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Sterling remained in one place. His voice dripped utter contempt. “The Mortcombes are here fordeath, FrostFur. Silver is war. Silver is death. I am not here for victory. Victory is when those who have wronged you remain alive to know you are the monster to haunt their children’s nightmares. Victory is when the defeated lead long lives so they can gaze upon the ruin they created. Death isn’t victory, you simple-minded mongrel. Death is just business.”
Alan floundered for a few seconds before he recovered from his public trout-slapping. “Then I suppose I will be doing us all a favor by concluding this matter swiftly.”
Sterling’s smile was bright and cruel and ruthless.
As one, the Elders sat.
Sterling twisted into wolf-form, finishing his shift before Alan completed his to war-form. The crowd gasped and tittered. Not the usual way a duel started.
This wasn’t the usual duel, though.
Sterling darted past the shocked Alan, who hadn’t been prepared to be met with a wolf-form. Alan was a large white war-form, featuring the creamy colored white shade calledbonein our lupine language. He spun around, swiped at Sterling as my mate darted, momentarily losing his balance and he snarled in rage, realizing it’d been a trick and he’d fallen into it.
Sterling twisted, leapt, and crawled up Alan’s spine. Alan roared in rage. Sterling, claws deep in Alan’s pelt, bit the base of Alan’s neck like Alan was small prey. His jaws clamped down over Alan’s spine. The FrostFur tried to yank Sterling off his back. Sterling held on, losing his grip with two claws, then a third, swinging by his clamped jaws. Alan tossed himself down and Sterling broke free and bolted.
Alan snarled, spittle dripping from his fangs, and fury rising off him in a musk. Blood marked his white coat, spreading quickly. Sterling bounced and bowed in a mock play-bow, eliciting a howl of fury from Alan with a sudden round of applause and cheers from the watching crowd who realized they had cheered for the wrong wolf.
Alan sprang, Sterling met him, and used his more nimble wolf-form to dodge the swipe of a claw, duck under Alan’s legs, and snap his jaws closed around Alan’s Achilles tendon.
“You fucking ratter!” Mercedes howled.
Alan twisted at the hips and grabbed Sterling by the ruff. His claws pierced Sterling’s hide, drawing wells of blood, and he snatched back, raking his claws along Sterling’s shoulders. Sterling’s fangs tore through the thinner hide on Alan’s Achilles as Alan pulled him forward. Alan tossed Sterling away, but blood spurted from the chunk missing from his Achilles.
Sterling bled from wounds criss-crossing his shoulders.
My mind blanked, and I saw him as the scales of flesh, with the strange patterns of silvery fur tracing his body.
He snarled, barring blood-stained fangs at Alan, who came forward, but limped on his damaged leg.
“Fiiightttt meeee, rattterrr!”Alan demanded.
Sterling bounced again, then paraded himself around the perimeter of the circle. The crowd started to chantratter, ratter, ratter!Mercedes howled in fury.
Alan lunged. Sterling dodged, whipped around behind Alan once more, bit Alan’s wounded Achilles, causing the FrostFur to howl in pain, then Sterling rolled out of range and his silvery form twisted.
The crowd howled approval. Alan spun, slower on his wounded foot, and met Sterling’s war-form with his own.
Ratter, ratter, ratter!
They tumbled in a tangle of snarls and claws and blood. Sterling stayed close on Alan, absorbing the punishing of Alan’s claws and evading his snapping fangs while forcing the FrostFur to take weight on his damaged Achilles. Sterling shoved off one leg while using the other to rake claws at Alan’s shins, peeling up strips of the thinner hide from the lower legs. Alan sang his teeth into Sterling’s shoulder, biting down with crushing force on the joint, and working his jaws back and forth to dig into Sterling’s hide.
Sterling didn’t flinch or react and drove forward while Alan pushed back. Blood started to pour out of his injured leg. Alan raked strips through Sterling’s pelt and reached low to the slightly thinner hide of the haunch and side of the leg, drawing bloody lines.
Ratter, ratter, ratter!
Hai! Hai! Hai!
The scent of blood started to permeate the air.
Sterling wrestled Alan around for no obvious reason. I craned my neck, trying to see why he’d reversed when they weren’t against a cage.
So Alan could see Mercedes.
Sterling got one claw under Alan’s arm, the other claw pinned behind Alan’s shoulder, holding the FrostFur close. Sterling wormed his arm more under Alan’s arm while Alan raked claws at Sterling’s legs, drawing up strips of hide and blood. Sterling shifted, and Alan shoved forward, driving his claws into Sterling’s thigh.
I gasped and covered my mouth to hold in a scream. Alan pulledup, trying to rake trenches in Sterling’s leg. Sterling’s hide seemed to hold, and Alan wasn’t at a good angle. Sterling slid his arm through Alan’s, raised a bloody claw and drove it into the wound he’d opened at the base of Alan’s neck.
Alan howled in pain as Sterling pulled the neck wound open with both claws. Blood spurted out of Alan’s back.
