“I don’t understand what I’m feeling here,” I said. I led the way out of my room and to the kitchen. Beer cans littered the counter, food wrappers and pieces of trash were scattered across the floor. I arched an eyebrow at Markus and he grinned and shrugged apologetically.
“Brent and Nora decided to finish off that beer from the other day last night.”
“And they couldn’t be bothered to clean up after themselves?” I asked, somewhat irritated.
“Why? You were already turning the place into a disaster area compared to your usual.”
He was right. I never would have allowed my place to get so messy under normal circumstances. It had been commented on numerous times by friends and family so it seemed like a good place to start.
“Talk to me,” I told Markus while I started gathering the cans and the trash.
“Your pining, it’s not good or healthy, Boy. I’ve seen wolf-kind die from it. Wasting away to nothing from a loss of a mate, but hell! Chloe ain’t
dead
, you can’t do anything about where she’s at now but come the Challenge? That’s your chance! Your
only
chance to get her away from that animal. You moping around here ain’t gonna get you through that challenge.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose between thumb and forefinger. “The Challenge. What exactly am I looking at? How does it work? Father had shit locked down, I’ve never seen one and it’s never been talked about really.”
Markus pulled out a chair and sat at the table, his hands clasped together in front of him. “The Challenge takes place in front of the entire Pack. Every member must be present, and that’ll include your Mate,” he fixed me with a hard look, “So you had better hold your shit together for that. You can’t lose it again.”
“I won’t.”
“It’s not good for people to see you this way.”
“I won’t,” I said again.
“Seriously, Boy–”
“I said I won’t! How many times do you need me to repeat it?” I snapped and glared at him. He just arched an eyebrow at me and I sighed and slumped against the counter by the sink. I scrubbed my face with my hands and stared at the ceiling a minute before letting out a pent up breath.
“Alright,” I said. “Point taken.”
“Good.”
I started cleaning again. “How does the challenge itself actually go?”
“There are three stages. Simple enough in the long run but not as easy as it sounds.”
“Such as?”
“The fight is broken into rounds. Two, five minute long rounds. Round one, you fight in your human form, hand to hand, no weapons.” I nodded to indicate I had heard him as I started wiping down the counters with some cleaner and a rag. “Round two, you go to hybrid form and keep fighting. Round three, full wolf. It’s a cycle of hand, claw, and tooth.”
“You said two rounds,” I interrupted him.
“I said two, five minute rounds. The third isn’t five minutes.”
“Winner is decided by death?”
“Those are the rules.”
“So the third round is as long as it takes for…” I trailed off and glanced up to see Markus nodding, a grim expression etched across his grizzled features.
“The round continues until someone breathes their last.” He leaned forward, looking intently at me. “Do you really understand how difficult that’s going to be, Boy?”
“How do you mean? I did pay attention during some of my lessons with the Betas, Markus. I know how hard it is to kill one of our kind. Silver would make this simpler but it’s not allowed, not by Pack Law.”
“Right, and since silver is the easiest way to kill us then you need to find a harder way. Meaning snapping his neck or crushing his skull, ripping his heart out completely. Those’ll all do it. But if you get to the third round, you
know
he’ll have the advantage at that point. He’ll have weight and strength over you and you won’t have opposable thumbs to help you fight anymore. You’ll only have your teeth. If he gets ahold of you first it’ll be over.”
Markus lapsed into silence and I kept cleaning until there was nothing left to do but start dirtying things again. Cleaning and cooking and working helped me think, it helped me focus and helped me to quit dwelling on my own misery. It directed me to focus on the important things.
Chloe…
An hour passed in silence until I set a plate of food in front of Markus and sat down across from him.
“So how do I beat him?”
Markus picked up his fork and gave me another of his piercing looks before he spoke.
“You forget that this man was once your brother. You forget that you have spent decades with him. You forget
that
above anything else and simply see him for what he is. A mad dog. One that stole your father from you, who stole your mate from you, and stole Alpha from you too. When you face him in the circle you forget everything except those facts and the hatred they should bring.”
“And then?”
He took a large bite of his steak and used a roll to mop up some of the juice that escaped when he cut into the meat.
“Then? You kill him.”
I gave the old dog an incredulous stare for a moment before I noticed the smirk dancing around his lips and I threw a dinner roll at his head.
“Very funny, Captain Obvious. If you’re not going to be helpful then you can just get out, and leave your plate there, I’ll eat your share, no worries.” I said it all with a relieved smile on my face so Markus new I wasn’t truly annoyed with him. He threw back his head and laughed.
“That’s what I was looking for,” he said. “Sorry, Boy. I just needed to be certain that you were still in there.”
“Well I am, Markus. I’m not going to fall apart again. I know what I have to do, just needed a little help figuring out some direction. Now a little help figuring out the
how
would be appreciated.”
We had ten days left. Ten days of waiting until the night of the Challenge. As Markus and I discussed combat strategy and tactics long into the night, I could only hope that Chloe would still be alive for me to save. Because whatever I’d told Markus was a lie. I didn’t give a damn about the Pack or being Alpha anymore. Not if I had to do it without Chloe Young at my side. If she wasn’t alright Romulus and Remus were both going to die, and then I was leaving. The Pack could fend for itself for all I gave a fuck. I just wanted
her
…
Chapter 16
Chloe
I only left the room to use the bathroom, the rest of the time I stood at the window, or slept. I barely ate and finally, on the second day I was awake, Remus cornered me. I slipped from the room to cross the hall to the bathroom when he looked up from the cutting board he was at in the kitchen.
The loft was a big, open expanse and the kitchen was almost free floating in the center of it all. He pinned me where I stood, half way between my appointed room and the bathroom door with his dark gaze and set down his knife with a scrape and a clack. I turned my eyes to the floor and moved toward the bathroom when his voice stopped me.
“Chloe, come here.”
I swallowed, “I just need to use the bathroom,” I said.
“Fine, but come here when you’re done.”
I used the facilities and slipped back out into the big expanse of room that was divided only by furniture and slipped up to the kitchen island. I’d learned quickly not to defy Rom. Remus, however, I had a little more leeway with. Romulus was fucking crazy. Remus was a lot calmer and the much more reasonable of the two.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Drink this,” he said and set some kind of a protein shake in front of me. I stared at it, hard, for a long minute.
“Chloe,” he said and the gentleness of his tone brought my eyes up to his. He radiated concern and I bit the inside of my cheek.
“I’m not hungry,” I repeated softly for the thousandth time.
“I know, Sugar. But your body can’t take it. Not like it used to.”
My breath caught and my eyes welled at the term of endearment and I missed William with this awful ache of raw emotion. I closed my eyes and swayed on my feet and Remus was suddenly there, pressing the glass into my hand. I drank the whole thing.
“How’s it taste?” he’d asked me.
“Like chocolate, why?”
He’d nodded as if that had confirmed something for him and he’d let me go back to my appointed room, my gilded cage, without answering me.
That had been three days ago. I’d had one of the chocolate shake things at least once a day since then, sometimes more. They were easier to get down than food, and if I drank them he didn’t bug me nearly as much about eating, so there was that.
I pressed my hand to the window glass and watched the rain trickle down the pane. I stared at the rain slicked pavement two stories below and watched it turn from a wash of green light to red as the stoplight changed. The streets were nearly deserted this time of night, it being the middle of the week.
“Where is she? I want to see my new pet.” I frowned at the unfamiliar woman’s voice and my shoulders dropped when I heard Romulus’ deep laugh.
“Chloe!” he called from the living area, “Get out here; let Lucinda have a look at you.”
I closed my eyes and wondered, briefly, if Remus were going to be out there to cushion the interaction I had with his brother.
I was in luck, sort of. Remus was at the kitchen island, cooking something. He was eying his brother darkly and when he turned his gaze to the woman standing beside Romulus, his expression grew even darker. I looked her over even as she did the same to me.
She was tall and model thin, her long dark hair falling artfully in waves down her back. She wore a skintight, black tube dress with a lace overlay making up the upper chest and long sleeves. The dress ended mid-thigh and her legs, encased in sheer black stockings, were tipped in a pair of very expensive red bottoms. She stalked towards me and around me, her hands clasped together in front of her like a gleeful child.
“She’s so tiny!” she exclaimed and I turned to keep her in my sight. I did
not
want this bitch at my back.
“Fun sized and foldable, might even fit in your purse,” I muttered sarcastically and she stopped, eying me sideways out of her grey eyes. Her hand flashed out and caught me in the mouth. I let my head fly with the slap and it seriously rang my bell. I saw stars.
“Bad dog!” she snarled and stalked back over to Romulus. She made this whining noise and hung off him. Romulus put an arm around her waist and kissed her, some of her dark burgundy lipstick smearing against his mouth.
“Little puppies should be seen and not heard,” he said arching a brow, “Apologize, Pup.”
“I’m sorry,” I grated.
“I’m sorry what?” Romulus demanded and I choked on the bitterness that formed with the words.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Goddamn it Rom was a sick freak!
“You’re going to be so much fun to dress for the Challenge!” the woman cried in a sing song voice and I caught Remus leaning forward sharply out of the corner of my eye. He had both fists planted firmly on the countertop.
“She’s not a doll, Lucinda,” he said.
“She’s whatever the fuck I say she is,” Romulus said.
They started to argue and I managed to slip back into my room. The brothers shouted, Lucinda whined and the whole thing culminated in slamming doors and a ringing silence. I waited, breath held for several moments and when the silence persisted I let it out and my knees went out right along with it. I sank to the carpet by the window and leaned my forehead against the windowsill.
I’m going to die like this,
I thought, and it was much closer to the truth than I would have liked. Romulus returned, and he was angry. He yanked me up by the hair, a hand at my throat and slammed me against the brick that made up the outside wall beside my window. I grasped his wrist with the both of my hands and tried to pull breath.
“You listen to me! You naughty little girl,” Romulus spoke through gritted teeth, our noses almost touching. I clawed at his wrist and tried valiantly to draw air but I couldn’t, the pressure on my throat kept building until I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.
“Lucinda is the Alpha Bitch of this Pack and you will treat her with the love and respect that position deserves, do you understand me?”
My eyes grew wide and I began to panic. I couldn’t breathe! I couldn’t draw breath to answer! His hand tightened on my throat even more and starbursts of light started going off at the edges of my vision.
“Romulus!” Remus shouted, “Romulus stop! Stop it, Brother! You’re going to kill her, you’re going to kill your own progeny!” Remus had both his arms wrapped around the one that Rom was using to choke the life out of me. I stared into Rom’s dark eyes and saw no pity there. No one was home, he was empty inside, as soulless as they came. I couldn’t hear what Remus was shouting anymore, everything blurred together and was going hazy. Sight, sound, even touch… I was going numb. Romulus’ hand convulsed on my throat once before he opened it and dropped me.
I drew in a savage choking breath into my oxygen starved lungs and coughed. The twins had some kind of exchange and Romulus stormed out. I stayed on hands and knees and relearned what it was to breathe when a shadow fell over the top of me. I jerked and flinched and Remus knelt down beside me. He grasped me by the shoulders and sat me up.
“Chloe, are you okay?”
“What do you care?” I rasped as if I were gargling gravel and he let me go, sitting back on his haunches. A trickle of blood seeped out of his nose and he sniffed, wiping it with the back of his hand. He looked at it as if he had never seen his own blood before and his expression settled into one of tired resignation.
“Get some sleep,” he ordered, but there was no heat to his words. He stood and marched for the door, snapping off the overhead light as he went by. I stayed on my floor by the window for a long time, rubbing my throat, staring at nothing as despair swallowed me whole. I suddenly didn’t mind dying. It would be preferable to a life lived with Romulus.
I woke to Remus barging into the room. I sat up startled on the bed and he held a hand out to me.
“Come on, let’s go. There’s only two nights left until the Challenge and Rom is going to be out all day, we need to move,” he said. I stood up and rubbed my eyes.