Iron Oracle

by Merry Ravenell

  I blanched.

  Lucas grunted. “Anita is wrong, and the sooner Gianna is gone, the happier I will be.”

  “Don’t get involved in the business of Oracles,” Kiery told Lucas. “It’s not for you to judge.”

  “Any idiot can see she’s still got the Gift, even if the Moon only uses it to tell us about lost dolls and to expect phone calls,” Lucas said sarcastically. “Or is that what scares you, Kiery? That you let Anita run your show for you? Again?”

  “I’m not afraid of Anita,” Kiery said as if she had said it for the thousandth time. “And if Gianna proves herself, then it’s the last mistake Anita gets to make on my watch.”

  “You also made a mistake,” Lucas retorted.

  Kiery barred her teeth at him. “And I’m not afraid to say so. I trained Gianna, so I’ll be happy to know my student didn’t betray her vows. It’s always frightening to think our training doesn’t weed out the girls who can be bought and sold. Last I checked, warrior training doesn’t do that.”

  Lucas snarled at her. She folded her arms across her breasts and gave him a frosty, scathing stare. Adrianna hissed at them both to knock it off, and slid back into her chair. A delicate hand on Magnes’ wrist to guide him back into his own seat.

  I almost breathed a sigh of relief.

  But what was this with Kiery and Lucas on my side? That was too reasonable. Magnes and Adrianna made no move to silence them.

  Lucas and Kiery seemed cute together, though. There might have been some history there.

  A lot of history, actually.

  “Then is this one of the Tests?” Lucas asked Kiery. “Has she passed another one?”

  “She has to declare it.”

  Tempting as it was, this wasn’t one of the tests. This was just good old-fashioned spy-work. “This isn’t one of the tests. Just something the Moon shared with me.”

  Lies upon lies. Went with the crowd.

  Kiery tapped her foot at Lucas. “There. You see? I don’t know why she doesn’t want to declare this one, but that’s between her and the Moon.”

  It was getting hard to think. A headache formed, pounding into my head with the same rhythm as my aching hands. “I’ve said what I had to say. I won’t overstay my welcome.”

  Kiery heaved a sigh and gestured to the door. Goon B waited for me outside, and ushered me back to my room. The RedWater wolf attached to Lucas could tell me what happened from there.

  Shaking Magnes’ cage didn’t involve shaking him directly. Lucas already believed I was untarnished, and he clearly didn’t like Anita. This was useful. Now what could I do to keep rattling Lucas?

  Because if I rattled Lucas, it’d percolate down to the other wolves under his command, and create more doubt.

  If Adrianna really knew that I knew... how could she know? How could she even suspect I knew?

  Did she have the Gift?

  A sudden, terrifying thought gripped my brain.

  Did Adrianna have the Seer’s Gift?

  It wasn’t especially rare, just rare to be powerful enough to have the unnaturally pale skin and train to become an Oracle. Adrianna was pale and lovely, but... the terrifying thought curled around my spine. If Adrianna was a weak Seer... if she’d ever received any of the early training...

  She had two sons to protect. She’d fight me to the death, and if what Flint had said was true... I wasn’t a mother. I’d been focused on destroying Magnes, but could I defeat Adrianna?

  Gabel: Burn It

  Gabel stomped through the rubble, claws ripping up chunks of asphalt and stone. Bloody spittle dripped from his fangs, the taste of the dead on his tongue, the scent of their terror still in his snout.

  But there was one more thing to do.

  He growled with satisfaction.

  Anders’ Luna stood over her pups in war-form, snarling. Anders, forced back into his human form by a silver spike through his thigh, did not seem nearly so courageous.

  The face of a male who knew something worse than death awaited him.

  Anders looked Gabel’s leathery, nightmare war-form up and down, eyes widening in horror, but his mate snarled even louder, lips rippling back over fangs. She was no match for Gabel, but it didn’t matter. Her pups, too young to shift, clung to her in terror and couldn’t look upon the Alpha of IronMoon.

  “Annnddeerrrssss,” Gabel growled, forcing human speech through the dark, murderous rage and thrill of victory.

  Anders trembled as if Gabel’s voice struck him, and the children shrieked, but the GleamingFang Luna snarled louder and snapped her jaws at him.

  “Lord-Alpha Gabel.”

  Gabel swung his head around to the warrior that addressed him. The male panted, having run a distance with news. Gabel’s eyelids dropped a degree, hooded with satisfaction. He clenched his claws, digging through ruined cement and the crunch pushed it through his system even more.

  “We just got word,” the warrior said, “but—” he looked at Anders, uncertain.

  “Ssspeakk.”

  The warrior gulped. The IronMoon Alpha’s eyes were almost entirely black, like a void without stars, and only when the light hit the orbs in the right way did the faint perimeter of a pupil emerge from the blackness, like the faintest ring of light from an eclipsed moon. “Alpha Aaron—”

  “Yesssss?” Gabel’s claws sank deeper into the concrete as he shifted his weight.

  “He and his allies have attacked the southern border and taken SpringHide. They’re moving to SaltPaw now.”

  Gabel growled, bristling from instinct, but the memory of the strategy (and his noxious alliance with Aaron) floated to the surface of his mind.

  “We’re done here,” Eroth said immediately. “I’ll take warriors and we’ll chase them out. His victory will be short lived.”

  “No. Ssstay. Emil will take a dozen to meet them.”

  “Emil?” Eroth said, bewildered. Emil was a warrior of only some prestige, not one Eroth trusted to lead more than a hunting party.

  Gabel growled his affirmative. “We areee tooo close to Sssablefur.”

  “But Aaron has dealings with the SableFur. This could be a pincer move.”

  “Exaccctly, leeet him tthinnk he has won.” Gabel grinned. “It willl makke him sssloppy.”

  Eroth grinned in return, unfazed by the nightmare Alpha in front of him. “Yes, Lord-Alpha.”

  “You will givvvve theeee order when we are donnne heeere.” Gabel swung his grinning head back towards the GleamingFang. He swung a claw towards the messenger. The warrior wisely left.

  With effort, Gabel suppressed the darkness bubbling within him, forcing his body back into the containment of human form. The fury and rage protested, wanting to be free, to destroy everything, because he was going to build that damn tower and claw the Moon’s Own Eye out. Pain twisted within him, goading his fury even further and burning at the edges of his mind.

  The GleamingFang Luna hesitated in her snarls, disarmed momentarily by the way the IronMoon Alpha shifted from nightmare beast to handsome man.

  “Anders,” Gabel said. “I always suspected you were less than loyal. But to find out you don’t even have the courage to be disloyal? Who would have thought it was Marcus of MarchMoon with the actual courage.”

  “I will not apologize for protecting my pack,” Anders gasped.

  “But you didn’t. You wore too many collars. Served too many masters.” Gabel smirked, cruel and cold. “I finally have the proof I need. I am here to discipline my disobedient vassal.”

  “You have nothing.”

  “Oh, but I do.” Gabel gestured for Eroth to drag Anders out of range of his Luna’s claws. The silver spike twisted and jarred in Anders’ thigh, blood dripping.

  Gabel bent down, grabbed a handful of Anders’ hair and whispered in his ear, “Aaron has no further use for you.”

  Anders yanked back, a patch of hair remaining with Gabel, and he said, “No. He didn’t.”

  “Oh yes, he did.” He yanked Anders back to him,
and low and sweet by his ear, whispered, “He knows all about you, Anders. That you played him, Marcus, Holden, even Magnes. You made too many deals, Anders. None of your allies will come to save you.”

  Gabel clutched the back of Anders neck and pressed their foreheads together. “The Moon broke Her vow to me. I made promises in Her name, in good faith, and She took Gianna from me. I am going to add your corpse to that tower. But first, I am going to kill your Luna. And you will live with that agony for however long you endure it. I am going to let your children watch their mother die, and their father destroyed from the inside.”

  Anders breathed out something. It sounded like a plea.

  Gabel dropped him. “Do you know what it feels like when the Bond snaps? It is pain beyond any imagining. It drives you mad. It destroys you from the inside, and you feel her ghost, she’s just beyond the next wall, or the next door, you hear her whispering your name. Oh, Anders, you have no idea what it is like. If we only knew we would never open the Bond again. But you will know. Soon. I will let you experience what the Moon has done. She sees fit to punish us all for our sins.”

  “You’re insane,” Anders whispered.

  “Your sins heaped on my father’s sins heaped on everyone else’s sins. You broke the vows you made to me. You said cheap words to defend your pack, not realizing you condemned them. If you had had the courage to honor your promise, you would not have stood alone. Instead, I am not here because you called upon my aid, but because your deceit has summoned me from the shadows of the Moon.”

  Gabel weighed him a moment. Then, “Restrain him, Eroth.”

  The GleamingFang Luna resumed her snarling as Gabel shifted back into his war-form.

  She lunged at him with a scream.

  The impact was enough to send Gabel onto his back through the dirt. He growled, amused as she slashed at his face, and peeled off a few layers of fur, and hooked her claws of her feet into his thigh, stabbing into his leathery hide. She howled and snapped her jaw down.

  A pity Anders had not fought with the same ferocity.

  Regrettable he had to kill her when she fought so fiercely to save her pups.

  Flint was right: the courage of a female was beyond any male.

  Gianna would have fought this hard. Gianna would have fought harder.

  He slashed at the Luna’s face, hooked his claws around her open jaw, and wretched once, snapping the mandible. She yelped, jerked back, bones dangling, then surged forward again with her claws, raking at his eyes while blood and spittle dripped from her broken maw.

  Gabel’s blood surged with dark admiration. What a pity. She couldn’t possibly beat him. She wasn’t large enough, strong enough, skilled enough, her claws not sharp enough to penetrate his hide, and he had already shattered her jaw and affected her breathing, and she did not care.

  He was going to kill her pups, and she would go to death and beyond to stop him.

  He snapped his right claw up into her exposed belly and punched into her insides. She choked, stiffened. He reached deep, grabbed a handful, and yanked back.

  She pathetically kept clawing at him.

  “Tooo the last, bravvee Lllluna. He issss not worrtthy of you.” Gabel gently pushed her off him and lowered her onto the ground. She made one more feeble swipe at him. “Iii musssttt killl you quicckllly, but I willl sppparrre youurr puppssss. He is worthlessss, but youuu are magggnifeceeent. Theyyy may livveee to honnorrr yoou. Yoouuuu have bought thieeer lives. Nooo hhharrmmm willl come to theeemm.”

  Some of the fight left her, the crazed look in her eyes. Disarmed with the promise that her children would survive, some of the fight faded.

  Gabel raised his claw again, and this time drove it into her throat.

  He stood, and melted back into human form, dark rage balanced with admiration. He watched, unmoved, as her pups scrambled to her body, alone in their screaming and tears. The agony of the dying Bond had incapacitated their father.

  Gabel ran his fingers over the slices in his face. Not serious. Her claws had also left bruises on his thighs.

  Gianna had fought him with much of the same courage. Gianna called on that courage now, from within the depths of SableFur.

  Gabel told Eroth, “When he is dead, Anders’ body is to be burned without ceremony. The Luna is to be honored for her courage. Make sure the GleamingFang are able to pay their respects. She bought the lives of her children. A worthless sire, but a noble mother. Send the children north to IronMoon. We will find someone to foster them.”

  Eroth nodded.

  Gabel looked towards the west. Now he had complete control of the mountain pass into SableFur. Regrettable he had to send warriors to die at the hands of Aaron, but it was in service to a greater cause. He could deal with Aaron later. It was much easier working with another Alpha who understood the rules of honor and war.

  It would be much more satisfying to war with Aaron than these cowards or the ambitious scavenger that was his father.

  I will set fire to everything before I let you have it, Magnes.

  Behind him Eroth issued orders to have Anders supervised, then went to send Emil on his death-quest.

  “This is a whole lot of fuck.”

  Ana reached towards him with an alcohol soaked pad. It stung as she patted his cheek. He said, “You are only bothered because you are not bothered.”

  “What’s it say about me that I’m not bothered you just ripped someone’s guts out and her kids are crying over her?”

  “You say that as if being human is more noble than being wolf.”

  “Humans do tend to think they’re a little more evolved than beasts,” Ana muttered.

  “You’re just hairless beasts.”

  “Hey. I get pretty hairy if I don’t keep the lawn trimmed. I don’t mow, but I keep it groomed. Fancy topiary style.”

  “Then humans are deluded.” Gabel pushed her hand away.

  “Are we going after Gianna?” Ana followed him as he walked away.

  Gabel hesitated as his blood spiked in his veins. It always caught him, that surge of agony at the reminder she was gone. He’d forbidden the IronMoon from saying her name. Invoking her name sent a surge of anguish so intense through him it could bring him to his knees.

  “Not yet,” he admitted with difficulty. “It is not time yet. Soon. But I will only get one attempt at the SableFur. I must not waste it, or I will never be with her again.”

  Peeping Wolf

  They wouldn’t let me see Hix again.

  I was safe and comfortable in my room, and he was suffering in a dungeon, and they would not let me see him. I smothered my weeping with my blankets. I could send one of the RedWater wolves, but it wasn’t about seeing Hix, but being there, so he knew I hadn’t abandoned him. I hadn’t stopped thinking about how to get him out of there.

  Stubborn Beta probably wouldn’t want me down there. Probably would give me some bullshit about it didn’t matter, he was comfortable with the choices he had made, that his death served a purpose.

  But I wasn’t going to let him die. I wasn’t just going to abandon him down there!

  The RedWater wolf I had assigned to prowl around the SableFur compound came back, but had very little to show me that was interesting. As expected, the SableFur were restless about what was happening outside their borders, but not nearly as restless as I would have expected. They did murmur amongst themselves about the little visions I had brought them. Most of them agreed that I was probably wrongly accused. They were angry with Anita, and very uncomfortable with Lulu.

  But nobody wanted to play connect-the-dots between the two.

  Spies planted in other packs was sort of an uncomfortable reality. Nobody appreciated having been exposed, but these wolves were higher ranked SableFur that had earned the privilege of living at the heart, and were realists. They didn’t approve of Magnes being slippery with Lulu. But it was Anita they were mad at. Anita’s reputation for being a petty old bitch had sunk so deep into SableFur it had developed its own
gravitational pull, drawing all the potential grime off Magnes.

  There were also plenty of rumors about Aaron and I. Plenty of those. Holy crap, there were so many of those. They had sprung up like mushrooms! I guess with all the terrible things to gossip about that was what everyone had fun with. That I was finally free of Gabel’s clutches (it was no secret how he had taken me), and Aaron had put forth his argument, and if I had half a brain, I’d take his offer.

  And rumors he had snuck into my room before he left and stayed for a while.

  Maybe it would work to my advantage if everyone was too busy snickering over me honestly having a chance at being the IceMaw Luna. One person even said the Moon will take care of a Luna.

  Piecing all of that together from the hours (and hours) of memories that the RedWater wolf brought left me exhausted and my eyes burning as if I had been crying for all those hours.

  The RedWater wolf I had assigned to Lucas came back just as I finished with the first. It was night, and I was exhausted, but it couldn’t wait. “Just what you think is most important,” I told the ghost.

  The two ghosts seemed to confer on that, then the Lucas-one approached me. The cold touch as he phased into me burned, and my eyes burned.

  ~*~ The Wolf’s Eyes ~*~

  Lucas slouched down on the old leather couch in his front room, teacup on his thigh, and stared at the old sitcom re-run on the television. Orange-jasmine tea from the smell. Lucas rubbed the back of his neck and cricked his spine into place. He only had on sweatpants, revealing an expectantly toned torso and body, criss-crossed with white scars in various places. His body had the marks of years of service as a SableFur warrior.

  From the sound his shoulders made, it wasn’t just cosmetic.

  He laughed at one of the jokes on the show. The joke was not funny.

  The door opened, and Kiery stepped in.

  Lucas gave her a withering look. “Well, come on in.”

  Kiery flipped him the finger and went to the little fridge tucked under the desk. She kicked it open, surveyed the options, and pulled out a bottle. She flicked the cap off with her thumb and took long swallows.