I shook him as hard as I could, and he attempted to roll me off, but I clung to him, tasting his blood, feeling him weaken. Finally, he gave up, showing me his throat in a bid for mercy. I let go at his submission and sniffed at him, growling. I touched his throat with my teeth, pulling back before I broke the skin. I kept my eyes on him, and he looked away. Just the way he was supposed to. I began to understand why Jeremy was so addicted to the power that came from dominating another wolf.
A yelp caught my attention. I glanced around. Byron stood over three wolves, snarling an alpha warning. Even I wanted to sit down and shut up at the sight of him.
Jeremy pinned a wolf down by the throat, while Amelia sat still, staring at two werewolves who lay at her feet, her teeth only slightly bared. She turned her head, and I realised there was blood on her mouth and blood matting the fur on the throat of the largest wolf. She had been fighting. My heart sped up at the idea of my little sister fighting a werewolf that size, but it had obviously turned out okay in the end.
Ryan was having trouble. The werewolves apparently saw him as a traitor, and a number of them circled him, trying to get their taste of his blood.
I growled harshly at the wolf before me, then raced over to help Ryan. He barked at me, and we both attacked at the same time. The werewolves hadn’t even noticed me, so intent were they on hurting Ryan. One by one, we pinned the wolves. One by one, they succumbed. Some refused to give up until Byron appeared, dominating them completely.
We didn’t have to kill to win. That wasn’t the way. Too many of the wolves were low-ranking and too cowed to battle us. There weren’t enough dominant wolves. They couldn’t win alone, and their pack was too disjointed to work together.
An hour later, Byron stood in front of a crowd of people, wearing only a pair of trousers that were far too long for him. Many of the people were humans of a variety of ages. They mostly seemed terrified. Some were angry because they had watched us keep their loved ones pinned to the ground. But even so, they had provided us with ill-fitting clothes so we could speak to them.
Vin and Opa were still missing, and Jeremy headed out to search for them. Ryan helped Byron figure out who he could trust, who was bloodthirsty, and who had been pressured into running with Vin. Amelia flitted through the werewolves, subtly calming anyone who needed it. Eventually, they noticed, and word quickly spread via rumours.
Ryan pulled me aside. “Any sign of that wolf? Malachai?”
I shook my head. “Vin probably dealt with him already.”
He nodded, unsatisfied, but I had probably spoken the truth. Ryan returned to Byron’s side, thankfully leaving me be. I had my own wolf to search for.
I scanned the crowd, looking for a skinhead. The one I spotted was large, and his eyes kept turning black when he gazed upon my family. I had fought him already. He was covered in blood. But it was his human side that Perdita knew.
“You Dar?” I asked, closing in on him.
He glared at me, but he didn’t make a move, didn’t utter a word.
“That’s Darius,” an old woman said. “One of Vin’s favourites.”
“You put your hands on her, didn’t you?” I whispered, my entire body shaking. “You hurt her.”
He showed me his teeth in an aggressive grin, and I punched him in the face, unable to stop myself.
“Enough,” Byron said, hauling me off Darius.
I couldn’t even remember jumping on him. “I owed him one from Perdita,” I said, but my spine stopped twitching as Darius cowered on the ground, blood spurting from his nose. The old woman who had named him nodded at me, a small smile curving her lips. Apparently, Darius had only been popular with Vin.
“Leave him,” Byron said, laying an arm around my shoulder to gently guide me away. “He’ll be punished the right way.” Byron had been hurt, a horrible seeping wound on his chest.
“You need to get that looked at,” I muttered under my breath.
“After,” he said. “After we sort out what we’re going to do here.
“How many of us are you going to slaughter?” one man called out.
Byron smiled, and I saw the man gulp down whatever else he was going to say.
“How many of my family have been slaughtered?” Byron asked in a pleasant voice. “How many of our loved ones have been hunted down like animals? Explain to me why I shouldn’t tear all of you apart.”
Everyone fell silent.
“I’ll explain then, shall I?” Byron continued. “Because it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to cut the feral wolf act before it gets you into any more trouble. You can’t live like this. Half of you look starved. It’s more than time to get back to the real world.”
“That’s what some of us want,” a young woman said, hiding behind her hair when the people around her gave her vicious looks. “Some of us didn’t choose to be here.”
Jeremy made his way through the crowd of people. “I found Vin’s body. It was pretty bad. No sign of Opa, though.”
“They murdered the alpha,” someone shouted.
Byron sighed. “This is going to take a while.”
“Shut up for a second,” Ryan ordered the werewolves. “What did Vin do for you? You’re running around, moving from one hovel to another, and for what? So he can pick you off one by one like he did Willow? It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“Just leave us be,” an old man said. “Vin’s gone. Leave the rest of us alone.”
“I can’t trust you,” Byron said. “My family isn't safe unless one of us is your alpha.”
More angry words followed.
“I’ll stay with them,” Jeremy said. “If anyone wants a challenge, here I stand.”
A couple of men stood up, but Jeremy stared them down, and none of them took the next step.
Amelia moved forward. “The curses are over. The men who started this war aren’t here right now. There’s no reason we have to be enemies.” She stared at the crowd of unhappy people at the front, and her eyes narrowed, her voice turning colder. “Besides, you all know we would win. Most of you could never face my uncle in a challenge, never mind actually beat him. We’re outnumbered, and yet it’s you sitting on the ground, waiting to see what we’ll do with you.”
That silenced the complainers for a while. They glanced around nervously, all knowing my sister spoke the truth.
“She’s an omega,” Ryan called out, sounding calmer. “Most of you know what that means. An end to the madness, to the hate, to the anger. I know some of you, know that you didn’t want to walk this path, but you had no choice. Now you do. So do I. I’ve chosen to be a part of this pack. A strong pack. One with an omega. One with balance. One with healthy werewolf children. One that doesn’t promote murder or encourage our sons to kill each other to get ahead.”
He moved to stand behind Byron’s left shoulder, and whispers ran through the crowd. I moved to Byron’s right, nodding at Jeremy as he stood shoulder to shoulder with me. Amelia leaned against Ryan, showing how he wasn’t an outsider to us.
An old man moved through the crowd, pushing his way to the front. “I want to go home. I’m old. I’m tired. I’ve had enough of travelling around. I want to die in peace in the place I was born. Will you force me to stay?”
Byron shook his head. “I can’t make anyone join us, and I don’t want to. But I can help anyone who needs it. Come to me when you’re ready.” He held up his hand. “But know this. If anyone attacks my family the way Vin did, there will be repercussions. A challenge is fair. Attacking humans can never be.”
A young woman joined the older man, linking his arm. “Thank you,” she said, her eyes full of tears.
It wasn’t that easy, and it didn’t end there, but when some of the crowd asked for permission to leave or set up their own packs in their homelands, Byron let most of them. But not the wolves who had taken Perdita or come to our home to attack us. Not the ones who would hunt us down still. For them, he had other plans.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Perdy
August
I awoke abruptly, sitting up straight in my bed. A trickle of sweat ran down my back as I remembered my dream, but that wasn’t what had disturbed my slumber. My phone vibrated under my pillow, and I saw a call from Nathan. My stomach flipped over as I answered, hearing his voice again.
“Come outside for five minutes,” he said before hanging up.
I threw on jeans and a shirt and limped downstairs as quietly as possible. I opened the front door slowly, grinning when I saw him waiting outside.
He lifted me into a hug, nuzzling my neck. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to come over. It’s crazy back home.”
“I know.” I kissed him, wishing the moment would never end. But I didn’t have to think like that anymore. We had plenty of time. “It’s been crazy here, too. We see either a solicitor or a barrister or a liaison officer or a garda pretty much every day now. It’s driving me mad. Can’t wait for it all to be over.”
“They have to do things the right way as much as possible. I have to get back in a few minutes, but I needed to see you tonight.”
“You okay?”
“More than okay. I think it’s all over, Perdita. The worst parts anyway. There are so many people out there who don’t know where to go from here, and a ridiculous amount of them needed passports and documentation, but I think the problems are going to leave us alone now. A lot of them are happy to be on our side, some others don’t want to be involved in any big pack, and the ones who took you and Ryan’s girls are going to see jail time.”
“What? What happened?”
“Byron’s made them confess.”
“Are you serious? He’s been here this week getting his stitches redone by Dad, and he never said a word.”
“He wanted to be sure first. Dar and the others all turned themselves in. You, Rachel, and Meg probably won’t have to testify against them. It’s finally working out.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. “That’s such a relief. Tell Byron thanks for me.”
“He knows. You don’t have to say it. It’s the least he could do after everything that happened. I’m so sorry about it all, Perdita.”
I wrapped my arms around him. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Tell that to Rachel and Meg’s mother. She’s pissed at Ryan, at all of us. She’s demanding he bring the girls back to her as soon as possible.”
“I hope I get to see them before they go. What about Micah?”
“Byron’s sending him with Ryan and the girls because he practically wets himself whenever he looks at me or Jeremy.”
“Bullies,” I whispered. “He’s harmless.”
“But he was with Vin. It’s hard to forget that when I look at him.”
“He helped us escape. Besides, it’s over now, right?”
“I know. I’m still… I wish you hadn’t gone through any of it in the first place. I feel like we made everything worse than it had to be.”
I held his gaze steadily. “I don’t blame anyone but Vin and his mate.” I made a face. “And maybe your grandfather, too. Any sign of him yet?”
His face fell. “Amelia reckons he isn’t coming back. I don’t know. He seemed like he didn’t care about the family anymore.”
“He lost his mate. He didn’t have the capacity to care about anything but revenge.”
He kissed me softly. “Which is why I can’t let anything happen to you.”
“Self-preservation, huh? That’s your best reason?”
“Shut up and kiss me, woman.”
“Bossy werewolf.” But I kissed him anyway.
***
Amelia made a face as Nathan propped a cushion under my ankle. Since his family’s werewolf problems had calmed down and he had more time for me, he had been going out of his way to make up for letting me get kidnapped by werewolves, despite the fact it hadn’t been his fault.
“Any news yet?” I asked as he sat next to me.
“Nope. No sign of Opa. No sign of any werewolves trying to pay us back for anything. It’s been calm.”
“Except for Jeremy,” Amelia added as she rummaged in her bag. “He’s itching to leave with the others.”
“I can’t believe Byron’s letting him go,” I said.
“He’s a big boy,” Dad butted in. “It’s better for the pack here if he isn’t around. Too many males. Never a good idea.”
I bit my lip to stop from laughing. Dad insisted on speaking about werewolves as if he had known about them his entire life. Gran, on the other hand, was pretending none of the last few weeks had ever happened. When she heard Amelia was coming over to heal Dad, she made an excuse to leave, quick smart. She told me she wasn’t comfortable with Amelia’s lifestyle choices, which made me laugh. A lot.
When we were alone, Gran kept telling me how scared she had been, and we spent as much time together as possible. A direct contrast to Meredith, who had gotten halfway to our home before turning back and deciding she couldn’t deal. I didn’t blame her. Loving somebody was terrifying. I was just glad to be braver than she was.
“Here,” Joey said, handing yet another bunch of pages to Amelia. “I printed this lot out last night.”
“Oh, cool, omega stuff? He’s so useful.” She winked at me. “I may have to keep him around.”
“Keep it up, and I’ll stop helping,” he retorted, but he was grinning. “And Perdy, Mrs. Reed wants you to know she’s forgiven you for not showing up for the rest of your work experience.”
“She knows I was kidnapped, right?” I asked, bemused.
“Leave her alone. She sent you chocolates, didn’t she?”
I burst out laughing. “She kept all of the coffee creams from boxes you gave her and put them in an old box to give me because she doesn’t like them. Not quite the same thing.”
He smiled. “She made an effort, though.”
“Anyone hear from Ryan yet?” I asked hopefully.
Nathan shook his head. “Probably won’t arrive for another half-hour or so. Then he has to deal with his ex and try to explain Micah.”
“I hope he comes back,” Amelia said wistfully. “Ryan, I mean. He’s part of the family now. Byron will totally miss him. They had a bit of a bromance going on there.”
I grinned. “Feels like everything’s going to work out.”
Amelia’s face fell. “Except for Opa. I think… I think he’s gone away to die. I mean, everything he was living for is done. Mémère is gone. He got his revenge.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s going to die,” Nathan insisted.
“I see what she means, though,” I said. “Vin was well and truly ready to die. Your grandfather could easily have ended up as mad as him. It’s like Vin was a couple of years down the same track Jakob was on. It’s weird how that works. The madness, I mean.”
Amelia nodded. “I think maybe the pack and mates are a huge part of the whole. Hopefully, the madness won’t be as bad now the curse is gone. And now there’s a bit of balance, thanks to moi.”
“Yeah, you man-wolves really need to stop relying on women to make you happy,” I teased.
Nathan glared at me. “Don’t make me take away your cushion.”
Dad tutted. “Can we get back to me now? I have a date tomorrow. I want to be at my best.” He grinned at the look on my face. “Yes, we’re still talking even after she witnessed Amelia’s display. Yes, I begged for forgiveness. No, she hasn’t given it, but I’m going to keep trying. Happy now?”
“A bit, yeah,” I said.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Amelia said. “Stephen, if you could, like, lie on the floor or something, that would be great.”
Nathan, Joey, and Amelia moved junk out of the way and helped Dad lie down.
“This better work,” he said as Cú licked his cheek.
“I’m going to lay crystals all around you, okay? On your forehead, over your heart, on your wrists, and on your solar plexus. Now I want you to put a drop of the paste
I’ll be using later on the tip of your tongue. Don’t swallow it, just hold it there.”
“What is it?” Dad asked.
“Just a salve I made from wolfsbane.”
He jerked up his head. “This better not be poisonous.”
“I’m… relatively sure it isn’t going to poison you.”
“Amelia!”
She held up her hands. “Well, I haven’t done this before, you know. I know it will feel uncomfortable, and you might puke, but at best, you’ll sweat it out of you. Don’t worry so much. The wolfsbane is just to make doubly sure.”
Nathan began to undo the buttons on his shirt.
“Not in front of my daughter!” Dad bellowed.
Nathan widened his eyes at me, and I tried not to giggle. He left the room, and a couple of minutes later, returned as a werewolf. Joey covered his eyes, unable to deal with looking at a werewolf. We hadn’t given him many details, but we weren’t exactly careful about keeping secrets around him either.
Cú yawned, but when Nathan opened his jaws too close to Dad, the dog growled until I laid my hand on his collar.
“It’s okay, Cú,” I whispered. “This is what we want.”
“Try not to struggle,” Amelia said in a soft voice to Dad. “We don’t want to provoke him, okay?”
Dad clenched his lips together tightly, making faces at the taste of the putrid-looking gunk Amelia had made him put in his mouth.
Nathan glanced at me once, but I refused to look away, and he sank his fangs into Dad’s forearm. Dad’s face reddened, but he didn’t cry out or try to move.
“That’s enough,” Amelia said, pushing Nathan’s head away. “Go do whatever you have to do.”
Nathan ran back upstairs. Amelia smoothed some salve over the rather nasty-looking wound on Dad’s arm. Since her grandfather had disappeared, there had been nobody to tell us what to do, so Amelia had come up with a ritual based on further research with Joey and her own instincts. She had been relying on those a lot since she was able to find me.
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