Chapter 28 The First Challenge (Ember's POV)
"Say something," I whispered.
"I..." He pulled his hand back, running it through his hair instead. "Are you sure? I mean, completely sure?"
"My senses don't lie. I can smell it, Trey. The change in my body." I touched my stomach. "It's real."
"Okay." He nodded, but the fear was written all over his face. "Okay. We'll figure this out. Together."
But his voice shook, and I could see the calculations running behind his eyes. Pregnant meant the prophecy was in motion. Meant everything everyone had feared was coming true.
"I'm scared too," I admitted.
"I know." He pulled me close again, but the embrace felt different now. Weighted with impossible futures. "But we don't have to tell anyone yet. Not until we figure out what this means."
"And how do we figure that out?"
"I don't know." He pressed his lips to my hair. "But we will. I promise."
Two days later, Trey was feeling better. The fever had broken completely, and though he still looked gaunt and tired, he could walk without assistance and hold down solid food.
"You need to eat more," I said, watching him push eggs around his plate at breakfast. "Build your strength back."
"I'm eating." He took a bite to prove it. "Just not hungry."
Sarah sat across from us, her expression worried. "You should stay at the cabin today. Rest. Let your body finish recovering."
"I'm fine." Trey set down his fork. "And I can't hide in the cabin forever. Need to figure out what comes next."
"What comes next is more suffering if you push too hard too fast." Derek joined us, setting down his tray. "The severing takes a toll. You should take it easy."
"I've been taking it easy for three days." Trey stood, and I noticed he was steadier on his feet. "I need to get back to campus. Check in on things. Make sure Knox hasn't done anything else catastrophically stupid."
"I'll come with you." I started to stand, but he shook his head.
"You need to go to class. Keep up appearances. Act normal." He leaned down to kiss my forehead. "I'll meet you for lunch. Cafeteria. Noon."
"Trey..."
"I'll be fine, Em. Promise."
He left before I could argue, and I spent the morning in classes trying not to think about prophecies and hunters and the life growing inside me.
By the time lunch rolled around, my nerves were frayed. I grabbed a tray and found Sage already seated at our usual table.
"Where's Trey?"
"Should be here soon. He wanted to check in on things at campus." I glanced at the entrance. "He's been gone all morning."
"Em." Sage's hand found mine. "Whatever you're worried about, it's going to be okay."
"You don't know that."
"No. But I have to believe it anyway." She squeezed my hand. "Otherwise I'd go crazy thinking about all the ways this could go wrong."
The cafeteria doors opened, and Trey walked in. He looked better than this morning, less pale, more steady. Several supernatural students noticed him immediately, whispers rippling through their tables.
Then a chair scraped loudly across the floor.
A male wolf I didn't recognize stood up. Tall, muscular, probably mid-twenties. He wore the subtle markers I'd learned to spot, silver jewelry, specific tattoo patterns visible on his forearms.
Silvermoon Pack.
"Trey Jarred." His voice carried across the cafeteria. "Formerly of Ravencrest. Now rogue."
Trey stopped walking, his posture shifting to something more alert. "Do I know you?"
"I am David of the Silvermoon Pack." The wolf moved into the open space between tables. "And I challenge you by right of ancient law."
The cafeteria went deathly silent.
"I don't want trouble," Trey said carefully. "I'm just here for lunch."
"You claim the Silver Wolf as your mate. You bonded with her without permission from her true pack." David's smile was cold. "That makes you subject to challenge. You will prove yourself worthy or you will die."
"This is insane." I started to stand, but Sage grabbed my arm.
"Don't," she hissed. "You'll make it worse."
"He's challenging Trey to a fight!"
"I know. But that's pack law. If you interfere, you declare him weak. Unable to protect himself." She pulled me back down. "He has to do this alone."
Around us, supernatural students were standing, forming a circle.
"I accept." Trey's voice was steady despite having just recovered from the severing. "First blood or submission?"
"Death." David started removing his jacket. "The Silver Wolf deserves a mate who can defend her. Not a rogue who abandoned his pack for convenience."
"It wasn't convenience. It was principle." Trey pulled off his own jacket, handing it to Derek who'd appeared at his side. "But if you want a fight, I'll give you one."
"Human students need to leave." A faculty member I didn't recognize whispered...probably supernatural himself, started herding regular students toward the exits. "Everyone else, stand back. Give them room."
The humans filed out, casting confused glances over their shoulders.
Like Romans at the Colosseum, eager for blood.
"This is barbaric," I muttered.
"This is pack law." Ms. Silvermoon appeared beside our table, her expression unreadable. "Your mate must prove himself worthy. That's how it's always been."
"But he just finished the severing. He's not at full strength."
"Then perhaps he should have thought of that before bonding with you." Her tone was cold. "Challenges were inevitable, Ember. Every pack wants to test the male who claims the Silver Wolf. To see if he's strong enough to stand beside you."
"I don't need someone to stand beside me. I can stand alone."
"Can you?" She turned those pale green eyes on me. "Because right now, you look terrified."
I was. Terrified Trey would lose. Terrified he'd be killed because of me.
The fight started without ceremony.
David lunged first, his body shifting mid-leap.
Trey met him head-on, his own partial shift activating. They collided with a sound like thunder, both going down in a tangle of limbs and fury.
Blood sprayed almost immediately. I couldn't tell whose.
They rolled, each trying to get the upper hand. David's claws raked across Trey's shoulder, tearing fabric and flesh. Trey responded with a blow to David's ribs that I heard crack from across the cafeteria.
"Stop this!" I tried to stand again, but Ms. Silvermoon's hand on my shoulder held me down with surprising strength.
"If you interfere, he dies." Her voice was flat, certain. "Every wolf here will see him as weak. Unable to defend his mate. The challenges will never stop. He'll be killed within days."
"So I just watch him bleed?"
"You watch him prove himself worthy of you." She released my shoulder. "Or you watch him die trying."
The fight intensified. They were both bleeding now—David from a deep gash across his face, Trey from the shoulder wound and what looked like broken ribs. They moved with supernatural speed and strength, each blow landing with bone-breaking force.
The circle of watching students cheered and jeered, taking sides. Some supported the Silvermoon challenger. Others had apparently decided to back the rogue who'd dared claim the Silver Wolf.
Trey caught David with a uppercut that snapped his head back. David responded by slamming Trey into a table, which splintered under the impact.
"He's going to die." The words came out strangled. "Ms. Silvermoon, please..."
"He's going to win." She said it with certainty. "Watch."
Trey rolled off the broken table, blood dripping from a cut above his eye. David charged again, but this time Trey was ready. He sidestepped, grabbed David's arm mid-swing, and used the momentum to flip him.
David hit the floor hard. Before he could recover, Trey was on him, one hand around his throat, claws extended and pressing against vulnerable flesh.
"Yield." Trey's voice was barely human. "Or I end this."
David struggled, but Trey's grip was iron. Blood from both of them pooled on the floor, mixing together.
"Yield!" Trey's claws pressed harder, drawing blood.
"I yield!" The words came out choked, humiliated.
Trey released him and stood, swaying slightly. His eyes swept the circle of watching wolves, challenging any of them to dispute the outcome.
No one did.
David pushed himself up, holding his ribs. He nodded once to Trey—respect between warriors—then limped toward the exit.
I started toward Trey, but Ms. Silvermoon caught my arm. "Wait."
"Why? It's over..."
"No. It's just beginning."
Three more wolves stepped into the circle. All Silvermoon Pack. All looking at Trey with predatory interest.
"We challenge." The first one, a female with short black hair, smiled coldly. "The Silver Wolf's mate must prove himself worthy of her bloodline. One victory proves nothing."
"You can't be serious." Trey was bleeding, exhausted, barely standing. "I just won. That should be enough."
"It's not." The second challenger, a lean male with scars across his face, moved into position. "You claimed the last of the Silvermoon royal line. That requires more than defeating one challenger. It requires proving you're strong enough to stand as her equal."
"This is murder." I yanked free from Ms. Silvermoon's grip, moving toward Trey. "He's not at full strength. He just finished a severing. This isn't a fair fight."
"Pack law doesn't require fairness." Ms. Silvermoon's smile was cold, calculated. "It requires strength. And if your mate doesn't possess sufficient strength to defend his claim, then perhaps you should reject him and choose someone more worthy."
"I'm not rejecting him."
"Then watch him fight." She gestured to the three challengers. "These challenges will continue until he's dead or you make a different choice. That's how it works when you're the last of a royal bloodline, Ember. Your mate must prove himself against all comers. Or die trying."