Pack Violet Shadow

by C. M. Stunich

  And then there was Selena to think about. Going into that café hadn't told me a damn thing about what'd happened to her.

  I took a deep breath and slicked my fingers through my hair, trying my best not to scream.

  “Zara,” Silas said, his voice a hell of a lot softer than normal. Faith was sitting in the front, still going on about university students (of which she was one), so she couldn't hear us.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the same moment Che growled from his side of the bench seat. One look from me and he turned away with a scowl, pointing his glare out the window on his right.

  “I wasn't in on it; I'm not a traitor.”

  “Please,” Che muttered under his breath, still scowling.

  “I'm not,” Silas snapped back and for a moment there, his teeth were all wolf, razor-sharp and dripping. I glanced up at Faith and found her tugging on the sleeve of Nic's hoodie. “My dad … I knew he was planning on … I don't know, rigging the Pairing somehow. But I didn't know about the witches or the Bloods or the missing pack members. Zara, I would have told you.”

  “What were you trying to say to me in the Pairing House the night of the Challenge?” I whispered. “What did you need to tell me?”

  “I …” Silas paused and took a deep breath, pinching at the front of his sweaty t-shirt. It was stuck to the hard planes of his chest like it was glued there. “I was going to tell you everything I knew about my dad, all the things he'd told me … all the things he'd threatened.” He stopped again and met my eyes, gold irises boring into purple-black ones. “It wasn't a lot. Just enough, Zara, but …”

  “Is that why you begged me that first night?” I asked, taking a deep breath and trying to control the rush of emotions swirling around inside of me. “Begged me to pick you? It wasn't for your safety, was it? It was for everyone else's?”

  Silas glanced away, but I could see the flicker of truth in his eyes.

  “This is fucked,” Che breathed, sitting on the other side of Montgomery. The Alpha-Son of Pack Ivory Emerald sat stoic and unmoving, arms crossed over his chest, face forward. I think he was giving himself time to process—smart move. “Pretty convenient story, don't you think? Silas, willing to save us all by taking the Alpha Male position before we got hurt. Silas, who's just now mentioning that he knew about this shit, but conveniently not the worst parts of it. Zara, I can see right through him. Why can't you?”

  “What are you guys whispering about back there?” Faith asked, drawing my attention back to the front. I tried to plaster a smile on my face, but I don't think I in any way managed to get close. The look she gave me said volumes. “Look, I still haven't forgotten what we talked about this morning.”

  I felt my cheeks blush slightly—and I was not a person who embarrassed easily.

  “Faith …” I started as she zoned in on me with a look. It said you are so full of shit, your eyes are brown. “Can we discuss this later, please?”

  “Later is great,” she said, turning back toward the front of the SUV and folding her arms resolutely over her chest. “Because I'm spending the night at your new place tonight. Just try and stop me.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but then snapped it shut just as quick. Why not? I could use some time to gossip with Faith. Even if every moment felt like a lie, like I was hiding the reality of her mother's death from her.

  I was a terrible friend.

  “That's fine with me,” I said, refusing to meet Nic's gaze in the rearview mirror, or acknowledge the penetrating stare of Che Nocturne behind me.

  The two men I'd slept with, both glaring at me at the same time.

  Yep. It was definitely time for a girl's night.

  Everyone needed a moment to cool down and gather their thoughts, so I steered Faith inside while several of the boys went 'for a walk'. I wasn't sure if any of them were actually going for an evening stroll or if they all just planned on going wolf, but I didn't care. As long as they were out of the house and not fighting with each other, it was fine by me.

  “This place is really cute,” Faith said skeptically, giving the massive shower in the downstairs bathroom a suspicious look. She was also chewing on her braid again, so I knew I was in trouble. “Why, it looks like this bathroom might fit, say, eight people,” she continued, casting a look over her shoulder and then laughing. “What was this built for anyway? An orgy?”

  I laughed, but the sound was forced and Faith zeroed right in on it, coming over to stand in front of me in her orange hoodie with the pineapple on the front of it. I had no idea if there was a special meaning to it, or if it was just another random bit of Faith fashion. She certainly had her own unique way of looking at the world.

  At the very least, it was food related. That part made sense.

  I stared at her and the silence got way too long and awkward for my liking. Things were never awkward between me and Faith—not even when I was hiding the usual werewolf stuff from her. No, this was so much worse. That shower, I wanted to say, it's big because we had to wash off all the blood, Faith. There was so much blood.

  “I'm planning on dragging all my new boyfriends in there for a mind-altering sexual experience, obviously.”

  Faith paused and cocked her head to one side, folding her arms over her chest.

  “Zara, what the hell is going on? I mean, this cottage is cute, but it's not really big enough for eight people to live in. I know you said your mom, like, wants you to marry a rich guy, but … if they're so rich, why don't they have their own places?”

  “It's complicated,” I said with a dry laugh, but had bullshit like that ever worked on my best friend? She'd known me for far too long to accept empty nonsense like that. “These guys are sort of, like, royal blood. My mother wants me to work with them for a year and see who I get along with best.”

  “That's weird, Zara,” Faith said, uncrossing her arms with a sigh and walking around me, pausing as she noticed Tidus standing in the entry to the living room area.

  “You guys want pizza or something?” he asked, smiling like he didn't smell the nervous pheromones that were perfuming the air around me. I knew he could, of course, but at least he had the decency to pretend that everything was okay. “Do you think they'll deliver all the way up here in the woods?”

  A slight smile stretched my lips as I thought of how nice it felt to sit in his lap, how his hands on my hips had sent this vibrant need arcing through me. Tidus was the kind of guy who lit up a room just by being in it. He didn't have to say anything, do anything; his presence was enough.

  “Hawaiian please,” Faith whined, moving around me and continuing her exploration into the living room, running her hand along the fireplace mantle, before circling around the green velvet chair and heading past the long dining room table and into the kitchen. There was a small utility room back there, a washer and dryer, and a closet that I'd made sure one of the boys locked before Faith found it. Inside, there were iron and bone weapons, guns with silver bullets, and a few old 'were' artifacts from past alphas that'd stayed here during the Pairing. The last thing I wanted to do was explain to Faith why there was a statue of mating wolves in a closet next to large wooden claymores.

  “Hawaiian,” Tidus said, raising his brows and gesturing at me with his cell. “Anything in particular you want, Zara? Pepperoni? Cheese? Combination?” He paused and snapped his fingers, his gray eyes sparkling playfully. Guess he wasn't upset about Silas' perceived betrayal.

  Me, I was torn.

  I wasn't sure if I was taking it too seriously—or not seriously enough.

  “Let me guess … okay, you strike me as someone who likes their pizza just outside the realm of normal.”

  “You think you can guess my pizza preferences just by looking at me?” I asked, feeling a small laugh working its way up from inside my belly. “Take your best shot,” I said, lifting my chin up and smiling as Faith walked back into the living room and found the blonde surfer boy staring at me with a very determined facial expression, features
scrunched like he was trying to figure out the answer to a really important puzzle.

  “White sauce, roasted garlic, and chicken?” he asked carefully and I clapped my hands over my mouth.

  “That's … kind of creepy, how did you do that?”

  “I asked Nic,” he said with a bright grin, spinning his phone around on the palm of his hand. God, he really was a cutie, wasn't he? Tidus wasn't like anyone I'd ever met before. He was bubbly and open with an easy smile and a carefree attitude that was infectious. I hardly knew what to make of him. Not in a bad way, but he was basically the opposite of Nic. My childhood friend was serious, inscrutable, overly sensitive at times. “Got ya, didn't I?”

  I caught Faith's raised brow as my lips twitched into a smile.

  “Can I get you anything else? Breadsticks? Hot wings? Soda?”

  “What are you, her new manservant?” Faith said, but it wasn't meant to be mean, just a joke. She chuckled. “Hell, I guess I'll take a bunch of suitors and a little cottage if it means getting waited on hand and foot.” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, can you grab me a molten lava cake?”

  “At your service,” Tidus said, taking a deep, exaggerated bow and standing back up, his white tank loose on his sun-kissed shoulders, that tattoo of his drawing my attention as he lifted up his phone and started plugging our order into the app. “I'll go pick it up. Maybe Nic'll stop scowling long enough to come with me?”

  Tidus winked and disappeared onto the front porch, letting the screen door swing shut behind him.

  “Dude, oh my god,” Faith said, coming over to stare at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. “You were seriously eye fucking the shit out of that guy.”

  “Eye fucking?!” I asked, turning away and heading up the stairs. It was only after I'd gone up a few steps that I realized it … the giant bed. Faith was going to see the giant bed. I turned around abruptly and popped my hip out, all sassy like.

  There were a lot of things I could explain my way around, but a massive eight person bed? That was going to be a little difficult to laugh off.

  “I wasn't eye fucking him, Faith.”

  She gaped at me.

  “You were practically panting, One-Kiss-No-Date.” She pursed her lips and narrowed her brown eyes at me. “All these years, you've never once had a crush on anyone but Nic. I mean, since sixth grade it's been obvious to me that the two of you would get together and now …” She paused and took a deep breath, like she was trying to find the right words. It wasn't until that moment that I realized it—she was actually upset with me. “Zara, I just … you and Nic made me believe love was real.”

  She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes ringed in liner and caked with mascara and I suddenly had no idea what to say to that. My heart started pounding and my hand felt slippery on the wooden banister.

  You and Nic made me believe love was real.

  What was I supposed to say to that? How was I supposed to respond? I was struggling with that, too, the idea that I could actually care about a boy other than Nic.

  “And before I even find out that you guys traded V-cards, you've slept with a guy I've never even met? Zara, I know I can be a little self-absorbed at times, but … I love you and I'm worried. Something's not right here; I can feel it.”

  I just stared at her for several seconds before she flipped a switch, wiping away all her genuine worry with a flick of that long braid over one shoulder. Before I could think up a response, she was darting past me and up the stairs. Yes, I could've used my superior strength and speed to stop her, but what was the point? There was no way in hell Faith would leave the entire upstairs of the cottage unexplored.

  “Zara …”

  I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, prayed to mother nature for strength, and started to turn.

  “Why bother keeping a human pet?” Aeron asked, standing outside the screen door next to Nic.

  “I found this wandering around at the edge of pack property,” he said, pushing open the door. “Go ahead and go in,” he added, letting the faerie princess into the cabin. The place was spelled, wards from some long-ago werewolf that'd had magic. Like me. Even Aeron couldn't cross them without a wolf's permission. “What do you want me to do with her? Tidus wants to go get pizza or something.”

  Nic looked up at me, our eyes meeting briefly. He was pissed at Silas, maybe even at me for putting myself into that situation at the café with Julian. But, at the same time, he didn't sound entirely put out at the idea of hanging with the Alpha-Son of Pack Amber Ash.

  That was progress, right?

  “Just leave her here,” I said as I heard Faith gasping from the bedroom doorway.

  “Zara Vodja Castille,” she warned, and I listened as her footsteps moved forward and into the only room on the top floor. One bed, one room, seven mates.

  I huffed out a long breath.

  “You sure?” Nic asked as Aeron produced a small glass bottle from the front pocket of her shimmery, see-through gown and popped the top. With a grin sharp enough to skin a hide, she downed it in a single swallow and waited, her image blurring like it'd been obscured by fog. A quick blink on my part and her new image settled in like it'd been there all along.

  “I'm sure,” I said as I tore my gaze from the faerie girl and looked over at Nic. His purple-black eyes were locked onto mine and through our connection, I felt his love and his pain and his frustration. “Go get pizza and make a friend, okay?”

  'I love you, Zara,' he told me and I smiled softly. 'No matter what. After all this is over, even though I know you can't pick me … make me your paramour. Keep me as your guard. I'll stand by while you rule with another man.' He paused as I felt my mouth start to hang open in shock. My … paramour? 'Even … even if you choose that traitor, I'll stay.'

  Nic turned before I could think of a thing to say and let the screen door slam shut behind him.

  Oh, goddess, please help me with all of these ridiculous men …

  I stood there gaping before I realized the princess was still standing there, waiting for me to acknowledge her.

  “Sorry, what do you want?” I asked, squinting at her and sucking on my lower lip. Just when I thought I had enough things to think about, Nic threw me that curveball? But he did have a point. I could keep him on as a guard … although there weren't many werewolves in history who'd ever … mated beyond their, ah, mate.

  Aeron stood there with her long dark hair slung over one shoulder, obscuring the white t-shirt (and lack of bra underneath). She looked casual and cool in a pair of low slung, faded blue jeans and black heels, the supernatural glimmer of her diamond-crushed skin faded to a more human butter-beige. Her sloe-eyed gaze still shone with an unnatural purple-blue, but I figured if Faith could handle the guys, she could probably deal with this.

  “Zara, you are in such deep—” Faith started, stumbling around the top of the stairs and catching sight of Aeron. Immediately, I saw her guard go up. She didn't like sharing her best friend with anyone. I remembered once in eighth grade when Ali Gobbe tried to convince me to sit at her table with the popular (in their own minds anyway) girls and ended up with a plate of spaghetti on her blonde-streaked brunette head. “Who's your friend?”

  “Faith, this is … Aeron,” I said with a small sigh. Yet another lie to add to my ever growing list. “Our mothers are colleagues.”

  “Uh-huh,” Faith said, coming down a few steps and crossing her arms over her orange hoodie. “Yet another Nikolina connection, huh?”

  I just stood there staring at the faerie girl as she swung her sheet of glimmering ebony hair over one shoulder.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure, Aeron?” I asked, coming down the steps and giving her a slight raise of my lips. She needed to know that right here, in this place, I was the boss. If I had to, I'd fight to the death to defend that privilege.

  “I was hoping we could have a minute to talk?” she said, looking around the cabin like it was as foreign to her as Faerie had been to me.

  “No,” Fa
ith said from behind me, refusing to move from her place on the stairs. “She cannot have a moment to talk. Look, I don't know you for shit, but I'm having a really hard week. My mom is on drugs and totally AWOL; she took my fucking dogs, too. My boyfriend is a complete loser and my best friend is … lying out her ass about everything.”

  “Faith,” I stared, but she ignored me, clamping her palms over her eyes.

  “No, Zara, don't. You're lying through your teeth, but that's okay. It doesn't matter. I just need someone to vent to, and I need to see what sort of crazy explanation you have for Che and this bed and just … everything.” She paused in her rant and yanked on the end of her braid, staring down at Aeron with a deadly serious facial expression. “Come back tomorrow, okay? She's all yours tomorrow.”

  “I don't have anywhere to go,” Aeron said, giving me a very pointed sort of look. “My mother kicked me out.”

  I just stood there staring at the heir to the Unseelie throne, a throne of dead and rotten and ugly things, and I just started to laugh.

  Pretty sure it was nervous laughter, but there it was, nonetheless.

  “I'll entertain her for a while,” Che said, standing just inside the screen door. I'd been too focused on Faith and Aeron to even notice that he'd come back, smelling of wolf and forest, lavender and bergamot oil. His purple eyes bored into mine. “Then you can spend some time with your friend and try to explain how the two of us ended up gettin' busy.”

  He tossed a long, slow heavy-lidded blink in my direction and then tucked his fingers into his front pockets. His smile … it was almost lascivious. And I liked it.

  “Getting busy?” Faith asked with a long groan, turning right back around and heading up the stairs again. “Not in this bed though, right? Is this bed clean?”

  “On the forest floor!” Che shouted, grinning at me and then turning toward the kitchen, disappearing past the archway and then calling for the faerie princess to come with him.