Page 41 of Cursed by Death

“It’s my last name.”

“What’s your first name?”

He didn’t answer me and I went back to watching the fight. I figured I’d gotten as much out of Fox as he was willing to give me for the time being.

I watched in horror as the man’s hands shifted into vicious looking claws and he thrust them towards Rally’s face. Rally ducked out of the way and the claws missed his face, sinking into his shoulder. They went in so deep the tips of them tore open the back of his t-shirt as they came out the other side of him.

Fox hissed and I heard Ginger’s shocked gasp before she whispered, “Oh my god.”

“Talk to me, Fox,” I demanded in a harsh whisper. “What’s with the outrage? I thought these sorts of things were supposed to get bloody and violent?”

“Terms were discussed beforehand and it was agreed upon for this first challenge that they not shift forms. If he can’t win in human form then our people will see him as too weak to lead them. I know that this whole thing is very violent but that does not mean that we need to be uncivilized about it.”

Rally was back on his feet but his shoulder was leaking so much blood that his shirt was soaked through and clinging to his body. I’d be surprised if he’d be able to use his arm or lift it after a few more minutes of this. It was probably already numb and then he’d likely lose all feeling in his left hand.

“Since that asshole cheated shouldn’t the fight be over now?”

Please let it be over before Rally got cut up any more. I didn’t think I’d be able to stand by and watch that happen. Ididn’t want to undermine Rally’s authority but I would have no problem slitting his opponents throat before I idly sat by and watched him harm Rally to the point of no return.

“It stops when Rally says it stops,” Fox ground out between his teeth.

I could completely understand why this pissed him off. I had no idea how many times he’d been forced to stand on the sidelines to witness one of these bullshit challenges. Hell, this was my first one and I was pissed off, too.

The man swiped at Rally with his claws again but Rally dodged him at the last second. But only just barely.

“Come on, Rally,” I shouted and I felt Fox jerk in surprise from beside me. “I didn’t come here tonight to watch you bleed to deathorget your ass kicked. Stop playing games and put him down already.”

“Babe,” Hunter said in a hushed voice. “Maybe you shouldn’t talk—”

The man fighting Rally stopped to turn and glare at me. And Rally hit him in the face while he was distracted.

But he didn’t stop there.

Oh no, he kept hitting him in the face over and over again. The man tripped over his own feet and stumbled backwards. He fell heavily to the ground. Rally stayed on him the whole way down and he kept hitting him in the face over and over again.

Rally backed off when the man stopped moving, stopped attempting to push him off and away, and his face was a bloody disfigured mess. I had no idea if he was still breathing but I did know he was lucky to be a shifter because I didn’t think even multiple surgeries would be able to fix the damage done to his face. If he was alive to do it he could just shift forms and he’d heal.

Or so the stories said. I’d never seen it done before but it did have me very curious to witness it.

Rally sat back, breathing heavily. He lifted his hands and stared down at them. They were a bloody mess. His t-shirt was soaked through with blood. And half his face was swollen and angry looking. He needed to ice it but tomorrow it’d still be black and blue.

“Is he dead?” someone close to me asked loudly into the otherwise silent space.

Rally shook his head but said nothing.

“If he’s not dead you should just kill him so that he can’t do this again,” I suggested. “It’ll make other people think twice before challenging you again.”

Rally looked at me and for the first time ever it wasn’t a friendly look. “We are not killing any of my people here tonight.”

I shrugged.

Who said anything aboutwe?

“She’s not wrong, my Prince,” Fox said and Rally’s unfriendly look shifted from me to him.

Maybe Fox wasn’t so bad after all.

Maybe we could even be friends. I could always use more friends.

---