Authors: Kimberly Hunter
When Jenna sprung forward, Sasha was ready. Over the table she went, and right into Sasha’s waiting hands. She put her right hand around Jenna’s throat and her left one on her stomach. Sasha turned, using Jenna’s momentum to help slam her against the wall behind them where Sasha pinned her, both feet off the floor. Lupus reflexes at their very best.
Cool!
“Holy shit!” Gabe exclaimed.
“My God!” Charlie gasped.
“Jesus!” Flynn shouted. “Are you totally insane, Jenna?”
“Release me, or I will cut out your eyes,” Jenna snarled at Sasha, her arms starting to rise. Her eyes were now twin flames of hate. Sasha felt sure her own were also flaming. Lord knew she was hot enough.
“Touch me, and I’ll snap your neck like a twig,” Sasha warned her, squeezing hard enough to get her point across. “And believe me, after the stunt you just pulled, I have no qualms about doing it.” Jenna put her arms down.
Sasha had never considered herself a violent person, but she could and would defend herself if needed. With three other siblings and one of those a brother, she learned a good bit about self-defense. Having a good knock-down-drag-out in the front yard did wonders for keeping the long-term peace. At least, it did with her family.
“All right, Sasha, you can release her now. She won’t try anything else,” Roan told her, stepping up beside her.
“You sure?” She didn’t take her eyes off Jenna, more than ready to snap the bitch’s neck. She was that angry.
“Quite sure.”
“Well, all right. But if she tries anything else, all bets are off.” She released Jenna and let her fall unceremoniously to the floor.
“Of that, I have no doubt,” Roan replied, grabbing Jenna’s arm and hauling her none to gently to her feet.
Sasha stepped over to Flynn, who grabbed her and hugged her. “Are you all right?” He buried his face in her neck and breathed deeply, no doubt taking in her scent to calm his racing heart. Sasha felt that he was actually scared for her. And oddly aroused, as evidenced by the bulge poking her in the stomach. Seeing her handle Jenna so easily was apparently a major turn-on for him. Knowing that made her feel good.
“Yeah, I’m fine. She didn’t lay a hand on me. I caught her before she could,” she assured him, starting to tremble as her adrenaline faded.
Flynn pulled back, keeping her at his side, his fear for her quickly replaced by a burning rage. “Of all the crack-brained stunts to pull, Jenna! I should kill you myself and be done with it!” “I’m fine, Flynn. Jenna didn’t hurt me,” Sasha repeated, trying to calm him down.
“She tried to, and that’s the point.” He snarled at Jenna, his eyes turning to icy fire, every muscle tensed and ready to attack should Jenna try to do anything else.
“Didn’t look as if she was trying too hard after Sasha pinned her to the wall like a bug.” Gabe snorted with laughter.
Charlie spoke up. “This is no laughing matter, Gabe. Jenna has committed a serious offense here. She has attacked Flynn’s True Mate. And with harmful intent.”
By this time, everyone was on their feet. You just couldn’t sit when you had such an excellent floorshow.
“Yeah, well, somehow I get the feeling that’s not how Jenna here expected things to go down.” Sasha looked Jenna in the eye, daring her to deny it. “Am I right?”
“You were supposed to attack me so I could issue Challenge,” she spat out.
“I thought there was a reason she was goading me. Though what this Challenge is, I have no clue.” She looked to Flynn for an answer and saw his face suffused with rage.
Gabe shook his head. “That’s low, Jenna, even for you.”
“You wanted to Challenge Sasha? My True Mate?” Flynn roared.
Oh boy, this is not good
, Sasha thought, feeling the rage-fueled power from Flynn and seeing that he was trying to restrain himself from seriously hurting Jenna.
“Calm down, brother. Now’s not the time to lose tempers,” Roan soothed, though Sasha could sense he too was more than pissed at Jenna’s admission.
“Sasha has just awakened from the coma, Roan. She hasn’t even gone through the First Transformation yet,” Charlie said, worry etched on her lovely face.
“I am aware of that, Mother.”
“Okay, what’s this challenge thing?” Sasha asked. “Though I can see by all your faces it’s not good.” Flynn was the first to answer. “A Challenge is issued when a rival female wants to be Alpha or the resident Alpha senses a threat from a new rival and wants to dispense with her first. Not kill, but dominate to show who is stronger. Which means a trial by combat.”
Well, that certainly cleared a few things up, but Sasha still had a bad feeling about this. “Okay, but I don’t want to be Alpha. I just defended myself. It wasn’t a Challenge.”
“It wouldn’t have been, only you threatened me. That’s a Challenge in itself,” Jenna crowed with delight. “I formally issue Challenge!”
“I’ll kill her myself!” Flynn roared in rage, making a move toward Jenna.
Thank goodness Roan was faster; otherwise Jenna would have been a dead Lupa.
“No, Flynn. Killing her will only complicate matters more,” Roan said as he grabbed Flynn around the shoulders.
“Sasha doesn’t deserve this, Roan. She’s been through enough as it is.” Flynn’s voice was tight with restrained violence, his eyes glowing with it.
“I know this, brother. But don’t worry; I have things well in hand.”
“Well in hand? You let her come here—” Flynn stopped in mid-sentence, shock registering on his face. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew she would try this, and yet you let her come anyway?” The look on Flynn’s face said he couldn’t believe his brother would let that harpy in their house, let alone do this.
“I suspected as much, yes.”
“Then why? Why would you let this happen knowing Sasha and I are True Mates?” Flynn stepped back from Roan, his expression showing a sense of betrayal.
“Have you no faith in me, brother?” Roan smiled, his glacier-blue eyes twinkling with mischief.
“What are you up to?” Sasha asked as she walked over to Flynn and took his hand, knowing Roan must have had a plan after Jenna showed up.
“All in good time,” he said mysteriously.
“Now, Roan…” she started to say.
“Yes, I am quite aware of your aversion to mysteries. But trust me, this won’t take long.” He looked meaningfully at Flynn and her.
“Don’t think you can weasel her way out of this, Roan. Challenge has been issued. I know my rights under Pack Law,” Jenna stated.
“Rights, my ass.” Gabe snorted sarcastically. “She issued Challenge on a non-transformed Lupus. That makes the Challenge null.”
“I don’t think that matters, Gabe. I’m quite sure she’s vindictive enough to wait till Sasha has gone through the First Transformation, then issue Challenge again,” Charlie said with disgust.
“So what do they do? Let her get away with this?” Gabe asked, clearly upset. He wasn’t the only one. Flynn still looked pissed enough to commit an act of violence on someone. His eyes had yet to lose their glow, and his frown was nowhere near close to turning upside down.
“I think all of you, including Jenna, are overlooking something,” Roan said, looking at Sasha strangely.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What are we all overlooking?” Sasha wished Roan would get to the point. Her stomach needed food. Being threatened and Challenged worked up an appetite.
“How many Lupus, male or female, have ever fended off an attack from an Alpha before going through the First Transformation?” The question was rhetorical, seeing as no one knew the answer.
“None I have ever heard of,” Gabe replied, looking to the others for an answer.
“Only the occasional rumor, but nothing concrete,” Flynn answered, the look on his face saying clearly he wasn’t sure where this was leading.
Roan looked about the room again. When no one else spoke up, he answered, “The answer is three, and Sasha makes four.”
“Okay. Now I’m confused. What exactly does that mean?” Gabe asked.
Flynn looked at Roan again, his eyes widening a bit. “I think I have an idea, but Roan could probably explain it better.” Sasha could see he wasn’t happy about what he had deduced.
“The reason those three and Sasha were able to accomplish this feat is because of power. We all know some Lupus gain more after the First Transformation, and some stay the same. An Alpha would, of course, gain considerably more power after the First Transformation,” Roan finished, his eyes never leaving Sasha’s face.
As hints went, it was subtle.
Not.
“Her? An Alpha?” Jenna laughed with derision. “Absurd.”
“She tossed your ass, didn’t she?” Gabe countered, getting a scathing look in return.
“Enough!” Flynn shouted, his patience at an end. “I don’t think I like your plan, Roan. It’s too dangerous.”
“Uh, since I’m the one being discussed, could someone let me in on the plan?” Sasha’s patience wasn’t exactly intact at this point either.
“Your actions tonight were those of a true Alpha. After the First Transformation, you’ll be more than capable of winning Jenna’s Challenge and her position,” Roan explained.
Oh, is that all
, she thought.
I just kick her butt and take her place? No problem.
That is if she survived the First Transformation. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about fighting the Alpha bitch. She’d be dead and Flynn along with her. Jeez, some days it just didn’t pay to come out of a coma.
Chapter Five
“Sasha?” Flynn touched her shoulder, worry clouding his beautiful eyes. “You don’t have to accept the Challenge. We’ll find a way to beat Jenna at her own game without you getting hurt.”
“That’s a nice thought, but you know as well as I do she won’t stop. One way or the other, it will come down to us fighting. She’ll see to that.”
Flynn pulled her into a fierce embrace. “I don’t want you hurt. Even after the small amount of time we’ve spent together, the thought of anyone trying to hurt you makes me crazy.” He nuzzled her neck.
“Me, too. Which is why I have to do this.” She pulled back to look in his eyes. “I’m not a coward, Flynn. I don’t like to fight, but I won’t run from one either.”
Flynn nodded in understanding. And she was right about Jenna. She wouldn’t stop. She’d keep dogging Sasha’s heels until she relented or Jenna caught her off guard. No way was she going to let that happen. So she would accept Jenna’s Challenge. And since these types of things had terms, Sasha was going to issue hers. All would be in her favor, of course, but then, why not? She didn’t know the rules, and Jenna had counted on that when she Challenged her. Too bad her terms would disabuse Jenna of that notion.
She turned around in Flynn’s arms, looking at Jenna, then at Roan.
“You going to run or fight?” Jenna sneered.
Sasha ignored her jab; Jenna would be feeling hers soon enough. “I assume there are terms to these Challenges?”
“Of course. Do you have any?” Roan asked.
“I do.”
“They are?”
“I’ll accept Jenna’s Challenge, but under the terms that I go through the First Transformation first and I have two weeks after to prepare and acclimate myself to my new life.”
“What?” Jenna shouted. “She can’t do that!”
“Ha, outwitted again.” Gabe laughed.
“You forget, Jenna, you may be the one to issue the Challenge, but its Sasha’s right to set the terms. Take ‘em or leave ‘em,” Flynn said curtly.
She could tell he wasn’t thrilled about her decision, but they both knew their backs were against the wall. Sasha’s terms gave them more planning and breathing space. That is, if she didn’t die from the First Transformation. “You’re just afraid to fight me. This is all a ploy to get me to back out,” Jenna spat.
“No ploy. I’m just too smart to play the game by your rules,” Sasha told her.
“The choice is yours, Jenna. You accept the terms or withdraw the Challenge,” Roan advised.
Sasha could see Jenna weighing her options by the play of emotions on her face. She wasn’t sure of Sasha now, not after she showed herself capable of defending her person. Sasha was the unknown factor in an equation Jenna had worked out in her favor. Sasha’s actions had changed the variables, and her transformation could change them even more. She didn’t like that, but Sasha knew her kind. Greedy, grasping, never happy no matter how much they had. Always wanting what others had and thinking the world and everyone in it owed them a better life. And it didn’t matter if they never lifted a finger to help others just as long as they got what they wanted. Oh yeah, Sasha knew her kind. She also knew if she didn’t stop Jenna now, she would keep coming back. No way was she going to allow that. She had to win. She had to become Alpha.
“I accept your terms,” she replied stiffly. “I’ll call later and let you know where to meet.”
“No.” Roan stopped her at the swinging door.
Jenna turned to look at Roan with annoyance. “What do you mean, no? I issued the Challenge. I choose the place.”
“If this were a normal Challenge, then I would say yes, but it’s not.”
“What do you mean?”
“You came to my home, with full knowledge that Sasha and Flynn were True Mates and what you were going to do regardless of that fact. Plus, you knew Sasha hadn’t gone through the First Transformation yet. That’s a serious breach of Pack Law. Punishable at my discretion because the offense occurred in my home, and I am Alpha of this Pack.”
“Yet you let the Challenge stand. Why?” Jenna asked suspiciously, starting to look nervous for the first time.
“Because you have abused your position by taking this action, among others. And because I know that Sasha can win.”
“She’s not Alpha yet, Roan. She still has to fight me and win to get it. I’m not that easy to beat.”
“You’re not Alpha, either.”