*DISCLAIMER: This story is fiction, any reflection of real life and any description of an area or person is purely coincidental.
This story is about a young man who discovers himself and love as well as a few supernatural surprises along the way. There is death, love, hate, friendship, and bigotry.
There are potentially scenes of M/M sexual contact in each chapter, do not continue reading if reading text of this nature is illegal where you are located, likewise if you are under the legal age to read pornographic material.
Please enjoy and feel free to send comments. This is my first story being submitted to Nifty.
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Chapter 19:
I was essentially physically dragged outside by Simon and William. Luke and Matthew remained close by. Henrietta and Celena both walking behind us rubbing my back and shoulder. It didn't take long to arrive at the ring, it was a fairly large area designated by a ring of sandbags, it was elliptical and was probably about half a soccer field in length. Simon and William brought me to the edge of the ellipse at the middle of the skinnier side, we'd have an unobstructed view of the entire ring. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. I was remaining calm for now, attempting to regain my strength so that I could make a concentrated push to escape them if I needed to. William and Simon seemed to know what I was doing though. William stood behind me and wrapped his arms around me, he was tall enough to be able to see over my shoulder, Simon meanwhile stood in front of me, he was short enough that I could see over his shoulders. With Luke and Matthew pressing in on my sides. I was literally boxed in and I knew they would do whatever it took to keep me out of the ring.
It wasn't long before Alpha Rich stepped into the ring. followed by John and his father entering from opposite ends, only entering a short distance into the ring each. Both were completely naked, ready to shift. Alpha Rich looked at both of the men and then announced to the crowd with more than a hint of sadness in his voice, "let it begin as soon as I leave the ring, neither of you are to move until that moment or face me and the entire enforcement squad of the pack including your opponent." He slowly made his way to the edge where we were standing, with several enforcers closing in next to us as well, apparently even more people attempting to keep me on the sidelines.
With every step Alpha took, my heart broke a little more inside. As soon as his second foot left the ring, both John and his father were transformed and beginning towards each other. The fight was on.
The crowd was eerily quiet. My heavy breathing and the growling and snarling from John and his father were the only sounds I could distinctly make out. They circled each other for only a few seconds before John's father decided to get the fight started.
The first few seconds of the fight happened at blazing speed. If I hadn't been paying completely undivided attention I would have missed it. There was yelping, growling, howling, biting, clawing, and head butting, all within seconds. The fighting was intense. One second, John's father would have John nearly pinned, and then John would somehow get out and then nearly have his father pinned, and then they'd be biting each others sides or tails, or scratching each others faces and sides.
In a matter of minutes both were bleeding and breathing heavily. John didn't look very good but neither did his father. I chanced a glance at the other side of the ring where John's mother and brother stood. His mother had her head buried into Jason's chest obviously crying. Jason didn't look very happy either. I turned my attention back to the fight once I heard the growling pick back up and the sound of their paws as they charged towards each other again.
The fight raged on for another few minutes, until it finally began slowing down. Both were bleeding very heavily by this point but John's youth was beginning to provide its advantage. He wasn't as tired as his father who was approaching 50 years old and the years were beginning to show themselves, even for a werewolf. John's father was panting profusely and taking longer between charges to recover. John was being a respectful fighter and not taking advantage of the prolonged downtimes to strike at his father, instead using the time to recoup his own strength even further.
About 10 minutes into the fighting and the fourth or fifth charge, John slipped in a puddle of blood nearly falling flat on his side. Gasps could be heard all around and his father wasted no time in leaping for John's currently unprotected stomach. He nearly had his jaws around John's stomach when John got a sudden burst of traction pushing himself backward a couple of inches, enough that his fathers jaws clamped down on each other with all of the force he could muster, momentarily stunning himself and giving John enough time to get back on his feet. I almost couldn't continue to watch; after John had gotten back on his feet and they stepped back for another circling, I bent my head over onto Simon's shoulder. My hyperventilating hadn't stopped and I was doing everything I could to prevent myself from crying so that I could be able to see with my own eyes everything that was happening. This time, I was able to catch a glint in John's eyes a second before their charge. I knew this would be the final charge. One way or the other.
It was brutal, they slammed into each other at full speed without either slowing down. They each bit at each others sides as they bounced off each other, John landing roughly but on all four paws, his father wasn't so lucky. John took the opportunity, just as his father had previously, to launch himself at the now exposed wolf, except instead of going for the belly, he went for the throat. His father was able to back up his belly a couple inches which would have spared his stomach if John had launched at the stomach, but he noticed too late that John was aiming for the throat. His attempts at moving his belly away had pushed his backside away but his throat closer.
He had only a second to grasp that he had made a mistake before John's jaws clamped down around his father's throat and didn't stop, crushing his windpipe and ultimately ripping the throat out. It was over, John had won, but at the cost of killing his own father.
There was no cheering. No jeering. No human sound at all as pack members began slowly walking away, the men shifted and howled their sadness and recognition of a challenge met and resolved before changing back, redressing and continuing on their way homes. John sat solidly in wolf form next to the dead body of his father, he wasn't whining but didn't look cheerful either. Jason and their mother just stood there, as did our group, until everyone had left.
Alpha Rich walked over to John, reached down and pet his head, "justice has been served. Return to your family."
Immediately John rushed over to me and everyone let me go so I could run to him. He shifted when he was only a few steps away so that we embraced as humans. He was fully healed after the shift so there was no more blood, even if there had been I wouldn't have cared. My man had just fought a fight to the death for me, and won. I was elated he was alive even if I didn't like what he did. His mother and brother and sister all walked to us quietly. I had never met his mother before, or his brother.
They both looked at me, and gave me a quick hug and apologized for Michael's actions and thanked me for taking care of John and Celena before hugging John and being together as a family.
Several of the enforcers were putting the body into a bag to be buried in the pack cemetery. I watched solemnly not happy for the man's death but I was far from sad that he was no longer able to continue to harass me and potentially kill me. I'd be able to move on with my life now. John and I could move on with our lives together now. One of Alpha Rich's lower ranking enforcers brought John's clothes to him finally, he dressed and we slowly made our way to the truck.
I still wasn't happy with him for doing what he did in the first place, but we would address that later. I was just happy he was alive. I think he could tell that I wasn't entirely happy because he had the good grace to have a sheepish expression. I didn't give him a complete cold shoulder, but I wasn't effusive with him either.
We got back to the house and we got into the bedroom and immediately he started apologizing. I stopped him and said, "John, I'm not happy about what you did, you know that, just explain to me why, give me a reason to understand why you did it and we'll go from there."
"Pack law. Alpha Rich could have punished him outright, but while an asshole, my father had a lot of friends within the pack, those who either thought as he did or thought that he at least had a right to think like he did even if they didn't agree with him. If Alpha Rich had simply sentenced him to death for his actions, most, if not all of them would have left the pack, including some of the enforcers. The pack would have been broken apart with lots of in-fighting and potentially many deaths on both sides. This was the only thing that everyone in the pack would accept as punishment for his actions and not see it as an affront to their beliefs and favoritism of the Alpha. An outright challenge by a mate to an offender against their mate cannot be denied or prevented once levied. It is the ultimate enforcement of punishment. Regardless of truth, the challenge is the judge, jury and executioner due to the potential for losing on behalf of the challenger. You could have personally challenged him, but you weren't ready to fight him, I wasn't even 100% sure I was, but I felt like I could do it." He paused and looked at me with sad eyes, "please forgive me, I wanted him dead for what he did to you and this was the only way it was going to happen and us still have a safe home in this town. I'm not sorry I killed him. He deserved it for what he did to you, but I am sorry I didn't tell you and talk to you about it first like I should have."
I took a moment to think about what he had said. It made sense in an odd, murderous way. I looked up into John's eyes, they were pleading with me to understand, even if I didn't completely understand (though, I felt like I did), I couldn't have denied those eyes, "I think... I think I understand John, and... I do forgive you. Just, please, next time something - anything - comes up, tell me first before acting. Don't just spring something like that on me. You need to trust that I can handle things with you, as a team since we're mated. Not siting on the sidelines watching you put your life on the line without discussing it with me first."
John nodded and I could see tears welling up in his eyes. "I will! I will! I'm so sorry!" We embraced once more and settled into bed, both too shaken up for sex, just needing to hold each other.
The new day arrived before we knew it and life was back to business as usual. The world moved on despite the events of the prior night.
***I will be submitting an epilogue for the story which will be coming soon! *