Page 59 of Fated
Finally as the last member of my pack picked me, I turned to face Richard. I had the majority. Only a few members of my pack had joined Richard and he was seriously outnumbered.
I didn’t know how many of them had been contemplating on joining Richard and had changed their minds. All that mattered was who they were backing as their leader right now. If he tried to attack, we would be able to wipe him out.
“They’ve made their choice,” I said to Richard.
He glared at me as his eyes settled on me.
“I’ll never stop,” he warned me. “I’ll find a way to take the alpha title from you.”
It wasn’t an empty threat. He would keep at it until he got what he wanted. Richard was determined and he was very much like the monster that had fathered me. I turned to face my pack. Every life that looked to me was my responsibility and I didn’t want to let them down.
Restrain him, I instructed two of the guys. They walked up behind Kyle and grabbed his arms.
“What the fuck?” Kyle exclaimed as he tried to pull free.
No one is to interfere. It will be a fight to the death,I instructed the members of my pack. It wasn’t an order they could disobey.
It was the only way to stop Richard. I had to fight him and defeat him, because if I didn’t, he would find a way to take my pack from me anyway. Some would say it was a stupid decision but to me I was protecting my people and I had to believe I could take him. The previous two times, he’d had the upper hand, but this time would be different. I could shift.
“What are you doing?” Kyle asked angrily, still trying to break free.
I turned to face Richard, ignoring Kyle’s struggles to get free from my guards.
“It ends here and now,” I told him.
He smiled. It was a bone chilling evil—one that made the fear rise up inside of me.
“It’ll be a fight between you and me. No one else is allowed to interfere,” I said, laying out the rules. “The winner takes the pack.”
“Are you fucking crazy?!” Kyle shouted beside me. I tried not to flinch under his verbal attack.
A murmur of unrest settled over my pack and they weren’t happy with my decision to fight Richard, either. But they had to obey my orders, so irrespective of how they felt, they would have to watch without interfering.
At that moment I saw Curtis hurry toward me.
You can’t do this, he pleaded with me.He’ll tear you apart!
I can and I will, I stated calmly.I have to do this.
I knew Richard well. I’d known him my whole life and I knew that he would kill every single member of my pack if that’s what it took to get what he wanted. Knowing there was a good chance that I wouldn’t survive this didn’t make me waver as I turned to look at Richard.
“Please don’t do this!” Kyle tried to argue with me, but I ignored him.
“Do something,” Kyle shouted to Curtis. Curtis hung his head.
“There’s nothing I can do.”
I started to walk to Richard and he walked to me. He looked like he’d already won the fight and I felt a nervous knot in my stomach.
This was going to be my chance to show my pack that I could be the leader they needed me to be and to prove to myself that I was capable of being the alpha I’d been born to be. Any doubt I pushed from my mind.
Richard and I stopped in front of each other. My pack made a semi-circle as they watched the fight about to start.
“You won’t leave this fight alive,” he sneered triumphantly at me. I kept my cool, refusing to show him that I was scared he might be right.
“Just because you can shift into your wolf doesn’t mean that you’ll be strong enough to beat me,” he told me, and I was surprised he knew that I’d mated with Blake. Then I remembered the traitors that would have been feeding him information. At least if I survived the fight I wouldn’t have to worry about finding any more traitors in my pack.
“We’ll see,” I threw back at him, standing straight as I pepped myself up inside.
