A satisfying snap sounded, and I dove at his neck when he jerked. And, fucking finally, my teeth latched onto his throat. What I didn’t expect was for shock to freeze my body as his blood filled my mouth. He shouted, grabbing at my head with a last attempt to get away from the killing blow I had him in. My wolf growled long and hard, but I used my Shifter power differently this time, pushing soothing pulses toward him.
He grunted, his body relaxing for the barest moment. Just enough to quickly flip him under me, pressing his chest to the sand, and hold his thumbs behind his back with my good hand. Quickly, before he retaliated when figuring out I didn’t have the killing blow on him anymore, I breathed quietly at his ear, “Think carefully because I can only ask this once. Do you want to stop this?”
He froze under me, in the process of beginning to attempt to free himself. “What?”
“I can’t ask it again.” I pressed my elbow into the side of his neck. Where I could easily break it with the tiniest shove. “I need an answer.”
He lay under me for a full minute. Silent. Smart. Fucking powerful enough to rival the Queen’s power, just unlucky in this fight. “But…you’ve…”
And also a fucking hybrid.
Shifter and some type of Elemental I couldn’t quite put my finger on. But it was there in his blood, which still lingered on my tongue. He understood I knew this. He was also confused as shit.
“Yes, I know,” I whispered. “I told you before that you don’t know my views of the Law.” Louder, I stated, “Now answer my damn question.”
He paused, then stated, “Yes. I want to stop.”
Still, I held him down. Just because he said he wanted to stop, it didn’t mean I had to. He had instigated this challenge. But ultimately it was up to me after he decided to back off. In the barest breath I whispered against his ear, “Did you know about the beasts?”
Instant. “No.”
Truth.
“Would you ever create one?”
Instant. “No.” A pause. “I’ve taken care of the possibility of that occurring.”
Truth and truth.
My wolf growled in approval. “We never had this discussion.”
“What discussion?”
I let his thumbs go and removed my elbow from his neck. “Don’t ever challenge me again.”
He grunted, not really an answer, but I heard his wolf growl low with respect.
“Your name?”
“John Smith.”
I chuckled, getting to my feet, before yelling for the medic to see to his injuries. “Creativity isn’t your strong suit, Mr Smith.”
Dark eyes stared up at me, since he was unable to stand because of his broken leg. “I believe I could be creative enough for you.”
I laughed outright. “From killing to fucking?” I shook my head, holding my injured wrist. “Not interested.”
Eyes traveling up and down my frame from his fucking prone, broken position, he shrugged, pure cockiness, sand shifting under him. “Yeah, me neither, but it was natural to ask.”
I shook my head in exasperation, moving back as the medic arrived. “If that’s your idea of reasonable foreplay, you’re out of your damn mind.”
He grunted as the medic began working on him. “You’re right. It was a bit much.”
Hearing his bones snap back into place, I muttered, “Just a bit.”
He groaned, “Okay, more than a bit.”
King Kincaid, Elder Merrick, and Elder Talus walked behind me as we traveled back to the fighting/movie arena after the Mage had fixed my arm, I very much feeling the injury that time. King Kincaid was silent. Elder Merrick had thumped me once on the back, but was silent after that. Elder Talus was still shaking his head.
“That was the weirdest challenge I’ve ever seen,” he mumbled. Another shake of his head.
“He wanted to walk.” I ran my fingers through my hair, getting out the tangles and sand. “I let him.”
“Huh,” he murmured, giving me the distinct impression he probably wouldn’t have.
I shrugged, and shoved forward into the arena, not wanting to answer any more questions. Now that the challenges were over, I felt queasy with the remembrance of the first one. All I wanted to do was sit. My head was spinning a smidge, the memory of taking her life not as easily forgotten for me as it might be for other Shifter Rulers who had seen it happen many times.
Moving through the Mysticals who were still conversing merrily, my heart ached. It was part of my life now, but that didn’t make it any easier. I stumbled past a few couches and stopped in my tracks. Jack and Pearl were talking quietly on our reserved couch, laughing about something mundane. My gaze dropped, and I sighed heavily as I rubbed my forehead. I didn’t want to tell them. I didn’t want to ruin their good spirits, which had only recently become more commonplace. Too much shit had happened to pull them down.