I Will Never Be Yours novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Yield

I had let him think he'd won.

That was all it took, and it was the oldest trick in the quarry.

A wolf who believes the fight is over lifts his head to be seen.

The Stonegate Alpha lifted his, and his jaws left my throat.

I did not hurry.

I drew my hind legs up under his belly, braced them in the mud, and kicked with everything the last three years had left me.

He went up and over, roaring, and landed on his back in the red slick.

I was on him before he could turn.

My teeth found the soft place under his jaw and closed.

I did not bite down.

I only held, and let him feel the points.

The whole quarry went silent.

His breath came out in rough pulls.

His eyes rolled up to find mine, and for the first time they were not amused.

I tightened my jaws a hair.

"Yield," I said, wolf to wolf, in his head.

"I don't."

"I know. You told me."

"Finish it."

"No."

He went still.

"I won't take your life," I said. "My father didn't take the lives of men he beat. I want something else."

"What?"

"I want you to yield. Out loud, in front of the north."

"They'll never..."

"Say it, and I'll tell you who sent the ale."

His eyes flickered.

"I know who sent it," he said. "The elder sent his boy to the camp the night before. I took the ale because I thought you'd be weak."

"You thought I'd cheat the ring with poison."

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