Chapter Forty-One
Kele tied the ceremonial robe’s belt around Peder’s waist. The soft material contrasted strangely with the hard male wearing it.
“We don’t have robes for challenges.” Peder ran his hands over the material as if savoring the sensation. She wanted to give him everything he’d never had. New clothes, foods imported from Europa, cheese, breads made of the finest flour. Maybe they’d journey with the crafters next time they traveled to the vampire trading posts.
“Do they just wear their kilts to the ring?”
“No, they go naked.”
“Through the den?”
He chuckled. “It’s not like the others haven’t seen it before, Kele.” He stopped stroking the material. “Your pack didn’t always have all this finery. I’m sure there was a shifter or two who walked naked to the ring.”
She nodded and smirked. “It’s your pack now too.”
“Not yet.” He touched her hair. “Your hair is much softer than this robe.”
“You can’t wear it.”
“I beg to differ.” He slipped the robe off his shoulders and let it drop to the ground.
“Stop it.” She picked up his robe.
“I think I should walk to the ring as an Apisi hunter.”
She stared at the bruises and scratches still marring his perfect body. He appeared like a hunter of old walking out of the forest for the first time in civil form.
Ahote entered the room without knocking and stalled in the threshold. “There’s no time for fooling around.”
“Peder wants to go to the ring naked.” She tossed the robe on the bed.
A sly grin spread across Ahote’s face and he clapped Peder on the back. “A savage after my own heart.”
As agreed upon, she led Peder out of their room and toward the challenge ring area. The den’s corridors were empty and silent, only the torchlight greeted their journey. Her stomach fluttered. She could guess where everyone was. As they approached the area, the hum of conversation grew louder and she knew she’d been right.
Kele stopped and stared at the gathering of her pack around the ring and on the ledges of the walls, feet hanging over the edges, eyes peering at them. They lit the area with enough torches so it appeared as if the sun blazed upon the challenge ring.
Peder pressed against her. “What is it?”
“Everyone is here.” She swallowed with a throat gone dry.
“Is that bad?”
“No, it’s just unusual.”
Ahote leaned in. “There are just as many as when you fought Tegrathe.”
“There were?” It seemed a lifetime ago since that challenge. That naïve girl was just a memory now.
Inside the ring waited yesterday’s challenge winners, dressed in their robes.
Her stomach tried to turn inside out. She snatched Ahote by the ear and dragged him kissing close. “You didn’t tell me it was them.” Ahsen and Seh, two of the strongest hunters. The two of them brought down a bull moose by themselves this spring. Uninjured. Her mother trained and ran with Ahsen regularly.
Used to train…
She took a deep cleansing breath. Her mother had trained her as well. She’d clawed her way to the top of the hierarchy by herself. She’d proven she could fight.
A little push from Peder set her walking again.
The crowd went silent.
Peder took his place next to her in the ring. Not a blush on his skin. Perfectly comfortable in his nudity.
She noted a few admiring stares aimed his way from a group of females who whispered to each other. She snarled, running her hand over his arm. Mine, all mine. A lifetime of being outside the normal relationships of the pack because she couldn’t shift had left her a little bitter. She’d never been mistreated or abused, but she didn’t fit.
She would now.
And they knew it.
She dropped her robe and noticed Peder’s appreciative gaze. Unfortunately, she didn’t have Peder’s experience or confidence in baring all and a blush blazed liked a brushfire until sweat beaded on her skin. Before she could humiliate herself further, she grasped her trigger memory of rage and shifted to feral form. Her trigger emotion always had her ready to fight once the change was done.
The elders sat along the side of the ring. They didn’t have to attend regular challenges but for something this important, they had to be present to judge. The pack’s future lay in which alpha couple won.
Peder and their challengers shifted as well.
“Go,” the eldest ordered.
As soon as the word was spoken, Peder raced across the challenge ring, tackling the other male to the ground. He hadn’t bothered to test the other male’s weaknesses or anything. Just charged…
The crowd’s roar shook the den.
Something solid hit Kele square in the chest and she hit the ground hard on her back. Years of training had her rolling to the side before she could gasp for air.
Ahsen’s claws were buried in the ground where her chest had been a moment ago. Her glare knifed Kele’s. Ahsen meant to kill her. This realization quickened her pulse.
Kele flipped onto her feet, claws ready, and swiped under Ahsen’s arm where the tender flesh tore easily. The scent of blood filled her nose so thick she could almost taste Ahsen. A soft chant rose from the surrounding crowd but she was too focused on her prey to hear.
Ahsen ignored her wound and circled Kele, herding her toward the center. Her mate did the same to Peder until their backs touched.
Shivering, she crouched low to the ground to protect her underbelly. She’d seen Ahsen gut too many prey and challengers alike.
Peder remained standing, blood dripping from his claws. “Listen to them, Kele.”
She stared at their challengers. “They’re not saying anything.”
“The crowd. They’re chanting our names.”
She focused past the hammering of her heart and heard her pack.
Her pack, her people, her family. They chanted her name with Peder’s. She was born and raised to be alpha.
Seh charged, but he didn’t aim for Peder. She was his target. His claws raked down her leg.
The sharp sudden pain surprised her enough to make her yelp. She leaped to the left where Ahsen was waiting for her with jaws wide open, teeth snapping at her limbs.
Peder slammed his body against Ahsen’s, sending her spinning out of the challenge circle.
The crowd stopped chanting and cheered.
One down.
She turned and her heart skipped over the calm waters of her shock.
Seh had jumped on Peder’s back, all four sets of claws digging in his flesh. Somehow her mate remained upright, evading the gnash of teeth. He bent forward with a jerk and flipped Seh onto the ground hard, then sank his own teeth into Seh’s neck.
“Halt!” Kele shouted over the crowd’s noise.
Peder raised his eyes to meet hers. Alpha challenges were to the death when they got to the top couples. Ahsen and Seh were one of the strongest. Peder’s feral nature sensed this and so did hers.
Kele knelt next to them, panting. “It makes no sense killing our strongest hunters.” She glanced outside the ring where Ahsen clutched her muzzle, yet her worried whine still reached Kele’s ears. “Will you submit?” she asked her.
Ahsen lay on her stomach without hesitation, her hands upturned in a sign of defeat.
Kele turned her attention to Seh, who had gone limp in Peder’s hold. “Let him go.”
Peder released his bite and jumped clear, ready to attack again if Seh didn’t comply.
The male hunter rolled off his back and crept out of the ring on his belly until he lay next to Ahsen.
Peder stood in the center of the challenge ring and stared at the pack around them. Their cheers quietly returned to the chant, repeating their names and growing louder. He spun a lazy circle and soaked in the adoration he heard in their voices.
Lifting his arms up in the air sent the volume even louder. He gazed at Kele at his side, who grinned. Blood matted her fur and trickled along her leg. He scooped her into his arms and swung her around.
She laughed and rubbed her muzzle against his.
He shifted to civil form and she followed suit.
The hunter couple they’d fought crawled forward and set their hands to his and Kele’s ankles, submitting officially before the pack.
He clasped Kele’s hand again and raised them above their heads. They’d won. “Will the couples get stronger?”
She shook her head. “Ahsen and Seh are one of the strongest we have.”
The elders had gathered away from the ring. From their jabbing fingers and waving arms, he guessed they were arguing. Had they broken a rule? Were they discussing forfeiting the challenge?
Kele leaned into him and snaked her arms around his waist. They weren’t the only ones who noticed the elders. The pack grew quiet.
The elders turned as a group to face everyone and a spokesperson stepped forward. “We will have a pack meeting in the gathering room. Not all alphas have to be chosen by trial of challenges. Peder and Kele have suffered much in the last few days, as have others in the pack. We will listen to their testimonies and discuss our future.” He bowed toward Peder and Kele. “Someone will be sent to get you when we are ready.”