Chương 7: Chapter 7: Old Violence

Blacktooth Camp

Shani couldn’t believe her father’s brutal tale.

Danior straightened. “No lies, daughter.”

“That’s not the story at all.”

“What, Bloodrose has their own version?”

“A h*ll of a lot less…violent one, yes,” she snapped.

“Does this bother you?” he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand; flecks of boar meat had gotten in his braided beard. Moon Goddess d*mn him, he was abhorrent. As much as Danior seemed to love her, for all the efforts he made, they were always the wrong ones. “Why do you care?”

It wasn’t that she wanted to defend any version of the Whitecrown’s history, but it was Danior’s blatant disrespect and ignorance. It was likely other pent-up angers she had toward his words and actions. Shani decided he wasn’t worth arguing with. She didn’t answer.

He seemed to take it as a win for him. “How are you, daughter?”

It was how most conversations started when she came at the beginning of each month. Though he had nothing to do with her for the first fifteen years of her life, on her birthday he arrived asking for shared custody of her. Rossie had been furious and horrified—Danior had threatened to take Shani by force. Karro had tried to reason with him, but in the end, everyone—except Shani—decided that it was best to appease his demand. She had no choice in the matter of her own belonging.

“Fine.”

“And Rossie?”

“Still hates you.”

“Remind me why?”

Shani was grateful that she didn’t have a fiery temper like many wolves. She inherited Rossie’s stubbornness, to a certain extent that her timidness allowed, and she had utilized it to defend her mother.

“Why do you think?” she growled.

Danior shrugged his giant shoulders, genuinely confused.

With his pack still meandering and likely eavesdropping, Shani lowered her voice and glared at her father. What was bringing on the courage to do so out of nowhere, she didn’t know. “Maybe because of what you did to her twenty years ago at Midmoon.”

His eyes flashed like the memory came back, lurching to his feet. “Ah! I remember. What a terribly drunken night,” he chuckled as he offered his hand for Shani to take. “She was so beautiful with those ribbons in her hair.”

Shani refused and stood herself. Before she could stalk off, Danior grabbed her wrist. He held fast when she tried to pull free.

“Funny you bring it up,” he said with an abruptly serious tone. Shani froze. “I would be honored if you wore Blacktooth colors.”

Every full moon several packs joined together for nighttime revelries. The packs each wore their representative colors. Red for Bloodrose, black for Blacktooth, white and gold for Whitecrown, and so on. Even if she was staying here for the typical two weeks with her father, she’d still worn red.

It would feel like betraying her mother’s culture if she wore her Danior’s emblem, even if she didn’t feel like Bloodrose was her home either.

Her voice was flat when she met Danior’s, who looked uncomfortably innocent and hopeful. “So you can rub it in my mother’s face that I can belong to Blacktooth?”

“Yes,” he said bluntly. “You are my daughter. You belong where your family is.”

He released her and she retreated back a few steps. Her simmering anger became familiar disappointment and dejection. But she didn’t feel bad about telling the truth. “Dad,” she said on an exhale, “I appreciate your effort to make this like home.” She gestured to the camp around them, with all its smells and scents. “Like family. But it…it just isn’t. Not for me.”

Danior looked like a brutal warrior who crushed the skulls of the teeth he wore with his jaws. And yet he was capable of expressing bald hurt. “Then…what can I do?”

Shani felt a spark of hurt, too, even though she shouldn’t because of his efforts to please her. But not enough to continue her truths. “Nothing. This is my own problem.”

Though you created it before I was born, she didn’t add.

He didn’t speak for a moment, but she saw resolve push aside the hurt. “No, it’s your mother’s and I’s.”

Oh good, you realize your mistake.

“At the party,” he continued, “I will speak to her, and—”

“No!” Shani said too quickly. Danior blinked. “I told you, she hates you. She never wants to talk to you again. Don’t dust up trouble. Please.”

He was persistent. “We can come to a different deal, maybe, about you. Where you may belong—giving you a choice.”

Wouldn’t that have been nice five years ago. The chances of them speaking in the first place were very slim and she’d be stupid to be hopeful, but the prospect was still appealing. Despite his shortcomings, Danior was very good at getting what he wanted. And in this case, he wanted what Shani wanted. She indulged his idea, “I would like that.”

Danior’s look changed again. It wasn’t anything definitive, but its pensiveness made a small chill run down Shani’s spine. It felt…impending. Like he wanted to say something but decided to save it for later.

Then it was gone and he grinned to bare his filed teeth. “Anything for my precious daughter. Now, why don’t you find your brother? He’s been asking for you since he woke up. Should be waiting in your tent.”

***

Shani’s tent went untouched during the weeks she wasn’t visiting. But thanks to Danior’s overbearing care, it was kept clean and neat. She had no belongings in it except for the floor of pillows and blankets and a stack of clothes. What else was she supposed to have?

A fifteen-year-old half-brother, apparently.

Adrean was one of Danior and Luna Lua’s triplet sons. The other two, even at their young age, had already found their mates in their mother’s pack, leaving Adrean to be coddled by her alone. Luckily he resembled Crescent rather than Blacktooth, with darker skin, silver hair that was eternally messy, and brilliant blue eyes. He was lounging on his stomach picking at stray threads of a quilt.

“I’m hoping you’re not quietly ruining my things,” she said by way of greeting as she entered through the tent flap.

He gasped and spun to his feet, closing the space between them with two bounds, slamming himself into a hug that she staggered back from. “You’re back! Why’re you always late, though?”

Shani couldn’t help the laugh, putting him at arm’s length. He was Alpha dynamic and was slowly growing into a bulkier body, but for now, he was still a bit lanky and not yet taller than her. “I’ve been here. Why didn’t you come to the firepit?”

His mouth popped open. “No one told me! What was it?”

“Boar.”

Shani released him so he could throw up his arms and shout, “My favorite!”

There were two things she loved about Adrean. One, he genuinely liked her. Two, he wasn’t a big fan of their father either.

“Dad never tells me anything,” he pouted. “No one tells me anything.”

She tried to make him feel better. “It wasn’t that great.”

“Liar.”

“Caught me. It was good. But you wouldn’t have liked the story.”

Adrean plopped onto the pillow pile. Shani joined him and didn’t blame his sulking. “Bloody?”

“And full of anything but truth. I think.”

He sat up and leaned forward, sniffing. His frown curled into a devious grin. “You smell like that male.”

Shani refused to be flustered by her own brother. “Yes. And?”

“And you smell like sex, too.”

Wolves who were already mated—in the finding-your-soulmate regard—were sometimes restricted to actively breed by their Alpha to control overpopulation. Accidents—also known as more offspring whether the parents wanted them or not—happened, because wolves were anything but chaste.

That was the problem that resulted in Shani.

She narrowed her eyes. His sense of smell seemed better than most. “You know what that smells like, how?”

“Because it’s what you smelled like after you told me you had your first time with that male. Harin?”

Shani scowled. “Harkin.”

“Exactly. And when was that? Five years ago. So you can’t be mad at me when I tell you that I met a female!”

She didn’t know how to react. Mad? No, otherwise she’d be a hypocrite. But he still made her flush, because she did surrender her virginity to Harkin when she was fifteen. It wasn’t an uncommon age, but when you were a protective older sister to a brother, you worried it was.

“Not mad,” she said flippantly, shrugging. Adrean narrowed his eyes. “Who is she?”

“What, are you gonna intimidate her?”

She ignored the jab and said, “Not at all. I just want to know who to look out for at the Midmoon so I don’t find you rumping her in the temple.”

Adrean wrinkled his nose. “That’s dirty. I’m not scandalous, so how dare you assume. I’m not Dad. She’s not in heat so I can’t get her, you know…”

Shani pointed accusingly at him, though she was only directing it at Danior. “I swear to the Moon Goddess if you forget when she is and you’re both fifteen—”

“I just told you I won’t!” Adrean bolted to his feet and stormed toward the entrance. “Are you coming to the game or not?”

Do I have to? she thought childishly. She didn’t have a choice. “I guess.”

Getting up, she followed Adrean out of the tent and ignored the immediate animosity all the way out of camp and down into the empty quarry where half the pack—mostly males—had already gathered. The walls were steep, but chunks of the stone had been dug out into benches to act as a watching area. The largest one with the best view was of course reserved for the Alpha and his family.

Sitting on pillows and blankets, Danior and Lua were already there. None of them glanced in her direction, and only Danior looked excited about the chaos about to erupt.

Shani took her seat on her father’s left while Adrean joined Lua’s right.

After beaming at her, Danior threw out his arms and roared, “Wolves of the Blacktooth pack! Our weekly challenge begins! You know the rules!”

The only rules: the one who knocks your opponent out first—or they yield—wins, and don’t kill your packmate. Anything else goes. That was the perk of supernaturally quick healing.

The quarry seemed to tremble with the resounding howls and cheers. Males and females in wolf and base form trotted to the outskirts of the makeshift stadium to make room for the first two contenders. They were both Alphas of course, still in their base forms—until Danior shouted, “Fight!”

The echo of their ripping skin faded under their vicious snarls when they launched themselves at the other. More cheers and howls when teeth sank into flesh, blood spewing over clean fur. Shani only flinched at the violence. But it was a wolf’s nature to enjoy the wild rush of it all. They were meant to run and bite, and that’s what they would do.

The fight ended with the bigger Alpha swiping the other’s head so hard there was the snap of bone. He collapsed in the dust. A female in her base form ran onto the field, and the crowd suddenly hushed. When she checked his pulse, she sighed and announced, “Alive. Unconscious.”

The crowd breathed in relief. Danior howled the victor’s name, and he was gifted the opportunity of first bite at the next hunt. The loser was dragged off to the sidelines to recover.

And then it began again. And again. And again. By the time the sun set, the quarry was a swamp of blood.

Luna Lua stood first, grabbing her son’s hand. “Game over.”

It wasn’t a suggestion. Danior groaned. “Ah, fine. Blacktooth!” His pack froze to turn their attention on him. “The challenge is complete for today. Well done to all victors, now get some f*cking rest.”

Shani didn’t need to be told twice. She got up and left.

bình luận bình luận của 0

Bình chọn

GỬI QUÀ TẶNG

Load failed, please RETRY