Page 54 of The Alpha's Bullied Mate

“Hayden, the demons—” Finn started but fell silent when Hayden lifted his hands.

“After,” Hayden murmured. “Right now, I need to focus on the fight.”

Finn looked troubled but nodded once. He silently finished applying the salve to Hayden’s visual injuries, then put the bottle away.

“Ready to admit defeat?” Monroe taunted from across the challenge grounds. “I’ll be merciful to your followers if you do. I’ll let them stay and earn back my favor. You, though, and your little team will be exiled on pain of death. Your mate, too.”

Hayden ignored him. It was more for the sake of the pack than him, anyway. He closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of the field. There was a curious mix of fresh-turned earth on thebreeze. He’d noticed it before, and from the rest of the pack, he learned that Monroe was doing some sort of construction project on the Alpha’s house.

Not that it mattered. It was just one more distraction.

Sweat trickled down his back. The heat of the sun was starting to become unbearable with all the effort he was expanding. He dumped the rest of the water over his head and shook himself off. Overwhelming? Ha! He’d been in worse fights than this. There was that one time a few years back when he and his men were surrounded by dozens of the beast-demons. That was a worse fight than this.

Another deep pull of air into his lungs, and Hayden released the pain. It was impossible to disconnect entirely from his body at this moment, the way he’d been trained to withstand torture. But he could disconnect from the pain, the heaviness of his limbs.

“Are you ready to fight?” Monroe called again. “Or do you need more time?”

His side of the pack all let out mocking yips and yowls. Hayden rolled his eyes. Right, because he was the one who called for these rests in the first place. The demon was going to have to do better than that to get under his skin. He straightened and turned back around, sauntering into the challenge ring.

Monroe stayed out for a moment. Spencer, just as naked as the two dueling Alphas, stood nearby. The look of hateful derision he gave Hayden said it all. Even though Monroe would be defeated here, he wasn’t going to ever accept Hayden as his Alpha.

No matter. Once this challenge was over and Monroe was dead, Hayden would accept Spencer’s challenge that was no doubt coming. He’d have a month to heal before fightingSpencer, and by then, the demons of the Bluebell Valley would be eradicated.

Hayden let out a breath and released the worries of his future. There would be time to deal with that once Monroe was dead.

The demon-possessed Alpha finally stirred. He strode out into the challenge grounds, his eyes flashing red in the sunlight.

“Let’s get this over with,” Monroe murmured. “I’m so very tired of you messing up my plans.”

“Good.” Hayden shifted to his wolf form.

Monroe snorted and took his wolf as well. They circled one another as Hayden drew on his strength. When Monroe feinted to his right, he stood his ground. Monroe jumped in wide circles, leaving himself open to attack; all traps, so Hayden held himself still. A low growl escaped the other wolf, and he charged.

Hayden sidestepped. He turned on a dime and smashed his shoulder into Monroe as he skidded past. With a quick bite, he caught hold of Monroe’s tail and dragged him back. A sharp snap sang through the air and Monroe let out a howl of pain as his tail went limp.

A fierce snarl rose from Monroe’s chest. He whipped around, snapping at Hayden’s flank. Hayden jumped aside, but Monroe kept coming. He used his body to ram Hayden, knocking him off his feet. Hayden snapped his jaws around Monroe’s throat, but the other wolf shook him off. Blood sprayed into the dirt, but Monroe didn’t seem to notice.

His eyes had gone flat red. There was no sign of pupil in them as he came at Hayden again.

Fuck!

Hayden scrambled to his feet and worked to put distance between himself and Monroe. Monroe kept coming at him. Tendrils of a red haze started to seep from his open wounds. Hayden’s heart slammed into his ribs as he ducked beneath an attack, then leaped onto Monroe’s back. He tore at the other wolf’s neck to no effect.

He’d never seen this before.

Was it a mistake to challenge the demon in a singular challenge like this? What the fuck was going on? Had the aura-demon possessed Monroe long enough that it was able to make itself known to even those without demon-sight?

Fuck!

It was a mistake, boy,a voice reverberated in his head.Though I admit, I like your tenacity. You have strength. Too bad you’re limited by the flesh you were born to.

He needed to hold out until the next break. Was this what Finn had been trying to warn him about?

Finn? Ahh, I see,Monroe’s voice chuckled in his head.

Hayden snarled. He clamped his jaws over the demon’s ear and shook his body. The skin tore beneath his fangs, but the demon showed no sign of feeling the pain.

Half demon, isn’t he? I wondered which one of you could see us. And now you’ve told me which one it is yourself.

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