Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

23. Leigh

TWENTY-THREE

Leigh

M y heart pounded and my palms were a little sweaty as I watched Gael kick off his shoes and step into the ring. I’d seen him coach Shay, yes, so in theory I knew that he was skilled. But I’d never seen him fight before. When we were running from Ushagat Island, he and Dirge had double-teamed a vamp, yes… but that felt like a distant blur.

This was right now, and there was no darkness, no running or terror to skew my perception of the fight.

Okay, so there was still terror. Mine.

The two guys standing across the ring from him didn’t exactly look like slouches—they were heavily muscled, wore buzz cuts, and still sported their black pack security uniforms.

If I were standing in the ring against two of them, I’d be shaking in my boots. But Gael? He was confident, like he owned the space. He briefly rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder and stretched his arms as the other two men stripped down to just their uniform pants, much like he wore nothing but sweats.

I watched it all with bated breath and flinched in surprise when two familiar touches came almost at the same time. My girls were bracketing me, silent support as we stood on the sidelines.

Olivia hovered just on the other side of Brielle, wearing a worried frown. “He’s going to fight both of them at once? Shouldn’t he at least go against one, then the other? Either way, he’s at a disadvantage.”

Kane laughed lightly. “Technically, sure. But Gael is a master, in skin or in fur. Those two would have to be top of their packs for the two of them to pose a threat. And from what Cristian told me before you two arrived”—Kane shot a look at me—“they’re nowhere near the top of the pecking order for Caelestis. Frankly, we should probably tie one of Gael’s arms behind his back or something.”

That was all well and good to hear , but until the father of my baby—and my fated mate, I realized with a little thrill—stepped back out of that ring in one piece, I didn’t want to hear it. Or believe it.

I wanted to dig my nails into my palms with the anxiety, but then I’d have to let go of Bri and Shay, and they were the only ones holding me up right now.

But Reed, Kane, and Dirge didn’t look worried. That had to mean he’d be fine, right? They knew about the baby; they wouldn’t let him kill himself over something minor.

“I have called this challenge today because Karl and Sven participated in behavior unbecoming of not only our pack, but of wolves anywhere.” Gael lifted his chin as he spoke, projecting his voice so that everyone gathered could hear every single syllable.

“In Pack Blackwater, we respect our pack mates, but most especially our females. These two”—he pointed accusingly at the two of them—“think that it’s funny to make off-color jokes about the females of the pack and use slurs that are well beneath us.”

Oh, oh, no. It felt like all the blood drained from my body between one heartbeat and the next. Off-color jokes and slurs? In the gym… and I was the only woman in there this morning.

Shit, shit, shit .

I swayed a little, and Bri gave me a worried look. I felt the familiar cool wash of power flow out from her palm, and I immediately felt less light-headed. But even an omega gift couldn’t remove my worry.

“That is why I’ve called this challenge. It will be to first blood or submission, whichever comes first. Afterward, they will be escorted from the grounds and no longer be in the employ of Pack Caelestis, effective immediately.”

Had he found out I was half-human from these idiots? Or worse, did he not believe them ? Oh Goddess.

I had to do something to stop this, but how could I do that without humiliating Gael? He had the best of intentions, but everything they’d said was true . He was going to be furious with me, and somehow, that was the worst thing of all.

The disappointment when he found out his mate was a half-human mutt, not worthy of whatever fancy, full bloodline he came from here in Romania, would crush this fledgling bond between us. Dirge had told us when we first arrived they were old money. There was no way they’d approve of me, a mutt from a broken home in Texas.

We weren’t dirt-floor poor, but we were lights shut off every forty-five days poor, and that was close enough for people like that. People who didn’t know what it was like to struggle.

Gael turned to Kane, who nodded gravely in acceptance of his words. “As you say, let it be,” he said, waving for the fight to commence. The oddly formal words were probably ceremonial or some shit, because everyone around the ring fell silent in a sudden, weighty hush.

Marcus had been so careful to always protect his image. His standing with the pack. Any perceived imperfection—like my faulty bloodline—was a blemish to be hidden away, ashamed of. And here Gael was, airing out what he didn’t know was the truth in front of everyone.

Should I call out? Ask him to stop, drag him away from here before he could embarrass himself? That could embarrass him too. Gael was screwed either way.

This is all my fault.

My stomach rolled despite Bri’s best efforts. I’d already fucked up our relationship once in a fit of stupidity—how could I put Gael through that again?

He would never forgive me after this.

Brielle’s eyes dropped closed as she concentrated on flooding her power into me, but this wasn’t something she could fix. A sob escaped me as I squeezed her hand.

When her eyes opened again, I shook my head. She didn’t need to make herself sick trying to fix this.

Nobody could fix this.

I was racking my brain, trying to figure out some desperate, last-second way to stop this, when they all blurred into motion at the same time. I don’t know what I expected, maybe a little circling or some hesitation, but there was none as Gael’s opponents shifted.

Karl and Sven split, each darting around the circle in the opposite direction, hoping to hem Gael in and catch him off guard. But Gael was an experienced fighter, and within seconds, he landed a spinning kick to one wolf’s chest, sending him flying across the circle with a yelp and a crunch. He didn’t get up.

The other wolf froze, but before he could turn tail and wait for his backup to attack again, Gael was on him.

He fastened an arm around the wolf’s neck in a choke hold I’d never known would work on a wolf, wrestling him down onto his back in a matter of seconds. One booted foot planted on the wolf’s rib cage, one arm locked around his throat, Gael squeezed his other biceps to tighten the hold .

The wolf whined, and the acrid scent of piss filled the arena.

The man shifted back a few seconds later, buck naked and lying in a puddle of his own urine. He tapped the ground, a murderous look in his eyes even as his lips turned blue.