Chapter 3: Tent Girl Is A Ten Girl

Not a soul moved.

The elder looked around with a tired expression that said he’d seen this shit before and knew how it ended.

A father in the Emberclaw pack spun his child’s chair to face the wall. The child performed the ancient ritual of "fuck that" and spun right back.

"One minute warning. Parents, remove your pups," the elder repeated.

"No one is going to leave. Someone notify Gramps down there," Derek commented.

"I would put my firstborn in a catapult to keep my seat," Beta Tavian agreed.

Landon’s eyes hadn’t left the arena floor. "I’d catapult both of you if it meant I could leave."

"There he is." Derek flashed a wicked grin. "Welcome back, big guy."

On the floor, Nova’s stomach was in knots. She was going to be sick, actually. It was law that she participate. It was also law that she obey her Master. This left her no choice but to find Alpha Starborne. She lifted her head just high enough to scan for him while being careful to not reveal her face.

The jumbotron caught a half-second glimpse of jawline before the hood slammed shut. The arena responded like they’d been flashed.

"REWIND THE JUMBOTRON!"

The jumbotron declined.

Nova spotted Starborne’s banner first, then found the Alpha. She turned to face him and knelt on the arena floor. Head down. Full submission. Standard for slaves.

Every pair of eyes landed on Alpha Starborne and the jumbotron followed.

Landon’s brows furrowed. "Why the hell would Starborne care if she was cloaked or not?"

For once, Derek was silent, also wondering that. Something wasn’t adding up.

"She’s probably a slave in his household," Beta Tavian offered. "She is looking to her Master for permission, not her Alpha."

"Even so, doesn’t he have bigger issues than a slave?" Landon asked, staring at the cloak-blob kneeling on the stadium floor.

Derek smirked, tearing his eyes away from tent girl. "Can’t wait for your future Luna Celeste’s reaction when she learns we pay people in Thunderfang. Revolutionary concept."

Nova waited with her head down. No answer from Starborne. All she could hear was the crowd. She was going to have to glance up at him from her kneel, which made her nervous. Normally, that was a no-no unless the situation was on fire.

She slowly lifted her head.

On the jumbotron, Alpha Starborne was visibly displeased. Nova could also read it loud and clear from where she was. She fought the instinct to lower her head back down. The rule was already broken and she needed the answer.

Starborne gave a curt nod like he was watching a slave misbehave.

Immediately, blue runes flared to life on every column in the arena and the elder spoke.

"Registration 7709. Uncloak now. Those are your orders."

The tone he’d used a minute ago to warn parents about cloak removal was gone. What was left was a master addressing a slave. Nova realized he probably had his own slaves and found her looking up from a submissive kneel disrespectful. Ironic. If she had any other choice, she would have taken it.

No point in crying about it now. The only bright side was fresh lashes would lower her value for the Underground auction after this. Alpha Starborne was many things, but dumb was not one of them.

Nova stood slowly and reached up.

A hand gripped her wrist hard enough to bruise before she could do anything else. The grip was a message: don’t you dare.

Celeste’s voice cut through the stadium, the runes amplifying it for everyone in the audience.

"Elders, please understand. She is not right in the head. She talks to herself and bites. The cloak is here because she has episodes. Violent ones. My family has managed her condition privately."

Nova’s throat sealed shut. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t correct it. Couldn’t scream that every word was a lie because the silver on her wrists meant her voice didn’t exist in this arena. It never had.

Celeste turned to the jumbotron with red eyes and a trembling chin. "Please. She’s been through enough. Don’t break her more than she already is."

Two women. One of them had a crown. One of them had a registration number.

The crowd had already picked a saint.

"CELESTE! CELESTE! CELESTE!"

The head Elder raised his hand and the arena hushed.

"The panel appreciates the concern from the Starborne delegation. However, statute twelve of the Helix Mandate requires visual confirmation for all score replays."

Celeste’s brave face soured for exactly one frame of jumbotron footage before she caught it. She gave a graceful nod and let go of Nova’s wrists.

"Registration 7709. Now," the elder ordered.

Nova reached up again.

The hood fell back and the crowd went silent. Every head in the arena rotated between three points: Nova on the floor, Celeste beside her, and Alpha Starborne in the stands. The triangle told a story that didn’t require narration.

The Elders exchanged glances. The hood had to come off prior to a replay, per Helix Mandate rules. But none of them had expected this.

Nova wondered if they were actually going to do a replay. If her face was this offensive, a hologram of her entire body would start a riot.

"Holy..." Beta Tavian started.

"...fuck," Derek finished. His wolf chose that moment to surge, hard enough that his suit lit up like Landon’s for the jumbotron. But he didn’t notice. Every sound in the stadium had been swallowed by the hammering in his chest.

Next to him, Landon couldn’t look away from her. His wolf was howling in his mind, acting up again. Green eyes. A face that had no business being hidden under anything. Thick shiny white hair tucked into a cloak.

None of this was sitting well with him. But the fact she just bowed to Starborne made his blood run hot.

It took three seconds for the crowd to buffer. Then it started.

"Talks to herself? I’d answer."

"COME ON, 7709. SNAP. WE PAID FOR A SHOW!"

Nova’s face turned scarlet.

The head Elder cleared his throat and the column runes flashed blue.

"Identity confirmed. Registration #7709 re-cloak."

Translation: Please, for the love of every god go back in there.

Nova gave a soft nod and pulled her hood back up.

"NOOOOO!"

Ten thousand wolves experienced loss in real time.

"I DIDN’T BOO FOR TWENTY MINUTES TO GET FOUR SECONDS!"

"TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!"

The same crowd that booed her was now demanding an encore.

Nova stood still, trying to decide if that was a compliment. She was going to go with yes.

It got worse.

"Starborne, you sneaky FUCK."

"Do you blame him? If that was MY slave standing next to MY daughter, I’d have put her in a goddamn box."

If the elders did go ahead with the replay, Nova’s hologram-self would be wearing a skin-tight black jump suit with black gym shoes, issued to every slave female for the test. Slave jumpsuits had zero thermal regulation and were much thinner material than the regular ones. Her face burned even hotter at the thought.

It shouldn’t be a big deal. But it felt like one. No other slave had a giant hologram of their body on display.

The hologram lit up the arena floor and Beta Tavian stopped mid-sip. Derek stopped talking. Landon stopped functioning.

Three Thunderfang wolves. Three different malfunctions. One slave hologram.

Beta Tavian recovered first and looked at Derek, who was doing a convincing taxidermy impression.

"Blink once if you’re in there, Derek."

Landon surfaced next. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, then noticed his brother. He reached over and physically closed Derek’s mouth with two fingers under his chin.

"Enjoy the silence, Tavian. We’ll never get it again."