by G. Bailey
I glance at their muscular bodies, a twinge of desire flickering through me. “Even now, I want them despite being pissed.”
“Angry sex is the best, by the way,” she tells me. “All that tension…”
I almost choke on thin air, looking at my younger sister like she is insane. “Let’s change the subject.”
“Okay, if you’re going to sneak away to see these witchy wolves”—she keeps her voice low—“you damn well better bring me along. I want to be your omega when you win this rite and become alpha female. Omegas protect.”
My chest warms…even though I’m not ever putting her in danger, and I think she knows that. “Who said I was sneaking out?”
“Please,” she laughs. “I’m not as oblivious as those four.”
We go up a winding staircase at the back of the throne room, and after a few dozen steps, I hear the whistling of the air coming through the cracks in the stone walls. Eventually we come out onto a balcony, and in the middle is the clock tower, the massive bell at the same level we are on.
Henderson steps back. “The bell is rung for three reasons. One ring is for a new alpha being born. Two are an alpha mating ceremony. Three are for war or an attack on the city.”
“Let’s hope the bell is never rung three times,” I say.
“The world is full of angels, and we are the only race dangerous to them. The bell will be rung... I only want us to be ready for when it is,” Henderson replies, and I turn to see Ragnar looking at us, a smile on his lips.
“I’m still pissed at you all,” I reply, crossing my arms as I start to hear a slow building chant getting louder and louder. I realise it’s a chant of the gods, a lullaby Mike told me once. It gets louder, deafeningly loud as we all reach the edge of the balcony wall and look down. The courtyard is crammed with people and wolves. Many of them are holding lanterns that make it look like there’s a million stars on the floor, and it’s a special and memorable view. It takes my breath away, seeing so many people crammed into the courtyard and the forest, filling every bit of space. They cheer and chant, crying out my alphas’ names. I hear my own name and Adira’s repeated in the crowds, too.
“Our gods and goddesses have come home. The future has just begun,” Alpha Soren says, his words feeling as powerful as they sound.
I stare over the sea of stars that are people, and for the first time, I realise what it will be to be an alpha female to a pack of this size. To make decisions that could risk their lives, to run a pack, to be at their side to help them in any way I can. Part of me is terrified, and another part of me wonders if I can do it, if I can be a strong alpha female like Reine.
I guess all I can do is try.
Because I belong in this city, in this pack...and in The Rite of Wolves.
“Too slow,” Silas growls, easily whipping himself around me as I pant breathlessly and narrow my eyes as sweat drips over my tight clothes. I hate and equally love training, but Silas is a smug bastard at the best of times. And it’s the worst in here. I lift my daggers in my sweaty hands and brace myself once more. His eyes look me over, assessing me from head to toe in a calculating way that sets my blood alight. “What are you doing wrong?”
“You don’t want to tell me, all knowing master?” I bait him. I shouldn’t, not with the way he always reacts when I tease him during training.
At least I make it fun in my own sadistic way.
His eyes flare, and he moves swiftly with his own dagger. I block, only to lose my footing and stumble back. He is on me in seconds, pinning me to the mat, his dagger at my throat as my arse burns from the impact with the floor. I struggle underneath him as he easily holds me down, and he smirks. “Smartass, your core wasn’t tight, and you are favouring your left still. It’s a weakness, not one I want to see.”
He doesn’t move for a second, and this reminds me of the days we met, when he trained me from a weak girl into one who could do this. I flip him off me with my legs and bounce up, jumping away from him, using his tiny distraction. He glowers at me as he flips up in one smooth move I couldn’t do if I tried.
Sweat pours down my back from the hours of training, starting so damn early this morning that the sun hadn’t even risen as I walked the dark corridors to this place. It’s a long room with tall ceilings and rows of seating on one side and yellow mat-covered floors designed to soften a blow.
“My turn. Mai should take a break,” Henderson states, offering me a bottle of water and stepping into the circle marked on the floor. I give him a thankful look as I walk to the seating and sit next to my sister, who is sweaty and tired from training, too.
I drink my water as Henderson pulls his shirt off, revealing his glistening, corded, muscular chest, broad shoulders, thick arms and slim waist. Silas leaves his white shirt on, but the sweat reveals some of his massive build and trained body beneath. They both grab swords from the table of weapons, and Henderson flips his sword in his hand before getting into a stance.
“If I liked males, this would be a good show,” Phim sighs. She would be right. Seeing them like this burns something in my blood, in my core and soul. I could watch them fight all day, watch the sweat drip down their muscles, and imagine running my tongue—
Phim nudges my shoulder, and she grins at me, no doubt reading my mind. I lower my voice as Silas attacks, Henderson blocking and shoving him away in one swoop. “I want you to shadow Adira in the castle. It was easy to watch her on the train, but here? Not so much.”
Henderson attacks next, and they meet blow for blow, never missing a beat. They are equally matched. Silas is stronger, but Henderson is quick, as he moves like a ghost in the ring, and it’s mesmerising to watch. I feel Phim’s eyes on me, but I don’t look her way. “Consider it an omega-in-training order.”
“I’d do it anyway, as your sister,” Phim replies and nods. “But I will do it. I don’t think she should be left alone in the city either.”
“A snake in a chicken’s nest,” I murmur.
Phim doesn’t need to say a word; I feel her agreement as the alphas brutally clash their swords together and move like water in a river, fluid and graceful. I’m not sure who is going to win until Henderson makes a mistake, stepping to the right when he shouldn’t have, and Silas’s sword is in the space, the tip on his neck within moments. Only the tiniest break, that’s all he needed to find a way in and end it. Henderson chuckles and pats Silas’s shoulder, both of them talking about moves and countermoves.
“I’m going to shower,” I tell Phim, knowing my alphas will overhear. Phim nods before I leave the seats and head to the door and out into the corridor. The corridors are confusing, but somehow I find myself back at the bottom of the stairway of statues that leads to the courtyard, and I walk up them, pausing in front of Persephone, looking for something in the stillness of the statue’s eyes. I don’t know how long I stare at her, her beauty shining through even the statue, but suddenly Trey comes hurtling down the steps, a female chasing after him. His eyes widen, and he crashes into me. I embrace him back, breathing in his scent.
“This castle is amazing,” he exclaims in a hurry. “Want to see something cool?”
“Always,” I say as he grabs my hand and pulls me along. I chuckle, looking back at the female, who is kind. I can tell from her eyes of honey, her soft face and general demeanour, and how quickly she hurries after us. We head around corners and down a flight of stairs before we come to a door, and Trey opens it. It’s a sweet bedroom, filled with children’s toys, from a large dollhouse to a piano in the corner, and wooden toy planes lie on a mat on the ground in front of a fireplace. Trey drags me through the room that scents of him—his new bedroom, I assume—to the back where there is a small dog bouncing in an area with a wooden fence. Its fur is black, and it barks, yapping at Trey as he leans down to pick it up.
“It’s a wolvenhound pup,” the female who followed us explains. “They are given to our royal young to teach them commitment and caring and loyalty as part of a tradition. It
will live eighteen years and be a fierce animal to behold.”
“Alpha Reine said even though I’m just a ward of the alpha heirs, I am considered royalty and should be given a pup,” Trey says.
I pat his shoulder. “I agree, and you are not just anything. You’re my family and theirs too.”
He blushes and nods, looking at the female. “Cinder, can we take Fido for a walk around the castle? I know we aren’t meant to let him leave the room for a few days, but...”
Cinder smiles and winks at Trey. “Only if it’s our secret.”
“Yes,” Trey shouts and rushes to the door. “Are you coming, Mai?”
I pat Cinder’s arm. “Thank you for looking after him.”
“It’s an honour, Mairin Fall. I was not blessed with a babe in my mating, and I worked hard to come here in hopes of helping raise a royal child. Trey is a blessing from the gods.”
I smile at her. “If you need anything, come to me.”
She blushes and bows her head. “Good luck in the rite, Mairin. There are many, like myself, praying for you. Many females who already had the alpha heirs’ hearts might not have held up our traditions and taken the rite... We respect you dearly for it and pray the gods reward you.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as Trey calls for me again, his wolvenhound yapping away. I incline my head towards Cinder before leaving with Trey.
Respect is earnt, and I hope I’ve made the best choice.
“There isn’t anything to worry about. You look magnificent!” Erin claims as I meet her eyes in the mirror.
“I would look less pale if I didn’t have to walk out in basically nothing,” I mutter, returning my gaze to my reflection. My dress, if it can be called that, is white, thin and lacy, only covering up my breasts and between my legs with thicker material. Erin and two other females have drawn moons, swirls, birds and symbols in black paint across my stomach, arms, legs and back. My eyes have two swirls coming out the edges, going around my eyebrows and meeting to make a moon on the middle of my forehead. My lips are ruby red, the only bit of colour left on my pale body. My blonde hair has been braided a million times, connected at the nape of my neck in a complicated bun. “You really do look like a goddess tonight. And all you have to do is walk up the steps and pledge your blood to the rite.”
“Then shift and run with the alphas through the city,” I remind her. “Oh! You missed out on how I have to pledge myself in front of the entire city and see the other six women who have entered the rite.”
“Technically, the whole city won’t be able to see—” I gently whack her arm, and she chuckles. “Look, it’s a good thing only seven were accepted into the rite. The last rite, there were eleven.”
It’s still six females to fight, to battle against, to possibly kill. I’ve taken lives, and sometimes, more often than not, when I close my eyes, I see their life slipping away. I see the moment their life left their eyes like it just happened, and it hurts me to remember the bit of my soul that was tainted with each death.
Phim opens the door and comes in, followed by Henderson. His eyes go wide as he stops in his tracks, his scent immediately changing, heavily laced with thick desire, filling every one of my senses and making it impossible to notice anything else about him. My eyes lock onto his, the very colour of pale blue ice on a frozen lake.
“Alpha Heir Henderson,” Erin squeaks, bowing her head. Henderson doesn’t take his eyes off me, and I feel like his prey, like I am being hunted, and I have no interest in running from him. Henderson is one of the most handsome males I’ve ever seen in my life. All my alphas are handsome, but Henderson has an otherworldly beauty to his features, to him, that fully draws me to him. I can’t always look away, wanting to trace my fingers over his high cheekbones, his pouty lips and strong jawline.
“Erin and I will wait outside,” Phim suggests, winking at me. Erin keeps her head bowed as she follows Phim out of the room. The sound of the door shutting seems so much louder than it is. I can only hear my heart beating as Henderson takes me in, his eyes caressing my body.
I feel a shiver of pleasure that makes my heart pound even faster.
“Can I kiss you?”
My chest rises and falls fast. “I can’t be touched...the paint.”
“Fuck,” he grumbles, his eyes flickering red. “I want to kiss every inch of you, Mai.”
Heat spreads through me. “I wouldn’t stop you.”
His eyes flicker fully red this time, his wolf taking over as a possessive growl rumbles out of his chest, and I feel the growl throughout my body. I try to distract myself, my own wolf reacting within me.
“Henderson, aren’t you meant to be getting ready for the rite?”
His eyes bleed back, and he takes a deep breath. “Yes. I wanted you to do something for me.”
I tilt my head to the side, curious, pausing as he undoes his shirt button by button, and I’m helpless to do anything but watch. His moon marks are on his lower arms, spread over his muscles, and I end up staring at his corded, muscular chest.
“I want you to paint the markings on me,” he says, pointing at the paint pot on the side.
I look up at him, pulling my eyes from his chest. “Painting is not one of my hidden skills, Henderson. I would mess it up.”
“I don’t care. I want you to do it,” he replies, crossing his arms. I gulp.
“I have no idea what to paint on you. Surely there’s someone else who can do this?”
“No. My brothers are painting on themselves, as they do have hidden painting skills, but I don’t. I need and want your help,” he replies. “I’m selfishly looking forward to having you touch me when I can’t touch you.”
“Sounds like torture,” I respond.
He smirks at me, his voice deeper when he speaks. “If done right, it’s the sweetest pleasure, Mai.”
I know we aren’t talking about painting anymore.
I look away, feeling his amusement at my reaction. Damn alpha males. “Alright, but don’t blame me if you look terrible when this is done.”
I look back to see Henderson running his hand through his thick black hair. “Noted.”
I go to get the paint and the brush that was used for my painting and instruct him to sit down on the bed. I climb on my bed behind him, blowing out a breath. After undoing the lid of the paint, I dip the brush into the thick black ink. Starting in the middle of his back and drawing over his corded muscles, I watch every reaction he has when I occasionally touch him with my fingers. He holds himself tensely, a sweet torture, as I draw swirls and moons all over his back and shoulders, trying to mimic what was done on my own body.
“Why do people wear these marks?” I question as I climb off the bed and go around, standing in front of him. He moves to the edge of the bed and parts his large legs, placing his hands on his knees. I step between his legs, careful to not let his legs touch mine and ruin the paint.
I stare at him for a minute, both of us locking eyes with so much tension building in the room.
“It’s in tribute to the gods,” he tells me. “When you win the rite, and you will win it…” I smile softly as he reaches up and carefully drifts his fingers over my cheek where there is no paint. I resist the urge to lean my cheek into his hand. “When you win, you will get power given to you by the gods in the forms of marks. Every alpha female does.”
The marks on Alpha Reine’s forehead make more sense now. She was given them for winning The Rite of Wolves. “When you walk out of that forest at the end, you will be more powerful than you ever have been. Naturally, wolves will follow you and die to protect you. The pack will bow, and you won’t be challenged. Alpha females are a law to themselves.”
“I nearly challenged your mother,” I say, cringing.
He grins. “She hasn’t had anyone even hold eye contact for more than a minute in a long time. I think you shocked her to her boots.”
I smile as I start to paint on his shoulder, following the swirl on his back.
�
�Being who you are, Mai,” he carries on, “means none of us can predict what is going to happen when you win the rite and become our alpha female. Did you know we never planned to do the rite?”
“Really?” I ask.
He nods. “There is only one female in this world and the next we would take as a mate. Only one, and the rite is a waste of time for us. We will be alphas and choose you. Only and always you.”
My heart pounds as I smile. “I want to do the rite. This is about more than us.”
“I know, and it’s why none of us will try to stop you.”
“I’d like to see you try,” I reply with a grin that makes him laugh deeply.
“Tell me why you want to be alpha female, other than to have the best mates in the world,” Henderson questions.
“Best mates in the world?” I ask, arching an eyebrow, and he shrugs, knocking my paintbrush and making an odd brush mark on his arm.
I glare at him, and he laughs, making the area look even worse. “Okay, okay. Shush, you.”
He pretends to zip his lips, and I chuckle.
I carry on painting onto his collarbone. “I want to be alpha female to put our people first and build a better world that’s not going to be like the one that I grew up in from twelve years old. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”
I pause and lean back before continuing. “I’ve been thinking about the kind of pack that I want to be in, and I know on behalf of all females, I don’t want females to be forced into things that they don’t want to do, and I want them to have the same opportunities males do. I don’t want anything to be like the Ravensword Pack and how they treat their females. Even here, I saw only three female betas in comparison to thirty-odd males at that meal. The numbers should be close, if not even. I want to free my people from Ravensword, even if they may have never looked after me, and they really should rot in hell, most of them, but not all of them. I want to go back and save them from the life they are forced to live, that their children are forced to live.”