Chapter 7: When Werewolves Play

Cillian

            I can’t wait to get home, shower, eat, and sleep. Preferably see Kayleigh first before all that. But she’d probably think I look and smell gross so maybe shower first.

            I haven’t seen her since Monday night, after she kicked me out of her room. For her sake, or her so-called-friend Andrei’s sake, she’d better cut ties with him or at least stop their public displays of affection. I want to rip him to pieces every time they’re too close to each other.

She doesn’t have her wolf yet, so she doesn’t know that we’re mates. Every time she touches him or purposely dotes on him, it hurts me. Physically. Like a singe of fire on my skin kind of pain.

            I can’t exactly just announce to her that we’re mates. Without her wolf, she might think I’m making it up. I tried to tell her about it last year. But I started kissing her before telling her what’s up. If I’m being honest, I’ve known for a while now that she’s my mate. Even before my wolf came forward.

The year before my wolf emerged, I always made up reasons to call her. Or send her a text message. Or banter with her. Or show up unannounced at their home in Ireland. I even bullied my way into a dance with her. There was this sudden urge to be near her, to touch her, to protect her, and to take care of her. But being young, I guess I didn’t know how to deal with what I felt for her.

            Then last year, when I saw her walking into the ballroom, I felt like a huge magnet hit me in my chest and pulled me towards her. I only planned to talk to her, ask about her wolf, and play nice. But all that went out the window the moment her scent hit my nostrils.

Her smell, the sound of her voice, her beautiful face, and everything about her called to me. And when we were only mere inches away, all reasonable intentions of being a gentleman were forgotten. I kissed her. I devoured her lips. I didn’t even care if her family saw us. I would have claimed her and told everyone that we were mates. Even if she didn’t have her wolf yet. If my memory serves me right I know she kissed me back, too. I wanted to talk to her, just enjoy the night with her. But then fucking Andrei showed up.

Andrei has been my nemesis for as long as I can remember. Although we practically grew up seeing each other at wolf-blood social events, we never really got along. Every time I see him, he’s always playing Prince Charming to Kayleigh.

I know for a fact they’re not together. First off, I would’ve killed him already. Second, my contacts tell me he’s still whoring himself across Russia and, recently, West Virginia.

The fact that they aren’t dating doesn’t mean that I should feel complacent. Kayleigh is becoming prettier by the day. I doubt there’ll be any man or woman in their right mind who won’t think she is beautiful. I know that Andrei wants to claim her. He wants her for himself. She has the beauty of a siren.

Fuck knows if gypsy wolves believe in fated mates. I highly doubt Andrei cares about fated mates, anyway. Knowing him, he’d probably just go after Kayleigh just to prove he can. Kayleigh has a beauty that could make wolf packs go to war. And if Andrei tries to take her from me, I won’t hesitate to end him. Gypsy wolf or not.

“All right, future Alphas! I commend you all for the hard work and endurance you’ve displayed over the last three days. I love wolf runs. But even I despise the Ozark Mountains this time of the year. However, it’s the safest trail for us to run continuously for three straight days. I didn’t know what to expect from almost 50 Alpha heirs, but I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. And you guys, I wanna let you know, I’m not impressed, but I’m not disappointed,” a loud voice intones to end the three-day Alpha run.

This year’s Alpha-trainer, Zerdan, is from the Himalayas. Although short in stature, he is agile and strong, especially for someone in his 50s. I’m impressed with how he was able to keep up with us, given we’re less than half his age. We ran in our wolf forms at night and rested wherever our legs brought us at sunrise.

By rest, I mean hunted for wild animals, built fires, ate, and slept for maybe a few hours. If we were lucky to come across a river or a lake, we indulged ourselves and got cleaned up.

But man, it’s been three days living in the wild. I need a hot shower. My bed. Good food. And most of all, Kayleigh. I can’t wait to be done here and get home. And go see her.

“Alpha Zerdan! Aren’t we going to end the day with a wolf match?” I swear I could wring the neck of the guy who just reminded the trainer about the traditional wolf match to end the summit’s first week.

“Yeah!” several people agree.

“Let’s do this!” more people goad.

I eye several vehicles coming into the ranch’s parking lot. Probably the girlfriends or friends of the other Alphas coming to pick them up. I’m gonna head to my motorcycle and ditch the rest of these guys. Shower. Food. Kayleigh. Repeat to myself. Shower. Food. Kayleigh.

“Cillian O’Ryan. Blue Blood Alpha heir. Come over here, lad,” calls Zerdan.

“Yes, sir. How may I help you?” I feel my hopes of a hot shower and wet dreams of a beautiful Irish redhead go down the drain as I approach the trainer. I already know we’re going to be here longer.

            “Let’s do this traditional wolf match everyone speaks of, what say you?” There’s a hint of mischievousness in his voice. Like he knew I didn’t want to but I had no choice. He probably caught me trying to sneak out without being noticed.

            “Sure, sir. Who two Alpha heirs do you have in mind?”

            “Two? I think it’s time to up the stakes. This time let’s do ten guys. Fight till the last man standing.” His gaze roams to the shirtless, young, future Alphas in front of him.

Jeers erupt from the group. More females from the parking lot join us, and more vehicles are also coming in. Those who arrived a few minutes earlier burst into hoots.

“No killing. Just plain play. Scratches are allowed of course, but no bites. Again, no hits that would kill. Fight to push your opponent out of the fighting pit circle, not to purposely cut them. And you can pick whichever form you want to fight, as a human or as a wolf,” Zerdan continues explaining.

“Now, Cillian, pick the nine guys you’d want to fight. Let’s see if you young guns have what it takes to be the Alphas of your packs,” he intones.

“Me? Well…” Fuck. Now I have to be the bad guy and pick who’ll fight. This wolf match was a lot easier in the past years. Not wanting to pit the guys against each other, I decide to just ask them to volunteer. “Listen, guys, if you think you can handle this tradition, mixing it up this year with not just two werewolves, but ten, well here I am. Let’s see who the other nine brave ones are! Come forward!” My last statement is met with cheers from both the young men and women.

Without Zerdan saying anything else the whole group of young werewolves all step back, leaving an imaginary circular fighting pit. With me in the middle of it.

Two Alpha heirs from Asia step into the circle. The future Alpha from Australia riles up the crowd as he jogs next to me, earning him some howls. While six, now eight, guys are either making their way to or stretching at center of the imaginary pit, a redhaired girl with porcelain skin catches my eye, marching her way to the source of my misery. Andrei.

I feel like a scalpel slices my chest open when I see her hug him from behind, trying to surprise him. He catches her hands like he knew it was going to be her and pulls her to his side. I check my chest, no open wounds, but feels like I’m going through an open heart surgery without anesthesia as I fall into the trance of her giggles from whatever he’s whispering in her ear. Evidently, none of what I asked her to do on Monday night got through to her. Because here she is, flirting with this asshole.

“Yo! Future Alpha from Russia, you think you’ve got what it takes to take down other Alphas?” Saying his name means I’m acknowledging him as someone I know. So I don’t. Kayleigh clearly isn’t expecting that from me. She stares me down like she wants to say something, but I don’t make eye contact with her. I know I’m treading dangerous waters by sparring with a gypsy wolf, but I’d rather get beaten up than watch him make Kayleigh smile or laugh.

All her smiles and laughs are mine.

Kayleigh makes a show of holding Andrei back, but it’s too late. Arrogantly, he ambles to the middle of the fighting pit. Right in front of me. The crowd’s hollers and jests are deafening. But none of those matter right now. Only that I am face-to-face with the gypsy wolf who wants to take my mate from me.

“Fight till the last man standing. Let’s gooooo!!!!” one of the young guys yells, probably tasked by Zerdan.

In my peripheral vision, I see four guys shift into their wolf forms. The other four guys were sparring old-school. I don’t wait for Andrei to transform, if he plans to. I punch him under his jaw and immediately give him a straight hit on his face. That gave him whiplash.

I don’t wait for him to recover. I step back and gave him a full force sidekick. He falls to the ground.

Three Alphas are out of the pit. Only seven of us remain.

I search for Kayleigh in the crowd. I’m surprised not to see her angry. Instead, I see disgust on her face. She’s making me feel like I’m doing something ludicrous. If she knew that we were fated mates, would she understand why I have so much disdain for this guy? 

Or has she already caught some feelings for him?

Fuck that. The idea that she has feelings for him makes me angrier. I gear up to send a round kick to Andrei but he catches my foot mid-air, hangs on to my shin, and uses it as leverage to kick me flying a good several feet from him. Even with the noise around me, I could pick up Kayleigh’s whimper as I land on my ass.

Does she care about me, too? Feeling stupid, I almost want Andrei to hit me again just so I can prove that Kayleigh cares about me.

Two wolves are left inside the pit, plus Andrei and me, still in human form. Almost comically, the wolf dragging the other wolf out of the pit fell outside the circle as well. Now, only Andrei and I are left.

Fired-up and furious I stand up, ready to shift into my wolf form. I don’t care if my shifting will also prompt him to turn into his gypsy wolf. I guess we’ll find out.

I call my wolf to the surface to take over. Within seconds, I feel the swift transformation of my bones and give way to my wolf body as it emerges. My vision is clearer, my sense of smell is better, and my hearing is sharper. I can see Kayleigh even while I’m also focused on Andrei’s next moves.

The air carries Kayleigh’s scent to me. It’s luring me to follow her smell and go to her. I close my eyes and relish her scent.

I’m reminded of our time together in her bedroom on Monday night.

When my lips were on hers, my tongue assaulting her mouth with pleasure.

My hands caressing her soft skin.

As if Kayleigh can read my mind right now, our eyes zero in on each other almost at the same time. My wolf cracks a wolfish grin and I swear I see her blush.

Is she also reminiscing about our intimate moment last night?