The Alpha's Concubine (Historical Shifter Romance) (63 page)

All through the night, no matter how hard the wind blew, no matter how thick and freezing the snowfall became, Khelt strode on ahead of his pack. When a fallen tree blocked their way, he heaved it aside before anyone could rush forward to help. He dug through heavy drifts of snow, checked for unstable footing with his own paws, and scouted the mountainside by himself when new pathways opened up. He led them on alone, never faltering, never hesitating. Like the bear that had crowned his throne, he bulled through the storm, carving a path for the others in his wake.

Thick clouds covered the moon, and soon even the brilliant white of the landscape around them had sunk into darkness. The clean path they had been following broke up, diverging into a less precarious, but more confusing series of slopes and crannies that stretched across the side of the valley. They were high up now, and a several times Netya thought she glimpsed the tips of trees below them.

The pack's pace began to slow. Tired wolves stumbled off the right path, slipping in heavy snowdrifts and forcing others to go back for them. The valley was becoming dangerous, and the snow had whipped itself into a blizzard. Netya lost sight of Khelt ahead of them, and the wind stole away her voice when she tried to call out. Only his tracks remained to lead them on, and the falling snow threatened to fill them almost as quickly as Netya could keep up. In her haste, she did not realise that only a few of the others remained in sight until she felt a hand shaking her shoulder.

"We must go back!" Adel yelled over the howling wind. "The others cannot keep up. Any moment I fear one of them will slip away into the storm!"

"Surely we are nearly out of the valley by now," Netya replied. "Khelt must be leading us on for a reason!"

"He is lost, even those who scouted with him do not recognise this path any more! We cannot keep going. The weather only gets worse the deeper into this valley we stray."

Netya's heart sank. After such a gruelling journey, the thought of turning back made her want to slump down in the snow and give in to her exhaustion.

Adel glared at her. "Better to live with our despair than to walk out of this valley with the elders and the children dead. Where is he? Where is the alpha?"

Reluctantly, Netya pointed at the set of tracks she was following. "Up ahead. Let me go with you, perhaps he knows we are nearing safety."

"Come if you wish. Perhaps you can make him see sense again."

Struggling up the slope together, Netya and Adel hurried arm-in-arm to try and catch up with Khelt. His long strides had led him even farther ahead than before, up a steep incline that almost felt like it was cresting the edge of the valley. Within moments they had lost sight of the pack behind them, along with any semblance of direction. Netya felt like she was fumbling blindly through the storm, clutching at hairs in the wind in her attempts to struggle on through. Khelt must know where they were going. He had to.

After a long, breathless trek, the shape of the alpha finally emerged from the snow in front of them. He had paused at a broad, but somewhat sheltered spot beneath a sheer rock face on the right. The air was clearer of the flurrying snow, and the wind had lessened. He crouched at the edge of the open area, peering down over the barely-visible tops of the trees that clung to the cliff face just below them.

"What are you doing!" Adel bellowed, letting go of Netya as she stumbled forward. "The pack is falling apart while you wait for them up here!"

Khelt looked back with a start, baring his teeth the moment he saw the den mother. "I am finding my bearings so that I can lead them to safety! I can see nothing through this blizzard."

"And you think you will see more up here? We must go back while there is still time! This valley will be the death of us."

Khelt shook his head sharply. "We push on through the night. If we find a way down to the trees, we will be sheltered."

"Has the cold addled your mind?! There is no pushing through this snow! It will swamp all but the strongest of us by the time we reach the end of the valley!"

"Leaving the plains was
your
idea, Witch!" Khelt growled at her. "And now you would have me turn back? I have had enough of your timid plans. The pack is strong, they can endure this storm."

"Khelt, please," Netya said. "Are we not close to safety yet?"

He looked to her, some of the fury draining from his eyes, then shook his head. "I do not know. I cannot tell a thing in this storm. Perhaps we are already more than half way through the valley, perhaps not. My instincts tell me we must push on."

"Push on blindly, and become even more lost!" Adel exclaimed. "Whether we are close to the end of the valley or not, better to retread ground we already know than fumble on in the dark. This snow hides everything from us, every pitfall and patch of ice. If we keep going, someone will fall victim to this place sooner or later!"

"And how many will be lost in the weeks of hard travelling it will take to get around these mountains?!" Khelt retorted. "Take courage for once in your life, woman! We will make it through."

"You care only for the strong. You would let the weak die to have your glory at conquering these mountains."

Khelt stepped closer to her, raising his hand aggressively. Netya tried to hold him back, but he shook her off with impatience. Even she was no longer enough to soothe his anger toward Adel. The den mother held her ground, meeting his gaze without blinking, even as the snow clung to her eyelashes.

"This is my final warning, Adel," Khelt said. "You will mind your place, and you will listen to your alpha."

"
Alpha
," Adel hissed. "No man who has ever called himself that has done anything to earn my respect. You are savages, all of you."

Khelt lashed out, striking her across the face. A cry escaped Netya's lips, but the moment she darted forward the alpha's furious voice halted her.

"Stay back, Netya! You have no place in this."

The blow staggered Adel, but she held her ground. Clenching her jaw tight, she drew herself back up to face Khelt.

"Touch me again, and I will make sure your hand never strikes another woman."

"Please," Netya said, tears brimming in her eyes. "Stop, both of you. Think of the pack."

"I am thinking of the pack," Adel said, not looking away from Khelt for an instant. "Go on to your death out here if that is your desire. I am leading them back to safety."

Netya wished she had a wolf of her own, for in that moment the strength of a wolf was the only thing that might have stopped them. Adel turned away, taking not a single step before Khelt snatched her by the arm, dragging his den mother back. She threw him off, yanking herself free of his grasp, and this time when his hand lashed out to strike her she ducked under the blow, blue eyes burning with fury as they took on the feral glint of her wolf. Adel's clothing peeled and erupted into white-streaked fur, her fanged muzzle sprouting from her lips as she lunged into Khelt's chest, knocking him to the ground beneath her.

Snow flurried around the two of them as they rolled over, Khelt's roar of outrage becoming a snarl as the jaws of his own wolf burst forward to meet Adel's. The two beasts snapped and kicked at one another, teeth clashing and locking as both struggled to come out on top.

Netya screamed their names, clutching at Adel's fur to try and drag her off, but she might as well have been a snowflake in the wind. The two huge wolves bulled her aside like she was nothing, sending her sprawling in the snow as their vicious snarls echoed in her ears. Bitter cold filled her mouth and stung her face. This was not a challenge. There was no honour or ceremony in the howls that filled the night air. The beasts within Khelt and Adel had finally broken loose, and they meant to kill one another.

The den mother found her footing first, taking the chance to dash away from her opponent before he could use his superior strength to his advantage. Neither wolf overshadowed the other in size, but Adel's body was sleek and slender, while Khelt's bulged with muscle. Rearing back up on his hind legs, blood dripping from his muzzle, he roared and lunged at her. Adel's reacted in an instant, swiping Khelt's right foreleg out from under him and darting under the bite that had been meant for her throat. Her jaws snatched his leg as it flailed in the air, catching him just above the paw and tightening until an audible crack split forth.

The alpha howled with pain, stumbling headlong into the snow as he wrenched himself free with a spatter of blood. Flecks of crimson and wisps of black fur painted the snow all around them. Netya could almost taste the tang of it in the air. The bitter, coppery heat of violence.

She crawled back to her knees, staggering through the snow toward them. Adel loomed over Khelt as the wounded wolf floundered in the snow, his blood still dripping from her teeth. Before she could lunge again, Netya hurled herself on to her mentor's back, twining her fingers into the wolf's fur as she threw all of her weight into pulling her away. It was enough to make Adel slip and falter, snarling with impatience as Netya's momentum sent her tumbling over the other side of the den mother's back and into the snow again, tufts of fur still clutched in her hands.

Khelt was back on his feet, his right foreleg held gingerly to his side as he fixed his vicious gaze on Adel and threw himself forward. The impact of his weight bowled her over, sending her sprawling in the snow with a yelp as her adversary huffed and blinked through the pain of his damaged leg. A swipe of his claws opened Adel's vulnerable back from shoulder to hip, the effort drawing howls of pain from both wolves. Fresh blood poured through the den mother's fur, soaking into the snow in such great quantities that it made Netya feel sick.

She could do nothing to stop them. The wolves tearing each other apart before her would only rest once one of them was dead. In a moment of horror, her eyes flitted to where her spear had fallen in the snow. Stumbling back over to where it lay, her fingers closed around the shaft. She screwed her eyes shut, wishing for the terrible sounds behind her to end. She could not. She refused. How could she choose between the two of them? How could one die to save the other?

Forcing herself to look, she rose to her feet. Her eyes were hollows of terrified white. Her body trembled so hard she could barely keep her grip on the spear.

"
Stop
," she whispered as Khelt and Adel's slavering jaws locked once more. "
Just stop
."

They were both bleeding from half a dozen places. How long until even their resilient bodies gave out? Adel darted back to the shelter of the cliff face, using the alpha's wounded leg to put a few yards of distance between them. With a grace and mastery that Netya had never before seen in any of the Moon People, she made the transition to her two-legged form in one fluid motion, spinning around to claw a handful of grit and pebbles from the ground where the snow had not yet fallen. Before her eyes could even finish reverting from their feral appearance, she hurled the handful of grit into Khelt's muzzle and slipped into the body of her wolf once more, leaping at the alpha and clawing at the back of his neck as he blinked and spat, blinded by the tiny fragments of rock and soil clogging his senses.

All he could do was heave his body upward into Adel's, roaring as he put every bit of his strength into throwing her off. The sheer force of it caused the den mother's paws to leave the ground, kicking and struggling as she clung to Khelt's back for an instant. Then she was clawing at nothing, toppling backward through the air until she hit the rocks at the edge of the cliff face with a heavy crack.

She did not move from where she fell. Terror like Netya had never known shot through her body as she stared in disbelief at the fallen wolf, followed by a nauseating wave of despair. She could have acted. She could have stopped this. Adel lay with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her eyes wide and glassy as the falling snow alighted on her fur.

Khelt hauled himself back to his feet, panting for breath as he snarled at her. Netya could not see the man she cared for any more, only a ravenous beast. The kind of animal he had always professed his kind were above. Adel had warned her the Moon People were savages. Now, at long last, she saw that side of them with her own eyes.

The den mother blinked, and a low whimper escaped her muzzle. She still lived.

Khelt growled in anger, tensing his hind legs as he made to pounce. This time, Netya did not hesitate. One of the people on this valley ledge was not yet a beast.

Dropping her spear in the snow, she threw herself between the two wolves, holding out her hands just as Khelt lunged toward her. Their eyes met for an instant. She saw the animal, the fury, and in the moment before the alpha's fangs sank into her flesh, the horror of the man who realised what he was doing.

Khelt's bite went deep, twin spikes of pain piercing her side as his teeth ripped through her clothing and into the flesh beneath. The breath left Netya's lungs, coming out in a thin gasp. His jaws loosened as quickly as they had tightened, leaving her to stagger back and collapse in the snow. Now it was her blood that painted the white ground beneath them, and she did not have the hardy body of a wolf to stem its flow.

"Netya, no." She heard Adel's dazed, tearful voice. "You fool girl, you fool!" The den mother's arms encircled her from behind, dragging her into a sitting position as she gazed down at the blood spilling from her body. It flowed fast and hot, and even the pressure of Adel's hands could not halt it.