The Judah Black Novels Box Set

by E. A. Copen

  “But why reanimate the dead?”

  “Free publicity?” said Sal with another shrug. “Who knows why any fae things do what they do?”

  “It wanted Kim,” I said, frowning. “And I stood in its way. I offered Kim my protection. I’m it’s enemy now, Sal. I don’t think it’s done.”

  He winced and jerked his head to the side.

  “You okay?”

  “Never better,” he lied, though I could see the exhaustion on his face.

  “You don’t have to do that. The black veins are gone. I think I’m out of the woods.” I started to pull my leg away.

  Sal grabbed onto my ankle and held it tight. “I want to.”

  I felt my face flush as we met eyes. As soon as I felt the warmth spread to my ears, I jerked my head to the side. “If you’re sure.”

  He shook his head. “Only sure things in the world are death and taxes, babe. What’ve we got to lose?”

  I decided a change of subject was in order. “So, do you have any idea why this thing would attack her?”

  Sal hesitated with his answer. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was disappointed in the change of topic or because he was thinking. “Could be this thing is drawn to power. You standing there unprotected… You’d be like a buffet for something like that.”

  “I’d hardly call reading auras and a little physical enhancement a buffet. I’m small-time.”

  Sal pulled his hands away and wiped some sweat off of his forehead. I offered him the rest of my beer and he took it gladly, swallowing half before answering. “You ever look at your own aura?”

  “Can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “They’re not visible in mirrors, Sal.”

  He nodded, deep in thought, and then said, “I think you could do more if you wanted. You’re only small-time because that’s what’s comfortable.”

  I grabbed the bottle and took a drink from it before passing it back to him. “Is that your professional opinion?”

  Sal turned the bottle around in his hands, staring at the label. “You’ve really got no idea, do you? I mean, you’re no elf, but if you ever wanted to cut loose, I don’t think anyone else could stop you. You’ve got a lot of power behind you for someone who just reads auras and uses magick to run faster and jump higher. The elf could teach you a thing or two.”

  My eyes drifted back to the shed. “He’s a criminal. I’m not sure what he’s wanted for, but Kim wouldn’t let me take him to the hospital.”

  “So? So was I. You didn’t care then. What’s different now?”

  Creven was different from Sal. I knew Sal was reformed. He’d changed. And besides, the people he’d killed, he’d done it defending someone else. Even the law couldn’t convict him. Sal had a family, an established pack. He was a leader. I knew nothing about Creven other than that he was powerful, and he worked for Kim Kelley.

  “BSI is sending someone to take over my case tomorrow,” I told Sal. “A hardass who’s going to scrutinize everything I do for a while. They didn’t give me an end date and didn’t specify how involved he was going to get in other aspects of my office. I think headquarters thinks I can’t do my job. I could lose everything over this. I’ve got to be careful.”

  “Christ,” Sal muttered and polished off the second beer.

  “I’ve got the feeling he’s going to screw me over more than help.”

  The screen door to the house opened and Ed stepped out, hands jammed in the pockets of his faded blue jeans. He was wearing a white t-shirt that read in large, block letters KEEP CALM AND FUS RO DAH. He pushed his thick, black-rimmed glasses up off the point of his nose with a single finger and said, “Hey.”

  I frowned. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn’t let it go. “Ed, about Mara…”

  He held up a finger. “Don’t try to talk me out of it, Judah. Mara and I are happy, and I’m not going to back out just because it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “How the hell did you fall in together?” I asked. Ed’s social circle consisted mostly of people who played online games and, occasionally, those who showed up to a comic shop in Eden. Mara just wasn’t that type of girl. I couldn’t see it, not at all.

  “World of Warcraft,” he said with a shrug. “I’m good, but she’s amazing. You should see her play.”

  “Explains why she’s failing her classes,” I said with a sigh and rubbed my head. In the process, I caught a look at my watch. Dammit. In all the excitement, I’d almost forgotten about Hunter. “Look, Ed, as much as I’d love to stand here and chat about your love life, I need someone to go pick up Hunter from school.”

  “Detention again, huh?” Ed said. “You got an earful for him, too, or is that just for Mara?”

  “Ed,” Sal said. His tone was calm, but there was an underlying, unspoken tension in the air after he spoke.

  Ed lowered his head, his shoulders slumping. “Sorry. Guess Mara’s rubbing off on me a bit. I just don’t want this to be a problem. I don’t like fighting.”

  “Be careful with her, Ed,” I found myself saying. “She’s more fragile than she looks.”

  Ed went to his moped. “You too,” he said. “Your approval matters to her.”

  I picked up the helmet and tossed it to him. He caught it in one hand and lowered it onto his head. “Make sure Hunter wears it on the way here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The moped coughed to a start and he backed it out of the driveway, puttering off down the street at a slow but steady pace.

  The screen door opened and closed again as Valentino came out with more beers and a container of aspirin. He offered one of each to Sal who took them, swallowing the aspirin and chasing it with a big gulp of beer. Valentino did the same. I reminded myself they wouldn’t listen if I pointed out the warning on the side of the label about stomach bleeding if you mixed alcohol and aspirin. Nobody listened to me anyway.

  “Shit,” Valentino said, watching Ed ride off. “You know things are fucked up if Ed’s getting laid more than you and me, Sal.”

  “Especially with that ride.” Sal tapped his bottle against Valentino’s.

  Valentino winced at the noise. “Shauna called. She’s closing up the gym early. Be here in twenty.”

  Sal nodded his approval and said, “Good. We can get started at dusk, then. Did Chanter say anything?”

  Valentino sighed. “Nina thinks he should stay on the oxygen, stay home with Leo and Hunter.”

  “No,” Sal answered firmly. “The shift will be good for him. It’ll make him feel better. We’ll just take it slow, is all.”

  “How many more times we gonna do that?” Valentino asked, leaning against the door.

  “Leave it alone.” Sal stood, dropped his cigarette to the ground, and stomped it out.

  “Somebody’s got to talk about what’s happening, and what’s going to happen to this pack. We can’t just gloss it over because the old man don’t want to talk about it.”

  Sal turned. I couldn’t see his face but, by the stiffness in his shoulders and the growl in his voice, I could tell he was glaring at Valentino. “That old man is your alpha and the leader of this pack.”

  Valentino held his ground, unperturbed by Sal’s challenge. “That old man’s dying.”

  There was a vicious snarl as Sal lunged forward, grabbing Valentino by the shirt. He towered over the other man, staring down at him as if he were about to rip Valentino’s throat out. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t just hear you say that.”

  “What else do you want me to say? Get pissed off if you want, esé, but you and me know just ‘cause you’re Chanter’s second, it don’t mean you get to run the show.”

  “Is that a formal challenge?”

  “So what if it is? Who you got in your corner backing you?”

  “Enough,” I shouted, coming up onto the porch and forcing myself between them.

  “You think you’re wolf enough to take me, huh?” Valentino surged against my arm. I had to put a little magick into t
he muscle there just to keep him at bay. “You’re only his second ‘cause he felt sorry for you.”

  “And you’re only in this pack because you knocked up his daughter,” Sal spat back, dodging around me to give Valentino a shove.

  “What’d you say to me?” I let Sal go to put both hands on Valentino, holding him back. “Let me go, gringa. I’m ‘bout to rearrange your boyfriend’s pretty face.”

  “That’s the full moon talking,” I huffed back, the effort of holding him and speaking at the same time taking my breath away. “Tomorrow, you two will be brothers again. This’ll blow over just like it always does.”

  “Full moon, my ass,” Valentino continued. “You don’t know shit, gringa. You know this pendejo don’t want your boy in the pack. He voted against it just last week.”

  “That’s not the issue at hand,” I said. “You two need to separate. Go back inside!”

  “Yeah, fuck off, Valentino. Go crawl back into your bottle.”

  Valentino threw my hands off of his shoulders. “I was trying to be reasonable,” Valentino said, his voice deepening. He spat on the ground between them. “Someone’s got to think. We let our emotions get the best of us with Elias. I ain’t going to let it happen again.”

  Valentino stormed back into the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

  I turned to Sal. “What the hell was that? Is that true? You voted against Hunter joining?”

  Sal took a step back, leaning on the railing. “He’s not ready, Judah. Valentino’s right. We jumped the gun with Elias. Kid’s got to get his hot head under control.”

  “He’s twelve years old! According to your file, you were pretty hot-headed then, too. You killed two people.”

  “To save one.”

  “Two wrongs don’t make a right!”

  I put my hands in my hair, on the verge of completely losing it. If Hunter didn’t make it with the pack, then what? Who else was going to help me? I didn’t know the first thing about raising werewolves. I couldn’t help him shift. I couldn’t help him find his way in life. And werewolves without a pack, Sal told me they went crazy sometimes. I couldn’t let it happen, not to Hunter, not to my little boy.

  “I can’t do this,” I said and started to walk away. Sal’s fingers closed around my arm and didn’t let go. I tried to jerk free, but all I managed to do was get him to tighten his grip. “Let me go!”

  “No. I’m not letting you go pissed off, not tonight. Hunter needs this.”

  “What’s the point,” I shouted, jerking harder, “if you’re just going to vote him down again?”

  “Would you quit and just listen to me? Dammit, you stubborn woman!” He let me go, and I stumbled back a few steps but somehow managed to keep myself from going down entirely. The effort of fighting against his grip left me breathless. Sal put his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t say no. I said not yet. There’s a difference. I want to get him through his first shift before I change my vote. As his sponsor, I’ve got a responsibility to him to make sure he’s not a danger to himself or others. As Chanter’s second, I’ve got to make sure the pack’s not going to lose their shit over it, too. It takes time.”

  I sank down to the sidewalk, not caring the step was just two feet away. Behind the shed, the sun was a brilliant shade of orange as it went down. I stared at the horizon, watching the shadows. “When?”

  “I don’t think tonight is a good time. Chanter’s tired. I’m about tapped. He’s going to be pissed from the detention.”

  “Take the boy tonight, Saloso,” came Chanter’s voice from behind the screen door. He pushed the door open. I could see he was leaning pretty heavily on a cane but, otherwise, he looked mostly recovered. “Being tired doesn’t release us from our responsibility, and since you think the boy’s temper is so much of a problem, let’s push him to take out his aggression in a healthy way. Perhaps he isn’t ready to shift yet, but he needs some one-on-one time with a mentor. The two of you can work out some things, clear his head. I want him to give it a try in the next few months.”

  “But Chanter—”

  Chanter lifted his cane and slammed it hard against the pavement with a crack as loud as gunfire. Both Sal and I jumped. “Last time I checked, boy, I was still the alpha of this pack. Not you, not Valentino.” He took up his cane and slammed it again, accenting his speech with something in whatever native language the two of them often conversed in.

  Sal immediately tucked his head, somehow managing to shrink his six-and-a-half-foot frame down below Chanter’s frail five-foot-nine height. He made a meek reply to Chanter’s speech, his face flushed red.

  Seemingly satisfied, Chanter gave a grunt, and then the harsh tone in his voice lessened. “Now, go and get ready. This is going to be a busy night. Both you and I have much to prepare.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Shauna arrived in the powder blue Prius she shared with Daphne. After Sal and Valentino, she was the biggest werewolf in the pack. She ran a gym in Eden, which gave her plenty of time to lift weights on her own. She didn’t care one way or the other about me, so when I gave her a standard greeting, she nodded back. Having no real reason to talk to me, she went on inside.

  Ed and Hunter pulled up on the moped a few minutes later. Hunter wore a black t-shirt and ripped up blue jeans. His shaggy brown hair came down below what the helmet would cover. Once he took the helmet off and brushed his hands through his hair, I lamented the fact I had let him color it again. He’d gone for black, which was the prevailing color in all his wardrobe now. I should be thankful he hasn’t asked for black eyeliner, I thought and went to meet him.

  “Hey, Hunter,” I said. “How was detention?”

  He shrugged. “Could have been worse, I guess.”

  “Is this going to be the last one?”

  “Probably not.”

  I crossed my arms.

  “What?” he continued. “You asked.”

  Ed gave Hunter a pat on the back and said, “You want a soda?”

  Hunter was about to say he did when the screen door behind me opened and Chanter came out, drawing Ed’s full attention. Chanter didn’t speak. He just leaned on his cane and gave a slight motion toward the door with his chin. Ed understood and went up the stairs and into the house without another word. Hunter gave me a questioning look and slid his hands into his back pockets when I took a step back.

  “Do you remember when we first met?” Chanter asked Hunter. “I asked you how you felt. You said you were mad, and you had no idea who to direct your anger at or how. Do you remember?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Hunter,” I hissed in a whisper.

  “I guess I remember, sir,” Hunter corrected. “Why?”

  “When you get into these fights at school, do you feel the same?” Hunter fidgeted with his fingers, his eyes drifting to me. “I asked you, boy, not your mother. She can’t answer for you.”

  “Those kids are assholes. They piss me off.”

  Chanter eased himself down to stand on the first step. “That’s not what I asked you. I asked you what you feel when you strike your peers.”

  “I don’t know,” Hunter mumbled, turning his head to the side. “I don’t even care. Why should I if no one else does?”

  Chanter sighed, his whole body heaving with the motion. “I was a twelve-year-old boy once a very, very long time ago.”

  “If you’re going to tell me it gets easier, you might as well save your breath,” Hunter spat.

  “If only,” Chanter answered. “For you, it gets harder. Ten years from now, you’ll be alone, lying bleeding out in a ditch after some other, bigger, smarter, stronger wolf rips your throat out. If you’re lucky, you’ll be so fucked up, strung out on drugs you won’t feel the panic fluttering in your gut as your heart beats its last. If you’re not, you’ll lie there in the mud, calling for your mother while you piss and shit yourself as your body shuts itself down. You die cold and alone, exactly as you’ve lived.”

  Hunter’s eyes wi
dened. “How…How do you know that?”

  “It’s a scenario I’ve seen many times. You are not the first angry young man in the world, Hunter. But it’s not the only future waiting for you. You can cut the crap, kid, and realize you’re not tough shit. You sit. You stay. And, when you’ve finally extracted your cowardly head from your backside, you’ll learn a thing or two. This is not a life you can live hard and fast and long all at once. Even if you turned out to be a badass instead of some snot-nosed brat looking to start a fight because he has nothing better to do—which I promise you, you’re not—then know this: there is always someone out there bigger and badder than you.”

  Hunter swallowed. “I…uh…”

  “This isn’t a discussion. I’ve said my part. The ball is in your court now, boy. We’re done with it. Now comes the matter of your future with this pack.” Chanter cleared his throat, stifled a cough, and lifted his head. “Tonight, you go with Saloso. Do as you’re told. Listen. Learn. How it goes will factor greatly in our next vote on what’s to become of you. Prove yourself, and we will see how you shift under one of the next full moons.”

  “Really?” Hunter’s eyes lit up. I hadn’t seen him so excited since last Christmas.

  Chanter gave a singular nod of his head. Hunter beamed, and Chanter allowed himself a small smile. “Go on in, Hunter. Saloso’s in the back.”

  Hunter darted by the both of us so fast I was surprised he didn’t leave a miniature tornado in his wake. I moved to follow, but Chanter stopped me, putting a hand gently on my shoulder. “Tonight, you must stay here.”

  “He’s my son.”

  “Not tonight.” Chanter retracted his hand. “Tonight, he is a prospective member of the Silvermoon pack. He will have to do this without you.”

  “He’s twelve years old!” I gestured toward the house. “He’s a kid!”

  “He’s a young man, Judah, and it’s high time you cut the umbilical cord before it poisons more than just your relationship with your son.”

  “I’m his mother. It’s my job to protect him.”

  Chanter nodded and said, “I knew you would say that. How about you and I make a deal? You stay, and I will, too. I will stay and help you with your case.”