He snarled with me in his grasp, “Getting tired yet?” It sounded more like gretting grie ret through his corded neck, already thick with fur.
“Bring it…asshole.” I coughed. “What’s the matter? Can’t control your wolf? You know…there’s a pill for that.”
Sean raged, the vibrations of his hatred running through his body, rippling the water with his malice. He knew he was losing control and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
I had to push him to the brink if I wanted to stay alive. “Yep…it’s a pill called…failure. You take it twice a day…and eventually you—” Water rushed into my mouth as we went under.
Sean still had me around the middle, but I squirmed in his grasp, trying to break the hold, which was a big mistake. I hadn’t accounted for his new sharp claws. As I moved, they raked along my sides, slicing me open. I stopped moving and angled my head toward him. More wolf than human stared back. Fur covered his face, highlighting his nasty glowing eyes. This could be it. His strength was enhancing by the second. I had only one thing left in my survival arsenal. There was no playing dead now.
Instead of thrashing, I stilled completely.
Sean grinned at me, thinking I’d given up.
I gathered my focus, lifted my head, and directed my full stare at him. I steeled myself, locking on to his eyes and not letting go. On those rare occasions when I’d gone up against betas in the past, I’d learned my visual cues could intimidate them. They would’ve died rather than admit the real reason, but they usually backed down, always citing something else for ending the fight. In their minds, it would be physically impossible for a female to have a higher status, so the notion simply didn’t exist for them. They walked away convinced they had ended it for a good reason. I let them.
I had no idea if it would work on Sean, who was clearly alpha-born, but it was all I had left. Sean’s gaze locked on mine, his body becoming rigid, whether he wanted it to or not. As a wolf, he couldn’t simply look away from a visual challenge. I steadied myself and peered as hard as I could into his soul.
Sean’s eye sparked a half beat before he reacted.
He broke his gaze first, tearing his eyes off mine, roaring like a beast underwater. He tossed me away from him with enough force to send me sailing, his nails ripping through my chest. I reeled, jarred silly, losing blood from my new wounds fast. I swam for what I hoped like hell was the surface.
I erupted with a splash, screaming for air. “Gahhh.” I took in as much air as I could, hyperventilating with the need to fill my lungs and clear them at the same time. “Ohmigod.” I sputtered, coughing. I whipped around in a circle, bracing myself for the next blow, craning my head around in circles, trying to spot where Sean was going to emerge.
I kicked in a circle, still glancing around. After a few more breaths, I ducked back underwater. I wasn’t going to take any stupid chances by swimming back to shore with an angry werewolf on my heels. Much better to fight him head-on than to be jumped from behind. Surprises could kill, and between drowning and bleeding out, I had enough to worry about.
I spotted a large object floating in the distance. It was hard to see in the murky green water, so I kicked closer. It was Sean. He was in the midst of a full change, drifting toward the bottom of the lake. I watched for a second as he morphed and shifted, sending currents of movement through the water as his body became something else entirely.
I punched for the surface.
He likely wasn’t going to die down there, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. A werewolf could die only if his spinal column was broken or severed, thus cutting off all communication from his brain to his body. I had no idea if, in his wolf form, Sean would regain consciousness in the water, but it would be silly to wait to find out. The one thing I’d never done was fight a wolf in his true from.
That was a battle I didn’t have an ass-chance of winning.
On nights the wolves shifted, I stayed in my room. A command I never disobeyed. My father took no chances when he had a large group to contain, not with me, and not with the humans who lived in the towns nearest to us. It was a very well-oiled operation.
Having a wolf lose this much control, enough to shift uncontrollably like Sean was doing, was highly unusual. Once a man became a wolf, he had to prove mastery over his wolf, which was called Dominion. His human side had to prove stronger than his wolf side. It was absolute. Sometimes it took a long time for young wolves to learn, but they did eventually. Or they weren’t allowed to live. Sean had just proven he did not have full Dominion over his wolf, which would be a very bad thing for him indeed—if fighting with me hadn’t already signed his death warrant.
I started to swim. As I focused in front of me for the first time, I could see figures running down to the dock and gathering on the embankment in front of the lodge. I was in the middle of the lake.
It took me a long time to reach shore.