Holy shit.
He was talking about a thousand shifters. He wanted to bring an army from here to Blackwater to help us.
“No,” I managed to get out. “I’ll let him know.”
“Very well.” Nikolai gave me a nod and an encouraging smile before looking over at Natasha. “I believe you wanted the honors, darling?”
“It’s the least I can do after the night I spent with Paolo,” she replied, smiling back at him.
Her hand moved so fast that I could barely track it with my eyes. One second it was on the table, the next it was plunging a knife into Paolo’s eye so deep it sank into his skull to the hilt.
Tate sucked in a sharp breath beside me as I went still. My heart was racing as I gaped at what had just happened.
Paolo’s lifeless head slammed into the half eaten salad before him, spraying lettuce, salad dressing, and blood onto the white linen of the tablecloth.
25
Skye
I lost my appetite after Paolo’s body was cleared away like a dirty dish by the servers. Catching Tate’s eye, we stood as one.
“Excuse us,” I said, not bothering to ask if we could be excused from the dinner regardless of Nikolai’s council watching us closely.
His lips thinned but he nodded, waving a hand in dismissal.
I kept my back ramrod straight as we left the room, ignoring how the men once again stood and bowed their heads as we walked by.
“Holy fuck,” Tate breathed as we made it to the staircase.
I took a minute to get it together, holding on tightly to the banister as I gulped in huge breaths.
“Did that actually just happen?” The question fell off my lips before I could stop myself.
Tate could only nod back, her eyes huge.
“I need to call Remy,” I muttered, shaking off the last of my shock and practically running up the stairs with Tate on my heels. She followed me into my bedroom as I pulled my phone from where I had tucked it into the extremely useful pocket of my leggings.
Shit. It was barely early evening here, so it was hours before dawn in Blackwater.
“Call him,” Tate told me firmly.
My eyes met hers.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she went on, heading for the bathroom. “But, Skye, call him. He needs to know what just happened.”
I knew that. Of course Remy needed to know what happened from our new departure to the fact that Damien was trying to use me as some sort of twisted leverage. He also needed to know Tate and I were bringing an army with us.
An army of possibly psychotic shifters led by my maybe sociopathic father.
Freaking awesome.
Who didn’t want to wake up their boyfriend from sleep he desperately needed to unload that mess on his lap?
I considered just calling as I dropped into the corner of the sofa, the overstuffed cushions cradling my body. But I selfishly craved seeing his face.
My finger tapped the video chat function before I could talk myself out of it.
I bit my lip as I waited for him to answer. It took a few rings, but then his face appeared on the screen.
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately, rubbing a hand down his sleepy face. He blinked, focusing his attention on me.
“We’re coming home tomorrow,” I said, starting with the good news.
His eyes went wide. “What?” His body shifted as he sat up in his bed. The phone dropped, giving me a tantalizing view of the hard muscles of his chest before he readjusted his grip.
I couldn’t resist licking my dry lips as arousal thrummed in my veins. God, I missed him.
“The storm is clearing out,” I clarified, clearing my throat as I pulled my mind out of the very dirty gutter it wanted to live in. “Nikolai said we can leave early tomorrow evening, so we should be back … I don’t even know. I think the flight is like sixteen hours or something. But we’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Thank fuck,” he whispered, his eyes sliding shut for a second. When they opened, the unspoken emotion in them left me breathless.
“In somewhat related news, I just watched my stepmother stab a man in the eye at dinner.”
There was a beat of silence before he yelled, “What?”
I winced. “He was a spy from an Italian pack.”
Remy’s gaze sharpened. “And are Italian spies a regular occurrence in Russia?”
“They are when the Italian pack is the pack that Norwood spawned from.”
His jaw tensed in fury. “God-fucking-dammit.”
“Yeah.” I sighed reluctantly. “They found out I was here. Norwood had them send someone to see if …”
Ugh. I didn’t want to finish that sentence.
“If what, Skye?” Remy demanded, his eyes burning.
“If I could be grabbed before I made it back to Blackwater,” I said softly. “Norwood wanted to force you to give up.”
His head fell back against his headboard with a thunk, the tendons of his throat flexing as he fought to control the rage burning him alive.
“I would have,” he admitted, looking at me. “Fuck, I totally would have.”
Fear prickled the nape of my neck. “Rem.”
“If they had you …” He exhaled hard. “I’d give them whatever they wanted.”
“No,” I growled, surprising myself. “Don’t even say that, Remy.”
“Skye—”
“No,” I snapped, cutting him off. “This is bigger than you or me. No matter what happens to us, you have to remember that.”
“You’re right. I know that,” he agreed after a beat. “But don’t ever put me in a position of having to choose between you and our pack, Skye. It’s you. Every damn time. It will always be you, babe.”
Tears burned my eyes. “Then let’s make sure we’re together so no one has to choose.”
“Deal.”
I sniffed, blinking away the tears crowding my lash line. “Besides, apparently threatening me while I’m in Narodnaya means you get turned into an eye-kebab.”
A shudder of revulsion rippled down my spine as I remembered Paolo falling over with the knife hilt protruding from his eye.
“Are you okay?” he asked me gently.
“I just want to come home,” I said brokenly, rubbing my forehead in exhaustion. “This place … It’s overwhelming as hell, Remy. I feel like I’ve learned so much, but I have so many more questions.”
“What happened with Elias?”
He gave me the pregnancy scare of a lifetime.
“We didn’t have time for many questions before Nikolai tried to kill him with a table,” I said with a frown. “Elias just seemed so resigned.”
“How so?” Remy’s eyes narrowed.
“Like he knew what he did was wrong, but he didn’t care?” I tried to put my finger on it. “He’s definitely helping Norwood, but it feels like there’s more. Nikolai is furious. He and Dimitri have both said Elias betrayed them. That they brought him here so he could learn what they were doing.”
“Doing with what?”
“I’m still not entirely sure how it works,” I replied slowly, thinking back. “It has something to do with a system Nikolai set up. They don’t have nearly the same issue with fertility as we do, and they have a lot more bonded mates. There’s a magical aspect to it that helps it work better.”
Remy opened his mouth to speak as someone knocked on my door.
“Skye? It’s Lulu. Can I come in?”
“What’s going on?” Remy asked, seeing my attention shift from him.
“Lulu’s here,” I said absently. I got up and moved to the door, opening it.
“Hey,” she said, twisting the toe of her boot into the floor as she gave me a hopeful smile. “Nikolai wanted you—Crap. Are you on the phone?”
I nodded at her.
Her eyes lit up. “Is that the mate? Can I meet him?”
My fingers clutched the phone tighter in response.
“Or not,” she said with a shrug, not of
fended. “I’ll meet him soon enough.”
“Excuse me?” I bristled at the implication.
“I just meant that I’m coming with you,” she explained, easing back a step so there was space between us.
I frowned. “Can you give me a second?”
“Take your time.” Lulu gave me a thin smile and moved back into the hallway.
I turned away from the door. “I need to see what she wants. Or what Nikolai wants.”
Remy’s eyes were hard. “What did she mean by coming with you?”
I mentally facepalmed.
“Nikolai wants to come with me to make sure I get home safe,” I started.
He nodded, fully on board with me having a protective escort home.
“But he wants to bring people from here, too, and their allies.”
“Why?” Remy’s voice hardened at the perceived threat.
“Norwood screwed them over as much as they did us,” I answered. “Nikolai wants to help us stop them once and for all.”
He mulled that over, the corners of his mouth pinched tight. “Do you trust him?”
I blinked slowly in surprise. “I … Honestly? Yeah, I do. My gut tells me he wants to help us.”
“Okay,” he agreed.
“Okay?”
“I trust you, Skye,” Remy told me. “If you think he can be trusted, then I’m with you. Just give me an idea of how many people we’re looking at so we can set up lodging and stuff. Katy, Larkin, and Ryder are handling that, so the more notice the better.”
“I’ll text you later. Better yet, I’ll call Katy and Larkin. I owe them a call, or I might be coming home with two less best friends than I left with.”
He chuckled, the warm sound curling around me like a blanket. “I don’t think you’ll ever be able to shake those two.”
“Good. I’ve been a pretty shitty friend.”
“We’ve all been dealing with a lot,” he said with a shrug. “They know that.”
“Try to get some sleep, okay?” I bit my lower lip. “I’ll see you soon.”
His gaze softened. “See you soon, babe. I love you.”
“I love you,” I repeated fiercely, and ended the call.
I spun around to see Lulu leaning in the doorway.
“Did you get your answers?” I asked her.
Surprise crossed her face before she schooled her features.
“Not all of them,” she replied. “That’s why Nikolai asked me to come along for the trip.”
“Speaking of,” I said with a sigh, “he wanted something?”
“He wants you to meet him downstairs.”
“Does he?” I murmured, shaking my head.
The man had someone executed in front of me less than an hour ago.
Yeah, the guy was a traitor who was part of a plan to kidnap me, but now I was stuck with the image of a guy with a knife in his eye for the rest of my life.
“I know things got crazy at dinner,” Lulu said softly, “but he’s hoping you’ll still meet him. There’s something he wants you to see.”
I exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and nodded.
Nikolai was sending an army to help protect me and my pack. The least I could do was hear what he had to say.
The sun was starting to set when Lulu led me out the back door off the kitchen area. The snap of cold air rushing at me stole my breath.
Nikolai turned, smiling when he saw me.
“Thank you, Lulu,” he murmured, lifting his eyes to hers. “Give us a moment?”
She nodded and gave me a quick smile before ducking back inside.
“Holy crap it’s cold,” I stuttered, my teeth already starting to chatter.
“I know I asked for tomorrow to show you around, but I was hoping your wolf might join me tonight,” he said quietly.
“Now?” I asked, looking around. The sun was setting over the far mountain peak, the first glimmers of twilight appearing as orange and purple streaks across the sky now that the storm had cleared out.
“Yes.” He watched me, waiting for an answer.
I felt my wolf pushing to get out. She wanted this, craved this. Something about this pack and this land called to her, and she wanted to explore it.
“Okay,” I agreed, nervous butterflies taking flight in my belly.
“You can shift inside, if you like,” he said, inclining his head towards the door.
“Okay,” I repeated, going back inside as he started to shed his jacket.
“You said yes?” Lulu asked, hopping off of a barstool at the massive island in the center of the room.
I nodded mutely.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wooden bangle. “Put this on before you shift.”
I gave her a weird look. “What is it?”
“It’s charmed,” she said. “Not like the silver one. This one will let you communicate with Nikolai once you’ve shifted. He has a matching one. You can take it off yourself when you come back.”
“Oh.” I took it from her and slipped it over my wrist.
“I’ll turn my back and make sure no one comes in,” she promised, spinning on her heel.
I slowly tugged off my clothes, folding them into a pile by the door until I was naked. My bones popped as I shifted, everything heating in my body for a flash of a second before my shift was done.
Lulu turned and smiled at me. “Ready?”
I dipped my head, trying to keep a little control while my wolf had a field day trying to figure out all the new scents that were overloading our nose. Looking down, I noted that the bracelet had formed a cuff around my leg instead of sliding off.
Huh.
Lulu opened the door and I hesitated seeing the massive black wolf in front of me. He was huge, several inches taller and longer, with the same shape marking on his chest that I had on my head, but his was white. The very tip of his black tail was white as well, the colors contrasting starkly.
Ready, little wolf?
The question caught me off guard. I wasn’t used to anyone being in my head except Remy when I was like this.
Yeah, I agreed, putting a paw into the deep snow. The texture felt slightly different than when I was home in Blackwater or even at Granite Peak. It was softer, but with a harder bottom. Likely layers of snow that had melted and refrozen into thick sheets of ice.
“I’ll put your clothes inside,” Lulu said, gathering Nikolai’s stuff quickly. “Have fun.”
Try to keep up. Nikolai’s amused voice ghosted through my head before he hurled himself into the impending darkness with a playful growl.
My wolf immediately gave chase, and I happily took a backseat as her competitive streak pushed us faster until we were on Nikolai’s heels.
The terrain was different and we slipped a few times until we found our footing, but the peace I felt settle around my heart was unlike anything I had ever known. Everything about this place felt right.
The best part was under it all, I could feel my bond to Remy. It felt like he was inches away instead of miles, just under the surface of where I could reach.
Nikolai swerved right, pushing us higher up the mountain peak. I had lost count of how long we had been running, our breaths puffing white clouds into the night air as we went.
He turned another corner and slowed, finally stopping at the edge of a cliff.
My wolf flinched. This icy drop off looked too familiar. Too much like when I had tackled Cassian off of it.
I stepped back with a low whine.
Nikolai turned, his gray eyes alert.
Trust me, he said simply.
With a huff, I stepped up to the ledge again and looked over.
There was a clearing in the middle ringed by trees and sharp slopes of the mountain. In the clearing were wolves. At least four dozen of them. Some were burrowed into the snow together, sleeping. Most were playing, chasing and nipping at each other with high pitched yips and teasing growls.
Dimitri told you of our system, yes?
He sat down and watched me with those eyes that looked like melted silver.
I sat down, too. Yes.
He dipped his head at the wolves beneath us. These wolves are in the final night of their lunar cycle. They shift back tomorrow to rejoin their packs.
They aren’t from here? My head swung in his direction.
A chuffing noise rumbled out of his chest. No. Only a dozen are from Narodnaya. The rest are from neighboring packs. They will go home tomorrow.
This is what Elias was trying to do? I asked.
A low growl escaped his bared teeth. Yes. He tried to take this and force it on others in your country.
There’s magic involved in this, isn’t there?
He sighed, sliding his front legs forwards so that he was laying down. Lulu helped me. She binds their human so their wolf can run free for the lunar cycle. Every woman down there is a willing participant.
Shock hit my system. They’re all female?
His eyes sparkled. Yes. Most are already mothers. We’ve found that if women repeat this process every half decade, it usually triggers another fertility cycle. These women are hoping for a second, third, or even fourth, child.
Are they bonded? My mind was racing.
Gabe and Mallory had four kids, but they were bonded mates.
Only a handful, Nikolai replied.
The average, unbonded female only had one child. Maybe two if she was super lucky. Nikolai had completely thrown that average out the window.
How does it work? I demanded, needing to know more.
We encourage them to not suppress their true nature, little wolf. In doing so, they find a balance. Nature does the rest.
I stared down at the dozens of women.
Elias tried to do this? I sank down beside him.
Tried and failed. While our participants are willing, his are not. The effects of an unwilling person being forced to submit into this process can end disastrously. Nikolai’s lip pulled up over his teeth in a snarl.
How can he force them? Doesn’t he need magic like Lulu to do this?
Nikolai surged to his feet with a growl. His Alpha found someone with magic like Lulu. Unlike Lulu, they are willing to break the laws of nature to force the process.
Legacy (Blackwater Pack Book 3) Page 21