Thrown off balance, she tripped. Stubbed her toe on a bit of loose rock and fell—landing hard on the stump of her severed tail with a sparkle of truly exquisite pain. Gasping, she blinked away tears, clearing her vision only to find herself staring into the depths of a deep, dark pit.
A void that seemed to breathe in time with her.
Balkazar laughed, his glare a spiteful blizzard of icy disdain. “Pathetic.”
“Stop!” Sickle snarled and left her staring into the abyss. Stepping between them, palms set against the war chief’s burly chest, Sickle pushed. His cheeks a heated pink she could see even in the gloom. “Hasn’t she suffered enough already?”
Unaffected, Balkazar merely continued to grin, stooping closer, over Sickle’s shoulder until hot breath moistened her cheeks. Saying nothing and everything, he reached toward her. Claws extending, mane bristling a warning.
But Renegade didn’t give him the satisfaction. Couldn’t pull her gaze away from the pit. “What’s down there?” she whispered, head spinning around the sparkle of dark stars. Her muscles trembling in a lazy way that underscored just how drained her season had left her. That she’d fought for so long without rest or food.
Without water.
“Leave the girl,” Sinadim said, his voice a lazy hum that demanded obedience. The self-satisfied drone of an Alpha. “There’s still much to be done around camp before nightfall. I need several dozen saplings cut and stripped, then woven into a lattice large enough to cover the pit. You can take Micha,” he said to Balkazar, and inspected his claws with a critical eye.
“This is wrong,” Sickle hissed, ears flicked back. “He’sinfected, Sinadim. Dangerous. He should be put to death before he escapes that pathetic prison and kills us all. But you mean to pamper him. Lavish that monster with gifts”—one trembling, tattooed finger shot out, pointing at Renegade’s face—“so you can breed hybrids even more monstrous than he is. You’ve forgotten the blood oath you swore to this pack,brother.”
Renegade gasped, her eyes falling into darkness once more. Horrible understanding skating along her nerves, to the spot that beat with another’s heart.
Giaus. Injured in the dark.
Alone.
One-eyed scowl narrowing as the unmistakable scent of musk rose hot and heady from Sinadim’s skin, the prince’s mane flared a brief warning. “Are you finished?”
Shaking with fury, Sickle held his tongue.
With a sneer, the prince stood, then turned to the war chief with a casual flick of his claws. “Slaughter Giaus, then strap the girl to a breeding post and leave her in the woods.”
Sickle went white beneath his ink. “What—”
“Can’t have my loyalty to the pack questioned, hmm? Your demands have been heard, brother. The girl has been exposed. Or do you not recognize the meaning of the marks she laid down? Even now, his seed runs down her legs.She’s infected.” Sinadim laughed. “And here I thought to give her mercy, a purpose that wasn’t to breed for a horde, but the mighty Sickle demands justice for his queen. So mercy she shall have.”
Renegade edged back, pulse hammering at the back of her throat.
“That’s not…” Sickle’s eyes flicked over his shoulder, rimmed in white. Ears laid out. “I didn’t mean…”
The prince lunged and caught Sickle by the scruff, claws fully extended. “Question my loyalty again,” he spat, “and it’ll beyoustrapped to a breeding post. Understood?”
A mantle of defeat settled on Sickle’s shoulders, making him slump in the prince’s claws. Avoiding eye contact, his answer was a tight nod.
“Go,” Sinadim snarled, and shoved Sickle toward the mouth of the cave. “Find yourself a job before I cast you out.”
Renegade swallowed, hard. Enough that the click of her bruised throat could be heard above the distant sounds of Sinadim’s orders being carried out.
Only the war chief remained, scowling down at her. Burly arms crossed over his chest.
“That’s it, then?” she asked, her gaze falling to her fingers. “I’m to spend the rest of my days whelping feral kits?”
Sinadim bristled. “You shouldn’t have left the den!” he snarled, whirling on her, claws flashing. Long legs eating the space between them, he stooped, pressing closer. “You would have been protected, Renegade.Cherished. Given the honor of carrying my bloodline.”
Renegade glanced at the war chief. Saw the sneer that curled his lips, and saw discord between brothers.
The heavy scent of rising musk drew her eye back to the prince. Made her head spin with the urge to submit.
Sinadim snorted, and said, “In time, I would have laid Hadim’s severed head at your feet. A prize for the wrongs he’s done to you. ToallHathorians.”
Trembling, ears ringing and flat, she whispered, “I had to try.”
