Inevitably Yours
Chapter 92

Lawrence broke into a grin as he saw me, “There you are, little mutt.”

I just walked toward him in silence. The fact that I couldn’t see anyone around told me he was planning something again. That was fine; he didn’t know I had Nic. Walking across the training field was eerie. I’d trained here until I bled more times than I could count, and now I would have the fight of my life here, a fight for the fate of my whole pack. I wanted to dismiss Lawrence as a coward that I would crush with ease, but I knew that he’d make up for it somehow as he did with my Melvin.

“You should let me out,” Eros whined. “I can rip his throat out and be done with it!”

“You know it won’t be that easy.”

“Tell whoever is hiding around us to come out. I don’t have time for games,” I called out to Lawrence once I was twenty or so yards from him.

“Why do you think there is anyone here but us?” he asked, feigning that he was hurt at my distrust by clutching his chest like I’d wounded him.

“I know what you did last time, Lawrence. I’m not my father, either one of you. I won’t just die here, and I will not be a slave to you,” I declared; neither outcome was unacceptable.

“Cute speech, pup. I should have killed him, but it was just so fun to torture him with the mate bond he still had with your mother instead. I haven’t decided what I’ll do with you yet, but I’m still leaning towards a slave Beta who can never have his mate. I guess only you can decide once you’ve lost this challenge if you live or not,” he told me gleefully.

“I’d rather die than live one moment with you as my master,” I spat.

“If you die, our bond will be broken. Who will protect your blue-haired b***h then?” he asked, his eyebrow raising.

“It won’t matter,” I growled. My b***d was boiling at what he was insinuating. As this day grew closer, I felt conflicted about what I had to do. Telling me he’d break his promise and hurt Quinn once I wasn’t here to protect her was an excellent way to get me over that.

“Why is that?”

“Because I’m going to put you in the ground where you belong, ‘dad’.”

He sighed, “I’d hoped you’d come to your senses, but as you wish.”

He picked up the sword he’d left lying at his feet. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing right now. He’d told us that using weapons was wrong my entire life, and here he was, most likely using the sword he’d used in the challenge with my father.

“I thought weapons were for cowards?” I asked. It was my turn to raise my brow at his uncharacteristic turn, not that he wasn’t a coward regardless.

“Oh, I knew you’d bring them. It doesn’t change how I feel about it,” he shot back.

“It’s okay,” I reassured him. “Coward is a moniker that you wear easily.”

A break in the gleeful facade opened, and I saw the anger flash across his face as his temple pulsed near the birthmark on his forehead. I just smiled, snapping my swords from their sheaths, readying myself for what was to come. I knew it wouldn’t be immediate combat with Lawrence.

That’s when I heard the twang of a crossbow from my right. I slapped the bolt away with my blade with relative ease before another one came from the same place, this one aimed higher towards my face.

“About three o’clock,” I linked Nic, slapping the next bolt away as I stepped to the side. I was using a karate technique to sweep the ground as I moved. It kept me from stepping down into any ground traps Lawrence might be using. I wasn’t going to meet him in the center of the field either. He would have to come to me.

I heard a scream from the treeline in the direction of the crossbow bolt, and I smiled as Lawrence’s face balled up in rage. Now, she needed to replace the witch. I was sure he would try to keep me from healing in the same way he did in the first challenge. It worked once; why wouldn’t he?

“Got him,” she replied before disappearing again. She was searching the training grounds in a grid and was only supposed to provide support if I needed it for the archers. I was thrilled the Alpha of my new pack was so understanding about the situation and let Nic join. I went to him as soon as she wanted to help me; this mission would have been almost impossible if we couldn’t communicate. I’d have to replace some way to thank him later.

“I see you have friends of your own?” he admonished.

“Cut the theatrics, Lawrence. You want me so bad, you come and get me yourself,” I demanded.

“Fine, pup. You should be careful what you wish for, though,” he warned.

“What could that mean?” I wondered.

“He’s planning something different than last time,” Eros said warily.

With that, Lawrence fished a vial out from under his shirt, where it was hanging from his neck. I hadn’t even noticed it. He opened it and drank the contents in one gulp. Once he did, he grew visibly in size. His arms and neck bulged, his shirt grew tight enough to start tearing, and I could see his veins rippling under his skin. He was becoming a monster version of Lawrence, not that he wasn’t already a different kind of monster.

He sprang forward at me, chopping down with an overhand strike toward my head. I crossed my swords in an x to meet him and was surprised by the strength behind the blow. The power in his strike almost drove me to my knees, but I was able to keep my footing. Whatever he’d taken had drastically increased his physical abilities. Using both swords and a significant amount of strength, I threw his blade to my right, using Saphir to parry while Diagnè shot forward toward his belly. I drew b***d, but I couldn’t open him up like I wanted to as I had to throw myself into a backward roll, barely missing a backhand swing at my face from his sword. Not only was he stronger, but he was impossibly fast now too. This was going to be a problem. I was barely back to my feet before rolling laterally over my left shoulder to avoid another strike. This time, I sprang to my feet, attacking high and low simultaneously with my swords. He slapped one sword away with sheer strength, and the other sliced across his shoulder. B***d welled and started to spill down his shirt, but he made no expression to otherwise acknowledge he’d been cut. That could only mean that he also couldn’t feel my blade right now. I hoped that whatever magical steroids he’d taken wouldn’t last forever because I wasn’t sure how to put him down in his current state. I continued to parry extremely heavy-handed blows while poking through his defenses to cut him all over his body. It was no use because he was healing almost as quickly as I could wound him. I’d received a few glancing cuts in return, and as we broke away from each other for a moment, I realized I wasn’t healing. The sting remained, and the b***d flowed freely.

“I’m not hurt bad, but we’re right. I’m not healing, so the witch has to be here somewhere. He’s on some kind of crazy magic drug right now. I really need you to replace her,” I called out to Nic, hoping she was close to replaceing the witch. I heard another man scream in the woods, and I knew she was still searching. She must have found another bowman. No reply must mean that she’s busy. I slapped Lawrence’s blade aside with Diagnè and drove Saphir towards his head as hard as I could, hoping to run it through. He reached up and grabbed it in his hand right as the tip pierced the skin of his forehead. B***d poured from his hand as he smiled down at me. I tried, but I couldn’t pull my sword from his grip.

“It’s useless, mutt,” he laughed, his voice almost demonic. “Concede, it’ll be better for you anyways. You can live a long life as my Beta.”

“I’m not giving up my freedom for your promise of ‘safe’ servitude,” I spat. Using Diagnè, I swung hard at the outside of his knee. Even if he couldn’t feel it, I could cut the tendons and disable his leg for a moment to get away, or he’d drop the sword and try to create some distance between us. Either way, he’d let go of Saphir. He tried to step over the blade instead but wasn’t fast enough, so I sank deep into his heel, severing his Achilles tendon. When I ripped the sword away, he tried to step down, but his foot would no longer support him. He lurched to the side, let go of Saphir, and tried to catch his balance. I tried to capitalize on my slight advantage in position, but as I sprang forward, his sword came up to skewer me at the last moment. I was able to spin and dodge most of it, but he cut straight across my back as I did. It burned like I’d been seared across my back, and the pain had me seeing stars. I was starting to lose enough b***d that it was affecting me. I needed Nic to replace that witch.

I heard another click, and I got my blade up just in time to block another bolt coming from behind me. I was beginning to slow because of the lack of healing, and I started to worry if I would deteriorate too fast for Nic to have time to complete her task.

“You are the next Alpha of Stary Pack; right now is when you show the world why,” Eros roared. “We do not deteriorate. We do not succumb to weakness or fear. I don’t care how tired you are. You finish this! If you won’t let me fight, then you Goddess damned better do it your f*****g self!”

I could feel my second wind, a new burst of adrenaline flowing through me. Eros was right. I didn’t have time or energy to waste on letting myself be tired or weak. I had to dig deep, deeper than any match or competition I had ever been in my life. This challenge was not only for my life but the fate of everyone I loved, the whole pack’s fate, and my Quinn’s future. She deserved so much more than what life was giving her, and I had to come through the other side of this to give it to her.

–

“As soon as I can,” I promised. I was trying so hard to get her to understand how much I meant this. “I’ll be back for you, Quinn.”

“Don’t make me a promise you aren’t going to keep,” she barely got out. I could see that she was trying to hold back tears, but she was failing. They spilled free, and my heart shattered at what I had to do to her.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

–

I had a promise to keep. I’d thought of that moment more times than I could count, and I wasn’t going to let Quinn down now.

That’s when my best friend popped into my head with the most incredible news she could have given me, “I f*****g found her!” The sense of relief I felt with that simple sentence was immeasurable.

“It’s over,” I warned Lawrence. The b***d-curdling scream of a woman followed immediately, and his eyes grew wider. “Let’s finish this.”