"I don't know. But I know I'll never forgive myself if I don't try."
"What happens if you lose?"
She would probably die. Nacio wasn't about to let her walk away a second time. But she didn't want to tell Gio that, because she had a feeling that if he knew, he would never agree to sit by quietly. At the very least, she would have him standing right behind her, snarling and backing her up. Normally she would have been glad to have the support, but right now it would have hurt her position immeasurably.
"I'll be exiled again. It's happened to me before. I know it's not the worst thing in the world."
She could tell that Gio didn't entirely buy it, but here his lack of a shifter background was working in her favor instead of against it. A shifter would have known better, but Gio only looked dubious.
And yet—shehadwalked away the first time. Now that she thought back on it, Nacio could easily have killed her then. He didn't have to let her go. But all her family were watching.
Can it be that his position with the clan was more tenuous than I thought, even then?
She hadn't been able to think clearly at the time. All she remembered was Nacio standing over her, telling her that the clan was barred to her, that she would never have a mate, that she was a broken shifter who would never fully be one with the animal inside her.
But he was wrong. The realization dawned on her with a feeling like light breaking through the walls of her mind.
Not just about the mate bond. He was wrong aboutallof it.
He had lied.
He had taken advantage of her hurt and confusion to make sure that she believed herself broken and unloveable so she would never try to win her way back into her family, rally her own allies against him, and challenge him again.
He wasafraidof her—because she had almost beaten him the first time, and he was afraid that he wouldn't survive a second challenge.
Max bared her teeth in a feral grin.
Are you there?she asked her jaguar.
Always, came the quiet voice from inside her.
There was the sound of approaching engines, jarring Max out of her inner communion. Sofia's truck came to a stop just outside the arena. She was followed by a motley assortment of other vehicles, scooters and motorbikes, an odd truck or two, even a tractor. It looked like every vehicle in the village had followed her back.
"Max!" Sofia called. "You can't do this!"
As other people began to arrive in the stands, Max saw her parents with a painful jolt in her chest. There were other relatives, people she hadn't thought about in years. All here to see if she would succeed or fail.
No, she realized suddenly as they all drifted toward her side of the arena. They were here for more than that. They were here to see herwin.
Sofia climbed into the stands along with Elina. She made her way along the rows of seats until she could lean down to repeat, "You can't fight him again!"
"Why?" Max asked calmly. "Because I lost before?" She stood up. "I'm not going to lose this time."
"I'm with you all the way," Gio told her. He looked up at Sofia, and seemed to become aware of the other onlookers, all of them having quietly drifted to her side of the stands. "Everyone here is with you."
Max's mother mouthed something to her. She couldn't quite make it out, but there were tears standing in her mother's eyes. Her father gave her a supportive nod.
Everyone here is with you,that look seemed to say.
Inside her chest, her jaguar snarled. It was ready, too. Drawing strength from every source she had, within and without, Max got up and walked to the middle of the arena.
Nacio stood too, facing her across the open space.
In her nightmares she had found herself back in this place, facing the greatest defeat of her life. Now it felt as if the dreams were becoming reality all over again. As the stands continued to fill with spectators from the town, Max felt her renewed confidence begin to falter. She felt small and afraid.
But then her gaze went to Gio, sitting next to Sofia, with Elina on his other side wrapped in a heavy woolen coat. Gio looked directly at her and smiled, and suddenly, for a moment, there was nothing else but him.
No, she would not lose. Not with Gio watching and supporting her. Not with her jaguar to rally her confidence and courage. Not with her clan at her back.
