“Shite!” she groaned still holding her battered abdomen. Her breath coming in shallow pants.
“You are the mighty Hybrid?” he chuckled. “My grandmother could take you and she’s on her deathbed. The very sight of you disgusts me. Neither Were nor Romani, but some abomination of both. Pathetic and weak. You bring shame to your clan. Sorry. I forgot. You don’t have a clan. No pack would claim you, half-breed.”
Her mind snapped back to the present and she was able to come to a sitting position.
“Insult me all you want, little man, but in the end, I’ll be the one laughing and you’ll just be fertilizer.”
The wiry man’s eyes glowed, his wolf straining against his skin. “What did you call me?”
“Little man,” she smirked. She had always been sensitive about her height; she figured he would be too. After all, he was only 5’5”, not very tall for a man. “You heard me, pup.”
“Who are you calling a pup? Bitch.”
“Get me another challenger,” she yelled into the still night. “I’m insulted by your pick. What is he…the runt of the liter?” Rage flickered in his eyes, nostrils flared, teeth elongated. And she knew she had him.
“Grrr,” he growled, shifting back to fur and abandoning his quiver. “I’m going to fucking eat your liver!”
Knowing she didn’t have much time, she sprinted toward the discarded arrows and grabbed two. As Javon lunged toward her, she lunged at him, both bodies meeting in midair. He in his wolf. She in skin. Holding one arrow in each fist, she stabbed him through both right and left temples simultaneously. There was an excruciating yelp as his body landed in a dead heap upon the ground with her straddling him. Blood and brain matter oozing out of the two lethal wounds onto her hands.
That was her undoing. Her stomach pitched and protested until everything in it exited. Horrified, she stood dry heaving and gasping. Maybe death would be better.
“Go back to your position,” the official whispered, his face wearing a shocked expression, but one of admiration as well.
Messed-up freaks!
*****
“How are you holding up?” Antonio asked.
Gasping for breath, she managed to hiss, “I can’t do this anymore. I quit.”
“You cannot quit now, Raina.” It was strange hearing Nicolae use her first name.
“Who says I can’t?”
“Tradition says,” Blaine announced sternly.
“Fuck tradition! I quit. They can take the Covenant and the scrolls and shove them up their collective arse.”
Blaine’s voice was stern as he continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “If you don’t complete the trial you will be executed.”
Snarling, eyes opened wide, she inquired, “Who makes up these asinine rules?”
Completely, ignoring her comment, Antonio’s voice came to the forefront. “There is only one more…that Janet bird.”
Nicolae tried to comfort her saying, “She is a woman. It should not be that difficult to win. Finish this, so we can go home.”
“Chauvinist,” she accused rolling her eyes.
“Raina, you need to focus,” Antonio reminded.
“They made me kill two people. Two.” She counted on her fingers. “I’m a murderer.”
“It was kill or be killed,” Nicolae huffed interrupting her statement. “Stop your moaning and concentrate. There will be time after all of this is over to wallow.”
Wallow? The man had the empathy of a fruit fly.
“Chew on some of the herbs,” Blaine reminded.
Without complaint, she did. The taste of it biting and disgusting. Fortunately, it eased her nausea.
“What’s the next battle strategy?” she managed to ask.
“I don’t know.” Blaine’s typically soothing voice sounded strained and unsure. “I’m not familiar with American packs or their training methods. I’ve never seen a woman as a challenger at any competition or tournament. Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Perfect,” Raina proclaimed with a slightly sarcastic inflection. Perfect.
*****
“The last trial of the night is upon us,” the official bellowed. “Two challengers have fallen. Both died well. Both brought honor to their packs. May the gods smile upon those who remain.” He paused as if in deep thought. “Will the last challenger please take your position within the circle?”
As Janet walked to her position, long red tresses French braided hung past her waist, Raina took note of the emotionless veneer secured on the woman’s lovely features. She felt her stomach begin to roil again. It was easier fighting Arsayas and Javon. She didn’t know them. It was easier to distance herself emotionally. But Janet? Janet was a coworker, acquaintance, and her boss for over a month. Someone she chatted with over coffee or complained to during long, boring business lunches. She even knew the woman’s favorite boy band.
“It was you. Wasn’t it?” The scene at the pier played over in Raina’s mind. “You killed those men. Barney said a massive copper-colored dog attacked them.”
“Clever girl,” she spoke, eyes targeting her victim.
“Why? Why would you kill them when they wanted me dead and apparently so do you?”
“I couldn’t let you die in some back alleyway somewhere. Where is the honor in that?”
“This is honorable?”
“I wasn’t thinking about your honor,” her boss chuckled. “I was thinking about my own. I will become legendary if I kill the so-called Hybrid. I would be the first female Were to have competed and survived the Battlefield. Who knows? Maybe one day, I’ll be the first female Alpha.” Janet gave a toothy grin. “Think of the positive impact your death will have on our people.”
“You’re insane,” Raina scoffed, seeing the woman in a new light.
“I’m ambitious,” Janet clarified. “For thousands of years, females have been considered property. Lesser than the males. Weaker. Only suitable for producing pups or fucking. When I win this trial, that will all change. Females will be equals and you, my friend, will be a part of the greater good.”
“You got the job at the paper to…”
“Keep an eye one you. Make sure nothing happened to you before the trials. My original intent was to kill you myself, but then I couldn’t prove I was the one who did the deed. I needed witnesses and what better arena than the Battlefield, surrounded by hundreds of packs, to prove my superiority.”
“I’m gonna enjoy putting you down.” The words rushed past Raina’s lips before she could stop them, but once they were out…it was exactly what she planned on doing.
“Whoa,” Antonio pleaded, “don’t get too cocky, sweetheart. Like Blaine said, we don’t know what you’re up against with this woman.”
“She may know me better than I’d like, but the same is true for me. I’ve gotten to know her over the past month and I’m sure I can decipher a few tells on her part as well.”
“Whatever you think is best, sweetheart,” Antonio grumbled.
“Are you ready?” The official looked between Raina and the red head then raised his arm. “Let the trial begin.”
Before his words sunk-in, Janet was on her landing several powerful blows to her face. Raina protected her features long enough to hear in the back of her mind Blaine mutter, “Damn, she’s good!”
“Not helping, Blaine,” she rebuked. “What should I do? She’s fast and bloody strong.”
“Give me a minute.” Her mind went quiet. “She’s got five inches on you. She hasn’t shifted yet or used her weapon, maybe she’s strictly hand-to-hand.”
“Use my weapon-thingy then?”
“I would,” Blaine concurred.
Ducking under Janet’s next punch, Raina sidestepped, removed the weapon from her pocket and held it in front of her. The object warmed in her hand and then suddenly grew from a six inch cylindrical object to the length of a six foot staff with two gleaming silver points on either end.
“Great Mother of the Universe,” Raina bl
urted in shock. Seeing the now formidable weapon in her opponent’s hand, Janet stopped mid-punch, and stared at the object. The spectators went silent.
“What is that?” Blaine’s voice was low and cautious.
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Her eyes widened as the device felt like an extension of her arm.
“How did you activate it?” Nicolae’s question brought her back to the present.
“Again with the moronic questions,” she blurted as her body instinctively darted out of the way as Janet charged again, knocking the weapon out of her hands. It immediately went back to its original, non-lethal form. What the arse?
“Forget about it!” Nicolae ordered. “Hit her. Kick her. Do something.”
At his heated request, she shifted, leaped at her opponent and was shocked when Janet did the same. Both colliding in midair in a furry ball of slashing claws and gnawing fangs. Both tearing at flesh. Both fueled by the need to survive.
“You’re better than I thought you’d be,” Janet growled, just before her teeth sank into the side of Raina’s neck.
“Stropping cow!” she growled back, swiping at Janet’s thick copper coat, satisfied when several rivulets of crimson stained the bitch’s fur.
At the same time, they pushed away releasing each other from their grips. Raina’s head was swimming. Arms trembling from the continuous blows she had endured during the past three hours.
“Get your weapon,” Antonio’s gruff voice now echoing the fatigue she felt.
Desperately, she looked around the ground for the object, knowing it should have been somewhere nearby. “I don’t see it.”
“Are you looking for this?” Janet stood in skin the color of fresh cream, body athletic and limber. Her wild red tresses now hung loosely around her toned shoulders. Stern jade eyes narrowed into condemning slits…slits that were glued on her. Raina felt a sudden panic attack forming. “It’s beautiful.” The woman continued examining the unassuming object. “Does it belong to you? How do you make it work?”
Raina scoffed, “Like I’d tell you how to activate it. Figure it out on your own…boss.”
“Always with the jokes.” The terrifying grin Janet produced caused Raina’s knees to tremble.
“See,” Nicolae rebuked, “your inappropriate sense of humor does not only irritate me.”
“Not now.” Antonio came to her defense.
“Damn it!” The little patience she had seeped out of her exhausted form. “All of you be quiet! I can’t concentrate with all of this conversing going on in my head.”
Before the words had found their unseen targets, Raina felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. The pain…no pain was to weak a word to describe the burning sensation that was rapidly spreading from the wound to her outer extremities.
“Fuck!” All three men gasped as she fell to her knees then to her side, looking down at the small puddle of garnet liquid pooling under her hip. Time slowed down as she watched Janet walking toward her, a victorious gleam in her eyes and a broad smile on her pouty lips.
Oh father! This was it. The vision of dying on the Battlefield settled upon her and she felt…relieved.
“Get up!” Blaine’s outraged roar floated down from where they stood watching her impending demise.
“Raina,” Nicolae spoke her name with such reverence she almost felt guilty for not wanting to continue.
“I’m so tired,” she whined. Her limbs were going numb as she lay hemorrhaging on the blood-soaked ground of the once lush meadow. She could see it in her mind. How beautiful it must have been once…
*****
“Raina Jacobs, you better fuckin’ get up!”
Antonio? Yes. It was Antonio’s voice that pulled her from the precipice she stood on looking out onto the Battlefield of the past.
It was so different. Wildflowers were everywhere…daffodils, wild heather, lilac, and daisies, all in an array of hues and sizes. All verdant and alive dotting the rolling green hills that resembled pages of a child’s picture book. Further away, formidable, purple mountains guarded the distant horizon. The scene too beautiful for words to give justice.
And she was there. Lying lackadaisically in the outstretching field, enjoying the warm sunshine caressing her skin. The light so bright she had to squint to keep from…
“Stop it!” The damn Spaniard interrupted her vision. “You’re not fuckin’ dying tonight. Do you hear me? You. Fuckin’. Little girl!”
“Why do you have to call me that? Can’t you see I’m knocking on Heaven’s door at the moment?” Pausing to giggle, she added, “Hey! That’s a song.”
“Yeah,” Antonio’s tone cool, “that’s what you’re good at. Isn’t it? Giving up. Running away. I’m not surprised. After all, it’s what you’ve always done.”
“That’s not true,” she hissed, feeling a bit more tethered to the Earth. “I don’t give up.”
“Bollocks!” The ire in his current statement surprised her. “Fine. Lay there and die. Maybe when this is all over, I’ll have a go with that cute redhead that’s currently standing over you. Holy shite! Look at the pair of tits on that bird.”
That did it. Her eyes flew open. Fists balled tightly ready to strike. And she did. She bolted into a seated position as Janet leaned over her with the six inch curving dagger ready to finish the job. Raina struck with such force she felt her fist as it bypassed skin. Then flesh. Finally bone. She stood…face to face…toe to toe…staring into jade eyes slowly losing their fire. Glancing down, she understood why. In her hand, she held Janet’s still beating heart. Warm, viscous fluid dripped down her arm onto her naked body.
Oh! My! Goodness!
Immediately, her body slumped back to the barren ground. Her heart thumped in her ears. Her vision blurred. The last thing she felt was the warmth of Duncan’s embrace as he gently lifted her cold body into his arms. He was warm and strong and felt like home. Closing her eyes, she lost consciousness and was finally able to rest.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Ouch! That hurts.” It was difficult not to wince as Nicolae applied more ointment to her wound after stitching the four inch gash closed. She’d never been happier for morphine. Whoever invented the potent, but necessary drug was number one on her Christmas list. Oh, yeah. Her dad’s company manufactured the stuff. It was nifty stuff. “You’re adorable,” she mumbled as the scowling Romani continued tending to her battle scars.
“Thank you,” he said, avoiding eye contact.
“And you,” she said, winking playfully at Blaine, who was currently standing, arms folded across his broad, muscular chest, giving her a sympathetic glower. “You…are looking mighty tasty…Blaine.” What kind of psychedelic trip was she on?
“You, my dear, Raina, are higher than a kite. Aren’t you?” His expression turned into a small grin.
“Yup.” She giggled grabbing Nicolae’s arse which was the closest in proximity. “Oh!” Waggling her brows like Groucho Marks she asked, “You work out a lot, huh?”
“Okay,” Duncan chuckled. “It’s time for you to go to bed.”
“Sounds good to me.” She tried to sit up, but lost her equilibrium and fell back onto the soft mattress. Laughing loudly, she informed, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
Duncan ordered the others out of the room. Including, Mrs. Radu, who had brought her some hot tea and a few Walker’s Shortbread Biscuits. They were her favorites.
Gently, he removed her robe, avoiding all of the major bruises and lacerations she had received during the past several hours. A concerned scowl marred his handsome features.
“Don’t worry, Duncan.” She touched his cheek lovingly. “They don’t hurt anymore.”
“I’m sure they don’t with all of the narcotics Nicolae pumped into you.”
“I did well tonight, right?” she asked on a rather loud, unladylike yawn.
“You did better than well, my precious darling. You were amazing.”
“I have to do it all again tomorrow night.�
��
“Unfortunately, yes,” he frowned, smoothing down her unruly tresses.
“Did you remember to grab my weapon-stick-thingy from the Battlefield?”
Smiling he reassured, “Yes, your weapon-stick-thingy is on the bedside table beside you.”
“Good,” she grinned. “I don’t know what it does yet, but it feels like it belongs to me. It’s mine. No one else can have it.”
“I tend to agree with that assumption.” Looking away, he continued to arrange the pillows behind her head. “Here ya go.” When he was finished, he handed her the steaming teacup filled with another unique Romani remedy. “This will heal these wounds completely. By tomorrow, you’ll be good as new.”
Taking the cup from him, she admitted softly, “I don’t want to be the Hybrid, Duncan.”
“I know you don’t, darling, but you are.”
“It still could be a mistake.”
“The way I saw you move on the Battlefield tonight…there’s no doubt about it in my mind that you are. I always knew you were bound for greatness. I just didn’t realize the magnitude of it.”
“What will the next trial be like?”
“It will test your integrity, loyalty, and honor. And also your ability to make appropriate choices. It will test your leadership abilities and the packs will see how you solve problems.”
“Can’t I take the written test instead?” she joked as he frowned.
“Always with the…”
“…jokes.” Her tea beckoned her, and she drank every last drop of the sweet concoction that reminded her of PG Tips with lots of cream and sugar. Instantly, her insides warmed. A few seconds later, she had consumed all of the biscuits Mrs. Radu had left. A satisfied smile graced her lips as a blanket of sleep descended upon her fatigued form. “Goodnight, Duncan,” she said yawning again. “See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning.” He kissed her forehead then left, leaving the door slightly ajar. “May the angels watch over ya.” Then he disappeared down the darkened hallway.
Lup Teren (Wolf Land Series Book 1) Page 20