Ibelievein Julien.
But the anxious dread festering in the pit of my stomach simply won’t go away mainly, I think, because of who his opponent is. I know on an intellectual level that my teenage mind turned Zachariah into my personal boogeyman and made him much more scary than he actually is, but that doesn’t mean my brain can convince my anxiety to stand down.
Julien leads me over to where Dante and Brody are standing, positioning me in between the other two shifters. He gives both of them a pointed look, then kisses the top of my head and walks into the center of the circle of observers to stand across from Zachariah.
The slight chill in the air and the sense of growing tension pulls me back into the past again, my mind playing out a mental movie of the night the man who called himself my father died.
I think I’m going to be sick.
Half lost in memories and trying to prevent myself from puking, I jolt when Brody puts a hand on my shoulder. He doesn’t say anything, only squeezing gently in a show of support.
Luke moves to stand beside Julien and Malachi steps forward, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“If there are no objections, as a representative of the Ander—Sweet Waterpack, I will perform the duties of official,” says the cleric. No one responds, so he nods and gestures to the three Alphas in front of him. “Tonight we gather to witness a challenge under the laws of blood.”
This asshole makes it sound like a wedding.
“Alpha Zachariah Stevens has challenged Alpha Luke Anderson for control of his pack. Alpha Julien Matisse has agreed to fight as Alpha Anderson’s proxy. Are you all in agreement with this?” They all nod their assent and the cleric continues, “Though typically a fight to the death, the victor has the option to grant their opponent mercy if they deem it appropriate.”
Yeah, there’s no way Zachariah would grant anyone mercy. Only one of them is leaving here tonight.
And it damn sure better be Julien. If it’s not…I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying again to settle my nerves. It doesn’t work.
A hand lands on my other shoulder—Dante.
“He’s got this,” says the larger man.
“He better,” I mutter. “I didn’t escape that bastard when I was seventeen only to end up as his breeding stock.”
Dante and Brody both make confused noises.
Oh, that’s right. Neither of them were there when we found out about the whole pregnancy thing, but I suppose the secret will be out eventually.
“We recently found out that male omegas can get pregnant,” I explain under my breath. “And there’s this whole ‘male omega born of male omega will only bear alphas’ thing. That’s what Zachariah wants from me.”
Brody coughs. “I see…”
Malachi is still blathering on about the moon and the tides and other semi-religious sounding bullshit. He always did like to sermonize and he’s kind of got a captive audience right now. I don’t remember this much talking when my supposed father challenged Randall, but I wasn’t paying much attention then either.
Finally, the cleric stops talking and steps backward, his hands raised over his head to either side. Once he reaches the boundary of the circle of shifters, he lowers his arms like he’s signaling a car race to begin.
I guess he sort of is.
Both Julien and Zachariah immediately shift into their wolves. Unsurprising, since fighting with teeth and claws is much quicker than bare hands.
The two wolves are of equal height. Zachariah’s black wolf is slightly bulkier, but Julien’s golden fur is shinier and his eyes are brighter. Even as a wolf, Zachariah’s eyes look hard and cold. The two wolves stare at each other, muscles tensed and hackles raised, as they puff out their chests and lean their bodies slightly forward.
Zachariah’s lips twitch and a low growl comes up from his chest. Julien mimics the sound.
When Julien doesn’t move, Zachariah lunges forward a few steps, punctuating the movement with a snarl, before darting backward again. Julien ignores the movement, staying in place, his steady gaze focused on the other wolf as he continues his low growl.
Zachariah does the same lunging move a couple more times, but Julien continues to maintain his position, as if taking the time to study how the other wolf moves.
The longer Julien just stands there staring, the more agitated Zachariah gets and I see what Julien’s strategy is: wait until the hot-headed Zachariah’s impulsiveness leads him to make a mistake.
Finally, Zachariah rushes forward in a direct attack. Julien waits until the other wolf is almost to him before leaping to the side to avoid the charge. Zachariah skids through the gravel as he struggles to stop his forward momentum and Julien watches, still alert but also a little smug.
Zachariah turns and bares his teeth before barreling forward again. Julien side steps and Zachariah rushes past him again. After a couple more reckless charges, Zachariah seems to catch on to Julien’s tactic. Instead of attacking again, he makes another one of those aborted lunges. The action draws no reaction from Julien beyond general wariness, and Zachariah growls in frustration.
