by Aidy Award
“Keep my secret,” Niko said.
“That I can do. I’ve got more secrets up here,” she pointed to her temple, “than anyone knows.”
“Good. Then here’s one more. I’m entrusting you with my life. I need your help, and I need you to kill your father during the challenge and take over your pack, because I can’t.” He waited until she tentatively nodded. “Because I can’t shift into wolf form, and you can.”
Challengers and Other Bad Guys
Niko snuck back to his room only moments before the Crescent enforcers came to get him for the challenge. One of them sniffed the room as he undressed. There was no chance at hiding the scent of sex.
"Hope you enjoyed your last hurrah, Troika. I do have to say I'm looking forward to our alpha fucking your whore. She's got one hell of an ass on her."
Christ. If Niko could shift, this guy's head would be the first he'd rip off. If ever his wolf had an excuse to show itself, an insult to his mate should be it. But still, there was nothing. Only that sense of power that he didn't seem to have access to. The best he could do is give a dark look that held a promise of retribution. Someday he would find a way to make this wolf eat his words.
The other enforcer stepped between the two of them. "My apologies for my pack mate. He doesn't seem to understand that you could be our alpha within the hour."
Huh. Interesting. Perhaps not all the Crescent pack members were happy with their alpha. Niko would remember that when Taryn took over and be sure to let her know this particular enforcer could be of use to her in her new regime. He sure as shit hoped he'd done the right thing talking Taryn into patricide.
It wasn't that uncommon for an heir to kill their alpha in the old days. Fewer packs were quite that brutal in the twenty-first century, though. It would help Taryn establish her dominion over the pack when it was almost unheard of to have a female alpha. The only other one he knew of was Galyna, Max's mate, who'd won her pack when the alpha had tried to kill Max.
Gal and Taryn had worked together to help rescue Zara so he was sure they'd work well together once the dust settled after this moon-forsaken challenge.
"Let's get this show on the road, shall we, boys?" Niko pulled the door open and marched down the hall. The enforcers scrambled to keep up with him. He'd spent time at the Crescent compound with his father many moons ago and knew where their sacred circle was hidden.
"Keep up, enforcers. I don't have all night." His guards were visibly uncomfortable having to follow him when they should be leading him to his doom.
Ramsey Crescent wasn't a bit surprised. He already stood in the center of the circle, naked and ready to shift for the fight. Niko wouldn't let anyone have even a hint that he wasn't fully prepared to do the same. He strolled into the circle with all the swagger he could muster and ripped his shirt over his head. He tossed it in Zara's direction so she'd know he saw her and Taryn waiting on the sidelines. "Sure you don't want to back out, Crescent. Now that I've had a taste for your decadence, I'm mighty tempted to stick around awhile, take over and show your pack what a real leader does."
Ramsey didn't like that one bit. "Trash like you will never lead my pack, much less wolfkind."
Good. If Niko could get Ramsey riled up, he wouldn't be thinking as clearly. The Volkovs may be unscrupulous, unethical, untrustworthy despots, but their warrior training for the Rynda was unparalleled. That included psychological fighting techniques. Niko couldn't call on his wolf's fighting ability, but he could still play a good head game.
With each of his words, Niko eased himself around the circle so that his back was to Zara and Taryn, doing his best to make it seem as though he was jockeying for a good position. He shucked his jeans and folded his arms. He grinned right at Ramsey and waggled his brow then glanced down to draw attention to how much bigger his dick was than his opponents. "Well, I certainly can't let the werewolves of the world be turned into whiny, sniveling, cry babies like you."
Ramsey's wolf shimmered through his eyes and fur popped up on his arms and across his shoulders. "You and your brothers are the cry babies who can't keep your dicks and teeth away from your human whores."
The circle gasped which showed just how deep the taboo of biting humans went in their culture. If they only knew. If Niko was very, very lucky, he'd survive long enough to prove to them all the truth of finding one's true fated mate. A few more steps, and he was directly in front of Taryn. "Funny. I suppose you haven't mentioned to your pack that you planned to take a human mate when this was all over, did you?"
A few of the wolves around the circle grumbled, but more looked not only surprised, but interested. Oh, yeah. Ramsey Crescent had miscalculated the wants and needs of his people. He would have fit in perfectly with the Volkovs. One more reason he and his one-blood followers had to be eliminated.
The bones in Ramsey's arms popped as he transformed them into the wolf's, complete with deadly claws extended. "I never said I would mate her. But be assured, I will fuck her so as to erase your stench from her body. Then she will serve me as I reign as Wolf Tzar."
Time for the final blow. "I'll let you be the Tzar right after you come over here and kiss my bare fucking ass."
Ramsey shifted fully and howled at the dark sky of the new moon. Shift, Troika, and fight me as a wolf.
Niko crouched low as if he were about to shift, and let as much of his wolf out as would show itself. His fangs dropped, his claws came out, and his vision went bright as his wolf sight took over. It was more than he could have hoped for. He growled low and deep. "Come at me, Crescent. Show the world you want to kill me."
Ramsey charged at Niko, teeth bared, ready to tear him apart. Niko didn't move a muscle, but prayed to the moon goddess in the sky that Taryn was ready behind him. Time slowed as his focus narrowed to just the wolf in front of him, the danger racing closer and closer.
He saw the second Ramsey realized Niko wasn't going to shift. The total disdain for everything Niko was and stood for was clear in his wolf's eyes and that hatred fueled his attack, putting more speed into his charge. When he was less than a foot away, Niko pounced from his crouch to a full standing position, he twisted his body, thanking the goddess his reactions were as fast as a wolf's and watched as Ramsey jumped into the air.
He wouldn't be able to pivot fast enough to catch Niko's neck in his teeth as he had planned. The look of surprise on his face intensified as he flew past Niko and toward the waiting dagger held in Taryn's outstretched hand.
It was almost too easy.
Tears streamed down Taryn's face and the knife tumbled from her hand. Zara gasped and moved faster than he would have thought possible, putting herself between the attacking alpha wolf and the daughter who would betray him. Ramsey lashed out, aiming directly for Zara's fragile neck.
Niko didn't have time to think, his arms shot out and his claws extended, his arm fully shifted into his more powerful wolf form. He struck at Ramsey's throat catching him directly under the chin. The momentum of the wolf's jump continued to propel him forward and Niko's claw sliced him open from chest to belly, cracking his ribs and spilling his internal organs in a spray of grisly death. Ramsey's body fell to the ground and skidded to within and inch of Zara and Taryn.
The circle went as silent as a graveyard.
Niko stared only at Zara making sure she wasn't harmed. She gave a tiny shake of her head so imperceptible no one else would have even noticed. When he was assured she was okay, he glanced at Taryn. She did not look back at him, only stared down at the dead wolf at her feet.
"Claim your pack, Taryn," he whispered to her.
She still didn't look at him and shook her head. Her answer was to turn her back on him, shift into her wolf, shredding her clothes in her haste and sprint into the woods.
That left Niko with no choice. He rose up to his full height, turned slowly to look at each and every wolf surrounding the sacred circle. He let his voice boom out of him so everyone here would hear. "The reign of Ramsey Crescent is over. I cl
aim the Crescent Bay pack as my own, and you shall henceforth be known as..." He glanced over at Zara and was inspired. "Serenity Bay, where we can all be at peace."
The majority of the wolves in the circle either bowed to him or lifted their voices in a howl to accept Niko as their new alpha. A few of them fled, including the asshole enforcer. That didn't surprise Niko at all. Ramsey may not have had his finger on the pulse of his pack, but he wouldn't have remained in power as long as he had if he didn't have some supporters.
There were more one-bloods in the wolf world than he wanted to admit. The best way he knew of to combat that right now was to be an example of a better way. Niko reached his hand out for Zara and when she took it, he pulled her into the circle and kissed her for all of his new pack to see.
She smiled against his mouth, swept her hands into his hair, and wrapped her ankle around the back of his leg like the sexy-ass siren she was. He reciprocated by dipping her and pinching her butt. She squeaked and he chuckled into her mouth. "You like it, and you know it.
"I do, but your shiny new pack doesn't need to know that."
"You do know when we have our mating ceremony we'll being doing that and a whole lot more in front of all of them."
"Uh. No. I did not know that." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I guess I'd better get myself a fetish for being watched in the next couple of weeks."
She laughed, but then her smile faded and Zara’s eyes got that white glow to them when she was having a vision. Shit. She was so vulnerable during her trances. Before he could move to her side, her eyes cleared and she locked eyes with him. “Someone is coming. Three men, who aren’t men. Two are in flowing gold robes with fur and jewels like some kind of royalty or something, but the other guy looks like a homeless guy in an all black robe with a hood. They each have an enormous amount of power around them.”
“The Volkovs.” What the hell were they doing here? They never left Russia, or at least hadn’t for like a century.
Zara's eyes got wide. “Who? Wait, that’s Mikhail’s family?”
“Not exactly. He became a Volkov when he became Tzar. The Volkovs are, hmm, sort of hard to explain. They’re like the Pope, but when the church had more power hundreds of years ago. They choose who will lead all of wolfkind and confer on him the power of the Wolf Tzar. They have become corrupt and hungry for more influence in the past hundred years, which is why my family and so many others left for America at the turn of the 18th century.” That act by his grandfather had sparked a revolution of its own. Wolves around the world began integrating themselves into human society despite the wishes of the Volkovs. That was the first time the Streltsy had stepped in to curtail the Volkovs' rule, led by Tsarina Sophia Alexseyevna, who happened to be Selena Troika's grandmother.
Revolution ran in their family.
“Why would you go to Russia and serve them?” Zara looked as though she'd eaten something sour.
It wasn't like wolfkind had history books for him to give to Zara so she could study up on wolf lore and traditions. No one had ever had to teach a human mate about why wolfkind was the way they were. “Even if I don’t agree with the way they rule, I am still subservient to the commands of the Tzar. He is alpha of all, and all of wolfkind must do as he commands. Every pack is required to send their heir to serve the Volkovs. They maintain their power by making sure even the strongest of alphas understand who is really in charge. I was lucky that my family knew Mik’s when we were kids, and he was able to conscript me into his personal guard. But even he was controlled by them. Until—I got there, and killed him.”
She shook her head and frowned at him. “You didn’t. That demon—”
One of the Crescent wolves stepped forward and interrupted, clearly worked up and worried about the Volkovs' invasion. “Sir. Should we assemble more enforcers? Make a stand?”
Niko swallowed hard and stared at Zara. Demon. She'd said demon. It took him a minute to realize the enforcer was standing there waiting on an answer from him. “We cannot fight them.”
He wasn't sure if he was talking about the Volkovs or demons. Maybe they were one and the same.
The enforcer didn't like that answer. “You’ll just allow them to destroy us?”
“No, I will not.” Niko finally tore his eyes from Zara's and looked around the clearing at his new pack. His pack. That he would protect from the machinations of the Volkovs at all costs. “You know your hierarchy better than I do. Choose some strong enforcers to gather the women and children, including the human women Ramsey has been holding here, and take them to Troika territory. Selena will take you in, and my brothers will protect everyone.”
Zara quirked her head to the side and the white light filled her eyes, but only for a brief moment. She blinked and shook her head. "They're here... and so are your brothers."
Fuck a duck.
From the darkest shadows on the far side of the sacred circle, three shadowy figures emerged. Two that Niko recognized dressed in gold robes and a third he didn't know in black, just as Zara said. From the other side, Max and Galyna appeared in their wolf forms, followed by Kosta and Heli as humans.
Max spoke into his head. Told you three heads were better than one. I'm gonna assume you can't fucking count, because I know you wouldn't face the Volkovs without your family.
Kosta nodded and glanced over at the imposing trio slowly moving across the circle toward them. "We're here for you, brother. We stand with you, until the end if needs be."
Dumuzid Volkov stepped forward to the head of the triad and slowly clapped his hands. "I see congratulations are in order, Nikolai. Well done destroying your enemy and winning back the loyalty of your brothers. We weren't sure you had it in you. But you have truly demonstrated that you are indeed an alpha among alphas."
Max lowered his head and growled. Niko never lost our loyalty, the Volkovs and their tyranny have.
Dumuzid glanced over at the other golden robed Volkov, Grigori Yefimovich Volkov. Better known as Rasputin. He was the eldest Volkov, and likely the eldest living wolf, despite the rumors he'd been killed along with the Romanovs whom he had so much influence over all those years ago. Grigori and Dumuzid communicated something in that look which Niko could tell was going to spell trouble.
Dumuzid smiled and spread his arms, palms up in a gesture meant to be a platitude. "Will you still find us tyrannous, little brother, when we declare your Nikolai is our new Wolf Tzar?"
Demons Stink
Zara watched the trio of Volkovs closely. The power emanating off of them made her skin itch. When she glanced around at the circle, most of the people and wolves were staring, a bit slack jawed. She understood how they felt. There was something not right about that Dumuzid guy.
She listened to the interaction between them and Niko as she inched her way toward Heli. She whispered as quietly as she could. "Can you see anything?"
"Yeah,. I see some serious asses who are going to get their holes kicked by my honey bunny in a minute." Heli made a face at the Volkovs and then a kissy face at Kosta.
"No, you goober." Sigh. Little sisters. Eye roll. "I mean visions. Do you see what's about to happen?"
"It's the weirdest thing. I keep getting flashes like I'm about to see something and then it kind of fritzes out. I think one of those dudes is doing something to interfere with my power, yo."
Zara didn't need a vision to know that something big was about to happen. There was almost an electrical surge in the air. In fact, she could smell smoke and... weird... was that what brimstone smelled like?
Crap on a cracker. That's probably what a freaking demon smelled like. The guy in the black cape and hood hadn't revealed himself yet. They couldn't see his face or his eyes or anything. "I think that guy in the black robe is a demon."
Galyna's voice popped into her head. Like a dementor?
"Worse." Zara didn't know if Dumuzid was controlling the demon or if the demon had command over the wolf pope dudes. Either was bad. Now would be another great time for a visi
on of her own.
Heli grimaced. "Okay. Shitbuckets. What are we going to do?
I didn't think to bring freaking chocolate frogs with me. I don't think our Defense Against the Dark Arts is advanced enough for a battle against minions of the Voldemortkovs.
If only she had some control over her freaking visions. She had to do something but what? "I'm going to try to--"
A force hit Zara in the face. She grabbed at her temples as if she could hold whatever it was at bay. It felt like insects were drilling into her brain and telling her to kneel down. Dumuzid smiled and spread his arms, palms up in a fake gesture she'd seen skeevy lawyers do when they were trying to play to the jury like they were friends. "Will you still find us tyrannous, little brother, when we declare your Nikolai as our new Wolf Tzar?"
Zara's world tilted and went white. She tried to breathe and inhaled gauzy white material. She coughed and pulled her face off the sleeve of the woman in white.
There you go, you got it. Sorry for sucking you into the vision like that, but you got distracted.
"Where are we?"
Neither here nor there. It's important you see this quickly though, so quit gabbing with me and see what you need to see.
Zara gaped at the woman. The woman closed her mouth with a knuckle under her chin, and then turned her head to the side. Niko was standing on a snowy hilltop, golden robes around him and black holes where his eyes should be.
"Niko," she shouted.
He can't hear you. He's not here... yet.
Dumuzid appeared behind Niko's shoulder and set his hand on him. A mass of black creatures that looked like a cross between snakes, men, and ostriches, with a dash of bat thrown in, poured out of their shadows. They were followed by a crone woman dressed all in black who rose up on a black plume of smoke.
No wait. That wasn't smoke. It was a dragon. An enormous black, scary-as-all-get-out, dragon with red glowing eyes. The demon... A demon dragon.