With each exchange, Lorenzo delivered a kick, a punch, or a defensive maneuver. “Because an alpha is born with a gene you do not possess. It’s a calling. We will bleed and die for our pack and do whatever it takes to keep the family together. Courage. Spirit. Strength. Loyalty. These are weapons you do not possess.” Each punch became more solid than the last. “Greed is your shield and envy is your sword. No man can win a battle with armor forged from fear. You will never become a leader unless you are willing to die. That’s what separates the alpha from the omega!”
Lorenzo roared, striking mercilessly until the Shifter fell onto his back. He grabbed a knife from a dirty plate, wiped the sharp instrument clean on his pants, and fell to his knees, plunging the blade into the man’s heart. His enemy’s pupils engorged, and his mouth opened in a soundless scream.
“Die a good death, Shifter. Take your dark spirit elsewhere.” Lorenzo ran his fingers over the man’s eyes and closed them.
He flinched when a shotgun went off. The older woman in Austin’s pack fell over when a man knocked the gun out of her hands. Lorenzo’s heart stopped when he saw Ivy’s long braid swing as she shifted into her silver wolf and attacked the Shifter.
“Ivy!” He shoved a man out of the way. Jesus, he had to get to her.
The blue-haired bartender threw a blast of energy into Austin. Neither the staff nor the customers knew what to do except attack anyone who came within reach.
The Shifter flipped Ivy’s wolf onto her back, but she had latched onto his shoulder with a mouthful of angry teeth. The bastard punched her in the side with a tight fist, making her bite harder.
“How dare you!” Lorenzo raged, pulling the man by his shirt.
Ivy’s wolf flipped onto her feet, hopping until she gained her balance.
Suddenly, something struck Lorenzo on his skull and the sharp pain caused him to fall to his knees. The noise in the room dulled. It felt as if he had earplugs in and he blinked, watching spatters of crimson wet the dark carpet like tiny raindrops. It tickled his forehead and got in his eyes. He flattened his hand on the floor, struggling to hold on to consciousness.
When his hearing returned, a man was speaking in midsentence.
“…nothing but a lowdown, dirty Indian. Ivy’s part, but not full-blooded. Maybe that’s why she’s better for me than her mother. I have claim on her in a way you never will, so remain on your knees like a good dog.”
In a swift movement too fast to track, Lorenzo reached around and yanked Fox so hard by the ankles that he knocked him to the floor. Ivy’s cane rolled out of his hand, Lorenzo’s blood staining the silver grip. He stood up and touched the top of his head, his fingers exploring the wound.
Ivy and a dirty brown wolf were fighting to the death. He was bigger, but she’d locked her jaws on his throat and wasn’t letting go. Wheeler shifted and his wolf jumped in. There was no honor in seeing a male attack a female, and no decent packmate would watch a rogue draw blood from his sister.
“So you think you’re the one who’s gonna tame that wolf.” Fox rose to his feet. He matched Lorenzo’s height with more brawn. Salt-and-pepper hair revealed his age to be well over two hundred. His blue eyes were piercing, filled with nothing but malice.
Loud crashes and shouts exploded around them, but Lorenzo wiped the blood out of his eyes and ignored everything except Fox.
His enemy.
“At last we meet,” Lorenzo said. “The man who would rape a child and hunt her down all these years later to make her his bride.” His fingers splayed as he tried to restrain his wolf.
Fox laughed and it was a boisterous sound. “Child? That woman was no child. Age is nothing but a number when you’ve lived as long as I have. You know nothing about our past. Ivy and I had a good relationship; she’s twisted it all around because of her father and that damn baby. Probably not even mine.”
Lorenzo lifted his chin.
“Yeah, that’s right. You should have seen the way she used to run around the house with all that hair flying behind her before she started braiding it. The way she’d lean over the back of the sofa, riling up some of the men in the pack. The way her dress hitched up her legs when she rode bareback on that horse of hers.”
Lorenzo assailed him with a series of vicious punches to the face. Fox retaliated, striking Lorenzo in the eye.
“You had no right!” Lorenzo saw red, and it wasn’t from the blood in his eyes.
Fox charged at Lorenzo, slamming him against the wall. Up ahead, the front door opened and people were running out. Fox struck Lorenzo in the gut, pinning him with his entire body as he did so.
“I had every right. Her mother should have been mine,” Fox babbled. “Should have been mine but he took that away. She made me kill her. Goddammit, I loved that woman and she left me with no choice. Ivan couldn’t know—he couldn’t find out. She chose that bastard!” he said in an unintelligible growl, still pinning Lorenzo to the wall as he continued to pelt him with heavy blows.
And then it became clear that Ivy’s mother hadn’t committed suicide. She’d wanted to come clean with her mate. Fox claimed he loved her, but in the end he decided his position in the pack was more important than the woman he allegedly loved.
Just like Lorenzo’s uncle.