THORN
After the first trial, I need a run. Tala joins without question.
She always does. For all her sharp tongue and playful bravado, she reads moods better than most. She’s been like a sister to me these past few years, so maybe she can just read me.
This is her second season, not having been chosen last year, I dread having to come to these trials without her.
But eventually, she will find a mate, she deserves to.
We run for miles across the moonlit valley, through low brush and wind-chilled grass. Over stone ridges and along the curve of the river that threads through the foothills like a silver vein. We collapse at the temple steps, panting. Cold air clinging to our sweat-slicked skin as we shift back.
Tala shifts first, stretching like a cat before speaking. “You’re more ornery today. Something on your mind?”
“No,” I state, walking back toward the entrance.
My mind slips back to last night. We are not friends.
The heat of Ember’s hand leaving my shoulder like a brand.
The challenge in her eyes. I hadn’t been able to look away.
Not from her ginger hair cascading down her back flicking from side to side.
The three scars that curve her abdomen, or from the shape of her perfect ass as she climbed the stairs before me.
The way she paused slightly before climbing the second set of stairs.
She didn’t just carry herself like she didn’t need help, she carried herself as if she’d thrived without it.
Gods help me, I noticed everything. She shaves her … legs. Most females don’t bother with grooming like that. Especially since our wolf form has us covered in hair regardless. But Ember had. She did more than just groom, she was tamed down there too. My mouth salivates.
Tala broke me out of my reverie. “You’re drooling there, Alpha.”
When I didn’t respond, she asked me, “Who was that?”
“That was Ember.”
“Typical.” Tala brings me back to the current trek into the temple. The temple walls echo with the sound of our bare feet on stone. Tala falls into step beside me, rubbing her shoulder from the run.
“Did you hear anything different during trial one?” I inquire.
“Huh? The howling?”
“Do they all sound the same to you?” I attempt again.
“For the most part,” she shrugs. “Why?”
“I thought I heard something new today…”
“New?”
“It sounded like… never mind.”
“No, tell me. I want to know what I’m looking for.”
“It sounded like music. Like a song I know but didn’t know the words to.”
“Interesting. I don’t hear music, just sound. You think that’s what real mates are supposed to hear?”
“I’ve never heard it in the nine years prior.” I shrug.
“You’ve never taken a mate before,” she connects.
“No.”
She doesn’t press further. Just nods as we climb.
The stairs creak in the silence that follows, which makes the growling more pronounced as we reach the top step of the second floor. Olcan has a hand clamped around a female’s throat, his teeth bared inches from her face.
Tala gasps. I surge forward, heat roaring in my chest.
Her red hair tousled by the struggle, her body pressed to the wall. But she wasn’t crying, she was snarling right back, blue eyes narrowed.
The protectiveness in me flares like wildfire. “Unhand. Her.”
My Alpha voice rings through the corridor. Olcan freezes, dropping his hand. His fangs retract with a hiss.
“Return to your room immediately,” I order.
He hesitates for a second too long. I take another step toward him. Then he leaves with one last look at Ember before seething in silence.
I turn to her, “Are you—?”
She pushes off the wall and advances on me. The fire in her eyes stops the words in my throat.
“I didn’t need you to save me,” she snaps.
“I just—”
“I’m a virgin, I’m not helpless. I don’t need the big bad Alpha swooping in to defend me. I can handle scum like Olcan.” With that, she shoulders past me, climbing the second flight of stairs without looking back. My eyes follow the shape of her as it climbs before me.
“She’s feisty,” Tala whispers beside me. “I like her.”
I’d forgotten she was there.
“She’s fire,” I mutter without thinking, my words from earlier coming back.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Tala’s eyes tear into my profile. I refuse to meet them, afraid of what my own will show.
I pause, swallowing down the lump in my throat. “No, it was just the trick of the moon. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.”
I should’ve ripped Olcan’s throat out right then and there. That’s what the pack expects from me, blood. Dominance.
But what good is all this power if I can’t protect the sanctity of our most holy traditions?