Even though her wolf coat kept her warm, she shivered. She couldn’t shake the fear that one of the reds might seriously injure Devlyn.
The wolves formed a jagged circle while Devlyn and Alfred faced off in the center. Although Alfred was decidedly smaller, he was wiry and moved quickly, pacing back and forth, highly agitated and aggressive. Devlyn’s larger build had the power of the pounce and the pinning that had always beat her when they played as youngsters and preteens. But this was entirely different. This was a battle to the death.
She a.s.sumed that, if Devlyn had not learned that Alfred was one of the killers, he would have let him live, barely, just to make the point that Bella was his and no other’s. Then Alfred could heal and come back to run the pack, if another hadn’t taken it over. But Alfred and his companions in crime warranted the death sentence, and Devlyn would mete it out if he could.
Devlyn stood stiff legged and tall — a show of dominance. His ears were erect and held forward, his hackles bristling. He held his tail vertical and slightly curled toward his back, alpha posturing at its best and not to be trifled with. His lips curled up, and he bared his incisors. Alfred promptly growled, showing off his canines. If Devlyn dove in and got Alfred just right, his powerful jaws — twice as strong as those of a German Shep- herd’s — could crush the large bones of his prey.
Alfred continued to pace, which was not normal for two wolves fighting for the alpha male role. She wondered if her kissing Devlyn with such affection had unmanned the killer red.
Appearing not to want to attack the red unprovoked, because of his size and the fact that he wasn’t in the red’s territory, Devlyn waited.
Alfred finally whipped around, as if he got the courage to take a nip at the gray, and leapt nearly six feet into the air.
Devlyn sidestepped where Alfred would land. As soon as the red’s paws were planted firmly on the ground, Devlyn attacked.
Devlyn’s teeth sank into the red’s flank. Yelping, Alfred scurried away, his side bleeding, his ears flattened, his tail straight down. The rest of the wolves waited, tongues panting, as if they stood at a sporting exhibition, watching to see which fighter won.
Bella squelched the urge to rush into the fray and bite the red who could have exposed their kind for what they were, to give back a little of what they’d done to the girls they’d murdered.
Devlyn watched Alfred, never taking his eyes off him, calculating his next move, conserving his energy for the next three in line. He was a crafty wolf, and she loved him dearly for his size, strength, and cunning.
Limping slightly to the side of the circle, Alfred paced again, only slower this time, not as steadily or as sure of himself. He never looked at her once, just at the ground, already exhibiting signs of defeat. The way he acted, he appeared to think he’d lost the fight before he’d even begun. He was probably right. The last two wolves might have a chance to take a bite out of Devlyn when he was tired and worn down. But not the first.
Bella hoped with all her heart that Devlyn wouldn’t be hurt, even a scratch, despite the fact that they healed quickly.
Attempting the same maneuver, Alfred whipped around and leapt through the air. Maybe it worked for him when he became the alpha leader for the reds, but with Devlyn, it didn’t.
Devlyn lunged this time and grabbed Alfred’s throat, instantly crushing his neck. He had to end the game quickly if he were to conserve enough strength to fight the other three.
For a minute, no more, the reds watched him when he released the dead body of their alpha leader. The deed was done. No one had time to reflect on the sudden shift in power.
Instantly, Ross attacked. His teeth snapped at Devlyn’s neck, but Bella’s gray mate lithely avoided Ross’s wicked canines.
Her heart pounded ferociously.
Grabbing Ross’s ear, Devlyn tore the leather. Ross whined in protest and dodged out of the way.
So much for the bad red wolf who’d killed his victim so brutally.
Sitting on her haunches, every nerve on edge, Bella tried to stretch her muscles to release the tension.
Devlyn faced Ross, but he got a glimpse of her. His tongue hung over his teeth as he panted, but his lips curved up slightly as if in a smile. He’d beaten Alfred, and he’d done it for her. He was one proud big gray wolf.
Bowing her head slightly to him, her eyes gazed into his, showing him how much she loved him and how proud she was of him.
Ross attacked again.
Bella stiffened her back, but Devlyn was prepared. He immediately responded with a bite at the red’s right shoulder. Bleeding profusely, Ross yelped and bolted away.
Bella glanced at Nicol; his eyes were darkened, his body tensed. As soon as Devlyn finished Ross, Nicol wouldn’t wait either, but which one was the sneaky Simon?
Fear niggled at her that he was an emergent leader. The kind that waited until the battle ended before he rushed in to take over. Was it as Ross and Nicol had said? There wasn’t any reason to take over the pack until she came along?
She stood. Then realizing her anxiety might bother Devlyn, she lay down and rested her head on her paws as if the whole matter served simply as a pleasing walk in the woods.
Ross stood still at the edge of the circle, panting hard, his chest filling and emptying with intense breaths. No longer just a spectator, he battled for his life. Fresh blood matted his fur. The rest stood on end as he raised his tail behind him. His posture indicated that he wasn’t ready to give up the fight, not yet.
Neither was Devlyn. He stood ready, his body somewhat relaxed between sparring, to allow him time to rest.
A wolf howled in the distance. As unique to wolves as fingerprints were to humans, Bella immediately recognized the warning sound... Volan.
Chapter Nineteen
The sound of Volan’s howl nearly made Bella’s heart stop. Devlyn’s ears pulled back and he narrowed his eyes. His tail pointed straight out, parallel to the ground. Undoubtedly, he sensed the added danger when he caught the sound, too.
It just couldn’t be Volan. Not when Devlyn had so many reds to fight. Bella continued to recline on the ground, pretending not to be bothered, to show Devlyn that she believed in him with all of her heart. But she couldn’t smooth down the hair standing erect on the nape of her neck or tail. She couldn’t relax her tail, fixed straight as a spear, her body on full alert, ready to react if Volan made a sudden appearance.
Then she reminded herself that she had her gun and it could give him a lot of heartburn for a while.
Ross ran toward Devlyn with his teeth bared. Fire burned in the depths of his brown eyes. Devlyn responded, his leg and back muscles moving like a waterfall, fluid and powerful. Grabbing Ross by the throat, he snapped his neck in two.
Ross fell limply to the ground; Bella stopped panting. For now, Devlyn had proved himself once again the winner. Taking a deep breath of pride, she admired her mate for his skill and ingeniousness. She thought of how Ross and the other wolves had killed those helpless women and how, if they’d had a chance, they would have killed Devlyn. For those reasons, she had no regret. It was the way of the wolf, the only reason they had survived as long as they had.
Still, her anxiety heightened, worrying that Devlyn’s energy would dwindle.
Nicol lunged at him. No rest in between, calculated to wear the gray down.
Most of the wolves still stood. A couple of the older ones, their red fur now graying, lay down, but all kept their eyes fixed on the fighters.
Nicol got a lucky strike — because she couldn’t concede it was anything else — and grazed Devlyn’s neck with his wicked canines. Devlyn snapped and growled with his teeth bared, the sound deep and base-like, extremely menacing. Nicol quickly retreated from Devlyn’s killer canines.
Bella squelched the urge to dash into the battle and bite the red back. She sat up instantly, unable to pretend any further to be so relaxed about the fight.
Nicol pounced on him again, but Devlyn snapped his jaw at him, nearly catching the red’s leg. Hearing the sound of Devlyn’s powerful jaws clamping together so close to his body, Nicol yelped.
Bella searched the crowd again, looking for a male wolf about the right age that might be Simon. Her eye caught that of a red who was watching her, not the fight. He stood taller than Alfred had, but certainly not as big as a gray. But he looked as if he could have put Alfred down. Her stomach tightened.
She faced Devlyn, who sprung at Nicol and pinned him down by the throat.
Nicol whined and squirmed. Devlyn had the best of him. Why didn’t he finish him off? Not to do so was cowardly, and it was not the wolf way... not the lupus garou way. Not when the red had murdered a human woman and risked exposing all of the lupus garous.
Devlyn’s chest heaved with exhaustion. Worn out, he rested before the kill, knowing that Simon would attack as soon as he let go of Nicol. Bella settled back down, glad she’d figured out his reluctance to finish Nicol off.
The wolves grew restless as he continued to wait. Several wolves held their tails straight out behind them, indicating their apprehension. Then, with resolve, Devlyn clamped his jaws down on Nicol’s throat, crushing the neck bone with a powerful snap, ending the fourth-generation big game hunter’s life instantly.
The one who’d been watching Bella immediately leapt for Devlyn, nearly sixteen feet through the air, the longest distance a wolf could leap. This time, Devlyn didn’t react quickly enough. Simon knocked him on his hip.
Bella lunged forward, but two of the other males blocked her from interceding. Females fought females, never males — the unwritten rule pa.s.sed down from generation to generation.
She growled at them. They bowed their heads to her, showing that they had no intention of fighting her but wouldn’t move out of her path.
Again she growled, baring her teeth at one and then the other, preparing herself to attack. She couldn’t watch Simon hurt her mate. The strain of the fighting and the tension that had built up in her system keyed her higher than an active volcano built up steam, ready to explode.
When neither of the reds would move out of her path, she snarled and snapped at the one to her right, intent on having her way. Immediately, the one to her left pounced on her. He pinned her to her side against the pine needle floor. She wriggled with frustration but couldn’t free herself because of his heavier weight and bigger size.