Bon appétit, I thought at Ambrose. Make it convincing.
Ambrose wove in and out of Lon, gulping chunks of his innate magic with each violent strike, forcing him to struggle to hold his form. For my part, I spun aside, almost dancing and still avoiding his clumsy lunges by miles. The crowd was enthralled. Or terrified. Or some combination of the two. Their eyes were wide, their lips parted, and they shivered and shook as if a taste of violence had made them hungry for it too.
A sour tang hit the back of my throat, and I gagged as Ambrose shuddered against the disgusting flavor.
Shifters weren’t to his tastes, but I hadn’t fed him since the battle, so he wasn’t passing up free food.
A low growl poured from Lon, the biggest threat he could muster, as crimson magic dripped from his fur.
Lurching toward me, Lon gathered his strength to pounce. I sidestepped his graceless jump then booped him on the nose with the tip of my finger. That perked him up, and he snarled, throwing more weight behind his next wobbly attack. I hopped to the left to avoid his teeth, and Bishop cackled with delight.
The urge to mime waving a flag while shouting Toro almost overcame me, for which I blamed all the cartoons I watched as a kid, but I behaved for the cameras.
Pity for Lon, Ambrose enjoyed his job. Too much at times. This was one of them.
Lon landed wrong on his next leap, turning an ankle, and he fell onto the asphalt, his sides heaving.
“I can do this all night,” I warned him. “Are we done here?”
Rather than answer, Lon closed his eyes and let rip a snore of epic proportions.
“I don’t understand.” One of the two witnesses inched closer. “He’s…asleep?”
“No, he’s an asshole.” I shrugged. “But yes, an unconscious one.”
The second glanced at me then hit his knees and bowed his head. “Alpha.”
Others I hadn’t noticed stepped into the light and joined in the chorus.
“Alpha.”
“Alpha.”
“Alpha.”
“Whoa.” I bent down to restrain Lon’s wrists with a sigil. “I’m not your alpha.”
“You defeated him,” the first to speak reminded me. “You won his position.”
“Goddess,” I breathed. “Just give me a minute, okay?” I turned to Bishop. “Milo?”
“Safe,” he assured me. “He’s splitting off to patrol now that we have this under control.”
Walking away from the pack, I pulled out my phone and called Tisdale, who was less likely to yell at me.
“Why do I expect the worst every time your number flashes on my screen?”
“You’re smart?”
Amusement laced her voice. “What’s happened now?”
“The asshat who murdered Claudia last night jumped me on the street and challenged me for beta.”
A string of curses blistered my ear before Tisdale regained control of herself. “Are you all right?”
“I won,” I assured her. “Midas is still beta.”
“Don’t make me drive all the way into town to throttle you,” she growled. “Are you all right?”
Motherly concern was just plain weird. “Yes?”
“Yes or no.” She snapped her fingers. “Well?”
Checking myself over, I confirmed what I already suspected. “I don’t have a scratch on me.”
“You almost gave me a heart attack.” Metal jingled in the background. “I’m on my way.”
“I said I was fine.” I shot Bishop a pleading glance. “You don’t have to—”
“Call my son and tell him what you told me.”
Kicking a rock, I mumbled, “Do I have to?”
“You really don’t want me to do it for you, sweetheart.”
Taking her at her word, I ended the call and prepared to take my medicine, dialing before I lost my courage.
“Lon challenged me,” I blurted after Midas answered. “I won, I’m fine, and you’re still the beta. Your mom is on her way, and I’m not sure, but she sounded mad. The Knoxville pack keeps calling me alpha, and it’s freaking me the frak out.” I sucked in a breath and blasted out, “I need you. Please come save me.”
For long moments, Midas didn’t say a word, but then he sighed. “I’ll be right there.”
He ended the call, which hurt, and I would have gnawed on my thumbnail if my hands weren’t gunky.
“A minor scuffle, and you’re coming unglued.” Bishop stepped up beside me. “This isn’t like you.”
“I know, I know.” I pocketed my cell and started popping my knuckles. “Tisdale is coming.”
“Wait.” He laughed. “Are you scared of her?”
“Um…”
“Technically, she’s your mother-in-law.”
“And?”
“That means she’s family, and she’s not going to bite you.”
“Family?” A breath stuttered out of me into a shaky laugh. “Seriously?”
Bishop waited for me to explain my tone or my words or my panic, but I didn’t talk about this.
Ever.
To anyone.
You could share blood, a last name, or an address your whole life with the person or persons who brought you home from the hospital and it—you—mean nothing to them.
It’s not like I expected Tisdale to love me, or even like me, because I was mated to her son. She was nice to me, but we hadn’t known each other long enough for me to guess how she reacted when members of her family disappointed her.
Midas adored her, but then again, Boaz had loved our mother too. Until she, and Dad, disowned me.
But it was the kind of falling out that might fall in again when he finally married Addie or they had kids. It wasn’t that he would forgive her what she had done to me so much as he had a big heart and holding a grudge was harder for him than most. I could picture him deciding one day that I had healed, that I was okay, and start to work mending what was broken in our family.
In my humble opinion, there wasn’t enough super glue in the world.
But how long would he hold out unless I gave him a good reason?
I had plenty of them, but call me greedy, I didn’t want to share.
A soft whine in the throat of the stringy gwyllgi on four knobby legs brought my head around as Midas turned onto the street where we waited and prowled toward me. He didn’t spare
