by Harry Nix
Julius regarded him for a moment. “That’s what I wanted for years too. Just leave us alone, you stay on your side of the fence, we’ll stay on ours. Most werewolves like living out in the territories and going back to Baxter or whatever city is nearby for money and work. But now I’m starting to think that the mages and the vampires will never stop under any circumstances. Now that you’re here pulling together werewolf packs for your cause, you need to decide what your cause is. You’re sharpening a weapon here and I think in the end you need to choose an enemy to direct it at—otherwise it may turn back on you.”
Alex turned to look at the maps, his gaze straying across to a new one that had six sites marked on it and a large title across the top: Silver Bombings. There were dates listed too. All of them had happened in the last three weeks.
“Those are the ones I’ve been able to definitively confirm. There are other rumored ones but the werewolves won’t say anything because they don’t want to appear weak,” Julius said.
“Maybe I should get some more of my pack and go traveling around these territories, see what I can do directly,” Alex murmured. He hadn’t wanted to leave Baxter but now he was gone and although it was only for a day things were still running fine. Alex was realizing that maybe the best next step was for him to travel the territories, meet alphas directly. What Julius was saying was right: they now held a fortress that they’d taken from Ignis, and when Alex visited there he could feel the separate packs of werewolves were close to merging into one, simply from proximity and time. They weren’t his pack but it felt close enough that he could almost reach out and take it. Maybe Julius was thinking too small… maybe conquest wasn’t the end goal but rather empire. Entire cities that were held by werewolves and excluded mages and vampires.
“Your eyes are really getting silver, aren’t they?” Julius said, squinting at Alex. Alex unconsciously touched a finger to his eyelid and then drew it away.
There was a sudden clattering at the front door of the building as the group of wives and pack members and Alex’s mates entered, their conversation still racing along.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” Julius said before the flood of women washed over them.
9
As Alex stuffed the salty smoked boar in his mouth and washed it down with a sweet spiced vodka, he felt like he’d time-traveled. Their last visit to Julius’s pack had been much the same: a party that had started in the late afternoon and stretched into the night, full of delicious roasted foods and the spiced vodka, which was flavored with various berries, in copious supply.
The last time Alex had run the obstacle course a few times, competing against Daisy and being thoroughly beaten by the six-year-old. She’d grown about a foot since he’d last seen her, and thanks to the heat the mud pit was now just a dust pit, but Alex still raced the obstacle course against her and all the werewolves, finding that he’d improved substantially since last time. She’d beaten him on the first race around the obstacle course, but then after that he’d had to pull back to let her win. Although he occasionally stumbled over estimating his jumps, he was almost as comfortable in his hybrid form as he was in human.
It was about nine at night and the celebration was continuing on, music thudding in the distance, run off of solar generators and batteries. They even had an upgrade this time, Julius putting them in a newly built cabin that had excellent air-conditioning, so inside it was cool and felt luxurious.
Alex’s mates had already made their excitement known throughout the evening, each of them in turn frequently returning to whisper filthy things in his ears about what they planned to do once they got back to the cabin. For now, Alex was focused on eating as much smoked salty boar as he could. He wasn’t sure if it was the lingering injuries, his body needing the calories for repair, but there was something deeply satisfying about the fat and the meat together.
“Don’t eat too much. We need you in peak condition,” Juno said, wrapping her arm around him, her breath brushing against his ear.
“More magic. More magic!” the group of children following her cheered out. Juno gave Alex a kiss and then walked off into the darkness, sparks trailing from her fingers, the werewolf children laughing and clapping as they followed her. Alex returned to his plate but was interrupted a moment later by Nia coming up from behind him and kissing him on the neck.
“You heard the witch,” she said. She sat beside him on the log and started stealing food from his plate. Although Alex was used to it, he still worked fast, snatching away a succulent piece of meat and popping it into his mouth before she could get it.
“Hey, I’m your mate. You’re meant to be looking after me,” Nia said, slapping him on the arm.
“You snooze, you lose,” Alex mumbled through the mouthful of food.
Every now and again he reached out for that elusive thread that he was starting to think of as werewolf power. Although at first it had been as slippery as before, as the celebration continued Alex could feel he was getting close to grasping it. There was some kind of time component there. Simply being around other werewolves made the connection grow stronger.
Even now, as he was starting to get quite drunk, he could almost grasp it fully.
“What are you thinking?” Nia said, taking more of the meat on his plate. Alex let out a breath and then reached for the power before finally grasping it. He held it gently, not applying any force, and felt it like a Christmas tree lighting up in his mind, a connection that spread from him out to the werewolves surrounding him. He suddenly knew where Julius was and then quickly turned his attention away. Julius had dragged one of his wives into an empty cabin and closed the door, and was currently having his way with her on the bed.
Alex could feel almost every werewolf in the area and had vague sensations of Juno and April as though the information about them was being relayed secondhand. Juno was summoning little clay golems, setting them off to run so the werewolf children could chase them. April was in a huddle with Nia’s sisters, most of whom were pregnant, having some deep and meaningful conversation. Alex would have put money on it being about babies.
“Just enjoying myself,” he murmured. He let it go, the power ebbing away and the sensation of knowing where every pack member was going with it. Nia leaned over and put her arms around his neck.
“Well, how about we continue enjoying ourselves and go to bed?” she said. She rubbed her leg against his and then she came closer.
Alex nodded and Nia leaped up, hauling him with her. It seemed that April and Juno had been waiting for this moment because they quickly joined them as they rushed out of the celebration and out into the darkness towards the cabin.
A little away from the celebration and the thudding music they could hear other werewolves in some of the other cabins, having a very good time. Alex decided to keep it to himself that Julius was in one of those cabins with one of his wives.
They stumbled up the cabin steps and inside, the blissful cool washing over them. As they went in Alex realized he was more drunk than he’d thought. The spiced vodka that Julius’s pack illegally brewed had a kick to it and Alex had made the mistake of drinking while sitting down. It was never a good idea because you couldn’t truly tell how drunk you were until you tried to walk somewhere.
Although his three mates were pulling him towards the bedroom, Alex carefully disengaged and went to the small bathroom instead to splash water on his face and wash some of the salt and oil off his hands. He saw he had spilled some food on his clothes as well and, figuring he’d end up naked soon anyway, took them off. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he saw the image briefly doubled before he shook his head and splashed himself with more cold water.
“Come on, dude. Get it together. Come on,” he told himself.
“Yeah, dude. Get in here,” Nia called out and his mates laughed. Taking a deep breath, Alex straightened himself out and walked into the bedroom as though he was perfectly sober.
“Naked already. Straight to the
point,” April said with a smile. Alex just shrugged, not trusting himself to speak without slurring his words. April beckoned him over even as she slowly undressed. When he came close enough for her to grab him, she gave him a deep and passionate kiss.
It went on for longer than Alex expected, April pulling herself against him. When they broke apart, she was gazing into his eyes with a deep intensity.
“Next time the thrall comes, I’m not drinking that potion,” she said.
Alex felt a lurch inside of him. It was like a shock, but a good one.
“I’d like that,” he said. It was a mad idea, of course. Despite the fact his pack was more than two hundred and fifty strong now, no way could they be called anywhere close to safe. The idea of a pregnant April was exactly what the wolf side of him wanted, to expand the pack, to have babies. But the part of him that had grown hard and cold, that had thoughts of empire and conquest, knew that if one of his pregnant wives were hurt—or worse, one of the babies—the wild rage that Alex had finally managed to get a hold on would come back with such strength that he might sink into it forever.
April kissed Alex again and this time there was a desperation to it as though he had said he wanted to make a baby right this very moment. He was aware of Nia and Juno watching, as though some secret thing had finally been spoken aloud. Some desire they all shared, and now it was out in the open, they weren’t quite sure what to do. He felt both of them come up behind him and then Juno slipped her hand around his waist, not quite reaching for him down below, but being close to it. She scraped her nails lightly across his abdomen.
“If we’re in the baby ordering business, I think I’d like one as well,” she said.
“I see you’ve decided to go down the sarcastic path,” Alex said between kissing April.
“There are other paths?” Juno said, scraping her nails lower. She brushed against him and then gripped the base of his cock, pressing herself up against him from behind.
“There are often twins in my family bloodline,” Nia whispered in his ear. She knelt, coming slightly between April and Alex, and then enveloped him. Although the pleasure from below was intense, Alex’s attention was on April. He could feel her nature magic, and although the cabin was newly built and still smelled slightly of sawdust and new furniture, it smelled as though they were in the forest surrounded by wildflowers and earth.
He realized as he kissed her, running his hands through her hair, that he wanted what she wanted too. He had a feeling that Nia and Juno took it for granted that they would have children with him, Nia because she was a werewolf and that was natural, and Juno because witches often mated with werewolves, producing a witch if it was a girl and a werewolf if it was a boy. But with April, although she was his mate, there’d been a barrier there. A fear that she’d carried. Nymphs didn’t live long, barely making it past thirty usually, whereas earth elementals could live virtually forever.
April had no idea whether she’d inherited her lost mother’s short lifespan or her unknown father’s or had landed somewhere in between. Would she outlive Alex by centuries or turn thirty and be young and beautiful before dying shortly thereafter like a flower cut and thrown carelessly on the side of the road? It was as though she had accepted that no matter what her fate was, she wanted to create a baby with Alex.
Eventually the sensations from Nia and Juno guiding his cock began to break through and Alex started moaning. April slowly backed away, pulling him towards the bed, which was slightly awkward considering how Nia was connected to him and Juno was holding him from behind. Nia tried her best to stay connected as they went across the floor, but then April fell back on the bed and Nia had to let go.
Alex almost fell onto April, barely managing to catch himself, and then he slipped inside her. Juno was laying on his back, molded to his body, and he felt her legs come down outside of both of his. She pushed, causing him to thrust into April. It wasn’t the most harmonious movement, but it worked. Juno could thrust, pressing herself against Alex, who in turn moved into April. Nia slid into the bed beside them, taking one of April’s fingers in her mouth and starting to suck on it. For Alex, it was an odd sensation, incredibly pleasurable, but also strange to have Juno thrusting at him from behind, pressing his hips down.
The room was dark, but Alex could see green popping out of the air and spiraling around, and then April realized what was happening, that it was Juno partially in charge, and gave a surprised laugh before moaning as Alex thrust again. Eventually the pleasure became too much for Alex and he began to speed up, and soon Juno was holding on like she was riding a bucking bronco. She finally slid off to the side, almost crashing to the bed and laughing, but Alex didn’t let up his pace.
He was holding on to April. He was aware of his other two mates, Nia and Juno, connected with them, feeling the magic swirl around, but most of his focus was on April and hers on him. He kissed her as she looked up into his eyes and then there was a flood of green, April biting her lip before holding her spare hand across her mouth, trying to contain the scream. It felt like when Nia shifted, her blood and body pulling in his, except this time it was April and Alex came, plunging himself into her as though he desperately wanted to merge their bodies.
Between the alcohol and his mates and the coolness of the room, the pleasure was intense and felt like it could go on forever, but then there was a lurch, like a wave of pain and ice. It washed across Alex and he shouted, pulling out of April, even as he shifted to hybrid form.
“What is it?” April gasped. That was when the first screams outside began. Alex was out the door before he knew it, rushing into the darkness. Outside the celebration was in chaos, werewolves fleeing the area while others flailed around. It looked as though they were fighting invisible monsters, and then as the music abruptly cut out, Alex heard it. The drone of a plane, maybe two, somewhere high above them. A ball of light suddenly shot past Alex, cast into the sky by Juno, and he saw the air was full of twinkling stars drifting down to the earth. It was silver dust and small curls dropped from the planes high above.
“Inside!” Alex roared. But the werewolves near the main grouping of tables didn’t move. They’d been hit with silver dust. It was burning their skin, their lungs. Some of them were stumbling about blindly, while in the distance children screamed. Alex ran into the midst of them, heedless of the silver in the air even as he felt it hit him and begin burning into his skin. He heard Julius yell something. The roar of his voice was lost over the sounds of screaming. Despite the terror of the moment, Alex felt a well of calmness in the center of him, perhaps from the spiced vodka or his mates or something else. He reached for the power, grasped it, and connected to all the werewolves in the area.
“Main house!” he yelled out. His voice echoed across the pack and Alex felt the command in it. Even werewolves who were blinded, struggling against the silver, began to run, moving in the direction of the main house. Alex felt the rest of the pack bolting through the night, herding children. Juno and April ran to where Alex was and helped the worst of the injured werewolves along, casting purify spells as they went, to get the silver out of them. Even as Alex cast purify himself on every werewolf he could see, he pushed his attention outwards. It was as though every werewolf was a flood of information. He couldn’t quite fully access it though. Most of the sensations he got were vague and sometimes confusing, but he could sense that so far they weren’t under any kind of attack other than the silver being dumped.
There were no mages marching out of the forest or the dead coming to shoot them. Knowing that might change at any moment, Alex hustled everyone towards the main part of the house, following the final group and slamming the door behind him. Inside werewolves were crying and yelling, some thrashing about. The stink of silver and blood was all through the room.
Juno and April were casting purify over and over, and Alex briefly saw that both of them were stark naked, not having bothered to get dressed as they rushed out after him. Alex looked around, trying to tri
age the situation. Who was the worst injured, who needed the most help—and then a cry cut him to the core. It was Daisy. She was on the ground being hugged by her mother, blood pouring down her face. She’d gotten silver in her eyes.
Alex cast healing flame, charging it with nature, which gave it a green tint. It burst out of his finger close to a foot long. He rushed over and pressed it against Daisy. The little girl screamed as the healing snapped from her back to her face and her eyes. Blood poured down her face as the silver was suddenly ejected even as she was healed. Her mother let out a cry as the silver hit her and Alex cast healing flame again for her.
Within a few moments, Daisy was healed but still crying. The mixture of blood and silver was now burning her mother. Alex looked around to see April on the other side of the room healing werewolves.
“April, we need rain to wash away the silver,” he called out.
“It only works outside,” she yelled back.
“Everyone out!” Alex yelled. He still had hold of the power, although splitting his attention seemed to have weakened his grasp. The werewolves obeyed, however, and those that didn’t still followed. April rushed out the door and Alex felt an enormous lurch as she cast a spell that shot up into the sky. Juno came over to help her, April drawing on her power and almost exhausting the witch.
“There’s hardly any moisture around because of the heat,” April called out. The spell completed, the two of them broke apart and continued casting purify spells, doing their best to move werewolves into a clear area even as silver continued to rain down. Alex felt the chill as the spell took hold and then the first warm raindrops fell from the sky.
He continued casting purify and healing flame over and over again as the light shower soon turned into a downpour. It washed the silver off the werewolves. As the three of them purified the silver out and healed them, the silver fell off them, trapped in the mud underfoot. It had another positive effect, the raindrops pulling the silver out of the air, wiping away the clouds of dust.
