Fake Bond of the Lycan Lords

Chapter 8

Betty POV

“Ready, set, go!” Beta Kennedy shouts.

Madeline throws her entire body at me.

I do not flinch.

I simply side-step her clumsy rush, pivot on my heel, and drive a roundhouse kick straight into her exposed spine.

The impact is a dull, wet thud.

Madeline hits the dirt hard, sliding on her face across the gravel.

I dance back, light on my toes, watching her growl and scramble to her feet.

She lunges again, teeth bared, but I am already gone, moving like smoke.

Frustration twists her features into something ugly.

She cannot touch me.

She cannot even graze my clothes.

“Fight back, you coward!” Madeline screams, her voice cracking with rage.

“I never wanted this challenge, Madeline,” I say, dodging another wild, swinging fist. “We were friends once. I do not want to hurt you.”

She does not listen.

Madeline is stubborn, driven by a desperate need to save face in front of the crowd.

She attacks again and again, but in human form, I have every advantage.

She knows it, but her pride will not let her stop.

Suddenly, Madeline halts, taking a deliberate step back.

Her expression goes completely blank, her eyes hardening into glass.

Suspicion flares deep in my gut.

I watch her hands, tracing the line of her shoulders, trying to read her next move.

I steal a quick glance over my shoulder toward the treeline.

Adriel and Ian are watching from the shadows.

Ian suddenly bolts upright, his mouth opening to shout a warning, but he is too slow.

The rush of wind behind me alerts me first.

I duck instinctively, expecting a high swipe, but I miscalculate.

Madeline’s knee snaps upward, connecting directly with my face.

Crunch.

“Got you now, b***h,” Madeline spits, looming over me.

I stumble back, my vision swimming with hot, black spots.

Blood erupts from my nostrils, pouring over my lips and dripping down my chin.

My nose is broken, the bone shattered flat on impact.

Inside my mind, my wolf snaps her jaws, rearing back in absolute fury.

I wipe the blood with the back of my hand and look up, narrowing my eyes.

Madeline has one fatal flaw in her fighting style: she always telegraphs her moves.

I keep my head low, pretending to be dazed as she winds up for a finishing roundhouse kick.

I see her foot flying toward my temple.

Instead of ducking, I thrust both hands out, catching her ankle mid-air.

I plant my back foot and pull with every ounce of strength in my body.

Madeline loses her footing instantly, hitting the tarmac with a breath-killing slam.

She gasps, her lungs deflating, but I do not give her space to breathe.

I clamp my fingers around her heel and twist it violently to the left.

A sharp, sickening snap echoes across the clearing.

Madeline shrieked, a high, piercing sound that cuts through the wind.

I drop her leg and step back.

She curls into a ball, sobbing hysterically into the dirt.

I know her wolf will patch that bone up in a matter of minutes.

Those are not tears of physical agony.

They are tears of pure, unadulterated humiliation.

“If you really were my friend once, why are you doing this?” Madeline screams from the ground, her face streaked with mud and tears. “Why are you forcing me to live through a rejection? Why did you not stand by my side?”

I tilt my head, staring down at her.

A heavy, cold wave of sadness washes over me, but it is not for myself.

It is for the pathetic creature weeping at my feet.

“You rejected me, remember?” I say, keeping my voice low, though I know every Lycan in the clearing can hear the whisper. “You cast me aside the exact moment you learned I did not have a wolf. Do not blame your father. Do not blame the pack. This was your choice, Madeline. And you did not choose me.”

I turn my back on her.

I walk a few metres away, turning around to face the very people I spent my entire life trying to please.

The Blue Claw pack.

My childhood friends, my neighbours, my executioners.

The words I suppressed for years burn my throat, demanding to be let loose.

“I, Betty, address every single member of the Blue Claw pack,” I call out, my voice ringing clear against the trees. “I was born here. I grew up beside you. But you turned your backs on me the second I became inconvenient. You shunned me for something I could not control.”

No one speaks.

The silence is absolute.

“My wolf did not come to me on my sixteenth birthday,” I continue, stepping closer to the front rank. “I did not shift on the next full moon. But I heard her voice. I knew she was there. That is something even my parents did not know, because every time I tried to speak, you looked right through me.”

My mother flinches in the crowd, her hand flying to her mouth.

“You made me feel like a freak. I was just a late bloomer. On my eighteenth birthday, my wolf finally showed herself to me, and I was ecstatic. But then I remembered the sickening pride of this pack. You have no problem shunning your own blood to protect your reputation.”

I let out a harsh, breathless laugh.

“I am ashamed to have ever carried your name. I know you are all wondering why I turned rogue yesterday. Let me clear it up for you. I was turned rogue because the precious pride of this pack was wounded. Miss Madeline got rejected by her mate because of her atrocious attitude, yet she still found a way to blame me.”

I look directly into the eyes of my former Alpha, letting the tears spill over my hot cheeks.

“The pride of this pack is the very thing that will destroy it forever.”

I shift my gaze across the frozen crowd until I find Adriel.

He stands tall, his dark eyes locked onto mine, giving me a slow, approving nod.

I take a deep, shaky breath, feeling the phantom warmth of his bond washing over me.

These Lycans around him are complete strangers, yet they accepted me without a single question.

They gave me the courage to stand here.

I owe them everything.

I turn back around to face Madeline, but the crowd behind me is no longer silent.

Murmurs break out, swelling into loud protests, and I hear several warriors shouting in my favour.

Madeline hears them too.

A feral growl rips from her throat.

I watch as her body begins to violently contort.

Her bones snap out of place, cracking loudly as they rebuild themselves into something monstrous.

The sound is gruesome.

Her face splits open, stretching forward as a dark snout replaces her human features.

Her spine cracks upward, thick gray fur sprouting rapidly from her tanned skin.

Her eyes bleed from blue to a dull, predatory brown.

Any other fighter would have struck her down during the transition.

It is the most vulnerable state a werewolf can be in.

I can practically hear my father’s voice echoing in my head, lecturing me about a missed opportunity.

But I stand my ground.

What happens next freezes everyone in the clearing.

Madeline’s massive gray wolf completes the shift, lowers her head, and drops her front shoulders completely to the dirt.

She is bowing to me.

Adriel? I mindlink my mate, my eyes wide. Do you know why her wolf is bowing down to me?

His voice enters my mind, smooth and steady. Ian told me you can link anyone you have ever met, but this is a shock. Madeline’s wolf can sense exactly what you are, Betty. Yours is vastly superior. She is bowing out of pure, instinctual respect. Madeline is going to have a brutal time controlling her now.

I am not higher rank than her, I reply, my heart hammering against my ribs. I am a rogue. I am just your mate.

Betty, you are a Lycan born from two werewolf parents, Adriel says, the link growing warm before it snaps shut. You are special, whether you like it or not.

I look back at the giant gray wolf.

She remains frozen in her bow, trembling.

I slowly walk toward her, my bare feet crunching on the gravel.

I reach out and place my palm flat against her broad, furry forehead.

“It is okay now, girl,” I whisper, leaning close so only she can hear. “I know you do not want to hurt me. But you must also respect your human counterpart. This is our secret. Yours and mine. But right now, I need you to fight me. Please.”

The wolf lets out a loud, pathetic whine.

She does not want to do this.

I step back, giving her space, and nod firmly.

She hesitates, her ears flattening against her head, before she launches a half-hearted swipe at my chest.

I side-step it easily, driving a hard kick into her ribs.

She grunts, whimpering as she circles me.

She is fighting Madeline for control of her own limbs.

She lunges again, and this time, I purposely stay still.

Her jaws clamp down hard on my forearm.

With a thrash of her neck, she flings me sideways across the dirt.

I hit the ground, but through the bite, I feel her absolute sorrow.

She is weeping inside her own mind, forced to attack me against her nature out of duty to her human host.

I push myself up, reaching deep inside for my own wolf, trying to figure out how to end this without killing the beast.

But Madeline wins the internal struggle.

Before I can stand, the gray wolf hits me like a freight train.

Her jaws snap around my right thigh.

Teeth sink deep, tearing through muscle and grinding against the bone.

A white-hot spike of agony tears through my entire body, and I scream, the sound tearing from my throat.

The bone snaps.

She releases me, tossing me back into the dirt.

Suddenly, Madeline’s voice echoes directly inside my mind, dripping with malice.

Thanks, Betty. When you told my wolf she had to respect me, I used the distraction to force my way back to the surface. She gave up the moment your blood flooded our mouth. I wanted you to know that she is gone now. It is just you and me.

I do not answer.

I glare up at her through the sweat and blood pouring down my face.

She does not deserve the beautiful beast trapped inside her.

She definitely does not deserve Ian.

I have to win this.

I look down at my leg and bile rises in my throat.

A jagged piece of white bone is protruding straight through my torn skin, bubbling with dark red blood.

I choke down the vomit, gritting my teeth as I try to haul my shattered body off the ground.

Madeline has zero sportsmanship.

She charges before I can even lift my torso.

Her jaws clamp onto my left arm, clamping down until the bones crack, and she begins to thrash me back and forth like a discarded rag doll.

She is trying to kill me.

The pain is brutal, total, and blinding.

A heavy, suffocating darkness begins to roll over my vision, threatening to pull me under.

Then, a sound pierces the fog.

It is a roar.

Not from one person, but from dozens.

The Lycans at the treeline are screaming my name, pounding their chests, telling me to get up.

Telling me not to give up.

The sound pumps a sudden, violent surge of adrenaline straight into my heart.

I blink away the blackness.

Ian is mine, you know, Madeline’s voice sneers in my head, twisting the knife. And very soon, your pretty little mate will be mine too.

Something inside me snaps.

My vision instantly turns a deep, toxic purple.

Deep within my chest, my wolf wakes up, and she is absolutely furious.

I am completely spent, my body broken, so I pull back and let her have the reins.

I feel her brief, intense flash of concern for my injuries, and I smile in the dark of my own mind.

I retreat to the backseat of our shared consciousness, looking out through her eyes.

Madeline has no idea what she just let loose.