Page 44 of Dragon's Revenge

He hugged Oliver again, and Oliver let him, pulling him close. And when the tears came and Wendell didn’t let go, he held him tightly until his shirt was soaked with tears.

“I’m sorry,” Wendell said, but Oliver shushed him.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He gestured at Delton, who’d been standing at a safe distance. “I want you to meet someone. This is Delton. He’s a psychologist, and he’s helped me a lot with working through my…trauma. He’s also my mate. Delton, this is Wendell.”

Wendell’s eyes widened. “You have a mate?”

“I have two mates. My other mate is an alpha, also a wolf.”

“That’s allowed?”

Oliver nodded. “It’ll take you some time to truly believe it, but we’re equals here. Omegas have the same rights as alphas and betas do.”

Wendell’s mouth had dropped open. “Seriously? I thought that was some kind of exaggeration. Like almost a joke, a way to get us here.”

“Nope, it’s all real. Anyway, Delton here is happy to talk to you anytime you need a listening ear.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wendell.” Delton didn’t offer his hand to Wendell, and Oliver loved him for it. His mate was so good at reading body language.

“You too,” the teenager mumbled, suddenly shy again. Or maybe afraid, which would make sense too.

A commotion had Oliver turning around. People were running toward something. Enar and Lucan, with Sivney on their heels. No, not something. Someone. Maz was carrying…

“It’s Adar!” Delton said.

Oliver was already running, Delton right beside him.

Maz lowered Adar to the ground, and Oliver got a first look at him. The sight took his breath away. The alpha was almost unrecognizable, his features distorted into a bloody chaos. His lips were split and swollen, rendering them nearly twice their usual size. Both his eyes were completely shut, puffed up so much that they formed dark, angry mounds on his face. Vibrant bruises, a spectrum of purples and blues, had blossomed across his jaw and cheeks, painting a grim picture of the violence he’d endured. A gap where a tooth should have been added to the horror—and that was only the damage visible on his face.

“What the fuck happened?” Sivney asked as Enar kneeled next to Adar, immediately checking him.

“He fought Dempsey,” Jermon said, his face tight with worry. “He challenged him to a fair fight, and Dempsey took the bait. Adar won.”

“He killed him, you mean,” Nadiv corrected his brother. “He beat the absolute shit out of him and ended up killing him.”

The news that Dempsey was dead should’ve filled Oliver with relief, if not glee, but he couldn’t focus on anything but Adar. Adar might’ve won the fight, but he took a heavy beating himself, so what had happened?

“Is he okay?” Delton asked.

Maz looked up, his face showing an alarming amount of worry. “He’s severely injured. I’m pretty sure he’s got a couple of broken ribs, and his belly is distended and hard, so I’m concerned about internal bleeding.”

Internal bleeding? That sounded serious. Very serious.

Adar groaned, and Oliver and Delton dropped to their knees at the same time. Oliver’s hand trembled as he put it on Adar’s forehead, literally the only place that didn’t look like it would hurt. Delton put his hand next to Oliver’s. “We’re here, my love. We’re right here.”

And they stayed right by his side as he was carefully but quickly carried to the clinic, where he was placed on a bed. Enar cut off his pants, revealing more injuries. The alpha didn’t have a single spot on his body where he wasn’t bruised.

“Tell me what happened,” Enar said to Erwan, who had followed them into the exam room as well. “How did he get this badly beaten?”

“Dempsey cheated.” Erwan’s face showed his fury. “The rule was it had to be a man-to-man fight without magic. At first, that’s what happened. Adar got a couple of good hits in, though, and Dempsey must’ve gotten scared he’d lose. So he started using magic.”

“And you didn’t notice?” Oliver asked, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. “You’re the White Dragon, and you didn’t notice?”

“Oliver!” Delton squeezed his hand. “Let him talk.”

“No, he’s right.” Erwan looked pained. “I should’ve noticed, and it took me too long. Dempsey was smart. He was only using a little bit to lend his hits extra power. We could see he was doing better and Adar was struggling, but we didn’t realize why. It wasn’t until Adar had him pinned and was repeatedly hitting him that Dempsey had to use a flare of magic to get away, and Fallon picked up on that. That’s when all hell broke loose. Fallon blocked Dempsey’s magic, only for two of the Murphy alphas to attack him, and full chaos ensued. By the time we had sorted that out, it was at least a full minute later, and Dempsey had used magic all that time. Adar was… He was down on the ground, trying to protect himself from Dempsey’s hits, but he hadn’t given up. And when we managed to block Dempsey’s magic again, Adar did the impossible. He got up and hit Dempsey again and again and again.” Erwan’s voice broke. “He was saying your name, Oliver. ‘This is for Oliver, asshole. This is for Oliver.’ He kept repeating it as he hit him, not stopping when Dempsey fell backward onto the ground. We had to pull him off when Dempsey was unconscious, but it was too late. Dempsey died on the spot. He’d hit his head in the fall, and combined with the beating he’d taken, it must’ve been too much for his body.”

Oliver swallowed. Adar had done that for him. He’d sworn his revenge, and he’d taken it. He might not have intended to kill Dempsey, but fate had taken care of that.

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