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홈 / Werewolf / The New Moon Mate / Chapter 85: The Challenge

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Chapter 85: The Challenge

작가: Kurgusal Izdusumler
last update 게시일: 2026-10-26 00:13:54

I got Harlan up off the ground and onto the pack house steps and Maeve came through the crowd with her bag and put her hand on his chest and told everybody to get back.

Harlan was breathing and his eyes were open and his hand was cold and he would not let go of my sleeve.

“Wren,” he said. “The pack.”

“The pack is fine,” I said. “The pack is standing in the square and nobody is fighting.”

“The Corrigan boy said Dale.”

“The Corrigan boy is nineteen years old and he is frightened and he has just watched a Councilman confess to murder in front of him. He does not know what he is saying.”

“He knows what he is saying.” Harlan’s hand tightened. “Half the pack is standing with Dale because Dale stood up in the square and told the truth and took the punishment. That is what a wolf does when he wants to be Alpha. He confesses and he takes the punishment and he lets the pack see that he is not afraid of it.”

I looked at the square.

Dale was still standing at the back with his hands tied and the Corrigan boys on either side of him and there were wolves around him. There were more wolves around him than there had been ten minutes ago.

“Harlan,” I said. “You are not going to die tonight.”

“I am going to die eventually and I am going to die soon.” He let go of my sleeve and put his hand on the step. “I have been the Alpha of this pack for twenty-two years and I have been a bad one. I signed the Council’s paper and I closed my eyes to the cull and I let a wolf be hunted in my own territory. And now the pack has seen a wolf who did worse than me stand up and take it and they are going to want him.” He looked at me. “Unless you give them a better reason.”

“What reason?”

“The circle,” Harlan said. “The Luna. The claim.” He put his hand on my arm. “You are the Alpha this pack needs and they do not know it yet. So tell them.”

I stood up.

I walked down the steps into the square with the whole pack watching and I went to the table and turned it upright and climbed up on it.

“Pack,” I said.

The square went quiet.

“The Corrigan boy has named Dale for Alpha,” I said. “And I am going to say a thing about that and then I am going to say a thing about myself and then this pack is going to decide.” I looked at Dale. “Dale has told the truth in front of this pack and he has taken the punishment and that is worth something. But Dale killed my brother. He put a knife in Owen Halloran’s chest and he left him in a field and he took the Council’s money for six years and he lied to this pack about a rogue that did not exist. He has told the truth now because the truth caught him. That is not the same as a wolf who tells the truth when it costs him everything.”

The square was silent.

“And there is a second thing,” I said. “Dale cannot be Alpha of this pack because the land of this pack is going to belong to the Luna’s line by the new moon. The founders’ bargain is void and the deeds are lies and the Alphas have seen the crates in the tunnel. The Luna’s line is going to claim this territory in the circle in two days and the Alpha of this pack is going to be the wolf who stands in the circle.” I looked at them. “That is me. Not because I want it. Because the old law says so and because the blood says so and because there is no other wolf in this territory who can do it.”

The square moved.

“And the Beta position?” a wolf called out.

“The Beta position is empty,” I said. “Dale is stripped and there is nobody to stand beside the Alpha.”

The older Corrigan boy stood up on his chair.

“Then let Dale fight for it,” he said. “Let him fight for the Beta. If he wins he is Beta and if he loses he goes to the Alphas and he answers for your brother.”

The square roared.

I looked at Dale.

He was standing at the back with his hands tied and his face gray and he looked at me for a long moment.

“I will fight,” he said.

“Dale,” I said.

“I will fight,” he said again. “Not for the rank. For the chance to stand beside you in the circle and answer for what I did.” He held up his tied hands. “I put a knife in your brother and I took the Council’s money and I lied to this pack. And I am going to be the wolf who stands in the front of the line when the Council comes for you. If you will let me.”

The square was quiet.

“Then it is a challenge,” I said. “For the Beta position. On the ridge at dawn.”

The pack roared again.

And then Ada came down the steps with her stick in her hand and stood in front of the table.

“This is a pack matter and the Alphas will not interfere,” she said. “But I am going to say one thing before you take that ridge. The new moon is in two days and the pack cannot go into the circle with a Beta who has been fighting on the ridge the night before. So the challenge will be fought now. Tonight. In the square. In front of the Alphas and the pack.”

The square was silent.

“Now,” I said.

“Now,” Ada said.

They cleared the square. The pack went back to the walls and the porch and the steps and the Alphas sat at the table and Harlan was carried to a chair on the porch with Maeve beside him. The lanterns were brought out and hung on the posts and the square was lit like a room.

I went to the middle and took off my jacket and my boots and gave them to June.

“Wren,” June said. “He is bigger than you.”

“He is bigger than me.”

“And he has been fighting his whole life.”

“And I have been walking a fence line for four years.” I put my hand on her head. “I am not going to fight him the way he wants me to fight him.”

Elias came and stood beside me.

“Wren,” he said. “You do not have to do this. The pack will follow you without the Beta position. The circle is in two days.”

“If I do not fight him the pack will say I was afraid,” I said. “And if I do not fight him the Corrigan boy will stand in this square for the rest of his life and say that Dale was the only wolf who was willing to stand up.” I looked at him. “I am not fighting for the Beta position. I am fighting for the pack.”

He looked at me for a long moment.

“Then fight him,” he said.

Dale came into the middle of the square.

They had taken the ropes off his hands and he was in his shirt with his boots on and his sandy hair in his eyes and he was bigger than me and he was not smiling.

“Wren,” he said. “I am going to say a thing before we do this. I am not going to hold back. If I hold back the pack will know it and the challenge will be a lie. So I am going to fight you the way I would fight any wolf in this territory.”

“Good,” I said.

Ada brought her stick down on the table.

“Begin,” she said.

We went for each other.

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