“That's great,” he chuckled. “So, you mean one of those glamours that masks an entire area, right?”
“Exactly that,” Aeron said, running her hands down the front of the gossamer robes. They did nothing to hide the curvy body underneath. At least none of my boys were checking her out; I appreciated that. “We call them ground glamours back home. I have one left.” She touched the sea of necklaces hanging from her throat, a cluster of tiny glass bottles with different colored liquids inside. “I can use it to mask our approach, give us a chance to look around. It'll even disguise any attempts to break in for a short period of time.”
“What if someone touches us?” I asked, wondering what would've happened back at the U of O when Silas went batshit on Julian.
“They'll ghost right through for about …” Aeron looked up at the roof of the porch. “Ten minutes at most.” She dropped her chin and looked me dead in the face, her eyes like the holes that led to Faerie, bottomless and alien and terrifying. “My mother has to cut her own ribs out to make these glamours. It takes her weeks to heal.”
“I suppose when she finds out you've managed to stir up goodwill with the largest single pack on the face of this earth, she'll let you back into Faerie and you can thank her for us.” I smiled and took a breath as Anubis appeared and started passing out clothes.
“You want me to wear these again?” Silas asked, the corner of his mouth twitching as he fingered the leather pants in his hand. “Do you really think leather helps kick ass or do you just want to see my ass in these?” He looked at me first and then over at Anubis.
“They're designed for easy shifting,” Anubis said with a shrug. “The seams on the side come right apart. What else were you planning on wearing? Those pants you stole from the teenage girls' section of the department store?”
“Why the hell not?” Silas said, but he was already sliding into the pants while both Whitney and Aeron wrinkled their noses and Harlem looked pointedly away.
When … if … no, when things calmed down around here, I was setting her up on a date with Levi. She was very clearly desperate to get to know a werewolf boy … And I couldn't help but wonder if she could actually have pups with one? Or would it be a Blood baby? I had no idea. Technically, she was pack so if she wanted to be mated, she could.
At least, in the Pack Ebon Red that I was going to build.
I had no idea how Nikolina would react.
“Let's drive over to the humane society,” I said, looking at at the darkening sky. “It'll be closed, but we can park the SUV next to the gate and walk to this property, come at it from the back. Whitney can wait for us there, and then we'll thrown down the glamour as soon as we cross the fence.”
“Stealth to the fence, glamour, penetrate,” Jax said, putting an awful lot of emphasis on that last word. His icy blue eyes met mine and we both licked our lips. “I want to penetrate.”
“I'll bet you do,” I said, skirting his sexual innuendo to keep us focused. I wanted nothing more than to laze around and get to know the alpha-sons better. And maybe … experiment more sexually? Claim the last two men for myself.
But saving our people? That was infinitely more important.
“Do we have any wooden arrows or do I need to send someone to the armory?” I said as Montgomery appeared in his leather pants, trench coat, and nothing else. Holy fuck. With that long, white hair—once again carefully braided and tied off with his little sister's hair tie—and the look of quiet, righteous rage on his face … I thought he might very well be the most beautiful man I'd ever seen in my life.
“We have them,” Monty said, turning around so I could see the crossed swords on his back. One was made of aspen and the other, bone. One weapon for vampires, and the other for witches. In the center was a crossbow over a quiver of wooden and bone tipped arrows. “There's more in that utility closet than you might think.”
Montgomery turned back to me and nodded his head at the screen door.
“Let's go inside,” he told me, green eyes locking on mine. In them, I could feel the weight of his determination and it stirred that fire raging in my belly to a roaring flame. “And I'll get you suited up.”
We stood outside the SUV, dressed in leather and combat boots, covered in weapons. Well, everyone except for Jaxson. He felt more comfortable in wolf form, and so wolf form he started in.
I dropped my hand and rubbed his fuzzy triangular ears between my fingers, my gaze focused on the long stretch of overgrown field between us and the dilapidated fence that marked the edge of the property. If that wasn't where our people were, then I didn't know where else to look. A spattered map made of faerie blood and a black and red rose to mark the spot? I wasn't sure what other conclusion to come to.
'There's a distinct lack of smell coming from that property,' Jax said and I translated aloud for the benefit of Aeron and Whitney.
“Agreed. I'd expect to smell … something. Rotten wood, rats, cows, feral cats, people … but there's nothing. Nothing at all.” I put my hand on my badass tool kit and the new wooden knife Monty had chosen for me from the utility closet. He was right. I guess I hadn't taken the proper time to explore the Pairing House because there was a veritable treasure trove of weapons in there, plenty to choose from. I wasn't sure if it had been used as overflow from the armory, or if it'd been purposely stocked for me and the boys.
“Then we've found the right place, I guess,” Nic said, his voice tight, the world around us so dark that his eyes looked black. That's how we'd gotten our name, Ebon Red. Crimson hair and aubergine eyes that looked black in the shadows of night.
“Don't take unnecessary risks,” I said, glancing back at Whitney. “If we're not back in an hour, you should just get out of the SUV and start walking. If my mother comes and finds you in the Yukon, she'll probably kill first and ask questions later.”
“Don't worry about me,” Whitney said, looking at her girlfriend for a moment and climbing out to give her this achingly beautiful kiss, all lips and no tongue. She smeared purple and gold sparkle lipstick all over Aeron's ashy gray lips before stepping back and hopping into the SUV. “Stay safe, my love.” She produced a small crystal ball from her leather satchel and held it out in one hand. After a few seconds, it began to glow and an image of Aeron appeared in the glass. “I'll be watching. And if you need me, I'll be there.”
“I didn't doubt it for a moment,” Aeron said, turning away and looking ridiculously underprepared in her flimsy robes and bare feet. But I knew better. Aeron was an Unseelie princess for fuck's sake.
“I can't wait any longer,” Montgomery said, glancing over at me. “Alpha?”
“Lead the way,” I told him, and he smiled. It was brief, so fleeting that if I'd blinked then, I'd have missed it, but it was there.
Montgomery took us around the opposite side of the animal shelter, leading us away from our target property and cutting behind it to give us better cover. We used the few scattered trees to get close before sinking to our bellies and crawling the rest of the way.
'I feel like wolf form would've made this a lot easier,' Tidus said, crawling between me and the vampire princess, her gaze flicking over to him when he spoke. 'Next time, I'm going with Jax's lead.'
'Woof,' Jax deadpanned, and even though the situation was deadly fucking serious, I felt a tiny sliver of relief that he could still joke, that Tidus was making conversation. It meant they had hope. If they thought we were going to die here tonight, they'd have probably been silent, right?
About ten yards from the fence, we found our first Blood patrol.
There were only two of them. I doubted they expected much action out here. After all, how the hell would we have found this place without the help of an Unseelie sidhe? It would've been the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack.
'They don't expect trouble, do they?' Silas asked.
'Nope,' I said, just before I tilted my head toward the vamps. 'Monty, Jax.'
The two men exploded from the long
grass—our scents hidden with some of Whitney's witch hazel. Jax went for the first vamp's throat, tearing into his living flesh before he could even scream. Montgomery put a wooden arrow through the throat of the second vamp, a female with periwinkle hair and pink eyes that reminded me of a rabbit. As soon as they were both down, he put stakes through their hearts and we moved on. Removing their heads would take too long. As long as he wood punctured their chests, they wouldn't wake up. If we had time later, we'd kill them. But that wasn't what was important. We didn't come here to kill—we came here to save fucking lives.
At that point, we just stood up and climbed over the fence, a task that was made easy by the dilapidated, rotting wood. It sagged down to the ground and was as easy to step over as a pile of soggy towels.
I was wearing a pair of boots similar to the ones I'd had designed for the boys, big leather monsters that crushed everything underfoot. At least I didn't have to wear leather pants—I had leggings on instead, for ease of movement. A black tank and zip-up hoodie rounded out my ensemble. I didn't need armor; I needed clothes that were easy to move in and easy to shed.
Aeron moved up alongside me, passed through the small cluster of trees, and reappeared in the open area of grass between the fence and the barn. With a quick flick of the wrist, she tossed the glamour down on the ground and the glass shattered.
“Ten minutes at most,” she reminded us—not that we needed it.
Montgomery was out in front, running full speed for the barn door and touching a hand to the chains wrapped through the metal handles. He hissed and drew his hand back, bleeding from his fingertips.
“Silver,” I said as I came up behind him and started circling the barn, the other boys spreading out across the property. Harlem stuck with me, and Aeron … started climbing the side of the barn, literally scaling it like a mountain climber. She was eerie, like an undead character from a Japanese horror film, her long dark hair billowing out behind her as she ascended to the roof and stood up, cutting an impressive figure against the night sky.
As I surveyed the property, I noticed a long metal building against the back side of the fence, buried in brush and blackberries, surprisingly obscured by the bramble. It was a huge white warehouse, but it was almost impossible to see through all the greenery, much longer than it was tall, almost like a tunnel of some sort.
Our pack mates could be in there … or in the barn behind me.
“You keep trying to find a way in here,” I told Monty, glancing over my shoulder and finding his emerald green eyes locked on mine. He nodded briefly, and I took off jogging for the metal building, weaving my way through the thick brush and discovering that Tidus, Anubis, and Harlem had already beat me there. The Alpha-Son of Pack Crimson Dusk was running his hand along the length of the warehouse, searching for a way in. I followed along behind him as Tidus went around the opposite side with Harlem tagging along.
We met up on the other side.
“There was no door on our end,” Anubis said, and I could already tell from Tidus' face what he was going to say before he opened those sexy lips of his.
“None on ours either,” he said and we all exchanged confused looks.
“No doors?” Harlem said, blinking her pale white-blue eyes at me. “That's awfully suspicious, don't you think?”
“So we do as dogs do,” Tidus said with a bright grin. “We dig.”
“That could take a while,” I said, glancing back at the building. “But at the same time, it might be our only choice. Start here,” I told him, looking around and noticing another Blood patrol in the distance. They couldn't see us through the glamour, but it wouldn't last forever. We were already running out of time. “Go as fast as you can, both of you. I'll take Harlem and we'll look again, see if we can find a hidden panel or something. Clearly the Bloods aren't digging their way in and out each time …”
“Not on their own,” Harlem said, but she had a good point. A witch could easily create a spell to get in the building without the need for a door. And there were any number of Numinous that could move earth and put it back like it was nothing if they wanted to open and then close a tunnel entrance—an earth elemental for example.
“Let's take a look anyway,” I said, feeling my spirits sink. But no, no. I couldn't dive into negativity, not in this situation. I had to stay positive. “Look for loose panels, irregular bumps in the metal …”
We worked our way around to the other side of the building again and found Nic and Silas jogging over to us.
“We just got inside the barn,” Nic said as Jax loped over and stood with his tail and ears perked up, closing his mouth to stop himself from panting as he scanned the horizon. “Montgomery and Che are in there now, looking around, but as far as we can tell, it's basically a garage. There are about a half-dozen different vehicles inside and check this—they're plated with silver on the inside.”
“Plated with silver?” I asked, blinking at him. “What do you mean?”
“Zara,” Silas said, looking uneasy, sweat beading on his forehead and running along the side of his scar. “We peeked inside the windows of the cars and there's fucking silver everywhere. The interior walls, the undersides of the roofs, the steering wheels … it's all plated in fucking silver.”
I just stared at them both for several seconds before I shook my head and managed to pull myself together.
“Werewolf transport,” I said, putting a hand to my forehead and breathing in deep. I looked up just in time to see Aeron climbing down the side of the barn. She made her way over to us and paused, going so still I was almost positive she'd stopped breathing.
“Do you feel that?” she asked, but all I felt was the distant buzz in the air from the glamour. Aeron moved past me and padded over to the metal building, putting her hands up against the wall. “There's a glamour here.” She glanced over her shoulder. “One as strong as my mother's.”
The words coming from her mouth were normal enough, but the tone behind them … was laced with wild fear.
“What does that mean?” I asked, turning all the way around to look at her.
“It means,” she said, as she pushed against the wall … and pushed in a door that I couldn't see, sliding through the metal like she was a ghost. I knew it was all just a complicated illusion, but my wolf brain didn't like it, not at all. “The Seelie Court is involved …”
Aeron disappeared into the building and I rushed to follow after, sliding in behind her …
And finding myself face-to-face with the truth behind the mystery of the missing werewolves.
Dozens of people lay sprawled on the dirt floor, chained with silver and unmoving. Now that we'd broken through the glamour, all I could smell was blood.
Blood, blood, blood.
Ivory Emerald blood, Ebon Red blood, Crimson Dusk blood … Azure Frost, Amber Ash, Obsidian Gold, Violet Shadow … even the blood of lesser known packs like Silver Scarlet and Sapphire Rose, packs so small they fell under the umbrella leadership of one of the larger groups.
About half the people in that room were in human form, the other half in wolf form.
Several of the boys climbed in behind me, Harlem amongst them … and they, too, froze in horror at the sight.
The tunnel was dark, but for a few shafts of moonlight that seeped through cracks in the metal panelling that made up the roof. It was all I needed to take in the entire scene, sweeping my gaze from one end to the other, my mind desperate to make sense of it all—and fast. It wasn't like we had much time left … if any.
On one end of the tunnel, several Bloods sat at a table, measuring vials of red out and putting them in coolers on the floor. It didn't take them long to notice us. In fact, they started moving before we did.
Our fucking glamour was gone.
“Who the hell are they?” one of them called out as another picked up a pistol from the table and aimed it right at me. The vampire holding the gun pulled the trigger before I even had a moment to register what was happening.
“Zara!” Nic screamed at the same moment Silas threw me to the dirt floor and just barely managed to keep me from taking a second shot to the chest.
Blood oozed out, hot and sticky over my hand as I struggled to sit up, my flickering vision clearing just enough to see Montgomery as he whipped out his crossbow and fired off a single wood tipped arrow into the chest of one of the vamps. Jax was the perfect backup, darting along the floor at supernatural speed and slamming into one of the others before they could pick up a weapon of their own.
Unfortunately, vampires were deadly enough in their own right.
I both heard and felt Jax's pain as the Blood yanked him off and then slammed him against the hard packed dirt floor, dropping down and biting into the wolf's throat without mercy. He intended to rip it right out.
It was the vampire's own greed that both got him killed … and saved the Azure Frost Alpha-Son's life.
“This is an alpha,” the Blood said, pulling back, his mouth smeared with red as he looked down at Jax's comatose form with a glimmer in his eyes. “A fucking alpha.”
Montgomery was too busy trying not to get shot to fire his crossbow at the vampire lording over Jaxson … but Harlem wasn't. The vampire princess moved with a fluidity that would've been scary if I hadn't been a werewolf princess myself. Neither of us were as fast as Aeron, but we could outrun most any other member in our Kingdom and Pack, respectively.
Except for the queens.
Harlem grabbed the Ironbound vampire off the ground with a handful of hair and threw him as hard as she could into the metal, denting it and cracking several bones in the process. Before he could even think to get up, she was on him, tearing his throat out with her teeth. Blood spattered everywhere as she reared back and slammed one of the wooden stakes from her belt through his heart.
Pack Violet Shadow Page 26
