The Alpha King (Kingdom of Askara #1)(40)

Everything seemed to slow. Sam’s head moved around to see the knife at the very second Malik raised it to bring it down. Sam was sprinting towards Luca a second before Luca saw the knife in Malik’s hand. Luca tried to buck Malik off but even with his Alpha strength nothing seemed to be in time to stop the blade plunging down.

Kit stopped breathing as everything seemed suspended in time. Then the crowd gasped, screams rose, and Kit blinked as the roar of the crowd deafened him. What had happened? Malik had gone from a second away from murdering his King, to Luca pushing him off him and standing shakily as Sam reached him.

Kit saw Sam bend down and then he saw the knife. But it wasn’t Malik’s. It was Sam’s. Sam had thrown it and, miracle of miracles, it had embedded itself into Malik’s neck. Sam pulled it out of the dead wolf’s throat. Luca turned and there in the middle of the arena Sam and Luca embraced and the crowd went nuts. The gammas ran on to move Malik’s body.

Kit sat down heavily, his legs shaking too hard to keep him upright. It had been too close. If Sam hadn’t been deadly accurate, Luca would have been dead. Kit swallowed a sob and closed his eyes just as Molly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her.





Chapter Twelve





When Kit had stopped shaking, the crowd had settled down and the first human only fight was about to start. He saw Asher and another guard standing at the entrance to the field. Kit sighed in relief. That was why Asher had gone on early—he was competing, and Kit wasn’t surprised that in the confusion he had been forgotten about. Luca probably thought one of his gammas had replaced Asher, and Kit certainly wasn’t going to say anything that would get Asher into trouble.

He sat up and looked at the next stand expectantly. Everyone was waiting for Luca to reappear, and of course that was also why Luca hadn’t got ready in their room. Kit hadn’t realized Luca was competing first. They really needed to learn to communicate properly. Any second now Luca would appear and want to know where he was. Kit smiled in satisfaction as he imagined the tongue-lashing Michael, the gamma who hadn’t let him in, would get.

The crowd started cheering again and Kit looked up as Luca strode confidently back towards the seating area. Kit started to smile involuntarily as he gazed at his Alpha. He wore the identical cream shirt and black breeches of his pack colors, accompanied by the huge crimson sash that fell from his shoulder to his waistband. His cummerbund was identical to Kit’s.

Kit sighed happily and glanced at Molly to thank her but the horrified expression on her face had him glancing back at Luca. Luca had reached the entrance to the marked off seating where everyone stood waiting for him, but then he paused and turned behind him, extending his arm.

Kit didn’t know how he stayed on his feet. His stomach dipped along with every blood cell he seemed to have as Tara, resplendent in her pack dress, stepped forward from the crowd of people following Luca and clasped his hand. Luca bowed and then bent and kissed her hand. He drew her closer to a seat, waited until she was sitting, and then dropped to the chair next to her.

Arianna stepped forward and presented Tara with a small box. To be honest, Luca looked as puzzled as everyone else, but Tara’s cry of joy as she opened it was loud enough to be heard by everyone. The beautiful blue necklace that she held up was obvious to all. She blushed and smiled as people clapped politely and held it to her throat and inclined her neck, obviously inviting Luca to fasten it on. Luca seemed to hesitate but then as she-wolves oohed and aahed, he lifted his hands and fastened the necklace.

Tara blushed and whispered something to Luca as his hand touched her neck. She lifted her face and Luca’s eyes softened as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Tara’s arms lifted and entwined themselves around his neck and the crowd went wild. Cat calls, cheers, shouts of congratulations. Kit felt the blow to his heart as if he had been run through. The tide of noise and emotion rose, threatening to drown everything. Threatening to drown him.

Blood rushed through his ears. Molly said something to him but he couldn’t hear what it was. Pain the like of which he had never known lanced through him, and he took a step backwards even as Molly tried to clasp his hand to make him sit back down. Everyone seemed to be staring at him, and he couldn’t bear it. He took one last look at Luca’s stiff back and turned and fled. No one tried to stop him, and Sam, was busy ushering Asher and his opponent into the arena.

Every flogging he had ever endured, every cold and hungry night he had lain alone. His mother’s horrific death. His humiliation, time and time again, at the hands of people who always seemed to hate him. Never being loved. Never having a place to belong. None of it. Nothing was as bad as the moment right now when he realized he had been fooling himself for seven years.

Luca wasn’t interested in a human guttersnipe. Kit was nothing but a bastard. A human anomaly who didn’t deserve respect, never mind love. He ripped the scarlet cloth from his waist and flung it on the ground. He had been so wrong. Luca didn’t love him. No one did.

Tears streaming down his face, he ran and ran and ran.

****

Luca held himself motionless. His wolf was the closest to the surface as he could be without him actually shifting. He had known the exact moment when Kit had seen him arrive with Tara. He could feel the pain radiate from him as if he had plunged a knife in there instead. He had hardened his heart and it had nearly killed him. All he had wanted to do was grab Kit, scream at him for not loving him like he thought he did, and run away somewhere no one would ever find them.