Page 18 of Sun Warrior

“It’s just a pup! Grab him and take her!” Thaddeus shouted, spittle raining from his lips.

Mari didn’t flinch. She didn’t so much as glance at Thaddeus. She sprinted to Nik. Rigel ran with her, his growl changing to snarling barks—the strength of which belied his youth. The Terriers that were standing between Mari and Nik scattered, ears down and tails between their legs submissively, and suddenly she was beside Nik! He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace, allowing herself one small heartbeat of a moment to be secure in his strength and his affection.

“I told you she was his Scratcher whore,” Thaddeus said.

Mari positioned herself so that she was beside Nik. Laru and Rigel stood before them, teeth bared at the Hunters.

“I’m getting really tired of him calling me that,” Mari told Nik, as if they weren’t facing a group of angry men and women and their canines.

“Yeah, Thaddeus isn’t known for his social skills,” Nik said.

“Enough talk! Get the bitch and her traitor lover!” Thaddeus shouted.

“Stop!” A tall man with a large dark-coated Shepherd at his side ran into the clearing, followed by the young Hunter Davis and his blond Terrier, as well as several more tall Companions accompanied by adult Shepherds. They all looked singed and exhausted, covered in sweat and soot, coughing into wet rags they’d wrapped around their faces and necks. But the tall man’s voice was firm and filled with unshakable strength. “Thaddeus, you have no authority to order the arrest of Nikolas, or of this woman.”

“Wilkes, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Red-faced, Thaddeus shouted at the Warrior, “You were there, on the Channel, when this bitch let the Scratchers escape and set our world on fire!”

Wilkes’s voice was flinty and Mari was sure she saw disgust in his expression as he faced Thaddeus. “I was there, but things didn’t go down exactly as you’re saying. And there is still the matter of our Sun Priest’s death to deal with—and that death was by your hands, Thaddeus. This fire is the only reasonyouhaven’t been arrested.”

Mari watched the expressions of the Tribesmen and women. Theyranged from shock and grief to anger. Then Wilkes took a step toward them, as if he wanted to speak in private to Nik. Laru and Rigel’s response was instant and in sync. Side by side, the two mighty Shepherds alerted, snarling twin warnings.

Wilkes’s big, black Shepherd’s reaction was just as instantaneous and was mirrored by every canine in the clearing, Shepherds and Terriers alike. Their ears, tails, and heads all went down, and they refused to move forward, showing complete submission to Laru’s Alpha position in the Tribe.

“Nikolas, it appears Laru has chosen you as his Companion. Is this true?” Wilkes asked.

“It is,” Nik said. “Laru chose to live with me, instead of dying with my father.” Nik’s hand found his Companion’s head and he stroked the big Shepherd reverently. “That is something for which I will be grateful for the rest of my life, and maybe beyond.”

Laru’s tail wagged, but he didn’t take his intense amber gaze from the crowd.

Wilkes studied his Companion, and Mari could almost see the connection between them. Then the tall Warrior nodded, as much to himself as his Shepherd. “Our Companions have decided. They still acknowledge Laru as their Alpha and Leader. As is tradition for the Tribe, that choice is up to our Companions, and cannot be changed. I propose we work together to stop this fire and when the Tribe is safe again we can convene the Council and allow the people to decide how we move forward, what we do about our Sun Priest’s death, as well as what action, if any, should be taken against Nik and his Scratcher,” Wilkes said.

“Earth Walker.” Mari’s voice was strong and sure. “My people are called Earth Walkers. To call me a Scratcher is to insult me, and you should all know that I’m only half Earth Walker. My father was of your Tribe, a Companion named Galen.”

Mari saw surprise flicker over Wilkes’s face, and that surprise echoed throughout the surrounding group, especially in Tribesmen who were middle-aged or older.

“She can’t really be saying she’s one of us,” Thaddeus sneered.

“She doesn’t have to say it, and you don’t have to believe it,” Nik said. “The fact that a Shepherd has chosen her makes her one of us.”

“Nik has a point. It isn’t blood that makes a Companion. It’s heart and soul and the love of a canine,” Wilkes said.

“And Mari has all of those things.” Nik smiled proudly at her. Then his gaze moved through the crowd as his voice lifted so that everyone in the clearing would be sure to hear his next words. “She also has the ability to cure the blight.”

“Lies!” Thaddeus shouted.

“Truth!” Nik countered. “I had the blight. She cured me. O’Bryan had it, too, as all of you know, and now he is cured.”

“That’s just talk! No one has seen O’Bryan since the fire began,” Thaddeus said.

“I have.” Everyone’s attention shifted to the young man named Davis. He moved his feet nervously, a movement the little blond Terrier at his side mirrored. Then he continued. “I saw him helping Rose try to save Fala’s litter. He might not have made it because part of the fire cut him off from me, and from her, but I definitely saw him and he was definitely not sick anymore.”

“He made it,” Nik told Davis. “I saw him after that. He saved all of Fala’s pups and was getting them and Rose to safety.”

“Oh, well, obviouslythatmakes all of this okay!” Thaddeus said.

Mari was done being silent. She shook her head with distaste. “Thaddeus, you’re the worst kind of hypocrite—a lying one. It’s because of you that my mother is dead. It’s because of what you and that old man did at the Channel that the Earth Walker women panicked and the fire started. It’s because of you that Nik’s father, your Sun Priest, is dead. And if we burn today it’s going to be because hatred is more important to you than life.” She looked at the other Companions, meeting their eyes. “Is hatred more important than life to all of you, too?”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, you Scratcher whore!” Seeming unable to control himself, Thaddeus lurched forward, hands reaching as if for her throat.