Chapter 4

Mate Combat

Even though I don't see anyone but Darius Carter, I feel all eyes are on us.

As I stare at him in shock, I slowly realize what's going on here.

Muffled sounds from the crowd echo in my ears.

"Oh my God!"

"That can't be..."

"Lila is Darius' mate."

"Is that Patrick's daughter? The one who left to live with humans?"

"She's the one who always made trouble as a kid."

"Dione's friend?"

"Yes. People say it was her who got him killed."

"Is that why she left?"

"Must be."

Shut up everyone! I have got to think. I have got to... do something. Anything!

But my body doesn't listen - it's like I don't want to move away from him. I'm hypnotized by his magnificent scent - my lungs yearn for it.

Oh, shit. This is without a doubt my mate.

I have a mate.

As the realization hits me, my knees totter and I feel like vomiting.

He swiftly grabs me by my elbows as if he thought I was going to fall. So dramatic, Darius! I'm only... what am I? Mesmerized? The skin to skin touch is too much for me to bear. I shiver with pleasure. Darius smirks perfectly, enjoying the effect he has on me.

"I will handle it," I heard Ian's voice and felt his arms wrap around me.

"No," Darius broke our eye contact to look at Ian. "You won't."

I look at my fiancé and suddenly, like lightning, my brain becomes painfully aware of the situation. I'm engaged to be married! To Ian. But Darius is my mate. There's no doubt about it - Dad told me when you met him, you know. Now I see what he meant.

"It's okay," I finally find some words for this man that's got me dazed, still holding me in his strong arms. "He's my fiancé."

I have never witnessed a crowd go so silent so quickly. You could hear a pin drop at that moment.

Darius' full attention is on me now. His expression changed from enchanted to murderous in a second. I can actually feel the air between our gazes.

He doesn't speak immediately, and I swallow hard as I realize the heaviness of my words.

"I don't think so," he says painfully plainly, not raising his voice for a decibel. Instead, his voice is deep and enraged, demanding authority, making me feel smaller than a grain of sand.

Ian chooses to speak at the worst moment possible. "Let her go immediately. I said I would-"

I feel Darius' grip loosen and predict his attack on Ian before it happens. It is a weird feeling, as if I am able to read his mind in slow motion. I know there is only one way I can save my fiancé from this beast's attack.

If I become a beast myself.

Darius pulls Ian's hands off me in one swift movement and then throws a fist at his arcade bone.

I shift into my wolf at crazy speed, and knock down a lot of furniture in the process. But I succeed in my intention: Darius is so surprised by my shift, that he forgets all about Ian.

The crowd is now too loud for comprehension. Some people scream and make place for my big white wolf, while others run to help Ian and Darius. I have just made an open attack on a pack's Alpha and, normally, such offenders don't end up too well afterwards.

I see Ian knocked down on the floor and it infuriates me to realize this "meet-the-family" project has ended even worse than the worst scenario I imagined.

"Patrick King's daughter? Wasn't she the leader of the Havoc Clan?"

"She sure was..." The crowd disapproves.

I see they still resent my childhood decisions. Well, to hell with it. I deserve all of it.

I might as well defend my rebel status.

Now my green wolf eyes meet with Darius' and I growl at him menacingly, ready to attack.

"Alpha, shift!" I heard Derek warn him.

But Darius wasn't afraid at all. He stands still, looking at me with some sort of amusement and... satisfaction.

What is wrong with him?

"Alpha, what do you want us to do?" his men asked.

Darius just lifts his hand to silence them, still smirking at me in all his masculine glory.

"If that's how you want it to go down, little wolfie," he approaches me and pets my muzzle, unaffected by my snarling, "I'm all in." And then he runs to the door and shifts into a huge black wolf the moment he is out of the house.

I followed him out, having difficulties moving in such a small space.

He stands in a fight-ready position, ready to devour me. Well... we'll just see about that.

"Lila, stop!" my Dad yelled, running out of the house, a large crowd along with him.

I am the first one to attack. I lunge at him full force, trying to bite his arm, but he manages to evade my attack at the last moment.

He shakes his wolf head, as if amused, and slowly circles around me, trying to test my combat style.

Well, you big black wolf, I wasn't born yesterday.

I fake movements, leading him to think I have slow left reflexes, manipulating him to attack my strongest side. Then I move my legs backwards every now and then, trying to make him mistake me for a defender, instead of an offender type.

My plan works brilliantly.

Darius' wolf attacks my left side at super fast speed and I miss his teeth by only half an inch. I manage to do it, though, and while he is still surprised by the outcome, I lunge at him straight ahead, not giving him time to rebound, and he ends up knocked down on the ground.

We started wrestling there.

His wolf is so strong, which doesn't surprise me. His human form is massive.

"Lila!" I heard my father's authoritative voice, "I command you to stop immediately!"

But I don't listen. I was never good at obeying commands anyhow.

The crowd that gathered to watch us looks shocked - they must've thought I'd suck in combat, given I left my pack at 18.