CHAPTER
FORTY TWO
CAROLINE
Ow.
Fighting a supernatural being was a lot more painful that I had previously anticipated. Even with the adrenaline, each blow to my body had me wanting to cry out. But I refused to show any signs of possible, looming defeat.
Jeff wasn't very fast, I had learned while we trained, which gave me somewhat of an upperhand. I had become much more agile and fluid in my movements, so I was able to evade a lot of his attacks. So even though he was expending a lot of energy, I was too.
It wasn't like I hadn't landed any punches either. Jeff's nose was permanently dripping blood now and I had split one of his eyebrows and his upper lip. It was satisfying to look at, especially considering that he hadn't gotten my face once.
"Knock it off," he snarled at me when I rolled away from an uppercut. "Stop running and fight, brat."
I hopped up to my feet in time to land a solid hit in his left ribcage. Jeff only had one weakness. A weakness that took me until our last day of training to discover. He had a rib that was out of place from when it was previously broken and healed incorrectly. While I wasn't sure which rib it was, I knew that a powerful enough hit or kick would cause it to jab painfully into his insides. Jeff was very protective of this spot, since a hit would definitely make him incapacitated for several seconds, so he kept it covered at almost every moment and let the rest of his body be battered.
The trick was to find a move that left that spot defenseless. And I quickly found that trick when he launched himself at me, hands outstretched to grab me. I fell to the ground and allowed him to curl his dirty fingers around my arm, while my right leg used the momentum of my fall to swing up and directly into his side, where I had punched him only moments earlier.
The Beta let out a wolf-like yelp and released my arm, which he had started to twist painfully behind my back.
I had to grit my teeth to keep myself from crying out in pain as I shook out my arm. If he had gone any further, something would have either broken or torn. And then I'd be screwed for sure.
"Bitch," he hissed when he began to pick himself up from the ground.
I just laughed. "That's the best you could come up with?" I was surprised by how normal my voice sounded, considering just how winded I felt. Plus the throbbing pain in my arm. By the look on Jeff's face, he was surprised too. Which was just fine by me.
Jeff must have realized that he wasn't going to win this if he was in his human form. Without getting up, the man's body trembled and started to take shape. Which gave me another several seconds to attack.
Bringing my hands together, I brought them down on his injured ribs with all of my might, allowing my body to fall on top of his in the process. The wolf growled deeply and snapped at my hands when they raised to hit a second time, and I let him. This was all about getting Jeff to weaken and leave his weak spots open.
A gasp ran through the crowd when I didn't make a noise when my skin was shredded by the predator's razor-like teeth. Meanwhile, I dug my knee into his side, resting all of my weight on it.
Suddenly, I was soaring through the air. Jeff had used his legs to throw me off of him and did so with such power that I travelled several yards before landing on my back. My head injury yesterday came back to life, a thick dizziness settling over my whole body.
Get up, sugar, Dominic urged in my head. Quick. He's going to get on top of you.
"Let him," I muttered outloud, but I know he heard it. Getting to my feet right now would only make me get more dizzy.
Jeff's panting let me know he was approaching. When I glanced at him, there were multiples, wavering like I was looking at him through water-logged goggles. This wasn't good. But I could see that the wolf was limping and there was a wheeze in his breaths. Could I have punctured a lung with that messed-up rib of his?
Seeing him in his wolf form made me realize that this was a completely unfair advantage on his side. He had claws and teeth for weapons. I bit my nails short. Why couldn't I just let them grow long enough to scratch his eyes?
My vision finally cleared. Just in time to see a paw, with claws outstretched falling down to strike across my sternum. This time I couldn't help the screech that escaped me.
But once again, his anger was blinding him. Because his side was left open. I used my knee again, knocking him off of me enough that I was able to stand.
Glancing down, blood was seeping into my shirt and I almost wanted to vomit at the sight of my skin hanging from my chest. That wasn't good at all. EVeryone watching must have agreed, because several people sounded like they were choking on air while others gasped in disgust.
"That was a good one, Jeff," I confessed. "Really good."
Caroline, admit defeat. It's okay. This isn't worth your life, Dominic ordered me. You're going to get yourself killed.
I'm not letting you give this up because you think you know what I said last night. You didn't stay long enough to hear me finish and tell you that it was okay. So let me show you and stop distracting me.
Jeff and I did a dance for several minutes, where I bounced out of the way of every attac and he would quickly retract to guard his weakspots. By the way he was moving, I knew it wouldn't happen again where I landed a solid hit. So this time, I decided my main point of contact should be his eyes and snout.
It sounded like he was struggling to breathe with the rib jabbing his lungs, so if I could find a way to get his muzzle closed and make it impossible for him to breath through his nose, he could possibly pass out. That had to be my only chance.
I would have to get on his back in order to do so. And how the hell was I supposed to do that?
My gaze moved to the empty space behind him and I tried to adopt the most concerend face possible before saying under my breath, "What's Nina doing?"
Like hte concerned mate he was, Jeff immediately threw himself around. Even though Nina was actually behind me. Lesson learned, worry always overpowers rationality when it comes to mates who are pregnant.
As if he was a wild bronco, I hopped onto his back and tightened my legs around his middle so tight that I was hurting myself. Originally, I was going to go for his snout, but my arms were able to wrap around his neck in the perfect position where he couldn't bite my arms or hands.
Tighter than I had ever hugged anything before, I embrace his throat, pressing my fingers into what I assumed was his windpipe as Jeff began to thrash himself around. He rolled, flipped, bucked, clawed at me with his back paws but I was not moving.
My injured sternum was pressing into his back, the most painful part of anything he was trying. So painful that tears were dripping down my cheeks and had Jeff not been making horribly loud choking noises, everyone probably could hear me whimpering.
Jeff raised up on his back legs, letting himself topple over backwards in a last-ditch effort to knock me off. It knocked the wind out of both of us, considering how hard he landed on top of me, which meant that it did just as much damage to Jeff as it did to me.
The two of us rolled so we were both on our sides, but then Jeff stopped moving. I was hesitant to release him, in case he was faking it. But from the corner of my eye, Andrew ran across the field towards us, mouthing the numbers as he counted down.
"Is he out?" I yelled hoarsely.
Andrew stood over us for about three seconds before nodding. "You can release him. He's out."
Slowly, I retracted my arms and loosened my legs, wiping the tears from my face. Andrew was staring at me with wide eyes. "Kiddo, you won."
I didn't have it in me to be pleased with myself yet. Not with all of the wounds that were currently weeping blood. "Is he really out? I didn't kill him, did I?" I gushed. As angry as I was, I was not mentally prepared to have death on my hands.
Andrew gave me a curt shake of his head before turning to what was left of the pack spectators. Surprisingly, many had already turned their backs and started to walk away. "The Challenge is over. Thanks to the courage and strength of Caroline, Dominic will remain to be the Alpha. Nina and Jeff, you are asked to vacate the territory within forty eight hours. Dom, come get your fighter."
Dominic burst across the field, in a dead sprint towards me. I hadn't realized just how far Jeff and I had moved in our little battle, but it was an impressive distance. Dom grabbed me and pinned me to his chest, rather roughly considering how messed up I was.
"Stop it, stop," I cried, pushing him away. "I'm sorry, it hurts too much."
He nodded. "No, I'm sorry. I should have controlled myself."
I looked between Andrew and Dom. "Can we go inside now? I'm about to pass out and I don't want to do it here."
Dominic moved to pick me up, but I wagged my head. "No, cuz what if Nina sees and decides she wants to fight me? I wouldn't make it," I said worriedly. "Besides..." I looked down at my mangled and bloody body. "It would hurt too much."
"Nina had her chance and refused. She is not allowed to change her mind once the victor has been announced."
Dominic, since he couldn't hold me, had resorted to pressing kisses all over my face. "I was so worried, sugar. Don't you ever do that to me again."
My mate held my arm as we tentatively moved back inside the building, each step caused me to flinch and grimace in pain. Dominic was talking to me about the fight but I wasn't listening to a single word, my ears ringing from that blow to the head and my heart pumping in head loudly from my loss of adrenaline and the pulsing wounds. All I could focus on was taking one step at a time.
It wasn't until I felt the door shut behind us followed by a heavy quiet that I let myself express just how much I was hurting. "Holy shit," I shouted, punching Dominic's shoulder.
"Heyyy," he whined. "What did I do?"
"Are you kidding me? You were going to throw the fight! If you had just been selfish for like an hour longer, I wouldn't have had to do all that," I claimed.
Dominic grinned lopsidedly at me. "I love it when you protect me though."
"If I wasn't bleeding out right now, I'd take you down."
Alfie snickered. "And I believe it this time. But shouldn't we get her to the infirmary or at least to your bedroom?"
I shook my head, slowly lowering myself to the cool floor of the foyer. "I don't want to get blood everywhere. Just heal me here, please."
"All the way?"
I nodded, flopping onto my back. "I hope this rug isn't worth much to you," I mumbled, since half of my body was on it and getting blood everywhere. "I didn't know I could bleed this much in two days."
Dominic lifted my head to rest in his lap. "You really shouldn't bleed this much. And you won't ever again if I have anything to say about it." He was about to bite into his wrist when he met my gaze and smirked at me. "But I have to say, that was the sexiest thing I have ever seen in my life."
I snorted. "Whatever."
"Did you not see his boner as he ran up to you?" Alfie teased. "He could hardly move in a straight line."
"I don't want to talk about Dominic's boner, thank you. I want to not bleed out in the foyer," I mumbled, waving at the Alpha to hurry up.
Dominic chuckled genuinely, leaning down to kiss my lips once before he pressed his wrist to my mouth, letting his blood into my system to begin the long healing process. Considering how messed up I was, it would take two days for myself to completely return to normal. These weren't just surface scratches where the skin could just move together. Many of my wounds had skin hanging out of them or the skin had been torn away and was currently out in the backyard. I feared the wound on my sternum had gone straight to the bone, but I couldn't be sure with all of the blood.
Once I stopped taking Dom's blood, he was given a rag to start wiping my skin off. A doctor from the pack arrived to help as well, her main task to remove my clothing and sterilize everything before the blood sealed bacteria inside. The whole time, Dominic wouldn't shut up about how much he loved me.
"I love you too, dickwad, now shut up cos I've got a headache," I snapped, patting his cheek with my hand.
He caught my hand in his and kissed my palm, sighing deeply as he inhaled my scent. "I knew you loved me as soon as I saw you preparing to step in for me," Dominic hummed. "But I am so happy to hear it."
"Dom, what did I just say? Yesterday I had my head cracked open on a porcelain sink and today a werewolf threw me to the ground head-first. My head will explode if you keep talking." In reality, I was just embarrassed that I had told him I loved him back outloud. Somewhere deep in my being, I knew I had the same feelings for him, but I was still holding onto that stubbornness and that fear of possible rejection down the line.
"I love you, sugar."