Page 22 of Violet Moon (Pitch Mountain Pack #1)

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Sera followed Parisa in silence. Her heart pounded in strange, staccato beats during the long walk to the clearing deep in the forest that hadn’t been used for an Alpha duel in decades.

Jason was there at the other end, his hair pointing at wild angles, a smug look on his face.

His witness was with him, presumably another wolf from Crooked Creek though Sera couldn’t place him.

He had to be a younger wolf because she knew all the others well.

It made sense, though. The majority of the pack, especially those who had been with him for decades, would be loyal to Clyde and not to Jason.

“Old rules or new rules?” Jason shouted.

Sera shuddered at the fact that he would even consider such a thing.

Parisa stood up straight and squared her shoulders. She looked him dead in the eye. “New. We left the old ways behind in the past where they belong.”

Jason grinned but it was a terrible, wicked thing. “Some things are meant to be kept. We toss them away without thinking what we’ve lost.”

“And what have we lost that’s so important?”

“The ability to be stronger than wolves, better, more wild and free than even they can hope to be. But we’ve chained ourselves to human laws and, for what? The chance to sell them something? Live where they live? We gain nothing.”

“You’re too young to know what the past was like for us.”

“Enough!” Jason seethed at the comment. “Your words won’t serve you now, only your teeth and your claws.”

“And my mind.”

“Pit your mind against my strength and we’ll see who’s victorious.”

“The baseless confidence of youth.”

The two stared at one another, neither moving to make any preparations for the duel.

Parisa’s shoulders were rising and falling rapidly with the quick tempo of her breaths.

She stood firm without blinking. Sera felt pride swell in her chest along with the adoration that had taken root in her heart.

Fear was still there, but it was quieter now.

Jason was the first to turn his back to transform. When Parisa turned on her heels, she was wearing a sharp smile, full of power and self-assurance. Sera stared at her and couldn’t find a single word to say around the lump in her throat. Instead, she took a deep breath, and nodded at her Alpha.

“He is nothing to me,” Parisa growled.

A shiver ran up Sera’s back. “You are everything to me. And the pack. You fight alone but we’re all with you. I’m with you.”

Parisa wrapped her arms around Sera’s shoulders and hugged her, tight enough to squeeze the breath from her lungs.

They parted. Parisa’s demeanor shifted. She tilted her chin up and stood proud. “I will win.”

Sera didn’t usually watch Parisa transform, but this time she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

She gazed at what she hadn’t let herself see, her eyes following the curves of Parisa’s body, drawn to the tight cords of muscle that lay beneath her olive skin.

She was beautiful. She was a force to be reckoned with.

Parisa’s wolf emerged, her transition perfected after ages of practice. Her tail flicked. She growled, the sound low and rumbling, then turned, standing her ground at the edge of the cleared circle.

Sera expected some circling around, reading one another, but that wasn’t the case.

Jason lunged for Parisa, teeth bared and snarling.

Parisa couldn’t dodge his first onslaught, but took it without being knocked to the ground.

She kept her footing and tried to use it to pin him to the ground, but Jason refused to go down.

She’d thought that Parisa would have taken him down in one go, proving how foolish he was. But they were more equally matched than she’d hoped.

Jason lunged at her again. This time Parisa didn’t try to dodge. She stood firm and took the brunt of his attack but still remained on all four paws and showed no signs of injury.

Once more Jason came at her, and Parisa dodged to the side at the last moment to make her first move. She sprung into action, leaping at him when he attempted to reorient himself after a failed attack. She managed to nip his ear but he flung her off like she was nothing.

Each time, Jason was the first to attack.

Parisa dodged and defended or attempted to attack.

Her feet started to skid a little more along the ground.

Her legs buckled beneath her more than once after Jason hurled another attack in her direction.

She was counter-attacking when she could but from the start it was clear that she was on the defensive.

Worry gnawed away at Sera’s stomach. Parisa had to have a plan. She had to.

Jason’s attacks didn’t let up. He showed no signs of slowing or burning through stamina. Unlike Parisa, he was firm on his feet and more aggressive with each passing second. He fought like he was trying to kill.

When Parisa hit the ground with a thud, Sera felt it in her chest. Parisa sprung back up, but the milliseconds she was on the ground were the most terrified Sera had felt in ages. The way Jason bounded towards her body with hate in his eyes made her feel helpless to stop whatever was happening.

The longer they fought, the more blood dripped onto the ground below. Some of it was Jason’s. More of it was Parisa’s. Their surface wounds healed instantly, but the deeper ones remained open, spilling on the ground and marking the clearing with signs of their struggle.

Parisa dug her back paws into the ground and lunged at Jason’s throat, claws tearing into his sides as she tried to pin him to the ground. Jason yelped, the sound melting into a fierce growl as he turned back towards her. But Parisa was already preparing another attack.

Sera shuddered, a wave of intense fear and nausea rolling through her. She shook where she stood, but tried to look strong in front of Jason’s witness. Parisa wouldn't want her to show weakness, no matter how much her heart was racing and sweat was dripping down her back.

The world sharpened around her. She could smell the forest in all its richness, could smell the blood on the ground, could hear her own heart beat like a heavy drum in her ears.

She knew this feeling. The wolf was coming to the surface.

Sera shoved her back inside, but there was no denying she was clawing to get out.

Jason yelped as his back hit the ground and Parisa sunk her teeth into his side. He righted himself, flinging Parisa off. Whatever Parisa had over him in years and experience, he made up for with sheer hatred.

Parisa’s back hit the ground. Jason lunged for her throat. His teeth sunk in as Parisa yelped, straining to shake him off.

Sera’s wolf broke free. Remnants of her ripped clothes dangled from her body as she rushed in to throw him off of Parisa.

Jason’s witness yelled, but Sera wasn’t listening.

She barrelled into Jason with every ounce of her strength, and he flew off to the side.

In a second he was back on his feet, spitting and growling with blood on his teeth, but Sera stood between him and Parisa.

Jason’s witness ran into the clearing. “Get her out of here!” He screamed. “The duel ends with no victor! We will do this again when this Alpha finds a better Beta than this trash who has no respect for traditions.”

The gravity of what Sera had just done hit her.

Slowly she turned around to look at Parisa, knowing she would find only anger, not gratitude.

Sera ducked her head low and refused to look up any more. Jason’s second was still speaking, but Sera couldn’t understand any of it. All she could feel was Parisa’s eyes on her, making the skin beneath her fur hot as shame and guilt washed over her.

Sera ran. She took off into the woods running away from both the clearing and the pack house. She ran until her lungs heaved with the need for breath and her legs collapsed beneath her.

Eventually she made it back into the house and snuck inside in her wolf form, ignoring the worried glances of her packmates and rushed up to her room to catch her breath and think about what she’d done.

There was nothing to say. She couldn’t defend her actions. Sera had acted out of fear.

The transition back to her human self hurt worse than usual, as though her entire body was resisting the change. Sera understood. She wanted to stay as the wolf, too. The wolf didn’t have to try to explain her feelings. The wolf had instincts and acted on them.

Sera had foolish emotions and acted on them.

She flopped down at the edge of her bed, wanting to cry but nothing came. Her stomach turned, guilt and confusion warring within her.

She had proved that she was not good enough to be Parisa’s Beta, let alone love her. Sera didn’t deserve her in any way.

Her fate was sealed. With her head down, skin hot with shame, she walked to Parisa’s study and waited. There was no use in hiding. The least she could do would be to face her Alpha with a shred of whatever pride she had left.

“You’re alright.” Sera jumped to her feet the moment Parisa limped through her study door.

“Why are you here?” Parisa snarled, heaving her worn body onto an uncomfortable wooden chair by the door. It creaked as she slid down into it, wounds already healed.

“I needed to wait for you. I needed to tell you I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? That’s what you have to say? A child’s apology? You made me look weak.” Parisa’s words dripped with anger.

“I’m sorry,” Sera repeated, voice cracking. “That wasn’t what I meant to do.”

“Who cares what you intended? Your impulsiveness means this whole nasty business has to start again.” Parisa stood in front of Sera, her form imposing and intimidating as if her wolf was still in control. “Maybe next time Wilma should stand beside me at the challenge. Not you.”

The last of Sera’s heart split in two. She cast her eyes down on the floor. “I think that’s for the best.”

Parisa laughed, the sound dark and joyless. “So where’s all your bite now, huh? Just like that you’ll bow your head and be done with it? Give up?”

“Yes. I will make amends for my choices as much as I can. I can’t go back and undo it, but going forward I can —”

“Why did you do it? Why did you jump in to save me? Did you think I would fall to him?”

“No! Never!” Sera shouted, her head snapping up so her eyes could meet Parisa’s. That hadn’t been it. Not really.

“Then why did you do it?” The fury in Parisa’s body was coming off her in waves that made the air thick and hard to breathe.

“I don’t know.”

“You cast doubt on my authority and capability in front of a challenger and you don’t know why?”

Sera kept her head bowed as hot tears prickled the backs of her eyes. “I don’t know,” she said again, repeating it like some foolish mantra to keep the truth from spilling out.

“Get out,” Parisa ordered.

Sera left with her head down.