Matt hopped up front, and then Lucas careened down the driveway. I watched the dark world unfurl past my window. At some point, I asked Matt to shut off the AC. My bones were so cold I thought they might not thaw out in time for the duel.
“Did you speak to Tamara today?” I asked Liam as a beat-heavy song came to an end and another began.
He glanced away from his window. “I sent her a message.”
“Does she know what’s happening tonight?”
“I told her I’d call her later. And that if I didn’t, the pack would take care of her.”
My breathing stuttered.
Liam leaned over and patted my knee. “I’ll be calling her later.”
I tried to return his smile but couldn’t. I went back to staring at the stars blooming like baby’s-breath in the purpling sky. I wondered if my parents were somewhere among them, watching over me, but that line of thinking turned even more painful than contemplating the duel.
As we drove, Liam went through the rules again. They’d been drilled so many times inside my skull that I knew them by heart. Still, I paid attention.
“Your main purpose is to referee the fight, not to get involved. When you inspect Cassandra tonight, don’t linger on her lips or nails. We’re not looking at calling her out on foul play. If Justin attacks you or me, you’re allowed to strike back.”
“And if Cassandra attacks me?”
His expression became more cutting than a knife point. “If Cassandra attacks you, she’ll regret it for the rest of her very short life.”
“I’m serious. What happens if she does? Can I kill her, or does it have to be you?”
“If she attacks first, then you’re allowed to retaliate.” He reached across the backseat, collected my hand, and squeezed it reassuringly. “But it won’t come to that.”
For three entire songs, he was quiet. We were all quiet.
When the ten-foot metal fence that screened off the Pines’ former property came into view, I shivered. And then I shivered harder when Lucas slid the car through the open gate. The white stone headquarters appeared like a mirage at the end of the cedar-lined alley, its staircase darkened by bodies. It seemed like every man and boy in our pack had come.
My heart began to beat a rhythm more hectic than the one blaring out of the SUV’s speakers.
Liam squeezed my hand to garner my attention. “Ness, if I fall tonight, you are not to challenge her, understood?”
I blinked as emotion rushed into my eyes. And then I squeezed his fingers back. “The day I signed up to be your Second, you said you wanted my admiration. Well, you’ll get it, but not if you don’t get back up.”
A gentle smile settled over his lips, and then he squeezed my hand one last time before letting go and exiting the car. The pack swarmed him, whispering words of encouragement. I hopped out after Liam, and Matt and Lucas came to stand at my sides like two giant bookends.
I looked for August, but Cole’s car hadn’t pulled up yet. Hadn’t they been right behind us? Had they stopped at a red light? Or missed a turn?
“You look a bit green, Little Wolf.”
I tried to feel out the distance using the tether, but my stomach was in shambles. “Can you call your brother, Matt?”
I wasn’t looking to stress him out, but my quiet plea had him craning his neck toward the long driveway.
He all but tore the seams off his shorts pocket in search of his phone as we climbed up the stairs and entered the buffed stone atrium. “He’s not answering.”
“I’ll try August,” Lucas said, taking out his own phone. “Matt, call Greg.”
As we descended the staircase, I watched the crowd milling beyond the French doors along the sharp hedges of the maze. The slender moon crescent cast an eerie glow over the land and the dueling ring that stretched from the maze to the stone terrace.
“Did you reach them?” I asked, returning my gaze to Matt.
He shook his head.
Liam had gone down the terrace steps, but one look at my pallid cheeks had him lumbering back up. “What’s going on?”
“We can’t reach Greg, Cole, or August,” Lucas said quietly, darting a glance at the assembled Creeks below who were all—and I mean, all—staring at us.
“Can you sense them?” I asked Liam hopefully.
He closed his eyes. After a while, he said, “They’re a couple miles out but approaching fast.”
A breath whispered through my lips just as someone spoke my name. I turned around to find Frank.
He hugged me, cinching my rigid body. “You go on out there and show them what Boulder females are made of, okay?” He rubbed his bristly jaw against my temple, marking me with his scent in a show of affection.
Heels resonated in the quiet headquarters. I pulled away and peered past Frank, praying I’d see August or Sarah, but found my friend’s mother and sister-in-law instead. They strode toward the terrace, arms locked together.
“We believe,” Margaux whispered.
They believed what? In us? That we’d win?
No other footfalls disrupted the silence; no car tires crunched the pebbled driveway.
“Boulders, it’s mighty impolite to keep your hosts waitin’.” Cassandra’s voice bellowed from the center of the torch-lit field.
Liam lifted his gaze to mine. They’re coming, Ness.
I hoped he was saying this because he felt them approach through the blood-link and not as some inane reassurance.
He tipped his head toward the garden. In perfect synchronicity, we walked down the stairs. Memories of another time flashed through my mind—Liam, lip bleeding, yelling for me to come home with him while two Pines shackled his wrists.
I didn’t like that memory. There’d been too much hurt in Liam’s eyes that night, hurt I’d put there.
I realized then that what had broken Liam and me wasn’t Tamara or my mating link. What had broken us was that we’d spent more time fighting each other than fighting alongside one another.
They’re getting closer.
The words whispered into my mind made my skin buzz with renewed hope. I became acutely aware of the tether which swelled and effervesced with something dark and sour.
“Something’s wrong,” I whispered to Liam.
Liam frowned, zeroing in on the ring of shifters and then on Cassandra, whose blue lips twitched with a smile.
Remembering her confession, I placed my palm in front of my mouth before murmuring, “With August. He’s angry. Really angry.”
A mane of wild blonde curls caught my attention in the first line of shifters. Sarah stood directly ahead of us, her hand clutched in Alex’s, her eyes glistening as though she were crying. Was he hurting her, or were her tears for us? Had she found out something else but not found a way to relay the information?
Suddenly, she gasped, and her eyes rounded as they set on a spot over my head.
I whirled around.
August, Cole, and Greg burst through the open veranda doors, sweat glossing their flushed cheeks and bruises marbling their jaws. Blood had seeped into the collar of Cole’s gray T-shirt and speckled the oatmeal fabric of August’s torn Henley.
I started in their direction, but Liam clapped his hand over my forearm.
Don’t. They’re fine. They’re here.
“They’re not fine,” I growled. Then to Cassandra, I yelled, “What did you do to them?”
“Me? I’m a werewolf, honey, not a magician. I’ve been here waitin’ the whole time. I didn’t do nothin’ to these men.”
But someone had.
I caught Justin exchanging a loaded glance with Alex Morgan. Of course . . .
I searched my intended’s gaze for a hint of what had happened, but all of his features were ironed too tight to read anything besides absolute fury.
I noticed Greg’s empty fingers balling and uncurling at his sides at the same time as Liam.
They took our Sillin, his voice sputtered inside my skull.
That was why t
hey’d been attacked . . . Not to keep August away, but to keep the drug away.
Doesn’t matter.
Didn’t it? Could he eat her heart without a Sillin injection?
“For the love of the Wolf God, could we please begin?” Cassandra asked.
“By all means”—Liam yanked off his black V-neck and tossed it to the ground—“let’s get this over with.”
49
Liam and Cassandra stood naked, shoulders squared, spines taut, muscles twitching. Justin had already shed his clothes, but I hadn’t. I’d take them off at the last minute.
As I circled the giant Creek Alpha, pretending to inspect her body, she said, “You’re a ruthless little thing, aren’t you?”
“Wanting what’s right doesn’t make me ruthless.”
“What’s right?” Her glacial blue eyes, mere slits behind her gummy lids, thinned even more. “Righteous people possess virtue. You lost yours this weekend.”
Alarm straightened my vertebrae. Had she spied on August and me? Or could she smell him—
“And don’t you bother convincin’ me it was all your aunt’s doing. I know she had help, and who better than a girl famished for revenge?”
She was talking about Aidan, not August. I tried not to let my relief show, repressing it as best I could.
“Or maybe it was my cousin’s ex-wife who aided your aunt?”
That snapped something in me. “Evelyn had nothing to do with Aidan’s death.”
“And how would you know, since you weren’t there?”
She’s trying to get under your skin. The intensity of Liam’s voice had me flinching. Finish the inspection and return to me.
Cassandra raised a stealthy smile. “I believe it’s her night off from that fancy new job of hers . . . Too bad Frank decided to attend the duel.”
My breaths congealed inside my lungs. “Are you trying to get me to kill you before the duel begins?”
Ness!
I started to turn, but spun right back to face the black-hearted woman. “The first time I heard about the female Alpha who brought the largest pack to their knees, I was awestruck. Proud that a woman had risen so high. But now that I’ve met you and understand how you got to the top, I’m ashamed.”
Her blue lips writhed as though she were chewing on something particularly unsavory. Even though I wasn’t the only one who’d fallen for her birthmark lie, it incensed me to have been so naïve.
“How I got to the top? You mean by fightin’? We all got our techniques, but seducin’ men to get to the top wasn’t for me.” Her eyes glinted maliciously. “To each her own.”
Anger bolted my bones. What man had I seduced? Was she talking about when she’d sent me to Heath, posing as an escort? Or did her barb have to do with Liam? Did she think he and I were—
“Ness!” This time, Liam roared my name out loud.
I jerked around. “She passes my inspection,” I muttered, my voice crackling through the starlit expanse.
“And Kolane passes my inspection,” Justin said, crossing back over toward his Alpha, leering at me. “Time to take those clothes off, Ness.”
I glowered at Justin as I stalked to the perimeter of the ring, yanking off my hoodie and lobbing it at Matt. He caught it.
As I closed in on him, fingers trembling on the bottom of my tank top, I whispered, “Tell Frank to go home.”
Matt’s pale eyebrows pinched together.
“Evelyn . . .” Her name came out hushed but clear.
As I handed him my top, he nodded. “I’ll tell him.”
A howl pierced the night. I looked over my shoulder to find Cassandra’s light-brown wolf edged in pale moonlight.
“I’ll take care of it. Now, go on out there, Little Wolf, and crush them, ’cause that’s what Boulders do. We roll and we crush.”
I could feel the sting of eyes on my spine as I dropped my shorts and underwear, but I didn’t care. I was too infuriated to care. I kicked both beyond the dueling ring, then padded back out toward Liam, who was still in skin and waiting for me.
Behind me, Matt repeated, “Roll and crush.”
“Ready?” Liam asked.
I nodded without hesitation. I’d never been this ready for anything.
50
When Liam released a howl to signal the beginning of the duel, everything and everyone outside the ring melted into the darkness.
My breaths were loud in my ears, like the whoosh of waves on sand, frothing into my veins, slowly filling them with grit.
Unless I call you, Ness, you stay as far back as you can, you hear me?
I hear you. But just because I’d heard him didn’t mean I’d heed his command. If I felt I could help, I would.
Justin was larger than I remembered, more bulky than tall. I estimated he weighed twice what I did and bet he planned on using those extra pounds on me if push came to shove.
His golden eyes slid from Liam to me, lighting up with a smirk.
I wasn’t scrawny, but I was small.
Unimpressive.
Easily overlooked, like the River Alpha said after Liam and I slayed the bear.
A breeze picked up, blowing clouds over the sliver of moon and smattering of stars, darkening the already dusky expanse. My lupine eyesight sharpened, adjusting to the dim luminosity. Cassandra was waiting for Liam to make the first move, the same way she’d waited for Julian to attack.
Exactly like he’d predicted.
Now! His word cracked like a whip against my hide
I took off alongside him as he raced toward Cassandra.
She waited and waited, and then, just as his hind legs bent in preparation to fling himself upward, she pressed her belly low to the ground, limbs coiled tight against her long body. She didn’t move, expecting him to pounce on her, but he arched high, overtaking her flattened form.
She blinked, ears perked up in surprise that he hadn’t landed on her. His front paws hit the earth with a thud that shook the ground. When his hind paws crushed the blades of grass, Cassandra lurched back onto all fours and swung around.
Liam turned fluidly and then held still, fixing the Creek Alpha with his yellow eyes.
For a moment, neither moved. And then she lurched forward.
Liam hopped back, his big body stirring with a grace that shouldn’t have belonged to a creature so colossal. She stopped her attack, which wasn’t so much an attack as a taunt. She wanted him to sink his fangs into her. Not into her neck of course, or into her chest where dwelled that soft organ that had miraculously kept her alive all these years, but in a chunk of flesh irrigated by her silver-tainted blood.
Justin, who was standing opposite me, jerked, and then his muzzle scrunched up as though Cassandra had assaulted his skull with silent words. She snarled and launched herself at Liam, and he crouched and opened his maw wide.
Which was exactly what Cassandra wanted.
Her speed decreased, and she stumbled, her performance impeccable. If I’d been standing on the sidelines, I would’ve assumed she’d tripped.
I wouldn’t have seen the eagerness to feed the waiting wolf flare in her blue eyes.
A heartbeat before she landed on Liam, he flipped over and scraped his claws into her belly, yanking a shrill whine from the Creek Alpha. Blood sprayed out of her wound. Liam twisted his face, shutting his eyes and mouth so that none of the crimson liquid landed in him. Droplets dotted his fur though, wetting the black mass.
Just as Cassandra toppled, he sprang onto his paws and pounced, swiping her withers with his claws, slicing her flesh. A sound between a yowl and a snarl pitched out of her.
If Liam could’ve bitten her, this would already have been the end of the duel.
He had her on the ground, neck exposed. But claws, however sharp, didn’t have the impact of teeth, and paws didn’t have the pressure of jaws.
She tried to rise, but he slammed his two front legs into her spine, and she sprawled back onto her belly. Low growl rumbling out of her, she bared her teeth
and wrenched her neck to nip at his pastern.
She must’ve sunk her fangs in, because Liam jolted off her body. Even though licking his wound would’ve made it heal faster, the injury was too near his claws that were wet with her blood.
As Cassandra heaved herself up, pale fur mottled by maroon patches, her eyes burned with murder and fury.
Did she understand that we’d figured out her technique for eliminating the greatest Alphas?
A flutter erupted deep in my belly, not strong enough to move me, more of a quiet reminder that August was watching. A shadow crept into my peripheral vision, and then the oily musk scent of Justin snaked into my nose. I skipped away, never taking my gaze off Liam who remained still as a boulder while his leg healed.
Cassandra snarled, ripping the heavy silence. She took off running, her strokes slow but powerful. Liam dashed, sketching a wide arc around the dueling ring, making her run after him, making her expend precious energy.
When I noticed he was favoring his left leg, worry enveloped me. Was her saliva laced with silver the same way as her blood?
Justin bumped into me, and I staggered but stayed upright and growled at him.
Didn’t see you there, bitch.
My white fur made me stand out in pitch blackness . . . I practically glowed.
I growled at him before snapping my attention back toward Liam. He was still running but had slowed down considerably. Again, I worried it was from pain, but then I noticed Cassandra had stopped chasing him and imagined he was evaluating her next move.
I liked what you did to your new house, but you gotta admit, it was a little . . . sterile.
My skin prickled at Justin’s implied admission. Of course he’d been among the Creeks who’d vandalized my home. He’d probably led the whole damn team.
After this duel, I’ll kill you, Justin, I muttered between clenched teeth.
He made a noise that sounded like a chuckle. ’Cause you think Cassandra will let you out of this ring alive? She knows you’re a bitch that can’t be tamed. Which makes you a liability. She doesn’t keep liabilities.
A Pack of Love and Hate Page 27