by Tate James
Wesley’s half smile spread wider, and he groaned. “Probably. Come here.” He held out a hand to me, which I took and let him pull me into his lap. “Thank you for being there with me, sweetheart. I know I’ve been a bit weird since, but I really appreciated being able to feel your hand in mine while Blackwing was digging around in my brain.”
“Not that I was any real help,” I grumbled, playing with the buttons of his shirt.
“Agree to disagree, Kit,” he said firmly. “Now... we still have several hours of flying until we land. I can think of one way you can lift my, er, spirits.”
I snorted a laugh and licked my lower lip. “Have I mentioned how much I am enjoying this new confident side to you? So, your plan is to create new, enjoyable memories. Is that right?” He gave me a naughty smile, and I grinned back. “In private or right here?”
He quirked his brows and shot a look past me, down the aisle to where the other guys were seated. “Right here,” he breathed, leaning in closer and placing a lingering kiss on my lips. “If you’re game?”
I groaned, turning in his lap until my legs straddled him. “If I’m game,” I scoffed. “Careful who you’re challenging, Crow. I’ll put on one hell of a show.”
This time when we arrived into Harrow, Alaska, our reception was warmer. Moderately, but at least no one was trying to kill me this time.
“We didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” Granny Winter, the old woman Alpha commented with a condescending glare in my direction. Despite the fact that we had proven I wasn’t Bridget, she didn’t seem totally convinced. That or she just didn’t like me for me.
“Ms. Winter,” River greeted her with all the manners of an English gentleman. “Thank you for agreeing to see us in person. Were you able to get in touch with Vic?”
Granny Winter pursed her lips, trying to maintain her scowl as she eyed River, but clearly it wasn’t holding. Charming bastard was cracking the old bitch’s defenses.
“I was,” she confirmed. “He said he would do his best to make it back before you depart Harrow again.” She cast another unpleasant look in my direction, then spun on her heel to lead us inside her house, leaning heavily on her cane. “This better be damn important though.”
“It is,” River assured her, waiting for me to sit before sitting himself. The rest of the guys all found seats around the very old-lady styled sitting room, and a young girl wheeled through a tray of teacups and pots. “I hope you don’t mind if we get straight to the point?”
Granny Winter raised her brows at him while stirring her tea, then sat back to sip at the delicate bone china cup. We had agreed in advance that River would handle the talking part with the wolves. Not only was he technically one of them, but he was the only one that Granny Winter didn’t seem to shoot poison daggers from her eyes at.
“Please do,” she encouraged. “And help yourself to tea. It’s so hard to find good help these days.” She shot a glare at the young girl who had brought the trolley in, and the girl flushed scarlet.
“Thank you,” River responded politely, pouring a cup for himself and placing it on a saucer. Caleb nudged me in the ribs, and from the corner of my eye I caught him rolling his eyes. I pinched him back in a way that said, “Yeah I know, very typically British, but shut the hell up.”
“We came to discuss an ancient artifact that was broken into four pieces and given for safekeeping to the four strongest supernatural species at the time.” River paused, his gaze sharp as he observed the old woman. “We believe the wolves might have been one of those races.”
“Hmm,” Granny Winter murmured, sipping her tea. “How flattering. Why?”
“Because of who I am,” River admitted, and his leg against mine thrummed with tension. “We do not believe it is any coincidence that this exact combination of species made up Kit’s guardians, and we have not been wrong yet. So?”
Granny Winter didn’t reply for the longest time, staring down into her tea. Finally, when she did speak, it was with an air of nostalgia to her voice.
“I’m older than I look, did you know?” She glanced up at us and shook her head. “Of course you didn’t know; I look like I’m as old as the hills. Well, let me ask you this: how do you think I became Alpha?”
The question confused me, and I squinted at her. “You mean, because you’re old?”
“‘Old’ is a very subjective term, girl,” Granny Winter informed me in a scathing tone. “I’ll tell you. I won the title of Pack Alpha prior to the plague. Back then, I was the strongest in our pack, a White Wolf.” The way she said it, it was clearly a status thing, not just an unusual coat color. “But that was before the plague. After... well after, I lost the ability to call my wolf. She’s still there, still a part of me, but she’s no longer able to surface. With the loss of my wolf, I began to age. Not as fast as a human, mind, but sure enough, every year I age just a little more.” She sighed heavily and sipped her tea.
“But you have held your title all this time,” Austin pointed out. “You must still have something left. I can’t imagine all these wolves would have been happy with a defective leader; there must have been challenges.”
“Oh, there have been plenty,” the old Alpha laughed. “It took a long time for my strength to fade, and by that time I had built myself a loyal base. Now, I ask one of my proxy’s to accept a challenge on my behalf, and as they are the best of the best, they have yet to lose.”
“Why are you telling us this?” I asked her, frowning.
“Because it leads to what happened next, little girl,” she replied in a scathing way. “The item you seek was given to an Alpha much older than myself. This was in a time when the population was less, and one Alpha ruled all wolves. The people”—this was sneered at me, another reminder of her feelings toward Ban Dia— “who entrusted the item to our race were clear. Only the Supreme Alpha wolf could be trusted to hold it in safekeeping. None other.”
“But there is no Supreme Alpha anymore, is there?” I blurted out, unable to hold my tongue.
Granny Winter rolled her eyes in a very queenly sort of way before responding. “There is not. But when our packs decided to break away into states—so to speak—it was decided there would be one simple way to determine who would have been Supreme Alpha. Every time a new Alpha ascends within their own pack, they must then travel to challenge whoever is top dog at the time. Pun intended.” She gave a little snort at her own joke. “The winner is the strongest and, therefore, holds the item you seek... among other things.”
“So, who has it now?” River asked her, his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion.
Granny Winter gave him a brittle smile. “How easy for you if I were to say I had it. Sadly, I cannot use proxy to fight an Alpha battle and lost my reign some time after losing my wolf. So here is the long and short of it, because I like you.” This was definitely directed at River. “Not the company you keep, but you. The wolf who currently holds the top spot is in England. You want the amulet shard, you better prove you’re stronger than him.”
A silence fell across the room as we all just sort of gaped at her.
“How?” Cole asked, first to recover his wits.
“As a wolf, of course,” Granny Winter sniffed. “Not whatever else that is I can smell on you.” She pierced River with a knowing glare. “An Alpha must be in wolf form for the full duration of the fight, or they forfeit.”
River was so tense beside me he was practically vibrating, so I laid a hand on his knee to try and calm him as I licked my lips and forced myself into civility.
“Wouldn’t he need to be Alpha of your pack before he’d be allowed to take this fight?” I pointed out. “Surely you’re not so eager to give up your crown just like that?”
She barked a laugh and leaned forward to snag a shortbread biscuit from the tea tray. “Not bloody likely,” she laughed, a hint of an accent slipping through. “He doesn’t need my pack; he’s already Alpha of yours.” Her crumb-covered lip curled as she eyed me. “His choice
of Alpha female leaves a lot to be desired, but who am I to tell others their mistakes?”
“Who indeed?” Caleb muttered under his breath, and I jabbed him with my elbow.
“How do we find this English pack’s Alpha?” River asked, his voice husky with the strain of holding everything in. He was scared, and I didn’t blame him.
Granny smiled at him again like a favorite grandson. “I can handle that for you, dear. I even volunteer my lands to host the ritual fight.”
“Terribly kind of you,” I sneered, and her eyes flashed dangerously.
Pretending like she hadn’t heard me, she continued speaking to River directly. “I will place the call myself, but it might be a couple of days until he can get here. He’s a busy man, as I am sure you can appreciate.”
“The sooner the better,” Vali urged in his smooth voice. “Please ask him to bring the item we seek, as I have no doubt we will be taking it away.”
Granny Winter scoffed. “It is customary to bring all sacred artifacts in case of a change in power. Now, we do not have any hotels here as we don’t encourage tourism, but Vic has advised me that you can stay in his house again. Will that be suitable? I wasn’t aware there would be quite so many of you.”
“We will make do,” River replied with a tight smile. “Thank you for your kind hospitality. We look forward to news on when this Alpha will be arriving.”
I bit my tongue about Granny Winter’s so-called “kind” hospitality, and we all managed to file out of the Pack house without any further altercations.
“So that was an interesting outcome,” Caleb commented as the seven of us walked down the quiet street in the direction of Vic’s house, where we had previously stayed.
Austin snorted. “Interesting? I doubt Alpha thinks of it that way.”
“Kind of gives that codename new meaning, doesn’t it?” Wesley observed, staring off into the distance. “Makes me wonder if Jonathan might have had a little magical assistance that we didn’t know about.”
“A seer?” Austin asked him, and Wes nodded.
“Something like that,” he agreed. “It all seems a bit too coincidental, doesn’t it?”
Just talking about Jonathan hurt my heart, so I sped up to walk beside River, who was stalking down the street ahead of us all.
“You okay?” I asked him in a quiet voice, linking my fingers through his.
There was a pause before he responded, his jaw tight. “Not really,” he admitted in an open way that was new for him. “I have barely held the wolf form for more than a couple of seconds so far. How will I possibly hold the hellhound back for an entire fight?”
“Hey,” I soothed, gripping his hand tighter. “You have me now. You have us. You’re not doing this alone, remember?”
His fingers squeezed mine back, but he said nothing for the rest of the walk to Vic’s house. Hopefully that just meant he was lost in thought about how to win... and not stressing about the what-ifs of losing.
22
RIVER
The beasts within me kept pace as I crossed the length of the room and then back again. Over and over and over. The repetition kept me sane in a way that only Kit could do otherwise.
Right now, though, she was fast asleep and looking like an angel in the moonlight... or a devil. I never could decide. Our stint together, given over to our dark sides, had me leaning harder toward devil, though.
How she had managed to pull me out of that dark place, I would never understand. I’d thought for sure I was finished. That there could be no going back from everything we had done. That I had done. The deaths I was responsible for... no amount of cleansing could wash the blood from these hands, and that was just something I was going to have to live with.
Day by day. One step at a time. Control is king; never let it slip, or you’re no better than the rest. The long-forgotten voice of my uncle echoed through my head, his words more important now than I had ever given credit to.
As a kid, he’d seen me struggle. Not that he had done overly much to help—no one could. But those little gems of wisdom when he’d come to visit had stuck with me throughout my life.
My fists clenched and unclenched as I paced, unable to sleep for the third night in a row. Not the best setup for a big fight, but every time Kit dropped into deep sleep, my mind just seemed to hit turbo charge, running at a million miles an hour until I was so worked up I needed to do this. Pace.
“River,” Cole’s quiet rumble jolted me from my thoughts, and I jerked my head to the door. “A light aircraft just touched down on the edge of town. Looks like today is the day.”
I gave him a short nod, grabbing my shirt from the chair and silently slipping from the room. There was no sense in waking Kitten if there was going to be hours of bullshit first. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, and she was far from a morning person.
“You and Vali been out flying?” I asked as we padded through the silent house. The ease with which the estranged brothers had taken to their new forms filled me with an unfamiliar feeling of jealousy. Just another thing I needed to deal with inside my own head.
“Yep,” Cole replied, not wasting words. “Wolves have been restless too.”
I sighed, peering up at the sky as we stepped outside. “It’ll be a full moon tonight. That’s probably got something to do with it.”
“Does the moon really effect your shifting?” Cole murmured, scowling up at the violet sky. “Seems restrictive.”
“Hell if I know,” I admitted. “I was a little busy on my mass murder spree last full moon, remember?”
Cole grunted. It was a noise that I knew roughly translated to, “Oh yeah, sorry dude. I forgot.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I shook my head. “I guess we will find out tonight anyway. I seriously doubt wolves would fight during the day. Not dramatic enough, is it?”
My friend snorted a short laugh. “These supernaturals sure do love being dramatic,” he agreed. “I’d guess they want the spectators a bit whipped up, too, to add to the atmosphere. Makes sense that he’s arriving in time for a full moon.”
“Bastard,” I muttered, meaning this English Alpha. He probably could have arrived two days ago, but Cole was right. He probably wanted to wait for the full moon to have all the local wolves in a frenzy of their own. If the full moon shit wasn’t all myth, that was.
The morning was cool and my skin pebbled in the breeze, but inside I was like an inferno. Like my blood was coursing with hellfire.
“Did you see how much backup came with him?” I asked Cole as the two of us made our way toward the little airstrip.
Cole shook his head. “No, just came straight to tell you. Left Vali to keep an eye on things.”
We didn’t speak again as we approached the small, white aircraft, but I quickly spotted Granny Winter and some of her lieutenants standing near it’s exit and clasping wrists with a group of strangers.
“Alpha River,” Granny Winter greeted me as Cole and I approached. “I figured your scaly friends would get you here sooner or later. Come and meet my guests.” She stepped aside so that I could approach the tallest man, who wore a heavy cloak. “Please meet my old friend, Alpha Cameron.”
“No introductions needed, Annaliese,” the hooded man chuckled with a crisp English accent. “River and I go way back.” He tossed his hood back and threw me a mischievous smirk. “Don’t we, nephew?”
My jaw just about hit the tarmac as I gaped. His sandy-blond hair and neatly trimmed beard framed a face not a single day older than when I’d last seen him—some twenty-odd years ago.
“Uncle Cam?” I exclaimed. “You’re—” I broke off with a bitter laugh. “Of course you are. Are you even my uncle?”
He gave a familiar shrug. “Technically, yes. Just a few generations removed.”
“Explains why you always acted like such an old stuffed shirt,” I muttered with a glower. “Did Mum and Dad know? About what you—we—are?”
Cam gave me a sympathetic smil
e, but I didn’t need his pity. My parents had died a long time ago, and I’d had plenty of time to make my peace with it. “Your Mum did,” he admitted. “But she wanted to keep you from this world. She never did believe magic would be restored, constantly told me the wolves were a dying race. Well, if she could see us now, huh?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I doubt this is where she thought I would end up.” I sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, stuffing all the old memories back in their box. “So, I’m to fight you then?”
Cam grinned in his easy manner, and his eyes flashed with that canine reflectiveness which would have unnerved anyone who didn’t know we weren’t human. “You know it, nephew. I should warn you I won’t be taking it easy on you. There are a lot of responsibilities that come with this job, and I won’t be giving them up lightly.”
“I don’t particularly want them, if I’m honest, Uncle.” I folded my arms over my chest. “I can’t persuade you to give up just the one piece?”
“Sorry, kid. That’s not how it works, I’m afraid.” Cam clapped me on the shoulder and gave me a small push back toward town. “Come on, let’s get some tea and breakfast, and you can tell me all about how a skinny kid without a scrap of magic in him has ended up Alpha of his own little pack. Oh, do you have a mate yet? If not, I have plenty of eligible bitches in my pack you could meet.”
The idea amused me—mostly picturing what Kitten would do if Cam tried to bring any of these “eligible bitches” sniffing around. Cole must have thought the same because he covered a laugh with a cough as he fell into step alongside us.
“Oh, sorry. Uncle Cam, this is my best friend and Beta, Cole.” I introduced the two men, and they briefly clasped hands.
“Beta?” Cam repeated with a quirked brow. “Doesn’t smell like a wolf...”
“I’m not,” Cole grunted. “Not too fond of that doggy smell, either.”
Cam gave me an amused look, and I just shook my head. “Dragon,” I said by way of explanation. “Elitist bastards, the lot of them.”