I smiled, but it froze halfway toward my eyes. In my old body, I might have been able to last a few rounds against Malachi. Maybe even win if I took advantage of his ailment. This new form I occupied was strong enough, but it hadn’t had years of training with the likes of Gerrison and Dad.Griff spent the rest of the evening dodging and blocking punches from his former beta. When the training got heated, he took off his shirt and fought topless. His glorious muscles rippled as he moved, and it took every effort not to gape at his masculine beauty.There was a small Hatch on the wall, where I ordered refreshments and a box of salts enchanted to heal bruises and soothe aches. I walked around them, making corrections to Griff’s form and urging Boris to hit with all his strength. The real fight with Malachi promised to be brutal.After an hour, Griff’s movements slowed. Both men were sweaty and out of breath.I handed them each a bottle of water and gave Griff a shot of Dragonade. “Good w
His lips touched mine in a kiss that melted my heart.I unbuckled his belt, wishing we could make love once more to strengthen our bond. Things would be so much easier if I could speak into his mind without breaking the kiss. Since I couldn’t, I drew back.“Griff,” I whispered against his lips. “You need to keep your strength for the fight.”His deep chuckle made my heart flutter. “There’s nothing stopping me from giving you pleasure.”“What?”He pulled back my unbuttoned shirt and cut open my sports bra with a fingernail he’d shifted into a claw.I glanced down at my exposed breasts. “When did you do that?”“Do you know how long I spent working out ways to get into your knickers?” Griff unbuckled my belt and popped open the buttons of my fly.“Are you serious?”He growled. “You doubt me?”I shook my head. “You’re just so…” My breath hitched. “Since when did I get so lucky?”His eyes softened. “I’ve been asking myself the same.”As Griff kissed me again, I took off his shirt and trous
I hadn’t underestimated the depths that these bastards would stoop. Griff and I might have set up a trap to wipe them out if we’d known they would try a stunt like this. Now, we were tired, wet, and half-naked, staring down the barrel of a gun.Anxiety seized my heart in an icy grip, and all the relaxation I’d gained from the bath evaporated. Clutching my towel around my chest, I stepped in front of Griff, trying to create a barrier between him and the gunman. My wet hair streamed water into my eyes, and I swiped it out of my face.Griff snarled. “Get behind me.”“It’s not me they want,” I said.“Listen to your mate, woman,” the gunman snarled in a familiar deep voice.My jaw tightened. “What’s wrong, Malachi? Can’t you face my mate in a one-to-one fight?”“There will be no public challenge,” he said.Griff moved in front of me and raised his palms. “Put down the gun, step out from the shadows, and fight me like a wolf.”The gunman chuckled. “Your feisty mate is more likely to step in
I stumbled to my feet and pointed it at his chest. “Who are you?”“No one.” He stepped back, his hands raised.I squeezed the trigger, firing a bullet in the doorframe, making him yelp. “Don’t think you can outrun a gun, because I’ll shoot you in the head if you make me chase you down the hallway naked.”His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Don’t shoot me. I had nothing to do with this.”“Get inside.”He took a step toward me, his hands raised.“Who sent you?” I asked.“No one.” The door clicked shut behind the man, making him flinch. “This was supposed to be a robbery, and I got paid by a man in the pub to play lookout.”“Who?”He turned to the corner of the room, where Griff’s wolf now rose from an unmoving black lupine. “Him, I suppose. He said you had something valuable. I didn’t know anything about the gun.”My eyes narrowed. Malachi probably wouldn’t keep someone so weaselly in his inner circle, nor would he want any of them to think he couldn’t face Griff in a fair fight. Expo
“What if Malachi lost control of his emotions and ordered Griff’s execution?” I said. “Or decided to shoot Griff himself?”She tilted her head.“All of that is possible, so we have to put pressure on him to bring forward the alpha fight?”She barked a question.“Didn’t he seem to care too much about what others thought?”She nodded.“That’s a weakness.” My gaze darted to the dashboard, which said eleven fifteen. Closing hours for pubs in my time had been eleven, but judging by the amount of people still crowding the drinking establishment, there didn’t seem to be any restrictions. “We’ll get a huge crowd and psych them up to watch the ultimate alpha battle.”Beki’s happy bark told me that it was a good idea.Without needing any directions from Ramsey, Griff stopped the car at a paved square. In the middle of it stood a statue of a shirtless Malachi, standing with his arms outstretched. Behind it was a brick mansion with long, narrow windows designed to make it look like a miniature ca
Sweat broke out across my brow as Malachi descended the steps with a small group of henchmen who each carried weapons. I gulped. Worms of anxiety slithered through my gut, making me want to gag. There were pistols, shotguns, crossbows… the type a person could shoot at a distance and never get hurt. I glanced up into the windows, finding them also stationed with gunmen.Shit.Malachi had come prepared.But that didn’t mean all was lost.The crowd fell silent, and a few of the people who had been cheering recessed into the throng.“Seize them,” the alpha snarled. “Griffiths will watch my wolves fuck his woman before I send him back to Hell.”Griff’s furious growl made my skin tremble. He extracted a gun from his jacket and pointed it at Malachi’s head. “The first one of you fuckers who approaches my mate will get a bullet between the eyes.”The men hesitated.My breath hitched. Threatening the henchmen would only go so far when there were sharpshooters aiming guns at us through the wind
My stomach tightened. Was this a concussion, or was he simply dazed? If I rushed to his aid before the fight restarted, I couldn’t guarantee the crowd’s reaction. It was one thing for Boris to separate them—nobody knew our strategy. Healing Griff’s swollen face would be cheating.Beki whined, but the sound was mostly a reluctant agreement.Boris stood between Malachi and Griff. “We’ll start again, shall we?” he said, sounding like a ringmaster. “When you fight as men, I want you upright. If the fight continues on the ground, you both shift into wolves.”My brows pinched together. “What on earth is he saying?”Beki shook her head.I curled my hands into fists. For his sake, Malachi’s curse had better be there when he shifted.“Hold this.” Griff shrugged off his jacket and handed it to Boris.After that, he pulled off his shirt, making the crowd roar their approval. A few people wolf-whistled, making my lips tighten. This wasn’t a bloody strip show. Griff was just trying to avoid a situ
My throat thickened, and I walked over to Griff before the crowd carried him away. My mate stood tall and proud, with a glow to him that I hadn’t noticed before, not when we had been alive, not on the walls of my cell, and not even during our second chance at life.Griff was whole.The magic that had been his by birthright shone through his eyes like beacons, bringing out the golden flecks in his irises. His newfound power radiated off his body and tingled across my skin. At that moment, the noise and the crowd disappeared from my awareness, and it was just Griff and me and our love.Griff cupped the side of my face. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”“This is your victory,” I murmured. “Congratulations.”He closed the distance between us and pressed a gentle kiss on my mouth. I let my eyes flutter shut as the roar of the spectators washed over us. Griff’s lips were soft, swollen, so the kiss was tentative. Even so, his touch filled my chest with warmth and love. I remained stil