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“I’ll see you outside the compound tomorrow morning.”
For a brief moment, I’d forgotten that I invited him to spend the day with me and my pack, and honestly, given how he’s reacting now, I’m surprised he’s not trying to get out of it. Nodding, I remain silent as he passes the guards and disappears into the crowd.
Taking a deep breath, I stare at where he’d been in confusion. I could track him down and demand answers, but excitement at being able to see my father takes over, and I hurry past the guards. Thanks to the fact that I can’t shift, I am one of the only champions who remains clothed, but I’m still soaked thanks to my swim in the lake. I’m freezing despite my warm werewolf blood, and I pull my blanket tighter around myself as I weave through the gathered packs.
I walk in the general direction I’d last seen my family in, twisting to look left and right as I skirt the edges of the gathering.
“Laelia.”
My heart lifts at the sound of my dad’s voice, and I spin to find him jogging towards me.
“Dad,” I call back, closing the distance between us and throwing myself into his open arms. My eyes sting with tears, but I don’t let them fall. If he sees me crying, it will make this so much harder on him. Instead, I inhale his familiar, comforting scent. He’s such a large male that hugs from him are like being enveloped in a cocoon of warmth.
Lowering his head, he buries his face in my hair, breathing me in as his arms tighten around me.
“Little moon.”
Just the sound of his voice, so close to breaking, almost threatens my resolve not to cry. He holds me tightly, and I get the feeling that if he had the option to never let go, he would take it in a heartbeat.
“I was so worried…” Slowly, reluctantly, he loosens his hold on me so he can look down. His eyes land on my cheek and bruised jaw, and he snarls before taking my arms and holding them out to look at my bites from the creatures in the lake. “I’m going to speak to the council. You’re barely old enough to be in these trials, and here they are, pitting you against squids and minotaurs—”
My eyes widen as he speaks, and I’m already shaking my head, cutting him off before he can fully convince himself this is a good idea. Once he has his mind set on something, it’s next to impossible to get him to change it.
“Dad, no. You know it won’t do any good.” I attempt to be gentle and keep the wince from my face. He’s only trying to protect me, as any good parent would, but this is probably the worst thing he could possibly do.
Not only would it be mortifying if my dad tried to get me out of this like a spoiled child at school who doesn’t want to attend anymore, but I’ll lose any respect that I’ve gained from the other competitors. There’s no way the council will let me out of this, and I’m certain they’d find a way to notify everyone that I was trying to wiggle out of it. This was the only way I could avoid death, and he knows that. He just doesn’t know what else to do, feeling helpless in this situation.
“She’s right, Beck,” Alpha Jones agrees, and I step back from my father so I can look up at him properly. In this moment, he needs to see me as a grown adult, and not his little girl, and no matter how much I crave his comforting touch, clinging to him isn’t going to make this any easier.
Taking a deep breath, I look at my alpha and smile slightly, nodding in greeting and thanks. I see Selena behind him as she makes her way over, our old family friend who’s a surrogate grandparent to me. Arriving at my father’s side, she links one arm with his, sensing how much he needs the support. With her other arm, she reaches out and presses her hand to my cheek, wearing a warm smile on her familiar face.
The rest of my pack wanders over, close enough that I can see them, but they give us space, which I really appreciate right now. I’ve always been settled with my family, my pack, but without Nicolai, it doesn’t feel complete. A twinge in my chest makes me wince, and I rub at the spot absentmindedly.
Unable to hold back my questions any longer, I look between the three of them. “Did you see what happened to Nicolai after I left?”
They were watching the arena on the screens, so they should have seen what happened. From the grimace on their faces and the shared, pointed looks, I get the impression that they don’t have good news for me. My heart speeds up in my chest as panic threatens to overwhelm me.
My father clears his throat. “Alpha Green and his partner helped beat off Bates, but—”
Whatever he was going to say next is cut off as several wolves from our pack gasp. Spinning around, I see Joel is helping to drag Nicolai off the stage before hurrying to the healer’s tent. Councilman Ruby makes an announcement, but I can’t hear it over my pulse pounding in my ears.
Before anyone can try to stop me, I run.
ChapterFive
I’ve never run so fast in my life before. Ignoring the calls from my family, I weave through the groups of people watching the trial and race towards the healers’ tent. My mind is set on one thing and one thing only—getting to my friend.Nicolai, Nicolai, Nicolai, chants over and over in my mind with the beat of my pounding heart.
The two large guards I passed less than ten minutes ago step in front of me, blocking my path and bringing me to an abrupt stop. They cross their arms over their huge chests and stare over my shoulder, as though I’m not enough of a threat for them to pay attention to me.
“Let me pass,” I demand, trying to step around them, only to be blocked once more as they sidestep me.
“This area is for champions only,” the guard on the right replies, his voice bored.
Furious that they are not only treating me like a piece of dirt that doesn’t deserve attention, but also stopping me from getting to my friend, I grab onto the closest guard’s shirt and yank him close with a strength I didn’t know I possessed. “Iama champion!”
He slowly looks down at me with a doubtful expression, his eyes going to where my hands grip his shirt, and then to my face, his lip curling in disgust as he realises who I am. He’s not going to let me in, that’s becoming clear, so I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands. Before he can do anything to stop me, I duck under his arm and bolt towards the healers’ tent. There’s a shout, but no one grabs me, so I just keep going, hurtling past startled healers as I barrel into the tent.
My eyes are immediately drawn to Joel who is standing in the entrance of a curtained off bay, talking to one of the healers. He cuts off whatever he’s saying as he senses my presence and slowly turns to find me running towards him.
