The dust had not even settled yet, and I was still standing at the edge of the ring with my heart pounding so hard that it felt like the whole field should be able to hear it, while the mate bond stayed sharp under my skin and carried every brutal pulse of Ezra’s body straight into mine.
No one in the crowd moved. No one breathed too loudly. No one broke the silence.
Because Ezra had Alpha John on the ground, and that was the part the pack had been waiting for, but it was not the end they were judging.
It was the choice.
Alpha John was down in the dirt on one knee and one hand, blood running from the corner of his mouth, one eye already swelling, and his breathing looked heavier than it had a minute ago, but there was nothing defeated in him. He still carried himself like a wolf who th
