Dires loved nothin’ better than a good fight.
I ignored them all, my eyes locked on Aaron. I had little doubt this guy was a scrapper, but so was I. I could tell by the way he moved that he favored his right side and led with his left foot. He’d sprouted his claws from his fingertips, so I followed suit. But by the time his eyes flared, and he came at me, I knew I had him.
And I did. As expected, he was a vicious and experienced fighter—and fast too. He caught me twice, leaving deep slices along my ribs and bicep, before I gleaned his preferred moves.
From that moment on, I was in control.
His frustration mounted as he tried, and failed, time and again, to tag me. Meanwhile, darkening bruises and slices appeared all over his naked torso. His beast took over his eyes, and foam dotted his lips.
I was toying with him now, and he knew it. The bones moved beneath his skin as his beast took hold.
“You. Will. Stop!” The wave of alpha power rolled over both of us, and in a millisecond, we were on the ground, writhing in its grip.
Darius stalked from the crowd. Every Dire in it was crouched or collapsed in response to his power.
“Get up,” he ordered Aaron, and the beta scrambled to his feet, moving so close to Darius he was almost touching him, before standing with a bowed head. When I tried to rise, the alpha blasted me with his power.
“I didn’t say you could move,” he growled, and cranked up the power.
“Leave him alone, Darius.” Anna stepped between me and him.
No.I was supposed to protect her. Not the other way around. I shuddered beneath the onslaught, desperate to break it. But there was no hope.
Anna stood, straight and tall, and glared at Darius. “Stop it, you bastard.” Her voice had deepened, and what flowed from her—I couldn’t believe it. It met, and matched, what Darius sent at me, and gave me the strength to stagger to my feet.
I’d sensed it before, in the forest. But had doubted it.
Alpha power. FromAnna.
Could I be wrong?
Darius’s reaction indicated otherwise. His eyes lit up with rage. “I didn’t release you,” he snarled at me.
“I did,” Anna retorted. Her voice had completely changed now, and as the power pulsed from her again, Darius’s eyes narrowed.
My mind spun. How could she have alpha energy?
“I am the leader of this team,” the alpha hissed.
“Then prove it,” she stated. “Your beta was out of line.”
Darius hesitated, and his nostrils flared. If he smelled what I did—her scent almost put me back on the ground. My knees shook so hard. But I saw calculation in his eyes, before he said, “I will decide when my beta is out of line, not you. But just for you, Babydoll—”
He turned to Aaron, and let it loose.
In an instant, Aaron was a writhing, mewling form upon the ground. Darius kept it up for a few seconds and then relented before he spun and strode away, weaving through the incapacitated crowd.
Anna grabbed me by the arm and guided me toward the academy. We passed the still-gasping Aaron, and the recovering Dires rolled aside for us. Or, rather, for her.
I staggered along. My ribcage still seized up—I could barely breathe. But as Mari and Trixie trailed after us, I managed a wheezing breath.
And then I said, “Angel, that was absolutely bonza.”
* * *
As Anna healed my wounds, I inhaled her scent.
Her touch almost undid me right then and there. My beast howled to be set loose. My fingers curled into fists, and she didn’t see that the claws had emerged to pierce my palms.
