“Watch your fucking mouth,dog,”Andreas’s brother, a younger, leaner version of the man who wanted her consort dead, snarled from across the circle.
Viktor smiled. “That’s my mate’s job, actually, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a problem with it.”
“Enough,” Lee barked. Focusing back on the pair in the circle, he inclined his head toward Lana and asked, “You still want to do this?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
Lee sucked in a deep breath and propped his hands on his hips. A beat of tense silence passed before he announced, “This is a fair challenge. You both know the rules. Only one of you leaves. No interference from the outside. Anyone who tries will be executed. Understood?”
They answered in unison, “Yes.”
“All right.” Lee inclined his head. “Go.”
Magic was a liquid ripple around both of their forms. She’d seen Viktor shift a hundred times, but it never felt normal, or commonplace. The universe seemed to tear itself apart and reform around them as bones snapped, ligaments tore, and fur burst from what was once sun-warmed skin. The entire transformation took less than a handful of seconds, but one of them was ever-so-slightly quicker.
The moment her paws touched the ground, Lana launched herself forward. Her body was a sleek, sun dappled blonde with vivid black markings around her face, tail, and heavy paws. A terrible yowl tore from her throat as she descended on her father mid-shift.
The shifters collided with a flurry of claws and snapping teeth, their great cougar bodies locked in a life or death struggle as each tried to get the upper hand. Lana was slightly smaller than her father, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t seem to get a firm hold on her. She darted out from under him and leapt on his back. Her claws came down on his flank just before he shook her off and dove for her throat.
Next to Camille, Viktor shifted his stance, subtly putting himself between her and the battling cougars in the circle. Every single person gathered around the edge looked ready for anything as the fight got worse.
Heavy cougar jaws snapped and tore at beautiful, tan fur. Razor sharp claws sank into thick muscle. Growls and deep, pained yowling echoed all around them, bouncing off of the canyon walls to fill the valley below with the song of violence.
It was hard to tell who was winning. They both looked so similar, and when they were in constant motion, grappling with one another, they were simply two tan and black blurs. Red blood splattered the white platform. It smeared under scrabbling paws, creating a macabre painting baked by the sun.
Camille watched with the eyes of a predator and a deep internal stillness. It was horrible and yet astonishing to watch. Two shifters, so alike, clashed in a remarkable display of strength and skill. The beast in her was impressed by their speed, their viciousness. The woman could only find deep, aching relief that she was not watching her own consort out there.
It was not his blood smeared across the platform. They were not his howls of pain and rage that filled the air.
He stood beside her — strong, grim-faced, with one arm wrapped firmly around her waist. His scent was a heady perfume in the air, guarding her against the metallic stink of blood and magic, and his nearness was a balm to her pressing fear.
Somewhere in the tangle of limbs, there was a deep, bone-chillingsnap.
Camille started, her eyes widening as one of the cougars — gods, she wished she could tell whichone —managed to pin the other down. Blood smeared their muzzle and eyes of wild gold were locked on their opponent as they bore down on its neck.
One of the pinned cougar’s legs collapsed at an odd angle, destroying their balance and sending both to the ground. Camille could only guess by the wet sheen and glint of white bone that the snapping sound was the cougar’s right foreleg.
Digging her fingers into Viktor’s side, she breathlessly whispered, “Who—”
“Lana’s on top,” he answered, voice raw. “She’s got him.”
She swung her eyes back to the pair just in time to see Lana close her jaws around the back of Andreas’s neck. He thrashed hard, trying to shake her off, but she would not be budged. Pride for the woman Camille didn’t know and horror for what she had to do swelled in her chest.I cannot imagine the strength it takes to do this for your people.
For her mate, she would rip out any throat, put herself at any risk, but for herpeople?Camille was not sure she could have killed her own mother, no matter the circumstance.
Viktor did.
She risked looking away from the bloody spectacle to check on her consort. He stood stock still beside her, his beloved face carved from stone. Did he suffer when he watched Lana do what he’d done? Did he have regrets? Did he feel guilt and yet know that it was the right choice — theonlychoice?
Camille’s throat thickened as she peered at him from under her lashes. In that moment, she got the acute sense that they had both suffered a great deal in the twenty years that lay between them. Perhaps that suffering had made them strangers, but it also made them akin.
There was so much she didn’t know and she—
Movement outside the circle caught her eye. Over her shoulder, she watched as magic rippled around Andreas’s packmates just as their alpha let out a horrendous roar.
All eyes were fixed on the death match, so she was the only one who caught the split second it took for them to turn from man to cougars.
“Stop!”Her bellow came too late. Two sets of heavy paws slammed down inside the circle. Both cougars were already bounding forward, ready to leap onto Lana’s back and tear her from victory before anyone else in the circle could turn their heads.
