Page 16 of Wolf Sacrificed

He shoved his shovel into the muddy mound. “We will get justice for your brother. Lincoln will pay for what he has done. I’m going to get that bitch alpha, and I’m going to make him watch as I slowly take her life before his eyes.”

Six

Lincoln

We were being watched.

Sloane knew it, too. Her gaze kept darting around, and her punches landed all over the place like she wasn’t paying attention.

I clapped my hands together, drawing her attention back to me. “Again. Don’t be afraid to hurt me.”

She needed to show these alphas that she was strong. They were watching her, waiting for her to make a mistake.

She grumbled beneath her breath and shifted her feet, sinking farther into her stance. She balled her fists until her knuckles turned white.

“I’m trying.” She glanced over her shoulder and then shut her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh.

I held my hands up by my face so she could punch them. “Ignore them. Keep your eyes on me.”

Sloane threw a right hook. Her fist smashed into my hand, making it jerk back.

I grinned despite the pain radiating through my wrist. “Good. Keep doing it like that.”

She shook her hand out. “I don’t like performing for an audience.”

I wiggled my hands. They stung from her well-placed punch. “Me either. But you’re alpha now, and everyone’s constantly going to be looking at you. Keep hitting like that. You need to show them you’re strong enough to defend our pack.”

She narrowed her eyes, and her face hardened with determination. She jabbed with her left hand. It smacked my palm hard enough to send a jolt of pain ricocheting all the way to my elbow, which made my eyes water.

I flexed my fingers. “Keep that stance and do that again.”

She threw another hook and then a jab. “I don’t understand why we’re doing fist-fighting practice. We should still be fighting as wolves, like we did before we came back up here.”

I motioned for her to punch again. “Not all fights will be in wolf form. But yes, we’re going to continue to practice that too. I want to make sure that you are prepared for any type of attack.”

Her lip curled up in disgust. “You mean, in case I get smacked with wolfsbane again?” Her brows dipped into a scowl. “You don’t think I did well enough when I fought against Mikey?”

I took a step back as she hit my hand with an exceptionally brutal punch. I shook it out, but it didn’t take the sting away. “Mikey trained to fight his entire life. He was savage and brutal but could never get past his need for revenge. He didn’t think when he fought. All the other alphas have been training to fight most of their lives too. They might not be as sick as he was, but they’ll be just as strong. And if they’re tactical at all, they won’t strike without thinking things through.”

She shuddered and turned her head to look over her shoulder at the group of men gathered to watch us. “I don’t know if I can be that strong, Lincoln.”

I dropped my hands to my sides. “Maybe you won’t be as physically strong, but you have other things that you can use to your advantage.”

She arched her brow as she jabbed the air with both hands. “Like what?”

I took another step back and watched her form as she continued to throw punches. My hands hurt to the point I might need to shift to make sure they healed. I ignored the pain since she was doing what she was supposed to.

I held my hand out so she could see how red it was. “First of all, I think you punch harder than you realize.”

A small smile formed on her face.

I held up two fingers. “Second of all, you’re fast and small. That’s an advantage. Most of the alphas are big and clunky and could never move as fast as you can.”

She’d beaten me in our race today. Hands down, no questions asked, she was faster. Probably the fastest wolf I’d ever had the honor of running with.

Sloane tugged her hair, pulling it out of the ponytail and then re-wrapping it back up. “We should get some sort of gloves or something to protect our hands.”

She looked down at her red knuckles, and one of them looked like it might be on the verge of bleeding.

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