Page 83 of Knocked Up By My Fated Alpha
She was healing, too, but the panic in her eyes gave her away. She knew now that she had no advantage over me.
She lunged again, jaws snapping for my neck. But I was quicker. I circled her fast and clamped my jaws down on her tail. Her yelp rang out as her blood coated my tongue.
I pounced, raking my claws down her back, again and again, deep enough that the wounds couldn’t heal immediately. Crimson soaked the sand beneath us. Her yelps only fueled my rage, and I slashed faster and harder.
She managed to land a blow to my leg, and I staggered back, justlong enough for her to spring forward. But I moved again. My teeth sank into her neck. I shook hard, then flung her away like dead weight. She crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch. Her howl of pain pierced the air.
I stood over her, slammed my paw against her throat, and let out a victorious, earth-shaking howl. She was beaten. Overpowered. Her body twisted and shifted back into human form. Bloodied and barely conscious.
I shifted, too, mostly. Still half-shifted, claws and fangs bared, I grabbed her limp form by the collar and yanked her upright.
The crowd was chanting now…“Finish her!” One swing, and it would be done. I stared down at her. She sobbed. “Do it.”
But I didn’t move. Because I wasn’t her. Because I wasn’t them. I lowered my hand.
“You will get what you deserve, but only after you and your treacherous parents face a fair trial.”
I stood slowly.
“The duel is over,” I said, loud enough for the elders to hear. “I choose to spare her life.”
Silence fell. Then there were murmurs of surprise, and the entire pack gathered, showing respect.
I turned to walk away, to move toward the elders and the crowd, but just as I took a step, I felt a sudden, searing pain across my leg. I fell, gasping, blood spraying as Ivy slashed my thigh from behind, her claws gleaming with betrayal.
“You should’ve finished me,” she hissed.
I screamed in rage and pain.
She was right.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Damien
I gripped the steering wheel so tightly I could hear the soft crack of my knuckles. The leather of the steering creaked under the intense pressure I was putting on it. My foot slammed the accelerator harder as trees blurred past the windows, my heart pounding to the rhythm of my wolf’s howl.
She was out there. The woman who had become the center of my world, alone, heavily pregnant, and defenseless.
My chest burned like something was trying to claw its way out. I hadn’t felt panic like this in my entire life. My panic felt cold, suffocating, and sharp enough to slice through steel. I prayed to the Goddess, to fate, to any power that still gave a damn that I wasn’t too late.
Rielle’s words echoed through my skull, her cruel mock that, by the time I get there, Ivy would have torn Raven apart. I couldn’t let myself think about that. I couldn’t let myself imagine. I refused to believe that.
Raven was strong. She was tenacious and stubborn. She would hold on. She had to.
And damn it, I needed to tell her. By the Goddess, I needed to tellher I was sorry and that she mattered more than I ever let on. I needed to tell her that I loved her.
The gates of the Ivory Moon Pack came into view just as the sun crested fully over the horizon, casting long shadows across the cracked road. It was barely 8 a.m., but the world already felt too loud, too bright, and too late.
My tires screeched as I rounded the bend and came to a hard stop. A barricade of massive wooden spikes, iron rods, and a line of guards in formation, twelve of them, maybe more, blocked the road. Their shoulders were squared and their eyes unreadable. They were Ivory Moon Pack soldiers.
My claws twitched beneath my skin. I shoved the car into park and threw the door open, slamming it behind me.
“Move!” I roared, my voice thundering across the clearing.
The guards didn’t flinch. One of them, a tall male with a crooked nose and silver streaked hair, stepped forward.
“You’re not permitted to enter, Alpha Damien,” he said, flatly. “The pack is under lockdown. A sanctioned blood duel is in progress. No outsiders are allowed.”
