Chapter 53

Roan

This was the moment when my head went quiet.

Sometimes it felt like there was a steady whining noise in the back of my skull, like a damnable mosquito buzzing around your ears as you tried to sleep. It drowned out boring meetings with officers or generals, turned the whole world to an irritating monotone as I stood guard late into the night, but when I ran out onto a battlefield, all that faded away. My heart pumped just as my legs did as we charged to the nearest pack.

Their scout was zeroing in on a location a little way away from them, which told me what our objective was. I went to shout at the others, but they were already there. We sprinted towards the same point on the earth, not even looking for our own flag, just determined to take theirs. I caught the moment when the big bastards' eyes widened, then narrowed, vicious snarls rumbling to warn us away.

But it would make no difference.

In this moment, my focus compressed. I didn't think about my pack or the princess or all the miserable days we'd endured. Just this. Get that fucking flag right before they did. But when you've got four massive wolf shifters lumbering towards you, sometimes the direct route wasn't the best one.

"Creed…!"

"On it," my brother howled, more wolf than man. He leapt in front of their path and then went barrelling into them. This seemed to incense the other pack, telling me a whole lot.

The empire couldn't strip every male wolf shifter of age from the packlands, if only to ensure there were more little boys born to swell the ranks of the army when they were grown. So those that stayed behind to guard their turf were usually either grizzled veterans or young lads like these. Physically fit, but inexperienced. Their animals rode them hard as they stopped mid stride, roaring their challenge to the sky, which was no doubt was an impressive display designed to intimidate. But they hadn't endured what I had. After years in the fucking imperial army, I'd become accustomed to such things, so they did nothing to dissuade me.

"Arik!"

"I see it," my brother snapped back. "You help Creed."

Oh yes, I would. I went pelting towards the pack in time for them to charge at Creed. He reared up, a picture of strength, whereas I kept my body low. Shifters were big bastards, but their centre of gravity wasn't strong. Ignoring all the impulses that told me I was in very real danger, I tucked my head down with my legs pumping, right up until I made impact.

Fuck…

Every damn time, I was sure I'd break my damn neck doing this. It was like slamming your body into a brick wall, and the prick I was trying to take out had about as much sense as one. His claws raked across my back, creating a fiery trail in its wake, but not before he let out a yelp and went crashing down.

The crowd roared.

Those cheers… We didn't have them on the battlefield, and I was beginning to think that was an oversight. I felt a flush of pleasure rush through me, along with the pain. For a moment I just wanted to stand there and bask in that glory, sure somehow that Jessalyn was watching—

"Roan!"

Shit, the fight. I jerked out of the way of one set of claws, then another, forced to move in an ugly, stumbling manner until I found the rhythm. I dropped under their freakishly long limbs and then slammed my body into the nearest prick's legs, getting him right at the knees and forcing the joint to bend or break.

They bent.

He went crashing down, the other member of his pack attacking Creed going down with him, like a couple of dominos. I sprang up, grinning at the sight of it. That was stupid because the first one I'd knocked down was starting to rally, and the last prick had sidestepped us and was going after Arik.

"Commander…!" I shouted.

He wasn't Arik or my prince right now, but the leader of our pack. I watched him jerk his head up, taking in everything in one glance, then grinning as he pulled a crumpled piece of fabric from the earth. As he shook it free, the wolf shifters transformed.

Nothing stood between a beast man and his mate, nothing. The others forgot about us, their eyes going black as they all charged at once. A weaker man might've quailed in the face of such combined ferocity, but not Arik. He just grinned as he tore their flag to pieces.

"What…?" Creed hissed, coming to stand beside me. The pack went into overdrive, screaming their rage, as others came stampeding onto the field. Umpires it appeared, they grabbed each one of the contenders and hauled them kicking and fighting, off the grounds as Wren said the words.

"Pack Raydon is out of the running!"

"We're not supposed to destroy the flag so early in the game," Creed said as we joined Arik. "You hold it at bay, lest the other teams destroy our flag on sight as well."

"The only way we were doing that is if each one of us were strong enough to stand against them. Only you are, Creed. But if we don't have brute strength…" His head jerked sideways, like a hound catching a scent. "Then we'll have to use cunning."

We didn't get any further explanation. He was off, so that meant we were too, sprinting across the ground to another slightly mounded pile of dirt. A pack's scout came blundering towards it, obviously catching scent of their prey. Like damn idiots, we sought to take it from him.

And if we managed to, we'd thin the crowds, removing our opponents from the competition.

"It makes sense, brother," I said to Creed between pants. "Less shifters on the ground—"

"That's fewer enemies we have to face."

He nodded as he threw himself forward, sliding across the soft earth to confront the scout, rearing up above the young shifter and forcing him to backpedal momentarily. Creed's obvious advantage in terms of height and weight wouldn't deter the other shifter for long, though. He roared his challenge, claws snicking out as he went to attack Creed. My brother ducked out of the way of one swipe, then another, but my eyes went to the rest of the young one's pack, who were rapidly approaching. I shook out my hair, feeling the sweat trickling down my forehead and into my eyes.

Fuck…

Sweat always stung when it leaked into your eyes, but this carried with it a toxic load. The blasted oil that Jessalyn had smeared across our bodies had me burning, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of it hitting my eye sockets.

"Arrgh!"

My field of vision blurred then turned red as my eyes started to sting and water, my nerves screaming that something was very, very wrong. I jerked my hands up on instinct, ready to rub whatever the hell this was away, but then I realised halfway there that they would just make the situation so much worse. I was coated with the very substance that was causing this pain.

"Roan? Roan!"

"My fucking eyes!" I shouted, but to who, I didn't know. I needed water, a cloth, some kind of bloody antidote. Something to make it stop. Every blink made the pain spread further, my world reduced to the ache in my eyes. The sounds around me came in a great muddle of flesh striking flesh, but whose? Right before Wren said the words.

"Terra pack is out! A healer is needed for the Bastard's pack."

A healer, gods be praised, yes, that.

"Are you alright, brother?" I felt Creed's claws on my face, before they receded and became fingertips. "What happened?"

"Oil in the eyes." Arik answered for me, just as I heard a more feminine voice.

"What kind of oil?" Mother Marian's crisp tones cut through the noise. "What kind of oil?"

"Something that burns fiercely, like liniment," I croaked out.

"Gods above, those girls…" I didn't know what or how I was supposed to make the burning stop. Any view of the world I'd had was completely gone now, everything a blurry mess. But it hurt, and it hurt, and it hurt until her hands touched my face and heaven in a bottle was applied. "There you go." I blinked, and suddenly that wasn't agonising as Marian swam into view. She smiled as she stared up at me. "What possessed you to get liniment in your eyes?"

"It was in the massage oil Jessalyn applied," Creed replied in a small voice.

"Is everything alright?" Elder Wren peered at me in concern. "You need not continue. Pulling out now will not impair your ability to court your mate. This is all just for show…"

But now that I could see, I caught the moment Silas waved his arms wildly in the distance. Others hadn't seen it yet, but he jerked his head down to the front of his pants, where a suspicious bulge indicated he'd found other flags.

"No," I said. "You have my thanks, Wren, Marian, but we Bastards don't give up so easily."

"Never back down," Creed said with a slow nod.

"Don't give a bloody inch."

Arik grinned, right up until he saw the moment the other packs caught sight of Silas. One of our own was out there unprotected, and we were on the other side of the arena.

"Silas…" Creed growled.

"Fucking needs us, so let's get across the field, double time!"

The prince's bark was all it took to get us moving, stampeding over the ground as one.