Page 89 of Midnight Moon
I stepped back. Asher held on at first, but ultimately let his hands fall away, allowing me to put some space between us.
“You know something,” I accused calmly.
When he remained silent, I added, “Please don’t keep secrets. What aren’t you telling me?”
Asher’s shoulders rose as he inhaled through his nostrils.
On his exhale, he shared, “You already know the sorcerers who attacked you are from the Graystone Coven, and you know my pack sent Chase and I here to investigate a disturbance in shifter magic. All evidence says the two are related.”
I didn’t understand how, but I couldn’t deny that was probably true.
Asher continued, “Last night, the sorcerer gave Orlando orders. The Coastal Pack is tasked with our elimination in the final game.”
“They want you to lose,” I rephrased his words, not understanding why they seemed so hard for him to say.
“No.” Darkness clouded his expression. “The Coastal Pack is charged with eliminating us. We are not supposed to leave the Alpha Games alive.”
Horror rippled through me. “That’s impossible. These fights aren’t to the death. Alpha Kurt won’t allow it!”
“There is little he can do during the heat of the fight,” Asher replied. “The Coastal shifters can deal a killing blow before anyone realizes what happened.”
“Then you need to lose your first fight,” I implored him. “The Coastal Pack can’t hurt you if you never meet in a match.” The thought of anything happening to Asher caused me physical pain. I knew the reaction came from the bond, but that didn’t make the feeling any less real.
“We face the Northeastern alpha and his beta,” Asher said. “No shifter would believe Chase and I could lose to those older shifters, and I will not sacrifice the reputation of my pack by throwing that match.”
Though I wanted to criticize his pride, I knew where he was coming from. Reputation mattered to all shifters.
“Then what do you suggest?” I challenged, letting my anger conceal the depth of my worry.
“We will win our first match.” Asher paused. Regret coated his next words, “And we will also win the second.”
It took a moment for the implication of his reply to hit me.
When it did, I inhaled sharply.
My hands began to shake.
Hunter and I would lose to the Coastal Pack in the first round while Asher and Chase would win their matches. The Wilds Pack would win game four.
They would win the Alpha Games, and I would be doomed to become the mate to an alpha I didn’t know.
My voice faltered, “There has to be another way.”
“I don’t see—”
“Please,” I whispered. A tear escaped the corner of my eye. I wiped it away, frustrated by the display of weakness. “Let the Coastal Pack win. I can’t mate your alpha.”Not after last night.
I might not plan to accept the mate bond with Asher, but the thought of being with any other shifter made my stomach twist with disgust and loathing. I couldn’t join the Wilds Pack, live so close to Asher, but be with another. I just couldn’t!
The flicker in Asher’s temple picked up tempo. “You ask me to sacrifice myself?”
“No… NO!” I resisted the urge to reach out and touch Asher.
I would never suggest he allow himself to be killed. The thought was like a stab to the heart. “The fight will last an hour. Can’t you use your own magic to defend yourself?”
“Have you forgotten our magic isn’t common knowledge?”
Asher once said others knew of his pack’s magic, but he never identified them. But Alpha Orlando knew. At least, I thought he knew. He’d called them abominations.
