Page 93 of Gentling the Beast

Travis will need to pay.

“He had Fern, Tavion and his second Casper, and the two human members of her mating pack delivered to orcs,”I say to Ashe.“The other half of Tavion’s patrol was scouting Sparrowpit village, and we warded them off before they met the same fate. They are now tracking Fern and the others through the tunnels, where the orcs took them, bound for Bleakness. Travis has sold out his own son.”

I thought my mother to be heinous, but at least she was honest in her hatred of me. Travis is a special kind of parental monster.

Ashe’s chest heaves, and his fists clench at his side. “What have you done, Travis?”

Travis thrusts his pelt aside and rises, stepping down from the dais, right up to Ashe. “So you’ve heard.” He glances at me before returning his focus to Ashe. “Aligned yourself with the white bastard beast now, have you? What a fine collection of misfits you gather.”

Ashe rolls out his neck, not in the manner of submission, but in the manner of a man preparing to fight. “How many Blighten were on our lands? I cleared up six patrols worth of the bastards that I know of.”

Murmurs rise as the pack members turn to another in question.

“That’s right,” Ashe turns, addressing the pack. “Did they know you’ve aligned yourself with the Blighten?” More murmurs rise. “Your pack leader sold out Tavion, along with his mate, and the rest of his patrol.”

“Do not preach to me, boy,” Travis snarls back. A hush falls over the chamber as their alpha sneers. “He is no son of mine.”

“No?” Ashe says. “And his mother just let this happen?”

“The bitch is long gone,” Travis sneers. “She left a week ago. Had you been around, you might have noticed.”

“Around? I work for this pack. I patrol and keep us safe while you negotiate with green bastards. It was me who saved the pack a year ago while you sat on your ass.”

“Andyoubrought one of theirs in here,” Travis said, stabbing a finger in my direction. “You only conspire with their kind when it suits you and not for the good of the pack.”

“Doug may be half-orc, but his shifter blood is true and higher than yours, that is for sure.”

Travis smiles without humor, spreading his arms out wide. “And what will you do about it, Ashe? Talk to me? Disrespect me? Your yapping means nothing. You never challenged me before, and you’re not wolf enough to challenge me now.”

I feel the electricity in the air and see the widening in Travis’ eyes as he realizes he has finally pushed Ashe too far. Ashe leaps, the air crackles around him as he shifts seamlessly to wolf, mid-bound.

Tavis leaps to meet him. The two men clash as wolves, in an explosion of fur, fangs, and snarls of rage.

One of Travis’s enforcers leaps from the shadows to my right.

I am alert and always suspected this would be no fair fight if it came down to it. I am on him, the cowardly bastard, and my tusk skewers his body. He whines as I toss him, mortally wounded, into the crowd.

Those too close to the battle shrink back, as though fearful that they may also be seen as trying to interfere and meet the same fate.

In the middle of the cavern, the two wolves fight in a wild ball of fur, raking claws and savage teeth. They crash into the cold ashes of the fire pit as pack members scatter out of the way. Then another wolf dares to leap for them, from the other side of the open area. One of Ashe’s pack takes him down and his other patrol members join in, tearing the wolf who dared to interfere to pieces.

I remain alert. This is not over yet. I always knew Travis would not yield his power in an honorable way. This battle is far from decided, and Ashe is weakened after his many fights with the Blighten. I want to charge in and dispense justice of my own. The bloodlust is upon me. I can taste it in the air. A righteous fury that says Travis does not deserve to live, that my mate, my unborn babe, that the lives of countless others are at risk while he lives.

Yet this is not my fight. This was never my fight.

Travis rakes his claws at his opponent, opening a savage wound along Ashe’s side. Stones skitter as each wolf seeks to find purchase and dominance amid their wild tumbling. The younger shifter gets a lock around Travis’ jaw. Travis kicks, his back paws raking Ash’s belly, administering terrible wounds. Ashe doubles down his efforts, body shaking with the strain as he rolls and pins the alpha to the cavern floor… and then shakes his head with great intensity.

A terrible whine echoes through the cavern, followed by a loud, wet pop. Blood sprays in an extensive arc across those nearby as Ashe rips Travis’s throat clean out.

He drops to the floor, panting heavily as he stands over the body of his fallen pack leader. Lifting his head, he howls.

The call is taken up around the chamber. I lift my snout and issue a mighty bellow of my own.

The sounds of a scuffle ensue as Travis’s supporters make a break for it. Ashe is on them, as is his patrol, and the sound of snarling and death fills the air as those who had pledged to the wrong leader meet their end.

ChapterEight

Doug

---