Southern Alpha Book Four Read online

  I nodded and shut my mouth, determined to send every ounce of positive energy I could muster in Trick’s direction. But damn, I hated standing idly by and watching, knowing that the man I loved might get torn to pieces in a few minutes, and I couldn’t do a fucking thing to help.

  From his edge of the pit, the Marquis was shooting Trick some twisted version of the evil-eye, which only served to make my lover’s fists roll into tight balls of pent-up rage.

  The gathered crowd of shifters, who had been speaking in whispers until now, ramped up the volume to a roar of eager anticipation for the fight. I could feel their excitement on the air, their animals storming around inside the confinement of their human bodies. No doubt they, too, wished they could participate. Those on Trick’s side probably wished they could rip the Marquis to pieces themselves.

  “Does anyone ever, you know…die in this part of the Trials?” I asked Louis out of the side of my mouth, not wanting to take my eyes off Trick.

  “Technically, the fight’s not supposed to be to the death,” he replied.

  “That’s not exactly the answer I was looking for.”

  “Just…try to think of it as a boxing match. Only instead of two men slapping at each other with puffy red mittens, it’ll be two massive creatures with powerful claws, daggers for teeth, and with a relentless killer instinct built right into their DNA.”

  “Great. Thanks, Louis. That’s much more comforting.”

  The crowd’s frenzy grew to a fever pitch as the two competitors prepared to begin the Trial. As they dropped into the pit, they simultaneously performed their astonishing transition, shifting instantly into their wolf forms. In the blink of an eye, Trick’s elegant, massive gray wolf and the Marquis’ awful beast plunged down, howling ferociously, their muscles rippling under their thick coats of fur.

  The crowd pressed forward to the pit’s edge, staring down and cheering, frantic expressions on their faces as their eyes, lit up eerily in the gloom of the woods, brightened with their inner beasts. With Louis at my side, I pushed through to the front of the crowd, desperate to send as much positive energy as I could down to Trick. I needed him to know I was there for him.

  Off to one side I saw Layla’s keen green eyes staring down at Trick. If I hadn’t known better, I would have guessed she was rooting for him, too, despite any claims of neutrality.

  “Begin!” she called out loudly, her voice somehow barreling out over the din of the male shifters’ loud yelling.

  Circling each other below us, the two ferocious beasts growled menacingly, keeping their temporary distance from one another as they assessed each other’s wolves. Their wide paws dug craters into the dirt floor of the pit as they tensed up, ready for battle.

  Trick lunged first, feigning a sudden attack. Startled, the Marquis stumbled back but regained his balance before Trick could advance again.

  The Marquis’ wolf, scarred along his muzzle and under one of his eyes, charged at Trick, slamming into him with his powerful left shoulder. The impact made me gasp as it sent Trick sprawling across the pit. The Marquis pressed his attack, thundering toward his enemy, his matted gray-brown fur bristling over his massive frame.

  As the onlookers and I leaned even farther forward to watch, The Marquis leapt at Trick, who was able to tear himself out from under his opponent, spin around and press his paws up tight against the broad chest of his enemy. With a mighty push, he sent the Marquis spiraling backward through the air. The Marquis crashed to the ground and slid twenty feet before slamming up against the far wall of the pit.

  Shaking off the impact, he leapt to his feet and charged in an angry, violent frenzy at Trick.

  The spectators jostled around me as we looked on. I hung onto Louis’ arm, trying desperately not to fall down into the middle of the fray.

  The two wolves tumbled and twisted over each other, lashing out in a deadly frenzy of claws and teeth. My breath caught in my throat every time Trick’s wolf took a hit. More than once, I found myself pressing my face into Louis’ shoulder, but each time I forced myself to look again, to make sure Trick knew I was there supporting him, offering him my strength.

  Despite the ferocity of the attacks, Trick’s beast remained as poised and as precise as the Marquis’ was wild. Slipping easily to the side when the Marquis leapt at him, Trick let his out-of-control enemy plunge futilely at the empty air. Before the off-balance wolf could regain his footing, Trick sank his fangs into the Marquis’ neck. The wounded wolf yelped in pain and scampered away, red blood tainting his thick fur.

  Trick’s huge beast shook his mighty head and padded forward, ready to close in for a final assault. But even as he approached his injured adversary, the Marquis suddenly scrambled to his feet, deliberately kicking up a cloud of dirt and debris from the floor of the pit. Squinting through the dark cloud, Trick’s wolf hesitated.

  It was all the distraction the Marquis needed.

  Gathering his legs under him, he lunged in a wild flurry at Trick. The two savage beasts locked together, teeth bared and gnashing, their powerful legs thrashing out with curved claws drawing long steaks of blood down each other’s backs and along their powerful sides.

  Clearly furious and ready to be done with his opponent, Trick collected his strength into a mighty blow of his front paw that send the bigger wolf reeling. A snap from his jaws to the back of the Marquis’ neck seemed like it could be the end of the fight.

  Teetering backwards under cover of the cloud of dust and dirt he’d stirred up, the Marquis’ wolf slashed out with one last-ditch swipe at the other wolf’s leg.

  Immediately, a strange wound opened up under Trick’s fur.

  It could have been an illusion—just the light filtering through the surrounding trees in a weird way—but I could have sworn the wound was glowing fluorescent purple.

  With the Marquis’ wolf panting and cowering in near defeat, Trick suddenly staggered like he was on the verge of keeling over.

  The Marquis’ wolf regained his composure and straightened up as Trick shook his head like an exhausted prize-fighter trying to shake off a bout of dizziness.

  I peered more carefully down into the pit, eyeing the Marquis. No, this was no trick of the light. As his wolf advanced toward Trick’s, I was sure I saw it: a small, metal blade, a hint of fluorescent purple along its edge, glinting in the dim light.

  I tugged at Louis’ sleeve and pointed down into the pit. “Did you see that?”

  “See what?”

  “The Marquis! I think he’s cheating. There’s something attached to his leg.”

  “Where?”

  “Strapped to his ankle. It’s covered up by his fur, but there’s something purple on it. I think it might be poison.”

  “There’s no way he’d do that,” Louis insisted. “It would violate every rule of honor and code of conduct we have for the Trials.” But even as he spoke, I could see his conviction fade. He narrowed his eyes at Trick’s opponent, searching for the weapon. “Then again, we are talking about the Marquis,” he growled.

  As if to confirm my worst fears, far below us Trick staggered again as the Marquis’ wolf gathered his legs under him, preparing to charge in for the kill.

  Chapter 10

  Trick

  I could hear Sierra calling out to me from somewhere overhead, her voice desperate and rimmed with terror. But as much as I tried to focus on her words, something was preventing me from registering what she was actually saying. Every sound felt like it was coming at me from underwater. Even the air had begun to move in waves, blurring the world around me.

  To make matters worse, my limbs were going numb. My body—that of a powerful wolf—was failing me.

  What the hell was happening?

  The Marquis’ wolf had gotten in some good strikes, and I could feel warm blood coming from a few gashes on my side, but that shouldn’t have been enough to incapacitate me. I’d taken far worse damage in other fights and never felt this lightheaded. No, this was something different…


  …something…

  Through the fog in my head, I began to hear Sierra’s voice more clearly as she cried out again. I pulled my head up wearily to see her leaning forward over the edge of the pit, Louis at her side, her hands cupped around either side of her mouth. I could barely make out her voice among the rowdy, shouting onlookers. Something about a “blade…” and “his left paw…” When she pointed, I pulled my heavy head to the side to follow the direction of her finger over to the Marquis’ wolf.

  That was when I saw it: a glint of forbidden steel.

  The Marquis had smuggled in a blade of some kind. And even worse, the trace of purple on its edge was a dead give-away. Wolfsbane, a poison that caused paralysis—right before it stopped the heart.

  I couldn’t shift to tell anyone what had happened. If I did, I’d lose the fight automatically. But more importantly, in human form the wolfsbane would work twice as fast, and I might die before I hit the ground.

  I had only one option, and that was to finish this fight. I had to finish off the Marquis for good.

  Fueled by adrenaline and anger, I went after my enemy with a vengeance. I leapt at him, throwing every ounce of my large frame at his wolf. It was getting hard to pry my jaw open fully, but I managed to get in a couple of sharp bites and fend off a slew of his feeble counter-attacks. By now he was weakened from blood loss, and he cowered under my relentless onslaught. Invigorated to realize I still had a chance, I fought with every bit of strength I had left in me—which wasn’t much.

  All I could do was hope it would be enough.

  I had one chance, and that was to finish him before his poison finished me. One chance at a life with my pack…and a life with Sierra.

  I lifted my head one last time to find her face in the crowd. She was staring down at me, those big blue eyes of hers welling with tears.

  “Trick!” she shouted. I cocked my head to show her I’d heard her. She seemed to understand, because she leaned down still farther to call out something more. By now Louis was holding onto her shoulders to prevent her from tumbling into the pit.

  What is it? I asked silently with my wolf’s bright eyes. Tell me.

  “I love you!” she choked out. “I love you. Finish this for me. For us!”

  My strength renewed, I spun around and took one last brutal swipe at my enemy, my teeth gnashing at his neck. Finally, with his foreleg pinned against his stomach, he collapsed face-first into the dirt.

  He twitched for a minute then went still.

  I stopped and tried to catch my breath, but my lungs had already locked up, like someone had clamped my chest with a giant vice and was preparing to crush the life out of me. Limping forward, I closed the distance between myself and the Marquis’ wolf.

  I approached slowly, my senses as alert as they could be, given the blurry haze swirling around behind my eyes. I nudged the Marquis’ wolf with the side of my head. Nothing. I reached out a paw and rolled him over onto his back. He stared up at me with wide eyes, blinking slowly.

  Holy shit.

  As soon as I looked into his eyes, I knew what had happened. The handle of his own contraband knife was protruding from his abdomen. The silver blade was buried in the middle of his broad chest, swirls of purple mingling with the red blood that dripped from the wound.

  He was alive, but I didn’t know for how long. Untreated, wolfsbane could be fatal inside of ten minutes. The truth was, I was lucky to be alive myself.

  I staggered away and leaned against the other side of our deep arena. Gathering whatever slivers of energy I had left, I flexed my hind legs under me and launched myself out of the pit. I shifted back into human form as I landed, calling out to the Marquis’ entourage. “You’d better go get him. He doesn’t have long. Come to think of it…neither do I…”

  My voice trailed off as I slipped into unconsciousness. Miraculously, I didn’t hit the ground. As I faded, I glanced to either side to see Louis holding me up by one arm with Sierra holding onto the other.

  I woke up in the cargo bed of my truck, a folded jacket under my head. Sierra was kneeling to my left, tears streaming down her cheeks. Layla was to my right, a hypodermic needle in her hand.

  “The bastard nearly killed you both,” she said with an uncharacteristic wink. “Good thing I have Madame Lola’s special first aid kit on hand.”

  “Is the Marquis…?” I began, reaching for Sierra, who took hold of my hand.

  “Unfortunately, he’s still alive,” Sierra replied, wiping her tears away. “You were kinder to him than I would have been.”

  I looked up at her. “I didn’t want to be. I wanted to kill him for what he did to you—for what he did to us both. But it’s not my place to decide who lives or dies, at least not today.”

  She nodded, leaning down to kiss me. “Yes, I know. I respect you for it. I love you for it.”

  Layla added, “It’s what will make you a great Alpha to the Southern Pack.”

  Alpha.

  For a moment I’d almost forgotten why I’d even been fighting. “Fuck!” I shouted, pushing myself up to a sitting position, only to see Louis standing on the other side of the lift gate at the foot of the truck.

  “Watch it, big guy,” he said. “You’re not exactly at a hundred percent yet.”

  “You’re right about that,” I replied as the world spun around me. “But wait—you’re telling me—”

  “We’re telling you the vote’s been cast,” said Layla, “not that it was exactly difficult. The Marquis was disqualified from the Trials for his idiotic stunt. The asshole always was a heaping mound of tree slug excrement.”

  “You’re supposed to be neutral,” I replied with a smile.

  “There’s a difference between neutral and insane, Patrick,” she said, leaping to her feet and springing out of the truck. “I’m far from insane. Now go celebrate your win. You’ve earned it.”

  “Yeah, I suppose I have,” I said as Sierra threw her arms around my neck. It was the greatest feeling in the world—better than being declared Alpha. Better, even, than recovering from near death.

  “You did it,” she said, her face buried in my shoulder.

  I pulled away and wiped a second round of tears off her cheeks before kissing her gently, relieved beyond words to feel human once again. “You were the one who did this,” I said. “You’re the only reason I found the strength to win.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” she replied with a laugh. “All I did was…”

  “All you did was spot the Marquis’ weapon, which no shifter in the crowd noticed. All you did was warn me and save my life. All you did was…” I began, stopping to collect my thoughts.

  The truth was, only one moment had really mattered.

  “Sierra,” I said.

  “Yes?” she replied, her lip trembling as I pressed my forehead to hers.

  “I love you, too.”

  Epilogue

  Trick

  My cell phone rang sometime on Saturday morning.

  “Tell them to go away,” laughed Sierra, who was utterly naked and straddling me, looking every bit like the sexy angel she was.

  “Sorry, blondie—I’m not sure I can,” I replied, picking my phone up off the night stand to eye the screen. “Seems to be a New York number. I think I have to get this.”

  “Fine. I’m staying on top of you.”

  “Works for me.”

  I frowned as I picked up. The last thing I wanted was to spend hours on the phone with anyone—all I really wanted was to go back to setting the record for the longest sexual marathon in history.

  “Yeah?” I grunted when I’d clicked the reply button.

  “Trick,” the voice said. “It’s Tristan Wolfe.”

  When my spine straightened, Sierra whispered, “Who is it?”

  I held up a Just a second finger and smiled at her. “Tristan, hi. Um, what’s going on?”

  “I wanted to congratulate you on your victory,” he said. “And to let you know I’ll be down there i
n a couple of weeks.”

  “So I hear. I’m looking forward to seeing you, now that we have a pack in place.”

  “A pack with a fine leader. They’re lucky to have you.”

  “Thanks, man, I appreciate it.”

  “Listen…there’s another reason I called.”

  “What is it?”

  Tristan went silent for a few seconds before saying, “I have a favor to ask of you.”

  “Another one?” I said, rolling my eyes at Sierra.

  Tristan laughed. “I promise you, this is the last one for a while. It’s nothing difficult. Actually, I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it.”

  “Anything you need,” I said, raising my eyebrows at my mate. “Right now, I feel like I could take on the world.”

  The End.

  Afterword

  In case you haven’t read them, the Alpha’s Hunger Series (Tristan’s series) starts with the following three books. Wolf’s Choice takes up (sort of) where Southern Alpha ends:

  Wolf’s Hunger

  Wolf’s Secret

  Wolf’s Choice

  Also by Carina Wilder

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  Alpha’s Hunger Series:

  Wolf’s Hunger

  Wolf’s Secret

  Wolf’s Choice

  The Dragon Guild Chronicles:

  Dragon Guild Chronicles Box Set (Books 1-3)

  Individual books:

  Dragon Hunter

  Dragon Seeker

  Dragon’s Lover

  Dragon’s Curse