I slipped to her side, weaving her hand in mine. “Wolves can smell fear, Amy.”
She shook her head. “I made sure to put on lots of perfume.”
Even Tobias grinned at that.
Ahead, the crowd turned when a tall, solidly-built woman dressed in white broke through the crowd. Amy’s grip threatened to push all the blood from my hands.
“Is that who I think it is?”
No need to answer. Within moments of a visual confirmation, Kim, wearing a wedding gown worthy of a princess but barefoot, peeled away from the pack and was bolting in our direction, arms held wide.
“Hi, Kim!”
A dull thud made me turn my head. Amy’s back pressed against the Chevy, her hand searching behind her for the door.
“Amy, what are you doing?”
“She’s a wolf!” Her hand found the handle and lifted just as Tobias palmed the door, keeping it from opening.
“Have you gone bloody mad?” the wolf demanded. “Why does that matter?”
“It doesn’t. It’s just... She’s so...”
As did a wolf recognize the weakest animal, so Kim went for Amy first, pulling her up into her arms, yanking her off the ground, and spinning her around.
Crimson strains stretched across Amy’s face. “STRONG.”
After Kim had finished immobilizing my roommate, she took me and Tobias in turn.
“I’m so glad you were able to make it.” Kim’s grin could light up the Sears Tower.
“We’re happy to be here, and very, very happy Cody agreed to let Amy come along.” I pulled my bag out of the front seat of the truck. “Congratulations on your mating. I hear he’s quite your equal, but I doubt that’s possible.”
Kim blew out a raspberry. “I still beat him at arm wrestling two out of three, and even that third time, I’m usually throwing it. Amy, I hear you’re in the know now?”
“Seems that way.” Amy swatted the question and the mosquitos buzzing her head away. “To tell the truth, finding out Tobias was a werewolf was shocking. Finding out you are kinda makes sense.”
My insides squirmed as the jab meant for Kim washed over me. Tobias took a step closer. Whether he was doing it because he thought he might have to defend Kim or defend Amy, I couldn’t say.
But Kim just threw her head back and howled. “Knew you were an observant one from the start, Popowitz. Kinda had me wondering how you didn’t figure it out earlier, frankly. No harm done. Come, meet my mate, and I know Cody and Lisa are eager to see you too.”
LISA SPOTTED US FIRST, even as she bounced the baby on her knee. She stood, and automatically, the awkwardness bloomed between us.
“Geri, Tobias, so good to see you.” She shifted her weight to examine my cowering roommate behind me. “You must be Amy. I’m so glad you could make it for Kim’s wedding. She’s told us so much about you.”
“I didn’t mean to be such a bitch to her. If I had known she was a werewolf...” Amy’s words died on her tongue. “Oh, god, is that still an insult here, bitch? Because wolves are a type of canine and a female canine is a bitch, and I didn’t mean to imply—”
“Kim,” Lisa interjected, cutting off the babbling blonde, “has a strong personality. A strong everything, really. I can only imagine that stuffed in a city apartment, she was in a concentrated form. But she’s only ever said kind things about you, Amy, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
Cody’s mate had become quite the diplomat, as further evidenced when she turned to me.
“Cody says you’re graduating next week. Congratulations, I know he’s very proud.”
Don’t be a bitch. “Thank you, Lisa. Wow, Jenny’s grown like a weed since we were here just two months ago.” I reached out to twirl a tiny curl of the baby’s hair on the end of my finger, admonishing the jealousy on a low boil in my soul whenever I had to talk with the she-alpha. “Before you know it, she’ll be tearing all around these woods each full moon, giving my mother fits.”
The air stifled despite the pleasant lake breeze that snuck from the shore, into the woods.
Tobias cleared his throat and put an arm around Amy. “Come on, Barbie. Let me introduce you to the infamous Cody Ryland.”
As he began to pull her away, Amy leaned into him, still unaccustomed to a wolf’s enhanced hearing. “That’s who he left Geri for? Not hard to believe. She’s a knockout.”
Lisa closed her eyes and grinned. When she opened them again, the mask of indifference was gone. “I know this is awkward, but is it ever going to be not that way? You’re still a big part of Cody’s life, Geri, but so am I. We have to get past this.”
“There’s nothing to get past. Neither of us did anything wrong. It’s just...”
“You still love him,” she interceded. I didn’t insult her by denying it. “But you know he’s bonded to me now. Why do you keep torturing yourself like this?”
I looked around. Luckily, the music of a four-piece band in the corner helped to lay down enough background noise that none of the other wolves had heard. At a table about twenty feet away, however, Tobias and Cody sat side by side, Amy opposite of them with her back to me. The two wolves watched me and the alpha’s mate through suspicious gazes.
I reached out again and tickled Jenny, making the pup squeal with laughter, playing off our conversation as standard pleasantries. What could I tell her? That ever since my mother rejected me from my clan, the pack was the only family I had? That even though I’d been dating Caleb for the better part of a year, I still hadn’t felt one-tenth the emotional bond with him that I had with Cody? That I was afraid Cody only let me continue to visit the pack because of the guilt he felt from what had happened between us, and that I was scared he’d turn me away as soon as he knew I’d fallen for someone else? I couldn’t even admit half of this to myself, let alone to her.
“I’m trying, Lisa. I swear, I am. But hearts don’t listen to reason, not even for a hood.”
“The day a hood listens to reason, I’ll throw a parade.” She played off the comment with a smile that exploded onto her face, and as quickly faded away. “I understand what you’re going through, Geri. I know you think I don’t, but you don’t know me that well. I’m just begging you, please, today, try to squash it more than usual.” She looked to her mate, love beaming in her eyes. “Don’t make him do something he’s going to regret.”
“What does that mean?”
Lisa shook her head. “Nothing. Something stupid. Forget I said it. You better go. Get business out of the way so we can all stuff ourselves with cake before sunset.”
“One of the Ravens, Timur, has been spotted in the city in the past few weeks. Igor and Inga say they move in pairs, and rarely ever all in the same location. Wherever you find one, though, there’s guaranteed to be another nearby. More than likely, it’s Vlad.”
Cody stared blankly, letting the intel sink in. When we’d first told him of our plan to chase down the vampire that may have had a hand in killing his father, he’d been gung-ho for the idea. Since, the more he learned about the rumors surrounding Igor’s wayward offspring, the more his fervor cooled. Where we’d been certain last fall that he’d have no problem giving Tobias leave to make the trip, now doubt lingered.
He fidgeted with a tattered tablecloth stretched over a decades-old folding table. “What’s to stop them from killing you the second you arrive?”
I scooted to the edge of my seat. “Igor says Vlad modeled his clutch after the Ottoman court of his era. He thinks of himself as some sort of vampiric sultan, I guess. He’ll kill when he has to, but he prefers politics first.”
“Inga and Igor can’t kill him,” Tobias took up. “To do that would be to kill themselves. Igor thinks he won’t consider a single werewolf and a relinquished hood a threat.”
Cody’s face soured. “That’s because you’re not.”
Tobias’s hand took mine under the table, squeezing, silencing my automated retort, before letting it go. “Don’t forget, we’ll ha
ve Caleb too, an actual slayer. Once we ferret out the Ravens’ location and their behaviors, it’s just a matter of divide and conquer.”
“One young slayer against at least two vampires born of the most infamous lineage ever, with a member of my pack and one of my best friends forming shallow ranks. Still don’t like those odds, Tobias.”
“That’s because you haven’t seen what Caleb can do,” I said. “He isn’t just any slayer; he’s a Van Helsing. One infamous line against that of another, and vengeance for Tobias’s mate? Vlad won’t stand a chance.”
“Yeah, well, you’re dating the guy, so your assessment ain’t exactly without bias, is it?” Cody turned on Tobias. “What do you think? Is this slayer going to be able to stand up to the Ravens?”
Tobias steepled his hands, leaning into their support. “I don’t worry about Caleb taking on Vlad. I’ll be more surprised if he ever learns to stand up to Geri.”
I reached out, running my fingers over Cody’s, drawing his attention from the frayed checkerboard pattern to my face. A nostalgic tingle ran up my arm, an electric buzz I had once thought was because I was a hood and he was a wolf, but now I suspected was more because he was a boy and I was a girl who loved him. “Cody, please. Tobias has a right to avenge his lost ones. Give him permission to come.”
The alpha grinned, turning my hand over and cupping it with his. “If I said he couldn’t go with you, would it stop you?”
Tobias chuffed. “If you think saying no works with Geri, you clearly don’t know her as well as I do.”
Cody’s eyes pivoted to his packmate. After a moment, without letting my hand go, he rose and pulled me up to my feet. “Let’s dance, Little Red.”
“Wha— What are you... Cody, this is no time for... Hey!”
He spun me in a circle as the speakers blasted the band covering an old U2 ballad. Cody’s cheek pressed against mine, sending dueling impulses firing through my body. Half of me wanted to stomp his foot, and the other half wanted to knee his groin.
“What are you doing? You’re a mated wolf with a child, and you’re dancing with the daughter of the red matron at your packling’s wedding!”
“Shh!!!”
He pulled back only long enough to admonish me with his glare, before immediately resuming the white man shuffle. Even with the proximity, hearing his words was difficult. The realization that this was sort of the point set me at ease, and I fell into a left-right-left sway.
“Your heart doesn’t speed up when you say his name.”
“Who’s name?”
The alpha huffed. “Your slayer.”
“I’m not sure I’m following what—”
“When you touched me, your pulse spiked. Maybe you couldn’t hear it, but I did, and I’m pretty sure Tobias did. I can read my pack’s emotions in their mannerisms. You’re saying one thing about your faith in this slayer, but Tobias is telling me you’re not as sold on him as you seem to think.”
“I’ll remind you: I’m not in your pack. Hell, I’m not even in my mother’s clan anymore. Besides, I have complete faith in Caleb’s ability as a slayer, whether or not my heart speeds up.”
“Good to hear, but I’m still having a hard time understanding his motivations. Your Caleb was on this path before he met you, and if he’s as great a slayer as you say, why does he need you? More weight makes a heavy tow.”
“You think he’d just, what, up and leave me behind?”
“He might. And if you break his heart on this epic quest halfway across the world, what happens to Tobias? What happens to you? Jesus, Geri, just love the guy, will you? Get over me, and let someone else into your heart. Your life might depend on it.”
I didn’t know when the music stopped. I didn’t know when we’d become the center of attention. I did know, however, that every single wolf glaring at me throughout the hall reared to defense when I smacked their alpha.
I caught Lisa in the crowd over Cody’s shoulder, shaking her head.
A dumbfounded Cody raised his hand to his face and rubbed the imprint of my palm on his cheek. “Once a hood, always a hood, huh?”
Proving I had no talent for knowing when to quit, I stood my ground. “How dare you or anyone tell me what to feel about you? In the last two years, have I once asked you to betray your wife? Have I ever used any of my abilities to cause a single member of this pack any harm? Even though it has cost me my family, my birthright, and may cost me my life, I’ve never asked for you to care a lick for me since the moment we were through. Since, one day after you asking me to marry you, I walked in on you in the arms of another woman. Mated. So don’t you dare stand there now and try to order me to get over you, like it’s just a decision I have to make and, poof, it will be done. No matter how much you think it, I’m not a member of your pack; alpha’s prerogative doesn’t work on me. You can’t order me to stop loving you, and you sure as hell can’t order me to love someone else. My heart is the one thing I won’t sacrifice for you, or for anyone!”
It took to the end of my screed to realize at least six of the pack had formed a ring around their alpha, teeth bared, on the edge of taking on their wolves. Nothing lay between me and their anger but the order of their alpha. I looked into Cody’s eyes, and for the first time, I knew the depth of heartbreak.
He sneered at me, at the ex-friend who represented regret and youthful indiscretions. At the outsider who he had welcomed into his pack, who now had betrayed that trust by showing him up in front of everyone. By calling him out and laying blame at his feet tailored by another, of forcing him to act.
My hands shook. Not with rage, but with nerves. The wall of words I’d just built stood between me and grace, and I’d dug the moats too deep to cross it.
“Oh, my god. Cody... I’m so... I don’t know...”
“Rick!”
The beta of the Paradise Pack emerged from the crowd, gently pushing the awestruck bride aside.
“Yeah, Cody?”
“Accompany Miss Kline and her huey guest to their hotel. Advise them not to venture into the woods tonight. I can no longer guarantee their safety from the pack, especially on a full moon.”
“You got it, Cody. Geri, you need to grab a purse or anything?”
Before I could answer, Amy was at my side, her fingers lacing mine and squeezing some strength into my resolve.
“I got her stuff, and I got her.” Ignorant or ignoble? Either way, she stood with me against them. “We can find our way to the hotel just fine, thank you very much. I’ll get us an Uber.”
Rick cleared his throat. “There are no Ubers in Paradise, Miss.”
Unperturbed, Amy hooked my elbow and forced me erect. “Fine then, we’ll walk.”
Tobias pushed his way forward. “I’ll take them.”
Cody shook his head. “I asked Rick to...”
“I said, I will take them.”
This time, Cody ceded, even as my heart sank deeper. What in the hell was he doing? It was one thing for me to tell off the alpha, but as a member of the pack, Tobias could get disowned for the same act. I couldn’t let that happen to him again. I wouldn’t let him become a rogue again because of me.
“Tobias, you don’t have to. I’m not worth it.”
The werewolf turned, leading the way through a crowd that parted before him, a blast of anger through narrowed eyes his only response.
When I’d left Paradise for Chicago two summers ago, fresh from my boyfriend being mated to another, I thought the seven-hour drive was the longest of my life. It didn’t compare to the twelve minutes of eternity spent in the pickup truck, seated between Amy and a very rigid, silently seething Tobias.
NINE
“Are we getting more drunk, or less sober?”
“I’m more drunk, you’re less sober. It’s your first time drinking. Getting more drunk would require a basis of comparison.”
I sighed as I swirled the little bit of liquid left in my glass. “My love life has finally driven me to drink. I held out twenty-two
years almost. That’s pretty good, right?”
“It’s excellent! Only, now I guess I know why none of my prodding ever worked.” Amy’s hand rubbed my shoulder, as I, slumped over the bar, huffed. “Two years, and he could still hurt you that bad? You must have really been crazy over him.”
A ping in the air kept me from having to comment right away. The message on the screen from Kim got straight to the point.
Don’t worry about it. Made the wedding memorable.
Amy read the message over my shoulder and nodded. “I sold Kim short, I think.”
“Yeah, but she’s still pack. If Cody had said to rip me to shreds, Kim would have. They all would have.”
“Not Tobias,” Amy said. “Or that Rick guy. You might have been too distracted to realize it, but they were both sizing up the situation, looking for a way to intervene.”
“Rick is a beta; one of his jobs is to keep Cody in check. A beta can counter an alpha without jeopardizing his place in the pack.”
“What about Tobias then? What’s his excuse?”
As I lifted my head off the bar, I realized that Amy was right; Tobias had stood up for me. Or had he? Werewolves weren’t mindless drones; even though obeying the alpha was written into their DNA, at the end of the day, their opinions and their actions were their own. I played back the memory, analyzing the scene that had passed a few hours ago.
“Tobias didn’t disobey,” I finally admitted, both to myself and to Amy. “Cody’s order was for Rick. If Cody had said point blank to fall back and let Rick bring us here, Tobias would have obeyed.”
One could argue that Cody would have given that order, if Tobias hadn’t cut him off.
“Still, given that everyone else in that room looked like they wanted to kill you, pretty brave of him.”
“Stupid,” I amended. “The word you’re looking for is stupid.”
“In what way?”
Ravening Hood Page 6