Protecting the Pack

by L. S. Slayford

  I’d never heard this story before, and I thought I had heard them all. A crease formed between my brows. “What happened?”

  “They ran through the trees back to the village, but my grandfather fell over, his foot wedged between two rocks. His father doubled back to pull him out when the thing pounced on him. Even from a distance, my grandfather could feel every ounce of his body grow cold, as if he’d been plunged into ice.”

  I nodded, cradling my hands around the cup, allowing the heat of the tea to seep into my flesh. Sweet Goddess, just thinking about it made my body shiver. “That’s exactly how it felt last night.”

  “It’s some kind of scout from the demon world; it’s job is to look for us.”

  My eyes widened at his words. “It’s a demon?” I’d never encountered one before. I’d always thought I could recognise one if I ever saw it, but obviously not.

  Max nodded and leaned back, his eyes searching my face. What for, I couldn’t say. “Have you ever wondered why we’re here?”

  “Mum and Dad never went in much detail, to be honest,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “Just that this was your home, that you wanted to stay away from the rest of the world, and it was our job to make sure nothing disturbed you.”

  “It’s not that we want to stay apart from the world, it’s because we have to.”

  Confusion painted my features. “I don’t understand.”

  Resting his elbows on the table, Max leaned forward. “We all know that the worlds were separated two thousand years ago, and every creature was forced to go back to their original homes, right? The veils stop the Fae from crossing into the world of the gods, and stop humans from going into Faerie, and all the rest? Well, what most people don’t know is that there are certain packs who are responsible for looking after the veils.”

  Okay, this was new territory. “I’ve never heard this before.”

  “It’s on a need to know basis,” Max told me, his jaw tightening. “And now you need to know. My pack are the guardians of Faerie. The demons have long coveted a way into the other domains, and we protect the veil that separates them. In our blood is the key which locks it away.”

  “Or opens it up,” I whisper, a shiver snaking down my spine as realisation sank in.

  Max nodded. “Over the centuries, my pack has been hunted to the brink of extinction for that key. That’s why we came here. There was nowhere we could run to where we would be safe. So our ancestors made a decision. One group would stay here, and another split up and disappeared. When Philip the Wise’s youngest child, Nathaniel, married a witch, their descendants inherited their mother’s powerful magic, augmented by the strength of the werewolf pack.”

  “My family.” My voice was soft under his hard words. There was so much my parents hadn’t told me.

  Max rubbed a hand over his face. Suddenly he looked old. “That’s right. No one knows why your ancestor couldn’t shift, although there have been whispers of sacrifices and blood magic, but no one knows for sure. But Nathaniel’s marriage to Elizabeth allowed a new line of powerful witches to emerge. It was their daughter who erected the wards that could protect us from the demons, to hide us from the rest of the world. But it came at a great cost. That last casting killed her. And as she died, she used the last magic she possessed and combined it with her blood.”

  Max was talking about blood magic.

  Blood magic was not exactly something most witches turned to. There was great power in it, yes, but it was also temperamental and resulted in chaos and more blood. I needed to know more. “What happened?” I asked, leaning forward, the inquisitiveness burning on my face.

  Burnished gold eyes bore into mine, a depth to them that seemed fathomless in the limited lighting. There was no electricity in these cabins, so the only light came from the windows. “She bound the bloodlines together. We were the guardians of the veil, but your line were our protectors. But in doing so, we were bound to the forest. We can’t leave here. The magic both binds and saves us. The demons couldn’t touch my grandfather and his father back then because your family blood protects us.”

  I shook my head, lines of confusion etching between my brows. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s simple, Alana. The demons need the blood of the alpha to rip open the veil, but they cannot touch us until they deal with your family. Once your blood has touched the earth here in the village, in the area where Elizabeth first cast her spells and died, then they can take what they need from us.”

  Oh. Fuck.

  Nine

  I was vaguely aware that life had returned to the forest. Wings fluttered in the canopy overhead, the coos of birds sang through the trees, but my mind was elsewhere. Somewhere dark and chaotic, my thoughts a jumbled mess.

  Some things were making sense and others were just confusing my poor addled brain. I hadn’t had enough tea for this.

  I knew there were secrets surrounding the pack, that part was obvious as I was growing up, but this? This was bigger than what I could ever imagine. My wolves weren’t hiding from the rest of the world because they were done with humans; they were hiding to save humanity. And my family was the first line in their defence. Great, I was literally a human shield. Or a witch shield. Either way, I was now in the firing line. Fear snaked its way through every vein in my body, leaving me trembling and cold.

  Thousands of years ago, Earth was a playground for supernaturals. It didn’t matter if they were demon, Fae, shifters, gods, or whatever hid in the shadows. No one really knows where humanity comes from. Some legends claim we’re aliens brought from a distant planet, others say the gods made us. No one knows for sure, but before the veils were drawn, Earth was chaos. Demons roamed the land, playing with humans as if they were nothing but a child’s doll. Only most children don’t rip off their doll’s head, torture it, and drink its blood.

  The Fae weren’t as bad as the demons, but what history tells us they weren’t all that nice either. They liked to play with humans, and other supernatural creatures like us witches, taking them back to Faerie, enslaved, only to bring them back to Earth centuries later. Whereas demons were cruel and dark, the Fae were said to be beautiful and light in appearance but just as wicked in soul.

  When it comes to the gods, however, it gets confusing. More questions are raised instead of answered. Did they really create us in their own image? Were they as good and benevolent as some of the legends claim? Were they actually gods or just powerful beings that helped and shaped humanity? No one has the answers. Especially this forest witch.

  Dried leaves and branches snapped beneath my boots. Sweat pooled into the base of my spine, and I couldn’t wait to get home and take a shower. I needed to double-check my wards, make certain I had enough potions and spells on hand in case that demon scout came back.

  And it would.

  The safest thing would be to hide away in the house. Demons can’t pass salt, most of the time anyway, so I should be safe. But I wasn’t going to hide away.

  This was my forest. My pack. I may not be a shifter, and there may have been a several generation gap thing between us, but they were family. They were my friends.

  I wasn’t going to let demon scum touch them. Not on my watch.

  But I wished Max had warned us about this years ago. It would’ve been nice to be prepared.

  As I turned the bend that lead towards my house, voices fluttered on the breeze. Animated, male, and young. Every hair on the backs of my arms stood on edge, and my body tensed. Energy pooled in my hands, ready.

  “Grab the eggs, mate!”

  “No way, I’ll break ‘em.”

  “That’s because you’re too heavy-handed, dickhead. Wrap ‘em in something.”

  “You do it.”

  “C’mon, everyone’ll want scrambled eggs around the fire. We’ll be the camp heroes!”

  “No, you’ll just be the idiots who got caught breaking into my house,” I told them, my words edged in steel. I stepped out behind the trees, just meters a
way from the front of my house to find three young men wearing dirty clothes and clutching food.

  My food.

  For fucks sake. Didn’t people know it was wrong to steal?

  “Oh shit,” one man said, his face pitted with acne scars. Was that my vodka in his hand? Now I really was pissed. No one touches my Grey Goose, especially with how much it costs.

  “‘Oh shit’, is right,” I snapped, narrowing my eyes. “You’ve got to the count of three to put my stuff down and get off my property.”

  The one on the right sneered, his red hair gleaming in the mid-morning sun. I supposed it was to try and look tough, but it just made him look stupid. And ugly. “And if we don’t want to?”

  A wicked grin curved my mouth and energy burned in my hands, waiting for me to use it. “Then you’ll deal with the consequences.”

  Ugly Redhead turned to his conspirators then back at me. “There’s three against one. You wouldn’t stand a chance, luv.”

  “Try me,” I snorted.

  “I wouldn’t suggest it,” came a voice from the side. Damn it, why was he still here? Daniel stepped forward, straight up to the thieves. “It’s you lot who wouldn’t stand a chance. Put the lady’s stuff down and get out of here. Your two hours were up five minutes ago.”

  The ugly Redhead clutched the packet of my crisps to his chest, the pink packaging clashing with the fiery shade of his hair. I could hear the crisps breaking under his grimy fingers. Damn it, I hated it when they broke. They were my comfort food. “Some of ‘em have gone, but we’re staying and there’s nothing you can -”

  Whatever Ugly was going to say was drowned out in a groan of pain. Blood spurted from his nose in a fountain of crimson liquid. He dropped the crisps and cradled his nose in both hands. The others just stood there, not moving. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d stopped breathing.

  Reaching down and grabbing him by his filthy top, Daniel yanked Ugly up and brought their faces together until they were only millimetres apart. “Get your thieving hands off the lady’s stuff and get the fuck off her land. If you don’t leave now, I’ll come after you. And believe me, a million of you three shits wouldn’t stand a chance against me. Now go.” His warning tone was confident and unmistakable and sent a strange shiver down my soul. It wouldn’t surprise me if he used a touch of magic in his tone to make him more formidable.

  Maybe. Maybe not.

  Daniel released his grip on Ugly’s shirt and shoved him back, sending the skinny lad several feet back onto his rear. The others dropped what they were holding and ran down the driveway. Ugly scrambled to his feet and tore after them, but not before letting me see the terror in his eyes.

  Wizards would do that to you.

  I turned to face Daniel.

  He’d soon find out this witch could do exactly the same.

  Ten

  I twisted my head around in Daniel’s direction, fixing him with a look that would’ve made Dad proud. “What the hell are you still doing here? I thought I told you to get off my land,” I snapped, anger boiling over. I’d made boys cry in the past with this look, but it didn’t seem to affect him that way by the arrogant arch of one brow.

  He gave me a soft smirk of mischief softened by the dimple in his right cheek. Damn, how did I miss that before? “You’re welcome, by the way.”

  Snorting and raising my chin, I walked past him, kicking the same brick I tripped over yesterday. “For what? Those were just kids. I would’ve made them cry for their mamas if they had tried anything.” Bending down, relief surged through me. Whoever dropped the bottle of Grey Goose had done so in my rose bush. The bottle hadn’t broken on impact. At least something was going right today.

  “You know, you’re incredibly sexy when you’re pissed off.”

  My head whipped around at Daniel’s words. A smile stretched across his face, his green eyes dancing in the sunlight. Within seconds, I could feel a rush of colour crept up my neck, tinting me pink. Shaking my head as if to toss aside his words – and the heat that pooled between my thighs – I retrieved the vodka and the rest of the items dumped on the ground. Sadly, the carton of eggs hadn’t survived. I loved eggs. When I moved back home, I’d contemplated getting chickens so I could maintain a steady supply of them but with the wolves it just wasn’t feasible. Werewolves will eat anything when they were hungry. I stood and walked into the house, wondering what damage those idiots had done to my home. “You know, you’re incredibly annoying and not welcome,” I said, not bothering to look at him.

  Not that it stopped him from following me, but at least he had the good sense to keep the door open.

  An amused snort shot through the air behind me. “I’ve heard that before.”

  “Colour me surprised.”

  “Your tongue is on fire this morning.”

  That wasn’t the only thing. Damn, I really wished my body didn’t have this response to him. I concentrated on clearing up the mess. Thankfully, there wasn’t much. Just bits of food scattered around, my books misplaced. My throw chucked in the corner. Messy little shits. “Your head will be on fire if you don’t go away.”

  “I thought you might like to know there’s been another earthquake this morning.” All traces of amusement drained from his voice.

  The air around me stilled and I stopped everything to stare at him. “You’re kidding,” I whispered, but the harsh lines around his mouth and eyes told me otherwise.

  Daniel shook his head, the harsh lines transforming into weariness. He moved through the room and sat on the sofa, the same spot where we’d talked last night. “I wish I was,” he told me, his voice flat. “After you left, I headed back to the camp. Someone’s brother turned up and informed us there was an earthquake along the southern coast which triggered a flash flood.”

  “How bad?” I asked, trepidation snaking down my spine. Would the UK survive any more earthquakes? We simply weren’t prepared for them like other countries.

  “Bad,” Daniel replied, emphasising the word. “After the news, they decided it was too close and they’re heading north. They left about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Good.” A surge of relief flowed through me and my head hung low on my chest. Having humans in the forest wasn’t a good thing when there were demons around. But there was no doubt there’d be mess left behind. A small price to pay, I suppose, but still.

  “Once they were gone I contacted the Council.” My head snapped upwards and he read the question in my face. “Believe it or not, I do work for the Council when they need it, despite my family’s rather, shall we say, dubious track record.”

  “That’s an understatement,” I snorted. The Locke’s were dubious on a good day. On a bad day, murder. Never trust a Locke, I’ve always said.

  Daniel waved a dismissive hand. “I know your concerns, but if the Council trust me, then you should as well.” The displeasure was clear as day in his tone.

  Folding my arms over my chest, I fixed him with another stare. I was getting good at this. Maybe I could give Dad a run for his money when they got back from Tibet. “Give me a reason to.”

  Daniel thought for a moment, his head tilting to the side. “OK, I’ll tell you what the Council told me if you tell me what your pack said.”

  “Fine.”

  “I spoke to Silvia, the representative for the witches.” Silvia Crescent, the High Priestess of the European witches, was a stuck-up cow who needed the stick removing from a particular part of her body. I’d only met her once, briefly, but it was enough. Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath waiting for an invitation to her coven. “Although the UK does get earthquakes, the ones we’re experiencing are not natural. Around five am this morning, one struck off the coast of Portsmouth. It was powerful enough to sink the Isle of Wight and completely destroyed everything between Portsmouth and Bournemouth and headed eight miles inland. Everything’s gone.” The words were low and forceful.

  “The Isle of Wight is gone?” Disbelief coated my tone at the news. No, t
his couldn’t be. The Isle of Wight was an island twenty-three miles long and, not counting humans, home to a number of the supernatural community. Our parents had taken us there on holiday many times. How could it be gone? “Like Atlantis?”

  Daniel nodded, his face lined with anger. “Completely gone. No one survived. Not a single person.”

  Over a hundred and forty thousand people lived on the island alone and now they were dead. I couldn’t begin to imagine how many people there were between Portsmouth and Bournemouth. They were two of the largest cities on the southeast coastline. “How could an entire island just sink? And how come I don’t feel anything here?”

  Daniel shook his head and rubbed a hand over his face. Weariness painted the lines of his features. There was no doubting his words. If I turned on the radio I knew I’d hear the same thing. “The magic that surrounds this place is incredible. I’ve never come across anything as powerful as it. The energy of it sinks right into the ground and permeates the air.”

  Guess my ancestor’s magic was strong. “Does the Council have any idea what’s causing the earthquakes?”

  His face took on a grim expression as he shook his head. “Nothing concrete. There’s been an increase of demon activity along the coastline in the last few weeks, and there’s been whispers of plots and schemes, but nothing we can substantiate. That’s why the Academy sent me.”