The advisor looked affronted at the interruption. “Of course she can, my lord.”
Charcoal black fur rippled down Axil’s neck and I frowned.
What the Hades did he care? I knew he and his brother would rather I died quickly so they didn’t need to worry about my polluting their bloodline with mud. As Ansel had so aptly said five years ago when he was king.
“And our number three competitor, Arin Moonlight of Wash Basin pack, fighting with the long sword!”
Cheers and clapping rang out through the space and I grinned as I stepped into the ring.
Arin was the same woman who had told me I stank last night and I’d knocked her out.
“Did you have a nice floor nap last night?” I asked her.
She snarled, baring all her teeth and holding her sword aloft.
I could feel Axil’s gaze on me but forced myself to push him from my mind.
The bell rang and instead of exploding forward like I usually would, to catch her off guard, I ran backwards all the way to the edge of the rope.
She frowned, as if confused by my behavior.
I had no weapon, she had a three-foot sword. I wasn’t stupid. Rushing her would get me stabbed and although I would eventually heal, it would take time. I had no idea if the next fight was in an hour, or tomorrow morning, so keeping my guts in my stomach was top priority.
I kept my hands behind my back and had decided that since Ivanna had showed off with her partial shift, I would as well.
In the time that I had run backwards and confused her, causing her to advance towards me, I’d already shifted both of my hands into giant, razor-sharp paws. It took incredible skill to hold onto a shift like this and I would be partially distracted in order to keep the rest of my body from taking my wolf form as well. To do a full shift would put me in a vulnerable space and she would probably cut my head off before I was on all fours.
“Come on, you coward!” Arin came down and across with her sword, going right for my neck. When the blade was a few inches from my body, I swiped out with a paw and crashed into the side of the sword. The force of the blow was far greater than my human form could muster and too much for her grip. The weapon clattered to the ground and she let loose with a battle cry as she lunged for me. Both of her hands wrapped around my throat as she tried to yank me to the ground in a fit of anger.
She was too emotional, all anger and no calculated skill. Reaching out with my paw, I swiped at the side of her face, taking a strip of flesh with it. Her fingers released from my neck as her wail of pain tore through the space and she stumbled backwards. Shifting my paws back to hands, I reached down and picked up her fallen sword.
By the time she realized what I’d done, I’d already slammed the sharp end into her heart.
The crowd roared their approval and as I looked at her dead body, I thought I would feel pride … but I didn’t. Instead, I felt slightly ashamed. I knew it was our custom and fighting for pack dominance had always been the way, but to shame women for forfeiting to keep their life was a mistake. Arin didn’t have to be lying dead at the end of my blade, she could have taken a knee if she had known there was no shame in that, and that her pack would let her live. I looked into the blank stare of Arin’s dead eyes and I realized I was fighting for a man I didn’t even want anymore, and a crown I wasn’t sure I was worthy to wear.
It felt wrong.
My brother leapt into the ring and lifted me into the air in praise, snapping me from my stupor and I looked over at the king.
Gone was his earlier anger, instead Axil was staring at me with compassion. Like he’d seen something on my face that told him I wasn’t feeling so great about things right now.
“Put me down,” I growled to my big brother. Cyrus stiffened beneath me and dropped me as the crowd went wild.
I turned from him suddenly and ran out of the ring, pushing past the crowds of people until they thinned and then I was walking among the hundreds of tents.
Why was I here? Why the Hades did I sign up for this? Was it to see Axil again and prove to him I was everything he needed and that he never should have left me all those years ago? Or was it really to bring pride to my pack? Was I killing other women just to get my revenge on Axil Moon?
Feeling confused, I just kept walking, wanting to blow off some of the adrenaline from the fight. My walk turned into a jog and before I knew it, I was full-on sprinting. I loved to run. Human, or wolf form, it didn’t matter. The wind was in my hair, my muscles crying for release and my breath heaving. I needed this. I blasted past the melee of the crowds and when I hit the castle, I turned right and went around it to see what was behind. I was rewarded with a thick forest that stretched out for a couple hundred feet before going off a sharp cliff down the mountain.
My legs burned in the good way only a heavy workout could bring as I hit the treeline and kept going. Dodging trees and heavy brush, I ran right up to the edge of the mountain and stopped.
My chest heaved as I peered over the cliff below and then I heard a twig snap behind me.
I spun, throwing my arms up as I readied myself for a sneak attack from Ivanna. Take out the competition before you even had to fight them. It’s what I would do.
But when I saw Axil stalking towards me, my arms dropped and my mouth popped open a little in surprise.
“I wasn’t fleeing. I just needed some time alone,” I told him in case he thought I might be running from my obligation. Because that’s what this was, an obligation. If Dorian hadn’t sent me, we’d have had to choose a replacement. Each pack sent one female no matter how weak they were. Like Eliza. The sweet girl who was so unprepared that she was asking fellow contestants for advice on how to keep her life. It made me sick.
He didn’t stop walking, and I swallowed hard when he got within two feet of me before slowing.
I held my breath as he stepped right up to me, toe to toe and stared me down. His nostrils flared and I had to suppress a moan. He smelled like dominance and bad choices, like fifteen-year-old Axil. The memory of kissing him was burned on my tongue and I suddenly wondered if he tasted the same.
“You didn’t take a weapon? I remember you being smarter than that, Zara,” he growled and that anger was back in his gaze.
I placed one hand on my hip. “I’m surprised you remember me at all with how easily you left me,” I snapped back, though I wasn’t sure it was true. One of the things he’d said to me was that he would never forget a single freckle on my skin. He’d traced them nightly under the stars all summer.
“I …” His face fell. “Zara, leaving you—”
“I don’t want to talk about that. The past is the past.” I pursed my lips.
He looked down at his hands for a second and then back up at me. “Look … Zara, I’ve been thinking, you could break your leg. Say it happened hiking and I would excuse you from tomorrow’s trial. Dorian could send a replacement.”
My glare narrowed as rage built up inside of me. “Are you that afraid of me winning and being stuck with me the rest of your life?” My head tipped back as genuine laughter erupted from my throat.
When I looked back at him, his anger was completely gone and his eyes were on my lips.
“Damn, I forgot how sexy your laugh was.”
His words knocked the air from my lungs and I froze as he leaned forward and against my neck, inhaling deeply.