by M H Soars
Red will berate me for it later, but I allow the shift to happen. It takes longer than normal, with double the pain. But once I hit the ground on four paws, the bloodlust overrides the discomfort. Seth and Billy are already engaged in a fight. On the other side of the quad, I see Nina swinging her sword left and right, trying to get to Billy. She must know Billy is no match for his older brother. The fact she’s determined to help him makes me dislike her a little less.
In the mayhem, I see a path straight to them, but Lyria finally appears out of nowhere, blocking me.
“Lyria, get the fuck out of my way.”
“What for, Tristan? So you can save your little buddy, the only wolf in this pack who still believes in you?”
“You’re despicable. You betrayed your pack and for what?”
“Do you think I wanted to make a deal with Valerius? But you had to go and get mated with that fucking blonde bitch. So in a way, this is all your fault.”
She leaps on me, but she’s intercepted by a grey-and-white wolf—Red. I freeze for a moment, the natural instinct to protect my mate taking over my brain.
“Tristan, go. I got this,” Red shouts in my head.
Forcing myself not to look back, I sprint toward Seth and Billy. Seth grabs Billy by the shoulder, throwing him against a nearby tree. The poor kid doesn’t get up. Nina lets out an enraged battle cry, lifting her sword high above her head. Seth sees her, then bolts toward the tree line.
Fuck. I can’t let him escape. I begin to give chase, but then I remember what happened to Mom the last time I ditched the battlefield in order to go after one wolf. Stopping in my tracks, I scan behind me, realizing we’re still greatly outnumbered. It kills me to let Seth run away, but I can’t go after him and sacrifice everyone else.
The smell of blood fills my nose, but even without it, I can see the carnage Valerius’s wolves are leaving behind. I’ve lost count of how many are down on our side, but there’s no sign of slowing the enemy down. They keep coming at us even when they’re badly hurt. What kind of power is that?
“Why won’t these motherfuckers die?” Sam asks.
“They must have the demonic chip in their heads,” Dante replies.
“So Valerius is working with Martin?” I ask without slowing down. We can’t afford it.
“Yes,” they both answer at the same time.
“Fucking fantastic.” I leap on top of a wolf who was about to deliver a killing blow on none other than Charlie, the idiot who believed Seth’s lies and who was all too happy to off Mom and me.
The wolf falls on his side with a whine, but gets up a second later. Before he can attack me, a gunshot cuts through the battle noise and his head explodes. I swing around, not knowing what to expect. Relief washes over me when I see Sheriff Arantes and her officers swarm the perimeter, guns pointed at the enemy. If Valerius’s wolves had any preservation instinct, they would flee. But they’re mad in their savagery. In consequence, they’re turned into Swiss cheese when bullets rain on them. The fight is over in the next minute, the smell of blood and gunpowder almost making me gag.
Immediately, I search for Red, relieved to sense the bond link as strong as ever. I leap over corpses and shove my own wolves out of the way so I can get to her. She’s standing alone, breathing hard. There’s blood on her muzzle, but it’s not hers. No sign of Lyria anywhere.
Locking her gaze with mine, she says, “She escaped. I had her, Tristan, but when the sheriff arrived, I got distracted and let her slip from under me.”
Red’s tone, even in my head, is remorseful. I rub my face against hers, but what I really want is to hold her close and never let go. “Don’t feel bad about it. You’ll have your chance again, sooner than you think.”
“Red, are you okay?” Dante asks as he runs toward us with Sam close behind him.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just pissed I let Lyria escape.”
“We should shift back so we can talk to the sheriff,” Dante says.
As a group, we return to our human forms, and so do all the remaining members of our pack. Sheriff Arantes walks between the corpses of friends and foe alike with care before she reaches us.
“How did this happen?”
“Valerius sent some of his soldiers to obliterate us while you were too busy following Mayor Montgomery’s orders,” I snap.
She ignores my jab, focusing on Dante instead. “How did they get in?”
“Seth—he’s working with the enemy,” Dante replies.
“And Lyria, let’s not forget about that bitch,” Red says, glowering.
“Oh my God,” someone says from behind Sheriff Arantes. The woman turns, revealing her daughter Kenya not too far behind.
Red’s friend is staring at us wide eyed with her hands covering her mouth.
“Kenya, what in the world are you doing here?” her mother asks.
“I came to make sure Red was okay since I haven’t heard from her in days. What happened here and why is everyone naked?”
Chapter 39
Red
Kenya hasn’t spoken a word since her mother explained supernatural creatures exist and the Wolfe brothers—and I—were wolf shifters. After she crashed the party—or better put, the massacre site—we all came to the alpha’s manor, including the few enforcers who survived. Those were sent to the clinic to wait for help to arrive since Dr. Mervina had been taken out of the premises by Zaya once the nurse realized she wasn’t safe in the compound.
Not able to take Kenya’s silence any longer, nor her staring at me like she’s never seen me before, I speak.
“Say something, Kenya. Please.”
“I can’t believe all this happened to you and you didn’t tell me.”
She’s sitting across from me at the great dining room table, but it feels like there’s a chasm between us. I drop my gaze to my folded hands, ashamed.
“I wasn’t supposed to say anything, especially since you weren’t aware about the supernatural community in Crimson Hollow.”
Kenya lets out a humorous laugh. “It all makes sense now. God, I was such a fool.” She turns to her mother, accusation glaring in her eyes. “Why did you keep the truth from me? You didn’t think I could handle it?”
Guilt flashes in Sheriff Arantes’s stare, but she doesn’t break eye contact with her daughter like I did. “Your father and I decided it was best if you were kept in the dark for your own safety.”
“That’s bullshit. I could have walked into a vampire’s nest without even knowing!”
“There aren’t any vampires in Crimson Hollow,” Tristan says in a matter-of-fact tone, earning a glare from Kenya and strangely shifty eyes from Sam.
“It was just an example.” Holding her head in her hands, she continues. “This is turning out to be one of the suckiest days of my life. First, Martin cancels our date, and—”
“You can’t date him,” I almost shout.
Kenya whips her face to mine, her eyes narrowed to slits. “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re no longer my best friend.”
I wince, feeling the pain of Kenya’s retort deep in my heart. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. You should have told me you were turned into a wolf. That’s what best friends do. I wouldn’t have turned my back on you.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Enough with this childish bullshit.” Sam throws his hands in the air. “You lied to me, blah, blah, blah,” he says in a girly voice. “You can’t date Martin because he’s a sadistic motherfucker who’s been working with Valerius. Most likely, he wanted to date you to have leverage over Red.”
The stricken expression on Kenya’s face makes me wish Sam wasn’t so callous. I turn to him, letting him know with my hard stare that he went too far.
“What? She’s been going on and on about how she can handle the truth. Now that she has it, it’s clear her mother was right to keep it from her.”
Kenya stands up abruptly, announcing in a tight voice that she’s leaving. Her mother stands as wel
l, following after her daughter. I want to do the same, but Dante’s hand on my forearm stops me.
“She needs time to digest everything. She’ll come around.”
My shoulders sag as I sit deflated on my chair. All the terrible things that have happened to us weigh heavily on me. Nadine enters the room, coming out of her hiding spot. I asked her to stay in the manor and guard the chips while we fought Valerius’s soldiers, something she did without reluctance. I don’t know if the reason was that she didn’t want to fight the wolves she grew up with, or if she was afraid the box containing the chips would vanish.
Xander’s gaze immediately switches to her. His animosity toward Nadine is still alive and kicking, which makes absolutely no sense to me. Does he still believe she will betray us?
“How did you know we needed assistance?” Tristan asks Santiago, the sheriff’s deputy. Dante told me earlier the deputy is a druid—one who is a few centuries old and very powerful. The surprises keep coming.
“Zaya brought your mother to my son when she realized Seth had taken over the pack. After that, they stormed the city hall together with Riku Ogata and Baldwin to demand assistance from the mayor.”
“And she just simply agreed?” Tristan scoffs.
Santiago smirks, making his jovial face even younger. “I went over her head, straight to the top boss of the Midnight Lily Council.”
“I don’t understand. I’ve always assumed she was the head,” Dante says.
“Oh no. Her mother is, but she rarely leaves her mansion these days. With her mother on our side, Georgina had no choice but to lift the ban on assisting the supes.”
“How is our mother, Santiago?” Tristan asks.
“She’s okay. A little banged up, but nothing life threatening.”
“We need to regroup as soon as possible,” I say. “This was only the first wave of attack we can expect from Valerius. I don’t know how many wolves he has under his control, but it’s definitely higher than what’s left of our pack.”
All three brothers fix me with stares that are a mix of awe and pride. Heat creeps up my face. I don’t know why they’re regarding me that way. I didn’t say anything they didn’t already know.
Dante breaks eye contact first, shifting his attention to the others present. “And we still have Martin and his men to contend with.”
“Now that Seth and Lyria are gone, the compound is still the safest place for our wolves,” Tristan adds, and everyone seems to agree.
Nina enters the room in that moment with Billy by her side. The young wolf seems fine besides the bruise on his left cheek.
“You need to call every enforcer you have left back to the compound. The woods outside are not safe,” she declares.
Tristan growls, and Dante watches the brunette through slitted eyes. I don’t know who she is, but only Sam is not reacting negatively to her presence and statement.
“Nina is right. We need the numbers, and patrolling the perimeter of the compound is useless. We know Valerius will come back sooner or later,” Billy adds, defending his companion. It fills me with pride. I knew he wasn’t a doormat.
He’s finally decided to step away from the submissive role of the omega. I’ll never accept that the pack needs someone to be the punching bag. It’s archaic and barbaric in my opinion. Maybe that’s something I can change if we survive what’s to come.
Then the idea hits me like a cannonball. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it sooner. “We should take the fight to Valerius. Catch him by surprise.”
“It’s too dangerous. He’ll have the advantage of knowing his territory well,” Tristan counters.
“Nadine can help us with that. It’s better than waiting for him to come at us again with all his might. He’s probably counting on that, actually.”
Tristan opens his mouth again, but Sam cuts him off. “I’m with Red. Let’s take the fight to that bastard’s lands.”
Clearly frustrated, Tristan stares at a point on the wall, rubbing his chin as he does so. It’s a gesture so familiar that it causes a sudden ache in my chest. I touch his leg, trying to reassure him that all will be well. Then I see a vision of a man running toward me in the forest. His hair is dark blond, and he wears clothes that don’t belong to this time. Is it a memory from my previous life? And why would touching Tristan now trigger it? I remember then what the great wolf apparition told me—that I’d find the answers I seek if I went back to the place where it all started. What if I can unlock the knowledge to win against Valerius as well?
“Before we head to Shadow Creek, there’s a place we need to go first.” I turn to Dante. “We need that diary you found.”
Chapter 40
Red
I have to brace myself, encase my heart into a barrier made out of steel, in order to come face to face with my grandmother. To speed things up, she agreed to meet us at the place Natalia Petroviski—the presumed Mother of Wolves and my former self—used to meet up with her lover Robert E. Saint, one of the names on the list the imp Zeke Rogers left for Tristan.
Silver Falls is a piece of woodland farther south, on the border of Ravenwood, a neighboring town. The forest is dense, but there’s no sense of danger here, which I can’t say the same anymore about the woods in Crimson Hollow. But how long until Valerius’s presence spreads here? We need to stop him before his power takes over the entire area.
It’s easy to guess why this particular spot is called Silver Falls. Any light that manages to break through the canopy gives the crystalline waterfall in front of us a silvery sheen. But I don’t have the right state of mind to appreciate the scenery. My grandmother is waiting for us at the edge of the clearing, looking healthier than ever. In fact, she seems ten years younger, which makes the resentment festering in my chest increase. Sam told me what he had learned about her deception. She lied about being sick all these years, something I’ll never be able to forgive her for. Even when Dante pointed out that if it wasn’t for her lie, I wouldn’t have met them, the hurt didn’t lessen.
We dropped off Nadine and the chips at Brian’s before coming here. Something still needs to be done to destroy them. If it’s the conjuring of the Eternal Fire, then the druid has to call on the witches needed for that. I don’t want to have anything to do with them. Walking between Dante, Tristan, and Sam, I attempt to control my nerves. Nevertheless, my spine goes taut when I lock gazes with Grandma. I stop in my tracks, leaving a good distance between us.
“Red, it’s good to see you’re unharmed.”
I snort. “Like you ever truly cared about my well-being.” If she had, she wouldn’t have sent me into those woods to be attacked by a rogue wolf.
Face tightening, she takes a step forward. “I hope one day you’ll understand my reasons.”
“Repeating that phrase every time we meet won’t make me change my mind. Is that the diary?” I point at the tome in her hand.
“Yes.”
When I don’t make a move to retrieve it from her outstretched hand, Tristan does the honors. The moment he touches the old tome, he changes, becoming the man I saw in my vision. What the hell? I let out a gasp and the illusion vanishes, which doesn’t make my accelerated heartbeat return to normal.
“What’s the matter?” Sam touches my arm, concern lacing his words.
“Did you get guys see that?” I continue to gape at Tristan without blinking my eyes.
“See what?” His eyes search around us as if he’s expecting an ambush at any minute. He has no idea he’s the reason I’m freaking out.
“There’s magic in the diary. Tristan must have triggered it,” Grandma says.
I’m still frozen on the spot, not knowing what I should do next. Now that I’m so close to learning the truth, I’m terrified.
“You have to. It’s the only way,” the familiar woman’s voice speaks to me, sounding so distant I can barely hear it.
“I thought you were gone.”
“There’s some kind of disturbance blocking me.”
<
br /> The chip. It must be the chip. In my haste to come here, I forgot all about it. I still need to find a way to remove the damn thing from my head.
“You have enough power in you to destroy it.”
“What? How?”
The voice goes silent. Typical. Why can’t I get a straight answer from any of the mysterious entities helping me? The annoying buzz coming from the chip becomes louder. Martin must still be trying to control me through it. Using all my mental strength, I push the noise to a dark corner of my mind while solidifying the barrier between my conscience and the disruptive chip.
“Red?” Dante is suddenly in front of me, his eyes riveted on my face.
“What?” I ask with a start.
“You spaced out for a moment.” He touches my cheek with the tips of his fingers, and I want to lean into that caress, but if I do, I might chicken out and not face the music. We came here for a reason, to find out the truth about how I’m linked to the Mother of Wolves.
“It’s nothing.” I brush past him, moving toward Tristan and the mysterious diary.
As I get closer to the object, I sense its power increase, which makes me even more jittery. I’m beginning to understand why Tristan is so against witches and spells. Magic sucks.
He offers me the diary, and a huge lump gets lodged in my throat as I stare at it. Then, lifting my eyes to Tristan’s face, I take a deep breath before grabbing the tome. My intention was to peer inside; I didn’t expect magic to flare up from it. My scream gets swallowed up by the sound of howling winds. Tristan reaches for me, holding my arms as we’re enveloped by a vortex of light. We’re caught by the spinning air. As it increases speed, his grip on me begins to slip. Then he’s yanked away from me, disappearing from sight.
“Tristan!”
The light surrounding me brightens before it vanishes altogether. Still reeling from the experience, I find myself sitting on a rock by the Silver Falls lagoon. The forest is quiet besides the sound of the waterfall. I’m all alone; everyone is gone. Where did they go? I stand up, ready to go search for them, when the swishing sound of fabric catches my attention. Glancing down, I see an ankle-length brown skirt, caked with mud at the edges, covering my legs. I was wearing sweatpants before. Panicking, I inspect the rest of my ensemble. I’m now wearing a tight bodice, and a thick wool cape is fastened around my neck. That’s not the only disturbing detail. Instead of my blonde hair, dark brown locks tumble down my front. Shit. Shit. Shit. I run to the water, dropping to my knees to peer at my reflection. A stranger is staring back at me. I let out a yelp, falling back on my ass.
