.”

He frowned. “You’ve been studying? Natural wolves?”

I nodded. “When you’re in wolf form you’re an animal, right? I thought that was closer than what the government as issued on werewolves. They don’t really know as much as I think.”

Reid chuckled. “They don’t…”

“Besides, I got pissed off when Sarelle challenged me, again. I don’t really like her. And she’s been grating me for a while. I know that accepting means I defend my position. And I know that winning meant I earned my position in the pack.”

“And you don’t mind?” he asked. I shook my head, and it hurt a little when I did.

“I don’t mind. I’m really not going to be able to do this right from the start, but if the pack will have me, and everyone will teach me, I’m willing to learn.”

Reid took a bite of his egg and chewed, thinking. When he swallowed he asked, “what changed your mind?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it while it was all happening, but I hated her being so damn dominant. If she’s fighting for my position, she’s essentially fighting for the position next to you. And that’s my place. Don’t every challenge a woman about her husband. It’s a protective thing. She’s not even bad-looking, which just makes it that much worse.”

“You were jealous?” Reid asked.

I nodded slowly. It didn’t hurt my head. “Yes. I was jealous. I don’t want anyone else next to you, not even if it’s a male. It’s my place, so I’ll take it.”

“Even when—“

“Even when it means a lot more than I understand. Everything that goes with it.”

Reid nodded and kept on eating. He was working hard at keeping his face neutral, but I could see it. I could see the pride. I reached out my hand and put it on his.