Wicked satisfaction rolls down my spine. Someone as strong as her will make a perfect mate for an alpha. Fate can’t be wrong about us.It can’t.
“Your trials are over,” my alpha clarifies, scowling at my mate as she crouches like an animal preparing to strike. “But there are many still awaiting judgement.”
As creatures materialize from the shadows, each one as monstrous as the last, the hairs on my neck rise. “You can’t be serious.”
“These are desperate times, Alistair.” Alpha Dire feigns boredom, as though sentencing more of the world’s unmated to their deaths is little more than a chore.
“My mate is in there!” I slam my palms against the invisible barrier separating us. My fangs extend as my agitation grows. The wilds look nothing like the bleak terrain before us. Noxious gas clouds choke a few participants before they have a chance to fight back, and their lifeless bodies drop to the earth. It’s a cruel display that serves no purpose other than to scare the weak-willed into giving up. A few do just that, falling to their knees and shouting for mercy and miracles.
It’s as though there are no gods to hear them. Nothing changes, and no one is removed from the arena.
My father remains silent as the more determined candidates begin to act. Some of them sling spells while others shift into whichever creature lay dormant within. A half dozen wolves emerge among a litany of predators and prey alike, but the only shifter I care about remains in her human form, stubbornly clinging to the parts of herself that are most vulnerable.
“Shift,” I command, the order tinted with urgency. She can’t hear me, none of them can, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. I bang my fist against the barrier. “Shift, goddammit! What are you waiting for?” Screams rend the air as people attack oncoming shadows as well as each other, their baser instincts taking over once logic and reason vanish with the light. More than one weaker candidate falls quickly. Those with stronger bloodlines or physical training excel in combat immediately, a few of them disappearing as they’re teleported out of the arena and admitted into the academy.
One by one, the numbers dwindle. My mate refuses to shift despite the odds stacked against her, fighting with a ferocity unlike any I’ve ever seen. She tears through a tiger twice hersize in seconds, using her agility to her advantage as she strikes strategically, aims for weak points, and cuts them down.
It’s chaos. Carnage.Clever.
Beasts emerge from shadow and strike down a merfolk, then disappear into thin air. They materialize in front of two more people and slaughter them both, their ebony claws raking through tender flesh, before choosing my mate as their next target. The moment she plunges her claws into their necks, they immediately dissipate into smoke, wasting her energy and fucking with her balance. She stands still for far too long, scanning the area as she waits for another ambush.
It’s nothing but illusions and magic, yet it’s killing people in droves.
What does anyone have to gain from this level of bloodshed?
Sensing my frustration, my father clicks his tongue in disapproval. “Think, Alistair. What is the purpose of Heartsflame? Should we coddle the weak and allow unworthy mates into our ranks? Weaken our packs with their bloodlines?” His gaze hardens as he surveys the battlefield. “Those who cannot survive do not deserve a mate they won’t be able to protect.”
I clench my jaw. None of this is fair. These dangers don’t exist in the wilds. The judges are forcing people to fight against an adversary that’s designed to punish their weaknesses, not test their strengths. “Put me back in,” I demand.
Alpha Dire scoffs. “Absolutely not.”
I close the distance between us and grab him, my claws easily shredding our family crest stitched into his shirt. The scent of blood fills my nose as I puncture his skin. “Put. Me. In,” I snarl, my eyes shifting to bright gold as my wolf threatens the man putting my mate in danger. He could save her with a snap of his fingers, yet he does nothing.
Anger rises like a tide and nearly pulls me under.
The reigning Alpha of the Dire wolf pack curls his lip. “You forget your place,pup.” Plucking my hand from his shirt, he throws me aside as easily as rain falls from the sky, then turns his glare on my mate. “She is nothing.” His gaze burns with righteous fury. “You areeverything.”
Swallowing a roar, I seethe in silence. Attacking my father is futile and could earn me punishment. But standing here watching my mate fight alone drives me wild. I pace in a narrow line as my mate—a woman I don’t know but suddenly crave more than anything—fights without me. Blood drips from a cut on her forehead as she narrowly dodges an attack from a shadow beast. She isn’t healing like a shifter normally would. Is it another trick of the trials? Or is this a repercussion of living in the wilds for so long that she’s tainted by it—changed because of it—and belonging more to the rotting wilds than she is to her own self?
As I watch my wild mate fight for her life, I find myself praying for an answer. A resolution. A sign that lets me know I’m on the right path—and not walking a road to damnation.
And just like every time before, my prayers are left unanswered.
Chapter 6
Sienna
Magic suddenlysnapsaround me,plucking me from the frozen mountaintop and spitting me back out somewhere new. I’ve never been good at teleportation—rarely ever use it—and I stumble when I land in the darkness. The familiar taste of rot hits my tongue before my other senses catch on, and my heartbeat quickens instantly. Even in our riskiest travels, Revyn and I avoided places like this—areas where decay is so rampant that there’s little life left. What remains is a poison eager to slip down our throats and still our hearts, turning our bodies into nothing more than fuel for the rot to spread across the realm.
The dangers lurking in the deepest shadows make someone as strong-willed as Alpha Dire appear meek by comparison.
I reach for Revyn before I realize that he’s missing, portaled away without my knowledge. Hopefully,very faraway.Although he’s more experienced with living in the wilds than I am, he gets tense whenever we would get too close to patches of rot. Being surrounded by this much of it, even if itisan illusion, would crack through his calm exterior and invite panic to come out and play. We’ve always slept with a crackling fire at our sides; this much darkness and decay would eat at him.
Despite the sudden distance, I’m grateful that he’s gone.
I can finally breathe.
The strange thread of longing for Alistair Dire is also missing, courtesy of his sudden departure from the arena. Thank the gods. Having Revyn nearby was bad enough, but Revyn coupled with Alistair was an unexpected chokehold I never want to experience again.
