Claimed

Chapter 28: Trial

Ben's POV:

TW: this chapter contains mention of gore, murder, and violence. Please skip if necessary and I'll let you know the important details in the a/n if you do skip

 More than once in history and lore books about our kind, I'd hear the same phrase. A red moon means blood has been, or will be spilled. It wasn't true. The moon turned red during an eclipse, and it often had red or orange tones when it was first visible on the horizon, but those were normal occurrences.

At least that was what I thought until trial day, when the red of the moon creeping over the horizon looked a lot more menacing than any other time I could remember. It wasn't normal, horizon red. It was blood red and reflected off the white granite most of the outside arena was made of.

My gaze snapped to Sophie's side of the arena. We were above it in seats, but she, Darius, Ezra, Noah and Levi were down in the arena. They stood on the other side of a wooden fence that ran along the inside of the oval-shaped arena. They were on the outside of the fence but once the Elders called it, Sophie would be on the inside with her dad and no one was allowed to cross that fence. Not even once one of them was dead. The trial wasn't over until the victorious shifter made their own way off the field. That meant she not only had to kill him, but she had to be in good enough shape afterwards to make it to the fence.

She took Kane down, Hunter linked. If she can take Kane down, she can take anyone down.

I know.

That's what I wanted to believe, but as Elder Freya stood and glanced back at the moon now almost clearing the horizon, my heart stopped. I looked over at Sophie and she was facing Darius who had his hands on her shoulders, talking to her. I closed my eyes and focused, tuning my hearing to just them.

"... don't let him get behind you and remember all the tricks he used on you before, the ones we practiced in training?" Darius asked. "Good, good. You've got this, you hear me? You are walking back to this side of the fence after this and I am buying you a huge fucking bottle of the most expensive whiskey you can think of. You've got this little sister. I'll be right here waiting. I'll make that breakfast we've been wanting, I'll get you anything you can possibly want. All I need from you is you to walk your ass back over to this side."

I opened my eyes, watching as he kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. She hugged all of them and part of me wished I was down there to hug her to. I wished I could link her. You can do this, Sophie.

"The moon is almost cresting," Elder Freya warned.

My eyes darted to the moon. Only a small sliver was covered still. As soon as it was fully over the horizon, the trial would begin.

Sophia set her hands on the fence and hopped over. On the other side of the arena, her father did the same. My hands clenched into fists as I watched him stare at her blankly. Like she was nothing. Like she wasn't his daughter. Just a means to an end.

At the beginning I wondered why she was so hotheaded, why she seemed so quick to anger and defensiveness. Seeing the way her own dad looked at her, knowing at least some of the things he put her through... I didn't blame her for being angry. She'd never been in a place to feel calm emotions. At least we had time after Bryce before we tried socializing, but she didn't have any. She went from that hell with her dad to hell running for her life and hell losing her brother then hell being in hiding while trying to run a pack. No wonder she was so angry and resentful. Her father was a fucking monster and the only way his expression changed as I watched was a small turn of his lips on one side. He was enjoying this, that he was forcing her hand in a combat like this.