by T. S. Joyce
Blaire threw the car into park and stumbled from behind the wheel, then skidded and slid her way over the icy parking lot toward the trail that led to Winter’s Edge. Maybe he was there.
“I think you should leave,” Asher said from behind her.
“I’ve got that hint every time you’ve talked to me Asher, thank you. Surprise me and be nice instead.”
“I am! Fuck, kid, I’m trying to save your life.”
“I’m not a kid. I’m older than you.”
“How much older?” Roman asked, trailing his brother.
“I’m thirty! This is my birthday trip, but everyone is ruining this!”
“Whoa, you look hot for an old lady.”
“Stop talking!” she yelled over her shoulder.
“I thought old ladies were supposed to be sweet,” Roman muttered. Stupid Roman with the stupid smile in his voice.
She wanted to hurt him with words. “Odine said you two might be evil,” she said with a prim little “hmm” at the end for good measure.
“Odine’s full of shit,” Asher said from right beside her. His legs were longer, and he passed her. For some reason that pissed Blaire off even more, so she swished her hips and pushed her legs to keep up.
“I’m a little bit evil,” Roman admitted.
“Roman, shut up,” Asher gritted out.
“So is Asher. He just likes to pretend he’s not. We like to do bad things.”
“Stop lumping me in with you,” Asher spat out over his shoulder. “We’re nothing alike.” Asher walked faster, and Blaire gritted her teeth and speed-walked to keep up.
He cast her a frown and went even faster.
Blaire took off running, but Asher and Roman blurred past her and disappeared into the woods, and now Roman’s laughter was echoing everywhere.
“I think I hate you,” she called, slowing to a jog, and then to a pouty walk.
“Ugh, what an evil thing to say,” Roman said from somewhere up ahead. “Don’t get lost Princess Human. These woods are haunted.”
Blaire grimaced and looked around the darkening woods, then picked up her speed walking again. At least the trail was easy to follow thanks to the fresh boot prints in the snow. A few minutes more, and she made it to the clearing right in front of Winter’s Edge. There was a parking lot on one side, so there had to be another road leading into here. Next time she was driving, especially if the woods were haunted. Two days ago, she hadn’t believed in that stuff, but werewolves and witches had skewed her view of the entire world now.
Asher and Roman were waiting outside the door, leaned up against the log building like they’d been there for hours. Annoying.
“I’m calling a pack meeting,” she muttered as she shoved open the door.
“You can’t call a pack meeting,” Asher gritted out. “A, you aren’t an alpha, and B, we aren’t a fucking pack. We’re three rogues and a human.”
“Princess Human,” Roman corrected, following Blaire inside. “I like her. She’s feisty and yells at everyone. She’s fun to piss off. I kind of want to keep her, like a human pet.”
Asher huffed a pissed-off sound. “Keep her all you want. Die with her and Gentry for all I care. I’m out of here as soon as we dump the old man’s ashes.”
“I can hear everything you are saying,” she muttered.
“You can?” Roman asked with his face all scrunched up. “I thought humans couldn’t hear hardly anything.”
“Seriously?” she asked, giving him the dirtiest face she could muster. “Are all werewolves this judgmental?”
“Yes,” Asher and Roman both muttered in unison.
Fantastic. “Gentry?”
“Yeah, back here,” Gentry called from the kitchen.
The Striker brothers hung back as she made her way around the bar top and through the kitchen door. She hadn’t been in here before, but it looked nothing like the main room. This was all stainless-steel countertops and matching double ovens, stoves, and even dual microwaves. There was a walk-in fridge on the far wall. Gentry had just entered through the back door with a huge rolling trashcan he must have just emptied in the dumpster outside.
He looked exhausted, but his lips curved up into a smile immediately when he saw her. “Hey,” he murmured, approaching her slow, like he didn’t want to startle her.
“I did something bad,” she murmured, bracing for his reaction.
Gentry just leaned into her though, hugging her tight. He didn’t say anything, just swayed them side to side. Something was wrong. Blaire could feel it in her chest.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Gentry lifted her up to sit on the counter then pulled her against him. He dipped his lips to her neck and pressed them there, let them linger until he finally sighed and said, “I’m better now. It was just a long day.”
“Your dad?”
Gentry’s attention flickered to an urn that sat on the counter against the wall. “I picked up his ashes today. Blaire, I think I let him down.”
She eased back and cupped his cheeks. He’d shaved, so she could see every beautiful, sharp angle. “You didn’t. You were out there living your life. If he wanted your help, he would’ve asked.”
“He did ask, though. He asked me to stay and take on the pack.”
“When?”
“On my eighteenth birthday. He was tired. He wanted to train me to take over, and I left instead.”
Gentry glanced at the door, and when she followed his gaze, Roman and Asher were there, leaning their backs against the counter like they’d been there the whole time. Both had their eyes downcast, but she could see the gold and silver from here.
“I never understood why he didn’t ask Asher,” Roman said. “I mean, I get why he didn’t ask me. I would hate being an alpha, but Asher’s the oldest, the biggest, the most dominant. He always was. He wanted it. He was trainable, coachable. He worked to please Dad—”
“Enough,” Asher demanded. “He didn’t ask because he didn’t ask. Drop it.”
Roman stared at Asher a few moments too long, then huffed a disgusted breath. “Fine. We’ll act just like we did when we were kids then. Nobody talk about anything serious, just keep everything fucking buried until it festers and ruins us all.”
“That’s not how I remember it when we were kids,” Gentry said, holding Blaire’s hips tighter. He had his chin tucked to his chest, but he was meeting Asher’s challenging gaze.
Asher crossed his arms over his chest, bulging out his biceps as his eyes filled with fury. “Your memories aren’t real, Gentry.”
“Bullshit. You mean they don’t count.”
“That, too! You were favored. You were king. I was nothing. Dad wouldn’t even look at me. Do you know how it feels to devote your life to pleasing a man who finds you completely and utterly fucking invisible? He didn’t see Roman either, but Roman didn’t need to be seen by him.”
“That’s not true,” Roman warned.
“You didn’t! You made a joke of everything. You always had a smile on your face, always made people laugh, were always happy like you didn’t give a single shit about what was happening in our fucking house. You and I were in the corner in the darkest shadow the entire first eighteen years of our life. You want to talk about something real, Roman? How about you didn’t give a shit when we were kicked out of the pack, and I still hate you for not being angry.”
“I was angry—”
“You weren’t—”
“I was and I still am, Asher! I just don’t deal with anger the way you do! Fuck! I hate this place,” Roman yelled, gripping the back of his hair. “I didn’t want to come back. I didn’t want to do this. I hate that I hate my brothers, and I hate that you both hate me. I wanted normal! That’s all I ever fuckin’ wanted.”
“Well, blame that one,” Asher gritted out, jerking his chin to Gentry.
“Oh, you think I wanted to be the favored?” Gentry asked. “Really? I was left out of everything with you two. You banded together. You
talk about being in the shadows, but you put me there, too, on the opposite side of the room as you two. Always talking about me like I was this spoiled little shit, like I wanted the extra attention from Dad. Like I wanted the pack! Asher, I thought you would take it. I looked up to you. I thought if I was quiet enough, you would just come in there and take it and save me from all the shit I didn’t want to do. From all the pressure. I wasn’t some prodigal son. Dad built me up that way, and so did the pack, but I wasn’t feeding it. I wasn’t reveling in it. It wasn’t some warm place to bask in. It was fucking cold and lonely. I hated it because it separated me from the two of you. I wanted to be with you. Three amigos. You wanted normal, Roman? Well, so did I! Why do you think I left when you two got kicked out of the pack? Huh? It wasn’t to chase some easy life. I went through hell when I left here. Guilt hell. Poverty hell. Lonely hell. But for me it was worth it because I was pissed that you weren’t going to be a part of the pack. And if you weren’t there, I didn’t want anything to do with it. I still don’t. Everyone preached about how it was my destiny to take over, but it isn’t. I would rather stay rogue the rest of my life than make the two of you hate me even more. As long as you two stay rogue…I stay rogue.”
Asher was shaking his head, staring at the wall, teeth gritted so hard his jaw clenched. “Not that I care about you—at all—but you need to leave town, Gentry. You and Blaire both. Now. Tonight.”
“What? No, I still have loose ends to tie up. Dad’s ashes still need to be spread. This place isn’t going to clean up itself, and you assholes have been zero help.”
“We’ll do it,” Roman said, but he was looking at Blaire with some warning look she didn’t understand.
Was she supposed to talk now? This felt like family business.
“Okay, spread the old man’s ashes.” Asher strode for the urn and hooked an arm around it as he passed, didn’t slow at all and headed straight for the back door.
“What are you doing?” Gentry yelled as he bolted after him. He and Roman nearly got stuck in the door trying to get to Asher, but that could be blamed on their shoulders, which were roughly the width of a broad side of a barn.
“Get off me,” Gentry growled, shoving Roman.
Blaire sprinted after them, but Asher was doing something really bad. He was standing ten yards into the woods and had jerked the lid off the urn.
Gentry bolted for him. “Wait, he wanted to be buried by the river.”
“He loved this place more than his family, so…” Asher began to dump a cloud of light silver ashes into the snow just as Gentry and Roman reached him.
“Fuck, Asher, stop!” Gentry yelled, grabbing for the urn. “We’re supposed to say something nice and invite Odine.”
Asher wrestled out of Gentry and Roman’s grip, spewing clouds of ash from the ceramic container.
“Oh my God,” Roman said, dropping to his knees and coughing as he speed-crawled away. “I’ve got Dad in my throat.” He gagged and started shoveling snow into his mouth and scrubbing his tongue.
“Goddammit, Asher, this isn’t the way we were supposed to do it!” Gentry yelled.
“Funerals are for the living,” Asher said, chucking the urn at a tree like a football. It exploded into a cloud of leftover ashes and shards of ceramics. “Dad would just be happy we were all here to witness it.”
“Odine wasn’t here,” Gentry yelled, stripping out of his ash-smattered jacket like it was on fire. “And she was his big secret, I don’t know…favorite fuck or something. He would’ve wanted her here!”
Wait, Odine was their late father’s…mate? He was the wolf she’d talked about losing?
Asher spat in the snow. “Well, Dad’s favorite fuck outed Blaire in front of the pack in town today. You want to scoop some of these ashes up and call her over? I don’t. Fuck her. She just killed the both of you. Unless you run.”
“What?” Gentry asked, scrubbing snow on his hands, washing away ashes. He turned a blazing green gaze on Blaire. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but your step-monster is a lunatic. She talked about stirring up the hive and making you step up, making your brothers stop being evil.”
“Again, we’re not evil!” Asher clipped out, his eyes so silver they were almost white.
“Well, you just dumped your dad’s ashes all over your brothers, so I guess we can just agree to disagree,” Blaire muttered.
“Well…at least I’m not banging outside of my species!” Asher yelled.
“She’s a human, not a hamster. Fuck you,” Gentry said to Asher as he kicked his dirty jacket toward Winter’s Edge.
“Fuck you, too!” Asher said.
“Fuck you both,” Roman said from where he was still scrubbing his mouth with snow.
“You three are a disaster,” Blaire murmured tiredly as she stared at the ashes that painted the snow.
Roman spat in the snow and leaned back on his folded legs. “Well, now we can all survive if we just get out of town in time to avoid the Bone-Ripper Pack.”
That sounded terrifying. “Bone-Rippers?” Blaire asked in a much smaller voice than she’d intended.
“I’m leaving,” Asher muttered as he walked past. “See you idiots at the next funeral.”
Gentry was staring at Blaire, his eyes sparking like green fire. He exhaled deeply through clenched teeth. “I’m not leaving.” He’d said it at normal volume, but it sounded loud in the silence of the evening woods.
“What?” Asher said, turning a furious gaze on his brother.
“If you saw the pack, you would understand. I’m not running. I can’t.” He looked at his brothers. “You two know as well as I do that Rhett will drive the people here into the ground. Not just the pack either, but the humans in this town. So they found out about me and Blaire. I made the decision already that I wouldn’t be able to hide her. Wolf won’t let me shove her in a den. He’s proud of her. I’m proud of her. So, she’s human…” Gentry shrugged one shoulder up and arched his eyebrow in an I-don’t-give-a-single-fuck expression.
“Rules, Gentry,” Asher barked out.
“Rules are for packs, Asher. I like her. I want her. Wolf won’t have anyone else. She’s human. Sucks. I wish she was a wolf, but she isn’t.”
“Rhett will put out a kill order,” Roman said from where he sat in the snow.
“Rhett can try to kill me.” Gentry’s voice was low and growly, like a demon’s voice. He stood with his back to the dark woods, fists clenched, shoulders bulging against his tight sweater. “I’m not Dad.”
“He killed Dad in an alpha challenge,” Asher said, like that made murder all right.
Gentry shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so. I think he killed him human. I think it was a coup to take the pack and done in the shadows.”
“What?” Roman barked out, horror etched into his face.
Asher muttered a curse and paced away, then back. “Do you have proof?”
“Not yet.”
Asher linked his hands behind his neck and shook his head for a long time as he stared off into the woods, but at last, he said, “So what’s your plan, Favorite?”
“To take back the town.”
Asher and Roman let off twin laughs that echoed through the forest. “As a rogue?”
“No. As three rogues.”
The smiles fell from both Asher and Roman’s faces.
“Nope. Not doing this. Uh-uh. I’m leaving,” they both said, stumbling over each other’s words. Roman stood and strode for the front of Winter’s Edge.
“Stay just until we can get a new alpha in place. Just until we can avenge Dad.” Gentry grabbed Blaire’s hand as he passed and murmured, “This involves you now, Trouble. Come on.”
“And who do you suggest we put on the throne of the Bone-Rippers?” Asher asked over his shoulder.
“Tim. Nelda. Hell, Mila would be better than Rhett.”
“Oh, good, a submissive alpha,” Roman said sarcastically as he lengthened his stride. “She’ll love
that job.”
“Okay stop!” Gentry demanded.
Roman and Asher gave matching snarls and turned on Gentry. They looked terrifying, but when Blaire looked up at Gentry, he looked wilder than all of them. Profile rigid, eyes glowing, face twisted in some fearsome look she’d never seen.
“The Bone-Rippers will be at the Four Horsemen tonight. Eleven o’clock, and they should be gathered. One hour there and then make your decision whether to stay or go, and I won’t stop you. I won’t try to persuade you. I’ll let you go back to your lives, and we can go right back to the way it was. Just…give me one hour before you decide.”
Asher didn’t give an answer. Instead, he let off a fierce growl, turned on his heel, and made his way down the trail that led back to the cabins.
Roman watched him leave, scratching his bearded jaw in irritation. Finally, he ghosted Gentry a glance and muttered, “You’re buying.” He made to leave but turned and jammed his finger at Gentry. “And I drink a lot.” And then he followed Asher’s boot prints and disappeared into the woods.
Gentry leaned heavily against a tree and scrubbed his hands over his face. He let off a sigh, and his eyes dimmed. He looked haunted like the woods that surrounded him. “I worked so hard to get away from this place and stay gone. If I told you what I really want, you would run.”
Blaire squared up to him, her boots sinking in the ankle-deep snow. With just a moment of hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his middle. “I’d rather you talk to me than not. That goes for always. I don’t like all the secrets. I like knowing what’s going on. I like knowing you.”
Gentry leaned down and kissed her gently, stroked his fingertip down her cheek, then eased back and pressed his lips to her forehead. “You have this safe life back home. You could leave now and nothing bad would happen to you. I know you would be okay. You could find a normal man, with normal human problems, and be happy. But when I think about letting you go, everything in me buckles against it, Trouble. And the selfish monster in me wants you to stay here and go through this fight with me, bond to me, fall for me, and I want to make it to where you can never leave. Where you would never want to. I want to make you so happy you can’t imagine your life without me in it. Something’s wrong with me.”