If you like to have music while you read, try "Tomorrow We Fight" by Tommee Profitt and SVRCINA. It's what I was listening to while I wrote this!

*****

~ ZEV ~

In the tradition of the battle Alphas, Zev unbuttoned his fur and threw his jacket to the ground behind him, let them see his strength, his scars as he turned a slow circle, letting his eyes fall on and pierce every Chimera he could.

Some shrank under his gaze. Others met it calmly. And a few with the piercing light of challenge.

So be it. He would meet this without failure, or he would pay the price. Because that was what a true leader did.

For a moment his mind tripped back to Xar, who'd held the people in fear, required their submission at just his appearance. Who'd hidden behind his seconds and support…

Zev shook his head.

He would rise or fall on the strength of his true leadership, and they would see and measure him that way. It was the only way they would ever find strength together.

"Your lives have been turned upside down. For years. You have lost a young leader, gained a broken leader, lost your females and families, and now seen your broken leader removed and replaced with a female who has disappeared, leaving me to lead."

Listed like that, his own certainty suddenly waivered. But Zev shook it off. He was there for a reason. And that reason was to establish these people for Sasha so when she returned she wasn't challenged.

"You fear. It seems that the dirt shifts beneath your feet—and even when leaders emerge, they come and go, or prove… less than trustworthy."

There was a rumble among the Tigers, their loyalty to their Alpha still a tender loss. But none of them spoke to challenge him, so Zev took it as a win.

"You were brought back to the City at the order of your Alpha, Sasha of the wolves. She returned to you focused and with goals for your future, but once again the humans interfered. It was her commitment to you, her certainty of her strength that took her from you. But she was very careful to establish the hierarchy to rule in her absence. You are not smoke, drifting on the wind. The wolves have shared the memories, as have others who witnessed her choice. You have heard the story. You know that she thought of you first. You are here because she knew the humans would be slower to reach you. You are here for your protection.

"I was wounded in the battle and have been in my weakness, but I'm healed. I stand before you strong, and I lead at her order, and by her authority, and I say to you the time has come to stand on the rock of our new future!

"You do not follow a weak King. You do not follow a two-minded female! You follow an Alpha who understands what she brings to help you, and has stepped into danger to fight for you, and for your females.

"Our Alpha, my mate, my ardent, is fighting for you. And if she succeeds, she returns with your family, your tribe in her hands. It was with excitement that I came to join you in the City this morning, anticipating our future together. And yet, I find clans at arms, challenges and petty arguments, snarls over small wins, and the greater battle ignored in the face of crumbs of power." He seethed at them. "Your pride threatens to tip you back into the shifting sands. Is that what you want?"

Letting the question hang in the air, he turned a circle again, his hands fisted at his sides.

"I have heard your concerns, and I've heard your arguments. I've seen brothers at each others throats, and clans circling, prowling, threatening to pounce. All because we look backwards. Back to find our position, back to find our leaders, back to find our value. And it won't work, Chimera. We know that already. Looking back will only drag us into events and decisions that can't be changed.

"I call this audience to ask you to look forward. To choose new. To keep your feet on the rock our future in the hands of my Mate, and myself. I stand here and give myself for your measure! Do you hear me?"

Led by Lhars, the wolves threw back their heads and howled, raising their voices in a chorus to support their Alpha. Some of the other Chimera called, too. But there was a great deal of muttering and whispers, a ruffling of feathers and fur through the amphitheater.

Many, many were not yet decided.

Zev set his teeth.

"I'm here to answer to your measure. Your Alphas are here, submitted to my call. If you challenge, you challenge on your own teeth and claws. And I will hear your challenge, and I will meet it."

He turned again, facing the back and beginning to circle the center of amphitheater, allowing none of them to feel like he didn't, or wouldn't notice them. He couldn't allow any of them to believe that they could hold onto their bitterness and he wouldn't notice.

"Here the picture of your future under your Alpha, Chimera. Attend!"

Then, with a deep breath, he showed them, letting his voice carry, letting his eyes heat and light, letting his body speak for his strength. He told them of his conversations with Sasha—their twin goals to return the females to Thana, to defeat the grip of the humans, and to allow the Chimera to live as a people, not as a project.

"…Your Alpha has not grown in Thana, she comes like a child to us—except this child wasn't made by the humans. Wasn't primed for their leadership. She comes as their equal. She comes as one of their kind—and she speaks for you. She works for you. She works to defeat them.

"Sasha of the Wolf Clan left Chimera to keep you safe. When the human arrived, she wouldn't allow him to take any one of us. She stepped into his grip knowing the danger, willing to die if it kept us safe. That is the leader you follow, Chimera. Is that the leader you would disappoint?"

Zev closed his mouth and stopped moving.

No one made a sound.

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