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paws.Do your worst, she thought.
But bravado didn't stop her from cringing when Aunt Persia stepped into the circle. The next thing that
happened was baffling. Aunt Persia crouched on the ground, her ears laid flat. She rolled on her back
and presented her belly.What is she doing? Vivian thought in shock. Then one by one the other females
followed Persia's example, presenting their bellies, exposing their throats, paying tribute.
Oh, no. Oh, no.Vivian looked around in frantic confusion. Was this some nightmare?Its not me, she
wanted to scream.I am no queen.
What had happened to ceremony? She'd thought the bitches' dance would start with some formal rite,
not a sneak attack. She hadn't planned to be a part of it. But a female past her sixteenth birthday counted
as grown. She crouched in horror and buried her nose between her paws.
This couldn't be right. No others had fought. What about the other females? Quickly she cataloged them
-- too old, too young, already mated, too fragile. She had never stopped to think before, she had been
so determined to avoid the contest, but when no female strangers had arrived there had been only three
possible contenders.
A soft tongue lapped at her nose, and with it drifted the sweet familiar breath that made her think of
warm food and cozy beds. A muzzle nudged hers. She opened her eyes. Esmé. Safe. Dismay forgotten
for a moment, she sprang to her feet and pranced a few excited steps.
But Esmé stepped aside, the circle parted, and toward Vivian, through the expectant pack, paced
Gabriel, his sleek muscles rippling, his dark fur tipped by stars.
Vivian froze. Her happiness at her mother's safety drained away. She had accidentally named herself
Gabriel's mate.
He stood before her, his jaws parted in a toothy grin.
She stared up into his ice blue eyes while he waited for her to admit his dominance.
A soft growl rose in her throat.Never, she thought.You will not make me offer you my belly. I do not
choose you knowingly.
He grinned even wider at her defiance and licked his lips.
He would relish the challenge, would he? Well, to crown a queen you must catch her first.
She sprang past him down the aisle he'd already opened, along the tunnel of fur and out to the woods.
She ran like the Wolf of the North made of stars in heaven, who with one long stride can leap over the
top of Earth. The grasses she crushed made the night air pungent with freedom. But behind her she heard
the thunder of Gabriel's pursuit.
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17
Vivian climbed naked through her bedroom window and tumbled onto her bed. She had changed into
her human form in the backyard bushes before she scaled the drainpipe to the porch roof. Only a rosy
glow tinged the western sky. She hoped the neighbors weren't early risers.
It seemed an eternity since she'd run from the Ordeal. She must have flown like the wind to lose Gabriel,
but she hadn't stopped to catch her breath until the sounds of his pursuit were long silent. She'd hidden in
a shallow cave near a rocky crest until she was sure Gabriel hadn't tracked her; then she'd taken off for
home. She'd never run that far before. The journey had taken all night.
Her palms and soles were bloody, and her body ached. Gingerly she limped to the bathroom and turned
on the shower. She ran the water as hot as she could stand and drenched her body, her face, and her
hair, as if trying to wash the last twelve hours away.How could I do that to Astrid? she asked herself
over and over.
Esmé and Rudy hadn't come home yet, but they wouldn't be far behind her, she was sure. After the
celebration, they would have stayed long enough to bury the dead in an isolated spot, then headed back.
She cranked up the air conditioner in her other window and locked her door. How could they let her
behave that way? How could they actually approve?
She pulled the sheet over her head, but she couldn't sleep. Was she truly obliged to become Gabriel's
mate, or did winning the fight only give her first dibs, so to speak? Could she delegate the role? Maybe
she could appoint Astrid. She giggled half hysterically.
Bloody Moon, why did Gabriel want her? Now he was pack leader, even some of the mated bitches
would slink behind the bushes with him. He could go to one of the other communities and easily bring
back a wife.
Vivian's eyes shot open with excitement. That was what she'd suggest. Surely the pack wouldn't
condone his mating her against her will, would they? She relaxed and her eyes closed again. Sleep wound
a cotton shroud around her.
When Vivian woke it was dark outside. The house was silent. She had slept the day away. She vaguely
remembered half waking much earlier when someone rattled her doorknob. That must have been Esmé's
voice she'd heard call her name.I'll get up in a minute, she told herself, then rolled over and tumbled back
into unconsciousness.
The next time she opened her eyes, it was morning, and there was an insistent rapping on her bedroom
door.
"What?" she called out angrily.
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"Are you getting up?" Esmé asked.
"No."
"We've got to talk."
"No, we don't."
"Look, it's okay," Esmé said. "You're embarrassed about running away. Everyone understands. You
were overwhelmed by what happened. You're young. You're used to boys. A man's a different matter
entirely. But you're woman enough to handle him, I know you are, baby. You'remy girl."
Boy, does she have hold of the wrong end of the rabbit,Vivian thought.Don't bother telling me how
Astrid is, and whether I've crippled her for life. Don't tell me how Bucky is coping with killing a buddy.
"I didn't enter any competition on purpose, and I don't want Gabriel, so go to hell, Mom," she finally
answered.
"Vivian!" Esmé sounded more hurt than angry.
The phone rang. "Okay, okay," Esmé said. "I'll leave you alone to get used to the idea." She left to
answer the insistent jangling.
Vivian threw a glass across the room. It shattered on the window frame. Even her mother would gladly
hand her over to a mate she didn't want.
All day Vivian came out of her room only when she was sure Esmé was elsewhere. She knew it drove
her mother crazy.Serves her right, she thought.If I hadn't had to save her ass, I wouldnt be in this fix.
The phone rang constantly, it seemed.Nosy bastards, Vivian thought.Don't they have their own sex lives
to keep them busy? She turned her television on loudly to drown out the ringing, but there were only
stupid game shows on and a program in which fat women complained that their boyfriends couldn't
accept them as they were. She turned the TV off in disgust.
Vivian stared at her unfinished mural of running wolf-kind, and the fine hair on the back of her neck
bristled. She wondered if she had enough paint to obliterate it, but a pang of loss cut through her at the
thought.Nah, she told herself.That was the good times. The harmony. That's the stuff I want to
remember. An ache awoke for the blissful oblivion that seeped through her when she painted, and she
went so far as to lift a brush from the jar on her desk, but the grip hurt her still-bruised fingers.I'd have to
go get water, she realized. She tossed the brush down.
A squeak on the landing warned her Esmé was close again.
"That boy's on the phone," Esmé announced outside her door.
She means Aiden,Vivian guessed. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]