ELIA

Still on the ground, still finding her bearings, Elia shook her head again and forced herself to answer.

"I can't fight someone who is mentally imbalanced,

" she said thickly. Her head rang, though it was fading quickly. But her jaw felt like it had been unhinged.

Lucine's eyes went wide and she seemed to swell, but before she took another shot at Elia, Lerrin caught her elbow.

"Ignore her. She's taunting you. Again.

"

Lucine looked at him and something passed between them that niggled in Elia's stomach. Then Lucine nodded. When she turned back to Elia, her expression was blank, though her anger was still in her eyes.

"Get to your feet,

" she commanded.

"You are disputed. You may stand there and let me kill you if you wish, but we end this now.

"

Elia felt like she had been doused in ice water that froze her in place and stopped her lungs.

She was going to fight Lucine.

And she was going to lose.

And Reth was going to get here too late and find her dead—her and their cub—and it was going to break him.

She saw that now. Too late. It flashed through her head then, all the little ways he'd shown that his confidence only faltered when he was fearful for her. He only got shaky, only questioned his own better judgment when she was the one at risk.

It was why he'd pleaded with her not to reveal his weakness to the people.

Why he'd been so desperate to keep her under guard.

He'd understood this. This moment. He'd known what it would do to him. And suddenly, she couldn't believe she'd been so selfish. When he'd told her all those things that night, when he'd been so angry, so determined to protect her, all she'd been able to think about was how it would affect her—that she needed to get stronger. That she needed to fight.

She hadn't thought about what it would do to him if he lost her.

Lost both of them, now.

Elia brought both hands, still bound, but trembling, up to her face and took a deep breath.

Creator, she thought, if you're really there… now would be the time to roll up with one of those unbelievable plans Reth's always talking about.

But when she dropped her hands, all she saw was Lucine, staring at her, a smile so wide it bared her teeth. And the light of fury in her eyes.

Reth's voice echoed in her head: Surprise is half the battle.

"I won't fight you, Lucine,

" she lied.

"It would shame me.

"

With a snarl, Lucine took hold of Elia's bonds and yanked her to her feet by her wrists, but before she could take another step, Lerrin was at her shoulder, hissing.

"Don't let her under your skin! She only delays because she knows she has no chance to beat you. Ignore her words—they will stop when you tear out her throat.

" Did Elia imagine the hint of regret in Lerrin's tone?

"Tearing out the throat is too good for this one,

" Lucine rasped.

"Too fast. Know this, my Queen,

" she spat mockingly,

"You will die slowly—and I will personally deposit your twisted corpse outside your mate's cave—then I will take him for my own.

"

The wolf-woman topped her by almost a foot, but Elia didn't break eye contact, though her heart beat so rapidly it seemed to be just one massive thud in her chest.

Lucine grinned.

"What a coward. A weak, pitiful coward,

" she laughed. She took one step back and opened her arms.

"I will even allow you the first blow,

" she said with a half-bow.

"Do you even know how to use it?

"

Elia spoke through her teeth.

"You challenge me as Queen, yet leave me bound, and I am the coward?

" she said, extending her wrists forward, but keeping them low.

Lucine regarded her for a moment. Elia expected Lerrin to tell her to ignore the request. But he didn't.

"Give us room!

" Lucine commanded.

"Don't allow her to use you as a diversion.

" Without hesitation, all the males stepped back, leaving a circle about thirty feet across. With a quick flip of her wrist, Lucine drew a blade from somewhere in her leathers. Adrenalin rocketed through Elia's system, but Lucine just took hold of Elia's hands and set the blade between them, pressing down and sawing for a moment.

A memory bloomed in Elia's head...

...Reth, standing over her, his face somber, one of her hands in his.

"Soft to hard, and hard to soft,

" he said firmly.

"What?

" she'd asked dumbly.

"When you strike an opponent, where your body is soft, use it against their hard places. Where your body is hard, use it against their soft places.

" He turned her hand, palm out towards him, then poked the heel of her hand.

"This is your soft. You use it here,

" he said, lifting the heel of her hand to his chin, then to his nose, in a mock strike. Then he turned her so her back was to his stomach and bent her arm, patting her elbow.

"This is hard. You use it here,

" he tugged it back in a jab into his stomach. Then he closed her fist

"This is your hard, you use it here,

" and he pulled it back towards his groin.

"Now, show me.

"

Elia had been tied with the heels of her hands together. When she felt the bonds fall away from her wrists and saw Lucine's eyes shoot to the men, to check that they'd given the space she asked for, she didn't give the female any chance to guard.

In one move, she slammed the heel of one hand directly up, into Lucine's chin and pulled the other arm back alongside her body. As soon as Lucine's teeth snapped together with the force of the blow, she switched arms, slamming heel of the other hand into the woman's nose, while pulling back with the other.

Lucine went down screaming in rage. But the twenty or more males that surrounded them leaped forward immediately.

There was nowhere to go.

As she saw her death descending on her, Elia breathed,

"I'm so sorry, Reth. You were right.

"

*****

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