by Jacey Conrad
“Mind your own business!” she heard Alexei howl as they walked through the front door.
Irina wrapped her hands around Galina’s. This was such a mess. How was it possible that their family had devolved into a backyard Fight-Club-to-the-Death? Irina felt weirdly detached from the surreal proceedings as Galina and Petyr led her to a clearing in the forest behind the Sudenko family house.
“And now that we’re out of Alexei’s hearing,” Galina said, turning to her sister and punching her lightly in the arm. “Why on earth did you leave the safehouse?”
“I had to do something to help,” Irina told her, rubbing at the spot where Galina smacked her. “I couldn’t just hole up in the woods while the people I loved risked themselves for me. I’m Alexei’s weakness. If I showed up, unannounced, in a place Alexei was comfortable, I knew he would make a scene, come off looking crazy. And when, he, predictably, flipped the fuck out, I knew if I protested that I didn’t want to go back to Papa’s house, that’s exactly where he would take me. I had his laptop open and running less than an hour after we got here. I found all kinds of e-mails between Alexei and some Italian guy who planted the bomb. I found schematics for Papa’s car Alexei downloaded from the net. I forwarded them to your account, but he caught me. He probably erased it all, but I doubt he’s smart enough to wipe his hard drive. I mean, he wasn’t smart enough to delete e-mails in which he specifically planned his father’s murder. Who does that by e-mail, Galina? A crazy person, that’s who.” Irina laughed and shook her head. “So I’m assuming that you got my message?”
“What message?”
“What?” Irina groaned. “I thought that was why you showed up! I texted you an audio recording of Alexei ranting at me. He found me going through his computer and went off about how ungrateful I was, about what he’d done to get me out of my engagement to Andrey. He basically confessed to the whole thing. I was hoping the text went through before he smashed my phone.”
Galina stopped and stared at her.
“What?”
“I turned my back for five minutes and you turned into a Bond girl, one of the smart ones that doesn’t get killed as soon as she sleeps with James.” Galina dug through her bag for her cell phone. It had enough of a charge to power on and show an unread text from Irina.
“I go to the all of the trouble of coercing a confession out of our brother, and you don’t even check your phone?” Irina asked.
“I’ve had a lot going on, Rina, it’s not like I had time to check my voice mail.”
“Oh, yeah.” Irina paused. “What was that Uncle Petyr said about you being stabbed?”
Galina waved her off dismissively as she opened the text and pressed “play” on the audio file, letting Alexei’s ranting ring through the trees. They arrived at the clearing and Irina’s eyes locked on a tall, familiar form across the clearing.
“Viktor?” Irina whispered, her hand creeping up to her throat. She blinked rapidly to make sure this wasn’t some hallucination.
No, Viktor was still there.
Galina glanced nervously around the circle at the sheer number of werewolf Mafioso. “Uh, Irina—”
“VIKTOR!” Irina screamed. Her heart in her throat, Irina ran across the clearing at full sprint, darting around anyone in her path to throw herself at him. He staggered under the impact, but wrapped his arms around her tightly, lifting Irina off her feet. The crowd went silent as Irina claimed Viktor’s mouth.
The silence broke as many heads bent together, exclaiming and whispering over the shock of seeing Ilya Sudenko’s daughter behaving in such a familiar manner with a hired Beta. Behind her, she heard Alexei growl, “What the fuck is this?” as Dmitry Volkov howled at the insult to his brother’s memory. The few Volkovs present surged forward. Nik and Konstantin stood in their way, shoving them back away from the reunited couple.
Irina let Viktor up for air just long enough to rear back and slug him with everything she had in her. Viktor grunted as his head snapped back, but when he turned his head back to her, he was grinning.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, do you hear me?”
Galina was allowed through the crowd on the opposite side of the clearing, attended by another contingent, including Andrey. Irina relaxed ever-so-slightly. If Andrey was with her, Galina would be safe, however temporarily. Low mutterings were passed down the line of the assembled men as Galina walked toward the center of the circle, where Alexei stood.
Irina noted that young Maksim, looking bruised and battered, was standing with Alexei’s faction and looked far from happy to see that Galina was alive and well. Irina supposed this meant their “going steady” was officially off.
“Thank you all for coming,” Galina began.
Silence returned to the yard. All eyes were fixed on her. She stepped away from Andrey and Irina, standing alone before all of them.
“I’ve invited you all here to bear witness.” Mutterings began, sweeping through the circle of people. She plowed ahead. “I, Galina Sudenko, do hereby challenge my brother, Alexei Sudenko for leadership of the Sudenko family.”
Alexei’s face flushed purple with murderous rage. The mutterings around her exploded, all shock and indignation over Irina’s behavior forgotten as shouts began to ring back and forth across the open space.
“Nonsense!” Alexei scoffed. “A woman has no right to challenge me. Everyone knows females can’t run the business.”
Petyr interrupted. “That is not the case. A woman has every right to initiate a challenge. It has happened in the past when Ykaterina Grenko challenged her husband.”
“This is ridiculous.” Alexei stalked up to Galina, trying to tower over her. He looked ludicrous since he was only an inch or two taller than her. “What cause does she have?”
“I don’t need a cause to initiate a challenge, or are you unfamiliar with the rules, Alexei?” She waited a beat before continuing. “But if you must have something, then I challenge you for the murder of our father, for the attempt on my life, and for the abduction of our sister—these are my reasons for challenge.”
“And just in case there is any doubt that I have cause to challenge my brother…” Galina raised her arm, phone in hand, and pressed play and let her brother’s insanity echo through the woods. Shocked gasps and growls echoed around the clearing as the werewolves processed what the recording implied. Alexei howled in rage, barely audible over the rising crest of the crowd’s voices.
Petyr nodded, holding up his hands for quiet as the crowd’s murmurs rose at these accusations. “And who will be your challenger?”
Galina smiled, icy and dangerous. “I will.”
Again Petyr held up his hands for silence as the other wolves responded, still capable of shock, somehow. Alexei was smiling, relaxed. He thought Galina wouldn’t know how to fight. He was a bigger fool than Irina had ever imagined.
“Galya,” Petyr said softly, drawing close to her, “this is madness. Let Nikolai handle this.”
“No, Uncle,” she told him, shaking her head sadly. “This is between me and Alexei. He’s the one who stuck a knife in my back.”
“A woman does not fight!” he scolded.
“This woman does.” She turned back to Alexei. “I’m going to change.”
“Why don’t you do it here?” her brother taunted. Irina frowned at her brother. Why did he always have to drop to the lowest common denominator, asking his sister to strip naked in front of a crowd of her peers?
Galina gave Alexei her most infuriating smile. “Because I think everyone should be focused on the fact that you’re a murdering coward and not on my naked breasts. Even if they are fabulous.” She walked away to a small copse of trees, listening as Alexei called for the support of his toadies. Andrey followed her.
Alexei grinned like Christmas came early. Criminally insane, murder-y Christmas, but Christmas all the same.
Winking at Irina, she walked away to a small copse of trees that Papa had planted decades ago for just such a p
urpose. Andrey followed her, calling over his shoulder, “Stay with them.”
“I don’t like this,” Irina murmured to Viktor. “Alexei’s accepting this challenge too easily. He wouldn’t do that unless he was sure he was going win. He’s going to do something underhanded. Hell, even if he’s winning, he’ll pull something, just to make an example of her.”
“We can’t interfere,” Viktor said, staring holes through Alexei’s head. “But if he goes too far, he will have lost face among the wolves gathered here, it won’t matter who wins or loses.”
Galina’s huge white wolf form padded by, sweeping her thick tail against Nik and Irina’s legs as she passed. Andrey followed her, his expression grave. He seemed to be tracking the movements of every wolf in the circle, on hyper-alert, seeking any potential threats to his beloved. Predictably, Alexei had already dropped his pants, palming himself unabashedly in front of the crowd and making a few lewd remarks before dropping on all fours and changing into a large gray specimen.
“To the death?” Uncle Petyr asked once more as soon as Alexei calmed down.
Galina nodded, her big wolf’s head bobbing up and down.
Irina was shocked to find she welcomed the possibility. Was it wrong for her to wish they would rip Alexei’s throat out? It felt wrong to wish death on her brother, but the things that were happening in Alexei’s head terrified Irina. She would never be safe as long as Alexei was alive. Worse yet, neither would Viktor, Galina, Konstantin, even Andrey.
Alexei darted left, breaking protocol already by circling. Irina watched the fur on Galina’s neck rise as she countered, moving clockwise to avoid her brother’s wolf-form.
“To the death,” Uncle Petyr cried out, waving his hands over his head. The other wolves yelled out their agreement. They wanted blood, and Irina got the impression that the majority didn’t want that blood to be Galina’s. Perhaps Alexei wasn’t as popular as he liked to think he was. Considering his proclivity toward sudden, violent outbursts and their tendency to cost those around him serious money, Irina wasn’t particularly surprised.
Alexei lunged, snapping at Galina’s front legs. Galina, who had always been lighter on her feet, danced out of his way. Alexei snarled, twisting his head to snap again. Galina ducked and lashed out, nearly catching his front leg in between her teeth. Irina’s eyebrows rose as she watched her sister move. She’d seen Galina in her wolf body before. She was normally much faster than this. Was she playing Alexei? Playing some sort of wolf battle hustle to make him overconfident?
Irina thought back to when they were kids, on the frequent rainy days when she and the boys were sent to the nursery to play board games. Alexei would quit any game he thought he couldn’t win. Even worse was when he did think he could win, and started his obnoxious “pre-victory celebrations,” which led to mistakes in his play, and eventual loss. Inevitably, these losses led to the game table being flipped over and Mama Katrina admonishing Irina and Nik to “be nice” to their brother. Alexei screwed up when he thought he was winning.
Alexei rushed her, keeping his head low in an attempt to knock Galina over. But Galina trotted out of his way, making a high barking noise as she did so. Irina didn’t speak wolf, but she knew Galina’s, “Suck it!” tone when she heard it. Alexei growled and leapt forward again, this time snapping at her hindquarters. Galina spun and kept her head low, lunging at Alexei’s throat. Whining sharply, Alexei jerked back, but Galina kept at him, snapping over and over again. But all she caught was the barest bit of fur in her fangs.
Alexei rushed her, his greater weight bowling Galina over. She rushed to her feet and Irina watched in horror as Alexei dug his teeth into her flank. Galina swung her paw, smacking Alexei across the face—the little known werewolf bitch slap. Her claw grazed across his eyes and he yipped, fumbling backward. Irina bunched her fists as she watched the blood seeping through the fur on Galina’s leg.
“Easy, Galina, easy,” Irina murmured as Alexei paced back and forth, his hackles at full height. “He’s going to fuck up. Just wait for it. Let him do the work, then go for the throat.”
“You’re a little scary when you need to be,” Konstantin informed Irina.
She shrugged and turned back to the fight, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t fuck with my family and I won’t be forced to give you the modified werewolf version of the shovel speech.”
“Fair enough. By the way, don’t think we’re not going to talk about your little runaway act, jerk.”
Irina nodded. “I have it coming.”
Alexei growled, then struck. Galina let him crash into her like an ocean wave, rolling with his energy and going too limp for him to pin. He ducked his head, aiming for her throat. She threw her body left and swept her head sideways, closing her jaw around his foreleg.
Alexei howled, more indignant than hurt. Galina dug her teeth in, and the crunch of bone was audible even to Irina’s human ears. Alexei fell off of her, cowering away, babying his injured leg. Blood stained Galina’s snow white muzzle, giving her a ghoulish appearance.
They circled again, Alexei’s gait slowed by his bad leg. He did his best to not put weight on his injured leg. Galina feinted, moving toward Alexei’s injured eye. Galina changed direction, only to find herself muzzle to muzzle with him. He slammed into her, ignoring the damage to his foot, and knocked Irina to the ground.
“Shit,” Irina winced as Alexei pranced around their sister, clearly looking for the best angle to close his jaws around her throat. “We need to do something. A distraction, a tranq gun, a tank, something.”
“We can’t interfere,” Andrey growled, though every fiber of his body was edging toward Galina.
“Well, I can’t just stand here!” Irina cried.
“Here,” Viktor said, whipping Irina’s shoulder around and yanking her close to him, devouring her lips. Irina squeaked in surprise, then melted against him, moaning into his mouth while his tongue danced with hers.
“Really?” Nik wheezed. “This is appropriate how?”
But across the clearing, they heard Alexei’s vicious growls as he changed directions and dashed toward them, fangs bared. Galina used his distraction to her advantage, leaping to her feet and crashing into him. Galina knocked him off of his paws and she was on top of him, her teeth sinking into his throat.
“Galya! STOP!” Nik shouted. “He’s still our brother!”
Galina looked up at her brother and relaxed her jaw, ever so slightly. Alexei pulled free, changing to two feet. Human again, he staggered to the pile of his clothes. Galina stayed in wolf form, her eyes following his wounded, naked human body as he stumbled.
“Galya, look out!” Irina screamed.
Alexei was moving toward Galina, holding a silver knife in the overhand, Psycho grip. Andrey was across the clearing in a flash, leaping between Alexei and Galina as Alexei’s arm came down.
But before the blade could harm either of them, Irina had reached into Viktor’s jacket and ripped his gun from his holster and fired. She didn’t even pause to aim, just let the bullet fly, knowing that it would strike its target.
Everybody stopped to stare at Irina. Viktor stepped between her and the crowd, who were soon distracted by the sight of Galina leaping at Alexei, her teeth slicing into his throat. Without hesitation, she ripped upward, tearing through flesh and muscle.
There was a moment of quiet before pandemonium hit. Alexei’s loyal followers pulled weapons of their own, or burst into the clearing on four paws. Galina met them head on—Andrey as a great black wolf by her side. Nik also there in wolf form, snapping and tearing at anyone foolish enough to approach. Kon tossed Irina his spare gun and leaped into wolf form, standing by Nik’s side. Andrey dashed around Galina and pounced on Maksim, who was running away in human form. Irina supposed Andrey had his reasons for killing the man while he was on two legs, and she was sure if she heard them, she would waste ammo on shooting his corpse. Better to focus on the task at hand.
Viktor had also changed, but he
stayed close to Irina, who now had both of his guns out and was covering her family’s back. The Rom contingent fought at Andrey’s side, while those without an immediate interest sat back and watched the carnage.
Irina took aim, following a large gray wolf stalking Galina—Vasily. He was watching for an opening to attack. Irina squeezed the trigger, aiming for the neck. The wolf flopped to the ground, a patch of red blooming on his fur. Galina threw a lolling grin of thanks at her sister, and then looked around for her next opponent.
The other wolves, both on two and four feet, were backing away, heads lowered, hindquarters nearly dragging the ground, tails quivering and tucked between their legs. The fight was over.
Uncle Petyr stepped into the circle, careful not to walk on any of the bodies. He stood next to Galina, resting a hand on her furry back. “By right of challenge, I proclaim Galina Sudenko the new head of the Sudenko family.”
They waited a moment for objections. Irina looked around at the faces of the other families and saw shock and awe. And a little bit of fear there too.
When no one dared to raise an objection, Galina tilted her head back and raised her wolf voice in a howling ululation of triumph. After a moment, Andrey, Nik, Konstantin, and Viktor joined in.
Irina raised her guns in the air, and since she didn’t have the right howl, yelled, “This is what you can accomplish when you stay in a corporeal form with thumbs, bitches!”
Viktor shifted to human, already laughing, and claimed her mouth in a kiss. Having switched to two feet and shrugged into a borrowed jacket, Galina yelled, “The rest of you, get off my property. I’m head of the Sudenkos by right of challenge. If any of you want to dispute that, you can do it later.” She snarled at them. “Now get lost.”
Galina quietly arranged for some of their Betas to bury Alexei somewhere in the woods behind the house. Meanwhile, Viktor put his arm around her shoulders and led her back to the house.
“You okay?”