The crowd pressed in around us, their voices a strange mixture of technical analysis and romantic speculation. Half discussed the finer points of taking down a larger opponent, while the other half cooed over the King and his new mate—me, somehow. I stood there, still catching my breath, my hand clutched in Theo's much larger one, wondering how I'd gone from pack Gamma to spectacle in the span of a single match.
"Did you see how she used his weight against him?" A Lycan guard was explaining to his companion, gesturing wildly with his hands. "Pure technique, not strength."
"But the way he looked at her when she pinned him," a female werewolf sighed dreamily nearby. "Like she hung the moon itself."
I felt heat crawl up my neck, spreading across my cheeks like wildfire. The training mat be
