by Dean Murray
We'd been waiting in the hangar for almost forty minutes before Shawn's phone rang. I wasn't close enough to overhear any of the conversation, but he didn't look happy when he hung up.
"Agony arrived twenty minutes ago. Dad tried to keep a lid on things but apparently we had a leak. Six of the Coun'hij bully boys are on their way out here already. We've got maybe five minutes before they arrive."
"Your people leaked?"
"Of course they did, Adri. No pack the size of ours could possibly hope to keep everything a secret. We keep whatever we can on a need-to- know basis, but this little expedition was put together too quickly for me to keep it out of the pack grapevine."
My throat went dry. I still had nightmares about the last time Agony had shown up.
"What do we do?"
"We wait for them to arrive and then we go back to the compound with them. If I try to get any of you away before they arrive, they'll know and it'll be my people who suffer."
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but he turned on me with a flare of power that rivaled anything I'd ever seen out of Alec. I was a slow learner sometimes, but I could tell that Shawn had been pushed as far as he was prepared to go.
Two white SUVs pulled up a few minutes later, and half a dozen tattooed and heavily pierced men got out. I thought at first that Abaddon was running the show. He'd been with Agony last time, and he'd been one of the top dogs then, but when Oblivion stepped out of the second vehicle, I knew who was really in charge.
Abaddon might run his mouth the most, but it was Oblivion who made any resistance futile. He was one of those relatively rare hybrids who had manifested a power and his, at the very least, included the ability to strip memories out of a person's mind with a simple touch. He was the one who had wiped Jess's mind clean, and in some ways, it was every bit as bad as Agony's scarring power.
The Jess we all knew was long dead. The person walking around inside her body was someone else, someone who wasn't sure whether or not she could trust any of us.
Abaddon walked over to Shawn and then looked us all over.
"What brings you out to the airport on this cold frickin' day?"
Shawn shook his head. "I don't have to tell you that. I've just been informed that Agony has arrived, so I do have to return back to the compound with you, but nothing says that I have to tell you jack."
"Agony isn't going to accept that kind of answer."
"That's his prerogative, but you're not Agony."
They were working themselves up to a full-blown dominance fight. I'd seen it a dozen times before, but I was starting to see just how much sense it made. Shawn was dominant to his people and Abaddon was dominant to everyone but Oblivion. Rather than having everyone present kick the crap out of each other, it was faster and easier to have the two top dogs fight it out.
I didn't have a lot of hope that Shawn would come out on top. Abaddon had wiped the floor with Isaac, and Isaac had several inches and twenty or thirty pounds on Shawn.
Oblivion stepped between the two of them, and suddenly, neither Shawn nor Abaddon could back up fast enough. Oblivion was the only person from the Coun'hij without extensive body art. He didn't need it to intimidate people because his reputation was plenty scary all on its own.
That should have made his expression easier to read, but when he looked at me, his face was a perfect mask. He was at least as good as Alec when it came to his poker face, but I got the sense that Oblivion was tired. Not physically tired, more like emotionally and morally tired.
Oblivion gestured for Shawn and the rest of us to mount up and then gave Abaddon a look that seemed to say it was time for the other hybrid to get back to business. I could feel an incredible, almost inconceivable amount of power roll off of Abaddon. It was obvious he didn't like being pulled up short in front of us peasants, but after several seconds of locked gazes with Oblivion, he finally nodded.
"Did anyone important leave yet?"
Shawn shook his head. "A pilot who doesn't know anything. Everyone else is here."
"All right. Mount up, and no funny business or Agony will kill dear old dad for your sins."
**
Shawn pulled his phone out and started texting as soon as the vehicles were in motion. "I can't do much to head things off at this point, but I can at least make sure Alec knows what he's about to step in."
"Will it help?"
"Probably not, but I can't just sit around and do nothing."
The drive to 'the compound' was about half an hour, and the sun was just starting to send weak beams of light over the horizon as we pulled up to a massive gate.
A couple of minutes later we were tromping through the snow up to a manor house that was even older than the Graves Estate. Shawn had gestured for his guys to pick up the cages holding Jasmin and Isaac and he'd picked up Ben himself. I followed along behind them and hoped somebody would clue me in before things got too serious.
We filed through a house that had obviously been built with entertaining in mind. A grand central staircase dominated most of the entryway, but that wasn't where we were headed. Instead, we walked down a hall you could have driven a car through and then turned off into a much less ornate staircase. This staircase led down to a basement that was nothing more than bare concrete and sparse fluorescent light bulbs.
The gathering of people waiting down there was bigger than I'd expected. On one side of the room stood Agony along with another six or seven of the Coun'hij enforcers. The other side of the room was filled with a large group of men and women who all gave off a noticeable vibe of power. When everyone had said that the Chicago pack was the biggest I'd thought that meant the pack consisted of a dozen people, or maybe twenty at the outside. I'd been way off though because there were at least seventy people here.
Even if only a quarter of Shawn's pack were hybrids they still should have been able to easily crush Agony and the rest. The fact that they were going to allow Agony to dictate to them finally drove home for me just how much power the Coun'hij wielded.
Agony stepped into the center of the gigantic room and waited for us to reach him.
"I'm very disappointed that you weren't here to greet me, young Bishop."
Shawn shrugged nonchalantly. "When you choose to drop by without announcing yourself, you can't expect everyone to be here. Dad's perfectly capable of working through whatever you need to talk about. I don't need to be around for any of this."
"Oh, but you do. You see, some concerning rumors have reached me. I was reluctant to believe them at first, but I just can't seem to dismiss them no matter how hard I try."
All I could figure was that Shawn had ice water in his veins. He didn't even blink despite the fact that Agony was easily within arm's reach of him. The silence stretched out for several seconds before Agony turned and looked at the rest of us who had just driven in from the airport.
"I think my little rumor can wait for another day though. I'm much more interested in learning why it was that a significant portion of the Sanctuary pack has arrived on your doorstep looking like they've been through a war."
Shawn's cool cracked slightly. "That's not my business. I got a call requesting that I provide assistance for the Sanctuary wolves, so I helped. I've broken no rules by doing so."
"A call from young Mr. Graves?"
"Yes."
I could tell Shawn was going to make Agony drag the information out a word at a time, but Agony didn't seem to mind the game.
"Are you offering the hospitality of your pack to these four individuals? Do you stand ready to answer for their sins?"
"I have no right to extend that kind of offer on behalf of my pack. That decision lies with my father."
Agony smiled like he had just received the answer he'd been looking for.
"What say you, Ulrich? Are the Sanctuary wolves under your protection?"
I turned to look at Shawn's dad and was amazed at just how big he was. If you'd given Brandon an extra inch and forty more pounds of musc
le, you would have had a younger version of Ulrich. The grizzled alpha stared at Agony for several seconds before shaking his head.
"They aren't under my protection. What are you going to do with them?"
"I'm merely going to let our laws run their proper course. If there is no one here who is willing to offer them their protection, then any individual with unresolved business towards either of them is free to...resolve that business."
Abaddon stepped forward almost like he'd been waiting for a cue. "The boy challenged my dominance the last time I was in Sanctuary, and the fight was never properly finished. I demand satisfaction for the slight I suffered at his hands."
Agony stepped back as if to give Abaddon room to work in. I looked around at the gathered shape shifters, but nobody looked like they were going to interfere. Shawn's jaw was clenched, but he was just as motionless as the rest. I stepped forward and felt every eye in the room fix on me.
Abaddon grinned like a child about to pull the wings off a butterfly. "Are you really foolish enough to challenge me, girl?"
"No, I'm no match for you, but I think that somebody wants to talk to you."
Confusion flittered about the room until I held up my phone and pushed the speaker button.
"One of Agony's thugs is here, Alec, and he's going to kill Isaac."
Alec's voice came out smooth and confident. "Agony, everyone there knows this isn't about Isaac or Jasmin. This is about me. The Coun'hij has been looking for a reason to kill me for years now."
I could tell that Agony didn't like this development. If Alec couldn't come up with a way to save us all then I was going to pay for having interfered with Agony's macabre theater, but I wouldn't have done anything different. I couldn't have lived with myself if I'd just sat there and watched my friends die.
"Alec, I'm very disappointed that you would level that kind of accusation at the august body that watches out for the interests of our people as a whole."
"Yes, I expect you probably are disappointed. Disappointed and angry, but that doesn't change the fact that it's true. Your careful evasions aren't going to convince anyone that this is anything other than a lucky break that allowed the Coun'hij to finally execute on the assassination they've been wanting to wrap up for ages now."
Agony shifted slightly and then leaned forward. "What are you saying, Alec?"
"I'm saying exactly what you think I'm saying. Leave the four members of my pack currently in your power alone and I'll give you the chance to do to me what you did to my father."
There was an almost inaudible intake of breath from the gathered shape shifters. Faces that had been grimly stoic looked almost on the point of protesting.
"I hardly think you're framing things in the proper manner, Alec, but there is precedent for what you're describing. If you want to stand in the place of your pack members then I'm not going to stop you."
There was no hesitation in Alec's response. "Good. They'd better be alive when I get there, Agony, or I'll hunt you down, regardless of how long it takes me."
"Your people will be fine. If you're standing in their place, then tradition prohibits them from being harmed."
Shawn stepped forward and faced the phone I was holding.
"I'll witness the promise, Alec. Your people will be held harmless."
There was a general murmur of approval and then Ulrich stood from the throne-like chair where he'd been sitting. "We all witness it."
It was obvious to me that Agony didn't like the way the Chicago pack was prepared to get behind Alec, but he didn't really have many options, at least not in the short term.
Alec and the others arrived less than half an hour later. I wondered what they'd driven, but it wasn't important. All that was important was the fact that everyone was there.
The entire pack moved towards me, and Shawn's people shifted over closer to the rest of the Chicago pack so that there were now three clearly defined power blocs in the room. Jess and Andrew were in the lead with Donovan limping along behind them. Then came a guy and a girl I didn't recognize, but I figured they had to be Ash and his girlfriend. They were unique in that they were the only people in the room who were armed. They each had one visible pistol hanging from a shoulder harness, and Ash had several knives where he could get at them quickly.
Dominic and James were next with Rachel close behind. Dom and Rachel came and stood next to me, each grabbing ahold of one of my hands, but my return squeeze was an absentminded thing. My attention was completely captured by Alec's appearance.
He looked like he'd dressed in a rush. He hadn't even taken the time to get a shirt, just jeans and boots, but that just made him more perfect. A light snow must have started while we were downstairs. Snowflakes dotted his perfect, muscular shoulders and chest but they were already melting and trickling down his body.
His presence hit me almost like a physical blow and my knees went weak. I managed to remain standing, but it was a close thing. Rachel hissed and I looked down to find that I was squeezing her hand much too tightly. I loosened my grip, but she didn't look very good. I hadn't realized it when she'd walked into the room, but now that I'd had time to look at her more closely, I could see that she belonged in a bed somewhere, not standing in a cold basement watching her brother prepare to fight to the death.
Agony started clapping sardonically, but Alec answered with a rush of power that literally took my breath away. It was possibly the only thing he could have done to shut Agony up so abruptly. Shawn's surge of power back in the plane had matched anything I'd felt out of Alec previously, but it was a pale shadow of the display Alec had just completed.
"I will fight you, Agony, but I will not allow you to turn this into anything but what it is. I'm fighting you because I refuse to be party to a system where our rulers manipulate the rules required by our nature so that they can kill innocents. The Coun'hij has all but turned its back on our duty to defend humans. The werewolves run rampant, and rather than helping organize hunts to trim their numbers back, you kill any pack caught policing its borders. I'm fighting you because the last time we crossed paths I sacrificed part of my pack to preserve the rest of my friends and family. I've realized that the only person I can rightfully sacrifice is myself."
Agony shook his head and then turned and looked at the gathered shape shifters. "You see before you the spoiled heir to a system we as a people rejected centuries ago. The rules we have are in place to keep us safe as a society, but he expects to be able to flout them and avoid the consequences. He is the one who hopes to use brute strength to twist our laws into protecting those they were never meant to protect. I take no joy in what I'm about to do, but when you find a cancer you cut it out before it can spread. The Graves family line is a cancer, nothing more, nothing less."
Agony fell back a couple of steps and transformed into his hybrid shape with a dramatic flare of power. Alec took a deep breath and shifted forms with hardly a ripple on the metaphysical plane. I knew Alec wasn't a match for Agony. I knew he was probably going to die for his conviction, but none of that mattered. I was proud of him.
The man with the sword had said that I needed to send Alec all my love, and in a very real way, it felt like that was what I was doing right now. I needed him to know how much I loved and respected him, but I wouldn't shame him with some kind of outburst just before this fight. I sent my love to him because it was the only option I had left.
Alec and Agony were still with a completeness I'd never seen before. They were like twin statues set to face each other through the ages. One moment they were motionless. The next they exploded into a violence I'd never seen matched before.
**
The fight was just getting started. An uneducated observer might have thought we were going after each other with everything we had, but they would have been wrong. Isaac wasn't the only one who had been toying with Abaddon's fighting style. I'd spent more than a few hours trying to tie it back to some form of human martial art that I already understood.
Agony and I were feeling each other out, neither interested in risking the kind of full commitment that would have been required to bring the fight to a quick close. Agony was content with a long, drawn-out fight because that would allow plenty of time for his power to take hold of me. He hadn't scored anything deep enough yet to be crippling, but it was only a matter of time before that happened.
He should have worried less about what he wanted and more about why I was willing to fight the kind of fight he was best at. Originally, it had been because I'd wanted my execution to make the deepest impact on the Chicago pack possible. If I was going to die then I wanted to make sure I was the most powerful symbol possible.
I still wanted that. I still hoped that my death would serve as a spark that would trigger rebellion. I'd thought in the past that it was goons like Abaddon and Marco who allowed the Coun'hij to stay in power, but I'd realized that was wrong. If the muscle that backed up the Coun'hij were to disappear tomorrow, the Coun'hij would eventually fall. Even without that, if the various pack alphas had just put their petty differences aside, then all of the Coun'hij's muscle and inconceivable power wouldn't have been enough to stand us off.
I was guilty, Ulrich was guilty, and Jaclyn was guilty, too. I hadn't been willing to abdicate my power in favor of a person, but I realized now that I would have abdicated it in favor of an ideal. It was too late for me to change my decision, but it wasn't too late to hope that Ulrich and the rest could see the truth that the Coun'hij ruled with our consent, however cleverly they'd disguised that fact.
I fought for hope, but I also fought because I wasn't ready to be parted from Adri yet. We hadn't exchanged a meaningful set of words since she'd left Sanctuary, but I almost believed that I could feel her out there at my back. She was a glowing pillar of love and strength with two equally powerful, but different, pillars on either side of her.