by Scott, Rae
Both men bowed to the Council a sign of their acceptance of the terms. Aryana felt her eyes start to water. She was truly terrified of what would happen to Darian in his weakened condition. The head of the Council Banged his staff again and returned to his chair.
Darian and Stephen returned to the center of the circle and stood about 6 feet apart facing each other. Both where in fighting stances and watching the other. At first it seemed like they were just going to circle around each other, Then Stephen lunged.
Darian stepped back bracing himself as he absorbed the impact of the other man’s body and took a fist to the left side of his face. Both men went tumbling over into a pile. Before Aryana could blink they became a tumbling mass of fists and kicks..
Finally Darian was able to propel Stephen off of him with the use of his feet. He rolled up and onto the balls of his feet. When Stephen came up onto the balls of his feet Aryana’s eyes went wide in fear. Stephen had started to change. His fingers extended and twisted becoming claws. His shirt ripped apart as the muscles in his chest back and arm grew. His nose and mouth grew longer as if they were being pulled and sharp fangs extended. He slowly became half wolf, half man.
Aryana looked at a weakened Darian with fear, worry and anxiety in her entire body. He was trying to call upon his wolf to help him but he was to weak. He was only able to manage a small amount of transformation. His hands had extended into claws and his muscles had grown but nowhere near like Stephens had. To Aryana’s horror reality sunk in as she realized the grim truth of the situation. Stephen was going to kill Darian. No! It couldn’t happen! Darian as her Pure Mate. She just knew it as sure as her heart was beating. She couldn’t allow Darian to die, without him she was nothing!
She sat frozen as she watched Stephen charge Darian. Darian brought his arms up to try to defend himself but it was no use. Stephen was to strong. She watched as Stephens fangs clamped down on Darian’s shoulder and he was shaken like a doll. When Stephen released him blood poured from the wounds. Darian staggered trying to regain his footing, disoriented from the pain and blood loss. Stephen took advantage and swiped at Darian sending him flying through the air to land on the edge of the lit challenge area.
Aryan couldn’t take it. She just couldn’t take it anymore. Traditions be damned she wasn’t going to let the man and wolf she loved die alone in some stupid battle of testosterone. Knowing it was against the rules but not caring she launched herself from her chair and ran as fast as she could to Darian’s side. She didn’t even hear the cries of outrage from the council.
He lay in a crumbled heap unmoving. When she got to him he was on his side and she rolled him to his back. Tears were streaming down her face. He was so still and so pale. His shoulder and upper torso were covered in deep wounds, each oozing blood. “Darian?”
She ran her hands over his face trying to rouse him “Darian can you hear me?” Still receiving no response she kept trying. “Darian don’t you dare leave me? Do you hear me? Your my Pure mate and don’t even think your allowed to leave me now that I found you! Please Darian, I love you. Please don’t leave me alone.”
Aryana froze. The low guttural, primal snarl had reached her ears. As if in slow motion she raised her head and looked at a Stephen that was completely foreign to her. He pawed the ground with eyes that glowed bright yellow. Looking down at an unconscious Darian she knew she couldn’t let Stephen hurt him. Not without trying to stop him. Anger welled up inside her. How dare they put her in this position? How DARE Stephen try to kill her Pure Mate? Hadn’t she lost enough in her life already? Hadn’t she gone through enough heartache and pain to not deserve this? She raised her eyes back up to the beast glaring at her. Its intent was clear. Darian was going to die. She had lost so much already, she couldnt lose Darian too. She felt something in her snap. She wasnt going to let Darian be taken from her while she still breathed. She would kill Stephen if she had to. Pack Law could go straight to hell. She didnt even hear the yells of the council for her to return to her seat. Her eyes deadlocked onto Stephen. All the pain and suffering Aryana had felt her entire life finally started to well up inside of her.
“No. I won’t let you.” Slowly Aryana stood up. She felt no fear or nervousness just pure determination and confidence. She wasn’t going to let this happen. Stephen charged, intent on getting to Darian even if it meant killing Aryana in the process.
Renault pulled up to the Alpha house and hurried out of the vehicle. AS fast as he could he ran down to the challenge area. His heir was there. He could feel them but something was off. He could tell what but what he saw as he rounded the platform froze him in his tracks.
“NO! You will not hurt him!” She screamed and suddenly it felt as if her very soul had burst open. Wind started whipping itself around her causing her long hair to fly back and her whole body started to glow. The flood lights lighting the area exploded and there was a loud crack of thunder.
In the blink of an eye her eyes turned a fiery orange color and magical energy burst from her as her body morphed, Her ears extended and became pointed, her hands became long and claw like. The magical energy discharged from her body just as Stephen had leaped in for the killer blow. It sent him backwards flying through the air to the opposite end of the area, the thrones and council members where tossed from the platform by the amount of wind it generated. As three lightning bolts struck the ground in front of Aryana.
Stunned the council members were slowly picking themselves up off the ground to see both challengers lying unconscious on opposite ends of the challenge area. Across the arena stood a silver figure a regal smile upon its lips. Aryana was in front of Darian staggering. She dropped to her knees and her vision was starting to go blurry when she realized someone was starting to walk up to her.
Renault stared at the girl. Shock on his face. It couldn’t be, could it? But Lluna had said… “Dorthea?”
She blinked trying to clear her vision and just before she blacked out the man in front of her became clear. “Daddy?” she said softly and collapsed to the ground in a heap.
Aryana woke up to find she was back in her room. Darian was sitting in a chair beside her bed sleeping. She watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest and relished in the quiet comfortable knowledge that he was alive and by her side. Darian had just started to rouse himself when the door opened. In came Samuel followed by…. Aryana sat up quickly as the memory of the man and the night before came flooding back. It COULDN’T be her father, he had died but this man looked and even carried himself like her father had..
Darian quickly woke up once he realized who was in the room with them. He watched as Renault never took his eyes of Aryana. SHIT… if the Supreme Alpha decided to claim her has his mate there was nothing Darian could do. His heart hammered in his chest.
Samuel broke the uneasy silence first. “Aryana, I want you to meet our Supreme Alpha, Renault Ahlf, he would like to speak with you privately if that is ok with you.”
Aryana reached out blindly and grasped Darian’s hand. He held on tightly as if he was afraid to let her go. She gave him a reassuring squeeze and a gentle smile and then nodded her consent to Samuel. This man who looked like her father caused her no fear.
Grasping his sons arm Samuel practically dragged Darian behind him from the room. Once outside he shut the door and turned to the large guard. “No one enters until the Supreme Alpha leaves, understood?” The guard nodded and took up his post.
Giving his son a hard look Samuel finally spoke. “I could never understand why he didn’t take a mate, but I think I do now. Do not and I am warning you DO NOT even try to go in there or you will be put in the dungeon with Stephen is that clear?”
Darian nodded silently and cast a long look over his shoulder at the door before following his father to his office. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be seeing Aryana again unless it was by the side of the Supreme Alpha.
Chapter 22 Time for a change
Aryana sat on the bed and watched the man watching her.
He looked exactly like her father and how it was possible she didn’t know. He father had been an only child.
Renault stared at her. His heart pounded hard and fast. How she looked like his beloved Dorthea. His heart ached at the years lost with his wife, and for the pain and grief he had caused but to have this girl here! To have found his heir was not a male but a female! To have found not a grandson but a granddaughter! How his heart leapt with joy. He sat in the chair Darian had vacated before he spoke. “You look exactly like your grandmother, except for the eyes. Their a different color then hers were.”
Aryana narrowed her eyes at the man. “How do you know my grandmother?”
“I know her and loved her. I am your grandfather, Aryana.”
“You’re a liar, my grandfather is dead.”
“No, I am very much alive. Unfortunately due to the laws of the pack I had to leave your grandmother the night your father was born. I have missed them every day since and have prayed things could have and would have been different. To bring them here would have been a death sentence for all of us. So I left and returned to the pack and never spoke a word of their existence. Your grandmother was my mate. And I loved her. I never took another and I never will.”
“You could have changed things. Your Supreme Alpha why didn’t you protect them?” She was starting to get angry now. Her hands started to glow a bright white light.
“Please understand. I was not Supreme Alpha at the time, my father, your great grandfather, was. He was a very strict man. He forbid any and all contact with humans. He had a hatred for humans I will never understand. No, to bring them here with my father alive, they never would have made it to Alpha House to begin with.”
“SO if you’re a wolf and I am human now what happens? Am I going to be put to death? Are you?”
“After last night I don’t think you ARE human. I also don’t think you’re a wolf either. At least not a full one.”
Aryana watched as the man began to pace her room. Clearly something was troubling him but what she was not sure. If her father had been half wolf and her mother a human then that meant she was at most a quarter wolf right? What did that mean for her future? What sis that mean for her and Darian? Would they end up like her grandfather and grand mother?
“I shall be honest. I am not sure what the Council will decide. When you were unknown to them you were safe. Now that you are known you could be killed, we both could be.” Renault ran his hands through his hair in thought. “Given your display last night though I have serious doubts as to you being a human at all. But your grandmother was fully human, that I am sure of.”
Aryana watched as he paced and kept muttering to himself. This was all very confusing and she honestly was not sure what to make of it. So her grandfather was a werewolf, her dad was what? A half wolf? And she was.. what the hell was she anyway???
“Hold up a minute, ok say you are my grandfather. That means my dad was a half wolf right? “ Aryana swung her legs over the edge of the bed as she talked this conversation required upright thinking. “So if my dad was a half wolf then I am what? A quarter wolf? And they wouldn’t kill me just because I am not a pure blooded wolf right?”
Renault turned and crossed to the chair and sat down. He buried his face in his hands only sliding them up enough to speak clearly. “Unfortunately as the laws stand yes they would. Mating with a human is forbidden for several reason. First with a pure bloodline the pack remains strong, to dilute it with human blood would weaken our peoples heritage, much like what has happened with the native american's that took on white families. Second is that it keeps us a secret from the humans. Humans fear that which they cant understand, since we are by far different and outside of their realm of understanding they would fear us. They would hunt us down and kill us. Third is it helps to control those that can shift from doing so and unwittingly hurting innocent people. Not every wolf shifts and maintains a pleasant personality. Once in awhile one comes along that when shifted becomes dangerous, deadly to humans even. They are then confined to cages when shifting for their safety and ours.
If we openly mated with humans, then the strength of the bloodline dilutes and we as a pack become weaker, those that shift outside of the guidance of elders are unknowns. Unknowns could kill a human whether they mean to or not. Plus you could have a generation of a family that does not shift yet the next does and the previous generation would have no clue how to cope or guide the younger generation. The problem we face here and now is how do we get the council and therefore the Pack to accept you instead of kill you?”
Both Aryana and her grandfather sat there in silence. One trying to figure out the answer to how to save their lives the other trying to make sense of all she had just learned. Neither came to any conclusions that day.
Chapter 23. Svetlock to the rescue
Aryana sat in the large chair in the circular room and eyed the bank of thrones in front of her. Beside her sat her Grandfather. The thrones were empty but there was a door to their left which she guessed led to a waiting or meeting room. In front of her were 2 pedestals with books on them. Her Grandfather explained that the one was the tale of their family history. Only a Supreme Alpha could open it. The other was a book only the Prophesied Supreme Alpha could open.
Aryana had spent the last two days learning about her family line of were wolves. The prophecy foretold of a Supreme Alpha that would come along and that would eclipse all other Supreme Alphas. That Supreme Alpha would be the guiding force to bring the Werewolf nation out of hiding and would be the most powerful Alpha of all time. It would be the Alpha that restored the Lycan to their former glory.
There were four guards in the room. One on either side of Aryana and her Father and two in front of the thrones. Whether they were protecting or acting as jailers she wasn’t sure. None would answer her questions, not even to give her their name.
Torches burned around the room though she suspected they were more for effect then any real use as there were electrical lights in the ceiling. As the long minutes ticked by she grew anxious. He Grandfather had told her this was the Council Judgment room. It was where that the worst of offenses were judged. Given she was sitting in the room she hadn’t really liked the sound of that.
She tried to sit still as her Grandfather had cautioned her that fidgeting and displaying nervousness were considered signs of weakness and would cast doubt on her when being judged. Just as she was beginning to be truly exasperated the door opened and in came the men she remembered from the Arena where the Challenge had been held. She watched silently as they took their seats.
The man who was the leader of the Council was the one who spoke first. “Renault Ahlf Supreme Alpha to the Pack, you are charged with breaking of pack law and mating with a human and producing a child. All crimes punishable by death. Aryana Barstin Grandchild to Renault Ahlf the Supreme Alpha to the Pack, You are charged with existing as a hybrid and claiming heir to the Supreme Alpha. A crime punishable by death under Pack Law. Do you both understand the charges?”
Aryana watched as her Renault, stiff jawed, nodded. Aryana was unable to speak so she simply nodded her head as well.
“Aryana Barstin, your existance is mere proof enough that you exist, your fate will largely depend upon whether or not Supreme Alpha to the Pack Renault Ahlf is found to be guilty of breaking Pack Law, do you understand?”
Aryana cast a quick glance at the profile of her Grandfather. His face was like stone and she had no clue what he was thinking but she nodded. Her life now depended on Renault being found not guilty. Unfortunately for her the fact that she was breathing seemed proof enough of his guilt.
“Reanult Ahlf, Supreme Alpha to the Pack, what have you to say in defence of yourself?”
Renault stood and faced the Council. He knew that no matter what he would be found guilty. All he could do was try to save his granddaughter. He didnt regret taking Dorothea as a mate and would do it again if he had a chance. He loved her and his only regret was ever coming
back to the Pack in the first place and leaving his wife and child behind.
“I was mated to Dorothea Barstin. I was mated outside of the packs knowledge due to my fathers pressure that I mate to a more powerfully placed member of the Pack. It was not what I had wished. Dorothea was my Pure Mate. I could not ever nor would I ever take another. The child from her is dead, a child I only got to see on the day of his birth. When the sign that he was to be Alpha did not come I knew then I had to leave. For the safety of the pack, for the safety of my child and mate I walked away. Aryana was unknown to me until the day of the Challange. She has yet to claim herself as my heir. I do not encourage her to do so either.”
Aryana watched as her Grandfather took his seat and stared off into the distance. She had a large sinking feeling in her stomach. This was not going to go well. Not well at all. He had basically admitted to everything.
The Council members conversed among themselves until they seemed to come to a conclusion. Nodding to each otherin agreement finally the leader of the Council stood and nodded to the guards beside them.
“Aryana Barstin, Supreme Alpha to the Pack Renault Ahlf please stand for your judgement.”
Aryana slowly slid out of her chair, as she did so she noticed the guards pulling their swords from their sheaths. She reached for her grandfathers hand and gripped it tightly. She knew what was coming but prayed for a miracle.
“The Council has passed judgment. Renault Ahlf Supreme Alpha to the Pack, your are found guilty of mating with a human and producing an heir that is a hybrid against Pack Law. The fact that you have hidden this knowledge from the pack knowing it was illegal and have led our people makes it that much more heinous of a crime. Aryana Barstin. Your are the biological grandchild of Renault Ahlf, and a human female. As such you exist as a hybrid against pack law. You are found guilty. You both are sentenced to death.”