When Majka became the Alpha Female of Ebon Red, she'd chosen a mate from the ranks of Crimson Dusk and then simultaneously declared that for at least six generations, our people would be forced to do the same. For the last hundred years or so, that'd been the status quo. My father was from Crimson Dusk, and it was assumed by everyone that my mate would be, too.
Until Nikolina changed the rules.
I knew I should've stayed alpha, Majka would sometimes complain, until after you'd picked a mate. But we both knew that was wishful thinking. My grandmother didn't willingly give up her crown, not exactly. If Majka hadn't declared that her reign was over and accepted my mother as alpha female, Nikolina probably would've killed her.
It was this story she told in the SUV on the way to the Hall, what a mistake it was for Nikolina to turn her back on the alpha-mother's decree. There were also several choice Croatian curse words thrown in there for flavor, colorful phrases that translated to things like full of dick and vagina smoke that I didn't particularly understand.
This all stopped, of course, when we arrived at the Hall and she spotted some of her in-laws.
“If you know that's good for you, Alpha-Ki, you'll follow the orders your mother so stubbornly defies,” she told me, wagging a long, crooked finger in my direction before tottering off and dropping her royal blue dress to the cracked tile floor of the Hall. As Nic and I ascended the steps, she shifted with an ease unmarred by age and allowed my great aunt to greet her with a few respectful licks on the muzzle.
We didn't talk as we passed through a small gathering of werewolves—in both human and wolf form—most of whom shared the blue-black hair and maroon eyes that were unique to Pack Crimson Dusk. Every pack had their own signature, a certain pattern of hair and eye pigmentation that seemed like it had little to do with genetics. Majka liked to say it was the old magic that still traced the veins of our people, staining the hair and eyes of each pack's offspring with a unique signature.
Nobody knew for sure. Maybe we never would?
As we passed through the nearly unrecognizable lobby of the old hotel, all eyes turned to me, flicking away rapidly if I dared glance in their direction. I saw respect and curiosity etched into most of their faces, hope. They were pinning their dreams, their wishes, their futures onto my back. Restore the old magic, unite the packs, track down the missing.
I exhaled slowly, quiet enough that only Nic would hear me.
He slid his dark eyes over to mine, but only for a moment before he refocused them on the cracked stairs that led to the second floor. Right now, he wasn't the brokenhearted childhood friend, but Nic Hallett, the bodyguard for the Alpha-Daughter of Pack Ebon Red. Even if the nearness of our bare arms made my skin ache for his touch, I wouldn't show my feelings either.
Nic might be the bodyguard, but I was the future alpha, the only female born into the next generation of leaders, the heir to the most powerful pack in North America. I was the White Wolf, and I had to lead them all.
We followed the same path I'd taken on Monday to see Majka, pausing outside the assembly room on the fourth floor so Nic could open the door for me.
Here goes nothing, I thought as I lifted my chin and stepped inside.
At the end of the room, in the same chair my grandmother had occupied the other day, I found my mother. She, too, was naked, but where my grandmother's skin had wrinkled and gone paper-thin, Nikolina was still supple and smooth. At the age of seventy-four, she had the appearance of a human woman in her mid to late thirties, with waist-length hair falling in a red sheet over one shoulder. It hid her right breast, but did nothing to obscure the silver ring pierced through her left nipple. A single droplet of blood ran down the ring and dripped onto the pale white color of her thigh.
“Zara of Ebon Red,” I announced as I stepped into the room and dipped my chin. Nic took his place behind and to the left of me as I raised my face back up and straightened my shoulders. I was dressed in a loose black gown with a pair of hook and eye clasps on the front and white fur trim on the edges. The skirt had a slit up the center that hit me at mid-thigh, and the top plunged down to my belly button, leaving most of my midsection exposed. If I were to pull the two clasps apart, the entire thing would fall to the floor, giving me the freedom to shift without worrying about my clothes.
Since this was a formal meeting and I was not yet alpha, I had to wait for my mother to acknowledge me before I could move to take a seat, or even speak to the other guests in the room. This was an act that could take a while, depending on how keen my mother was on proving her dominance.
Usually, she was fanatic about it, but I guess today she was more interested in getting down to business.
“Zara Wolf,” she said in that voice of hers, the color of a summer evening with the faintest rumble of thunder in the distance. If she'd said my name without the title of Wolf after, I would've been required by pack law to leave the room and lick my wounds. Being denied as a wolf was the greatest insult one 'were' could throw at another. It was the human equivalent of saying fuck you and everything you stand for.
“Alpha,” I greeted carefully, my nose twitching at the sultry fragrance hanging heavy in the air. It was thick with the ripe scent of blooming gardenias and jasmine, and it radiated from the men and women on the left side of the room, the highest ranking members of Pack Crimson Dusk. I saw the alpha female, her mate, her betas … and her son.
My eyes stopped on the crimson stare of a boy named after a god.
Anubis Rothburg crinkled his eyes at the edges and whipped me with a wicked sensual smile that made me forget for a second how ridiculous his name was. At the same time, he averted his gaze respectfully and tilted his chin down, essentially acquiescing to me as his superior.
I walked forward, my bare feet whispering across faded burgundy carpet as the skirt of my dress trailed behind me, like ripples in a lake of black satin.
“Hey,” I said as I paused in front of Anubis, drawing his eyes back to my face. He was still exceedingly careful about meeting my gaze, focusing instead on my left cheek. I was using an extremely informal greeting with him, just to see how he'd react.
“Hello Zara Wolf,” he said, which was close enough to normal that I relaxed my shoulders slightly. I gaze him another once-over, taking in his navy-black hair, spiked up on one side and smoothed down on the other, nice and modern, a little edgy. His eyes were cardinal red, his skin several shades darker than mine, the same color I turned after a few hours in the sun.
Another point in his favor: he was wearing jeans.
They were certainly a bitch to shift in, but I loved a guy in denim.
I gave a small smile, one that I quickly wiped off my face before turning and approaching my mother; I took my seat on the floor near her feet and fanned my skirt out around me. Inside my chest, my heart was racing but on the outside, I was as calm as the surface of a lake on a summer day. No ripples. There was no doubt in my mind that Nikolina would pick up on my anxiety, but I couldn't help my inner feelings. All I could do was control my actions.
This meeting, this was the start of it all, the beginning of the end of an era.
Nic met my eyes from across the room and then quickly looked away.
“Zara and Anubis will be officially introduced at the Pairing, but as a courtesy to our sister pack, I invite Crimson Dusk to present their alpha-son now,” Nikolina said, her voice as smooth as always, liquid commands spilling from her lips like rain.
The Alpha of Pack Crimson Dusk rose to her feet from the sun-weathered bench she was reclining on, its old slats wound through with the twisting tendrils of morning glories, their white and blue flowers open and reaching up to kiss the sunshine peeking through a hole in the roof.
“We appreciate the courtesy,” she said, a long blue-black braid hanging over her shoulder. She, too, was completely naked. I spotted a glint of silver on either wrist along with ropey scars that told the story of her bracelets, sliding up and down her skin and leaving their poisoned mark
s. “And I firmly believe that with the alpha-mother's blessing, we could seal this union now. Of course, we'll continue with the ceremonial aspects of the Pairing, but Crimson Dusk would like an answer today. There's no reason we can't put on a show for the other packs and still honor the promises that were made in the past.”
I didn't bother to look up at my mother; I knew exactly what she thought of that idea.
“This is an introduction, not a Convocation,” my mother said, using the formal title that the pack leaders used when they assembled to discuss business. The Convocation was made up of the alphas from all the North American and South American packs, their mates, and their betas; they were not a group that you wanted to piss off. Their power was rivaled only by the Convocation that ruled Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The Crimson Dusk Alpha hesitated for the briefest of moments before dropping her hand to the black and white head of her mate, digging her fingers into his fur and then gesturing with her chin for her son to approach the dais at the end of the room.
No sooner had Anubis knelt before my mother and me than we all paused at the sounds and scents of agitation emanating from downstairs. The walls and ceiling of the old hotel were crumbling, so sound echoed in a way that even a human could hear it.
We all paused, our guards taking up their spaces near the door. I stayed tense, my fingers curled in the satin of my skirt. If something were to happen, I'd ditch protocol and ritual to help Nic in a second. It wasn't even something I had to think about; it was instinct.
There was a tentative knock on the door at about the same moment that the smell hit us: like fresh cut grass and roses. Underneath it all, the scent of werewolves.
“Open the door,” Nikolina commanded, her voice smooth, almost bored. If she was at all perturbed by the sudden intrusion of strangers, she didn't let on. My mother's guard moved forward to do as she asked, pulling the door wide to reveal another member of Crimson Dusk with two strangers behind her.
My hackles raised automatically at the sight and smell of unfamiliar wolves in our territory. How they'd gotten all the way to the Hall without running into a patrol was beyond me. Shit. No wonder so many pack members were going missing. If security was lax enough to allow to allow these two into our borders, what else was getting in?
The Crimson Dusk wolf stepped aside and a boy entered with a small girl on his right, clutching his hand for dear life. They were both fair skinned with shock white hair and green-green eyes. My heart stuttered in my chest and for a moment, I forgot to be the alpha's heir, letting my lips part in shock.
Even before he announced himself, I knew where they were from.
“Montgomery of Ivory Emerald,” he announced, bowing his head slightly, chest heaving and face bloodied. The red smears across his cheeks and lips were hard to ignore as he stood there trembling, completely naked, his skin marred with cuts and bruises, feet dirty and stained with mud.
“Montgomery Wolf,” Nikolina said, her voice colored with just a drop of surprise. At least I'm not the only one. My mother leaned forward in her chair, dark eyes taking in the boy and the small naked girl by his side. “Where is the rest of your pack?”
Nobody had seen or heard from a ranking member of Pack Ivory Emerald in weeks. In fact, it was as if Canada's largest pack had lost their entire ruling class without a trace. Scouts were sent to sniff them out, check their homes and businesses, but not a single missing wolf could be located. At first, the Convocation had believed they'd gone rogue, retreated into the wilderness or fled to another continent to avoid being drafted into the Pairing. But then more wolves from other packs started going missing, entire groups wiped out and erased as if they'd never been.
And now, even members of Pack Ebon Red were being spirited away.
“I don't know,” Montgomery acknowledged, his head hanging low, less like he was trying to show respect and more like he just couldn't hold it up anymore. “One night on our way here, we stopped in a hotel, and the next, I woke up in a cage. The last thing I remember is being thrown from the back of a truck and then … nothing.” His voice came out in a scratchy whisper and his ribs showed through his skin, like he hadn't eaten in a long, long time. “As far as I know,” he continued, finally lifting his head, sweat beads popping up on the sides of his neck with the effort, “we're the last members of my family that are still alive.”
The room went silent, but I could feel the slight charge in the air that said several people in the room were communicating privately with one another, using that last trace of magic in their blood to speak through thought and thought alone—wolfspeak.
Nikolina cast her purple-dark gaze over the others in the room and the charge dissipated, the telepathic equivalent of shutting the hell up. I stayed on my feet, facing down Montgomery Graves, the boy who was supposed to be the sixth potential mate in the Pairing, the one that had vanished into thin air. His green eyes swung straight to mine and in them, there was a quiet, desperate sort of determination, a request that wasn't quite needy enough to be a plea.
“I'm here to take Ivory Emerald's rightful place in the Pairing ceremony.”
That was the last thing he said before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor at my feet.
“This is a disaster,” Nic growled as he paced the width of the driveway outside of the Hall. I waited on the steps, my legs folded to one side, my red hair hanging like streamers over one shoulder, tracing a pattern in the dirt that covered the stone.
One night, I went to bed as usual and the next, I woke up in a cage.
That was the first solid piece of evidence we'd had since the disappearances started, and there was no doubt in my mind that as soon as Montgomery was awake, I'd be sent in to speak with him. Every time there was a Pairing—the joining of a new alpha and their chosen mate—there was a Contribution that had to be paid to the pack. Sometimes it involved acquiring money or purchasing land or getting a pack member out of jail. Other times, it was more … involved.
With the unprecedented joining of the North American packs, a larger than usual Contribution would be expected. There was no doubt in my mind that this job—finding the missing werewolves—would fall to me.
I raised my head, watching Nic's erratic, angry movements, the way he swept his fingers through his red hair and kicked at the loose gravel with his sneakers.
“Are you upset about the disappearances?” I asked, paused, studied the tightness of his shoulders. “Or the reappearance?”
“Both,” he replied honestly, pausing as the crunch of gravel sounded in the distance.
Someone was coming up the long driveway that led to the Hall. Considering this property was nearly sixteen thousand acres of pack owned land, that either meant wolves—or trouble.
I stood up and waited, scenting the air.
“Obsidian Gold,” I said as I recognized the distinct cherry vanilla scent of Silas' pack. “Nikolina probably invited them.”
Nic growled low and menacing under his breath, but took his spot behind and to the left of me anyway, waiting patiently as three GMC Yukon SUVs pulled around the corner, all of them in black, all of them belonging to Pack Ebon Red.
The Alpha Male of Obsidian Gold—Silas' father—climbed out behind his guard, followed by his mate's guard, his mate … and the Alpha-Son.
“Zara Wolf,” Silas' father greeted, gold eyes flashing as he passed by me and headed up the steps to attend an emergency Convocation meeting. Until I was mated, I wouldn't be allowed in the room to participate in the discussion, but the proceedings would be passed along to me.
“Alpha,” I replied cautiously, careful to maintain my formal stance until everyone but Silas and his guard disappeared into the Hall.
“Montgomery Graves, huh?” Silas asked as he paused next to me and nodded his chin in greeting toward Nic. All he got back was another growl, but he took it in stride, letting his lips curl into a cocky little smile and ruffling up his chocolate brown hair with a tattooed hand. “Think the
y'll let him take part in the Pairing?”
Silas was clearly talking to me, but Nic stepped up on my left side and crossed his arms over his broad chest. The two boys stared each other down as Nic answered with a clipped angry growl.
“The point of this Pairing is to bring the packs together. Obviously whatever happened to Ivory Emerald needs to be investigated, but if he no longer has an alpha then it doesn't matter that Montgomery is an alpha-son.”
“Sure it does,” said Silas, barefoot and wearing a pair of tight jeans and a t-shirt with some sort of band logo on the front of it. His arms were decorated with leather bracelets and tattoos, and his gold eyes were shimmering in the early afternoon sun. That small bite of fear that I thought I'd heard in his voice last night was gone, but the scar remained, a jagged white line cutting through the left side of his face. “Don't you think so, Zara?” he asked coyly.
I hated to disagree with Nic, but Silas was right.
“Just because we don't know where Pack Ivory Emerald's alphas are, that doesn't make their status any less important.”
Nic balked at me, his dark eyes flashing with frustration. I looked over, but he wouldn't meet my eyes, instead turning and stalking to the edge of the woods to take a deep breath. Montgomery's appearance meant that instead of courting five males, I'd be dating six.
And I knew Nic Hallett would give anything—do anything—to become the seventh.
The sudden and shocking appearance of the Alpha-Son for Pack Ivory Emerald turned the usual protocol and ritual of the Pairing on its side. Now that word had spread amongst the packs that he was here, everyone had an opinion they felt needed sharing. Azure Frost and Obsidian Gold were now at the Hall, Crimson Dusk refused to leave, and Violet Shadow and Amber Ash were promising to arrive no later than tomorrow.
Pack Ebon Red (The Seven Mates of Zara Wolf Book 1) Page 6