Willow

by Amy Richie

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The Return of the Council Man

  The tension was incredibly thick in the air around the cabin when Gage and I walked up. We had walked slow enough to catch our breath so at least I wasn't panting by the time we reached the others.

  The boys were in a tight circle, all six of them, with Carlie in the middle. I couldn't see much of her, but I tried to smile her way. Colby and Steven moved aside to allow me to join Carlie and then closed ranks quickly.

  "You ok," I whispered.

  "I don't even know what's going on," she whispered back. "They started knocking on the door like crazy people and as soon as I came out," she pointed to indicate the only parts of the boys we could see; their backs.

  I still hadn't seen anyone else. Gage had disappeared though and the boys were still really tense. I could feel their questions but no one said anything.

  I searched all around us. I thought I should probably go and find out if anyone was even here or not. Maybe it was a false alarm, or maybe if there had been anyone here we had scared them away.

  Just as I took a step forward though, a new scent came to me on the breeze. It was unlike anything I had ever smelled before, a sweet sort of musk, but it was almost immediately gone. "Did you smell that?" I asked eagerly. Carlie shook her head but the boys closed in a little more until we were all almost touching.

  "What do we have here?" a deep voice called. The sound of it made my heart plummet to my feet. I knew that voice from somewhere.

  "What do you want?" Rueben demanded harshly.

  "To check on things," the familiar stranger replied in a false voice. It was easy to hear the rage under it, but rage at what?

  "You could have just come to me Blake," came a more welcome voice.

  "Ah, Gage. I had wondered where you were," cooed Blake.

  Blake? I racked my brain, trying to place him, until finally it came to me. "From the council," I said out loud.

  "Yes, I'm from the council. Surely you haven't forgotten me so soon, Willow?" He took a step in our direction but Rueben stopped him with a fierce growl. Well, as fierce as it could sound since he was still human. "I'm not going to hurt her," Blake said coldly.

  "Who have you brought with you?" Gage asked.

  Blake didn't answer him. Instead, he continued to address Rueben. "I must say, I'm very glad to see how well you have taken to your young leader."

  It seemed ridiculous to stay hidden when Blake already knew I was there. "Let me pass," I demanded in a low voice. A million memories came flooding back to me when I came face to face with the handsome young man who had changed my life.

  "Willow," he purred my name.

  "Hello, Blake."

  "You're looking well."

  I opened my mouth to say the polite thing back to him but then closed it again. Blake didn't look well at all. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were wrinkled and dull. His eyes were ringed with thick purple blotches. The confident, almost cocky, demeanor was replaced by a nervous fidgeting and he kept looking back over his shoulder as if he expected something to shoot out of the darkness.

  He had been nervous around Gage the first time we met. Was it just because he knew he was really Mikhaul that made him so jumpy then and so fidgety now? I looked at Gage, but if he knew anything he wasn't showing me any signs.

  "What brings you here, Blake?" I asked, in what I hoped sounded like a confident voice.

  "I was visiting with Bella and we … I," he cleared his throat nervously, "I decided to come see that everything was well with you."

  "Is Ivy ok?"

  "What?" His features relaxed for a moment by his surprise at my inquiry.

  "My sister; is she ok?"

  "I'm sure she's fine."

  "Isn't she with Bella?" He had just said he was with Bella, wouldn't he have seen Ivy, too? Goosebumps rose on my arms. He only stared at me, not saying anything.

  "Everything is fine here. You can be on your way now," Rueben called loudly.

  "It seems to me," Blake said, snapping back to attention, "that all is not well here."

  "We've had a few setbacks," I explained hastily, "but we're fine."

  "Who is that? And why is she here?"

  It took me almost two full heartbeats to realize he meant Carlie. No one moved a single inch. "It's Carlie," I told him with barely moving lips.

  "Carlie?"

  "Yep."

  "Do you realize who Carlie's father is?"

  My eyes widened before I could stop them. How did he know that? "No," I said through clenched teeth.

  "What is she doing here?" Ice crept into his voice as he dropped all pretenses.

  "We're having a sleepover." I almost heard Gage groan but when I chanced a quick glance at him, he was watching Blake with the same intensity that Blake was watching me.

  "A sleepover?" He tilted his head mockingly. "Isn't that sweet?"

  "Carlie goes to our school," I raised my chin defiantly, "we're friends."

  He moved fast, faster than anyone could have stopped him, with wide eyes full of barely suppressed rage until he was inches from my face. "Her father is a Knight," he hissed. The smell of fresh blood was strong on his breath.

  "I know, I've met him," I replied as calmly as possible. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

  As close as Blake was in front of me, there were the boys pressed against my back and Gage right at my side.

  "Get away from her," Gage growled so low it was barely human. "Now."

  Blake's eyes flickered to Gage, whose stony anger would have frightened anyone so I wasn't surprised when he took several steps backwards. "Hey, hey, hey." He held up his hands in mock surrender and laughed a little on the hysterical side. "I'm from the council, I'm here to help."

  "Did the council send you … " Gage began but I finished.

  "Because of Carlie?"

  He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. "I'm afraid there's nothing to be done for it," he said with heavy sadness. Why did he suddenly remind me of the mad hatter?

  "What are you going to do?"

  "Oh, I'm not going to do anything. You are."

  "Just what do you expect them to do?" Gage asked in his still low voice. I didn't miss that he had just removed himself from us.

  "They are going to get rid of the human." No one said anything, we just let the crazy man talk. He turned to look at me. "You're going to have to kill Carlie."

  I just stared at him, not able to form the appropriate words. The boys, however, had no such trouble.

  "You're crazy!"

  "We aren't killing anyone!"

  "She's with us!"

  "Enough," I said loudly to be heard over their uproar. "If you came here to ask us to kill Carlie," I spoke to Blake after everything was quiet again, "then you can leave."

  "Shall I go and tell the council of your behavior?" He arched one eyebrow in a high arc on his glistening forehead.

  "Are you threatening us?" This time it was me who stepped towards him.

  Gage stepped between us. "Who's orders bring you here, Blake?"

  "No ones," he said quickly - too quickly, and when he tried to correct himself it just wasn't very convincing. "My … own. Just came to check on Willow and look what I find."

  "The girl is harmless."

  "Harmless?" he snorted. "Surely you remember … don't you remember … Gage … the Knights?"

  "I do."

  "1906, wasn't it?"

  "Was that the first attack you remember? Sometimes I forget how very young you are, Blake."

  I exchanged a glance with Jed. He was young in 1906? Geesh! "Carlie isn't like that," I needlessly told Blake. Gage didn't turn to roll his eyes at me but I was pretty sure that was only because we had company.

  "We don't generally go telling pack secrets to humans," Blake sneered. "I would have thought Bella taught you better."

  I jerked back at his words, as if he had slapped me. Bella had told us more times than I could count not to ma
ke friends with people. But, another part of me argued, she had let Ivy bring Carlie to the house. I refrained from saying that out loud, though.

  "There are a lot of things Bella never taught me," I said instead.

  "We've come to the end of your inspection," Gage announced suddenly. "We won't harm the human nor will we allow you to do her any harm." We all moved closer together, unified under Gage's words. Carlie, for her part, had remained silent through our entire exchange. My respect for her swelled.

  "You can leave now," Rueben told him firmly.

  "I'm afraid that the matter of the human is not the only reason I have come tonight."

  Gage tensed in front of me. "It's not?" I croaked.

  "No." He paced lazily in front of us. "Do you remember the day I first told you about this orphaned pack?"

  "Yes." I followed his steps with my eyes, trying to see where he was going.

  "You said you didn't want to lead the pack." I shifted my weight to the other foot, waiting for him to get to the point. "If I remember correctly, you wanted Ivy to take over."

  "Ivy isn't of age yet," I answered automatically.

  "Not yet," he conceded. "But," he grinned wide, "we've found a different female to take over the pack."

  My breath caught in my throat, closing off any reply I might have made.

  Blake continued talking, oblivious to my discomfort. "We both knew that you were never going to be a good leader. You just don't have what it takes, Willow." His words cut through me painfully. Hadn't I always said the same things about myself?

  "Who did you find?" Gage asked suspiciously.

  "Bella!" Blake was obviously pleased with himself.

  Very slowly, my eyes turned to take in the beautiful woman who had disentangled herself from the shadow of the cabin. Had Bella been hiding there the whole time? Surely not. I pressed my hand tight to my mouth to stop from saying anything stupid.

  "Hello, Willow," Bella purred, her bright eyes shining.