“Ugh, I hate cooking,” Genevieve muttered.
“I don’t mind,” he said with a grin. Some of his best memories had been of cooking with his mother.
“Great, then I’m going to keep unpacking,” she said, jumping up and heading back into her room.
He hurried down the staircase and caught up to Amber, who was putting away all the food she had bought. The kitchen was pretty big, probably built to cook for fancy parties at the now empty mansion.
“I just remembered I left something in the car, I’ll be right back,” Ceri said, leaving him and Amber alone in the kitchen.
His alpha shifted uncomfortably, then cleared her throat. “Sorry about…earlier. I’m not great at this, and I didn’t…I just want everyone safe.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. If he was being honest, it had really freaked him out, but he could tell she was being sincere. “It’s okay.”
Amber’s posture relaxed a little, and she gave him a half-hearted smile. “Great.”
“Do you mind if I cook a family recipe? Butter chicken curry. My mom taught me when I was a kid.”
Amber looked surprised, but she nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. Do we have everything for it?”
“Yeah, I…uh…dug through the spice cabinet and pantry while you were gone getting groceries. And you have chicken, and rice.” He wiped sweaty palms on the legs of his pants. The wolf wanted to impress her, but he just wanted to a chance to cook in a clean kitchen again. Without anyone yelling at him to stop stinking up the house.
“Sounds perfect then.” Amber smiled sincerely, relief clear on her face. “As you saw, I’m not exactly good at cooking, so anytime you want to take over, feel free.”
He stepped into the kitchen and began gathering the ingredients. The knot of worry in his shoulders relaxed, and he forgot about everything with a knife in his hand and the warm scents filling the kitchen.
Chapter 20
AMBER
Amber sat up, going from dead asleep to awake instantly. Her nose twitched as the odd scent that had woken her grew stronger. She slipped out of bed, grabbing the baseball bat she kept nearby, and pushed open her door. She had told Tommy she didn’t think Donovan would try to kill them, but she was seriously regretting that statement now.
Her feet pressed into the carpet without making a sound as she crept into the hallway. Carpet gave way to the wooden floor of the living room. Pausing, she drew in a long breath to taste the air. The scent kept changing directions. Whatever it was wasn’t moving normally, like it was appearing and disappearing at random.
A chuckle made her skin crawl. She whipped around, swinging the bat, but all it hit was air. Panting, she turned in a circle. She had heard it. It was here somewhere.
“I’m outside,” a male voice whispered. A sulfurous scent crept toward her from the door that led out into the garden.
She swallowed and glanced back down the hall. If she was smart, she’d wake the others up. But with the way the mark on her chest was aching, she had a feeling she knew who this was. If the demon was here to collect its mark, she wouldn’t put the others at risk. Cursing herself for not asking Thallan how long she had before the demon came for her, she slipped outside, leaving the door cracked open.
Goosebumps rose on her exposed skin, and she shivered at the temperature change. It was cool. Way too cool to be walking about barefoot, in shorts that barely covered her ass, and a threadbare shirt that had seen better days.
The garden was just as well-maintained as the rest of the grounds. So, it was a tangle of overgrown bushes and vines that stretched across the walkways. She followed the scent, which was still moving away from her.
“How far are you going to make me chase you?” she hissed.
“Just far enough to talk privately,” the voice replied. “I’d hate for your little pack to think you’d lost it, talking to yourself like this.”
She paused, the cold seeping up from the stones into her feet. “What do you mean, talking to myself?”
“No one else can hear me,” the voice whispered directly behind her.
She turned and struck out with the bat again. Laughter drifted toward her on the breeze.
“I suppose this is far enough,” the voice said. “You’re going to freeze to death in that outfit. And what exactly are troll bangs, by the way?”
She resisted the urge to glance down at her shirt. Her hand tightened on the wooden bat as the air shifted. A shadowy figure topped with horns formed right in front of her. She couldn’t make out a face, or even his height. The thing had no legs, only a torso, a head, and the vague shape of arms. She jabbed it with the bat, but the weapon simply slipped through the apparition.
“That tickles,” it said, amusement clear in its voice.
Amber frowned. “Are you a demon?” The shadow moved in a circle around her. She turned with it, not wanting the thing at her back.
“I am,” it finally admitted, “and I was curious what sort of creature Thallan gave his mark to. It’s not an easy thing to give away a debt like that.” The demon surged closer, forcing her backward into a bush. “I must admit, you are not what I expected.” His breath skated across her skin, hot and dry.
She cringed away from the demon’s closeness. “What’s your name?”
He chuckled. “Just telling you would be no fun,” he said in a teasing tone. “Besides, I haven’t told anyone my true name in almost fifteen years. Can’t have you summoning me to the earthly planes then killing me to get rid of your mark.”
“That would work?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
The shadow swayed dramatically. “Already plotting my death? So callous,” he said mournfully.
“What do you want from me?” She needed to get this over with. If it wanted something awful, she’d rather know now so she could figure out how to get rid of the mark or kill the demon.
“I’m not sure yet,” the demon said, tapping a long finger against its chin. “I’ll think of something eventually. Until then, you get to enjoy my occasional company.”
“So you’re basically going to haunt me?” There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Haunt you? I prefer to think of myself as your guardian angel,” the demon said, practically purring.
“I’m surprised you can even say the word angel without catching on fire,” she muttered.
“The whole myth about us not being able to walk into churches is a myth. Not based in reality,” the demon said with amusement.
Amber snorted and lowered the bat. “Alright, Angel. You really don’t want anything from me right now?”
“This was more of a meet and greet, but if there’s something you want, I can help you. For a price, of course,” the demon said, drifting closer again.
The heat from his ethereal body took the chill out of her bare skin. “No,” she replied quickly. “I don’t need anything from you.”
“You needed something,” the demon said, his finger reaching out to press into the mark. She hissed as magic surged between them and tried to shove his finger away. Her hand swiped uselessly through the smoke. “What did Thallan do for you to get you to agree to take this?” the demon mused, finally removing his finger.
“None of your business.”
The demon cackled. “Funny thing to say since I’m the one you owe the debt to,” he drifted away. “But that’s fine. It doesn’t really matter except to satisfy my curiosity.”
She stared at the demon for a moment then squared her shoulders and started back toward the house. “If that’s all this is, then I’m going back to bed,” she said as she brushed past him.
“Is that an invitation?” the demon asked.
Amber stopped and glared at him. “No, absolutely not.”
A grin spread across the shadowy face, the only feature she could make out. “So grumpy, perhaps you do need to sleep.”
“I thought demons were supposed to be menacing, not just annoying.”
The sha
dowy figure tripled in size and loomed over her, flames pouring from his eyes. Long, black teeth stretched out of its gaping maw. “I can do menacing if you prefer.” His voice boomed around them.
She stared back impassively. “So scary.”
The demon shrunk back down. “You’re no fun at all. You could have at least screamed a little. Flinched, perhaps.”
“You’ll have to try harder,” she said, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.
“Challenge accepted,” the demon said before disappearing with a pop.
She walked back to the mansion, gripping the bat tightly, and contemplated all of her bad life choices.
Chapter 21
AMBER
Amber tried not to scowl as Tommy trotted out from behind the house—understandably, he had refused to strip in front of the girls—fully shifted. She and Genevieve had been trying all morning and hadn’t been able to.
Tommy sat down, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. If his wolf hadn’t weighed two-hundred pounds and been the size of a small pony, he might have looked like a friendly dog.
She flexed her hand and tried to shift, but nothing happened. Now that she wasn’t angry, she had no idea how to start it. She dropped her hand and looked back at Genevieve, whose head was bent over a book.
“Do those books say anything about how to shift when you’re not about to lose control?” she asked, shoving a strand of hair out of her face. There was a nice breeze blowing through the backyard where they were training. Sundays had been tentatively declared “pack days,” since the books recommended bonding for a new pack.
Genevieve looked up and blinked owlishly. “Yeah, actually,” she said, tapping the red-leather bound tome she had last read through. “You have to connect with your wolf.”
“What does that even mean?” Amber asked. She hated vague crap like that. There should be an on/off switch or a magic word.
“Maybe try talking to the wolf?” she suggested, twirling a lock of bright pink hair that had escaped from her bun around her finger. She propped her head up on her hand and turned her attention back to the other book Thallan had brought them.
As part of their bargain, Thallan was now her sponsor. Apparently, that included providing training for the budding alpha. Genevieve had volunteered to read through everything, which had been a huge relief for Amber.
Connect with the wolf…what a load of crap. Amber sighed. If Dylan had been here, he would have been dragging her to meditation classes and talking about living in the woods hunting bunnies.
“I’m going for a run,” she said. They had run under the full moon once, and it had been exhilarating. Maybe running now would draw the wolf out. It had been quiet ever since she had taken the demon mark. It felt a little like it was giving her the silent treatment to punish her.
Amber jogged past Tommy. He had shifted back and re-dressed and was now busy teaching the pixie sign language. Since the job hadn’t worked out, he was the de facto pixie babysitter.
“Woggy, focus,” Tommy chastised, but the pixie was busy chasing a bug that had flown too close. It bounded around on shaky legs, hopping and trying to grab its prey.
Amber shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips as she passed into the trees. There wasn’t a clear trail through the woods. No one had been out here in years. She pushed herself into a run, weaving around trees and jumping over fallen logs.
Her breath stayed steady and her legs felt like they could go forever. Being a werewolf had changed more than just her instincts. She was stronger, faster, and her senses were heightened. While she was in human form, she couldn’t hear or smell as well as she could in wolf form, but it was still ten times as well as she could when she had been fully human.
Some small creature darted across her path, and the wolf stirred for the first time. Acting on instinct, she followed it. A flash of brown fur and a white tail bobbed through the underbrush. The wolf tried to hide its eagerness to hunt but she could feel it.
“Come on, what’s your problem?” she muttered, bracing one hand on a large boulder as she leapt over it.
The wolf growled, and she stumbled as the mark ached fiercely. Stopping to lean against a tree, she rubbed the black scar. The wolf had tried to do something to it.
“I had to take it,” she said, irritated with the wolf. “I had to protect them.”
The wolf huffed, then pressed its claws into her mind. A sharp pain shot through her skull and she grabbed her head. Her fingers lengthened into claws and her muscles twitched as the wolf forced a shift. She ripped her shirt off over her head with a grunt and rolled onto her back to kick off her shoes and shorts.
The shift was faster this time than it had been on the night of the full moon. Fur rolled over her skin as her body reformed and grew. Rolling onto her feet, she shook out her fur and took in the scents around her. The first moment after the shift was always overwhelming. She tried to take a step forward, but her legs wouldn’t move. Her muscles ached as the wolf fought her for control.
What are you doing? she demanded of the silent force in her mind. She couldn’t help but think of it as a separate person. It didn’t seem like it could speak, but it communicated how it felt well enough with feelings and instincts.
With one last trembling push, the wolf ripped away control and ran. It was disorienting to be the passenger in her own body, especially shifted.
The trees flashed by. Anger curled in her gut, but it wasn’t her own. The wolf was pissed at her. Her legs flew over the ground. It was so much easier to run in this form. Four legs moved faster than two, and her claws dug into the soft ground, propelling her forward.
Something tickled the edge of her senses. The scent of another werewolf. She slid to a halt, sniffing the air. A breeze ruffled the fur on her face, and the fading scent of the intruder grew stronger.
Nose to the ground, she followed the smell as it grew stronger and stronger. The trail led her to a fence at the edge of the property. It was broken, falling down in places, and didn’t have the same feeling of magic that the front gate had. It was unprotected.
The scent wasn’t fresh anymore, and Amber had no idea when it was left there. Some parts of this were instinct, but being able to tell how old something was must come from experience. The scent was familiar though. Not the beta, but another werewolf from Donovan’s pack that she had been near. They could have followed her to the property the first day she visited Thallan.
She wasn’t sure if it was her or the wolf that initiated it, but she tilted her head back and howled. This was her home now, and she would not tolerate trespassers.
GENEVIEVE
Genevieve pushed the book away and rubbed her eyes, out of practice with all this reading. Thallan’s books were helpful, to an extent, but they didn’t have the details about the Trials that Amber needed. She had found some information she doubted Amber would be thrilled to hear. Honestly, she was starting to wonder if any of this was possible. Maybe they should have just taken Donovan’s offer and dealt with a crappy pack. She was used to dealing with crap. It was better than uncertainty.
What made her the most upset was that Steven had the answers they needed, but he wouldn’t return her calls after that disastrous attempt to talk to him at his dorm room. She stood, anger pumping through her as she kicked off her shoes and plopped down on the grass. Maybe she could figure out how to shift, since she apparently couldn’t do anything else productive.
Connect with your wolf. That was what she had told Amber when she asked what the books had said, and like Amber, she thought it was a load of crap. She could feel something in the back of her mind now, but it wasn’t like it had thoughts or feelings. It was just magic and instincts.
Her hand went to the scar on her thigh. She traced the jagged bite mark, remembering the pain and the terror she’d felt. Sometimes it was easy to forget she’d been changed, and then she’d feel the wolf in her head. It was so angry.
A howl erupted from the woods. Genevieve jumped
to her feet. The sound cut straight through her, but instead of fear, it gave her a sense of determination. Belonging.
Tommy ran over, holding Woggy close to his chest. “Is that Amber? It…feels like her.”
“Yeah, I feel it too,” she whispered. “It’s like she’s claiming something.”
They waited as the howl ended. In that place in the back of her mind, where the magic had settled after her change, she could feel Amber coming back to them.
“Should we go help her?” Tommy asked.
“She’s coming back. I think we should just wait,” she said, shaking her head.
The next few minutes were tense. She breathed a sigh of relief when Amber jogged out of the woods. Her bright red hair hung in tangled waves around her face. Dirt was smudged across her knees.
“Is everything okay? We heard you howl, but it just felt…annoyed? Or maybe territorial is a better word, so we thought we should stay here,” she said, hardly taking a breath between words.
“One of Donovan’s pack has been here, probably the same day I first visited Thallan.” Her eyes still glowed with a hint of red.
“Do you think they’ll come back?” Tommy eyed the forest warily.
Amber shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I’m going to ask Thallan why the wards aren’t active in that area. He has most of this place locked down tight, it’s odd that he would have missed a spot.”
“Do we need to keep watch tonight?” Tommy asked. “I wouldn’t mind.”
Amber laughed. “I don’t think we need to go that far. Donovan isn’t trying to kill us, just make our lives difficult.”
“Speaking of difficult,” Genevieve said. She hated to bring it up at all, but she might as well get it over with. “I did find some information on the Trials.”
“What did you find out?” Amber asked, her expression full of determination.
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