19. Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen

“ W ell, I’ll give you this, you know how to make a statement.” Benjamin came over and escorted me from the dance floor.

“I’m tired of her games.” I looped my arm through his as led me around the room. “I already have one person trying to kill me. I don’t need to add my mother to the list.”

“If she wasn’t on it before, she certainly will be after tonight.” Benjamin chuckled. “You let your hair down and upstaged Marianne Redford.”

He introduced me to several alphas and their contenders. Two of whom were scheduled for the first elimination fight. None of the people I met carried a scent pattern similar to the rogue I had been searching for.

And there were no trace scents of human.

So much for Benjamin’s idea to work the crowd. That hadn’t gotten us any closer to discovering the killer’s identity than our trip to the lab. My neighborhood watch was the only option we had left. I couldn’t wait to get started.

I planned to do just that. As soon as the evening’s festivities were concluded.

“Look at the time.” I glanced at the same style of clock that commiserated my misery during the debriefing earlier in the day. “Is it time for the first fight already?”

Benjamin eyed my enthusiasm with all the suspicion it warranted, but excused himself without question to make the formal announcement.

I navigated through the crowd gathered around Benjamin to the table Jeff reserved in the back of the room.

“Have you seen Lucas or Gabe?” I propped my arm against the table.

“Saddled up to the bar.” Jeff pointed in the direction of a line that snaked around the dance floor and into the adjoining room. “You should head in and take your seat.”

“Fine.” I sighed. “Let’s grab the boys on the way.”

As much of a hurry as I was in for the fight to be over, I was in no hurry to spectate.

We weaved through the mass of people, collected Lucas and Gabe from the bar, and made our way into the adjoining room.

Folding chairs had been placed in rows around a polished wooden floor to form an octagon in the center. Light from the full moon shone through the glass paneled ceiling. It cast an eerie glow, setting an ominous tone for the fight.

A full moon meant heightened strength and healing abilities for both fighters.

“It’s a blood moon.” I was transfixed by the reddish hue that tinted the moon as Earth’s shadow overtook it.

Lunar cycles had been the last thing on my mind, but at least the council’s timeline finally made sense. The fights were scheduled based on phases of the moon and their impact on a werewolf.

Two seats were reserved under my name in the front row. Jeff saved me from being forced to choose between Lucas and Gabe by occupying the second seat. My partners in crime claimed the seats directly behind me.

Benjamin filled the role of MC and announced the contenders as people filed into the room and took their seats. The wolves hailed from two different packs within the Northwestern territories.

I found myself wondering if they had been friends before they decided to sign up for the challenge as they warmed up in their respective corners.

If they were, it was unlikely their friendship would have survived the night.

The rules were clear for any challenge. The contenders must agree on the fighting form—man or wolf. Fight until one man yields or is incapacitated.

When the title of alpha was on the line that often meant death.

Benjamin assured me that would not be the case. Especially after the losses sustained by the local packs when so many employees had perished in the explosion at the lab.

The two men appeared to be evenly matched in height and weight. With the added advantages of a blood moon, the fight should have gone the full eight rounds.

The crowd booed as one contender wobbled early in the first round. His knees buckled under a blow that he should have easily avoided, but he seemed unable to get out of the way. He looked lethargic and out of sorts.

“Something’s wrong.” I turned in my seat and leaned over the back of my chair to talk with Lucas and Gabe. “That guy seems off.”

“He could just be a bad fighter.” Lucas winces as the contender took another devastating blow.

“This is a challenge, Lucas. Not a sparring session. You don’t sign up for an elimination fight if you can’t take a hit,” I glanced back at the makeshift ring in time to see the dominant fighter rock his opponent with a left undercut.

The sounds of fists against flesh grew louder and more one sided until the weaker contender hit the floor. When he didn’t get back up trained EMTs on staff with the council rushed into the ring to check his vitals.

“He’s out.” One of the medics waved off the fight as Benjamin declared a winner.

The room erupted in a headache inducing mixture of cheers and jeers for the two men who agreed to lay it all on the line for a shot at my hand in marriage.

The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous the whole thing seemed. Whatever happened to just going out on an old fashioned date? And people wonder why I took off when I did.

“Let’s get him on the board.” One of the medics called out and waved over two others who stood on the sidelines holding the plastic carrier.

The two other medics prepped him for transport to Dr. Bennett’s office which had been commandeered by the council for use during the challenge. The man hadn’t had a proper burial and the council had laid claim to his estate.

The land and building belonged to the council, and they were within their rights to assume ownership after his death. That didn’t mean I had to like it.

“Wait.” The lead medic stopped his counterparts from lifting the board when the contender went into a seizure and frothed at the mouth. “Get the lorazepam out of the kit.”

Multiple injections had to be given due to a shifter’s high metabolic rate before the seizures were brought under control.

“Did you give him something?” The medic asked one of the men who had worked in the contender’s corner.

“What? No. Are you saying he was drugged?” The middle-aged man wrung the terry cloth towel clutched in his hands. “Are you trying to say I drugged my son?”

“Oh shit.” I turned my attention from the situation that continued to escalate on the floor to the men within my party. “You don’t think our guy did this, do you?”

The look they exchanged answered my question.

“So, we’re all in agreement then.” I glanced back at the unconscious man. “This is bad. This is so bad.”

“We should go.” Jeff stood up and cleared a path. “Now, Lina.”

For once I followed a direct order. He did a double take when I got up from my seat and followed him into the narrow aisle between sections of folding chairs.

Gabe and Lucas shuffled between the rows of seating and fell in behind us.

“Ow. What the hell, man?” A man I recognized from a pack in the Southeastern territory along the Outer Banks shouted to Lucas, who had bumped into him on his way past.

I spared a look back at him in time to see him checking his hand as if he’d been injured. It struck me as odd that the man reacted at all. Werewolves came from tougher stock than that. Being jostled in a crowd of people may have been a blow to your pride but not your body.

Lucas picked up his pace and knocked shoulders with two other people as he cleared the distance between us. Gabe hurdled over a row of empty seats to cut through the crowd as they moved in moblike fashion for a better view of the drama that had unfolded after the fight.

“We need to leave the hotel. Find some place secure and call my father.” Lucas took me by the elbow and steered me toward the glass doors which led to a stone patio adjacent to the ballroom.

Jeff and Gabe flanked us once we cleared the exit.

“We’ll cut through the woods until we hit the old logging road.” Lucas lifted the latch and swung open the gate for the wrought iron fence. “My grandfather’s hunting cabin is two clicks east from there.”

“You want me to run more than three miles in this dress?” I grabbed him by the arm. “What is going on? And don’t say the elimination fight, because that isn’t enough to put you at Defcon one.”

“What if it has everything to do with the fight?” Lucas retrieved a used, uncapped hypodermic needle from his jacket pocket.

“What the fuck did you do, Lucas?” Jeff pulled me back. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”

“The guy from Outer Banks? That’s why he had such a strong reaction when you bumped into him?” I asked, unable to reconcile what had happened with what Lucas showed me. “Lucas?

He stared at the needle in his hand and appeared to be as confused as I was.

“Lucas?” I pleaded for an explanation. Something, anything other than what it looked like. “Where did you get that?”

Gabe moved away from Lucas stand closer to me and Jeff.

“I have no idea.” Lucas spared a backward glance toward the sounds of the commotion that were still coming from inside. “It’s the truth. Look, we can hash this out later, but right now we need to go.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that, friend.” Jeff raised his arm as a blockade in case I had any inclination of running off with Lucas.

There was a time when I had planned to do that very thing. Twelve months felt like a long time ago.

“Lina, please, you can’t honestly believe I would do this. You of all people.” Lucas’ gaze flicked from me to the needle in his hand and back as he pleaded his case. “I’ve loved you since I was nine. After you whooped Kenney Richards ass when he wouldn’t stop picking on you at recess, I knew. Just like you know I didn’t do this.”

“That argument may not help your case with the council.” Gabe shrugged off Lucas’ murderous glare. “Take it easy, man. I believe you. I’m just pointing out that you have a motive to eliminate the competition. The council isn’t going to care what Lina thinks.”

“I care.” Lucas held onto a bond we shared outside of the pack for dear life.

“We go to the cabin and then what?” I watched the weight of the world slide off his shoulders when he realized I believed him.

“Well …” Lucas looked chagrinned. “You have a lot more experience running than I do.”

“My how the table’s have turned.” I teased. “Welcome to the dark side.”

“I hate to piss on your parade, but I am not getting wrapped up in whatever this is.” Jeff pointed at me, Lucas, and Gabe in turn. “I’m supposed to retire next month. You’ll always be my favorite detail, Lina, but I’m not messing up my pension.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time I slipped away on your watch.” I rushed him with a hug. “Buy us some time?”

“They’ll be on your scent.” Jeff answered as he returned the hug.

I hit him with my best puppy dog eyes when he disentangled himself from the embrace. Jeff had turned a blind eye to more than one of my moonlit escapades when I was a teenager.

Old habits die hard . At least, I hoped they did.

He sighed and I knew I had him.

The same could not be said for the trackers who burst through the doors that led out onto the patio.