by SJ Hayslett
She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Reed.
"Already thinking of him, aren't you?" Evony turned her head towards the voice and saw Garrett walking out from the house.
"I'm sorry?"
"Reed. Don't worry," he lowered his voice so that only she could hear, even though they were alone out front. Everyone was either in the backyard or at the clearing already. "He told me the big news. I'll keep it a secret, you can trust me."
Evony wasn't worried about Garrett spilling the beans. He definitely had an air about him that she felt that she could trust him. "How could you tell?"
Garrett laughed heartily and made the motion that he was wiping tears from his eyes. "Are you kidding? You had the same goofy smile on your face that he did when he told me." He tried his best to sober up, before pulling her elbow. "Come on, I'll show you to where everyone is. Just remember to stay in my sight. I don't need Reed blowing up cause I lost his mate." Evony smiled and allowed Garrett to pull her towards where the other wolves were.
An hour later, Evony was ready to go back to her dorm. She spent the entire evening avoiding Blair, and didn't mind the lurking stares she received from the she-wolf. Everyone from Blood Moon seemed to give her a wide berth after someone asked her which pack she came from. Well, everyone aside from Denise, Nick, Maddie and her enforcer bodyguards, Paul and Connor. The other wolves that were amnesty transfers were nice to her as well, she had no problems getting along with them. It was her mate's pack, and soon to be hers as well, but no one knew that, save for Reed and Garrett.
Speaking of Garrett, it was somewhat calming that he didn't hover around her as she tried to make an effort in meeting everyone from Blood Moon. As far as she could tell, no one was even commenting on why the Beta seemed to keep watching her; though they probably just assumed that he was spying on the enemy in their midst. Whatever the case, it was giving Evony a headache and she'd had enough.
Sensing her frustration, Garrett called attention to everyone in the clearing. "Alright, listen up!" He called out in the authority that was second to only the alpha. "It's almost that time for a run around the territory so that the newcomers can get a feel of where they're allowed to run. This run takes up to eight hours typically. Newbies, you will not be able to communicate with anyone from Blood Moon, so if you cannot complete the run for whatever reason, shift back into your human form, and one of the enforcers will escort you back to the pack house. Everyone else, clean the meadow up before we get back."
Evony followed the other wolves to a cropping of trees and started stripping out of her leggings and long t-shirt. However, before she could slip out of her shirt, Garrett came up to her. "Ev, the Alpha wants you to run alongside of me during this run. You know because of your status." To anyone that listened in, it only confirmed that she was being kept under watch because of where she came from. Of course, Evony and Garrett knew that it was due to her status as the rightful alpha female of Blood Moon.
She nodded once, and as soon as her shirt was over her head, she began the process to shift into her wolf. It felt like such a long time since her last shift, which was just before she left Silver Fang.
'Was that really only yesterday?' She thought and felt her wolf coming closer to the forefront so she could take over. 'It was such a short run though. At least we'll have eight whole hours to run tonight!' Evony could feel her wolf's excitement through the shared link. She only wished that she could be doing this run with Reed.
Evony shook out her fur and sat patiently waiting for the rest of the group to finish shifting. Though fifteen wolves were going on the run, only nine were new to the pack, and that was including Evony.
They started off at a sprightly jog so that the transfers could get a feel for the area. Evony's nose kept twitching with the new scents of the area. It was the first time she'd shifted since coming to Boston and the air was so much heavier than the air in Colorado. She ran mostly beside Garrett's gray wolf, but since she didn't know the area, she hung back a couple of steps so she could still follow his lead.
The condensed pack was well underway in their journey and judging from the positioning of the moon, it was just around midnight when the breeze lifted a familiar scent to Evony's nose. The other transfers didn't seem to notice anything amiss but Evony could see that Garrett and the enforcers tensed up just be it happened.
A dark brown wolf attacked and tackled Garrett from the right, barreling him into Evony as she tried to get out of the way. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed some of the transfers huddle together as they waited for the enforcers to take care of the intruders. 'Pitiful,' her wolf commented on their lack of courage to take on what they thought were rogues.
She didn't recognize this particular wolf so she had no problems attacking him. The intruder didn't expect her to join the fray so when he turned his back on her, she hopped on and dug her teeth on the side of his neck. A warm flow of crimson metal streamed into her mouth as the grip that he had on Garrett's leg waned.
"We came to rescue you," he mind linked to her. It was then when he said 'we' that Evony looked around her and saw every wolf that came on the run were each fighting someone from her father's pack. It was a shock to finally be able to mind-link with somebody from her father's pack. Until she joined Reed's pack she'd still be joined with Silver Fang. But the mind-link was only as strong as the proximity of the next pack member. It felt weird to Evony to have another person in her head again.
Evony recognized Georgia, the Beta's daughter attacking one of the transfers. She quickly ran and stood in between them, baring her teeth at Georgia. "Move away now, and return back to Silver Fang."
"Your father order us to bring you home." Georgia countered. She tried to step closer to Evony, but Evony's wolf was slightly bigger and she quickly took three steps back when Evony closed the space between them even more.
Evony was aware that the other members of Silver Fang and Blood Moon were watching the exchange; though Silver Fang was the only ones who knew what was being said between the two wolves.
"And I'm ordering you to return home. You've just ignited a war that Silver Fang can't afford!" Georgia looked startled at the tone that Evony used with her. Evony felt bad because they used to be so close, up until Georgia went off to college two years prior. They were joined at the hip due to the unspoken bond of being the only daughters of the two most powerful men in the pack. When Georgia left, they tried to keep in touch, but both became busy with their own separate workloads and lives, that eventually, they just never spoke again. There was no ill will between them, until now.
"We're not leaving here without you." Georgia lunged for Evony, trying to subdue her. The only problem Evony saw with her thinking was the fact that Georgia thought she could take Evony, when she wasn't prepared to kill her. Evony however, was in this fight to the death, and she knew that she wouldn't be the one to die. She dodged out of the way from Georgia's attack. They started pacing, watching each other as the others formed a circle around the two she-wolves.
Evony couldn't figure out why this meant so much to Georgia. Wolf politics never seemed to be on Georgia's radar before, and yet now, here she was instigating a war between two packs that have always been willing to explode at each other.
"How are you planning on taking me back to my father if you're dead. End this now!" Evony tried one more time to order Georgia down from her suicide mission.
But Georgia proved she wasn't having it. "Fine!" She yelled through the mind-link before swiping a paw at Evony's face. Georgia was sure that she was going to connect and ruin Evony's face, even just enough before she healed that she hadn't realized that Evony had expected the swipe and ducked low. Evony raised her paw and dug into Georgia's underbelly. The momentum of Georgia's swing propelled her enough that Evony's paws went in deep, slashing at arteries and organs before hitting the ground hard.
Georgia struggled to breathe her last breaths, painstakingly staring up at Evony as she shifted back. Evony followed sui
t and stood naked in front of everyone over Georgia's body. The other body that she dropped was long forgotten, dead and in his human form as well.
"Put...me...out...of...my...misery," Georgia gurgled with each shallow breath. From above, Evony stared at the girl's injuries. Unless a doctor was tending to her injuries right that second, no amount of healing was going to save Georgia.
Evony turned her head up to see several bodies of dead wolves, some in the process of shifting back to their human forms after their last breath had been taken, littering the ground. From the looks of things, they were all from Silver Fang, save for about ten wolves.
"Silver Fang listen up! I will kill every single one of you if any of you come to this pack once more. Whether you're ordered to do so by my father or not, will not matter. Go back to my father and tell him that anymore rescue attempts will be ill-fated to anyone he sends for me. LEAVE NOW!"
The ten moved towards their fallen companions to bring their bodies back with them.
"Leave them," Evony said coldly. "They're traitors. They don't deserve to be mourned." Garrett limped to where Evony stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't even noticed when he shifted back.
"Let the bodies go Evony. Your pack will not see them as traitors, but martyrs. They were following orders, just misguided ones. Blood Moon can extend that courtesy to them," he advised. What Silver Fang did was wrong, however he knew that keeping the bodies of wolves that fell would bring the war closer than they had planned for.
Evony nodded once before shifting back into her wolf. Besides that fact that it was cold and she hadn't planned on shifting for everyone to see her naked body, she was upset to tears that she was forced to kill her childhood friend. Evony's body racked with the tears she refused to shed, and shifting into her wolf provided some relief to that.
Once every dead body was cleared, and Silver Fang was on their way back home, Garrett gave the command to the enforcers to lead everyone back to the pack house.
Evony's wolf stared at the spot that Georgia's body fell, just staring at the blood that stained the earth in an elongated drip pattern. She wanted to howl at the amount of blood that her father had no care in shedding. And for what?
The hatred that she now felt for her father rolled off her in waves and Garrett was hesitant in approaching her. He nudged her on her left shoulder and pointed with his nose that the others were already heading back.
Slowly Evony got up and followed the rest of the group back. She was so in her thoughts on the run back that she hadn't even realized when they had returned. By the time she made it to her discarded clothes, the others were already dressed.
"Was anybody hurt?" She asked Garrett before he could ask if she was alright. Evony dragged her shirt over her body, not even bothering with her leggings since the shirt was really a shirtdress. All she wanted to do was return to her dorm and get some rest. The day had turned out to be more tiresome than she had anticipated, and she couldn't even enjoy the benefits of running without thinking of the lives she took.
"Yes, there are a few minor injuries. No casualties." Garret stepped closer to Evony before continuing. "Evony, it might be best if you stay here tonight. The pack house has plenty of rooms and it's too late to drive." Garrett advised again, though she knew he was right in this moment, a part of her wished that Garrett returned to his carefree way with her. She could definitely see that he made an excellent Beta for Reed.
"I'll be fine thanks Garrett. I didn't bring any sleep clothes anyway." Evony tried to wave him off, but at that moment her vision blurred for a second. It was a weak attempt to cover her tiredness but Garrett saw right through it.
"Come on. At least, just rest up for a few hours. Reed would never forgive me if something happened to you after the long day you had. Come on, I'll get some clothes for you." Evony couldn't justify leaving the pack grounds at that point. Her eyes going blurry, even just for a second was a testament to how exhausted she really was. While Garrett thought Reed would never forgive him, Evony knew she would never forgive herself if, goddess forbid, she hit someone due to sleep deprivation.
Garrett led her upstairs to a bedroom on the second floor. "Here you are. There's a bathroom through that door," Garrett pointed on the far side of the room they had just entered. "Go ahead and take a shower, you smell like them, and you're covered in blood." Evony looked down at her hands and was upset that she wasn't handling this well. Sure enough, her right hand was covered in Georgia's blood and had smeared to her clothes when she had put them on.
"I'll bring you some clothes to change into and leave them on the bed for you." Garrett silently turned on his heels and left Evony to her misery. In a daze, Evony headed over to the bathroom and quickly stripped, and threw her ruined clothes in the trash bag. In the linen closet, she found a fluffy gray towel and matching washcloth and set them aside. The shower was stocked with unscented hair care products and body wash, and Evony found all that was left to do was physically get in the shower.
The hot water proved to be good for her psyche since as soon as it hit her skin, she sprung into action. First, rinsing and wiping the blood from all over her body, she didn't hesitate to watch the water turn from red to pink before finally running clear. The body wash and shampoo may have been unscented, but it felt like heaven to Evony when she could no longer smell the fallen, but her own scent of cocoa butter and cinnamon. She quickly washed her hair, and finally left the comfort of the shower.
Evony braided her black hair into two long cornrows, wrapped her body in the towel and prayed that Garrett had left some clothes on the bed like he said he would. She assumed that he was going to leave her clothes from another she-wolf, his wife perhaps, and was surprised to find that the shirt and basketball shorts were that of a man's wardrobe. Judging by the familiar scent of pine and cloves, she knew that these were Reed's clothes.
Not bothering with the shorts since she knew they would be too big, she pulled the shirt over head, and marveled that her mate's scent was surrounding her. 'Just a few hours of sleep,' she told herself as she climbed into a bed that was made of clouds. It wasn't until she tried to clear her mind for sleep that the dam broke, and the tears bombarded her pillow like a flood. Never in her life had she thought her first kill would be someone from her own pack.
Lamenting on the needless loss of life from the day's events was how Evony finally crashed her way into sleep.
Chapter 10
Evony cursed herself for not drawing the curtains to a close before climbing into bed last night. The sun poured in and almost had her believing she was at least part vampire, the way she shunned the light.
She was willing to get out of bed, one, to close the curtains and gain some more sleep and two, because she did need to use the bathroom. However, an unnatural weight around her body, prevented her from moving. Though if it weren’t for the sun and the need to urinate, she would definitely have no problem with not leaving the bed.
Evony turned her head to look behind her and found the most beautiful sight of her mate curled up against her back. Although his strong arm did not allow her to move away from him, she found that she was able to turn her body so that she was facing him. His even breaths indicated that he was still in a deep sleep and Evony's desire to empty her bladder was long forgotten.
Her wolf was practically howling to get out with the need to be even closer to him that she already was. Before she knew it, Evony reached her hand to push back some strands of hair that fell in his face.
"Well, at least you're not just going to stare at me." Reed's husky voice mumbled with morning sleepiness.
"You need to let me go-"
"Never," Reed interrupted and pulled her closer to him. Evony reveled in his grip and the sparks that lit up between them where their skin touched.
"I need to pee, and I'd rather not do that on you." Evony pleaded and Reed finally relented, though it took him a second to think on it. His reasoning, they could take a shower together. But even he saw how u
nreasonable it was to let her go on herself.
Evony quickly went about her business, and even brushed her teeth with a spare and new toothbrush she found by the kitchen sink. When she returned to the bedroom, Reed was sitting up against the headboard. His bottom half was still covered by the blankets, and Evony couldn't help but wonder if he slept in the nude or if he wore something to bed. Quickly she prayed that her cheeks didn't betray her thoughts as she found her way back to the bed as well.
"You wanna talk about it?" Reed stared at Evony as she climbed back in the bed. She lay down on her side, facing him and began fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, well his shirt. He internally growled at the notion of her wearing his clothes. Even his wolf was panting for her body.
"What's there to talk about? My dad sent some of his wolves to their death. He had no regard for their lives or the lives of your pack. He made a deal with me, and he betrayed that by sending them for me."
"You did what you had to do."
"That is not what I want to hear!" Frustrated, Evony turned away from him and got back out of the bed. She walked over to the window and stared outside at the expansive backyard. She had noticed the lake that was practically a stone's throw from the pack house but was unable to find a chance to go to it during the party. "I don't want to hear about doing what needed to get done, when it shouldn't have happened in the first place. I know it's not my fault, but the fact of the matter is, they were here because of me. Your people got hurt because of me. And because of me, someone I once considered a friend is dead. And I was the one that killed her."
"STOP." Reed let his alpha command leak through and winced when he saw that Evony cringed at his usage. He never wanted to ever have to use his command voice with her. However, he couldn't bear to hear his wolf whining while she wallowed in self-pity and doubt. "I know it's not what you want to hear. But even if I wasn't your mate, you're still an alpha by blood. Standing up for what's right is never easy and yet you protected innocents and showed mercy for those that did you wrong."