by TJ Klune
Spin me! they’d cried as they’d surrounded me in Caswell. Spin me! It’s my turn, Robbie! Spin me!
Was Tony one of them? The little boy with wide eyes and question after question, the little boy who had told me that he didn’t like it when I was sad, that he didn’t like it when I was blue, that he wanted me to be happy. Was I happier when I’d been there before? He’d asked me that behind the house after we’d run together. A secret just between us.
“Ease up,” Kelly whispered harshly in my ear. “You’re going to hurt her more.”
I looked down in horror to see I was squeezing Shannon’s hand so tightly, it was a wonder her bones weren’t splintering. I let her go and fell back, bumping into Kelly’s legs.
“We promise,” Elizabeth said quietly.
Shannon barely noticed. She was talking to her phantoms again, begging her mother to tell her this was all a nightmare, that she would wake up from this and nothing would hurt. She asked about a boy, a beautiful boy she had a crush on, and she giggled when she said it. “He’s so handsome.” Her voice had a dreamlike quality. “I know he’s older and he probably doesn’t even know I’m alive, but I can’t stop thinking about him. Can I tell you a secret?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth said, hand going to Shannon’s brow. “Of course you can.”
“He’s a human,” Shannon whispered. “He’s a human, but I don’t care about that.”
“Good,” Elizabeth said. “It doesn’t matter if he’s human or not.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I—” Her eyes were wide but unseeing, and her chest rose and fell rapidly. She reached up toward the ceiling, her hand shaking. She said, “Mother? There you are. Where have you been? I’ve looked for you for so long. You left me, and it was endless. The dark. But I’ve found you again, and I can see the stars. Do you… do you remember when we played in the snow? That was my favorite day.”
And then her hand dropped. Her eyes slid unfocused. There was another exhalation that sounded like wind over water. Her chest didn’t rise again.
Her heart, her Alpha heart, continued on for another beat, and then another, and then another.
And then it too fell silent.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Elizabeth broke the spell that had fallen over us. She pressed her fingers over Shannon’s eyes, sliding her eyelids shut. The wolf mother had a strange look on her face, and I felt a conflagration rising in her. She stood slowly, staring down at Shannon.
Joe started for her, but Ox held him back, shaking his head.
Elizabeth Bennett said, “All this pain. All this death. Everything that has been brought down upon us. For what? What is the reason? What is the purpose of all of this? To make us suffer? To make us break? And for what?”
No one answered her.
“I’m tired of all of this,” she said, and her voice was low and wolflike. “We give everything we have, but it’s never enough. It’s a curse. A curse upon us all.” Her eyes were wet as she lifted her head, looking at each of us in turn. “And I’ve had enough.”
She moved then, pushing past her Alphas. They didn’t try to stop her. They looked at each other before turning to follow Elizabeth out of her bedroom. Rico asked what was happening, what was going on, but she ignored him. I made it out of the room in time to see her vault over the landing above the first floor. She landed on her feet below us and turned to head deeper into the house.
“Holy shit,” Rico breathed.
“Go,” Jessie said from the doorway. “See what she’s doing. I’ll stay with Shannon.”
The Alphas were already down the stairs, Joe calling after his mother. We hurried after them, Chris and Tanner nearly tripping over each other and falling down the stairs. Rico caught them by the backs of their shirts.
I heard the sound of a door flying open and crashing into a wall, the wood cracking.
Elizabeth was in the main office. She stood in front of her husband’s old desk. Her hands were pressed down on it, claws digging into it, leaving divots in the surface. “No more,” she muttered. “No more. No more. This ends. This ends now.”
“Mom,” Kelly said. “What are you doing?”
She looked at him, eyes blazing. “What should have been done a long time ago. We let ourselves become complacent. We told ourselves that since there were thousands of miles between us, there were bigger things to worry about. That others needed us more. First the Omegas. Then Robbie. We give and we give and we give, and for what? To be repaid in blood and death? I’m sick of it. I have had my pack taken from me. I have had my sons taken from me. I have had my husband taken from me. And all because of a name. Because of who we are. Because of where we come from. All we have ever wanted was peace, to exist and live and love like everyone else, but we can’t because of who we are.”
Joe looked uncomfortable. “We have a duty. We’re Bennetts—”
Her eyes flashed, and Joe closed his mouth. “Don’t you think I know that?” she demanded. “Don’t you think I understand? Because I do. More than you could possibly know. And it’s time we accept our place. It’s time we finish this once and for all. Because we will never know peace unless we take it for ourselves. Unless we fight for it. For too long we’ve stood idly by. No more. I’m done.” She rounded the desk until she stood in front of the computer.
“What are you doing?” Carter asked.
“What we should have done a long time ago.”
The large TV mounted on the wall lit up, the screen a deep and calming blue. I almost immediately recognized the little icon in the middle of the screen.
“Oh shit,” I breathed. “You’re going to call Michelle Hughes.”
“You’re damn right I am,” Elizabeth snapped. “I want to see her face. I want to see the look in her eyes when I tell her I’m coming for her. That she and Robert Livingstone are not long for this world if they don’t stand down immediately. She needs to hear it from me. This is the end, one way or another. It’s time.”
“You know they won’t stop,” Ox said. “They might not even listen.”
And oh, how she smiled at him, feral and twisted. “I’m counting on it.”
Ox looked at all of us. I wondered what he saw. Fear? Resolve? Defeated acceptance? I was more scared than I could ever remember being, which was fucking ridiculous, given everything that had happened over the past few weeks. But there it was, clawing at my chest. It was getting harder to breathe, but Kelly was there, always Kelly, and he took my face in his hands, forcing me to look up into his eyes. “We can go,” he whispered. “You don’t have to be here for this. Just say the word and we’ll go.”
“Where?” I asked, and I hated the way my voice broke. “There’s nowhere we could go. Nowhere that they won’t find us.”
He sighed. “We’ll figure it out. Just… let’s go, okay? Come on.”
But I couldn’t. As much as everything in me was screaming to listen to him, to do exactly what he was saying, to run, run, run, I couldn’t. I was terrified, yes, and I wasn’t prepared to see Alpha Hughes again, but it was overridden by something primal and fierce, a sharp tug of packpackpack that was pouring off Ox. He was scared too, but it was such a small thing in the face of his pack. He was strong and powerful, and I thought maybe I loved him.
I thought maybe I loved them all.
And I said, “No.” I stepped away from Kelly. He dropped his hands, looking resigned. “No. If we do this, then we do it together.” I squared my shoulders, trying to look braver than I felt. “Those kids, Kelly. All those kids in Caswell. If what Shannon said is true, then I have to be here. I have to hear it from her myself. You don’t—you don’t know them like I do. These kids, they didn’t do anything. They don’t deserve this. They’re innocent. And if he’s using them, if they’re both using them, then someone needs to stop them.”
“Hoo boy,” Rico said. “I got chills, lobito. Actual chills. Goose bumps and everything. But let’s be clear on
one thing. If you try any martyr bullshit, I swear to god I will shove my gun down your throat until it reaches your intestines and then I will pull the trigger. You get me?”
Carter snorted. “I don’t know if that’s anatomically possible—you know what? That look you’re giving me right now makes me realize that you would certainly try, so I’m just gonna let you have this moment.”
“Damn right,” Rico said. “I’m sick and tired of the fucking people in this pack who think that self-sacrifice is a legitimate way to go. We do this together or we don’t do this at all. And Ox, don’t you dare say a goddamn word, because you’re the worst. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about what you did with Richard Collins. You aren’t going to be able to so much as breathe without one of us noticing. You thought a hand through your stomach was bad? Try it again and see what I do to you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Ox said mildly. “I’ve got the most aggravating pack in the entire world.”
“But you love us,” Chris said without artifice.
“Yes,” Ox said simply. “More than anything.”
“Maybe she won’t answer,” Tanner said, sounding as if that was a fantastic idea. “I’m under the impression that being a dictator hell-bent on wolfy domination is a lot of hard work.”
“Then we keep trying until we get ahold of her,” Elizabeth muttered as she glared down at the computer. “And if we can’t, then we show up on her doorstep. She’ll know we mean business one way or another. But I have a feeling that she knows this moment is coming.” She looked up at me. “Doesn’t she, Robbie?”
I couldn’t speak.
But that was answer enough.
“Be careful what you say to her,” Gordo said. “We don’t know who else is going to be listening in.” He was pale, his tattoos flickering. Mark pressed his nose against Gordo’s ear, breathing in slowly. “My father… he… if he’s there, he’ll hear everything.” He glanced at me. “And I don’t know how far his reach will extend. If he’ll be able to do anything to… you know.”
I felt terrible when Rico sucked in a breath and took a step away from me. But before I could say anything, Rico shook his head and moved toward me again. He looked me up and down before turning back to Gordo. “Chance we’ll take, bruja. He’s part of this. No one gets left behind. Not again.”
Gordo rolled his eyes. “I told you not to call me that, you ass. I just…. It doesn’t matter. You’re right. Be ready for anything. Don’t underestimate my father. Chances are he’ll be there, hearing every word.”
Elizabeth’s expression tightened. “I know. I want him to. Ready?”
No. I wasn’t. I didn’t know if any of us were. We were angry, and it was like a fire spreading between all of us, this burning rage, but it felt like it was growing too big too quickly. I didn’t know how much longer we could control it, or if it would be snuffed out the moment all the air was gone.
“Hold on,” Ox said, and I exhaled explosively. If we were going to do this, I wanted to get it over with. We looked at Ox. “Chris, Tanner. I want you to leave.” They started to protest, but he held up his hand and they quieted. “I need you to do something for me. Get on your phones. Start calling around to all the packs we’ve sent Omegas to. See who answers. If anyone does, tell them to get to the safe houses we’ve set up. They know what to do if that call ever came. I need to know who else Livingstone got to. If it’s just Alpha Wells or if there are others.”
They nodded and headed for the door as they pulled out their phones. Rico stopped them both before they could leave and hugged each of them. After, they closed the door behind them.
There was nothing left to wait for.
“Do it,” Joe said.
The TV began to beep as the call went out.
Kelly took my hand.
It went on so long that I began to think no one would pick up. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck into the collar of my shirt. I pushed my glasses back up on my nose, and I heard my mother whispering little wolf, little wolf, little wolf.
The beeps from the TV cut off as the picture filled.
The office thousands of miles away looked as it did the last time I’d stood in it: the books in the background, the chair, the desk—all of it was the same. I remembered the first time I’d sat in it, but my resolve strengthened when I realized what I was thinking of wasn’t the first time. I’d been in there before, and they had taken it from me.
Alpha Michelle Hughes sat in the chair. She looked cool and calm, and if it was anyone else, I might have thought she was in control. That she had expected this and still thought she had the upper hand.
But I’d spent close to a year knowing her. Watching her. Working by her side. I could see the cracks in the steely façade. It was in the little things, the way she tapped her fingernails against the desk, the way her eyes widened briefly at the sight of all of us, the flaring of her nostrils, as if she thought she could get our scent from the other side of the country.
And there, for a split second, her eyes shifted away from the screen.
Like she was looking beyond it.
She wasn’t alone.
It was brief, and then she looked straight at us again.
It felt like she was looking straight at me.
She was.
She said, “Robbie. I see you’re—”
And Elizabeth Bennett said, “No. You will not say his name. Any hold you’ve had over him, anything you’ve done to him, it’s over. You are finished. If I ever hear you speak his name aloud again, I swear to you it’ll be one of the last things you do. I’ll see to it myself. It’s my turn to talk, and you’re going to listen.”
She flinched. “Elizabeth, I don’t know what you think—”
“No,” Elizabeth said coldly. “You don’t. You never have. And that’s always been to your detriment. You underestimate those you see as beneath you. I was only the wife of the Alpha to you. Someone to appease to get what you wanted but never to take seriously. That was one of your many mistakes. And it will prove to be your undoing. Because I am done with diplomacy. Hear me, Alpha Hughes, and hear me well. You tried to murder my pack with hunters. We survived. They didn’t. You tried to take Robbie away from us. And yet here he stands, with us as one of us. He is a Bennett, and he always will be. Your time is over. Stand down and stand down now. I will take your unconditional surrender. You’ll be held responsible for your treasonous crimes against my pack because of your alignment with the hunters, and against the wolves as a whole. My son will assume his rightful place as the Alpha of all, as he was always meant to be. And before you even think of speaking, know that this isn’t a negotiation. You do not have a choice in the matter.”
“Haven’t we been here before?” Michelle asked, shaking her head. She sounded aloof, almost airy, but there was something just off in her voice. I was sure most everyone else in the room missed it, but I didn’t. “You, the Bennett pack, threatening me from the safety behind your wards in Green Creek, while the rest of us live out in the real world. You think yourselves so high and mighty, so much better than all of us. And your husband was no different. He didn’t see the way things were supposed to be, and it cost him his life.”
“Maybe it did,” Elizabeth said. “But Thomas believed in the greater good. He believed in the strength of the pack and all that it was comprised of. You have forgotten what it means to be an Alpha, if you ever even knew at all. Thomas was infinitely more an Alpha than you could ever hope to be.”
“He trusted humans,” Michelle said, claws digging into the surface of the desk. “And look where it got—”
Elizabeth laughed, grating and harsh. “You don’t get to talk to me about trusting humans. Not after Meredith King. You trusted her enough to send her to do your dirty work. She and her people paid the price for coming after my family. You’re going to find yourself in a similar position unless you stand. Down.”
Michelle narrowed her eyes. “Are you threatening me?”
�
�You’re damn right I am,” Elizabeth growled. “And it would do you well to listen. There’s been enough bloodshed, enough good people giving their lives in the name of the wolves. But I will not hesitate to add to the body count. I will come for you, Alpha Hughes. And nothing you can do will stop me.”
She nodded slowly. “If that’s the way it’s going to be.”
“It is.”
She looked grave. “Then it is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the Bennett pack is now considered an enemy of the wolves. I’ll ask for your surrender. Your Alphas will be stripped of their power and Green Creek will be turned over to me. You caused the deaths of over thirty witches, slaughtered by Omegas under your control. You harbored these Omegas even though they should have been put down the moment they lost themselves to their wolves. Carter and Mark Bennett still breathe, though you were under explicit order to end their lives for the greater good. For all I know, whatever bonds that stretch between you all are infected and rotting because of them.”
“Rude,” Carter said, and the timber wolf woofed in agreement. “I think we’re doing fine. Why don’t you come here and I’ll show you just how much?”
She ignored him. She was getting worked up, though she was still trying to stay in control. “These are the crimes of the Bennett pack, and ones you will need to answer for. You will be tried for said crimes, and I will mete out your punishment as I see fit. Do you understand the terms as I’ve relayed them to you?”
“Yes,” Ox said. “And we decline.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What?”
“We decline,” Ox said. He stepped toward the screen. “Can he hear me? Is he there with you? I think he is. And I think he scares you. You’ve found yourself drowning in something you thought you could control. But you can’t, Michelle. You’re already too far gone. And for that, I’m sorry. I thought… I thought once I could save you. That deep down, there was still good in you. That was a mistake, and one I won’t make again.” His eyes filled with red and violet, and I could hear him howling in my head. His voice was deep when he said, “Robert Livingstone. You took from me. You took from my pack. Show yourself.”
