Lone Wolf (14 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Ellison stood in the ring at the fight club, naked, flexing his hands, ready to go. His ribs hurt, his torso was streaked with deep scratches, and his neck ached from too many shocks of his Collar, but still he was here.

Shifters filled the vast space of the abandoned hay barn out east of Austin, the darkness broken by trashcan fires, huge flashlights, and LED lanterns. Broderick climbed over the cinder blocks that marked out the ring, a big smile on his face. He had come away from the fight at Bradley’s relatively unscathed and exuded confidence he’d win the Challenge.

Fuck that.

Ellison felt the pull of the growing mate bond with Maria, stretching between him and her as she stood outside the ring with Spike and Ronan, Ellison’s seconds.

Connor stood next to them, too keyed up to stay home. He’d been restless and hungry after they’d all made it back to Shiftertown, Connor eating everything in sight and insisting he go to the fight club. Cubs weren’t technically allowed at the fight club, but Connor was given slack tonight, with the approval of all Shifters. Though he wouldn’t fight, Ellison imagined that Connor would find a way to work off his steam. Apparently Bradley had taken him because a woman had asked Bradley to find her a strapping young Shifter for her entertainment. Pablo had related this after he and his girlfriend, restored to Austin, had gone through Bradley’s desk and computer.

Maria stood close to Connor, her shoulder touching his. Ellison scented her goodness, her courage and passion.

He also scented that she was very, very angry.

Maria had argued long and hard for Ellison to not meet Broderick tonight. By the time they’d all limped back to Shiftertown, Maria driving, Ellison was sore, tired, clawed all over, and aching from a couple bullets that had grazed his arm.

At the same time, he was buoyant. Maria loved him. The mate bond was forming. He’d had the joy of holding her in his arms, being inside her yesterday in the soothing pond. Tonight, after he battered Broderick until the man begged for mercy, Ellison would carry her home and take her to bed.

That is, if he could still stand up.

Around them, Shifters shouted and laughed. Broderick’s pack stood behind him to cheer him on. The air was thick with scents of anticipation, eagerness, and mating frenzy. A Challenge brought out the mating need in Shifters, both male and female.

Pablo had come, betting on the fight in his quiet way. Ellison guessed he’d bet on Broderick. But then, Broderick hadn’t fallen from a balcony onto stairs and had two crazed cheetahs in their Transition land on him.

Dylan and Tiger had taken charge of the cheetahs. When they’d turned to human, they’d been two males in their late twenties, twins, who had lived as captives on a wealthy woman’s estate in New York. The woman had asked Bradley to take them back when they hit their Transition and became too crazed.

Tiger had been solicitous of the two, and Dylan was arranging for them to be taken into the Austin Shiftertown.

They owed another debt to Pablo. He’d stayed behind after the Shifters had piled into various vehicles to leave, taking care of the remaining mercs and saying he’d make Bradley’s death and the torn-up house look like a gang hit. Bradley had made many enemies. Pablo had looked around the house and at the kitchen with approval, and said he’d try to buy the place. Ellison suspected he’d provide jobs for Bradley’s mercenaries, now that their boss was dead. The battle today was all to Pablo’s gain.

As for Deni . . . she stood straight and tall beside Maria. Shooting Bradley seemed to have released something in her. The haunting worry in her eyes had gone, and her cubs, standing behind her, were there to comfort her. Whether she’d thrown off the episodes of her memory blanking remained to be seen, but Deni now knew exactly what had happened to her, and who had done it.

Bradley might have been trying to capture her—maybe he’d mistaken her for a cub, or maybe someone had asked for a female Shifter the same way the woman had asked for someone Connor’s age. Ellison’s rage hadn’t calmed down about that. Maria had declared her new mission to track down all those who’d purchased Shifters—adult or cub—and release the captives. Ellison agreed. They’d start tomorrow.

Tonight, he needed to take out Broderick.

Two refs stood between the two combatants. They thumped their fists, one over the other, and yelled, “Fight.”

The refs scattered, and Ellison went for Broderick. Broderick sidestepped, whirled, and shifted at the same time. Mistake. Broderick landed in Ellison’s furred arms, Ellison rising into his half-Shifter beast.

Broderick squirmed away, lithe and strong as his wolf. Ellison followed, the pain in his ribs slowing him down, his Collar going off. Broderick took advantage to shift to his half beast and catch Ellison across the torso with his clawed hands.

Ellison danced back, landing on all fours as a wolf. He launched himself upward, latching his teeth into Broderick’s throat.

He found his mouth full of the loose fur as Broderick came down wolf. He snarled and shook, flailing Ellison’s body, but Ellison held on.

Broderick finally twisted all the way around, and Ellison’s teeth slipped. Blood dripped from the wound in Broderick’s neck, the metallic taste winding Ellison into a frenzy.

“No killing!” one of the refs yelled.

Too late. Ellison’s rage was up. Broderick wanted to steal his mate. In the wild, males tried to abduct females all the time, until the formal Challenge and its rules had been set up to protect the scarce females. These days, Challenges didn’t end in the kill, but Ellison wanted it.

He went for Broderick’s throat again. This time, Broderick shifted into his half-wolf beast, catching Ellison, raising him high, and throwing him down.

Ellison landed in a whump of dust, the bruised ribs stabbing him, new wounds opening. His Collar was sparking too, slowing his roll to his feet.

He stood panting, trying to raise his head. Damn Broderick. He needed to go down.

Ellison backed up a few steps, but Broderick charged him. Ellison came up, and the two males met, both wolves now, snarling, biting, clawing.

Broderick chomped on the back of Ellison’s neck, and Ellison rolled away, wanting to groan in pain. He scrambled to get his paws under him, the light of the fires in the abandoned hay barn starting to blur. Broderick was a blur too, the noise around him a hum of confusion.

Something brushed past him, something that smelled sweet and good, and of mate.

“Stop!” he heard Maria shout. “Stop the fight!”

Ellison blinked. The lights were still fuzzy around the edges, but he saw Maria clearly, inside the ring, between him and Broderick. The refs were coming for her, shock on their faces.

A big rule of the fight club was that no one,
no one,
stopped a fight once it started. The only stopping was when an opponent yielded, or the refs thought one of them too far gone and needed to be contained.

No one watching was allowed to touch the fighters, and certainly not to enter the ring. Especially a human. Especially a human
female.

The two refs, big Felines, were heading to grab Maria and drag her out. Ellison put his wolf body between her and them, growling hard.

Outside the ring, Connor said, “Maria, you can’t do that.”

Tiger stepped over the barrier. Ellison noticed no one tried to stop
him.
“Don’t touch her,” Tiger said clearly.

The refs halted. Broderick shifted into his human form and put his hands on his hips. Goddess, the man stank.

“You can’t stop the Challenge,” Broderick said to Maria. “Or he forfeits.” He grinned at her. “You don’t want that, now do you?”

“He was already hurt before he walked in,” Maria said angrily. “You knew that. You should have put it off.”

“Hey, he picked the time and place.”

Ellison leaned back against Maria, a fine place to be, and she put her arms around his neck. “Do it some other time. You can stop this.”

Ellison’s body decided to shift. He didn’t want to—he felt stronger as wolf—but Maria with her arms around him made him change form back to human male. He ended up with Maria’s arms still around him, pulling him close.

“Hey, love,” he said, his voice barely working. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

“I’m taking you home,” Maria said. “I don’t want to see you hurting anymore.”

Around them, the crowd stopped screaming and booing and moved closer to listen. Shifters could never mind their own business.

“Let me finish this first,” Ellison said, the words rasping. “A mate always answers a Challenge.”

“Doesn’t matter. Even if Broderick wins, I’ll refuse him, and come back to you anyway.”

Some of Ellison’s tension left him, and his breath became less labored. His ribs started to feel better too. The healing touch of the mate. He hadn’t quite believed in such a power before—especially when the mate was human—but he did now.

Ellison leaned to her, his forehead against hers. “Look around you. All these males here would want you as mate. They call you fair game, but you’re the one who does the choosing. Anyone you want, for the taking.”

“I already chose.”

Her words poured strength into Ellison’s body. Enough strength for him to rise up and kick Broderick’s sorry behind? Well, maybe not.

Maria was speaking again, her words flowing, but his heart only heard the peace of her voice. “You told me I should stop surviving and start living. You should too, Ellison. Stop just getting by, and show me how to live. Live life with
me
.”

Ellison felt the smile spread over his face. “Oh, sweetheart. You’ve done it now.”

“Done what?”

“Made me know the mate bond is real. I love you, Maria.”

Maria took a sharp breath, then her answering smile blossomed. “I love
you
, Ellison Rowe.”

Ellison kissed her. This kiss went on . . . and on.

Shifters around them cheered. Or howled, roared, whistled, or made ribald remarks. Damned nosy neighbors.

“Aw, shit.” Broderick spit on the ground. “Damn it, I can’t compete with this. You’re a lucky dickhead, Ellison.” He heaved a long and aggrieved sigh. “I withdraw the Challenge.”

His family groaned. Deni whooped, and Connor followed suit. Other Shifters said, “Awww,” and clapped and cheered.

“You’re still an asshole,” Broderick growled. But he came forward, holding out his hand.

Ellison turned and put his into it, making sure his grip was as strong as Broderick’s. He kept his other arm around Maria so he wouldn’t fall down.

“Come on,” Broderick said. “Get yourself dressed, and I’ll buy you a beer at Liam’s place.”

“Rain check,” Ellison said, warming as he drew Maria to him again. “I’m going home.”

***

Ellison carried Maria into his bedroom at the very back of the house, slamming the door with his cowboy-booted foot.

Maria had never seen his bedroom. In the light from the lamp beside his bed, she saw a large map of Texas on one wall, a red pin in the center marking Austin. The flag of Texas, with its one white and one red stripe, blue field on the left bearing the lone star, hung downward on another wall. Photos of Ellison’s sister, nephews, and friends were pinned up over the desk. Ellison was laughing in any snapshot he was in, saluting with a longneck beer, or tipping his cowboy hat in an exaggerated way.

She took all this in before Ellison collapsed with her onto the bed. It was a single bed, narrow, and Maria squashed against him.

“Love.” Ellison rolled onto his back, rubbed his hands through his hair, and blew out his breath. “Goddess, what a day.”

“It ended well.” Maria rose on her elbow and tapped the tip of his nose. “You should sleep. You need to heal.”

“Not yet.” His voice lost its teasing note, his playfulness dissolving. “Not yet.” Ellison skimmed his hand along her side to her breast. “Do you know what went through my mind when you ran into that ring tonight, all fired up?”

“Annoyance?”

Ellison dissolved into laughter. “Man, those refs are never going to let me hear the end of it. The fight club is all about the rules.” He touched her face. “No, I thought you were mighty sexy running in there, telling everyone what to do with themselves. Crazy, but sexy.”

“They were going to let you fight when you were already hurt,” Maria said indignantly.

“You think I couldn’t take Broderick in my rundown state? You wound me.”

“Don’t be stupid. It should be a fair fight. You have to win with skill and strength, not arrogance.” She made a face. “And no way was I going to be Broderick’s mate.”

“I wasn’t about to let you be.” Ellison ran the ball of this thumb across her lips. “Then he had to go and do the noble thing, and make all of Shiftertown soft on him. But even an asshole could see that we were meant to be together.”

“Broderick was good to step back.”

“Nah, he’d be embarrassed if I kicked his ass when I was already hurt.” Ellison grinned. “No, you’re right. I was halfway down already and Broderick came through. Makes me almost like the guy.” He winced and touched his ribs where Broderick had gotten in a blow. “Almost.”

“You see? You should rest. We’ll talk about being mates in the morning.”

“Oh, no.” In one quick move, Ellison rolled his body over hers, pinning her with his warm weight. “I’ve been waiting all day to get my arms around you again. I was thinking about us in the pond all last night and all today, remembering the bluebonnets, the sunshine. You.” He skimmed his lips, warm and satin smooth, across her mouth. “Why did you decide to start making love to me, yesterday? Not that I minded.”

“I wanted to.” Maria slid her hands to the small of his back, his flesh warm through his shirt. “I was worried that when you finally seduced me, I would be afraid. So I thought if I did it fast, without thinking about it, then I’d know if I would be afraid. Does that sound crazy?”

“And were you?” Ellison’s voice was quiet. “Afraid?”

“No.” Maria dug her hands into his back, pulling him closer. “No, I wasn’t. It was . . . so beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’s a good word for it.
Fucking amazing
is another.”