Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I stared stupidly at the mess for half a heartbeat, as though my mind couldn't quite process what was happening. Then Kor's fist connected with Harris's jaw and all thoughts of groceries vanished from my head.
The crack echoed down the street. Harris staggered backward, his eyes going wide with shock as blood sprayed from his mouth. I think everyone expected the two men to fight eventually but not until the Alpha Challenge. Nobody expected Kor to hit Harris first—least of all Harris himself.
“You don't talk to her like that,” Kor growled.
His voice was low and deadly—I'd never heard that tone from him before.
For a split second Harris actually looked afraid. Then his face twisted with rage.
“You son of a bitch!”
He launched himself forward and the two Alphas collided so hard I heard the impact from several feet away. Harris was a large man—thick through the chest and shoulders—but Kor was taller and much faster. The younger Alpha ducked the first punch and drove his fist into Harris's ribs hard enough to make him grunt.
Then the fight was on.
People scattered in every direction. Someone shouted for them to stop while someone else yelled encouragement and I backed away quickly, clutching my purse to my chest as the two men traded blows in the middle of the street.
Harris was clearly enraged, and it showed—he was swinging hard and wild, trying to overwhelm Kor with sheer brute force.
Kor, on the other hand, fought like he meant business. There was nothing reckless about the way he moved—every punch landed exactly where he intended it to, and every movement looked controlled and deliberate.
Harris managed to clip him across the jaw, and I gasped when I saw blood appear at the corner of Kor's mouth. But unfortunately for Harris, that seemed to make the younger Alpha even more determined. A moment later Kor buried a punch in his stomach and followed it with another to the jaw. Harris stumbled backward while Kor advanced relentlessly.
“You fucker!” Harris shouted at him, spitting blood. “You’re fucking her! You think you already own the Pack because you’re fucking the old Pack Leader’s bitch!”
“I haven’t touched her,” Kor growled, glaring at him. “She’s a Moon Widow, you sick bastard!”
The crowd murmured and I noticed several of the local Alphas exchanging glances. For the first time, I realized they weren't simply watching a fight. They were judging…measuring…evaluating. They were seeing how Kor might perform in the Alpha Challenge and from the looks on their faces, they were impressed.
“Fucker!” Harris screamed and swung wildly again.
Kor slipped easily under the punch and hit him so hard his head snapped back. Blood sprayed from Harris's nose and the larger Alpha crashed into a parked truck hard enough to rock it on its wheels.
The crowd gasped and somewhere behind me I heard someone whisper, “Moon Goddess have mercy!”
I couldn't disagree. I had never seen anyone handle Harris Murdoch this way before. The man was feared throughout the Pack and yet Kor was making him look slow, clumsy, and old.
Finally several of the larger males rushed forward and grabbed them both. It took four men to pull Harris back and two more to restrain Kor.
“You'll be sorry!” Harris bellowed, struggling against them. One eye was already swelling shut and blood ran down the front of his shirt. “You'll be so fucking sorry you challenged me, pup! Just wait for the Alpha Challenge!”
Kor shook off the men holding him and wiped blood from his mouth.
“I can't wait,” he said coldly.
“You smug pup! You’ll be sorry! You’ll be fucking sorry!” The look on Harris's face as he was dragged away was almost comical. If he hadn't been such a hateful bastard, I might have laughed.
Instead, I hurried straight to Kor's side.
“Are you all right?” I asked anxiously. Now that the danger had passed, my hands had started shaking. It was all I could do to pull a tissue out of my purse and dab at his face.
“I’m fine.” He touched his split lip and winced. “Though I think he got one lucky shot in.”
“You got a lot more than that,” I pointed out. I took a deep breath and looked him over. “Well, I'm afraid that shirt is a total loss.”
To my surprise he laughed.
“Yeah, well—what are you going to do? It’s hard to stay neat and clean when you’re punching an asshole like that in the face.”
The sound of his laughter eased some of the tension inside me and I found myself smiling back despite everything that had just happened. Then he looked around at the wreckage scattered across the sidewalk.
“I'm sorry, Vivienne. I think the groceries might be a loss too,” he said, making a face.
Several potatoes had rolled into the gutter and the strawberries looked more like jam than fruit. They had all escaped from their tiny plastic coffin and had been trampled by the onlookers. The eggs, likewise, were all crushed into a gooey mess on the sidewalk.