Hawtness - Hawtness - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

The drive lasted about fifty
minutes through the forest. I could tell why she needed the dirt bike, the path
was completely off-road. However, we reached a point where the forest gave way,
opening into a massive clearing full of people. Tents were erected all over the
place. People had campfires and were busy
cooking or sewing or chatting with each other. Children in partial werewolf
form ran around chasing each other on all fours. A few adults wore their
werewolf faces, but most of them looked like humans. There were a few
motorcycles and bikes like Treena’s, but it looked like this place was
inaccessible to cars.  

“This is Landsmeade. The clan meets here every time
there is a new Alpha selected or every time the Alpha calls a meeting.”
Treena described.  

“It doesn’t look like there
is a lot of room for this competition.”  

“No, that occurs down the
hill over there in a place called the bowl. The games don’t start until
tomorrow either way.” Treena explained.  

She looked back, realizing who
she was talking to, and then shut her mouth with a visible click. It looked
like she wasn’t going to share any more information with me. It was nice that
she could be friendly though, even if it lasted a second.  

“Treena!” A voice
shouted from one of the tents.  

An older woman stepped out and
approached the motorcycle. Treena dismounted from her bike, shoving me off the
back in the process. I took a few steps back as she turned to the woman. Treena
seemed to wear a completely different look as she smiled at the newcomer with
respect and even a little bit of reverence.  The older woman had rich brown hair that
grayed at the edges. I frowned slightly as she looked somewhat familiar to me.
 

“Have you seen him? Where is
he?”  

Treena lowered her hands, trying
to settle the woman, “He’s fine. He’ll be coming in tonight.”  

“Well, he never calls, he
never writes. They say that you’re supposed to give your little pup room so
they can grow but I didn’t think that would mean moving away for several
years.” 

Then it hit me, I realized why I
recognized her; she looked like Daniel. “Katrina?”  

The two women turned to me,
Daniel’s mom had on a little frown, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
 

“Wow! It is you. The last
time I saw you, you were a little pup.” I lowered my hand to about the
size I remembered.  

“What are you talking
about?” Treena asked in confusion. 

I blushed. “Oh, nothing.
Katrina and I go back. Way back.”  

Treena glanced over at Katrina in
confusion, but Katrina was busy staring at me. She took a step forward, taking
one long whiff in a familiar way.  

“You’re not Daniel’s new
mate, are you?”  

I gave a nod and Katrina let out
a sudden squeal that even surprised Treena. She lunged forward, grabbing my arm
and dragging me towards her and into an immediate hug.  

“Oh, I am so pleased to meet
you. I was beginning to think my boy would never pick a mate. He was so fickle.
But look at you, you are such a darling. You look exactly like the girl I
envisioned my boy to be with. Come on now, before Daniel gets here, let’s talk
girl to girl. We need to discuss various forms of protection so you can avoid
them. I want grandkids as soon as possible.”  

“Wh-what!” I barely got out in
the flurry as Katrina started dragging me towards her tent.

Treena also took a few steps
forward, stuttering to try to get a word in edgewise. It looked like Katrina
took after her mother in that respect; she was a bulldozer. Katrina noticed
Treena trailing them and looked back.  

“Oh, don’t worry, girl. I’ll
watch her. You did perfect bringing her to me. Now,
mother and daughter will discuss some things. You can move along.”  Treena
said gently but also firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Still, Treena didn’t immediately
leave, instead seeming to build up her courage to talk. “B-but, Daniel-”

A sudden loud shout broke off
what Treena was going to say as an answer. The direction the scream had come
was from the bowl. Something about the scream seemed to cut into me. I needed
to go find out what it was. I broke away from a surprised Katrina and began running in the direction of
the scream.  

I heard a laugh behind me.
“Just like Daniel, always running towards the screams. This one’s going to
give my boy lots of work.”  

I heard a grunt and Treena was
running beside me. She caught up and surpassed me, cresting the hill. This
wasn’t a race, but you couldn’t tell that from the glee on Treena’s face as she
overran me.  

I crested the hill too and
noticed a small gathering of men in a circle near the bottom. I ran down the
hill towards them. Treena was in front of me, but she seemed to slow down and
trailed to a stop. I ran passed her until I could see what her enhanced vision
had already identified. When I contemplated the scene, my body froze solid.
Daniel was standing in the middle of a group of men, all of them turned into
their werewolf forms. He had blood spattered across his chest and clothing. He
was holding a knife and at his feet was a dead werewolf, its throat cut. 

The events that followed were a
whirlwind that made me dizzy. The werewolves descended on Daniel, who dropped
the knife and was beat to the ground as he made no attempt to defend himself. I
tried to run forward to pull them off of him, but Treena suddenly grabbed me
and started to drag me away. I struggled against her, but Daniel’s childhood
friend easily overpowered me, wrestling me back up the hill.  

I stopped fighting, but Treena
opted to continue to drag me the rest of the way into the tent that Katrina
owned. A large horn was blown, and the rumors about what happened starting shooting
through the camp like wildfire. Sometime later, after I had a bit to recover, I
snapped out of my shock. I was sitting in a chair in Katrina’s tent. I sat numbly
as Treena explained her version of events to Daniel’s mother. Katrina had a
worried look on her face, but she handled the information well, listening to
the full story and only giving occasional nods of affirmation.  

“It was Jorgan’s body. I recognized him.” The
young werewolf finished, “He would have been the only one who could put up
a challenge to Daniel for Alpha. That makes it a motive.”  

“Daniel would never do
something like that,” I spoke up
with the first words I had said since it happened.  

“You saw the same thing I
did,” Treena shook her head. 

“He was framed,” I
declared.  

“You don’t know that.”
Treena sighed.  

“I do!” I snapped,
glaring at her. 

Treena looked taken aback for a
second, and lowered her eyes, “I’m not saying I don’t agree, but there is
no chance we can convince others of that. Too many witnesses saw him with the knife.”
 

“What do you think the
committee will decide?” Katrina asked in a soft voice.  

“Without an Alpha, no
official decision can be reached. Banishment would be too little. Most likely
death.” Treena sighed.  

“What about the other
werewolf? Bran?” I broke in.  

“What about him?” 

“Wouldn’t he have a reason
to frame Daniel?”  

The young werewolf shook her
head, “He wants to be Alpha, but he’s nowhere near skilled enough to beat
even the half-dozen men below Daniel. It
would be pointless for him. Besides, he’s mostly concerned with absolving his
family. Getting caught in a murder scandal would destroy them.” 

“What did his family
do?” I asked. 

“His grandfather, a man
named Stine, ended up betraying our allies for personal gain.”  

Bran’s grandpa was Stine? If I
understood nothing else, that was enough for me to suspect the man. When I had
traveled to the past, Stine was the man who kidnapped Andrew and me during the
peace talks, nearly causing the angels and demons to go to war. He had almost
killed me, and tried to hurt Andrew too. However, what did he gain by getting
Daniel arrested? Had he found a mate to compete and just wanted to get the two
biggest contenders out of the way? That seemed far too simple a goal. 

“I don’t understand though,
how does becoming Alpha allow him to
absolve his family?”  

Treena sighed, a tinge of
frustration on her face, but it was Katrina who answered, “When a person
becomes an Alpha, they get something called the first rights. They can absolve
three crimes committed by members of the clan. It becomes as if the crimes
never existed. It’s an old law, but it sometimes helps resolve bad blood when a
new Alpha is picked.” 

“Would it be possible for
someone to win the Alpha and absolve Daniel?”  

Treena frowned as she looked at
me, but then her eyes brightened a bit, “We might be able to save him that
way.”  

“My son is loved by many in
this clan. I don’t think anyone truly believes he did it. However, absolving
him would put a lot of pressure on any one of them. I can’t think of any who
would vouch for him like that.”  

“There has to be
someone,” I pleaded.  

Treena looked to be deep in
thought. I was about to demand she tell me what her thoughts were when another
loud horn sounded from outside the tent.

“They’re calling.” Treena
muttered.

“That must be the decision.”
Katrina let out a worried breath.

The three of us piled out of the
tent. Katrina reached over and grabbed my hand, seemingly using me as emotional
support. Treena had noticed this gestured, but turned away with a face that
gave nothing away. Gathering around in a circle with another hundred or so
werewolves and their mates. An older man moved his way to the center of the
circle.  

“As I am sure you have all
heard by now,” The old man spoke up in a clear, grizzled voice, “It
is with my great displeasure that I must announce the death of one of our own,
Jorgan. We questioned the accused extensively. He has maintained his
innocence.”  

A few shouted out in anger, but
more nodded as if they had expected as much. 

“Without an official trial,
we will be unable to decide his guilt, and without an Alpha, we cannot start an
official trial. Thus, the elder council has decided to postpone the trial until
after an Alpha is declared. At that time, we will decide the young Daniel’s
fate.”  

My brain ran a mile a minute.
People started muttering to each other, an angry buzzing cacophony of noises. I
found myself stepping forward as the old man turned to leave the center of the
circle. 

“Is Daniel still eligible to
be Alpha?” I demanded loud and clear.  

The man froze, turning back. The
angry rumble of voices increased a bit.  

“Eligible? I suppose.
However, he will stay contained for the time being, and thus he wouldn’t be
able to succeed in any of the challenges.”  

“I’ve heard mention that an
Alpha can select others to fight in their place.” I continued to press.
 

The old man gave me a kind smile
as if he was only humoring me. “The only one that would be eligible to
fight in an Alpha’s place would be his mate. That is an old law and seldom practiced in reality. Female
werewolves simply lack the capacity to keep up with
these kinds of challenges.”  

The angry mutters were growing a
little louder now. Some of them were telling me to shut up, but just as many
were demanding that I was allowed to speak, particularly from the women.
Katrina’s hand reached out as she tried to grab my arm. I pulled out of her
reach, stepping farther into the circle of men. Now I understood what I had to
do. I looked back, Katrina had a worried look on her face while Treena glared
at me. I turned back to the old man. 

“My name is Jane Averygail.
I am Daniel’s mate. I will win this competition for him.”  

Like a floodgate, the voices
exploded in surprise.  

“But you’re only
human,” shouted one person.  

“She’ll die!” another
came out.  

Katrina immediately rushed
forward and grabbed me, pulling me back through the throng of people. The elder
worked to try to keep order. There were many eyes on my back as Katrina dragged
me away. The pair that looked the deadliest were
Treena’s.  

When Katrina had ushered me back
into the tent, she looked me up and down, “I don’t think you understand
what you’ve done girl. I know you had the best intentions, but you’re human.
Even werewolves have been known to die in some of these challenges. The best
thing you can hope for is a discharge. Just go out there, explain you weren’t
in your right mind, and drop out.”  

When my eyes met Katrina’s, she
couldn’t help but take a step back in surprise. She did not expect such
ferocity from them.  

“I will not. Somehow, I will
beat this competition. I will win, and I will absolve Daniel.” I stated
firmly.

Katrina shook her head in
disbelief, but her lips formed a small smile of admiration.  

“I did get a hell of a
daughter-in-law, didn’t I? I hope you live until the wedding.” Katrina’s
shoulders fell with a sigh of acceptance, “So, what can I do to make sure
you survive? I’ll help my son and daughter any way I can.”  

“I need a phone,” I
glanced back at her, my eyes resolute, “I need to call in a few
favors.”