“You believe Solan’s claim, Markon?” Nabor asked.
I was suddenly and keenly aware that all eyes were on me. This wasn’t my place. My place was supporting my brother, and that’s what I’d intended to do. But now they were actually listening to me. They wanted to know my opinion. Me!
Guilt washed over me that I’d somehow stolen Thrane’s spotlight, but a small, glowing part that lived deep down inside felt even more guilty for liking it.
“I do.”
Thrane shoved me aside. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing! Are you all actually considering this?”
Nabor growled and let his beast come forth just enough to show Thrane that, even at his advanced age, he was no one to be trifled with. Thrane stood his ground but didn’t advance any farther.
“Your brother makes a good argument, Thrane. Only a fool would dismiss it out of hand.”
Thrane threw his hands in the air. “Then I’m a fool. And you fools can all die at the claws of the Valley scum, for all I care!”
He stormed out of the hall, slamming the heavy wooden door behind him. My heart sank. I didn’t want to lose my brother, but even more than that, I didn’t want to be alpha.
3
Natalie
“Seriously, Jorek, you should have heard them go on and on about how, deep down, I really want a fated mate.”
I reached across the tiny table I shared with Jorek, my co-researcher and…friend, for lack of a better word. Sienna and Arlynn were sure that he and I were destined to be together, thanks to some freaky genetic quirk, but I wasn’t falling for it.
I liked him, that much I couldn’t deny, but I wasn’t in love with him or anything. Even when my arm brushed against his naked torso — Warg males were almost always half naked, much to Arlynn’s delight — neither of us flinched. But every time we got started discussing the tribe’s ‘drought’ of girl babies, we barely knew the world around us existed.
“They’re only whelps, Natalie,” he said, handing me the herb sample I was trying to grab. “They meant no offense.”
“I know, I know, it’s just so absurd.”
“What is?” He swiped a wild strand of hair that fell across his soft brown eyes when looked up from the prehistoric piece of equipment he called a microscope. I’d spent my entire life in labs and had never seen anything so primitive. Salvage from some ancient shipwreck, he said. It was the best they had here in the forest.
“Fated mates, of course. I get why children believe in it, but my intelligent, worldly sisters?”
“So you still don’t believe such a thing is possible? That perhaps it’s in our genetic makeup?”
I raised a skeptical eyebrow at Jorek as I prepped my own sample. “Oh, you’ve found the gene that causes this magic, have you? Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
He shrugged and returned to the microscope. “Just because we can’t see it—“ he shot a glance at me “—yet, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Even if it doesn’t, it’s so ingrained in our culture that to deny it is to deny our primary paradigm.”
“Are you really telling me that my saying I don’t believe in fated mates makes you question your very existence?”
A smirk tilted his lips as he studied his slide. “No. I know what we are, and you will too, as soon as you accept the transformational bite.”
It was my turn to shrug.
“Honestly, it seems like cheating. I want someone to love me for who I am, not because some random gene or bacteria or virus tells them to. And at the rate we’re going at solving the riddle of why your people have trouble conceiving females, I’ll have plenty of time to fall in love several times before I become a Warg.”
“You’re really going to wait until we figure it out?”
“Absolutely. We’re on a roll, don’t you think, Jorek? I don’t want to mess up my brain chemistry when we’re so close.”
He pulled the slide from the microscope with a sigh. “We’re not as close as we thought. This isn’t it either. And you have the last sample.”
I slid the chipped glass slide under the lens, taking extra care because Jorek only had a few of them. As I rotated the focus dial on the device, green and yellow blobs came into sharp focus. Keeping my eyes on the blobs as best I could, I added a drop of our control substance — an extract of a grain called reet, which we were certain was one half of the equation — and held my breath.
Tiny tan dots swirled around the blobs, spinning and zipping like crazy. This was the most activity I’d seen with any sample of the flora found on the Valley side of the river. My heart raced as fast as the dots. Could this be the missing element we needed? If so, we’d just solved a generations-old mystery.
The dots slowed, then stopped, then turned black. The breath I’d been holding whooshed out of me in a curse.
“Shit!”
Jorek sighed. I leaned back in my chair and grabbed fistfuls of my hair. Blonde strands stuck to my sweaty fingers. So close! I thought as I wiped my hands clean.
“What now?” I asked.
“I have no idea. You know as much as I do, if not more, about the plants that grow in the Valley. Are there any we’ve missed?”
“None. We even tried quadrapede silk.”
I tugged at the diaphanous material Wargs used as clothing. We were fairly sure the second substance came from a plant, but I’d been getting desperate by the time I tested it.
We sat in silence for a moment, deep in thought. When I’d heard about their ‘drought’, I immediately offered my services as a trained scientist. Not only did I want to repay their kindness and generosity in taking us in when we so desperately needed it, but I lusted for an intellectual challenge like this.
Jorek had isolated the reet compound before I arrived in the village. Together, we theorized that the reet had to be mixed with some other plant to create a completely new compound that promoted gender-balanced reproduction. Yet none of the plants in the Valley performed as we’d hoped.
The silver thread of an idea wriggled around in my brain like a kronkworm, always slipping just out of reach. The thread grew thicker and brighter until it exploded in my brain like a supernova.
“Of course!” I shouted, jumping up. My chair flew across the lab — really just one of many small huts in the village — but I paid it no mind. I barely even registered the surprise on Jorek’s face.
“We’re idiots, Jorek! How could we not have seen this?”
“What?” He latched onto my excitement and jumped up, ready to be amazed. I was about to blow his mind.
“We’ve only been testing plants from the Valley.” I stared at him expectantly. Surely he’d get it. But he just stared back, waiting.
“So?”
“So we’ve been looking on the wrong side of the river. I guarantee you that the mystery plant only grows over there.”
A crease formed between his thick eyebrows. “Why?”
“Think about it. When did this drought start? Generations before yours, right?”
“Yes. I believe it was only a generation or two after the Great Split.”
“Exactly. Once Tooibas and Vanter had their little pissing match over a woman and the Great Tribe split, boundaries were drawn. Which means resources were split, too. The Valley Warg got the reet because it only grows in the fertile soil down here.”
Jorek’s eyes lit up. “So there must be plants that only grow on the hill.”
“Right!”
I started jumping around the little hut, dancing with joy. Jorek followed for a moment, and then stopped, clouds forming in his eyes. I stopped, breathless and grinning.
“What?”
“How will we find it? Thrane can’t be happy with us right now.”
He had a point. Solan had pretty much just kicked his ass across the galaxy. A search party for some random, unidentified plant probably would be seen as an act of aggression or something. But if only one person went…
“I’ll go,” I said. “His sentries will have a hard tim
e spotting just one person. Besides, the tribe needs you more than me, so if anything goes wrong, you can continue our work.”
Jorek took a step closer, gazing at me with wonder. “You’re truly exceptional, Natalie. Is there anything you can’t do?”
A blush crept up my cheeks at his compliment. I wasn’t used to them. Back in the city, and especially at the Training Center, I’d been shown every day just how unimpressive I was. No one had ever given me respect, even my teachers — as was proven when they sold me off as a sex slave instead of sending me on a science-based mission, as promised.
“That settles it then,” I said, breaking eye contact and grabbing a few pieces of equipment I’d need in the field. “I’ll set out right away.”
“Set out where?” asked a smooth voice behind me. I spun around to find Chorn, Solan’s second-in-command leaning against the doorway. The stealthy warrior could sneak up on a ghost.
“Oh, I’m just going to pop across the river and collect some different samples. We’re so close, Chorn—“
“Excuse me?” he said, taking a step closer, a scowl rippling across his face. “Across the river? Into the Hill tribe’s territory?”
I felt like a student being reprimanded by a mean teacher. God knows I had plenty of those over the years.
“Yes?” I squeaked.
He barked out a scornful laugh. “A Terran female is simply going to walk through our forest and not get eaten by any number of deadly creatures. Then she’s going to somehow cross a raging river without drowning. And then—“ he laughed again “—and then she’s going to wander around Thrane’s lands and not a single Hill Warg will notice her presence. Oh, and then return in perfect health. Is that what you’re telling me?”
Perhaps I hadn’t thought it all through, but he didn’t need to be so rude about it. Rather than give him the satisfaction of telling him he was right, I squared my shoulders and sniffed at him.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.” I glanced at Jorek. “Right, Jorek?”
We stood there, nose-to-nose and glaring at each other, waiting for Jorek’s reply. When he stayed silent, I looked over at him again. His hair hung in his face, his head dipped so I couldn’t catch his gaze.
Really?
When I turned back to Chorn, his expression had softened, but was no less firm. “I’m sorry, Natalie. Your intentions are noble, but you wouldn’t make it as far as the border.”
“But you don’t understand—“
“No, you don’t understand. You’re incapable of protecting yourself here. Whatever is so important will just have to wait until Solan unites the tribes.”
He spun around on his heel and left me standing there, red-faced and fuming.
“Natalie, I’m s—“
I didn’t wait for Jorek to finish before stomping out of the lab.
4
Markon
I knocked lightly on Thrane’s door. He didn’t respond, but I heard him moving around so I cautiously poked my head in. He stood over his bed, stuffing a few possessions into a cloth sack.
“What are you doing?” I asked, closing the door behind me so no one could overhear us.
“What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re packing.”
“See, I knew you could figure it out,” he sneered. “You’ll make a terrific alpha.”
A pit the size of a boulder settled in my gut.
“You’re alpha of the Hill Warg, Thrane. You always have been and you always will be. You were born to it.”
Jamming a curved knife — thankfully still sheathed — into the sack, he whirled on me. Fire danced in his orange eyes and it looked as if he’d ripped out handfuls of hair.
“Don’t give me that, brother!” He jabbed a finger into my chest. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your absence at the battle with the Valley scum. I didn’t say anything before but now… You probably hoped Solan would kill me, didn’t you? You’ve always been jealous of me!”
I rocked backward in shock that he’d think that of me. Of all the cruel jibes Thrane had thrown at me, this hurt the most.
“I’ve never been jealous of you, Thrane. I’ve always looked up to you, admired you. Since Father died, I’ve watched you handle the pressures of the position with a confidence that astounds me.”
He shot me a skeptical glare. “Oh, so you’ve never once thought about becoming alpha?”
I shrugged. “Of course, I did — when I was a whelp. But then I grew up and realized that you’re the strong one. A fierce protector. A true leader. We need that right now, Thrane. We need you.”
Thrane sighed and slumped to the bed, defeated. “No one needs me, little brother. They don’t respect me anymore, and that’s one thing every good leader must have.”
I sat next to him and nudged him with my shoulder. “I respect you.”
A hint of a smirk twitched his lips. “So I’ll lead a tribe of one?”
He shook his head and swiped a hand through his unruly hair, exposing his flaming red scar again. He caught my gaze and my throat nearly closed at the pain in his eyes.
“Why didn’t he just kill me, Markon? Why did Solan leave me alive? There’s no honor in losing Holmgang, but at least you knew your opponent wouldn’t force you to suffer the humiliation of surviving. He couldn’t even give me that. Why?”
I’d never heard Thrane so despondent. All my life, he’d been my big brother, always watching out for me. First, he protected me, and then he protected our entire tribe. It was only natural that some Wargs chaffed under his strict military-like command, but it was rare for us to lose one of our members so they held their tongue and followed him faithfully.
But he was right. No one would look him in the eye any longer. If we walked through the village together, they’d greet me but not him. It was painful to watch the fall of my hero. I couldn’t imagine how rejected he felt.
“Remember the time you pulled me from the frothing maw of a hopwart?”
He gave me a ghost of a smile. “Father had punished you for stealing a jar of dragonberry nectar from Mother so you ran away. Said you were going to start your own tribe on the other side of the Hill. I have to admit, I was flattered that you invited me to become the first member.”
“You told me that your place was here, with our tribe. You had a duty as the first-born to take over after Father passed to the Great Beyond. But you promised that when you were alpha, our tribes would never be at war. That we would never turn out like Tooibas and Vanter.”
Thrane’s laugh wasn’t as robust as usual, but I was glad to hear it. “Right, then you took off. Didn’t matter that you were only a whelp, and that even a zeze fly could probably have carried you away.”
“That stinking hopwart got me instead. You know, I’ve never told you this, but I’d never heard your beast roar so loudly before. Of course the thing that really impressed me was when you took its head off with a single swipe of your paw.”
It was Thrane’s turn to nudge me.
“Hey, it had my baby brother in its teeth. I was pissed!”
We laughed till tears dampened our eyes. We hadn’t had such an easy talk in a long while. I missed it. When we caught our breath, I looked over at him.
“I needed you that day, Thrane. And I need you now. We need you.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Need and want are two different things, Markon. Right now, it’s very clear that I’m not wanted.”
“That’s not true. The council agreed to keep you as alpha.” This caught his attention.
“They did? What’s the catch?”
My eyes darted off the left as I tried to find the words. I was the more diplomatic of the two of us, but even I had no idea how to break the news to him.
“Nothing big, really. Only that I take some of the load off your shoulders.”
“How much of a load?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Just the political stuff,” I hedged.
Thrane’s eyes narr
owed to slits. “Such as this insane idea to merge with the Valley scum?”
“That’s part of it.”
Thrane huffed and stood. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“I won’t stay where I’m not wanted, Markon. The worst part of it is that I can’t blame them for no longer respecting me. I know I wouldn’t.”
I stood to stop him, but he easily shrugged off my hand and move toward the door. He stopped at the last minute and hope burst inside me that he’d changed his mind. When he turned around, though, the blackness in his expression drove a knife into my heart. His voice was a harsh whisper.
“Watch yourself, brother. There’s a spy in our midst. Don’t trust anyone. Someone’s been feeding Solan information. He’s only trying to trick us into lowering our defenses so he can attack and take our females. He can’t be trusted.”
I let my eyes fall closed.
“No, he’s not, Thrane. Trust me.”
He barked his doubt.
“How would you know?”
I swallowed hard and steeled my nerves. There was no other choice. I looked deep into his eyes, hoping the words would come and that he would understand.
“Because I’m the spy.”
5
Natalie
“Arlynn, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said, tucking another strand of my hair into an intricate pleated braid she was trying to learn.
She stood behind my chair in the little hut we shared. Sienna had lived here with us for a short time before she moved in with Solan. We both missed her, but we were thrilled she’d found someone to take care of her. She’d always been our mother hen, so it was about time she got pampered a little.
“Since your transformation into a Warg, do you…think any differently than when you were just a Terran?”
“Just?”
“You know what I mean.”
Arlynn fell quiet for a moment.
Markon's Claim: A SciFi Shifter Romance (The Last Alphas of Thracos Book 2) Page 2
