by Tamsin Baker
“So, you’re what all the fuss has been about,” she mused, her gaze roaming over Clayton’s form.
“Yes,” he answered simply.
Her gaze stayed on Clayton for an unusual amount of time, and then she shifted her focus to me. “Hmmm… Well, I’ll get to the point of my visit young Alpha. I am here to offer you a deal.”
“A deal?” I asked, unable to fathom what on Earth this woman could offer me.
“Yes. I know you are going up against the vampires tonight.”
Everyone in the city would.
“Yes.”
“You don’t realize what they will do to you, or your pack, if you lose.”
Oh yes, I did, and I had the rest of the day to work out how I was going to minimize that effect.
“Angus won’t lose,” Clayton injected, and I squeezed him tightly.
“Let her speak,” I said, not wanting to chastise him, but his blind faith in me was not correct.
The older woman smiled at Clayton. “You two have mated? Good, that makes the odds of the Alpha winning, even if he is bitten, considerably higher.”
“Pardon me?” I asked. Had I just heard her correctly? Had Clayton been right about our mating making me stronger?
She smiled again. “You didn’t know? Surely your parents have told you the stories? Or has all that been lost since this horrible world was created?” Her question seemed to be rhetorical, as she settled herself onto the couch and didn’t look for an answer.
The two cougars moved to stand behind her in a protective, submissive way. Grandsons perhaps? Not that it mattered.
“The cougars and the wolves are very similar in our genetic makeup, and I have always been friends with members of your species. So much so that I have heard the tales of your Omega boys. They are the perfect mate to a strong Alpha, and his bond will protect you, Angus.”
“Even against a vampire’s bite?” Impossible, surely?
“Yes, even against a vampire’s bite. I have not told Vincent, nor any of his brethren this, but you are by far the strongest man in this city. With Clayton by your side, you will be able to withstand their strongest attack.”
Relief and pride flooded through me, but I focused on the woman in front of me. There would be time for celebrations later. “Then what do I need you for?” I asked.
The lines on her forehead deepened. “To protect your mate, of course.”
My heart stopped.
Then as Clayton shifted against me, warmth filled me again and my brain went into hyperdrive. As did my heart rate.
“What the hell does that mean?”
She was still as calm as ever, which for some reason made my blood burn even more. Didn’t she understand what was at stake?
“The vampires intend to put you in the ring, attack you as a group, and get the non-participating vampires to hunt down your mate as leverage. Even if you do win, how are you going to protect him against the vampires, and his old pack, who I’m pretty sure still want him dead. Do you have a pack of strong Betas to protect him?”
Her lips were quirking up now and she was really beginning to annoy me. Mostly of course, because she was right. I didn’t have a strong, united pack who would fight to the death for my mate.
“Clayton, get me my clothes.”
He ran off and I stood as straight as I could. Although nakedness was a normal part of being a shifter, having a life or death conversation with a clothed ancient Alpha mate was not fun while showing your cock to the room.
Clayton came back with my jeans and a tank top. I pulled the bottoms on, and then the tank, feeling more human now while clothed.
I rested my butt on the dining table, unable to sit while in the presence of these animals. “And just why would you protect Clayton for me?”
“Because I think San Fran needs a new leader, and you are the man for the job.”
I smelled a rat. These cougars had made a deal with the devils for power, and I didn’t think their integrity was very high.
“And why should I trust you when you have spent the past seven years protecting the vamps?”
Her mouth drew down on the sides as she looked at me. “Because I hate the vampires more than you can possibly imagine. They killed everyone in my pack, leaving only the oldest and youngest of us. These boys are my grandchildren. The vampires killed my sons, my nephews, everyone I loved, and then held the babies as hostages until we agreed to help them. We’re as much a prisoner in this world as you are.”
My belly tightened at the vivid picture she painted, and my own remembered pain of those first few years where there were so many deaths. “So, what do you want of me, Tameethia?” I asked.
“I want you to defeat them all. And then we can all sit down and discuss how we are going to turn San Fran back into a city of thriving occupants, rather than the sickening slum it has become.”
I eyed her surreptitiously. She was of the old world too. Did she really want it to go back to the way it was?
“That sounds good in theory, but how are we going to change things? Tell me what you’d do tomorrow.”
She nodded. “First, I would evenly distribute the jobs of running the town. The fact your pack alone does the power plant is ridiculous. There should be a rotating roster for all the wolf shifters to do that job, keep the feline shifters on water, and get the other lousy layabouts on their feet. We need more rules, more support, and better security. I would assemble a council, an Alpha from every pack to stand in and speak for their people. I believe in democracy, not what the vampires have made us become.”
I couldn’t help liking the old woman. She reminded me far too much of my own mother and grandmother. Fiercely strong women who believed in the strength of the pack and its people. And who believed in the goodness of all.
“Alright, Tameethia. I will agree to this with you. Where would you like to meet?”
“I will come and get your mate myself and hide him with my grandchildren. Put him in some clothes that cover his face, and I won’t let anyone touch him.”
“Done.” What other choice did I have? “And if I die?” I had to ask, because I didn’t think the odds were highly stacked in my success.
“Don’t ask that,” Clayton admonished, hitting me with an open palm across the arm.
The old woman got to her feet with regal grace. “As long as he behaves himself and is no bother, I will hide him for as long as necessary.” She met my gaze with a powerful stare. “But Angus, I am counting on you to succeed tonight. The fates of all our people, and all the generations to come, depend of you being able to rid us of these tyrants.”
I nodded to her and the two grandsons transformed back into the large cats that had, for so long, held San Fran captive.
Watching them go I finally saw the signs of their youth. The smaller legs, the darkness of their fur.
All the adult men had been killed…
I shivered at the idea of such a thing. We’d lost many men too, women and children also. But for the vamps to deliberately attack the strongest members of their packs must have left them extremely weak.
As Tameethia was passing through the door I called out, a nagging worry in the back of my mind asking for clarification. “Can I ask… With all the men gone for so many years, who were the cougars that roamed the streets through those early years?”
They had been huge. Powerful. Terrifying to any who would go up against the vampires.
The old woman turned back to me with a smile. “That was me, and the other women who had been left. Unlike you wolf shifters, our females shift also, and like you, our size is determined by our rank. I was always the largest cougar you would have seen.”
My respect for the woman intensified as she gave me a final smile and left.
I sat down into a chair with a large thud and Clayton ran off to shut the door.
“They fucked up the hinges pretty good.” He snarled at the door as it swung uncertainly, no longer able to lock or close.
“It’s alright. It’s n
ot like we need to worry about security today.”
Clayton turned back to me and stalked back over to the couch, the hairs on his arms standing on end in an obvious way.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He couldn’t possibly be scared by such a woman, could he?
“Nothing,” he said, rubbing his arm viciously. “I just hated all that talk about you dying, because that is not going to happen.” He practically spat that last bit of his sentence out and I wanted to laugh.
“I’m glad you’re so confident.” Because I wasn’t.
“I am,” he said huffily and began roaming around the kitchen. “Want me to make you something to eat?”
Probably a good idea.
“Yeah, please. There’s some tuna on the top shelf I’ve been saving.”
“Fish. Bleh,” Clayton said, screwing up his face and sticking out his tongue.
“It’s protein,” I explained, and that was all that mattered. I needed as much strength as I could get for tonight.
Clayton opened two of the small tins and scooped them into a bowl for me, laying it down on the table in front of me and then sitting on the chair nearby.
“So, you really think it’s worth sticking around for? This pack? San Fran?” Clayton said, his teeth sinking into his lower lip.
I picked up the fork and forced all the doubt from my mind. “Yes, I do. It’s my home.”
And my family’s home. I wasn’t abandoning it. And I wasn’t leaving my people either. The packs may be broken, and weak, but there was strength there still, I was sure of it.
And if there was nothing else to cling to other than Clayton, then I would stake my whole life on him and his survival. He was worth fighting for. Hell, he was worth dying for. But that wouldn’t serve me, or him, to leave him in this fucked up world alone.
Yes… My lips lifted into a smile as strength filled my heart.
I would fight to win. For Clayton.
Chapter 8.
Clayton.
To say I was shit scared would be the understatement of the century.
I’d spent the rest of the afternoon buried in Angus’s lap. I didn’t want to leave him. I was terrified to. Something told me that if I left his side something terrible was going to happen.
Even as his pack had filtered in around dusk to give him their best regards, I hadn’t moved. I couldn’t believe they’d gone to work, and just forgotten about him for the day. Some of them had even had a go at him for the lack of power they’d have tonight. Without Angus, they hadn’t been able to move half the amount of metal around and therefore the city would suffer.
I’d snarled at that guy—stupid asshole—and told him they better get used to it. Because if Angus was killed by a vampire tonight, then no one was going to be there ever again to do their work for them.
Bloody use less cowards. They are no better than my old pack.
No, that was the fear talking. Angus’s pack worked harder than any other group in San Fran, but I was just so bloody scared!
“Sit here, little one,” the old lady cougar said to me, pointing to a seat on the ground next to the children.
I pulled the hoodie off my head, a precaution the old cougar had insisted on. “How long until the fight takes place?” I asked.
She shrugged. “A few hours perhaps. You’ll need to stay here with the children because I’ll have to go soon. The vampires will want their body guards close by.” She rolled her eyes as though sick to death of the job she’d been given. Which, considering the deal she’d made with Angus, she was.
“You still shift?” I asked her, still confused by the fact that the females of their group shifted also.
She smiled. “I can, but rarely do. I oversee everything though, and Vincent likes having me at his side. Plus, I want to be close to the action tonight.”
Her green eyes suddenly took on a vicious gleam and hope sparked inside me. If she was willing to fight also, my mate had more than just a chance of winning.
“So, do I. I’m not being left out,” I told her.
There was no fucking way I was being left behind to wait and see if Angus came back alive or not.
“Yes, you are. You will stay here, or I will chain you up. You are my responsibility and I will not let you get hurt.”
Panic rose in my chest like a hot, overwhelming tide. “Listen, Tameethia, please. I know you can understand how this feels. You were an Alpha mate too. He is stronger with me there. I know he is. And I cannot, I repeat, cannot wait around not knowing if he is alive or dead.”
She glanced sideways, her resistance crumbling.
“Please, please! You have to know that the waiting is worse than anything. My heart will stop a thousand times tonight out of pure worry. Please don’t leave me behind.”
Tameethia rolled her eyes at me. “Stop being so dramatic. I understand. Of course, I do.”
She blew out a long breath and I struggled not to scream at her. Woman or no woman, she was still a powerful shifter and I wasn’t sure I could out run her.
“Alright, little Alpha mate, I’ll help you. But you will do as I say, got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I would do whatever she said. After all, she was a powerful shifter and I was only an Omega. My ability to protect myself was very limited. But that was only until I knew the outcome of Angus’s fight. Then all deals were off.
“Put your hoodie back on. If I’m moving you through the town, then you need to be inconspicuous, alright?” she said.
I nodded blindly. “Yes.” I grabbed for the black hoodie I’d thrown on the floor.
“Now, I will get you as close to the fight as I can, but you must remain hidden, and you must stay with my daughter. Mechelle. Because remember, the vampires main goal tonight is to destroy Angus and the resistance rising in the city. You are the key to his strength, so do not get caught.”
A shiver coursed up my spine as her words embedded deeper into my mind. I wanted to be his biggest strength, but I could be his biggest weakness. I didn’t want that.
Was I being selfish in wanting to be there? Because she was right. If I was caught, then all hope was lost.
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
Despite the danger, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to be there for him.
“Okay. Follow me. Watch the footpath and do not look up, even if someone speaks to you.”
“Okay.”
I pulled the hoodie over my head and scruffed up my hair so it fell over my face. Being invisible used to be daily goal. Surely, I could manage it for a few more hours.
She sighed out in big, dramatic fashion and turned back to the door that we’d entered.
We stepped out into the city once again, and the melee of noises entered my mind like a buzzing beehive. People everywhere. I so wanted to look up, and around, but I kept my head down and stayed close to Tameethia.
She wove through the streets and when we finally stopped, I had no idea where we were.
“Mechelle, this is Clayton. Do not let anyone have him. I mean it. No one.” Tameethia pulled my arm until I was tucked against the wall. “Stay here.”
I nodded. “Thank you,” I whispered to her, though the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears made it almost impossible to know how loud things truly were around me.
“Don’t get killed, young one,” Tameethia said, and disappeared.
I risked a look up, slanting my head so my face wouldn’t be seen.
There was a woman there. Standing in front of me. Protecting me. Probably ten years or so older than me. She wasn’t speaking to me. Instead, her full attention was on something in the distance.
“What are you looking at?” I asked, shifting closer to her.
She didn’t need to tell me; the answer was in sight.
Fifty feet away lay an old boxing ring. It had been dragged into the center of town so that there was a proper show on tonight. Angus was nowhere to be seen, and as night had fallen, I could
feel the unnatural movements of the vampires around us.
“I can’t believe there’s so many people here,” I whispered to Mechelle and she stepped closer to me.
“Everyone knows what is going on tonight, and everyone wants to see the vampires fall. We’re all sick of their way of running the city and your mate gives us a chance for a new beginning.”
Hmm, yes, my mate.
“He’s almost here. Can you see him?” I asked her, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Angus was nearby. He had to be.
A shudder ran straight through me and I saw him in my mind, on his knees, blood gushing from an open wound in his throat.
“No.” I gasped, pain striking me in the chest as I fell back against the stone wall.
“What is it?” she whispered, grabbing me by the arm.
“I saw…” I gulped, fear rising in me like a fire alarm, wiping out all of my senses in one clear swipe. “I saw him dying.”
The cougar shifter growled. “We can’t let that happen. How can we change that fate?”
“I don’t know… I don’t know…”
I reached inside for my intuition. There had to be some way for me to save him or prevent this from happening. Or maybe it was just my own fear aiming to bind me up so I couldn’t move?
“I need to stay hidden, but can we get closer. Please?” I asked.
She looked around, her feline shifter eyes keen in the darkness. “Yes. But don’t let go of me.”
She grabbed my hand tightly, interlinking our fingers so I couldn’t unlock them even if I wanted to.
We wove through the crowd of people on the street, my heart pumping like a steam engine. Adrenaline zinging through my blood stream.
The hand that held mine was sweaty, but I clung tighter as she pulled and pushed through the throngs of people who’d come to see the downfall of the vampires. I had an ally in this woman, Mechelle, and I was going to use her if I needed to.
I can’t shift. I can’t fight. What can I do to save him?
Tears stung my eyes, but I kept my head down and made my feet move when they would have stumbled from fear alone.
Mechelle pulled me to a light pole and pressed us both up against it.