“Are you going to answer me?”
He looked at her. The purple haze made it hard for him to see things as clearly as he might like. But his eyesight remained strong enough that he could see that Drea, as his father called her, held a great deal of external beauty. Long flowing dark hair, big round hazel eyes. Her skin appeared flawless and although he’d always been a male who appreciated the ass on a female more so than the size of her chest, he had to give Drea credit for having a decent size set of tits beneath her sweater.
Still, she did nothing for him. His cock remained solidly uninterested in the witch before him.
“I only answer to Kendrick. He is my father. My master. My Alpha.”
“I should have concocted that curse better.” She shook her head. “No matter. I’ll just get your Alpha here to ask you himself. He’s anxious to get going. As am I.”
He’d do whatever his father wished but that witch could wait in line before she got any of his attention.
His wolf stood up and growled. We can end her.
Actually, that sounds like a really fantastic idea.
The purple haze settled on his shoulders and he took a deep breath. Perhaps killing the witch would be a waste of time. Not when he needed to focus all his energy on destroying Westervelt and returning his father to his rightful place as leader of the shifter world.
His father appeared next to him. Gabriel nodded to Kendrick. “Did you at some point get tired of walking places?”
Kendrick raised an eyebrow before he spoke. “How are you feeling?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Fine.”
“Just checking.” Kendrick stretched his hands out in front of him. “Drea asked you a question and you didn’t answer her.”
“I am loyal to you and only you.” Why didn’t his father understand this?
“To be obedient to me is to listen to and answer Drea.”
That answer roiled in his stomach. The purple haze danced around his vision and Gabe’s wolf tried to swat it away with his tail. Eventually his other half lay down and took a nap.
“As you wish.”
His father’s creations darted back and forth through the yard attacking each other in the various methods they’d been taught. They were making decent progress. None of them had names, which made addressing them difficult. “Hey you” only went so far.
One of them ran over in wolf form and Gabriel patted him on the head before sending him back out to the group.
“When will they be ready?”
Drea had asked him the same thing. He regarded his father. Did the witch want to know or his father? He supposed it didn’t matter. “They’re ready now. We can go at your command.”
Kendrick’s face lit up, his eyes glowing with heated excitement. “Excellent.” He slapped Gabriel on the back. “I knew I could count on you to get the job done. You’ve always been good at handling training.”
“Thanks.” He regarded his father’s profile. Everyone said he looked like Kendrick. He blinked at that thought. Who had told him that? His mind whirled while he tried to recall the conversation. Faces danced by his eyes and he couldn’t catch them.
“You’re so much more handsome than Kendrick. He should wish he looked like you.”
A female voice—no, he shook his head, a memory of a female voice—invaded his ears. Who had said that?
Do you know?
His wolf shook his head. I wish I did.
“Gabriel?”
He stared at his father. Kendrick must have said something, must have been waiting for his response. “What?”
“Where did your mind go?” Kendrick called over his shoulder and Drea reappeared next to him. “Check him.”
She stared at Gabriel like she might inspect a piece of meat, eventually reaching out to stroke the side of his cheek. Gabriel stuck his hand in his pocket to stop himself from swatting the woman away.
I want to rip out her throat. His wolf sounded downright bloodthirsty. Gabriel hid a smile. Something felt more right about that sort of response from his other half than the way they’d been recently communicating.
Whose voice had spoken to him earlier? He wanted to tease the truth out of his fuzzy mind.
“He seems fine. The spell is still intact. But you wolves are funny creatures. It can take serious reconstruction of curses, as you know, when things start to go awry. For now, I’d say he’s just distracted.” She reached up and kissed his father, a wet slapping of the lips. “Probably trying to figure out another way to make his Alpha happy. Isn’t that right, Gabriel?”
“Sure.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “When do you want to attack?”
Kendrick looked between Gabriel and Drea. “How about first thing in the morning?”
“Morning?” He pictured Westervelt, with the sun rising over the woods. Wolves starting to stir after a night of hunting in their four-legged form. No one would be caught in their beds. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to do something like this at night?”
“Are you questioning me?”
Gabriel looked down, the purple haze forcing his eyes to lower. “No. Just suggesting a different approach.”
“They won’t expect me to launch an attack in the sunlight. It will catch them off guard. Tristan won’t see it coming.”
“Right. As you wish.”
“Let them rest and make sure they’re ready to go by tomorrow morning. You get some sleep too. It’s very, very important that you are properly nourished and not tired.”
Gabriel nodded. His father really did have his best wishes at heart. “I’ll do that.”
“Tristan will rue the day the he took us on.” Kendrick put his arm around Drea and they walked together back into the house.
“Tristan.” Gabriel made himself say his deceitful brother’s name aloud.
A montage of his younger brother played before his eyes. What did he know still about the child born right after himself in birth order? He’d been more than fully grown when Tristan had arrived. A bright child, he’d been more interested in art and mathematics than fighting, at least initially. Some time after his wolf had joined him, Tristan had become a force to be reckoned with. Everyone knew that, it seemed, except Tristan.
But that was where his memories of his younger brother ceased. Kendrick said Tristan held the Alpha position now. When had that occurred? His head pounded and he made the memories fade away.
I don’t like this. His wolf ran in a circle trying to get away from the purple haze. And I know you don’t care for it either.
That’s putting it mildly.
He walked into the field to stop the wolves from fighting. For once, he felt grateful for Drea’s magic. If any of the neighbors looked out their windows they wouldn’t see a battlefield filled with wolves. They’d see nothing but an empty green backyard. No noises to illuminate anything amiss.
“That’s good, boys and girls.” He clapped his hands and they stopped moving. “Go get some food and go to sleep. Take whatever medicine you’re given.” He still didn’t know why his father kept drugging the creatures, but they seemed to be in better spirits afterward. “We’re attacking Westervelt tomorrow.”
The wolves stared up at him. They didn’t smell like shifters should; they were certainly not family. Yet somehow in the last day, he’d come to care about them. If his calculations were correct, and they almost always were when it came to battle, he’d be losing at least 90 percent of them. He clenched his jaw. His father needed to win and these were the tools available to them to take back what belonged to Kendrick.
Still, he knew their screams would resonate in his soul for a long time to come.
The purple haze filled his vision. He had to stop being so gods-damned sentimental. Who cared if he could see the humans they once were staring back at him through their eyes?
People were expendable. Only wolves mattered.
He turned and headed back to the house. His father wanted him to eat and sleep so that was what he would do.
/>
“That’s not who you are. You’ve always been a better man than Kendrick.”
Damn it. He grabbed his head. Whose voice kept bothering him? It was female. That much he knew. And she kept saying kind things to him. Why? Shouldn’t she just leave him alone?
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, darling. You’re carrying half of my soul around with you even if you’re not currently aware of that.”
Now that couldn’t be a memory. The first time she’d spoken to him it had been something like out of a dream, but now … whoever this woman happened to be, she’d taken to speaking to him directly in his mind.
“Go away. I don’t know who you are and I don’t want you in there.”
He slammed his mind shut. Opening it up again wouldn’t be an option until after Westervelt fell. His father’s mission mattered more than anything else.
* * * *
“Did you get through to him?” Elizabeth turned to Carrie.
She had to admit that she liked the woman and she never would have expected to ever say that about a witch. After the curse that destroyed Westervelt and more than four decades with Drea, she would have thought that even being in the same room with a witch would be intolerable. But Liz happened to be likable. Not getting along would be impossible.
Particularly because, since the woman mated Rex, she now qualified as pack. They were family.
“I thought I had him for a second there, but he’s shut me out. How is he doing that?”
Elizabeth drummed her fingers on the table. “I’m not sure. I can amplify your telepathic abilities but I can’t clear him from this distance of what’s wrong with him. We’re either going to have to go there or he’s going to have to come here.”
Carrie sighed. She’d not been able to sleep a night after the pack ceremony. There were too many voices in her head again. She’d come home, except she hadn’t. Gabriel wasn’t with her. There’d be no relief until then.
“We’ll go to him. If he comes here, it’s only going to be because we’re fighting him. We need to avoid that at all costs.”
Liz nodded. “I agree. In an hour, let’s take this to Tristan.”
A gasp across the room made both women jump. Summer Murphy leaned against the wall grasping her head. Before they could even move, Cullen stormed into the room.
He grabbed his mate and pulled her into his arms. “It’ll pass.”
“What is it?” Carrie reached the couple. It had taken a little while to get over the idea of Cullen with Victoria’s daughter. Her friend must have half lost her mind when that had happened. Still, he adored Summer as much as anyone ever could adore another person. She needed only to look at them to know that. Victoria would have loved that.
“She’s having a vision.”
Carrie sucked in her breath. “Premonition?”
“It’s her gift.” Cullen rubbed her back. “If you want to call it that. You didn’t know that? Gabriel isn’t the reason Kendrick knows that?”
“From what I understand, he shared very little with his father. So no, I don’t think Gabe’s responsible. I didn’t know about it and Kendrick loved to share with me whatever Gabriel told him.”
Summer shuddered and opened her eyes. “He’s coming. Gabriel and the final battle.”
Cullen kissed the top of her head. “What else did you see? Did we win?”
“I don’t know. It was really hard. Everything is in flux. Blurry. But the battle is happening. Very shortly. Maybe now.”
Elizabeth jumped to her feet. “What? Rex. Sound the alarm.”
The other woman ran from the room. Carrie wanted to go with her but she had no one to warn. The only person she wanted to warn was the person leading the charge against them.
Carrie looked at Cullen. “Is there an actual alarm?”
“No.” He kissed Summer again. “I’m not sure exactly what they’ll do. We have no new tricks. We’ll either be able to defeat Prince Gabriel or we won’t.”
“You look tired.” She walked toward the couple.
“We’ll be fine.” Summer’s color had returned to her cheeks. She had a strong voice and her mother’s tough chin.
“Good.”
She looked down at her feet. Coming home had to be something. A gift before death? She walked quickly through the door of the room. Summer and Cullen needed alone time.
The sun shone down on her head warming her. She’d thought Westervelt cold when she’d arrived but now felt downright balmy. Or maybe the hearts of the other pack members helped to warm her from the inside out.
Think about what you just thought.
She stopped moving. What? Did you just speak correctly or are you hurt in some way?
Her wolf harrumphed. Pay attention to your thoughts, idiot girl.
I guess I was thinking about how warm the pack makes me feel. And I could really do without the nasty remarks.
Tough cookies. If you’re going to be a dope, I’m going to treat you that way.
What does the warmth of the pack have to do with anything?
Her wolf wagged her tail. Gabriel.
She gasped, covering her mouth. Thank the gods for her wolf. How could she not have seen it? Yes. Gabriel needed the pack. He’d all but removed himself from it inch by inch since he’d cut the deal to keep her alive. Hell, he’d not even had a wolf for forty years. The curse had him in its grip with no sign of letting go. But she’d been separated from them too. And now she could feel them again.
Bringing Gabriel back to the pack had to be the answer. A shot in the dark, but the best chance they had.
Carrie turned and ran. Kendrick had created packless monstrosities. Gabriel was not one of them.
She ran, wishing her shoes fit better. Her clothes were borrowed from Leah. They didn’t fit perfectly. Shifting would be ideal but Tristan stayed human for battle planning.
Rounding the corner she reached the bunker where the pack kept Tristan all but locked up. He complained just about every time he spoke that he would not be treated like a figurehead who couldn’t participate. They’d finally relented that he would be allowed to come out for the fight with Gabriel.
Malcolm grinned when he saw her coming and opened the door for her before she could even ask.
“In a hurry? You’d think a battle might be coming any minute.”
She patted him on the shoulder while she continued her charge into Tristan’s rooms. Her heart pounded hard against her ribs and not because she needed to exercise more but from excitement. This might actually work.
As she crossed the threshold, the temperature dropped five degrees from outside. Tristan liked it kept colder than everyone else and given that these were his rooms he got to decide how chilly they needed to be. Carrie shivered and decided to not take that as a sign of anything dour.
No one had walked on her grave. She refused to believe that.
“My Alpha.” She bowed her head, panting. “I have an idea.”
Michael and Theo stepped away from the table revealing Tristan at the end of the table. They were looking at maps.
“I refuse to consider escape plans for anyone but the children. We’re working on that. Given that the battle is apparently happening momentarily, we don’t have much time. I’d love to hear some new ideas. It’s possible we’re all tapped out here.”
“Good use of the vernacular, brother.” Theo laughed and Tristan glared at him for a second before rolling his eyes.
They could still joke. That had to be a good sign.
“It’s about Gabriel and the battle.”
Tristan’s jovial face fell. His mask of serious Alpha returned along with the line between his eyes that showed he had many more years beneath his belt than his external looks displayed.
“I understand we are to be hit very soon.”
She nodded. “You seem very calm.”
“Would my getting very worked up change anything? Would Gabriel not be leading my father’s army of wolves if I screamed, yelled, and got the entire po
pulation of this island into a state of chaos?”
“You’re wise, my Alpha.” She bowed her eyes again. “It’s an honor to know you now and to have known you before.”
“Very few can say that to me, sister. Particularly the female population here.” He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. “Much of who I am, who all of us are, is because of Gabriel and the role he played in keeping us all together.”
“He knew he couldn’t leave all of you. Our dying meant abandoning the pack in a time of trouble.”
“His reasoning falls into the ‘it’s complicated’ category. It’s not that I don’t understand. I do. But I can’t let him get away with this unscathed. He’s been lying to me for forty years.”
“I know.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “What if I could suggest a way that this battle never has to happen?”
“You have my attention.” He tapped her head until she looked him in the eyes. “Go on.”
“The thing is, I don’t think, curse or no curse, that Kendrick can actually make Gabriel do what he wants him to do.”
“How? The curse made us all do things we couldn’t control.”
She nodded. “Yes. Because when it was cast, Kendrick was our Alpha. Kendrick is not Gabriel’s Alpha. Not at all. You are and have been for quite a long time now.”
“So you want me to simply tell my brother that he has to listen to me and not our father? Like he’s just going to drop out of the war because I tell him to?”
“That’s exactly what you’re going to do.” She nodded. If only she were more coherent, more capable of explaining herself. But forty years of Kendrick had not made her anything but confused and unsure of herself. “If you’re willing.”
Tristan shook his head. “I’m more than willing. However, I just don’t think it’s going to work. If beating a curse required only my say-so than this would all be over by now.”
“You have Elizabeth. She can remove a curse. Ashlee removed a curse before, right? She took it from you. How did she do that?”
“Because she ran the ceremony correctly.” Tristan rubbed his temples. “Trust me, I’m not likely to ever forget that.”
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