Bride of the Alpha (15 page)

Finally Ragnar was done, and Max and Kray stripped off their clothing. I saw Max strip off the leather

necklace, as well, dropping it to the ground.

What had Max seen with his magic charm? Was Kray’s magic working? Even if it was, Max wouldn’t be

able to back down now.

Both men walked in to the center of the clearing, and stood about a dozen feet apart, facing each other.

Kray’s eyes gleamed with hate and malice, and a smirk distorted his face.

They shifted, their bodies melting into their wolf forms. There they were, two huge wolves, circling

each other, snarling and snapping, saliva dripping from their jaws.

Virginia grabbed my hand and squeezed it so hard she nearly crushed my bones.

“Ouch,” I muttered. “Virginia, he will be fine. Calm down.”

“Sorry.” She loosened her grip a little. “You’re sure he’ll be all right?”

“Absolutely,” I said, with a confidence that I didn’t feel.

“Let the battle begin!” Ragnar shouted, his voice booming through the air.

Kray crouched low, and leaped through the air in a blur of motion. Max dodged him easily, and Kray

landed on the ground behind him. Kray whirled in confusion. Max could have jumped on his back, could

have taken him from behind, but he didn’t.

Kray lunged again, and Max moved so fast I couldn’t even see what he was doing. I saw Kray go flying,

saw a spray of blood arc in the air…but Kray wasn’t dead. He wasn’t even that badly hurt. Max had simply wounded him.

Kray crouched down, blood gushing from his shoulder. From where I was sitting, I could see that his

eyes were wild and panicked. This wasn’t going at all how he’d expected.

Max launched himself at Kray, his massive body flying through the air, and knocked Kray off his feet.

Kray landed with a loud thud, his legs flailing. Max fell back, towering over Kray. Kray scrambled back up to his feet and backed up, shaking his head as if he’d been stunned.

Max still didn’t go in for the kill. He could easily have charged forward and ripped Kray’s throat out, but he didn’t. He stood with his shoulders hunched up around his ears, growling, bloody saliva dripping from his fangs. He was toying with Kray like a cat toys with a mouse.

The crowd murmured among themselves, clearly confused. Why wasn’t Max taking out his opponent?

He was obviously the stronger wolf.

Max began to stalk forward towards Kray, slowly, and Kray turned human. He scrambled to his feet,

blood pouring from his shoulder, and swung around to face the Elders, his face wild, eyes huge with panic.

“He’s cheating!” Kray screamed, his voice high and shaking. He didn’t sound Alpha at all at that

moment, and the crowd picked up on it. The murmur in the crowd grew louder, even as the Wardens tried

to shush them. This was the mighty Kray?

Max turned human, and stood with his arms folded, raking Kray with a look of contempt.

Ragnar rose to his feet. “You disgrace yourself and your pack!” he shouted. “There is no cheating! You issued the challenge – return to your animal form and accept your fate!”

“No, he’s bewitched! He must be! There’s no way he could beat me!” Kray’s voice was a pleading wail.

I saw his brother glowering at him with murder in his eyes. Kray was humiliating everyone in their pack with his pathetic performance.

“He has accused me of cheating! He has slandered the good name of the Timber Valley Pack! I demand

an immediate test for magic and drugs,” Max shouted. “I demand a three person panel of Shamans to

restore my good name.”

Kray’s spun to cry out to the Elders, his face contorted, wild with fear. “Felix is the Shaman who will do the testing!”

“Have you been reading up on the Covenant?” Max demanded. “I have. I’ve studied it very, very

carefully. When a Shifter is accused of cheating in a death match, it is within his right to demand a three person panel to test both participants. I accuse you of cheating, Kray, not just in this match, but in every match that you’ve won, and I accuse Felix of faking the results because you were blackmailing him.”

This had been Max’s plan all along, and it was a brilliant but risky one. He wanted to take out not just Kray, but Felix. Felix had cleared Kray for the fight. Felix and Kray both expected that the match would end quickly, with Max dead. Nobody ever expected Kray to be re-tested.

Kray had panicked during the fight when he realized that Max was stronger than him, and he thought

that the only way that Max could beat him was by cheating, by enhancing himself with magic – he didn’t

realize that his own formula had been tampered with. By blurting out his accusation against Max, he’d

spelled his own doom.

Now that three other Shamans would be testing both Max and Kray, Felix was screwed. Kray would test

positive for illegal magic. It would be obvious that Felix had thrown the fight.

The crowd gasped aloud. Members of the Renker family leaped to their feet, and several of them tried

to rush across the field to get to Max. The Timber Valley pack leaped to their feet as well, standing in readiness to defend their Alpha if necessary. Insults were shouted, screams of rage rent the air. The Wardens tackled and subdued them.

I couldn’t help but notice that there was a sizable member of the Iron Claw pack who weren’t related to the Renkers, and who weren’t leaping to their feet or shouting in Kray’s defense. Now that Kray’s weakness had been exposed, he no longer had the rest of the pack following him out of sheer terror.

Ragnar and the other Elders quickly began scanning through the massive, leather bound copy of the

Covenant that they brought with them to every public occasion. It was a rare and obscure clause, and

nobody had invoked it within recent memory, but it was there. Ragnar looked up from the book, and

nodded his agreement.

All of a sudden, shouting broke out in the bleachers, and shifters leaped to their feet. “He’s running!

Stop him!” someone screamed. Felix had apparently realized he was in trouble, and he’d shifted and was

trying to escape during the chaos. The Wardens quickly tackled him and subdued him, and he was placed

under guard.

Max and Kray were both led off the field. They waited on separate sides of the field, surrounded by

Wardens, while the Elders debated which shamans to choose. It obviously couldn’t be a shaman from either the Iron Claw pack, or the Timber Valley pack, or for anyone who was allied with either pack.

I was sick with anticipation and worry. I knew that Max would test clean, but still, this test was life or death.

Three shamans from out of state packs were selected, and their names were announced to the crowd.

Max and Kray were led to a spot directly in front of the Elders.

First they tested Max. They did it by having him slash his arm with a sharp knife, and dripping his

blood into a vial. Each of the shamans tasted it. The shamans pronounced it clean.

“Oh, thank God.” Virginia slumped against me. I realized I’d been holding my breath, and I let it out

and gulped in air, dizzy with relief. Jade and Vince gripped each other’s hands; “Praise the Lord,” Jade murmured. Whatever came next, at least Max was all right.

Kray didn’t want to be tested. He fought the wolves, and the Wardens had to hold his arm down, while

Ragnar himself slashed it. His family was now hunched in their seats, looking away from the disgraceful and cowardly spectacle.

The shamans immediately detected the magic in his blood. Kray was dragged out into the center of the

field for the pronouncement of sentence.

“Kray Renker, you have brought disgrace upon yourself, your family, and our glorious race,” the chief

Elder boomed down. “Your blood showed significant signs of magic enhancement. The sentence is death.”

Chapter Seventeen

“You can’t kill me! You can’t kill me! There was cheating, there was no way he could beat me, no way,

no way!” His voice rose to a hysterical screech.

The Wardens, gripping firmly on each arm, began dragging him out to the center of the clearing.

“Stop! I have information that you need!” Kray howled.

They paused, looking at Ragnar for direction, while Kray wailed and blubbered. Apparently, he had

more corruption to expose. One of the other Elders, a man named Timor, had been on Kray’s payroll.

Timor was paid to notify Kray of any complaints filed against his pack, so Kray could challenge the Alpha of their pack.

Standing there before the Elders, Kray ratted him out in a desperate attempt to get out of his death

sentence.

It didn’t work. Kray screamed and threatened and begged, while his family grimly looked on. Kray died

on the field, with two wardens holding him down and a third slashing his throat. It was the most

embarrassing, disgraceful death that anyone could remember witnessing.

The Renkers were now a social disgrace.

Timor was led away for questioning, protesting loudly. Shamans have spells that can detect lies; he’d be exposed and also executed.

Max came back to the Timber Valley side of the field, hugging his parents, hugging his siblings, hugging me. There was shouting and cries of relief. On the other side of the field, there was cursing and shouted threats and screams of rage.

Kray’s younger brother Kimball jumped up. “I issue a death challenge to Maxwell Battle, to retain

control of the Iron Claw Pack, and to take over the Timber Valley Pack! And I demand the immediate

return of all pack members to our custody, until the death challenge has been carried out!”

Oh no he didn’t. It was time to make my move. Max wasn’t the only one who’d been studying the

Covenant. I’d been studying it frantically for the past few days, knowing that this gathering of the Elders in front of a huge crowd of shifters would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. The crowd was even bigger

than I’d expected.

I leaped to my feet and rushed into the field before anyone could stop me, turning to address the

“I demand audience on a matter of vital importance to shifter welfare!” I had the right to demand this, but woe to me if the Elders felt that what I brought up wasn’t vitally important.

Ragnar gave me a look of great displeasure. I wasn’t an Alpha, and therefore, in his eyes, I was clearly not worthy of notice. He was a notorious chauvinist. However, he couldn’t refuse me permission to speak.

“You may address the Elders.”

“The Renker family has been abusing members of their pack! They’ve been forced to seek sanctuary

with us because they are in fear for their lives! They have killed young males without provocation, they have murdered the family of the former Alpha in a cowardly fashion. They’ve sexually and physically

abused the females, and refused to let them leave their compound to seek help. I propose a rule change to prevent this ever happening again. I propose that any member of any pack be allowed to leave their pack without fear of reprisal.”

One of the other Elders, a shifter named Algernon, shot to his feet, shooting a murderous stare at me.

“That is a violation of our basic covenant! To propose it is death!” His haughty voice rang through the air.

My heart dropped into my stomach. I knew the risk that I was taking, but it had to be done.

I heard Max yelling from the stands. “Covenant rules can be changed!” he shouted. “There have been

significant new rules added to the Covenant over the past century.”

“Only to reflect changing technology!” Ragnar glared at him. “And only Elders, or a majority of 90

percent of Alphas holding an emergency meeting, can propose a change to the Covenant.”

“You are condemning wolves whose packs have abusive Alphas to live with abuse, or die!” I protested.

“An Alpha should protect his pack members, not rape and torture them! And don’t tell me that they can

turn to the Elders for help, because Kray cheated in his last fights, and a corrupt Elder protected him, and so did a corrupt shaman! A shaman that you Elders chose! If a shifter wishes to leave their pack, they should be able to leave their pack. And if numerous shifters want to leave their pack, that says something about their Alpha, doesn’t it?”

I turned to the crowd, and was relieved to hear yells of agreement and encouragement. Right now, when

they’d witnessed outrageous cheating and corruption, was the time to strike. I had the crowd right where I wanted them.

“This is outrageous. She must be punished! Death to the Traitor!” Kimball bellowed. Of course he was

against it – most of his pack would leave. There was a very small but vocal chorus of agreement, coming only from the Renker family.

“I put this to a vote of all Alphas!” Max announced. “And I challenge your position as Elders! You have held the same position for too many decades. It’s time for new blood and new laws! Why should a female

be compelled into marrying anyone that her Alpha decrees? That is barbaric! It’s slavery! Why should pack members be killed for wanting to leave their pack? For that matter, why should gay shifters have to hide their identity or risk death or exile? We’re in the 21st century! I call for an open election to the position of Elder!”

Every Elder there had held their position for at least fifty years. Most had been in their position for seventy years or more. Given that a shifter’s lifespan is about a hundred and fifty, they could be expected to continue to hold those positions, and their archaic laws, for many, many decades to come – unless they

were voted out by the overwhelming majority of Alphas.

The Elders were panicking now, loudly exclaiming amongst themselves, shooting looks of hatred at

Maxwell and me.

“Death to the Traitors! I order the immediate execution of Alpha Maxwell Battle and his bride Josephine Battle!” Ragnar bellowed.

Our entire pack began shouting, growling, howling, crowding around Max and I. The packs that Allied