15. Xax

Chapter 15

Xax

A s we skidded across the grass, I grappled with Tribon, trying to flip him onto his back and pin him in place. I would not allow him to take Amanda from me. She was right that she belonged to no one, though I was still convinced she was mine. I'd destroy the world around us to protect her from someone taking her against her will.

We came to a stop when we impacted with the large stones encircling the firepit where everyone sat together a few nights a week. He flipped me onto my back and grabbed my arms.

I bucked, knocking him to the side, and followed, slamming my larger body onto his, pinning his arms by his hips.

He flailed, dislodging me, and I tumbled backward, rolling to come up in a crouch.

"Respect the gods," I growled. "Respect me."

Tribon leaped to his feet and stalked toward me. " Our elder should've tossed you out of the village rather than give you a home."

"She did not. You have no right to do this." My hold on my mate was tenuous. If he went to my adopted mother about this, what would she say? She loved me and would want me happy, but she'd put the clan first in this.

As traedor, Tribon was entitled to the best cuts of meat, the nicest shroom. I was an orphan who would've had no home if the female I called Mother hadn't taken me in. I'd be dead by now, most likely.

"The gods did not give you to her." Tribon leaped, the determination in his face telling me he'd defeat me, then haul Amanda to his shroom whether she protested or not. She'd amazed me with her fighting skills, but how long could she hold out against his strength and determination?

Thunder rumbled overhead, but I didn't look that way. Let it rain. Let the world around us explode with white hot fire. Maybe then, Tribon would realize he was wrong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Amanda back away, her face filled with fear. I hated that she was scared, that I couldn't go to her and give her the comfort of my arms.

She hurried to my shroom and pressed her back against the stem, watching us.

"She's mine." Tribon leaped, but I slid to the side and tripped him as he passed. He smacked onto the ground on his chest, rolling and coming up with a bellow. Lumbering toward me, he kicked out.

Again, I twisted, and his blow missed. I was no longer the skinny youngling pleading with my clan to give me a home after my parents died. He'd find me a formidable opponent. I would never give up. I'd battle him to the death to keep her safe.

However, I'd have to be careful here. He'd chosen me as his second, though our elder had some say in this. I wasn't worried about losing my position, but he could make my life difficult if he chose, making demands he wouldn't of anyone else, forcing me to travel away from our clan. While I was gone, he might approach Amanda.

I needed to defeat him enough he'd admit the gods had been right, and she was mine. But if I harmed him or ground his face in the dirt too much, I'd make an enemy.

He was our traedor, and his word was respected as much as his father's and all the males who'd served as traedor before him.

When he got to his feet, he wavered. Fresh blood erupted from a blow to the side of his skull where he must've hit it on a rock.

"Agree," I said stiffly. "Don't push this, Tribon."

His hand rose to gently blot at the wound on his head, and when he stared down at the blood coating his hand, he growled. "I should have a mate, not you."

"Then await the benevolence of our gods." As our traedor, he'd refused to go with the others to plead for mates. It would be wrong of him to expect to receive one now .

"Stop." Bork strode across the open area with Cresar not far behind. He stopped beside me, staring from Tribon to me. "What's going on here? Have you challenged him for the role of traedor?" he asked me.

Not yet, but I suspected that day was coming. It was either that or leave our clan, something I'd hate to do. I had friends here. We were a family. But I would not allow Tribon to take Amanda from me.

"Tribon doesn't believe the gods gave Amanda to me," I said.

"Tribon," Bork chided softly. "I saw the plant they sent myself."

"You didn't tell me that," Tribon snarled my way.

Would he have respected the gods' wish if I had? I doubted it.

"I'll show you." I strode over to where Amanda stood beside the entrance to my shroom. I wanted to hold her, reassure her, but I'd have to wait until this was settled. "It will be alright."

"Can your traedor take me away from you?" she asked with a shake in her voice.

"No. Never."

My adopted mother left her shroom and strode across the open area, joining Bork, Tribon, and Cresar. Her gaze flicked my way. "Did I hear someone fighting?"

"I have claimed a mate," Tribon snarled. "Xax refuses to give her to me."

I strode back over to them. "The gods sent me a sign yesterday showing me that Amanda is my mate. Tribon hopes to take her from me. I was about to go retrieve the plant they sent as their sign to prove this."

"Get it," my mother said, concern shadowing her face. Her gaze traveled to Amanda, and her eyes softened. She had no younglings of her own other than me. I knew she one day hoped for grandyounglings. She would see my mating as a wonderful thing. She would welcome Amanda with open arms.

But she was also our elder, the one who enforced the will of our god.

Leaving them, I went inside my shroom, but the plant was gone. I returned to the ground and peered in all directions.

"Did you move the plant?" I asked Amanda, my heart turning into a solid lump in my throat.

She shook her head. "I can't remember if I saw it this morning. We both looked at it last night, however."

Had Alexa absorbed it? I should've left it outside rather than bring it into my home. With heavy feet, I walked back over to where the others waited. "The plant is gone, absorbed into my shroom. But it was a sign from the gods. I know this in my heart."

Tribon scratched his shoulder, gazing from Digaray to me, to Amanda. I didn't miss the longing in his eyes because the feeling was echoed within me. With so few females, most of us had resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd never have a mate.

To think the gods could find them and send them to us. However, it appeared they hadn't asked permission, and I didn't like that. But how could I argue with the will of the gods?

"Without the sign, it's hard for me to come to a decision," Digaray said carefully.

Bork nodded. "I saw a plant myself, though I suppose it could've been related to anything."

My heart sunk.

"Does Amanda have the mark?" my mother asked. "Do either of you display the sign of your mating?"

"Yes, show us your mating mark," Tribon sneered. "If she's your true mate, the gods will show it in this way as well."

"We don't have them yet," I said. Why didn't we? If this was the gods' intention as I insisted, why wouldn't they declare this to the world with matching marks on our skin?

I flipped my arms back and forth, hoping something had appeared since I last looked, but other than scars from hunting and working with wood, my skin remained unchanged.

Tribon sucked in a breath and shot it out. "What's your decision, Digaray? Does this female belong with our clan traedor or with my second, Xax?"

Digaray grunted. She said nothing for a long while, just looked back and forth between me and Tribon before her gaze lowered to the ground.

Fear shot through me.

I didn't like that she was still frowning, that her face hadn't smoothed, that she wasn't immediately declaring that Amanda belonged with me .

Even more, I didn't like her next words.

"This is what I will do," Digaray said. "It's the only thing I can do." Her sad gaze met mine. "I'll travel to the island of the ancient gods and ask them who should mate with Amanda."