Magnus

Felix held my hand in a firm, warm grip as we walked to the training ring. Having him here made me feel like a child, which brought a feeling of absolute safety. Felix wouldn't let anything bad happen to me. I clung to that knowledge as I clung to his hand, and it did a lot to even out my nerves.

We stopped outside the doors to the training building and Felix released my hand so he could grip my shoulders. He stared into my eyes, his own intense and focused. "You've been training since you were a young teen. You helped me defend my family against four attackers. You are a skilled fighter, and you can win this."

There was no room for doubt in my brother's expression, and his absolute confidence soothed the last of my nerves. I didn't want to let Felix down, but I knew that if I lost, he would never hold it against me. That was good – great, even – but it wasn't enough. I didn't just want Felix to accept the outcome of this fight; I wanted him to be proud of me.

And I wanted to make Lachlan proud, too. And Mel, and Everett.

And I wanted to make my pack proud.

I just needed to win this fight and make it through the hearing.

Just, I thought with a flash of humor. As though either of those things would be simple. But the sheer magnitude of what I had to get through today had overwhelmed my senses for long enough that my stress reaction had short-circuited. I didn't feel it anymore. I just felt ready.

I didn't know what Felix saw on my face, but he smiled. It was a creepy expression, with that intensity still in his eyes and with no real joy to be found. I couldn't help grinning back at him. Felix should have been the alpha, not me, but that was okay. I had his support and his faith.

"Let's go," I said, and led the way into the building.

Mel was on one side of the ring, glaring ferociously at Opal across the way while Opal ignored her. When Mel realized we'd arrived, she pushed away from the metal fence surrounding the training ring and joined us, eyes brightening when she registered the mood we were in.

"I can't wait for you to kick her ass," Mel said, not bothering to keep her voice down.

I laughed while Felix shook his head, and we fell into an easy silence while we waited for Kayla. When she arrived, she performed my exam first, which was good – it gave me a few more minutes to spend with Lachlan when he arrived. I was only a little surprised to see that Luin had come to watch the match, but having him here didn't bother me in the slightest. Roy arrived a few minutes later, too, but the audience for this match would be small. The only person standing on Opal's side of the ring was her mate.

My sense of time was definitely distorted, and it felt like only a few minutes later that Kayla finished Opal's exam and Opal walked into the center of the ring. Lachlan had been pressing himself against my right side with both his arms wrapped around me, and I enveloped him in a tight hug.

"I love you," he said. "Good luck."

"Thanks. I love you too." And then he withdrew and I headed into the ring.

Roy met me and Opal in the center. As the highest-ranking pack member whose job wasn't currently under threat of challenge, he would be officiating our match. He recited the rules – which I had heard and read so many times in the past week that I knew them by heart. While he spoke, I watched Opal, wishing I had gotten just a little bit more time to get to know her. It's always easier to fight an opponent you know and I could bet she had done her research on me. Opal gave nothing away except when Roy recited the part about not doing any permanent damage. Her eyes flashed with excitement when he said that part, and it brought back tendrils of unease. The simple fact was that I didn't trust Opal not to bend the rules if she got the chance.

When Roy was done, he stepped back and exited the ring, standing just on the other side of the fence. "To your marks," he called.

Opal and I walked back to the starting marks on each side of the field. Even though the fight had not started yet, I refused to turn my back on her and backed into place. It amused me when Opal did the same, and it was nice to know she took me at least somewhat seriously.

The room around us was completely silent except for the sounds of breathing and the occasional rustle of clothing. I was tempted to look over at my family, but it was too risky. I couldn't let them pull me out of this headspace I had reached, the one where I felt comfortable with the fight to come and was watching Opal's every move and expression shift like a predator – assessing, waiting. Ready.

"Fight," Roy called.

I was so focused on Opal that the first thing I registered was not that Roy had started our match, but that she had launched herself into action. I should have known she would start with an aggressive attack. Opal's eyes remained locked on mine as she covered the ground between us in strong, quick strides. Her teeth were gritted in a fierce grimace and she jumped at me with her limbs thrown forward, ready to knock me down and wrap herself around me – an immediate position of power from which she could end the fight very quickly.

Or, she could have if I hadn't spun out of the way. The motion was almost effortless. I had always been more of a defensive fighter – something Mel had complained about often since she saw it as a kind of slacking off. It gave me an advantage now, though. Opal had been so confident her attack would work that she was thrown off balance when I moved out of her path. She hit the ground hard and stumbled a couple of steps.

It would have been a stupid opportunity to miss. I ran at her and rammed my elbow into her back as hard as I could, sending her sprawling to the ground. Opal rolled and crab-crawled back away from me, looking up at where I stood, not even winded while she was panting already. The supreme confidence she had started this match with faltered for just a second, then insecurity was quickly replaced by a flash of anger.

Good, I thought. An angry opponent is an unbalanced one. All I had to do was let her launch her attacks and dodge them long enough for her to tire herself out or for her to make a mistake. So I stood my ground, arms hanging down at my sides while I watched for Opal to telegraph her next move to me.

And she did. Her eyes fixed on mine while she got to her feet and she stared me down, but she had a tell. Her eyes narrowed just before she lunged for me again. I ducked the hands that grasped for me and tucked myself into a roll to gain some distance. I fluidly got back on my feet and whirled to find Opal already coming at me again. This attack lacked the precision of the earlier ones and I was able to spin out of her reach again.

Opal let out a shriek of frustration. "What are you, a child? Fight!"

She probably meant to destabilize me with anger or insecurity, but instead, I only felt satisfaction. She was riled up. It had been almost too easy. Had she really never trained against a defensive fighter? Actually, that wouldn't surprise me. I bet she grew up always pitting herself against the people she considered the best fighters until she could overtake them – the ones who relied on strength and cunning rather than on agility and patience.

So I didn't respond – knowing that would only make her angrier – and faced her once again, waiting for her next move.

Only, Opal seemed like she might be catching on. Her ponytail was lopsided from all her running and her chest heaved a little bit – probably more from her emotions being high than from exertion. Her eyes were wilder than they had been when we began and I knew we were entering a more dangerous phase.

So far, Opal had tried attacking and gotten nowhere. She would be determined, now, to catch me in any way she could. She smiled, looking almost deranged, and I saw that her teeth were just a bit longer and sharper than they should be. Not enough that I could call foul, but enough to have me on edge.

Opal strode forward now, each step long and purposeful. As she grew nearer, my mind raced. Should I hold my ground or back away and keep some distance between us?

I badly wanted to stay away, but all I would really accomplish was letting her back me against a wall. She would have too much power. So I stood and waited, and when Opal swung out her arm at me, I ducked, but she swiftly followed up with her leg hooked around my own. She knocked my knees out from under me and brought me to the ground. I reached up as I fell and wrapped my hand around her arm, dragging her down with me. Then we were a mess of limbs as we each tried to pin the other to the ground.

Opal gripped my arms, trying to bodily force me down. I was stronger than she was, though, and the only way she would pin me was if she weakened me first or if she had some serious momentum. With both of us wrestling in the dirt, she was at a disadvantage. I pushed against her until her arms were pressed against the ground, and she released her grip on me to try and shove me away. I snatched her arms, though and managed to pin her down. While I focused on getting her hands close enough together that I could hold them both in one of my own, I didn't pay enough attention to the rest of Opal's body. Her knee came up between my legs hard, and I wheezed. Rather than forcing me to let her go, I tensed up through the pain, squeezing her arms in what had to be a painful grip while I planted one knee on her stomach.

Her arms finally made it to where I wanted them to go and I shifted my grip to free up my left hand, which I wrapped around her throat. "Yield," I said, staring down into furious eyes that still had far too much fight in them.

Opal spat up at me and kept bucking her hips, kicking her feet at any part of me they could reach, and tugging her arms in an attempt to free them.

I hated this part of a fight.

I squeezed her neck harder, and Opal's face immediately started reddening. "Yield," I repeated.

Opal wasn't capable of much, but she was able to shake her head at me while she did everything she could to escape my grip. I was bigger, though, and even as she rained blows against me with her feet and even as her nails dug into my hand and wrist, I would not give up my position over her.

It was just a matter of time. I held on until Opal's eyes started fluttering and Kayla yelled, "Stop!" from the sidelines.

I looked up at Roy, who nodded, before releasing Opal. Her mate sprinted to her side, glaring fiercely up at me for just a moment before he reached out to pull her up. "Don't move her!" Kayla called urgently as she raced over to us. I watched as she checked Opal's pulse and pulled up her eyelids, then pulled instruments out of her bag to check her blood pressure and listen to her heart. Then Kayla examined Opal's neck with narrowed eyes and gentle hands until she nodded lightly to herself.

"She'll be fine," Kayla said after a few minutes. Opal's mate sagged in relief and I finally turned away, though I looked back at Opal a couple of times as I headed over to where my family and Roy were grouped together. Kayla pulled a neck brace out of her bag and after that, I kept myself turned away from the image of what I had done.

After I passed through the gate, Lachlan plastered himself against me. He grinned up at me with bright eyes and I almost felt bad as his excitement faded away when he registered my expression. "Magnus?" he said, sounding concerned.

"I'm okay," I assured him. The simple truth was that this didn't feel like a real victory. It didn't sit right, the way I'd had to choke her into unconsciousness in order to win. Why couldn't she just yield?

Felix joined us while the others hung back, which I appreciated. He hugged me even with Lachlan still tucked against my front, and nodded grimly. "You gave her plenty of opportunities, Magnus. She chose to challenge you and she chose to keep fighting even after she'd lost."

I nodded – I knew this, but somehow it didn't make me feel much better. At this point, I was exhausted and it wasn't even ten in the morning – exhausted emotionally and physically. And I still had to get to my hearing.

"You'll be okay," Felix added. "Let's get you cleaned up."

But there was no escaping so easily. We walked to the others and Roy was the first to congratulate me. "I've never seen you fight before," he said excitedly. "I didn't know what to expect."

Roy was normally so level-headed and unflappable that I would normally have been delighted to see him so lit up, but mostly I just felt confused. This was what it took to get a big reaction out of him? I didn't want to encourage it, so I said, "Could you please send out a communication to the pack explaining what happened here? They don't need details, but they should know it happened and that Opal and Gage will be leaving the pack by tomorrow. And could you please arrange to have them escorted for the remainder of their time here?"

Roy automatically slid back into his normal persona, for which I was grateful. His expression was serious as he nodded at me. "Of course. I'll get on that right away. Congrats, Alpha."

Now I smiled at him. "Thank you."

Next came Mel, who hugged me tightly enough that I imagined I knew how Opal had felt while I choked her, and the thought made me uneasy. "You did so great," Mel said. When she pulled back, there were tears in her eyes.

I had never known what to do with a crying Mel, so I just thanked her and turned to Luin, who offered me his hand. I still felt a little wary about touching him, but Lachlan prodded my back and I stepped forward to shake Luin's hand. "Nicely fought," he said.

I really didn't think that was true, so I smiled awkwardly and thanked him. Lachlan stepped in before things got too uncomfortable. "Thank you again for all your help, Luin. We need to get ready for the hearing tonight, but maybe we can hang out sometime next week once all this craziness settles down?"

Luin looked genuinely pleased and even bowed a little bit. "That would be great. I'll look forward to hearing from you."

Lachlan jolted so hard I felt the sudden tension in the hand he had wrapped around mine. "Wait!"

Luin frowned in concern. "Yes?

"I'm sorry to ask for another favor, especially so soon – seriously, you've got to find some way for me to make all this up to you – but could you do one more thing for us?"

I squinted down at Lachlan, trying to read his mind. Of course he hadn't opened his thoughts up to me, though, and I had no idea where he was going with this. Luin said, "Of course, what is it?"

"Well, you know Magnus needs to get to Albuquerque for his hearing. We were supposed to fly out this morning, but Opal challenged him before we could leave – probably trying to make sure he was as stressed out as possible for their fight. Would you please teleport us to Albuquerque?"

I smiled down at my mate and wrapped an arm around his shoulder so I could pull him more tightly against me, where he belonged. My smile died when I looked to Luin, though. He looked absolutely wretched. His eyes were big and... shoot, were those tears in them? That glowing aura of his faded and I could easily see the deep purple marks under his eyes that he usually hid with his magic. I looked to Lachlan, but he seemed as lost as I was. "I'm so terribly sorry, but that just isn't possible," Luin finally said. His voice was quiet and I almost might have described him as sounding tortured, which seemed a bit extreme. He had already done so much for us that he really shouldn't feel bad refusing to do another favor.

Lachlan stepped away from me, closer to his friend, and said, "It's okay, Luin. Really. I'm sorry I asked."

Luin's eyes were definitely watering and it looked like tears might spill over at any moment. "No, you know you can come to me anytime. I'm always happy to help a friend. But I can't go to New Mexico. All that territory's been claimed by the Seelie and I..."

Lachlan stepped forward and hugged Luin, who was so frozen in distress that he didn't hug back for several long moments. When he finally did, he shut his eyes and clutched at Lachlan tightly. "It's okay," Lachlan murmured. "You don't have to explain."

I remembered where we were and looked around the room, not entirely surprised to see that it had cleared out. Opal, Gage, and Kayla had probably gone to the infirmary. Felix had probably dragged Mel out as soon as things got personal. Roy had left a while ago to let the pack know what had happened here this morning.

It was just the three of us now.

Lachlan kept shushing Luin until the fey man pulled away. "I'm okay," he said, though he still looked dimmer and sadder than usual. "I just... I can't go to New Mexico. I really wish I could help."

"It's okay," Lachlan said again. "We should get going, then. I'll call you later, Luin, okay?"

Luin nodded gravely and disappeared. For once, I let pass the opportunity to swipe through the air he had left behind and instead pressed a kiss to Lachlan's temple. "When things settle down, we need to figure out a way to help Luin," I said.

He smiled a little sadly and said, "We will."