Chris looked out over the mansion's big roof top garden where Adam was playing with Miz Nettie and Rain and sighed. It was so good to see Adam trying to walk and already getting into mischief. That alone made the challenge fights worth the pain of recovery. No matter how often he had to fight or how many Two Bloods he had to kill, having a safe home for his family was worth the effort.
Before they had come to New York, Vin had warned them that there were three packs that claimed the city. He had sent JD on ahead with the message that he intended to bring his pack to New York and was going to claim a territory. JD, being so young, physically at least, wouldn't be a threat and was well used to his role as messenger. To say the least, that although the other packs were glad that Vin had been returned to them, they weren't ready to turn over any of their territory over to a strange pack, and Four Corners Pack was and always had been, stranger than most.
It helped even less that what Chris wanted was Manhattan. Not only did it contain Central Park, a good place for Buck to run and Vin to climb trees and the like, but it also contained the federal building where Vin was now working, every sort of museum and high class establishment that Josiah and Ezra would enjoy, a great school system for Adam, and the only homes large enough and open enough for his pack. Not many New York homes had roof top gardens, four story atriums, two story libraries, a large enough kitchen to both feed and sit them all and most of all, rooms themselves that were large enough not to set off Vin's claustrophobia. Ezra, financial genius that he was, had found that exact home for them. Chris wasn't about to give it up, especially since it was so close to Central Park.
He had one meeting with the Bronx Pack already. It hadn't taken long for it to turn into a challenge rather than a meeting. Jason Kripke, the Bronx Pack Alpha wasn't ready for anyone to take any portion of his territory, no matter how small a part or if he and his pack ever used it or not. The meeting was held in Central Park, and not all of the Bronx Pack were in human form. That led to the locals who were out using Central Park to steer clear of the group, something for which Chris was more than happy. He had known that this was going to lead to a challenge the moment he laid eyes on Kripke.
Ezra, of course, had tried to negotiate, but it was fruitless. The Two Blood had eyes for no one but Larabee. Even though the Four Corners Pack was even more famous in Two Blood circles than they were in western law enforcement and he knew that they were a pack by every definition of the law, the very idea of a One Blood Alpha was enough to make Kripke's blood boil. Kripke swept Ezra away with a single blow, which enraged his already tense pack.
They had faced this situation more times than they could count, especially when the pack was first formed. They all fell back instantly into the half circle that would be their place during the challenge. Chris, on the other hand, decked Kripke with a single punch. He'd known every time he was reborn that sooner or later he would have to fight this sort of fight and he'd prepared for it. "Challenge is given, you low life. No one touches a member of my pack!"
"Challenge accepted, One Blood fake!" Kripke howled and his pack fell into their half of the circle. He lunged in with his knife, as by Pack Law he wasn't allowed to fight a One Blood Pack member in his wolf form. Chris ducked the lunge, catching the tip of the blade across his shoulder and slashing Kripke across the belly with his knife. Two Bloods were hampered by their own thinking when facing a One Blood in a challenge fight. They thought too much like wolves, who go for an opponent's limb first, then the body. A One Blood went for the body first.
Normally, Chris wouldn't have wanted to kill Kripke, but the Alpha had made one of his men bleed. That wasn't acceptable under any circumstances. Thus, his blow wasn't pulled. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it was enough to slow him down. And while Nathan was busy checking out Ezra (who was at the same time trying to brush him off so he could watch the fight) everyone already knew that Nathan wasn't about to do anything to help Kripke should Chris leave anything left of him.
Nathan didn't expect that there would be anything left. Neither did any of the rest of the Four Corners Pack. To strike a negotiator who was acting in good faith hard enough to draw blood was to incur the wrath of the negotiator's Alpha. Once blood had been drawn, there could be no other outcome but a challenge, and the outcome depended upon the personalities of those involved. Seeing Ezra struck down for no reason other than he was a One Blood was enough to ensure that Larabee was angry enough to kill. No one threatened Ezra but him, and no one hurt his people and lived.
Kripke came in swinging wildly, lost in his pain and anger that Chris had scored a hit on him. He managed to get in several blows, but didn't manage to do much more than piss Chris off. Nathan shook his head as he saw the knife connect, knowing that Chris didn't even feel it. Cuts across his face, his arms, his legs, Nathan knew that it was going to be hell trying to keep Chris down long enough for the wounds to heal. He also knew from seeing where the blood was pouring out from the multiple wounds Chris had delivered to Kripke's belly that the Two Blood wouldn't be on his feet for much longer. It was too bad the stupid bigot hadn't realized that for Chris to be an Alpha for as long as he had meant that he had gone up against much more than a single Two Blood and won.
When Kripke finally staggered and fell, Chris grabbed him back the back of the head and slit his throat. He was taking no chances with this bastard. He looked up into the shocked eyes of the Bronx Beta, "Manhattan belongs to the Four Corners Pack," he spat. "Now get out."