Chapter 16: Chapter Sixteen

Della had seen fights before tonight. Of course, she had; she grew up in Mystic City and went to school with werewolves. She'd even been involved in a few, not that she'd readily admit it these days. But she'd never seen anything like the way James and Leo fought, even between the werewolves on the territory border earlier that night. This was savage, brutal, not just aiming to disable a fighter or get past them, but to kill, despite Simon's proclamation that that wasn't the point of this fight. James had a point to prove, it appeared, and he was using Leo's flesh to prove it.

They fought half-shifted, two werewolf creatures that wouldn't be out of place in a nightmare, elongated fangs, razor-sharp claws and eyes glowing as silver as the full moon above. What parts of their skin hadn't sprouted fur were quickly covered in blood. A slice of Leo's claws down James' abdomen had the Alpha howling as he again tackled Leo to the ground. James' plan seemed to be to get Leo pinned, then use his greater bulk to keep him down as he brought the fight to what would no doubt be a bloody, brutal, and possibly fatal end. Leo was having none of it. Time and time again, James threw his full half-shifted weight against Leo's body, sometimes even succeeding in bringing him to the ground.

Leo regained his feet each time, throwing James off before he could do more than draw blood. And draw blood he did—they both did—ripping and tearing any flesh they could reach with claws and fangs until both werewolves' fur was matted with blood. Though Leo was clearly the better fighter, James' lack of restraint and unbridled rage had them almost evenly matched. Leo was just trying to make the Alpha tap out, that much was clear. James was prepared to kill. He went for Leo's throat, for his eyes, for his abdomen in long, deep swipes that, if Leo hadn't managed to dodge lightning-fast, would have spilled his intestines all over the road's surface.

Was she insane, to get involved in this? She had no doubt that if it was her standing before him, James would show similarly non-existent mercy. And Raj, should it come to that, was easily twice her size, maybe more. She just couldn't stand there while Leo was forced to choose a Second he didn't have faith in after the option of his friends was lost, couldn't watch him struggle. Still, this might have been the stupidest decision she'd ever made. Yes, she had magic, but…

Leo threw James off him so violently, the watching crowd let out a host of different sounds—some shock, some awe, some disapproving. James skidded across the tarmac before rising to his feet once more and spitting out a mouthful of blood. The Alpha was starting to tire from his consistently rebuffed violent attacks, that much was visible, but he refused to stop or change his tactics.

"You think you can beat me fighting like this?" James demanded, stalking close once more. "Being the Alpha requires more than playing defense, Tyler. You have to be ruthless. You have to be strong." As he spoke, he took swipes at Leo with his impossibly elongated claws. Leo blocked them each time, but the Alpha still ripped slashes into his forearms more than once. Blood speckled the road surface, blood from both of them. As James continued speaking, his teeth—those not elongated into protruding fangs, at least—were red with it. "You have to put the pack before everything. What happens when you have to choose between the wellbeing of your wolves and your piece of witch ass over there? Why do you think I told you to get that Delphinia bitch out of your damn system?"

That broke something in Leo. With a snarl, he attacked. It was suddenly abundantly clear just how much he'd been holding back. His blows broke through James' defenses as though he was just casually batting the Alpha's hands aside, scoring lines down his face, his chest, even his throat. He threw himself at James with a growl so loud, it seemed to reverberate through the very ground they stood on, pinning the Alpha to the ground with his knees on James' chest and his hands trapping the Alpha's arms as he struggled.

"You keep her name out of your fucking mouth," Leo spat down at the wolf trapped and struggling beneath him.

James growled a laugh despite his position. "If it's just werewolf cock she's after, maybe I'll use my mouth for something else on your little friend."

Leo curled up his fist and punched the older wolf in the jaw so hard, Della winced. And then kept going, blows raining down on the felled Alpha's face. Without his claws involved, Leo was clearly just aiming to punish James, to damage him, rather than to kill the way the Alpha had been. Della heard the crunch when his nose broke. Then again when Leo's fist plowed into a cheekbone. Bone and cartilage shattered as Leo struck again and again.

James' limbs relaxed and his head lolled back, and still, Leo kept hitting him, even as he began to shift back into his human form beneath the blows.

"Leo!" Emmett yelled. "Leo, he's down! Lay off!"

Leo drew back as though he'd only just noticed that James had gone limp beneath him. He got to his feet, slightly off-balance, as James' followers rushed forwards to collect his prone body. One of them snarled at Leo, but the others seemed to be cowering away from his obviously still incandescent rage.

Once James had been removed from the circle of onlookers, presumably to receive medical attention for his destroyed, swollen and bleeding face as well as the numerous wounds to his body, Della looked to Simon next to her. "Is it over? Has he won?"

"Not yet," Simon replied. "Emmett's giving him a moment to regroup, then he'll call in the Alpha's Second. Usually, this is where the Beta fights for their Alpha—finishing what the Alpha started. That way, the challenger can't win with a lucky shot—they must be able to take down two of the wolves who are supposed to be among the pack's best fighters. Plus, it's a show of unity in the pack leadership. But clearly, that's not the case today."

"Clearly," Della agreed absently, but her eyes were on Leo. He was favoring one of his legs, the other streaming blood from a deep gouge to the thigh. His chest was heaving, but he stood proud before the crowd. Waiting.

"How long do they normally get before the Second comes in?" Della asked.

"They don't," Simon admitted. "Emmett's giving him a chance to get ready before unleashing the big guy on him."

"Is that—"

"Not normal," Simon said, "but I don't blame him. I'd do the same for a friend who had to fight that guy, especially as a Second." He gestured towards Raj, who was standing on the edge of the circle, surrounded by James' followers and looking determined—unhappy and slightly ill, but determined. He and Leo made eye contact and Della saw Leo take a deep breath, then crack his neck, grinning to reveal his bloodied teeth and fangs.

Had she once thought she'd enjoy watching Leo fight? Whatever the opposite of enjoyment was, that's how she felt about the prospect of seeing Leo and Raj go head-to-head. That bloodied grin—it had been one of permission, of forgiveness, of understanding that Raj would be honor-bound to do his best to grind an already-wounded Leo into the ground.

"Raj," Emmett said quietly, and the massive wolf stepped into the ring.

Leo didn't fall back to the defensive approach he'd had with James. He attacked. Was he still riding the high of taking out the Alpha? Della barely had time to wonder before the two wolves were at each other's throats. Claws flashed; blood sprayed. Whose? She couldn't even tell as the two wolves grappled, Leo fighting to avoid getting pinned under Raj's bulk. He fought to his feet and took a step back, leading Raj in a chase around the circle of onlookers that the larger wolf entered into without question, a savage grin on his half-shifted face. Without a word, he dove for Leo, forcing the gathered onlookers to scatter as the two of them rolled across the road's surface. Leo managed to drag his claws down Raj's face and the larger wolf reared back with a sound halfway between a snarl and a howl. Leo had half got his legs up to shove Raj off him when the bigger wolf landed a closed-fist blow to his abdomen—right over the slice where James had caught him with his claws.

Leo half doubled over in his position on the ground and Raj followed it up with a strike to the face that Leo half-dodged, so it caught him only a glancing blow rather than the full force of the punch, which, Della thought, definitely would have knocked him out. Leo responded by bending one of his legs up to kick Raj full in the stomach, but Raj was fresh to the fight where Leo was already battered, and he noticed the wound on Leo's thigh that had clearly weakened the kick and slammed his hand against it even as Leo managed to scramble out of the bigger wolf's grasp. His leg clearly borderline giving out beneath him, Leo limped out of Raj's reach, panting.

"Sure you don't want to give up yet?" Raj asked as he rose to his full height, the blood dripping down his face and neck making him look like a creature from a nightmare.

"Against you?" Leo laughed, as though they were just two friends sparring for fun, ignoring his own obvious wounds. "Not a chance, big guy. Bring it on."

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Raj said, raising an eyebrow, and lunged. He'd worked out how to force Leo to move relying on his injured leg, and it crumpled beneath him, sending him down to one knee. Raj was on him before Della could even breathe, wrapping Leo in a bear hug that pressed his back to Raj's chest, one of his arms around Leo's neck. Leo fought the hold, his claws tearing Raj's forearms to shreds, but Raj held him despite the bellow of pain he let out when Leo's claws found purchase in the muscles of his arms. He lifted until Leo's feet were off the ground, his kicks quickly losing power as he lost consciousness.

"Della, get ready," Emmett ordered. "I give it five seconds, then you're in."

Della felt her eyes widen in terror as she reached down into her significantly depleted well of power. She could do this. She had to be able to do this. For Leo. For Leo.

Leo stopped kicking, and Raj dropped him back to the ground. Groaning, Leo, barely conscious, rolled over and fought his way into a sitting position, raising his fists in front of his face as though he expected to keep fighting. With a growl, Raj drew back a fist to deliver what would surely be a massive blow, and—

Della stepped into the ring. "Don't you fucking touch him." She barely recognized her own voice as she used a wave of raw power to shove Raj backwards. The big wolf looked almost comically shocked to find himself pushed away from his target. Leo, still barely conscious and with his face bleeding from every place a man could bleed, stared at her.

"Della," he rasped. "No."

"Get out of the way," Della ordered. "Emmett called it." She felt the power rippling over her skin as she added, "This one is mine."

"You want to play, little witch?" Raj asked, stalking forwards with surprising grace for a man his size, half-shifted to wolf. "Oh, we can play."

He lunged for Della, and she stepped forwards to meet him, lifting her hands to throw up a wall of solidified air that he hit full force with a grunt that did not cover the crunch of his nose breaking.

"Jesus fuck," Raj managed, leaning over to spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Come on, then, big guy," Della heard her own voice say as he straightened, power crackling over her sweaty, dirty skin. "Let's play."

Her magic, depleted though it was from earlier, leaped to her bidding like a happy kitten. Only this kitten was tiger offspring, all claws, and razor-sharp teeth, ready to meet the big wolf's every attack. Her magic had had a taste of victory and it wanted to fight, not to freeze her opponents for others to take out but to eliminate them herself, to exchange blows the same way Leo had with his opponents, wanted to swipe across Raj's skin like a blade and make him bleed for touching what was hers.

What was hers.

She flung an arm out as he made to approach her again, this time unable to restrain herself from making the magical blow hurt. But Raj was ready for it, and he regrouped lightning-fast and dove for her again, almost faster than she could rally her magic into a defense. The burst of raw power was barely controlled, and it struck him right in the chest, once again throwing him backwards. He skidded across the ground, and she caught a strange look of almost… pleasure in the strike, as though he was glad that she was able to defend herself this way, to keep throwing him off. As though he was relishing the pain.

He climbed back to his feet, and Della readied herself for his next attack. He approached like he was about to lunge for her again, but the words he spoke were for her ears alone. "This is going to last a long time if you just keep pushing me away," he growled.

"Unconvinced of your own stamina?" she asked.

"Fight me properly, or end this now," Raj demanded, and while she was distracted by his words, he lunged for her.

Della tried to get her hands up to form another defensive wall, but he was too fast. He had her arms pinned by her sides and held her tight the same way he had Leo, trapping her against him and cutting off her air. She tried to stomp on his instep the way she'd been taught as a teenager, but he lifted her too high off the ground. She couldn't shove him away with her power without risking injuring herself; and besides, the repeated bursts of pure magic were quickly burning through her reserves.

Burning through.

And in that moment, her brain slowly losing oxygen, Della knew what to do. She set herself aflame.

She covered herself in a layer of fire burning hotter, hotter, hotter, shielding herself from the heat but offering Raj no such protection from the column of flame she became. He let her go with a bellow of pain, the fur covering much of his half-shifted body igniting.

Fire still sparking over her skin, her ragged clothes smoldering, Della faced the big wolf, who was now looking at her with a mixture of respect and fury.

"End it?" Della asked, her rasping voice a taunt, then repeated his own words from earlier. "Well, since you asked so nicely."

She raised her hands once more and, with a growl that rivaled any the wolves had given tonight, summoned the dregs of her power and dragged the energy from his body.

It slammed into her like a tsunami, enough that she felt like every part of her had succumbed to her earlier flame, had caught alight and was burning. She was barely conscious of Raj dropping like a stone as she felt more than saw an impossibly bright white light racing over her skin until she was glowing like a star. She felt her feet leave the ground as her body fought to burn through the unfamiliar energy, felt the scream leave her throat as the last of her magic was drained away and she dropped to the ground, completely burnt out.

Leo was there within a fraction of a moment, pulling her battered body into the protection of his own. His wounds were already healing—werewolf power, she supposed distantly.

"Della," he was saying, over and over, yelling her name in desperation. "Della, Della, please, Della."

"For you," she managed to reply. Then she fainted.