by T. F. Walsh
A cacophony of voices broke out around me, eclipsing my thoughts. I halted, ankle-deep in snow. Wulfkin spilled out of the big top and throughout the caravan of trailers, bottlenecking the mess tent’s entrance on their way inside.
What had I missed?
Spotting Sonia amid the horde, I grasped her wrist. She twirled to face me with worry worming its way behind her distant gaze.
“It’s started,” she said. “The chaos.”
“What’s going on?” My mind twisted into a tangled knot.
“Alena.” Father’s voice sliced through the murmurs and shuffling. He stood beside the tent’s entrance with his hands by his sides in a stiff posture. “Join us.”
Sonia eased an arm beneath mine, and together we joined the other wulfkin. Seated halfway toward the back, I studied Father for a clue about this meeting. Every nerve jumped beneath my skin.
His shoulders curled forward with arms folded across his chest. Speckles of snow dotted his black hair, aging him instantly.
Tightness worked its way up my throat, reminding me of the last time he’d worn such a mournful mask and defeated posture—Mother’s death.
Once everyone was seated, Father stepped in front of the pack and stood with parted legs, hands laced behind his back. “I have received some alarming news about Nicolai.”
My body froze.
“He’s being transferred tomorrow morning across the country to Sofia, in the south of Bulgaria.”
Tears pooled in my eyes.
No one said a word.
A furnace of lava streamed through me, and I scooted to the edge of my seat. How could this be happening? Nicolai would transform tomorrow night. Sofia was a four-hour drive from Ruse, and the prison had maximum security. It made his current jail seem like a day camp. How would Father rescue Nicolai now?
Sonia touched my arm and whispered, “You’ve turned white.”
I shook my head, unable to process anything except Nicolai’s situation.
“Tomorrow’s the full moon,” Eevi called out. “Nicolai’s going to turn. And we have a Varlac with us. We’re all going to get punished for this.”
The soft murmurs increased into loud chatter.
“Quiet,” Father said. “I’m not telling you this to create panic. I have solicited someone inside Sofia prison who will get him out before he turns. I’m going down there today.” He rubbed his chin. “I will take Nicolai straight to Transylvania from there. I want all of you to prepare for our move into Romania tomorrow night, and we’ll meet you in Transylvania soon after. Our time in Ruse has run out.”
“What if Nicolai doesn’t get out before the full moon?” someone else asked, voicing my concerns.
After a long pause, Father studied the back wall of the tent and replied, “Whatever happens, you will still leave for Transylvania tomorrow night.”
A wulfkin stood up. “What about the Varlac?”
Then another. “They’ll shoot Nicolai if he changes.”
“You—”
“Keep calm.” Father’s rushed words were anything but calm, yet it had the effect of silencing everyone. “You’ve all known this was coming, and together as a pack, we are stronger. Follow me, and I’ll keep you safe. I give you my word.”
My pulse sprinted too fast, and my head spun. Was this really happening?
“Now I urge you to move with swiftness and not breathe a word of this to anyone outside the pack.” He stepped back. At first, no one shifted from their seats. “You are dismissed.”
It was as if the air had been sucked out of the tent and the pack had forgotten how to use their legs. Then, one by one, they exited. A few gathered around Father.
I couldn’t move. Tears trailed down my cheeks.
Sonia leaned in close, wiping one of my tears with her thumb. “It’ll be all right, honey.”
My head shook of its own accord.
“Come, I’ll get you some water.”
“What if Father can’t get Nic out in time? What if it goes wrong?” This might be our last day alive.
“I’m certain your father has given this a lot of thought. He’d never allow anything to happen to either of you.”
Considering our predicament and Father’s promise to get Nicolai out, I wasn’t convinced. What if my dreams were a premonition? Maybe this was my mission—to rescue my brother. Keeping my voice low, I leaned closer to Sonia. “Maybe I can get Nic out before he leaves Ruse, but I need a decoy. Will you help?”
Sonia shook her head, her hand squeezing mine. “No way. I’m not disobeying Maxim. You’re going to get burnt if you do this. Leave it to your father.”
My knees bounced with desperation.
“Sit back and trust someone else,” Sonia said.
My heart raced, and I refused to accept that. Not when so much was at stake. I could do it. Somehow.
“But Father won’t know it’s you,” I said.
“Alena.” Father’s voice made me jump out of my seat and Sonia alongside me. He eyed Sonia, who lowered her head and scurried away. Wonderful.
He approached me. “Can I trust you to pull the pack together for tomorrow’s departure in my absence? I’m putting you in charge while I’m gone.”
My hands curled in my pockets. “Of course, but are you sure about rescuing Nic? And what will you do with Enre?”
“Leave your brother to me. I’ll deal with our intruder once we reach Romania.” Father rubbed his lips. “It’s in my jurisdiction to deal with him as I see fit, but I must tread carefully since he’s a Varlac.”
“So you’re not going to kill him?” My voice quivered.
He sighed, took a seat, and patted the chair next to him.
I joined him.
After a quick scan of the entrance, he spoke in a voice barely audible. “I’ve never killed a single intruder.”
I stiffened, uncertain if I’d heard right. “You’ve told us you have.”
“I’ve threatened trespassers, Damir provided the heavy hand, and we sent them on their way. Every wulfkin and pack is trying to find a place in this world, so who am I to take their life? When your mother passed, I made myself a promise to never kill again.”
“Then how were you planning the takeover of Transylvania?”
“Keep your voice down.” He glanced around again, then turned back to me, his brow furrowed. “With the sheer number of wulfkin in our pack we’ll push the Romanians out. No blood will be shed on either side. I simply said I would kill to keep the rumors alive.” His words were monotone, as if he’d said it to himself many times before and now they were a line he recited with ease.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” An ache settled across my brow.
The tent fluttered around us in the wind, and its raspy crinkle annoyed me.
“No one can know. It’ll make us targets to every single pack out there, especially the Varlac.”
“Then what will you do with Enre?”
He reclined in his seat, and the crease forming slowly across his brow told me he’d been giving this heavy thought. My father ran a hand through his thick hair, lowered his gaze, and inhaled deeply. “Ever since Enre arrived, I’ve been waking up thinking your mother is still around, only to find myself alone.”
When his gaze met mine, a pitiful expression captured his face. It belonged to someone who’d lost all hope, not my father. He’d risk everything for those he loved.
“I can’t touch his father directly, but I can show that butcher the pain of losing a loved one when his son dies at my word.”
I flinched, and my hands curled against my stomach. “But Enre’s innocent. He told me he left home at a young age and has nothing to do with this. And I doubt his father will care if his son dies.”
“Every parent feels the agony of losing a child, no matter what they pretend. Varlac are brought up to show no emotions, but his parents do love him. I’m certain of that.” He stood and turned away. A heavy silence folded around us.
I touched his arm and stood up be
side him. “You’re my father and the strongest, most caring wulfkin I know. Don’t allow revenge to blur your judgment.”
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head, holding me for a long moment.
“Don’t worry about Nicolai and Enre. You focus on packing up. Do you remember the location in Transylvania where we decided to meet if we were ever split up during the move?”
“Yes.” I trembled, and it wasn’t from the chill.
“Let’s get going. You have a lot to prepare,” he said.
I nodded, unable to form a response. Our world was crumbling in on itself.
He returned to his trailer in preparation for his trip to Sofia, and I hastened to mine.
I trusted Father with my life, but I also believed in having a security blanket. What if his contact in Sofia wasn’t able to get Nicolai out in time? Plans went to crap all the time. Look at my life. Nicolai and I could both die tomorrow night. The idea left me gasping for air. The situation couldn’t possibly get worse.
Already, a plan was forming in my mind. I’d risk facing Father’s wrath to get Nicolai out.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ENRE
I gripped the metal bars of my prison and shook them. Aside from the raspy groan of the hinges, it remained locked. Alena had left me to clear her head. Or at least I hoped.
“Whoever built these cages knew what they were doing.”
Mila sat in the opposite cell, a wall of bars separating us. She studied me. If she could speak, she’d probably tell me to forget trying to escape, otherwise she would have left this place ages ago.
Approaching her, I threaded an arm through the bars and scratched her head. “Don’t worry. When I get out, I won’t leave you behind. I’ll take you to Transylvania, where you can live with my pack and be free in the woods.”
She pressed her head against my palm as I ruffled the fur behind an ear.
A nagging thought pestered me—why hadn’t Maxim finished me off? If it were Sandulf or any Varlac, I’d be long dead. Don’t get me wrong, I’d fight to my last dying breath to stay alive, but I couldn’t work out Maxim’s reasoning. Maybe everything we’d been told by Sandulf about this pack was wrong. And thinking back to all the fucked-up shit Sandulf had done, why had I believed him anyway? I kicked the straw at my feet and gritted my teeth.
Mila scurried away from me, to the back wall of her cell.
“Sorry to scare you.”
And why had I believed replacing Maxim would gain me a pack, or that afterward the sun would shine out of my ass? I should have gone to Maxim from the beginning and proposed an agreement between our packs. It seemed that even from beyond death, Sandulf managed to mangle our lives.
One day, I planned on becoming the kind of alpha whose pack stayed together out of loyalty, not fear. Where life was anything we wulfkin yearned it to be—freedom in the forest, or mingling with humans. If Daciana’s human boyfriend accepted our existence, others might, too. A few months ago, I’d have slammed down anyone who told me I’d even consider merging our kind with humans.
Clasping the bars, I throttled them again.
First things first—find a way out of this prison. Then I’d make Maxim listen to me so we could sort out this shit. Lastly, somehow, I’d convince Alena I was her wulfkin mate. Staring at the locks, I noticed they were pretty new … Did that mean they might be harder to pick?
The door to the trailer burst open, and the tiny grilled window facing both cages rattled.
Mila jumped to her feet, the fur on the back of her neck bristling until she spotted Alena.
“Wasn’t expecting you back so soon,” I said, surveying how delicious her backside looked in those tight, black pants as she closed the trailer door.
“Well”—she careened toward my cell with a strange half smile planted on her lips—“this is your lucky day.”
“Somehow, I suspect our interpretations of that aren’t the same.”
Her eyes rolled. She huffed and kept glancing to the entrance and back. “No, they’re not.”
“You going to let me out then? I’m assuming you’re not a fan of your father killing me.”
The edge of her mouth twitched, and she did a double take in my direction.
“I know I have sexy eyes,” I said, “but I doubt that’s the reason you’re visiting me.”
Alena shook her head as if she’d vanished into a thought of her own. When she refocused, her gaze could have pierced a hole through my chest.
“I want to make a deal with you.”
Moseying closer, I gripped one of the bars. What was it with girls and deals today?
“Go on.”
She retreated, her back hitting the wall, even though the metal barrier separated us. Her voice lowered. “Help me break Nic out of prison, tonight.”
My mind raced. “Because of the full moon tomorrow?”
“Yes. And he’s being transferred to another prison in the morning. It gives us a window of opportunity to rescue him.”
The wind outside howled as if it were a distant wolf pack warning of encroaching danger.
“Why me? Ask one of your pack friends. Your father will kill you if he finds out. And me twice over for helping.”
“This doesn’t concern my father.” She dropped her arms to her sides and chewed on her lower lip, her gaze bolted to the entrance of the trailer.
“He’d beg to differ,” I said.
She approached the bars and brushed a loose strand of hair from her cheek. The pleading softness of her voice lured me away from my worries. “Father hasn’t killed anyone since my mother died.”
If she spoke the truth, maybe there was hope for Maxim, after all. “I could see that.”
Her brow pinched. I might have pushed my luck. “Well, because of your father, mine wants to kill you in revenge. Do you see that too?” Her eyes widened, and her cheeks were ablaze. “I’m sorry, I … I shouldn’t have said that.”
The sinking sensation deepened through my gut.
“No one else will go against the alpha’s word to help me,” she said. “Father says he’ll rescue Nic tomorrow in Sofia, but I’m scared it’ll go wrong before the full moon. I want to believe those words you said to me in the woods were real and not part of your plan to take over our pack.”
“I meant everything I said, but I’m not going with you until I speak with your father.”
“You can’t,” she said, her attention anywhere but on me. “H-he’s not here.”
“You’re lying.”
“If you see him, you won’t stay alive for long. Help me, and then you can return to your pack and be free.”
“Free?” I scoffed and ran a hand down my face. “There’ll be no freedom when your father turns up to destroy my family. I’m not leaving until I speak with him.”
Fidgeting with the fur collar on her black bomber jacket, Alena hesitated. “He told me he won’t slaughter your pack, but that doesn’t apply to you.”
Was she telling me the truth? I didn’t take her for someone who lied. But this was her father telling her these things … Maybe he intended to protect her from the truth of his real intentions.
She unlocked the door to my prison and opened it, freeing me. “Please, Enre. If you stay, you’ll get killed. And if you don’t help me, Nic and I might die.”
I flinched back. “What?”
Our eyes met, and a quiver captured Alena’s words. “The moment Nic or I die, the other does too. Every other generation in our family has linked souls. My grandmother did, and her grandmother, and so on.” She rubbed her palms down her jeans.
My thoughts whirred, convinced I’d once heard Sandulf tell me about a wulfkin family cursed by a witch. All twins in their family were destined to have joint souls. At the time, I’d figured it was a stupid fairy tale, especially since it was set in ancient times … But what if it referred to Alena’s lineage? And if that was the case, did that mean the other witch-related stories Sandulf had told me were true,
too? I hoped not.
“Are you sure of this?” I asked.
“Why would I make this up? Yes, it’s real. My mother suspected it, but after Nic got hit by a car and we both fell into a coma, she knew it had to be true. Afterward, she kept us both so overprotected, we were one step away from being wrapped in cotton and locked in our trailer.” With a raised eyebrow, she said, “And we don’t tell anyone, for obvious reasons. Makes us easy targets.”
An invisible fist collided with my chest, emptying my lungs of air. “Why didn’t your father rescue Nic earlier?” A prickling sensation ran down the back of my scalp.
“Exactly,” was all she said, as if it felt reassuring to share the demon she’d been harboring.
If Nicolai turned in prison, they would shoot and maybe dissect him. Alena would also die. The media would be in a frenzy over the discovery of a real-life werewolf. The Varlac would blame the Bulgarian pack and kill every last one of them, not to mention what the trigger-happy humans scouring the forests would do to all of us. We’d never be free again.
I stepped cautiously closer, out of the cage. “Are you certain your father won’t harm my pack?”
She offered me a quick nod, which meant when her father did approach Transylvania, it would be a face-off between him and me. That, I could handle. I was a big wulfkin and could take care of myself. But if Daciana didn’t agree to share her land with Maxim, he’d challenge her as well.
Alena extended a shaky palm for me to take. “Please, will you help me?”
I studied her gloved hand and open fingers. The simple gesture of offering the exposed veins on one’s wrist was used to show defeat when cornered, or to present oneself to a mate. Did she like me that much, or had she been beaten down by the situation? Dreading for her life, I had no other option but to join her crazy rescue attempt. Again. At least this way, I’d be able to watch over her.
I wrapped my hand around her wrist and drew her into an embrace. My lips captured hers, and for those few seconds, the ache in my heart threatened to split me in a thousand pieces. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to leave her behind if the time came. We’d bonded, and everything about holding her in my arms felt right. With her by my side, anything was possible.