Exiled Mate, Future Luna novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Alpha Falls

The Alpha came across the grass at a walk.

He held the blade low and loose against his thigh, and he kept his eyes on me.

"Challenge is done," Rhys said, stepping out of the Huddleston line. "She's won. Put it away."

"The winner of a challenge has not yet been named," the Alpha said. "The Stone names her."

"Then let the Stone name her without a knife."

"Stay where you are, Huddleston, or I'll say you broke the ring."

Rhys stopped.

I could see what it cost him, the whole length of his black shoulders.

I stood over Dalton in silver fur and I thought, the Alpha is going to do it.

He's going to say it went wrong.

The Alpha reached me.

He stood close enough that I smelled the old cologne, and he lifted the blade over my neck.

"You should have stayed hollow, girl," he said quietly. "It was kinder."

I didn't think.

I lifted my head and I called.

It rose out of the deepest part of me, below the ribs and below the bone, and it wasn't a howl.

It was an order.

It rolled over the bald hill and into every living chest on it.

The grass flattened in a ring around me, and the air itself went heavy.

The Alpha's knees hit the ground.

His arm shook, and the silver blade slid out of his hand and sank point-first into the turf.

He stared at it, his mouth open, and he could not lift his head.

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