Semua Bab The Tyrant alpha: Bab 381 - Bab 390

I could shift now, run hard and fast, follow the bond to wherever they’re keeping Wrenlee. Make it so that they kill me right in front of her.I steel my spine. A deafening roar erupts from the other side of the arena. Killian Kelly must be making his way to the ring. My gaze lifts to the jumbotron. The camera has zoomed in on his face. He’s older than me, and he’s bigger, too. He’s got every male in North Border beat for arrogance. He strolls down the aisle alone, and although the people scream his name, no one dares crowd too close.The cameraman zooms in on his swinging dick, and the arena goes crazy. He’s grinning when he ducks between the ropes and raises an arm in acknowledgment. I guess he’s above having to weigh in and stick out his tongue.Eldrick slams his palm into my back. “Get in there. You have five minutes to knock him out.”I start for the ring, but before I can take a step, he jerks me back by my arm. “If you don’t, I’m going to be the first in the ring with your swee

And then, from a distance, a buzzer cuts through the screams of the crowd and the roaring in my head. Killian drops his fists to his sides, rolls his shoulders, cracks his neck, and strolls to his corner. I stagger to mine.I stand alone, propping myself up on the ropes, sweat dripping down my body, blood blurring my vision, my skin blossoming in bruises. I swipe my eyes and find Wrenlee. She’s crying. My guts twist, and I gasp from the pain.Eldrick’s face is contorted in fury. The entire arena is alive—reenacting what they’ve just seen, raising their mugs for refills, laughing, opining—except the contingent of Claws seated around my mate. They scowl. A few are tinged gray or green. The odds of me knocking Killian Kelly out in the first round must have been a thousand to one. If they had won, they’d have been set for life. For generations. If they bet it all on me . . . they were fools.Broke fools are dangerous.I keep my eyes on Wrenlee. The only way out of this is through.Eldrick

Killian shifts his mate so that she’s behind him. “Alpha.” He drops a curt nod, greeting Fireside without an ounce of deference.“Alpha,” Fireside replies, flashing his oily, toothy smile. “A historical day, is it not?” He straightens his brocade jacket, although it is not the least bit out of place.His guards follow at his heel as always, splayed in a semicircle at his back. He won’t tolerate males taller than him in his guard, so they’re all an inch shorter and as wide as barn doors. They glare menacingly at the naked Quarry Pack male standing with his head high, his fists on his hips.Killian shoots them a dismissive sneer. “First for everything,” he answers easily.Fireside turns to me. “And where have you been hiding all these years? On the river wall, I’m told?”I incline my chin enough to not give offense. My head is swimming, blackness edging my vision. I need to stay upright long enough to see this through. It’s almost done. She’s almost safe.“Well, Son, let it not be said

“So you rank, then?” Jaime turns on the female. “We’re not going by who you can beat in the ring anymore but by whose cock you suck? Is that it?” The male’s face twists into a nasty, blotchy, freckled sneer. “Or do I have that backward? Do I need to bend my neck to you because our beta gets on his knees for you and—” He makes a dirty gesture, jerking his fist and poking his cheek with his tongue.A male gasps. Another’s jaw drops. A few turn away so they’re facing forward, as if they suddenly decided they want no part in this argument.I don’t understand the insult, but Kennedy’s face has gone as red as Jaime’s.“Stop the van,” she calls to the driver.“Don’t you fucking dare,” Jaime snarls over his shoulder.The driver coughs and adjusts the rearview. “I’m sorry, Kennedy. I can’t. You heard your—Tye.”Jaime smirks, puffs his chest, and knocks his head against the roof of the van.Kennedy scowls at him, her face flushing deeper and the monster in her chest grumbling louder and louder.

On full moons, the alpha’s circle has their rickshaws do an entire circuit of town so everyone can see them in their finery before delivering them to dinner a dozen yards from their homes overlooking the river. I used to crowd onto the bank by Cooks Lane with my younger sisters to watch them pass, but I stopped a few years ago. At some point, the enchantment wore off, and after they rolled past, I was left restless with a bitter taste in my mouth.I know what that feeling is now. It was presentiment. A part of me knew, even then, that it was fine enough if I was with the others, in my place, out of their way, but if for some reason I became separated from the rest? If I’d found myself in their way? They would crush me without a second thought.Fear twists my innards into knots, and I have to grip tighter so the wooden handles don’t slip through my sweaty palms. If this doesn’t work, they will make a lesson out of me, and Clay will die before he lets them.This has to work.I force mys