CHAPTER 16

Despite everything that was going on right now, he actually wanted to smile at her impishness. The other males were ducking their heads to hide theirs. "Fine, we present a united front, but only because the mating wouldn"t look real if we didn"t." He thought that was a pretty good way to save face, but one or two of the males snorted. "Now, let"s go." Nearing the gate, they caught sight of several vehicles parked by the security post while a large number of shifters stood tall beside them. A normally composed Cody Coleman was scowling with rage, flexing his fists at his sides. "Oh good Lord," she said, snorting at the sheer ridiculousness of the number of wolves he had brought with him. Fifty against seven? Yeah, very brave. It was a clear attempt at intimidation but Danica knew it hadn"t had the desired effect. Why Cody had thought that Gio someone who was practically the personification of intimidation would be rattled was anyone"s guess. When Gio came to a halt ten feet away from the intruders, Hudson came to join the wall that the Ferux wolves had made. Cody"s gaze settled on her and anger flashed across his face, most likely in response to Gio"s marks. "Never had you down as someone who played games, Danica. As you can see, game"s over. Get in the ride while I have a talk with Mr. Gio Wright." Danica almost laughed. "You sound as though you honestly believe I will." "Come now and we can avoid all this." "I"d rather lie under a horse suffering from diarrhoea with my mouth open wide." "You know what will happen if you persist with this. People are going to get hurt, namely Gio. Do you really want that on your conscience?" "Oh no, you don"t get to turn this on me. If anyone gets hurt today it"s because you refuse to let go of something that was never yours to begin with." She would bet money that if she had been within reach, Cody would have slapped her for that. "Don"t be looking at Danica , look at me." Gio"s tone demanded attention. "I"m the one you should be worried about." "You must have a death wish, Wright," said Cody. "It"s the only reason I can think of that would explain why you would kidnap my mate." "Kidnap your mate," repeated Gio with a smile. "I think you"ll find that Danica"s mine." "She wears my mark." "Not a mark, a wound one that I very nicely covered with a mark of my own." "She"s mine," snarled Cody. Growls of disagreement rumbled out of the throats of the nine males around her. Danica couldn"t help but notice that, by contrast, although Cody had a large crew, they didn"t appear to be standing with him. There was no one flanking him or eyeing up the rest of Gio"s pack, picking an opponent they wanted for if it turned into an out and out fight. They were simply just there. "Here"s how it is, Cody. Danica is my mate, I"ve claimed her, and I will kill anyone who tries to take her from me. If you can accept that, you can live and you can leave here peacefully. If you can"t, well, you must want to die." "Then it looks like we battle it out." Danica gaped. "You have got to be kidding me. Why would you bother? You can"t tell me you"re that obsessed with the idea of breaking my spirit until I"m some kind of slave." "That"s what he had planned?" Gio"s wolf leapt for control, wanting to gut him. Cody shrugged. "What male wouldn"t want to be able to turn a dominant female like Danica into a gorgeously submissive slave?" "Well they would be the sane males," said Danica. "Stand back, baby," ordered Gio as he removed his t-shirt and then tackled the fly of his jeans. "You heard him. He wants to battle it out." She might have tried to calm the atmosphere if she hadn"t known from experience that when two dominant male wolves agreed to battle, it meant the situation was passed help. She had the strange urge to kiss Gio, but knew he didn"t need to look weak right now. "To the death," Gio said to Cody in a calm but icy tone. "We battle to the death." Having heard what Cody Coleman intended for Danica, Gio"s wolf wasn"t going to be happy until he"d tore out his throat. There was no way Gio would stop him from going wild. Cody, now naked, nodded. "To the death." Suddenly bones were popping and his body was altering and then, mere seconds later, he was a large sandy snarling wolf. But Gio was larger and much bigger, Danica soon found out as she watched him shift into a seven foot long and approximately thirty six inch high gorgeous wolf. He looked just as intimidating and overawing in wolf form with his powerful build, his heavily muscled neck, and his robust limbs. His hackles were raised, his angry eyes were drilling into Cody, his ears were upright, and his lips were curled back, exposing fangs and gums. The growl emitting from him sounded more like a boat motor. Abruptly the sandy wolf sprang from his crouched position and rushed forward at the grey wolf, coming up short just to snap his teeth together. The wolf didn"t move a muscle, just stood looking large and fearsome, making a clear point that he was the more dominant animal in this situation. The sandy wolf reversed slowly only to once again rush forward aggressively and snap at the other. Apparently the wolf had then decided that the other had had his chance to back down and he wasn"t going to stand still any longer. Growling, he began circling the sandy wolf, who then copied the move so that they were circling each other. Maybe because he was stupid or maybe because he was just suicidal, the sandy wolf growled at Danica. That was when her mate went wild. The wolf lunged at the other wolf and they came together in a clash of claws and teeth. As shifters had superior speed and strength, it was like watching a recording in fast-forward motion. There was growling, there was body slamming, there was scratching, there was biting, and there were side swipes as each wolf fought to pin the other to the ground. Danica flinched when Gio's wolf bit down hard on the other"s hind leg, making him yelp loudly. The yelping faded to whimpering until the wolf yanked hard with his powerful jaws, snapping the sandy wolf"s leg. Damn, that had to hurt. When the injured wolf tried scooping himself off the floor, the other wolf slammed into him and knocked him onto his back. Then, in a typical wolf shifter killing move, the wolf slashed open his opponent"s midsection with his claws and simultaneously closed his jaws around his throat. With one sharp yank, he"d torn out his challenger"s throat. As much as it had seemed like forever before it was over, it couldn"t have taken more than a minute for the wild wolf to have overpowered the sandy wolf. Overpowered was a mild word. Hell, the wolf had the other"s lifeless body by the throat, shaking it like a rag doll while growling loudly. Several more minutes went by and the wolf continuing to attack the carcass, showing no signs of tiring or calming or any willingness to part with it. It was clear that he wasn"t coming out of his wild state any time soon. "One of us is going to have to do something," said Danica. Duda shrugged. "When he gets like this, you just have to leave him to tire himself out." Andrew nodded. "At least he hasn"t charged at any of us this time." "But he"s injured, I need to heal him and I can"t while he"s in wolf form." She was going to regret this, she knew she was. "Let me see if I can calm him down." "Whoa, now hang on a minute," began Duda, palms out to ward her off. "Danica, you can see the state he"s in, right? That"s not Gio. He"s buried way down deep, very much aware of what"s going on, but with no way of taking control for as long as his wolf is wild. If you go near him, he"ll see you as a threat and he"ll attack you just as he would anyone else."