“What the hell do you want?” she demanded angrily. “How dare you chase me down? I have the right to run wherever I want.”
“Your mother wants to talk to you,” Daxon said, looking contemptuous. He’d carried a cell phone in his jaws and dropped it on the ground when he shifted. He picked it up and dialed while Katrina stood with her arms folded, glaring at them. They had absolutely no right to keep here here. Then again they had no right to imprison the gophers and steal from them and enslave them; obviously they weren’t too concerned with the finer points of The Covenant.
Daxon handed her the phone. “I want you to know this is for your own good,” her mother said, in her haughtiest tone. “Your stepfather has picked out a very nice Alpha that you’ll be mated with, a man with an excellent bloodline and a very good reputation. You have been carrying on with the enemy in a disgusting and disgraceful fashion. Clearly you need to be taken in hand and shown some discipline before your terrible behavior becomes public. Now, I’ll have you know-”
Katrina spit out a curse word as she turned and hurled the phone against a tree, and it shattered.
Daxon cuffed her on the side of the head so hard that her ears rang.
“That’s from your stepfather,” he snarled. “He said to do that if you gave us any trouble. And there’s plenty more where that came from.”
Chapter Twelve
Maddox summoned every bit of his strength to keep his rage under control. Roman had called him up and told him if he wanted to see Katrina alive again, he’d meet him at city hall in Greensville – without making any phone calls to the Council of Elders. He’d claimed that if Maddox made any calls, he’d know. Maddox had decided not to risk it.
He’d arrived first, and was pacing the floor when Roman walked in to the meeting room, alone, carrying a laptop, and shut the door behind him.
“There’s no reason I shouldn’t tear your head off right now,” Maddox snarled, letting his fur sprout on his face. “And by the way, even though you’re trying to hide it, I see you’re favoring your left side. Was it the silver knife? Because I’ve done some checking, and I’ve heard about the assassination attempt.”
“You’re so clever.” Roman’s lip curled in a sneer as he set the laptop. “I think you’ll want to watch this video before you make any fatal mistakes.”
Roman opened up his laptop and clicked on a video. It showed a horrifying video of a big grey wolf dangling from chains, being skinned alive. His animal screams and pleas echoed from the laptop’s speakers. A small smile twitched at Roman’s lips.
“That was my father,” Roman said proudly. “After he decided that I was too weak to be an Alpha, and tried to drown me in the pond behind our house. I showed him who the weak one was.”
“If you’re trying to show me that you’re a sick, twisted asshole descended from a line of sick, twisted assholes, I already knew that.” Maddox bared his fangs.
He clicked off the video, then clicked on another one. This was a live feed.
Maddox struggled not to suck in his breath.
Katrina sat tied to a chair. Her lip was swollen and bleeding, and she had a copper collar on her neck, preventing her from shifting. A man stood next to her. As Maddox watched, he cuffed Katrina on the side of her head. Katrina turned and spit blood into the man’s face, and snarled something that he couldn’t make out.
Maddox shifted and lunged, and Roman shifted too. Maddox knocked Roman to the ground easily and stood over him, his jaws snapping at Roman’s neck.
Roman didn’t try to fight back, just lay on his back with his paws in the air.
Then Roman shifted back to human form. Maddox shifted too, kneeling over Roman and snarling.
“Do you know how bad I’m going to hurt you before I kill you?” he growled.
Roman struggled to a sitting position. “Nice fighting spirit. Save it for the Arena,” Roman said. “You’re going to need to make a good show of things before you throw the fight and let me kill you.”
“Let’s add crazy to sick twisted asshole. You think you can get away with kidnapping Katrina? In what fucked up world do you think I’d let that happen?”
“I always knew you had a thing for her,” Roman sneered. “You were panting after her every time you laid eyes on her.
Comprehension dawned, swirling with his choking rage. “That’s why you let her go shopping in town. That’s why you hadn’t issued an edict or reacted to my ban. You wanted me to take her hostage.”
“I played you like the stupid pawn you are. In case you’re wondering, I’m the king in this analogy.” Roman’s tone was loathsomely smug.
“And you decided to have the death match in a month so I’d have time to fall for her. And you sent Teresa over to spy on us. She was the one who’d been calling your pack. She let you know that Katrina and I were mating. How the fuck did you get Lula to go along with your demented scheme?”
“Teresa convinced her that she’d help Lula get together with you. Lula had no idea that I’m going to kill you,” Roman shrugged.
“Teresa shot that grenade into Katrina’s room. She could have killed her.”
“No, she couldn’t. The grenade was a dud. We just wanted to make sure Katrina would go running to you for comfort. Now, I want you to think about that video you just saw. If I’d do that to my own father, imagine what I’d do to a spoiled, disrespectful little bitch that I don’t even like.”
Maddox let out an involuntary snarl. If Roman weren’t holding Katrina hostage, he’d have killed him on the spot for speaking about Katrina like that.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He was letting Roman provoke him, and showing his hand. He was letting his emotions rule his head.
“When we enter the Death Arena, you’ll make a good show of fighting for the first couple of minutes, and then I will rip your throat out. I can promise you it will be quick. Then I will let Katrina live. There’s an Alpha that wants to marry her, and his pack would make a valuable alliance. If you fight and succeed in killing me, my family will peel the skin from Katrina’s flesh.”
“And you think her mother will let them get away with that?” Maddox snarled.
Roman threw back his head and let out a harsh, barking laugh.
“It’s been three years now and that bitch still hasn’t produced an heir for me. Right after I kill you, I’m dumping her and marrying Teresa. She’s excellent breeding stock, attractive, appropriately submissive and she’s proven that she is fertile and can give birth to sons. She’ll give me Alphas. Of course I’ll have to kill both of her sons, she’ll need to be one hundred percent devoted to my children, but I’m sure she’ll be fine with that. She won’t have much choice.”
He stood up, closing his laptop, and walked to the door. He glanced back over his shoulder and said “I’m sure that you’ll make the right decision.”
Then he left the room.
Maddox sat there, gritting his teeth, his blood boiling. His mate was being held hostage, she was being hurt, and if he tried to rescue her Roman’s men would kill her long before he could get to her. Katrina, his feisty, beautiful, kind-hearted, Katrina was being hurt right this very minute and he was supposed to be protecting her and he couldn’t.
His mate or his pack. His mate or his pack.
What would he choose? How would he choose?
Chapter Thirteen
The testing was finally complete, and both Roman and Maddox had passed. The Council of Elders were satisfied that neither of them had used any enhancements, magic or otherwise.
There was a massive crowd sitting in bleachers on both sides of the field, with dozens of Wardens standing by to keep order. Killingworths and their allies on one side, Mordhaus pack and their allies on the other side.
The Council of Elders, of course, were sitting in front of the bleachers, where they could supervise the action and ensure there was no cheating.
Roman strolled on to the field, waving to his pack, smiling hugely. Teresa was sitting in the front row. Confident of his victory, he’d already given Janet the news of her replacement the evening before and hustled her off to a small cabin on the far edge of the property. She’d wept and wailed and begged in a most irritating fashion; it had been a relief to get her out of his sight.
He and Teresa had celebrated all night long; it wasn’t a full moon yet, so it was unlikely she’d be pregnant, but it wouldn’t be long now.
Oddly, she didn’t look as excited as he would have expected. Did she look worried? She did. She actually looked panicked. Well, that was downright disrespectful.
Maybe she wouldn’t make the perfect Alpha’s mate after all. He felt a ripple of anger run through him. How dare she give the appearance that she thought he might lose?
There were plenty of suitable replacements who were eager for the honor of being his mate. He would tolerate no disloyalty, nothing less than the adoration and respect that he was due. That was one thing he’d say for Janet, she made it clear to everyone that she worshipped the ground he trod on. That was the only acceptable demeanor for an Alpha’s mate. If only she’d given him an heir.