They shake their heads.
“Oh.” Tahlia sinks into a dark-blue barrel-style chair, where she studies her hands, chipped nails, and the small scratches that still cover her fair flesh.
“I scent your disappointment, female,” Slash says.
He is not wrong, and her face rises to look at him. “I am called Tahlia.”
The male inclines his head. “Slash.”
“I gathered,” she turns and gives a nod in Adi’s direction.
“I don’t go by Adrianna, except for Slash, who refuses to call me Adi.”
His only reply is to press a kiss at her temple. Soft-pink color spreads across her cheekbones, making the smattering of freckles stand out across the bridge of her nose.
His smile is knowing, and hers is shy.
Tahlia wonders if she and Drek would have ever shared such as this.
She will never know.
Adi recovers, poking him in his side.
As her blush deepens, his smile widens. They lighten her heavy heart.
“Anyways,” Adi says, “we have mainly betas, and I’m the only female Alpha, besides you—and oh yeah, Jenni. We just got a new chick in the henhouse, and she’s as gentle and shy as you can imagine.”
“Do I know her?”
Adi shrugs. “Don’t know. She was given to us—wait.” Adi’s eyes pop high as though she just thought of something. “Aren’t you from the Redwood?”
Tahlia’s heart begins to pound, and she straightens in her seat. “Yes.”
“Her name’s Marley.”
Tahlia stands so suddenly, the chair she was perched on upends, landing sideways.
Slash stands at the abruptness of Tahlia’s movement, moving protectively in front of Adi.
Tahlia doesn’t care about their worried faces. Joy fills every crevice of her being. Marley. Her beloved Marley.
“Yes.” She nods quickly. “I know her very well.”
“Slash, cool your jets. She’s not gonna challenge. She’s blown away. Use your nose.” Adi performs a swift eye roll.
“Tahlia moved quickly,” he explains, a slight frown pulling at the facial scar. Reds are protective males, even when faced with a female who’s stature is not ideal, such as Tahlia’s.
Tahlia forgives him for worrying there was a threat from her to his mate.
“She was my very best friend, and we mourned when I had to leave her because of my betrothal to Drek.” Tahlia wrings her slender fingers. “I understood her fate would be a bad one after I left.” She glances away. “It troubled me. The inevitability of her future.”
Adi nods. “We haven’t had a lot of time to debrief Marley, but the females of the Redwood were hen-pecking her pretty good.”
“Yes,” Tahlia says quietly. “She is the least of us, and many of our females were threatened by her beauty.”
Slash cocks his head. “You resemble Marley to some degree.”
“We’re distant cousins.”
“Is she royal?”
Tahlia shakes her head. “No. Wrong lines. Or the right ones, just not those that matter.”
“Gotcha. Well, royals are a bag of douches usually, so whatever.” Adi quickly tacks on, “No offense.”
Her comment elicits a grin from Tahlia. “None taken. My parents left the raising of me to my guardians, and my sire wished for a boy—so he had me fight as though I were male.”
Slash sucks in a breath of clear surprise. “You look very good for that practice.”
“They made sure to wound me where it would not show, Alpha.”
Shaking his head in disgust, Slash mutters, “Royals.”
Yes, it is certainly that.
“Let Marley vouch for me if you are still uncertain of my character.”
“I’m not worried about you, but why leave the Hoh as dignitary in the first place?”
Tahlia stares at her feet for a moment, thinking about what would have been if she’d chosen an alternate path or if Tony Laurent hadn’t been on a killing rampage.
She chooses her words carefully. “I wanted to see Tessa. I was lonely and unsure if Drek and I were meant to be a mated pair. I was naive when I left the Redwood, believing my role with him was everything.”
“Then you arrived, and the pack was in turmoil.”
Adi nodded to Slash. “Right. And they roughed you up, didn’t use their snouts, and you began to question everything. Basically, you were stalling.”
Tahlia gives a curt, miserable nod. “Yes,” she breathes through the word, reluctant to admit her duplicity.
Adi walks to Tahlia and takes her hand. The two Alpha females look at each other. “I’m not a bitch. I mean”—Adi gives a sarcastic lift of lips—“I am, technically.”
Slash gives a quiet snort in the background, which they ignore.
“But I’m not gonna hate on a female because she’s competition. We need our pack to work, and the elaborate hierarchy of the Redwood is a recipe for resentment. No thanks.”
Tahlia squeezes her hand. “Thank Moon, a voice of reason.”
“There are more than one,” Slash comments dryly from behind them.
The females laugh. Turning, Adi slides her arm around Slash’s side as she tucks her head against his chest, and Tahlia feels a friendship is born. Exactly when she so desperately needs one. Tessa is nowhere, and Drek most likely dead.
During her recounting of the events that brought her to the Northwestern, she remained silent on the subject of Neil, just telling the meat of his involvement and not her speculation. Better to not alarm a new pack with what might never become an issue.
Slash appeared bothered by the subterfuge at the river, her subsequent attack by humans, and even, to some degree the human who delivered her near here. She also left out mention of the strange connection between her and Brent. Another unnecessary detail.
Slash did not press her for more, for which Tahlia is grateful.
Adi lifts her chin. “Let’s grab Marley and get you guys reacquainted.”
Tahlia nods, a thrill moving though her. Awful things have happened in the brief time since she left her home pack.
But a wonderful self-discovery has also unfolded, even with all the horror of the last couple of months, and Tahlia knows she must find happiness where and when it presents itself.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Marley
M arley scents Tahlia before she sees her, and with a cry of delight, she jumps from the table, startling Howard and Jake, who were keeping careful guard over her.
She flies to the door and flings the solid wood wide.
Trotting down the stairs, she catches sight of Tahlia walking with the mated Alpha pair and squeals, racing toward her.
They collide, embracing with giddy abandonment.
The males stand around, shifting their weight and generally looking uncomfortable.
It has only been months since she’s laid nose upon Tahlia, but oh, how she missed her!
Tahlia pulls away first, giving Marley a critical glance. “Still beautiful.” She pulls away farther, her hands running down Marley’s slender arms, where she finds fresh, healing scars. Beta females do not heal like Alphas, and her last fight has left Marley with new things for her beast to remedy when the moon casts full light.
“More wounds,” Tahlia notes.
Marley nods.
“Your leg?”
Marley ran the short distance from the small cabin to Tahlia easily enough. A greater distance would have showcased the limp. “Better. I think with our next change, it should be closer to…”
“It’s okay, Marley.” Tahlia, though inches shorter than Marley, is the stronger of the two. She wraps her friend in arms like steel whips, picking her up and spinning.
Marley laughs. “Put me down!”
Tahlia does, taking her hand, and gazes into her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you.” Her voice is soft, resonant.
Marley shakes her head. “Never. As long as the moon shines, I will be your friend.�
��
Both females seem to notice at the same time they put on quite a display for the others and look around them somewhat self-consciously.
Adi laughs. “Well, seems like this is a good fit for the pack.” She turns toward her mate and adds, “What do you think, Slash?”
Marley flicks her eyes to Slash then away. In that gaze, she sees caution, which befits his station.
She senses the othersʼ approach, probably because of the huge commotion they made. Looking around her, she’s careful to never let her eyes rest on any one Were for longer than necessary. Except Tahlia. Marley can trust her. She is a good female. But if she is at the Northwestern, there is a story behind it.
Drek should have accompanied her.
Moon. By now Tahlia should be wearing his scent.
Something has gone terribly amiss.
Marley will wait until such time that she and Tahlia are assured privacy to inquire.
The females of the pack have come upon the group quietly. Nova, Devin, Jenni, little Ella, and Susan stand watching her and Tahlia. The males are Dare, Sebastian, Howard, Jake, Quill, and Brady—the scout who survived the rogue attack.
Her eyes sweep the Were. Now there are more females. And that is good. But what of the creature that follows her?
Her attentions shifts to Slash once more.
Did the scouts speak with him? Does he know that a vampire hunts her.
“Wow, not gonna lie—our numbers are improving,” Quill says into the sudden, awkward silence.
Marley had not realized things were so dire. That had not been conveyed during the negotiation of her acquisition. Her previous pack was large, but being part of a den with so many betas was dangerous.
Her eyes move to Jenni. She is Alpha. Even changed, the female might pose a problem.
Jenni’s dark eyes regard Marley’s brief scrutiny with a cool look, and Marley looks away. She does not want to invite trouble.
What she does want is a good mate who will protect her. Of course, he will be beta, as she is. But any protection is better than the kind she had before.
None.
Her eyes skate back to Tahlia, who’s began an earnest conversation with the Alpha female.
Tahlia stepped in where she could in their former pack.
Marley remembers the time she was jumped in the royal hall.
An Alpha female’s talon was a millimeter from taking out Marley’s eyeball while two others sat on her arms so there was no means of escape.
Tahlia came upon them like an avenging angel.
The female who threatened Marley’s sight had lost the hand.
Tahlia is a thing of beauty when she fights.
Marley watched while Tahlia’s limbs moved with violent grace, cutting the other females down until they writhed and bled onto the marble of the great hall.
Tahlia picked Marley up from the floor and held her, the blood of her enemies soaking their feet while her body shook from the trauma of the encounter.
Now long after the attack, Tahlia’s own parents put Marley forward as a candidate for another pack.
And with Tahlia’s imminent departure for an arranged mating with the prince of the Hoh, her savior and best friend would no longer be there to protect her. Then she would have no one.
The two from the Northwestern came shortly thereafter and decided she was acceptable. Tahlia’s sire and lady were relieved. Marley was a difficult beta to keep alive. And though they were a just, ruling pair—the two were often indifferent to the needs of the lowest members of the pack. Marley was grateful because their distant relation had secured her the choice to leave. If they had not been close blood, Marley would have been resigned to eventually being maimed—or worse.
Marley might be finally safe. She had not completely vetted the changed female, Jenni or Adi, but she did not believe Adi would allow the indiscriminate challenges that occur within a bigger, more competitive pack.
That relieved Marley. She did not want to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
Her eyes go to Slash again, and she concentrates on him, willing him to look her way so she doesn’t have to speak among the others, drawing undo attention to herself.
His head turns to her, and Marley holds her breath at the near-black, burning gaze. He is a fearsome male. Marley holds her position, continuing to stare at him, willing him to her.
Slash’s nostrils flare as he strides to her.
Marley’s fear is tangible. He will not harm me, she says to herself.
He stops a few feet from her, and though she stands tall for a female, he still towers over Marley. “You have something to tell me.”
Marley tries to say yes then realizes she squeaked instead of speaking. Clearing her throat, she tries again. “I do. May we have a private audience.”
Slash frowns. “Yes. When?”
Marley looks to the sky. The promise of night is breath on their napes. “Right away, I have something of great urgency to discuss.”
He inclines his head toward the octagonal building where she has been told they take all their meals.
Slash
His mate gave him curious eyes as he walked off with a gorgeous female.
To Adrianna’s credit, she did—and said—nothing.
And that is good, because Slash is fucking gone on Adrianna. If she doesn’t know that by now, all hope is lost.
Adrianna’s scent rides his nose, and she lays siege to his heart. There is no other for Slash.
However, this female before him is so lovely, it is almost painful to gaze on her.
Slash also senses Marley brings trouble.
He scented the change in the air, almost like a vibration as Marley, a beta, neatly called him to heel. Not physically, but as though she imbued a psychic compulsion upon him. Slash just suddenly became aware that she needed to tell him something.
And he had gone to where she stood across from him in the open meadow adjacent to their gathering building.
Is it her scent?
It would have to be, because she is Were like the rest of them. Slash sets those questions aside for the moment.
They step inside the building where Lycan have taken meals for centuries and he slides the glass door behind them.
“What do you have to say, female—Marley.” He adds the last to soften his question. She’s such a jumpy thing; he feels as though she’ll bolt if he moves a muscle.
To have trained a female to behave this way, that Redwood pack must be filled with Lanarre assholes. Slash withholds a smirk. Of course, how has that changed through the centuries? Always the same. It’s Slash’s fervent hope that he can affect change in the Northwestern and create something different—a true democracy.
He watches her calm herself with a deep breath then, “Did Howard and Jake talk to you about the creature?”
They arrived only this morning, and Slash had been busy with his mate.
A necessity.
A joy.
He frowns, thinking that he will need to prioritize what happens next. Slash has not had time to debrief his scouts. “No, the acquisition seemed pretty standard.”
Slash scowls. Speaking is not his best thing. “What I meant to say is, of course, that you’re valuable to our pack, but there was nothing about your assimilation that struck me as odd.”
“So they haven’t mentioned it.”
Slash waits, somewhat impatiently, frustrated with himself for failing to meet with the scouts earlier and not wanting to give credence to loose talk he can't confirm. Besides, he is curious to hear what occurred from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Marley seems to sense the thin thread of his nature and quickly drops the bomb. “A vampire followed us.”
He doesn’t bother to hide surprise at her delivery but he was expecting revelation to some degree. “Why?”
Marley shifts her weight, cupping her elbows. “How old are you, Slash?”
He plants his legs far apart and crosses his arms. “I fought in the Wa
r of the Ages.”
Her gaze roves his scar before coming back to his eyes, where it doesn’t stay long. In fact, Marley is an expert in almost making eye contact without ever fully doing so. Typical of a beta female who has seen too many fights of ascension.
“Oh,” she says, voice small. “I beg your forgiveness.”
Slash raises a palm. “As my mate would say, it’s no big thing.”
They smile, the comment breaking the ice.
“I too, am older.”
“You’ve done well.”
Her pale lavender eyes meet his for a moment then look away. “I survived well.”
She did.
“I have never left the pack before. You are well aware that vampires are not interested in Lycan females.”
Slash nods slowly.
“Unless they possess blood of the Singers.”
He screws his face into a frown. “I thought you Redwoods were a pure lot?”
That elicits a small smile that’s gone almost as soon as it appears.
Marley nods, twisting her fingers together. “That is true.”
Slash’s brows come together. “So you’ve been hiding a secret.”
Marley startles, momentarily forgetting to avoid his eyes, locking the ashy purple of hers with his. “I’ve suspected, but I never knew for certain until last night.”
“So you’re part Blood Singer?”
Reluctantly, Marley nods, giving a helpless shrug. “So it would seem, through simple deduction. I can do some unique things. Things I’ve hidden because…”
Slash can fill in the rest easily enough. Marley doesn’t close her comment with what they both know would have been in store for her had others been privy to her mixed-blood status in a pack like the Redwood: death.
Typically, Lanarre packs do not tolerate mixed bloods. Reds or common Lycan aren’t as choosy when it comes to females. If they change and can be bred, they are valuable. Period.
Not Lanarre royalty; they’re a different animal. Slash feels the ghost of a smile come and immediately vanish. “So you’re Were enough to pass.”
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