“Wait,” the patient voice said in my head. “Wait,” it said even as I could feel the heat from his body and see the spit in his mouth as he opened his powerful jaw. “Move!”
I leapt into action, rolling under the wolf and kicking up at the same time. The motion sent the big wolf scrambling as he hit the sharp wooden stake and it impaled him through the shoulder. I glanced up and knew it wouldn’t take Castle long to get himself off that stake. He’d heal fast. I needed to move quickly if I wanted to gain the advantage.
It would be easier to fight Castle if I took out the betas first. I wanted to be able to focus all of my attention on Castle. While Castle writhed on the pike, the betas began to circle me. I had rolled to the center of the arena and the smaller wolves began to work in tandem. Smaller, I thought, didn’t mean small. They were simply smaller than the enormous wolf Castle became. They snarled and growled around me, enjoying the play. They twitched their tails and snapped their sharp teeth toward me. I tried to keep them both in my sights, but it was impossible. They surrounded me and Castle was almost off the spike. I was running out of time.
“Shh,” the voice said. Marcus’s voice was starting to mingle with my own inner voice. “Calm yourself. You have them right where you want them. Stop trying to follow them with your eyes and open your other senses.”
Breathing deeply, I let the instincts flow across me. I let the wolf inside take over completely. She was triumphant as she took hold of our body. I felt her will, her joy in this fight. I tracked the wolf in front of me with my eyes, but I knew where the other one was, too. I sensed him behind me and I felt the moment he decided to attack. Time seemed to slow as I moved into place. He leapt toward me and I turned at the last second, powering up to catch him in the gut. I felt the claws on my cestus sink into the soft underbelly of the wolf, and I drove forward like I was pulling a lever. That lever opened the wolf’s belly and I felt the blood gush as I rolled away, yanking my hand out of the eviscerated abdomen.
The beta hit the ground with a thud and I knew he was dead before the sand had settled around him. The claws on the cesti were pure silver. It was why Zack had handled them with the greatest care. The silver would burn the flesh. It would damage the wolf’s flesh so terribly that it died before the wolf’s natural healing powers could kick in. He could, eventually, heal a cut to his arm, but I sank those claws deep into his belly. I had cut through flesh and into his organs. He hadn’t stood a chance. The silver on my hands was coated in blood and I was perfectly satisfied with the metallic smell floating on the air. I felt Marcus’s approval from across the arena. The vampire’s dark eyes never left me. While the rest of the crowd sat on the edge of their seats or screamed their preference, Marcus was still, all of his energy, his will, poured into me.
One down, two to go. The crowd seemed to finally understand this wouldn’t be an easy kill for the alpha. I wouldn’t go easy.
Hell, I thought looking at Castle as he managed to pull himself off the spike, I wasn’t going down at all. He was going down.
The second beta howled his displeasure at his friend’s death. He lost his discipline and came after me with no thought but to get his jaw wrapped around my neck. Castle barked and I knew instinctively he was trying to order the beta to stop. He needed a moment to heal the wound in his shoulder. He wanted to face me two to one, but the beta was so far gone in his rage that he didn’t listen. He pounced, his weight shoving me down into the sand. His claws sank into my shoulders. The pain was blistering.
“Forget it,” the voice said. The pain didn’t matter. I could deal with it later.
The pain receded and I used my legs to roll the wolf off and over me. My feet sank in the sand as I ran for the other side of the arena. The wolf nipped at my heels. I sped up, knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I reached the side of the arena where silver chains hung. The wolf was too close. I turned and he was coming at me. I reared my fist back and hit him straight in his snout. He whimpered as he went down. His big body hit the sand.
When I looked at the other side of the arena, Castle was changing. He took human form again. It would help him heal quicker.
“I am going to kill you, bitch!” Castle screamed across the arena.
I picked up the chain in my free hand. “That’s what your son said.” I couldn’t help it. I really can be a bitch.
Castle’s scream might have curled a lesser woman’s toes, but I had other things to do. His wound was healing before my eyes and that beta was already getting up. I hefted the heavy rope and slung it at the downed beta before he could rise. The chain was thick and heavy, but I lifted it easily. I caught him across the legs. The flesh immediately started to smoke and the wolf howled. He tried to move, but the chain weighed a ton and the silver sapped his strength. The crowd roared as Castle changed again. Magic filled the air and knew I had very little time before he reached me. I didn’t need much.