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“Eden was first,”Liv said, her sharpened incisor gently biting her lower lip.
I turned to Eden, hunched over so her elbows were braced on her knees, scowling at the fight.“How’d you do?”
She just growled at me.
“Oh, not well, I guess.”
“Shut up,”she mumbled, her fingers twirling a thin, easily-hidden dagger between them.“I barely lasted any time before he had me pinned.”
“You aren’t the only one, Eden,”Liv consoled, dropping her legs so she could lean forward. “He took down Taylor and Emric just as quickly.”
“So, do you, um, recognize him by chance?”I asked Eden, Liv’s brows furrowing at my question.
“Oh yeah.”Eden gave me another sideways glare, her bright green eyes flashing golden for a brief second.“I was drunk, not unconscious.”
“Remember what?”Liv poked both of our arms, her brown eyes wide with accusation.
“We, uh, had a…”I tried to find the right words.“Run-in with the new Alpha at the Blood Moon the other night.”
“What kind of run-in?”
“He just talked to me a bit while Eden was in the bathroom.”
“Flirted,”Eden corrected, my cheeks heating at the word.“He flirted with you and saw me wasted.”
“Oh my God,”Liv said, slapping her hand over her lips, suppressing her giggles in both her mind and mouth.
“I’m so getting demoted,”Eden mumbled, finally sheathing the dagger back into her boot.
“He’s not going to demote you.”I kicked her leg, her eyes raking over to me. “I won’t let him.”
“You don’t have a say.”Her round face stayed hard, but her eyes softened back to their natural green, looking defeated.
She was right, I technically didn’t have a say. Keturi members were assigned by the High Faction, but their Gammas and Treasus were personal choice. The relationship between the three was of utmost importance, the level of trust invaluable to keep the Faction running smoothly and cases properly filtered and solved. It was a freedom you didn’t take for granted as a Keturi, and I certainly hadn’t when I was able to pick Taylor and Lucas to stand by my side all these years. If Nolan didn’t want Eden to be one of his seconds, then he had every right to demote her back to Delta and either promote someone else, or transfer them from another Faction. It wasn’t unheard of for Keturi transfers to bring their own seconds, but it wasn’t that common.
“If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll take the advice of his Beta.” I winked at her, a whisper of a smile pushing at the edge of her lips before disappearing back into her scowl.
Still, my stomach kept twisting with each moment that passed, tension filling the space as I waited for the inevitable…
A loud groan sounded from the sparring area, grabbing our attention. Greyson was sprawled on his back, arms reached out in defeat as Nolan pinned him under his foot. People hooted and hollered, giving congratulations to Nolan. I heard whispers from some of the younger members, admiring his strength and agility, a few even saying he was the Alpha we had needed for a while. I swallowed back the acrid taste crawling up my throat, fingers mindlessly scratching at my legs.
I took a few deep breaths, reminding myself that they were probably comparing him to Logan and not me, because I had never officially been named Alpha, I had just taken over a few of the responsibilities over the past months while the posting had been open.
The logical thought did nothing to calm the wave of panic crawling through me.
The crowd in the center dispersed, people going back to their conversations and groups scattering around. My stomach clenched when I noticed Greyson walking right toward us, Nolan in tow. I turned back to Eden and Liv, praying to Lunestia that my face didn’t look as pale as it felt, my cheeks cooling from the draining of blood.
“Nice fight,” Liv complimented the two of them.
“Nice for Nolan,” Greyson said, sitting next to Eden, bumping her shoulder. She gave him a quick jab in the ribs in response. He didn’t even flinch, grabbing a towel to wipe the sheen of sweat from his angular face, pushing his black locks away from his eyes.
Laughter rang next to me. “I had a lot of built-up energy, probably the only reason I was able to win so many times.”
“Oh, is that all?” Beckett joined us from out of nowhere, although the sweat beading along his hairline told me he was either working out alone or had also sparred with Nolan before I arrived. He leaned over, kissing Liv on the cheek.
A building pressure crawled up my spine, skin prickling from what I could assume was Nolan’s gaze lingering on me, beckoning me to look at him—but I refused. I refused to budge until absolutely necessary, a part of me pushing to rebel against the decision of the High Faction, against the choice to keep me from the title that I had earned. I had spent my whole life following the rules, doing what I had been told was right, and look where that had gotten me. It had ripped my dreams from my hands.
The other part was the utter embarrassment that was infecting every inch of me at the memory of the tavern three nights ago.
