Chapter Six
6
Ethel’s POV
My back ached with the force which I had used to hit my back on the wall. Whoever had enough strength and effrontery to throw me away was one of two things; either very strong, or very stupid. The person must have a death wish and I’ll be sure to make his wish fulfilled, faster than he or she can think.
I attuned my eyes to the electromagnetic spectrum, trying to see if it was any heat signature that I had registered in my vast database, which was usually my custom anytime I met a formidable opponent.
I scanned the heat signature and realized that this opponent must be much stronger than I thought him to be, but it could be just a pretense. Wolves had learnt different offensive and defensive techniques over the time of their evolution, including manipulating their heat signatures to make them look stronger to their opponents. It was something that I had been taught over the course of my training before my ascension to the post of the alpha and I wasn’t going to let this little fly get in my way, not when I was so close to getting what I wanted and there it was, sleeping and lying unconscious right in front of me, save for this intruder in front of me.
“Walk away while you still can,” I warned him, talons flashing out in the dim gleam of the moonlight. I switched my vision back to night mode and realized this my opponent hadn’t even switched to defense mode yet. He was baiting me and I knew how to deal with proud people just like this.
“I think you need that advice more than I do,” he replied, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.
This was going to be a hell of a showdown and I was ready for it. I had not had the feeling of the blood of a formidable opponent on my claws for some time and I was already relishing the fight, even though it had not started.
I decided to go half wolf mode and gave in. To avoid unnecessary and unwanted questions back at The Clave, I took off my jacket and my shirt letting the biology shift itself.
All in a matter of seconds, I felt the human biology melt away and give way to the more superior and dominating gene that lived inside. My heartbeat increased and I could feel the blood pulsing through the veins.
My thoracic cavity expanded and the muscles in my arms increased in size and thickness, the strength of a hundred men pumping through my arms and my entire body. I gave in to the power and let it take over all my innards, gave it full, unhindered and administrative access to my senses and allow it to be heightened.
Battle was joined and the sound of clanging claws filled the air, accompanying by the intermittent flashes that showed anytime they came in contact with one another.
This man was definitely stronger and more skilled than I was, blocking every move and anticipating the next one before I even carried it out and waving it off as soon as I thought I had landed it.
We had both fought tirelessly for over twenty minutes, the highest I’ve had in a long time because no one usually survived that long, they were usually terribly wounded or dead in the first ten minutes but this mysterious man had survived for so long without even suffering a single scratch.
I targeted a slash to his forehead and he blocked it off with one hand, giving him the access to lash out at my open stomach but he was obviously too slow and didn’t take the attack before I realized my position, springing back to reorganize.
Reacting instantly, I launched another attack aimed at the midsection of his torso with a left to right slash. Before moving, I had calculated my move and knew the only way he could react was by stepping back a little, and he did just as I had envisaged.
I launched out my leg in a semicircle kick that was supposed to be fatal to him and damage him but he just blocked it midair and kicked me hard on the other leg, sending sprawling on the dirt floor, pain and agony shooting up my spine.
This wasn’t over, at least not now. I struggled to stand up but the pain shooting up my spine sent me back to the ground, the feeling already spreading to all my nerves and muscles.
The stranger walked over to me, his claws glimmering as he took every step slowly like an overpowered predator that was enjoying the fear in the eyes of its prey. He bent down intentionally and handed me my clothes, talking to me in a guttural voice,
“Get out of here, while you still can. I must not see you hurt this lady or anybody around here again. Do I make myself clear?”
“Who are you to threaten me? Do you know who I am?” I replied, not letting my composure down even though he could decide if I lived or died right there, on the spot.
“I don’t bloody care who you think you are. That is my last warning, next time wouldn’t be so nice.”
“Don’t you speak to me like that!” and it came without warning. His claws clamped down on my throat like the talons of an eagle grabbing hold of the small chicks. He angled one of the claws to my neck and applied pressure a little bit, pressing till he drew blood.
Reflexively, I let out a cry of agony and struggled to break free from his grip but he was too strong, even for my frantic screaming and kicking before finally letting me go, my blood on the floor.
“I wont repeat myself, you have three minutes to haul your ugly face away from this premises.”
What? Did he just call me ugly? I thought as I struggled to get towards the car and eased myself in, looking at the wound created by where he had stabbed me with the claw. It was a nasty gash and the bleeding was minor, a trickle of blood running down to stain my torso and my trousers.
Wounded as I was, I was less concerned about my injuries but had grown suddenly restless and my anger had increased by a thousand times due to the presence of this stranger who had come and ruined everything.
How the hell was I supposed to score the expansion if Elnora was not by my side? Did she know I was coming for her? How could she prepare enough to even get that hired muscle? Who was that man? Which pack did he come from? He’s definitely not one from here and i swore inside my mind to track and hunt him down, ask for a rematch and finish him but that would be after I was done with Elnora and my plans for her.
I put the gear in drive and the car wheeled away, veering into the highway that led to my getaway house. I needed somewhere to rest, to heal and to rethink.
We wolves didn’t really need the doctors as much as the normal humans do because of our advanced biology. The wound had been deep and it would heal up under a number of days without any medical attention but surely I could help myself to a bottle of whisky or something a little more subtle at the moment.
My blood was boiling red with anger and my heart was beating rapidly as I remembered everything that had transpired in the last number of days; Cheryl breaking the trust I had planted in her and showing up to the house with Lucian, my son, which had been the originator of all my problems.
There must be a particular problem with women that couldn’t be pointed out. I had told her Cheryl times without count the reason why I had to do what I was doing and she still had the effrontery to come into the house and ruin it all. She deserves a visit and a gift for what she had done after all.
The man driving in front was driving too slow and I was starting to lose my cool, honking repeatedly so he could at least get out of the road but he wouldn’t bulge. I double checked the bumper protector on my vehicle and stepped the accelerator in anger, his car swerving off into the shrubs at the side of the bridge.
I was too angry to even check what happened at him, not that seeing him in an accident would gimme the urge to wait or something like that. I drove like a just released drug addict still high on what got him arrested.
Anger was the main thing on my mind right now and I needed to suppress it.