Chapter 34: Prince Clicked, Slave Flicked

Kai Starborne was a multitasking Alpha prince with priorities. The holo-updates crawling up his forearm were one. The remote that had stopped cooperating was another. He shook it the way men have shaken unresponsive technology since the dawn of unresponsive technology.

It clearly was not working because of the batteries. Peasants, all of them. One more click. Nothing. So he returned to the rapid-fire click click click approach.

Nova’s arm was already raised. She felt herself point at him softly.

The crowd shifted. The wolves who hadn’t spoken, the quiet majority, the ones who had been watching the loud minority scream about abominations, turned their heads in the direction she was pointing. Hundreds of eyes followed one glowing finger to the Starborne Alpha prince.

Wolves peeled out of her path. Feet shuffled, shoulders rotated, and a channel of empty ground opened between a glowing slave and a multitasking prince. The direct line between them was clean.

Kai was still looking at his holo-updates on his wristband with his thumb locked on the button, applying the ancient technique of maybe if I hold it down long enough, it will work.

Nova’s finger dropped, no longer pointing, then she flicked her wrist like she was shooing a fly.

The clicker flew out of Kai’s hand across the clearing.

The Thunderfang man caught it, almost like Nova had tossed it to him, except she hadn’t. But she was glad it was him of all people. He had seen Kai use that remote and probably had connected the dots on what it did. Hopefully he didn’t try to destroy it though. Tampering with a remote would trigger an automatic kill switch, and Nova wasn’t entirely sure if hers were working or not.

That’s when she clocked that both his and his brother’s suits were also lit up. One was outlined in blue and the other in gold. She had never seen anything quite like it. But it was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one glowing.

Her gaze didn’t linger, already drifting back to Kai.

For a split second, it was just the two of them staring at one another. Something Nova hadn’t done directly with Kai before because this was blatant defiance.

Kai’s eyes narrowed like his slave was misbehaving and he was already envisioning the punishment. The dislike was mutual. It had always been mutual. The difference was that one of them had been allowed to show it. But even if Nova could have shown it, she wouldn’t have. This was a one-time special that she wasn’t in charge of.

His face went from how dare you to I think I shit myself spiritually before he broke eye contact, looking down at his boots, not coping with the experience.

Nova turned away from him, pivoting towards the priestess. The crowd cleared a direct path between them. The priestess, to her credit, had stopped yelling.

Nova’s mouth opened. But when she spoke, the voice that came out was not her own and the language wasn’t one she recognized.

"Veras lucen sol’ithara. Durae voluntas aeternae."

As she spoke, white fissures of light ran through the dirt toward the priestess. When they reached her, the priestess’s robes blackened at the hems.

The priestess looked down at her smoking, blackened hems, then back up at Nova. Then her knees buckled. She hit the dirt with a sound that was half collapse, half surrender, her hands pressing flat against consecrated earth like the ground itself had grabbed her and pulled her down.

Every pair of eyes ping-ponged between the priestess and Nova. When Nova spoke again, it was in the common tongue.

"She who decides who is worthy of grace has already lost hers."

Silence followed. Nobody moved.

Then Nova felt herself take control of her body again and she stumbled forward.

Maverick Emberclaw came out of nowhere and caught her before she faceplanted. He was Maria’s brother and the Alpha who wanted to buy her.

She blinked a few times, dazed, probably doing a poor job hiding her confusion. Knowing what the hell just happened would have been nice. Necessary? No. Every survival instinct she had was firing. Right now, the only thing she needed to do was eject from the situation. Preferably before it booked a third act.

Nova straightened, or tried to, but his hands stayed on her waist like he wasn’t trusting her balance until her balance earned it. She lifted her head, trying to not tremble.

The second their eyes met, his irises flooded with molten-wolf gold. The kind that happens when a wolf surges or if an Alpha is pissed off.

She gasped, pulling away from him. He let go of her, thankfully. But his jaw was so tight that the tendons in his neck were taut, and he was visibly shaking. If he was angry, he wouldn’t have caught her. She knew that logic. But it didn’t match what she was looking at.

She took another step away from him.

He let her.

Without wasting another second, she spun towards the treeline and booked it. Before he changed his mind.

Was turning her back on an Alpha who looked like he wanted to murder her stupid? Yes. Was it also considered disrespectful? Yes. It wasn’t meant to be. She just needed a minute to herself. He did not comment or call that out, which was hopefully a sign that he was not taking it personally.

"WAIT," the priestess called after Nova.

Nova kept walking. There was no world that she would wait.

"PLEASE. SHE TAKES THE FLAME. DO NOT LET HER GO."

Unfortunately, Nova was no longer accepting suggestions. No one tried to stop her. Most of them were still standing there with a "what the fuck did I just see" look stamped across their faces.

"REGISTRATION 7709. STOP," an elder boomed. "I SAID STOP."

More voices echoed. The priestess began to sob. It was all just background noise that Nova ignored.

"ENOUGH. 7709. Return. That is a direct order," Kai’s voice cut across the clearing.

That was funny. Alpha Starborne wasn’t saying jack shit, but Kai felt the need to. Nova appreciated the stupidity of that as much as she appreciated the fact he no longer had that remote.

She continued forward. Her eyes remained locked on the treeline with the singular, desperate, bone-deep focus of a girl whose only goal was to stop being a passenger in her own body because whatever had climbed into the driver’s seat was terrifying people and the list of people it was terrifying included her.

White fire wasn’t mentioned in the story or the instructions. It technically went out for her first. So she wasn’t breaking any rules. This was the next step in the rejection process.

The forest was close.

Twenty feet.

Ten.

Finally, the canopy reached towards her like open arms, dark and deep and promising the one thing she wanted more than flame colors or ceremony invitations or priestess apologies.

Invisibility.