Chapter 2: He’s Shy (He’s Not Shy)

Landon was standing before the decision finished traveling south. His wolf wanted out and every muscle was mid-custody battle.

The jumbotron snagged onto him just as his suit lit up like the goddamn sun. Multiple Thunderfang beers sloshed. Glowing suit meant electricity in the Alpha, which meant the jumbotron was about to turn into Animal Planet: Alphas Gone Wild.

Tavian was up. Derek was faster. He stepped directly into Landon’s sightline, close enough that his face was the only thing Landon could see, and put both hands on his shoulders.

"You alright there, brother?" he asked lightly.

"I’m fine," Landon grunted as he swallowed his wolf down.

"Great. Love that for us. Now un-glow big guy."

Derek let go of Landon slowly as the glow faded, dropping back into his seat just in time to watch the misunderstanding unfold. By the time Landon’s ass hit the seat next to him, the narrative wrote itself.

"Cute."

"What?" Landon snapped.

"Smile, Brother."

"What the hell are you—"

The stadium commentators stopped him mid-question. "Thunderfang just declared himself for Celeste Starborne. Love it. Elders, you seeing this?"

Celeste ate it up. She turned towards the Thunderfang section and waved like she’d already taken his last name, half his closet, and was currently deciding which of Landon’s friends she was firing.

Derek waved back. "Everybody wave! That includes you, Tavian."

Beta Tavian joined the waving.

"Landon, wave."

"No."

"He’s shy," Derek mouthed for the jumbotron.

Landon whacked him.

Celeste pressed both hands to her heart, mouthed oh my Goddess. Then she blew a kiss. A hologram heart formed mid-air and traveled towards them.

Derek caught it and held it close with visible emotion.

"That," he whispered, "was beautiful."

Then he put it in Landon’s lap the way you put a baby in a bassinet.

The jumbotron zoomed in on Landon’s thousand-yard stare and the crowd lost its damn mind.

"AWW, HE’S WORRIED ABOUT HER!"

An elder in the center of the stadium raised his hand and the arena went quiet. The runes on every column flashed once as his voice multiplied.

"Category One: Endurance. Celeste Starborne, 97th percentile."

The Starborne section erupted. Every unmated Alpha and Beta clocked it. High score meant high-quality spawn. Nobody was pretending otherwise.

The arena floor shimmered and the hologram kicked in, replacing sand with the endurance terrain from earlier that week. A giant translucent Celeste began to run the course while the jumbotron played her highlight reel and the crowd turned into a live studio audience.

She was fast, she had Alpha blood, and she had the best instructors on the continent. The real Celeste proudly observed hologram-Celeste with an expression that said: hey there, good looking.

Fifteen feet away, Nova watched the terrain hologram move under her boots. Highlight reels were exclusive to non-slaves and usually three minutes long.

Celeste’s ran eight goddamn minutes before it finally ended.

Terrain gone. Scoreboard updated.

CELESTE STARBORNE — ENDURANCE: 97TH PERCENTILE

Celeste had just planted her flag at the top. The 95th percentile Emberclaw princess watched her name drop one slot in real-time.

The elder raised his hand while column runes flashed blue again.

"ENDURANCE RESULTS. REGISTRATION 7709."

The arena’s cheers vanished in a vacuum. Most were already out of their seats. Slave scores were a bathroom break. The cloaked figure on the floor was, per the hive mind, deformed and probably couldn’t even complete the course.

No score was announced because slaves didn’t get that. It silently appeared on the jumbotron.

REGISTRATION #7709 — ENDURANCE: 99.9TH PERCENTILE

A bookie saw it first. Deal paused. The wolf mid-ping said, "The fuck?" The bookie pointed and unleashed a word that required holy water and antibiotics.

Another wolf saw it. Five followed. Fifty stampeded. The official move was grab-point-shake-the-dumbass-beside-you until they witnessed it too.

The leaderboard reshuffled. Registration #7709 slid into first place.

"Pay up, Derek. Can’t do that with missing limbs," Beta Tavian stated.

"What are you—holy fucking shit." Derek ping-ponged between the leaderboard and the arena floor like one of them was lying. "Tent girl?"

"Tent girl."

"That one." Derek pointed. "She dropped a ninety-nine point nine."

"Yes, that one," Beta Tavian replied. "Keep up, Derek."

"Bullshit. That is a glitch," Derek said flatly. "Right, Landon?"

Landon’s focus was zeroed in on tent girl and Derek’s question didn’t even register.

Celeste’s head snapped towards Nova and her eyes turned wolf gold, locking onto her target like a heat missile. Teeth bared. Spit catching the light. A growl so raw that the jumbotron said nope and cut to the Emberclaw princess instead.

Nova had no visual but Celeste’s growl was heard loud and clear. Her blood ran cold. Surely, Celeste wouldn’t attack her with an audience, right? Not that the audience would mind. At the current moment, the crowd sounded like a firing squad mid-meltdown.

In hindsight, the booing wasn’t so bad.

"Check the goddamn score."

"In silver? BULLSHIT."

"Check her bands! No way those are real!"

"Disqualify her! 7709 IS FUCKING CHEATING."

The word cheating caught fire.

That’s when Nova cracked and stole a glance at the scoreboard. The hood moved and a sliver of her face flashed for approximately half a second. She looked away before that second cost her.

99.9 required a wolf, training, and supernatural stamina. Nova had none of those things. Silver degrades physical performance by seventy percent. Prolonged silver over years compounds that. Scoring even in the 10th percentile would have made Nova the front-runner slave.

Miracle or malfunction? Nova wasn’t sure. The tests were this past week. The way she saw it, she had two options: cry about how unfair it was or hit the FUCK-IT button.

FUCK-IT button won. She was going to be sold in the Underground either way so the score didn’t matter. Might as well have fun with it. She treated every test like an escape room puzzle and even cracked a few jokes with the proctors who were not entertained.

For a few hours during the test, she forgot she was wearing silver. Forgot she was property. Forgot what was waiting for her when it was over. She just solved problems because solving problems was the only thing that ever made sense.

"Even I’m confused!" Celeste called out to the crowd, gesturing at Nova. "She can barely walk in a straight line! You think she ran a 99.9? Come on."

The jeers turned into full-blown laughter because Celeste was apparently doing stand up.

"Respectfully, Elders," Celeste continued. "She’s my slave and I’m telling you that score is wrong. Disqualify her and let us move forward."

The crowd pivoted so fast Nova got whiplash.

"PLAY THE REEL! PLAY THE REEL!"

"SHOW US THE RUN!"

Turns out, telling ten thousand drunk wolves that something was impossible was the fastest way to make them want to see it. A minute ago Nova would have given anything to leave. Now? Petty was available and on sale.

Celeste wanted Nova ejected. The crowd wanted the wrapping paper off. The fuse was already lit and Celeste was the one holding the match.

If they wanted a show, they were about to get a goddamn show.

Checkmate, princess.

The head Elder stepped forward from the sideline and his voice filled the arena.

"Registration 7709’s test will be replayed to validate the score. Cloak removal is mandatory for all replays per statute twelve. Parents, please remove pups from the stadium. This is your one minute warning."