Creative.
The gong sounded.
A massive hairy leg straddled the ropes and entered the ring.
The largest alpha I’d faced yet casually cracked his bald head back and forth. A cigarette hung from his lips.
It was the alpha that had blown smoke in my face when I first walked into the training center.
His dark eyes were flat, but his smile was pure joy.
This was going to hurt.
Before I could flinch, he leaped across the mat and slammed his mammoth fist into my nose.
Red, black, and white sparks burst across my vision, and blood gushed down my throat.
I would have bellowed if my voice still worked.
My cheekbones were shattered, and when I opened my eyes, all I saw was red.
I curled in on myself as fists and kicks shook my frame. Bones snapped like popcorn, and the overwhelming agony quickly faded as my consciousness slipped farther away.
Ten minutes was a lifetime.
Too long.
No shot I survived.
The pain grew further and further away, and I eagerly welcomed the darkness.
All I’d known was pain and violence, and I was too tired. There was no point in fighting against the inevitable.
I’d never known peace.
It was all I wanted.
Molly’s shouts were far away and swatted at my consciousness like an annoying gnat.
I easily ignored her.
A bone-deep cold chilled me as my lifeblood spilled around me in a warm blanket.
Somewhere far away, I was lying partially unconscious on a mat as an alpha stood above me, slamming his foot into my ribs.
The harsh cracks of a snapped sternum were a distant problem.
I floated in a haze of unconscious bliss as adrenaline protected me from an agonizing end.
Maybe, in another life, I would have fought harder against death.
In this life, it hurt too much.
The men had a pack, and in the end, it would be easier for them to find a female omega and bond if I was gone.
Aran and the girls would be sad, but they would have each other.
Everything would be all right.