by J. L. Wilder
“You’re such a bitch!” Kiedra snarled.
“Takes one to know one. You’ve always been uppity. Especially for a nameless mongrel.”
“Alice!” Axe’s voice held a note of rumbling growl that should have warned the woman away but didn’t.
“And you’ve got some nerve sniffing around her when you know once the Contest is fought, you won’t need a mate. What could you offer a woman as the lowest beast in the Pack?”
Kiedra’s fist flew out and Alice’s head snapped back. The snarl that erupted from Alice’s lips raised the hair on Kiedra’s neck, but she held her ground. Axe stepped between the two women.
“Okay, okay. That’s enough of that.” Axe put his hand out to keep Alice from advancing on Kiedra. “You can’t fight her, Alice. You’d kill her before your brain reattached itself to your body. Then you’d have to pay the forfeit to the Pack. Can you afford that?”
Alice shook her head. “You know I can’t.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
Alice ground her teeth. Kiedra’s heart thundered in her chest. She knew Alice was strong enough to snap bones with her bare hands and she’d still punched the woman in the face. And it had felt so good.
Axe looked at Kiedra, seeing the smile that pulled her lips up in a bow.
“Hey!” He snapped his fingers under Kiedra’s nose. “You get your head in the game. You don’t pick fights with Pack members unless you want to get killed. Is that what you want? Do you want to die?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what possessed you?”
Kiedra shook her head. “I’m just done with all of this. Can we go home, now?”
“That’s probably the best idea you’ve had today.”
“Wait! What about me?” Alice’s nose dripped blood onto the front of her blouse. “She drew blood!”
“And you deserved it, bitch,” Kiedra snapped.
Alice bared her teeth to Kiedra. Axe turned to face Alice.
“Don’t. There’s nothing you can do here, Alice. You know you’ve been a bitch. You know you should have called Kiedra first, but you chose to wait and cost her the chance to say goodbye to Mamma. You did that because you’re a bitch and for some reason, you’ve carried some grudge against Kiedra since elementary school.”
“But−”
“There’s no ‘but’,” Axe said. “Drop this now or I’ll call Roland down here and you can answer to him as to why you didn’t call Kiedra until you saw us pull into the parking lot.”
Alice’s eyes went wide.
“No. It’s over.”
“Good.” Axe held his hand out to Kiedra. She took it and let him lead her back outside to his truck.
THE tears rocked Kiedra’s body. Her sobs had begun the moment the truck door closed behind her. Axe sat in the driver’s seat, unsure what to do. Several times, he’d reached for her and withdrawn. Finally, he put the truck in gear and pulled out of the parking space, turning the vehicle toward Mamma’s house.
Slowly, Kiedra’s turbulent emotions settled and the tears dried up. She stared out the windshield, watching the countryside pass. When the driveway for the house came up and Axe passed it by, she turned to look at him.
“I thought we were going back to the house. You said something about a bath and food.”
“I did, but I think...,” Axe shrugged. “I want to take you somewhere first.”
Axe drove to a dirt road just past the edge of the property Sylvia’s house sat on. He turned onto the road, but pulled off to the side and turned the truck off. Kiedra took his hand when he opened her door and offered it.
“Take a walk with me,” he said.
Warned by his somber mood, Kiedra reluctantly agreed.
“Where are we going?”
“The Greensward.”
“Why?”
“I’ll explain. Just walk with me.”
Kiedra nodded and walked beside him. She’d never been down this road before. She took in the closely planted trees, wondering what secrets the many paths among them held. The Greensward was where the Pack met each full moon. Seeing now how close the Greensward was to Mamma’s house, Kiedra finally understood why Mamma had always locked her doors and kept Kiedra in her room on those nights. She’d been an adventurous child who would have surely tried to spy on the Pack had she known how close they were.
Axe stopped at the edge of a round opening in the trees. The dirt within the opening was beaten down and bore no vegetation. Axe stared into the center of the opening, lost in thought.
“The Greensward has been here for as long as the Pack has been,” Axe said. “Roland tells the story of the first of the Pack finding each other here on the night of the full moon. On that night, they fought an epic battle among them until the Alpha stood above all others. This place is the most sacred of all ground to the Pack.”
“It’s beautiful,” Kiedra whispered. The land swam with magic. So much so she could almost see it. She could almost hear the snarls and growls of the wolves as they battled here for the first time.
“It’s a curse, you know. The Greensward, the Pack, all of it. A curse.”
“I thought you loved being in the Pack. You were so excited when your first change came. It was the first time you left me alone on a summer’s full moon.”
Axe turned away from the Greensward to face Kiedra. He took a deep breath.
“I need your help, Kiki.”
“I’ll do anything you need. You know that.”
Axe’s sad smile made her heart clench.
“I know, but what I’m asking is a lot. It might be dangerous, even.”
“Stop qualifying and ask me, doofus.” Kiedra grinned at him, but Axe just shook his head a little.
“I need to train for the Contest. I have to be ready because while I don’t necessarily want to win anymore,” Axe winked at Kiedra. “I don’t want to die in the Greensward either.”
“Why don’t you train with Decker? Didn’t you two run track together in high school? You trained together then.”
Axe shrugged. “I’ve...well, I’ve been training in secret for the Contest.”
“Why?”
“You said it yourself when you saw me. I was small and weak for most of my life. I wanted to surprise everyone when I announced my candidacy for the Contest and then shock the shit out of them when I won.”
She nodded. “I get it.”
And she did. Their childhood hadn’t been easy in Whiteridge. The outsider and the weakling had bonded with each other to the almost total exclusion of every other Pack member or teenager in town. Axe had had to face bullying at every turn while simultaneously feeling the need to defend Kiedra when the other girls from the Pack, like Alice, had bullied her.
“What do you need from me, Axe?”
He grinned. “Keep me on track. Help me build my strength and endurance. Run with me?”
“I haven’t run in a long time, but that doesn’t mean I find it dangerous.”
“The danger isn’t from the training. It’s from getting caught. Roland wouldn’t like me enlisting you in this.”
“Pack secrets?”
“No. Not really. He wants us to put distance between us and I...I just won’t do that. I can’t.”
Axe closed the distance between them and captured her lips before Kiedra could even think to step away. The kiss built from the chaste greeting between friends to a fiery build-up of passion that left them both breathless.
“I shouldn’t have...,” Axe said, stepping back.
“Oh yes you should have!” Kiedra grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him in for another kiss.
This one built more slowly with a passion that burned deep and hot. Kiedra wanted to push Axe into the Greensward, tear his clothes off and throw herself at him. It was Axe who came to his senses first.
“Stop. Kiki, you have to stop.” Axe pushed himself away from her.
Kiedra groaned and turned her back on Axe. “Why? Why di
dn’t we do this before I left?”
Axe lay his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.
“Because we weren’t ready. We just have to wait until the Contest and then we can do whatever we choose. Can you wait that long?”
“I have no choice,” she said. She closed her eyes and willed her heart to slow it’s rabbit-fast beat. But closing her eyes just opened her mind to let her imagination run wild. She groaned.
“I’ll race you back to the truck,” she said.
“Does that mean you’ll help me train?”
“Yes. Of course I’ll help you.”
Axe kissed her cheek. “So what do I get if I win the race?”
Kiedra considered. “You get to make me lunch and I’ll do the dishes.”
“And what do you get if you win?”
“I don’t have to do the dishes.” Kiedra grinned. “And you still have to make lunch.”
Kiedra took off running. Axe watched her go, chuckling to himself, before taking off after her.
THE darkness crawled through the trees like a living being. It moved with a creeping speed that was neither fast nor slow, but rather inevitable. Kiedra stood at the edge of the Greensward, just outside the clearing. The outsider. The interloper. The intruder.
Inside the Greensward, the Pack stood in a circle around the funeral pyre. Mamma’s body lay on top of the pyre, dressed in the clothes Roland had picked up from the house the night before.
“Tonight we commit our sister’s soul to the stars, her body to the earth.” Roland walked between the pyre and the pack. “Though she has left this earth, Sylvia will never leave this Pack.”
Roland stopped at the head of the pyre and looked at the men, women and children standing around him.
“Who will speak for her?”
Kiedra stepped into the Greensward. The Pack turned, shocked.
“I will,” she said.
Hawk growled as Kiedra stepped between him and Leslie to reach the head of the pyre. He turned to his father.
“She’s not Pack! She has no right.”
“I have every right,” Kiedra said. “Mamma took me in. She made me family. I will speak for her.”
Roland nodded and stepped to the side. “Speak.”
Kiedra turned to the pyre, truly seeing Sylvia’s body for the first time outside the hospital. Tears burned in her eyes and throat, but she was determined to make it through this without crying.
“Mamma took me in without hesitation. She made sure I was fed and clothed and kept me safe. I know she did the same for many of you when hard times came.”
She walked the circle, stopping in front of Pack members as she went.
“Every summer, you’d come to Mamma’s house and she would make sure you were happy and well fed, Axe.” Axe nodded, then bowed his head.
“Each month when there were no babies, Mamma would drink with you and tell you to try again, Ruby.” Tears slid down Ruby’s cheeks, but she kept her head high.
Kiedra circled the pyre, speaking to each Pack member in turn. Finally, she reached Hawk and stopped again.
“She knew you were trouble, Hawk, but she loved you anyway. She bailed you out when you stole that car and kept it from your father. She let you stay with us when he found out.”
Hawk bowed his head. “She did. Her door was always open, even when I didn’t deserve it.”
Kiedra finally stopped in front of Roland. She knelt and held her hand up to him. Roland took it, tears welling in his eyes.
“Mamma was a friend, a confidant, and an advisor to you. As far as I know, she never asked for anything in return.”
“Never,” Roland agreed.
“Then I will ask for her. Send her home to run with the ancestors. Honor her for the elder she was. Never forget her name. Let it be spoken in the stories of her people—You. All of you.”
The Pack murmured around her, their voices growing louder and clearer. “Mamma, Mamma, Mamma.”
Roland raised Kiedra up and handed her the torch Hawk passed to him. “We will honor her as is her due. You will light the fire to take her home.”
Kiedra took the torch and watched as Roland lit it with the Zippo he pulled from his belt buckle. When the fire blazed hot, Kiedra turned to the pyre.
“Goodbye, Mamma. I love you. I hope you will be there when I move from this world to the next.”
The Pack continued their chant as Kiedra stepped forward and lay the torch against the kindling along the bottom of the Pyre. The flames licked the wood before roaring to life with a snarl so close to that of a wolf, many Pack members stepped back and looked to the woods.
Kiedra circled the pyre once more, touching the flames to different kindling piles around it. When she reached Roland again, she handed him the torch before turning back to watch the flames climb the pyre to engulf Sylvia’s body.
The pack watched the flames until the pyre went up in an explosion of sparks. Kiedra took a deep breath and turned to leave the Greensward. Roland stopped her as she passed him.
“Where did you learn the words of the ceremony?” he asked.
Kiedra shrugged. “I just said what was in my heart.”
“All of it? Even the last request?”
“Yeah. All of it.”
Roland looked at Axe. “You didn’t tell her the words to speak?”
“No, Alpha. I wouldn’t do that.”
“May I go now, please? I want to...I just don’t want to be here anymore.” Kiedra tried to move forward, but Roland put a hand on her arm to bar her way.
“I need to speak with the Pack about the Contest. I think you should hear it as well.”
The murmur that went around the circle ended with a growl as it reached Leslie and Hawk.
“But she’s not Pack,” Leslie complained. “She should just sign the papers from the lawyer and go back to Seattle.”
Roland’s look withered the angry young woman. “Are you telling me how to handle my Pack?”
“No, Alpha. Of course not.”
“Good. Kiedra will stay in the Greensward while we discuss the Pack’s next step.”
Kiedra sighed. “I’ll wait by the tree line.” Before Roland could stop her, she crossed to the trees where she’d waited before the funeral.
Roland stepped into the circle of Pack members and put his back to the pyre. Every pair of eyes turned to their leader, though Hawk’s eyes were the last to turn from Kiedra. When he had everyone’s full attention, Roland spoke.
“In two weeks, the full moon will grace our skies and the Pack will choose a new Alpha. That gives us time to mourn Mamma while allowing the contestants time to prepare for the Contest.”
Roland circled the pyre as the fire died down. He stopped in front of each of the contestants, pointing so they would stand at the head of the circle, between Axe and Hawk. Bronson, Damie, Thorn and Decker took their places while Roland stood at the foot of the pyre.
“These are the contestants. From these men will come your next Alpha. Because the new Alpha will imprint on their Omega at the conclusion of the Contest, I have already ordered that none may take any mate before the Contest. All Pack members are free to help the contestants in any way they choose—or withhold their assistance without penalty. We will meet here at full dark the night of the full moon.”
Roland looked at every member of the Pack individually before speaking again. “And Kiedra will be here that night. There will be no argument, no intimidation. You will accept her as a friend of the Pack from this day forward.”
Silence swelled in the Greensward until only the crackling of the fire could be heard. Axe was the first to move when he knelt and bowed his head.
“I hear and obey, Alpha. Kiedra Foster is now and always a friend of the Pack. So speaks Roland Lane, Alpha of the Whiteridge Clan.”
From Axe’s left, each member of the Pack knelt and repeated Axe’s words until everyone knelt around the pyre. Roland nodded once and crossed through his people to where Kiedra stood, mou
th agape.
“I’ll come by tomorrow with the lawyer,” Roland said. “I know he needs you to sign some papers for Sylvia’s estate.”
Kiedra blinked once, twice, and then shook her head. “I never...thank you. Thank you.”
Roland hugged Kiedra “Mamma would have wanted this for you. I should have done it years ago.” He set Kiedra a little away from himself. “Noon tomorrow at the house?”
Kiedra nodded.
“Good. Now go home and get some rest,” Roland said before he left the Greensward.
The Pack stood and followed him out until only the contestants remained in the circle. Axe held out his hand to each of the others in turn. Hawk pulled Axe in close to whisper in his ear.
“I’m going to win. Just don’t embarrass yourself, brother.”
Axe grinned. “We’ll see, Hawk. You’re not as young as you used to be and you’ve been drinking heavy for years. I might surprise you all.”
Hawk snorted, then waved to the other contestants.
“Come on, boys. Let’s celebrate Mamma at the bar.”
Axe followed the other contestants to where Kiedra still stood. He held out his hand and she gave him hers.
“Let me take you home?”
“Please.”
Axe tugged on Kiedra’s hand, but she held her ground, watching the last of the flames gutter in the still night. When the last wink of light disappeared, she whispered into the night.
“Goodbye, Mamma.”
Chapter Four
“Come on, slow-poke!” Axe shouted as he ran backward yards ahead of Kiedra.
“I told you I hadn’t run in a long time! Give me a break.”
Axe chuckled and jogged back to where Kiedra had stopped to catch her breath. He continued to jog while she moved to lean against a tree.
“You know, I could spot you while you lift weights. Maybe ride a golf cart behind you while you run?”
“Nope. I need you by my side to keep me focused.” Axe stopped jogging and stretched until Kiedra pushed off the tree.
“Do you know what will happen at the Contest?” she asked. “What kind of tests there will be?”