Gray's Dilemma: A Witches Circle Novella (The Witches Circle)

by C. Larsen

  He already beat him senseless—had me beat him senseless, I correct myself. What more can he do to him? I’m afraid I know the answer, but I hope I’m wrong.

  A short while later, two black SUVs pull into the parking lot. I nudge Veronika, napping to my left. Immediately alert, she rolls to her feet and army crawls forward through the brush for a better view. *That them?* she asks.

  *Can’t be anyone else.*

  *I hope they’ll give us a lift back to town,* she says, yawning, her sharp teeth gleaming in the sun. *We ran all night to get here. I’m too tired to run all the way back.*

  No one answers her, all our ears pricked, watching the events unfold.

  The doors on the first SUV open and around me everyone stiffens. Ivan climbs out, brushing nonexistent wrinkles out of his pristine gray suit.

  *What’s he doing here? I thought Nikolay was handling this?* Derek asks, anger tingeing his words.

  Jaw tightening, I don’t answer him. My gut twists when I see Sergei, Ivan’s second, also climb out and follow him to the door. The second car creeps forward, trailing behind Ivan and his henchman.

  From our cover in the trees, I hear the sharp rap of knuckles on the motel door.

  Shuffling comes from inside and Ivan steps back, allowing Sergei room to kick the door in. Muffled thuds reach our ears. A woman screaming. Mikhail grunting in pain.

  Derek tenses, rising to his feet, ears laid back. I rise too and bump Derek’s head with mine, warning him to calm down.

  The second SUV pulls up, as close to the door as it can get. Shuffling sounds from within, then a thump. The SUV shudders.

  *Looks like they got him,* I say to the others. The SUV peels away as a woman continues to scream Mikhail’s name.

  *What are they going to do to her?* Derek asks, muscles vibrating with tension. *What are they going to do to Megan?*

  I glance over at him, body shaking, looking down at the scene in horror. I have a feeling he’s not just talking about Megan. Maybe it’s good for him to see this. See what happens when a were’ gets too involved with a human.

  *She’s a human,* Veronika answers, muzzle wrinkling in disgust. *They can’t let her live, she’s seen too much.*

  I hear a crack. Megan’s screaming stops. Derek lunges forward out of the trees. I bound after him, tackling him to the ground.

  *Stop!* I growl. He immediately rolls onto his back, submitting. *Stay here with the others!*

  After a quick glance around, I dart down the hill and into the open door of the motel room. Ivan scowls at me, heavy brows pulling down over his eyes. At his feet, a small brunette woman is sprawled out on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

  I sniff her neck, relieved to find her still breathing, then hunch over, forcing myself to change.

  A few minutes later, I’m bent over on all fours, the coarse rug digging into my now human knees.

  “That was stupid, coming in here,” Ivan says, his cold eyes studying me. “You should have waited in trees with the others.”

  I climb to my feet, ignoring the twinges of pain still radiating through my body from the change. “Where’s Nikolay? Why did he send you instead of coming himself?”

  “Because I know how to get things done,” he says. “Sergei, pull the car around and load her in. We’re taking her back with us.”

  Sergei cocks his head at Ivan, but then leaves to do as he was told.

  That slight hesitation stirs my suspicion. I’m willing to bet Ivan wasn’t planning on bringing her back with him at all. If I hadn’t come in here, what would he have done? Killed her and left her here for the police to find?

  “Riiight…” I drawl. “Well, since it’s only you, Sergei, and this human in the Escalade, I guess you’ll have plenty of room for me and the others.” Ivan’s left eye twitches as he glares at me.

  One of Mikhail’s suitcases lays partially open against the wall, clothes spilling out of it. I rummage through it to find a pair of sweats to wear before turning to face Ivan again. “We’ve been running all night—we’re exhausted. Besides, we wouldn’t want to risk being seen in the light of day, now would we?” I flash him a smirk and leave to signal the others.

  When the SUV pulls up, Derek and the others all dart out of the trees and barrel into the back hatch. I carefully gather Megan’s tiny body in my arms and settle her into the seat next to mine, ignoring Ivan’s glare. If he intended on killing her and dumping her body somewhere, I just ruined his plans.

  The trip back is short compared to the time it took for us to run there. By the time we pull into town, everyone has changed back and Megan begins stirring, whimpering a little in her sleep. Nikolay meets us in front of his house and Sergei carries Megan out of the car and inside.

  “Nice work,” Nikolay says as we all pile out, dragging our weary feet. “Now go get dressed and head into school. Dmitry can give me your report.”

  “School?” Veronika’s mouth drops open.

  Everyone groans except Dmitry, who can’t hide his satisfied smirk. Having graduated last year, he’ll be able to get some sleep after his report while the rest of us will be forced to trudge through a pointless day at school.

  “We’ve already missed half the day! Can’t we just skip the rest and get some sleep?” Veronika asks, shoulders slumped. Her usually immaculate hair hangs down around her shoulders in messy clumps, bits of twigs and dried leaves stuck here and there.

  “Appearances, Veronika. We can’t have all five of you absent the same day. Vasily will take you and tell the front office Gray’s car broke down when he was driving you all in.” Veronika groans again, but leaves with the others to shower and change. Dmitry hangs back, waiting for Nikolay so he can give his report.

  “What are you going to do with the girl?” I ask Nikolay once everyone is out of earshot.

  “I haven’t decided yet. Now hurry up and get ready. You’re late enough as it is.”

  “What? No ‘good job tracking them down’ or ‘thanks for doing my job for me,’” I ask, pasting a lazy grin on my face.

  “Just get going.”

  After one last glance in Ivan’s direction, I take off into the house.

  Chapter 7

  WHEN I get out of the shower, I hear muffled sobs coming from below me, probably the basement. Sounds like they have Megan bound and gagged.

  I do my best to ignore it; there’s nothing I can do for her right now. What’s done is done. I quickly dress in jeans and a t-shirt and head outside to the Escalade. Derek and Zak are already there waiting.

  “It’s your fault Mikhail ran away,” Zak says when he sees me.

  His taunting raises my hackles, the wolf in me demanding I knock some respect into him. Beating it back, I casually lean against the SUV, feigning nonchalance. “Oh yeah? How do you figure?”

  “Well, it was you who dealt out his punishment. You were too soft on him. If Nikolay had let me finish him off, there wouldn’t be any unbroken bones for him to run away on,” Zak sneers. “I would have beaten him until he couldn’t lift his head up, let alone limp away.”

  “Well, I guess it’s a shame Nikolay didn’t let you finish,” I say, keeping a growl out of my voice.

  “Well, hopefully he’ll give me a crack at Mikhail’s little whore tonight.” Zak’s lips curl, eyes flashing gold. “Maybe watching her go a few rounds with me will cure Mikhail of his pathetic infatuation.”

  Derek tenses beside me and I lay a hand on his arm to keep him calm. “Yeah, Zak,” I drawl. “You’re right; I think you should go tell Nikolay that yourself. I’m sure he’d love hearing you criticize how he handled Mikhail’s punishment. In fact, here’s your chance.” I nod in the direction of the manor.

  Zak’s face pales as he sees Nikolay step through the door and head in our direction.

  Derek smirks at Zak’s expression, his muscles relaxing. “Boy, I sure hope he overheard all your helpful suggestions,” Derek stage whispers to him. “You know how he loves being told how to do his
job.”

  Zak glares at him.

  “What are you still doing here?” Nikolay barks. “Where’s Vasily?”

  “Right here,” Vasily calls, herding Veronika and Isabel up the driveway in front of him. Veronika’s lips are set in a pout, blonde hair hanging wet around her shoulders. Isabel’s hair is still damp too, but she has it pulled up into a messy bun. “Went to see what was keeping these two.”

  “I wasn’t in the shower that long,” Veronika grumbles. Isabel smirks. She glances up at me and rolls her eyes.

  “Yeah, sure you weren’t, Veronika,” I say. “You didn’t even have time to scrub all the dirt off your face.”

  “Dirt? Where?” she gasps, darting forward to inspect her face in the side mirror of the car. When I chuckle, she narrows her blue eyes at me. “Not funny, Gray.” Derek laughs with me and Isabel grins.

  “Get in the car,” Vasily tells us, fighting a smile of his own. “School’s waiting.”

  BY the time Vasily signs us all in, it’s already lunch time. Miles meets us at our usual table, completely healed from his injury Saturday.

  “Hey guys, I wasn’t sure you were gonna make it today. Long night, huh?”

  “You have no idea,” Veronika grumbles, sitting down next to Zak. “We ran all night, and then Nikolay wouldn’t even let us sleep in!”

  “Just be lucky you don’t have guard duty on top of it,” I tell her, yawning. I haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours, and with my shift starting again this afternoon, it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get any tonight either.

  “But you guys found him, right?” Miles whispers. “I heard Ivan leaving this morning to pick him up. Where was he hiding?”

  “Yeah, we found him,” Derek answers distractedly, glancing over Miles’ shoulder at Alexis. She’s sitting at a table all alone, waving to him. “I’ll see you guys in a bit.” He dodges around Miles, but I grab his arm, stopping him.

  “You know what you have to do, right?”

  “Yeah, I know,” he mumbles looking away. “I’ll catch up with you at the end of the day.” He hurries over to Alexis, glancing at me over his shoulder.

  Isabel begins filling Miles in on everything he missed, but I watch Derek and the human, noticing the way her eyes light up when he wraps his arm around her, leaning in close.

  I keep an eye on them all during lunch, waiting to see how she’ll take the news. Will she cry? Smack him? Storm away? But she doesn’t do any of those things. In fact, they’ve been leaning close, whispering together the whole time. It sure doesn’t look like any breakup I’ve ever seen.

  I prick my ears, trying to make out their conversation, but they’re speaking too low for me to hear over the buzz of the rest of the cafeteria. What’s he waiting for? Just get it over with.

  The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch, and he still hasn’t done it. While Derek leads Alexis out of the lunch room with a hand at her waist, I catch his eye and give him a ‘what’s going on’ look. His face twists, but he mouths back ‘soon’.

  I stumble my way through the rest of the day, trying to stay awake. I nod off a few times in history, but with the way Mr. Perkins drones on and on, it’s really not my fault. I would have fallen asleep even if I hadn’t been up all night.

  By the time Vasily picks us up, I’m dragging. Even though I know I should talk to Derek when we get home, find out what’s going on with him and Alexis, I opt to crash for a few hours instead.

  I barely manage two hours of sleep before I’m shaken awake by Vasily. “Get up, Gray. It’s time for Mikhail’s sentencing.”

  I roll over and rub the sleep from my eyes. “That’s going on now?” I glance at the alarm clock on my nightstand and let out a yawn. “I have guard duty in less than an hour.”

  “Not tonight you don’t. Nikolay wants you with him.”

  A heavy weight drops into my stomach. “He wants me to handle it again?” I ask.

  “I don’t know,” he says, not meeting my eyes. “I was just told to get you and bring you downstairs.”

  “Yeah, alright. Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.”

  When the door closes behind him, I sit up, resting my elbows on my knees, trying to breathe around the knot in my chest. Saturday’s punishment was brutal, and that was just for disobeying an order. What does Nikolay have in store for him now that he attempted to run off with the human?

  I grab a pair of jeans and a black shirt from the floor where I dropped them earlier and drag my leaden body down the stairs, a sense of foreboding rising in my chest.

  Nikolay, Vasily, Ivan and Sergei are all waiting for me in Nikolay’s study.

  “Took you long enough,” Ivan says when I enter.

  “Sorry, had to catch up on my beauty sleep,” I quip, pushing my fear and pity for Mikhail down deep. “It takes time to look this good.” The corners of my lips lift in a smirk.

  Ivan shakes his head, grumbling in Russian.

  “Can’t you take anything seriously?” Nikolay says, voice heavy with disgust.

  I know how much my flippancy annoys him, which is why I do it. I’m forced to obey every order, without question, whether I agree with it or not. Sarcasm is my only defense, the only way I can protest without getting myself beaten or killed.

  “Sorry,” I say, not sounding sorry at all. “I’m here now, so let the games begin.”

  Ignoring me, Nikolay turns to Vasily. “Did you find out anything from the human?”

  “We did,” he says, amber eyes serious. “According to her, she and Mikhail were planning on crossing the border into Canada. He told her he was in debt to some dangerous men and they were going to kill him if he didn’t pay up. He convinced her to run with him.”

  “Well, at least he didn’t tell her the truth. We might be able to work with that.” Seated behind his monstrosity of a desk, Nikolay rubs his forehead with one meaty paw while he tries to think up a solution to the mess Mikhail landed us in.

  “I remember Madelyn once mentioning a Memory Smith a few hours from here. Maybe she could call in a favor to his coven,” Vasily suggests.

  “What’s a Memory Smith?” I ask. I’ve never heard the term before.

  “It’s a witch who can go into your head and change your memories.”

  The weight on my chest lightens as I realize what he’s suggesting. “You want to use him on Megan? Wipe out her memories and let her go?”

  “That’s the idea,” Vasily says, gaze meeting mine. He doesn’t want to kill Megan any more than I do.

  “You put too much trust in those witches,” Ivan says.

  Though Ivan constantly complains about how we can’t trust the Ashwood Coven, I’ve heard talk that the truce between our two groups was originally his idea. I have a hard time believing this, however, considering Ivan’s intense hatred of them. Actually, I’m surprised Nikolay ever formed the truce to begin with, considering Ivan’s attitude about it. Even after years of peace, Ivan still insists that the coven is going to betray us, that they are just biding their time, waiting to strike. Even though I don’t agree with him, I can’t blame Ivan for his prejudices—the animosity between witches and weres’ goes back centuries, all the way to the very first werewolf.

  Werewolves are said to be descendants of Úlfhednar. These chosen warriors of Odin were similar to Berserkers, but instead of a having a bear spirit, Úlfhednar housed the spirit of a wolf inside their soul, which they called on during battle.

  According to legend, the first werewolf was created when a witch placed a curse on an Úlfheidinn named Randolph, binding his soul to her own. This curse caused Randolph and all of his offspring to change their physical bodies into wolves whenever their animal spirits came to the forefront, and when this happened, certain witches from the War Gods Class were granted control over them, able to bend the wolf’s will to their own.

  Servitude didn’t agree with these new werewolves, so they set out to destroy all the descendants from this particular bloodline.

  It’s b
elieved that all the witches with the ability to control us have been wiped out, but the hatred between our races still runs deep. Nikolay’s treaty with the Ashwood Creek Coven is unique among our kind, made possible only because we’re certain none of those witches possess the ability to control us.

  “This whole pack has gone soft,” Ivan continues, black brows drawn in close over his eyes. “You have no stomach for doing what needs to be done.”

  “What does or doesn’t need to be done will be determined by me,” Nikolay says, his face a mask of hard planes.

  “Should I talk to Madelyn about the Memory Smith?” Vasily asks.

  Nikolay sighs and shakes his head. “No. While I may trust the Ashwood Coven to a certain extent, I don’t know this other coven. We can’t trust them. We need to take care of Megan ourselves.”

  My chest goes cold, fear a hard knot in the pit of my stomach. They’re going to kill her. When I first found her in that motel room, I knew it might come to this, but I had hoped Nikolay might be able to find a way around it. It appears not.

  It almost comes as a relief when Nikolay turns to Ivan and tells him to take care of it. At least I won’t have to kill her. Since I was the one who hunted her down, I know her blood is on my hands as much as Ivan’s, but at least I won’t have to physically carry out her execution. Small mercy.

  I did what I had to do, I remind myself. I was given orders. I had to follow them. The thought gives me little comfort.

  “Now, we need to decide what’s to be done with Mikhail,” Nikolay continues, glancing around the room. “He disobeyed a direct order, twice, and more importantly, he betrayed us. He abandoned us. Chose a human over his pack.”

  Silence fills the room, and the knot in my stomach grows. Vasily and I share a look and I know what he’s about to say before it leaves his lips.

  “This betrayal can’t be overlooked.” Vasily sighs, meeting Nikolay’s gaze. “Punishment didn’t work. I don’t see any other way; he can no longer be trusted.”

  Nikolay nods, rising from behind the desk.

  “You’re going to kill him?” I look back and forth between him and Nikolay. “You’re going to kill a pack brother?”