Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) (23 page)

“Fuck it,” Lucas said. 
His voice, while not cold, managed to be just as frightening.  “Bring your
fighter out.  We have shit to do, and if I don’t get to rip you to pieces today,
I would just as soon get this done, and move on.”

She could hear Demon
behind them muttering something that sounded like “waste of fucking time,” but
her eyes were on the man that stepped out of the crowd.  He didn’t look like
much, besides an inordinately tall man, over seven feet tall from the look of
him.  His eyes were dead, but he did not carry himself with any military
training that she could see, more like thug training from the look of him. 
Hired muscle for sure.  So why was Jeffrey looking so smug?  Then she got a
whiff and understood the growling behind her.  Jeffrey had hired a grizzly-shifter
to fight her lion.  Which explained the smile on his face right now. 
Asshole
.

Miley turned in Lucas’
arms and smiled up at him.  “Well, that’s a relief.  I knew he would fight
dirty because he’s a big fat baby, but I was thinking poison, or some such. 
But a bear?”  She snorted and flipped her hand like it was of no consequence.  “An
untrained
bear?  I’m almost embarrassed for him.”

Eli and Ben were both
chuckling, while Mac just shook his head.  Lucas pushed her hair behind her
ears.

“Try not to incite the
crazy wolf to attack you while I am busy with the bear.  How about that?”

Miley rolled her eyes,
and then let a little of her worry shine through, her face falling to serious
lines.  “Don’t forget we have plans when we get home.”  She wiggled her eyebrows
suggestively.

“Listen to the men.” 
His hands cupped her cheeks and held her firm.  “Do not make their job harder
by fighting them when they try to keep you safe.”

“Fine. But don’t you
get hurt.”  Then she spoke louder.  “Don’t trip over a rock or something and
skin your knee while you are distracted messing this guy up.”

“Right.”  Lucas smirked
shaking his head at her antics.  “I love you, too.”  Then he kissed her hard on
the lips, with a quick turn, pushed her back into the men, and was gone. 

Miley looked around and
all she saw were the broad backs of her pack.  Trying to push them aside so she
could see what was happening had no effect on the stonewall surrounding her. 
She was going to have to experience the fight through the sound of the crowd apparently. 
“Wonderful.”

***

Lucas was not happy
with this turn of events but there was fuck all he could do about it now.  He
vowed as he stripped down that he would get another chance to kill Rickarts; the
man was volatile and easy to rile, as Miley had shown repeatedly.  He would
make a mistake, and Lucas would be there to rip his head from his body, that is
if Griffin Hale did not beat him to it. For now, he studied his opponent and
made plans for the rest of his day.

Naked and standing in a
large circle with Welsby and the Enforcer guarding the circle, Lucas heard the
shout to begin and shifted.  The more powerful an alpha was the faster his
shift.  His shift to lion was very nearly a blink.  Then he stood on four legs
and eight hundred plus pounds of muscle and waited for the bear to finish his
shift.  He didn’t have to.  He could have attacked at any time after they
started, but he waited. 

The shifted grizzly
bear was nearly double his weight, and in standing fight position; the sharper
claws and teeth of the lion could very well be of no use against the thick
furred hide and size of the grizzly.  And the grizzly was strong.  A grizzly-shifter
could pull the head off a lion if it got a good enough grip. That was no doubt
what Rickarts was counting on to win the fight.  Of course, Lucas had the
advantage of agility and speed.  Not to mention he had fought bears before and
knew what the fuck he was doing, which could not be said for his opponent, who
came at him with a swipe of his powerful paws.  With a twisting jump, Lucas got
behind him and ripped into his back leg using his teeth like a shredder.  The
bear roared his outrage and twisted to reach the lion, exposing his belly to
the swipe of razor claws.  He bellowed in distress and tried grabbing for the
lion.  A lion that was not there.  Instead, he had jumped behind the bear again
and swiped sharp claws up between his legs.  Another roar.  Another swipe.

It was a short bloody
fight; the bear was dragging himself across the floor away from the lion and
Lucas was declared the winner before a now silent crowd of watchers.  Miley
would be pleased; he hadn’t even skinned his knee.

Miley heard roar after
enraged roar, and now for what felt like hours, nothing.  She wanted badly to
ask for an update but was determined not to show any doubts to Rickarts or his
pack.  So she waited in silence.  Finally, when she was about ready to scream
for some information, Demon and Logan stepped to the side and Lucas was there,
apparently unharmed and fully dressed.

“Did you actually stop
and put your shoes on before coming to tell me you were not horribly bear mauled?”

He looked surprised by
her incensed tone, but his voice was mild when he answered.  “Was that a
concern?”

Miley growled, a second
ago she had been ready to throw herself on top of his lifeless body weeping (if
it came to that), and now she wanted to smack his big head around like a chew
toy.

Lucas smiled at her and
Miley growled again.  “The Council is calling for your presence when we
finalize this.”

“You took the time to
chat with the Council guy, too?  Were refreshments served?”

He gave her another
smile, like she was just the cutest thing and pulled her back over to the
circle, which she noticed with a wince, was pretty well-decorated in that poor bear’s
blood.  He was nowhere to be seen, so she hoped he was not lying dead somewhere
but seeking medical attention.  Though not enough to volunteer her help, not
after he tried to hurt her mate.

When they were back at
the circle, Welsby stood across from the Enforcer and to the right of
Rickarts.  When Lucas stepped into the space across from Rickarts, he was more
than two body lengths away from the wolf alpha, but close enough to see Rickarts
looked to be fighting his feral wolf and losing.  It was not lost on either the
Enforcer, who watched him carefully, or Lucas who kept her by his side but
slightly behind him in case of trouble.

“The challenge has been
met per the agreed upon conditions,” Welsby started rather formally.  “It is
expected that the issue is resolved and the packs are no longer at odds.” 
Miley almost snorted at that.  Jeffrey looked like his wolf was going to shoot
straight out of his eyes and kill them all.  It did not bode well for future
relations. 

Nor did Lucas look in
the mood to talk peace.  “I want it verified by law that Miley is my mate,
regardless of her ability to wear a mark or not.”  Since they still did not
know if his would hold or fade away, this was important.  It was the only time
she had ever heard him acknowledge that his mark might fade.  Whether it did or
not, he was her mate.  This was his way of giving her the mate status that she
might otherwise not have had. 

“Agreed,” Welsby said. 
“By Council law, Miley Isabella Rose is your mate, with the full power and
protection of that title.”

“In case you are
wondering,” Miley leaned her head forward so she could be seen in the open
square they had formed, “I take Lucas Gibbs as my mate as well, and acknowledge
his claim.” 
Not that you care
, she thought, glaring at all of them. 
From the way the Councilman cleared his throat and looked away, he understood
the subtext well enough.

Then Rickarts
apparently lost what little he had left of his mind because, with a roar of
banked rage, he charged into the space between the Councilman and his Enforcer
with the clear intention of slashing claws into Lucas, or possibly Miley.  Lucas
thrust Miley back into Logan’s ready arms and braced to take the impact and
deflect the claws, unsheathing his own in an instant.  They remained unused,
however, because halfway across the space, Rickarts was suddenly clutching a wide
slash across his belly.  Miley blinked as the Enforcer had whipped out his
sword and stopped the charge. 

Everyone looked from
Rickarts’ wound to the Enforcer.  He shrugged his massive shoulders, wiping the
blood from his blade with a piece of Rickarts’ flapping suit coat.  “He had his
chance to fight.  He was warned.”

Rickarts hit the dirt
on his knees, his hands pulling away from his stomach to see the damage.  He
seemed to be in shock, but then it was obvious the wound was a bad one, in a
human it would have been fatal.  Rickarts had a chance, slim though it was, if
he could get medical help in time.  It took everyone in that inner circle a
minute to realize no one was coming to collect their alpha.  Rickarts looked to
his betas and they both gave him a stone face.

“Get me the fucking
healer!” he bellowed, his hands on his belly, his face ashen.

The two men looked him
over coldly, then turned their backs and walked away.  He was still yelling
profanities and threats when the rest of them followed.

Welsby looked like he
was going to be sick.  The Council Enforcer just waited, not showing any
emotion at all, except to be ready for anything.  Miley looked at the wolves,
hundreds of them born and bred into the Rickarts pack, as they all turned their
backs on Jeffrey Rickarts, got in their vehicles, and drove away. 

“Nope,” Eli said in his
usual jovial voice, “packs really don’t like alphas too chicken shit to fight
their own battles.”

The rest of the men
grunted in agreement. 

Miley looked from the
yelling man she had been close to mating, to Lucas, who watched the man crawl
with a certain satisfied gleam that was all predator.  Not the best side of
either man, but it was real.

Eventually, Jeffrey
turned to Miley with desperation in his eyes, he lifted his hands to show her
the wound, his eyes beseeching.  It might have pierced her sympathy, if she had
not held Rebecca in the same situation, as she bled out in her arms.  She knew,
as sure as she stood there, Jeffrey would have let her and the baby die without
losing a night’s sleep over it.  She shook her head at him, still held in her
mate’s arms.  Thrilled beyond words to be in them.

 “You’re a healer,” he
cried.  You can heal this!”

All the men in that circle,
especially Lucas, froze at his words.  Then they all looked at Miley, except
Lucas who was looking at Rickarts with death in his eyes.  She glared down at
Rickarts herself, wishing him to perdition. 

“Why on God’s green
Earth would you think I would heal you?  Are you mental?”  She held up a hand
and shook her head quickly.  “Never mind.  Don’t answer that. The answer is
no.  No, wait . . . Hell, no.”

“You heal me or you
will never find out what happened to his daughter.”

Miley felt every drop
of color drain from her face.  Lucas lost his mind.

Even the Council
Enforcer was not fast enough to stop him from picking Rickarts up by his neck
and shaking him.  Though, from what Miley would remember later, he didn’t even
try.  Nor did he interfere when Rickarts was dangling by his neck with his feet
kicking in the air and his hands clawing at Lucas for air.

Lucas ignored the claws
and the flailing legs and roared in his purpling face.  “Where is she?!”

“Lucas,” Logan
interjected in a cold voice, “fucker needs air to talk.”

The next second,
Rickarts was on the ground gasping and choking with Lucas standing over him,
fury pouring from his cat eyes.  “Talk or die where you lay.  Decide right now.”

“It was a message,” he
gasped, recoiling when Lucas snarled; everyone could smell the acrid scent of
his bowels releasing in fear, “I was supposed to give to you, from the Bone
Crusher alpha, Bidel.  He heard you were facing me in challenge and he sent a
message for you.”

The entire Lionsgate
pack had stepped up.  Miley could do nothing but watch as they waited to hear
of Cleo.

When he seemed to hesitate,
it was quiet Shawn that stepped forward and almost casually, drove his heel into
Rickarts thighbone, breaking it like kindling.  His voice when he spoke was raw
with rage, “Give us the fucking message or I will break every bone in your body
before Lucas rips out your throat.”

Welsby finally came out
of his stupor and started to protest only to be ignored by everyone.

Rickarts was clutching
at his leg and blubbering, but they got the message. Bidel offered a trade,
Cleo’s life for Demon’s, and a guarantee that Lionsgate would leave him and his
alone.  Rickarts fell back when Lucas stepped forward, holding up his hands and
yelling.  “That was it.  That and a phone number was all he said.  It was just
a phone message.  There wasn’t anything more.”