Emperor pulled away the robes. When I studied the claw marks, my eyes narrowed.
Please let me be wrong…please, please…
“By my hide, they match the ones on the murdered mage boy, Kolby.” Moon’s mouth was tight. “This is how the rotten bastards killed him. It’s why there was no scent of wolves and the pattern of attack was wrong…but the claw marks…”
I nodded.
What could I say? Sorry my aunt is a psychopath who framed your kingdoms for the murder of a mage boy, so that she’d have an excuse to start a war…?
Honestly, maybe that would be a good start.
It chilled me how well Stella had planned tonight’s entertainment. Yet what she hadn’t reckoned on was that now she’d made me the official Wolf Charmer. I’d passed the test. That made me the one and only, and even though I’d started all of this not knowing a damn thing about her witchy world, what I did know was this: The Wolf Charmer had political clout.
Wolf Charmers could spark wars, win them, and they could end them. So, now I could…my way.
I stared out at the sea of witches who were watching me with expressions of curiosity, hostility, and who the hell does she think she is?
Ivy and Lux stood either side of Stella’s chair like dark bodyguards. My stomach roiled at the thought that my pack wasn’t complete, not while my mage fiancé was still trapped in the House of Blood.
Without him, I was still leashed.
I wet my dry lips, as I faced Ivy. “No Aquilo tonight? Is he too busy washing his white hair to come and see me?”
Moon elbowed me — oomph. I forgot that he was Aquilo’s fanboy.
Ivy became rigid, holding the back of Stella’s throne so hard that her fingers sank into the fur. “He’s dead.”
My vision blurred, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
My knees buckled, and I fell to the floor. I clasped desperately at Moon, as he knelt next to me, whining and nuzzling against my neck. The Ambassador was weeping and rocking too beside Stella.
Aquilo couldn’t be dead…it wasn’t the end of the month…not dead…dead…dead…
I let out a scream, and my shadows burst from me in a torrent of tears that cast the chamber into a red twilight.
Had I been fighting the wrong battle tonight?
“Wow, you truly do like that snobby little Bloods boy,” Stella laughed. I struggled to hear her over the red wailing through both Moon’s grief and mine. “Despite the fact that he’s a mage, I guess that this proves it’s the right match.”
I blinked up at her through my matted eyelashes.
Say Aquilo’s not dead…say it…say it…
“He’s not dead.” Lux studied me, although not with the cruelty that I’d expected. Then she added with an angry glance at her mom. “Although I believe that he wishes he was.”
“You…bitch.” I rose up with Moon growling at my side.
My red lashed the walls now in furious waves. Attempting to kill me…? Weirdly, I was getting used to that. Throwing me to the wolves…? I’d come back stronger, leading my own pack. But tricking me that the guy I…had clearly becoming way fonder of than I’d known…that was a dick move.
I’d make these witches regret it.
Ivy’s eyes glowed wine-red. “My goodness, you act like you didn’t reject my home and guidance or my son didn’t recklessly turn on his own mother. I offered him to the Rebel Academy, you know, but even they wouldn’t take him with your magical engagement. You’re bound to him by blood. I attempted to bind his magic with a branding—”
Stella wrapped a curl around her finger. “And you can thank me for stopping her. He’s yours to brand; it’s always a deeply intimate occasion. Just ask if you want ideas for what kinky fun to have afterward.”
Mischief stalked towards them with his wings gleaming. “Desist your spiteful wittering. This is your Wolf Charmer: you shall respect her.” The covens fell silent in shock, staring at him with wide eyes. Stella simply arched her brow. His smile at her was all death; holy hell, I hoped that he never smiled at me like that. “You tiny creatures believe that branding and binding others gives you the control. I promise that you shall learn by my hand how insignificant you truly are, and afterward, not one of you shall dare shatter a mage in such a way again. If you do,” his wings spread in violet glory, “I shall shatter your world.”
Stella slow clapped. “Well, that’s me told.”
Then she clicked her fingers, and the front of Dual’s cage fell open. I glanced around, as the vampire crawled out, wincing at the pull on his muscles. He pushed himself to his feet, rolling his shoulders and stretching his wings out.
“Winners get rewards.” Stella pointed at Dual. “Slaughter him, shag him, take him to a movie. He’s yours.”
Thanks, Aunt Stella, for turning me into the dick slaveowner again.
Dual raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, sorry but I don’t do owned. I’m a duke and I run my own court. Now, if any of you sweeties are offering to be mine…”
He winked at Moon who pinked, before slinking towards me with a swing of his hips. Dual snatched my hand and raised it to his lips. Then his gaze met mine; it blazed with an intense sincerity that shocked me, as he tenderly kissed the back of my hand.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
Then I eeped, as Dual spun me closer, cocooning me in his wings. His fangs grazed my neck. I shuddered, wrapped in the citrus scent, which was like blood oranges, of his warm wings. His feathers were soft, whilst his teeth made my skin tingle for more.
“You’ll step away from our Charmer now,” Moon’s growl sliced through the passion of the moment, “or I’ll make you. Remember how I can do that…?”
Dual’s jaw clenched, and I winced.
When I’d first met Dual, I’d asked Moon to demonstrate his power to mind control vampires and angels on him. The demonstration had included forcing Dual to tell us his most secret sexual fantasy, and it’d turned out that becoming the Prince of the Wilds’ Daddy Dom had been Dual’s dream.
So, Moon could boot a guy in the balls…
Yet I wanted to know whether Dual truly did know Aquilo, and I couldn’t help the way that I felt safe in the sparkling sweetness of his wings. Maybe his court wasn’t such a bad option for a base. Except, was that how he lulled naïve assholes into becoming his Blood Lovers…?
I didn’t need Moon to save me.
Instead, I yanked Dual’s head back by his braids; he hissed but didn’t struggle. Then I slowly lowered my mouth to his throat, and he didn’t flinch but leaned towards me with a sigh. I bit down with my blunt teeth, before sucking a hickey to mark him.
I was standing in front of a coven of witches, having defeated mechanical monsters, with my pack of angels, mages, gods, and wolves at my side. Did Moon seriously think that I was frightened of one vampire?
He should be frightened of me.
Dual let out a breathy laugh. “Sorry, prince, but your Charmer doesn’t appear to be in agreement.” When I let go, he pressed his lips against my mouth as if he was going to kiss me, but instead whispered, “Blood and bones, you’re as special as Aquilo says.”
I jerked, but Dual held on tightly with his wings, splaying his hand along the hollow of my back.
“As fun as it always is to watch a witch and a vampire getting it on,” Stella pulled a face, “we do have a schedule to keep.”
She snatched the Ambassador by the scruff of the neck, before pressing her hand over his collar. With a yowl, the Ambassador transformed into a silvery gray wolf. He was small and pretty with a sleek tail that he tucked between his legs, cowering before my aunt.
I pulled back from Dual, desperate to stroke the Ambassador and calm his desperate whimpering.
It was the night of the full moon. The wolves could transform. Were they scared to show their wolf forms to the witches?
Amadeus launched himself towards the Ambassador, even though Moon tried to hold him back. He skidded to his knees in front of him, stroking
his sleek head. The Ambassador rubbed his cheek against Amadeus, whilst Amadeus hugged his neck.
Stella laughed. “Such devotion between princes. We should have the two play together.”
I stiffened, glancing out at the other witches. They appeared as anxious as me; their gazes darted between Stella and me like we were evenly matched boxers in a ring, and I’d been the underdog who’d suddenly surged back, so that they no longer knew who to bet on. I understood their insecure expressions now. The Wolf Charmer was revered, but the Bloods and Stella knew me as a kid, more than viewing me as some legendary figure.
But these other covens didn’t.
I pulled away from Dual, puffing out my chest, as I sensed victory for the first time. “Seriously, stop acting like you’re still the boss.” I forced a cruel smile to dance across my face, just like I’d seen on Stella’s so many times. Hey, I could act like an asshole too. “I’m the Wolf Charmer now. I decide what happens to my Charms and the wolves. There won’t be a war tonight because I already control Wolf Kingdom. Look how I fought. All three princes, an angel, and a god under my shadows.” I twisted back to Dual who with only a slight huff, dropped to his knees. “Even the Fallen Duke. Not bad going, since I’ve only been in Oxford for a week. Think what I could achieve in a year.”
Excited mutterings swept through the audience — I had them.
Stella ran her hand down the Ambassador’s back, yanking him closer to her by his tail. When he yelped, I remembered how sensitive Moon’s tail had been in wolf form.
Amadeus scrambled to hold onto the Ambassador, but Stella fixed a muzzle that was shaped weirdly like a gas mask over the Ambassador’s distressed face.
“And no more muzzles,” I hissed.
Stella slumped back on her throne, whilst Ivy and Lux prowled either side of her. “You can’t stop the war starting because the war never stopped. Do you want to know a secret, which was hidden from the Wolf Charmers?” When Stella smiled, I realized that my attempt hadn’t been even close to her cruelty level. “The Treaty was never more than a ceasefire. But your great-grandmother was too taken by the sinful beauty of the beasts to kill them all; like you, she’d rather screw them, than put them down.” Moon slipped his hand into mine; tremors ran through him, and I remembered how I’d found him in the REJECT cell, waiting to be terminated, if I hadn’t chosen him. “Maybe it’s a flaw in all Wolf Charmers. Your crimson shadows are a corruption that allow the beasts too close. But unlike your great-grandmother, mum, or you, the red isn’t in me…and I can finish them.”
When the Ambassador whined, I sniffed at the weirdly sweet scent that all of a sudden rose up from the floor.
“Fur and fangs, she’s gassing us with the Wolf Tamer,” Moon gasped.
Then I choked, as Stella’s magic poisoned my pack with a cloud of toxic gas.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I gagged on the silvery cloud that flooded the Justice Chamber, holding my arm across my streaming eyes. My nose wrinkled against the sweet scent of the Wolf Tamer, which had been magically transformed into a gas attack.
Where were the UN to enforce their ban on chemical weapons, huh? Now I understood the Ambassador’s muzzle: it actually had been a gas mask.
My Charms, who were whining and staggering in the chemical fog, however, didn’t have masks to protect them. What if they’d already inhaled enough poison to kill them?
My heart lurched, as Moon staggered. His hand slipped out of mine, and his eyelids fluttered. He was being dragged down by the drug.
I couldn’t lose him to the Wolf Tamer again…
“Jesus, get them out of here,” I hollered at the angels.
“I can’t…my wing.” Ramiel’s gashed wing drooped, as his agonized gaze rose to mine.
My aunt had stopped my angel flying…? Okay, now I was pissed.
Ramiel still dived to Emperor, as Emperor slumped over, cracking his head on the ground. To my surprise, Dual caught Moth and covered him with his body like he could shield him, just as the Ambassador whined and curled around Amadeus.
Mischief nodded, stretching out his wings and snatching Moon into his arms.
“Nay, h-hold on…not me…t-take my brother…” Moon slurred.
Mischief gritted his teeth, meeting my eye with flinty determination. Then his wings wrapped around Moon, who slumped like a rag doll, and swooped up with him to the high roof above the gas.
Safe.
Yet why had Mischief saved Moon, rather than this brother? If we survived, Moon would seriously sink his teeth into Mischief…and more likely his sweet ass than his throat.
My shadows burst out of me, wrapping around my remaining Charms and Moth, ready to pin them in sticky webs to the ceiling as well. I’d promised to never use my powers without consent but saving them had to be a loop hole, right?
Yet it was too late because they’d already collapsed like a series of fainting dominoes. Instantly, the gas dispersed, leaving nothing but its sickly scent behind…and the guys that I loved… No hex in the world would make me think dead.
Breathing hard, I dashed to Emperor, crouching next to him. I brushed my hand across his cold forehead; his cheek was purple and bruising where he’d fallen. I brushed his hair back because if he woke up with his hair messed-up, he’d be moaning for hours.
He was going to wake up.
I raised my shaky hand to his lips; my palm brushed their petal softness.
I felt a breath, then another, and another…ghost light but puffing across my palm.
I let out a laugh that was more of a sob, sitting back on my heels.
“Such drama over a beast, no matter how beautiful he is,” Stella scoffed.
I stiffened. It was funny how you could forget that you had an audience when you thought that your Charms had been killed….or honestly, not freaking funny at all.
I stood, turning to face Stella. When I pointed at her, I noticed that my hand was no longer shaking. In fact, red hissed down it like a blade. “Trust me, I’m done dicking around with diplomacy or tricks. If you attack me, then I can live with it. But you attacked my wolves with their greatest fear, and that makes me your greatest fear.”
Stella slunk out of the chair, stepping over Amadeus like he was litter. My jaw tightened.
Stella waggled her hands. “Oh, I’m quaking over here.” Then she turned to the covens like this had all been a demonstration put on for them. Woah, maybe it had. “Look how effective the Wolf Tamer is in gas form! The beasts are incapacitated in a matter of moments but not killed. They wouldn’t be able to run, even if they weren’t caged tonight. I have Wolf Tamer missiles ready to launch at a word from me on the three kingdoms. This was just a small taster dose that I kept here to show you. How did you like the show, ladies?” She winked at the witches who applauded politely; Stella should’ve gone into sales.
“And the kids?” I gestured at Moth who was cradled by Dual; his moon-pale curls rested on Dual’s dark shoulder. If Stella did this, she’d be committing genocide just like my great-grandmother. Did she think that would finally make her a legend as well, rather than simply another tyrannical asshole? I had to stop her. “I take it you don’t care that you’re not only gassing fighters but all the civilians too?”
“Every wolf is guilty; every wolf must pay,” Stella snarled, stalking towards me. “Don’t you get it yet? This is all your fault.” She poked me in the chest on each word, quivering with rage. “If you hadn’t been so weak, then tonight you and I would’ve reveled together in the centennial celebrations of the defeat of the wolves. Tonight would’ve been when we took vengeance — together. Why do you think I called you back to England?”
I shook my head, whilst blinking back tears. When I was younger and painted canvas after canvas of wolves arching in agony, I’d have done anything to be offered a night to avenge my parents’ deaths. The offer of a place next to my aunt and with the covens as their Wolf Charmer, whilst exiled with the non-magical in America, had been my dream.
Bu
t now it was my nightmare.
I couldn’t let it become every shifters’ nightmare as well. I shuddered at the image of the caged wolves panicking as they choked on the gas, before collapsing — vulnerable to anything the witches chose to do.
Would the witches kill the Omegas who weren’t perfect and pretty enough like last time?
I cocked my head. “It must suck for you that I don’t give a damn about any of that. It’s kind of like you don’t get it yet: as your new Wolf Charmer, I outrank you.” My grin was feral. “And I prefer the moonlight.”
When I looked up, Mischief nodded. Still holding Moon tightly in his arms, silver magic burst from his beating wings, blasting through the walls of the chamber.
I shivered at the thrill of his magic, as it tingled through my crimson.
Maybe I do have a thing for powerful guys.
The witches shrieked and covered their heads. The beams of the full moon shone through like spears over the collapsed bodies of the mechanical wolves and onto my motionless pack. To my shock, despite being unconscious, my Charms and Moth shifted into their wolf forms.
Amadeus lay next to the Ambassador: two silver gray wolves like brothers. Amadeus was as elegantly beautiful in wolf form as he was a Beta, with fur that glimmered. I wished that I could see his eyes, but you know, he wasn’t free in this form, he was trapped by the Wolf Tamer. The Ambassador whined, nudging at Amadeus’ muzzle in comfort.
A small wolf — Moth — was enfolded in Dual’s arms; Dual’s black hair fell like a veil over Moth’s white fur.
Hold on…gray, white, and…
Emperor would be revealing his black Alpha fur to the world, which considering a male Alpha was seen as Cursed and killed at birth, wasn’t a good thing. He’d been forced to hide this secret his entire life with the help of the butterfly tattoo on his chest and hair dye to pretend that he too was a perfect Omega, rather than an Alpha. He’d spent every full moon caged where he couldn’t be seen, at his mom’s order because let’s face it, she was a dickhead. Only his sister had saved him from being ripped apart by his mom as a baby.
Only Pretty Betas: A Shifter Paranormal Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 2) Page 16