The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 117: Chapter 117

MADELINE
The arena was silent. The only sound came from my thumping heart. With each rough beat, I could feel it in my ears. The dirt shifted under my feet when I walked out into the ring. Someone dropped something metallic. It was small, thin, but the sound echoed over the quiet heads of the spectators.
Walking out across the ring was Driton, the Alpha of the Timber Pack. My father’s brother. My uncle. I was fighting, not only a grown-ass man, but an Alpha of the most notoriously dangerous pack in the country. And I had no wolf.
I was strong, yes. I was trained, yes. But all of that just flew right out the fucking window.
“Hi there, little girl. This one’s for the mark your boyfriend left in one of my men.”
My neck shifted. The one thing I promised myself not to do was look up at the bleachers.
But my eyes found Noah’s immediately.
He was standing, the railing bent under his grip. My dad sat pale in his seat.
What mark? When did Noah visit the Timber Pack? A million questions rushed through my head, but the second the horn went off, I snapped back to the ring.
To my uncle, coming in at high speed.
Lack of focus was, luckily, not a problem for me. And where Driton was, I was faster.
I dodged the first hit and landed a kick before I rolled on the ground and pushed off my shoulder, springing back to my feet. His eyes shone a bright yellow as his wolf stepped forward.
“Maddie, he has a weak left knee.”
I flicked my eyes up at the bleachers and saw my father next to Noah.
That was a good piece of information.
His hook came flying at my face, but I grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm, and landed a kick to his left knee.
He went down for a second, and pride swelled in my chest when my fist slashed through the air—but a striking pain shot up my arm as he curled his fingers around my closed fist, crushed my knuckles, and landed an uppercut that sent me flying back.
Driton lunged.
As I saw his body coming at me, I rolled over and got up just in time for his fingers to smash into the ground where I’d been.
The hits kept coming. One after the other, his hands flashed in my vision, and I was in constant defense.
“Come on, Maddie. Fight back.” Dad’s voice was clear over the crowd as voices rose in the arena.
Soon they were all cheering again, pumping their fists and chanting our names.
My head whipped to the side. A searing pain spread through my jaw and up the side of my head.
I landed three hits of my own, finally drawing blood.
Something about seeing them bleed aids in the hope that one might stand a chance.
“You don’t think I know who you are?” Driton seethed, his teeth crimson as he snarled.
“That bastard brother of mine could only protect you for so long.”
For a second, I saw stars shimmering in my eyes, and when my vision cleared, I realized I was staring at the sky.
I coughed. The metallic taste of blood swirled on my tongue, and dust clouded around me as I pushed myself back up.
The first flame fence began.
The fire erupted, creating a wall. But this was different.
Something about it—The fumes got in my lungs, tore up my insides, and my eyes watered like I was staring into the sun. Driton was on his side of the arena, and I looked around, trying to make sense of my blurry vision.
I caught their distress up in the bleachers. Noah had his hands on Logan’s collar and he pushed him back. I rubbed my eyes and blinked to see clearly. Noah’s fist lagged as it hit through the air and his brother flew back over the chairs.
Why were they fighting?
The flames turned off, but the effects lasted longer. I missed the second attack.
I was knocked down—head too heavy to lift, eyes too sore to open. I felt another hit and heard a loud growl ripple through the air of the arena as the voices silenced from the sheer power.
“Weak. Just like your father,” Driton growled.
His words were the last thing I heard as my consciousness betrayed me.
I was too tired. I tried. But I needed to stop. It was a serene feeling.
Dying, I mean.
Somehow, everything made sense and yet nothing existed, all at the same time.
There was no pain. No longing for what had been.
For what I was losing.
Only peace.
And silence.
The two things I needed were there, in my grasp. I touched it, felt it, and embraced it.
Maybe leaving wasn’t so bad. They would all be alright. With time, they’d heal. Maybe now it was my turn to choose myself. And what I wanted for myself.
“No.”
The voice was clear and stern.
But like so many other things, I ignored it.
There wasn’t a light I walked toward—
It was a feeling.
Telling me that it was the right path.
That it would lead me home.
To everything that lay beyond.
“Walk the path.”
I will.
For the first time in my life, it felt like I was doing the right thing.
“Go on. Don’t look back. Walk, Madeline.”
I am.
And that light—it was there before—came into view again, grew bigger, stronger, but I could stare right at it without blinking. It didn’t hurt. It warmed me. Why is there fog pulling in? Am I not allowed into the afterlife? Was this their way of telling me I couldn’t enter? Maybe I was going to hell. And then it dawned on me.
When the fog cleared and the light around it dimmed—I was already in hell.
The strands of his sweaty hair stood out at all sides and his eyes were narrowed and lifeless.
Spit flew from his mouth when he yelled with each hit and my head snapped back and forth.
This couldn’t be heaven. Why the fuck was I back?
“Good girl.”
Whose voice was that? I thought my days of being insane were over, but here I was.
Still fighting even though it was futile.
How was I not dead?
“Because it’s not your time. Now get. The fuck. Up.”
“Who are you?”
“You don’t recognize me?”
“No.”
“I guess that nasty old hag really blocked me out. I’m Ida. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Who…”
“I’m your wolf, Maddie.”
“You’re back?” She giggled and sprang free, pushing her way to the front.
“I never left. Now let’s kill this fucker and get our mate.”
Mate. I followed the pull to the other side of the ring.
Standing in the bleachers, fighting four guards, was Noah.
He stopped, as though he could sense me staring, and turned his head.
His lips moved in that word. That wonderful fucking word:
“Mate.” A growl rippled from my lips. While Noah fought the guards and five more ran up to help, I extracted my claws and slashed at Driton’s face.
Four deep cuts split open his flesh, and with the other hand, I managed to reach his eye.
While he staggered back, Ida took control, and I could barely feel my body as we stood.
“You did good, Maddie. Now let me have at him.”
“He’s all yours,” I said and took a backseat. I was still present. Still moving.
But she was guiding every step, hit, kick, and strike. Driton peered through his fingers. His canines extended.
His fist came flying, and we dodged it. With only one good eye, the fight was hardly fair—but I didn’t care. Ida really did have a go at him, and after three perfect hits, he was on his back.
As she stood over him, dodging his weak attempts to strike back, I realized something.
“Don’t kill him!”
“Why?” she growled.
“If you do, the Timber Pack will be without an Alpha—and now they know where my father is. They’ll kill him to make sure he doesn’t come back.”
“You want to protect him?”
“Well… he did give me life. So I guess I can give him the choice of a peaceful one,” I said and glanced at my father in the stands.
With furrowed brows and a deep scowl, he shook his head.
“Fine.” We landed one more hit.
“Do you surrender?” I asked, giving him a chance.
“No,” he gurgled through the blood filling his mouth.
One more hit.
And then another—until his eyes were so swollen, he could barely see through the one he had left.
“I ask only one more time: do you surrender?” With his head to the side and blood running in a thick line down the side of his mouth, he had only one option.
Come on. Surrender. Somehow, that primal need to stay alive made the bastard move his head.
My blood dripped down on him. My open wounds were bathed in dirt, and slowly, the feeling of my body returned.
And it was nothing but pure, unfiltered pain.
“Driton, surrender.” I growled. He bared his teeth, eyes glowing bright, and he snarled.
“Never.”
And just like that, he started shifting—
But a rush of rage and pain enveloped me.
I raised my hand. Claws pinned down.
And I dug them into his chest and neck until blood spurted out in uncontrolled pulses.
I sank them deeper into his flesh, making sure to hit his artery, and watched as his wolf stepped back in defeat and the life slowly drained from his eyes.
The crowd was silent for a moment.
Watching the Alpha of the Timber Pack draw his last breath.
His pack members sat in disbelief.
It all lasted much longer than I expected.
Then, in a euphoric moment of pride and twisted fate, they all rose to their feet and cheered louder than ever before.
Even his own pack members—there to see him kill me, hoping for his victory—rose in a sign of respect and clapped their hands.
Someone came running up behind me and caught me just as I went down.
“Good job, Maddie. I’m proud of you.
Now go to sleep and let me heal you.
I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Ida’s words felt like a warm hug.
My body embraced with love and heat.
And my eyes closed, safe in the embrace of my mate.
My mate.