Marc sighed, but he wasn’t going to lie. “If they think I can’t defend my position, they’ll keep challenging me. And Malone will have reason to claim I’m not Alpha material, thus not worthy to stand at your side. To help lead the Pride.”

“And that’s why I have to do this. If I don’t prove I can hang with the boys—even if that means taking down the biggest bully on the playground—I’m not going to be able to hold on to this Pride, now, or in the future. And you both know it.” I hesitated, then sank onto the side of my bed and looked up at them both. “But beyond all that, he killed my dad. I have to do this.”

Finally Marc nodded, though Jace looked less than convinced. “But I’m not going to let him kill you. I’ll stop the fight if it comes down to that, and—” I stood and tried to interrupt, but he spoke over me “—and if you try to tell me not to, I swear I’ll walk away right now. I can’t watch him kill you.”

“Me, too,” Jace insisted, and I looked up to find his face lined in fear and confliction. And determination. He meant it. They both did.

“Fine. It’s not like I want to die. Just make sure I’m really going to lose before you throw in my towel, okay?”

Marc nodded, and I stepped closer to him. My heart thumped so loud it echoed in my ears. I slid one hand behind his neck and Marc kissed me like he’d never have another chance. And I knew that deep down, he actually believed that. I could die in the next few minutes, and some part of him was kissing me goodbye.

When I finally pulled away from him, his jaw tensed and he closed his eyes. He glanced at Jace, then back at me, and the pain shining in his eyes had so many sources it was like looking into a kaleidoscope of anguish. “I…I’ll be out there.” He walked stiffly across the room and out the door, then closed it softly, and my heart ached, even in the midst of my own maelstrom of conflicting fear, rage, and dread.

But before I could decide whether or not to call him back, Jace was there, and his angst was just as real. Just as immediate. “Please don’t do this, Faythe. I’m begging you. We all know you can fight, so your badass status is in no jeopardy. But you are not evenly matched against Colin Dean.”

“Jace…”

“I know, you’re going to do it, anyway. If Marc can’t talk you out of it, what chance do I have?”

I looked up into his eyes, letting him see what all was at stake for me. “What would you do in my position? If he’d killed your father, and cut you up, and told you how he wants to make you scream before you die, and this was your one chance for a fair fight… What would you do? Honestly?”

Jace sighed, but looked far from mollified. “I’d want to rip out his insides while he watched.” He wrapped both arms around me, and I wondered briefly if his warmth was the last pleasant thing I’d ever feel. “You are the single most stubborn woman I’ve ever met,” he whispered, his lips moving against mine with the last words. Jace’s kiss wasn’t saying goodbye—it was begging me to stay.

When he finally stepped back, I took a moment to steady myself, then pulled my hair into a ponytail, stepped into my work boots, and headed for the door, focusing on my own devastating rage to override the fear now pulsing through me with every beat of my heart. I was neither stupid nor blind. Dean was a monster, and he was a fucking huge monster.

But I was smarter and faster. And I had to avenge my father and defend my Pride. If I couldn’t accomplish two such vital tasks, what good was I, as a daughter and as an Alpha?

Outside, all eyes turned my way when I stepped onto the porch. No one spoke. I stopped to give my mother a hug and marveled at her strength—she was stubbornly resisting tears. Then I marched down the steps and into the informal ring created by our gravel driveway.

Colin Dean stood in the center of the circle. Waiting for me. Smiling crookedly, thanks to his grotesquely scarred cheek.

I glanced at Malone, expecting him—as the new council chair—to give the official signal to begin. Instead, he glanced at Dean and nodded. I turned to find a huge fist flying toward me. Pain exploded in the left side of my head, and the world spun around me. I hit the ground half-twisted, both palms flat on the grass.

But I was up in an instant, and my fury had a new face.

Colin Dean was going down.

Twenty-three

“This is what you picked to die in?” Dean sneered as I hissed at him. I wouldn’t be caught off guard again. “Not that it matters. You’re gonna be all red and sticky in a minute, anyway.”

“This is what you get off on, right?” We circled each other slowly, my head throbbing, and I felt every single gaze on me, most of them waiting to see David stomped into the ground by Goliath. And me without my slingshot… “You finally have permission to beat up a girl, in front of all these witnesses, and you’re just sick enough to actually believe you’re doing it for a cause. The good of the entire community.”

“Nah…” Dean leaned closer, risking a blow to confess his little secret where no one else would hear. “That’s their cause. I’m in it for payback, which they say is a real bitch. Just like you.”

He tensed in preparation to kick, but I lurched out of reach and spun for a roundhouse. His boot swung inches from my stomach. My foot slammed into his ribs. Dean grunted and stumbled to one side, but he never stopped smiling. “You’re right about one thing, though—I am having fun.”