Heart of Darkness: Part One Taint of Shadow

by Cassandra Moore

  “That’s what I thought. It isn’t any of my business to ask this, so you don’t have to answer. It had something to do with Regina and those people she was with, didn’t it?”

  Noah nodded.

  Cameron was a brute of a wolf, tall, wide, and strong. He looked as smart as the average brick, but it was an act, a play for people to underestimate him. “Whatever happened to Kayla happened to them, and Regina was ass deep in it.”

  Again, Noah nodded.

  “You know, before that night, I suspected she was up to something. I told Peter, but he blew me off.” He scrubbed at his face, looking frustrated. “I shouldn’t tell you this, you know, but... I’ve got this feeling that something’s about to change. Am I right?”

  “Do you really want the answer to that?” The question was a calculated move designed to make Cameron show his hand.

  “Nope, but I think I need to.” Glasses on the coffee table clinked as he put his feet up. No one had ever called him a neat housekeeper. “My job’s not to listen to the alpha but to protect the pack. Know why that is?”

  That pack loyalty was what Noah had banked on. “Because if the alpha threatens the good of the pack, it’s your job to stand up for the rest of them. You’re the balance part of a check and balance.”

  “Uh-huh. And if I’ve got the right of it...” He let the thought trail off. “I’ve been on Peter for months about what’s going on with the pack. Regina’s doing a damn good job of picking it apart. No one wants to come to gatherings, no one wants to get together, and most of all, no one wants to see the alpha. And it’s because his mate’s running the show.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Last night, I see her with a bunch of werewolves that I don’t know, and they’re not right. Sorry, I know Kayla’s the same way, but it’s true. It didn’t take me long to figure out that you’d called me as protection from Regina. Wish you’d just told me that, but I see why you didn’t. Maybe your way was better.” He shrugged again.

  Noah leaned forward. “I know your position, Cam. I didn’t want to involve you if you didn’t want to be involved.”

  The big man flashed a grin. “And you didn’t know which side of the fence I was on. It’s okay, man. But between you, me, and Dale back there, I think Peter’s got to go, or the pack’s going to hell in a handbasket.”

  “Hell’s already here. Do you want to know this, or do you want to keep out of it until it’s all headed for the fan?” Another loaded question. Noah had to know that the security forces would get involved.

  “Tell me.”

  So he talked. He told Cameron everything he knew, all that Kayla had told him, what had happened with Moira and Vincenzo Pirelli, and what had really happened in the club. The raven-haired man listened, mouth pressed into a tight line, more unhappy by the word.

  “How much do you think Peter knows?” Cameron asked after a long moment of heavy quiet.

  “The scariest thing is, I think he knows more than he lets on, but he’s let Regina get away with it out of love, or duty, or both.” Noah had respected Peter for years. He didn’t want to believe that he hadn’t seen what had happened under his nose. But the alternative didn’t sit any better.

  Cameron took a deep breath and held it, then let it out in one explosive burst. “Dale?”

  The guard stepped forward. “Yeah?”

  “I want you to call the rest of the boys. Tell them to be ready tonight. You and Matt back there come with me when we go, but I want the rest up to secure the area now. One way or another, we have a new alpha by moonset.” As the guard walked away, cell phone in hand, his boss stared at Noah. “You’re going for it, aren’t you?”

  “I’m going to try.”

  The big man snorted. “Do better than try. I don’t want the job. There’s a load of shit coming down this pipe, and I don’t want it.”

  Someone pounded on the door. Noah glanced at the enforcer, who looked annoyed and stood up. The moment he opened the door, Regina pushed inside, unwilling to wait for an invitation. “I see that you’re taking pack security very seriously,” she said, tone viperous, as she saw Noah on the couch. “That man violated a directive from the alpha, and you’ve just made him comfortable.”

  “I handle my business the way it needs handling,” Cameron answered. “Did you need something, or are you just here to complain?”

  “I’m here on Peter’s request. He wants those two taken care of before the meeting. I’ll take custody now.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “When I called him last night, he said to bring them to the meeting. I haven’t gotten any new orders.”

  The corner of her lip curled up in a derisive sneer. “Now you have. I’m here to give them. It’s obvious you’ve chosen not to do your job. Tell your men to get them into my car, or I’ll do it myself.”

  “You and what army?” White teeth showed in a mockery of his good-natured smile. “Pack law’s clear. Sentences get passed in front of everyone.”

  “Why are you making this so difficult?” Condescension was her strong suit, and she had a full hand today. “They’ve admitted what they’ve done. Everyone knows that Peter said there’d be consequences if it happened again.”

  He didn’t budge. “That’s true.”

  “So let’s take care of this.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  She glanced around him to Dale, who’d returned to the living room. “Get the prisoners into my car.”

  Dale inclined his head. “Sure. When Cameron tells me to.”

  Anger twisted her lips. “What the hell is wrong with you people? The alpha’s given you an order.”

  “When the alpha himself makes the request, we’ll talk about it.” Cameron leaned down and put his face inches from hers. “I don’t care what you think, Regina. You aren’t the alpha. You just fuck him.”

  In a flash, she had her hand up to strike, but he was faster. Before she could touch him, he had his hand around her wrist.

  “You’ll pay for that,” she warned.

  “Not by your hand, I won’t.”

  Despite her anger, Noah could see her re-evaluate the position she’d taken up. “We don’t have to work against each other.” An oily quality coated her voice. “Why are we at opposite sides on this issue? We both want the same thing.”

  Cameron released her arm but didn’t back away. “You could have fooled me.”

  “How good do you think this will be for the pack, to see someone punished? They all like Noah. This will be a huge blow.” So smooth. So false. “Hard times are coming, Cameron. Clear leadership is needed. You have to take some initiative.”

  “Oh, I am. That much I can guarantee.” Cameron’s chin jerked toward the door. “I think you’d better go.”

  “This is your last chance. Just send them with me and walk away.” Her voice held a deadly note.

  “Lady, you are something else.” Unflinching eyes met hers, and Noah could feel the tension, the tug-of-war for power that Regina lost. “You’d better head out. We’ll be right behind you.”

  Defeated, she turned on her heel and stalked out.

  Cameron slammed the door behind her. “That ups the stakes just a little,” he said after several deep breaths. “If you don’t beat Peter tonight, we’re all dead.”

  “Noah will win.”

  Both of them turned to see Kayla at the mouth of the hallway. She’d dressed in all black; jeans, shirt, sneakers, her sunglasses perched on her nose. Noah stood and moved to her, enfolding her in his arms. After last night, he recognized the frailty in her, the fragile quality of a crystal sculpture that looked strong but could just as easily break.

  He couldn’t shelter her from what had to happen tonight, couldn’t carry the burden of what she had to do. But he wanted to. He wanted to protect her, find another way that didn’t blacken her humanity further. Last night, they’d killed vampires. Tonight, other wolves had to die, and one of them had been their friend. He would take that from her if he could, give he
r peace while he marked his own soul.

  But he couldn’t. It hurt.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, love,” he murmured into her hair.

  “The pack’s counting on you. If you let them down, they’ll be worse than dead. They’ll belong to Kiplinger.” Kayla was full of reassurance and support.

  With a grim smile, he held her away from him to look into her face. “You couldn’t just say something romantic, could you? Like, ‘I believe in you, Noah. You’ll be the best alpha ever.’”

  She gave a faint smirk. “You’ll at least be better than Peter.”

  “You did it again.”

  “Sorry.”

  Cameron chuckled. “Mother help me if I ever take up with a mate. Let’s saddle up, you two. We’ll grab some burgers on the way to the mountain. Just in case Kayla’s wrong, I don’t want to die on an empty gut.”

  —

  The road wound up the mountain, a long, curved blacktop serpent stretched out in the last of the day’s sunlight. Already, Kayla could see the bright glow of the moon as it approached the lip of the horizon. More, she could feel it as the beast within her grew hungrier, more restless.

  She watched out the window with shaded eyes, but didn’t see the scenery. Neither did she listen to the too-casual conversation of the other four werewolves in the SUV. In her mind, she saw Regina face her from the other side of a circle made by wolves. A circle the bitch wouldn’t leave alive.

  She hadn’t forgotten Todd. Sometimes, the worst sin was that of inaction. He’d allowed so many things to happen, even aside from what he had participated in. To Kayla, the deplorable actions and active deceptions hadn’t compared to the submissive silence. And he would pay for what he had not done.

  But she wanted Regina worst of all. The betrayer. The whore. Because of her, a great alpha had fallen from grace. A strong pack had become shadows of what they had been.

  Just like I have. We’re all shadows now.

  Not far to go now. One more crook-backed turn would take them to the turnoff. A few miles of rough road lead to the place they’d leave their car. Then the earth beneath her paws, with Regina at the end of the hunt.

  Lost in her thoughts, she felt them too late to do more than shout an incoherent warning. Noah yelled something, too, but the truck had already slammed into the back of their vehicle. They lurched forward, the tires protesting with a squeal.

  The truck rammed them again, harder.

  “What the fuck?” Cameron barked as he stomped the accelerator to the floor.

  “It’s them!” Kayla wrenched herself around to see behind them. “Two of them. The blonde’s driving, and she’s got the brunette riding shotgun. The truck’s got one of those metal pipe front guards. It’s not going to take much damage.”

  Their SUV already looked worse for the wear. Air rushed in through gaps where the hatch met the body, and she could hear the scrape of the bumper against the pavement.

  “Shit!” Cameron dodged into the opposite lane, nearest the face of the mountain, as the truck powered forward again. He almost lost control as the truck clipped the rear corner of the SUV.

  A horn blared as an oncoming car sped toward them. He yanked the vehicle back into his own lane with not a foot to spare. The shadow wolves pressed the advantage and darted over the double yellow line.

  “They’re going to try to force us off!” A sheer drop lined their side of the road, straight down into a bed of jagged rocks far below. “Cam!”

  He jumped on the brakes. Metal shrieked as the cars swiped sides, the truck’s bed along the front quarter of their car. Shunted by the truck and propelled by momentum, the SUV skidded toward the guardrail.

  Jaw clenched, Cameron fought the wheel. A tooth-rattling grind came from the gear box as he threw it into reverse. Smoke billowed up from the road as the back tires spun, caught, pulled them back just as they hit the concrete barrier.

  Gravity favored the shadow wolves. Their truck flew at the SUV in reverse. Kayla watched him jam the shift lever into first gear, but knew he had no time. The vehicles collided with a sound like thunder.

  White powder filled the car. The air bags had deployed. Half-blind, it took them a moment to realize they’d turned to face down the mountain. As the truck pushed backward, tried to force them off the drop, Cameron found a gear and stood on the accelerator.

  They could barely hear the sound of a horn. He limped the car to the other lane just as the van sped past. The shadow wolves had moved just in time, but had no angle to ram them. “Let’s go!” Dale shouted.

  Kayla had to half-shift to kick her door open. The first sliver of moon had come over the horizon. Rage flooded her. She would rush the truck, rip the door off, pull the driver out...

  No.

  Blood across the road. The smell of flesh. Revenge for the attack. She’d kill them both...

  Pull yourself together.

  Matt limped, one leg gashed open. Already, his lycanthropic metabolism worked to heal the wound, but it slowed him down. Noah and Cameron put arms around him. From the other side of the road, tires squealed. The shadow wolves had gotten the truck turned around.

  As a group, they ran. “Move!” Kayla shouted, and they flattened against the mountain face.

  Too close, the truck sped by. Their enemies were trying to hit them.

  “The exit’s just over there!” Dale yelled. Gears crunched as the truck ground into reverse.

  “Get your paws and run like hell!” Noah ordered.

  Everyone shifted. Nails scrabbled against the pavement as they flattened their ears and sprinted. The dirt road opened not far away. As the truck took a final swipe, they dashed off the road, into the trees that lined the unpaved trail.

  Noah took point, his sleek gray form bunching and lunging as he opened his stride for a long run. They filed in behind him, Kayla to his left, Cameron to his right, Dale and Matt behind them. The moon rose, stirred their blood, gave them strength and stamina to spare. It made them swift, gave them vision in the gloom, reflexes to act on what they saw.

  She couldn’t feel the shadow wolves anymore. Perhaps they would come after their prey in the woods, but now, the odds had shifted. Five wolves to two, the attackers would find themselves outnumbered.

  Unless the other two shadow wolves stalked nearby, or vampires hid in the darkness. She couldn’t feel them now, but they still had a long way to run.

  Time had become their enemy. The attack had left them miles behind. Even as fast as they sped through the trees, the moon would have risen high in to the sky before they arrived at the pack’s favored place. Howls to announce their arrival would only give away their position to anyone between here and there.

  Regina would have ample time to spread her lies. Kayla wondered if, tonight, the pack would hunt them.

  Chapter Twelve

  Howls had announced the start of the meeting twenty minutes before. Among them, Regina’s had risen up in a triumphant crescendo. Notes of victory, of warning, warred in the long, full-throated call. Its meaning was clear: If you are dead, I have won. If you live, stay away. Tonight is mine.

  They ran faster.

  Raised voices carried. Kayla could hear the argument at a distance from the place downwind where the five of them hid in the shadows.

  “I’ve already told you, they aren’t coming.” Regina sounded testy, impatient. “Noah killed two vampires after Peter’s direct order not to, and in the process, he set fire to a known biter establishment. We’ll be lucky if the truce lasts through tonight.”

  “They’ll be here.” Kayla hadn’t known Cameron’s guard well, but she remembered his voice. “I talked to him earlier. Cameron is bringing both Kayla and Noah. Matt and Dale are coming with them.”

  “Cameron has been compromised.” Regina’s voice cracked like a whip. “I spoke to him earlier myself. He is no longer loyal to the pack.”

  A murmur rippled through those gathered. So much had happened since she’d seen them a year ago, when they wou
ld have met that charge with arguments and skepticism. Now, they simply agreed. It was easier, or so they thought.

  The guards stayed true to their duty. “Not true! Cam wouldn’t do that, and you know it.”

  “I know what I heard.” It was said with a sneer. “You are out of line. Peter, it’s time to do something.”

  “We’ve given them plenty of time. They haven’t come.” It wasn’t a pronouncement, but a weary capitulation. Peter had all but accepted his place as powerless figurehead. “I made it clear to Noah, in front of the pack, that he wasn’t to kill any more undead. Do you all agree?”

  Hesitant mumbles.

  Ears flat, sides heaving, Noah put on a burst of speed. Kayla reached inside for moon-given strength to keep up, and knew the rest did the same.

  Peter heaved a sigh. “Then I have no choice but to—”

  “What if something has happened to them? I’m telling you, they’ll come!” The guard was still pushing hard to give them time.

  “Do not interrupt the alpha! Peter, do it!”

  “I have no choice but to declare Noah Craig—”

  “Declare me what?” Noah reached the edge of the small clearing and shifted form. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his chest rose and fell like a bellows, but he stood with an unmistakable confidence. All heads turned to look at him, and Kayla could see hope on more than a few faces as she pulled short just behind him.

  At the back of the pack, Todd turned pale. This time, however, he didn’t look away when she caught his gaze. His regret was plain as he bowed his head, the sorrow of a man who sees the noose as it dangles from the tree.

  Regina had murder in her eyes. “It’s too late. You’ve been found guilty. No one will believe anything you have to say.”

  Noah ignored her. He locked gazes with Peter, shoulders square, every inch the alpha. “Is this how you want to go out? How you want the pack to remember your time as their leader?”

  “What are you talking about? You’ve broken the laws! Endangered everyone here!” Regina fumed as she paced forward to stand in front of her silent mate. “You have no place here!”

  “You know what you need to do.” Noah didn’t look away from the older, dark haired man. Kayla saw more gray in Peter’s hair, more lines in his face, the struggle behind that brown-eyed gaze. He did know. The knowledge obviously cut like a jagged blade. “This is the last chance you’ll have to set it right.”