Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Godric’s POV

The parchment was far too expensive on my fingers as I popped the silver wax with its SilverFang seal. Daniel himself had handed it to me, all starch and formality in my study as I read the thing. He smelled of nervousness and barely suppressed violence, but he managed to stand on protocol despite obviously wishing himself elsewhere.

Later, after he had gone, I sat alone in my study regarding the formal challenge. For 27 years I served as Alpha of the Obsidian Pack. In that time, fourteen different contenders had come at me, thinking they could claim my turf, my pack, my life. Their bones would be left to rot within the Proving Grounds, a death always intended as a message to any of their own kind who dared form such ambitions.

But this was different. This wasn't some overeager adult Alpha trying to make a name for himself by taking me out. This was an underdog man desperate to win back a woman whom he’d already lost due to his own weakness. That had something almost admirable about it, if ultimately futile.

I didn’t hear anything, and a few seconds later the door to my study opened without knocking, I immediately looked up at her entering. She wore a plain blue dress that accentuated her emerald eyes, her golden hair hanging loose over both shoulders. She still took my breath away, even three days after making her mine.

“Maya told me Daniel was here,” she said from inside the room, shutting the door. "What did he want?"

I brought up the challenge letter, studying her face as comprehension slowly entered it. Her face numbed, and her hand drifted automatically to her stomach in a gesture that was beginning to feel like second nature.

“Ryan threw down the gauntlet,” I said softly. "He challenged me for the right to have you back as his mate."

“No,” she murmured, slumping into the chair facing my desk. "He can't. He has Shirley, he’s already got his fated mate. Why would he—"

"Because he finally realized what a prize he lost," I said, standing up and kneeling next to her.”

“Because letting you walk was the first real consequence he’s received for anything he’s done.
Tears pooled in her green eyes, but she blinked them away with the same misguided pride that had first grabbed my attention. "You can't fight him, Godric. If you kill him—"
"When I kill him," I corrected quietly, taking her hand in mine. "There is nothing 'if' about this, young wolf. I don’t lose, and I’m not going to start losing because of some moonstruck kid who had his chance but threw it away.”

“His pack will want revenge,” she went on as if I hadn’t said anything. "There could be war. All because of me."

Pulling her face up with a free hand, I made her meet my gaze. "All because of him. He chose to do this, Freya, not you. You did not ask him to challenge me.”

“But I’m the one making him do it,” she said. “If I hadn’t thrown myself at you that night —”

“half the wolves would still be in a pack with you worshiping them and half following a girl who despises you,” I interrupted. “You would still be alone, looking on as the man you loved made a life with someone else. Tell me that's what you want, and I'll pull out of the competition.”

It was one more weapon suspended like a sword between us. I knew what I’d said and I wasn’t taking it back – if she really wanted to go back to Ryan, really could stare me in the face and tell me that she loved him more than the mate bond he was going to rip from us and that it would be better if we never knew each other then he was welcome to her. It would be something of a soul-killer for me to do, but I would.

She looked at me for a long moment, then searched my face with her eyes for signs of deceit. "You would really let me go?"

“Is that what you really want?” I said, but the words were ashes in my mouth. “I’d never hold you captive, regardless of what the mate bond wishes.”

“I…” she began and then halted, as confusion and struggle fought for sway across her face. “I’m not even sure what I want now. A week ago, I had been myself and in my proper place. Everything’s changed now, and I just feel like I’m treading water.”

“Then let me be your anchor,” I said and brought her hand to my lips and kissed the back of each knuckle. “Allow me, I think, to be a constant amid this crazy whirl.”

She was about to answer when a sudden rapping at the door interrupted us. There was the sound of Maya’s voice on the other side of the door— urgent, slightly breathless.

"Alpha, sorry to interrupt but the Council is here. They are insisting that both you and Alpha Ryan speak with them at once."

I cursed quietly, the political game suddenly cleared. The Elder Council–five ancient black Alphas who’d appointed themselves the judges of territorial disputes or inter-pack wars–only acted swiftly when they smelt the stench of quiet chaos that could destabilize the whole region.

I ordered as I stood up. "Tell Ryan that I expect him in the Great Hall within an hour. And Maya? I want our guest to see and know this is my hood. They might be the Council, but they aren’t the law around here.”

The Great Hall of the Obsidian Throne was built to impress, soaring overhead with its vaulted ceiling and walls adorned with the arms and armor of fallen foes. The five Council members seemed fittingly dwarfed by the architecture, if unchanged in their self-importance.

Elder Marcus, the self-appointed head of their council, led the group that approached me and Freya as we walked in. His grey eyes met our clasped hands in disapprobation.

"Alpha Godric," he spoke in that pompous tone that had so annoyed me for the past several decades. "We are here to avert unnecessary bloodletting between two brother packs."

"Allied?" I giggled, as the sound bounced off the stone walls. “SilverFang is a friend of Obsidian? The last I checked, we are at best tolerating neutrals.”

"However," Elder Marcus went on, "Alpha Ryan's challenge undermines the peace in this area. We propose mediation—"

“There’s nothing to mediate!” I cut in, sounding like an absolute power being. “A gauntlet has been thrown down and picked up. The old law shall determine the case."

"Now c'mon, Godric," Sarah said from behind Marcus. “The boy is young, desperate and he’s operating on his feelings as against his reasoning. You are not so weak that you cannot forgive—"

"Mercy?" It was so much a growl that several of the Councilmen took a step back. "The same mercy he gave my mate when he paraded his pregnant fated mate in front of her? The mercy he’d had for the woman who’d given him everything, when he opted for political convenience instead?”

Ryan picked that moment to arrive, Daniel and his two senior wolves beside him. He was grizzled and didn’t come across as looking his neatest — the usually slicked-back dome of hair disheveled, the blue eyes bloodshot from sleep deprivation. But there was steel in his spine as he came on, and I had to give him credit for facing what he must have known would be his death with dignity.

Godric, he nodded in slight respect. "I observe the Council is in attendance to scrutinize our affairs."

“They’re here to try and persuade the two of us to be reasonable,” I replied, dryly. “They liken such romantic notions to your dying for love, which is apparently too romantic for their political sensitivities.”

“I’m not going to die,” Ryan said, with far more conviction than I would have thought. “I’m going to get back what you took from me.”

“What I was blessed with,” I corrected, and felt Freya’s hand squeeze mine. “By a woman who knew exactly what she was doing.”

Elder Marcus loudly cleared his throat, he was obviously having issues with where our exchange was heading. "Alphas, please. We propose a different solution. Alpha Ryan, you have a pregnant mate that looks up to you for protection and guidance. Surely your duty—"

Ryan interjected, holding my eyes. “My Luna, who served my pack well for many years before I failed her.”

The admission surprised me. I’d anticipated bluster and justification, not genuine soul-searching. Maybe Ryan did have a little more to him than I had thought.

"Your Luna," I echoed, low, "decided she was going to be mine. Are you so proud that you are supposed to have the right to pillage?”

“I mean I’m not, you know?” Ryan said, and there was the shaky tremor beneath his calm and measured voice that I would have expected to hear under the circumstances.“But I think,” he added, “I think that I’m willing to die trying.”

You could see the Council looking at each other, realizing that they were not able to mediate. Elder Marcus exhaled heavily, producing an official-looking piece of paper.

“All right,” he said, obviously loathing. “Mediation was offered and denied by both sides, so note that in your story. The Challenge Alpha Godric Nathaniel of the Obsidian Pack and Alpha Ryan of SilverFang pack is now set forth. Fighting begins at sunrise, three days from now, in the Proving Grounds. May the moon goddess have mercy on whichever of you lives long enough to feel them.”

As the Council filed out of the room, murmuring to themselves about immature Alphas and bloodshed that needn’t have happened, I couldn’t help but notice Ryan for who he really was. He was still going to die — that much hadn’t changed — but at least he would die honorably.

“Three days,” he whispered, as though he’d had the same thought.

“Three days,” I stormed out. “Use them well, Ryan. Make peace with your decisions and your gods.”

And in that instant of time, something like understanding flashed through both of us. And then Freya strode up to my side, and Ryan’s face fixed with resolve once more.

“I will meet you at dawn, Godric. And when I do win, I’ll give Freya the life she deserves - one where she doesn’t ever have to question her belonging."

I had the impression of Freya shaking next to me as he walked away. When I peered down, she was pale but determined.

“He’s going to die because of me,” she whispered.

’He’s going to get himself killed by the decisions he’s made,” I corrected, hugging her closer. “The damage is yours — the question is: Can you live with it?”

She didn’t respond, but the tears that finally poured out told me what I needed to know.