Pack Ivory Emerald

by Stunich, C. M.

  My pack, little and incomplete such as it was, read the expression as a threat. Che stalked forward until I held up a hand to stop him.

  With a snarl, he collapsed his massive black body on the path near my feet with a grumble, violet eyes shimmering with frustration. It wasn't easy for a werewolf to handle disrespect, especially not when it was being directed by the leader of a perceived rival group.

  'Relax, Che, we need her help.'

  I missed Montgomery terribly in that moment. Maybe I just missed him, period?

  'She's challenging you,' he growled, and you know what? He was right. In that moment however, there was nothing I could do about it that wouldn't end in bloodshed and death.

  “Your Majesty,” I greeted with a small bow before rising to my feet and lifting my chin. I would show the fae queen respect, but I wouldn't grovel. My nature wouldn't allow it. “As you can see, as a gesture of goodwill between Pack Ebon Red and the Unseelie Court, we present you with the return of this faerie treasure.”

  “Mm,” the fae queen mused, walking in a slow circle around me, the translucent trail of her dress dragging along behind her, collecting leaves and sticks and the bones of some long-dead rodent that I didn't recognize by smell. That's one of the most terrifying things a wolf can experience: the sudden loss of scent as the ultimate sense. Yes, I could still smell but everything in Faerie was foreign to me. It was like seeing in a whole new spectrum of color, and I didn't like it. “You bring with you a treasure that was rightfully ours, that has always been ours, and you call that a gift?”

  I stood strong and still, letting the boys create a small half circle around me. Their nearness gave me strength when what I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to sleep until it was all over.

  That wasn't like me, not like me at all, and I didn't like it.

  'Zara,' Anubis said, big wolf-y head low to the ground, 'she's going to want to bargain with you; don't take any of her deals. We've already given her the cauldron, and our purpose here is not to make deals: it's simply to foster the promise of an alliance against a common enemy.'

  I made no indication that I was taking advice from my mate, instead standing tall and stoic as I waited for the fae queen to finish circling me.

  “It is not a gift,” I said carefully, keeping my ebon eyes trained on her lithe, lavender-skinned form. If she wanted to kill me, there was little I could do about it. As far as things went, in this game, I wasn't queen yet. No, I was just one of the pawns. “It's a promise.”

  The fae queen paused and tilted her head to one side, studying me.

  “A promise?” she asked, voice as soft as silk but edged with a cutting blade. “How so?”

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I said, using the cliched phrase to my advantage. It was simple, direct. I wasn't here to play faerie games or make bargains in which I never came out on top. “There's a war on Mother Earth that affects us all.” I held up my wrist and its tattoo for her inspection, and the queen's mouth flattened into a thin line.

  She was a demigod … but so was I.

  “The last remaining Forest Spirit has passed on,” she murmured, glancing off into the shadowed darkness of the trees. Daylight was on us finally, but under the thick canopy of the forest, it may as well have been night. “You,” she continued as she turned back to me, “you are to take his place.”

  I didn't know how to respond to that. Honestly, she probably knew more about the whole situation than even I did. But I couldn't let her know that. No, my life depended on her not knowing that.

  “We want the same thing,” I said, repeating her daughter's words. “Balance. None of us will have that if my people falter.”

  “What is it you expect of me?” the queen asked, trailing her fingers around the rim of the cauldron. I opened my mouth to respond to her when the very purposeful snapping of a twig drew both our attentions.

  Malak, the glittering prince of the Seelie, strode into the clearing like he was expecting a fight. The sword in his hand very clearly gave away his intention. His eyes met mine, and a violent shudder went through me. I very much wanted to rip him apart.

  'Keep him away from Faith,' Anubis warned, circling around behind me to put himself between the prince and my best friend.

  “Oh?” the Unseelie Queen whispered, baring her teeth in what most definitely was not intended to be a smile. “The Seelie Court is sending a prince to do a king's job?”

  “Not exactly,” another voice replied, just before I felt a wave of raw magic wash over us. The Seelie King was a force to be reckoned with, and I hadn't even seen the asshole yet. His voice alone was enough to give me goose bumps. It was like the softest pluck of a harp, the gentlest whisper of a kiss, but with a thread of violence and a love for pain layered underneath, a requiem for the dead disguised as the notes of a love song.

  'We need to get out of here,' Silas warned, just before the Unseelie Queen waved her hand over the cauldron … and turned it into a goblet. She took a swig then tore a necklace from her throat, handing both over to me.

  “Take that glamour and go,” she said, locking sloe-eyes on mine and holding my gaze. “And take the cauldron. If I'm not dead, I'll find you later. If I am, you are welcome to find my court and bargain with the treasure for amnesty.”

  The queen reached into her long, dark hair and withdrew a single bone, flicking her wrist and turning it into a sword. Magic swirled in the clearing, thick and cloying and carrying with it that very distinct burnt sugar and old bone smell.

  “Malak?” Faith whispered, just before the Seelie King stepped out from the trees, his skin the same ebony color as his son's, his eyes a blue so pale they were nearly white. His aura was choking, so strong and beautiful that I felt tears come to my eyes. I could only imagine the effect that he'd have on a human. And even if Faith was on her way to joining the ranks of wolves, she wasn't there yet.

  I drank the glamour in the small glass vial, and shivered as its magic rippled through me in a powerful wave, shifting and leaving the cauldron—now goblet—for Jax to grab.

  'Get on!' I shouted at Faith, snapping at her and making her scream when she hesitated for too long, her eyes drawn to the epic battle raging behind me.

  Stick around here for too long and we were bound to end up in serious trouble. Faith must've sensed the truth of that—and must've been making good progress on her way to recovering from the faerie toxins—because she did what I asked without much hesitation.

  The boys and I took off through the trees, and we didn't look back.

  It was nightfall again when we stopped, collapsing in a small meadow of clovers bathed in silver moonlight. We still had no map, and no idea of where to go, but putting distance between ourselves and the Seelie was paramount to our survival.

  Faith rolled off of my back and hit the ground with a groan, curled up on her side in her dirt-streaked camisole and panties, her legs and arms bloodied from the thick foliage of the forest. We'd come out of the woods a while back, sprinting through a meadow that might've been picturesque if not for the things that watched us, barely seen and hidden with magic. My wolf could sense them though, and she ran like her life depended on it.

  I'm certain that it really and truly did.

  But here, wherever here was, it was quiet. I didn't sense anything, didn't see anything, didn't smell anything.

  “I want to go home,” Faith murmured, curled up tight and sobbing softly. I bet her legs hurt pretty badly. I hadn't exactly been cantering with a rider in mind. No, I just ran as fast and hard as I could. But I'd heard humans complain about their thighs aching after riding a horse for the first time, so I imagined this was much the same.

  I moved over to Faith and shifted as easily as I breathed, kneeling down beside her and stroking my fingers through her hair.

  'Do you think it's safe for me to make a fire?' Jax asked, still in wolf form. The guys would probably stay that way for the majority of our time here in Faerie. If it weren't for Faith, I
'd still be rocking a fur coat, too. What was the point of being a weak, naked, vulnerable human in a land full of things that would very gladly eat our flesh if given the opportunity?

  “Make a fire,” I said aloud, trying to give Faith the comfort of human speech. “This glamour, whatever it is, is powerful.” I looked up at the white wolf standing beside me and then reached out to run my fingers along the side of his face. Just like that first day, when I'd seen him sitting in the Hall, tongue lolling, eyes laughing at me, there was a mischievous streak in Jax that my wolf wanted to tame, and my human side wanted to embrace. “I think it's the only reason we've gotten this far.” I sat down in the clovers, the dewy leaves tickling my bare ass. As much as I was wolf, as much as my nakedness didn't shame me … I really could've used pants in that moment.

  'As you wish,' Jax murmured, trotting off in the direction of a small copse of trees. Without even being asked, Tidus peeled off from the group and went with him for support.

  Nic shifted as well, probably for Faith's benefit, and I found I didn't have the heart to tell him that the sight of his flaccid dick was probably not much of a comfort. I mean, it was to me, but that was a different matter altogether.

  When I glanced up, I saw the double moons in the sky again, as round and full as our one and lonely might be back home. They were nearly full. Nic followed my gaze, and we exchanged a glance.

  'The first time the change takes over, it isn't pretty,' Anubis said, trotting over to stand beside me. His crimson eyes took Faith in with a mixture of pity and scholarly interest that I couldn't fault him for. 'She's going to be a danger to herself, but most importantly to others. If we're out here another night, we'll need to find someplace to restrain her.'

  As if Faith could hear his words—I knew she couldn't as Anubis had been projecting them to us, and us alone—she rolled over to look at me, blinking fat tears from her dark brown eyes.

  “Zara, what the fuck is going on?” she pushed herself into a sitting position, and then looked at me like she'd never seen me before, like maybe she never wanted to see me again. I glanced away which made both Silas and Che growl—looking away is a sign of submission in wolves—but then Faith made a choking sound of terror that snapped my gaze right back again. “Eww, Nic, for real? Where are your freaking pants? If this is really a dream, then maybe it's a nightmare because I most definitely did not want to see that.”

  I looked back at her, hope filling my chest. If Faith could joke about this, then maybe we weren't in such bad shape after all?

  “What do you remember about Malak?” I asked, and she gave me a weird look, putting the end of her braid up to her mouth to chew on it, a clear sign of distress.

  “Malak? Like, I don't know, some random hookup?” She shrugged her shoulders at me. “Why are you asking me about him when there's even weirder shit going on here. Like, where the fuck are we?”

  “We're not …” I started and then paused, rethinking my next words. “We're a long way from home, Faith.”

  Jax and Tidus returned with several pieces of wood in their mouths, dropping them into a pile before taking off again. This time, Silas and Che joined them, and the small pile quickly grew into a heap of logs for our fire.

  Food, too, was going to be an issue. And water. I was beyond thirsty from running all day, and my throat ached with the need. Not too far from where we were sitting was a small pond that I was going to have to brave, whether I liked it or not.

  “A long way from home …” Faith repeated finally, her laugh dry and caustic. “No shit, I sort of figured that out already.” She looked at me and Nic, and then jumped when Jax reappeared, dropping a mouthful of twigs and leaves to the ground before shifting back to the beauty of his pale, chiseled human body. My eyes raked his form, and he noticed, looking down at me with that blue, blue gaze, the edge of his mouth twitching.

  “Not today, Satan,” he said, rearranging the logs of the fire and positioning the twigs and dried leaves just right. I rolled my eyes at him, only to find Faith staring at me again.

  Right.

  My poor best friend was just dumped into the world of the Numinous with no preamble. And the worst part was, she was about to become one and didn't even know it yet.

  “I know this is probably really hard,” I started, my voice soft, and Faith made a sound of disbelief.

  “Hard? I was napping, woke up in a field with two moons, and found my naked best friend surrounded by wolves and yet more naked dudes. Then I had the pleasure of finding out that you're all … werewolves.” She paused and exhaled, like she couldn't believe she was even saying those words. “Werewolves. Seriously, Zara? You and Nic have been hiding this from me since … since whenever you got turned?”

  “We weren't turned,” Nic supplied, sitting down and then cupping his hands over his crotch to keep it hidden. It was all for Faith's benefit, of course, but I appreciated the gesture as well. My wolf wanted to make sure this other female knew to whom these males belonged. Ah, fuck, Zara, see: you’re losing your humanity already. I needed to do something super human, like … get a root beer float and take a Pilates class. Surely that would help? “We were born like this.”

  “Born werewolves?” Faith asked, looking between the two of us and then glancing over at Jax's bare ass. He was squatting, leaning down to blow on the first embers of his fire. Impressive. I might've been werewolf, but I wasn't able to start a fire like a mountain man. Jax's wild upbringing was definitely going to come in handy. He leaned over even further, leaving his, um, family jewels exposed. While I appreciated the view, Faith most certainly did not. “Jesus, are you people nudists, too? Nudist-werewolves?”

  “We haven't been taught to hate our bodies and feel shame over them,” Nic blurted, a little defensively. “Clothes are for decoration or to perform a specific function, not to hide the natural form.”

  “Right …” Faith trailed off, eyes sliding to the side as Che, Tidus, and Silas came back with one last load of firewood each. Tidus immediately shifted back and plopped down next to Faith, using some fern fronds he'd picked to cover up his genitals. It was very Adam and the Garden of Eden of him. I smiled. “You,” she said, studying Tidus with an interested gleam in her eye that I wasn't sure I liked. Stop it, Zara, you're being ridiculous. But I swear, there was a connection between Faith Cassidy and Tidus Hahn that wasn't there before.

  'She may try to mate him during the first change as well …' Anubis offered, rather unhelpfully, as he circled the camp and, well, did what wolves did best: he pissed on everything. A rock, a log, a cluster of pink flowers (thankfully without teeth this time). He marked our new bit of territory and came to sit beside me.

  'Mate with me?' Tidus asked, blinking his beautiful gray eyes as Faith continued to study him. “Me, what?” he asked aloud, flashing a brilliant smile.

  “I feel like … I know you from somewhere,” she added, as I resisted the urge to strangle Anubis. That information might've been useful, I don't know, before we did the ritual. The thing was, whether or not Faith's wolf tried to mate my male, I would save her all over again. No price was too great.

  “I am, you know, sort of dating your friend. That, and living with her.” Tidus reached up to run tan fingers through his amber-colored hair, this mix of blondes that seemed perfectly suited to the sun-kissed nature of his skin. “Would it be too forward to say we’re sleeping together, too?”

  “Tidus,” I whispered as his ashy gaze swung over to mine. But I smiled anyway. We'd just barely mated, and now, here we were having to deal with all of this, no time to enjoy that newness of our coupling. I reached out and took his hand, curling our fingers together.

  “No, it's something else,” Faith said, drawing her attention away from Tidus with visible effort and then shaking her head. She looked up at me, and for a moment there, the girlfriend side of her overtook the panicked human side. “Wait, you slept with this one, too?” she asked, blinking in surprise. “When did that happen?”

  “Threesome i
n the woods,” Jax supplied, sitting back on his ass in the clovers as a rush of flame took over the pile of logs, warming the space and chasing away some of the chilly night air.

  “I'm sorry, what?” Faith blurted, but I pretended not to hear that bit, giving Jaxson Kidd a dark look.

  Werewolves are pretty much impervious to cold, sure, but Faith wasn't quite one of us yet, and she was shivering like crazy. I scooted over, so that we were all sitting ringed around the fire. If she'd let them, I could even have two of the boys in furry form curl around her to keep her warm.

  “I'm not going to forget he said threesome,” she murmured, but I guess the fact that I was a werewolf was slightly more important, so she moved on rather quickly (for Faith, that is). “You being a werewolf, it actually explains a lot of the weird shit you've put me through over the years.” Faith's tummy grumbled, and she clamped a hand over it.

  'Do you think we'd be safe finding something here to eat?' I asked, addressing the boys as a whole, but focusing my question mainly on Anubis. I'd heard tales that if you consumed the food of Faerie, you'd be trapped here forever. But surely that was just nonsense? Faerie wasn't the only alternate dimension we knew of. Hael, for example, was where demons came from. Of course, that was our word and not theirs. The word they had for it, we weren't able to pronounce.

  Speaking of which … Noc and Nim were still out there somewhere. That horrible asshole angel, too. What was my world coming to? Something beyond a vampire-werewolf-witch war. This was all-consuming, wasn't it?

  'The plants I'd be skeptical of because we don't know what's poisonous. But maybe a small animal of some sort?' Anubis lifted his head up, triangular ears shifting like satellite dishes as he listened to some far away sound. I heard it, too, that rattling scream that had scared me so badly before.

  Whatever it was, I did not want to run into it out here. Fortunately, this time, it was even further off than it’d been; the glamour was keeping us safe.