“Or maybe not,” Jax said, his voice just as cold as hers. His was a facade, too, just of a different sort. Out of all the boys, Jaxson was the most connected to his wolf side. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but … I felt like his balance was off, just a tad. “Why would we give all our secrets to a vampire? You might be part wolf, but it's obvious where your priorities lie.”
“Is it?” Harlem hissed, leaning forward, so close that her nose was almost touching Jax's. It was a Blood thing. When threatened, their first response was to get close to the neck. Both Jaxson and I growled at her, a clear warning to back the hell off. She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “My mother sent her only heir in a SUV full of werewolf royalty. Why? Because she knows how much this means to me, enough to wage full war on Kingdom Ironbound for the privilege. You have no idea what my priorities are.”
The car went silent for a few minutes, the distant sound of pop music trailing from the speakers.
I reached out and turned it up, just for Anubis' sake. It was some light, fluffy nineties stuff.
I felt his pleasure ripple through our pack bond and grinned.
“Hey,” Nic said, glancing over at me and drawing my attention his way. “What if we took her to my parents' place? It's still on pack property, but it's farther away from the Hall and the big house than the Pairing House is.”
I snapped my fingers at him.
“That's a good idea, especially if we have her shower right away and put her in some clothing that stinks like wolf. Get Lana to keep all the windows closed …” I glanced over my shoulder at Harlem again and she wrinkled her face. “We're taking a big risk here.”
“And so am I,” she said and I sighed.
She was right; she was.
“Let's just get through tonight,” I said, “and then we can all breathe easier tomorrow.”
If I'd realized at the time how very untrue that statement was, I wouldn't have had a wink of sleep that night.
As things stood, I didn't end up getting much sleep to begin with …
Lana and Leslie Hallett lived in an adorable two bedroom house at the edge of pack property, so close to the border that the long, curving gravel of their driveway actually came directly off the street.
The porch light was on, the windows aglow with warm, buttery light.
On the way over, we'd swung by and picked Aeron up at some random street corner. Now she and Harlem were glaring at each other across the surface of poor Tidus' lap while Jaxson sat in the far back cargo area.
Nic and I were both slightly wary of leaving the Numinous princesses at his parents' house, but my instincts and logic both told me it'd be okay, at least for one night. Killing Nic's parents would not do much for either girl, regardless of their motives; if they were going to kill someone, it would be me or one of my boys.
“Mom,” Nic said after he parked and climbed out of the SUV, wrinkling up his face as Lana grabbed him, one palm on either cheek, and pressed a light, chaste kiss to his lips. “Mom.” The second time was a little puppyish and I found myself smiling.
“Oh, I miss the days when you used to lick me all over the muzzle,” she said, and his face wrinkled up even more. Tidus and Anubis were chuckling, but trying to be surreptitious about it … and failing. “At least your little brothers still love me,” she continued as Nic crossed his arms over his chest and his mother studied his leather pants, fur cloak, and chains. I wondered what she thought, seeing her little boy turn into a man?
Glancing at Nic, seeing the smooth muscles in his chest and belly, the natural bulge in the front of his too-tight leather pants, I felt myself go warm allover. He looked my way and hooked just the slightest tease of a smile, his dark red hair almost black in the dim outdoor lighting.
Aeron and Harlem stood off to the side, the faerie girl looking ridiculously uncomfortable and slightly irritated while the vampire girl … stared at the wolf guardswoman with rapt attention.
“Your father's inside making steaks,” Lana said as one of the upstairs windows opened and Nic's brother, Levi, poked his head out. He looked remarkably like Nic—aubergine eyes, brick red hair, straight ridged nose, and high sculpted cheeks. They were the exact same age, Nic and his brother, born into the same litter of four. The other two brothers had already found mates and shared a house up the road, them and their two young wives.
“Hey dickhead,” Levi said, smiling big. “Thanks for deigning to pay us a visit.”
Nic ignored him completely. Since he'd started living with me so young, I knew he felt a bit like an outsider in his own family.
“We should get Harlem inside before someone sniffs out a vamp on pack property,” I said, looking up at the night sky and listening carefully. A howl echoed but it was from miles and miles away. We'd timed our arrival to make sure we were here when the perimeter guards were on the opposite side of the property.
“Come on in,” Lana said, her dark red hair braided and hanging over one shoulder. “All of you,” she added with a little wink, gesturing us up the front porch steps and inside. “Leslie, our Alpha-Son is home!”
“Mom,” Nic said again, trying to ignore Che's smirking little smile. “Can you please stop?”
“I'm just so proud of you, honey, that's all,” she said as his dad came around the corner, red hair ruffled, a puppy under each arm. Lana and Leslie had what they called their 'holy crap' litter just last year. Another puppy was underfoot, his red brown tail wagging happily as he approached my feet and sniffed my bare toes. Seeing Nic's kid brothers … really made me miss mine. I was going to have to make a point to go home and snuggle Hugo sometime soon. Without me, he was all alone with my bloodthirsty siblings.
“Aren't you proud, Leslie?” Lana continued as the boys and I moved down the hall and into the gorgeous two-story living room. The second story overlooked it, facing the towering stone fireplace on one side, the flames crackling cheerfully. God, I loved it here.
“So very proud of my boy,” Leslie said as one of the pups flicked a wet pink tongue across the lens of his glasses. He, too, tried to give Nic a kiss but the pups took over and ended up leaping into their older brother's arms instead.
“I have clothes waiting in here,” Lana said, gesturing for Harlem to follow her through a door off the living room, into the master bedroom, and the waiting bathroom. “If you could,” I heard her say as the vampire princess swept by in her glittering cloak and short black dress, “shower once, dry off, and then shower again. When you get out, use the lotions, hair oil, and toothpaste on the counter. That should mask your scent enough to get us through the night.”
“Thank you,” I heard Harlem reply, her voice cautious and cold, but also strangely optimistic. She wanted this, to feel the warmth and earthiness of pack. That was why I was okay with this, leaving her here. She wanted to be wolf more than she cared to kill two random guardsmen and their children.
The door closed behind Harlem and Lana reappeared in the living room, looking the faerie girl over in her glamour, even leaning close for a sniff.
“Wow,” she said as she stepped back and studied the girl with the dark hair and blue-black eyes, “she smells like a human. Looks like a human. That's an impressive glamour.”
“I would hope,” Aeron said, tilting her head to one side, black hair cascading in a wave over her shoulder. “It was a gift from the Unseelie Queen.”
'At least that answers that question,' Anubis said, standing respectfully off to one side while both Che and Tidus flopped onto the sofa. It was an interesting snapshot of their personalities—one of them cocky and arrogant, and the other friendly and outgoing.
“Well,” Lana, running her hands down the front of her red t-shirt. She was wearing matching flannel pj bottoms, surprisingly relaxed at the idea of a vampire and a faerie inside her home. It spoke to the confidence she had in me, in her son, in the new little pack I found myself a part of. A pack of alphas. “I hope you like steaks because that's on the menu for tonight.
Zara, are you and the boys staying?”
I caught a glimpse of the barbecue outside and knew instinctually that there were probably enough steaks for us all cooking inside of it. Oh, Lana, you sweetheart.
'Mom wants us to stay for dinner,' Nic said, and the way Monty, Jax, and Silas glanced in his direction, I knew he'd spoken to all the boys. He was making a serious effort to adjust to our new situation. And knowing how much he hated it … I felt a swelling of love inside my chest, intense enough to make my breath catch.
'Then let's stay,' I told him. And in the back of my mind, I tried not to think thoughts like what if this is the last time Lana ever gets to see Nic? Because in reality, we could die any day. Taking a moment to have dinner with his parents was not something I'd ever regret.
My mind whirled with thoughts of Selena, Allister, the missing pack members … but it was late, and we were all hungry, and tomorrow … there was always the rare chance those divinations would tell us something useful. We needed to be ready.
'I think we should stay, too,' Montgomery said, heaving a low, tired breath, looking like a fucking warrior king with his long, white braid, fur cloak, and leather pants. He carefully removed his badass tool kit and swords, and then sat down heavily on Lana's sofa, right between Che and Tidus.
“We'd love to stay,” I said, looking at Lana's bemused expression. The buzz in the air told her we were communicating in wolfspeak, even if she couldn't hear it.
“Good,” she said, nodding her chin and glancing over at Leslie as he struggled to get all three pups into a little playpen near the archway to the kitchen. “It's hard enough making day-to-day decisions with just one other person's feelings to contend with. I don't envy you guys, having eight peoples' bullshit to deal with.” I smiled back as she clapped her hands together and let her eyes trail over the sea of alpha males crowding her living room. “So. Which one of you handsome young men is going to help me set the table?”
Opening the door to an empty house was nice. As I walked inside and turned on one of the floor lamps, I felt like I could actually breathe for the first time in days.
They've been siphoning magic off of your people for close to a century now.
Harlem's words about the witches rang in my head like the chiming of bells, an answer to a mystery that had been haunting my people for a long fucking time. Too long. But how, why … those were questions I'd have to fight long and hard to get the answers to.
“Finally, some privacy,” Che said as he walked in and immediately unhooked the clasp on his cloak, swinging the fur over the back of the couch and sighing in relief. He pulled the wooden moon to the side and the chains fell off, sloughing to the floor in a messy, metallic heap. “I'm getting in bed before the rest of you assholes climb in and crowd me out.”
He bent down and picked up the chains, flicking his violet eyes in my direction as he stood back up.
“You want to join me, Alpha-Red?” he said, turning and walking backward toward the stairs. Che paused and reached down, flicking open the button on his leather pants, our gazes locked across the shadowy living room.
“Look at you,” Tidus said, moving up next to him and smacking the other man in the abs with his sun-kissed fingers. “Laying it on thick. Typical romance novel cliché, right?”
“That's what I was going for,” Che said, his voice as smooth as silk. “The bad boy with a heart of gold.” He patted his smooth chest with a palm. “Oh, wait? I don't even have a heart. That blows. I've fucked it up already.”
Both Tidus and I laughed as Che tossed a wink in my direction and headed up the stairs to the bedroom, pushing his leather pants over his ass just before he turned the corner and disappeared from sight. I did not miss the scrumptious flash of butt cheeks.
Asshole.
“Are you staying up for a while?” Tidus asked as I stood in the living room and watched Monty, Anubis, and Jax come through the screen door. Nic and Silas stayed outside, and I smelled the faint whiff of cloves and tobacco from one of Silas' cigarettes. Their voices were low, but if I focused hard enough, I could make out the words.
“Do you mind if I bum a cigarette?”
This from Nicoli Hallett, a man who'd never smoked a day in his life.
“I think so,” I said to the Alpha-Son of Pack Amber Ash, glancing over at his gray eyes and wondering what sort of person was hiding under all of that happy-go-lucky. Or if that really was his true personality. We definitely needed to spend some more time together. “Would you take me surfing one day?” I asked him, licking my lower lip. “I've never been.”
“Never?” he asked, and I swear his smile lit up the entire room. “I'd love to take your surfing virginity,” he said, the fur cloak and leather pants an interesting contrast to his tanned skin and blonde hair. Somehow though, he made it work. He didn't look awkward or uncomfortable, but rather like he was just going with the flow. I was pretty sure Tidus Hahn did not expect me to pick him at the end of the Pairing.
“As I long as I take yours first?” I offered and he laughed again, the sound a bright light in all of the darkness we'd been having to deal with lately.
“Um, absolutely! It's a deal. This,” he said, gesturing at his body with a loose wave of his hand, “it's yours whenever you want it. I've been saving it for you all these years anyway. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm like super curious about sex. I mean, I've seen a lot of porn, but uh … pretty empty on the experience end of things.”
“How very blatant of you,” Anubis said, pausing next to him and tilting his head slightly to one side, “telling the Alpha about your extensive porn collection.”
“What can I say? Curiosity got the werewolf,” Tidus said with an easy shrug of his shoulders and a self-deprecating little grin that crinkled up the skin around his eyes. “Surf's up, babe!” He tossed me a wink and a little shaka—you know, the hang loose thing—sign with his hand before heading up the stairs after Che.
Montgomery had already headed for the shower while Jax had disappeared into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a soda, a beam of light cutting across the floor before he shut the door.
“I don't know, man, I'm trying,” I heard Nic say outside and felt my interest pique.
“Did you want to try working with the silver tonight?” Anubis asked, pulling off his cloak and draping it over one arm. I thought about the witches and Harlem's words and … ended up just sucking in a sharp breath. Yes, I did need to practice with the silver, but right now? I just wanted to go outside and see what Silas and Nic were talking about. The fact that they were talking at all was a win for me.
“No, not tonight,” I said. If the witches really had been slow draining my people for a hundred fucking years, one more night was not going to kill us, right? “Tomorrow,” I said when Anubis raised his brows and smiled at me.
“Tired?” he asked as Jax moved up to stand beside him, also watching me. Only, Anubis was staring at me like I was his goddess and Jax was … sort of looking at me like he couldn't care less. I wanted to crack that hard shell of his and see what was underneath. The few little tidbits of his personality I had seen—such as his cheeky little attitude when he asked me to tie the apron on his naked body—were adorable.
“Exhausted,” I admitted with a small smile, one that got just a little bit bigger when Jax handed a second can of soda out to me. I took it from him, my fingertips brushing his palm, and felt my skin ripple with excitement.
“Well, I'll be upstairs if you want me,” he said, without a hint of emotion or even a smile. My turn to raise my eyebrows as he turned away and disappeared up into the room with the rest of the boys. Now that the idea of sharing the bed had been breached, the alpha-sons seemed willing to embrace the idea. If they were anywhere near as tired as I was, I could see why there'd been basically zero resistance to the idea.
“I'll be down here for a little while,” I told Anubis, lifting up the soda and then moving toward the door. At the last minute, I paused, walked over to him and pressed a soft
kiss to the side of his mouth, right at the corner.
Goddess, he tastes good, I thought as I leaned back, smiled, and watched the expression on his face shift slightly. A little less scholarly … a little more lascivious.
“Have you ever had a girlfriend before?” I asked and he bit his lower lip.
“A few,” he admitted, holding up a single palm in a placating gesture. “But I never did anything with them beyond a little hand holding. I've known from birth that I was destined to be your mate.”
“Am I disappointing?” I asked him in a rare moment of weakness. I just felt it hit me like a truck, everything that'd happened in the last few days. I'd failed Faith and Diya, failed poor Notch and Mila … I'd uncovered secrets and betrayal, taken the boys to places I didn't know we'd make it out of. I was hiding this whole operation from my mother and the other alphas, leaving the Convocation in the dark when I knew for a fact that they'd storm both Julian's house and the Triad historical society with all their might. Was it worth that, that risk and sacrifice to save our missing members? Or was my slow and steady approach the right way?
“Disappointing?” Anubis asked, tossing his cloak onto the back of the couch and putting his hands on my shoulders. His skin was warm and beautiful, such a rich shade that looked so gorgeous against my own cream colored flesh. I lifted my hands and put them atop his. “Not at all. Zara, you're everything I imagined you'd be: smart, strong, clearheaded and …” Anubis licked his lips and I couldn't tell if he was being a submissive wolf … or a flirtatious human. “Beautiful. In human and wolf form,” he added, his mouth making that sinful little slash across his face that'd I'd noticed when I'd first met him. “Just … stunning.”
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth, just the same as I'd done to his. Except … as he was kissing me, I turned my mouth and let our lips connect. For a split second, we were mouth to mouth, frozen in place.
Pack Violet Shadow Page 20
