Page 85 of Moonlighting with the Werewolf

“Conall!”

The voice filtered through the haze of bloodlust and self-preservation, awakening my humane side. I glanced around, my vision a blur of crimson and dust.

Kerrigan rushed forward, breaking away from the crowd, and panic overtook my defenses. Sasquatch snagged her around the waist and hauled her away, and I bared my teeth at him. Howdarehe touch my mate?

The growl that came from beneath me registered way too late. Diego tucked his head, digging it and his claws into my gut as he leaped to his feet and used the momentum to launch me into the air. I hit the ground hard, dragging a path of destruction through the grass, and still I heard Kerrigan’s voice.

If I could just see her one more time.

A giant blur of russet fur pinned me to the ground, and fists rained down fury. I ignored the leg that bent at the wrong angle and pulled up my arms, my mind searching for a way out of the pinned position.

But Kerrigan. This fight was for her. My clawed fingers trembled with the desire to grip Diego’s shoulder and fling him off me.

Diego...challenging me for the position of alpha.

Because I’d asked him to.

So that I could be with Kerrigan.

“Please, Conall.Please,” she shouted through the din of the roaring crowd.“You made me promise to stay alive and follow my dreams, and if you don’t stop this right now, I’m taking it back.”

I jerked my head to find her, so fast it slammed against the ground.“Can’t take it back,” I snarled.

“Then neither can you,” she yelled, punctuating the words with a stomp of her foot that, judging from his expression, managed to shock even Sasquatch.

All I had to do was tap out, and that woman was mine.

She’d always be mine, but this was the type of mine where we got to laugh together and go to dinner and spend nights fucking and mornings cuddling in bed. We’d get to have babies and grow old together...

If I held onto those images, winning seemed like losing.

I stretched out my arm. Lifted it in the air. My muscles and bones revolted at the idea of hitting the ground, and if I didn’t do it fast, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to. “I yield,” I shouted as I smacked the packed dirt two times.

Just like that, the fight came to a grinding halt.

Diego reached for his side, the flap of fur and peeled-open skin exposing a generous portion of his ribs. He heaved a ragged breath that harkened to the day after I’d been riddled with silver bullets and couldn’t get as much air as my lungs required.

Slowly, Diego pushed to his feet. His fur, claws, and fangs receded, and what remained of his tattered pants covered up the vital bits. He extended a hand, and I almost slapped it away without thinking. But then I, too, returned to my human form. With a grunt, I accepted his help and let him to tug me to my feet.

Well, one foot. Putting my weight on my broken leg caused it to scream, so I aligned the bones the best I could to facilitate their knitting back together. Diego and I both braced our weight on nearby trees, blood dripping from various parts of our faces and bodies. Our injuries gradually got the message the fight was over, leaving them free to clot and begin the healing process.

Then I smelled her:my mate.

I spun right in time for Kerrigan to collide into me, her arms going around my neck as she began cursing me out for being such an idiot, and what were Diego and I fighting over anyway?

Once I started laughing, I could hardly stop, despite the murderous glare on Kerrigan’s face. Which prompted her to smack my arm, the move so familiar and reassuring I suddenlyunderstood the idea of turning the other cheek—or arm, as the case may be. “This isn’t funny, Conall,” she said. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

I crashed my mouth to hers, ignoring the sting of pain that meant my split lip hadn’t fully healed. She kissed me back, urgently and fervently, for all of a handful of seconds before she pulled away and attempted to step out of my embrace. “Um, oopsie. We just sorta kissed in front of your fiancée.”

“You meanmyfiancée,” Diego said, flashing her a macabre grin. For a guy who kept his scruff ridiculously groomed, no trace of it showed through the scrapes and gore.

Kerrigan’s brow furrowed. Then she shot us a scowl that made it clear she wanted to knock the two of our heads together.

“The contract says thatthe alphaof the Bridgewater Pack must marry Natalia Burroughs of the Oldenwilde Coven,” I explained. “Same applies when it comes to producing an heir. Given that Diego challenged me for my position—and won—I’m no longer the alpha.” I swiped at the last of the blood dripping from my nose, wishing it’d stop throbbing already. Another minute or two, and I should be fine.

Kerrigan blinked at me, and I saw the moment she allowed hope to spread its wings and fly. “You’re saying...” She brought her trembling hands to her mouth. “I’m afraid to say it, more afraid to believe it because I’m not sure my heart can take it if I’m wrong.”

I cupped her cheek. “You’re not only worth fighting for, Kerrigan Ryan. You’re also worth losing for. And if you’ll still have me after watching me get my ass kicked?—”

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