(This one happens to be my favorite--sorta. It's got some elements I enjoy. I hope you do too.)
Chapter Seven
“Stop,” Marshall called to me, seeing that I was more stunned than angry, so therefore I would listen. I stopped.
Marshall looked back at Luna and Isaac. “Please, Luna.” He pleaded. She blinked and shook her head sharply. Isaac practically had waves of frustration rolling off him, he was flushed with anger and shirtless. Luna was a blue-eyed fury glaring up at him.
Marion, Finn, Jack and Brent watched a little distance off, while Antony was watching from only a few yards away from where Mareck and I stood. Everyone besides the three fighting noticed Mareck and looked at me warily.
“No! Isaac, why now? Wait—I know why—but…can’t it wait? You can’t take her yet. Please,” Luna begged, switching gears and calming Isaac down a little. Her hair fell across her shoulders as she bravely stood in front of him.
I couldn’t grasp what they were talking about, but with the way Finn eyed me, I had an idea.
“You have no say, Luna. Don’t make this more difficult for me than it already is.” Isaac growled, although there was a note of pleading in his voice also, and he flicked a glance my way before turning back to my mom.
“I will not allow my daughter to whelp until she’s at least eighteen.” Luna stated firmly.
Shock flowed through me as her words took root. She was risking her life by arguing when I could get pregnant? Unbelievable.
“Mom, mom!” I breathed, rushing towards her anxiously, avoiding Isaac’s angry stare as I stepped between them. The heat rolling off him burned my back, but I didn’t care.
I grabbed Luna by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Luna, this is my choice. I haven’t decided yet, but still, it’s my choice. You have to trust me. Okay? Please, this is something stupid to fight about.”
Luna wiped tears from her eyes and stared at me before saying, “Fine, fine. But I’m not letting it go completely.”
“Good,” I sighed and stepped away and looked over at Isaac. I’m not sure what my expression was, but it made Isaac take two steps away from Luna, so I figured it was something like, freaking pissed.
He examined my face for a minute then whispered, “I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have hurt her, I swear.” It was so low I figured no one else would have heard it, but both Marshall and Luna looked at him. Marshall kind of sighed and Luna blinked back surprise. I just rolled my eyes and looked back at Mareck.
Which was bad. Because Isaac followed my gaze and zeroed in on him.
“Who are you?”
“Kara,” Antony stressed. “Brought him here.”
I glared at Antony as I left my mom to defend Mareck.
“Kara?” Isaac asked, shock in his voice. “You…allowed this? You gave Tor’s Blessing?” He was looking at me with the oddest expression. Like he was torn between being angry and wanting to ignore the whole situation.
“Yes,” I took a deep breath. “this is major Isaac. I wouldn’t have given it unless it wasn’t important. We need Mareck, and the time wasn’t right to call you.”
Mareck shifted from foot to foot like a little kid and tried to hide a smile. He was so odd. His life was in danger and he was smiling. I saw Finn watching Mareck with curiosity. I realized that Mareck—from what I could tell—was like an annoying Finn. They’d be great friends.
“Oh? Really? We need him? All right, then, spill.” Isaac ordered, glaring as I stared at Mareck for help.
I tried to think up a way to explain quickly but just ended up blurting, “Ayden, um, she’s…uh…” I trailed off and snickered at Mareck. Finally he sighed and took on a serious expression.
“Your pure-bred frien’? What’s she got to do with it?” Brent demanded before Mareck could speak.
I fidgeted.
“Better hurry and explain Kara.” Isaac pleaded softly, looking at the pack around him. “I don’t want—” He stopped and cleared his throat.
“Uh, that’s the point. She’s not a pure-bred. She’s a half-bred. Mareck here goes and finds half—”
“The half-bred werewolves you mean?” Marshall asked, to clarify. Surprise was evident on everyone’s faces. Even Antony.
“Yes,” Mareck answered for me, his accent twisting the word. “I am a stray half-bred seeking to help others like me.” He straightened. “Ayden Pentra is a half-bred werewolf. Kara is a witness to that.”
I nodded. “Saw it last night.”
The silence after that was heavy. Isaac had to decide then to punish me or not.
He chose not, to my relief.
“Well…well then this is very important. Do not ever do that again, Kara.” He growled, the alpha darkening his words. Then he just dropped the subject.
Shock crossed everyone’s faces at his easy dismissal, but no one dared speak up.
Well, almost no one.
“Are you kidding me?” Antony yelled, “She gets off just like that? No way.”
“Stay out of it, Tony.” Marion hissed.
“No, ma. It’s stupid that we’re pretending to ignore that he’s letting her off easy ’cause he wants to snag a piece of tail.” Antony shivered, barely concealing his rage, and glared at me.
Isaac snarled, “Boy…”
But I was already on the move.
“Shut-up, Antony.” I growled quietly.
He grinned mockingly. “Ooh, poor Kara. Gets away with everything. Boo-hoo.”
I couldn’t fathom why Antony even thought to tease me. He knew my unbalanced mindset and still attempted to threaten me. He was stupid. Undeniably idiotic.
Everyone was holding there breath, including Isaac, to see what I was going to do. After all, this was my fight. Whether I chose Isaac as my mate or not, I still had every right to eliminate this immature pup.
I could smell his fear mixed with anticipation in his sweat as he slowly backed up at my slow, taunting, and furious advance.
Finn chuckled and licked his lips, the taste of fight on his tongue.
In that moment I dropped every single human instinct and thought I was having and had ever had about Antony. I slipped off human sanity like a silk dress and let the true beast of a wolf cover every edge of my mind and skin. I stepped forward on tip toes, my feet remembering the grace of paws, and looked Antony dead in the eye.
He flinched and pulled off his shirt, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
No one spoke, and no one stopped us, because what we were headed towards is what we’d been waiting for since we were born. It was time for the Fang Challenge.
My back cracked as the liquid reshaped me and I crouched forward, ready to rip him to shreds in seconds. A low growl started in my human throat as the change spread on. But it wasn’t fast enough. I was impatient, and without thought, tore off my dress with shortened fingers beginning to sprout fur.
The change was dragging, despite my anger. My mind expanded, my thighs tensed and bent, but it just wasn’t fast enough.
My anger was building quicker than the change.
“C’mon, Kara. What’re you scared?” Antony sneered, his body already almost fully wolf except his face.
I froze, then the growl in my throat turned into a vicious snarl.
For the first time ever the change seemed to explode out of me, like a balloon full of confetti exploding and a wolf tearing out. I actually screamed a little as I burst into a ball of multi-colored fur and rage.
Antony’s eyes were wide and I tipped sideways as I realized I had actually gotten a little taller. I grinned inwardly at the pure terror in Antony’s eyes.
Right as my jaw was reforming, I growled a taunt, “Who’s scared of the big bad wolf?” It sounded so garbled and my windpipe snapped into a different shape, effectively cutting off my voice. I shook out my muzzle and pulled my forelegs in at a charge as they hit the ground. I literally, hit the ground running. I pulled back my muzzle to expose fangs and let out a roar of rage.
Antony assessed the situation quickly and turned his shoulder at the last second to avoid a blow to his face. I felt the force of my body smashing into him reverberate throughout his entire body and I resisted the urge to jump back, and growled.
Before he recovered, I turned my snarling muzzle and sunk my teeth into his resisting pelt, feeling a surge of power as I bit into his skin under the fur. He yowled in pain, a sound so loud I had to let go of him to get away from it. He gasped as I let go and tried to swing a paw at my face, but missed by centimeters.
I licked blood off my teeth and refocused on Antony. His left shoulder was torn to the bone and dripping blood like a faucet turned on high. I faked a left, then jumped to the right and tore a smaller hole into his right shoulder. Again, he yelped.
He limped as he paced awkwardly, trying to think of a way to injure me, but he looked absolutely scared. He knew he was beat.
I huffed and waited, my seething violent eyes not missing a thing.
His eyes sparked and he suddenly leaped towards me, his entire frame moving to knock me down. I shook my head sadly, knowing his tries were futile, and braced myself by squaring my strong shoulders and putting all my weight on my forelegs.
Right before he hit, I used every ounce of power I could force into my paw and swung it right at his face. He managed to shove me over before crumpling on the ground.
I used the opportunity to rip mercilessly into his back, because he was covering his throat. Still, some human part of me was whispering that I shouldn’t kill him. That I’ve know him my whole life, like a brother. So my tearing into him ceased momentarily and I kicked his stomach with finality and turned to walk triumphantly back to the pack.
I was almost all the way there when I heard when I heard a deep rumbling behind me. It took me two seconds to place it.
I spun around to see Antony baring down at me, teeth glistening. I snarled and wrestled with him, rolling in frantic circles to regain the upper hand—paw.
As we fought I realized Antony knew what he was doing was wrong. That I had already won the Fang Challenge and he was just angry.
The fur around his shoulders was matted with blood and the stench filled my snout with a stink like rust and iron. The upside was that he was weak, so it was easy to toss him off of me, but he kept coming back.
My growls were louder, but matched in length by Antony’s. It was loud and dirty as we snapped our teeth and slashed our claws.
My rage was tangible in the sizzling air, and after two minutes, I managed a break. I rolled him onto his stomach, sunk my teeth into the scruff at the back of his neck, and used my remaining strength to swing him face first into a tree.
That human part of me evaporated and I slammed him again, harder.
He gasped as the impact hit a third time, and he let out a strained whimper as his entire body sagged as he went limp. I dropped him onto the ground and raked my claws down his back before walking off with a snort of disgust.
As I looked back at the faces of my pack—and Mareck—humanity washed over me once again and my stomach turned at the thought of what I had just done to Antony. He could be paralyzed. Dead.
I faltered and whimpered as I looked at Marion. I was spattered with her sons blood, the violent rage still not completely gone from my eyes. She looked scared, and kept looking back down at Antony with horror.
“My…” She whispered and ran to him.
My sleepless night hit me at the same time sanity was leaking back in and I was suddenly drowned in lethargy. I saw a pile of clothes—having destroyed my dress—laid out for me by Luna probably.
I walked into the trees and shivered back to human, slowly pulling on my clothes before returning to my yard.
“Why, Antony? You knew fighting her was it!” Marion was yelling. Sadness and longing was smeared across her face.
I took a few deep breaths and walked up to Mareck.
“Nice job,” He commented quietly, jerking his chin at Antony.
I felt a little anxiety lessen from my chest. “Shut-up,” I laughed breathlessly.
Antony was standing now, with only his jeans on and a horrible look in his eyes.
Marion continued to scream at him, a mixture of English and Spanish, occasionally pointing at his gored shoulders and neck. It wasn’t long before she was crying softly.
“All right, Marion. You can take Antony home in a moment, but right now, calm down please.” Isaac said.
Marion wiped her hand across her eyes and nodded.
Antony repositioned his broken nose with a crack and glowered at me.
“As is the right of the winner, Kara gets to chase you out whenever she likes in the next twenty-four hours. If not by then, it becomes my duty to either kill or chase you.” Isaac said to Antony, sadness and anger in his voice.
Antony nodded, processing the suddenness of the situation.
“You made one too many mistakes.” Marshall growled.
“Yeah, you ain’t nothin’ but a bother, pup. Vincey offered ya beta an’ ya declined. That’d be far better than gettin’ your tail ’tween your legs by Miss Kara here.” Jack said, winking at me.
“So? Whatcha gonna do girl?” Brent asked me.
Finn watched me proudly and smiled wide.
I looked at Isaac.
“He actually has till the moon rises on the next day, right? A little over twenty-four hours?” I asked, my words a little mushy from lack of sleep.
“Yes, he does.” Isaac rumbled, his green eyes unreadable and glassy from hiding emotion.
“Then,” Wide yawn. “I’ll decide then. I need sleep.”
I didn’t want—and didn’t think he would, but still—Isaac to kill Antony, that wasn’t fair. And I wanted to give Marion more time to say good-bye to her son, so I’d figure out what I was going to do later.
“All right, then.” Marshall said, glancing at Mareck. “Let’s get inside everyone. We’ll…talk things over there.”
I pulled Mareck’s arm and dragged him along side me as we entered my kitchen.
Sleep was almost overpowering and I needed to tell Finn something urgent first. Something I had to say before I crashed. I pushed my way through to him and looked into his chocolate brown eyes.
“Finn, keep Mareck here. Don’t let Isaac kick him out. If he tries, wake me. He’s important. Please,”
I only had enough time to see him nod before I collapsed sideways onto the couch, into the deepest sleep I’d had in months.
