by Kyle, Celia
Which she wasn’t, thank you very much.
“How is finding a mate wrong, Sarvis?” Emmett seemed to swell in size, and she held her breath.
Shit.
After receiving the “invitation” to the Gathering, Whitney and her sisters had gotten down with the research. Books were re-read, they hopped on the World Wide Werewolf Web and generally gobbled up any information about wolves they could. Some of that info included details on Wardens. Like the fact Wardens could be man, wolf, and then a freaky middle of the road form. It was that half-shift that spawned werewolf legends.
They became the scariest beasts imaginable. Muscles thickened and bulged while their height topped seven feet. Fingers turned into massive, deadly claws and their faces froze into a shape that was a cross between human and beast. Even their feet sported vicious nails. One kick and a person would be gutted.
“How is finding a mate wrong?” He repeated his question. “Is it because it proves the laws are wrong?” Her larger mate sneered. “Who decided Wardens were not to mate? Who decided single wolves couldn’t be with humans? Who thought they had the right to—”
“The five families, that’s who!” Energy crackled in the room and the hairs on her arms stood on end. “We made this culture. We made wolves what they are today. The laws exist for a reason.”
Levy shook his head. “There can never be a good reason to deny wolves their mates, Sarvis. I love you like a father, but you’re wrong.”
A soft breeze blew through the room, sending her impromptu dress swaying. The head asshole wasn’t pulling that particular string, so who was? Whitney absently listened to the three men arguing as she surveyed the other pissed off jerks.
One after another met her gaze, hate in every one of their dirty milk hued eyes. So much disgust and they didn’t even know her. The hatred had damaged them. She knew that just as well as she knew her name.
Her attention shifted to the man to the right of Sarvis. He was tinged with loathing, but his concentration was focused on her. Another breeze came, this one stronger than the last.
Whitney tuned back into the conversation-slash-yelling match. “The Warden Born will destroy you both. In the past, every one of them have. They take and take and give nothing back. Just like every human in the world.” Sarvis pointed at her men. “The only reason the Alphas retained their mates is because those men are strong enough to keep their women in check.”
She snorted. Let ’em try that with Scarlet and Gabby.
The quintet focused on her. Oh. That sucked.
“We’ll rid you of her and her taint. The pain of losing her will fade and then you’ll realize how much better off you are.” He focused on Levy. “You have to see I’m right.”
Another gust of wind slapped her and she realized the internal weather wasn’t affecting anyone else. As if the guy only focused his power on her.
She poked Emmett. He needed to pay attention to the X-man Storm wannabe. “Hey, babe.”
He grunted and nudged her a step back.
She narrowed her eyes. “Really—”
Another push, this one harder than the last.
Seriously?
This time, she poked Levy. He’d listen. “Hon.”
Again with the nudging.
They so aren’t getting sex.
“Do you see how she already weakens you?”
“You mentioned Warden Born, Sarvis.” Levy’s voice was low and held a calm she knew was meant to deceive. “Who are they?”
Sarvis glared. “You won’t ever give up.”
Hell no her men wouldn’t.
The Elder glance behind him and she noted the nods that came his way. Damn it. “I want you to realize that it’s your Warden Born who is killing you now.”
That sounded really, really bad. Especially since that gentle breeze the freaky guy had been tossing around slowly picked up speed. This time, a nudge wasn’t gonna be their answer.
“Uh, guys?” They grunted and she realized their bodies were twisting and turning, bones cracking, crunching and reforming into that grotesque, yet oddly attractive, form. “Guys, really. The old dude is about to pull a Storm on us and I don’t think I’d look good all charred from lightning and stuff.”
Growls echoed around her, various baritones bouncing off the walls, and she shoved down the fear that assaulted her. She had to be strong for them. There was no way they’d let her get hurt and they didn’t need some whiny, cry-baby holding them back.
The old dudes ripped at their clothes, bodies shifting and morphing much like her mates. No, not like her mates. Where Levy and Emmett hovered in their middle forms, the Elders dropped to all fours and became wolves.
They have the knowledge to take these forms, but not the power. Even Emmett’s mental voice was sexy.
The moment Sarvis’s wolf feet hit the ground, the man launched at Emmett, jaws wide and teeth snapping at her mate. He easily batted the man aside, only to have Sarvis attack again, the man fighting to injure him.
Levy was in the same boat, one of Sarvis’s lackeys attacking her mate again and again.
But the other three… The wind picked up. No, not just picked up, it became a raging cyclone. It spun and twirled, sending glasses and lamps shattering against the walls. She looked around hunting for the wolf causing the damage and found him with ease. He sat hunched in a corner, his eyes glazed and covered with that sickly film of his power.
Whitney growled, snarled, at the cowardly wolf. Something inside her wanted to bite and tear at that wolf’s flesh. He fought the Ruling Wardens like a coward, taking part in ganging up on their rulers but from afar. He needed to die. Yes, part of her said. He should. They were all cowards, but that one…
A howl yanked her attention back to her mates, back to Emmett who battled Sarvis while another wolf clung to his leg. The bastard had his teeth buried in her mate’s thigh, tugging and pulling on his flesh. Blood flowed down Emmett’s leg in a steady stream.
No. No no no.
Lightning struck near her right foot, slamming into the concrete and sending shards flying. Vaguely she recognized snippets of pain but then Levy snarled and she was drawn to his struggle. Power or not, enhanced strength or not, injuries still hurt and her connection to them told her that the pain was blunting their magic.
Another howl. More blood. The earth trembled, the cracking of concrete filled the room.
Something inside her wanted out. Out out out. It knew how to protect itself. It knew how to protect its mates. It was Whitney, yet not. It was bred from the marks, yet not.
Warden. Born. The words were strained, but undoubtedly Levy’s.
Fate wouldn’t have given the Ruling Wardens a mate who couldn’t handle their bodies, their wolves, and their power.
Whitney rubbed her palms on the sheet that barely clung to her body and delved inside herself. Something lurked, waiting to pounce, but instead she coaxed it forward, held out an ethereal hand and begged it for help.
A sudden rush, an overflowing attack of power assaulted her in that instant and every hint of air left her body.
Oh shit.
She was Day Glo again. The Marks on her body burned, etching into her skin in deep, black lines that contrasted with her pale flesh. The white glow that came from within her was no longer white, but the burning red of her rage.
As if the Earth itself fed her, she drank in power and magic, gorging herself on the seemingly never ending well that presented itself. It was good and pure and so fucking delicious.
Whitney.
Whitney!
God damn it, Whitney! Stop!
She opened eyes she hadn’t realized she’d closed and saw the problem immediately. Her mates were pale, worn, the feelings coming from them tinged with exhaustion. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Sarvis noticed their fatigue and attacked again, teeth bared and headed for Emmett’s throat.
Hell no.
Whitney raced forward, arm outstretched, and she went from thirty feet away to
none, her hand clenched around the wolf’s furred throat. “No. Bad puppy.” He growled and she shook him side to side. “I said no.”
He went into action, fighting for all he was worth, jaws snapping, feet scraping and clawing at air. But she didn’t release him. No, he wasn’t getting away.
A yelp came from her left, the sound so much like Levy…
Sarvis took advantage of her inattention. While she looked to her mate, he clawed her, nails sinking into the flesh of the arm that held him still.
“You fucking bastard.”
The next moments played out in slow motion. The magic she’d gathered swelled in her chest, growing, and then it struck. She watched it in awe, a whip of her power sprung from her fingertips and attacked with one task in mind: kill Sarvis.
It hit once, and then again, and then a third time. Each one sliced off a layer of fur and skin, sinking down to his bones. With every strike, his mind opened to her and memories sprung forward, visions of the atrocities he’d witnessed and of the times he’d participated in the horrors. The doctored history of the wolves. The way the five families had perverted everything… Spells changed, twisted, and turned until they adhered to what the families desired.
She was Warden Born, placed on the Earth to mate two Wardens. Her path was only to be revealed once she met her mates. The five families had buried that secret.
They’d bled five females from their own lines—five, mated Warden Born—to corrupt the Gathering spell. The Wardens mated to those females had been murdered in their own beds.
Those single wolves… The five families erased memories and rewrote history. There was nothing keeping them from mating humans. Nothing.
Oh, he so had to die.
Whitney struck harder, furious at the man, his family, his very life. She gloried in the blood, the carnage, and ached to taste his lifeblood on her tongue.
Okay, wait. That grossed her out and she threw up a little bit.
That loss in concentration was all it took for her to lose hold of her power and it fled from her command as quickly as it’d come. The magic drained from her, sliding back to Levy and Emmett in a rushing wave that left her exhausted.
But Sarvis was dead. Go team.
Low growls remained in the room, the crunch and crack of bone immediately followed by soft whimpers, and Whitney spun. She sought her mates, relieved to find them still standing not far away. They each fought a single wolf, one of the other five dead at Emmett’s feet.
But that left one…
A definitive snap followed immediately by another signaled two wolves’ deaths. Four down.
She let her gaze sweep the room, the bloodthirsty part of her more than ready to feast once again. Ugh. Feast. Ew.
Oh, but then something moved and caught her eye. No, he moved. That thing inside her, the other, stirred and she didn’t hesitate. Whitney bolted across the space, flying over the ground and right at the lame X-man wannabe. She practically tasted his blood on her tongue, the coppery tang flowing over her taste-buds and—
“Whitney.” Massive arms swept her up and she found herself plastered against Emmett’s chest. She screeched and clawed at her mate’s hold. He was so cock-blocking her kill!
And then it was a moot point. While Emmett obstructed her view, the crack and crunch of breaking bones reached her. She peeked around her mate to see that Levy had snapped the last guy’s neck. No coming back from that one. Her inner-other pouted at being denied its fun, but retreated nonetheless.
Emmett’s hands roamed her body. His warm hands. On her bare skin. Damn it, she’d lost her sheet at some point.
And she was still squishy.
* * *
Levy surveyed the damage in the suite. They were gonna have a huge fucking bill. He noticed a hole in the bedroom wall that let him see the living room. Huge.
But everyone who mattered was alive. Whitney had a few scratches and Emmett was just as torn to shit as he was, but they were still breathing.
The five wolves in the bedroom were not.
Emmett limped into the living room, Whitney still wrapped in his arms, and he followed behind them. He stepped around debris and settled beside them on the relatively untouched couch.
“That was…” Intense. Horrible. Disgusting. Glorious.
The wolf had howled and rejoiced through the entire battle. It had its mates at its side and flesh beneath his fangs. When Whitney had pulled on them, the other responded with glee. She fit them, was part of them in every way.
She was their Warden Born.
“Yeah.” Emmett nodded and stroked their mate’s bare arm. “We’re gonna get shit from the five families.” Not that he cared. His wolf felt the need to destroy every one of them.
“Hell, they’re going to try and kill us.” Whitney chuckled. “Maybe not today, but they will.” A growl jumped into his throat before he knew the sound had risen. His mate reached for his hand and twined her fingers with his. “Easy. You didn’t see…”
Her eyes grew distant, paling from their beautiful brown and easing to white. “Whitney? Let me see. Let us see.”
He wasn’t sure she could, didn’t know if she even understood what she was able to do. Hell, he didn’t know what she could do, but he could guess.
Then snapshots assaulted him. Visions of other trios being slaughtered, women decorated in the same swirling Marks as those that covered Whitney were torn to shreds. He recognized the five families represented. A leader from each line present and engaged in the destruction.
Sarvis’s memories slipped into him, fed to him by Whitney.
The five families hated humans. They diluted the bloodlines…
So they changed the laws and no single wolves could mate with a human. But that wasn’t enough.
They hated the power a human mated to Wardens inherited. The Warden Born took too much, they couldn’t be controlled…
So they changed the laws and Warden Born were stricken from memory. The spell was rewritten and they were no longer called to the Gathering.
They hated the idea of a human in a position to lead a pack. They wanted the Alpha Marked gone…
And an Alpha Pair destroyed half of the five families. The wolves hadn’t done well without their mates.
That law was buried immediately.
If the Elders hadn’t been so successful, he would have laughed at the absurdity of their actions.
“You really are ours. Destined. Fated.” Levy brought her hand to his face and nuzzled her palm.
“Of course I am. I have the bites, and you know, biological material, to prove it.”
Emmett chuckled. “I’ll give you biological material, love.” His partner leaned down and licked one of Whitney’s claiming bites, nipping the tender flesh, and he felt the trembles that overtook her body.
Levy’s cock stirred to life. With the end of the fight, he still had adrenaline to burn off, and he couldn’t think of a better way to be rid of it than…
“What the fuck a duck?” Scarlet’s screech cut through the room like a knife, and he turned to the Alpha Mate with a snarling glare.
The woman didn’t even flinch.
She did, however, smile. “I’m gonna get to the destroyed room in a sec, but,” she turned her attention to Whitney. “Damn girl, you are one lucky ho.”
He felt the draw of energy on his body before he saw the growing glow from his mate. Levy snared a pillow, and plopped it across his lap in a lightning fast movement. “Easy, sweet. No reason to get cranky.”
Levy looked to Emmett. Yeah, they’d need to get a cap put on their mate until she learned a little control.
“I’m fine,” she snapped and harrumphed. “She was looking at you.” Then she turned to Emmett. “And you’re naked, too.”
Emmett popped from view and immediately returned with a blanket that he tossed across the three of them, blocking their nakedness.
“Bitchy.” Scarlet sniffed and then her mates came barreling into the room only to come to a sliding
halt.
“What the fuck?” Keller bellowed.
“I asked the same thing.” His mate’s sister smiled.
Before Madden could jump into the fray as well, Gabriella joined them, her mates in tow, as well. Great, it was a family reunion.
All he’d wanted to do was claim the mate the laws said he couldn’t have. Had that been so much to ask? Looking around at the carnage, feeling the aches and pains left over from their fight, he figured it actually had been.
“What the fuck?” Gabby’s screech rivaled Scarlet’s.
“We asked the same thing. You’re third in line. We really should get one of those number systems in here. Like, number 312, ask your question.” Scarlet’s voice was light, but her worried gaze was centered on Whitney.
Whitney giggled. “You’re an idiot.”
It was then the tension in the room eased, starting with the eldest Wickham and filtering down through to Gabby’s mates.
“Will someone answer my question?” Keller’s voice was calm, too calm, so Levy launched into explanations before the Ruling Alpha could decide to take his answers by force.
Silence lasted until the last syllable passed his lips for one beat, then two, then…
“I think Whit has us beat in the bad ass department now.” Scarlet turned to Madden and smacked his arm. “How come you didn’t give me super powers?”
“I gave you something, baby.” The massive Alpha waggled his eyebrows.
Keller simply sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose while shaking his head.
Emmett leaned close. “They’re not taking this seriously.”
“Oh,” their mate interrupted, her focus on her sisters as they joked and taunted their mates. “They are. But the world isn’t ending right this second and the Wickhams have never sat around wringing our hands. We’ll live life,” her gaze turned to them, “share our love, and make plans to take conquer the world over ice cream.”
Levy didn’t doubt for a second the Wickham triplets would do just that.
Hopefully tomorrow.
For now, he wanted to take his happily ever after and run with it.
