52. Mila

Chapter 52

Mila

M y cell door squeaks open, and I look up from pressing my face against my knees.

A guard has arrived.

"Get up."

I don't move.

"Where are you taking me?"

"That's classified," he replies, with no emotion. "Now get up."

He storms into the cell, dragging me up to my feet, and I have no choice but to concede and follow him.

Another one places a blindfold around my eyes, and then they lead me through various hallways. Soon I am taken outside, the breeze cold on my cheeks as I am forced into a vehicle.

A short drive later, we arrive at another building, and the strong scent of perspiration tickles my nose.

Have we entered a gym?

I don't have time to ask as the guard shoves me hard onto a bench and then rips off my blindfold.

My vision is blurred, but then things come into focus, and I find myself inside an auditorium, a large fighting ring at its center.

I'm too distracted by my new surroundings to notice the person shoved down beside me, and when they remove their blindfold, I gaze into the ocean-blue eyes of Oliver once again.

"Oliver!"

He leans toward me, but then a guard shoves him back again, and the Omega growls in frustration.

"Mila? Are you all right?"

Our hands are bound behind our backs, so we can't even touch each other, but I'm just so glad to see him again. To see that he is alive and well.

I just don't understand why they brought us here.

That's when I spy two familiar figures across the fighting ring, and it's Barret and Lachlan.

Lachlan's eyes blur in recognition, and then he goes to rise from his seat, shooting his way across the room toward us most likely, but Barret holds him back.

His own hands are bound, but Barret's remain free.

What is going on? Have we come to see a show or something?

All the seats are empty, and it appears that we're the only ones here.

There are several armed guards by the doors, but that's it. There's another with a big gun behind me and Oliver too, acting as a wedge between us, and my heart pounds.

One of the doors opens, and my eyes light up when I recognize a shirtless Gryphon.

Oliver looks just as pleased and relieved to see him too, but then a worry line forms between his eyes when another figure enters the fighting ring, and my heart caves.

Lily.

Oliver and I catch each other's gaze, and understanding finally dawns on us.

Gryphon is going head to head with Lily, and I swallow a lump in my throat.

This is only going to end one way, and I won't even be able to cover my eyes when it all goes to shit.

Because my hands are tied behind my back.

Gryphon… what are you doing?

The Alpha doesn't hear my silent pleas, obviously, and I wish I could run across the room and stop him.

It can't end like this. There has to be another way.

Lily will slaughter him.

"Shit…" Oliver cusses, and I try wriggling out of my binds, but the guard behind me shoves the butt of his gun into my back.

"Keep still!"

"Don't you fucking touch her!" Oliver snaps, but he gets the butt of the gun shoved into his back too, and a very Alpha-like growl escapes his lips.

Silence falls over the auditorium as Gryphon and Lily meet at last, and I sense his eyes.

Gryphon looks at me and only me, his hands curled at his sides. Fire burns in those burgundy eyes, and they are more red than brown now.

Both he and Oliver look as if they want to skin the guard alive, and I spy similar expressions on Barret and Lachlan across the room.

Lily starts some warm-up exercises, stretching her arms over her head, and it's the first time I have ever seen her without a suit or a dress.

She wears yoga pants, and a cropped sports bra, and holy shit…

I always saw proof of those muscles, even beneath her delicate pink suits and dresses, but to see them exposed.

Lily truly is a force to be reckoned with, and if only we can find a truce some other way.

Gryphon does no warm-ups, and he appears far too relaxed. He merely watches his opponent, a blank expression on his face as he folds his arms across his equally muscled chest.

Lily is nowhere as muscled as he is, but she could still give him a run for his money. Nothing but pure, female strength radiates from her form, and my heart trembles at just the mere sight of her.

Finally, she straightens her posture, clicking her neck as she gets into position. "This is your final chance, Gryphon. Back out now, and you can go home with your dignity still intact."

And his head too, I bet.

Gryphon merely stares, his face void of emotion as he keeps those arms folded in front of him. "No. This ends today, Governor. "

I bow my head.

If only I could stop him.

He can't do this. Oliver needs him.

I need him.

I never even got to tell him how I feel.

Lily smirks. "Very well. I'm sorry it had to end this way…"

Two heartbeats pass. My mouth dries, and then in the blink of an eye, she swings her leg out, aiming straight for his head.

Gryphon dodges the blow, and I close my eyes, unable to look.

Lachlan cheers for Gryphon in the bleachers across the room, and I'm just grateful we have a sound to drown out the noises happening in the ring.

But Lachlan's cheering soon dies out, and now I am left with the sound of punching and heavy breathing.

I open my eyes a tiny sliver.

Lily and Gryphon are entangled on the floor, her thick thighs around his neck, and I feel the blood draining from my skin.

She managed to get the better of him. Just as I feared.

Gryphon's face is blue as she wraps her thighs around his neck like a boa constrictor, depriving him of air, and I guess she really is going to take his head off.

She speaks through clenched teeth. "Last chance, Gryphon. Give up now, and I will let you off with a warning…"

No, she won't. She will have him imprisoned for his insubordination, and only the Gods know what will happen to the rest of us.

He doesn't reply, still fighting for air.

"Just slam a hand down on the mat, and we will end this. Your call."

Yet Gryphon doesn't concede, his face turning bluer by the second, and what is Lily made of?

His eyes flit up to me, and times seem to freeze.

I'm pretty sure he is about to die right before my eyes. Oliver is just as breathless beside me, and none of us know what to do as our Alpha fights for his life.

Yeah, our Alpha…

I can't believe it had taken me this long to finally realize it.

A spark ignites in the Alpha's eyes, a declaration and a promise.

He is going to win this fight for me, for all of us.

He moves in a flash, and I barely see the moment he slams the heel of his palm into Lily's chin, his action buying him enough time to slip free from her killer grasp.

Both Alphas jump back to their feet in an instant, circling each other once again.

Lily's mouth is bleeding, and it looks like she bit her tongue the moment Gryphon slammed his hand into her chin.

I can't say I feel bad for her.

She becomes a woman possessed, the whites of her eyes flashing like a wild animal, and I shrink in my seat, trying to press as close as I can to Oliver.

Our shoulders brush, but the guard doesn't even notice, his gaze fixed on the fight before us.

One moment, Lily is standing, and then the next, she's flying across the ring, kicking and punching, and it's hard to keep up.

Yet Gryphon dodges every blow, and now they play a game of chase across the ring.

They're both exhausted, Lily even more so, and I think I am starting to see what Gryphon is doing.

He's tiring her out.

That hand to the chin must have pissed her off, and now she's really mad.

No more calculated attacks. She throws everything she has at him, and with every blow he evades, the angrier she gets.

Wow. For someone so seemingly powerful, she sure does have anger issues.

In a flash, he kicks his leg out, and Lily goes flying across the ring.

Lachlan gives a whoop, but his cheers are premature. Because Lily lands like a cat on her feet, smoke flying in her wake as she goes for Gryphon again.

She's more animal than woman now, and I just want to run across the room and protect Gryphon from that monster.

Gryphon feigns a step to the left, and when she is caught off guard, he plants a kick right on her breastbone.

She crashes onto her back and the thwacking sound echoes across the room.

Lily doesn't rise for some time, and it looks like Gryphon hit her in a sensitive spot.

Unless… it's a trick.

He steps toward her, planting his foot onto her chest right where he hit her. Then he sneers, growling down at her face. "Surrender, Lily. Set my Omegas free, and we can resume as normal. You will still have your power. All I ask is that you leave me and my family alone and let us live in peace. Your call."

Something clogs my airway and then a tear slips from my eye.

He called me his Omega.

I'm too overwhelmed to notice Oliver shifting slightly beside me. I'm not the only one.

Everyone is focused on the fight. On Gryphon.

Even if she agreed to his terms now, nothing would ever be the same for her again. Gryphon has proven tonight that he is the strongest Alpha, and Lily's reputation will surely be in tatters now.

She won't back down.

Yet, to my surprise, and the whole room's, she finally concedes, flopping onto the ground, and no one breathes for a while.

Then she says, loud and clear, "I surrender."

Gryphon doesn't remove his foot from her chest for some time. Then when he is satisfied, he lifts it from her, placing it back down on the ground again.

Then, he turns, showing her his back.

Is he serious ? She may be weakened, but I doubt she is that weakened.

It happens in slow motion. Lily is back on her feet, flying straight for Gryphon.

Fucking bitch.

She has no honor. A sore loser if I ever saw one, and is this really who the people want as their leader?

Oliver jumps to his feet next, then knocks out the stunned guard behind us, grabbing his gun.

When did he untie his binds?

Wait… Mine have been untied too…

H-how?

Oliver sprints across the auditorium, gun pointed straight at Lily. "Stand down, bitch."

Lily freezes, and Gryphon, with a smirk, turns around and faces his opponent again.

He's not the only one in the ring with her now. Barett and Lachlan have joined the ranks, and the latter is frothing at the mouth.

"Please… now can I kill her?" he begs, but no one answers him.

The whole room is at a stalemate. No one moves.

The guards are silent, waiting. The one behind me is still coming to. He'd been too distracted by the fight to even notice what Oliver was doing, and I guess he shouldn't have taken that Omega for granted.

Oliver really is a sneaky little bastard.

Quickly, I stumble to my own feet, cutting across the room. I don't have a weapon, but I will still fight by my pack's side.

This will be our final stand.

Not one guard intervenes. They're waiting to see how things pan out.

Who will be the victor tonight?

She growls when we surround her next, Oliver stationed between us as he still aims the gun between her eyes.

"You lost. Deal with it," he snarls.

Lily glowers at him for a while, and my heart thunders in my chest. Then she cackles, tossing her head back. "You idiots. You forget that I am still in power. All these men answer to me!"

Oliver cocks a brow. "Oh, really? Then why are their guns down?"

The comment takes her by surprise, and then Lily casts her eyes around in utter disbelief.

"What are you doing? Defend your superior!"

Yet not a single soul moves. They all watch, completely unmoved by the sorry excuse of a leader before them.

Not only did she attack an opponent when his back was turned, but she's one fucking sore loser who can't admit defeat.

Also, she is weak. No pack or family, and it's kind of sad.

Power was all she had, and now it's gone.

Gryphon played his part well. I wonder if he and Oliver were silently communicating the whole time he was fighting Lily, and it just proves where the real strength lies.

Nothing can defeat a mate bond.

I spy it then in Lily's eye, a silvery tear, and it takes me by surprise.

She has finally realized that she has lost. And it must be tearing her apart.

To lose the one anchor you had in this world…

My heart almost goes out to her.

Did she ever have anyone?

She shakes her head in utter denial, squeezing her eyes. "No… it… wasn't supposed to be this way… D-Daddy p-promised…"

Hold hold. Did she say, Dad?

Finally, I see her for what she is—a lost little girl who loved her father once, a man who promised her the world...

Just like I loved my dad. A man I fought my entire life for.

She's right. It can't end this way…

That was my biggest mistake right there. Seeing the vulnerable, human side of her.

Because the moment I let my guard down, she attacked.

But Oliver gets there first. He shoots the gun, aiming for her thigh, and the woman screams, dropping back to the ground.

The Omega steps in front of me, and now I watch as all four members of Pack Hart surround her.

" Big mistake…" Oliver growls, his eyes almost glowing. "That was my Omega you tried to hurt then, Lily."

The woman has tears streaking down her cheeks, as she pleads and cries for a father who will never come.

This is awful. I can't watch.

Strong arms grab me next, and then I am pressed against a muscled chest, his campfire and marshmallow scent filling my nose.

"Don't look."

And just as he instructed, I don't look. I keep my face squashed against his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

I shouldn't feel bad. She would have done the same to me and my pack if the roles were reversed, but I still cry as her death plays out around me.

"Do your worst, Lachlan," Oliver rasps next, his voice dark.

So, that was why Oliver aimed for her thigh. He wanted to give Lachlan the honor.

Gryphon starts leading me out of the room as Lachlan's crazed laugh echoes through the enormous space. But before we leave, I hear Oliver whisper, "And don't you ever use my little sister's name in vain again, whore ..."

His sister? Isabelle?

I don't get to hear any more as Gryphon has finally dragged me away in his arms.

He purrs, rubbing his hand up and down my back. "It's okay now, Mila. That woman can't hurt you ever again. We're free."

Free?

As the horrors continue in the room behind us, I meet his burgundy eyes.

They melt for me now, and I don't think. I grab his cheek, and finally, we kiss.

He's right. We are free.

And I finally got the family that I always wanted.