Page 70 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

Her face was fading from red to purple when she finally stopped scrabbling beneath me. One arm went weakly out to the side, and she patted the ground three times.

“Let her go! Brielle, she’s tapped! You won!” Leigh’s voice was the loudest, reaching me above the cacophony, but it was Kane’s power, stroking me, and his voice that broke through the bloodlust that had consumed me.

“Well done, mate. Let her go and come kiss me.”

I released her, and she grabbed her bruised throat to suck in air. I left her there, turning my back to greet my mate, my love, my other half.

Pride glowed from his eyes, and he held both arms out for my approach. I absentmindedly saw a worried-looking John Henry right behind him with his medical kit.

I looked down, shocked to see dozens of cuts littering my body. The largest had partially closed up, but my black clothing clung to me with sticky blood. How much of it was mine or hers, I couldn’t say.

Any other time, I’d be horrified, but right now all I felt was triumph as I moved to plant my lips on Kane’s and claim him asmine. For good.

The sound of clothes shredding reached me when I was halfway across the ring. She’d been wounded and would probably shift to speed the healing.

I didn’t have that option, but hopefully, my wounds were superficial enough to heal without a shift.

“Brielle, look out!” Kane’s words were harsh, guttural, and he lunged forward, but he wasn’t close enough to stop me from being bowled over, eating a mouthful of dirtagainas a crushing weight landed on top of me. Claws dug into my back, and a vicious howl ripped from the wolf on top of me.

Jasline.

The shift came over me in a flash, my wolf springing free and rolling to defend. We gnashed with teeth and tried to shred her belly with our back claws, but only got in one good swipe before a honey-and-coffee-brown wolf slammed into her side, knocking the cheating bitch free.

Shay’s wolf had no mercy, pinning her by the throat and dragging her razor-sharp claws across her tender belly, sending fur and blood spraying into the air like twisted confetti. She held her, pinned and dying, as Kane reached us.

“Jasline of the Northern Territories! You have broken the rules of a fair challenge. In front of the Goddess and in front of these witnesses, I declare your life forfeit!”

I didn’t turn my head away as Shay ripped out her throat, or as her body stuttered one last time and went still, the life gone from her eyes.

Shay stepped back almost daintily and crossed to stand in front of me, both of us still in wolf form. I’d managed to stagger to my feet as Kane spoke, and our wolves stood nose to nose now.

I reached forward and licked her muzzle, accepting her help, thanking her for her loyalty. She threw back her head and howled, so I joined in. The feeling was unfamiliar but right, as every member of my pack—and Kane’s, a moment later—howled their approval to the Goddess. It was otherworldly, and it was a feeling I’d never forget.

Shay bowed, dropping her forelegs down and tucking her head until I yipped gently for her to get back up. She leaned against me, shoulder to shoulder, and watched the crowd with a ferocity that dared someone else to try. I was shocked as Leigh joined us, her tawny fur and greater height pressing in from the other side as Kane and the healer tried to get to me.

“Let’s take her to your rooms, Alpha. There will be more room to tend her there, and we can put security on the door.”

Kane looked down, meeting my wolf’s eyes. “Can you hang on for two more minutes?”

I bobbed my head.

“On this day, you’ve borne witness to the challenge for my bonding rights. As the result of this challenge, I hereby claim Brielle of the Johnson City pack as my mate. We have been fated and bear bonding marks.”

He lifted off his black T-shirt in a fluid motion, showing the royal-blue ink adorning his chest and side.

“I will accept no further challenges, as I will not scorn this gift the Fates have bestowed upon me. We will be mated during the next full moon ceremony, in three days’ time. Any further challenges to Brielle will be met byme, on the spot. I will not suffer repeated attacks on my fated mate.” He spun as he spoke, letting his heavy gaze drive each and every wolf back a step, his full alpha dominance let out to play.

“If anyone tries to exact retribution for the death of Jasline, I will remind you that she submitted and then showed her dishonor by attacking my mate after the challenge had ended, which is a crime against the old ways. Her death was honorably enacted by my mate’s second, and any who seek to challengeherwill facemysecond. Are we clear?”

“Yes, High Alpha,” hundreds of wolves droned as one, many falling to their knees at the weight of his power crackling in the clearing.

“I want every wolf who is not part of the Johnson City pack or Pack Blackwater to be off this territory within twelve hours, or you will be removed by my enforcers.”

At that proclamation, no fewer than two dozen wolves threw back their heads and howled, each placed around the ring, already protecting us and pushing back the lingering crowd.

“We need to get her to your suite. She’s fading, Alpha.”

John Henry’s concerned words were the last I heard before I blacked out, crumpling into the dirt between my best friends and my fated mate.

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