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Mind numbing terror filled Jazz as he watched his mate – I have a mate Jazz’s deer squealed and pranced around in his head – enter the dirt filled ring, while those who had been guarding over Kingston left. There was no way this could turn out okay.
Jazz’s life had been filled with nothing but disappointment, why would this be any different? If he thought about it, which he tried not to, it would be fitting for him to meet his mate, only to lose him in less than an hour.
A cry welled up in his throat as he watched an enraged Kingston shift and rush toward Wilder. It was an unusual name, not that Jazz was typical. But he liked his mate’s name.
The crowd cheered, drawing Jazz’s attention back to the ring. He’d tried to zone out for the express purpose of not having to watch his mate die in front of his eyes. Except, what he saw was Wilder with a grin of triumph on his face, while a bleeding Kingston limped a few paces away.
How had that happened?
He knew Kingston never fought fair. It was why he shifted so quickly and attacked before Wilder had a chance to shift. Normally, a predator like Kingston’s wolf would have the upper hand in a fight with an unarmed, unshifted human. Having kept his focus off the pair, Jazz was uncertain how Wilder had been the one to do damage, yet he appeared completely unscathed.
Kingston crouched low to the ground, his teeth bared as he growled a warning. Then he was off like a shot. This time, Jazz forced himself to watch. Everything suddenly decelerated, as if time itself had slowed down.
Kingston leapt straight at Wilder, who stood there, hands at his sides, watching and waiting. Just as Kingston was upon Wilder, he twisted his body to the left. It was as if Wilder had been waiting for that one movement, for his hand rose up and wrapped around Kingston’s neck, stopping those vicious teeth from sinking into his flesh.
But Kingston wasn’t done. As Wilder held him, he twisted his lower body and lashed out with his hind legs, claws extended. Jazz was sure his mate was about to be sliced open. He desperately wanted to close his eyes, but before he could, Wilder lifted up his other hand, his own claws extended, which were three times the length of Kingston’s wolf.
Before Kingston could cut into Wilder’s abdomen, Jazz’s mate sliced the muscle along one of Kingston’s back legs. The wolf yelped as Wilder tossed him across the ring as if he were nothing more than a fly pestering him.
More blood poured from Kingston’s body as he limped a few steps. The rage in his eyes turned to fear as the man started to realize he wasn’t nearly as good as Wilder in the ring. When he tried to take a step toward Wilder, his back leg wouldn’t hold him and Kingston collapsed to the ground.
His wild-eyed gaze glanced around the ring, clearly looking for a way out. Along each edge wolves, mountain lions, bears, apes, and cheetahs stood around the ring, ready to stop Kingston from trying to escape. Yet, despite the lack of an obvious route out of danger, he continued to search, until his gaze landed on Jazz.
Frozen, Jazz could read Kingston’s intent before he even got back to his feet. Because of his inability to move, Jazz was stuck, helpless to get out of the way when his tormentor raced his way using only three legs.
A roar unlike anything Jazz had ever heard before bellowed in the air. Unable to look away he watched as the wolf, who had spent so many weeks hurting Jazz in both his animal and human form, came at him. His mind flashed back to the day he saw the same look of death and glee in those golden brown eyes. He’d been lucky to survive the last time, but Jazz knew Kingston wouldn’t make that mistake again.
He didn’t want to lose a chance with his mate this soon. A voice deep inside of him begged for him to run, to fight, to do... something, not just stand there and wait to be killed. If only that were possible. But Jazz knew the truth all too well. He was weak and pathetic. From the day of his birth, he’d been unworthy to live, to draw breath. It had taken thirty-two years, but his father would finally get his wish for Jazz to no longer take up space.
Desperate to see his mate’s face one last time, Jazz managed to force his gaze away from his impending death. Rage filled those dark eyes that he now knew were a rich dark hickory and not black. But instead of dark brown hair and suntanned skin, there was thick brown fur and massive paws.
His eyes widened in surprise. His mate was beautiful in both forms and Jazz would have loved a chance to run with his mate in their animal forms. But that wasn’t to be. Fate had always been a cruel bitch to Jazz, now wasn’t any exception.
He braced for the blow he could almost feel coming toward him, but Jazz refused to look away from Wilder. If this was to be his last moments on earth, he wanted the last sight he saw to be his mate.
As he stood there, he wasn’t sure what to make of the big brown paw crashing down on grey mottled fur that couldn’t have been more than a foot from Jazz. There was a loud yelp of pain, then a heartbeat of silence before cheers erupted.
Jazz blinked, unsure what had just happened. He had no clue why the crowd would be cheering when he was about to die. Then that thick brown fur receded as Wilder returned to his human form. Before Jazz could warn him to get out the way before Kingston killed them both, two thickly muscled arms pulled him against a hard chest.
“I’ve got you, brown eyes,” Wilder whispered as he held Jazz tight. “Kingston will never be able to harm you again.”
Jazz didn’t understand. He’d seen the look in Kingston’s eyes. There was no doubt the man had planned to finish the job and kill him. “What if he attacks me again?” Jazz mumbled as he tried to look around and see where Kingston could have possibly gone.
Wilder turned them just enough that Jazz was able to see Kirill pick up the body of Kingston’s wolf and carry it to the woods. Blood coated its fur, dripping onto the ground like a trail of breadcrumbs.
“What...?” he started to ask as he watched Kirill continue to walk until he’d disappeared, with twenty men following him.
“Kingston is dead, my mate. He can’t hurt you any longer.”
Jazz swung his head up to look at Wilder, sure he had to lying. But all he saw there was truth and lust. Pushing aside his own lust, he asked, “But how?”
Saber slapped a hand on Wilder’s back. “Now that Kingston is dead.” The Council Leader glance in Jazz’s direction as if the only reason the words had been said was to reassure him that Wilder had been telling the truth. “And you have both found your mate, Edrick and I are insisting you both,” Saber emphasized the word making sure, once more, to look right at Jazz, “take a break from your duties and enjoy getting to know one another.”
Jazz opened his mouth to argue, he had a lot of work that still had to be done, but Saber held up his hand and stopped him. “We insist.”
It wasn’t like he could tell the man no. Saber was the Council Leader and Edrick Miracle’s Alpha. At the same time, he didn’t want anyone to have to wait for a place to live because he wasn’t doing his fair share.
But the situation was taken out of his hands when Wilder answered for them both. “Thank you. We appreciate the time, especially since my job requires me to be on the road quite a bit.”
Jazz’s head swung back to look at his mate so quickly, he nearly lost his balance. Good thing Wilder was still holding him. “The road?”
There was sigh from Wilder and a chuckle from Saber. “I see this is a good time for me to wish you both well and head on home,” Saber told them, then left without so much as a goodbye.
Too distracted by his mate’s announcement, Jazz hardly noticed the man was gone. He should have known fate would never really give him what he wanted in life. A mate who would stay by his side, no matter what.
“I’m a Council enforcer,” Wilder said as he turned to face Jazz fully. Those safe, strong arms, pulled Jazz closer to that big, warm body and Jazz gasped as he felt the hard length of Wilder’s dick press against his abdomen.
Glancing down, Jazz was shocked to see his mate was naked. How had he missed that before? Wilder chuckled, when Jazz’s face heated as he stared a little too long at the man’s long thick cock pressed between them.
“Maybe we should head inside and see if Alpha Edrick has any spare clothes?” Wilder suggested. “Then we can go somewhere private and talk.”
Jazz nodded, but if he were honest, he hadn’t really been paying that much attention to what his mate had said. His entire focus had been on Wilder’s chiseled body and who could blame him?
