Page 13 of In Your Eyes
“No.” I frowned. “I know Alphas connect with the emotions of their pack,” I said, reciting from the writings by memory. “But I thought that happened only after they took their role.”
“That’s true.” My father’s forehead crinkled and he nodded slowly. “But the ability sometimes manifests in small measures earlier, and I hoped….” He cleared his throat and shook off the rest of what he was going to say.
Normally, I would have pressed for an explanation and then run upstairs to comb the writings about Alpha powers to see if the ability my father described was documented and I had missed it. As it was, I remained fixated on the flurry of activity on the other side of the door.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Why are all those people here?Why does Mom look scared? Why are you alone in your study? Why—”
“I’ve been challenged.”
I snapped my jaw closed. What did that mean? I tipped my head to the side and stared at my father, flipping through my mental catalogue of possible definitions for that word. There was only one thing I could think of, but it wasn’t done, at least not in modern times, so it couldn’t be what he meant.
“I don’t understand,” I finally admitted.
“Yes, you do.” My father sighed. “In fact, I’d venture to say you understand better than any living shifter. Nobody knows more about our history, our traditions, and our rules than you. I’ve been going through the writings, trying to prepare”—he nudged his chin toward the notebooks strewn around him on the couch—“but I’m worried I may have missed something.”
“Somebody challenged your standing as Alpha of the Yafenack pack?” I couldn’t conceive of that happening. My father was beloved by the entire pack. He was strong and yet compassionate. Smart and yet approachable. Wise but still connected to modern times. And our line…. A Goodwin had served as Alpha of our pack all the way back to its inception. “Why?” I asked in disbelief. “Who?”
“Dirk Keller.” The “why” didn’t need to be answered once he identified the “who.” “I can beat him in a fight as both man and wolf,” my father assured me. “That isn’t my concern.” He rubbed his palms over his eyes. “But I need to make sure I understand all the rules.” Blinking his eyes open, he drew in a deep breath. “I can’t risk disqualification or otherwise being deemed the loser of the battle because of an archaic loophole.”
“When’s the fight?” I rasped, fear robbing me of my voice.
“This evening.”
“That soon? But there has to be a member of the interpack council—”
“The leader of the interpack council was contacted. He’s sending a member to witness the challenge.”
I collapsed onto the couch and clasped my hands to keep myself from trembling. It seemed they had made all the necessary preparations. I had waited too long to be honest with my father about the reason for my shifting problem, and now, when he needed me to be whole and strong, I’d be a liability instead.
“You don’t need to worry, Samuel.” My father squeezed my shoulder. “I’m stronger than Dirk Keller in both forms. He won’t beat me.”
“I know.” And I did know my father was a better, stronger wolf and man than Dirk Keller. There was no doubt. My fear stemmed from something else, something my father either never knew or had long since forgotten.
“We don’t have much time,” he said. “You need to tell me everything there is to know about an Alpha challenge.”
Reminding myself he would win, so the cause for my concern would never come to pass, I drew in a deep breath and started explaining the rules of an Alpha challenge.
“You’ll meet in the battle ring, which is nothing more than a ten-foot circle cleared in the woods. You’ll both be in your human forms, but you shouldn’twear clothing because you’ll be expected to shift and there will be no time to disrobe. The council member present will call a start to the battle and give you ten minutes to fight as men—hand-to-hand only, no weapons. When the time is up, he’ll yell for you to shift, and no matter where you are in the battle, you both must stop and take your wolf forms. This will continue every ten minutes—man to wolf and back again. Failure to immediately shift into the necessary form or remain in the form during the allotted time is automatic cause for disqualification, so you need to pay attention to thecouncil member’s call.”
I paused and looked at my father, wanting to make sure he understood the importance of this rule. Once he nodded, I continued.
“At any time during the battle, either of you can admit defeat and bring an immediate end to the fighting. You can also both agree to a draw. Short of that, the fight is to the death.” I gulped. “Only one shifter will leave the ring alive.”
“That’s it?” my father asked. His shoulders relaxed and the lines in his forehead smoothed. “Don’t look so worried, Samuel. At worst, I’ll suffer a slight injury, but it’ll be well worth that price to rid the Miancarem pack of Dirk Keller’s brand of leadership.”
“Beating Dirk Keller in the ring won’t be enough for that, Dad,” I whispered.
“What do you mean? You said if he gives up or dies in the ring, I win.” He narrowed his eyes. “He started this, but I plan to finish it once and for all. I won’t agree to a draw.”
“I understand. But besting Dirk in the challenge means you keep your position as Alpha of Yafenack, not that you gain control of Miancarem.” I paused and, knowing we were limited on time, tried to explain the complex rules our ancestors created in easy-to-understand terms. “Think about a regular Alpha challenge where a pack member seeks to take over as Alpha. When the Alpha beats him, he retains his position, but there is no other prize. Well, he can banish the challenger’s family from the pack, but that can be done by an Alpha at any time anyway, so it isn’t anything—”
“Samuel,” my father said, sounding tense. “If it isn’t relevant to today’s challenge, let’s skip the lesson for now.”
“Right. Yes.” I nodded. “Like I was saying, the winner of an Alpha challenge traditionally gets to be Alpha. That’s it. Now, in this case, there’s a difference because there are two packs on the line, and so it might seem like the winner should get both packs, and that would be true except—” I took in a deep breath. “If there is a successor to the losing Alpha, he has the right to step into his role as soon as the current Alpha is no longer in place.”
“I don’t understand.” My father furrowed his brow. “Once I beat Dirk, I don’t take over the Miancarem pack?”
“It depends. When you defeat Dirk, you keep your position as Alpha of Yafenack. That’s assured. And if there were no presumptive Alpha who could step up to lead Miancarem, you would fill that role as well.” I licked my lips. “But as you know, Dirk has a son who is twenty-six, old enough to be Alpha.”
