Chapter Thirty-Four

Ellie

I watched as my dad’s face turned pale. Despite all the training I’d gone through, he’d never wanted me to fight, to kill.

Even after I’d killed Elijah to save myself, he still didn’t want me to take another life.

Now I understood why he’d killed the human commander. He was trying to shield me.

But some things you just can’t be shielded from. I had to do this. Not just for me, but for Sammy too.

Seth was different. Because of our bond, he knew exactly what I’d endured in Zagan’s dungeon.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that he was okay with me fighting. He was holding back his protective instincts, but he was doing it for me.

I felt him squeeze my hand. I looked up at him and he smiled.

“Just remember your promise,” he whispered.

I nodded, and he let go of my hand.

I walked over to where Zagan stood. Dante was next to him, smirking. I couldn’t wait for Seth to wipe that smirk off his face. I had no doubts that Seth could kick his ass.

Just like I had no doubts that I would do the same to Zagan.

“Once I’m done with this little bitch, you can deal with the Beta,” Zagan sneered. “It’ll make life easier for you once his mate is dead.”

Dante snorted.

“I don’t need it easy.”

Dante glanced at Seth, a smirk on his face.

“I wonder if you’ll scream and beg like your mother did.”

I could feel Seth’s anger. It would be harder for him to keep his promise than it would be for me. Especially if Dante kept taunting him like that.

I knew Seth’s mother was strong. She would have never begged a piece of filth like Dante.

~“Remember your promise, my love…”~ I quickly mind-linked to Seth.

I felt his anger lessen slightly. Enough for him to stay focused.

“Why wait,” Seth growled, “besides…”

He paused before speaking again.

“I, Seth, Beta of the Western pack, invoke my right of vengeance for the death of my parents. I challenge you, Dante, Beta of the Blood Fang pack. A fight to the death.”

Zagan rolled his eyes.

“Whatever...let’s get this over with.”

We started to circle each other, sizing each other up. In the back of my mind, I wondered how Seth was doing. Had they started to fight yet? Had they both shifted? I couldn’t risk a glance.

If I lost focus for even a second, it would give Zagan an opening. Maybe that was what he was hoping for. He hadn’t even started to shift yet.

I’d never seen Zagan fight, neither as a wolf nor as a human. I’d only seen his wolf once when Sammy and I had crossed the river. He was big, that much I knew. Much bigger than Nix.

He was also arrogant. I knew that from my time in his dungeons. He never even bothered to attend the training sessions that Dante forced on us, if you could call them that.

He never came down to inflict punishment either. I knew he’d ordered it, though. I only saw him once a month, when he would try to make me join his pack.

That was until the day I baited him. I made him so angry that he almost whipped us both to death.

I smirked. I could use that now. Make him angry. An angry fighter isn’t focused. I knew that from my training with my grandfather, with Murdoch, and with Seth.

“You really think you can beat me?” I taunted. “I told you eight years ago you were a worthless excuse of an Alpha. Hell, you couldn’t even beat a ten-year-old child. What chance do you have now?”

A growl escaped his lips, his eyes turning black. Zagan wasn’t even in control. His wolf was.

I sneered as a mirthless laugh escaped my lips.

“Hell, you can’t even control your wolf. I bet your father would be really disappointed in you.”

That was it. As soon as the last words left my lips, his bones began to crack, canines erupted from his jaw, and hair started to sprout from his skin.

I was surprised he didn’t shift faster, but maybe he didn’t shift that often. Maybe he kept his wolf contained, only releasing him when Zagan lost control.

As for me? I had been trained to do a fighting shift. That said, I hadn’t shifted since Nix returned. A slight panic gripped my chest. What if I couldn’t shift?

“~Nix, I need you to control the shift. I need you to shift now!~”

Nix had been quiet since we arrived. I guessed she felt the loss of our grandfather just as much as I did. Now, though, her voice rang out in my head.

“~It’ll hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you, Ellie.~”

“~If he shifts before I do, he will hurt me more,” ~I huffed back.

I gasped. A sharp pain shot through my body as I heard my own bones crack.

It reminded me a bit of when we had first shifted after seeing Sammy’s body. When Nix had realized he was dead. It was her grief that caused the shift then.

It had been so quick I barely knew what had happened.

This time it was our combined anger. Zagan hadn’t even completed his shift by the time we had. I wished he was still in human form, just so I could see the shocked look on his face.

As far as he was concerned, I was still wolf-less.

I hoped that Dante was shocked, as it would give Seth an opportunity. I knew Dante was a good fighter, but I also knew Seth was better. Even so, any advantage that presented itself should be taken.

I let Nix take control while I recovered from the shift. Since Seth had marked me, I could feel how powerful she had become. We had truly become one with each other.

She ran towards Zagan while he was still in mid-shift and disoriented. I was right in my assumptions. He rarely shifted, and when he did it was because his wolf wanted it more than him.

Being one with Nix was a definite plus. We always had each other’s backs, unlike Zagan who probably battled his wolf every single day.

Once we got to Zagan, who was halfway through his shift, Nix didn’t hesitate. She bared her teeth and bit into his hind leg, then swiped her claw across his face.

The noise he made was a mix of a growl and a whimper.

I couldn’t help but feel a little smug. Good. He was in pain, and we’d managed to weaken him.

The only problem was that the pain seemed to speed up his shift. Now we were up against a seriously pissed off Alpha wolf. I couldn’t see any trace of Zagan.

His wolf had taken over completely. I had no clue what was coming next.

Zagan’s wolf snarled, showing off its teeth, and limped towards us. This was the most dangerous part, so I took the lead.

I wasn’t sure if Nix had been fully aware during our training sessions. Now I realized she’d been quiet to conserve her energy.

Most of our training had been in human form, but the strategies were the same in either form: find a weakness and exploit it.

Zagan had two weaknesses now—three if you counted his inability to shift. First, he was hurt. Second, he was mad. I knew from experience that anger could make you lose focus.

He lunged at us, teeth bared, but I dodged him easily, leaving him sliding in the wet mud.

As he turned, I used a trick Seth had taught me. I faked a move to the right, making him think I was going to attack his uninjured side.

I didn’t think he’d fall for it, but he did, leaving him open for another attack.

This time, I bit down hard on his shoulder and yanked. I heard a loud pop as his shoulder dislocated.

He screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

I slashed a claw across his face, taking out his eye and leaving him half-blind.

He was practically defenseless now. I slowly moved to his blind side. With a dislocated shoulder and a nearly useless hind leg, he couldn’t get back up.

I wanted him to shift back to human form before I killed him, just to wipe that smirk off his face.

But that wasn’t going to happen, so I swiped my claws across his belly and watched his guts spill out onto the mud.

He whimpered as his chest heaved. I walked around to his front so I could look him in the eye.

I slowly shifted back to my human form.

“You picked the wrong side,” I sneered.

I let my claws extend from my fingers.

Zagan looked at me with his good eye, wide with fear. I could smell it on him. He was drenched in it.

That didn’t stop me. I plunged my hand into his chest, grabbed his heart, and yanked it out, holding it up in the air.

“Now you’re the heartless bastard I always knew you were,” I spat.

I tossed his heart into the river, watching as it turned red while it floated away.

I turned away from the sight to see some of the pack warriors staring at me, their mouths hanging open.

I guessed they’d sensed my wolf’s return, but they had no idea what we were capable of.

I gestured towards Zagan’s body.

“Burn it,” I growled.

They didn’t say a word. They just did as I ordered.

Now it was time to focus on Seth and Dante.

Time to focus on my mate and his fight.