The Tribute (Clexa)

Chapter 1

The Tribute

Lexa stood on her designated space, a perfect dirt circle no more than three and a half feet in diameter. She had been training for this day all her life, and as the strongest alpha in Trikru, it was an honor to be chosen to represent her clan and take her chance at winning the prize; a so coveted that those she would fight against were all willing to die for a chance to get to it too.

Standing strong and proud, she gazed out at the glade before her. Winter was fast approaching, and the long blades of grass were turning amber making the field glow with golden light. Her excitement grew as she looked over her opponents, eleven other alphas chosen by their clans to battle to the death, all for the right to claim the reward at the end of the Conclave.

This was the moment Lexa had been waiting for. This was her moment to make her clan proud.

Looking left and then right, she could see many of the other alphas fidgeting where they stood, evenly spaced around the glade. Several looked ready to piss their pants, but others stood as rigid as she did. Those were the alphas she would have to watch out for. The only ones that really presented any threat to her. The others, she despised for their weakness.

The fidgety ones, she knew she could defeat without any effort, but there were a few, like the alpha from Sankru and Ontari from Azgeda, that she would have some difficulty with. They were strong, and if they decided to team together, they could possibly defeat her, but Lexa's fos had trained her for that possibility, and she had been fighting and winning against teams of alphas since the time she was ten years old. Not only was she a superb fighter, but she had also honed the use of her pheromones into a precise weapon that could flatten even the strongest opponent within seconds of releasing them. Not that she was supposed to use them unless absolutely necessary. It wasn't forbidden to use pheromones during the Conclave, but as a matter of pride, the stronger opponents didn't use them. The weaklings, like Stana from Shallow Valley, would try to use their pheromones to press their advantage, but it was useless. They were too weak, and the invisible chemicals would dissipate into the air before any of the stronger alphas even knew the pheromones had been there.

Before Lexa, no one had ever been able to wield their pheromones in a precise manner. A release of the unseen substance usually affected anyone within a close proximity, but Lexa had found a way to sharpen her invisible attack to target specific people.

It made her the strongest contender to win the Conclave in years, and many bets had been made that she would come out the victor. If she didn't, a lot of money would be lost that day. Even the Fleimkepas were all betting on her, and they were not supposed to have favorites.

Lexa's verdant green eyes looked to the sky, eager to catch a glimpse of the metal pod that should be breaking into the atmosphere in the next few minutes. She shuffled her feet but was careful not to step out of the boundary of her dirt circle. If she did, she would be disqualified from the Conclave. It would be a mistake that would cost the alpha her life.

No one knew exactly when the metal sky pods started appearing, but the Fleimkepas (Flamekeepers) insisted it was a gift from Keryon (the spirit), and for almost one hundred years, only the strongest alphas could claim the prize, all in hopes of becoming the next Commander.

Currently, the Kongeda (Coalition) was being led by an honorable alpha, but he was long past his ability to lead, as aged as he was. He was ready to relinquish the throne, but first there needed to be a new Commander.