Metal clanged on metal. Wolves pressed away from the center of the battlefield as two enraged men hacked at each other. There was no skill involved in this contest. Only brute strength and a deep, abiding rage.
Both Victor and Luke were blood-streaked, I noted as I pressed my way toward them. But Victor had the advantage of clothes and his eyes weren’t quite so wild. Perhaps that’s why the skinless Luke had brought as backup were now separating into two camps.
On one side of the room, Ruth’s scarred face rallied those loyal to her brother. On the other side of the room, Aunt May’s equally scarred visage directed a surprising number of skinless to back her chosen grandson.
“No.” My whisper was too quiet for even me to hear it. Still, Ruth met my gaze from across the room. Nodded her head. Flared her nostrils.
This is what she’d meant. Someone had to end the fighting before our pack splintered irreparably.
I took another step forward and raised my sword.
THERE WERE TWO ROUTES between me and Luke—the easy way and the fast way. Ruth must have traversed the easy way, skirting the walls and clambering over obstacles until she regained her post amid those loyal to her cause. The fast way involved cutting through enemy territory, which meant it wasn’t really likely to be fast.
As I assessed potential paths, Victor’s blade slashed down and caught in Luke’s shoulder. Luke reached up and grabbed the blade barehanded, as if pain had become irrelevant to him.
I winced and chose the fast way straight through enemy turf.
Some let me through. After all, I smelled like their chosen alpha. Road tar and raw liver—the scent of my own neck made me choke.
Others snarled and bared their teeth despite the aroma. I cut my way past without regard to who I hurt.
Time slowed, sped, dilated. I hacked past one last defender then stumbled over nothing as I entered the circle of calm surrounding the battling alphas.
“Traitor.” Luke was past full sentences. His sword strokes matched the syllables.
Which was a mistake. It made him predictable. Victor parried easily, slipping beneath Luke’s guard to cut another streak of red across his enemy’s dirt-streaked abs.
“I stole all six tokens,” Victor murmured, focused in a way Luke used to be when my neck was still scented with cinnamon. “The sword maiden chose me as her mate. I am alpha.”
Luke’s answer was wordless. His roar rattled cans on their shelves.
And...I took a step back, realization striking me as powerfully as one of Victor’s sword blows. “Neither of you is alpha.”
I slapped my hand over my mouth. Why, exactly, had I said that aloud?
Of course, no one heard me. Because Luke was attacking with a strong overhead blow that could have lopped Victor’s head from his shoulders. At the last possible second, Victor parried, catching Luke’s sword on his with a metallic shriek awful enough to wake the entire neighborhood.
And...I forced myself to turn aside so I could follow the train of thought that had struck me with the force of a runaway garbage truck.
The Alpha’s Hunt should have been over when Victor became the...well...the victor. He was of the Acosta bloodline and had the upper hand for the reasons he’d just stated.
But he clearly hadn’t won control over the pack bonds or he could have ended this battle with a single word. So what was the holdup?
Intention. Skinless weren’t just power-hungry animals the way my father had led me to believe. After spending so much time around them, I was coming to understand that intention was key to every one of their rituals.
My intention to submit was what made Victor’s bite so powerful. But Victor’s intention in seizing the job of alpha? First he’d allowed himself to be manipulated by his grandmother—definitely not a pack-leader activity. Then he’d incited pack rot for the sake of personal gain.
No, Victor wasn’t an alpha and never would be one. Unfortunately, neither was Luke.
Because—as much as I loved him—my mate wasn’t pack-leader material. Oh, he was dominant enough to take on the job, as evidenced by the moment he froze our entire pack while choosing race participants. But his heart was in the wrong place to make the job last.
Instead, he was fighting for me now. Last summer, he’d ripped apart his father for the sake of his brother and his sister. Luke looked out for those he loved...when he should have been willing to lose all of us if that would bind the rest of the pack together.
The only one who’d made hard, alpha decisions without faltering was....
My eyes met Ruth’s across the crowd of skinless just as her voice emerged strong and sure inside my head. “They aren’t ready to see that yet. Which means Luke needs to win this battle. He’ll cede to me when the time is right. Victor won’t. I need you to end this.”
She paused, then said the exact thing a pack leader would have. The manipulative yet true statement bound to make me heed her wishes without her having to spit out a command. “I was wrong,” Ruth admitted. “You are strong enough.”
“You don’t have to butter me up. I’ll do it, alpha,” I answered. Dropping to my knees, I began reading labels on cans.
Chapter 37
“Peas with onions,” I muttered. “Tomato soup. Not strong enough.”
Above my head, swords clanged together and I ignored them. I grabbed the next can too fast and it fumbled through my fingers, rolling away into the melee of skinless. Somebody swore as metal struck their toe.
Soon enough, the pack would notice what I was doing. I had to find something liquid and smelly and I had to do so fast.
Ah, here we go.
Sardines packed in oil—definitely strong enough. The can was cylindrical, though, not the handy rectangular type with the pull tab. Not as easy to access without a can opener, but I could work with what I had.
I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the scream of pain in my side where my pelt had been burnt. Irrelevant. Cupping the can between bare ankles, the cool metal steadied me. I took a deep breath, apologized to my weapon...then slammed the lid open with the tip of my sword.
Oil sloshed out, splattering across my toenails. My pelt crept higher around my shoulders, exploding scent into a sea of fishiness.
No wonder the weight of many eyes struck me. Even Victor and Luke’s battle slowed as I dropped my weapon and hefted the punctured can aloft.
“I mated Victor under duress.” I raised my voice to ensure everyone could hear me, then I winced at my own stupidity. My audience members were skinless. I could have whispered and they would have heard if they wanted to hear.
And they did want to. Because I was the sword maiden. I was an important facet of the Alpha’s Hunt we’d all been drawn into.
“Aunt May forced my hand, just as she forced Victor’s,” I explained in my normal speaking voice. “Not openly in a challenge. Hidden, secretive. She threatened her own great grand niece, who has no place in the Alpha’s Hunt. Killed Easton when he became a liability. She’s a danger to this pack.”
A growl rose as I laid out the old woman’s treasonous actions. Anger erupted not just from Luke but from everyone. Even the skinless who had chosen to back Victor turned to face Aunt May with murder in their eyes.
Okay, that wasn’t quite the response I’d been going for. I shook the can to regain the pack’s attention, drizzling the first drops of oil over the jagged wound Victor had opened alongside my neck.
As liquid contacted raw flesh, the result stunk. As if a car had spun its wheels so hard it left burned rubber behind it. The sensation was excruciating.
I bared my teeth into a grin.
Across the room, Victor’s gaze slammed into mine. His jaw clenched. He was furious.
Meanwhile, Luke took a step forward. He intended to protect me from all and sundry...even if that meant protecting me from my own actions.
Which wasn’t the way to salvage this pack. Ruth knew it. I knew it.
I cocked my head, exposing my as-yet unscarred shoulder
.
“Bite me,” I demanded of the skinless I craved as my mate.
“NO.”
Luke’s rejection was ten times worse than when he’d sent me away in order to step into his father’s shoes as pack leader.
“No,” he repeated, his voice softening. “I didn’t give you a choice the first time. Victor didn’t give you a choice either. You deserve a choice, Honor.”
This wasn’t rejection. This was chivalry...and it was going to rend the pack apart.
Because our mate bond was not only what I wanted in this moment, it was what we all needed. How else could I fill Luke in about my realizations without weakening his already tenuous hold on the pack?
A mate bond would have let me tell Luke that Ruth had been right when the two of them argued back in the forest. Skinless craved a strong alpha who knew how to excise pack rot as brutally and publicly as necessary. Even though the culprit this time was old and female, Aunt May needed to be destroyed for the same reason Luke had shredded his father’s corpse.
I tried to push that information to Luke along our mate bond...but of course the connection was absent. Barring that option, all I could do was try to guide him in the proper direction. “Aunt May....”
“Will be dealt with later.” Luke’s hand rose to cup my cheek. “You’ve been through enough already.”
As if me seeing Aunt May ripped to pieces was worse than watching the pack self-destruct.
I gritted my teeth. There had to be some memory of our mate bond remaining. Reaching deep, I hunted cinnamon with every essence of my being. Surely some shred remained, clinging to our bodies....
But there was nothing. Nothing between me and Luke. Nothing between me and Victor...who I now saw was beginning to force his way backwards into the crowd.
Luke’s cousin wasn’t surrendering. He was heading back to his grandmother for further instructions. They’d regroup, muster their forces, continue the civil war.
“I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way then.” Ruth’s voice in my head was sandpaper rough where Luke’s had been silk gentle. “I expect you to back me up, sword maiden.”
I nodded. What could I do except nod? Turned to face Ruth as she spoke not just to me but to the entire pack.
“You’re right, alpha.” Her gaze was on Luke. As if they were the ones holding a mind-to-mind conversation.
But her words were intended for everyone else in the cellar when she continued. “Yes, I will do that for you, alpha.”
“Wh...” Luke started...and I pinched him. Pinched so hard his brows slammed down as Ruth’s hand rose with something dark and cylindrical jutting out of her fist.
Was that...? I recognized the gun and silencer I’d considered then rejected on Grace’s table, even as the shot went off.
It was just a little pop. So minor compared to the shriek of rage erupting from her great-aunt. “You bitch.”
The final word was strangled. A scarred, wrinkled hand rose to her left breast one moment too late to cover my view of the entry hole.
Smaller than a nickel. Surely such a tiny wound couldn’t hurt anyone.
Aunt May fell forward as fists pounded on the cellar door.
Chapter 38
“Police! Drop your weapons. We’re coming in.”
Around me two-legged werewolves turned lupine as we hit pause on our own struggle. We might have been at each other’s throats a moment earlier, but now we were a single pack. United by the effort to hide our shifter nature from the human world.
Speaking of humans, Grace stepped out of the shadows, her appearance as perfect as if she hadn’t been hiding at the edge of a werewolf brawl for the last who knew how long. “And...cut!” She held a phone at shoulder level, filming the carnage. Was that her angle? Trying to suggest this was all a movie?
The cops sidling through the door while holding guns at shoulder-level didn’t look convinced. Still, Grace didn’t turn toward them immediately. Instead, she pierced me with a gaze that spoke volumes, then cut her eyes toward Aunt May’s body.
Only then did she slap a perfect smile on her face and swivel to face the entrance. “Officers, how may I help you?”
Grace seemed to have this under control, but she was right—we couldn’t allow the cops to see a dead human body. So I kept my attention trained on the human danger while easing my way between panting shiftless, heading toward the only two-legged being likely to give away Grace’s farce.
And I was glad I’d done so when the lead cop began debriefing my sister. “Ma’am, I’m afraid neighbors have complained about noise levels. I heard a gunshot....”
“Of course you did.” Grace let her hand drift toward the officer’s arm before glancing down at his gun and jerking away. Her fear was masterful, especially when her subsequent words ran together just a little too fast. “It’s part of the commercial. A werewolf battle morphing into a fashion show. For Alec Carmichael’s new line.” She spread her hands wide. “Transformation!”
Her pageantry made the second officer laugh. “Seriously? This is all turning into a clothing commercial? That I have to see.”
“I’d let you stay and watch, but I’m afraid liability issues prevent it. Animal handling constraints. I’m sure you understand.”
I was too deep in the mass of shifters now to see Grace fluttering her eyelashes. Still, I could imagine the charm she was layering onto the poor, defenseless officers. Perhaps it wouldn’t be necessary to cover Aunt May’s death up after all. Perhaps....
“I’m certain I saw a woman being shot,” the first officer interjected gruffly. “Through the window.”
“Smoke and mirrors.” Grace laughed. “Hollywood secrets. We didn’t shoot anybody. Except with a camera, of course.”
I froze, not wanting to draw more attention to this end of the cellar if my sister was winning the battle of propaganda.
Only, she wasn’t.
“I believe you,” the first officer said easily, but I could tell from his tone that he intended to fulfill his duty in the face of any amount of eyelash-fluttering. “I need to examine the premises, though, for the sake of my report. Please step aside so I can set my mind at ease.”
I SANK DOWN BESIDE Aunt May’s body, mind running far too fast. How could we hide a dead woman in a crowded cellar? Was it possible the police would accept the idea that she was only a prop?
Not when she was breathing. Aunt May’s eyes fluttered open, and for half a second I didn’t think she even saw me. Then she whispered a question so quietly my pelt had to hug close in order to hear her. “Come...to...gloat?”
“Could you call the animals to one side?” Officer Number One asked. He was far too close for comfort. Unfortunately, Aunt May had been shot no more than ten feet from the entrance. For now, skinless pressed in to hide us, but we couldn’t count on that lasting for long.
“I’m afraid the handlers are upstairs,” Grace said vaguely. “Close quarters down here. We couldn’t risk non-actors getting caught on camera. Hold on. I’ll place a call.”
I had no idea who she was calling, but my twin sense said this was a delay tactic only. So I leaned down closer to Aunt May’s face and answered truthfully. “No, I’m not here to gloat.”
“What...then...dear?”
The closest wolf sidled sideways, letting light strike the floor at last. Now I could see the woman in front of me more properly. Aunt May was curled up in fetal position...giving me a perfect view of what used to be her back.
I flinched. No wonder she was fading so rapidly. The tiny entrance wound was nothing compared to the mass of ravaged flesh where the bullet had exited her body.
Still, there was no time for pity. Instead, I whispered truth into old ears. “The police are here. They can’t see you like this. Is there...can you change?”
Because a dying wolf might be overlooked. That could be put down to props and stage makeup, especially in the darkness of the cellar. Even Grace couldn’t explain away a dying woman.
Wolves and c
ops milled around us, yet Aunt May wasted long seconds eying my face. “Why...should...I?”
“Because it’s your duty,” I answered, the words feeling more true than anything I’d ever said before. “Because you care what happens to your family. Because you love the pack.”
“Do...I?”
“We’re going to have to cite you for reckless endangerment,” Cop Number Two said reluctantly. “You can’t keep unruly animals in the City.”
I could almost see Grace’s eyes widening. “Not even on private property?”
So she had been listening to Justice’s legal ramblings. The officer, unfortunately, wasn’t so easily sidetracked.
“Ma’am, if you can’t make the dogs clear a path, I’ll call Animal Control to clear a path for us.”
It was an impasse. Aunt May wasn’t shifting. The cops weren’t budging. Our ability to delay was at an end.
Which is when Ruth materialized by my side.
SHE’D BEEN LUPINE A moment earlier. That’s why her belly ended up at Aunt May’s nose level. Still, that didn’t quite explain the surprise that flickered across the old woman’s face.
“Why...you...naughty...girl...you.”
Ruth ignored her great aunt, grabbing my arm instead with fingers so tight they took my mind, for one split second, off the pain everywhere else. “I’ll handle this. Have Luke wait two minutes before clearing an aisle.”
Then, turning her attention back to the dying skinless, she snapped out an order. “Shift.”
Rather than transforming as commanded, Aunt May sighed out another staccato sentence. “You...said...you...wouldn’t...mate...to...become...alpha.”
“I didn’t. I won’t.” Ruth’s wolf was approximately a millimeter below the surface. “This isn’t permanent.”
Aunt May raised an eyebrow. “Motherhood...usually...is...rather...permanent.”
Motherhood? I blinked instead of obeying Ruth’s abrupt hand gesture in my direction. She was related to most of the pack, and I couldn’t imagine her engaging in incest. On the other hand....
Alpha's Hunt Page 17