“Not good enough,” I bit out, my teeth grinding together. “Blackwater isn’t a pack that just exists and hides. That’s never been who this pack is, and I’ll be damned if that’s what we do now. I’m not going to sit back and wait for Norwood, or anyone else, to come for us or to pick off packs that are completely vulnerable.”
“Remy’s right,” Michael interjected, leaning forward. “We can’t sit back passively and wait to see what happens next. Being proactive is our only option.”
“So, what do you propose?” Lodge ground out.
I tapped a finger on the table, aligning my thoughts. “Most of the Alphas on this side of the country are dead. Until a new pack order can be set up, we offer them sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary?” Skepticism dripped from the word as he repeated it with utter disdain.
“We make them part of our pack,” I clarified.
I anticipated the murmur of dissent that swept the room. I let it happen, waited for them to settle before moving on.
“Your answer is to exhaust our resources by taking in an undetermined amount of strays?” Lodge smirked at me from across the table.
“My answer is to create a resistance big enough to stop Norwood until we can help these packs establish their own leadership while pooling all of our resources,” I countered.
“Remy’s right,” Dante said firmly, placing one arm on the table and angling himself at Lodge. “It’s why Brooks Ridge now recognizes Remy as our Alpha.”
“You’re surrendering your pack?” Chris asked, amazed.
Alphas never gave up their pack. It was taken from them either by a challenge or from the Council.
A Council that was now bits of bone and dried blood staining the grass of a destroyed resort. None of them had survived.
“I’m surrendering my position for the survival of my pack,” Dante replied curtly. “It’s a position a lot of packs will be taking.”
“What’s left of the pack is arriving here in a few hours,” I added.
“And where the hell are we supposed to house these extra people?” Vick spoke up again, looking around the room.
“We have the space.” I glanced at Katy, nodding for her to speak up.
“The weather is nice enough right now that it buys us some time,” she jumped in without missing a beat. “People can use tents and camp out. We have plenty of space and resources and people to build new houses. The Eastern ridge had already been zoned for more housing since our population is on the rise. We’ll fast track production of those houses. For the interim, we’ll ask people to house some of the displaced, especially families with children.”
“You expect us to provide housing for refugees?” Vick demanded, incredulous.
“I expect this pack to step up,” I snapped, growing more and more pissed off that these people who so readily supported my father couldn’t see this is exactly what Dad would have done. “Brooks Ridge is our oldest ally, and they need us as much as we need them.”
It was more than that, though. Brooks Ridge had always been a notoriously small pack, but they were also notorious. They were strong and known as some of the best fighters in our world. There was a reason the small pack had survived so long in the barren, northern part of Alaska.
If a war was coming, having Brooks Ridge as part of our pack was only an asset, and one that we desperately needed.
“How many packs do you think we can reach?” Chris asked.
“As many as we have to,” Michael answered, spreading his arms. “Remy’s right; we can’t just pretend that what happened at the Summit isn’t an act of war. And not just against all packs, but against ours.”
Lodge glared down the table at me. “I would feel better about this if we didn’t have a kid leading this pack.”
“If you think you’re the man to lead this pack, then challenge me.” I stood up, bracing my hands on the table. “I’ve never once backed down from a challenge, and I sure as hell won’t now.”
Michael grimaced, spreading his hands out flat on the table as he tried to sway us towards peace. “No one is—”
“Fine.” Lodge stood up from his end of the table.
I straightened my back, lifting my chin. My wolf stirred, hungry and ready to devour.
“I, William Lodge, challenge you, Remington Holt, for Alpha of the Blackwater pack.”
I craved the rush of adrenaline that rocketed through my system. Rage and fury flooded my veins. I filled my lungs with a deep inhale, feeling as muscle and tendon stretched and burned back to life.
There was no denying the grin on my face as the beast I kept caged in my chest awoke. I met Lodge’s gaze, my smile growing when his resolve flickered for a second. It was barely the length of a heartbeat, but there was no denying it.
He wasn’t entirely sure he could beat me.
I leaned forward and grinned. “Challenge accepted.”
5
Skye
My heart was beating as fast as the blades over my head were spinning. I tried to enjoy the gorgeous views of the snow covered Ural Mountains, but my brain was too busy short-circuiting over what Dimitri had said.
I was barely suppressing the well of hysterical laughter bubbling in my gut, but the last thing I needed were Dimitri and Alexei thinking I was crazy, but I was seriously starting to wonder how hard I had hit my head in the explosion.
Magic was real. Elias had betrayed us. I had a brother. Oh, and I was a freaking princess and the heir to the first pack of shifters ever.
I bit down hard on my lip to keep from giggling. The sudden, hysterical urge caught me off guard and I was barely able to stop myself before it all spilled out.
Maybe I was still unconscious and this was all a dream. I would wake up any minute, next to Remy, and tell him about this batshit crazy dream.
Because if this wasn’t a dream? I was so far out of my comfort zone it was terrifying.
My head was killing me again. I rubbed my temples, feeling the prickly gazes of the two men sharing the cabin with me as they watched closely.
I looked up, my eyes catching on Alexei’s arctic blue stare. I gave him a half-hearted, thin-lipped smile.
Mollified, he gave me a nod and then cast his attention on the unconscious girl beside him. During one of the turns the pilot made when we were taking off, Tate had slumped against Alexei, who had made no move to lift her head from his shoulder. He had watched her with rapt fascination for several minutes until I cleared my throat.
At some point I was going to have to tell him the girl he was clearly crushing on already had two boyfriends and wasn’t looking to add to her harem.
My hands tightened on my thighs as the helicopter began its descent. I twisted in my seat to see out the front window, stunned when I saw we were headed straight for the tallest peak in sight.
Air whooshed out of me as the helicopter closed in on the mountain, and Dimitri must have sensed my panic because his hand touched my knee, grabbing my attention.
He was grinning like this was a ride.
Clearly, my brother was a psycho because we were about to crash all over the frozen Russian mountainside.
He held up a hand, his fingers splayed, and then he started counting them down.
When his hand closed into a fist, I looked back to see a portion of the mountainside was opening up. Snow fell in a cascade from the doors as they rolled open wide enough for the pilot to maneuver the helicopter inside and set it down.
“What the hell was that?” I shouted as the blades slowed and the noise lessened.
Dimitri removed the headset he had used to communicate with the pilot and set it back on the hook above his head. “You should have seen the look on your face.”
“That look is called panic because I thought your crazy ass pilot was going to fly us into a mountain!” I snapped. My head whipped around to the pilot, who was shutting down the controls. “No offense.”
His dark gaze flickered to Dimitri, his mouth flattening into a thin line, befor
e he turned around and ignored me.
“Relax,” Dimitri snorted, rolling his eyes as he unbuckled. “Dad would kill me if anything happened to you, and Petyr is one of our best pilots. He’s made this landing a thousand times.”
“A little warning would have been nice,” I muttered, searching for how to unhook the harness that belted me in place.
Alexei reached across and unhooked my buckle. “Your brother likes to play jokes. Not everyone gets them.”
“Who’s side are you on?” Dimitri asked him, shaking his head.
“The printsessa’s,” he replied with a shrug of his massive shoulders.
“Don’t call me that,” I said with a deep sigh.
“Kiss ass,” Dimitri grumbled. He lifted the lever on the door and pushed it open. He jumped down and turned to help me.
I hesitated, looking at Tate.
“I’ll bring her,” Alexei assured me, already beginning to unhook her with nimble fingers.
I gave him a hard look. “Both of her boyfriends are friends of mine. And they’re probably going crazy worrying about her right now.”
He barely blinked. “That’s good to know.”
“She’s not looking for another boyfriend,” I said, wanting to be clear since Tate couldn’t speak for herself.
Alexei grinned, a dimple flashing in his left cheek that made him look utterly charming. “Sometimes the best things in life find us when we’re not looking.”
Touché.
I turned and let Dimitri help me out of the helicopter. When I landed on my feet, I looked around and my jaw dropped.
The room was huge, cavernous, and housed several other helicopters and an assortment of trucks, snowmobiles, four wheelers, and anything else you could need to travel up and down a mountain. The entire room had an industrial vibe, all metal and stone. A few people milled around, but they had all stopped and were now staring at us.
Alexei jumped down from the helicopter, Tate cradled in his arms. He barely jostled her when he landed.
“Alexei’s going to take Tate to her room,” Dimitri told me, nodding to his friend who immediately started walking away from us.
I opened my mouth to argue and took a step after my friend, not wanting to be separated from her.
Dimitri grabbed my arm. “You’ll see her soon. Right now, let’s go see if Dad knows anything about what happened yesterday at the Summit.”
Panic swept through me.
I needed to talk to Remy, or at least know where he was. When we were in the air, I had convinced myself he was fine. Everything was fine, and Dimitri had overreacted by taking me to his home for my own safety.
But now that I was about to find out for sure, my confidence was waning, and I was a wreck of nerves and emotions.
Dimitri came around in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders, bending his knees so we were eye level. “Remy’s going to be fine.”
My teeth ground together. “I know.”
I didn’t. My whole world could come crashing to an end in the next few minutes.
I swallowed, my hands starting to shake.
He gave me a careful look. “You ready?”
Not even a little, but I nodded, almost numbly, needing to keep moving forward. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
“Is this entire place built into the mountain?” I asked, unable to keep the note of awe from my voice as we turned down another hallway. We had been walking for several minutes, even taking an elevator deeper into the mountain. I hadn’t seen a window, but the halls were well lit and painted soft shades of gray with white trim, the floors a beautiful marble with silver and black veins. Artwork even lined the halls, a mixture of nature scenes and people in a variety of mediums.
If I hadn’t noticed the sky wasn’t visible, I would never have realized we weren’t above ground.
“A couple mountains,” Dimitri conceded. “The pack settled here almost a thousand years ago. They lived in caves for warmth at first, then slowly started digging out and hollowing the mountains.”
“So, you guys never go outside?” That seemed really depressing. At least when things went shitty in Long Mesa, I could go outside and stare at the sky.
A smile curled his lips. “We go outside all the time, Skye, but this place provides safety. It houses over a thousand people.”
I pulled up short, my jaw dropping. “There’s a thousand shifters living here?”
He paused, turning to face me. “No, there’s two thousand people. We don’t just have shifters who live here. The Romani clan lives here, and believe me, they like their space. We also have a few humans here.”
“You guys live with normals?” I could feel my eyes getting bigger. “But humans can’t know about us. It’s like, rule one of shifters.”
He shook his head, almost amused. “Are you serious? Humans have been part of our community since the beginning. We’ve always had them here.”
“Huh.” I wasn’t really sure what else to say about that. “Can they, like, go outside? Or is this mountain fortress designed to keep people in just as much as out?”
He jerked his chin and started walking again. After a beat, I hurried to catch up.
We turned another corner, and I was officially lost. I would never find my way back to the surface or where the helicopters were.
“This isn’t a prison, but living in the mountains and around them provides us with more security,” he continued. “Like I said, people are free to go outside whenever they like.”
“How can you even exist like this?” I asked, glancing up at the high ceilings. “There’s no town, no food, no anything.”
Another smile. “We have a regular food and supply delivery system. Our medical unit is fully stocked. The closest town is also part of our pack. They’re only ten kilometers away from the base of the mountain. It’s more urban, and we have almost another two thousand people there. The Alpha house is in the center of town, but Dad said he would meet you here before we go there.”
Whoa.
“This pack has over three thousand members?”
“Actually closer to four,” Dimitri said with a grin, pulling open a door at the end of the hallway. It opened into yet another hallway and closed with an ominous click. “There’s a lot of outliers and lone wolves that also are part of the pack, but prefer a more solitary lifestyle. The town has a train station, which is how we get food and are able to travel around the country. But the closest metropolitan city is easily two hours away by rail, and we’re pretty self-sufficient here.”
My mouth gaped open in shock as I stopped walking and stared at him.
Dimitri stopped at another door and hesitated. “Do you need a second before we go in?”
My dad was on the other side of that door.
I knew it, felt it. I wanted to give the moment the gravity and seriousness it deserved, and under any other circumstance, I would need a minute or twenty to get myself ready for whatever came next, but my answers lay on that side of the door.
Remy lay on that side of the door.
“No,” I replied honestly, my mouth suddenly dry. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Okay.” Dimitri pushed open the door and held it for me as I stepped into the room.
Three people stood in the room, two men and one woman. The woman gave Dimitri a brilliantly wide smile and cut across the room to hug him.
My eyes zeroed in on the man casually sitting on the sofa, wordlessly watching. The other man stood behind him, his dark eyes curiously assessing me.
The man sitting lifted a massive arm and draped it along the back of the couch, his gaze practically black. His hair was a few shades darker than mine, and there was absolutely no missing this man was an Alpha.
And my father, Nikolai Dashkov.
His head tilted slightly, barely noticeable, as he watched me.
Dimitri stepped up beside me. “Dad, this is Skye.”
Pretty unnecessary introduction, but I had a feeling the gaping silence was grating on D
imitri as much as it was me.
My father still watched me quietly.
Fine, if he wasn’t going to start this, then I was.
“I need a phone,” I said, pretty freaking proud of how calm I sounded.
A single brow lifted at me, and I fought to stay calm as my frustration surged. Maybe starting off our first meeting with a demand wasn’t the best idea, but I wasn’t backing down.
“I need to find out what’s going on with my pack. My mate.”
A scowl darkened his face, his eyes narrowing.
I met his gaze, glaring back openly and not giving a damn if I was possibly offending this Alpha. Father or not, I wanted answers now. This man wasn’t my family. My family was an ocean away.
He still didn’t speak.
Everyone in the room seemed to be waiting in limbo, holding their breaths as they watched us face off.
I wasn’t amused at fucking all.
I looked at Dimitri. “He does actually speak, right?”
Dimitri’s green eyes cut to me, his expression warning me before he quietly said, “Skye, don’t.” This was the first time I had seen Dimitri look so serious.
My head swung back around to my father as he stood up, tugging at the cuffs of his white button down.
“Leave us.”
I wasn’t even sure he had actually spoken, but the door behind me opened and Dimitri left, followed by the woman and the other man. The door shut a second later.
“So, you can speak?” I asked archly, too pissed off and worried to care that I was poking an Alpha.
Nikolai took a step forward, pushing his hands into the pockets of his black pants. “She named you Skye.”
His voice was rough and deep, accented like Alexei’s. He closed the distance between us slowly, like he was worried I might spook and run.
When I squared my shoulders and stood my ground, he smiled.
The effect was transformative.
He went from surly Russian Alpha to actual person with a single smile.
Legacy (Blackwater Pack Book 3) Page 4