The Alpha's Concubine (Historical Shifter Romance) (17 page)

"It is not your fault," the other girl said. "Vaya has a quick temper, but this was too much."

"It was no more than she would have given anyone else," Caspian observed.

"But Netya is not like us. Oh, I would almost have challenged Vaya myself if you hadn't stepped in!"

"You would not have gained anything by trying to match that temper of hers, and I fear you will have a hard time convincing anyone that she acted out of accord. They already see Netya as different enough. If exceptions are made it will only make it more difficult for people to accept her."

"But—"

"Please, do not cause any more trouble over me," Netya cut in, her head starting to ache from the raised voices as much as the throbbing of her swollen nose.

"Leave Vaya to her own business for now," Caspian said. "I will speak with the alpha about this, but I would hope for all our sakes that nothing comes of it. You do not want to make an enemy of Vaya, either of you."

Fern still looked frustrated, but she bowed her head in deference, and Caspian rose to leave. Netya's eyes strayed after him as he departed, hoping to see him turn back with a reassuring smile or a warm comment. She did not know why it disappointed her so much when he did not.

"Come back to our tent and lie down," Fern said. "You must rest and get well. I will brew these herbs and fetch something for you to eat with them."

Netya tried to protest her friend's kindness, but when she began to wobble again after finding her feet she was glad to have someone there supporting her. She leaned on Fern's arm as they made their way back to the other side of the outcrop, unsure whether to feel warmed or even more unsettled by everything that had transpired that morning.

—
14—

Punishment

It took much of Khelt's willpower to keep from dragging Vaya straight back home to face his wrath. When Caspian told him of the incident with Netya he had been concerned, but it was not uncommon for senior pack members to discipline those beneath them. He reminded himself that it was only his place to step in when disputes refused to resolve themselves, and the altercation between his hunter and concubine seemed to have ended as quickly as it began. But his discomfort lingered, and a day of deep consideration about how to tackle the problem of Netya's future instead became one of ongoing worry about the poor girl.

By noon he had given up on trying to still his thoughts. The wolf inside him was restless, and he knew calm solitude would do nothing to quiet it. Against his better judgement, he decided to look in on Netya.

He had expected to find her shaken, perhaps with a fading bruise and a wounded sense of pride, as would have been the case with any other member of his pack. But the sight of her propped up inside Fern's tent, half-unconscious from the mind-fogging effects of Adel's medicine, her face swollen and still trickling drying blood, stirred an anger in his chest that he had not felt in a long time.

Perhaps it was simply his shock at being reminded how poorly her people took to injury, or his natural instinct to protect a wounded young female in need, but no sooner had Fern risen to her feet in surprise than he turned heel and walked straight back out of the tent, taking his wolf form and running to the north edge of the outcrop without stopping to consider what he would do if he caught Vaya's troupe still within eyesight on the plains below.

He let his wolf's hot breath snort from his nostrils as he glared across the landscape, grinding his teeth together as feral thoughts wrestled in his head. The urge to fight, to avenge what was precious to him, boiled beneath Khelt's fur, urging him to take action. But he had not given in to that part of himself for many years, and he was not about to start now, over a female of all things. His strength of will was what set him apart from other males, and as he breathed in the scents of the plains he turned his anger elsewhere.

Ignoring the trail left by Vaya and her hunters, he picked a different direction and leaped down from his perch, ignoring the danger of his path as he sprang from rock to rock, the descent leaving his muscles warm with strain by the time he reached the grass below. He ran then, heading toward the mountains in the distance. He set his eyes on a snow-capped peak, and said to himself
I will go there.

It was a promise Khelt had made a hundred times before, and every time he had truly meant it. He would go there. This time. That was his goal, and as a wolf he would cling to it doggedly, unconcerned with pacing himself as the anger beneath his fur lent a reckless energy to his strides.

There were times in his youth when the sun had fallen by the time he finally realised he was never going to reach the peak. Within a few short hours the furious energy pumping through his veins ebbed. When he looked back the outcrop was a tiny black mark in the distance, and yet the mountains seemed just as far away as ever.

He reverted to his human shape then, breathing heavily as he pressed a palm to his brow, perspiration rolling off his chest. He could not reach the peak. There were responsibilities waiting for him.

Now more than ever, the mountains remained firmly beyond his reach.

With his animal impulses burning themselves out inside him, Khelt turned and began walking back in the direction he had come, his head clearing itself enough to make way for the return of reason. He had a long time to think as he made the journey back home on two legs.

The alpha sighed, resigning himself to the worries of how to deal with Vaya when she returned. And deal with her he would, he thought grimly. It was not a simple matter of one pack member disciplining another, and it was his duty to resolve these disputes so that people like Netya did not have to.

Still, he mused, as he ran his fingers through the tall grass around him, he sometimes wished he could run until he finally discovered what lay atop those mountain peaks.

* * *

Vaya decided it was time to return home the very morning after their departure. They had tracked down the herd and the scouts who had been sent to watch it before sunset, miles away from where Brae's vision had told her they would be. It would have been an easy hunt to bring down a few of the beasts during the night, but a pointless and unworthy one. There was no glory to be found in picking off a few tired animals when the camp stores were already well-stocked. The herd was in no danger of straying beyond their reach any time soon, and instead seemed to be moving even further into the open plains, where tracking them would become easier than ever.

The apprentices were disappointed as always, but she justified her decision by reminding them that it did no good to thin out a fresh herd too quickly and without need. They would continue tracking the animals and return again a week from now, when she had time to organise a hunt on her own terms.

Rolan, a boy on the cusp of manhood, and one of her long-term chasers, approached her the next morning to ask whether he would be included when they returned to hunt properly. Vaya cared little for children, and certainly had no intention of mothering any of her own, but she had warmed to Rolan in the years he had been hunting with her. He was not the fastest chaser, and he was too small to ever become an especially powerful warrior, but she admired the boy's dogged determination regardless of his handicaps. She saw something of herself in him, and he had always treated her with the same respect he showed to the male hunters.

"I was hoping to make my first kill," he confided to her as the others said their farewells to the scouts who would remain behind. "The other hunt leaders will not allow me to try. They think I lack the strength."

"Not all kills are secured through strength," Vaya said. "You have always been a reliable hunter, Rolan. I will make sure you are given your chance next time." The boy beamed at her, and she snorted in amusement, turning him back in the direction of the camp. "Few men make their first kill before coming of age. Once you do, every hunter will want you in their party."

It was not in Vaya's character to make false assurances, and she meant every word. The boy really would become an asset to the high hunters, who were always on the lookout for fresh young apprentices to take under their wing, forging early alliances with the young wolves who might one day take their place. If, of course, Rolan could succeed in proving his worthiness.

She would give him his chance. Succeed or fail, he would bear it on his own shoulders.

They returned to the camp in the afternoon, Vaya along with several of the others arriving first after running ahead as their wolves. The bearers would catch up later that evening, but there was no need to wait for the slower members of the hunt when there was no ceremony to be observed. It would have been easy to bring at least a single animal home to sweeten their arrival, but it satisfied Vaya more not to dignify Brae's visions with a kill. She was confident enough in her tracking of the herd that she did not need to exert unnecessary effort based on Brae's hunches, and she wanted the rest of the pack to know it.

The focus of the hunt had taken her mind off the incident with Netya, and so it was with surprise that she looked up to see the alpha approaching her shortly after she had sat down at the fire with the others.

"Vaya," he barked, eyeing her with a look that held even more weight than his heavy tone. "To your feet when your alpha addresses you."

She dipped her head in deference, standing up as instructed. "There was no need for us to bring back fresh kill, alpha. The herd is safe and w —"

"This is not about your hunt, though it does not please me to hear you spilled a fellow pack member's blood over a fruitless endeavour."

"I did not."

Khelt took a step closer to her. "Netya is a member of my pack. You will show her the same respect due to any of your sisters."

"She is one of the Sun People," Vaya replied, indignity swelling within her. She feared the alpha's judgement, and rightfully so, but she refused to believe she had acted out of accord.

"Where she came from does not matter. She is one of us now, and you have hurt her badly," Khelt growled.

"I gave her no more than I would have given any disobedient apprentice! None of my hunters would disagree." She was pleased to hear murmurs of assent from those who had been present at the time. The huntress stood firm, lifting her chin as she matched the alpha's gaze. Khelt could be a hard man, but he was fair, and she was clearly in the right.

"You will lead no more hunts for the rest of the season. Tal will have first pick in your place once more."

Vaya stared at him, fists clenching by her sides as her jaw opened in incredulity. "I have earned the right—!"

"Vaya!" he barked, her name snapping from his throat like a crack of thunder. "Know your place. You may begin leading again once the summer ends. I will not stand for this behaviour again. You may have thought you acted justly, but Netya comes from a fragile people. The seers say she will take many weeks to heal from what you did to her."

Vaya could not believe the alpha would side with one of their enemies over her. Must she suffer now because the Sun girl was as weak as a leaf in the breeze? Her chest heaved with anger. It was only Khelt's uncompromising glare that forced her to remain silent. She knew anything she said now would only make her position worse, regardless of how many curses she wanted to scream at the girl who had brought this upon her. She dropped her eyes to the ground, staring at a rock as she quivered with frustration.

A growl rumbled in Khelt's throat, and she quickly remembered her place, cowed by the dominant wolf's primal power over her. She shrank away from him in submission, muttering a quiet "yes alpha" under her breath. He left her to face the silence of her fellow hunters alone.

As she stared into the fire, imagining each crackling stick was another bone in the Sun girl's body, she caught sight of Rolan watching her anxiously from the other side of the blaze.

His coming of age would have been and gone by the time she was permitted to lead a hunt again.

—
15—

The Summer Fires

Netya's broken nose took longer to heal than she would have liked, and she quickly grew restless. Adel's herbs were very strong, and they turned her waking moments into a hazy experience that left her tired and confused. After a few days she stopped taking them, finding that the pain and swelling had subsided enough for her to cope with it on her own. Once her woman's time had ended for the month she was eager to return to her duties in the alpha's bed, but much to her disappointment he insisted that she rest and recover properly.

"Is it my face?" she asked Fern as they bathed together one morning, touching her bruised eye gingerly as she examined her reflection in the water. "I cannot look very pleasing to him right now."

"You will heal soon. The alpha is only worried about you, I am sure. He must have been, to punish Vaya as he did."

Netya cringed. "I did not want to cause such trouble."

"Oh, Vaya deserved it! She is too proud for her own good."

"I suppose so," Netya conceded. She had to admit, it did bring her a pinch of satisfaction to know that the huntress had been disciplined for hitting her, but at the same time she had not failed to notice the venomous glances Vaya sent her way every time she was within spitting distance.