A Pack of Two

by Jacky Russell

  She cupped my jaw. “Then you should definitely answer.”

  “Why?”

  She smiled sadly. “If I’m going to stay here, we need to try to make nice. No sense making things worse by ignoring him.” She leaned her head against my shoulder. “He’ll just show up over here anyway, so why not talk to him on the phone and get it over with?”

  “I’ll call him after we watch The Island of Misfit Toys.”

  She kissed the back of my hand. “Go on and call him. I’ve got a couple of texts I need to check on my phone.”

  She disappeared into the bedroom while I scrolled through my father’s messages. They were all the same. Call him immediately.

  He answered on the first ring and promptly yelled at me for taking so long to return his call. After his tirade, he got down to business.

  “You need to go to Ferrara tonight and attend to the worksite. The police called earlier and said there had been a break-in.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to play nice, as Breanna had suggested. “You expect me to drive two and a half hours in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve because someone might have stolen some drywall?”

  “Yes,” he answered emphatically. “Or come here and oversee the pack meeting.”

  Breanna came back into the room, her bright smile slipping a bit when she looked at me.

  “Fine,” I growled. “I’ll leave in a few minutes.” I hung up the phone without waiting for his response.

  “What’s up?” Bre asked.

  I explained about the burglary and my father’s demands.

  “Oh, okay. I’ll let Simon know we can’t make it.”

  “Can’t make what?”

  “Some members of Bravo are here for the holidays. He suggested we get together tonight for a drink.” She ducked her head. “Might be awhile before I see them again.”

  Leave it to my father to screw up Christmas Eve. I wondered if there really was a break-in or if he was just jerking me around.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and meet Simon and I’ll drive down to Ferrara? I should be back around midnight and then we can open more presents because it will be Christmas.”

  She crinkled her forehead. “The weather isn’t very good. I don’t like the idea of you driving that far by yourself.”

  I kissed her cheek. She was so awesome. “I’ll be fine. It’s an easy drive and the main road will be clear. I’ve got four-wheel drive if I need it. Go on. Have fun. I’ll see you back here.”

  “Call me when you’re on the way home?”

  I planted a kiss on the end of her adorable nose. “Promise.”

  The roads were not great and the heavy holiday traffic made my two-hour trip closer to three. When I pulled into the worksite, nothing was out of the ordinary and I certainly didn’t see any law enforcement officers.

  I parked under the lights and walked around to the back of the construction area. Nothing looked out of place. All the temporary utility buildings were locked, the scaffolding secure, and from what I could see, all was well.

  What the hell?

  The receptionist at the Ferrara Police Department had no idea what I was talking about. I called my father. No answer. I gritted my teeth and called my mother. No answer.

  Breanna’s phone rang and rang. The voicemail never clicked on. My chest tightened. I tried Tristyn. He and Alex were flying out to California sometime today and were most likely in the air over the Atlantic Ocean. I scrolled through my list of contacts and found Simon’s number. No answer, no voicemail.

  My foot leveled on the accelerator when I hit the autostrade. I tried Breanna again and again. Something was very wrong.

  Open witch-hunts.

  Thoughts of Breanna being in danger consumed my mind. I had no idea how fast I was going, but the lights along the roadside became one big blur. The steering wheel cracked under the pressure of my hands.

  “Please let her be all right,” I prayed as the SUV neared triple digits. I tried her again. Nothing. Nothing from my father. Nothing from my mother. No answer from anyone I called. It was as if everyone had fallen off the planet.

  I made it back to the city limits of Vicenza in two hours flat. The smell of smoke and burning wood filled the SUV. A bright orange glow lit the otherwise dark night sky and the glow was getting brighter the closer I got to my home.

  Less than a half mile from my house, I passed rows of emergency vehicles. I tried Breanna again. Nothing. A quarter mile from my drive the police formed a blockade. I skidded to a halt and yelled to the uniformed officer that I lived in the house around the curve. He radioed ahead and waved me through.

  My heart dropped and my wolf surged when I turned down my drive. All I could see were flashing lights and humans until I looked past the fire trucks.

  My house was gone, replaced by a huge pile of cinder and ash.

  “Breanna!” I yelled as I leaped from the truck and dashed toward the rubble. “Breanna! Breanna!”

  Four firemen tried to stop me. I shrugged them off. There was nothing left, nothing at all, but none of that mattered. What mattered was Breanna.

  “Mr. Benelli?” a kindly old man wearing a CHIEF hat said. “I am sorry we could not save your home.”

  “Breanna? Where’s Breanna?” I roared at him. Damn the house. I pushed past him and ran to the waiting ambulance. Maybe she was hurt and they were taking her to the hospital.

  The world stopped when a gurney carrying a black body bag rolled past. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. That couldn’t be her.

  “Mr. Benelli, who was in the house?” the human in the CHIEF hat asked.

  “My…my…” A human wouldn’t understand the idea of a mate. “My girlfriend, Breanna.”

  He placed a hand lightly on my shoulder and I didn’t have the strength to move away from him. I couldn’t take my eyes off the gurney. That couldn’t be her. She was a witch, a combat-trained soldier, that couldn’t be.

  “We found one body inside, too badly burned for any type of identification.”

  Some sort of sound came out of my throat as I shuffled closer to the gurney. I didn’t know who was in that bag but it could not be Breanna. It couldn’t be.

  A deep breath revealed nothing except the smells of burnt flesh and wood.

  “We found this on the body.”

  He held up a sooty necklace and my heart cracked. It was the wolf. I pulled the necklace from the human and dropped to my knees. It couldn’t be true. Breanna couldn’t be gone, not like this. There must have been some mistake.

  I tried to touch the body bag. My hands wouldn’t move. Nothing would move. Her face flashed through my mind over and over. I kept expecting to wake up and find her safe beside me in our bed.

  “We aren’t sure what caused the fire but it appears to have been some sort of gas explosion.” I kept seeing Breanna’s face, her beautiful smile as she kissed me before I drove away, the way she waved when I backed out the driveway.

  Inside me something broke. None of this could be happening. I’d only been gone a few hours and she’d been perfectly fine when I left.

  The sights and sounds all blended together as the world became hollow. Someone was trying to talk to me but all I heard was the mournful cry of my wolf. Our mate was gone, taken, dead.

  I dashed around the scene, frantically calling to her. Maybe they were wrong and she had gotten out of the house and was lying in the bushes.

  Who was in the body bag?

  I roared her name, begging her to come out as I ran through the dark forest. The sounds of the firemen quieted as I ran farther. Oh God, what could have happened? Please let this not be real. She’s okay. She’s alive. I feel it. I feel her.

  How did that person get her necklace?

  I fell to my knees and clawed at the dirt. No. No. No. She couldn’t be gone. She was alive. She was strong. She promised she wouldn’t leave me. No. No. No.

  I’d killed her.

  Images of her tortured my overwhelmed brain. Over and ove
r I saw her waving goodbye, saw her fingering the necklace, saw the body bag rolling past.

  I couldn’t stop the shaking. The forest beckoned. People called to me but they didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. I ran until the voices were quiet. My wolf finally won and I lay in a thicket for the change. I had no strength left to fight, no will left to live. My world was ashes.

  My wolf demanded vengeance. Breanna had not died in a freak accident.

  She was dead because of me.

  Chapter 37

  Breanna

  The sound of dripping water was getting on my last nerve. Wasn’t that a form of ancient Chinese torture? When I’d forced my eyes open a couple minutes ago, I had no idea where I was. With some sort of collar around my neck, I could barely move my head and the rope biting into my wrists didn’t help. At least my hands were in the front and not the back. Whoever had me was not a professional or they would have known better than to leave my hands so useful.

  My head pounded and every muscle in my body was angry. “Must be the drugs.”

  One minute I’d been standing on the porch of Lucas’s house, getting ready to go meet Simon, and the next I’d felt a sharp jab of pain in my neck. I’d caught a whiff of musk before I dropped like a rock. Whatever they’d used had knocked my ass out cold.

  Now I was in a small, drab room with no window and a flimsy wooden door. The bed smelled of musk, sex, and blood and I slid to the floor as soon as my muscles agreed to work. I didn’t know what had been occurring on this bed and didn’t want any part of it.

  Damn, it had been years since an enemy had captured me, yet here I was. Careless, Welker. Way too careless.

  “It’s Christmas. I should be on the couch with Lucas or better yet in bed with him. What the hell is going on here?” I mumbled, squirming my way toward the wall. I wanted to scream for someone to tell me where I was but decided the brash, no-fear approach might not be the most effective in getting me the hell out of this situation.

  Aaron would have called this a SNAFU. Situation Normal All Fucked Up.

  My stomach churned, threatening to hurl its measly contents. Anger tried to consume me. I refused to give in.

  Angry witches made stupid decisions.

  Outside the flimsy door, someone was speaking. My Italian was terrible. From the whiff of musk, they must have been werewolves. I wasn’t picking up any magic right now, but didn’t know exactly how much this damn collar interfered. We used something similar when we captured witches and sorcerers to prevent them from accessing their magic and, at the moment, I couldn’t make an ant-size fireball.

  Footsteps grew louder and the hushed speaking quieted as another wave of musk rushed into the room. This one carried an Alphalike sense of dominance. It wasn’t as strong as Lucas, though it was substantial.

  The door opened and the silver-flaked eyes of a tall, dark-haired werewolf stared down at me. His features were hawkishly handsome in a GQ kind of way. I got nothing off him that would make me afraid, but did get the sense intimidation was his primary operating procedure. Fine. I could work with that.

  I pushed back into the corner and huddled like a terrified child. I thought back to the time Celeste had almost died and just the memory was enough to send shock waves through my body. Those thoughts of fear would make my body react with a cold rush of adrenaline. The wolf would think the smell of fear was for him.

  I forced my chin to tremble when he entered the room. Damn, I hated to play the pathetic female routine, but it worked so well with overconfident asshole types.

  The GQ werewolf strode across the room. I wanted to kick the shit out of him. Better to play it safe and scared since I didn’t know what was outside the door.

  “So you are the one who has been creating havoc with my plans. Hmm, you’re not so bad for a witch.”

  I bit my lip and counted the pairs of shoes on the floor behind him. Nine wolves flanked him. That was too many for me to get through without my magic. Okay, find another way.

  The GQ wolf touched my chin with his finger and I worked hard to react like a scared child rather than a combat-trained soldier. With one move I could snap his neck but the part after that was a bit of a concern. I was pretty sure the other wolves would return the favor.

  I refused to meet his eyes. Submission, weakness, fear, all the things that sent a wolf into prey mode were oozing from me. His nostrils flared as he cupped my face. I found my trembly voice.

  “What do you want from me?”

  He snorted and leaned closer to get a bigger whiff of my scent. The bulge in his jeans grew as he growled and grabbed a fistful of my hair. The GQ wolf looked over his shoulder. “Leave us.”

  The others quickly departed, leaving only the two of us in the dimly lit room. He pulled me roughly to my feet and slammed me against his body. I tried to look wild-eyed and terrified. It must have worked because the GQ wolf’s eyes were full of silver.

  He shoved me to the bed and reached for the button on his jeans. “I am Nicolli Benelli, the true heir to the Pack of Italy.”

  Lucas’s brother? All righty, that was not what I’d expected and he sounded like he’d been watching way too many John Wayne movies. Maybe that was how he had been killing time this last year since he’d disappeared.

  Unlike Lucas, Nicolli looked exactly like Josef Benelli.

  Damn, it was hard keeping up the terrified witchy routine. “You’re Lucas’s brother?” What an asshole. “He said you went missing. He looked for you.” Dickhead.

  The evil cackle reminded me of Gemma. “I heard. He always was licking my father’s boots for a scrap of recognition.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Hey, I was getting pretty good at the girly-voice stuff.

  “Mom talked Lucas into coming back to Italy after I disappeared.” He finger-quoted the word ‘disappeared’. “I knew Lucas and our father would never get along.”

  “So why,” I began before quickly switching to trembly voice, “why involve Lucas? He didn’t want to be here.”

  Nicolli slowly unbuttoned his shirt. “I want to be Alpha now. The pack needs me. My father is old, his ideas outdated, but with the power of the pack behind him, he is almost impossible to defeat in a challenge. The only one strong enough is Lucas and even if the challenge ended with my father killing Lucas, the Alpha would be sufficiently weakened that I could finish the job.”

  Nicolli ran his hands along my back and grabbed my butt. Damn, I wanted drag his nuts through his nose. “Lucas would never kill his father.”

  A wicked smile. “Yes, he will.”

  Oh hell.

  Nicolli spun me around and pulled my back to his chest. “The firemen found the charred remains of a body inside Lucas’s house. Poor thing was burned beyond recognition but there was a necklace burned into her skin.”

  I glanced down at the bare spot where my wolf silhouette should have been.

  “Lucas left last night,” I answered with a real trembly voice this time. “We had a fight.”

  It was stupid to lie to a werewolf. He’d sense my dishonesty. Desperate times called for desperate actions.

  “No, my dear, I believe he went to check a burgled worksite while you joined your friends for a drink.” Nicolli’s lips grazed my ear and I tried not to puke. “They say he fell to his knees when the body bag went by.”

  I forced myself not to move as his hands trailed down the front of my shirt and across my chest. If I could only get out of this collar I’d roast his nuts.

  “Lucas loved you. Why are you doing this to him?”

  Nicolli tore open my shirt and I almost nailed him in the balls. “Lucas was a mistake that should have never been allowed to live. He has never been a real werewolf any more than he’s ever been a real man. He is nothing.”

  And to think Lucas had wasted time looking for this asshole.

  “Soon my dear brother will find a scent trail leading away from his once-happy love nest straight to Josef’s house.” Nicolli’s eyes sparkled wickedly. “Consumed by
grief, Lucas will attack the Alpha and kill him, or at the very least weaken him enough I can finish the deed.”

  “Sorry son of a bitch,” I snarled before crushing an elbow into Nicolli’s ribcage. The corresponding crunch of bone made me smile. A little pain in his side for what Lucas was going through didn’t seem quite fair, but it was the best I could do right now. I tried for a swift kick in the groin. Asshole brother was too quick and bounced just out of reach.

  “You fucking bitch,” Nicolli sneered with teeth bared. He lunged and I ducked enough to send him flipping into a corner. My hands were tied, otherwise I would have followed and beat the shit out of him.

  I bounced on the balls of my feet, ready for a headlong rush. Nicolli stood calmly and brushed the dust from his pants.

  “It was difficult at first, convincing the Malandanti to help me. I travelled the world to find the information necessary to form an alliance with them.”

  That explained the Paraguay witches’ stories about Levi being payment for their information. What a piece of shit.

  “The Malandanti have been very helpful with all of this. With their assistance I was able to coerce a few loyal wolves into helping me, but when you came along, things got a bit trickier. Seems your bear routine a few months back, the night they were going to bring Lucas to me, unnerved the Malandanti. The plan was to offer Lucas as a sacrifice and that in turn would give me the power to defeat Josef in a formal challenge but oh, no, the little earth witch had to step in and screw it all up.”

  This wolf was completely loco. “Why are you doing this? Lucas is your brother. He wants nothing to do with this pack. He’s only here to help his father with the company.”

  Nicolli guffawed and I wanted to rip his eyeballs out of his head and shove them down his throat. “And the pack has no interest in him. That’s why my plan will work. No one will rush to his aid when my wolves and I arrive, particularly when the pack sees the Malandanti working with me.” Nicolli glanced at his watch. “Hmm, by now I suppose Lucas has wandered out of the woods and started sniffing around the rubble. Everything will be over soon, little witch, and I will be the new Alpha of the Italian pack.”