Aphrodite's Hunt

by Blackstream, Jennifer

  Horrified, she stared, helpless to do anything with the knowledge she had. Claudiu put an arm around her and she let him hold her up, too terrified to stand on her own. Just as she feared, Sorin dove for Byron’s neck, gripping his lower jaw with one hand to shove his face away and bare the column of his throat. A scream ripped from her mouth as Byron buried a clawed hand in Sorin’s belly, his forearm flexing as he made a fist in the vampire’s intestines. Red blood gushed over his arm as his body followed Sorin’s to the ground so he knelt on top of him.

  She buried her face in Claudiu’s chest, fighting not to vomit. She couldn’t look, couldn’t watch as the man she loved, the man she’d only just found, died on the grass in her sacred circle.

  “Gia listen,” Claudiu said suddenly.

  She peeked around his shirt, holding her breath as she watched Sorin raise his head. His voice was so low, she could barely make it out.

  “Byron, you know this won’t kill me,” he gasped. “There’s only one way to kill a vampire.” He stared into the bigger man’s eyes. “I won’t die as easily as she did.”

  Byron howled, a furious rage filled sound. His eyes roved over the ground and locked on something a few yards away. Gia’s eyes darted to the stick lying just outside the circle. Her mouth opened to scream a warning as Byron lunged over and grabbed the jagged piece of wood. Her cry pierced the night as Byron fell to his knees beside Sorin, raising the stake high over his chest before bringing it down through Sorin’s chest and piercing his heart.

  She collapsed to her knees, pain exploding inside her as if it had been her heart the wooden stake had pierced so violently. The sounds of the world faded out. She was vaguely aware of Claudiu screaming that Byron had cheated, that using a weapon disqualified him. Then all she could hear was her own heartbeat pounding like thunder in her ears. Her temples pulsed with a vicious beat, each wave of blood heating her body until she thought she’d boil alive. Then a strange numbness began to creep over her. She stared at the ground as her life shattered at her feet.

  Someone was shaking her. She couldn’t hear anything, could barely feel anything. Claudiu’s face appeared in front of her and he put his head between her eyes and the ground. His mouth was moving and his eyes were wide open. He grabbed her face and turned her toward the inside of the circle. A voice in her head screamed at her not to look—not to see the dead flesh that had been her lover. When her eyes finally hit the circle, the world erupted back into sound.

  A white wolf lay in the circle. Several of her packmates stood between Byron and the wolf that lay gasping on its side. Byron stared at the beast like it was a ghost, blood soaking his clothes and making him look like a battle crazed warrior returned from a slaughter. They all stared as the wolf struggled to its feet. Its fur glinted in the moonlight, revealing the slick mess of blood soaking its fur. Gia choked as she ran to the wolf.

  As she fell to her knees beside him. Reaching down, she flailed inside his metaphysical form until she found his human side. Praying the second change would further heal his wounds, she ripped the man free from the beast.

  His body shivered and then exploded into smooth pale skin. Sorin lay beside her, once again in human form. The ugly hole in his stomach was still a deep wound, but it had healed somewhat. She was more concerned with the hole over his heart.

  She pressed her ear to his chest, almost crying with gratitude when she heard it beating, weak, but there. She burst into tears, dragging him into her lap. Sorin chuckled softly even as he winced in pain.

  “My love, be gentle, I am still rather full of holes.”

  “Shut up, you bloody bastard, you scared the shit out of me,” she sobbed.

  He patted her back, gently pulling away. She stubbornly held on, not quite trusting that he was alive. “My love, if you will not let go, at least stand with me. There is something I must say.”

  She stood, holding as tightly to him as she could without exacerbating his injuries. He leaned heavily on her, almost entirely supported by her arm wrapped around his body above the hole over his intestines and under the one over his heart. She couldn’t keep herself from staring at the injuries, shocked that he’d survived them even after two shifts.

  Sorin raised his face and looked out over the faces gathered around them.

  “If I were a vampire, I would be truly dead,” he announced, his voice strong despite a slight wheeze. “Byron pierced my heart, a blow no vampire could survive.” He met Byron’s eyes and the other man just stared at him, his face slack with shock. “But I am not a vampire. I am a vukodlak. I change my form just as all of you do and when I do so, my body heals. It is that strength and resiliency that I will dedicate to protecting each and every one of you, should I earn the right to be your lycaeon.”

  The crowd didn’t erupt into applause, but the hushed whispers that spread like wildfire through the ranks was close enough. Gia smiled, tears of joy cutting trails through the blood on his chest. Sorin sagged in her arms and she looked up at his face in concern.

  “Sorin, you need energy to finish healing. Drink—”

  “Shhhhh, my love,” he whispered. “Help me outside the circle.”

  As she settled him on the ground beside Claudiu, she fixed him with her most serious look. “You need blood to heal.”

  “Gia, I have just worked rather hard to convince your pack that I am more werewolf than vampire,” Sorin said dryly. “It would hardly help my efforts to be seen sucking the blood from any of your packmates.”

  “What about energy? Can you . . . you know . . . drink my energy like you did Grigore’s?”

  Sorin shook his head. “I will not steal your energy. You need it for your battle.”

  “Take mine,” Claudiu volunteered immediately.

  Sorin and Gia both raised their eyebrows. “That is very generous,” Sorin said slowly. “Thank you.”

  “GIA!”

  All three of them jerked their heads up to see Rhianne standing on her throne. Her eyes burned with fury as she pointed to Gia. “It’s not over yet, Gia,” she hissed. “You still have to beat me.”

  She leapt high into the air, changing form as she did so. Smooth silver fur flowed over her body, her back and ears dusted in a coating of black. Her white legs flexed as she landed on the ground, the epitome of grace and beauty.

  Gia stared at her. The wolf snarled and backed up, inviting Gia to join the circle and begin the battle that would determine who ruled the pack. A thousand emotions fell over her like a raging waterfall crashing into a roiling river. Fear and pain from watching Sorin fall still lingered inside her. Frustration over her pack’s divided loyalties tortured her. Rage at Rhianne’s smug taunting heated her blood. Each emotion washed over her, beating her back and forth until finally she couldn’t take it anymore. She stood, slowly so as not to let her emotions run away with her body.

  “I have had a rough month,” she said quietly, her gaze boring into Rhianne’s wolfish countenance. She took a step. “You seduced my mate.” She looked around at her pack. “You forced me into Aphrodite’s Hunt, despite the fact that I made it clear who I wanted my mate to be.” She turned to Byron. “You almost took him from me, almost killed him not for food or self-defense, not even to win the fight. You tried to kill him because you hate what you think he is.”

  She let her gaze rove over her pack. “Sorin has proven himself to me and to you. Now it’s my turn to prove myself to you, to once again show that I am worthy of being your lupa.” She stepped into the circle. “To any of you who are thinking of challenging me, or my choice of mate, I say to you,” she stared into Rhianne’s golden eyes. “Pay attention.”

  The sacred space held an energy like nothing else. This space had seen a thousand challenge fights, held a thousand deaths and a thousand drops of blood. She hissed as it washed over her, buzzing over her skin like electricity. She didn’t fight it, she knew she wasn’t meant to.

  She grabbed the hem of her shirt, lifting the garment over her head as she began the chan
ge. Her muscles shuddered with the effort to control it, but she held on. As an alpha, she had a level of control others didn’t—a control that showed strength and power. She didn’t have to surrender to the change all at once, a beast erupting from a human body in a cacophony of cracking bones. For her, there was another option.

  Ever so slowly, she let her beast rise to the surface, removing clothing in a slow and meaningful manner. Adjusting her balance with every shift, she held onto her control until she stood in the circle, a perfect combination of woman and wolf.

  Her pack stared at her, respect and admiration clear on their faces. Holding this form was something few of them could do for very long and even fewer could battle this way. She stood on two paws, her legs bent backwards in the manner of her beast, but thicker than her wolf form. Her long tail brushed the back of her legs, swaying slightly in the breeze. Her trunk was the most human part of her, almost a fur covered version of her mortal self while her head most closely resembled her wolf with pointed ears and a thick scruff like a mink around her shoulders. Her fingers were longer, tipped in wickedly curved black claws.

  Wolf-Rhianne growled, drawing everyone’s attention. Gia snarled as the other woman stood up, her wolf form slowly humanizing until she stood in the same stage of change as Gia.

  “You’re not the only alpha female in this pack, Gia.” Her voice had a low growling quality as it crawled out of her half formed throat. “You think Byron losing is some big victory for you, but it means nothing. This is what I’ve wanted from the beginning—what I’ve always wanted. I’ll beat you in this circle—our pack won’t be saddled with a pseudo-alpha anymore.”

  Gia was only slightly surprised by Rhianne’s new form. She’d sensed from the beginning that the other woman had more power then she let on. At first she assumed that Rhianne hid it out of fear that Gia would bar her from the pack and many alpha females would have. Now she suspected Rhianne had just been biding her time. She took a deep breath, knowing that the next few minutes would likely determine whether she got her life back—or lost it entirely.

  “You’ve gotten to this point through deceit and manipulation,” Gia said quietly. “You seduced my mate and used Byron’s emotions to force him to your side.” She snorted. “Those are not the actions of a true lupa.”

  “I couldn’t challenge you one on one before because you had a mate. For some reason, I was the only one in this pack who saw you for the pathetic excuse for a lupa you were and no one would be my second.” Rhianne gritted her teeth. “I did what I had to do for the good of the pack. They deserve a strong lupa.”

  “You really believe I was such a bad lupa?”

  Rhianne darted to the side. Gia turned, too slow, and Rhianne sprang off the ground at an angle, diving straight into Gia’s side. Pain exploded in her ribs as Rhianne’s jaws closed on her side, worrying her flesh as if she’d tear it from her bones and swallow it whole.

  Gia flung out her arm in pain, her claw tearing up the side of Rhianne’s face into her eyeball. The other woman screamed in pain and reared back, clutching her eye.

  “A pack is only as strong as its alphas,” she hissed. “You took a mate you knew wasn’t strong enough to protect us. You cared more about control than you did about us—what kind of a lupa does that make you?”

  Gritting her teeth against the pain, Gia forced herself to straighten up, ignoring the burn as her muscles knitted themselves back together.

  “I am strong enough to protect you, I didn’t need a lyc—”

  “You arrogant bitch!”

  The cry from the other woman’s throat didn’t even sound human. Gia staggered back as Rhianne dove into her body, carrying them both to the ground. The pain in her eye seemed all but forgotten as the younger female loomed over her, her clawed hands reaching for her throat. Gia put an arm in front of her face, trying to keep the drops of Rhianne’s blood from dripping into her eyes and blinding her as she struggled to buck the woman off of her.

  “How dare you hinge our survival on you alone! You think you’re so invulnerable that you can’t be killed? You’re willing to bet all our lives that no one and nothing will ever get the better of you, ever leave us with no one to protect us?” She wrapped her hands around Gia’s throat.

  Gia’s hands flew to Rhianne’s fingers, trying to pry them from her windpipe so she could breath. Wetness covered her bared face and the scent of saltwater tickled her nose. Shock rang through her as she realized the drops streaming from Rhianne’s eyes weren’t just blood—she was crying.

  “There is no wolf strong enough to protect an entire pack alone,” Rhianne sobbed. “Everyone can be killed. As our alpha, it’s up to you to make sure there’s someone standing behind you to take over if you fail us—and you left us with no one!”

  Her voice rang with fury, pain, and hatred. Gia’s throat ached from the bruising pressure of Rhianne’s hands as they continued to throttle her, closing off her air supply until black spots danced in her vision. She was vaguely aware of her pack mates surrounding them, the tension rolling off them in waves of skin crackling energy.

  The world seemed to slow down, time moving at the barest crawl. Her heart thundered in her ears as Rhianne’s pain battered her defenses. She’d never pressed Rhianne for details about how her last pack had been killed. She’d respected her pain too much to make it worse with questions. Now she didn’t have to ask. The agony and betrayal in Rhianne’s voice spoke volumes.

  Gia closed her eyes. She had failed them. Rhianne was right, it had been beyond cocky to assume that one wolf, however strong, could be enough for a pack. If she’d died, the pack would have erupted into chaos. Claudiu would have been exiled, or worse. Fights would have broken out over who was the next leader, who knew how much blood would have been shed? Rhianne was right—she’d been selfish.

  If she died now, she would never be able to make amends. Sorin’s face flashed in her mind as her body thrashed against Rhianne’s hold. She’d found a strong mate, she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. They had to see that. She had to live to show them.

  A thunderclap of panic rolled up from her toes, curling through her body and gathering strength. When it reached her constricted throat, it bounced off and rolled back down her body to her hips. The world exploded into real time again. With every last ounce of energy, she bucked Rhianne up into the air, letting her body follow until she rolled backwards over her head and landed with their positions reversed.

  The abrupt shift in balance made Rhianne loosen her grip enough for Gia to tear her hands from her throat. She gasped in a huge lungful of air before darting her muzzle down toward Rhianne’s neck.

  Rhianne’s body went deathly still as Gia’s jaws closed on her throat, working her teeth into the flesh until there was no way for Rhianne to struggle without tearing her own neck to shreds.

  The fight didn’t have to end in death. Most alphas killed their challengers because it was prudent to do so, but not all. Guilt welled up inside Gia as she thought of her own behavior and the part it had played in Rhianne’s decisions. Rhianne had been right. She didn’t deserve to die.

  She shook her head, just enough to get Rhianne’s full attention. Her claws trailed over Rhianne’s stomach, curving over the soft fur of her belly, a not so subtle reminder of how easy it would be to gut her. Ever so slowly, she lifted Rhianne’s hip, turning the other woman’s body onto its side. Then she moved her hand and waited.

  A show of submission would signal surrender. All Rhianne had to do was turn her body back—bare her belly to Gia in an offering. Gia’s heart pounded like a death drum in her chest. What if Rhianne didn’t do it? What if Gia had to spend the rest of her life knowing another woman died because her lupa had let fear build inside her until the only option she’d seen was to take over the job herself?

  She nearly fainted in relief as Rhianne shuddered and turned her belly upwards. Gia released her neck, springing backwards just in case any lingering anger made Rhianne do something foolish.
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  The other woman coughed, raising a hand to her injured eye. She wouldn’t look up, wouldn’t meet Gia’s gaze. Gia stepped back and shuddered back into human form. She turned to meet the eyes of her pack.

  “I won’t make the same mistakes again,” she said, her voice still strained from the lingering damage her shift hadn’t healed. “You’ll have a strong lupa and a strong lycaeon. None of you will have to fear for your safety, or mine, again.”

  Something brushed her hand and she turned her head to see Sorin take her hand in his, smiling down at her. He looked a thousand times better, though the faint hunch of his shoulders gave away his pain. She squeezed his hand and turned back to her pack. A lump formed in her throat as she realized Byron was gone.

  The oracle stepped forward, her soft lavender dress swirling around her ankles. She came to stand in front of Gia and Sorin before turning to the pack.

  “Welcome your new lupa and lycaeon!”

  One by one, the pack tilted their heads back and howled, the comforting tones echoing with eerie beauty in the night air. The sound soothed the wounds in Gia’s heart, but a few of her brethren didn’t join in.