Jacque looked at Alina and whispered, “Sorry, that was so my fault.”

“It’s alright, Luna. The wolves are tense. Anything will set them off, so let's just be as still as possible,” Alina whispered back.

Jacque nodded and turned back to look at what was happening in the circle. Vasile was standing in the center and Jacque could feel power coming off of him in waves. All of a sudden, every wolf suddenly fell to their knees. Jacque looked all around her and thought to herself with a shrug of her shoulders, Huh, that’s different.

Chapter 32

Jacque turned and saw that Alina was still standing, as was Vasile. That’s when she realized that Vasile must have done his 'Alpha voodoo', as Jen would say.

“I stand as Alpha over this challenge,” Vasile began speaking. “All rules will be followed, the penalty for any not followed is death at my hands.” Vasile paused and looked around the circle at each wolf that was kneeling, none met his eyes, none so much as moved. Jacque could tell that some wanted to fight the orders that Vasile was giving, but he was more dominant and he was Alpha so they had no choice but to obey.

“Lucas Steele, come forward,” Vasile said, looking straight at him. “Fane Lupei, come forward.”

Both men came to stand in front of Vasile. Neither looked him in the face.

“Lucas, you challenge Fane for bonding ceremony to his mate, Jacquelyn Pierce. Is that correct?” Vasile asked the Alpha.

“Yes,” Lucas growled, still under Vasile’s control and not liking it.

“Fane, you accepted this challenge understanding that it is to the death?”

“Yes.” Fane’s voice was steady, no growl, no sign of weakness. It made Jacque want scream at how unfair this all was. She shook it off and tried to focus.

“You will fight in wolf form, and you will receive no help from your pack. Neither of you can choose to submit and live. If you submit, your opponent will still kill you. Do each of you understand the rules as I have laid them out in the presence of these witnesses?” Vasile asked them.

Both wolves spoke at the same time.

“I understand the rules as you have laid them out. I understand that should I choose to defy your orders I will be put to death by your hands. Let it be as you have said, Alpha.”

Vasile nodded and walked towards the edge of the circle. Then he turned and gave the wolves a look. It must have meant something because they stepped apart. and in a matter of a few breaths where men had been wolves stood.

The first thing Jacque noticed was that Fane was the larger wolf. But then Fane was a large guy, so it would only fit that he be a large wolf. Fane’s fur was pitch black while Lucas’ was deep brown. They were both beautiful, and they were both snarling. Their hackles were raised, heads low towards the ground. The picture they made was terrifying.

“Begin,” she heard Vasilesay, and her heart felt like it had moved into her throat.

For a few moments all they did was circle one another. Every so often one would take a step forward, causing the other to snarl and snap their teeth. Alina still had Jacque’s hand and Jacque was squeezing it so tight she hoped that she wasn’t hurting her. Suddenly Jacque heard a sound to her left.

“Come on, Alpha. He’s just a pup,” one of Lucas’s wolves yelled. The words had barely left his mouth and then he was on the ground, whining in pain. Jacque turned to look at Vasile, and sure enough, he was looking straight at the wolf and power was once again radiating off of him. All the other wolves took steps back, realizing that the Romanian Alpha was not playing.

As all that was taking place, Lucas had taken advantage of the distraction and lunged at Fane. But Fane was ready and moved before Lucas could get near him. Lucas turned to get Fane back in his sights and Fane circled around, snapping at Lucas’ back leg. The bark that came from Lucas made it clear that Fane had hit his mark. Fane backed up quickly before Lucas could react. Jacque watched them circle and lunge, nip and bark. It looked like a dance. She realized, once she started feeling light headed, that she was holding her breath. Taking a couple of good, deep breaths, she tried to relax her stance. Yeah, fat chance that.

Suddenly, Lucas was on Fane. He'd managed somehow during their dance to get a good grip on Fane’s rear right leg. Fane snarled and turned hard, trying to bite at Lucas. Lucas hung on with a death grip. Fane shook his leg violently. When that didn’t work, he began to roll his body, twisting his leg at the same time. Jacque froze. If he kept that up he was going break his leg. Jacque felt Alina tense, and when she looked at her face she could tell that Alina realized the same thing. Jacque started to say something but Alina growled, so Jacque put her hand over her mouth as a physical barrier to keep quiet. But just as soon as she covered her mouth, she wanted to cover her ears because the snarls and whines coming from Fane were breaking her heart. Finally she heard a crack and a whine, mixed with a growl. When she looked up she saw that Fane had managed to get free of Lucas, but he had done it at the price of his leg. He was now fighting with his leg held limply off the ground.

Despite his leg, Fane still looked fierce, and quick as lightening he lunged forward and literally had half of Lucas’ face in his mouth. Fane made a ripping motion as if he was tearing meat from a bone and jerked his head to the side. Jacque saw fur and flesh sling out of Fane’s mouth and heard Lucas howl in pain. Lucas was shaking his head violently and desperately trying to keep an eye on Fane as he tried to recover from the attack. As they circled again, Jacque saw that Fane had nearly ripped Lucas’ right eye out. There was blood all over his face and there was no way he could see from that eye. Fane had just evened the playing field.