Chapter Thirty-Nine

**Myra**

“*Myra, I’m staying in control unless I need to protect our pup,*” Skye stated as the two creatures wheeled her out of the room.

At this point, Myra was too panicky to take back control anyway. The gurney moved through the same pair of doors that Leanne disappeared through. This hallway was different from the other; at least, that’s what Myra thought.

The excited chatter of the creatures grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening. They came to an abrupt stop, and the two men unbuckled her hands and feet. Suddenly, the gurney tilted from her head, and Myra’s body slid off and over the edge. The drop to the dirt-covered ground was stomach-churning, short and painfully. The pain quickly subsided thanks to Skye’s healing blood, but the gathered creatures laughed at her discomfort.

Myra slowly manoeuvred herself to sit up, and she looked around. Her fall was about twenty feet, but that wasn’t the surprising part. She was shocked by the number of creatures who associated themselves with this group. She looked around for Leanne, but she was lost in the sea of creatures. Skye used her heightened sense of smell to locate her bleeding friend. She tilted her head to the side, and she quickly found her. Leanne wasn’t lost in the crowd but also dumped in the same area as Myra.

Skye pretended that she was still weak by crawling over to Leanne’s mangled body. Her eyes were closed, her milk chocolate skin complexion was ashy and sweaty, and her breathing was shallow. Myra leaned over and listened to her laboured breathes, and her gaze fell on the still bleeding wound in her thigh.

Skye quickly unhooked and removed her bra. She then took the adjustable straps and used them as a makeshift tourniquet to stop further blood loss. Leanne groaned lowly when Skye moved her leg to tend to her life-threatening wound. Leanne would die if she didn’t receive medical treatment soon.

“*Forget about… me… save your… self.*” Leanne linked with her.

“*Just hang on… Alpha will be here soon.*” Skye responded lovingly. She saw Leanne’s brows furrowed at the difference in Myra’s voice in her mind.

“*Myra?*”

“*Save your energy.*” Skye hushed her by running a soothing hand over her sweaty brow.

The atmosphere changed, and the crowd became more unruly and impossibly louder. Due to her heightened sense of hearing, the noise was almost deafening for Skye. Trying to tune out the noise, she almost missed someone jumped down to the ground. The vibrations of their drop caused Myra to look up.

When the dust settled, Elizabeth stood up proudly; she had changed her clothing. For the first time, they noticed how malnourished she had become. The black gym bra barely hugged her skeletal frame, and her skin looked stretched thin over her implanted breasts. The matching black pants were rolled up a couple of times and hang loosely on her protruding hip bones. Her dishevelled matted mop of hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head, making her face look even hollower. Like Stacy, there was a wild look in her eyes, almost feral.

“Ready to see some FUN!!” Brian announced with the clearing of his throat to draw everyone’s attention to himself. He stood high up behind Elizabeth, still wearing that ridiculous mask.

Even in her weakened state, Leanne growled at the sound of his voice and tried moving.

“*Preserve your strength.*” Skye patted Leanne’s arm.

“––a fight to the death!” Brian continued, and Elizabeth started bouncing on her toes as the crowd roared in delight then booed at Myra. “A challenge for Alpha Sloan’s heart and to be his one true mate!”

“**Soon, my love!**” Alpha’s voice echoed in her mind, providing her with some hope.

He smirked, “The rules? There are no rules!! GO!” He commanded, and Elizabeth immediately shifted. Her wolf looked just as bad as her human self. Its fur was patchy, and bits of skin looked mangy, and like its human counterpart, the animal was barely skin and bones.

Elizabeth growled and snarled at them, saliva foaming at the corners of her mouth, and she snapped her teeth at Myra in anger.

“*Keep Leanne safe.*” Myra voiced from the back of Skye’s mind. Skye moved their body to block Leanne’s weakened one.

“*Have faith in your vixen.*” Skye giggled, solely focusing on Elizabeth’s pacing wolf. She snarled at them but not making a move to attack. She moved from side to side, growling and barking at them. It was almost comical that she was all show but too scared to initiate the challenge.

After a minute or two, Skye realized what Elizabeth slammed into the wall behind them. The room grew painful silent as Elizabeth’s wolf groaned in pain. Skye slowly rose, looking behind her as the wolf staggered around from the head slam. Elizabeth tried to shake away her dizziness.

Skye got to her feet and placed herself, once again, between the confused wolf and Leanne. Just then, she heard the cocking of a gun, followed by the loud explosion of the weapon being fired. In a split second and a quick step to the side, a dart full of orange liquid passed inches from her neck and centimetres over Leanne’s head to explode on the ground.

Skye turned around and saw several creatures holding dart guns, all trained on her.

“I did say *there are no rules.*” Brian chuckled, signalling to another creature, and he pulled the trigger. Skye dodged that dart as well, but two others fired after him. One missed, and the other embedded itself in the side of her calf. Skye gasped in surprise and immediately pulled the empty dart from her leg. She winced as the chemical burned up her leg, but her new Luna blood started reacting to remove the poison from her system.

“*Fuck, that burns like a motherfucker!*” Skye thought as the burning sensation started to subside.

“There you go, baby… now kill her!”

Elizabeth barked her happiness and growled once again at them. But before Skye could react, Elizabeth pounced on them once more. Myra’s right arm curled protectively around her stomach while her left arm shielded her face. Elizabeth’s teeth sunk into her left forearm, threatening to rip out a chunk of her arm.

Skye fell onto her back and used her legs to kick Elizabeth off and over her body. The shock from the powerful kick dislodged Elizabeth’s teeth as she yelped in pain. The wolf heavily slammed onto the ground above her head. At the same time, two more darts were shot into her body, one embedded in her neck and the other in her right upper arm. The burning chemicals caused Skye to scream out in pain.

“*Enough of this bullshit… Alpha, you better hurry the fuck up.*” Skye demanded while pulling the empty dart cartridge from her body. She groaned and slowly rose to her feet, staggering a bit.

“I don’t understand… she should be weakened by now, an easy prey for Elizabeth.” Someone near Brian wondered in confusion. A couple more darts fired at her, some missed, and three more hit her; two in the back and one on the shoulder.

“**We are about ten minutes away… just hang in there,**” Alpha replied, sounding breathless as if he’s racing towards her.

“*You have five minutes… not sure if I could hold off any longer than that.*” She groaned, pulling the empty darts from her body. The two darts in her back had the same orange liquid, but the one in her shoulder was turquoise in colour.

“**SHIT!!**”

The link ended, and Skye shook their head, trying to clear it. Her version was getting blurry, even though her blood had removed the usual poison chemicals from her system. However, there was something mixed in the drug. She struggled to stand, and her breathing started to become laboured.

“*Damnit… Myra, I’m sorry, but I need all my energy.*” Skye somberly said. She didn’t have to elaborate because, in their heart, Myra already knew what she meant.

“*We can always try again, once we are safe and… more importantly, alive,*” Myra whispered, hurting to even consider it, as a possibility. But their survival depended on Skye’s ability to keep them alive until Sloan got to them, whenever that is. Elizabeth chose that moment to snarl at them, reminding them of her presence. “*Kick her ass from here to Timbuktu.*”

Skye looked up at Elizabeth. It was the first time the wolf looked hesitant, and she stepped back in fear. Elizabeth tried to look up at Brian.

“*Don’t look at him… look at me!*” Skye commanded, stopping her movements. “*You wanted to fight... let’s fight.*”

“H-How?” Elizabeth stuttered.

“*Shut up!*” Skye barked at her, and Elizabeth bowed her head in submission. Another dart shot at her, but Skye caught it midair. It was the same turquoise colour dart that took longer to leave her system. She turned her glaring eyes to the creature who shot it at her. The room quieted down as her glowing honey-coloured eyes took them all in. With the flick of her wrist, Skye threw the dart at Elizabeth instead. She yelped in shock as the dart stuck out between her eyes. She whined and whimpered, trying to remove the empty dart from her body.

“That’s impossible!” Brian gasped in shock, fumbling with something at his waist.

Skye growled lowly, and the sound echoed throughout the arena, stilling his movements. His eyes grew wide as he watched her face change before them. Her eyes and the bridge of her nose were still human, but the end of her nose and mouth elongated into her vixen snout. She growled, displaying her upper and lower canines. Her ears had changed as well. They were long and furry, twitching at the different sounds and whispers from the gathering. She could hear the changes in each individual’s breathing, heart rates and several individuals fumbling as they reloaded their dart guns.

Soon, the sound of bones popping rang out in the air. The sound didn’t last long because her shift ended just as quickly as it started. Her lower body was that of her vixen. She stood on her fur-covered hind legs. Her pants were destroyed during the change; it allowed her tail to move freely behind her. Thankfully, her torso, stomach and upper arms were still human, so she was still decently covered. From her elbows to her hands were also covered in fur. She looked like a hybrid mix of her human and vixen.

She turned angry eyes to Elizabeth, who cowered in fear. Elizabeth’s tail tucked under her body and her ears laid flat against her head.

“*You started the challenge, but I’m here to end it,*” Skye stated. At the sound of her voice, some creatures bore their necks to her in forced submission, while others swiftly left the room in fear.

Before Elizabeth had the chance to flee, Skye pounced on her. She kicked the drug-induced, disorientated wolf into the arena’s wall. Elizabeth slammed into the wall, sending big cracks along the surface of the wall and broke off some of the crumbling material. Before Elizabeth could stand, Skye jumped onto her back, knocking her onto the ground.

“I don’t think so...” Brian shouted, pulling out a different type of gun and took aim at Skye. In a flash, Skye grabbed hold of Elizabeth. Her arm wrapped tightly around the struggling animal’s neck, and Skye used her body as a shield.

At that moment, deeper growls, barks and yelps echoed from different parts of the building.

A creature came running into the room, “Son of a bitch! They’ve found us!” He cried out, trying to raise the alarm, but his words were cut short when Alpha jumped on his back and ripped his head from his body, showing no mercy for the boy’s life.

Skye could see his eyes frantically assessing the room, looking from stunned rogue to rogue. She saw the moment his eyes locked on Brian then slowly followed his downward-pointing gun. He turned his head and clapped eyes on her.

Skye immediately felt relief, but she didn’t let the feeling distract her. She kept a firm grip on Elizabeth, who was wiggling even more in her arms.

“*That’s right, slut! He found me.*” Skye linked with the whimpering animal.

As if in slow motion, chaos broke out in the room. Rogues tried to shift and flee the room, but more of Sloan’s security team entered the room. The teams showed no mercy as they began eliminating the murderous group one by one.

“If I go down, the bitch dies with me.” Brian laughed at Sloan and pulled the trigger.

Skye was slow to react due to the euphoria of seeing Alpha in the flesh. Elizabeth slammed into her, crying out in pain and immediately shifted back into her human self. She gasped, holding her upper stomach and blood-soaked her fingers.

“You shot me?” She whispered, looking at her wound and then up at Brian’s smiling face.

“Meh, you were in the way.” He shrugged, “But I got my target in the end.”

That’s when Skye registered a burn in her stomach. She glanced down and saw blood pouring out of a small hoke in her tummy. She gently touched the wound, and more blood poured out. Alpha roared his displeasure and lounged at the boy who was still waving the gun around. Alpha tackled him; the force of their bodies clashing caused the gun to fly out of his hand and fall over the edge into the arena. Alpha punched him, and together they crashed through another wall. Growls, screams, bones breaking and Brian pleading for his life echoed down to them.

Elizabeth chuckled, unconcerned by her nudity. Her smile was bloody, and she spat out some blood, “Now Sloan will have no mate.”

Skye growled at her and used the last of her depleting strength to attack her. She sunk her canines into her neck. Elizabeth tried to push Skye off of her, kicking and screaming as her teeth sunk deeper into her fowl smelling neck. With a sudden jerk of her head, Elizabeth’s entire body went limp. Skye gave her another shake for good measure before releasing her neck and her body crumbled to the ground like a paper doll. Elizabeth’s eyes were still wide open, and her blood pooled around her head. Skye spat twice then wiped her mouth in disgust.

“*Alpha…*” Skye weakly thought as she dropped to her knees, then collapsed to her side. Her version was becoming more and more blurry. The last image she saw before slipping into unconsciousness was a pair of fur-covered legs moving towards her.

“ANGEL!” Sloan shouted, running towards her slowly unconscious body.