Page 10 of The Forbidden Wolf King
Cyrus leaned into me, looking across the camp at a familiar woman. She was the one who had been wearing the gold dress the night before.
“Ivanna Rivers. Crestline pack, second in command,” he said, and chills ran down my arms. Second? She made second in a pack full of dominant males! Crestline was known for its brutality. A formidable group of wolves who lived in the harshest climate in Fallenmoore. They sometimes got up to six feet of snow in winter and had to go days without food. They were even rumored to eat their own kind in a famine. She would be hardened and probably my biggest competitor.
She too had chosen to sleep in the tent with her packmates, a stone’s throw from mine. I watched as she and her battle coach walked together to the check-in tent across the lawn. She held my stare the entire time, which stirred my wolf.
“Come on, let’s go check in with the red robes,” Cyrus said sarcastically, gesturing to the wolf advisors.
I dipped my chin and we both stood as our packmates wished me good luck. I followed my brother over to a check-in table where I was given a blue-colored card by an advisor and told to go to the corresponding colored challenger tent.
“I’ll wait for you outside,” Cyrus told me. I nodded curtly and stepped into the blue tent.
Ivanna was there, standing in the middle holding a blue card as well. She glared me down as I entered and I moved in a circle around her with predatorial instinct.
She spun to match my movements, never allowing me her back. She was taller than me, and lean, with about the same muscle mass. She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. Her long dark hair hung down her back in thick glossy curls and her golden skin was riddled with scars up her arms from fighting. It took a lot to scar a wolven. Her chin was perfectly pointed, as was her nose and her pink lips were full and puckered.
There were two tents, red and blue which meant Ivanna and I were not fighting each other. Not today at least. For now, it seemed we were on the same ‘team.’
Eliza stepped into the tent then and I noticed how pale she looked. I broke eye contact with Ivanna and glanced at the too-nice wolf.
“We’re going to be allowed weapons,” the Death Mountain wolf announced with far too much nervousness in her voice.
“Great.” I stood and rolled out my neck.
I loved weapons of all kinds. Swords, daggers, throwing stars, a heavy mace. My blood pumped just thinking about it.
Ivanna stood up straighter, apparently not liking my tall stature next to her.
“Iama weapon,” Ivanna announced to the tent as more women trickled in. “So I’ll pass.”
Chills broke out along my arms at her declaration. Did she say that just to get in my head? Or was she really going to pass on the chance to have a weapon?
That was crazy, but also something Cyrus would approve of because ithadgotten in my head.
Should I pass too? I didn’t want to look weak for my first fight, especially not if the king was watching. After our run-in last night, I wanted to show him what he had been missing this whole time.
“King Axil is outside right now, making his way to the combat ring,” Eliza said as if reading my mind.
Ivanna and I shared a look and then we were back in a locked stare.
I can do this all day, I thought.
She was clearly looking to see if Eliza’s comment had elicited a reaction from me but I stayed completely void of any facial expression.
More competitors filtered into the tent and then one of the wolven advisors to the king strode into the space, wearing his long red robe. Ivanna and I finally broke our stare-down when the advisor stood directly in front of me, forcing me to look up at him. He held a small wooden box with tiny stone replicas of over a dozen weapons.
“Zara, for the Queen Trials you have been ranked in order of dominance. Because you are number one, you may pick first weapon. Once you have chosen, you will go to the weapons tent where they will exchange this with you for the life-sized version.”
My heart pounded in my chest at that shocking announcement. So itwasa dominance ranking. And I’d made number one? How? Ivanna was second in command of her pack. Did Dorian give them an assessment of me or something?
Who cares,I thought to myself.
I knew what Cyrus would counsel me. If Ivanna, who was number two and my biggest competitor, was taking no weapon, then I should pass as well.
“Pass,” I said and turned away from the box. A few women in the tent gasped and the advisor stepped closer to me.
“Excuse me?”
I looked him dead in the eyes. “Pass. I don’t need a weapon,” I told him.
