Chapter 4
Gabriel’s words sent a shockwave of silence through the arena.
Join the trial? An outside Alpha wanted to interfere with a pack’s sacred ritual?
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Ethan shot to his feet, his face livid. “Gabriel, this is an internal matter of the Shadowmoon Pack. You have no right to interfere.
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“Internal?” Gabriel descended the stairs, his aura so powerful it felt like the air itself was bowing to him. “The moment you broadcast it to the world for entertainment and profit, you made it everyone’s business.”
His voice was terrifyingly calm, but each word landed like a sledgehammer.
“If we’re playing a game, we play by the rules,” Gabriel said, stopping at the edge of the trial floor. “I placed a bet. I have the right to protect my investment.”
So the fifty million was from him.
Ethan’s fists clenched. “What do you want?”
“Simple.” Gabriel’s gaze flickered to Bella, who shrank back involuntarily. “If your Luna must prove herself in a trial, shouldn’t you, her Alpha, have to prove your judgment?”
“What are you talking about?”
Gabriel let out a cold laugh, and his aura surged.
A gasp went through the arena.
Even Ethan took an involuntary step back.
“I propose… you join her in the trial.”
What? The crowd was in an uproar. An Alpha participating in a trial? It was unheard of in pack history.
Before Ethan could even process it, his pride and his rage at me had already made the decision for him.
He couldn’t stand the idea of Gabriel stepping in as my savior.
“I was just about to,” Ethan roared, and before anyone could stop him, he leaped down into the trial grounds. He wasn’t jumping in to save me. He was jumping in to reclaim his authority-to prove to everyone that I was his to punish, and his alone.
“Ethan, no!” Bella shrieked, trying to stop him, but it was too late.
“I’m coming with you!”
She ran to the edge of the arena, then stopped dead, her eyes wide with fear as she looked at the dangers below.
A few snickers rose from the crowd as she stood frozen, unable to go any further.
My heart was a block of ice.
I watched Ethan land on the ground, but the wounds from the last attack left me no energy to care about his motives.
He was the one who threw me into this pit.
If he chose to jump in after me, he deserved whatever came next.
Ethan’s presence threw the trial into chaos.
Then, like an elegant shadow, Gabriel landed silently in the arena, taking a position on my other side.
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The trial began again.
This time, the challenge was more complex.
The three of us were trapped in the same section, forced to work together to navigate a series of deadly traps.
To my surprise, Gabriel and I moved as one.
When poisoned darts shot from the walls, he was a shield in front of me before I even saw the threat.
When I reached for a handhold on a ledge, his hand was already there, steadying mine.
Our synchronicity was something that should have taken years to build.
Ethan, on the other hand, was a clumsy liability, constantly out of step and nearly triggering a pressure plate that would have impaled us all.
“Pathetic teamwork,” Gabriel commented dryly. “Is this what a mate bond looks like in your pack?”
Ethan’s face darkened even more.
At the control panel, Bella was growing frantic.
She had expected the trial to kill me.
Now, Gabriel was protecting me, and Ethan was in danger. She couldn’t let me walk out of the arena alive.
I saw her face, twisted with frustration.
Thinking no one was watching, her expression turned to pure, vicious spite.
She slammed her palm down on a large, recessed emergency button-the one that would flood the arena with a concentrated
silver mist.
Instantly, the entire arena flooded with a silvery fog.
A concentration like this was enough to kill any werewolf within ten minutes.
“Damn it,” Gabriel swore, pulling me into his arms. “Someone wants all of us dead.”
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