Chapter 75

Ava

I followed Chris’s long strides as he made his way toward the secluded thicket, my heart pounding in my chest. Despite his reassurances, a sick sense of dread was coiling in the pit of my stomach—and for good reason.

“You shouldn’t have come,” he said without even glancing back at me. “I told you to go to the car.”

I jutted out my chin stubbornly. “Like hell I’d let you face that brute alone.”

Chris finally turned then, fixing me with an inscrutable look. “Ava, I can handle myself. And the last thing I want is for you to get hurt.”

“Oh, stuff it,” I snapped. “We both know that the last time you had a trial by combat, you struggled to even drop your fangs and extend your claws. You’ve spent too much time in the human world, Chris. Don’t be so sure that you can win this.”

His expression softened slightly at that, and he let out a rueful chuckle. “Fair point. But what could you possibly do if things went south?”

I shrugged. It had been a long time since I had shifted fully, but if I needed to… I supposed I could.

“Just be careful,” I warned him. “And don’t let your pride keep you from yielding or even running away. I don’t want you to…” My voice trailed off, and it was only then that I noticed the giant lump in my throat. I quickly looked away, blinking back the tears that were suddenly starting to prick at the backs of my eyes.

Chris sighed and took a step forward, gathering me into his arms. He pressed a warm, lingering kiss to the top of my head, and I let my frame melt into his as he held me.

“Don’t worry, Ava. I’m not going to let him kill me.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

…

All too soon, we were arriving at the designated meeting spot—a small, moonlit clearing ringed by towering pine trees. The shadows seemed to shift and move around us as we stepped into the center.

No sooner had we come to a stop than three dark figures melted out of the treeline, their faces obscured by the hoods of their cloaks. The New Moon Beta stood at the forefront, his icy gaze locked onto Chris with a sneer twisting his features while his two buddies stood a few paces behind him.

“Alpha,” he greeted with a mocking incline of his head. His eyes then flicked over to me. “I must say, I’m… surprised to see you’ve brought your little plaything along.”

My hands clenched into fists at my sides, but before I could snap out a biting retort, Chris was stepping smoothly in front of me.

“Enough with the bullshit,” he said in a low, dangerous tone. “If we’re going to do this, then let’s get on with it. I have places to be.”

The Beta’s eyes narrowed to slits, all traces of amusement fading from his expression. Without another word, he began shrugging out of his cloak and tossed it to one of his companions.

I watched in tense silence from beside the tree I was standing next to as Chris mirrored his actions, shucking off his jacket and kicking off his boots before rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. His muscular forearms were exposed, taut and sinewy.

But the Beta’s arms were much, much bigger—and scattered with old scars that caught the moonlight and spoke of dozens, maybe even hundreds, of won fights.

“Chris,” I murmured, feeling a bit of panic set in. “Are you sure about this?”

The Beta let out a bark of laughter. “Your toy is worried about you, Alpha,” he crowed. “How sweet.”

Chris ignored him and instead fixed me with a steady look. A soft smile even tugged at the corners of his lips as he murmured, “I’ll be alright, Ava.”

I opened my mouth to protest further, but the words died on my lips as Chris tugged his shirt up and over his head in one smooth motion.

My breath caught in my throat as I drank in the sight of his bare torso, chiseled and sculpted by years of training. His tanned skin seemed to glisten in the light of the moon, his hard muscles rippling beneath his skin with every movement.

Chris tossed his shirt aside carelessly before reaching up and raking his fingers through his tousled hair. He met my gaze, and to my surprise… he winked.

“The Moon Goddess watches over us,” he said with a faint, teasing quirk of his lips.

I rolled my eyes at his words—at his obvious attempt to bring some levity to the situation. Before I could respond, however, the sound of the Beta clearing his throat cut through the tension.

“How sweet,” the Beta sneered from across the clearing. “Honestly, I’m touched. Hell, perhaps once I’m Alpha, I’ll even keep her for myself rather than killing her like I planned.”

A snarl ripped free from Chris’s chest at that, guttural and feral. For the first time, I saw a flicker of his wolf in those green eyes—bright and savage in the moonlight.

“We’ll see about that,” he growled out.

And with that, the fight began.

It started slowly at first, the two of them circling one another with well-practiced movements. Their muscles flexed as they feinted and dodged, sizing each other up with keen, predatory gazes.

Every so often, one of them would lash out with a powerful swing, only to be deflected or evaded with ease. Despite the electric feeling in the air, the entire clearing was dead silent. Even the animals and crickets had gone quiet, almost as though they were watching, waiting.

As the fight went on, however, their punches finally began to land. I flinched with every meaty thud of impact, pained grunts and growls echoing through the night.

Suddenly, without any warning, the Beta surged forward—only to be met by an elbow to the jaw with enough force to snap his head back violently. He stumbled, spitting blood and what looked like a tooth, and the battle descended into true chaos from there.

Sweat flew from thrashing bodies as the two of them grappled and wrestled, their fangs bared and their claws extended. Chris, despite being outsized by his opponent, was clearly holding his own—and then some.

I gasped as he landed a series of powerful punches, snapping the Beta’s head from side to side with two vicious hooks before sweeping the larger man’s legs out from under him. The Beta crashed to the ground with a pained grunt, only to be rocked by a vicious kick to the ribs that left him doubled over and wheezing.

Chris towered over his fallen form, chest heaving, his eyes burning with that same molten intensity as before.

But then, just as it seemed like the brutal tide had turned in our favor, chaos broke out. The Beta’s two friends split up; one went straight for Chris, and the other came for me.

I opened my mouth to cry out a warning, to tell Chris that he was about to be outnumbered—but then a fist connected squarely with the side of my head, and everything turned to flashing stars and the ground whirled beneath my feet as I went careening downward.

Distantly, I was aware of a pained cry ripping out of my own lips as I crumpled heavily to the ground. I felt something hard and rough rip through the sleeve of my shirt, my shoulder instantly going hot and bloody—the rough bark of a tree.

As I laid there, on the verge of vomiting, I saw the figure that had come for me now joining the fray in the middle of the clearing. But I only saw glimpses before my eyes were betraying me again, reality flickering in and out as I felt something warm and wet trickle down my ear.

The sounds of the fight resumed around me, growls and grunts and the sound of flesh hitting flesh filling my ears. But it was all muffled somehow, muted—as though I was underwater.

My vision swam sickeningly as I tried in vain to blink away the darkness clouding the edges of my consciousness. Through the haze, I could just make out figures moving, flickering in and out of focus like ghosts or shades.

Chris… He was outnumbered… I had to help…

I tried to stand, but it was no use. Even when I managed to get myself up to a crouching position, I was immediately on the ground again, the world swirling around me like a ride I couldn’t get off of.

But then, somewhere at the end of the darkness, I heard an ear-splitting howl and saw a flash of pristine white fur. I heard the sound of a man scream, followed by that very same man careening past me. There was a sickening crunch as he slammed into a tree right next to me, his body going utterly limp.

With my heart pounding in my ears, I followed the line of where the man had come from. There, at the center of the clearing, I saw the most brilliant white wolf I had ever seen before, standing with his fangs bared as the Beta and his one remaining companion scrambled to their feet and ran for the hills.

His fur was stained red—some of it his own, I quickly learned, when I saw the silver glint of a knife protruding from his abdomen.

“Chris…” I croaked out, my fingers working uselessly into the dirt as I tried to crawl toward him.

The white wolf turned his head and blinked at me before shifting back. Chris crumpled to the ground, a pool of red slowly forming around him.