A second later, Damien was in front of me, his gray and black wolf pulling his lips over his teeth as he growled.
I held my ground, turning as he started to circle.
Patience.
That was Luke’s number one rule; be patient and let the other person come to you. Analyze how they attack and figure out how to counter.
Apparently Damien had gotten the same lesson because he seemed just as content to circle me, watching my shoulders to see when I might lunge.
The sharp cry from the side caught my attention and stupidly broke my focus.
One of the guy’s holding Maren must’ve tightened his grip, causing her to yelp, and giving my opponent the opening he needed.
Damien surged forward, too fast for me to counter. His teeth raked across my shoulder, splitting the skin open with a hot, searing bolt of pain. I grunted and tried to bite his flank as he jumped away, licking his lips.
He’d drawn first blood.
Fuck.
I could practically feel Skye’s fear spike through our bond, but I couldn’t afford to look at her and risk breaking my attention again.
Damien’s guys had set me up for a cheap shot, and I’d walked right into it.
Luke would’ve reamed my ass out for that.
I pushed my paw down, testing my weight. It stung, but it wasn’t a crippling wound. But it did make me look like I could be easily distracted.
Again, we circled each other, waiting for the other to make a move. My ears flicked every time I heard a twig snap or someone move.
I studied Damien and noticed the second his front left shoulder twitched. He spun in a snarl, launching himself at my uninjured side. I scrambled to the side, flinching when I dropped too much weight onto my sore leg.
He crashed into me with a growl, all snapping teeth and swiping paws that I managed to deflect. We locked together, balancing on our hind legs, the sounds of our snarls echoing in the clearing.
He was bigger than I was and used his weight to his advantage, pushing me back until one of my legs caught on a root.
As soon as I started to roll, I realized what was about to happen. Worse still, I knew there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
I tilted, my right paw exposed. Damien didn’t hesitate to latch onto it as I fell, and I heard the sharp snap of my bones before I felt the blinding rush of pain as my body collided with the ground.
“No!” Skye’s scream cut through the hazy fog of agony that rippled down my body.
Damien let me go and stood over me, his head cocked to the side as my blood dripped from his jaws. I could see the triumph in his eyes as I struggled to get my three working feet under my body.
The only comfort now was that I had figured it out.
Both times Damien had bitten me, he’d gone in from the right, leaving his left side exposed.
I stopped struggling, stopped moving. After a beat, I lowered my head and stayed on the ground. I focused on coiling my strength and waited for Damien to go in for the kill.
His teeth pulled apart with a roar as he lunged for my throat. I rolled at the last second, twisting under him and locking my jaws on his throat. I grunted as he tried to shake me off, but all that did was tear his flesh in my teeth more.
Blood gushed into my mouth, and I blocked it out, focusing on him struggling to break my hold on him. He pushed down on my injured leg, but the flaring pain that sliced through me only made me clench my teeth more.
I lost track of how long I held onto him, but I could taste the life bleeding out of him, until he finally sank to the ground and the blood flow slowed. I felt his body start to shift back and I let go. Only then did I push myself up to my feet, keeping the broken one off the ground.
Damien’s lifeless eyes stared up at me.
I was covered in blood. It made the ground squish under my feet as I moved back.
“Blackwater wins,” Griffin announced.
I shifted back, groaning as the bones in my wrist tried, and failed, to knit back together. I dropped to the ground.
“Fuck,” I whispered, cradling my arm to my side as I managed to push myself up.
Skye was next to me almost immediately, sinking to her knees despite the blood around me. She started to reach for my arm and stopped, her eyes wide. “Remy.”
“I’m okay,” I assured her. I would be. Bloody shoulder and broken arm aside, I would heal and be fine.
I looked across the clearing to the silent Norwood pack. Silent until Trace stepped forward.
“We don’t accept defeat,” he snapped.
Griffin’s eyes narrowed. “Norwood lost.”
Trace’s chin lifted. “I’m an heir. Blackwater doesn’t win unless I also cede the pack, and I don’t.” He looked down at me. “As the Norwood heir, I challenge you for my pack.”
55
Skye
My heart sank as Trace threw down his challenge. I looked at Remy and swallowed hard. Bruises were already forming on his chest and torso. His shoulder was bloody and likely needed stitches, and his wrist … His wrist was destroyed. No way he could take on Trace like this.
Rhodes slowly approached with Remy’s clothes, dropping into a crouch beside me.
“Hey!” Trace yelled. “Did you hear me? I said I challenge—”
“We fucking heard you, dipshit,” Rhodes snapped, standing up with a growl as people gasped. “Calm the fuck down. We all know there’s protocols and he doesn’t have to accept your challenge right this goddamn second.”
Trace’s eyes went wide. “Who do you think you’re addressing, beta?”
“Enough!” Griffin’s voice cut through the bickering and whispering. “Rhodes is right. There’s protocols for a rebuttal challenge. Remy has the right to respond to the challenge within the next three hours. Calm down.”
“Fine,” Trace spat. “Take all the precious time you need.”
Rhodes and I helped Remy into his clothes and off to the side where our friends and my family were waiting.
“Let me see the arm,” Lulu demanded, pushing between Dimitri and my father. She drew up short and frowned. “I might be able to accelerate the healing, but it won’t fix that fact that your bones are broken.”
“No magic,” Remy told her, shaking his head. “We can’t look like we’re cheating.”
Lulu’s mouth flattened. “So, me just standing here and making his brains liquefy is also off the table?”
Ryder stared at her. “You can do that?”
Dimitri snorted. “Yeah. Don’t piss off the tiny magic wielder.”
Remy looked down at his arm, and I could already see the wheels turning.
“No,” I said with as much force as I could. “Rem, your arm is broken.”
“I know,” he murmured, frowning as he met my eyes.
Griffin joined our group, his eyes narrowed. “Look, you have a few hours. Maybe enough time to get your people out of here. Trace is stupid and these people aren’t inclined to follow him anyway. He’s not the Alpha his father was.”
“Running away from this won’t fix anything,” Dante argued.
“He’s right,” Nikolai agreed, nodding. “If anything it will make you look weaker.”
“He can’t fight with a broken arm,” I snapped, whirling around to glare at my father. I needed someplace to put all this fear and anger churning in my gut, and he was unfortunately about to be on the receiving end.