جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 210

Malachi swaggered out from the woods and across the graveyard, pausing twenty feet away from Griff.I held my breath and waited for him to make his first move. Gerrison and Dad had taught me all about challenges, guessing that there would be a stream of dickheads thinking a female alpha would be an easy target. In a situation where a potential challenger had crossed into one’s territory, a sensible alpha would show enough of a display of strength to make them think twice about risking their lives.Malachi looked more like a gorilla shifter than a wolf. His bushy eyebrows met in the middle, matching a beard he kept cropped around his angular features like turf. His facial hair widened around his jaw, making it look perfectly square. For all I knew, he could be hiding a pointed chin.The hair on his chest was so thick that it formed a velvet backdrop for the gold rings around his nipples. And it continued down a muscular torso into a pair of skin-tight jeans with the top button undone.

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

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

“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

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