The fight ended so quickly that Alex couldn’t believe it. In an astonishing display of fighting prowess and strength, her father flipped the younger man, tossing him to the ground. He then jumped on Donovan’s back, hooking his strong forearm around his opponent’s neck and arching it back. One twist and the other man would be dead. As it was, Donovan seemed to be having a difficult time breathing.
“Yield,” her father growled out from between clenched teeth.
At first, she wasn’t sure the younger man would yield. Her skin went clammy and her stomach lurched. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Donovan’s head gave a small jerk. Her father released him and Donovan fell facedown in the dirt, gasping for air. Her father stood beside him, watching and waiting. And when Donovan rolled over onto his back, James LeVeau offered him his hand.
Once Donovan had regained his feet, he nodded at her father and took a step back. Joshua strode forward. “It has been decided. James LeVeau is once again alpha of the Wolf Creek pack.”
Alex couldn’t contain herself any longer. As cheers rang across the clearing, she raced forward and grabbed her father, hugging him tightly. “You could have been killed,” she whispered.
Her father shook his head, gathering her close. “No, Alex. There was never any chance of that happening. Young Donovan wasn’t really trying to beat me. This was more for show to satisfy the crowd.”
Alex pulled back and glared first at her father and then Donovan Brody who was watching her with heat-filled eyes.
“Is that true?”
Donovan shrugged. “I want the man to be my future father-in-law, I’m not about to kill him am I?”
Alex took a step closer to her father. “I don’t understand.”
“Most everyone will easily accept your father as alpha.” Donovan’s tone was gentle. “He was one of the best leaders in the history of the pack. But the tradition of leadership challenge has to be upheld.” Moving forward, he stroked his finger across her cheek. “The real challenge is for the right to claim you as mate.”
Her gaze jerked to Joshua who was standing there with his arms crossed casually across his chest. “Did you know this?” He inclined his head toward her. “So everyone here knew that except me?” Anger coursed through her veins, firing her blood. “It was only stupid, uninformed me who wasn’t aware that I’m supposed to provide the main event in today’s entertainment.”
“Now, Alex.”
She whirled around and scowled at her father. “Don’t you ‘now, Alex’, me. Somebody should have told me. Somebody should have asked me because the way I’m feeling right now, I’m not in the mood to accept anyone for mate. Ever!”
She started to stalk off, but Joshua wrapped his hand around her upper arm, stopping her. “It must be done. That is tradition.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Tradition?” Her voice was soft, but she could see the worry clouding Joshua’s face. Good, he should be worried. Donovan chuckled and she turned on him. “You find this amusing?”
“I find you magnificent and worthy to be my mate.”
“Well good for you. I, on the other hand, don’t find you very worthy at the moment.”
“Alex,” her father cautioned.
But she was beyond caution. The anger and fear of the past days coalesced in this one moment. She jerked out of Joshua’s hold and stepped out from between the men. “Who else here thinks to challenge for the right to bed me?”
“Alex?” She could hear the anger in Joshua’s voice as he pulled her around to face him.
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it? It isn’t about the fact that I didn’t know until a few days ago that I was a werewolf, or at least a half-breed. It isn’t about the fact that the only life I’ve ever known is gone.” The crowd had gone silent. Once again she tugged away from Joshua and faced them. Strangers all, they watched her.
She saw anger on some faces and shock on others. A few wore expressions of understanding and sympathy, which had tears pricking at the backs of her eyes. She sucked in a breath. She would not let them see her as weak.
“None of you really want me. You don’t know me.” Several men protested and stepped forward, including the one her father had called Grady. “You want me because of some biological reaction that I can’t control. You want me because I’m in heat.” Her face burned as she spoke the words, but she wouldn’t back down. Not now.
“See what diluting the blood lines will do. Disrespectful half-breed.” An older man and woman stepped forward and spit on the ground at Alex’s feet.
Joshua was by her side in a second. “That is my future mate you disrespect, Miles Jenson.”
Jenson just laughed. “She is weak and will breed weak pups that will probably have to be put down.”
Joshua was as still as a stone, but Alex could feel the winds of fury raging through him. He glanced over at her father, who had come to stand on her other side. Some silent communication seemed to pass between them and her father nodded. Joshua turned back to the angry couple. “If you do not wish to live among such tainted bloodlines, you are free to leave.”
The older woman paled. “You would banish us?” Shock was evident in Jenson’s voice. He pointed a trembling finger at her. “She is the one who is disrespectful to our ways.”
“She doesn’t know our ways,” Joshua pointed out. “Three days ago, she had no idea who and what she truly was.”
“Her father should have told her.” The man was totally indignant.
“I hoped to spare her this.” Her father finally spoke. He surveyed the crowd before him. “I knew many of you would hate her, despise her for her human blood. I didn’t even know if she would be werewolf or human, so I waited. Because I knew that just as many of you would want to claim her as a mate. Women of our kind are not so plentiful any longer that a strong, healthy, beautiful one can be overlooked. Even if she is a half-breed.”
Her father turned back to her and smiled. “So I raised her as best I could. Alone. And she is a strong woman. The kind of mate any man would be proud to call his own.” Her heart ached at the emotion in her father’s voice. She wanted to reach out to him, but knew she had to let this scene play out. She knew instinctively both their futures were on the line.
“If you find that kind of woman offensive, then you are welcome to leave.” Her father stared at the couple, who seemed to shrink beneath his gaze, and then he swept his eyes over everyone gathered. “And that goes for anyone else who thinks the same. I am alpha here now and she is my blood. Accept her or leave.”
Alex held her breath. There were rumblings, but no one made any move to leave. Miles Jenson stepped forward and bowed his head low in submission. “My apology.” Alex thought he might choke on it, for it certainly wasn’t sincere, but her father graciously accepted it. She made a mental note to keep an eye on this man and his entire family. There would be more trouble from that corner for sure.
Joshua stepped forward. “That leaves the business of the challenge for Alex unresolved.” He ignored her gasp of outrage. “She is mine.” His voice was hard and brooked no disagreement. “Any who wish to challenge, do so now.”
“Don’t I have any say in this?” She faced him, standing so close that the tips of her slippers were touching his boots.
“No.”
“No?” She poked him in the chest. “I don’t think so. Mine is the only voice that matters.”
Whirling around, she faced the crowd once again. “Before you all beat yourselves to a pulp, you’d best know one thing. I’ll accept who I want to accept and no one else. Anyone who thinks they can claim me better be prepared to get a knife in the ribs.”