Jessamine
I hate horses.
My thighs are sore from riding and I hurt in places I didn't know existed. Branches crunch underneath my boots as I transverse the path with the others who are divided in groups, engaged in conversations that distract them from the sun that burns down on us furiously and the cold that bites through leather and fur.
I can already tell. I don't like today.
Ahead, Alpha Kier walks with Beta Randale and a few guards, their path leading us deeper into the forest. Ever since the incident with the thong, he's been tense and uncharacteristically silent.
Understanding his limits is as vital as knowing his desires. Subtlety, you must master, for too much pressure could ruin everything.
Sighing, I swat a flying bug away from my ear. It's getting tedious, all of this. Who's to say abandoning all of this won't get me the same result? Why does it have to be so difficult? Constantly playing these games tire me.
But Mother must have seen it all. She couldn't have taught me all these things for nothing.
Watching the back of Alpha Kier's head, I think of what the next phase involves, and an even heavier sigh escapes my lips.
Start over, Jessamine, as though you have no vested interest in him. The moment he starts seeking your presence, you know the scales have tipped in your favour. The power is your, darling, and victory begins when he takes your feet in his hands and wipes the frost off them.
If Alpha Kier ever touches my feet, I'll probably die from shock and join my mother wherever she is.
Footsteps align with mine as Gamma Lloyd falls into step beside me. "Little Jess, you must secretly have a fetish for danger. You do not have to partake in any of this...," His voice trails off as his green eyes narrow at the contenders walking ahead of us. "Clownery."
"That's not even a word." I wrinkle my nose at the stench of something foul. An animal's carcass, possibly. There are beasts of nature that have made every forest in Neredia their home. It's never advisable to stay out till dark. Werewolf or no, there's always something waiting in the shadows to attack and devour.
Could be hybrid coyotes, or lone wolves who have lost their mind, or even better, it could be rogues.
This place gives me the creeps.
"Stop deflecting. I'm worried about you. Today will be hard. Deadly."
I don't meet his gaze. I keep my eyes on Alpha Kier's hair of flaming red. It looks like a burning halo under the sun. It's fascinating and a much better view than Gamma Lloyd's face that has the question I've come to despise: Is he worth it?
If he wasn't, I'd never have fallen for him. Stalker, I may be, but I only snuck into his room to watch him sleep on the nights I knew he grieved and hurt. I'd tell you all about it, but it's not my story to tell. Alpha Kier is the best man in the whole world. A close second to none.
"You know he is," I say and Gamma Lloyd falls silent, because he knows Alpha Kier is worth all of it and so much more. If there's anyone else who knows the Alpha as well I as I do, it'd be his Gamma.
He stops walking, causing me to halt and face him. His green eyes lose their usual charm and become unreadable as he whispers in hushed tones, "When the rifle goes off, make a run for the hills. Don't try to win. You'll die."
I roll my eyes. "You're being extra dramatic today, you know that?"
In an instant, he's clutching my shoulders and staring down at me with eyes that have darkened. The laughter that had been creeping onto my face falls and I suddenly realise for the first time that Gamma Lloyd's aura is quite frightening. "This is no joke, Jessamine. Your life isn't a joke. You run and you don't stop. Run until you reach the hills. Listen for the sound of rushing water. It'll take you to a cave. Don't leave there until it's all over by sun down. Do you understand?"
He called me Jessamine. Damn right I understand how serious he is. I try to speak, but the words hang in my throat as I realize what the look in his eyes is. Fear. He's scared for me, and though I don't understand why, I nod.
Gamma Lloyd releases his grip on my shoulder and stalks off, leaving me behind like he didn't just give me the worst scare I've had in years.
******
We convene in a wide clearing, where an Elder awaits us, a long brown rifle in his grasp. There's a rogue woman kneeling on the floor beside him. She is bound in ropes and her lips are gagged, but when her eyes meet mine, I feel like I have been pinned in place for a more thorough scrutiny.
Her eyes, they're a very light shade of blue, it almost looks white. I take one look at her dirty greasy hair that still retains the feathery look and her olive skin and I instantly know she's not from Neredia.
In the same exact moment I come to that realization, pure hate slips into her gaze, bitter, raw and cold. It makes me shiver and I look away, focusing my attention instead on the Elder as he addresses us.
The woman will be cut loose and given a head start of ten minutes. After which we will follow and hunt her down. The one who kills her and returns with a cut of her greying hair as proof wins.
I swallow, eyes darting back to the woman. She looks unperturbed by her impending death. She looks relaxed, too relaxed, and if I could guess, I'd think she couldn't understand our language. Only, we spoke the general tongue applicable to both lands.
Still, it's a horrible way to die. Being hunted down. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to; kill her. Or anyone.
Beta Randale takes the Elder's place and instructs us with stern rules that everyone knows won't matter the moment we run past the starting line. I take a moment to observe everyone. Moira's fingers are especially tightened around an arrow, and I swear the woman seems intent on using it. I'd best avoid her. Katherine's another to avoid. She keeps flipping daggers with the skill of a dancer.
I assess all my rivals, watching for their stances, their hands, their eyes. I'm not much of a fighter, but mother did teach me how to read people by just watching and listening. It takes me a few seconds to finish up and I come to the decision that there are no friends or acquaintances in this gathering today.
There'll be the hunters and the hunted. I belong in the latter category. Myself and a couple of others, and you can tell by the way they shift nervously and the heavy stench of fear in the atmosphere that they know their lives are in danger. I see the doubt in their eyes, and I am not surprised when Brianna steps forward, dropping her bow. "I withdraw."
She isn't alone and in the next five minutes, there are only nineteen of us left. And everyone's too busy watching them to notice me weave through the crowd and approach the man of my dreams.
Lost in thought, he doesn't notice me either, until my fingers reach for his. He starts, starting to move away from me, but my fingers tighten on his. "Really? You have no idea if I'll survive the next hour and you're running from me. What if you never see me again?"
Alpha Kier's eyes glint with an icy resolve. "Then I'd bless the Goddess every day of my life."
His remark stings, but I grin and bump my shoulder into his like we're old friends. "Liar. You'd miss me."
Alpha Kier shakes my hand off his, but I refuse to let go. "You have the bravery of a thousand men combined, and just as much foolishness.
My grin widens. "I'll take that as a compliment." I pause, gripping his wrist with my other arm and it takes nearly dislocating my arm to pull him down to my height. I press my lips against his dusky, chiseled cheek and murmur, "I'll come back, I swear. No way I'm letting another woman have you. You're mine. And if I die, I'll return as a ghost and marry you. So, I strongly suggest you pray that I live, because having a ghost of a Luna is very unpleasant."
He turns his head to mine and there's a golden ring in his hazel eyes. "Keep saying things like that and I'll kill you myself."
I blink innocently. "Asphyxiation is my preferred method. The sexual kind."
He cringes, his cheeks reddening and I laugh, pulling away. I toss him a meaningful glance before slipping back into the crowd of nineteen. Then I let myself breathe and feel the tremors starting in my veins as the fear starts to sink in.
The fear that I might not see him again.
I look back at the women leaving. Should I have given up too? Walked away? I shrug. Even if I had, he'd still kick me out of the pack and that's a different kind of death.
Beta Randale has us stand in a horizontal line, a few inches apart from each other, and then he walks carefully to where the rogue kneels and be cuts her binds, leaving on her gag in place.
She takes off without hesitation, and I marvel at how fast she moves. But then, she must think she has a means of escape. She doesn't know the forest, so she wouldn't know there's only one way out and she's headed in the wrong direction.
When Elder Bran angles the rifle into the skies and shoots, I spare a glance at Alpha Kier to find his gaze trained on me and something flickers in his eyes. Worry.
A small smile tugs at my lips as I break into a sprint in the opposite direction of the others. My heart races, and my muscles scream in protest. I risk a fleeting glance backward, and I find that I'm being followed. Katherine and Marion are hot on my tail, bows nocked as they run.
My eyes widen as I look past them and lock onto Moira, standing very still. One eye shut, she pulls back the bowstring.
I swerve left, and something whizzes past my ear, hitting the tree beside me. My heart pounds in a frenzy, and I spare another glance back in time to see Moira let another arrow fly.
But it isn't aimed for me and and my voice erupts in a desperate warning to Marion to get out of the way. Only, she hears it too late and for the second time in my life, I watch someone die.
It's ugly. Marion's face is etched with bewilderment at my sudden shout, her expression frozen in confusion when the arrow impales her, piercing skin and bone, jutting out from her chest. Her eyes empty out before she even hits the floor, and the sound of my pounding heart silences the thoughts in my head.
Katherine whirls, screaming at Moira. "Have you lost your fucking mind?!"
As I spin around and hurtle through the woods, my chest aching with each breath, Moira's reply to Katherine's fury reaches my ears as she readies her bow once more. "Run, Kat. Let me see you run."
Seems like I'm not the only one on Moira's kill list.