Chapter 7 Trial by Submission.

ZARIA~

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Red Hollow has always smelled like blood.

Not the kind that lingers from battle. No this is older. Deeper. The kind soaked into the stone from centuries of wolves tearing each other apart for the right to rule.

The arena is a graveyard pretending to be a monument. The bones have been swept away, but I can still feel them under my boots. Screaming.

I don't flinch.

I don't pray.

I arrive.

Dressed in nothing but leather, fury, and the scent of power that once marked me cursed.

Now?

It marks me Queen.

Crowds line the cliffs above the arena. Shifters of every rank, rogue and royal alike, snarling and watching like this is just another blood sport. Another legend to feast on.

They came to see a trial.

They'll leave having witnessed a reckoning.

Levi walks behind me.

Not beside. Not ahead.

Behind.

Not because he's beneath me. But because he trusts me to lead.

There's a difference.

A dangerous one.

Jasper is already waiting in the center of the ring, stripped to the waist, arms folded, tattoos glowing with the old magic of the Alpha Kings. His eyes are gold. Sharp. Unapologetic.

He's not nervous.

He's hungry.

But so am I.

"You came," he says when I step into the circle.

I shrug. "You challenged me. I don't back down from men who can't even win a fair fight."

He smirks. "Nothing about us was ever fair, Zaria."

"No," I agree. "That's why you lost me."

The crowd hushes. Every wolf tuned into the tension like it's oxygen.

The Arbiter steps forward. Old. Pale. Dripping with sanctity no one actually believes in anymore.

"By ancient law, we gather under the full moon to witness the Trial by Submission," he begins. "Two wolves enter the arena. One will rise. One will bow. And the pack shall accept the will of the bond."

The Arbiter looks to Jasper. "Do you challenge?"

"I command," Jasper answers, voice booming.

The Arbiter looks to me. "Do you accept?"

I smile. "I dare."

He raises his hand. "Then let the trial-"

"I'm not finished," I interrupt.

Gasps ripple like water.

Jasper tenses. "Zaria..."

I raise my chin. "I accept this trial. But I will not be claimed. No mate bond. No marking. No chains wrapped in ceremony."

The Arbiter looks uneasy. "That is... not how the trial works."

I step forward until I'm nose-to-nose with him. My voice drops to a growl.

"Then rewrite the f*ck*ng rules."

The arena erupts.

Howls. Screams. Fury.

But no one steps forward to stop me.

Because they can't.

Because they won't.

Because deep down, every wolf in that arena knows:

I'm not the Omega they cast out anymore.

I'm the storm they unleashed.

JASPER

She's magnificent.

And I hate her for it.

She moves like fire beautiful, chaotic, consuming. Every word from her lips is a blade. Every glance a challenge.

And gods help me...

I want her to submit.

Not because I want her weaker.

But because I want her mine.

Completely.

Utterly.

Irrevocably.

When the signal drops, I don't hesitate.

I lunge.

She dodges.

Of course she does.

She's always been faster. Always been smarter.

But I'm not here to win by force.

I'm here to prove something much more terrifying:

That I'm still the only one who can match her madness beat for beat.

We circle each other like predators too arrogant to admit we're prey. Her claws flash. Mine meet hers mid-air. Sparks fly-real ones, from the tether we still share but pretend doesn't exist.

"You never could fight me without wanting to f*ck me," she snarls.

"Because war looks good on you," I snarl back.

She kicks me in the ribs. Hard.

I grunt. Laugh. Spit blood.

Gods, I missed this.

ZARIA

His strength isn't the problem.

It's the way he remembers.

Every step I take, he anticipates. Every blow, he absorbs like it's a language he still speaks fluently.

I land a punch to his jaw. He takes it.

Then grabs my throat.

Not tight. Not cruel.

Claiming.

I slap his hand away and spin, slashing claws across his chest.

The scent of his blood hits the air like thunder.

And the crowd loses their d*mn minds.

But I don't hear them.

I hear the pulse between us. The heat that was never extinguished, just banked. Waiting.

He grabs my waist. I throw him over my shoulder.

We hit the ground in a tangle of limbs and past sins.

He pins me.

I flip him.

He grins.

I snarl.

And somewhere in that chaos, my teeth find his shoulder not to mark. But to warn.

"I'll never belong to you," I hiss.

His breath is ragged. "Then let me belong to you."

I freeze.

Not because I'm afraid.

But because I didn't see it coming.

Not from him.

Jasper the Alpha King on his back beneath an unmated Omega, looking at me like I'm the last wild thing in a world of cages.

The tether howls between us.

He bares his throat.

Submits.

Before the Arbiter can speak, before the crowd can process, before even Levi can react

I rise.

Covered in sweat. Blood. Glory.

I don't gloat.

I command.

I raise my voice to the masses and roar:

"Your King has bowed. Now you will rise... under me."

And the arena explodes.

Not in dissent.

In worship.

LEVI

I watched the moment Jasper broke.

It wasn't weakness.

It was something more dangerous.

Clarity.

Because surrendering to her wasn't a loss.

It was strategy.

He bowed.

So that he could stay close.

I knew it.

She knew it.

But the rest?

They saw an Omega who brought a King to his knees and crowned herself in his place.

And they would follow her anywhere.

Even into the dark.

Even if it meant dying.

And me?

I'd already died a hundred times for her.

Now I was ready to kill.

Because the arena didn't end a war.

It started a reign.

ZARIA

Later that night, I stand at the top of the cliff.

Cloak snapping. Wind screaming.

And beside me?

Two monsters who love me like I'm a religion they're both willing to burn for.

Jasper at my right, bloody, bowed, still dangerous.

Levi at my left watchful, silent, lethal.

I don't choose.

I lead.

Because for the first time in history...

An Omega doesn't serve a pack.

She rules it.

And gods help anyone who forgets that.