Loving a Fantasy - Romantic Shorts

The Search for Love - IV

The fight was over in minutes. Beta Anthony, while a strong and virulent wolf at one point, had become deranged by the loss of his mate, which became more and more apparent as the seconds ticked on. He was ferocious, but he lacked the logical reasoning necessary to fight a battle-tested, angry lycan.

Before it began, Nikolai set Violet down on her feet. Her soft blue eyes, edging almost on the very color of her name, looked at him with concern. She'd just found him. She was afraid to lose him.

Feeling her worry through their bond, Nikolai bent to look at her quietly. He'd only ever sensed her emotions during her heat - when she was the most vulnerable - but it seemed that their proximity had amplified their connection. He could almost hear the thoughts racing through her eyes, a feat unheard of without a mark.

"I will return to you," he vowed, his voice deep and full of promise. "I have not come this far..." he said, letting the words fall off as she smiled slightly. Violet nodded and raised a hand, putting her fingers up to his canine snout as she spoke.

"He is ill," she whispered.

"I know," he replied. "I will give him the chance," he said, though they both knew that Anthony would not take it. Violet swallowed and nodded.

"Okay," she said.

Straightening, Nikolai turned and walked toward the now furious Beta. His wolf was thrusting at his mind, desperate to change and attack the lycan whom Violet had touched. Bloodlust rang through him as she transformed in his mind to look like his dead mate.

"Don't be frightened, Sarah," he growled out, causing Alpha Browning and the Gamma to wilt with pain. "I'll protect you from this mutt," Anthony stated.

Although Alpha Browning was not known for softer emotions, his eyes pricked that day as he watched his Beta fall to the illness of a lost mate. His chest was tight as his gaze caught the lycan's, his nod slight. Nikolai had the assurance that this fight would not cause a war.

Noting what he believed to be an in, Beta Anthony leapt into the air, shifting into his wolf in his attack. Nikolai let him come, though he could have sidestepped had he so chosen. Rather, he let the irate wolf's jaws clamp upon one of his arms as the other wrapped around the beast.

Anthony's wolf thought he'd won, but he was wrong. With a move not dissimilar to that found in wrestling, Nikolai shifted his weight and turned the wolf. Although Anthony's jaws were still locked on Nikolai's forearm, his body was pinned underneath the lycan.

Snarls and growls ripped through the air as the warrior sought to tame the wolf below him. The Beta's only chance at survival was to submit to Nikolai. It would mean that the warrior would have to release the wolf back to Alpha Browning, but it would give Anthony a chance at living.

The wolf, however, was too far gone.

As Nikolai wrestled with the moving beast, it released his forearm and lunged - directly at Violet. The chance at working through his despair was lost in that moment as Nikolai jumped back onto the Beta and captured his head, twisting it hard and jerking up. With a distinctive snap of bone and the tearing of tendons and nerves, Beta Anthony died.

Alpha Browning's wolf burst from him as he lost control, a howl ripping from his throat. Responding to the sound, Nikolai turned and crouched before Violet, prepared to take on the Alpha if he went back on his promise of safe passage. Gamma Adam, however, moved between the wolf and lycan with raised hands.

"I witness the end of the challenge," Adam called out, his words echoing through the pack's mindlink as well. "The lycan Nikolai gave Beta Anthony the opportunity to submit and only took the last resort when the Beta moved to attack wolf Violet. It is done," he stated, his voice firm, but carrying his own pain.

Nikolai raised from his crouch, though his arms were still extended from his body in protection of Violet. The Alpha, maintaining wolf form, agreed through the pack's link with Adam's pronouncement and then turned to the forest. His pack would care for Anthony's remains as he sought out the refuge of air and space.

None of the Kelly Pack could tell that the fight had caused Nikolai distress, but Violet could feel it. As the Gamma and another wolf moved to pick up their friend, Violet reached out to Nikolai. His senses on alert, he kept the other wolves in his sights even as Violet wrapped her small arms around his waist from behind and rested her cheek against his back.

"The car will have the keys in it," Adam informed Nikolai as they moved away from the clearing. "I'm sorry that we cannot provide more than that," he stated.

Nikolai nodded, thankful for the transport. It wouldn't have been improper if the Kelly Pack had decided to make he and Violet walk out, regardless of the Alpha's sanction of the challenge. With his body between him and the others, turning as they carried away their member, Nikolai's mind worked.

The challenge may have ended, but the risk to Violet was not gone. The Gamma and Alpha may have moved on, but there was the possibility that others within the pack would not be so understanding. Nikolai had to get his mate out of there, now.

Turning, he dropped low and lifted her against his chest, rumbling with approval as her legs once more wrapped around his waist. Her arms came around his shoulders, her head in his neck as he ran them toward the waiting sedan. He wouldn't be satisfied that she was secure until he had her a good hundred miles from the Kelly Pack.

Driving faster than any human would, Nikolai put as much distance between them and the Kelly pack lands as possible. To his side, Violet had fallen asleep. Although they hadn't talked about it, he knew that she'd spent at least a week in the dungeons on Browning's orders. She didn't appear to carry evidence of mistreatment, but it was clear she was exhausted.

Nikolai drove for hours, his hand reached over the console and onto the thigh of his mate, as he pushed them further from the wolves who'd held her against her will. As the evening came upon them, he pulled into a hotel parking lot and eased out. Securing a room was quick, as was the call to his Alpha. They would be on the morning flight home. For now, however, Nikolai was going to spend the night with his mate's scent wrapped around him.

Carrying her close to his chest, Nikolai was thankful there were no humans milling about on their floor. He was barely containing the rumble and growls of pleasure as Violet's head buried into his neck, her breath sliding over him. When he moved to set her on the bed, intent on going back to lock the doors, Violet tightened her hold on him and opened her eyes.

"Don't leave me," she ordered softly. Nikolai's lips turned up, reflecting a smile that none of his pack members had seen in ages, as he answered.

"Only to lock up."