“Yeah, and I can't design or draw for shit,” Che said, holding one of the glass milk bottles in one hand and leaning his back against the fridge. “You'd be doing me a serious solid.” He tipped the glass back and downed half of it in one go. I'd be lying if I said I didn't watch his throat move. Something about watching Che swallow turned me on …
“I mean, we can ask if anyone wants to design their own, but otherwise … I say go for it?” I handed him back the sketchbook as Jax took up the stool on my other side, his fluffy white wolf tail and ears shifted, but the rest of him human.
It … well, that was a huge turn-on, too.
I had the strongest urge to reach out and rub one of his fuzzy ears between my fingers.
“I don't need to design my own silver,” Jax said, wagging his tail and giving me a bored, stupid sort of a look. “Take it and run with it, Crimson Dusk.”
“Agreed,” Montgomery said, serving up another plate of food to Tidus. “It would be a relief for me. One less thing to worry about.”
Anubis took the sketchbook and tapped his pencil against the paper, chewing on his lower lip as he contemplated. Based on the expression on his face, he seemed pretty happy about it.
“It would be an honor, Alpha,” he told me with a short nod and a big grin. He'd look goofy if it weren't for the big muscles in his biceps and that sinful face of his.
“An honor, Alpha,” Tidus repeated, chucking a piece of toast at him. Watching them together, it was easy to imagine them playing as pups. Anubis let the bread bounce right off him and waggled his pencil.
“Be careful: if I'm designing your silver then I'm probably the last person you want to piss off, huh, Amber Ash?”
“Eat shit,” Tidus said, but he was laughing and had a piece of toast hanging from his mouth at the same time. It was actually pretty goddamn cute.
“Guess it's time to go talk to Grams, huh?” Che asked, watching me carefully.
“Guess so,” I said as I finished off my last bite of egg and smiled at the boys. “Wish me luck.”
When it came to dealing with the former alpha of Pack Ebon Red … I was going to need all the luck I could get.
Alpha-Majka was sitting on the back deck with a cup of tea, a plate stacked high with flaky meat pies, and an old tome that looked like it was liable to break into pieces at any moment.
I approached her like an alpha would, head high, chin up, eyes forward. When she lifted her head to look at me, our gazes locked and I saw the corner of her lip twist up in a snarl.
“What is it you want, Alpha-Heir?” she asked, closing the tome and looking up at me from eyes the color of a velvet sky. “It's been three days since the Pairing and already you come to me?”
“This isn't about the Pairing,” I told her, pulling out one of the other chairs at the table and sitting down. My rank in the pack right now was a strange one, exalted but feared, worshipped but watched with narrowed eyes. I was the next alpha, but it was a position I'd truly earn over the next twelve months, not one that would be handed to me.
Technically, I was slightly above Majka in the dominance ranking, but it was not something I was eager to enforce. With a flick of her hand, she could send me crashing through the deck's wood railing and onto the grass. Physically, she might be getting up there in years, but her mind was as sharp as a knife.
Her tongue, apparently, was even sharper.
“Then what do you want, pup? I'm busy.” She tapped her long fingers on the cover of the book. As soon as I became alpha and was given access to the vast resources at Ebon Red's disposal, I was going to have all the old works scanned and uploaded to the cloud. A single fire, a spilled cup of coffee, an earthquake … we could lose the collective knowledge of decades.
I wasn't going to let that happen.
Just watching Majka hold the tome like it was a regular paperback book made me nervous.
“You're the only wolf alive with magic,” I told her, paused, licked my lower lip. “Well, except for me and the boys …”
Majka's dark eyes narrowed and she swung her gaze out toward the tree line, studying the dripping crystals of water clinging to the branches, tapping out an ancient symphony on the forest floor.
“I need to learn how to control it,” I told her, trying to get her to look at me, to acknowledge me for once instead of belittle me. I was used to it, the blatant disregard both my mother and grandmother showed me. But I wasn't going to put up with it any longer. “I had my future read by the heir to the Unseelie Throne,” I told her, watching as her face tightened up, the wrinkles rearranging themselves as her expression changed. “My presence either signals a bright future for our people … or their complete destruction. Majka, I need to learn how to control this magic.”
For a long moment, she was silent, but then, as I sat there and watched, my grandmother waved her hand and the small field of grass between us and the forest bloomed with pink, purple, and white flowers, their fragrant scent wafting in the wind and surrounding us.
“I don't know how much help I can really be,” she said, her voice softening slightly. I felt myself relax, just a little. When it came to Nikolina and Majka, I'd always felt closer to my grandmother than my mother. “I was born in a different time, at the end of a great wave of prosperity for Ebon Red.” She sighed and touched a shaking hand to the bloodred strands of her hair, her eyes distant and far away as she stared at the field of wildflowers, so much more beautiful for the icy snow that dotted the edges of the field.
“I was considered weak when I was born, you know. A disappointment. But then other litters were born and they were … much worse. The magic of the earth abandoned our people, Zara Wolf.”
“I don't know if it abandoned us,” I began, lifting my eyes up to the gray-blue patch of sky above the forest, “or if we abandoned it.”
“That's true, I suppose,” Majka said, handing over the tome in stick thin arms that still held a surprising amount of strength. “Whatever the case … we've been given a second chance.” She waited as I took the book and held it on my lap, flipping it open and blinking in surprise when I found an illustration of the alpha in the silver boots and helmet, her seven lovers fanned out around her in a semi-circle.
I couldn't read the language, but I could follow the story as I flipped through and found more inked illustrations of big magic and great conquests.
What had gone wrong in the time in between her birth and mine? And why was I both a harbinger of doom and a symbol of power at the same time? It was less of a why me thought and more a simple academic question. How the fuck did I save my people? How the hell did I make sure there was a place in the ever changing world for us?
“I'll teach you what I know, but I imagine you'll be learning a lot on your own as well,” she said, reaching out for her cup of tea. I noticed that this time, her fingers were shaking. “I know you're busy with the Contribution,” she grudgingly admitted, giving my red dress a look that told me I'd made the right decision in wearing it. Reaching out a gnarled finger, she traced the edge of the fur lining on my shoulder. “But make time for our lessons. If I'm going to spend what could very well be the last year of my life teaching you, it'd better be worth it. Come see me on Sunday, Alpha-Ki. And be careful of the fae,” she added just before I stood up to leave. “You only think the faeries are tales until one bites you in the ass.”
“Thank you, Alpha-Majka.”
I grinned and took off, taking the book with me.
I might not be able to read it … but Majka had given me the tome for a reason.
I was determined to figure it out.
Meeting with the Crown Aurora Blood Queen was a huge risk, but one that I had to take. It was a calculated risk, like everything else I did nowadays.
It was now or never.
“I hate these outfits,” Nic said, which made my lips twitch in amusement. “I thought these were sacred outfits to be worn only at the Challenge.”
That was a reach and he knew it, but nice tr
y.
“Nothing in Pack Law says they can't be worn outside the ritual,” I told him, sitting between Silas and Che in the center row of the SUV. I felt like they needed a physical barrier between them, even if their tempers had cooled off since yesterday. “So expect to be wearing these a whole hell of a lot more. Like, say, to the grocery store to buy bananas?”
“That would go over well,” he grumbled, weaving the new, undamaged Yukon through icy side streets toward our rendezvous point with Kingdom Crown Aurora. “Me in chains and leather pants at the natural grocers, buying organic cucumbers and twenty pounds of raw steak.”
“Whoa, what are the cucumbers for?” Tidus asked with a chuckle, ruffling up his sandy blonde hair in the front seat and reaching out to punch Nic playfully in the shoulder. Nic stiffened up, but didn't react which was a huge thing for him. Aw, Nicoli Hallett was making a friend.
“Trust me,” I told him, crossing my legs at the knee, the fur trimmed folds of my dress falling aside and flashing the long, white lines of my my thighs, “I don't need any extra cucumbers.”
Anubis and Tidus both burst out laughing, but the rest of the boys stayed quiet.
The dynamic in this car was definitely not optimal. If we had any chance of succeeding in this, we'd have to do it together. If the boys were at each other's throats, we were all destined for failure. We had enough opposition as it was.
“I like the outfits,” I said instead, reaching out to finger the fur cloak hanging off Silas' tattooed shoulders. He turned his gold eyes to look at me, the intimate knowledge of our joined bodies traveling between us. I could feel him, the same way I'd felt Che when he was lost under the dark depths of a raging faerie river. “Good thing, huh? Considering I designed them.”
“They're beautiful, Alpha,” Anubis said from behind me, making me smile. “Although I am having trouble keeping my … male parts from sticking together. Is anyone else having that problem?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Che asked, turning around and looking at Anubis with raised brows. “This is real leather. It gets sweaty in there. It's just something you have to deal with.”
“Would it be rude to reach in and separate?” Anubis asked as I clamped a hand over my mouth and tried not to laugh. “I'm sorry if that's rude, Zara Wolf.”
“It's not rude,” I said with a sharp, wolfy grin, glancing over my shoulder and finding Anubis with his hand literally stuck down his pants. When he caught me looking, he cringed like he was embarrassed and withdrew his fingers. It was hard for me to forget, even looking at him chagrined and blushing, about lying together with our heads on the same pillow, facing each other. “It's just funny as hell.”
“Zara,” Nic said a moment later, just before the smell hit me.
Mint and apples, blood.
Vampires.
We pulled the Yukon into a parking space in the lot outside the old library building.
An entourage of vampires was waiting for us.
“Stay in the car,” I said to the boys as we watched the vampires—all undead and Ageless, I was sure—circle the SUV and then return back to their own vehicle, a sleek black limo that I was pretty sure belonged to the queen. Although if I were a betting woman, I'd guess she was most definitely not in it tonight.
They flashed their lights at us, turned, and left the lot.
We followed right along behind them.
A butcher shop.
How was I not surprised?
“Do you think we could waltz in there and order a pound of 'were' meat?” Che snarled and I felt rather than saw Montgomery tense up from the back seat. “I mean, it doesn't bode well that this is where they've brought us for the meeting, does it?”
“This is the Kingdom Crown Aurora Seat,” I said as I licked my lips and gestured for Che to open the side door. “This is the one stronghold they want everyone to know about.”
Che climbed out ahead of me as Nic and Tidus slipped out the front doors, the boys a glorious sweep of sin in their tight, leather pants and long, black fur cloaks. Thin decorative chains crisscrossed over their chests, but the silver moons in the center had been replaced with wooden ones, carved of ash and polished to a shine.
As silver is to werewolves, iron is to fae, and wood is to vampires. Doesn't matter what kind. Something about the inherent power of earth just didn't sit right with creatures of the night.
The butcher shop was called Sweet Bread Meat and Fish Market, and it was famous for being the only place in town to grab rare and exotic meats. Hell, it was the only place in the state to grab certain delicacies. Techie bigwigs from Portland ordered rare caviar, slabs of wild caught venison steak, and Kobe beef from Japan.
It was a good business, prestigious enough to please the Kingdom, profitable enough to launder money through, but just unpalatable enough to ward off too much attention.
“This way, please,” a blonde woman in a suit said, gesturing for us to follow her inside.
The butcher shop was pressed up close to the sidewalk, smack dab in the middle of the gentrifying area of downtown Springfield, Eugene's smaller sister city. It was six blocks down from the high school I'd attended with Faith and Nic, and right across the street from the brick majesty of a newly remodeled building.
There was no doubt in my mind that Kingdom Crown Aurora owned that, too.
“May I take the lead, Alpha?” Montgomery asked, looking ridiculously fierce in his boots, painted on pants, and hooded cloak. He still had his knives and swords, but I doubted we'd be allowed to keep them for long.
“Go ahead,” I told him, trying not to get lost in the majesty of those emerald eyes, his shock white hair hanging down his back in a long braid. He really did look like a character from a fantasy novel or a video game, some hero from a distant land. Instead … he was mine. I wouldn't soon forget the feel of his cock in my hand.
I just wasn't sure that I knew quite what to do with him.
Montgomery took point, leading us into the front of the shop, strings of small white bulbs giving the closed store a peaceful, sleepy feel. As soon as we walked in though, I could smell it—blood and death and viscera, meat and bone and gristle.
I almost choked on it.
To a human, I doubt they'd smell much beyond the sweet potpourri scent floating around the showroom floor, jars of jam and tins of locally sourced chocolate adding to the ambiance. It was quite cozy in there, the little café counter in the corner with its chalkboard of special sweetbreads and glasses of local wine for sale. A hipster's paradise.
The blonde vampire in the suit took us through a door behind the counter, down a hallway and into a white and silver kitchen, polished and gleaming. It smelt like bleach on the surface, but to a werewolf's sensitive nose, it reeked of meat.
Although I was happy to discover, no wolf flesh.
On the other hand, I caught distinct whiffs of other Numinous and felt my stomach twist into knots.
'It smells like … mer-flesh,' Anubis choked as the salty-sweet scent of mermaid teased my nose. The fish-legged beauties of the sea were a favorite of several different land-dwelling species including their own dark cousins, the sirens, as well as various races of demon. 'It's a fucking slaughterhouse in here.'
'It's connected to the back of the shop,' I said, thinking of all the things Nikolina and her betas had taught me about the local scene, all the tidbits of information gleaned from Majka's rantings. 'The actual slaughterhouse, that is. This area technically isn't zoned for it, but since when does a vampire ever need the permission of a human? They just roll the inspectors and continue to do their killing here.'
'If we end up drawn and quartered,' Jax drawled, his claws extended, clearly fighting the urge to shift into wolf form. 'Then make sure they know Azure Frost meat is worth at least twice that of Violet Shadow.'
'You're a macabre son of a bitch,' Che told him, sauntering forward on my right side, looking like a veritable badass with his dark hair and violet gaze, his eyes rimmed with thick, black kohl.
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Our vampire host paused and unlocked another door, stepping back and indicating that we should head down the curving steps into the lower level, the underground level.
That's where the queen would be waiting.
“We can keep our weapons?” Montgomery asked, his back stiff as he addressed the living vampire on his left. Now that the door to downstairs was open, I could smell the undead lurking, waiting. Their scent was even sweeter than that of their living counterparts, an even brighter, crisper bite of fruit on the back of the tongue.
“You may keep your weapons,” she said, blinking dark eyes and waiting for us to descend below. “If you feel need to use them, you'll soon be dead anyway.”
She smirked at us as Monty narrowed his eyes and turned away, leading us down a set of stone steps lit with beautiful wall sconces—electric lights, of course, not candles. Even vampires enjoyed modern day conveniences.
“Pompous bastards,” Montgomery said aloud, his voice echoing in the enclosed space as we followed after him, my long skirts sweeping the stone floor, pooling around my ankles in swathes of red fabric, leather, and fur. “If they think I'd have trouble beheading one or more of them before my time ran out, they've got another thing coming.“
“Let's hope it doesn't come to that then,” a woman said as we rounded the last curve of the staircase and paused in front of the pale-eyed, blonde haired queen of the Crown Aurora vampires. Her smile flashed two sharp points of fang as she stood in the center of the small room, her generous curves swathed in layers of red velvet, her pale neck exposed and bleeding.
“Zara Wolf of Ebon Red,” I said, lifting my chin and pausing as the boys fanned out around me. They were good at that, creating a circle of protection around their alpha. Half of me was thrilled with that sense of security and protection, but the other half of me … wanted to be the one doing the protecting.
“Welcome,” Aurora said, not bothering to introduce herself again. I guess werewolves were more stuck on formality than Bloods. Didn't surprise me much. “Follow me and we'll get comfortable,” she said, not at all concerned with the fact that she was alone in a room with eight werewolves.
Pack Violet Shadow Page 17
