The last thing Charlie needed was to be dealing with his nephew when Shifters and Seers from all over the world were wandering around to see just how spectacularly the newly minted American Alpha Pack was failing, but he didn’t have much choice. Since his brother died last year, Charlie had become Layne’s legal guardian, which meant he had to deal with the thirteen year old’s crap no matter how inconvenient it was or how ill equipped Charlie might be.
“Any sign of Scout’s unregistered Seer?” a voice asked from over Charlie’s shoulder at the same moment Layne slipped through the door and found a seat in the back row. Even if he hadn’t recognized the voice, Charlie would have known it was Joshua by the smell of chocolate clinging to the Stratego. Somehow Joshua managed to smell like chocolate even immediately after taking a shower. Charlie figured he’d eaten so much of it over the years it was somehow permanently embedded in his chemical make-up.
“None,” Charlie said, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. “Did Michelle get any hits in the Archives?”
“No, and I didn’t find anything when I poked around the innerwebs.” By which Joshua meant he hacked into every database he could find and traced her digital footprint back to birth. Joshua could do things with a computer Charlie didn’t know were possible and were most certainly illegal. The popular belief in the Alpha Pack was Joshua’s computer prowess came from actually building the internet with his own two hands. The guy might look eighteen, but he had been born back when Model T’s were still chugging up and down the streets. Eternal youth was just one of the many advantages of being an Immortal. “Want me to send Makya out to bring her in?”
“The Alpha Female said to let her be for now,” Charlie said even though he really wanted to disobey the order. Most Shifters would have shrugged off an unregistered Seer, thinking they were harmless. They assumed since Shifters were the who could Change into a wolf - or in Charlie’s case, a coyote - they had nothing to fear from girls who could See the future, someone’s thoughts, or whatever their particular power might be. But Charlie knew you didn’t have to grow fangs and claws to tear a person apart. As far as he was concerned, anyone who wasn’t aligned with the Alpha Pack was an enemy.
Which unfortunately meant he had a lot of enemies.
There was some commotion to Charlie’s right, and he turned to meet a pair of eyes the exact same shade of green as his own.
“I see news of my beauty has traveled far and wide,” Jase Donovan, Charlie’s cousin and closet friend, said. “You think we might have to build onto the barn to accommodate my ever-expanding fan club?”
The Alpha’s farm sat on 1800 acres, 800 of which were wooded. The main house had three floors and eight bedrooms. Four other small houses also sat on the property, which meant the majority of the American-based Alpha Pack could cohabitate without having to invest in bunk beds. And then there were the barns. Charlie grew up in western Kentucky where barns were small affairs that either housed a tractor and its various accessories and maybe some hay, or they were a place where you strung up tobacco leaves and smoked them before taking them to market. If western Kentucky barns were a pick-up truck, then central Kentucky barns were stretched limos. Their property housed twenty different barns. A handful of those were actually old tobacco barns, but most were either six or ten stall horse barns, and a few of them boasted places for humans as well as horses to sleep. But the biggest barn, the farm’s crowning glory, was a 2700 square foot building with a vaulted ceiling and hand-carved stone covering the exterior. It didn’t look so much like a barn as it did a cathedral, which is why it now served as the location of the Alpha Pack’s summer hustings, a time when any Shifter or Seer could seek audience with the Alphas.
The barn currently held over two hundred people.
“Surely to God we won’t have this many people every time,” Charlie said. This wasn’t even the first hustings they’d held since the new Alphas came into power over a year ago. The other two had attracted even larger audiences. “You can only gawk at Scout so many times before it either gets old or she stabs you in the eye.”
Talley Matthews, who was sitting on the other side of Jase, looked up from her Tablet. “Who is stabbing what?”
“You,” Jase said, grabbing her hand and placing it on his chest. “You’re stabbing my heart with tiny arrows from Cupid’s bow.”
Talley’s blue eyes slid back to her device. “Nice try, but you’re still not forgiven.”
Since Jase and Talley were disgustingly in love and Talley was generally acknowledged as overly kind and forgiving, Jase had to have done something rather remarkable.
“You know, I got hit in the head during my workout yesterday. Hard. Hard enough to cause brain damage.”
“You don’t have brain damage,” Talley said to her mate, flicking her finger across the screen of her device. “You just forgot.”
“I didn’t forget. I just failed to remember.”
Talley frowned, but even Charlie could tell it was just an attempt to keep from smiling. “That’s the same thing.”
“Did you forget your mating ceremony anniversary?” Charlie guessed, knowing the two had completed the ritual that bound their lives together forever and always as mates last August.
“I got a dozen roses, a two pound box of chocolates, and a necklace,” Talley said, fingering what appeared to be a ruby surrounded by a bunch of diamonds.
“Pick that up at Wal-Mart, Jase?”
“Tiffany’s, actually. The store. Not Tiffany, the crazy lady with all the cats who used to live next to Gramma. Did you know they actually put their stuff in little blue boxes? I thought that was just in the movies or something, but it’s true.”
“Good to know you went for low-key and subtle.”
“Well, it’s only the first anniversary. I’m saving the extravagant stuff for five years.”
While Jase was talking, the room, which had been filled with the buzzing of over two hundred voices speaking at the same time, grew eerily quiet. Charlie didn’t have to look up to see what - or, more accurately, who - caught their attention.
“Well, we’re here now,” Scout said, stomping up to the table. “Don’t worry, Jase. Liam and I just walked on over. It’s a lovely day for it.” A small puddle was forming around her. She peeled off her raincoat and tossed it in a heap behind her.
Charlie closed his eyes. “You forgot the Alphas?”
“I don’t like the word ‘forgot’,” Jase said. “It makes me sound careless.”
“You forgot the Alphas, and then didn’t go back to get them?”
“By the time I remembered I was supposed to drive them over, they were already trudging through the field.”
“She will kill you, and I will let her.”
“Nah.” Jase smiled out at the crowd before them, and Charlie was pretty sure he actually heard a few of the Seers sigh. His cousin had that effect on people. Charlie had too once, but that was a long time ago. “Half of these idiots are going to piss her off so bad she’ll not even remember I made her walk through the rain and mud.”
And half of those idiots were dominant enough to be able to hear Jase’s muttering even though it was the new moon, the time when their powers were at their weakest. If he’d said the same thing five minutes before, Charlie would probably be sporting a bloody nose and a few broken bones by now. If they were a real Alpha Pack, then no one would even think about it, but everyone knew how big of a joke they were. Instead of pooling together the strongest Shifters in the world, Scout surrounded herself with her friends and family when she became Alpha Female. Charlie tried to explain how coyote Shifters weren’t really Alpha Pack material - the gig was pretty much reserved for the more dominant wolves - but she was stubborn and one of the two most powerful Shifters in the world, so she got her way. Charlie’s cousins now sat in the majority of the seats facing the audience, and the others were occupied by a hodgepodge of Seers ranging from kick-ass (Talley) to… well, to a woman who didn’t actually See anythi
ng (Michelle, the glorified librarian).
The only thing keeping them from being torn to shreds by a hundred other Shifters wanting to be in power was the guy rubbing a towel over Scout’s wet hair. At an imposing muscle-corded 6’3”, Liam Cole radiated a power even the most nonmagical person in the world could feel. There hadn’t been a Shifter of his dominance in known history. While most Shifters had to wait on the full moon to Change into a wolf or coyote, Liam could go furry whenever the mood struck. After he rose to the Alpha Male, a few Shifters were stupid enough to Challenge him for the position. It didn’t take long for even the most ignorant of their kind to realize it was a very bad idea.
Everyone was scared of Liam. Even Charlie, whom Liam considered one of his closest friends, was a little intimidated by the guy. But what very few people realized was Liam wasn’t the biggest threat in the room. There was one Shifter whose dominance was equal to, if not greater than, his. And while Liam had very little patience for the idiot Shifters of the world, the girl he bound his life to had even less. In fact, she was just as likely to punch you through a wall as shake your hand.
“Chuck,” Scout said, taking her seat next to him. Some may have thought sitting at the Alpha Female’s right hand was a sign of prominence, that Charlie was some kind of super-important member of the Alpha Pack, but that was about as far from the truth as you could get. Charlie had a pity position, but he wasn’t a total waste of space. He’d made a vow to protect the Alpha Female at all costs, even his own life. Hence his spot at the table.
It was much easier to take a bullet for someone when you were only inches away.
“Your majesty,” he teased because it was what was expected of him. “Might I say, you look especially professional today.”
“I do what I can,” Scout said as she zipped up the dry Green Lantern hoodie Liam had dug out of his gym bag. “Anything I need to know before we get started?”
Charlie acknowledged the Alpha Male with a nod of the head as Liam took the seat next to his mate. “Nothing new since Joshua forwarded our report to your iPads an hour ago.”
“And this Maggie person?” Liam asked.
Charlie shook his head, and Scout cursed.
“I can send Makya—“
“No,” Scout said. “She’s probably just scared. God knows people have had a reason to fear the Alpha Pack before.”
“But we’re different.”
Scout looked him in the eye, and it took everything he had not to look away, scared of what she saw swimming in their depths. “Yes,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “That we are.”
Chapter 3
The hustings was an opportunity for Pack Leaders across the world to bring issues before the Alphas, who were basically the king and queen of the Shifters and Seers. Growing up in a pack that typically kept to themselves and hadn’t sought audience with the Alphas in more than four generations, Charlie always assumed their world was a fairly small one. It didn’t take long for him to realize he was wrong. Michelle, who had access to every piece of information on every pack in existence, told him there were over seven hundred registered packs in the world, and nearly two hundred of them lived in the United States.
The tall, dark skinned Shifter now standing in front of the Alphas was from a small Mexican pack that numbered only three Shifters and two Seers. Until he attended his first hustings, Charlie hadn’t even considered the existence of Mexican Shifters.
“Your Highnesses,” he said, sinking to one knee as his daughter curtsied.
Liam checked the list of appointments. “Mr. Guzman. What can we do for you today?”
“It’s not me,” Mr. Guzman said. “It’s my girl here. She has something to tell you.” The girl in question looked like she would much rather turn around and run as fast as she could out into the rain than tell them anything. She just stood there, eyes wide and lips trembling slightly, until her father pushed her forward.
“What’s your name, honey?” Talley asked, sounding like a sweet old grandmother instead of a nineteen year old.
Even with the prompt, it still took an encouraging smile and nod from Talley for the girl to answer.
“Gus,” she said so softly even those with enhanced hearing had to strain to understand her. “No, Augusta. I mean, my real name is Augusta, but people call me Gus… sometimes.”
Scout, who wasn’t quite as maternal as her best friend, propped her elbows on the table. “Well, Gus Sometimes, is there something you needed to tell us?”
“Y-y-yes, ma’am. I… ummm…” Gus swallowed, the sound louder than her sotto speaking voice. “My sister Saw something.”
“Was it that I would be cast as the next Doctor? Because I’ve got my fingers crossed.” Jase held up his hands to illustrate the point. “I think it’s my time.”
Charlie kicked his cousin under the table, but instead of bursting into tears like he’d feared, Gus actually smiled. “Sorry, but no. Aurora is in favor of a lady Doctor. And anyway, she only ever Sees evil.”
“Evil?” Scout echoed.
“Evil,” Gus confirmed. “Tragedies. Blood. Death.”
Charlie didn’t like the way too familiar path where this was heading.
“Whose death?” Liam asked, leaning forward.
Gus twisted her hands together.
“Gus, whose death does your sister See?”
“There was an angel,” she said, eyes fixed on the floor in front of her. “One of those beautiful angels that are almost too pretty to be a guy. He had giant wings and a sword in his hand. And below him, piled on the ground, were the bodies of those he’d slain.” She looked up and met Scout’s eyes. “Yours was on top.”
“Where is your sister?” Liam asked.
When Gus continued to study the floor instead of answering, Liam turned to her father. “Mr. Guzman, where is your other daughter?”
“She died four years ago, Your Highness,” Guzman said, his fingers fidgeting with a ring hanging from a gold chain around his neck.
Liam narrowed his eyes in concentration.
“Was your daughter a future Seer?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“And she had this vision before she died?”
“No, Your Highness.”
A wave of murmurs passed through the crowd, the sound accented with snorts of disbelief and annoyance.
The crowd wasn’t alone in their skepticism. Scout’s mouth opened, and Charlie braced himself for whatever snarky remark she was about to let fly, but Jase saved them all.
“Is anyone else confused? Because I’m confused.”
Robby, one of Charlie’s distant cousins, raised his hand. “I second that confusion.”
Charlie tried to ignore the they’re-all-idiots chuckles coming from the audience as Guzman turned to his daughter with pity in his eyes. “Explain it to them, my corazoncito.”
“They’ll think I’m crazy.”
“Don’t worry,” Scout assured her. “This is the Alpha Pack. We’re all mad here.”
Gus squared her shoulders and took a deep, steadying breath.
“Aurora was my twin. Two weeks after our twelfth birthday, she received her Sight.” Her voice was still soft, but it carried throughout the large room. “It was horrible. She woke up in the middle of the night screaming about the children covered in blood. No matter what we did, she would not stop crying. The next night the news reported a bus carrying a group of children to the local zoo was involved in a head-on collision. Eight kids were seriously injured. Two died. They showed the crash site on the television. It was what Aurora had Seen.
“It went on like that for three years. Over and over, Aurora Saw blood and death. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore. She ended her life with a razor blade.”
Gus’s expression hadn’t changed, although her father was clearly struggling to hold himself together.
“I thought I was latent, and I was okay with that. I knew what being a Seer was doing to my sister, and I wanted no part of
it. But then Aurora died, and I discovered what I can See.”
“What do you See?” Talley asked, her face pale.
“I See Aurora.”
Charlie wasn’t sure he was following.
“Aurora. As in your dead sister?” Jase asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you See her right now?”
Gus nodded to the empty space between her and her father. “Yes.”
Okay. So he was following. Good to know.
“So this vision of Scout and the angel… Aurora saw it recently. As in after death?”
Excellent. Liam was following too.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Scout leaned forward, disbelief etched into the lines of her forehead. “Mr. Guzman, has she relayed visions from her dead sister before?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“It’s ‘Scout’, not ‘Your Highness’,” she said for at least the tenth time that day. “Have any of these from-the-grave visions of the future come true?”
“She Saw a white wolf take down the former Alpha Female in field surrounded by the dead and the wounded.”
Scout’s pale face managed to get even whiter. “Have all of them?”
“Yes,” Gus said, finally gaining enough confidence to answer for herself. “In one way or another.”
Scout screwed her eyebrows together. “I’m going to get stabbed to death by an angel?” She looked down the table where Joshua sat. “Do you have you something you need to tell me?”
Charlie’s mind had made the same leap, but even as it did, he knew it wouldn’t happen. Joshua was an Immortal and believed he was chosen by God to be an eternal warrior for heaven. That sounded kind of close to an angel. Add in how he liked to kill things with swords, and you had to wonder. That was, you would if you didn’t actually know Joshua. As far as avenging angels went, he was pretty low key. And not only had he allied himself with the Alpha Pack in a way no Immortal had before, he’d actually joined their ranks. Liam had sworn him in as a Stratego, and Charlie considered him a friend. No way would he try to kill Scout.
Fragile Brilliance (Shifters & Seers) Page 2