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“What? Why?” Emily couldn’t have gone crying to them already, not that they’d have cared who I bit, as long as I didn’t bite Marcella.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll find out.”
Performative
Ameeting with MarcelleandDemetriusandHenriandSarah?
Oh, this was a bad, bad, bad sign. This was a sit-down so we could all get our stories straight.
I balked in the doorway of Demetrius’ and Marcella’s shared office, which had a massive partner’s desk in a rich wood that reminded me of Sterling’s massive antique desk, and was pleasantly cluttered with all the things one would expect to find, instead of Sterling’s carefully and meticulously sorted austerity.
Marcella sat on the desk next to the chair on Demetrius’ side. Sarah and Henri sat in chairs on the left side of the desk, while there were two more chairs awaiting Searle and I’s rumps.
Searle, gently, placed his palm on the small of my back and oh-so-delicately pushed me forward. He kept his hand there for the duration of the walk to the chairs. I sat, tucked my ankles together, and arranged my emotions the way I used to when my father had dragged me along to the various packs.
Inside, I steeled myself for the next punch from the cosmic fist.
Searle rested his fingertips on my shoulder while he stood next to my chair. Marcella sat with her shins tucked against Demetrius’ thigh.
Demetrius looked at Searle, then at me. “So we need to discuss Equinox. It’ll be a brief conversation.”
I nodded.
“We’re going to present you and Searle at Equinox to the pack,” Demetrius said. “You will be presented, announced, congratulated.”
The cosmic fist spun me around with that punch square to the jaw. “But—that’s done at Summer Solstice.”
“We usually announce pairs at the closest holiday to their finding each other, except for Hallow. Although a few have requested Hallow for personal reasons. Mostdoopt to wait until summer, butwe’vedecidedyou’vedecided Equinox.”
Marcella held up a finger to hit Demetrius’ pause button, then told me, “Youcanwait until summer, but I suspect you’d rather not.”
Henri, arms crossed, told me, “We’re bringing Sterling up from the barracks.”
They were bringing Sterling up from the barracks to watch me get passed off toSearlein front of the entire pack? Why would I want to participate in that, instead of waiting until after July? Why were they tormenting him? I just barely managed to contain my fountain of outrage and kept my tone mild. “Is everyone invited?”
“Everyone’s invited, as is usual. As for Sterling, we’re putting him through his paces in front of a large, curious, possibly hostile crowd,” Henri explained. “He’ll face off with me.”
The fist must have hit me harder than I expected, because I wasn’t following. I appreciated they were giving Sterling a chance to get the shiny beaten off him and he was getting a rehearsal before the main event, but it didn’t make much sense either. Why risk injury? “I’m lost. Come find me.”
The big First Beta seemed silent and grim for a moment. Sarah elbowed him in the thigh. Henri grimaced. “I’m going to be honest with you. Sterling is no match for Alan. We’ve had almost two months to observe him. He’s improving, yes. He’s better than I expected, yes.Muchbetter. And if the fight was in human or wolf form, I’d have a different opinion, but we all know it’s going war-form. I know Alan, I’ve done exhibitions with Alan. Iknowwhat Sterling is up against.”
Pieces of me started to crumble away.
Henri shrugged, but smelled apologetic. “I’m a realist. Demetrius and I have been having discussions about if we give him another year, will his chances dramatically improve. So this little exhibition is a chance for him to face off, with me, in front of a crowd, and see how he does. If we think he’s going to benefit from another year, we’ll put the challenge off. If not, we’re going to get it over with.”
My mind staggered through the blizzard of what he’d just said.
On one hand, Sterling getting a chance at more time to train? If the AmberHowl were willing to push off the FrostFur? It was an amazing intervention and opportunity.
On the other hand…
I twisted in my seat and growled at Searle. “You knew what that ring was for!”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t tell me,” I hissed. “I had to find out likethis? You could have warned me!”
Searle did not care to reply to that.
