Page 60 of Ember's Claim

The massive wolf stays in human form, and he has to have half a foot in height on Ember. He doesn’t give any warning before slamming his fist at her jaw.

Ember immediately falls to a crouch, but his punch connects with her cheek when she doesn’t move quite fast enough.

Anders lets out a low growl, but it’s nothing compared to the roar that echoes around the clearing behind us.

What a lovely time for the dragon to return.

Ember’s head shakes, but my chest lightens a bit when she stands and propels herself backward several feet. It puts her out of the asshole’s reach. She leans to the side, spitting blood. But it’s the feral smile on her face as she begins to circle him that puts me further at ease.

She might have omega genetics hidden somewhere in there to temper the viciousness of her alpha wolf, but it’s nice to see the alpha side wins out under appropriate conditions.

I ache to stay close and watch over her, but the dragon approaches. Spinning around, I use magic to propel me at him.

Veryn looks quite dangerous, with his eyes glowing yellowy-green and his dragon’s claws at the ready.

My hands hit his pecs, but even with the significant boost from my magic, he doesn’t falter. I don’t even manage to shove his giant ass back a few steps.

Fucking stubborn dragon.

He growls, tilting his head predatorily.

I pull a hand up to swipe over the sigil on the top of my wrist. It gives us a bubble of silence.

Even then, I get close to Veryn’s ear before speaking. “You make or break her reign with what you do next. Either you calmly walk to the edge of the ring and offer her playful support as she proves she can handle herself, or you step in and undermine her authority forever. She’llneverbe able to gain that respect back once it’s gone.”

Veryn’s head shakes as his eyes flash. Something similar happens to Anders when he’s battling his lion.

“Should I remove you?” I ask. “Or are you going to cheer her on? Knowing you have faith in her ability to protect herself will give her strength.”

“She’s not concerned. Neither am I.” Veryn stretches his neck from side to side, like he’s shaking off the bad energy he had upon arrival. He steps around me and stomps toward the arena. “Come on, baby. You got this. Kick his ass.”

Calling a gust of wind, I allow it to carry me to the edge of the fence as I deactivate the silencing sigil.

Anders watches with his chest heaving and his eyes glowing. Veryn glances between Ember in the ring and Anders, who might also need a pep talk, based on his current state.

“Don’t stress, man.” Veryn tosses an arm around Anders’s shoulders. Possibly to hold the lion back if he attempts to do anything ill-advised. “I’ve seen her take down ahellhound.She’s just playing with her food at this point.”

“He sucker punched her in theface,” Anders growls.

“Yeah, assholes tend to do that when they know they can’t win in a fair fight.” Veryn chuckles darkly.

I’m so distracted by the two of them that, by the time I glance back at the ring, I do a double take.

Ember is on top of the wolf’s shoulders with her thighs wrapped around his neck. He throws himself backward toward the ground while attempting to pry her legs off his throat.

She slides around his front, using the momentum of the fall to land on top of him.

It’s slightly precarious, as one of her feet ends up pinned under his head, but she stays in a modified crouch and lands several vicious blows to the man’s face while using her free arm to deflect as he attempts to knock her off.

One particularly loud crunch fills the air, and his legs stop flailing. Hmm, I wonder if she managed to break his neck or simply knocked him out.

“Good job, Alpha Ember!” Kent calls out, peeking through the slats on the other side of the fence.

Ember pries her foot from under the man’s head and dusts off her knees before glancing at the rest of Aimes’s supporters.

“Would anyone else like to spar?” Her line of sight moves among the men slowly as she waits for each to look away from the dominance in her gaze.

It’s fucking impressive how quickly she manages to force their compliance.

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