Chapter 26: Chapter 26

We found our spots amongst the pack, and I started stretching. My eyes wandered around the crowd, noticing that no one else was prepared. No stretches, no nothing. Denny was even distracted talking to a girl with two other guys.

“Does no one take this seriously?” I whispered to Denny.

He looked around, taking in the crowd as I had. But just turned and walked away after a few minutes.

“That’s the one that’s supposed to be their mate.” Whispers came from behind me.

“HER? NO! I would make a much prettier Luna.” I recognized their voices as the blonde and brunette that had my mate’s scent all over them on my second day here.

My b***d boiled with jealousy and hatred.

I want to rip their guts out and hang them by their intestines at the territory gates… Breathe, Harley. Breathe…

“Alright, you all, find your sparring partner.” My ears really perked at that.

“Can I have two?” I jumped up a little too excited.

The look on Drake’s face was pure confusion. After careful thought, he shrugged.

“I mean, you are Luna. Soon it’ll be your show. So, knock yourself out, kid.” He laughed.

“Who do you want?” he asked, fanning his arm into the crowd.

I didn’t have to look to the group to know who I wanted. Instead, my eyes settled on thing one and thing two.

“Them.” I pointed with a smirk on my face.

“Challenge accepted,” Blondie said with an overly confident look.

I walked into their little circle.

I gotta give them credit. Both were looking at me, full of confidence. But that was their first mistake.

Both took their ‘fighting stance,’ making me roll my eyes. They can’t even start strong.

“Begin!” Drake’s voice was like throwing kindling on that small fire in my gut.

“Your stance is s**t. You are leaving yourselves completely vulnerable to attack.” I punched the blonde in the nose. Kicking my foot with a grin when it landed in the ribs of the brunette.

I stopped letting them recover. The blonde was quicker to bounce back. She charged at me, yelping when I hooked my arms in her right one, flipping her onto her back, knocking the wind from her.

I straddled her, laughing when the contact of my fist sang with a sickening crunch from her busted nose.

Jumping back up, I half expected the brunette to try to ambush me, but she just stood there looking at me.

“Come on. If you talk s**t, you better be ready to back it up.” Her cheeks flushed when she understood I had heard them. She nodded, approaching me with caution. I went towards her, tired of the games. She dropped to her knees, bearing her neck to me.

“I meant no disrespect, Luna. I apologize.” She said, still showing me her neck.

The crowd’s attention had been on us since I threw the blonde, and the attention was making my skin crawl.

“I accept your apology. Thank you.” I reached out to help her stand when the sounds of snapping bones caught our attention. I turned to see Blondie fighting her shift.

“I challenge you for your position of Luna.” She growled as blonde fur sprouted on her arms.

Denny stepped up behind me, grabbing my shoulder, but I only shrugged him off.

“I accept.” I snapped, ready to break her like a twig.

Her shift took over, and in wolf form, she towered over me more than she already did with her five-foot-nine human form.

Drake stepped forward. As a head warrior, he had to act as a referee. In these challenges, it isn’t a fight to the death unless stated from the beginning. Because Blondie just asked for a challenge for my title, killing the other is punishable by death.

“The challenge has been accepted. Nothing is off-limits in the fight. The only thing against the rules is murder. Begin.” I could feel Denny’s anger radiating off him.

She charged me again. I dipped, rolling under her and back to my feet. Missing her first attempt at injury shook her a little, and I could see it, but it also made her more determined. She bared her teeth, foaming at the maul.

I charged this time. I kicked her with everything I had in me. Excitement rolled over me when her yelp rang out at the contact of my foot on her snout. It made it even better when one of her teeth fell out when she shook her face off. Careful not to let my excitement lead me to make mistakes, I centered myself.

“Let’s go, Bitch.” I growled.

Atlas:

Axel and I were in the middle of a meeting with the pack Alphas that would be in attendance at the ball when Denny’s voice busted through our minds like a battering ram.

“Your whores have challenged Harley to fight for her title. Cindy already submitted to Harley, but Ally shifted. Get down here and clean up your f*****g messes.” We didn’t even bother ending the meeting or taking the elevator. Instead, we busted through the staircase, taking them more than two at a time.

“I will kill them both for treason against their Luna.” Axel’s growl erupted.

We only had s*x with those bitches the night that Harley came home to try to calm down. I told Axel from the beginning Ally was a mistake. She has clung to him like a leech for years. She is a power-hungry b***h and has been since I f****d her in high school, and she caused problems for Harley even back then.

We pushed through the crowd to the head where Denny and Drake were standing. Denny looked like smoke would blow out of his ears any second, and Drake was looking at the two with precision and focus.

Harley’s arm was bleeding from a deep gash made by Ally’s claws, but Ally was definitely worse off than Harley.

The crowd was cheering Ally on when we arrived and had since gone quiet, whispering about Harley fighting without shifting and winning. Their respect for their future Luna was growing, and so was my anger at Ally.

Axel:

My mind was whirling with how I would deal with Ally the whole way here.

Now, my eyes are locked on my little mate dominating like a force of nature. I don’t know what happened before we arrived, but Ally’s wolf was missing teeth, and wads of her fur were everywhere. She was limping from an injury to one of her front paws. The only damage on Harley was three big claw marks on her shoulder from Ally’s claws.

As mesmerizing as my little mate is, my urge to rip Ally’s head off is still strong.

Harley had been tossed to the ground as Ally topped her, going for her throat. I don’t know the rules of this challenge since we weren’t here when it was declared and accepted. Still, regardless if we interfere, it will be an automatic loss for Harley.

Ally settled for her h*p when she couldn’t sink her teeth into Harley’s neck. Little bird didn’t make a peep as her b***d spewed from her.

Harley slung a fistful of dirt in Ally’s eyes, blinding her.

Harley wrapped her legs and arms around Ally’s throat, squeezing with every ounce of her strength. Harley’s left hand locked onto her right ankle, and her right hand locked into her left ankle. Excitement rocked me.

If she can keep the hold on Ally, Ally will be knocked out from lack of oxygen in seconds.

Harley:

I finally gained enough leverage to lock around her throat. Her head was slinging, trying to get me off as her lungs signaled to her brain that they were dying.

“Do you feel that blondie?” I whispered in her ear as her movement grew choppy. The b***d from my right shoulder and left h*p painted her golden fur in floods.

“That’s your lungs dying because you were stupid enough to challenge your superior,” I growled, locking on tighter.

“You will never be their Luna. You wouldn’t be anyone’s anything anymore if you had been brave enough to challenge me to death. But you are just as much of a p***y now as in high school.” Her body stiffened at my recognition.

Did she honestly think I would remember her?

She rolled over me in a last-ditch effort to get me off her, pinning me beneath her. Nothing will make me let go. They are mine, and now that I know that, Hades himself couldn’t pry them from me.

Her strength was waning rapidly as she fit to stay awake. That knowledge spurred me on, making me use every bit of my remaining strength to squeeze tighter.

“I can feel the life leaving you, Blondie. Does it feel peaceful or like I am dropping you on hell’s doorstep? I wonder if the moon goddess would accept you home after you have tried stealing my mates from me for years?” I whispered in her ear as gurgles escaped her.

Her body went limp, and her tongue fell from her mouth. The minute her shift started, I released her. I crawled from beneath her beast as her bones broke and shifted, leaving her naked body in the b***d-soaked mud.

The twins, Drake, and Denny, made their way over to me in a dead run.

“Give me your shirt, Den,” I grumbled, feeling weak from the b***d loss. The wounds were already closed somehow, but I thought I might bleed out before she passed out.

Denny did as I asked, throwing me his shirt.

I crouched over Blondie lifting her head and putting Denny’s shirt on her. I would die if this many people saw me naked, and despite my hate for her, she is still a woman and doesn’t deserve to be ogled at because she chose to challenge the wrong one on the right day.

I turned to face Axel. Her scent was on him the day I ran the devil’s mile. Because of his poor choices, this happened today even though Atlas was f*****g her on our teacher’s desks in high school.

“Denny, take her dumb a*s to the infirmary,” I growled, not realizing how beastly I sounded.

My b***d boiled as I made my over to my mate.

“Harley, your eyes,” Axel said as I took his neck in a vice, jumping into his arms so I could wrap my legs around him. Before I could gather what he had said or consider that, I felt off.

I grabbed a fist full of his hair, baring his neck to me. I gasped as my teeth elongated for the first time in ten years, but I had no control of my movement.

“Mine!” an animalistic roar tore from me as I sank my teeth into the throat of my mate, marking him as mine.