Chapter 188
Wyatt gives me no time to prepare, no time to react. He simply appears from behind a tree and then, with a bolt of lightning illuminating him, he dashes forward to attack.
“Shit!” I shout and dodge out of the way just in time. He meant to tackle me. He was going straight for the ribs. I am holding my phone in my hand. I practically shout straight into it, “Wyatt! Wait! We should talk first!”
The call stays connected. I hope the brothers could hear me through the rain. Gods, please don’t leave me alone out here. Wyatt will actually kill me.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Wyatt growls. He is circling around me, a shark that smells blood in the water. My ribs already ache from the exertion. The rain is only making it worse.
If he hits me even once, I’m done for. My broken ribs could snap further, pushing bone into my vital organs. That would be that. I was lucky before. I doubted I would be so again.
Wyatt pounces forward once more. His muscles are bulging. He’s not holding anything back. I have to dive to avoid him this time. When I hit the grass, my phone flies away from me, disappearing into the nearby flowerbeds.
My only lifeline to the brothers, gone. I’m all on my own.
No. They will come. I just need to hold out as long as I can.
It’s difficult, though. Though I tried to tuck and protect myself, the smash of my torso against the ground stole the air straight from my lungs. My chest burned like it was on fire. If I live through this, the doctor is going to be furious with me. I’m going to have my ribs wrapped for the rest of my natural life.
It takes me far too long to recover. As I start to push myself up to my knees, Wyatt is already standing over me. He grabs me by the hair and yanks my head back.
I cry out as I follow the pull of his hand. I can’t get away without him ripping away half of my scalp.
“This is what you call a rematch?” Wyatt scoffs.
“You are fighting dirty,” I snap, defiant even as I am at his mercy. If he wants to kill me, he will have to kill me. But he will never see me cower to him.
I will defy him, even until death.
“Fuck you,” he growls. His eyes shift, wolflike. His rage is flooding through him. Gods, I wish I knew what I did to get him to hate me so much.
No, I have to focus. None of that matters. All I’ve ever been trying to do is get him distracted long enough for the brothers to come to my rescue.
That’s what I have to do now. Despite the pain. Despite the fear.
If I can just get him talking and keep him talking, maybe I can live through this.
With my face forcibly turned toward the sky, the cool raindrops pelt down on me. It helps me focus. Instead of being overwhelmed by the pain in my chest, I can focus on the water droplets. The tiny little pricks of cold slashing into my skin.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I ask.
“Yes,” he replies. And I see it clearly, the rage fueling him is not just anger, but hate.
“You must truly hate me,” I say. “It was just a foolish challenge. It’s not worth killing over.”
Wyatt scoffs. “You think I want you dead as some kind of vengenence?”
I do think that, yeah. He was humiliated when I, a woman without a wolf, beat him, a male with a wolf, in the challenge in front of the entire school. I for sure think he would be angry enough to kill for that.
“It’s not vengeance,” he says, then huffs the way a wolf would chuff. “Well, not just.”
“What is it then?” The pain in my chest and my scalp is making it hard to concentrate. Each word is a struggle.
“This is the only way I can return to the Alpha King’s good graces.”
My face was already scrunched in pain, but now it switches to confusion. “You are his spy.”
“When I left, I went to the Alpha King for support. I had done his bidding. I thought he would praise me.” Wyatt’s hold on my hair tightens and I wince. “Instead, he rejected me. He told me I was worthless. He said my usefulness to him had worn out.”
Oh. Oh, shit.
Wyatt is now a man on the edge. A man with nothing to lose. No wonder he’s so damn bloodthirsty.
He gave up his position as a Beta because he thought the Alpha King would support him. Maybe the Alpha King made promises and Wyatt, naïve and hopeful for advancement in the werewolf world, and likely tired of being the Hayes brothers’ punching bag, eagerly agreed.
Now, he is discovering that some things are simply too good to be true, and very few people in power are there because they are kind and honest.
“Even if you kill me,” I say, “Alpha King Hayes will not take you back.”
“You have no idea how much he hates you,” Wyatt growls. “He blames you for all of his sons’ failings, Neil’s most of all. The silver should have been enough, but you…” Wyatt’s lip lifted into an ugly snarl. “When I give him your head, he’ll take me back. He’ll see my value.”
If Alpha King Hayes can’t see the value in his own talented sons, then Wyatt has no shot at all. But antagonizing him now would win me no favors. I had to think of something else.
“Wyatt –”
“I’m done talking.” He throws me down onto the ground.
My ribs ache as I collided once more with the dirt and grass. It is getting more difficult to breathe, and to move, but I still manage to roll onto my back.
I want to see the attack coming. If Wyatt means to kill me, I won’t make it easy on him. He has to do it with me watching him.
“I hate you!” he roars. Lightning strikes as he says it, like a thunderous enunciation from the Gods themselves.
He raises his fist. He’ll strike down, pummel my skull. I’ll be dead before I know it.
I lift my arms to defend myself, but I’m so weak. I can’t imagine I’ll do much.
I remember the fight in the gym. He’d used this move before, and I dodged it. But he had cracked straight through the wooden gym floor.
That will be my skull in a few seconds.
I hold my breath.
He starts to bring his fist around.
I keep my eyes open. I will greet death unafraid.
Then everything goes black.
Am I dead?
No. I still feel the rain beating down on me. I blink a few times. It’s not black, there is just simply a figure blocking my light.
Archer. Standing over me.
Protecting me, in all of his six foot tall Alpha glory.
And I’ve never been so happy to see him.
