Chapter 24 Saskia #2
Lucan doesn’t bother with a surprise attack. In this makeshift ring, he’ll never get behind me anyway. He lunges, this time keeping his paws on the ground so that I can’t get to his midsection. I see his plan unfurling, and honestly, it’s not a bad one.
Just as he’s about to barrel into me, I juke him with an agile shutter step, not even thinking about what I’m doing, just following the movement my body wants to perform in the face of my enemy.
Lucan can’t adjust quickly enough to my lithe movements, and he misses sinking his teeth into my arm by half an inch.
We spin together, him kicking out his hind legs to throw me down onto the grass, me baring my fangs to rip off his head.
I grab hold of his fur at the last second and manage to pull him with me to the ground, where we spiral until I end up on top with a grin, showing off my fangs.
How many lives do werewolves have? I joke, barely out of breath. No wonder the original Thirteen Guardians were able to take down Veradel with the element of surprise. Fighting a werewolf doesn’t require any training at all. It’s just second nature.
Merrick whistles. Damn, she’s fast.
I already know that, Lucan reminds us.
But you’re stronger, I say, climbing off of him. If you had anticipated my move half a second before it happened and adjusted, you’d have ripped my arm clean out of the socket.
Lucan snaps his teeth hungrily. Got it. Somehow anticipate what you’re about to do, even though you’re doing a damn good job of blocking it out mentally right now.
I can’t explain it, I add, but it’s like I can see everything in slow motion. Maybe if you try to be a little less predictable, do some more feints, it would be harder for me to keep track of your movements.
Noted, Lucan growls. Again.
Oh, hell yeah, Soren hoots. We’ve got ourselves a lovers’ quarrel.
Just as Lucan springs off his hind legs without warning.
I swing out an arm, but Lucan twists in midair before my fist can connect and lands two inches away from where I anticipated.
His momentary triumphant smirk splits through me, which only fuels my competitive edge.
I manage to twirl in a circle around him until I’m at his monstrous back, hooking my fingernails into his fur to throw him to the ground.
But instead of fighting me on that, he turns his head and clamps his teeth around my right wrist. Not hard enough to break my new marble skin, but just enough to fling me sideways, off of him.
That’s all you’ve got? I tsk breathily as I land on my feet in a crouched position.
Funny you think I’m using my full strength, he replies, already circling me again with a glint in his eyes that suddenly makes me feel like prey in the best way possible.
Don’t go easy on me then!
Just as I’m about to launch myself at him again, he does it first—and leaps completely over my head. Before I can spin around to face him, I feel two large, human hands grab me and push me to the ground until I’m face-first in the grass, spluttering.
I try to kick back, but Lucan’s already on top of me, pinning me down with his giant human body, one hand wrapped around my throat as his canines brush the shell of my ear.
“You look good pinned down beneath me,” he says, licking my throat.
I laugh and squirm against him, although pride bursts through me when he releases me and I turn around to view his triumphant face framed by the halos of the sun above us. “What took you so long?”
“Took me a minute to figure it out,” he observes with an arched eyebrow before he beams and extends a hand to help me up.
“How you maneuver. How you calculate your next step and how I should time it. You’re graceful, but in a reactive way.
Like your next move is only based on what you think I’m about to do.
And knowing how well you can see, I may as well just stay on offense. ”
“My turn!” Vivian shouts, bursting our bubble.
Lucan grins, but not before he warns, “Hurt her for real, and you’ll have to answer to me.”
Vivian rolls her eyes, but gives him a sarcastic, “Yes, alpha.”
I turn my focus on her. She’s quicker on her feet, using her small size to her advantage, and manages to pin me within two tries. Merrick is almost as strong as Lucan, but he moves better in the air and manages to pin me in three. Soren, on the other hand, could use a little work.
“Behind you!” he shouts at me a few hours later, pointing over my shoulder, but I shake my head and parry.
“Not falling for it this time.” Not that I should have fell for it last time, either, but I’m not about to tell him that.
Soren strokes his chin in apparent contemplation, and I use the opportunity to take a swing at him. He catches me by the wrist, twists, and nearly manages to fling me down before I kick him in the shins. As soon as he releases me with a groan, I pin him to the ground.
Lucan whistles. “This might be easier if you’d just shift into a werewolf, Soren. She’s going to beat your sorry ass every time if you don’t.”
“Listen.” Soren sighs at the first signs of sunset in the sky. “My mother used to say, if you ride bareback first, using a saddle will make it ten times easier.” At my confused expression, he adds, “That’s back when the kingdom had horses and shit.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I pant, getting up.
“Nobody ever does!” Vivian laughs from the sidelines.
Soren hoists himself up and plants his hands on my hips, sweat glimmering on his forehead. “You know, I should have paid more attention when Mrs. Wright tried to teach us ballroom lessons. You move like you’re dancing, Saskia.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Dancing?”
“Yeah? No need to look so offended. That’s a good thing.”
“She’s not offended.” That’s Lucan, stepping forward and crossing his arms as he observes my expression. “She just doesn’t know what dancing even is. Do you, little nightmare?” His last words are a soft whisper masking some deep layer of pain that I can’t decipher.
When I shake my head, Soren’s mouth drops open until he’s the one who looks offended.
“All right, those motherfuckers have done a lot of cruel things in there, but taking away dancing? I can’t wait to kill them.
But until then…” He swings around and snaps at Vivian and Merrick. “We’re having a street dance tonight.”
Merrick sighs. “I’ll tell Ashe to bring out his violin.”
Vivian beams. “I’ll start the fire!”
Soren claps me on the back, even though I’m pretty sure I’ve never been more confused in my life. “Don’t worry. No ballroom. Plenty of alcohol. You can even step on Lucan’s toes.”
By the time the sun dips into a pinkish horizon, the dirt road that cuts through the ghost town looks completely transformed.
A fire blazes in the center, hotter and brighter and wilder than anything I ever saw flickering in the catacombs.
The heat bats at my face as Lucan and I step closer, smoke billowing up into a cloudless sky above us.
The children chase each other with sticks, shrieking and laughing while their mothers yell at them to watch their step, and someone strung beautiful, glowing… things up and down the street.
“Lanterns,” Lucan says softly, gazing down at me with a small smile.
“I never got to experience it, but my father said Veradel used to have huge celebrations in the streets, and people would make their own lanterns to put out in front of their houses. It’s one of the traditions this pack has tried to carry with us. Keep alive.”
I take in the lanterns and the soft, colorful glows they cast. Some are rectangular, others round, but they all look as delicate as butterfly wings. The concept of everyone getting to make something different and show off their creation flips the Cardinal Rules completely upside-down.
And I like that.
“What did Veradel celebrate?”
Lucan chuckles. “The start of summer. The start of winter. The king’s birthday. Any birthday, really. If a baby was born, the neighborhood would host their own special celebration, and pretty soon all of Veradel would catch wind of it and join.”
“Sounds like they’d use any excuse to celebrate,” I tease, although longing for something I’ve never had twists a sharp knife through my stomach.
What would it be like, to embrace what makes us different? To have fun whenever we want rather than the mandatory Sanctuary Sunday? To dance?
Even though our minds aren’t connected in the moment, Lucan watches all the emotions ripple across my face, and he holds out his hand with a smile.
“Let’s go find out.”
I take it, my soft, smooth fingers threading through his giant, callused ones. We drift even closer to the fire, where the rest of the pack mills about, talking and laughing. True to his word, Soren is handing out tiny glasses—like vials—of amber liquid that I watch people drain in one gulp.
“Want one?” he asks us as we approach, wiggling his brows.
I look to Lucan uncertainly, who frowns at my reaction.
“You don’t need my permission, Saskia. If you want to drink, I’ll be here to take care of you.”
My cheeks warm as I realize that I was waiting for permission.
A habit drilled inside me since the moment I was born that I’ll have to figure out how to break.
Because despite all my defiance during adrenaline-induced moments over these past few weeks, I still find myself slipping back into the Cardinal Rules during normal interactions like this.
But I want to make my own rules now.
“It’s just…” I scramble for a reason to explain the hesitancy. “I’m not even sure I can consume anything other than… you know…”
I glance at Lucan’s neck, where the indents of my teeth still mark his skin.
“Only one way to find out.” Soren winks at me. Lucan growls, and he laughs.
“Okay, then.” I grab the little glass and bring it to my nose, sniffing. The contents make my lips purse, sharp and sour.