Page 95 of Mortal Shift
“Teaching implies you have some kind of intelligence,” I informed him.
“Would you stop riling the man about to try to kill you?” Cole asked from the corner of his mouth. I grinned.
“Nope. Let’s do this.”
Too bad I didn’t feel even half as confident as I sounded. Because Kallan was going to use every trick he knew to try to kill me, and he was plenty motivated. Also, he was an asshole who’d spent the last six months trying to make my life hell, and I was under no delusions that he was about to stop now.
Both guys shed their clothes and shifted. I took Kallan in with a glance, and then did a double take. I didn’t remember him being that big. Cole shook out his coat and then trotted to stand in front of me, hackles raised and fangs bared as he took in his rival. Kallan pulled his lips back in a cocky smile that translated to any species, and spelled nothing but trouble.
“Oh, and Cole?” Ryker said, almost as though it was an afterthought. “This is a sanctioned trial between Kallan and Cali. You may assist her, but you don’t have permission to draw blood.”
My mouth popped open, and anger radiated from Cole.
“That’s not fair!” I objected.
“Still laboring under delusions of fair?” Ryker asked, shooting a mocking look my way.
“Less by the moment,” I muttered under my breath.
“Enough talk,” the instructor said. “Begin!”
Kallan lunged forward before the word had finished leaving his mouth, and Cole leaped to intercept him. They smashed together, shoulder to shoulder, and Kallan went spinning off to one side.
He bounced back, lips drawn back in a snarl that would have scared me if Cole wasn’t between us, matching him step for step. Kallan tried to duck round him, but Cole stepped quickly, blocking his path, and I could feel our rival’s frustration mounting as he glared round him to me. Then Kallen’s eyes snapped to Cole, malice leaking from every pore of his body, and my stomach coiled in fear. Because Colewouldn’tlet him hurt me…but that wouldn’t stop him getting hurt in the process. Kallan was bigger than I remembered, but still a fraction smaller than Cole. But unlike Cole, Kallan could do whatever he needed to get to me, and Ryker’s command effectively muzzled Cole.
I knew it, Cole knew it, and Kallan knew it.
Anticipation crackled through the air and I barely drew breath as I watched Kallan slink in a semi-circle, and Cole mirroring his every move, close enough to me that his tail brushed against me.
Kallan darted forward and snapped his teeth at Cole’s face, and Cole jerked aside at the last moment so that the yellowed fangs closed on empty air with an audible snap that sent shivers through me.
The smaller wolf repeated the action, this time missing Cole by just a fraction of an inch, and he kept pressing forward, driving through Cole’s lack of defense, his inability to retaliate, to lash out with his fangs again. They slashed against Cole’s shoulder and I saw the muscle twitch in response, and the fur darken with wet. Blood.
Kallan’s tongue flicked across his muzzle, tasting Cole’s blood, tasting mymate’sblood, and fury boiled through me. My muscles twitched in an echo of Cole’s, and I bared my teeth, ready to throw myself to his defense…and then stopped, swallowing hard. I couldn’t. If I moved, we failed the trial.
That was what Ryker had wanted. He knew I could stand here while someone attacked me, but he wanted to make me stand here while someone attacked my defenseless mate. That was why he’d accepted.
Kallan drove forward with a snarl again, powering into Cole and pushing his weight onto his damaged shoulder, trying to take advantage of the injury. Cole moved stiffly, jerking back as he put his weight on the limb, and Kallan kept coming. He twisted his head, going for the underside of Cole’s throat, and my heart squeezed painfully. If he got that grip, it was all over.
Ryker wanted me to watch Cole die.
Well, fuck that.
“What’s the matter, Kallan?” I taunted, twisting my lips into a sneer. “Too scared to come after the lowly blood whore directly?”
He tensed, and I forced a laugh from my throat.
“Yeah, you prefer getting others to do your dirty work for you. Anyone else would have killed Cole by now. He can’t even fight back. But you’re not a wolf, are you? You’re not even a man.”
He twisted and threw himself at me, jaws wide as he lunged, and I locked every single muscle in place. Movement flashed in my periphery, and Cole’s heavier form thudded into Kallan’s back end, snatching him from the air and smashing him into the ground with an audible thud and the snapping of bone. Kallan howled and snapped at empty air as Cole’s weight pinned him to the ground. The smaller wolf kicked out with his hind legs, but one of them hung at a bad angle and his efforts quickly grew weaker.
“Stop.” Ryker’s voice rang out around us, and everyone went still and silent. “End of trial.”
He stalked over to the two wolves as Cole carefully removed himself from Kallan’s unbloodied form. His rival stared hatred at him, but made no attempt to get up. The trial was over.
Cole shifted back, remaining in a crouch with his head bowed and eyes averted from the instructor.
“Not bad,” Ryker said, staring down at him. “All right, you’ve got what you want. The pair of you are on the next moon hunt. Don’t screw it up this time.”
