Chapter 169

Ethan

“What’s wrong with you?” Laxus, my number one Gamma, asks, eyeing me. He’s been training with me for the last two days, and I know he’s noticed. Everyone probably has. No matter how hard I try to hide it, there’s something wrong.

My skin feels tight over my entire body. The pain ripping down my mate bond has grown, where I can barely sleep. I can’t help but think about her.

I don’t answer the man as I wrap fighter’s tape around my fists. Most of the fights will be in animal form, but I wouldn’t put it past some to try to surprise their opponents by shifting mid-battle. I need to be prepared for everything.

“Alpha,” Laxus growls, moving in front of me and grabbing my wrist. I stop and glare at him, and he immediately releases me. “There’s something wrong with you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the aggression and the lack of focus. You’ve moved slower this week than I’ve ever seen, and I’m worried. You can’t go into the Challenges like this.”

A snarl rips from my chest, and I shove him back, red seeping into the edges of my vision.

“This!” He throws his arms out, “This is what I’m talking about. What happened to you in the East to turn you into this?”

What is wrong with me?

Laxus isn’t wrong. I’ve been on edge all week, especially since I haven’t been able to contact Zev. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without hearing him. Even though I can sense he’s there, deep down, it’s unnatural and unnerving that he’s stayed silent this long.

“Nothing happened,” I rumble, securing the tape on my knuckles and flexing my fingers. The red haze at the edges of my vision fades a bit and I take deep breaths to calm down.

Laxus sighs and scrubs a hand over his hair. I can tell he’s frustrated by the way he stares and drags his hand down his face, but I don’t address his concerns. I can’t. I’ve gotta be prepared. Not letting anything take me by surprise.

“Zev? You going to come out for the fights or leave it all to me?” I ask, looking inward. I’ve tried multiple times to call Zev forward, to get him to respond, but nothing worked. He didn’t even come out when I went to visit Mrs. Denton this morning.

The only response was a wave of dull pain in the mate bond. The same pain that hits me now. I

“We’ll get back to her. Give me a few days then we’ll go back for Fiona,” I promise, reaching as far inside me as I can, hoping he will finally listen. These fights won’t be easy to win if he’s not in them with me.

“Oh, look what we have here,” a male voice says from the right. Laxus and I both turn toward the tent’s opening. An unfamiliar man steps into my tent with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug smirk pulling at his lips. I narrow my eyes on him while Laxus steps in front of me, blocking the man’s path.

“It’s the disgraced Alpha of the Silverclaw Pack,” the man hisses. “It must suck to become a bastard Alpha, demoted from high ranking to being lowly scum who is no better than the lowest ranking Lycans.”

“You need to leave,” Laxus orders, shoving the man back before he can get to me. It’s why he’s here, to act as my guard while I prepare for the fights, but as the man stumbles back, the itch starts. The urge to lunge forward and bash his head into the ground.

The unknown man laughs, dropping his arms to his sides.

“So testy. Is this how the infamous Alpha Montgomery acts? Do you always hide behind your little guard?”

A growl builds in my chest and while I try to hold it in, the red haze returns to the edge of my vision.

Threat.

“You’re not allowed in other competitor’s tents, so I’ll have to insist one more time to leave before I use force,” Laxus demands. He moves a hand back and touches my arm, silently warning me to stay back. As if I need to hide.

I could ruin this man in one hit.

I ignore the spark of burning pain where Laxus touches me and focus my attention on the man in front of us.

Not man.

Prey.

“Leave or suffer the consequences,” I snarl.

He laughs. Laughs like I said something funny.

“This fight won’t be anything difficult. You won’t have a guard to protect you in the fights, little Montgomery,” the man says, his mocking tone grating on my nerves. “I’m not surprised you were demoted. You can’t do anything right, and honestly, your father was even a better leader than you were.”

Red seeps deeper into my vision, taking over like it has several times in the last few days. As if sensing the change, Laxus looks back over his shoulder and his eyes widen.

The man continues, pulling my attention back to him as he speaks, “Not that either of you deserves the title of Alpha, especially someone weak enough to be tied to a human.”

“Shit. Alpha, calm down. You can’t…”

I lunge, my body moving before I can think and my fist slams into his face. Bone crunches beneath my knuckles. A crack echoes through the air. Someone yells for me to stop.

Kill.

Prey.

Threat.

Third Person POV

Ethan lunges at the rival pack member, his eyes glowing red and his k-9 teeth extending. He spins around the rival and grabs him by the back of the neck, bringing his knee up as he yanks the man’s head down.

It happens so fast that Laxus doesn’t have time to stop him before there’s blood gushing from the unknown man’s nose.

“FUCK!” the man shouts, spinning out of Ethan’s grip.

Laxus grabs for his Alpha, but Ethan dodges, ducking under Laxus’s arm and sending a dangerously placed uppercut to the man’s jaw.

“Alpha, stop!” Laxus yells, but it’s like Ethan doesn’t hear him. The red glow of his eyes worries the Gamma, but he doesn’t have time to worry. Instead, Laxus jumps forward, grabbing the injured man and pulling him aside before Ethan can hit him again.

The man stumbles, groaning and grumbling unintelligible words.

“Prey,” Ethan roars, and both Laxus and the rival look up from their spot at the front of the tent.

“Wh-what the hell is w-wrong with him?”

Laxus narrows his eyes on his Alpha. This was worse than any other episode his Alpha had had over the past three days in training. Ethan’s bright, blood-red eyes track the two men as they inch toward escape, and Laxus realizes there is nothing but anger in those eyes.

The usual calm and collected Alpha is gone, replaced by this feral beast.

Was it even safe to let him participate in the Challenges?

“What’s going on in here?” Someone shouts as several men burst into the tent.

“Don’t move!” Laxus orders, his eyes swinging from the group to his Alpha. “Ethan, you need to snap out of it. You’ll get disqualified if you fight outside the official Challenges.”

Ethan doesn’t move, but his jaw clenches, and Laxus notices.

“If you get disqualified, there’s nothing you can do to help your human,” Laxus continues. “If you can’t focus, she’ll be left alone. You don’t want that, do you? You want to go back to her and show her your strength and skill. You can’t do that if you’re locked up for breaking the law!”

Ethan’s red eyes flicker, a sign that he heard the Gamma.

“Think of her. Your mate. If you can’t focus and come back to reality, you may never see her again.” While saying this, Laxus slowly pushes the injured man behind him, to the new spectators, and motions for them to leave quickly. They don’t argue, noting the danger of the situation.

“NO!” Ethan roars, his body heaving as he brings his hands to his face. Laxus watches, his body locking up and preparing for a fight as he crouches in a fighting stance, ready to attack in case his Alpha charges.

“Come back for her. Don’t let the anger take you over. Don’t you want to see your mate again?” Laxus pushes, hoping the thought of his mate will calm Ethan down. He has a sense that the feral state has something to do with being apart from her, so there’s a chance it will help, which means there’s also a chance it won’t help.

“Will see her again,” Ethan growls.

“Yes! But you can’t do that if you don’t calm down.”

Laxus notices the exact moment Ethan’s senses come back. The red fades from his eyes and his legs buckle, sending him to his knees on the ground.

A pained groan falls from Ethan’s lips as his head falls forward and his entire body slumps. He kneels on the ground before his Gamma, panting from the intensity of the fight and the feral anger that took him over.

“F-Fiona.”

“Is that her name? Your mate?”

Ethan nods, lifting his head and looking right at the Gamma.

“What’s wrong with you? You were- it was like you weren’t in control of yourself. Did your wolf take over?”

“No, he… I’m sorry. I don’t know. I couldn’t…”

Ethan struggles to swallow the heat stuck like a boulder in his throat. Whatever is happening to him clearly has something to do with losing Fiona.

He’s sure of it, and he has a feeling that if he doesn’t reconnect with Fiona, it will keep happening.