Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,28
was over. Anton swept a mocking bow in front of the crowd and despite my relief that Tom had lost I still wanted to knock that smile off his face. Meek. Weak. Meek. Weak. I continued to recite in my head.
The remaining evaluations passed without incident. Julia beat her opponent with ease and, whilst other than Anton’s performance, no-one appeared particularly skillful, I felt proud that my pack had acquitted themselves without any real disasters. The few bites I’d had for breakfast had done little to fill my appetite and I was actually starting to look forward to some lunch. Because of the evaluations and his own forced participation, Johannes had ordered in some outside catering. Excellent.
I started to move towards the door but Theresa caught my hand and shook her head warningly. Oh right. We hadn’t been ‘dismissed’ yet. It was as if we were bloody kids in a kindergarten. Staines’ head was bowed as the alpha spoke to him. He looked puzzled but nodded anyway and took a step forward.
“Thank you for your efforts. We applaud the pack of Cornwall for their skills. To complete the evaluations, there will be a re-match. Fighting again will be Anton and,” he looked over his shoulder at the blonde’s notes, “Mackenzie.”
Bugger. Bugger. Shit. Bugger. Why make us perform twice? I’d given them no cause to do this. The assembled pack on the gym floor murmured uncomfortably. Walking back to the centre of the gym floor, and trying not to look too pissed off, I decided that the Brethren just wanted to see the ‘weakest’ pack member humiliated further. Well, fine. I’d let them humiliate me by allowing Anton to beat me and then I could pretend to slink away and lick my wounds. The wankers.
The pack members around me were clearly concerned and tense but I smiled graciously as if this had been expected and stepped forward to the marked out circle. Anton did the same. He licked his lips in anticipation. Yeah, suck it up, fuckwit because you’d never beat me under any real terms.
Mackenzie…Julia sounded worried.
Don’t worry, I’ll deal with this.
Anton pulled off his shirt and raised his eyebrows at me before undoing the drawstring of his trousers. I was taken aback for a second. He was actually going to shift. He opened his hands out to me invitingly as if asking me to shift also. This time it wasn’t about an acknowledgement of power: he was trying to force the Brethren to realise what I was. Bastard. I smiled calmly back at him and shook my head. God alone knew what the Brethren thought about my actions after my dismal performance earlier. I’d have to think of a reason for not shifting later on.
Anton was a black bear, which meant he packed a hell of a wallop in his shifter form. This was going to hurt. And once the Brethren left, I’d make him pay. I straightened my shoulders. “Let’s do this.”
He transformed within a heartbeat and raised up on his hind quarters with a triumphant roar. I took a step back and tried to look scared. Be meek, be weak.
He moved down to all fours and pounded towards me. I stood my ground and waited. He got closer and reached out with one heavy claw. I felt my body spinning through the air and twisted so that the fall wouldn’t hurt me too much. I would have stayed there and hoped that it was enough but he came at me again, teeth sinking into my side, their points piercing through into the soft flesh. The pain was excruciating. He shook me a few times then flung me against the wall, which I hit with a thud. I lurched to my feet.
From across the room I heard Tom’s voice snarl something at Anton. Bloodfire pulsed in my skull, vainly attempting to rise, whilst I could vaguely sense Julia trying to use her Voice on Anton. With her status not yet confirmed as alpha, however, there was nothing she could do to compel him. For some reason, compulsion powers didn’t exist until after the confirmation ceremony.
He came again. I dully wondered again how I was going to explain not shifting and regenerating when he hit me full on, knocking out my breath. He raised a paw and extended his claws and scraped them down my cheek before bringing the same claws to his mouth and sucking off the blood. My blood. I felt the fire coursing through my entire