by Aidy Award
"Galyna, your eyes. They're shining with the light of a wolftress."
She had only one thing she could say to that. "Grrr-ruff."
Max
Moon in the sky, Galyna's wolf was coming out to play. Max's own wolf responded like a puppy on crack. It wanted to run and jump and lick her face and howl at the moon with her. This could solve everything. If the mate bite did turn humans into wolf-shifters than there would be way less resistance to accepting them into the pack.
One of the other women standing in the hallway gasped. "Oh, she got the wolf. Lucky girl. I wish I had. I'd give anything to run with Harley as a wolf."
Several others nodded, but a tall guy and an older woman both looked surprised. The woman glanced around at the others. "You don't shift?"
Three of the women and one man shook their heads no. The young man raised his hand. "After Olga and I mated, I started seeing things. I thought they were ghosts or something, or that I'd gone crazy. Then this one time, she saw them too. We tested it a bit and figured out I can conjure up what we call echoes. It's easier if I show you."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and held one hand out into the hallway. A ghost-like version of Gal floated into the hall and leaned against the wall, watching the back door expectantly.
"Holy crap. That's me, but like fifteen minutes ago." Gal reached out to touch the partially translucent image and it disappeared like steam dissipating.
One of the other women spoke up. "I can tell if someone is telling the truth or lying. It's why I agreed to come tonight."
"I can do this." A woman who looked around forty pointed to each of them and one by one in turn, they each suddenly looked like some movie star or other celebrity. Gal made a very sexy Marilyn Monroe. She let them all stare at each other for a moment and then snapped her fingers. Everyone went back to looking like themselves. "It's only a glamour, something seen, but it's not a real change."
Gal held up her hands. "Let me get this straight in my mind. Some of you can shift and some of you have some kind of, for lack of a better term, magical or psychic abilities. Is it something inherent or does it have to do with being around the wolves? What's the cause?"
A voice came from behind them. "The mate's bite."
Max turned, surprised by his mother. "Mom. Why do I have the feeling you know a whole hell of a lot more about all of this than you've told me? What do you know about all of this?"
Selena sighed and approached the group. "I've been keeping tabs on each of you from the second your wolf found you. I may have even given a few pack members a shove in your direction."
His mother's matchmaking had gone a little too far this time. She'd willingly helped at least eight wolves break wolf law. Nine if he counted himself. "What? You had to know this would create chaos in the pack, in all of wolf society."
"Yes, and it's damn well time we got a shake-up." Her normally calm and collected demeanor slipped away and a fervor injected her voice. "The Volkov's were no longer working for the best interest of our people. They were corrupt. All except for Mikhail. Your brother went to Russia to help him escape the machinations of the old world. He was going to come here and bring wolfkind into the twenty-first century. We haven't been hunted in hundreds of years for god's sake. It's time we quit hiding."
Well, fuck him. Max's mother was a revolutionary. "If Niko was in on all of this, why would he kill Mikhail?"
Selena grabbed him by the shoulder. "Use your head, son. He died trying to save the Tzar. Niko believed in this cause with his whole heart. He thought Mik was the best chance we had. With his word as law, we could all finally be free to find our true mates no matter if they are wolf, human, or fricking unicorns. We all deserve that, and you out anyone should understand. You've got your true mate."
He did, in large part because of her. She'd been keeping secrets from them all for years. "Did dad...know?"
"Your father liked the old ways." She tipped her head to the side and frowned. "He couldn't believe the Volkov's were corrupt. His family helped put them in power and he was blindly loyal to them."
So that was a no. Max didn't like being in the dark and he doubted anyone else in his pack did either. If they were going to be the start of this revolution he needed to get them all on his side. They couldn't do that by hiding. God he hoped they didn't all end up with their heads chopped off.
Harley stuck his head into the hallway. "Hey, boss. The troops are getting antsy. We ready to get this show on the road?"
Not even close. "Yeah. Get everyone quieted down. I'll be there in a minute."
He needed a new plan and quick. He'd hoped tonight was simply taking his claim to be alpha and introducing his mate. The only complication was supposed to be that she was human. He hadn't decided yet if he was going to announce that the ban on mating humans was lifted, in their pack at least. Only if he'd been pressed.
That wasn't the way a strong alpha led his pack.
Time to wolf up.
"Everyone stay here until I call for you. I am going to ask you all to reveal yourselves and your relationships. I can't promise that you won't get hurt, but I will do everything in my power to protect you. If you can't do this, or aren't ready, say so now and I'll call your wolves to escort you home." He looked each of the mates in the eye and not a one of them backed down. They each had more guts than he did in their own way. Good. They were going to need them.
"I know there are infiltrators from the packs we are at war with in the crowd, and they may use this as their excuse to strike. Be careful. The enforcers are ready for them and will take them down, so don't get in their way." He stopped and stared for a moment at the ones who had shown their powers. "On second thought, if you can help by using your abilities, do. We're going to need all the help we can get."
The group all nodded and looked ready to go out and kick some ass. Max took Galyna's hand. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." She stood up on her tippy-toes and gave him a quick kiss. "For luck."
He led her to the end of the hall and with a squeeze of her hand left her there until he was ready to present her to the pack. Max took a fortifying breath and stepped up onto the small stage to face his pack. The room fell silent almost immediately. Wolves he'd known his entire life filled the room. They'd look to him and his family to keep them safe, secure, and protected. Tonight he would ask them to give up some of that security and fight for their futures.
Max cleared his throat and addressed the room with the power of the alpha in his voice. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice and during volatile times. I wouldn't have asked you if this wasn't important. My father led this pack with loyalty and dignity and it is with a sad heart I tell you that Piotr Illyvich Troika has been killed by the dishonorable packs of Grimm and Crescent. They come to claim our pack."
The room erupted into boos and hisses. Most of them already knew. It didn't take long for news like this to spread through a pack. He let them grumble for a moment and then continued. "I claim this pack as my own, from this night forward, I Maxsim Piotryvich Troika am be your alpha. If any wish to challenge me, do so now."
Max waited an entire count of a hundred before he nodded his head acknowledging there were no challengers. Someone in the back of the room beat out a rhythm on their table with a mug or a hand and chanted, "Troika, Troika, Troika."
Soon almost the entire room joined in until the bar was filled with the sound of a rallying pack. He let them build themselves up into a frenzy of pack loyalty and fervor. He hoped they would have the same enthusiasm for the battles ahead. A wolf from the front row handed him a mug of beer and he held it over his head, toasting the crowd. In a few long swallows he drained the drink and slammed the glass down to the floor, shattering it in celebration. Dozens of others followed suit and soon the floor was littered with shards of glass.
Max held his hand up and quieted the crowd back down. "We can not allow these other packs to invade Rogue and create havoc in our land. They have declared war o
n us without honor. I will not stand for that. I call upon you to join me in battling our enemies until we are victorious."
Almost every man in the room stood to volunteer and surprisingly a few women as well. They joined their voices in a haunting howl that would scare any foe. Maybe his pack was already more progressive than he knew. Most wolves loved a good fight so rallying the troops was easy. Now for the hard part.
"I need you all to understand that with this war, we will have many enemies. Not simply the Grimms, Crescent, and the Bay, but wolves around the world are disturbed by the Troika involvement with the Volkovs and the death of the Tzar." The room went decidedly darker at the mention of what most of them probably felt was their first son's shame. It was time for them to know the truth.
"We won't be able to convince them all, but I want each and every one of you to know that my brother, Nikolai," Max's voice choked on the emotions he'd suppressed since the news of Niko's death. "Niko did not kill Tzar Mikhail Volkov. He died trying to save him from schemes of his corrupt family."
The people in the room were as shocked as Max had been at this news. He struck them all with more revelations. "Mikhail had great plans for our world. He above all wanted better for each of us and planned for sweeping changes that would affect our lives. In doing so, he gave us the secret weapon that will help us not only defeat our enemies, but allow our society to evolve. For too long we have lived oppressed. For hundreds of years our laws stated that we must hide ourselves from the world and that law denied us the ability to find our true mates."
Someone shouted from the crowd. "Some wolves find their true mate. I did."
"Yes, some have. Some were lucky that their true mates were other wolves. Most are not so fortunate. I believe that finding the mate that is right for you, the one who is made especially for you and you for them doesn't have to be a one in a million chance as we've all been led to believe. Mikhail didn't think so either. According to my sources, he was about to declare that wolfkind would no longer be required to mate only among other wolves, that we could all go out in search of our true mates no matter if they were wolf or not."
This time the crowd did not remain silent in their shock. Many all spoke at once.
"You're suggesting that we treat the humans, other shifters, elves, fairies, and so on as any other person we might mate? What about the mate's bite?"
"We can't bite a human. That's disgusting."
"No one even knows what will happen to a human who is bit by a wolf. They might die."
Harley couldn't hold his tongue and blurted out. "They won't die."
"How do you know?" All eyes turned on Harley and he in turn stared up at Max.
Max held out his hand toward Galyna and motioned her to join him on the stage. She took a deep breath and stepped up next to him and took his hand. Murmurs rippled through those gathered and not all of them were friendly. So it began. "I present to you, Galyna Shirvan, my true mate."
Gal pulled her collar away to reveal the tattoo on her neck and shoulder.
"You're telling me, this fat bitch is supposed to be our matriarch?"
Max growled, his fangs and claws extended, and his eyes glowed with his wolf's anger. Gal put a hand on his arm to stop him from attacking the dickpotato that had resorted to calling her names. "It's okay. He's scared and upset. They're only words.
Another man swooped out of the shadows in the corner of the bar and threw the man against the wall, pinning him there with a hand that was more wolf than human. He snarled, dark and low. "That's your alpha's mate, asshole. Be careful how you talk about her."
Kosta. Her defender was the last man Max expected to stand up for her in light of his earlier tantrum.
The man scratched at Kosta, trying to get away. His own wolf was rising up as indicated by the sprouts of hair on his hands and arms. "You can't expect me to accept his fat fetish as my matriarch. She isn't even a wolftress."
Kosta slammed the man against the wall again, hard enough that a spray of debris fell from the ceiling. "You can calmy and intelligently argue wolf law and how Galyna's position will have repercussion on all of our society, ass-munch. But her body, every luscious curve of it is no one's business but hers and her mate's. Got it?"
If it was a wolftress they wanted, that's what they would get. Max turned Gal to face him. "Galyna listen to me. This is going to hurt, but it won't be for long, I promise. Just keep your eyes on me and listen to my voice."
"Max? What... oh no. We don't even know if I can. So far all I've been able to do is have some sparkly wolf eyes."
"You can, and you will." Max let his own wolf rise up enough that the alpha voice, the one that no member of his pack could deny pooled in his mouth. "Change, Galyna Shirvan. Let your wolf out. Show your wolftress to everyone here."
Gal closed her eyes and her face contorted as the pain of her first shift hit her. She gripped his hands so hard he thought they might break. It was a pain he would happily endure for her. her own bones cracked and her skin split. Gal screamed out but her voice quickly turned from a human woman to the howl of a wolf.
The clothes she'd worn split from her body and dropped in shreds to the floor as her claws, teeth, and fur pushed out taking on the form of the wolf. Before his eyes, Max's beautiful mate became his beautiful wolf. She was a dark chocolatey brown, save a grey circle on her right front shoulder. An anomaly in her fur the shape of a silvery moon.
A wolf darted forward through the crowd and jumped through the air straight at Galyna. He was not a Troika, but one of the Grimms who Max and his enforcers had allowed to sneak in. Max's own wolf burst forth to protect his mate and he met the bastard straight on, colliding in the air.
Too late he realized this wolf was a pawn and the real attack came from behind where Gal was open and exposed.
Gal
The world around Galyna was technicolored and loud. She could see things like body heat, and she knew immediately who was human, who was wolf, and who was something in between. It was all very distracting. She couldn't seem to keep her mind focused on just one thing.
Max. If she could concentrate on him, she would be okay. She stared at him wondering how she hadn't ever recognized the soul of the wolf wavering around him. Then suddenly, the wolf was more than a mirror image of Max, he was Max.
Oh. Max had shifted into his wolf form too and he was jumping into the air. Another wolf crashed into him and they dropped to the floor in a flurry of snarls and fur.
Gal shook her head, knowing she should help him. She couldn't quite seem to get her feet to work. She had too many of them and not enough hands. One step forward and she plopped down on her butt. She felt like a new-born giraffe, trying to get up and walk for the first time.
Galyna, run. Max's voice popped into her head. He sounded scared. She'd never heard him even a little worried before.
She opened her mouth to tell him that she couldn't and a weird wroo-wroo-wroo sound came out. Crap. That wasn't right. Think. Think. How did Max talk to her.
In her head. She opened her mind and reached out with her thought. I. Don't. Can't. How?"
She sure thought mental telepathy would be easier. Becoming a wolf meant she was learning how to walk and talk all over again.
Gal was smart, dammit. She had an advanced degree. She could figure out how to move her feet. Her butt went up in the air and her tail wagged. Which felt super weird, but also happy. Okay, good. Now one foot, now a back foot. Good. Now the other foot, and the other back foot.
She wasn't going to get far like this. Max. I'm. Help. You. Coming. To.
At least those were words in a sentence, even if they did come out stunted and not quite the right order. Hey, if people could figure out what Yoda was saying, her mate could probably figure out what she meant. Now to find him. More and more wolves were joining in the fight and she'd lost track of Max. Where? Are you?
No. Get away, Gal. Run.
Just like a man to not accept help. She knew kung-fu for goodness sake.
She could take care of herself. No way. Jose.
Ooh. That was an actual sentence. She was getting better at this. A few more minutes and she'd be running circles around these jokers that were trying to take on her pack.
Galyna Shirvan. Change. Shift back into your human form and run. There was a different tone to Max's voice that time and it made her wolf want to whimper.
Her body stretched until she was sure she was going to break. Then she did. Her wolf howled and in the next second it was her own voice screaming. She was human again standing among a gauntlet of snapping jaws and teeth naked as a jay-walking-bird. Her feet were moving of their own accord and without a single signal from her own mind, she was running.
Gal grabbed a discarded oversized t-shirt from a table as she scooted by and threw it on over her head. She couldn't even stop running long enough to see whose it might have been. Dog gone it. What kind of spell had Max put on her that she had to do exactly what he said. Fine, two could play at this game. She would run, but he hadn't said where to go.
She pointed her feet in the direction of the back hallway where the rest of the human mates were waiting. The whole lot of them looked frightened and several of them were huddled together. "Galyna. Thank God. What's going on out there? It sounds awful."
"No time to explain except that the Grimms and probably some other baddies have picked a fight. We knew they would. Time to show the pack why having humans on our team is going to rock." The plan was forming in her mind as she spoke. Good ole Sun Tzu came to mind one more time. "All warfare is based on deception. We're going to fool the bad guys and scare their pants off so they never want to mess with us again. Okay?"
They group nodded. "Great. If you can shift into a wolf, I want you to do that in a minute right at the entrance where they'll be able to see you. Then you, sorry I didn't learn your name, dude who can make echoes. Put that echo on repeat so it looks like hundreds of wolves are pouring out of the hall and into the room. Got it?"
