Heartsong

by TJ Klune

  It was Elizabeth who figured out what the rest had missed.

  “Robbie?” she asked.

  I looked toward her. She approached me slowly. Joe and Ox came next to her. Chris and Tanner were behind them, wounds healing. Jessie had her arms slung around Rico, his head on her shoulder. They were all watching me.

  “Yeah?” I said hoarsely.

  “Do you remember?”

  I was taken aback. I hadn’t even—

  And then my heart sunk to the pit of my stomach.

  Because the void was still there, vast and black. Oh, it had light in it now, the threads of the pack stretching across it, but it was still wide open and gaping.

  I hung my head.

  She rushed toward me, gathered me up in her arms. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

  A wolf growled.

  I spun around, pushing Elizabeth behind me, baring my fangs.

  Gavin stood above Kelly and Carter, lips pulled back over his teeth, eyes still violet. And he was staring at Michelle Hughes.

  She had shifted back to human, her nude body streaked with blood.

  She was pale as she looked at us.

  She said, “I… did what I could.”

  She said, “You have to believe me.”

  She said, “I never wanted this.”

  She said, “I never wanted this to happen.”

  She said, “I was under his control.”

  She said, “Like Robbie. I was just like Robbie. I couldn’t fight him off. I couldn’t stop him. I swear to you. On my life. I only wanted for the wolves to survive. I never—please. Please believe me. I’ll do whatever you want. Joe.” She took a step toward us, and Ox snarled at her. She stopped again, hands up to placate. “Joe,” she said again, voice stronger. “Alpha Bennett. I’ve… done so much. For the wolves. I’ll step down. You will become the Alpha of all. Just… spare me. Please.”

  “What the hell?” Gordo muttered. I glanced over at him. He was looking down at his arm. The raven was twisting furiously.

  Joe stared at her for a long moment. “You stopped him.”

  “Guys,” Gordo said. “Something’s wrong. Something’s—”

  She nodded furiously. “I did. I waited for the right moment. I knew if you came—when you came—that it would be our only chance. I had to make him think I was still on his side. Until I could finish this. Finish him. A witch can’t live through an Alpha bite. The wolf magic and witch magic are incompatible.” She smiled shakily. “He’s dead. And I killed him. I saved you. I saved all of you—”

  She jerked forward, eyes widening.

  I screamed for her as a hand burst through her chest, blackened, the fingers ending in long, glistening hooks.

  Blood poured from her mouth as Robert Livingstone rose behind her, black hair growing along his face, eyes blazing orange. He roared at us over her shoulder as he pulled her heart out through her back.

  She was dead before she hit the ground.

  Livingstone held her heart in his hand as Kelly and Carter scrabbled away from him. Ox and Joe stepped forward, half-shifted, roaring.

  Livingstone’s eyes filled with red.

  Michelle had been an Alpha. And now Livingstone had taken it from her.

  “You did thissssss,” he hissed at us, and impossibly, he began to grow, his body contorting, muscles rippling as his bones creaked. His shift overcame him, but he wasn’t like any wolf I’d ever seen. His clothes shredded and fell to the ground, but he remained on his hind legs, which were bent at the knees, feet turning into long black paws shot with white hair across the tops. His chest expanded, ribs breaking and reforming. His arms were bulky with muscle, and the claws on his hands and feet were at least six inches long. His face stretched into a savage mockery of a wolf, his head bigger than any I’d ever seen. He towered above us.

  A beast.

  He tilted his head back and howled. It rolled over us, the ground shaking beneath our feet.

  “What do we do?” Rico shrieked. “What do we do?”

  “We finish this,” Ox growled.

  “Yessss,” Livingstone said, jaws snapping.

  But he was stronger than us.

  Than all of us.

  And here, at the end of all things…

  We lost.

  Oh, we gave it everything we had. Ox and Joe charged at him, and we all shouted when Livingstone swung his massive arm out, striking them both in the chest, knocking them back. I barely had time to take a breath before Joe crashed into me, slamming us both to the ground.

  He rolled off me as gunfire erupted above us. I looked up to see Jessie walking toward the beast, Rico’s guns in her hands. She kept on shooting, and the bullets were silver, but they barely made a mark, bouncing off Livingstone’s face and chest, only pissing him off even more. The guns dry-clicked and Jessie threw them to the ground, pausing only to scoop up the crowbar before charging. Livingstone swung at her, and she ducked, falling to her side, her momentum carrying her underneath him between his legs. He started to turn, but she was already on her feet behind him, bringing the crowbar down onto his back.

  It broke, the end snapping off and falling to the ground.

  “Well, shit,” Jessie said.

  Before Livingstone could put his claws on her, Chris and Tanner and Rico shouted in unison, these brave men who had carried the hearts of wolves in their chests even before they’d been bitten.

  They were no match for Livingstone. He knocked them away easily. Chris and Tanner landed on the ground near a burning house. Rico flew out onto the lake, sliding along the ice.

  I had to end this.

  I had to stop him before he hurt anyone else.

  I ran toward him, claws popping.

  “Robbie, no!” Gordo cried, but it was too late.

  I would do this for him.

  For Kelly.

  For my family.

  For my pack.

  I jumped.

  And Livingstone caught me by the neck.

  “You,” he growled, pulling me close to his face. He opened his maw, and I could see endless rows of teeth. I struggled against him, beating on his hand and arm, but it was useless. “I gave you life. I gave you a home. I gave you everything. And thissss is how you repay me?”

  “Fucking die already,” I managed to say, and sunk my claws into his right eye. It was almost as big as my palm, and I yanked on it, feeling it pop underneath my fingers.

  Livingstone howled in pain, his grip around my neck tightening until I thought my spine would break.

  Instead, he threw me to the ground. My breath was knocked from my chest as my arm broke. I turned my head slowly to see what remained of his eye still in my hand.

  Joe and Ox pulled themselves to their feet.

  Carter and Kelly stood before the beast, next to their mother.

  Jessie circled Livingstone, keeping a safe distance.

  Chris and Tanner helped me to my feet as my arm healed.

  Rico slipped over the ice before hitting the beach, eyes orange.

  Mark stood next to Gordo, their ravens’ wings stretched wide.

  “Stop. Please.”

  Two words, grunted with what sounded like great hardship.

  The beast looked down.

  Gavin stood before him, looking up at his father. It was discordant, seeing his face, so like his brother and father. But it was harder somehow, darker. It was in his eyes.

  Feral.

  “Leave,” Gavin grunted. His face twisted like he was struggling to form words. “With you. I’ll. Go. With you. Don’t. Don’t touch. Them.”

  Livingstone craned his neck toward his son. “Leeeaave?”

  “Yes,” Gavin said. “Us. We go.”

  Livingstone snapped his teeth at Gavin. “Whyyyy?”

  And Gavin said, “You’re. My father.”

  The beast reared back, nostrils flaring.

  “No,” Carter said, taking a step forward. “You can’t—�
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  Livingstone jerked his head toward Carter. He roared, his remaining eye flashing in warning.

  “Here!” Gavin shouted. “Here! I. Will go!”

  Livingstone looked back down at him. And extended his hand, claws flashing in the sunlight.

  Gavin took it without hesitation.

  “Joe!” Carter cried. “You have to stop him. You can’t let him—”

  “No,” Gavin snarled at him, eyes violet. “Stay. Back. Don’t want. This. Don’t want. Pack. Don’t want. Brother. Don’t want. You. Child. You are. A child. I am not. Like you. I am not. Pack.”

  And his heart never stuttered.

  But he lied. Because he was pack. They were faint, the threads that stretched from him toward us, and just as we began to pull on them, just as we began to tug them, to sing to him, to remind him where he belonged. Gavin broke them.

  Carter sounded as if he’d been punched, bending over and gagging.

  The others were distracted.

  They didn’t see what I saw.

  The look on Gavin’s face, brief though it was.

  It was heartbreak, real and devastating.

  And then it was gone.

  Livingstone roared again, and I covered my ears.

  By the time my head cleared, Gavin and Livingstone were running. They didn’t stop when they hit the wall. Livingstone leaped up and over it, and Gavin clawed his way to the top and jumped to the other side.

  He never looked back.

  They were gone.

  Carter took a step forward, hand raised, fingers trembling.

  And when he turned toward us, gone was the bravado, gone was the man I’d come to know. In his place stood a lost boy, eyes wide and wet, lip trembling.

  “Mom,” he croaked as a tear spilled down his cheek, chest hitching. And ah, god, there was so much blue pouring off him, I thought it would drown us all. “He… left. Mom? Why—why did he go? Why did he leave? I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”

  Elizabeth went to her son, holding him close as Carter broke apart, shoulders shaking. She whispered in his ear, telling him it would be all right, that it would be all right, my love, I promise you. I promise you. I promise you.

  * * *

  There were cries of joy as the people of the compound poured through the gates, whatever magic had held them in the trees now gone. The kids screamed for their parents, eyes clear but confused. Tony’s mother and father swept him up, each of them kissing his cheeks, his chin, his forehead as he babbled at them, telling them he’d been asleep for a long time and had the strangest of dreams, but he was awake now, and why were they crying? Why were they sad?

  Brodie looked lost and unsure, but Ox was there, crouched before him, hands on his shoulders. Brodie’s face crumpled as he collapsed into Ox, sobbing against his chest.

  Elizabeth led Carter away from the rest of us, his head bowed, hands in fists at his sides.

  Kelly watched them leave. “What are we going to do?” he whispered to me.

  I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  “We can’t beat him. Not like we are now.”

  “I know.”

  He turned his head toward me. “Gavin didn’t want to go.”

  I sighed. “You saw that too?”

  He nodded and looked back at his mother and brother. “He sacrificed himself. To save us.”

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  “We have to. For all of us. But for Gordo and Carter most of all. They deserve to know the truth. And he’s part of this. Gavin is part of this. Of us.”

  “He’s pack,” I said quietly.

  “Yes. And we don’t leave pack behind. Ever.”

  “Ever,” I said, hugging him closer.

  He put his face in my neck, breathing in deeply. “You don’t remember.”

  I closed my eyes. “No.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Grass. Lake water. Sunshine.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath.

  “That’s what I smell like to you. Isn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” I said hoarsely. “It is.”

  “I never told you what it was like for me. How I knew that day. When we came back. How I knew you were my mate.”

  “It’s—”

  “Home,” he whispered. “You smell like home. You always have. And that’s the only thing that matters. You don’t need to remember because I remember for the both of us.”

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded.

  I kissed the side of his head. “Then we won’t worry about it. We won’t—”

  “I tink we can help with dat,” a voice said from behind us.

  We turned to see Aileen and Patrice standing there, looking dirty and worn but otherwise unharmed.

  They were both smiling.

  * * *

  There were questions. So many questions. The residents of Caswell were scared. They demanded answers, wanting to know what had happened and what was going to happen next. They didn’t have an Alpha, they cried. They didn’t have anyone to lead them.

  They didn’t want to turn into Omegas.

  They gathered in front of the remains of the house that had once belonged to Michelle Hughes. We stood in front of it, a wave of anger and sadness bowling over us from all sides. I didn’t blame them. After everything we’d all been through, after everything we’d seen, I understood their fear.

  Ox was trying to calm them down, but they weren’t listening.

  It wasn’t until Joe Bennett spoke that they quieted.

  He was staring off at the lake, a strange look on his face.

  He said, “My father… he stood here once. I remember it. Clear as day. He was crying. I found him. He tried to hide it from me, but I found him. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t…. My voice had been stolen from me by a man named Richard Collins.” Joe turned to look out at the crowd. He took a deep breath. “I did the only thing I could. I put my hand on his hip, putting my scent on him. I bared my neck, wanting him to know that no matter what had happened, no matter what I’d gone through, I knew him. My Alpha. My father. And he was shocked by the display, so much so that I think he forgot he was crying. He asked me what I was doing. But I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t know how. So I hugged him.”

  Elizabeth wiped her eyes, Carter standing stonily at her side.

  “I hugged him,” Joe continued, voice growing louder, an undercurrent of AlphaAlphaAlpha behind his words. “Because I needed him to understand he didn’t have to hide his sadness. That he didn’t have to be tough and brave all the time. That he was my father and it was his job to protect me, but as his son, I loved him no matter who he was or what he was capable of. That we were stronger together than we would ever be apart.” He looked around at the crowd of wolves and witches and the last of our humans. “And I will be strong for you. But I can’t do it alone. I need you. I need all of you. If you’ll have me. If you’ll allow me to be your Alpha, I promise you, I will do everything for you. Because pack is everything.”

  At first no one moved.

  No one spoke.

  We waited.

  And then Tony stepped forward—little Tony who had blood on his hands but would never know of it as long as I still drew breath. His mother tried to stop him, but his father grabbed her arm, shaking his head. She didn’t argue.

  He looked at all of us, the Bennett pack.

  He smiled at me briefly before he looked to Joe.

  “Are you a good wolf?” he asked.

  “I try,” Joe said quietly. “And if I ever fail, I have people to remind me of who I am.”

  “Your pack,” Tony said.

  “Yes.”

  He reached up and tugged on Joe’s hand, pulling him down, their faces inches apart. Tony touched Joe’s cheek, dimpling his skin. He laughed when Joe snapped at him playfully with a low growl.

  And then Tony bared his throat.

  Joe
blinked rapidly, breathing heavily through his nose.

  He trailed his fingers along Tony’s neck, flashing his Alpha-red eyes.

  Tony scrunched up his face.

  His eyes flickered orange.

  The crowd sighed. It sounded like the wind.

  “I did it!” Tony crowed.

  “You did,” Joe said, smiling warmly. “And I’m so very proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Alpha!” He ran back to his parents. They scooped him up in their arms as he laughed.

  Joe rose, taking Ox’s hand in his.

  He said, “I am Joe Bennett. My father was Thomas Bennett. My grandfather was Abel Bennett. I have their strength within me, and that of all those who came before me. We are pack. I know you’re scared. I know that uncertainty lies ahead. We have much to do. But we’ll do it together because we’re the goddamn Bennett pack, and our song will always be heard.”

  The people of Caswell, Maine, all bared their necks to him.

  His eyes filled with fire again, and when he howled, I knew things would never be the same.

  In the ruins of the compound, we howled with him.

  Joseph Bennett.

  The Alpha of all.

  heartsong

  On a normal day toward the end of September, I knew it was time.

  Or at least Gordo knew for me, and didn’t seem to have a problem telling me as much.

  “You’re being fucking stupid about this,” he growled as he closed the door to his office in the garage. He pointed to the chair in front of his desk. I thought about arguing, but the look on his face made me keep my mouth shut. He wasn’t here for my shit.

  I sat down, refusing to look at him.

  He sighed as he sank back down into his own chair. “Kid, I don’t know why you want to drag this out.”

  “Yeah, well. Who wants to remember the time they almost killed two members of their pack?”

  He grunted as he scratched the stump of his arm. “It’s more than that.”

  I grimaced. “That’s not—”

  “What are you so scared of? Aileen and Patrice said it has to be—”

  “I know what they said,” I snapped. I took off my glasses and scrubbed a hand over my face. “I just….”