Rai went limp with food coma as the news hit Paige in the gut. Hard. She was weary, so the emotions were stronger. She knew that, but to hear that the man she loved didn’t recognize his alpha? There was no way he would remember or recognize her. Or Leah. Or Bobby. Or Rai and Ember?
She shouldn’t have taken the kids to Washington D.C. Granted, they were a huge pain in the butt a lot of the time, but it was possible that they could have helped. Leah could have, for sure. “This situation got a lot bigger really fast,” Paige said, swapping twins for nursing.
Faith grunted as she took Rai. “This situation was always bigger.”
“To some.” Who could grasp just how big this was?
Chuck nodded, his tongue on the roof of his mouth making his lips look weird as he dropped his jaw. “How do we respond?”
Paige shook her head, giving Ember the other milk bag. “I don’t know. Where are all the leaders? The big alphas. Kat and the other one. Can’t they step up and help out here?”
Chuck shook his head and shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. “They’re looking out for their own.”
“Okay.” Why were they even leaders, then? “What about the elf queen? Where is she?”
“She returned to Underhill to help the resistance there. She’s leading the fight, but she wanted me to tell you that she is very grateful and that she will allow Kate to remain with your family without question.”
That was really gracious of her. For an elf.
But that wasn’t what Paige was getting at. “Why is it falling on me?”
Chuck was quiet for a long moment and then he took a seat beside her on the bench. “Do you know what you did in the elven city?”
What she always did? “I fought DoDO.”
He shook his head. “You showed us all that you are the strongest of us. You are the most versatile. You can tap into everything we can but as one person. You are a shifter. You control the elements and magick. You can talk to the plants and animals. You can tap into the other dimensions.”
She knew all of that—it was like telling her she knew how to put pants on.
Not… well, not really like that. She knew she could do all that, but it wasn’t that big of a deal because she was just doing it.
“And you’re tapping into something else, something none of us have seen and we don’t understand yet.”
Was he talking about what the mage magick did?
He took her free hand. “I talked to Eldora and the elves who were there. I’m trying to find someone who can help you.”
The look he gave her was so much different than the one he’d given her a mere six months ago. He was no longer her alpha in that moment. He was no longer able to be the one who told her what needed to be done. He was an advisor now, and that scared her. “Help me with what?”
Chuck met her gaze and kept his alpha will to himself for the first time since she’d met him. He didn’t try to rise to answer her alpha will. He didn’t rise to be her equal or better. He just looked her in the eyes.
That was a humbling moment because she needed Chuck to be her alpha. She needed him to know what to do when she didn’t. She didn’t want to outgrow him.
He didn’t seem to care.
“When I have answers, I’ll share them. When I have someone you can use as a mentor, I will introduce you. But until then, do not push yourself too far. Do not overextend yourself like you did in battle.”
“What do you mean?”
He released a long breath. “You shouldn’t have been able to withstand that fight for that long on your own. And you should not have had access to the animals you shifted into. And you should not have been able to combine them the way you did.”
“But…”
There was a hint of fear in his gaze.
That stopped her cold.
She blinked and sat back, Ember releasing his claim on Paige’s boob. She focused on tucking everything back in and getting him back into his car seat, while she worked through the maelstrom of emotions overwhelming her. With Rai and Ember both strapped into their seats, she stood, tears in her eyes. “When you have someone I can talk to, please let me know.”
He nodded and rose with her. He offered his hand. “I will always be here for you, Paige.”
But their roles were changing, and she didn’t like it. It was like stepping out onto a tightrope without a safety net.
Without saying anything further, Chuck and Faith turned and left.
Paige stood in the park with her babies for a long moment, her emotions crushing her. She was so alone.
And so overwhelmed.
But really alone.
She’d make it. She would.
She just didn’t know how.
19
Paige went home and walked into an empty house.
That was rare. Really, really rare.
She put the twins to bed and then she went to the living room with a steaming cup of hot cocoa and watched Netflix.
But then a wave of dread washed over her. She didn’t know why. She just knew that something horrible was taking place right then.
She switched over to the news and nothing was on. She tried a few different channels. She even had CNN.
But there was nothing.
Then she pulled out her phone and went to her social media platforms.
That’s where she saw it.
The president sat at her desk in the Oval Office, surrounded by reporters and other people. She signed something and held it up for people to see. “This is the Executive Order mandating the Paranormal Registration Act.”
No.
The president smiled. “And as you can see, things can go very, very peacefully.”
The video cut over to a group of people in what looked like a city. The DoDO agents walked in without guns. They did wear their normal black utility uniforms and they did have other weapons on them. But they walked into the town and the people who were already there weren’t fighting back.
There were several tables lined up along the sides of the street. Civilians walked up to the table, gave their information, and were handed a collar that they then put on themselves. The cameras even cut over to a woman putting it on her child, telling him that everything would be okay and that this would be better because he “wouldn’t have to fight it” anymore.
Why wasn’t this on the TV? Why did she have to go to the internet to find this?
The first person she called was Chuck. She told him about it and asked him to spread the word.
But then she called Danny Miller.
She knew he was just an average reporter, but he was the only reporter she knew who could tell her how the president had been able to do this.
It took him a minute to catch up, though, but once he did, he was pissed. “I’ll call you back.”
The twins were still sleeping when she went to check on them. She didn’t understand why they were still sleeping when the two rarely slept at all. It was convenient, though. The world was falling apart, and Mommy needed to go fix it. She’d worry later. For now, she’d hope one thing went right because that’s what she desperately needed.
But they were sleeping… a lot. Convenient or not, it might be a bad sign.
She really needed it not to be. She took her “win” and ran with it.
She called Margo, but she was busy with patrols.
Leslie wasn’t even answering her phone. Which… okay. That woman was busier than crap. Paige understood that. She sincerely did.
So, she called her brother, Nick. He said he and Mark would be right over. They talked briefly when they came in through the back door. She wasn’t going to say she was close to her brother. They might never be, but he was a good guy and his boyfriend was too. They made great dads. Well, most of the time. Paige still thought they went a little too easy on the kids, allowing them too much leeway on everything.
With the twins taken care of, she prepared to head over to the mayor’s office. That was a much better plac
e to use than her house. She enjoyed the comfort of being able to stay in her own home for meetings, but she didn’t necessarily want everyone there all the time, either. It was supposed to be a home. Not a conference center.
She tried a shift, but something inside said no. Her animal spirit energies were tapped out.
You’re not tapped out, Cawli said in her mind.
Then, what is this? Because if she couldn’t shift anymore then she was in some serious trouble if it came to a fight. She was still a seriously powerful witch, but she had gotten really used to being able to shift to fight.
I do not know, Cawli said, his voice dark. But something has changed inside you and I do not understand it. I will be back. Do not attempt to shift again until I am back.
She tried to ask him more questions, but he’d left. Where? No one ever knew because her spirit animal was the only one who just periodically—okay, most of the time—left her alone to go wander around as a spirit. Everyone else bonded to their spirit and stayed stuck together.
But most people were either born together or had been bitten. She’d been neither.
So, she searched for her car keys, something she’d gotten out of the habit of doing. She’d just had them, so she retraced her steps.
They were in the refrigerator.
Of course, they were.
She drove down to the mayor’s office quickly, her mind and heart working through the issues plaguing her, but nothing concrete came of it.
Chuck, Sheriff Tuck, Suzanne, and Duglas met her at the mayor’s office.
“What is going on?” Paige demanded.
Chuck shook his head. “My contacts outside say that this is streaming on all the news channels.”
“And it’s interrupting already scheduled programs,” Danny said, barging in, holding his phone aloft. “But they’re running a shadow TV service for areas like ours.”
Wait. “Areas?” Plural? “Is there someplace we can all see?”
“This way. The conference room.” Suzanne led the way through the small maze to a room with a table large enough to seat ten.
Danny went to the laptop and started typing.
Suzanne didn’t question it. She just reached over and jacked the HDMI cable to it and turned on the projector.
Danny looked exuberant. “They’ve got these shadow networks over eighteen different areas across the U.S.”
“Why are you so happy?”
“Because,” he said, looking at her with a grin, “we now know what they know. These are the areas we need to target because these are the areas they’re targeting.”
She hadn’t thought of it quite like that.
Leslie burst in. “We’ve got a problem.”
Really? “We’ve already got one.”
“Well, then you have two.” Leslie gave Paige a fuck-me-running look and reached behind her, pulling a young woman through the door. “Tell them what you told me.”
The young woman broke down in tears immediately, but she painted a pretty horrible picture of the cities that weren’t being shown. The ones being hidden by the shadow TV network.
War.
DoDO had come into her home with guns drawn, had taken her entire family. Her dad had resisted and was dead. Her mother had been taken somewhere else for “war crimes.” She and her brother had been herded away with a truckload of others.
They’d taken their names down, fingerprinted them, DNA swabbed them, and installed chips in them. She’d watched it happen to her brother.
And then she’d just blipped here and appeared in Leslie’s shop.
Leslie gave Paige a what-the-fuck-do-I-do-with-this-shit look. “She’s not the only one. She’s the second one, but the first one was wounded and Barn’s taking care of him.”
They had a location. Lawrence, Kansas.
Paige rose. “I’ll go take care of this.” But how had this girl gotten here? “Prepare for more refugees.” Because Paige had no idea how these were even getting here.
“At some point,” Suzanne said firmly, “we’re going to have to stop taking them in.”
“I’ll let you tell me when we’re at the point we need to let people die rather than protect them.” Because Paige could only handle so many of those kinds of decisions.
“That’s not fair.”
Paige gave the usually bubbly mayor a look of steel. “I know.”
She left but Chuck followed. “I’ll gather the pack. We’ll be ready to go with you.”
That would be helpful, especially since she had no real idea what was even going on with her.
Leslie joined her on the sidewalk. “Am I going or staying?”
“Which would you rather?”
“Go.”
Paige nodded and held up her phone. “I’m calling Eldora for doors.”
“Meet you where?”
Paige pointed to the end of the street at the train museum. The parking lot was big enough to hold a crowd, and the park bordered the side.
Leslie disappeared.
Paige called Eldora. She made the arrangements with her to get some Blackman witches there.
Eldora arrived with Leah. Mandy was with her this time because Tyler was still recovering. Mandy was great with fire, but she looked terrified.
Duglas came and stood beside Mandy and nudged her arm. “We’ll protect the door keepers together,” he said.
Mandy’s smile didn’t say she was reassured by that.
Paige still didn’t know what she could even do without her full powers.
They were joined, of course, by Suzanne’s son, who was their new cameraman. He had a full crew, and they all looked like newbs ready for their first time in the field. Paige pulled in a breath and released it slowly. “I don’t have time to save your asses. So, you follow these two rules. Number one, stay out of the way. Number two, stay out of the way. Okey-dokey?”
They nodded eagerly.
Eldora, her witches, and Leah began to open doors. Shifters rushed through, and it was time to get busy.
Paige stepped through into a war zone.
Fires burned everywhere. Ash fell from the sky. Debris and pieces of building crumbled to the street. Car alarms raised an echoing cacophony.
Without her powers, the best thing she could do was get the word out.
“Are you recording? Are we live?” Paige rubbed her nose at the acrid smoke.
Suzanne’s son, Mark—yeah, she had so many men named Mark in her life—nodded.
She looked into the camera as her people fanned out around the street, collecting survivors.
Chuck’s pack gathered information.
The Blackmans set up doors.
Mandy created a circle of fire around the hot zone.
“We’re in Lawrence, Kansas. The president is giving you her false image of peace. She’s lying to you.”
Something crashed behind her.
Paige spun to see what it was. It’d been close, but both Mandy and Leah were safe. Clearing her throat and pushing down her fear and disbelief, Paige turned back to the camera. “She has several communities like this one on broadcast lockdown. They’re not getting the news. No warnings. We don’t even know if they knew about the Registration Act in the first place, but this is the face of her actual war.”
Several men with guns ran down the street in the opposite direction, away from her.
Paige walked down the street and found a body. She went to check on it, to see if the person was alive.
The woman wasn’t.
The kid under her was.
Paige pulled him to his feet. Tears made a muddy trail on his cheeks. “Are you a shifter?” She tried to put as much mom-concern in her voice as possible.
He nodded. “Mommy won’t wake up. I’m scared.”
“Can you walk? Nod if you can.”
He nodded.
“Okay, I want you to get to those people over there. That’s the way to safety.” She let the cameras see his face, let them see the reality of their situatio
n before setting him free.
He ran toward the Blackman witches and their doors.
She turned to the camera again. “This is America, people. This is your president. Wake up. We’re under attack. Our government has gone above and beyond atrocity. Those men out there aren’t Homeland or the military. That is a foreign and private militia.”
She gestured to the street and then turned back to the camera. “This is an entire city. It’s a little harder to hide from that.”
She got up and headed toward the sound of violence. Even without her magick, she had to do something. “This is what happens when a government gets too powerful,” she said, recalling the words her conservative husband had repeated too often. She still didn’t think he was a hundred percent right. Society needed government. They needed guidance. Just not a helicopter mom for a government.
“This is what happens when there are no check and balance systems in place, when the president doesn’t have to obey the same laws as everyone else. Because this?” She pointed to a man and an elder who had been gunned down on the street corner. “This is murder.”
She found a group of DoDO agents. She pulled on her powers, reaching deep, pulling up the fire through the earth until the ground rocked with the force of it. Thank the goddess she still had that.
They stopped shooting down the cratered street and turned to her.
“You’re probably going to want to get out of here,” she told Mark, the camera guy.
The others who had been terrorized by DoDO also got up and scrambled out of there with the help of Chuck’s pack.
Super Douche came out of the crowd of agents and tipped his head to the side. “We’re really going to have to stop meeting like this.”
“Well, you stop tearing cities down, and I won’t have to stop you. Problem solved.”
He narrowed his eyes at her and grimaced. “I’m afraid I came a bit more prepared this time.”
And here she’d come underprepared this time. “Well, let’s see what you’ve got.”
He raised his gun with a look that said he regretted the need. “I really wish you’d have stayed at home.”
Shit. Yeah. So did she.
She didn’t have time to scramble, though she tried. She also knew that reaching for any shape wouldn’t work for her this time. She dove to the ground, only to watch in horror as a bullet spray peppered the asphalt in a line toward her. She pushed with her magick, not sure what she was hoping for, what she thought she could do. Mother, I need you!
Whiskey Storm (Whiskey Witches Midnight Rising Book 1) Page 18