It was boring without them, I realized. And my life was anything but boring. They just broke things up, I guessed. Lightened a shitty situation, and if ever we’d needed that, it was now.
Austin’s next question was a wrecking ball to my thoughts. “If he’s possessed, then we have to take into account that none of this is his fault. The spirit is the one making him act.” He shared a look with Sabina that I didn’t understand, but his words had me pointing out:
“That doesn’t take away the fact that he’s a danger to Maribel.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Ethan agreed. “I wish there was more information about possessions and spiritual invocations in the history books, but they’re rare.”
“Thank the Mother for that,” Sabina muttered.
Austin winced in agreement. “True dat.”
“Whoever it is, whatever spirit,” Ethan rumbled, “I’d never have thought I could feel that way. He’s powerful. Incredibly so. I can’t even imagine what will happen when Seth grows up. Maybe the spirit will get stronger too?”
“And Daniel has set himself up as his appointed guardian?” Sabina asked warily. “I’m not sure I like that.”
“He controlled him, with ease,” Ethan appeased, his hand smoothing over her back. The attempt at soothing didn’t work—she looked just as ruffled as before. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never have believed it.”
“Is it fair to Daniel to allow that to continue?” she questioned.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of that. I think it’s something he was told to do at his covenant.”
My shoulders stiffened. “You’re joking?”
“No. I’m not,” he replied. “Daniel admitted as much without admitting anything.”
“Well, that’s helpful,” Sabina muttered.
Austin snorted. “It’s as helpful as we can be. We never speak of what we learn from the covenant—we only share one detail—if we’re mated. That’s it. Because it’s a cause for celebration. A continuance of the pack. Other than that, we don’t say a word about what She tells us. I wouldn’t even tell you,” he admitted, which had her eyes opening wide with surprise.
“Nor me,” I agreed.
“Nor me,” Ethan said quietly.
“Kali Sara, it’s that bad?”
“Not bad, just sacred,” I corrected. “Austin’s right—we can’t treat him like a prisoner forever, neither can we trust him around Maribel. But if the baby is in danger, what can we do?”
“Send them to our twin pack,” Ethan suggested cautiously.
“Send them away?” Sabina barked, twisting around swiftly enough to elbow him in the gut and for Knight to squawk with outrage. “You can’t be serious! We almost had a showdown with Choi’s pack over Daniel, and you want to send him away?”
Though he wheezed a little from the force of her elbow connecting with his belly, he rasped, “We have no choice. Daniel can control him, but he can’t keep him away from Maribel or, when she gives birth, the baby.”
Sabina gnawed on her bottom lip, and I scented her tears from over here. They hurt me, truly they did, but I knew Ethan was right. We had no alternative. We couldn’t keep Seth locked up forever, and we had to hope that distance between mother and son would ease his circumstances.
Of course, it could all go to shit and the spirit that possessed him might force him to come back home, but we’d deal with that when it came to it and not a moment sooner, because borrowing trouble was something we couldn’t afford right now.
“I don’t want him to leave,” Sabina whispered, and I hurt for her. Her sorrow pained me enough that I felt it like lightning bolts in my chest.
“Neither do I, sweetheart. Neither do I,” Ethan tried to soothe. “But what can we do? We have to try, don’t we?”
“He’s been sent away from one home—what kind of message are we giving him?”
Blowing out a breath because she wasn’t wrong, I muttered, “Perhaps we should discuss this with him?”
A knock sounded at the door at that exact moment, and as I inhaled to register the scent, I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I jolted in shock. “Fuck, that’s uncanny.”
“Daniel?” Sabina asked.
Ethan nodded. “Yeah.”
“Come in, Daniel,” I beckoned.
The door creaked open, timed perfectly with a howl from the woods. A single, lone howl that had my attention splitting for a fraction of a second, before I returned it to Daniel.
“Is everything okay, son?”
He danced a little from foot to foot, his agitation clear, before he blurted out, “You know Lara has a weird scent?”
I blinked. “Yes. It’s from the hyenas she was with before she came to us.”
“I smelled it when I was in the forest.”
“What were you doing in the forest?” was Sabina’s instant reply. The motherly answer almost had me smiling. “You were supposed to be doing some homework.”
He heaved a sigh. “I was, but I needed to run.”
Ethan ran a hand down her arm. “He’s an alpha whelp, love. Remember we told you they needed certain direction? Well, sometimes, they just need to run.”
She scowled, and while I sensed she wanted to argue, there was no arguing with someone who’d originally been an alpha whelp.
Of course, while she was focused on that, Ethan, Austin, and I were focused on what Daniel was saying.
“How rich was the scent, Daniel?” I asked softly.
When his nose crinkled, I had part of my answer. “It was very strong. Kinda gross.”
I cast Austin a look, but he was already on his feet and walking toward Daniel. “Show me where you scented it, kid.”
I moved to stand, then strode over to the patio doors that led onto a small balcony that ran the length of the veranda below. Another howl pierced the air, from the depth of the forest, and even as I narrowed my eyes at that, I scented them.
A lot of them.
I twisted around and saw Ethan was standing there already, doing as I had—inhaling the wind which, like always, was a boon and a curse when it came down to hyenas. Their stench was powerful enough to make a person’s eyes water.
“Kali Sara, that’s pungent,” Sabina wheezed, having joined us on the balcony. She turned away from the view of the woods and looked at us. “What’s going on?”
“A clan is here,” I muttered. “And somehow, they sneaked through our defenses.”
Ethan grunted. “Poison?”
“I can’t scent it. Maybe the naturals—they might be fooled by the gift of tainted meat, but the supernaturals? I can’t see that happening.”
“They’re canny fuckers,” Ethan groused.
“I know.” Another howl. Mournful.
Shit.
A million thoughts fired through my brain as I tried to process what our next moves should be, and ordinarily, I’d have been A-Okay with just leaping off the balcony and heading straight into the fray, but Sabina was here.
Sabina. With our son. And if she died because of our actions, Knight would be left alone.
Just the thought was enough to stagger me, to have me leaning harder on the balcony railing than I ought to, because the wrought iron might as well have been wet cardboard in comparison to an alpha’s strength.
“What is it?” Ethan rasped. “What’s wrong?”
“I can hear you,” Sabina said dryly, “even if you think you can try to hide it from me.”
My mouth tightened. “We wade into battle, and one of us gets injured, that’s it. We’re all gone.”
Her processing of the situation was rapid fire, and though she moved her hand to cover the back of Knight’s head, what stunned me was her resolve. “Lara could look after him,” she whispered.
“What?” I gaped at her.
“They’re not here to make friends, Eli,” she rumbled. “We can’t live with the fear of dying ruling everything we do. What are we supposed to do? Just let them overtake us? I love you, you love me, but we have t
o act. We’re leaders, not sheep.”
I knew we did.
I didn’t need her to tell me that, but fuck. The ramifications of everything just hit home to me in the most phenomenal way imaginable. But the way she took up the mantel of her position? If I wasn’t worried for her and our son, I’d have kissed her.
She was all omega at that moment. All fire and vim.
“They have to be here for Lara,” Ethan rasped, messing with my head even more. “What happens to Knight then?”
“The Mother told me my children wouldn’t die. I have to have faith in her, I have to believe in her.” She gritted her teeth. “Go. Do what you have to. Secure our land, keep us safe, and ram the message home that no one can mess with us, one that will protect us for years to come.”
She moved into my arms, her hands slipping into my hair as she sandwiched Knight, ever in his baby sling, between us as she leaned up on tiptoe. Then she kissed me like it was our final night on this earth. Like she knew what she couldn’t know—hyenas were wicked. Vindictive, spiteful. Mean fighters. Hard to kill because their numbers were different than ours.
We had one child, they could have several. Thanks to how they selected their sexual partners—choosing one for genetic compatibility rather than matters of the soul. Our mating process was different as we had tens of thousands of packs around the nation, whereas there were a handful of clans in the entirety of the States. Population control was different as a result, but it boiled down to the fact that we’d be wading into this battle with a few dozen wolves, and they could be here with hundreds.
But I couldn’t think of that, couldn’t transmit my fear onto her.
Instead, I kissed her back like I fucking meant it. I thrust my tongue against hers, fucking her mouth like I wished I’d had time to fuck her body. Like I would fuck her. When her goddamn milk moon was over.
Mother, I missed her. I missed her so goddamn badly, even though she was standing here, right in front of me, my arms around her.
As I pulled back, the scent of hyena piss floating on the air worse than burning wood come winter, I nipped her bottom lip and rasped, “Stay here. Stay safe. We can communicate from afar, and we can use you as a means of transmitting our intent with our people.”
She nodded quickly, and because I wanted to stay with her, keep her safe, protect her against anything and everything, I had to accept that wasn’t my lot in this life. I had to protect her by protecting my land. By protecting my people.
“Make sure, if you see them approach, you go to the safe room.”
Her eyes widened, because I knew she thought I was infallible—but I wasn’t. Not with the numbers we were going to be facing.
“You remember the code?” I’d told her months ago, back when the council had attacked and we’d had the safe room moved, but that was too long ago. Fuck.
I’d grown lax.
I’d become too happy—she was my reason for goddamn living. How could I forget the priority of her safety?
“I remember,” she whispered staunchly, her heart in her eyes, even though her hold on me was fierce, even though she was trying, verbally, physically, emotionally, to tell me she was okay.
So I gritted my teeth, bearing with the fact that nothing about this was okay, and left her with Ethan after I made her repeat the code to me. I heard her moan, which keyed me into the fact that Ethan was saying farewell the same way I had, and I stormed out of the house, not waiting on him to join me as I ran down the stairs.
When I saw the door was wide open, probably from Daniel and Austin’s exit, I shifted, launching myself down the final ten, and howling with rage as I slammed on the speed and began to move toward the forest.
My howl, I knew, would tell any wolf within a twenty-mile radius that I was calling them to action. My second howl told them we were at war.
To be prepared.
I snarled as I scented more of the fucking scum around my land, and though I wanted to leave Ethan with Sabina, I knew I couldn’t. I needed him. I needed every man and woman to fight.
Within seconds, I heard the racing of paws as Ethan caught up with me as I scouted out the perimeter. And though the stench of hyena was strong, it was scattered, and it was, predominantly, powered by a dozen or so individual males. But there were definitely females here. Shifted females, as well as humans.
I turned to Ethan and ground out, “Am I losing my mind, or can you smell shifted and human females?”
“I can.”
“Cannon fodder?”
“I doubt it. You know how whacko they are about their women.”
I did, but nothing else made sense to me.
“Where are they?”
I heard more feet, scented more wolves approaching, and figured they were coming in from town, only now just reaching our running lands. When they scattered around me, I howled, calling more of my pack to my side as I carried on scenting, trying to figure out what was happening.
The odor was too wide spread to discern from where they were based, so I raced forward, entering the woods, veering toward the circle.
The notion hit me then that was where Sabina should be.
Fuck!
How could I have forgotten how she fared better while in the sacred circle?
Regret hit me, but I had to hope and pray that the safe room would protect her where the circle might not. Hadn’t Choi told me only yesterday that his sacred circle had been breached?
We’d been nourishing ours, cherishing ours, but who the hell knew what would stand up to a siege and what wouldn’t?
When another solitary howl made itself known to me from the other side of the woods, I gritted my teeth, recognizing one of Berry’s pack.
The noise stirred me on. Relieved me, in fact.
“It’s Berry,” Sabina whispered into my mind, confirming what I knew. “She’s on her way. She didn’t leave.”
“No.”
“I thought she had.”
“You missed her.”
“I miss her now.”
Me too. She’d have been keeping Sabina safe, dammit.
“We’re heading to the totem,” I told her, unable to think about my mother or her role as Sabina’s guard dog, because if I did, then it would split my focus even more.
Of all the times for her to be without protection, it had to be tonight, didn’t it? And after I’d yelled at Berry earlier in the day, chasing her off… Mother, I was fortunate she was willing to return when she had to know we were fighting.
“Anyone in the pack there already?” Ethan asked.
“No. I can’t sense anyone there. Most of them are gathered with you now, some are still in town. Mostly women.”
“Call them to the totem. We may need them. The hyenas are shielding their presence. Last thing we need is to be outnumbered.” More than I already knew we’d be.
I felt her fear, but I couldn’t respond to it.
“I’ll let them know.” Then, she sucked in a sharp breath. “Austin.”
“What about him?”
“Where is he?” Ethan demanded.
“I don’t know. I can’t sense him anymore.” Her fear morphed into panic.
I was already running at full speed, but her words had me increasing my pace until it took barely a few moments to find myself at the totem circle.
What I saw was a sight I prayed Sabina couldn’t see. I knew she’d somehow tapped into Berry’s sight, had seen us the night the council attacked, but this was a nightmare unfolding.
Dozens of naturals were being torn to shreds by what looked to be a full clan of hyenas. There were human mates wandering around, armed with guns, and that was what I figured they’d been shielding—using their piss to cover the scent of cordite. Which was, I knew, their way in.
They’d gone hunting and had destroyed a natural pack in the process.
I braked to a halt when I saw Austin on his back, Daniel at his side, the pair of them slouched over, blood pooling beneath both their heads. Ethan snarled
at the sight, but I snapped, “Can you feel his heartbeat? Is he still alive?”
“Can’t sense it over the noise in the clearing,” he growled into my mind, his maw on full display, saliva dripping over his fangs as he took in the carnage.
The naturals had been slaughtered, anything from pups to full grown wolves, a pack that I’d spent a good ten years trying to even out their numbers, decimated.
Rage, so pure and violent, hit me square between the eyes, but I knew if I acted on instinct, they’d just shoot us.
I knew we needed help.
“I can sense his heartbeat,” she whispered into my mind. “It’s faint. You three and Knight are usually the first things I sense but—”
“There’s a lot going on tonight,” I said, trying to soothe, but I knew there was no point. This was any woman’s worst nightmare. Fuck, this was any alpha’s, too. “We’re going to have to charge our way in, Sabina. I need you to prepare for what might happen.”
“No! There has to be another way!”
Her scream tore into my mind, ripping into me, but even worse, it had the entire pack juddering in response. It took me a few moments to realize that we weren’t the only ones affected. The hyenas and their human mates had stopped. Their silenced guns no longer randomly popped, and they were no longer feasting on the dead wolves, but their heads were whipping from side to side, as though they could hear that endless scream too.
Seeing their weakness, I leaped into the fray, howling at my pack to carry on. I knew it was madness, knew it could mean death for many, but Sabina was right. We had to defend our land, come what may. I couldn’t say that becoming a father had made me a coward. But cautious? Fuck, yeah. Now wasn’t the time for caution though. Now was the time for action.
A wind whipped up between us, slicing through the wolves who surged forward into battle and somehow gusting back on us as Sabina carried on screaming.
It felt as if my ear drums were going to burst, as if my whole brain was about to explode, but it was our enemies who were driven insane by the sound. Using their distraction to our advantage, we dove into the mass of blood and tissue that littered the clearing and attacked.
A quick glance told me there were over a hundred male hyenas, a good forty females, and a further twenty who were still in human form, armed with guns. Sporadic bullet spray ripped among us, but they were shooting far less than before, which told me Sabina’s effect on them wasn’t as strong as it was on the shifters.
Moon Child: A PNR Shifter Romance (The Year of the Wolf Book 2) Page 21