Who did that? Who took advantage of pain?
Evil people did. Before going to Hellscape Holiday Resort, Ethan would have thought that was a strictly evil and devilish way of being. After meeting Ruby, Portia, and Lou … even Una and Ocho … Ethan wasn’t so sure that Hell was equal with evil. Humans could be real trash without a nudge from Lucifer.
Ethan dug his claws into the forest ground, growled low, and prepared his body to launch himself toward the Tagnello wolves. Ruby immediately fell in line beside him. She used those long taloned nails to wave to their enemies.
“Hey, there, Cujos,” she teased. “Is there a problem?”
The two gray wolves hung back, letting their alpha take the lead. McNee padded forward with his head bowed low, growling threateningly at him. Ethan snapped his jaw and pounded the dirt with his left front paw.
“Just so you fellas know, we found out about your little magical ploy. Curses? Really? You’re really so scared of a fight? Don’t you wanna honor your own shifter code?” Ruby shook her head and clicked her tongue. “Some alpha you are.”
Ethan laughed. His lady sure had a way with words. That wasn’t exactly the way he would’ve said those things, but Ruby had shared the gist of it all in her own way.
“Ethan here is challenging you to a fight,” Ruby said. “You can keep your pack and run home right now if you call off the curses and never mess with the Adair pack again. Just agree to leave us alone, and we’ll let you walk away from here. I guarantee that he will win a fight with you. Do the smart thing. Walk away.”
McNee didn’t take her warning. He lunged forward, going straight for Ruby, the great big coward. The two gray enforcers rushed him.
It was a cheap shot.
Now Ethan had to get rid of two enforcers while his mate fought McNee. How absolutely disappointing that McNee … an alpha … had so little honor? Sure the other wolf had no clue that the succubus was Ethan’s mate, but McNee hadn’t met the challenge. He had just attacked the wrong person.
One of the gray enforcers swiped left while the other tried to jump onto his back. Ethan stood on his back paws and reached back with his front paws to claw at the wolf while snapping his jaw at him. His opponent flew off with a cry of pain, but after a shake, he ran at Ethan again.
He barely had a second to deliver a few blows to the other wolf. He hit a couple of times before spinning out from a hit.
“Ethan,” Ruby shouted. “Switch.”
As she spoke, she ran like hell away from McNee and skidded onto the forest ground, sending dirt and debris flying in every which direction. She slashes one enforcer as she kicked the other. Ethan took his chance.
He engaged McNee in a fight.
It was hardly the kind of painful blow Ethan wanted to deliver, but it still felt satisfying to lunge forward and manage to tear through skin. He backed off, circled a bit to plan his next move, and then he delivered a hit backed by all of the strength in his body.
He poured everything into it. The grief of losing his father. The way he fucked up with the Gus situation. How he had never been able to grieve because of McNee Tagnello and his childish war.
He kept on hitting until McNee shifted into his human, holding up his hands. Ethan leapt off him and spotted a knocked-out gray wolf and another tied to a tree. Ruby gave him the thumbs up with a smile and a wink.
“I give up. I give up,” the man simpered.
“You should’ve taken the deal before. Now I know for certain how weak you really are. And your people will know too. If they wanna join a pack that is led by a real leader, send ’em my way, won’t you?” Ethan growled, shifting back.
“You’re just a whelp. You can’t talk to me like that! I …”
“I’m an alpha. Same as you. My age and experience have nothing to do with the kind of leader I can be. What? Did you think that striking when my dad died was the only way to win?” He shook his head. “That was so low. I’ll let you live, McNee. You can rule your pack how you see fit, but you’re going to pay us tribute for a little while. Those curses you had the witch put on us hurt some of our businesses. We’ll sit down with our lawyers … not Nat Ryerson … and hammer out the details. We can come up with terms that won’t sink your pack, but that will still set things right.”
“Justice!” Ruby cheered. “See? Nowthat’s what a good alpha looks like. Do you have any idea how sexy that was to watch?” she winked at him.
Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s my true mate, Ruby. She’s a succubus, if you can’t tell. I don’t know how much you actually know about the paranormal world, but there are things bigger and more powerful than witches and wolves out there.”
“Well, well, well. Look at what the devil dragged in,” a voice sang from the trees.
Ethan’s head snapped in the woman’s direction.Nat Ryerson.The lawyer was here. She would have to witness her hard legal work crumble. How wonderful to have this victory. McNee looked on with his face pulled into a scowl, but there was still fear there.
“Roja?” Ruby gasped. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Roja … Nat … whatever her fucking name was threw her head back with a laugh. “Me?You. What are you doing in my state?”
Ruby’s eyes flashed. “Hey, Ethan, remember when I told you that a succubus can’t hunt for a mark in the same city as another succubus? Well, my sister is so special, that she gets full states to herself.”