THIRTY-TWO

- sedona -

"This whole thing has gone to shit," Krissy announces.

"No kidding," Meghan concurs, her normally boisterous attitude stunted. Honestly, all of us are wracked with tension and a good bit of anger.

"The way they talked about us like we're not even real people." Sabrina shakes her head, her face crinkling in disgust. "I guess men don't change regardless of species."

"Anybody got an idea?" Renata asks from the corner of the hut. After Junq's announcement last night, everything went from bad to worse, and it landed us stuck in the hut of Tiqii—the elder woman who was terrible—without Kuvier or Enikk.

"None that don't involve Kuvier and Enikk ending up fighting their whole clan," Samra retorts with a grimace.

That fact is why we're stuck in this damn hut in the first place. When Junq declared that we would be separated from our guys due to ‘fairness,' Enikk and Kuvier were ready to set fire to the whole thing. But, I could see it in Junq's eyes, that's exactly what he wanted. He wanted an excuse to put them in a situation they couldn't win, so I made Kuvier let me go. It was a hard sell, and an even harder pill to swallow. The only thing that made him finally back down was reminding him that if he tried to take on his whole clan over it and lost, he'd lose me.

"We can't even run away with all the damn eyes they have on us," Xiomara laments from her place on the ground with an arm covering her face. She's admittedly the most calm of us. Likely because this pales in comparison to being an alien slave for decades.

"So, basically, we just get to sit here and be fought over like scraps of meat." Krissy's voice is going for disdain, but falls short, landing a little too close to dejected.

"Sedona, do you have any ideas?" Everyone turns to look at me and I feel like I want to cave in on myself. Right now, I don't want to be the leader. I didn't sleep a wink last night, my mind won't shut the hell up, and my heart just…hurts. Right now, I want to break down. But I can't.

Heavy is the head, right?

"No," I answer honestly, my voice flat even to my own ears. "I'm still thinking."

"Don't worry about tonight," Sabrina says, shooting me a sympathetic look. "Kuvier is huge and he loves the hell out of you. He'll win."

In some ways, the girls know I have it the worst. I'm the only one who has someone to lose that I've built a connection with and grown feelings for. I give a strained half-smile, but can't muster a decent response. Everyone falls silent after that, each of us spread across the small hut's floor.

None of us know what to do with ourselves. They stuck us in here, and besides bringing servings of food, no one has come back for us. But I wouldn't doubt that they're around, waiting and watching. Renata had peeked her head out of the hut earlier and found that we were surrounded by clan women. She'd reported that our guys were nowhere to be found.

Our fitful peace is interrupted a long while later when the flap on the hut parts and Tiqii plus two women I do not recognize walk into the hut. They're carrying things in their arms and I don't have to question long what they're here for.

"You," Tiqii points at me, "come here. Our atan wishes that you be prepared for the Rites in the proper way."

I stay right the hell where I am, waving her away and saying in her language, "No, thanks."

"It was not a request," she sneers at me. "What the atan says is to be followed."

"Yeah, for the people of your clan." I glower at her. "If you cannot treat us with the same respect allotted to the other females in your clan and let us pick our own mates, then why should I follow what your atan says? He's not mine."

The additional women look scandalized, but I give them my back.

"Very well, I am sure that your lack of respect for our rules will not impact the atan's judgment of Kuvier at all." My back goes ramrod straight and for the first time in my life, I want to commit a violent act.

I turn slowly, my jaw clenched. "What do I need to do to prepare?"

***

- kuvier -

We should have never come back.

This is the thought that plagues me. We should have never come back. I knew it in my very being that returning would lead to trouble, but I could not have fathomed this. I was well aware before coming back that Junq would do a great deal to try to undermine my claim to Sedona, but reviving a practice that has not been used in several generations just to spite me? That is more than even I could have imagined.

"Kuvier, you must eat," my mother says, cutting through my never ending spiral of thoughts.

"I am not hungry."

"You need your strength today," she replies gently. Her words carry the weight of today's impending events.

With a heavy sigh, I hold my hands out accepting the portion of oftii and mala she has brought me from the communal dinner I chose not to go to. I stayed at the fire pit for ages this morning, ate breakfast at the fire and everything. It had been in hope that at some point they would bring Sedona out of Tiqii's hut and I could at least glimpse her. But when I realized that they would keep her confined to that hut until the Rites began, being anywhere near Junq no longer felt worth it.

Eating no longer felt worth it. Sleeping no longer felt worth it.

To appease my mother, I pick apart my meal, roughly swallowing. This action, as every other action, makes me miss my Sedona. After many meals spent with her, tasting the amazing flavors she created with the same ingredients, this meal falls flat.

"Is this female, this human, truly your bonded?" Her question hangs heavy in the air, and for a moment I do not feel like answering, but I muster the energy.

"Yes, I knew it the moment I smelled her," I answer, setting my food aside. Lieq do not waste food, but today I do not feel like a Lieq.

"Junq has truly wronged you in this." She says it as if shocked and I feel an ache of anger at her. Has she not seen every wrong that he has done to me in all my seasons alive? For the first time, I feel blame towards her for her loyalty to this clan and its customs.

"Junq knows no other way," I retort bitterly. I prepare for her defense, her chiding to be respectful.

Instead she shocks me and says, "These wrongs are a payment of my transgressions and for that I am so sorry, my son."

My mother has never directly addressed the choices she made that led to my birth and our ultimate fall from grace. Everything I ever learned came from taunts and stories whispered behind hands. To hear her acknowledge it is enough to pull me out of my despondency.

"Junq was always this…vengeful," she admits, her eyes not on me but trained in her lap. "I knew this as a young girl, so when he demanded to mate with me, I said no."

"What?" I reel back in shock. I had never known that my mother had other options besides my father. Not that a mated man was truly an option.

"He has never forgiven me for that sin. Then, I was swayed to be with your father, a mated man, a man I could never truly have, his own brother. Then to bear him a son? Junq saw it as the ultimate act of treachery. You have borne the brunt of Junq's anger for too long. I feel that in this, I have failed you."

"You have not failed me." I would never have expected to hear this story from her, but I mean what I say. My mother has loved me thoroughly my whole life. "Junq is atan. He should not be led by a perceived wrong from thirty-three seasons ago."

"I tell you this story for a reason." She wrings her hands, the emotions bubbling within her eyes. "My son, you must leave."

"Mother, what—"

"Listen," her voice is sharp, but whisper quiet. "When you win today, because you must, you must take your mate and leave. Junq will never forgive, he will only broaden his anger to include her, and one day your kits. You will never be truly safe here and neither will she. You must leave."

I do not get to respond to this, or even process it because we both go rigid when the familiar thump of drums begins.

"It is time," she says, her tone softening. She stands and moves to me, holding my face in her hands. "When you win, this hut will be empty for you tonight."

With that, she pats my face one time and then leaves the hut. I stay there frozen with the revelations and demands she has placed on me. But then, I shake myself loose of those thoughts. It is time to fight for what is mine.

In this, I will not fail.

When I get to the communal fire, the stones of the fire pit have been cleared away, the rocks are being used as seats moved to the outskirts of the open circle, creating a large ring of empty space. The air is brutally cold, though no snow falls from the gray skies. With only two eyes left in the sky, and one of them falling below the other, the light is dim.

The majority of the clan is already seated and waiting when I make my way to the circle of people. I do not take a seat, nor do I bother paying attention to the many glares and stares sent my way. Instead, I scan the crowd, my eyes searching for my mate. My fists clench and unclench when I realize that she is not here.

My gaze connects with a different set of eyes instead and I barely resist the snarl in my throat. Junq curls his lips cruelly, his gaze mocking. I know he is doing this on purpose. Keeping Sedona out of my sight, driving me to the brink of insanity. After what my mother has told me, I realize that he probably does believe me.

He probably does know that Sedona is mine by the act of the Great Mother, but what better punishment than to be forced to watch my fated mate be taken by another male? I look away from him. I will give him no more of my time or energy. I cannot win if I am focused on the desire to pull his throat out with my teeth. Instead, I will channel this rage into these Rites.

And I will win.

I sweep the crowd and it is not hard to guess which of the males I see will be fighting today. Like me, there are several who stand in nothing but leather pants, as the rules of the Rites require. The atan determines the parameters of each Rite, according to our laws. However, the one rule that is always consistent is that you may not use anything but your own body to defeat your opponent. Hence being stripped of any opportunity to hide a weapon.

Eventually, Junq rises from his seat on a rock, and as he does, the crowd quiets. The tension and anticipation are so palpable I can nearly taste it. Everyone is eager to see this enactment of an ancient custom.

"Clansmen, greetings. May the Great Mother see you." The crowd echoes with the words of the appropriate response, but I remain silent. "We gather today in triumph. After many seasons atoning to the Great Mother for great betrayals," his eyes skim over me, "we have finally been given a blessing. The arrival of the human females is a harbinger of change for our clan. She has seen our penance and given us these females as gifts for the most worthy males."

Cheers erupt from the crowd and Junq basks in the attention for a moment before continuing, "Today, many males will step forward to fight for our first gift."

As he says this, it finally happens. My Sedona emerges from his hut and steals the air from the room. She is striking, dressed in the traditional wear of a Lieq mating ceremony. Her mane is worn down with intricate braids at the top of her head. Bone beads have been woven into the braids and she wears bone beads in a rope around her waist. She is clothed in a dress made of fine furs that follows the curve of her hips and sweeps the ground. They have even painted her face in the dotted pattern customary for a mating. Her eyes are trained on the ground and I wish she would look up.

My heart swells as I stare at her, and for a moment, I forget this entire thing. I forget where I am and I can only appreciate seeing my mate adorned for me. Ready to give herself to me . But the reverie is broken when Junq speaks again, and my fury is reignited when I remember that other males are leering at her, believing that they will be the ones she will give herself to.

"In keeping with our laws, I have determined the rules of the Rites today," Junq announces self-importantly. "Every male who wishes to challenge for this female will fight in the pit at once. Two knees must hit the ground to be removed from the fight. The last male standing will have proven himself worthy of her."

He has done it again. Found a way to put me at a disadvantage. With every male fighting at once, it is not hard to guess what will happen initially. I will be surrounded, targeted, and taken out. I grit my teeth together, the determination surging through me. My knees will hit this ground only if I am dead.

"All unmated males who wish to participate, step into the circle to be blessed for your Rites."

My feet move automatically and I am the first in the circle, though not for long. Nine other males step forward, including Enikk. We make eye contact and I remember our vow to each other. Today, he will fight with me, and for this I will call him brother.

Standing in the circle, I train my eyes on my ultimate prize. As if feeling the weight of my gaze, Sedona finally looks up. I nearly abandon the entire pretense when I see the tears in her eyes. She is terrified, I can see it and I want nothing more than to take that fear from her. I take one step, but she shakes her head at me and I remember where we are, what I must do to be able to care for her as I am meant to.

She mouths a word to me and my heart swells with renewed commitment. Yours.