Claiming His Prize (Bad Boy Alphas) (Feral Breed Followings Book 2) (9 page)

I
stumbled back
as Piers roared. Whatever Saern said had upset him to the point of losing control. Without a second’s hesitation, Piers lunged for Saern, the two connecting in a flurry of fists and snarls. Six trainers rushed into the ring, all diving at the fighting pair. I watched in horror, wishing I could do something. Wishing I had been able to convince Piers to leave while we were still out by the river. I hadn’t expected Mick to bring Saern tonight, but it didn’t surprise me. Mick was looking to rile these two up so he could get a good fight out of them. Watching them wrestle on the mats, they certainly looked riled.

It took multiple tries and more than a few knocks to the wrong people, but the trainers were finally able to pull the two dragon shifters apart.

“Enough,” Mick yelled once the trainers had done the dirty work. “You two should be saving that shit for fight night.”

Saern smirked at Piers, his eyes positively black. “That’s right. You young ones are too impulsive. Perhaps you need a little time-out to learn your place.”

“I know my place, fucker. It’s you who should worry.”

Saern’s arrogant look faltered, but only for a second. He quickly regained his attitude before turning to Mick and holding up a bloodied arm.

“I do believe I need medical attention.”

Mick glanced at me, his eyes hard. “Take care of him, Jane. I need to speak with Tidal.”

I jumped as Saern approached me, a move that had Piers yowling low and throaty. Two trainers grabbed his arms and another two jumped in front of him, holding him back. Restraining him as he tried to follow us. Something that broke my heart to see.

“You know, Tidal,” Mick said, sounding too casual for my liking. “I’ve known Jane since she was a baby. In fact, I’m very involved with her family. Her father, particularly.”

My stomach dropped with his threat. Piers must have heard it, too. He stopped fighting, his eyes locked on mine.

I nodded once, trying to calm my fired-up dragon even though we both had to know this was a bad idea. “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

“Three.” Tidal gave Saern a glare. “Any longer, and I’m coming after you.”

“I said go, Jane.” Mick pointed toward the medical wing. My fear was a lead ball in my gut, but I had no choice. Mick had moved up his plan, so we were out of time. There would be no rescuing of my dad or running before the shit hit the fan. There was only this…doing what I was told to keep the people I cared about alive.

“You’re an idiot to egg him on.” I yanked my arm away when Saern reached for it, drawing a growl from him.

“Who, your little tadpole? The kid needs to learn his place.”

I huffed. “I think it’s you who needs a few lessons.”

He didn’t say another word as he followed me down the hall. He didn’t need to once we reached the exam room. His palm connecting with my face said more than words ever could.

I fell back, hitting my head on the exam table as I crumpled to the floor. The room spun, the ceiling refusing to stay in focus. I swallowed and tried to roll to a less vulnerable position, but my vision wobbled and left me unsure of which way was up.

“Jane, Jane, Jane.” Saern stepped carefully around me, blocking the light, making me go blind in the shadows. “I thought I was clear when I told you that you were my mate.”

He kicked my legs, forcing me to my side. My head spun again and my stomach revolted at the movement, but Piers’ words kept running through my head. His advice on how to kill a dragon.

Put flame in the air, and we’ll run.

If I could just get to the cabinets…

“Well?” Saern kicked me again, this time in the hip. “Was I or was I not clear?”

“Yes,” I cried, closing my eyes against the pain. “You were clear.”

“Then why would you spread your legs for that child when what’s between them is rightfully mine?”

I huffed a pained laugh, inching my way back. Trying to look as if I was moving
away
from him, when truly, I was moving
toward
something else. Something I needed. Something that would make him run.

Saern growled and threw a metal tray across the room. “Answer me, human.”

I managed to slide a few more inches. “No part of me is yours.”

“Ja-ane,” he said in a singsong way, the warning clear in his voice.

But I was done cowering for him. I was done thinking I had no choice. I was simply done. “You can’t claim someone who’s chosen someone else.”

Saern chuckled. “Of course I can.”

My hand touched the bottom of the cabinet as he finished his sentence. I had one second of relief, one moment of thinking I might get out of this. But then Saern smiled, and my blood turned to ice.

“I’ll show you.”

His teeth in my neck made the blackness roll over me like a tide, and I fell to my side underneath the weight of him, convulsing and screaming as a burn unlike anything I’d ever experienced spread through my body.

I
fought
against the hold the trainers had on me. I may have needed to wait for one hundred and fifty-six more seconds before I chased Jane down, but that didn’t mean I had to put up with them touching me. Besides, my dragon was ready to explode out of me, and men clutching to keep me contained wasn’t going to help that situation. I could feel the danger in the air, sense it almost like something physical and solid. Jane shouldn’t have gone anywhere without me. I should have just killed Mick and gone for the throat of this Midnight-Saern dragon. Not being at her side was wrong—so very wrong—and every second I waited out my promise to her made my rage intensify.

“Relax, Tidal.” Mick leaned against the side of the ring and watched me with disdain. “Doctor Jane’s been visiting with Saern in his cave for weeks. She knows exactly how to handle him.”

The innuendo laced through his voice stabbed a place deep inside me, one that had my dragon thrashing to break free. To rescue his mate.

“One hundred and forty-six seconds left,” I said, a definite growl to my voice.

Mick just smirked. “Perhaps she wants to be with Saern. Have you thought about that?”

“One hundred and thirty-nine.” I brushed past the trainers and paced the edge of the ring, still counting. I knew Jane, and I’d seen her with Saern. She was afraid of him. He could claim her as his mate, but she wasn’t a willing participant in that. I’d never let someone take her without her consent. Even if she were just Doc Jane and not
my
Jane, I’d have fought for her for no reason other than it was the right thing to do. Mick couldn’t beat Saern; no wolf shifter could. Not without knowing our secrets. They were playing with fire—literally—and I wasn’t about to let Jane be their collateral damage.

“Sit down, son,” Mick barked. Laudon grabbed my arm and jumped in front of me, his eyes pleading. But there was no swaying me. Jane needed help, and I was done fucking around.

One hundred seconds too long.

“For your sake, let me go. I don’t want to injure you,” I hissed, showing him the modicum of respect he’d earned. Laudon watched me for a long moment, weighing his options, then let me go and took a step away. That was all the space I needed. I hopped past two trainers with ease, kicking a third in the knee when he tried to keep me from getting to the edge. One of Mick’s goons raced toward me just as I reached the ropes, but Beadan rushed into the ring and caught him around the neck, tossing him to the floor with ease.

“Go get her,” Beadan said, looking fierce and ready to back me up. I nodded once, worry becoming a heavy blanket around my shoulders. The need to blast through the crowd of wolf shifters between Jane and me growing with every passing second.

Eighty-five seconds too long.

And then there was Mick. “I said sit, reptile.”

I jerked to a stop, my eyes locked on Mick’s. The formation of scales along my hairline and my hands tickled, but I welcomed them. I welcomed my dragon this time.

“I’m not your son, and I’m not a reptile,” I said, keeping my voice low and controlled. “My father was a dragon clan leader, a man of strength and honor. He left his world behind to be with my mother in an act of bravery I am only now truly understanding.”

My wings unfurled, ripping my shirt in the process. Mick’s eyes widened, his fear a bitter taste on the air. With a hiss, I jumped, landing directly in front of him, less than an inch between us.

“My father was too smart to fall for a dragon’s manipulation. He was too caring to bring a human woman into a dragon’s lair like some kind of sacrificial lamb. And he was too strong to have been corralled by the likes of you. You have no sway over dragons, dog.” I pushed past him, heading for the ropes. “Saern isn’t going to fight for you; he’s going to kill everyone he sees as lesser. You brought a rabid beast into a children’s story time, Mick. I suggest you let me do my thing to put him down.”

Seventy-three seconds too long.

Once my feet hit concrete, I took off at a run for the medical wing, shoving past trainers and fighters in my way. Every inch of my body ached with the need to fully shift, to let my beast take over, but I held on to my human side. The halls were narrow, the ceiling low. If I fully shifted, I would do some damage to the building and that would slow me down. Would keep me from getting to Jane as quickly as possible.

Not acceptable.

A tug on my heartstrings and the soft sound of Jane screaming from too far away confirmed my worst fears. Jane was afraid. Even without a mating bite—with only the mark of her teeth in my skin—I could sense her deep emotions. Terror, anger, desperation. She needed me, and I’d wasted time dealing with those bastards in the arena.

Sixty-six seconds too long.

I ran faster.

H
is hands were everywhere
at once, ripping my clothes, tearing at my flesh. I curled into a ball and pushed myself closer to the cabinet, kicked and tried to roll out from underneath him, but he was too big. Too strong. Too heavy on top of me. He was going to kill me right there in the exam room, and there was little I could do.

The sensation of my jeans being ripped from my hips sent my brain scattering. There was no way this was happening. I used my fingers as claws on his face, screaming with everything that I could as I punctured the skin. He yowled and tried to back away, but I dug my nails in deeper, pulled them harder, ignoring the dark liquid dripping down his chin and onto me. Let his blood run; his was the only kind that would. I would not bleed for him again.

Saern roared and swung, hitting me in the side of the head and giving himself the freedom to escape my hands. I’d never felt so much pain, never experienced such fear, but I had to keep my wits. I had to get out of this. Had to get to Piers.

Cupping a deep gouge my nails had caused along his jaw, Saern scrambled off me and backed away. His growling shook the room, but I refused to be scared into submission. I had one last chance to do something, and I was taking it. Mick had told me not to run, so I wouldn’t. But that didn’t mean I’d wait for more from the fucking animal.

Put flame in the air, and we’ll run.

I just had to get into the cabinet at my back.

Saern spat blood onto the floor, his growl a deep, constant thing. “You shouldn’t have done that, Jane.”

I coughed a sarcastic laugh, rolling slightly to get into a better position. “Yeah, well, if you don’t want scars, don’t try to rape women.”

He made a sound like a chuckle, one that sent icy fear straight down my spine. “Oh, Jane. You’re my mate. Nothing I do to you could be considered rape.”

I edged back, slipping to the side once my shoulder hit the cabinet I needed. Making sure I could get the door open without blocking it. Ready to fight back.

“I am not your mate, and I do not consent to you touching me.”

“I claimed you, woman. My blood runs in yours, giving me ownership of everything about you. You
are
mine.” He jumped into the air, hands out and mouth open, blood still dripping off his chin. Heading straight for me. I swung open the door and grabbed an acetylene torch, one of many in the cabinet. Something I’d used a million times before, just not for this purpose.

Put flame in the air, and we’ll run.

I spun just as he landed, the torch in my hand, the tip already glowing red. “Back up.”

Saern eyed the torch warily, but he didn’t retreat. He didn’t move forward, either, which I took as a win on my part. At least for a moment.

“What is this ridiculousness, Jane?”

I cocked one side of my mouth up in a sarcastic smile. “It’s called payback.”

I pressed the trigger, and the torch lit up, a spout of flame shooting toward Saern. He stumbled back, trying hard not to look afraid of the small thing… And failing.

“You are no match for me, mate,” he said, but the shakiness of his voice and the panic in his eyes screamed his lie. I
was
a match for him as long as my torch kept throwing flames.

“Maybe not, but I won’t go down without a fight.” I turned up the gas flow, nearly sighing when the flames grew and the hiss of the torch increased. “And I’m
not
your mate
.”

Saern roared but didn’t come closer. He also never took his eyes off the tip of the torch. Piers had said they feared fire they couldn’t control, and he’d been right. Maybe this little torch wouldn’t be enough to kill him, but it seemed a good way to hold him off. For how long, I had no idea.

Saern began to pace, looking more and more like a caged animal trying to find a way past the bars. “That tadpole filling your head with lies about our species?”

“Nope.” I edged toward the door, pushing myself to my feet and keeping the torch pointed at him. “I asked him how to kill a shifter, and he told me.”

Saern laughed. “You can’t kill me with that.”

“Maybe not. But I bet I can cause some serious damage with it. Especially if I mixed this flame with that oxygen tank over there.”

As Saern spun to look, I lunged for the door. Before I could make it out, Saern roared again. I could feel the wind as he came for me, could sense the predator at my heels. I spun again, falling backward, pointing the torch at his face just as the door opened inward.

Piers blasted into the room with a yowl that shook the walls. His red eyes took in the scene with a fighter’s attention to detail. The torch in my hand, Saern growling and pursuing me, the blood on the floor, on Saern, on me. For a split second, those eyes landed on my face. I knew there had to be bruising from how Saern had struck me, had to be evidence of what he’d done. Between that and my torn clothing, I was pretty sure Piers would figure out what had happened in the moments since I walked out of the arena.

Piers didn’t disappoint me.

Without question or pause, Piers roared and shifted, his dark red dragon breaking through the top of the doorway. Facing off with Saern.