Free Heart of a Rocky by Kelsey Jordan Page B

kind. Instead of graciously allowing Liam to unlock her cuffs, she turned her angry gaze to Anise and the son she held.
    Omar rotated his body to stand in front of Anise. “Rethink whatever you are about to do, Eryka. I have shown you kindness once. I’m not in the mood for you to test my boundaries again.”
    “My life is of no consequence, Tor. Your whore has stolen all the honor and dignity that my Tor ever had. She and that child should rest on that platform beside him.”
    Omar growled, infusing the sound with the power that could force her into a painfully slow shift. She cried out, but Anise placed a hand on his forearm.
    “Tor, her words mean nothing to me. They never did. She honors a male who saw her as nothing more than an overly compliant pest, a male with no romantic regard for anyone. Her feelings are misguided, and she is young. Let her have her words. She can’t hurt me with them; she never has. I don’t value her or her opinion of me enough to let it bother me.”
    Omar nodded and let the power flow away. Eryka collapsed to the floor, her body only partially shifted and covered in sweat. She looked up at Anise with a glare.
    “I Challenge you, Anise. You are a classless whore who set aside your loyalty to our Tor and let this… this… male infiltrate the compound and take over the pride. You are a woman of no honor, of no worth, and you deserve nothing short of ten thousand lifetimes in the eternal hold of Gronak.”
    Anise shrugged and turned her attention back to Omar. “When should I honor her challenge, Tor?”
    “You’ve just given birth, Rocky. Are you ready?”
    His mate smiled when she heard the shocked gasp from Eryka. “I am more than ready.”
    “I rescind my challenge.” She shook her head, her eyes darting around for a quick escape. “I will not fight a Rocky.”
    “No,” Omar said. “A challenge accepted cannot be rescinded.”
    “But—”
    “In your grief and anger, you spoke when you were told to be silent. You disregarded me and my advice; therefore, I will not extend the courtesy I extended with my Lykata.” He turned his attention back to Anise. “It will have to wait until after the prince’s Naming.”
    He walked away from the females, motioning to Yara to step up, not that he needed to. His Lykata and Tukata had already read his intent and became Anise’s deadly shadow before he’d taken more than two steps.
    “For those not already dressed, you are dismissed to prepare for Derrick’s Passing. We will reconvene in twenty minutes.”
    Nearly everyone left the hall to change, leaving all the Rockys and Eryka, who kept shooting sad glances at the platform.
    “Eryka, do you know if Derrick had a Cloth of Mourning? If so, where is it?”
    She turned her head slowly to face him, taking him in as if he’d spoken in tongues. He repeated himself, and she nodded.
    “It’s in the wooden chest in his office.”
    Trent stepped forward and offered to retrieve it, an offer Omar accepted. He then gave Liam the order to escort Eryka back to her quarters to change. To Stella, he gave the task of informing the pride on the compound grounds—roughly fifteen in number—of Derrick’s Passing as well as the Passing of the guards they’d killed the night before.
    Tyson helped set up the platforms for the guards and placed their bodies on the top. They’d found the Cloth of Mourning for each of the guards the night before, so their bodies had been prepared and lay nude beneath their respective silk sheets.
    Omar left to change and returned to see the members of the pride filtering into the room. Each grabbed a candle, which had been lit, and carried it to their place in the space below the platforms. A designated family member for each of the deceased lit pillar candles at each end of their departed’s platform.
    In most Passing ceremonies, family and friends took care to honor their dead. But Derrick had no living relatives, save his son, and no real friends beyond the