Watching a wolf tear into the man that you loved, while you stood by helpless, was the most gut-wrenching thing I’d ever had to do. Now I knew how Axil must have felt when he’d watched me do the same over the last week. He was on his fifth fight now and though he was winning, he was hurt. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to do one fight a day or something more manageable, but I supposed if they wanted the strongest to lead us, this was his way to prove it.
Fight six alphas in one day and live to tell the tale.
The Royal Guard stood in a semi-circle towards the back of the fight, no doubt wondering who they would be pledging their allegiance to at the end of the day.
Now I stood in almost the same spot as Axil had when he’d watched me fight in the Queen Trials, right next to his empty throne. The queens of Avalier stood beside me as I held on to Eliza’s hand in fear and Axil tore into his opponent’s neck.
One more fight, I told myself and then glanced over at the giant of a man who would be Axil’s last opponent. Brutus was wider than Axil and probably taller too. His arms were riddled with small scars that looked to be from a knife and his head was shaved clean. Brutus stood tall as he watched Axil attempt to end the life of the Copper Canyon alpha.
I steeled myself as Axil took the wolf’s neck into his mouth and then a large shadow passed over all of us. Every single person in the crowd craned their neck and tilted their faces upward towards the sky. They pointed to something and then a shadow blotted out the sun.
I spun to see a giant black dragon descending from the clouds. The Royal Guard moved to reach for their bows but the dragon queen rushed forward.
“He’s with me,” she assured them.
I stared in awe as the large black dragon landed on the open grass with a man sitting in a saddle on his back.
The dragon king was here.
The sound of Axil’s whimper drew my attention back to the fight and my head whipped around just in time to see the Cooper Canyon wolf he’d pinned swipe his claw right across Axil’s eye, nearly taking it out of the socket.
No!
Axil lunged forward and finished the wolf, ripping his throat out in one clean bite but my heart leapt into my own throat when he looked back at me with one closed eye.
He’d lost his sight in one eye.
No.
No.
No.
It was a death sentence. Especially going up against Brutus next. I looked over at Ivanna’s old alpha and he was grinning ear to ear.
“Alright, final fight of the day. Let’s do this.” Brutus stepped into the ring and I did as well, a growl rising in my throat. He was completely ignoring the fact that a dragon had just landed on the lawn and that Axil had an injured eye. It was a weak move, one I needed to protect my man from.
“The king needs water and to hold council with his training coaches,” I called out, stalling for time.
Training coaches? Technically he didn’t even have one. But Dorian and Cyrus could pretend to give him tactical advice so that we could check his eye and give him a chance to catch his breath. If we stalled long enough, maybe his eye could naturally heal. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. Maybe—
“What’s going on here?” a commanding voice boomed from behind me. I’d forgotten about the dragon king. He’d come at the wrong time if he wanted us to roll out the pleasantries.
Dorian and Cyrus moved into the center of the fighting ring to check on Axil while I turned to face Arwen’s husband.
He was a mountain of a man, built much more like us wolven than the skinny fae and elvin. He was staring wide-eyed at Axil’s bleeding wolf in the center of the fighting ring, clearly shocked to see his old friend, the king, in such a state.
One of the red-robed advisors stepped closer to the dragon king and extended his hand. “King Drae Valdren? You’ve come at an inopportune time—”
“What is going on here?” the dragon king commanded again, holding the stare of the wolven advisor like an alpha would. I liked that he was creating a scene, because it was buying time for Cyrus and Dorian to tend to Axil so I said nothing.
The advisor cleared his throat. “There must be two heirs of royal blood or the king has to enter into a challenge fight with whomever challenges him,” he said. “Last night, Ansel Moon was killed and, therefore, King Axil must fight to keep his place as our leader.”
Drae looked upset at that news that his old friend was having to fight to keep his birthright and I instantly felt guilty for putting him in that position by killing Ansel. Maybe we should have just locked him up …
A tall and slender blond male elf stepped up beside the dragon king and rubbed his chin, staring at me. He was the man who’d been riding on the dragon king’s back. Kailani wandered over to him and kissed his cheek.
Ahh, the elvin king.
“There are two heirs,” the elf king stated.
The advisor rolled his eyes. “What do you know, elf? You just got here. Like I said, master Ansel was killed last night, therefore only one wolven carries the Moon bloodline—”
The elf king stepped closer to the advisor and tipped his head up high and his power charged the air, caressing my skin like a tangible thing. “There are two if you include the one growing in her belly.” He pointed to me and the breath was stolen from my lungs.
“Impossible!” the advisor commanded. “It is forbidden for the king to have any relationship with a candidate in the Queen Trials.”
Oops. I was going to have to let that truth come out.
Was this a ruse? He couldn’t possibly know I was pregnant this early. Was I pregnant? My monthly bleeding wasn’t due for over a week and we’d only bedded twice. My heart hammered in my chest like a terrified elkin but hope also grew inside of me. Even if this were a lie, it was a good one. Axil’s friend was cunning and this could keep him from having to fight.
“We have bedded since I arrived here last week,” I blurted out to the shocked gasps around me. Not exactly queenly behavior but I didn’t care – whatever kept this ruse going.
Whatever saved Axil from having to fight Brutus with one eye.
“Lies!” someone from Crestline pack called out. “He’s trying to get out of fighting Brutus.”
The elf king looked at the man who’d yelled. “I am Raife Lightstone, king of the elves and the greatest healer to ever be known. I can detect life in a woman’s belly before even she knows.” His voice was strong but held a threat to it.
Chills ran the length of my entire body then. Was he telling the truth? Could I really be with child? Tears filled my eyes because I wanted it to be true so badly.
The surrounding wolves gasped and some clapped excitedly. Axil was beloved among his people and I knew they wanted him to carry on his reign if possible.
“Prove you are the elf king! We’ve never seen you. Otherwise this could be a trick!” someone yelled.
Just when I wondered how in the Maker’s name he would do that, Raife nodded, walking over to Axil’s wolf.
Axil was lying in a pool of blood with Cyrus and Dorian hovering over him trying to inspect him. There were wounds all over my beloved and it was clear to see his eyeball and lid had been punctured and torn right through.
The elf king kneeled before Axil, and Cyrus and Dorian left to give them space.
Raife looked down at Axil with a grin. “Hello, old friend.”
The elf king placed his palm over Axil’s eye and a purple light emanated from his hand, causing the entire crowd, myself included, to gasp. King Raife scrunched up his face, squinting his own eye and I wondered if this process somehow hurt him.
We watched in wonder as a moment or two later, the elf king removed his hand and Axil’s eye was healed. He blinked up at Raife with a wolfish grin on his face. Raife then left the fighting ring and came to stand by his wife as Dorian whistled to get the crowd’s attention.
“We have our proof. There are two heirs! That means Axil is still rightful king!” Dorian shouted.
“No!” Brutus bellowed and lunged for Axil’s wolf, shifting in midair. It was the fastest shift I’d ever seen.
I looked at the Royal Guard, who stood at the sides of the ring and were closest to Axil. “Protect your king!” I screamed, running for my mate but I was too far away to stop it.
My heart was in my throat, as Axil bared his teeth, taking the hit of Brutus’ wolf head-on. They crashed together snarling and then the Royal Guard pounced. You hadn’t seen fighting until you’d seen the ruthless Royal Guard wolves of Death Mountain. They shared one mind as they advanced on Brutus in pack formation. Dirt kicked up, obscuring my vision and the sound of tearing flesh could be heard. Strips of fur and meat were thrown out of the swarming fight and I couldn’t take it anymore. I moved to rush deeper into the cloud of dirt when someone grabbed me from behind.
“I got this.” Madelynn’s voice reached my ear and then a great wind rushed past, pushing the dirt cloud out of the way.
I sighed in relief when I saw that Axil had not moved from where he’d been standing a moment ago. The Royal Guard had torn Brutus to pieces in front of him.
It was over and relief ran through me at the fact that Axil had kept his life and his title as king wolven.
Axil started to shift then, into his human form. Cyrus stepped forward and handed him some trousers and then Axil walked towards me. When our eyes met, my heart exploded because Axil looked at my belly and grinned.
A child.
I peered at the elf king and he nodded, as if telling me this was real, not a farce to save his friend from the challenge fight.
I ran to Axil, stepping over the carnage and not allowing it to dampen this moment for us. We’d made a life together, a life that would be born of our love, carrying with it our struggle to find and finally be with each other.
I crashed into him and his arms came around me and he lifted me into the air, smiling up at me.
“You were worth the wait, my love,” he whispered against my lips.
The crowd cheered all around us and I grinned against his mouth, loving that our people were with us.
Someone cleared their throat behind me and Axil set me down as we both turned to face the dragon king.
“I hate to break this up, Axil, but our dear friend Lucien is holding off an entire army by himself and we could really use your help.” The dragon king tapped his temple to indicate Axil’s gift of being able to control people. I knew it was an invaluable asset in times of war but having just been on the receiving end of it, I wasn’t keen on seeing Axil use that power on others any time soon.
Axil sidestepped me and pulled the dragon king into a hug, rapping his back hard twice. “It’s good to see you, brother.”
Then Raife was there, hugging him as well and all eyes were on my mate. Would he hold up his end of the bargain, would he call our people to war to help his friends?
I hoped so. We owed them everything and Axil was a man of his word.
Axil looked over at his lead Royal Guard. “Ready the troops for war. Half of each household over sixteen must volunteer, man or woman, I don’t care.”
Chills rushed up my arms. This was happening. I’d never known war in my lifetime but I had heard of the Nightfall queen’s wicked ways. And I had grown to care for Kailani, Madelynn and Arwen. We owed them our life and a war not fought today would eventually find its way to our doorstep tomorrow.
“The Nightfall queen has declared war on all creatures with magic!” Axil bellowed to the amassed crowd. “Let’s show her that a wolf cannot be tamed!”
Roars and howls rose up in agreement and then the crowd dispersed to pack up their camps.
When the alpha gave an order, you didn’t argue. That was the wolven way.
A woman stepped forward then, not going off to pack up her tent with the rest, and I knew I recognized her from somewhere.
Oh yes. Brutus’ wife.
“Zara was going to forfeit. She can’t be queen,” the woman said.
Everyone froze what they were doing and turned to face the woman. I had to bite back a growl and then stepped closer to her.
“I did that to save a pack sister,” I muttered through my teeth at her, and then looked to the crowd, holding up my arms. “Any woman who thinks they are stronger than me, I challenge you right here and now!” I bellowed, my hands balling to fists. I would rip apart any female I had to in order to keep Axil.
A heavy silence descended over the people and I allowed my anger at this woman to rush through me but forced my wolf to stay at bay. I needed to look like I was in control.
To my surprise Eliza stepped into the fight circle and my heart sank into my stomach. There were a few gasps from some of the women watching.
I was more hurt than mad that she would challenge me. Why? “’Liza—” I started, but then she dropped to her knee before me and bowed her head.
Now I understood. She, as the last living champion of the Queen Trials, was sending a message to the other women, and it caused a lump to form in my throat. Amara, from my own pack stepped into the circle next and took the knee as well. Then another, and another, until two dozen women were on their knees before me. Emotion clogged my throat but I swallowed hard and tipped my head up high.
Axil stepped up next to me and then peered at the royal wolven advisors. There were five of them standing there watching the display of submission with female wolves who were anything but submissive.
“What do my advisors say?” Axil asked them and I steeled myself.
They looked at one another, and then one by one nodded.
“Axil Moon remains king and Zara Swiftwater is the people’s chosen queen,” one of the advisors declared.
The women stood then and Eliza rushed to hug me. I wrapped my arms around her and wished that we could celebrate. Relief and excitement filled me up in equal measure but there was also a sense of foreboding.
The war.
Eliza released me and I pivoted to see that the dragon king and queen were already in their dragon forms with basket saddles on their backs, waiting.
Time was of the essence and celebrations would have to wait.
This was it.
The testing of my capability as queen was at hand.
