Dominion: A Shifter of Consequence Tale (Shifters of Consequence Book 4)

by Mazzy J March

  “You need to get some rest.” She circled my shoulders with an arm and led me to an armchair. “The pack will be here in a bit to carry Mirella to her rest, and, as her family, you will have a role. You’ll want to speak about your great-grandmother, to honor her.”

  I buried my face in my hands and wept some more. I’d done a lot of that during the night, too, but this time would be the last. Christie was right. I’d need to be strong, and Mirella wouldn’t be proud of me if I sat and cried during her burial. So, I let the last of it out, and when I had no more tears to cry, I stood up and took the few steps to Mirella’s side. Dropping to my knees, I lifted her poor cold hand and held it in my warm ones.

  “Grams, I promise revenge against whoever did this to you. They will pay.” I pressed a kiss to her fingers. “You gave me the gift of family when I had none, and now, you’re right, I have a new family, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want you to be part of it. I believe you could see all the things coming up, but I wanted to share them with you.

  “I even had a dress to surprise you with for the ceremony.” Christie and I had picked one out, but I hadn’t shown it to her yet because I thought she’d be so tickled. We’d take her to the salon and all get our hair done together…we’d do the whole thing. It would have been so special.

  And I’d been robbed of that. Mirella had been robbed of it. The whole pack had been robbed of her sweet and essential presence.

  “What’s that?’ Christie ran to the window and looked out. “They’re coming.” She waved me over. “And there is someone with them.”

  I stood, my legs a little wobbly. “Someone like the alpha?”

  “Someone like a Rattlecreek.”

  Every muscle tensed, and my wolf prowled, snarling inside me. I held her back with difficulty because I had to trust my mates knew what they were doing. But I didn’t want whoever it was, that Rattlecreek, in Mirella’s house while she still lay there, the victim of one of them.

  Perhaps the one who even now was being dragged up the steps by Cash. My other mates followed, but he had the man’s arm gripped behind his back, tightly enough pain twisted the thin, ugly Rattlecreek’s features. Or perhaps it was the leg he dragged behind him, likely broken. I found it hard to care. Somehow, my healer’s instincts were not coming to the forefront at this moment.

  My wolf wanted to shred him.

  I stepped out onto the porch. “Who is this?”

  Cash flung him at my feet like an injured rodent. “This killed Mirella.”

  I stared down at him, at the thing that killed my one living relative. He cowered before me. “Why did you bring him here?”

  “We need to question him more, and we thought you might want to ask some as well.”

  Did I want to ask him questions? No…I wanted to hurt him over and over until he passed out in a pool of blood and misery and then wake him up and do it again. I wanted to take everything from him, including his life.

  Taking…

  Mirella had warned me the taking could overwhelm all good things. If I dropped all humanity, everything that made my wolf so good, I’d be killing parts of both of us. I wondered if it could result in loss of the purity of my gift. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t make use of the taking. I just had to do it right.

  “I have one question.” I bent down and grabbed his hair and jerked his face up toward me. “And you will answer it on your own, or I will reach inside and take it from you. What do you know about your pack’s plans? When will they strike?” Because with everything that happened tonight, I had a bad feeling.

  He stared through me. Not a word.

  Cash drew back a fist. “Let me convince him.”

  “No.” I waved him off. “Let me take it.” I focused on the man whose greasy hair I still gripped. I’d be washing my hands for hours. Pushing my disgust aside, I reached into him, as I’d threatened. I found a cesspool of fear, anger, and hatred. Gray-green, slimy, and rotting. But I had to wade through that to get to the answer to my question.

  Unfortunately, this pathetic murderous creature was a very low-level soldier and didn’t know much beyond what he’d been ordered to do, or watch his family tortured. Just as I thought I’d find nothing worthwhile, I did run across one thought.

  “They are attacking tomorrow.”

  My mates never missed a beat. They each grabbed a limb and hauled the Rattlecreek off I knew not where. I went inside to sit with Mirella again, wondering if we were ready. I hoped so.

  My mates came back and escorted me to the alpha’s house for a final council of war. Everyone had been training hard. There wasn’t much more we could do to prepare. But if anything happened to any one of my mates, I knew I’d lose the restraint that helped me not use my gift to harm that Rattlecreek. I’d be crazed with grief and not responsible for my actions.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  We slept together that night, in a puppy pile even Moss’s California king had trouble with. But I wanted them all with me—all together. Because no matter how much confidence I had in my mates, in the back of my head was one squirming thought.

  Tonight could be the last time we were all together.

  When the first rays of the morning filtered through the window, I was already awake, my eyes burning from getting zero sleep and my muscles achy.

  “Mate, did you sleep at all?” Brandon’s voice broke through my worry and forced me to focus on the present. His hair was ruffled from sleep as he stretched out next to me, almost kicking Moss in the side. “It’s barely dawn.”

  “I don’t think so. Doesn’t feel like it. I know that much,” I answered, eyeing the puzzle of entangled arms and legs around me, trying to discern a way to get out without jostling them all.

  Today was the day. We didn’t know what time and we didn’t know from where we were going to be attacked, but we knew today Rattlecreek was going to attack one way or the other.

  As we all disentangled, Brandon’s phone rang, and my stomach sank to the ground.

  “They entered through the east border. It’s happening.”

  He put the phone into his shorts pocket while the others talked strategy.

  “I love you all,” I blurted, fear gripping my throat and making my words strangled and clipped. “I just wanted to say it before you leave.”

  Quickly, they each hugged and kissed me and were gone in an instant, grunts and growls coming before their shift. I stood at the foot of the stairs as the ground quaked with their pounding paws as they went to their war—Rattlecreek’s war.

  Escher came back, his black wolf whining a little at me.

  “What?” I asked. He bumped his nose against my hip , trying to get me to go inside. Inside, as though sheetrock and wood could stop a pack of wolves. “I’m going on the porch, but no farther.”

  He huffed out a breath through his nose then sprinted away. I took in the sight, wondering and hoping it wasn’t the last time I’d see my men.

  I stood, leaning over the railing of the back porch, not able to look away.

  “Wendi, what the hell? Get inside!” Christie barked at me only seconds before I saw why. In my peripheral, I saw a group of wolves come from the tree line , not far from where I’d been kidnapped. Their teeth were bared and spittle dripped from their mouths like they were starving for violence.

  “Christie!” I screamed as she shifted in place, shredding her clothes. She barreled toward the group of wolves with no fear whatsoever, at least it didn’t look like it to me. She went straight for the first wolf in the pack and bit into his neck. He jumped back, surprise evident in his wide eyes.

  Their females must not fight back.

  I looked around to see if someone was coming to help Christie. I reached for the hem of my shirt, willing to shift and help her, when a darker brown wolf appeared in the clearing from nowhere. The wolf was large and, as he stomped the ground, clumps of dirt kicked up in his wake.

  Samson, the alpha. I knew it was him.

  He’d come to help h
er.

  They fought together in perfect sync. Christie would hold down one wolf while Samson sank his teeth right into its neck, or Samson would kick a wolf who was trying to get to her.

  I was so completely engrossed in their fighting it was too late by the time I noticed a wolf right in front of me, growling, pacing back and forth as if deciding how to take me down.

  Not this female.

  Let me at him.

  My pleasure. I shifted in place and faced the silverish wolf. His pacing stopped, and he postured, raising his head and lunging at me, testing my resolve.

  These assholes needed to be taught a lesson—once and for all.

  I managed to fake him out, feinting to the right. He stepped back and did the stupidest thing a wolf could do—inadvertently exposed his neck to me. My wolf didn’t hesitate. She pounced forward, teeth sharp and at the ready, and targeted the throbbing pulse underneath the fur. My human side cringed as her teeth reached skin then muscle and finally bone as she went for the kill. The other wolf howled, collapsing to the ground.

  His throbbing pulse slowed as I pulled my mouth away, blood hemorrhaging from the wound while more dripped from my open mouth.

  The wolf quivered once as he changed from animal to man.

  I’d killed him.

  Taken his life.

  And it was only the beginning. More wolves came for me as Christie and Samson fought alongside me. We took them out one by one until our once peaceful pack lands looked more like a slaughterhouse.

  The ground was soiled with blood and chunks of fur.

  “We have to help the others,” Christie said, pulling me from the aftermath.

  “Where?” I asked. We had shifted back, but there was no time to relish what had been done.

  We had more war to deal with.

  We shifted, and Christie led the way across the lands. I skidded to a halt after seeing the scene. What we’d dealt with before was nothing compared to the carnage before me.

  My mates were savage. Blood clung to their fur and matted it to their lean bodies as they fought. The sounds of gnashing teeth and cries of pain filled the air and made me wince.

  I counted my mates as I saw them like a mother counts her children at the mall, making sure they were all accounted for.

  I must’ve done that a thousand times as the fighting continued.

  Another group of wolves broke off from the rest and attacked Christie, Samson, and me. These wolves were much faster, but between the three of us, we managed to take them down without a problem.

  Well, much of a problem.

  I whirled as the sound of pain came from Samson. One of the wolves had clawed into his side, and, as he shifted to human, I could see the large gash underneath his ribs.

  “Samson!” Christie cried out, now on two legs and running toward him.

  I turned and looked over my shoulder, caught between helping my mates and doing what I knew I was born to do—heal him.

  All of my mates were fierce and, though the numbers were stacked against them and the other pack members, they had it covered.

  I had to heal the alpha. And if Christie stayed, I feared she’d lose some of the respect she’d fought so hard to attain. Plus, as worried as she was, she’d likely get underfoot and make it harder for me to do my job, for the alpha to concentrate.

  “Christie, go.” Samson’s low growl cut through the tension between us. “I’ll be fine, won’t I, Healer?” He glanced at me then returned his attention to Christie.

  “Yes, alpha, you’ll be fine. Right as rain by the time Christie gets back to us.”

  “You hear that, Christie?” He reached up a hand, and she tucked hers into it. “I’ll be fine, but I need my best warriors finishing up this mess. You can represent me, fill me in on everything when you get back.” He winced and sucked in a breath. “I hate not being out there, but it seems I have no choice.”

  “Represent you.” Christie brought his hand to her lips and kissed his fingers then released him and stepped back. “I will not let you down, alpha.” She gave a little bow from the waist, her braid flipping forward over her shoulder, then she straightened and smiled.

  “Just be careful.” His warning did not dim the light in her eyes as she shifted to her wolf and bounded off. “If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself,” he muttered, but I pretended not to hear.

  “Let’s get you home, alpha.” I looked around and spotted two young wolves who probably shouldn’t have even been on the field of battle. They were still in their late teens, so I grabbed the opportunity to get them out of harm’s way and use their youthful strength at the same time.

  “Warden, Harmen, this way.” I stuck my fingers in my mouth and let out a whistle, catching their attention. “Your alpha requires your assistance.” Moments like these really made me speak like someone from another age. Samson arched a brow, his lips pinched with pain.

  The two wolves bounded over and, at a wave from Samson, shifted to two legs. I’d watched them at practice and also seen them earlier in the day, and the young men who stood before me now were wiser and more sober than the enthusiastic, bragging boys who’d planned to take down the enemy all by themselves if necessary. They’d grown up some, and I hoped it would teach them there was no glamour in war.

  I wanted to use a litter, but the alpha insisted they just help him to his feet then he slung a shoulder over each of theirs for support. Luckily, we weren’t far from the houses, and especially Samson’s home.

  “Alpha, I think it would be better if you come to Moss’s house, to my office, where I have everything I need.” I paced him, hoping to change his mind because he’d ordered the boys to take him there.

  “I think you can bring whatever you need to mine, Wendi.” He sounded out of breath and in pain. “When everyone gets back, I need to be at my desk and ready to take their reports. Whatever you need to do, make sure I am able to do those things.”

  My gift had its two facets, giving and taking, and it occurred to me I’d always thought of the giving as healing but the taking as a bad thing, a negative thing. I could heal him, but I’d also want to clean his wound well, which would be painful.

  “Fine.” I accompanied them to the alpha’s house steps then veered off. “Take the stubborn man to his office, boys, and keep him conscious until I get there.” Because I had to have some revenge for his stubbornness. “I’ll be back in about five minutes.”

  I took off at a run for Moss’s house and pounded up the steps to the door. Slamming inside, I raced for my examination room and grabbed my medical bag—actually a purse/backpack I’d picked up in town and found useful for the purpose. Brown leather, distressed like a bomber jacket, with a wolf emblazoned on the pocket. That little silver face had made the sale. I had most emergency items in it already, but I needed a few more things. With them piled inside, I headed for the alpha’s place.

  I entered the office to find Samson seated at his desk, but his head was down on his desk. His helpers stood on either side of him, expressions stricken.

  “We tried,” Warden insisted. “We tried to keep him conscious, but he yelled at us, and then he was out.”

  “He yelled at you?” Because the alpha never actually yelled at anyone. He didn’t have to.

  “Uh, maybe not yelled.” Harmen, the other boy, admitted. “But he told us to take our fucking hands off him then he sort of faded out. I was, that is, we were afraid if we woke him up, he might be mad.”

  “And you weren’t afraid of me?” I plopped my bag on the desk, managing to include both of them in my glare.

  “No.” Warden swallowed hard. “But we probably should have been. Are you going to do something to us?”

  I hesitated while they squirmed. “Not now,” I decided finally. “Carry the alpha to the sofa and lay him down on his back so I can get to that wound.” I tapped my foot a couple of times. “And do it now!”

  I had to slow them down or they would have dragged him there. I probably shouldn�
�t have been so feisty, but I didn’t know who else I might have to treat, so I needed to deal with this right now and be available to any others. In my office.

  “Hold him steady,” I told them. “This is going to hurt.” When they had a firm hold on his arms and legs, I lifted his shirt, easing the sticky fabric from his wound, and examined the laceration. It was deep and ugly, but as long as I made sure it was clean, I could apply my gift and he’d be almost as good as new.

  I filled the deep gash with antiseptic, and steeled myself against his pathetic whimper. So not the alpha and not as he’d be if he was conscious. When I was confident I’d dealt with any bits of dirt or other debris, I eased back and prepared to seal the wound. By now, he was thrashing, the pain more than anyone, even an alpha, could easily handle.

  And I realized this was where the “taking” came in. I could “give” healing, but could I “take” pain? This man had to deal with his pack in an hour or two, and he needed to be at full strength. I couldn’t even heal the wound until he stopped fighting and making it worse. So, I grabbed on to the idea, with really no idea how it worked here and I “took” his pain.

  Into myself.

  My knees wobbled, and I came close to dropping to the floor, but I still had to heal him…couldn’t collapse right now. If this was what he’d felt like, I didn’t know how he’d been able to talk. Vibrating with agony, I watched him settle down, and with the last bit of strength I had, I teased the wound closed. The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was his clear gaze watching me. I’d made a huge mistake in taking all the pain. I should have stopped halfway, then maybe we both could have done our job. But for now, he was sitting up and I was falling backward to the floor.

  My mates were going to kill me for not being more careful.