Page 32 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)

Chapter 31

The First Alpha Challenge

FLOR

G len was outside the ring, hurt, and I was almost certain he was in the hands of that bitch, Elina. But we had plenty of other problems standing a few feet away.

“You break pack law if you refuse to honor my position and our rules for Council meetings, Brand Becker. You and your pack may not be a part of the North American Council, but if you don’t intend to join and follow my leadership, then you have no place here. No vote on the decisions we’ll make.” Aidan’s voice rang with truth, and the strangers from the other packs murmured in assent. He had a point.

Brand delivered a sharp look to Finn, who stepped up. “The pack law is clear. Alpha Becker is here as a guest, so you can’t force him to leave. And he may have no vote… but then who does? You’ve had Bradley and Margarette imprisoned in your dungeon for weeks, bound with silver, waiting for this meeting, to vote on whether or not they betrayed their own. To decide on their possible execution. If Bradley can’t vote, then are you prepared to make the decision on your own?”

“If I have to,” Aidan spat. “I am the Head of this Council.”

Finn leaned forward almost eagerly, like he was on the hunt. “ Interim Head. Your position is to be decided here as well. If no other Alpha stands here to cast a vote, then there is no Council. In the fourth amendment to the North American pack law, the decision made at the first Conclave at Eastern after the war, it was decided that no serious matter could be brought to a vote without the presence of at least three Alphas of the larger packs, or their Heirs voting as proxies.” He curled his lips in a humorless smile. “No proxies here, Father? Did their invitations to this Council go astray?”

The ring had gone still, the only sound the hum of the electric lights set around the perimeter. I didn’t understand all the politics, but it seemed pretty clear that Aidan was fucked. He needed at least one Alpha he could depend on to have his side.

Of course, he had one. Just a worthless, toadfucking, rat bastard, piece-of-shit one.

“I’m Alpha,” Callaway slurred from the edge of the ring, the bloody-faced Niall dragging him forward. Dear old Dad was still wearing the clothing he’d had on when he left the lower levels, though it looked like someone had tried to wash out the bloodstains on his shirt. His thick chestnut hair fell over his face in a greasy curtain, almost hiding his bloodshot eyes.

The nearest shifters stared at him with derision and moved back a few steps. He had to smell worse than ever, from their reactions. I heard the word feral muttered more than once.

No one seeing him now would bet a dollar on him winning this fight, but I was still worried. He was a tricky bastard, and Luke was honorable. Though maybe he’d picked up a little of Grigor’s moral flexibility when they’d bonded. I sure as heck hoped so, because I had a feeling we’d need every advantage we could get soon.

I glanced over at Mama, noting how straight she was standing now. She’d pulled her sword out from under her shirt and held it in her hand, her eyes fixed on her mate, like she was watching a rattlesnake that had slithered too close.

“I’m Southern Alpha now, and I’ll still be Southern Alpha when you’re dead in the dirt, boy. You’re not even from our pack, you know? An adopted wolf from a weak pack.” He staggered forward when Niall let him go, then turned on Aidan, spit flying from his mouth as he ranted. “Aidan, I can’t believe you’re letting this foreign wolf try for a place on the Council. Haven’t I always voted the way you said? Even back when Bradley was Council Head.”

Aidan’s lips went tight. “I never told you how to vote on a Council matter, not one time.” It was true.

Callaway sputtered. “But… but you made sure I knew… you said how you were votin’, and you promised?—”

“Nothing. I never promised you anything for your votes, for any Council vote. That would have been unethical in the extreme, possibly illegal.”

I watched Callaway figure it out, could almost hear the gears turning in his brain. He sneered. “Tricky fucker, ain’t ya? Look at what’s happened to the packs since you took over, hm? Heirs running off like that Glen Hillier, taking whores and calling them true mates. Sharin’ their mates around like a tray of fuckin’ party mints. Disobeyin’ their fathers, disrespectin’ the moon.” He coughed up a wad of mucus and spat it at Aidan’s feet. “I fuckin’ pledged myself to you , Aidan. Not even your Council, but you, like you demanded. You said you’d make sure I got back to Southern. Got what I deserved. And this is how you do me?”

The shifters around us were getting angrier at every word Callaway uttered that had the ring of truth, and Aidan’s face was growing redder.

Luke interrupted his tantrum. “I pledged myself as well. Alpha McDonnell gave me one promise in return, a vow on the moon. That the Alpha challenges would take place first, before any decisions were made, so I could finish the fight I won once before on our packlands. You should remember: you were there.” His lip curled. “You didn’t speak a word against the idea then.”

His words were also true, but they enraged Callaway. Or it might have been Luke’s tone. He must have been taking lessons from Finn on how to sound cold and unbothered, but still annoyed, like he’d been served the wrong drink a second time.

Callaway tore his shirt off, exposing his distended stomach, which looked more like the bloated beer gut some human men had, rather than the honed physique of an Alpha. “I thought I beat that disrespect out of you a long time ago, boy. Guess you need another lesson.”

At that very second, the moon sailed above the treetops, and a shaft of light fell on Luke’s face as he stepped forward, unbuttoning his shirt. “I challenge you, Calvin Callaway, for the position of Alpha of the Southern pack. Again. I challenged, so you choose the form. How will we fight?”

“I’m gonna choke the life outta you with these two hands, you little piece of shit.”

Luke nodded and dropped his shirt on the ground, then toed off his shoes. His silver mate mark, the scar from my teeth, shone in the moonlight. But so did the dozens of scars that striped his back, and the healed-up stab wound that I’d made in his gut the day he’d told me we were true mates, so I wasn’t sure which one the gasps I heard from the crowd were for.

It was hard to focus on their movements. My father was weak, but still fast, and he managed to avoid some of Luke’s first strikes. They didn’t have weapons, and they weren’t supposed to shift, so this would be a brutal fight. A few seconds later, Luke made it past Callaway’s guard and delivered a series of punishing hits to his ribs. He had to have broken at least one, and the old Alpha twisted backward and fell to his knees, coughing blood.

Luke waited for him to rise before beginning the fight again, and I cursed internally. Had he forgotten who he was fighting? This fuckface didn’t have an ounce of honor. I tried to send a sense of urgency into the bond I had with Luke, but he didn’t even twitch. I didn’t think he could hear my thoughts, but I tried to picture Callaway on his knees, and Luke using both hands to twist his head off and then spit down his neck?—

Brand’s hand landed gently on the back of my own neck as I fumed. “We’re not like them, wildflower. We have honor.”

I had to fight not to roll my damned eyes. Of course Brand would be the one to pick up on my thoughts, or maybe he’d just read my posture. “Sure, babe, you keep thinkin’ that. But we need this to end, so we can get to Glen.”

Maybe Luke heard me, because from then on, he started fighting in earnest, his moves faster, his intent to knock his adopted father to the ground apparent in every blow that landed. The old Alpha was shit talking the whole time, though, and I had a feeling he’d shifted his claws, from the small knicks and cuts that appeared on Luke’s side. But even when the Alpha fell again, Luke waited, rather than going in for the kill.

What the fuck was stopping him? Pity?It had to be something else.

I felt a pang of remorse in the bond that I knew wasn’t directed at my father, and then Luke’s eyes flicked to my side.

Mama. She was standing between the Hilliers, the two of them holding her up now as she shuddered, like every blow that landed was hitting her.

I felt like I might be sick. I hadn’t even thought about her as Luke fought. She was connected to Callaway, like she’d always been, but with him close, it was so much worse.

A ripple of love, tinged with deep sadness and pity, moved across my soul. Luke didn’t want to hurt my mama, didn’t want to be the reason she died. Just like I’d done in the lower levels, after I’d stabbed Callaway, Luke was waiting.

And just like when we were down there, Mama called out, “Do it. Do it now.”

Luke’s gaze swung to me, and I nodded, mouthing one word. Please.

Callaway was on his hands and knees, and Luke leaned down to grab his head. Only, just like when they’d fought before, the asshole shifted. It was a bit slower this time, and had to be painful. Luke let it happen, though. He was more than confident he could defeat the Alpha, in any form. No one around us protested the shift, either. It was obvious to everyone watching that the fight was all but over.

Callaway’s enormous wolf howled in misery when his transformation was complete, and swung his grizzled snout up to Luke. I wasn’t sure if he was looking for mercy, or even what mercy would mean to his wolf. The creature practically radiated shame and rage, in equal amounts.

“I’m not sparing you. Not you or him.” Luke extended the hand that wasn’t on the wolf’s neck, transforming the nails smoothly into deadly, long claws. He stared the wolf down until Callaway dropped his gaze, waiting. Quickly, Luke pulled back his claws and stabbed the old wolf in the side of the neck, piercing the artery that I knew lay beneath the fur.

It was a clean death, or would be, in a matter of minutes. Callaway slumped to the packed earth, bleeding out, his eyes fixed on the spectators in the circle. Looking for something.

No, someone.

“Lily?” Luke called out to Mama, and she broke away from the Hilliers and stumbled to him, her sword hanging limp at her side. Luke caught her before she fell to her knees, and helped her kneel beside her bleeding mate.

She stayed still for a moment, her silver curls covering her face like a veil, until she moved one hand to rest on the wolf’s flank. He twitched, letting out a soft, pitiful whine. “Oh, Calvin. It would’ve been so different if you hadn’t been afraid. Look at these children, standing up to all the wrong that’s been done in the name of the moon. You were afraid to lose your power more than you were to lose your true mate. And now look what you’ve gone and done. You’ve killed us both, and for what?”

The spectators close enough to hear gasped as they realized who she was to Callaway. What they were witnessing.

She shook her head and lifted the sword, or tried to. Luke wrapped one hand around hers and helped her set the blade to the beast’s neck. Luke’s eyes stayed on my face, in case I changed my mind, I supposed. But I was frozen in place, Brand’s hand on my shoulder the only warmth I could feel.

Mama grunted, then lifted the sword with Luke’s hand over hers, helping steady the movement. I thought she might say something, but all she did was raise her head to the full moon, the light illuminating the scars all over her face, and the tears that ran in twin rivers down her cheeks, as she brought the sword down. Luke must have given her strength, because the blade descended all the way to the ground.

Both of them had done it, had delivered the moon’s judgment, and pack justice.

Mama’s dead. I heard a keening sound in my mind, a pitiful howl, and knew it was my own wolf, grieving the mother she’d never met. I hated Callaway at that moment more than I ever had. He’d stolen so much from me, and now, even in his death, he was stealing more.

Mama took one last breath, her eyes searching, until they landed on me. Love you, she mouthed. Then she fell to the earth, her form shifting in those final seconds, until she lay in her wolf form, half-curled around her mate.

I’d never seen Mama shift, so I’d had no idea what color her wolf was. But I stuffed a hand over my mouth to keep from crying out when I realized her fur was the same red as my hair. Bright, not dark red like me when I shifted. She shone like a flame under the full, silver moon, and I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life, or anything more heartbreaking. “Love you,” I whispered back, just before the crowd began to press forward. “Love you, Mama.”

I couldn’t be sure she heard me, but her wolf seemed to shimmer for a moment before she went completely still, and a cloud sailed over the moon. In the distance, I heard a muffled howling. It sounded like dozens of wolves, far away, mourning.

“Tenebris,” Brand murmured, squeezing my shoulder.

The first Alpha challenge was over. Which meant the danger had only begun.