Trace: Follow His Destiny (16 page)

Ryan cleared his throat and said loudly, “This is the challenge for the New Council Pack.

Quin is the current Alpha. He is challenged by Michael. Whoever wins will be the Alpha of the New Council Pack. He will be able to claim what is due to that Alpha. Protocol needs to be followed. This has been declared a formal challenge, and thus all traditional rules will apply. Should a wolf be found to not be following all rules and traditions, they will forfeit.”

Quin and Michael nodded their agreement. Quin looked at the man and saw the fear in his eyes. He didn’t want to be here. For a moment, Quin allowed himself to feel sorry for him, but only a moment. He’d gotten himself in this mess; he had to accept the consequences. Quin could not feel sorry for him.

“I’ve been appointed the officiating shifter. My ruling will be final,” Ryan said and both of the wolves nodded. Once they agreed to the rules, Quin and Michael were allowed to walk to the center of the arena and face each other.

Quin stuck out his hand in the formality. He nodded when Michael grabbed it and shook quickly. When Quin turned around, he nodded first to his parents then his mates, smiling at the fierce look on Cami’s face. Devon was sitting in back of Cami and he could see the Beta, looking around the arena checking for threats.

“Ready?” Ryan said and Quin turned and nodded. “Let the challenge begin,” he called and Quin shifted and turned to the side like Jaden and he had practiced. Striking the smaller wolf fast.

His wolf felt a satisfaction at the yelp he heard when he tore into the wolf’s left shoulder while aiming for his throat, this little fucker is fast, he thought. Quin turned quickly making sure to still protect his right side and went back at the wolf.

He could hear his wolf snarl when the smaller wolf darted quickly to the side and nipped at him. Catching his own left shoulder a little bit. They circled one another and then Quin attacked again. This time grabbing the smaller wolf by the hind leg. He felt the snap in his mouth as he broke the wolf’s back leg. If he wanted it to heal enough to stand on he would have to shift quickly a few times. In a challenge, it was almost impossible for a wolf that was not an Alpha.

Michael turned and pawed at him, trying to get Quin to release his leg. Quin felt the claws sink into his shoulder but refused to let go. Twisting his head and body, he pulled the wolf around in a circle quickly, throwing him for a short distance.

Quin felt a little dizzy. Michael was able to limp to the side of the arena. Quin shook his head trying to clear it. Something was wrong, he felt the wound, but it should not have affected him like this. He had gotten worse in other fights. When he shifted, it would be a scratch, not even a real cut. Michael held up his wounded leg and hobbled back and forth in front of his supporters. He was working on his focus, never taking his eyes off of his opponent. One of the men that sat on the rocks, held his fist up as if to yell and cheer for Michael. But Quin saw the fine dust fly from his hand and land on Michael’s back. He had thrown something on him to help. It had to be some kind of magick to either strengthen Michael or weaken him, it made him question his current dizziness.

He wanted to shift and tell Ryan what he saw and ask Ryan to check. But he was disoriented and confused. He couldn’t do anything about it right now. Quin saw Michael turn to him and curl up his lips around his teeth and growl. He was going to attack.

Quin shook his head and for the first time in his life, he allowed his wolf to fully take over. Quin was an Alpha; he had incredible control over his wolf when he shifted. But because of whatever Michael had done to him, poisoning most likely. Quin had no choice. He would not lose this challenge, this was not an option. When all was said and done, everyone would know that Michael cheated but he needed to win first.

His wolf stepped forward in his head and also in the ring. His head held proudly up in the air and he let out a howl that would have been a war cry if he would have been human. He knew there would be no more sparring now; his wolf would go for the throat and a quick kill. Michael stepped back and seemed to rethink what he was going to do.

His wolf was having nothing of it. The time for being polite was over; they were going to end this.

Quin nodded and his wolf jumped and attacked. He landed on the other wolf’s front leg and pushed him to the ground. They could smell the herbs that the witch had used in the dust but his wolf ignored it. That would be taken care of when they won. His wolf would fight to the death for his mates.

He pinned Michael on the ground with his paws and growled. The small wolf tried to turn his head and nip at him. If he would have gone slack and not fought back things may have turned out differently, but his wolf was in charge and would not accept the defiance.

He leaned over, gripped his throat, and whipped his head a little. He could feel the tear of flesh in his teeth and held on. The smell of the herbs began to overwhelm his senses.

It was time to end this. Only he couldn’t seem to concentrate, his wolf struggled. Then all of a sudden, he shifted and lost consciousness, falling to the ground.

Jaden had seen what was happening and he’d started to remove his clothing. Ryan stood there, a shocked look on his face as he watched Michael struggle to stand, intending to finish off the defenseless Quin. Cami screamed and had to be held back by Devon and Blaze.

Suddenly Jaden shouted, “I claim tri-mate rights!” The audience froze. Michael had risen to his paws and stood there panting, with blood dripping from the wound on his neck. Jaden dove into the ring, shifting on the fly and landing between where Quin lay unconscious and Michael. Another leap and he was on the smaller wolf, it was over in seconds. Michael was dead.

“Cheat!” Called a voice from Michael’s side of the stadium, “you have broken the challenge rules and traditions. Michael’s brother is now Alpha!”

“Halt!” Said Ryan, who couldn’t believe what he’d just witnessed. “Jaden, explain please.”

Jaden stood tall facing the crowd. “We will settle this now. Enforcers, surround Michael’s followers, especially the vocal one in the front row.” He turned to Ryan. “As you know, Jordan is the New Council historian. Her mates also have knowledge in history and are her helpers in her chosen role. It has been a long time since a formal Alpha challenge of this nature, so while Jordan recovered from her injuries, Romy and Larkin performed her duties and found the rules and traditions of challenges, as you know them. Jordan has recovered enough in the last week to look over all that they did and she had noticed a discrepancy. With the help of her mates, she found a reference to tri-mated Alphas. One of the reasons a triad Alpha mating is considered so lucky is because the male Alphas are seen as one. A challenge to one is a challenge to both. That one fact meant that we could have faced Michael together and easily destroyed him.

Quin decided to give him the chance to show his belly and surrender. Instead, Michael chose to cheat!” At this, there was an uproar.

Jaden turned to the trees, “Shane?”

Shane Arno flew down from the tree where he had perched throughout the bout shifting as he landed and stood up. “Shifter judge, with your permission?” at Ryan’s nod he continued. “As an eagle my eyesight is better than any other’s here. I saw the wolf in the front row throw some type of powder over Michael’s coat. Also, we are in a dry, rocky arena and yet even now the challenger’s claws are glistening as though wet.” He didn’t look at Michael or say his name, he didn’t want Michael’s Chindi to come closer and cause evil. “I believe spells, potions, and magicks were used here.” Once again the crowd roared their displeasure.

Ryan then held his hands up for quiet. “These accusations are serious. An Investigation will be made.” He looked over at Larkin who had stepped forward. “Larkin, what do you know of this?”

“I have the documents which explain the rules and traditions not of the Alpha Challenge, but of Triad Mates. Romy and I had overlooked this when we researched challenge laws. Jordan had been researching them for some time, she felt if she understood them better, it would help the council find the rest of the Chosen Ones.

She discovered that both males in a Triad are as one, neither ruling over the other but side by side with their female. A Challenge to one was a challenge to both. She concluded that this is why the New Council was fated to be filled with Triad Matings. So challenges would be unlikely, as any challenger would have to face not one but two opponents. She only brought this to the Alphas attention late last night.” He concluded and the crowd started chanting ‘Triad, Triad’ across the amphitheatre.

Once again, Ryan raised his hands to calm and quiet the crowd. As he looked up, he saw that the crowd had thinned quite a bit. Many of those who had been sitting at the back and the sides had drifted away.

“Due to Triad Mate law, Quin and Jaden are declared the winners of this challenge and will maintain their Alpha status in regards to the New Council Pack and the Denver Pack.” The crowd once again started to shout, “The issue of cheating will also be looked into, not because it will affect the outcome. It will be looked into for accurate accounting of this event and to prevent appeals from any descendants Michael and his family may have in the future.”

At this point, Michael’s parents stood up and his father spoke as his wife silently cried next to him. “Our family would like it on record that while we loved our son and came here for him, we did not support his challenge and will not make attempts in future. I declare now that our bloodline gives up the right to Alpha challenge from this day forward. His mother and I would beg that you investigate this entire situation very carefully and give you permission to go through all of our sons things. His behavior has been strange for some months. He was terrified of going through with this challenge and we both tried to stop it; he said he was compelled to go through with it. If what the eagle says is true, we ask if it’s possible he was bespelled.” A gasp came from the audience at that. “If we can, we’d like to clear his name, for the sake of the family and his memory.”

Cami, not waiting to listen to any more legal bullshit, sprang into the ring and ran over to Quin and Jaden, tears streaming down her face as well. Jaden had gone over to him during Larkin’s explanation, sat on the ground, and pulled his head and shoulders into his arms. It was only his obvious relief that had kept Cami out of the ring this long.

Ryan waved his arms and Enforcers closed in and arrested the wolves that supported Michael, that were strangers to his family. Most of the New Council pack members were now gone and those remaining were mostly representatives of the Old Council, visiting shifters and a few of the New Council members. Suddenly Lagon looked up, sprang up from his seat, and with a snap of his fingers removed his clothes. He ran into a cleared area, leapt, and just disappeared into thin air, causing many to gasp. The Council appeared to be watching something flying in the sky. Cloe, who’d just entered the ring to see to Quin, looked over when Jo shouted, “The children! The compound is under attack.”

Chapter 11

The Council had left the compound and a lot of the commotion of the last few days seemed to melt away. There was quiet and silence. Jordan and Lacy played with the children as they lay on the floor with their baby toys.

Both of the women were happy to play and talk to them. It was peaceful, and both of them longed to have a child of their own. Lacy and her mates had been actively trying but for some reason she hadn’t become pregnant. She had an appointment with Cloe to talk to her about it in the next week. Her mother thought it was the stress.

Jordan laughed when one of Jo’s twins rolled to where she sat. Romy had helped her get on a floor bed they had built for her. It was comfortable, but the casts were becoming a burden. She still had them on her arms and her legs, just to her hips. The worst was having to spend a portion of every day in traction with her legs suspended.

“Hey look,” Lacy said. “He’s crawling up to you.”

Jordan nodded, waited, and watched. Christian was Jo’s son, she did not want to move suddenly and hurt the baby. Jo and she had just gotten back onto a good footing; she would hate to explain how she squished her kid with the heavy casts.

The child turned to his twin, Cassandra, and made some sounds. It was as if they were talking about something, Lacy thought and watched and the other twin made her way over to Jordan. Lacy sat with Cami’s children who had gone silent; and Casey’s babies who had been asleep but were now awake staring over at Lacy.

Romy and Shawn walked in the room laughing. While she waited to see what Christian and Cassandra were up to, she asked the guys why they were laughing.

Shawn explained, “It’s those two human girls from the city. I guess they’ve been giving Jean Paul and Charlie fits for most of the night. They were coming in with shotguns in their hands. They want to sit in Surya’s room and make sure she’s well guarded. Then I heard Judy say to Charlie that he shouldn’t worry because her father had taught them both to skeet shoot.” And then Romy added, “Yeah but the funny part is when Sarah told Jean Paul that she wasn’t sure about becoming a wolf because she didn’t think taking down a deer in the woods was kosher.” They all laughed at that.

Romy and Sevi had been out checking the perimeter. The cats were surrounding the compound and doing shifts of checking in with them inside the B&B. The men had just gotten back from the last check, the cats said they could feel something in the air, but so far, nothing was visual. They figured Braden had gotten the witches help again. The good part was that Lacy and her mother had both used protection spells all over the compound. But nothing was infallible.

“What are you doing?” Romy said curiously.

Lacy looked up and whispered, “Not sure yet.”

They remained silent and watched as both of the children stopped chattering to each other and crawled over to Jordan. Jordan awkwardly leaned over, smiled at the infants, and whispered to them, “Hey little one’s, what are you doing?” Christian smiled and placed a chubby little hand on her face. She gasped when she felt a calmness flow into her. The child was giving her a feeling of peace and well being. Lacy made a noise when the babies started doing their glowing thing again.