Taming the Queen of Beasts

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<strong>AARYN</strong>

"Anima, Attend!" Elreth called, her voice strong and pure, echoing around the bowl so every person present was drawn to attention, their eyes fixed on his beautiful mate.

Around him, the disformed went silent, the tension in their bodies communicating, until they all hummed with the anticipation and dread of the moment.

Where the fuck was Gar? He couldn't miss this!

Aaryn took a deep breath and made himself focus, raising a hand to the disformed behind him to signal when they should move forward together.

"Tonight we enter the Hallowed Grounds together, we stand before the Creator in the skins He gave us to ask the question… should our brothers and sisters of the disformed be raised? Are they a people in their own right? Do we acknowledge them before Him?"

She was so beautiful, her chin high and eyes bright, calling her people to use their power. Aaryn's chest squeezed with pride, and his belly flipped with desire for her.

But he forced himself to focus. This was the night they'd all been working towards for years—decades, in some cases.

Tonight the disformed would finally take their place among the Anima and no longer walk with their eyes to the dirt. He was certain of it.

"Bring your questions, Anima!" Elreth called. "Bring your challenges, Alphas. We stand here, as we were born, hiding nothing. Asking everything. All your questions will be answered. Your challenges met, or submitted. There is no more delay, brothers and sisters. We stand on Hallowed Ground. Raise your voices, or acknowledge the tribe of the disformed!"

Then she stepped back to stand with the Alphas as Aaryn led the disformed into the bowl.

Some of the Anima cheered, others remained silent, but everyone watched as he and the rest of the disformed entered the Hallowed Grounds and clustered together at its end, ready to face whatever the tribes might bring.

The Alphas watched him, frowning. They'd expected to face Gar. He wondered if they felt stronger or weaker seeing him instead.

He made himself meet their eyes. He was their King. The Queen was his mate. He stood over them, their wills submitted to his. And he reminded them of it with his eyes, reminded them that they would finally see the disformed in truth.

He had vowed it. And here he stood to make sure it happened.

As Elreth turned to him, Aaryn nodded at her. "We stand ready. Make your calls."

The first of the Alphas to step forward were the wolves. Aaryn's heart froze when he saw his Alpha, the male he'd only ever admired from a distance, the male who hadn't seemed to see him for all these years. The male who had worked so hard to align himself with Reth—to keep the wolves in submission to the throne and prove their loyalty for the course of Aaryn's life.

This male… would he finally see Aaryn as a brother? Or would they begin with the worst challenge of all?

Aaryn clenched his teeth so hard he thought they might crack as the male turned to Elreth… and knelt.

A great breath whooshed out of Aaryn as the male clasped a hand over his chest, but lowered his head.

"The wolves stand with their brother, Aaryn. The Lupine tribe sees the disformed take their place among the tribes and acknowledges them. We stand in support of this Veneration and ask the Creator's blessing on it."

Excitement rippled through the disformed behind him as Aaryn gaped. He knew he'd never forget this image, black shadows from the kneeling male and Elreth cast by the moon, so their skins glowed silver, but their forms were cut in darkness on the ground. Her dazzling smile as she accepted his submission.

Aaryn could barely breathe.

This was the best possible outcome and he'd hardly dared hope… would the tribes simply accept them?

Elreth smiled, first at the Alpha, then at Aaryn as she received his offering. Aaryn had to raise a hand for silence among the disformed behind him when she called to the people that the Lupine Tribe accepted the Disformed in their own right.

His hands were shaking. He swallowed hard and waited, forcing himself to slow, deep breaths as the Lupine Alpha stepped back among the brothers, and the Serpent leader stepped forward.

Aaryn's stomach sank. The Serpents had been friends to the wolves for generations, the tribes united—until the defection and the war that Reth put down when Aaryn was a child.

The Serpents, always a smaller tribe, had lost so many of their number, they could barely sustain their own rank as a tribe.

Chank, their Alpha, rarely attended the elders meetings. Of all the Alphas, he was the least present—and the most hostile, in Aaryn's mind.

And sure enough, as the male stepped forward, his eyes blazed with a fierce light. He had no desire for his already small tribe to be lowered further in the rankings by the entrance of the disformed.

"The Serpents ask a question of the disformed," the Alpha called without preamble. Then he turned from Elreth to address the people. Aaryn wanted to growl—how did he dare dismiss his Queen like that? The urge was in him to rush between them, to require the alpha to acknowledge her, but he knew he couldn't leave the disformed.

He found Reth in the crowd, who was frowning at the Alpha too, but he also didn't step forward.

Elreth would need to make sure the Alpha acknowledged her.

"How will these people provide for themselves?" the serpent called to the people. "A tribe must contribute to the greater good of the wider tribes, and the power of the Royals. How will the disformed, who have always been a drain on our resources, provide for themselves? I challenge the disformed to prove their strength, to prove their value!"

Then he stepped back and turned back to Elreth, who was bristling.

Aaryn held his breath.