Page 11 of Bait Wolf
The crowd erupted into a cheer as the two alphas fell into the middle of the ring, jaws snapping as they rolled together.
My heart soared with hope.
Was that it? Was I free to go?
Normally once the fight got going, depending on the state of the omega, they were ushered from the ring. After all, they were only there to get the fight started, to give the alphas something they’d be willing to draw blood over.
I edged toward the omega door, eyes still glued to the fight.
One of the stadium workers snapped the lock up and motioned for me to hurry, and I nearly tripped over myself in my eagerness to get out.
I’d thought this was it for me.
Everything had suggested this would be my ending, and yet somehow, I was walking out unscathed.
The alphas didn’t want me.
Relief unlike anything I’d ever felt was already overwhelming me as I turned to the door.
The sudden shout of the crowd was what alerted me that something was wrong.
In the split second that I reached the door, just as my foot passed through the threshold, the beta holding the door looked over my shoulder in horror and slammed the door shut, just as teeth scraped my arm through the thin fabric of my shirt and I was yanked away from it.
My whole body was thrown back through the air before landing with a heavy thud.
For a moment, I stared up at the lights, winded, spots exploding around me from the impact. Then I realized what had happened; I was in the center of the ring. One of the alphas—the Redwood—was standing over me on all fours, blood dripping from the ends of his gray fur. His entire face was red from it.
When I turned my head, I saw the other one—the Savage—cowering in a corner.
The fight was over. It had to be. The Redwood had won, but he wasn’t trying to claim me and he wasn’t backing down either. He stepped over me, legs on each side of my body and continued to growl, a deep, low, resonating sound that cut through all the other noise. He stared at the Savage as though his very presence was too close to me was. A threat that had to be taken care of…
And although the Savage cowered, deferring to the Redwood with his nose nearly on the floor, blood soaking the ring around him, a loud whine leaving his throat, it didn’t seem to matter.
The Redwood pounced.
People were screaming and shouting, some in horror, but mostly in excitement as the Redwood tore into the other alpha’s flesh.
Disgust and terror overwhelmed me. For a moment, I couldn’t move, watching in horror, and then, I couldn’tstopmoving, crawling away on shaking hands and knees toward the door again.
“He doesn’t seem to be in his right mind—” The excited voices of the commentators cut through the uproar. “He’s taken a liking to the omega—”
With a roar, the Redwood lunged at me.
I fell back with a shout. A tickle ran over my skin, my body attempting to shift, a last-ditch effort to protect me, but I couldn’t do it and collapsed onto the mat as the Redwood reached me and—
Didn’t touch me. Instead of attacking me, as I’d been so sure he would, the Redwood swung around, simply blocking my escape.
My entire body was abuzz with adrenaline and fear… and confusion.
I met the alpha’s gaze.
Even in wolf form, even out of his mind, the alpha’s eyes did something to me. They were familiar, like an old song, and a painful longing for something unknown enveloped me.
For a moment, I forgot everything. And then the shit hit the fan.
The fight was over, the other alpha was on the floor, unconscious and bloody. If he was still alive, it was hard to tell. Still, the Redwood wouldn’t let anyone into the cage. The moment the doors opened, he snarled; if they dared set foot inside, he attacked before rushing back to me as though someone else might get me.
I remained very, very still.
