by L. M. French
This wasn’t the first time Oz had said this.
“Who’d keep the peace?” I asked.
“Hell, Veda handles most of the mediation. We handle the assholes and filth. What else is there?”
“The authority of our king?” My voice was only slightly mocking.
“A king who’s been absentia on and off for century? You really think it’s his word keeping them in line?” He looked around and shrugged. “You know what? What do I know?”
Sighing, I gave him the same sorry answer as last time. “We swore an oath. We don’t break it without a good cause.”
Oz stared unblinking for a moment. “Yeah, I’d hate to get wiped off the map like the last guy.”
And on that note, we clapped hands and parted ways. He threw a leg over his bike and started the engine. Matte silver and built like a beast, the hog was the mechanical incarnation of Oz. It was his baby and according to him, more convenient for tracking so we seldom saw him ride in anything else. He flicked his fingers in a quick salute as he rode out.
I climbed into my truck and grabbed my phone. My wolves could be reached through our telepathic link over short distances, but I had to stick to more traditional means with others.
I pressed my contact and waited. It rang for several seconds before voicemail prompted me for a message. “Check in, Sentinel.”
I ended the call. Where the hell was she? My mind conjured a picture of the angry dark-haired female. Smaller than average human females she was significantly smaller than me. But I cleared six feet by a few inches and was north of two-hundred pounds so that wasn’t unexpected.
What was?
My wolfs irrational fascination with her. She hadn’t even breached her myriad, to my people she was basically a toddler. And missing.
I considered looking for her myself, but the fact was I knew truly little about her life outside her relationship to Sai and her duties as mediator. Truth be told, I actively went out of my way to avoid the halfling and the unwanted feelings she provoked. I wouldn't know where to begin. Her boss Frank was our only lead and that went dry when she’d disappeared between jobs for the morcai demon.
The phone buzzed in my lap, and I read the message without lifting it.
Veruca: K missed the sit down with C. Haven't seen him since the blessing ceremony- V
Veruca was the Head of the Amerai, the witch's enforcers. Sai was supposed to have a meeting with their High Witch the last day anyone could remember seeing him in his own body. No one knew whether he’d made it to the meeting or not. If Veruca was telling the truth, he’d gone missing before he made it there.
A howl echoed around me joined swiftly by others. The sound was a warning and a battle cry. We were under attack.
I threw the truck in gear and made my way back to Fulcrum. It was hard to imagine someone stupid enough or desperate enough to outright attack the main compound but the closer I got, the louder the sounds of brutal conflict grew.
The truck rattled as it plowed through the security gate and then jolted when a body launched through the windshield. A casual glance told me I had an infirmary aide for a dash ornament.
Dust flew up as I simultaneously wrenched the truck sideways and pulled the unconscious man through the glass. That had to hurt.
The truck rocked to a stop and I dumped him in the floorboard to heal. A figure moved towards the front of the truck while I watched through the handy man-sized hole.
A petite female stood in a wide-legged stance a short distance away just watching. Her hair was a nest of white braids that that seemed suspended from the top of her head. And, like the rest of her, was covered in blood.
I had a strong suspicion she was going to piss me off.
Climbing out of the truck I eyed my surroundings. Females might be smaller but that didn’t equal nicer. Hell, most of the time it meant meaner, and this bitch had already thrown one of my people through my windshield.
Striding a few feet towards her, I looked back at my truck. “You got insurance for that?”
A grin split her face and her eyes shifted to white.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my beasts hackles rose. White eyes and shit disposition. Hallmarks of the Horde. Wolves that should have been extinct. This day kept getting better and better.
“Submit,” Her voice was gravel, all wolf.
“You’re playing a dangerous game little wolf,” I edged closer, body loose and ready.
“Submit or slaughter,” she growled, her face giving way to muzzle.
I smirked and felt my eyes go black. “If you insist.”
Her wolf lunged and I let mine off its leash. My wolf slipped my skin and we collided in a storm of teeth and claws adding more blood to her fur. She took a chunk of my ear which had me cursing but I broke her leg in my jaws and that cheered me right the fuck up. Slamming my body against hers again and again I drove her down. Her jaws snapped wildly but my size overwhelmed her until I pinned the small wolf to the ground and tore out her stomach.
My wolf was much larger and was genuinely curious why she would challenge us with so little hope of succeeding. At least until Kojak tripped around the corner with a small bundle in his arms. “Commander.”
Shifting back to two legs, I raced forward. “Status.”
“They hit the Forge and Fulcrum. We managed to evacuate most of the children and the patients before they got in the infirmary,” he breathed heavily. “They pulled back suddenly. I don’t understand it.”
I did. While I fought the little Horde wolf the rest had retreated. She was distraction. A sacrificial lamb.
I pushed Kojak on. “Go, secure the child.”
He nodded and disappeared, and I raced to the main house. Bodies littered the ground, but many were healing. This was a good sign. So far it appeared chaos was their goal. But why?
“Commander?” Caxton, beta to the Crow Clan, stopped in front of me smiling despite his split lip and obviously broken nose. He heaved a bloody lump onto the ground between us, presumably a wolf from the smell.
He brought party favors.
“Fuckers came outta nowhere. One minute quiet, the next chaos. But-” he kicked the body and it groaned, “I grabbed this piece of shit setting fire to the nursery.”
Plants not babies, Fulcrum didn’t do children full-time. It was a sanctuary not a kennel. Still.
Circling around I lifted his arm inspecting the brands on his forearms, tamping down on the urge to split the cunt open with my claws. Stem to stern, he’d part like butter.
“Secure him in the cage,” I ordered. Horde or not, he’d talk.
Cax stomped on his prisoner’s hands before nodding. “No more mischief outta you.”
Crazy fuck.
“Your clan?”
“Zar and Jet are sweeping the grounds with Bitters and Rezin.” His words were matter of fact, but violence sat just below the surface.
“How many dead?” They wouldn’t leave without casualties.
“Everyone on perimeter. Four Vernon wolves and all six Fulcrum asylums,” he replied, face grim.
The first howls that saved the rest were their last. “Secure him before he wakes up and picks a fight. Have Zar start the interrogation when the perimeter is secured. And send word to the Vernon pack so they can retrieve their dead. We’ll need the Berserker wolves as well.”
I rattled off orders while I did the mental math of the problems adding up. We needed more hours in the day.
“You think there will be another attack.” Cax ran a hand through his bloody curls.
Yeah, I did. The Daenali had five clans spread out through our territory. Mine- the Crux. Then the Crows, Berserkers, Howlers and Vernon’s.
“Get them here. Put the Howlers on alert. They see any wolf with white eyes, kill ‘em. We’ll ask questions later.”
Slipping back to my wolf I searched the grounds, confirming the dead before returning to my truck. My wolves were here for protection, but we weren’t caretakers. Hea
lers would have to handle the rest. I now had a missing liege, no leads, and a sentinel to track down.
I dressed quickly in a spare pair of dark jeans and a musty tee shirt from the bed. Metal groaned as I climbed on the trucks hood to break out the rest of the broken glass so I could see. Silver lining? The floorboard was empty. Probably hurt like hell but he was alive.
Ozias’ voiced sliced through my musings- We have a problem.
Well fuck.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ozias
No one moved as we heard Bay pull up outside the building where I’d found Ivory and his rag-tag outfit of hounds and skoerii. And then there were the wolves.
As a species I’d sorta arbitrarily assumed we had too much dignity to debase ourselves serving vampires but apparently I had higher standards than some. Go figure.
I eyeballed the wolves in attendance and memorized each one. Favors and alliances happened but this was something worse. Wolves subjugating themselves to hounds was just pathetic and set a bad example. Nope, we were gonna nip this in the bud just as soon as we worked out our other shit.
The species coexisted mostly peacefully but this was an ‘or else’ kinda situation. Outright war had serious consequences and as the lines blurred with the ever-growing human population, making spectacles of ourselves and sticking them in the middle of skirmishes was more likely to lead to our extinction than feuding with one another.
One of the reasons Sai was King of the Four Territories was he was neither wolf, witch, fae or vampire; rather he was all as Timorii blood trickled down into each species over generations. And he had few rules. Exposing ourselves or the Territories was one of them. Do as I say and not as I do was another, but no one asked me so...
The door was thrown open and it banged off the wall as Bay stalked towards us. He didn't waste any time getting to the point.
“Where is she?”
Ivory shared a look with Trulio. “I presume you refer to my darling sister.”
“Correct.” Bay’s tone was all teeth.
Ivory rolled his eyes “I don't know.”
He sprawled further onto the stark white tufted monstrosity he called a couch. His den was decorated in cliched goth with black-on-black filigree across the walls and cement tables here and there. The blacked-out windows kept it gloomy and gave him an excuse for the five-hundred and forty-seven candles burning throughout the space. All he needed were some red velvet drapes and a coffin.
I had already filled Bay in on his way here, so he knew the story Ivory was peddling.
Veda went crazy, likely an unstable half-breed, and attacked Vaughn pulling him through a gate with her. I winced internally as I imagined the small-boned sentinel brawling with Vaughn. Apparently, she was having a shit day.
“So, you want me to believe the sister who goes out of her way to avoid you suddenly decided to attack your skoerii?”
Disgust hung off Bay's words. Mostly cause skoerii were the equivalent of slaves and wolves don't do slaves. The rest was reserved for the heaping pile of bullshit that came out of Ivory’s mouth.
“I’ve witnesses, Commander. What you believe isn't my problem. Isn’t that right, Trulio?”
Trulio stepped forward. “Veda attacked Vaughn and they went through one of those door-gate things.”
I stepped forward. “Is that right, lamb-chop?”
I didn't like him and had never seen the point in pretending. Hounds were one step up from skoerii to vamps and my wolf didn't respect any creature that kowtowed to corpses.
Plastic crinkled from the candy I unwrapped while the hound shifted on his feet. His nerves had a sound and I chuckled. “You see, that’s a problem for me. Cause I talked to a certain morcai demon about yea high-” I lifted my hand over my head, “wears a yellow trench coat, and he had an interesting story to tell me about some vamps, a hound and their skoerii.” Cinnamon hung the air as I bared my teeth. “Now I thought it was the start of a joke, but it turns out they were just trying to kill the kings seal-bearer. You wouldn't know anything about that would ya’?”
Ivory practically levitated off the couch. “Veda attacked Vaughn. She's unstable like every other human half-breed. I ordered him to apprehend her as is my right in my district.”
Bay was up in Ivory’s face before he finished his sentence. “Apprehend means detain, motherfucker. Not maim. Not kill. Appre-fucking-hend.”
“She was alive when she went through the gate.” Trulio argued. I could hear his heart race. There was a lie in there somewhere.
I grabbed a handful of his shirt and cuffed him hard across his head. “What about after? What were Vaughn’s orders?”
Ivory’s jawed clenched telling us all we needed to know.
Bay’s' eyes never left Ivory. “Track your skoerii.”
Ivory hissed losing his grip on his temper. Red swallowed the whites of his eyes and his fangs elongated. Ivory enjoyed the illusion of lord and master but at the end of the day, we were all animals here.
CHAPTER SIX
Jericho
I stared at the night sky as headlights bobbed towards the estate. A pair and a single. Emerick clapped my shoulder. “Brace yourself,” he told me.
Could have told him I didn't need the warning. Bay was going to have a shit hemorrhage of epic proportions.
I’d been on my way to sit on Veda’s place when I got the message to check her last known. I hadn't found the skoerii they'd supposedly tracked but I’d found her. Clothes ripped in half and unconscious.
I didn't know if she’d been molested but she was covered in blood. Unsure of her injuries I’d wrapped her as gently as I could in my jacket and brought her back to the estate.
Sestie, the king's consort, had descended upon her like a woman possessed and all but kicked us out. There were days I wondered what Sai saw in her divine self because her personality left something to be desired.
Some weathered old priest had shown up and declared her seal, the link to Sai, destroyed. Sestie raged out while Emerick and I played paper-rock-scissors to decide who would break the news to Bay. Best two-out-of-three had turned into three-out-of-five but in the end, I drew the short straw.
Maybe he’d gotten a chance to pound on Ivory some, work off some of his fury in a way that didn’t involve my face.
It was moments like this when being the youngest wolf in our clan didn't work in my favor. My ability to communicate telepathically would grow with time but as it stood, I was restricted to shorter distances than my brothers.
In short, I couldn’t just tell him the bad news from a cozy safe distance.
As the commander dismounted his truck Emerick stepped back several feet. “Thanks,” I said drolly.
“Like a band aid man. Just rip it.” He made a quick motion with his hand. Fucking hell.
Ozias moved up the steps behind Bay as I moved forward to block his way. He cocked his head. “There a problem, Jer?
Like a band aid. “Veda’s seal is destroyed.”
Bay blinked. “What?”
I nodded. “Her scorpion. It's gone and the priest says the link is gone with it.”
“He cut her hands off?”
“What? No. Why-”
“You said her seal is gone.” He raised his hand. “Her seal is on her hand, Jer.”
For the love of- “She has her hands. Her hands are fine. It’s the scorpion that’s gone. The priest says there’s no trace of Sai’s magic in the seal. They’re not connected anymore.”
I took a step back when Bay dropped his hand, a growl rumbling up his throat. “Fuck!” he roared.
Yeah, pretty much. Oz had no luck tracking Sai’s blood so we’d been counting on Veda’s link to Sai go recover his body. Shaking my head, I caught sight of Emerick out of the corner of my eye giving me a discreet thumbs up. ‘Atta boy’ he mouthed.
To the gods that still loved us, grant me patience.
Flipping him off I moved out of Bay’s way as he headed inside, presumably to interrogate the sentine
l. Oz gestured towards the back of Bay’s truck that was filled with wolves. Now this was interesting.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Veda
Someone stroked my palm. Their touch light, soothing rather than sensual, as they traced the mark of my seal. The fingers retraced their journey tickling my palm causing my hand to twitch.
They settled my hand next to my side turning my palm down, so I felt soft cool sheets under my fingertips. Another hand settled across my forehead this one heavier and thick with callouses. Its mate presumably settled on my stomach just over my belly button.
“She awakens.” The voice was male, gnarled and thick with age. Made sense, old people liked to state the obvious on the unlikely chance it was still news.
Except he wasn’t entirely accurate. While I could hear and feel I couldn’t seem to open my eyes which was a bummer.
Then a horrific thought struck me- What if I was blind? What if the searing light had done just that and cooked my eyeballs?
Except I remembered the last few moments as the brightness had faded and I’d seen Vaughn. Nope, I hadn’t been blind then. I felt my throat tighten as I remembered all the little pieces of him turn to ash.
I lifted a hand towards my face when someone grasped it and placed it firmly back at my side. I tried again with the other hand only to have them repeat the process.
I opened my mouth to speak but coughed instead. Apparently, murder gave me cotton mouth, go figure.
I tried again and thankfully words came out. “Where am I?”
“Fulcrum. You’re safe, Veda.” Feminine but strong, it was a voice I knew.
“Sestie?”
She slid her hand into mine, her fingers gliding briefly across the seal before answering. “I’m flattered, I didn’t think you would remember my voice after all this time.”
Sestie was Sai’s consort, on and off again, for longer than I’d been alive. She’d been with him the night I’d popped through the gate in his bedroom. The things I’d witnessed had left me unable to look Sestie in the face since.