I'd had enough.
Making a fist, I smashed it into her head. She jerked her muzzle up, raking my arm and sending a pulse of pain through me. Immediately she was back, snarling and more savage. But a ribbon of hope rose in me and I gritted my teeth. She had felt that.
I could hear thumps and cries in the background. David was interfering, breaking their concentration. The round was falling apart. I couldn't best Karen, but sure as hell she was going to walk away remembering me.
The anger and excessive adrenaline wouldn't be denied. 'You stupid dog!' I shouted, slamming my fist into her ear again to make her yelp. 'You're a foul-breathed, dung flop of a city-bred poodle! How do you like this? Huh!' I hit her again, unable to see from the tears blurring my vision. 'Want some more? How about this?'
She latched onto my shoulder and picked me up, intending to shake me. A silky ear landed in my mouth, and after failing to spit it out, I bit down, hard.
Karen barked and was gone. Taking a clean breath, I rolled over onto all fours to see her.
'Rachel!' David cried, and my splat ball gun slid to within my grasp.
I picked the cherry-red gun up, and on my knees, aimed it at Karen. She sat back, her forelegs scrambling to halt her forward motion. Arms shaking, I spit out a tuft of white fur. 'Game over, bitch,' I said, then plugged her.
The puff of air from my gun was almost lost in someone's cry of frustration.
It hit her square in the nose, covering her face with a sleepy-time potion, the most aggressive thing a white witch would use. Karen went down as if strings were cut, sliding to land three feet from me.
I rose, shaking and so full of adrenaline I could hardly stand. Arms stiff, I aimed my gun at Mr. Finley. The sun had gone behind the surrounding hills across the river, and his face was shadowed. His posture was easy enough to read. 'I win,' I said, then smacked David when he put a hand on my shoulder.
'Easy, Rachel,' David soothed.
'I'm fine!' I shouted, pulling my aim back to his boss before the man could move. 'If you want to challenge my title, okay! But I do it as a witch, not with my strength washed out of me! This wasn't fair, and you know it!'
'Come on, Rachel. Let's go.'
I was still aiming at his boss. I really, really wanted to plug him. But in what I thought was a huge show of class, I lowered the gun, snatching my bag from David as he handed it to me. Around me, I felt an easing of tension from the watching alphas.
Briefcase in hand, David escorted me to the elevator. I was still shaking, but I turned my back on them, knowing it would say more clearly than words that I wasn't afraid.
I was scared, though. If Karen had been trying to kill me, not just cow me into submission, it would have been over in the first thirty seconds.
David hit the down button, and together we turned. 'This was not a fair contest,' he said, then wiped his mouth to make his hand come away red with blood. 'I had a right to be here.'
Mr. Finley shook his head. 'Either the female's alpha shall be present, or in the case of his absence, six alphas may serve as witness to prevent any…'He smiled. '…foul play.'
'There weren't six alphas here at the time of the contest,' David said. 'I expect to see this recorded as a win for Rachel. That woman is not my alpha.'
I followed his gaze to Karen lying forgotten on the floor, and I wondered if someone was going to douse her in saltwater to break the charm or just dump her on her pack's doorstep unconscious. I didn't care, and I wasn't going to ask.
'Wrong or not, it's the law,' Mr. Finley said, the alphas moving to back him. 'And it's there to allow a gentle correction when an alpha goes astray.' He took a deep breath, clearly thinking. 'This will be recorded as a win for your alpha,' he said as if he didn't care, 'provided you don't file a complaint. But David, she isn't a Were. If she can't best another with her physical skills, she doesn't deserve an alpha title and will be taken down.'
I felt a stab of fear at the memory of Karen on top of me.
'A person can't stand against a wolf,' Mr. Finley said. 'She would have to Were to have even a chance, and witches can't Were.'
The man's eyes went to mine, and though I didn't look away, the fear slid to my belly. The elevator dinged, and I backed up into it, not caring if they knew I was afraid. David joined me, and I gripped my bag and my gun as if I'd fall apart without them.
David's boss stepped forward, his presence threatening and his face utterly shadowed in the new night. 'You are an alpha,' he said as if correcting a child. 'Stop playing with witches and start paying your dues.'
The doors slid shut, and I slumped against the mirror. Paying his dues? What was that supposed to mean?
Slowly, the lift descended, my tension easing with every floor between us. It smelled like angry Were in there, and I glanced at David. One of the mirrors was cracked, and my reflection looked awful: braid falling apart and caked with plaster dust, a bite mark on my neck where Karen's teeth had bruised and broken my skin, my knuckles scraped from being in her mouth. My back hurt, my foot was sore, and damn it, I was missing an earring. My favorite hoops, too.
I remembered the soft feel of Karen's ear in my mouth and the sudden give as I bit down. It had been awful, hurting someone that intimately. But I was okay. I wasn't dead. Nothing had changed. I'd never tried to use my ley line skills in a pitched fight like that, and now I knew to watch out for wristbands. Caught like a teenager shoplifting, God help me.
I licked my thumb and wiped a smear of plaster dust off my forehead. The wristband was ugly, but I'd need Ivy's bolt cutters to get it off. Removing my remaining earring, I dropped it in my bag. David was leaning into the corner and holding his ribs, but he didn't look like he was worried about running into the three Weres he had downed, so I put my gun away. Lone wolves were like alphas that didn't need the support of a pack to feel confident. Rather dangerous when one stopped to think about it.
David chuckled. Looking at him, I made a face, and he started to laugh, cutting it short as he winced in pain. His lightly wrinkled face still showing his amusement, he glanced at the numbers counting down, then pulled himself upright, trying to arrange his torn coat. 'How about that dinner?' he asked, and I snorted.
'I'm getting the lobster,' I said, then added, 'Weres never work together outside their packs. I must have really pissed them off. God! What is their problem?'
'It's not you, it's me,' he said, discomfited. 'They don't like that I started a pack with you. No, that's not true. They don't like that I'm not contributing to the Were population.'
The adrenaline was fading, making me hurt all over. I had a pain amulet in my bag, but I wasn't going to use it when David had nothing. And when in hell had Karen scored on my face? Tilting my head, I examined the red claw mark running close to my ear in the dim light, then turned to David when his last words penetrated. 'Excuse me?' I asked, confused. 'What do you mean, not contributing to the Were population?'
David dropped his gaze. 'I started a pack with you.'
I tried to straighten, but it hurt. 'Yeah, I got the no-kids part there. Why do they care?'
'Because I don't have any, ah, informal relations with any other Were woman, either.'
Because if he did, they would expect to be in his pack, eventually. 'And…' I prompted.
He shifted from foot to foot. 'The only way to get more Weres is by birth. Not like vampires who can turn humans if they work at it. With numbers come strength and power….'His voice trailed off, and I got it.
'Oh, for crying out loud,' I complained, holding my shoulder. 'This was political?'
The elevator chimed and the doors opened. ''Fraid so,' he said. 'They let subordinate Weres do what they will, but as a loner, what I do matters.'
I trooped out before him, looking for trouble, but it was quiet in the abandoned lobby, apart from the three Weres slumped in the corner. David had sounded bitter, and when he opened the main door for me, I touched his arm in a show of support. Clearly surprised, he glanced at me. 'Uh, about dinner,' he said, looking at his clothes. 'You want to reschedule?'
My feet hit the pavement, the cadence of my boots telling me I was limping. It was quiet, but the stillness seemed to hold a new threat. Mr. Finley was right about one thing. This was going to happen again unless I asserted my claim in a way they would respect.
Breathing deeply of the chill air, I headed for David's car. 'No way, man. You owe me dinner. How about
