Page 87 of Gift from the Stone

The shifters in the crowd go wild, stomping their feet, chanting, and howling at the sky. It’s a contagious feeling of anticipation and excitement that makes my adrenaline pump.

“How will the elimination work? I can’t figure it out in my mind with ten finalists and three trials, plus the Alpha challenge,” I ask as the ten finalists step to the side and wait for their names to be called.

“This first round will eliminate two contestants. The second trial will be four on four combat. The losing group is eliminated, leaving the final four to shift. They’ll be paired off and the winner from each fight will move on to the Alpha challenge,” Tillman answers, eyes on the center in front of us.

This first trial of dominance is a lot like what we practiced in my shifter class, pouring our dominance out until someone yields, but instead of one on one, one finalist will hit the other nine finalists at once and attempt to force them to yield or at least show some sort of reaction.

“What will happen if no one yields? How would the Elders judge then?” I ask, still confused on how they’ll be able to tell who has the most dominant command.

“Well, little wanderer, I know you’re just used to sending them directly to their knees, but there are other reactions you can see before yielding,” Draken picks, looking behind Tillman to shoot me a wink.

“Shifting is an immediate elimination. If only two yield, they’ll be eliminated. If more than two yield, they’ll be judged on that and the reactions they drew from the others. Watch their body language once they begin. Some will be balling their fists, their muscles may tremble, or they could start sweating, growling, or rumbles of warning coming from their chests. That sort of thing. There’s an Elder for each wolf, so they’ll be watched intently the whole time.”

Despite his little joke, Vince had me join the shifter class on two occasions since my schedule change to work with my dominance on a group of shifters rather than just him and Walker, and I do in fact send all the rest to their knees, but I purposely do that because they all look at me like they still can’t accept the fact I’m a female and the strongest, besides Draken, in the class.

I’ve noticed Walker’s reactions to my growls, and he does a lot of what Draken just explained, so I have a keen eye on the ones reacting rather than the wolf growling. I want to see who seems to have the most control.

The first three finalists were all, what I’ve started calling them in my mind, normal wolves. They’re just pack affiliated, no E.F. member or Mastery member. All their growls were strong and powerful, but none of the three drew any reaction from four of the other males.

Lyker being one of them and the youngest amongst them, only thirty-six years old with an earth element. Another was Rylan Thorn, the last normal pack member. From his file I know, he’s fifty-eight years old, born and raised here, attended a different academy than my guys, he has a completed Nexus, with a chosen Primary, and his element is air.

The other two that hadn’t been fazed at all so far were both Mastery members. Both of their Ms are just as large, if not larger than Jarod’s was, and they’re mean-looking fuckers. Both of their files were scarce, which was a tip-off to begin with that they were Mastery.

Eirik Bane, forty-seven years old, fire element, and Kael Black forty-eight, water element. Both joined this pack only eight years ago and worked as two of Jarod’s lead training instructors. No family but both have all their Nexus brothers here with them and no Primary. Their whereabouts before now, unknown.

I watch ramrod straight as the first Mastery member is called up. Kael Black. The first three wolves hadn’t drawn any attention from my dragon whatsoever, but this one has her poking her head up and he hasn’t even done anything yet but walk to his position.

His first growl is strong, menacing, and I can hear the depth of it pulling from his chest. Even though his dominance is only directed at the others, I know if he had hit me with that, my dragon would’ve reacted. She would’ve wanted to eat him for his disrespect.

I swear Draken’s dragon is rubbing off on me.

Watching the others, I see Lyker, Eirik, and Rylan all shift on their feet, fist starting to clench, just like Draken described. The other six are quivering messes. Two of them are bowing so low their backs are horizonal. I could sit a drink on them, and it wouldn’t spill.

“Oh fuck.” Draken’s murmur has me looking over at him for a split second before I hear the second growl.

It’s powerful, a command that a weaker wolf has no choice but to obey. Three of the four men who were struggling with the first growl keep themselves on their feet, but they’re violently shaking. The other one instantly hits his knees and lowers his head.

The last two…fuck, the last two.

The sounds of bones breaking ring loudly through the arena before two beams of light obscure their bodies, fading to reveal two brown wolves who are snarling, with drool dripping down their muzzles, ready to attack.

As one, the eight finalists turn to them and growl viciously, causing the wolves’ bodies to vibrate uncontrollably before another flash of light emits between them, forcing both men back into their human form.

“He purposely hit them with his full strength to end this,” Draken growls.

“What do you mean?” I ask, dazed and confused about what just happened.

“Because he forced them both to shift, that’s the end of the first trial. No other can be eliminated. Typically, they’d hold off that level of command until either the shifted fight or Alpha challenge. But he knew he could force them to shift, so instead of jeopardizing any of his fucking buddies to face elimination, he went ahead and took half the pack members out of the running,” Caspian explains, seething from his seat.

Damn, he’s right. All five Mastery members are moving on, with two pack members and Lyker.

“How’s the four against four determined?” I ask.

“They’ll draw stones. Black and white stones will determine who’s with who. Technically, going into this round, everyone’s supposed to be viewed as on the same playing field so it wouldn’t matter who is paired with who, but that’s not the case right now,” Ry explains, answering from behind me.

“There’s really no way to cheat that, though, right? So it’s not like they can rig it to be four Ms on one team,” Oakly muses, leaning forward to join the conversation.

“That’s how it’s technically supposed to be, but we’ll see,” Corentin grunts.

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