by Leia Stone
The room spun and I staggered backward as the air whooshed out of me. “No.”
“You weren’t there to testify to the claim of … sexual assault … and they had Sawyer’s DNA all over the crime scene.”
No! I broke down into sobs, my back slamming against the concrete wall as I slid into a sitting position. Sawyer, my Sawyer, in prison for almost a year because he was enacting justice on a sick soul and doing honor in my name. My breaths came out in short, ragged gasps, and I knew I was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack.
Rab knelt down before me, meeting my gaze. “Now that you’re back, we will figure this out.”
I nodded, wiping my cheeks. “Where is Magic City Prison? Light Fey Territory?” I moved to stand and he backed up, putting his hands out.
“Yes, but—”
“I need to break him out. He’s all alone in there, and—” Another sob threatened to take hold of me again.
Rab placed a hand on my shoulder. “We have serious issues you need to deal with here first. We’re low on food. There was a mold contamination and we lost half of our supply early on. Also the air filter just broke which we rely on for fresh oxygen. Then there is the issue with heating and cooling, which keeps going out. We need an exit plan, Demi. We can’t live down here forever. People are getting stir crazy and going topside and disappearing, or winding up dead.”
Oh God.
Okay. Focus, Demi. One thing at a time.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “The Paladin land is healed. I saw it with my own eyes. You can move everyone there, rebuild and fortify the city while I go looking for Sawyer. I can’t leave him in there alone.”
“He’s not alone,” Rab told me. “The day after he got taken away, Walsh murdered the vampire king and then confessed to everything on tape so that he would be taken with Sawyer.”
I blinked at him, stunned, unsure I’d heard him right.
“Say what?”
Rab nodded. “The vampire king is dead. Only the queen is left and she rules everything. Walsh is with Sawyer in the Magic City Prison so he can keep an eye on him.”
Holy shit. Thank you, Walsh! That made me feet slightly better, but only slightly. Now I had two people to rescue.
Rab placed a hand on my shoulder. “Our people need to hear you tell them that the Paladin land is safe to go home to. That you found the cave and were found worthy and we can grow fresh food and prosper again. We need a leader.”
He was right. Dammit, he was so right.
Okay.
I shook myself, preparing to live up to my promise and lead my people, lead Sawyer’s people too, I guess. “Okay, a few days to sort things here, then I’m going to break Sawyer and Walsh out.”
Rab nodded. “I heard your wolf can walk through walls? Sounds like a handy trick when wanting to break into a prison.”
I grinned as a calmness settled over me.
I was going to get my hubby back. We would have our happily-ever-after, damn it!
After a few deep breaths, Rab opened the steel vault door, and after a whoosh of air I was welcomed by a small contingent of close friends and family. Raven, my parents, Sawyer’s mom, Sage, the baby, Eugene, Arrow, Willow and her baby, they all stood smiling at me, and my heart felt so full in that moment I almost forgot about all of my troubles.
Almost.
“Alpha.” Willow nodded, stepping forward, holding a baby girl who looked about six months old. I instantly smelled the humanness on her, and my heart pinched with regret.
“Willow, I’m so sor—”
“Isn’t she perfect?” Willow smiled at me, stroking the baby’s dark hair.
I caught myself. Why would I apologize for a healthy human baby? There were plenty of people who would kill for one of those. As I stared at the child, I realized she was right. She was perfect. Ten fingers and ten toes. We’d been wrong before to worry about all the children born without wolves.
“She’s absolutely perfect,” I agreed, my throat tightening.
“And she’ll have a playmate.” Willow looked at my mom, who was watching me with eyes that brimmed over with tears.
“Oh, honey, you had a baby without me,” my mom croaked, stepping forward. Sawyer’s mom stood beside her. She was beaming as she looked down at Creek, who looked so much like Sawyer that it made me sad sometimes to look at him.
I rushed toward my mom, opening my arms and smooshing her in a hug. Creek was pressed between us, sucking the nipple of a plastic bottle and probably wondering what this plastic thing was. He’d never seen plastic. Or the white cotton diaper he was wearing, or the clean yellow onesie. He looked … like a city wolf. I enjoyed learning to live off the land, but something about disposable diapers just made everything seem right with the world.
Sawyer’s mom stood near us, shifting awkwardly like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what. Reaching one arm out, I pulled her into the hug with my mom, making it a three-way.
“I hope it’s okay I gave him a bottle,” my mom fumbled as she pulled back from our group hug. “He was crying and you weren’t here and—”
I smiled. “It’s fine. I’m just not used to diapers and clothes and stuff.”
Wow, where had my social skills gone?
My mom looked at my skimpy suede dress, unshaven legs, and the hunting knife strapped to my thigh, and nodded. “Well, whatever you’re comfortable with, dear. I can change him back into the rabbit fur if—”
I laughed, and so did Sage, who stood behind my mom. If I never had to skin another rabbit it would be fine by me.
“Normal clothes are fine,” I assured her. When the time was right, I would teach my baby to live off the land too, but some city luxuries were awesome to have in the meantime.
Sawyer’s mom reached out and gently touched Creek’s forehead. “I’ll have to show you a baby picture of Sawyer. I grabbed a few before the evacuation…” She shook off the memory. “They look so much alike.”
I nodded. “I’d like that. Also, I wanted to tell you. His full name is Creek Curt Calloway-Hudson.”
Her breath hitched, and then tears spilled over onto her cheeks. “I love that.”
I smiled, trying to keep from crying myself. “It has a nice ring to it.”
Without warning, she reached out and pulled me in for another hug. “Sawyer always talked about having kids one day. He would be so proud.”
Would be…
He wasn’t gone yet. She’d already given up hope?
I nodded into her shoulder, trying not to get too emotional. It was all so overwhelming. “I’m going to get him back. Don’t worry.”
My dad had been silently watching me the entire time. “They say you’re their alpha now?” He slung an arm around my mother, looking from Rab to Arrow. Poor guy seemed confused by the whole thing. Could I blame him?
Something stirred within me at my father’s words.
Anger. Why?
Because I wasn’t just the alpha of the Paladins. With Sawyer gone, I’d need to be the leader of both packs until he could return, something I didn’t think they would like but was necessary.
“I’m everyone’s alpha now, Dad.” I tipped my chin up, and Eugene, who was standing next to my father, gave me a maniacal grin.
“Until Sawyer is back, I’m your alpha too, and I’m going to have to make some hard decisions so I can get us all out of here and back topside.” Then I popped on my toes and kissed his stunned cheek. “Missed you, Dad.”
My dad looked shocked at my declaration. My mom too. But I didn’t care. That’s the way things were going to be. We needed one leader to unite us all or there was no way we were going to survive and eventually take Wolf City back.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Raven squeaked beside me, and I yanked my bestie into a hug. When my arms wrapped around her, the earthy scent of magic and spell work surrounded me and I felt like I was home, back in my parents’ apartment in Spokane while Raven and I giggled about cute boys at Delphi when
we were thirteen.
“Missed you the most,” I whispered.
I had barely seen my bestie since the day I left Delphi well over a year ago.
When we pulled apart, we both wiped at our eyes.
“You look badass, and slightly horrifying, like you eat raw cockroaches for breakfast,” she told me, which caused me to burst out laughing.
“Hey, if you’re hungry enough…” I shrugged and she smiled.
Eugene was next, pulling me in for a big bear hug.
“Sorry I couldn’t protect Sawyer better. They had a tracker on the ankle bracelet and he didn’t want to lead them into the bunker. He also didn’t want to leave you,” he murmured in my ear.
My heart thumped against my chest at that. That was Sawyer, sacrificing for those he loved. “You did fine. We’ll get him back. I have a plan.” I didn’t really have a plan, but I was going to get him back. That was the plan. At all costs.
He pulled away from me and nodded, but I could see the shame written on his face.
Rab came to my side. “So the rumor mill started the second that all of the Paladin felt you claim the magic. The city wolves want to speak with you … and they are not pleased.”
Not pleased?
I looked down at my dirty unshaven legs, knowing I had blood on my chin from my broken nose which seemed to have already healed, and as much as I wanted to shower right now, it might benefit me to be seen like this. You didn’t fuck with people who looked like they’d just walked out of the bush and knew how to gut a bunny rabbit, right? Like Raven said, I looked like I ate cockroaches for breakfast. That was an advantage in my opinion.
“Lead the way,” I told him.
Arrow flanked my left, Rab my right, and Sage stepped up behind me.
“Mom, can you watch baby Creek for a bit?”
She nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.
I gave her a small, tired smile and followed Rab and Arrow. “Astra is getting treatment?” I asked Arrow.
He nodded. “Doctor says it’s severe dehydration and malnutrition. It’s keeping her from healing. She’ll be good as new by tomorrow.”
The tension I didn’t realize I was holding relaxed a little then. We walked down a long hallway and Rab cleared his throat. “Alpha, you should know that the city wolves have been talking for some time about escaping Magic City altogether and going to live in the human world undercover.”
Sage gasped behind me. “Hugely against the rules unless banished, and even then only in Delphi and restricted areas of Spokane.”
I didn’t know the rules but that sounded about right. We couldn’t have thousands of wolves running around Washington State and beyond.
“Not to mention the humans in the supernatural hunter societies. They regulate that sort of thing,” Rab agreed. “I have told them this and they don’t care. They want fresh air and food.”
Human hunters in the supernatural what now? I’d heard rumors of them at Delphi but had never seen one. They were some uber religious Catholic group who were hell bent on wiping the “evil” out of the world. I thought they were a myth.
I tipped my chin to him. “And they’ll get their fresh air and food. In Paladin Village where we will all go together, as one pack.”
Rab smirked, Arrow too.
I didn’t care anymore about what anyone thought. The Dark Woods had freed me of all that shit. I wanted my people safe, and then I was going to get my man.
As we approached a large set of metal double doors that read mess hall, I could hear muffled shouting.
Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself and then nodded to Rab, who opened the door.
I was assaulted with a barrage of smells first: stale food, musty indoor wetness, and the general stench of too many people packed in one room. Then the sounds hit me. Angry screaming and yelling, mostly male voices, as I took in the scene before me.
There were thousands of people in this giant central room. It was a huge rectangle with a cafeteria kitchen on either side, and an area where you slid your tray along to pick up food. Behind the glass were some workers wearing hairnets and serving what looked like gloppy, nasty food. The tables in the middle of the room were giant. Each one sitting at least a hundred people.
They still hadn’t noticed my entrance. “How many people do we have down here in the bunker?” I asked Rab.
“Roughly eight thousand Paladin, and about double that in city wolves.”
That sounded like too little. Twenty-four thousand people. The rest must have died.
But I didn’t have the heart to ask.
“We have four mess halls and we eat at staggered times,” Rab informed me. “The bunker is three stories. Living on base level, eating and exercise and medical on mid-level where we are now, and offices and supplies and engineering on top level.”
Wow.
“Is there a way I can speak to everyone?”
Rab nodded, walking over to the wall and punching in a code. It seemed he’d been given some kind of leader status here, and that made me proud. Probably Eugene’s doing. Rab pulled a handheld PA mic off a hook on the wall and approached me.
“You’re live throughout the entire bunker,” he said, handing me the mic.
Say what now? Shit, I wasn’t good at speeches. That was Sawyer’s department.
I cleared my throat, watching people argue and scream at each other.
“Settle down!” I shouted boldly, and my voice projected throughout the speakers on the wall.
“I am Demi Spirit Moon Calloway-Hudson, Sawyer Hudson’s wife and your new alpha,” I declared confidently.
There was a ring of cheers from the Paladins present, but mostly boos from the city wolves.
I ignored the boos. “I’ve just been debriefed on the situation here. And I’m proud to report that the Paladin Village land has been healed and is free of enemies. We can escape there and set up a new temporary village for everyone while I go and get Sawyer and Walsh.”
More cheers mixed with only a few boos.
“We will have fresh water, food, and air there … daily sunshine, and we can function as one pack.” I yelled the last two lines for emphasis.
Silence descended over the crowd. I wondered what the other people in this place were thinking, hearing my voice coming out of the wall and stating all of this.
A man who I didn’t recognize stepped forward and sneered. He was a city wolf, about mid-thirties, and looked like he’d seen better days. He had that wild, don’t-fuck-with-me-I-might-be-a-felon, look—shaved head, hooded gaze, and rough skin. “You left us in this concrete hell for a year, and Sawyer got dragged away for protecting you. So who says you’re in charge now?” He spit on the floor at my feet, and Rab moved forward to probably punch him, but Sage held him back.
She knew I could handle this myself.
I had zero time or patience for this bullshit.
Reaching into the thigh holster on my leg, I pulled my blade and gave this bastard what I hoped was the craziest look I could muster.
“I say so. Your alpha’s wife, the mother of his child.” People gasped in surprise at that. “And if you have a problem with that, you can fight me. Winner takes the pack.” Then I growled, low and with warning, and I knew my eyes had flashed yellow, because my wolf was so close to the surface I had to make effort to restrain her.
The Paladin wolves in the room roared their approval, jumping up onto the tabletops or pounding their open palms onto it like it was a drum. The man’s nostrils flared as he looked over my face and then he lowered his head in defeat. Maybe it was my confidence, maybe it was the fact that he didn’t want to fight a woman, or maybe it was the crazy look in my eye and blood on my face mixed with war paint, but the dude stepped back.
“There is no one pack!” someone cried from deep in the crowd. “There is them and us!” he roared and too many people cried out in approval of his comment for my liking.
Paladin wolves might be “savages” by city wolves thinking, but I just
didn’t care, I liked being a savage. I liked knowing how to catch and cut up my own food, how to live off the land. I liked being alpha, and no one was taking from me what was rightfully mine. I’d worked too hard for it.
I stepped forward, holding the PA mic to my lips. “I just spent a year in the woods. Lost, living off the land. I gave birth to Sawyer’s son out there with no hospital and no medication. I gave myself to that mountain, to the land, and to my people, and I was found worthy of being alpha, so I dare any one of you that disagrees with that choice to speak up now. You’ll end up rotting in this underground tomb, because anyone who leaves is leaving as a part of my pack!”
Then I dropped the mic into Rab’s outstretched hand and the group went wild, chanting alpha, alpha, alpha.
Most of them did anyway, some were stony silent. I knew it would take time for old ways of thinking to be broken down, but I wasn’t going to have a mutiny on my hands. If anyone wanted to live topside and be offered protection and life at Paladin Village, they were going to play by my damn rules.
“Is there enough room for all of us there?” someone screamed out over the yelling. A female voice.
I yelled loudly so that my voice could carry across the entire space. “We will make room. The Paladins don’t depend on grocery stores to feed them and construction companies to build their houses. We will widen the village and build more houses. We can extend the farm crops too. Everyone will have an equal part sharing jobs. And then when I get back with Sawyer, we will get Wolf City back too.”
That brought a chorus of cheers from each side. I didn’t know what they had been through in my absence, but I could see their faces now held something I was proud to give them.
Hope.
I looked at Rab and lowered my voice. “I need Eugene and you, and any other leaders, in a room for war council briefing. But first I want to shower.”
He nodded and we left the room as they were still cheering. I’d been stuck in the woods for a year and they’d been stuck down here. It was very much the same type of situation, and I was about to liberate them and bring them home.