Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

A loud horn woke me up to a tent that was darker than when I had fallen asleep in the middle of the day. The canvas flaps rustled before a large hand reached inside to pull them open. I saw the top of his head, covered with tousled brown hair, before he lifted his face to meet mine, standing tall. What was he doing barging in here like this?

“I want to talk to you,” Everett said. His beard was long enough for me to run my fingers through—and ugh, why was I thinking about my fingers in his beard?

He paused at the foot of the bed, looking over me. I looked down to where his eyes fell as his nostrils flared. My shirt had ridden up while I’d slept, my midriff completely exposed. Sitting up, I pulled the shirt back down, pretending I was unbothered by his stares.

He closed his eyes and shook his head quickly. “You’re a guest here.”

My mind snapped to attention. “ Guest ? Do shifters use that word interchangeably with the human word prisoner ?”

“I see we have a linguist on our hands. Did your big words confuse Wilder last night?”

“What I did last night is none of your business.”

“Very well, it isn’t.” Everett ran his hand through his hair, smoothing the tousled locks on the top of his head. “But now that you are here, everything about you is my business.” I opened my mouth to mock the certainty of his words, but his voice stopped me. “Now that you’re at Camp for the weekend.”

“For now,” I quipped.

A stern look came over Everett’s face. He took a step toward the bed. I bit down on my tongue to stop the instinct that came over me to scoot back.

“Do you want to know what will happen if you try to leave Camp?” he asked in a low voice.

I sat there with my lips pressed shut. He was going to tell me the answer to his question whether I wanted to hear it or not.

“You will be…what’s the human word for it? Ah, electrocuted ,” he said, and it took a lot of self-control not to roll my eyes. “There are wards surrounding Camp. Big walls of energy that keep everything and everyone inside. You humans can’t see them from the outside. Like invisible walls. No one can leave until they’re lifted. Not even me.”

“I’m surprised. I thought you were a big shot around here, kidnapping girls and all.” I smirked at him, ready for his rebuttal.

But I was surprised to see a hurt look flashed across Everett’s face, his eyes looking toward the ground and his eyebrows pinching together. He quickly recovered, but not before I’d noticed.

“You need to keep a low profile when you’re here—humans aren’t allowed at Camp. I don’t want you attracting attention,” he said. “Just keep to yourself, and no one will know the difference.”

“Fine,” I snapped. “I don’t want to be here with you shifters anyway.”

Everett took another step toward the bed, his shins hitting the end of the mattress. He lunged forward to grab my arm, but I pulled my arm away before he could reach me. His fingers made a fist, curling his fingers into his palm, as if he was fighting for control of his body.

“You will not insult us while you’re here,” he growled. “Do you want to eat this weekend? To sleep on a bed? Because I can change your accommodations real quick. Don’t test me, Elise. Like you, I ace every single one.”

With that, he turned around and stormed out of the tent. As I watched, Everett looked over his shoulder at me, those yellow eyes scorching. Then he was gone.

I sat up on the bed and wrapped my arms around my bent knees. I’d heard what he’d said, but the only thing I could focus on was how he’d said my name—that he’d remembered my name.

After some stretching, I got up and peeked my head out of the tent. The sun was close to setting, and the campfires glowed orange and red. I spotted Kleio walking briskly toward me.

“What was Everett doing in our tent?” she asked. “I just saw him come out.”

“Giving me another ‘talk,’” I said, making air quotes.

“Hmm. I thought he agreed that I’d oversee that.”

“I prefer your talks to his.”

With a chuckle, she said, “Of course you do. I’m not a grump. Maybe I should be the one in charge of giving all the new humans ‘the talk.’”

She didn’t ask anything further about Everett—maybe pleased that I obviously preferred her over everyone else at Camp so far—and that was fine by me. She linked her arm through mine. “You need to come with us to the opening ceremony. We’re all required to go, and there won’t be anyone here to watch you.”

Leaving me with no time for questions, Kleio started walking through the large field next to the tents and toward the forest. There was already a crowd of people standing in front of a wooden stage. I weaved through the crowd with Kleio until we found Gavrill. He was standing next to Jack and Kostas, waiting for us. They made space for us and closed us in, surrounding us like a triangle.

“Overprotective brutes,” Kleio said under her breath. A high-pitched yelp came out of her mouth as Jack snickered, having pinched her playfully in the rear. As she turned to swat at him, an enormous white wolf on stage interrupted her by howling.

Everyone turned to face the stage, ending whatever conversations they’d been having. The large wolf sat on his haunches on the stage. Snout pointed toward the sky, he let out a loud howl that vibrated my eardrums. His head came back down, and his purple eyes looked back at the crowd.

The wolf shook his whole body, starting with his head. As his head shook, his jaw opened and continued to fall to the ground, unhinging from his skull. His snout and upper lips began retracting into his head, and his ears sunk into the top of his skull. Behind his head, his spine lifted toward the sky, elongating his body. His front paws retracted to the sides of his chest and lost the black claws and white fur that covered them. The back legs that had once been curved bone turned into straight human legs.

I stepped back in shock as white fur gave to human flesh. There was no fur left on the man’s body. No clothing either.

“Close your eyes if you’re prissy,” Gavrill mocked at me as I stared in shock at the naked man standing in front of the crowd, and I realized I had bumped into him.

The man didn’t seem surprised or embarrassed, and neither did anyone around me. In human form, he was large, like all the men here. Muscled and covered with symbolic tattoos. His hair was graying, showing signs of age, and his face was tanned and beginning to wrinkle. I didn’t look below his shoulders. Someone from the side of the stage handed him a pair of shorts, which he pulled on before he addressed the crowd.

“Welcome to the Deca Tournament! My favorite event of the decade!” he said. “For the last hundred years, we have come together as one Great Northern Pack to celebrate our strength and allegiance. This year, like every other year before, you will pick two of your strongest pack members to enter the hunt. At midnight tonight, in the forest behind me, we will release the one hundred rogues for the hundred-year celebration.”

He gestured to several large cages tucked to the side of the stage that held wolves of all sizes and colors. Many of them had missing patches of fur, and some even had missing patches of flesh. They were snarling at the crowd and at each other, stalking around the cages.

I grabbed Kleio’s arm, looking for an explanation.

“Those are rogues,” she explained. “Lycans without a pack that have gone senseless. They hardly know what day it is.”

She looked back at the speaker on the stage as he continued. “You’ll abide by the Lycan Code during the hunt. Disobeying the code will not be tolerated.”

Kostas faintly shook his head.

“As per usual, the pack that captures the most rogues at the end of the three-week event will be named Pack Preeminent and will have all the bragging rights for the next ten years,” the man said. “Let’s come together as the Great Northern Pack that we are tonight to feast and enjoy one another before the competition begins. Before I release you to your dinners, let’s introduce the hunters entering this year’s competition.”

Slowly the speaker brought pairs of shifters to the stage, introducing them by pack name. There were teams of male shifters, teams of female shifters, and coed teams. The speaker introduced an especially rough-looking team of males from the Juniper Pack. The two men snarled at the crowd, showing off their bulging muscles.

“Oh, great—Kip and Elijah are here,” Kleio whispered to herself. She caught me listening and divulged, “They’re a bunch of assholes from the Juniper Pack. They love to beat up on weaker packs.”

The man on the stage continued to call hunters from the different packs forward.

“Is this like the Olympic Games or something?” I asked. All the flags in front of the tents made sense.

Kleio smiled, amused. “Kind of like the Olympic Games, except there aren’t any medals. And you have a high likelihood of dying.”

“Why do you guys even do this? What’s the prize?”

“We’re here because the True Alpha”—she pointed to the older man on the stage—“commands it. Every ten years, he brings all the packs underneath him to join in a pissing contest for his own amusement. Survival is the only prize.” Kleio then shushed me before I could ask anymore questions.

The True Alpha’s voice continued to rumble from the stage. “From the Cedar Moon Pack, Everett Silas and Wilder Dendron.”

Everett climbed gracefully onto the stage, followed by Wilder. They looked out into the audience, eyeing their competition. Everett’s golden eyes scanned over the crowd until they found mine. He looked powerful from my vantage point below. His brown hair was a little shorter than Wilder’s but still gave him a cad look. His tan skin almost glowed under his white shirt. I could see the defined muscles in his chest and arms.

My breath caught. Everett must’ve been one of the strongest pack members if he was up on the stage. What confused me was why Wilder was up there with him. Kleio had said nothing to suggest that Wilder was a strong pack member.

The last two pairs were called to the stage. In the end, there were ten pairs lined up on the stage for everyone’s viewing. Some looked confident and strong, while others looked nervous.

The True Alpha spoke again. “The wards are closed for the weekend. There will be no distractions. Enjoy your meal before the real feast is unleashed.”

As if on cue, the rogues rattled their cages and snarled at the audience. Members of his own pack surrounded the True Alpha as he exited the stage and walked away. The pairs walked down the stage and found their way to their packs.

“Come on, Elise. Let’s go eat before they leave for the hunt.” Kleio led me back to the main tent that flew the Cedar Moon flag. Looking back down the road lined with more tents, I viewed more carefully the flags that flew above them. Each had a different type of tree on it, designating the name of the pack.

It was almost fully dark outside, and I could hear my stomach loudly rumble. I hadn’t eaten yet today. Pulled into the tent, Kleio put me to work gathering plates and cutlery from the trunks that lined the back wall of the tent. We brought them to the table that had maps spread across it earlier in the day and set the table for seven.

“Why was Wilder up there?” I asked. “I get that Everett is strong, but it seems like Wilder hasn’t been interested in being here this whole time.”

Kleio sighed before she answered my question. “Wilder is the best tracker in the pack.” “Tracker?” I asked. “Like…looking for animal footprints and scat?”

“It’s a little different for shifters,” she explained. “For us, tracking is an ability kind of like a supertaster. Everyone can taste food, but only certain people are able to really taste every flavor at a heightened intensity. Wilder can smell every separate scent at a high intensity. It’s rare enough that not every pack has one.”

That was interesting. And for Wilder of all shifters to have that ability.

She went on, “Everett is the strongest shifter in our pack. Between Wilder and the alpha, they’re good at finding and capturing the rogues in the forest. Everett had to drag Wilder in this morning because we need him if we’re going to win again.”

“Again? Alpha?” I felt entirely in the dark. It seemed like for someone who prided herself on knowing a lot about plants and forestation, I knew nothing of what really lived in these woods.

“Everett’s the alpha of the Cedar Moon Pack. That’s the pack we”—she motioned around the tent—“belong to. He’s our leader. Ten years ago, during the last Deca Tournament, Everett and Wilder won. It was by the skin of their teeth, but they won. The True Alpha hasn’t messed with us for the past ten years, probably because he knows how strong we are. Everett will keep it that way.” Kleio continued carefully setting the table while she spoke. “If you couldn’t tell by his pompous attitude, the True Alpha is an actual piece of work. He can make pack life very difficult if he wants to. For the past several decades, he has kidnapped members of the losing packs and forced them to join his pack—all female shifters.” Kleio’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “Everett would never let that happen to his pack.”

As if my stomach knew what was coming, it rumbled as Wilder and Gavrill carried in plates of grilled meats they had been cooking over the fire. Kostas followed with grilled corn and squash. Everything smelled delicious. We all sat around the table and ate family style, passing plates and food. Now that I knew that Everett was the leader of the pack, it surprised me that everything was so informal, though he did sit at the head of the table. The rest of the meal he spent laughing and talking with his pack mates. He seemed at ease and happy here with all his people.

I felt a warmth in my body that I hadn’t felt before. It wasn’t just the good food I was eating; it was the warmth of comradery and acceptance. Even Wilder seemed more at ease. He spent much of his time talking with Gavrill and shoveling down food.

When the meal was over, I helped Kostas clear the plates while Everett and Wilder disappeared to their tents to prepare for the hunt. Kleio and Jack were happily tucked away on a couch together. Gavrill stood in the middle of the tent, unsure of what to do. He looked at Kleio and Jack, and then at Kostas and me, and then he rubbed his face and mumbled something about going over the plan with Everett one more time.

Kostas laughed to himself. “Gavrill has never been one to help with the dishes.”

We settled into a rhythm cleaning the plates. He washed the dishes in a bucket of water that he had brought in, and I dried them with a towel I’d found in one of the large trunks of supplies. I careful to put each dried plate back where Kleio and I had found them earlier. Even if I didn’t want to be here, they were feeding me, and—for the most part—being nice to me, and I wanted to keep it that way.

When the dishes were done, I was about to sit on one of the empty couches when Wilder and Everett walked through the back flaps of the tent, dressed for the hunt. My mouth opened, but I quickly snapped it shut, not wanting to let anyone know what I was thinking. Wilder probably looked fine, but my eyes fell to Everett. He looked the part of alpha. Forget Wilder—if he had approached me in the woods, I probably would have peed my shorts like Jenny had claimed.

He’d covered himself in black. The black pants he wore hugged his thighs tight up to his waist. My tongue pushed against the back of my teeth, trying to banish the inappropriate images in my head of what lay underneath.

No, he kidnapped me and is holding me hostage here, I reminded myself. I shouldn’t be having these thoughts at all.

I tried to swallow as my eyes traced his body up his abdomen and up his chest. The shirt he wore was thick but still athletic enough that he could move freely. He wore black gloves, made of leather, that had to have been custom made to fit his large hands.

I stood up as Kleio and Jack made their way to the hunters. Kleio whispered something to Everett that I couldn’t hear. He nodded his head in agreement, briefly glancing my way. Jack shook his hand and wished him luck.

I didn’t know what I should be doing. Do I sit and keep to myself? Or should I go up and say goodbye? It seemed like I should do something. Before I could figure out what to do, I found myself walking over to Everett and Wilder.

“Good luck,” I mumbled. “I hope you catch a lot of rogues.”

Everett smirked as he reached out his hand to shake mine. His hand and fingers completely encapsulated mine. Our eyes met, and shivers traveled down to my tailbone. Every time I looked into his eyes, my mind went to mush. He blinked, breaking the trance his eyes had put on me. Abruptly our hands separated, and I took the hand he shook and brought it close to my chest. I turned to wish Wilder well, but he was already on his way out of the tent with Gavrill’s arm slung around his shoulders.

I mentally berated myself. That had made me look like an idiot. I shouldn’t have done that.

Kostas came up from behind Everett and slapped him on the back. “It’s almost time, alpha.”

As Everett walked with Kostas out of the tent, I waited for him to look back at me, but he never did.

“I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight,” Kleio said, slowly pacing the tent.

“Sounds good to me.” Jack was sitting on the couch, watching her with an eager look on his face.

“I’m not going to be able to do that either, Jack.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just too nervous. Why can’t Gavrill go on the hunt? He’s almost as strong as Everett, and then we wouldn’t be putting our alpha at risk.”

“Everett would never let him go with Wilder,” he said. “Gavrill would worry about keeping his brother safe instead of focusing his attention on the rogues. Dangerous for everyone.”

“Wait, Gavrill is Wilder’s brother?” I asked.

“Yep, you’ve already met your boyfriend’s family,” Jack said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not my boyfriend.”

“Jack!” Kleio swatted at his arm. “I promised her we were done with the teasing.”

A chorus of howls from outside filled the tent. She stopped her pacing and cuddled up next to Jack. “Wake me up on Monday morning.”

We sat in silence for several minutes until the howling stopped and Kostas flipped back the flap of the tent. He walked inside and sat down on one of the empty couches. “Well, they’re off. Kip and Elijah bullied their way to the front, of course, but Everett and Wilder have a leg up on them tracking wise. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“They’d better be,” Kleio said. She ran her fingers through her hair, twirling a section between her fingers. “This is the most stressful month of the decade. I can never sleep with all the backstabbing and riffraff that goes on during Deca.”

Kostas rubbed his hands together as he spoke. “Rules never get followed during Deca. No one is watching, and accidents always seem to happen. But I have faith in Everett. He’s the strongest shifter here. Let’s just hope he comes home tonight with a decent number of rogues. It would take the pressure off.”

“I know. It still worries me,” Kleio said. She looked over at me. “Elise, you must be tired. Let’s go find the tent Wilder so kindly set up for you.”

I was thankful the pack had an extra tent for me. While I appreciated the thought, there was no way I was going to share a tent with Kleio and Jack. Had she expected me to share the bed with them? On top of the simple awkwardness, I would also have a much harder time sneaking out if there were others in the tent with me.

What I had told Everett meant nothing to me. His talk of wards didn’t scare me either. They were probably some scary story shifter parents told their kids at bedtime that he thought would get the “dumb human” too. Magical electrocuting invisible walls? Mm-hmm, okay, right.

Shaking my head, I refocused myself. I needed to get back to the cabin. I couldn’t stay here with a bunch of shifters.

Thankfully Wilder had set up my tent far enough away from the others that escape seemed actually possible. Everyone had been so nice to me, except for Wilder. I kind of felt bad leaving everyone without a thank-you or goodbye. Especially Kleio, who I had taken a liking to. She was fun and open and confident in her choices. Something I wished I could be.

I sat on my cot, waiting for the sounds of the camp to die down and for everyone to retreat to their tent for the night. Once the crickets became louder than the voices, I grabbed my purse, putting it securely across my body. I kicked off Jenny’s wedge sneakers. They’d done me dirty earlier today when I’d run from Everett.

Delicately, I pulled the flap of the tent back so I could peek out. There was no movement. I slithered my body out and crouched with my back to the side of the canvas tent. A few campfires still glowed with red embers.

Between the red glow and the bright stars in the sky, I had enough visibility to make my way through Camp. I dodged the ropes and stakes that held the tents down, breathing easier. This escape was looking promising. If I could make my way behind the main tents and follow them, I would be parallel to the main road. From there, I could follow the road out of Camp and hopefully I would find a landmark that was familiar.

My footsteps picked up in pace as I made my way from behind the last tent in the row at the start of Camp. Looking behind my shoulder, I saw nothing. Silently congratulating myself, I took off into a full run. The gravel road appeared to have endured frequent driving, breaking down the gravel rocks into fine pebbles and dust. It was perfect for running. My muscles were warming, and my breathing leveled out as I set a pace that was comfortable but kept me moving.

I wondered if Jenny was worried about me. How could have Everett gotten a message to her that I was okay when he had been at this “Camp” the whole day? What kind of excuse had he given her as to my whereabouts?

My purse shifted down my body as I ran, and I looked down to rearrange it to the other side. I didn’t have time to lift my gaze before I was flying backward, having hit something solid in the middle of the road. My head flew back, leading my body to the ground. A loud thud echoed in my ears as my skull hit the gravel, my body following it like a rag doll.