by H. D. Gordon
That was fine. I had everything I needed right here. I took a seat at the large mahogany desk, removing my revolvers from their holsters and setting about the task of cleaning them.
I wanted them polished up, loaded, and ready to go.
Chapter 9
“If you do this, there’s no going back,” the Demon warned. “It will be war. More death will follow. More blood will be spilled.”
Anger flared in me. I leaned forward, baring my teeth a little as I spoke. “It’s already war. There has already been blood and death. There is already no going back.”
Elian leaned back in his seat, placing his fork down and adjusting the cloth napkin on his lap. He’d insisted on us taking a moment to have a meal, had said he needed to discuss something with me. I hadn’t realized it would be a conversation about what I did with my status as Alpha, about how I chose to handle my own business. While some part of me knew that he was only trying to help, only trying to look out for me, another part was just offended. I wasn’t sure he had any right.
But he kind of does, though, doesn’t he?
I pushed that thought away as soon as it bubbled up.
Eli’s handsome face was cautious as he met my gaze. He lowered his voice, despite the fact that we were alone in his loft. “You’ve lost a lot, Dita,” the Demon told me. “But you still have a lot to lose…. I don’t like to see you hurt.”
“I’m not hurt,” I said, and the words sounded like the lie they were.
Eli pursed his lips a little. “Of course not,” he said.
The impulse to chuck my plate across the room, steak and all, just as I’d done with the box of grapefruits a day earlier struck me, but I ignored it. Some part of me knew I didn’t really want to fuck things up with Eli, while another part insisted that I already was.
The Demon reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and placed a folded piece of parchment on the table. I eyed it warily, seeing now that this was what he’d wanted to talk about. His damn escape plan, his brilliant idea that would force me to step down as Alpha and go into what I would call hiding.
“It’s not running,” Eli said, as if reading my thoughts. “It’s not hiding. It’s protecting yourself while maintaining control of all your assets.”
My hands balled into fists under the table. I looked from the folded piece of parchment up to his eyes, and the concern there tempered me a little bit.
Then he opened his mouth again, and the anger threatened to boil back over.
“Why are you doing any of this?” Eli asked. “You told me before that all you ever really wanted was to take care of your family. You said that everything you did was to set them up for the future, to protect them. You have enough money now to do that, you have the power to step out of the spotlight and continue to make money. With my help, you can set things up so that your great grandchildren never have to go hungry. Isn’t that what you want? Or is fame, status, and adulation more important to you?”
Red flashed across my vision as I thought of the fact that I’d shot motherfuckers for saying less.
As if reading my thoughts again, Eli’s eyes darted down to my hips, where he knew my irons to be.
Jaw clenched, it was a hot second before I could move a single muscle with the assurance that I wasn’t going to lose my shit. When I could, I stood from the table, stiff as a board, the chair scraping across the floor behind me. Eli let out a low sigh, his shoulders falling a fraction as he shook his head and broke eye contact to look down at the table.
I felt both justified and very small about the stare-off, about the fact that even he had trouble holding my gaze when this much rage was flowing through me. The fact of my Alpha status only intensified it.
I grabbed my jacket from the hook by the door and left before my mouth could say things my heart would regret.
I didn’t want to hear it, but now that I had, I couldn’t un-hear it. Was Elian right? Had I deviated so far from my original goal that I was now risking the lives of everyone I loved in order to keep the power I’d thrust myself into?
I couldn’t be sure of the answers to those questions.
I couldn’t even be sure that I wanted to.
To my surprise, Elian was the only one who voiced issue with my intended next actions. When I asked her to return to me, Kyra did not speak a word against it, and even Devon only nodded when I told him what I needed him to do.
I didn’t know if this was because they agreed that the best way to handle this was with violence, or because they knew me well enough to know that there was no point in arguing. I didn’t bother to ask, either. This was another thing I didn’t think I cared to know.
“I got you,” said Kyra.
“Tell me when,” responded Devon.
Once I’d told them of my intentions, I pulled the two of them toward me, resting my hands on their shoulders as we stood in a triangle. “I need you both to watch your backs,” I said. “Don’t drop your guard for a moment. Don’t follow your normal routines. Don’t be alone. I want the two of you together at all times. Do you understand?”
They both nodded their agreement.
Kyra left to make preparations, and I poured myself a glass of shine to sooth my nerves. Devon joined me at the minibar in the corner of the office, pouring himself a glass and taking a long swig before looking at me.
I eyed him as I poured another drink. “You got something to say, big brother?” I asked.
Devon shook his head. “Not a Gods damned thing.”
I nodded, draining the shine left in the tumbler and setting it down between us with perhaps a tad too much force.
“Good,” I said.
But I wasn’t sure that it was.
“How do you know we can trust this guy?” Devon asked in my head as we stood in the alley, the shadows of the night cloaking us.
I pressed my lips together as I looked at him, responding in kind. “We can’t trust anyone but each other, Dev.”
The air hung in a cloud in front of him as he blew out a heavy breath. The temperature had dropped twenty degrees in the course of a night. He shook his head, not loving this answer.
A rat scuttled by as we waited. My hands were in the pockets of my jacket, poised over the barrels of my irons, my muscles tense with more than just the cold.
We waited.
And waited. I was beginning to grow angry, thinking that the Shifter had stood us up, when a black cat with bright green eyes came slinking around the corner. If I hadn’t known to be looking for her, I would not have thought twice about the feline. As it was, I noted a certain intelligence in the creature’s eyes.
Devon nearly jumped out of his skin when the cat came close, and in the blink of an eye, shifted into her mortal form.
I raised a brow at my brother when even he could not keep from staring at the female before us. I’d always considered myself kind of attractive in a very average way, but the Shifter was absolutely beautiful. With long, flowing golden locks and eyes of emerald green, she had a face that was the envy of Angels. Perfectly straight white teeth peeked out from behind pink, full lips, and the curves of her body were cut to perfect proportion. She wore all black leather, the front of her jacket unzipped just enough for me to glimpse several various weapons tucked beneath.
“Pick your jaw up,” I teased in my brother’s head. “She’s not even your type.”
Devon’s mouth snapped closed, but not before the Shifter noted this, and a sly smile came to her face.
“Dita Silvers,” the Shifter said. “I’ve been hoping our paths would cross. I’ve heard so much about you.” She tapped her chin. “I wonder if it’s all true.”
I ignored this. “Do you understand what it is I want you to do?”
Her head tilted in a way that was almost Wolf-like, her eyes running the length of me. “Watch the old man and the Alpha. Tell you where they’ll be. Easy enough. Do you have my fee?”
I reached into my jacket pocket and handed over an envelope. The Shifter
thumbed through the payment.
“Mila Carr, at your service,” she said, tucking away the money.
“Great. I need a report in no more than three days.”
Her emerald eyes gleamed as she ran a tongue out over her full lips. “I like Alpha females,” she said. “Of all sorts.”
I took a short step closer, holding her gaze and admittedly impressed when she did not drop it. “As long as you don’t betray me, Miss Carr, you’ll keep on liking me,” I said.
She gave me a look that said she’d like to do much more than that, blew me a kiss, and shifted back into her cat form before slipping away down the alley. Devon and I stood in silence for a few moments, and when I looked over at him, there was a small smirk on his face.
“Shut up,” I said.
He held up his hands, still grinning. “I didn’t say anything.”
I rolled my eyes. A few moments later, we were in a carriage, making our way back home.
“Is a cat the only thing she can shift into?” my brother asked in my head. We’d taken to communicating telepathically more often, as the nature of our discussions had grown more sensitive.
“No,” I answered. “Mila can shift into anything.”
“That’s fucking cool. I never understood why Wolves and Shifters have such bad blood. Our magic is basically the same. It allows us to change physical form.”
I sighed, leaning back in my seat and looking out the window. “It probably dates all the way back to Yari Umbre, the Alpha Wolf who tried to use dark magic to steal the Shifters’ ability to change into any form they chose. You know the story. Dad used to tell it when we were kids. Bloody shit. A lot of people died.”
Devon nodded. “Yeah, I do remember, but it happened so long ago, you think people would get over it.”
I snorted. “That kind of history has a way of sticking around. The blood spilled stains the earth, and whatever grows thereafter does so having been nurtured by that very blood.”
Devon was silent for a while, and I had just shut my eyes when he asked, “So, what now?”
“Now, we wait.”
Chapter 10
News from Mila came less than thirty six hours later.
I was in my bedroom in the main house, getting dressed for another day, trying to ignore the nerves that were building in me with every moment I waited before striking back at the Wards. I knew the Pack was expecting me to make a move, to respond to the grievous insult that had been delivered with my father’s death, and I was eager to show them that Dita Silvers did not take such things lying down.
I pulled on my undergarments and pants, and paused when I caught a flash of something outside my window. My senses went on high alert, my back stiffening. I padded over to my dresser and pulled one of my revolvers out of its holster, cocking back the hammer as I made my way over to the window.
Slowly, I drew back the curtain. A small bird was perched on the railing of my balcony. I might have dismissed it, except for the fact that the bird was looking right at me…with bright emerald eyes. I uncocked the gun and set it on an end table before unlocking the door and tipping my head, inviting her to enter.
The small, black bird flitted into the room. There was nothing remarkable about it save for those green eyes. By the time I’d shut the door again and turned to face her, Mila was standing in her mortal form before me.
The Shifter’s eyes ran the length of me, pausing on my abs and lingering longer still on the swell of my chest.
“You are quite exquisite, Miss Silvers,” she said.
I snatched a shirt out of my dresser and drew it over my head. “Thanks. What do you got?”
Her bottom lip stuck out as a certain light danced in her eyes. She was attractive enough that if it was my thing, I might have mixed a little business with pleasure. As it was, I preferred the males when concerning those needs.
“Straight to business, then?” she asked, as if reading my thoughts.
I laced up my boots, nodding at her to continue.
Mila sighed as if I’d spoiled her fun. “The old man and the Alpha have been lying low,” she reported. “They’re surrounded by their Wolves. I had to shift into an insect to even get close. They’ve also employed a magic user to protect the place, so I had to find my own Sorcerer to help with that…. Her fee I will redirect to you, of course.”
I nodded, waving a hand for her to continue.
“So reaching them at their mainstay is damn near impossible, as hard as it would be to get at you here on your own land for the aforementioned reasons.”
She paused and smiled.
I looked up from my dressing, tilting my head at her. “But they’re going to leave their mainstay,” I guessed. “When? Where?”
“The youngest of the Pack, Paisley Ward, is having a priming ceremony, and it will be held in the Azula Forest, one hundred and fifty miles west of here,” she said. “The whole Pack will be there, and while they may use magic to add a layer of protection, if you can get to the site first…”
I saw where she was going with this, and nodded. Reaching into the drawer by the bed, I handed her another payment. “Good work, Mila. That should cover the fee from the magic user, and then some. I’d like you to keep following them. When is the ceremony?”
“Two moons from now.”
“The full moon, of course. Thank you.”
I opened the balcony door, indicating that she could take her leave. The wheels in my head were turning, and I was eager to get to work on figuring out a solid plan.
The Shifter paused before exiting. “Forgive me if I speak out of place,” Mila said, “I obviously don’t know as much about Pack ceremony as you do, but isn’t the priming ceremony kind of…sacred. I mean, it’s a child’s affair, no? The children of the Ward Pack will witness whatever it is that happens.”
I pulled the door open wider, my hand gripping the door handle a little harder than necessary. “You’re right,” I said. “You speak out of turn.”
Mila’s lips pressed together and she let out a short breath through her nose, but she nodded and took her leave. I watched through the window as she shifted into bird form and took off, black wings beating against the soft blue of the early morning sky.
I expected some resistance when I told the plan to Kyra and Devon for the exact reasons that Mila had voiced, and once again, I was met with none.
“Simple enough,” said Kyra.
“Got it,” replied Devon.
We were sitting in the office. I was behind the desk and the two of them sat in the chairs before it. I leaned back in my seat as I observed them.
“Neither of you have any objections to this?”
Kyra and Devon glanced at each other, sharing some unspoken communication that I seemed not to be part of. Jealousy welled up in me as I came to the conclusion that the two of them had likely been discussing things without me, that in my grief, and in the stress of the situation, I’d failed to notice how close the two of them had gotten.
I tucked these thoughts away for later examination as I waited for one of them to speak.
Kyra did the honors. “We love you, Dita,” she began.
My back stiffened. I held her gaze and said nothing.
Kyra let out a low sigh. “The truth is, we don’t know what to do. Hell, we haven’t known what to do from the beginning.” She held up her hands, glancing around and gesturing as if to the house as a whole. “All of this, everything we have, is a result of your leadership. If it weren’t for you, the Wolves among us would still be living in The Mound, scraping to get by. The ladies in the shop would still be whoring to survive. I’d still be at the mountain with the other magic users, hiding my abilities and struggling for every inch I gained.”
I relaxed a little—but just a little.
Kyra continued. “Are we afraid?” She and Devon glanced at each other again. “Of course we are. We’ve suffered losses, big losses. We’ve found ourselves in positions I never thought possible, doing things I would hav
e never fathomed, and all of it, every bit, is because of you and your ambitions. We’re grateful. We trust you. Yes, we’re afraid, but if you say this is the way it has to be, then I guess that’s how it is. We know you’re always looking out for us, that our safety and well being is your top priority.”
Beside her, Devon nodded, but he wouldn’t look up at me, only stared down at his hands.
As my best friend spoke, I couldn’t help but recall the last conversation I’d had with Elian, when he’d basically asked me what my priorities were. He’d said that I’d originally told him that all I wanted was to provide for and protect my family, and that with the power I’d gained, I’d shifted my primary focus to keeping that power, rather than protecting those I loved.
I sat silently as I absorbed Kyra’s words, a storm of emotions roiling inside of me. Part of me believed what she said, that she and Devon trusted me to protect them. Another part of me wondered if this was their way of asking me if my top concern was still providing for and protecting them, if this was a roundabout way of feeling out my true mindset.
And yet another part of me wondered if Elian had been right.
I did not want to confront that part. Not right now. Not while the burn of my father’s death, so close after that of my little brother’s, was still so fresh, the wounds so raw.
So when Kyra said these things, Devon sitting beside her both literally and metaphorically, all I did was lean back in my seat and nod.
“Of course your safety is my top priority,” I assured them. “Which is why I can’t let the insult of Dion’s death stand.”
Finally, Devon spoke. “So the priming ceremony of Ezra Ward’s niece. That’s where we strike, then?”
“Aye, big brother. That’s where we strike.”
If I had doubts, I ignored them.
Later, I might look back and ponder what I could have done differently, but presently, all I could think about was taking the pound of flesh that was owed me.