Chapter Ten

Before the Judgment

The night of the Challenge was foggy and humid. We all sat around the clearing on the east side of Mackenzie. I was unhappy about it; the east side was where we had all our joyous hunts and romps. It felt as if it was being degraded by the male contest.

“Who do you think will win?” Alyssa asked me in a whisper, half-changed in her inability to control her excitement. Her question was idiotic; Charles was the obvious leader of the Pack, and the strongest by far.

I didn’t answer her, as silence was a rule for the Challenges—especially the Alpha Challenge. I looked up at the stars, searching for the Little Dipper. Alyssa rolled her eyes at me and bared her teeth. “You’ve been acting odd lately,” she snapped, and plopped down, her long snout appearing as she took full wolf form. I didn’t bother telling her that she was again breaking tradition—her father would straighten her out later.

My silence wasn’t partly due to tradition—I didn’t want to admit the ring of truth to Alyssa’s words. But I did, privately; I would usually humor my cousin, and hide my irritation with her. Lately I hadn’t been, and I knew I had to at least pretend like my old self would. If I didn’t, my dark disposition would be noted, and questions would be asked.

Dane’s face swam before my eyes. With effort, I pushed the image away. The memory confused me and caused an internal conflict that I didn’t want to deal with.

The males of the Pack were all already undressed. Their magnificent bodies gleamed in the pale light of the full moon, our Mother, and many of the females howled their crude approval with their human voices. I suspected many of the cries were for Mark. He was probably the most beautiful and powerful-looking of them all. My eyes unwillingly traced his strong shoulders, his muscled backside. Pursing my lips and denying the heat sweeping through my body, I turned my attention to the others males. Though I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help but notice the stiffening of their members—whether from the cold or from the females’ calls I couldn’t know.

Impatiently shifting feet, I waited for Yolanda to appear and begin this fight; one that I knew would result in deaths. I looked around worriedly for my father, hoping he wouldn’t participate, knowing he should. With various degrees of dread and relief, I saw him standing with the rest of the large group of men. I spotted several strangers; Charles must have sent a messenger to other valleys to let them know of the Challenge.

“Let the goodbyes be said,” Yolanda announced, finally trotting into the large clearing. Most of the men broke away from the circle to go hug and kiss their mates. Father stayed where he was, not even looking in my direction. Watching him, I was startled when Jeff wrapped his arms around me from the back.

“I’ll be out with Keith as quick as I can,” he murmured, nuzzling my ear. I couldn’t speak; my throat was too full of the thousands of words, truths, and lies that I wanted to say. I love you. Stay with me. Don’t do this. You’re the most important thing in the world to me. Knowing that he could die in the next few moments, I simply kissed him back, squeezing my eyes shut and swallowing back my replies.

“Men, go back to the circle,” Yolanda ordered in her weedy voice. With one last hard kiss, Jeff walked away. He would never admit it, but I knew he was frightened, too.

I saw Mark glance once at me from the group—he hadn’t said goodbye to anyone. I turned away once more. Keith was also looking at me. His expression was a mixture of defiance, fear, and hope. All at once, I saw what he was doing. The boy hoped to win me. He hoped to prove to me how strong he was, that he could defeat others for me. Oh, Keith.

“Those who lose one drop of blood are eliminated,” Yolanda said. “But you risk your lives of your own will. Understand that what happens here tonight is not the responsibility of the Council, or our Pack. May the Mother be with you and watch over you.”

Unable to control herself, one of the females burst in a flurry of ripping clothes and fur. She scratched the ground and growled for the males. I turned away, disgusted. Horny bitch.

“Support your men, my sisters,” Yolanda went on.

As was tradition, we all took off our clothes. The old one did as well. I glanced over at Cornelia and saw that she eyed the old Queen Bitch with envy. Yolanda must not have missed this fact; she bared her pointed teeth at my aunt in a grimace of warning. No matter the fact that a new Queen was about to be elected—Yolanda had always demanded respect.

The cool night air felt like a caress on my skin, and I tipped my face up to the sky.

“Prepare yourselves.”

As one, we all burst into our wolf forms. Pendants glowed, competing with the stars that I had admired only seconds ago. My grey fur surrounded my pendant like a protective mother. The females sat, tense, and we primed ourselves to watch our men battle each other. Our time would come later—the Queen Bitch Challenge was a lesser affair than the Alpha’s.

“And it begins,” Yolanda whispered. Had we not all had our animal hearing, her words would have been missed. We all lifted our heads to the Mother and bayed. Though we all knew fear and anxiety, the exuberance for our heritage could not be contained.

Our howls cut off abruptly when the males dove at each other, snarls tearing out of their broad chests. Nine of them were eliminated immediately; I saw them being dragged out of the circle one by one by two of the overseers of the Challenge.

But my eyes didn’t stay on them for more than half a second before they were back on the circle of competing males. I found Jeff, standing protectively by Keith’s side. But the dumb pup was having none of it—he swiped at Jeff, and my fiancé barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid his sharp claws.

Father was facing off with Harry, to my great surprise. Harry was a thin wolf—he was delicate of muscle, but he did have the advantage of speed. Father feigned a step back, and then lunged forward with his paw outstretched as far as it would go. Harry avoided the charge, reaching down and slicing Father’s arm with barely a pause in between actions.

An overseer watched Father carefully, to be sure he would leave the circle. I was ashamed to see that he was all-too eager to do so. He ran to the opposite side of the circle I was on, and sat beside the other eliminated and wounded males, watching just as we all were.

Mark was vicious, swiping this way and that with both his teeth and claws. He was the most fascinating and hardest to look at; his power was so blatant, his animal instinct so strong. A scream turned my attention from him, and I was shocked to see Charles tearing apart one of the outsiders. The stranger fought back weakly, attempting to bite one of Charles’s paws that held him down, while the other made short work tearing apart his stomach. I resisted the urge to vomit when his entrails splattered the ground.

The outsider gave one last cry, twitched, and then shuddered back into his human form. He was dead.

Charles eyed Mark, who had just bitten off one of the Pack member’s ear, eliminating him. Mark turned and caught his stare. Charles cocked his burly head, silently challenging him with his yellow eyes. Mark grinned, teeth glinting. I resisted the urge to howl; it seemed the rest of the females did, too. If these two fought, one would have to die.

The idiot doesn’t really want to be Alpha, I thought frantically as Mark and Charles circled each other. He just wants to prove his strength! Fool…

Jeff darted into my field of vision, Keith right behind him. The pup was attempting to eliminate him, and it was obvious to everyone that Jeff was humoring him, trying to be kind and let the boy have his chance of one battle in this Challenge.

There were too many fights happening at once, too many Pack members to keep track of; I felt the females beside me shifting restlessly, desiring to defend their mates or brothers, but not able to.

There were several dead outsiders lying on the ground, and my stomach clenched when I saw Allen—Falon’s little brother. There was George a few feet away, Pricilla’s father… I began to look for other I would recognize, but a yelp from one of the males diverted my attention. Two magnificent wolves dived at one another, and latched on with their teeth. My eyes caught the sight of pale blood dripping off of one leg—Jon’s leg. His opponent was savage in letting go, but did so, stepping back and staring Jon down. Limping, he darted out of the Challenge.

Matthew was battling Uncle Richard, whom I hadn’t even looked at before now. Richard was holding his own against the brawny Council member. He was a white blur, nipping and running around Matthew. Matthew was growing too impatient, and recklessly lunged at my uncle in hopes of catching him by surprise. Richard took advantage of the opening and sliced Matthew’s stomach with four sharp claws.

Shawn, Mark, Charles, Jeff, Keith, Richard, and two outsiders were the only males left in the ring. There were pools of blood seeped into the earth, much of it from the wolves still fighting, but the overseers would not get involved anymore. The tenor of the Challenge was changing. Those left had to defeat or die.

Mark and Charles were well-matched, I saw. Charles looked at Mark with calm, calculating eyes. Mark gazed back with an amused, patient expression. But their detachment was all a show; both of their pelts were standing on end, and Mark’s teeth fought to pull back into a snarl.

“No!” a female cried out, unable to stop herself. Whipping around, I saw that Bailey, Keith’s mother, stared at something in the ring with raw horror on her human face. I jerked back around, my heart in my throat.

To see Keith being torn apart by one of the strangers. He was helpless, as the outsider’s relentless claws ripped into his fur. The pup managed to swipe up at the other wolf, and gained a moment of reprieve before the stranger was back on top of him.

Jeff couldn’t see what was happening—Richard had him pinned down, also, and he was in a battle of his own.

“Mark!” I cried, snapping back into human form, and realized what I had done. Yolanda hissed as she exhaled beside me.

The dark wolf looked for me in the crowd of females, and met my eyes.

“Don’t say a word!” Yolanda hissed at me.

Keith cried out, one of his organs shining in the moonlight. With a great wrench, he rolled over. The outsider leaped atop his back, jerking my friend’s scruff in his mouth and shaking his massive head from side to side, attempting to break Keith’s neck.

Alerting Mark with my eyes, I looked at Keith.

Without sparing another glance at Charles, Mark ran at the outsider with a furious snarl. He slammed into the wolf with a thud, and they were both rolling in the blood-slicked grass.

“I’ll deal with you later,” Yolanda said to me, her voice cold and dangerous, as she nodded to the overseers to fetch Keith. I resisted the urge to shrink back from her, and kept my eyes in the circle, watching Mark and the stranger.

Charles, abandoned in the battle, was unhappy. He paced, also watching Mark with his yellow eyes.

Jeff had Richard on the ground now, and I could see that my uncle was tiring. But he managed to get away from Jeff’s fangs, and they returned to testing and swiping at each other.

Shawn had one of the outsiders on his back, having been battling with him for some time, and he made short work of the neck presented to him. I couldn’t watch as he made the wolf’s blood splatter through the air. Charles, seeing another opponent, ran at Shawn, not even giving him a chance to look up before he hit the ground.

Mark and the outsider continued to roll. Both were covered in blood, and I could not tell who had the advantage. As I watched, I felt my throat constrict. Keith had long since been pulled out of the circle, and his mother tended to him with shaking hands, Yolanda next to her, talking in low, soothing tones to the pup. Turning my back to the Challenge, I walked to them on quiet paws.

Keith was human, his wounded body seeming surreal with the white eye of the Mother shining down on him. He was still alive—I could hear his faint heartbeat—but I knew he would not live. His breathing was slowing, his blood still seeping out of his chest.

Bailey knew it, too. She wept over him, gripping one of his limp hands and pressing it to her cheek, kissing it over and over again. “My son,” she cried. “My son…”

A howl split through the night, and I was too quick to turn away from the sight. My fault, I kept saying to myself. All my fault…

Mark and the outsider were still on the ground, entangled. Gasping, I leaned forward. Neither got up. Harriet cried out, seeing this, and she made to run to Mark.

“No,” a female snapped, jumping on top of Harriet to keep her from going into the ring.

But there was no need to worry—with a relief that made me want to break down in tears, I watched Mark detangle himself from the dead wolf, and shakily stand to all fours. I wanted to howl for him, let him know how much he was admired for what he had done. For Keith.

But, if I was truly honest, I knew that he hadn’t done it for the pup. Again, my throat swelled so it felt as if I couldn’t breathe. Mark had done what he did for me.

There were only four males left in the ring. Jeff and Richard—who were standing on hind legs, paws around each other for balance as they tore at each other’s faces—and Mark and Charles.

Mark had been weakened from the fight with the outsider. As Charles quickly approached, once again silently challenging him, I saw Mark’s legs tremble as he fought to remain standing.

I’ll never know what would have happened that night of the Challenge. Because just then, as the two were about to begin the fight again, one of the pups forced to stay behind ran into the clearing.

“Humans!” she shrieked. “There are humans in the valley!”