Daughter of the Moon (The Moon People, Book Two)

by Claudia King

  "I dread to think how many women have littered your furs lately. What is it like, being free to indulge again to your heart's content?"

  "Ah, females come and go, but it takes a special one to truly stir a man's blood." He looked at Caspian a little forlornly. "You are the fortunate one of us in that regard, my friend. Tell me of your own love, and perhaps I shall share with you a story or two about mine."

  Khelt's company quickly loosened Caspian's tongue, and by the time they were back at his fire the pair of them were talking as Caspian had not talked in many months.

  The others clustered around him as he retold the tale of Netya's meeting with the Sun People and Turec's clan. They listened with fascination as he described the lands that lay beyond the mountains. Gasps of fear left their lips as he recounted the night of the flood, and grim nods of understanding followed when he spoke of the gruelling winter thereafter. Caspian's former packmates hung on his every word, until at last he finished the tale, omitting only the confrontation with Miral toward the end. Even in such trusted company, he would not risk letting loose any gossip that might antagonise the other alpha any further.

  Interspersed with his own story and continuing on after he finished, he listened to Khelt and old Oke as they told him the tale of their own year. They had not crossed the mountains as they first intended, electing instead to make a den in the foothills to the south. It was a dangerous place for them to settle, bordering on the territory of Adel's old clan, with whom they had been sworn enemies less than a generation prior. But the land was warm and fertile, with eggs to collect from birds on the low slopes of the mountains and fine hunting back in the north. Two of their elders had passed away that winter despite the relative warmth and comfort of their caves, but a new child had also been born that following spring. It had given the pack hope, and Khelt had worked tirelessly to keep his clan's spirits up, leading regular hunts in person and setting routine tasks to keep his people occupied.

  By the time the storytelling was over the crescent moon was high in the sky, and Khelt stepped aside from his pack to mingle with the others. It was not uncommon for an alpha to share the fire of another clan, but it was certainly a great honour to all those in attendance. Joining a group of mixed men and women from different packs, Caspian and his friend slipped easily into the jovial atmosphere, and it was several moments before anyone even realised they had an alpha in their midst.

  Shrugging off their flattery, Khelt laughed at their jokes and shared in their banter, and before long a man and woman from Alpha Gheran's pack were passing around waterskins filled with a delicious drink of fermented fruits. The taste of it was far sweeter than the bitter, fiery stuff made from seeds that Caspian was used to, and soon he was roaring with laughter as loud as Khelt, his mind contentedly fogged and his worries forgotten.

  Their boisterous behaviour attracted others, turning their communal fire into a small gathering as interesting new foods and drinks from half a dozen different packs were passed around, men and women finding pleasurable company at each other's sides, and a few good-natured tussles between wolves breaking out. A few hours later Khelt had his arm around an attractive sandy-haired girl, and Caspian was sharing a waterskin with two young huntresses who seemed loathe to abandon their seats on the ground next to him.

  "You waste your time with him, women," Khelt chuckled, removing his hand from the comfortable place it had been nestled beneath his own companion's clothing to gesture at the other two. "He has a beauty of his own waiting for him. A grand seeress, den mother of the days to come!" He laughed, picking up his wooden cup for another drink and sending half of its contents splashing into the fire in the process.

  "My friend, you are too kind," Caspian replied, shaking his head in affected exasperation, before addressing his two companions apologetically. "He has it right, though. My furs are filled, and my woman awaits."

  "She should learn to share," one of the girls said. "The celebration of the summer fires takes place in but a few days. Will you have eyes for any others on that night?"

  "I think not," Caspian said. "Pleasures are easy to fritter away, but love... Ah." He sighed, looking to the sky above. "I must learn it, like the motions of a dance. Take my friend tonight, exhaust him instead of me."

  Khelt laughed again. "I would be glad to be exhausted by three such beauties! But it is you they want, curse your handsome eyes, Caspian." He gestured with his cup again. "Ask him why he left me for a clan of women! Fair seers, all of them." The alpha squinted for a moment, then offered a half-shrug. "Most of them."

  "You have gotten too much of a taste for that drink, friend," Caspian replied with a smile. "You will be asleep before you have the chance to enjoy any of your other pleasures tonight."

  Khelt shook his head. "Only a weak man sleeps away his drink." He swallowed another mouthful, before turning to the women to answer his own self-imposed question. "He loves the attention of girls like you. As any man should! Ah, he pretends he has little taste for it, but I know better." He winked at Caspian. "There is a hot-blooded wolf inside him still."

  "And fortunately he knows when to keep his muzzle to the ground," Caspian replied.

  They carried on with their drinking, the teasing banter keeping them in high spirits as the night wore on. After a time Caspian found himself sitting back to back with Khelt, one of the huntresses lying on the ground next to him with her head resting against his thigh. She looked up at him curiously in a lull between bouts of laughter, and asked a sincere question.

  "What does it mean to be in love?"

  Caspian drew a long breath, shrugging his shoulders. "Can anyone say? I do not understand it myself, only that it is more than pleasure, more than companionship. There is no magic to it that I know of, and yet it feels like the work of the spirits."

  "Then tell me of your love," the girl said. "What kind of a woman is she? Who is it that can win the heart of a man like you?"

  "She is... forever asking questions of the world," Caspian replied, his thoughts growing distant from the conversations around him as he considered. "You would not think it of her at first. There is quietness to her. Meekness, even, but so many times I have seen her overcome it. She has wisdom and bravery in her heart, stronger than she believes."

  "It is her strength that you love?"

  Caspian's brow furrowed. "No, it is more than that. She is like a budding flower. Fragile, but able to bloom into something wonderful at times. If her petals were forever bared, I might lose the will to nurture her. And if she remained a closed bud, what would there be for me to nurture?"

  "Listen to him," Khelt said. "Speaking of women as if they were flowers." But the alpha's ribbing tone was subdued. Even he seemed to have been touched in some way by Caspian's fanciful words.

  "She seems fortunate to have a man who would tend her so," the girl said.

  "I hope she feels that way," he replied. The conversation around them had dimmed, and the momentary lapse allowed Caspian to hear a snort of contempt from the other side of the fire.

  There sat Adel's brother, Karel, and the same grimace of frustration he had worn two days prior still adorned his face. Normally Caspian would have ignored such a thing, but whether it was due to the fermented drink or the sincerity with which he had just spoken his heartfelt words, a pinch of anger bit the back of his throat.

  "You have something to say?" he asked of the other male.

  Karel shook his head with a barely hidden look of distaste. "You speak elegant words, but few men would waste such talk on a sun wolf."

  "Then many men must be great fools. I care not what she is."

  "You care not that she will give you weak children and bear a fragile wolf? You are bold to speak of fools when you take such a woman for your own." Karel gave him a dark look. "And when you follow a seer in place of an alpha."

  Caspian straightened up, feeling his anger grow. Stripped of his usual restraint, he was in no mood to indulge the bitterness of Adel's brother on a night of su
ch good cheer. "Your sister has twice the wisdom of many an alpha. That is why I follow her."

  "Of course, of course," Karel scoffed. "The spirits themselves are unworthy of so much as sniffing at the blessed ground upon which my sister walks. Even as an outcast, even as a woman, she still has the arrogance to try and claim an alpha's status for her own."

  "While you still wait in line behind your father?" Caspian said, unable to resist a provocative smile. His words stirred a chuckle from Khelt and a few of the others, and Karel's face reddened in response.

  "Better to mind my place as a man than to beg at the heels of a female and bed with a sun-whore."

  "Put your tongue away before it makes even more a fool of you," Caspian said shortly, beginning to lose patience. The comments about Adel were nothing he was unused to, but insults toward Netya were like the scent of prey to his snarling wolf.

  "I heard she warmed your old alpha's furs before you claimed her," Karel continued, pushing harder now that he had struck a nerve. "Did he have the good sense to cast her aside once he was done?"

  A feral growl left Caspian's throat as he felt the wolf rising inside him. Khelt clapped a hand down on his shoulder, restraining his bestial urges momentarily.

  "I think this bitter mutt desires a challenge, Caspian," the alpha said with a hint of dark mirth. "What do you say?"

  "I will have an apology from you," Caspian said, keeping his eyes on Karel, "whether I must force it with a challenge or not."

  "Then you will be left wanting. I accept." The other male rose to his feet, flexing his bared torso and rolling his shoulders.

  Caspian knew Karel was spoiling for a fight to save face after being dismissed by his sister. It was the kind of thing he had seen a dozen times before, and prided himself on taking no part in. But tonight was different. He was giving voice to all the urges he had been forced to stifle since leaving Khelt's pack, and the insults to Netya had goaded him easily. Why did he have to be above challenging another male for his woman's honour? The drink had loosened his restraint and heated his blood, and it was his turn to teach someone else the value of humility.

  The unsteadiness in his legs lasted only a moment as he stood upright, his pulse quickening and sharpening his focus. Forgetting the girl at his side, Khelt joined his friend and spread his arms wide, calling for silence. It was a ceremonial gesture at best, for all eyes and ears were already trained intently on the two males about to fight, men and woman edging backward to create an open space around the fire.

  "As alpha, I oversee this challenge!" Khelt bellowed, stepping in between the pair and off to one side. "Let this be settled through the strength of warriors. Two glorious warriors!" His powerful voice carried across the gathering, drawing attention to the challenge until several dozen newcomers were pushing and jostling their way to the edge of the circle. The alpha was clearly enjoying himself, as eager as the rest to see the fight, and he spared no effort in making a grand spectacle of it. "Karel, son of Alpha Ulric, insults the honour of my brother, Caspian!" he paused for a moment, as if forgetting himself, before adding: "First warrior of Den Mother Adel."

  The momentary quiet began to crackle with laughs and cheers, growls and whispers, and roars of encouragement. A challenge between two distinguished males was almost a challenge between alphas, though it did not bear the same stakes. It was, however, a contest of honour between two packs; the tentative strength of Adel's clan against the established power of her father's. These were the challenges that shaped the relationships between packs as much as the words that would pass between alphas in the days to come.

  But Caspian cared little for the glory he might win for his people that night. His attention was fixed on Karel, fighting the ebb and surge of his wolf's aggression as the pair of them paced around the fire, sizing one another up. Khelt continued to speak behind them, but Caspian was no longer paying attention to his friend's words.

  Karel made as if to sit down, a tauntingly relaxed gesture, but as he lowered himself to the ground his body erupted into fur and fangs, coiling his hind legs and propelling himself over the flames directly at his opponent.

  The sudden lunge took Caspian off guard, and he felt the ripple of the other male's teeth snapping together in the air a mere inch from his left wrist as he turned aside at the last moment. Karel landed easily and rounded back on him, but Caspian was not about to allow his adversary the chance to press his surprise advantage. Donning the fur of his own wolf, his paws hit the grass hard as he tensed his body and found solid footing, ready to meet a second lunge head on.

  But Karel did not charge in recklessly for another attack. He backed away again, dancing around the fire and keeping his muzzle low to the ground. His wolf moved with almost feminine grace, a stark contrast to the aggressive charge he had opened up with.

  Confused, Caspian held his own impulses in check, attempting to study the other wolf's movements. He was a patient fighter, even when his blood was pumping, and he sensed that Karel was too. The pair circled the fire until a thick log cracked and popped with a flurry of sparks, shattering the still focus that had blocked out the noise of the crowd. The startling jolt of sound made Karel flinch, and with a speed born of instinct Caspian reacted before his mind had even registered the flash of sparks. The coiled tension in his muscles released, and he leaped around the fire to attack his opponent from the side, the claws of his right paw ripping a sharp swipe through the air as those on his left tore up the grass for traction.

  Karel ducked under the blow and went for Caspian's legs, snarling with anger as he tried to topple the brown-furred wolf. The ploy succeeded, but Caspian was ready, rolling away to the side as his left foreleg was swiped out from under him. He came up with his teeth bared, expecting to find his foe bearing down on him, but once again Karel had backed off. With a smoothness that few of the Moon People could ever hope to achieve, the other male slipped behind the fire and reverted from the shape of his wolf in one fluid motion, using his moccasin-clad foot to kick a blazing log and a flurry of embers in his opponent's direction.

  The burning wood stung Caspian's forepaws as he darted back just a second too late, and this time Karel did not hesitate in pushing his advantage. It was all Caspian could manage to square his body and tuck his head in between his shoulders, protecting his eyes and muzzle from Karel's claws as the agile male leaped forward into the body of his wolf again and rained blow after blow on his staggered adversary.

  The tear of fur and the smell of blood registered in Caspian's senses, but in the heat of the moment he did not feel the pain of the wounds Karel was inflicting. All he knew was that if he continued to let the needle-sharp swipes land against him he would soon be sporting far worse injuries.

  Risking the exposed side of his neck, he snapped his jaws forward just as Karel was raising himself up for another blow. Fur and a nip of blood filled his mouth as he caught the other wolf on the underside of his muzzle, and with a yelp of pain Karel's attack faltered.

  Breathing heavily, the pair broke apart for a moment, the coppery tang of blood seeping through the air like dye in water. The cheering, bellowing sound of the onlookers pressed against Caspian's ears in a fuzzy wall of noise, the roars of encouragement from Khelt rising above everything as the alpha bustled back and forth a few yards away.

  Listening to the voice of his wolf, Caspian paced around the smouldering remnants of the fire again as he studied his opponent. He was tricky, just like his sister, using his affinity for shifting forms to his advantage. Caspian was used to playing the controlling role when he fought, but this time he was up against a similarly cunning opponent. Every lapse in the fighting was another moment for Karel to plan his next move too, and he had a far larger bag of tricks to pull from.

  Forgetting any semblance of caution, Caspian embraced the anger and the aggression of his wolf, hearing the insults of his opponent fresh in his ears all over again. He put the honour of his woman to the forefront of his mind, ferocious pride and passion surging i
nto his movements as he embraced the role of the aggressor.

  Karel dodged, but Caspian pressed on, taking a stinging nip to his ear in the process, but ignoring it completely. He did not allow the minor hits he took to slow him down, pressing onward with lightning-fast snaps of his jaws as he backed Karel up into the crowd. The press of bodies receded to make way for the two snarling wolves, but they could not move quickly enough. Karel tripped over the feet of the people behind him, losing his composure in the tangle of confusion and stumbling to the ground.

  Caspian pounced, cuffing the overwhelmed male solidly about the head to extinguish any last shred of resistance before pinning him beneath his heavy forepaws.

  The roar of the crowd swelled in his ears, reaching a higher pitch than ever as Khelt called his name.

  "Caspian! My brother Caspian is the victor!"

  Caspian! Caspian! The cries of the crowd surrounded him, sending a ripple down his spine that perked his ears and stiffened his tail, making his chest swell with the elation of victory. His muzzle drew back from his teeth, and he snarled with satisfaction.

  Caspian! Caspian!

  The chant continued, stirring and strong, high pitched and panicked—

  He turned his head in alarm, seeking out the shrill, distraught voice that had joined the others. It was not chanting, it was calling his name in fear and desperation. It belonged to Netya, pushing her way toward him with a look of shock on her face as she stared at the two panting wolves.

  A growl ripped from Karel's muzzle, and he took his opponent's moment of distraction to lunge. Throwing himself out from under Caspian's paws, he jerked his fangs upward and latched them against the vulnerable underside of the other male's neck. The sharp points pierced the skin beneath Caspian's fur, threatening to crush his throat and open up his jugular.

  Karel pushed him back, but before he could take advantage of his hold the crowd had once again erupted in roars and growls of disbelief. Khelt lunged forward, bracing an arm around Karel's neck and yanking him back by the scruff.