AMARIS

Why the hell did I care if he lived or died?

Knowing Ryker, and how he sees me as a toy, why not end my ruin by watching him die.

But I couldn’t.

I looked at Alpha Corvin walking away and knew with absolute certainty that there was no hope left for stopping this, that Ryker’s fate was now in the hands of the moon goddess and whatever mercy she felt like showing today.

My wolf whimpered inside me, the sound pitiful and broken, mourning a mate who was not even dead yet but might be in the next few minutes.

I turned and found Rowan standing firm near the edge of the fighting circle, his posture tense but controlled. I walked over to him and grabbed his arm. "Why aren’t you stopping him?"

He looked down at me and then a little bit at Ryker and his expression a dead give away for confusion. "Oh now you are talking to me."

I blinked. "What?"

"Since the day in my room you have been avoiding me," Rowan pointed out, his voice low enough that only I could hear.

Heat flooded my cheeks, he was right I was avoiding him but not all the time. "If you were in my shoes wouldn’t you avoid you too?"

His mouth curved into a smile despite the circumstances. "Well that’s true."

He looked at me and those beautiful eyes caught mine and held them, warm and concerned and everything Ryker’s were not. Ryker’s eyes had this depth of intensity that sucked you in them and left you in a dead hang for a moment and dropped you in a free fall.

My brain immediately spiraled because one minute I was worried sick about Ryker dying and the next I was mesmerized by Rowan’s stupidly perfect face.

Men. I am such a mess. I couldn’t even adequately choose my poison.

"Ryker can’t be stopped when he wants to do something," Rowan explained, dragging my attention back to the actual problem at hand.

"What kind of maniac is that?" I demanded. My voice was still low but my pitch came off higher than I had intended.

Rowan’s expression shifted to something almost fond. "Are you really that worried about Ryker? You know he is not nice to you,"

If only Rowan knew that not only Ryker isn’t nice to me, he played games with me. Dirty games that required me to let him bury his head inside my legs and sucking me till either I stopped him or asked him to fuck me.

But he couldn’t know that. No one should.

"Aren’t you?" I shot back. "Even though he is a pest, I wouldn’t want him to die. Especially because of me."

Rowan chuckled and it was such an odd reaction given the situation. "First of all, Ryker isn’t doing this for you. Don’t blame yourself. He already had beef with Commander Bruno, he just used you as an excuse to settle the score." He paused. "Also, Ryker isn’t going to die."

"How are you sure?" I pressed, my hands twisting together.

A smirk pulled at Rowan’s mouth. "Amaris, it’s like you don’t know what it means to have Alpha genes, Do you know how strong alpha’s are? Just watch."

We both turned back to the center of the courtyard where Ryker stood. Then he shifted.

I had never seen anyone shift before, not in person. My father had kept me away from pack events and training, locked me up where I could not witness the raw power of what we were supposed to be.

But now I saw it.

Ryker’s body rippled and changed, bones cracking and reforming in ways that should have been horrifying but were somehow beautiful. Black fur erupted across his skin, his face elongating into a form between man and beast until finally a massive black wolf stood where Ryker had been seconds before.

Beautiful was too weak a word.

He was gorgeous in that terrifying way predators were gorgeous, all sleek muscle and deadly grace. His fur caught the sunlight and seemed to absorb it, making him look like a shadow given form. When he moved it was liquid, every step fluid. I had never seen anything this magnificent before. I gazed at him in complete awe.

Then he turned and our eyes locked.

My wolf clawed at the inside of my chest, desperate to get out, to shift and run to him and claim what was ours. The urge was so strong my body actually moved forward a step before I caught myself.

"What is happening?" I gasped, my hands going to my chest where it felt like I was trying to burst through my ribs.

Rowan’s hand landed on my shoulder, his grip firm. "That urge you feel to shift," he murmured, his voice dropping to a low growl, "is because you are our mate. When in wolf form the pull is almost uncontrollable."

"I feel like I can’t stop myself," I admitted, my breathing coming faster.

"Hold her back," Rowan commanded. "You are in control. Breathe in and out."

I followed his instruction, dragging air into my lungs and forcing my wolf down, down, down until she was whimpering but contained.

Then I heard it.

Amaris.

The voice came from inside my head and I spun around frantically looking for who had spoken, my eyes darting across the crowd like I was losing my mind.

"He is linked to your mind," Rowan explained calmly. "When in wolf form."

I stared at him. "Are you too?"

Rowan closed his mouth and then suddenly his voice filled my head without him speaking.

Amaris, tell Ryker he is doing a pretty stupid thing.

Ryker’s wolf form turned to glare at us and I could feel his irritation through whatever connection we now shared.

I did not know if I should freak out or be amazed by this power, by the fact that I could hear their thoughts and they could hear mine. These brothers were going to ruin me, completely and absolutely destroy whatever sanity I had left.

I already told you I want to ruin every part of you. Rowan is still fighting the urge to.

Ryker’s voice purred in my mind.

Rowan’s jaw clenched and replied to him.

Focus on your match and try not to get killed.

I thrive in chaos, Ryker responded, and I could hear the grin in his mental voice.

Commander Bruno shifted then, his body transforming into a brown wolf that was slightly smaller than Ryker but still massive and clearly dangerous. The second his transformation completed he lunged, his body flying through the air straight at Ryker.

Ryker dodged, his body twisting sideways with impossible speed. Bruno’s jaws snapped closed on empty air and he landed hard, his claws digging into the dirt as he spun around for another attack.

"Ryker is such a dumb fool wanting to die," Nia’s voice came from behind me and I jumped.

She appeared at my side, her face pale and her hands wringing together. Rowan glanced at her, his expression shifting to something confused.

"Where is Cole?" he asked. "Do you know where he is?"

Nia’s eyes narrowed. "Oh so because you know I am fucking him now, I should know where he is?"

"Not what I meant but yeah," Rowan countered, "why the hell are you even fucking Cole? I thought you said you saw him like a brother, the way you saw us."

She is in love with Cole. Not just fucking him.

Ryker’s voice interjected in my mind, amused even while dodging another attack.

"Ryker concentrate!" I yelled out loud, forgetting that he could hear my thoughts.

Nia looked at me like I had lost my mind. "I hope you know he won’t hear you."

Bruno circled Ryker slowly, looking for an opening. Ryker matched his movements, the two wolves moving in a deadly dance.

So Nia doesn’t know we are fated mates You haven’t told her.

Ryker observed in my head.

I watched the wolves clash, their bodies slamming together in a tangle of fur and teeth. Bruno was faster than I expected, his attacks precise and brutal. Ryker blocked most of them but a few landed, drawing blood that matted his black fur.

She doesn’t know, I thought back, forgetting they were both listening.

I don’t tell Nia everything. Especially that Rowan kissed me.

The thought hit me a second too late, realization crashing through the moment I figured out I had blurted out without thinking.

Ryker stopped moving.

Just froze completely in the middle of the fight, his wolf form going rigid.

"Ryker!" Rowan yelled out loud, his hand leaving my shoulder.

Commander Bruno seized the opportunity and slammed into Ryker with his full weight, the impact brutal and devastating. Ryker’s body flew backward and crashed into the ground hard enough that I heard the air leave his lungs, and heard bones crack from the force.

The crowd gasped collectively.

I gasped.

Everyone gasped.

Ryker lay there not moving and Bruno stood over him, his jaws opening to go for the throat.