Page 81 of Shadow of Death

“No. If this is what you want, I’ll get you back to Arkansas and then return.” His arm tightened around my waist.

I shifted, propping myself up on my elbow so I could look at him. “This is different. I’m not vulnerable the way I was before. I’ve got control of my powers, at least for now. I could level that entire pack if I have to.”

“Like you said, for now. We don’t know how long they’ll hold.” He had that stubborn look in his eyes, but there was no way he was okay leaving the situation as it was either.

“We can’t leave them alone for months with him. I saw what he’s doing to the settlements close to him. He’s stealing their food.” If we left, who knew how bad it might be in a month from now?

“If we go back, I have to fight Varic. I’m going to fight him for the alpha position. It’s the way of the pack. It’s how it has to happen. After I beat him, I’ll have the opportunity to appoint an alpha to act in my stead while I’m away. You go and kill him in a way the pack doesn’t understand or trust, and the snake will just grow a new head.”

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. I was going to take the lead, cut out the cancer, and the pack would go on. Not once was Kicks’ life in danger in my plans.

I gasped as I realized something. “You were always planning on coming back here, weren’t you? You just didn’t want me there when you fought him!”

He didn’t even try to deny it. “He fights dirty, and if he’d killed me, I didn’t want you left alone.”

“I won’t let him cheat.” I laid my head on his chest. My wolf came and leaned against my legs, rubbing its muzzle against me.

“If we go back together and somehow I lose, you use everything you have, kill however many you need, but you get out of there. You walk away and don’t look back. You go to Arkansas and forget this place exists. Those aremyterms.” His voice was soft but serious.

“I’m not worried. We’ll both be going back to Arkansas.” There was no way I was letting Varic kill Kicks, and I didn’t care what I’d need to do. I’d burn that place to the ground if I had to.

Chapter Thirty-Four

We didn’t arrive quietlybut on the loudest motorcycle we could find. They knew we were arriving miles before Kicks stopped the bike in front of the estate. He gave the engine a last couple revs to make sure there wasn’t a single shifter left who hadn’t heard us.

It didn’t take long for Varic to walk out, followed by the rest of the pack piling out from every different direction. Aunt Elara was among them, and I wasn’t sure if she was happy or terrified to see us. Or both.

“What do you want?” Varic said, staring hard at the both of us. If there had been any confusion over why we left, how I’d disappeared, it was erased by our re-entrance.

“I’m here to take the pack. I’m officially challenging you for alpha,” Kicks said.

“You sneak out to go find your freak and then come back and demand alpha?”

“Yes. That’sexactlywhat I’m doing. Unless you’re afraid to fight me and want to step down willingly?” Kicks taunted him.

“How do I know she’s not going to get involved? Using her dirty magic? Herdevil’smagic. After all, she told me she was incahoots with the Grim Reaper. That’s how she killed our father,” Varic said.

A gasp ran through the pack, and he smirked. Even if he died here, he wanted to make sure no one else would accept me in this place.

I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to lie. Bottom line, there was no way I was letting Varic kill Kicks, honest fight or not.

“She won’t do anything. She, unlike you, has more honor than that,” Kicks said.

Did I? Not where Varic was concerned, I didn’t. In my book, he could die the same way he’d lived.

“Fine. Let’s go,” he said.

Kicks pulled off his shirt. Varic was on the other side of the space, stripping off his clothes as well. That was when I realized they’d be fighting in their beast forms. Kicks’ beast was scary as hell, but Varic’s was unknown to me. It might be even worse. There was really no predicting what they’d shift into.

My pulse ratcheted up as I watched them both shift. Varic’s beast was nearly as frightening as Kicks’. They approached each other, squaring off.

I was so intent on them, I nearly jumped when I heard the booming footsteps of Death approaching.

I’d never heard them when I was the vehicle of Death, only when someone died for another reason. Kicks wouldn’t outright kill Varic. He would banish him. So either someone else was going to die, or…

That was all the warning I had before a flurry of bullets started flying. I didn’t know where they’d landed until I saw blood dripping from Kicks. He turned toward me, but before he took a step, he crumpled to the ground.

The world around me went silent. Time slowed, each second stretching into an eternity as I watched him go down.

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