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~ ZEV ~

His brother still moved like a snake. And like Zev, the past three years had done nothing but add to his strength and speed. As they threw themselves together again, Zev smiled grimly when he realized his fears had been unfounded. His time with the humans hadn\'t blunted his instincts. He was still able to see his brother\'s attacks coming.

Lhars flowed forward, throwing both hands in thrusts for Zev\'s chin in a one-two that, if they had connected, would have dropped him like a stone. A human likely couldn\'t even have seen Lhar\'s hands move before the victim was on the floor. But Zev ducked his head and brought his shoulders up to block—one, two—then dropped his entire upper body to duck when Lhars added a jab for his temple.

Swinging himself to the side, Zev threw a low right hook, then a left, but Lhars twisted, blocking first with his elbow, then grabbing Zev\'s arm and turning, ending with Zev\'s shoulder forced down under his free hand while Zev grunted at the sparkling pain that shot through his still-healing ribs at the forced extension.

Quicker than lightning, Lhars tried to bring a knee up into Zev\'s face, but Zev gave a knife-hand to his thigh and Lhars cried out, flinching. Using the split-second his brother was undefended, Zev twisted his body, whipping his free elbow back, into his brother\'s side, then whirled to break the grip Lhars had on his shoulder and arm.

Lhars saw him coming and ducked, cursing at losing his advantage, but not stupid enough to drop his guard again—but when he tried to block, Zev clasped his arm and continued the turn until he\'d reversed their positions and stood behind Lhars, his brother\'s arm and shoulder locked in his grip.

There was no time to think or plan—or soothe his painful ribs. His body flowed from one move to the next, from strike, to thrust, to block, to kick—and Lhars did as well.

Then he got his brother\'s upper body low—still unable to break Zev\'s grip on his arm—and tried to keep him extended, to kick him in the face to knock him out. But Lhar\'s only laughed and turned into Zev\'s body, rushing him, his shoulder plowing into Zev\'s stomach and bearing him backwards, off his feet.

Zev stumbled and almost fell, crying out when he caught his weight on his fingertips to keep himself upright, and the odd angle jolted his ribs again. He heard a horrified gasp from Sasha behind him, but he couldn\'t afford to take his attention off his brother for a single second as Lhars pulled him around and into a headlock from behind.

His arm stuck out awkwardly from his side, levered up by Lhars\' arm curled under his armpit then snaked up in front of his neck. Then Lhars clasped his shoulder with the other hand, bearing down on his neck with his one forearm, forcing Zev\'s throat to pinch forward, into Lhars\' other wrist.

Zev grimaced, his oxygen already restricted. Then his brother began to squeeze and Zev felt one of his ribs pop. He groaned. The grips Lhars had meant Zev couldn\'t release without injuring his brother—and probably himself.

He had to end this. He had to. But the question was, how? Did he want to kill his brother, who had always been a pain in the ass, and more cunning than kind?

Yet, Lhars apparently was subverting Xar\'s work with the human Team. And he\'d helped Zev by challenging him directly—placed himself lower, and forcing the entire wolf pack to acknowledge Zev again. It wasn\'t an accident. It was a choice his brother had made.

Not to mention that they were both still in human form.

"You didn\'t… shift," Zev grunted, fighting Lhar\'s grip at his throat.

"Neither did you," his brother growled through his teeth.

"You spoke… to me… first."

"A mistake I regret," Lhars snarled. "Now submit, so I don\'t have to snap your neck."

Zev snorted a single huff of laughter—that cut off when his brother pushed his head down even harder to cut of his air almost completely.

He had seconds before he lost strength—and possibly consciousness—and Lhars knew it.

"I don\'t… want… alpha of… wolves," Zev croaked.

"I wasn\'t planning on giving it to you," Lhars sneered, and several of the males behind them roared with laughter.

"If… you submit… I\'ll ask… only that you… you help me… overcome Xar."

"You won\'t be asking anything with your spine snapped. Submit, Zev," Lhars growled. "You\'re already acknowledged. You can take your place in the pack and leave the female to me, I\'ll make sure to keep her pleas—"

"She\'s mine," Zev growled, reaching back behind his neck to grasp the wrist braced there with one hand, while he snapped the other arm straight up and dropped his entire bodyweight down, pulling an unsuspecting Lhars with him and breaking the grip he had around Zev\'s chest.

As he sucked in a deep breath, Zev snapped that high elbow straight down and into his brother\'s ribs.

Lhars grunted and pitched forward to meet the backhand Zev threw up right into his nose.

With a cry of pain, Lhars lost his grip completely, trying to push Zev away so he could scramble back and find his bearings again despite a nose bleeding like water, and eyes brimming with tears. But Zev knew this was his only chance. He had to finish his brother, finish the question of his own dominance, or he would end up dogpiled by the entire pack and brought down like a running deer.

Using the grip he still held on his brother\'s wrist, he leaned forward to snap tension between them, then pushed his hip into his brother\'s groin and yanked Lhars forward, over his thigh.

Lhars, still blinded by the blow to his face, cartwheeled over and thudded to the ground with a groan—and a hiss from the watching crowd who knew what they had just seen.

Zev stood over his brother who laid in the dirt, cursing and spitting blood. Zev was still holding Lhar\'s wrist, the arm twisted so that if Lhars put any tension on it, it would snap. Even so, his brother didn\'t submit, writhing, his face covered in blood from his nose, his eyes streaming.

Zev waited until he quieted and opened his eyes and they stared at each other for a long moment.

Zev\'s chest heaved, his ribs jangling with pain at every deep inhale, from the effort of the fight—and with a measure of fear. He did not want to kill his brother, he realized. But he would if it was what it took to keep Sasha from him.

"Submit," he snarled.

Lhars glared at him. Zev twisted his wrist further, to the very edge of snapping the bones in the join. Lhars gritted his teeth against the pain, but his heels drummed on the ground.

"Vow that you will remove the humans from us! Vow it!" Lhars spat.

"I will free the Chimera of any power or person that seeks to oppress us!" Zev snarled. "Now, submit!"

Lhars stared at him a moment longer, then closed his eyes and let his head fall to the side, breaking eye-contact and softening his posture in submission.

Zev groaned with relief and dropped his grip on his brother\'s arm, turning, still panting, to find Sasha staring at him, wide eyed over her hands.

"You don\'t have to avoid me anymore, beautiful," he wheezed, holding his painful side. "I\'m staking my claim. If you\'ll have me."

Sasha broke away from Dunken and ran to throw herself into his chest.

He grunted with the impact to his ribs.. But he pulled her in tighter because he wouldn\'t exchange the pain for anything less than the sweet, sweet smell of her… and her utter conviction that he was going to win.