The Alpha's Concubine (Historical Shifter Romance) (61 page)

"Whether you die from the wounds of a warrior's challenge is in the hands of the spirits, not mine. Though it would bring me no grief to see it happen. Should you live, by my right as victor I would have you leave our pack. I challenge you, Netya."

The Sun girl looked down at her hands. Even now she seemed a timid, cowardly creature.

"And should I win?" she said.

Vaya snorted. "That will not happen. Dream of what you will, it makes no difference to me."

Netya looked up at her, and Vaya was surprised to see that her expression held no anger, but rather an imploring look. "What did I ever do to make you hate me so?" she said.

Vaya's brow twisted into a glare, and a flash of uncomfortable anger took light in her chest. "You are our enemy! Every day you have spent with us has been a troubled one for our pack. You bring shame and failure upon me, and death to our brothers and sisters. Because of you we have been driven from our home!"

"Were those things my doing?" Netya said.

"Of course they were! Hawk and Essie lost their lives trying to save you. From the day you strode into our camp you were in the alpha's furs, whispering into his ear, enjoying a status you did nothing to earn! You were never one of us. You do not belong."

The Sun girl nodded slowly. "I understand what it is like to feel as though I do not belong, yes."

"Of course you do. At least you admit it."

"But I am not the huntress who strives to stand shoulder to shoulder with the men."

"What does that mean?" Vaya growled, the frustrating anger burning hotter for reasons she could not explain.

"That is the truth of it, is it not?" Netya said. "I know you are a woman of pride, Vaya. It hurts you to think that a girl of the Sun People like me may have succeeded where you have struggled all your life."

"You speak with the forked tongue of a witch, just like your mentor!" Vaya fought the urge to lash out and wipe the pathetically blank look from Netya's face. Her rage boiled hotter, the girl's words echoing in her head, refusing to be forgotten like the meaningless nonsense they were. "I will have my challenge, with or without the consent of those who protect you!"

"It was not me who caused this. You were the one to poison the den mother, were you not?"

"And what if I was?! Without you, it would never have happened!" Vaya grabbed her by the front of her clothing, shaking her frail body roughly. She felt the cord of the strange pendant the girl wore snap beneath her fingers. The piece of wood clattered to the rocks between their feet. Teeth bared, she stared into Netya's eyes, finding them full of tears. What did this wisp of a child know? How weak she was, how useless. Never belonging, never understanding. It would be a mercy to see her dead.

"Very well, Vaya," she said, her voice thin and tired. "If that is what you believe will bring you happiness, I accept your challenge."

The huntress snarled in victory, letting go of her rival and shoving her back, sending her stumbling to her knees. "Before the whole pack, then. I would have them witness your failure with their own eyes. When the sun falls this evening, you will leave us, whether it be in exile or in death. Swear it to me, on your honour."

Netya bowed her head, reaching out to pick up her fallen pendant. "I swear. If it means bringing an end to this, I will challenge you this evening."

Rage still simmering within her, Vaya spat on the girl in disgust, enjoying the way it made her flinch. How easy it had been to break her will. Even her stupid flailings, her insolent words, had all been for nothing. Vaya's determination would not be swayed. Her fury would be extinguished once and for all with the ending of this feud. Finally, after so many months, she would sleep well knowing that the Sun girl had been purged from their pack.

* * *

Netya was tired of so many things. What good would more resentment toward Vaya do her? The moment she had seen how blind the huntress was to all but her own emotions, she had known it must come to this. She wanted the bitterness between them to end. Her fear of Vaya had given way to dislike, then anger, and finally a desire for vengeance stronger than any Netya had ever known. But now, when it came to it, all she felt for the other woman was a cold sense of resignation. Weariness, pity, and regret that something so small could have led to so much pain and upheaval.

As she walked to the centre of the camp that evening, she only wished for it to be over. No more ill would come of Vaya's actions after that night.

"Where are you going?" Fern called after her. Netya drifted on by as if in a trance, focusing her will on what was to come. She had not brought her spear. It seemed it would do her little good either way.

Vaya stood waiting in the middle of the camp, arms folded, feet set apart. From the gathering of hunters spread in a circle around her, it seemed she had spread boasts of her victory already. Netya was only thankful that Khelt and Caspian had not yet returned. Their presence would have made things more difficult. An alpha could defend an unwilling participant if they had no desire to take part in a challenge, but, from her understanding of it, it was dishonourable for anyone to stand in the way once both challengers had given their consent.

"Netya!" Adel caught her by the arm, dragging her back. "What is this? What have you done?"

"I intend to challenge Vaya," she said plainly.

"I already forbade this. You know better than to throw yourself into something so foolish!"

Netya leaned forward, whispering into her mentor's ear, her words quiet enough that no one else would hear them. In the eyes of the others, it might have seemed like a final, tender embrace between mentor and apprentice.

Adel let go of Netya's arm, gazing after her with a grave look as the young woman continued on toward her challenge.

"You cannot let her do this," Selo said from the den mother's side. "Vaya will kill her!"

"It is Netya's right," Adel murmured. "We must respect her decision."

More voices joined together in concern as the ripple spread throughout the pack. Netya heard Fern calling out louder than the others, and the sounds of her struggling as Adel and Selo had to restrain her.

Forgive me, Fern,
she thought as she came to a halt in front of Vaya.
I should have told you. But perhaps this way is best.
Fern might only have tried to persuade her away from what she was about to do, and it was best Wren and the others did not worry. It would be over soon, anyway.

"Netya has agreed to challenge me," Vaya called out, the confidence in her voice bringing the gathering to a hush. In that moment, she almost seemed to embody the strength and authority of an alpha herself. Perhaps, in another life, she could truly have been a woman of great deeds. "I have always thought what most of us dare not say aloud," she continued, "that Netya does not belong among our kind. Should I win," she paused to give a small snort of amusement, "she will leave us, and never return."

"And should Netya win?" Selo called out.

Vaya shrugged. "Must we waste breath considering it? She has not even brought her weapon. She knows how this will end."

"There is no honour in this," Oke muttered. The hunters loyal to him had never been part of Vaya's group, and as they stood stoically at the sidelines their expressions mirrored the distaste of their elder.

"What honour is there in anything this girl has brought upon our pack?" Vaya retorted. "It will be a fitting end to her time here."

"Netya," Oke said, fixing her with a hard look. "You do not have to agree to this challenge."

An expectant silence fell. The distant moaning of the wind rolled down the mountain, threatening to steal away Netya's resolve. She could still abandon her decision if she wished.

"I swore to Vaya that she would have my challenge this evening," she said. Her voice did not sound confident or commanding like Vaya's. What pity the pack must have felt for her, standing there alone, blindly embracing what might well be her death. She had never been meant for acts of great strength or skill. Perhaps though, after that night, the others would think on the frail Sun girl differently. She had not accepted Vaya's challenge for the reasons they all thought. "We all know it would be no contest," Netya continued. "Vaya is a great warrior, and I am not. I have no wish to fight her, knowing I would only lose."

"You gave your word," Vaya snarled. "And now you mean to go back on it?"

Netya shook her head. "I promised a challenge, and a challenge you shall have, but I will not throw my life away foolishly."

"Then name your challenge! Any contest of might you desire, and I shall best you!"

A small glimmer of satisfaction steadied Netya's nerve. Vaya's pride. Her blind, foolish pride. It was just as Adel had predicted.

"You told me earlier that you refused to spend another day with me as part of your pack," she said.

"And I meant it," Vaya replied without hesitation. "I will be rid of you by nightfall."

Netya took a deep breath, and nodded. "Then my challenge is for you to stay true to your word, Vaya. If your word is your honour, then enduring my presence must be more than you can bear. I will not fight you. I will not subject myself to any contest. You have had the power to be rid of me since the day I arrived." She looked the huntress in the eye, forgetting any fear she had ever felt toward the woman. "Leave this pack, and you will never have to suffer my presence again."

Vaya laughed. "It is my pack, not yours! Only one of us will be leaving this night."

"She will not fight you, Vaya," Adel said, stepping forward. "You agreed to her challenge. You admitted your own words. Do you have the courage to stand by them? Or are they the empty boasts of a coward?"

On its own, Netya's challenge might have been dismissed. It was not the way of the Moon People, more a trick than any kind of contest. But the den mother's words lent it credence. It was every bit a test of Vaya's honour as a fight.

Eyes flitting to Adel, a hint of panic came into the huntress's expression. "I am
always
true to my word, but this is not what I agreed!"

"The entire pack heard you agree not moments ago," Netya said. "Surely Vaya is a huntress of honour, who stands by her word, not a fool who blindly accepts such challenges without thought."

The gathering seemed confused. The hunters looked to one another in apprehension, whispering questions back and forth. It did not escape Netya's notice that Adel allowed the hubbub to grow, until Vaya's name and the question of her honour reached their ears, before making a sharp motion with her hand to call for silence.

"Well, huntress?" Netya said. "Are you a woman of your word?"

Vaya's brow twitched. Her fingers curled. Her shoulders trembled. She stared at Netya in disbelief, as if searching desperately for an answer that would not come. Cunning had never been Vaya's strength. All she had left was her honour, and her pride. They both knew it. The silence stretched out moment by moment, and every second that slipped by took with it another shred of the huntress's integrity in the eyes of her pack. There was only one thing she could do to salvage what remained. She had been cornered by Netya's trap.

"My word is my honour," she said, all of the authority gone from her voice. Her words were dry and trembling, barely restraining the fury that brimmed beneath them. "No true warrior of our kind should stand to share a fire with one of the Sun People." She turned an accusing gaze on the hunters watching her, but it was devoid of conviction. "If our alpha and den mother are willing to endure her, then they are not fit to command my loyalty! This pack is mine no longer." She spat on the ground.

Adel still had her hand raised for silence, and silence was all that followed Vaya as she turned her back on the camp. Even those most loyal to her could only stand and watch as she walked away into the east, back down the slopes of the mountain toward the plains. Only the young hunter Rolan broke away from the group, dropping the bowl of food he had been holding in his haste to catch her. They were too far distant to hear any of the words that might have passed between them, but Vaya took the young man by the shoulders and brought her forehead close to his. She pointed back in the direction of the camp, and continued walking on her own. Rolan watched until she was gone, then slumped into a sitting position.

"Vaya," Tal sighed, glancing in Netya's direction. "To think your pride would've brought you down on this little girl's spear, rather than upon the blades of your enemies."

Netya prepared to defend herself from the accusations of the hunter. She was shocked when, rather than anger, she saw a hint of fear in his eyes. He inclined his head to her respectfully.

"We would all of us do well to be wary of such wisdom and cunning," he said, then uttered a term in the Moon People's tongue that Netya had never heard before. It sounded like a joining of the words "little mother", but uttered with a strange cadence of voice that made them sound as one. A handful of others murmured the same phrase, offering similar deference to her. Vaya's hunting partners only graced her with looks of anger, but in them too she glimpsed traces of fear. The pack broke apart, the shocked silence still muting their conversations. Fern dashed forward, embracing Netya as she voiced her pride and her anger all at the same time, burying her face in her friend's shoulder, tearful with relief.