Chapter 71: Layers

READER SHOUT OUT: Thank you to Kathy_Prewitt who suggested the name "Skahll" all those months ago. I've changed the spelling, but I'm grateful for your suggestion. I hope you like how I used it!

*****

~ ZEV ~

The moment he'd won the fight he could smell her. She was there. Somewhere very close—Yhet, too, which was a relief. He couldn't smell Kyelle nearby, which made him breathe easier, too.

Rayf lay on the cold ground, shaking his head. Zev regretted that he'd needed to floor the male, but Rayf was doing him a favor by not letting him win. Still, he hadn't been kind. He needed to save both energy and strategy for later fights with the family group Alphas.

He stood over the male trying to ignore the intoxicating scent of his mate—he would make them let him take her his mate or die trying—and stared down at Rayf.

"Don't make me hurt you further, please, Rayf. I take no joy in it. I thank you for acknowledging me. I know what you did here. I owe you."

"It should never have come to this," Rayf said, shaking his head again, but he didn't meet Zev's eyes. "I submit," he growled a moment later.

With a sigh of relief, Zev leaned down and extended a hand to help the older male to his feet. Zev clapped a hand to his upper arm and thanked him again.

Rayf was still trying to clear his head, but he made it up and stomped his feet. "Don't thank me yet. You have a long way to go," he muttered.

"You've saved me some time. I'm grateful."

The older male grunted, then looked over his shoulder. Suddenly his voice was live in Zev's mind.

Your brother will stand in your way if he can. He has enjoyed his power. He sits at Xar's feet, he warned Zev.

Zev's upper lip curled, but he only nodded, then turned away, careful not to face the direction Sasha and Yhet stood.

She hated it when he fought. She would look at him—search him for injury—he knew, and he couldn't let her do it. If she acknowledged him, she placed herself at the bottom of the ladder in the hierarchy. Males at every level would believe themselves worthy of her then.

A low growl rumbled in his throat at the idea of all those males displaying for her, but he kept walking, darting out into the trees. He prayed news of Rayf's defeat would travel quickly, because Zev knew who he needed to find next, and that male wasn't here. It would be easier to force Skhal to see him if he'd already heard about Zev's progress.

The back of his neck prickled then, his skin warming.

She was watching him. He would have bet his life. He could feel her eyes like fingers trailed through his hair.

I will fight for you and I will win, he said in her head—and felt her surprise. Be patient. I have not left. I never left. I'm still here. I will fight. And I will win.

He shouldn't have done it. It was a risk that she would tell someone and they'd consider it an acknowledgment. But he was weak. He'd only just found her, only just touched her and talked to her again, and he'd had to leave… His gut twisted at what that must have done to her.

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With a sigh he removed his shoes and tied them to a loop on the waistline of his trousers, made for exactly this purpose. Then he leaped into his wolf and ran.

To hell with waiting for word to travel. He needed to find Skhal.

*****

The male was on patrol, winding back and forth across the valley searching for the scent of intruders, or humans. Still in wolf form, Zev finally picked up his trail twenty minutes trot outside of the village. Swallowing back the howl of pursuit, he made himself slow and keep his nose to the wind.

The trail was a couple of hours old. Skhal lived on the edge of the village and preferred to spend most of his time alone. If he'd slept until his shift on patrol it was possible his old teacher hadn't heard about Zev's arrival, or that he'd been cast out. Which meant Zev had to decide whether to warn him—or use surprise to his advantage in making the older male submit.

He huffed a breath out of his nostrils and trotted on silently, deep into the forest. This was turning out to be a day for humbling his former heroes, and he didn't relish the idea. But it was necessary, and he was willing to do a helluva lot worse to keep Sasha safe—and with him.

Which made me think back on how he'd been set on this path.

Xar had to have known Zev wouldn't just roll over and take this? What was the male thinking, casting him out? He had to know he was pushing Zev towards challenging for Alpha?

Zev had intended to submit to whomever was in power when he returned—acknowledging his own retreat as a failure, and willing to help whomever had stepped in. But Xar seemed determined to make an enemy of Zev, and he'd rolled over and shown his testicles to the humans. Why? Xar was a strategist, and a skilled fighter. Why would he give away so much power—

There was no sound, only the barest flash at the corner of his vision—silver fur and white teeth—then he was tumbling sideways, snarling and internally cursing himself for not concentrating while on the trail of a wolf like Skhal.

Skhal was cunning and had either heard him coming, or been watching for him and doubled back to ambush him.

They rolled, snarling and snapping, and Zev twisted out of his jaws and scrambled to his feet, whipping around to face the older wolf with the scar that crossed his eye, both of them growling deep and long.

Traitor!

The word, shouted in Zev's mind, echoed through his heart, too. Because even though he knew he'd done everything in his power to protect his people, he'd also been naïve—and mistaken. He understood why they believed he'd abandoned them.

Sasha too.

And now he had yet another barrier before he could explain why.

Cursing the god who was determined to plague his existence, he turned on the wolf, jaws wide and launched himself straight for the male's neck.

He would end this. Then he would explain.

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