Urban Mythic: Thirteen Novels of Adventure and Romance, featuring Norse and Greek Gods, Demons and Djinn, Angels, Fairies, Vampires, and Werewolves in the Modern World

by C. Gockel

  Killing is wrong, Mist. Defending others or ourselves is one thing, but just simply killing someone because they might be dangerous one day is wrong.

  Say that to me after you’ve allowed hunters to roam free only to find your cubs and mate dead at their hands a day later.

  That silenced David.

  When Edward arrived Pederson was still unconscious, but the bleeding had stopped and his eyelid had plumped. Mist assumed he had an eye again, but didn’t know for sure or care enough to check.

  “Is he alive?” Edward said upon entering the office.

  “Sleeping, healing.”

  “Thank the Goddess for small mercies,” Edward said, but checked for himself. Satisfied, he turned to regard Mist. “Impressive, and in more ways than the physical. Mist isn’t it?”

  “I am Mist,” he agreed. He liked the sound of his new voice. It sounded deep, and it had a growl to it as if he’d been gargling with rocks. “David here too.”

  Edward nodded; he lived and worked with shifters. He must be aware of their basic natures. “Yes, impressive. That you stepped up to defend the club was a good thing, Mist. That you restrained yourself and did not kill is doubly good and impressive in such a new shifter.”

  “It was good not to kill?” Mist said, feeling a little deflated by that. He had not really agreed with David, but if Edward was saying it too? “Safer to kill him.”

  “Oh my yes. Yes indeed, but only when thinking short term. Long term—and you can bet good money Stephen will be thinking very long term as vampires all tend to do—it would have been a disaster. You have to consider how it would look to the other packs, not just the Alley Dogs.”

  “Alley Dogs enemy.”

  “Not just yours I’m sure,” Edward agreed. “Raymond’s alliance with Stephen is broken, doubly so now. He didn’t push through his attack on the club thanks to you, but the attempt will be more than enough for Stephen to take steps. To be fair to the Alley Dogs Alpha here, it was already understood between them that the alliance was dissolved when Ronnie joined us and Stephen refused to return her, but declaring open war on us is very different from simply dissolving their association. The attack was unprovoked and without declaration of any kind. A sneak attack while our people sleep helpless. That won’t go down well when Stephen wakes.”

  Understatement of the decade right there, David said sarcastically. Stephen will go nuclear.

  “If this can’t be smoothed over somehow, we’ll have war with the Alley Dogs. That’s dangerous, because it could escalate to the other packs.”

  “Why should they care?”

  Edward sighed and checked Pederson again. He was still out. “It has to do with the nature of Stephen’s business here and how he manages things. I don’t mean the club. I mean how he rules his people. No one likes rogues; not the vampire kind and not the shifter kind, but no one likes having to deal with them either. We do it, because we have to do it to maintain the peace. Not handling them isn’t an option.

  “The packs like it that Stephen is their... what’s that quaint colonial term? Ah! They like it that Stephen is their go-to-guy where rogues are concerned. It means they don’t have to lift a claw when a new shifter decides not to do the sensible thing and seek out a pack to join. They know that Stephen will most likely take him in or make him leave. If one of you gets rowdy, not that our people do or would dare you understand, but should that ever happen, they like the way he stands in as your Alpha. It’s a structure they’re comfortable with and support because it emulates their own pack structure.”

  “The pack is good. The pack is all,” Mist announced.

  “Exactly! So of course they all liked it when Stephen cleaned up the city, but now they see us as just another pack, one with a rather odd Alpha, but just another pack to deal with. The problem of course is that we really aren’t a pack in the accepted sense. You’ve heard the name Jonas?”

  Mist nodded.

  “Jonas is Alpha of the Desert Warriors, a large coyote pack out Victorville way. He is our enforcer. By our, I mean the shifter community of the LA area. He is our final arbiter of justice, and his pack serves as our police force and executioners. The thing is, he only has power over our people—those who have given themselves to Stephen—if Stephen allows it, because vampires aren’t really under Jonas’ authority at all, you see?”

  Mist nodded again. “Why explain?”

  “Because he’s already guessed what I’m going to do next,” Pederson snarled sitting up.

  Edward sighed and turned to regard the shifter as he changed form back to human. “Raymond, can we talk about this? Stephen will be awake soon.”

  Pederson finished his transformation and stood. “Awake? He’s a bloody corpse, Edward, when will you acknowledge that?”

  Edward’s features darkened. “Around the time you acknowledge you’re nothing but an animal pretending to be a man I should think, old boy. Not any time soon eh?”

  Pederson scowled. “Well, old boy,” he sneered. “Care to continue your lesson with the newbie, or would you prefer I do it?”

  “This newbie kicked your arse,” Mist growled the words David had been thinking word for word, and it went over well. He grinned and turned it into a rumbling growl of warning when Pederson almost lunged, his temper getting the best of him.

  “Now now!” Edward cried. “No fighting!”

  The door opened and Stephen entered followed by Danyelle and Charles. All three vamps looked pissed. Behind them, Lawrence and Ronnie crowded in, and suddenly Pederson looked worried.

  “Yes,” Stephen hissed with fangs out and eyes absolutely blazing with wrath. He was fully vamped out, and obviously knew what had nearly happened to his club. “No fighting, Raymond, you’re in my House now.”

  Pederson raised his hands and backed away from everyone.

  “My House!” Stephen roared in a spittle spraying fury. “You dare come to my House to do violence? You dare lay claim to what is mine! I swear on all you love, I’ll see you and yours utterly destroyed to the last wolf before my House falls. I swear it!”

  “Now don’t—”

  “Fuck don’t,” Danyelle snarled. “Let’s go. You and me, right now. You can die first!”

  “Danyelle don’t! Stephen please be calm. Please,” Edward said desperately. “We can fix this.”

  “Fix it?” Stephen glared. “How does one fix a sneak attack? How does one fix betrayal and ever again expect fair dealing? There’s no fixing it! If not for Mist, some of us would be dead by this betrayer’s hand. Ronnie of a certainty. There’s no fixing this!”

  “But we must. We have to find a way,” Edward pleaded. “We can’t let his foolishness destroy everything you’ve built. Think about your life here gone, having to start over in another city. Please think. Please don’t let your anger destroy us.”

  Mist was on Danyelle’s side, but David liked Edward’s point of view. Pederson and his people would die, yes, but so would many others, and if Stephen survived he would be driven out by the combined packs of LA. Their new life, just now becoming acceptable to David as his new reality, would end if he didn’t die in the war that would surely ensue. Mist understood loss, but he also understood strength and allowing challenges to go unpunished was not The Way. Challenges must be met and won; that was The Way.

  “Arbitration!” Pederson cried over the hubbub. “I call for arbitration before the conclave!”

  “You dare say that now,” Stephen snarled. “After I offered that very thing the day Ronnie came here and you refused point blank to consider it? Your gall is beyond belief!”

  Self-serving, but better than the alternative, David sent. He’s scared and needs a way out. This could serve us as well... if we win.

  Mist grunted, and Stephen glanced over. “David say it good idea. Say Pederson doing it to save himself, but good idea still.”

  “Does he, and does he know what’s involved? I doubt it. If the conclave finds against us, I would have to turn Ronnie over to them. Jo
nas would enforce it, and there’s no appeal. Once done, it cannot be undone!”

  Mist didn’t like that, and neither did David. They would kill Pederson and take his pack as theirs before allowing her to be harmed.

  Tell him that. It might help.

  “David say we kill Pederson and take the Alley Dogs from him to protect her.”

  Lawrence hissed at hearing that, and Ronnie gasped in surprise. Mist glanced toward his friends noting the admiration on Lawrence’s face, and the pure shock on Ronnie’s. He had said nothing but the truth, and Callia had surely been talking to her about him. Why she was shocked he didn’t know. He hadn’t hidden his interest from Callia; far from it. He openly admired Ronnie’s wolf, and had said so many times to Lawrence and others at Lost Souls. Maybe she didn’t believe him? He would prove it by defending her!

  My She.

  Ours, David agreed. And we shall be hers.

  We will make her see us as the strongest. She will be our mate. She will choose us.

  Yes, she must choose us. She will.

  Stephen studied Mist thoughtfully, taking the time to note his immense size. His head nearly brushed the office ceiling and his strength was obvious.

  Stephen’s fangs retracted as he pursed his lips thoughtfully, and the red in his eyes bled away. Mist felt Stephen push at his Presence, trying to get a feel for how powerful he was, and pushed back; not in defence, but to help with that. Stephen’s eyes widened a little in surprise at the strength of the push. The vampire smiled and turned to Pederson. He shook his head slowly at his one-time ally.

  “Edward, get me Jonas,” Stephen said, still glaring at Pederson.

  “Right away,” Edward said, sounding relieved. He rounded his desk and used the link in speaker mode to call the enforcer. “I hope he’s home.”

  They all waited for the link call to go through.

  “Jonas McNally,” the voice out of the speaker announced. “I just got in; this had better be life and death. Ryan, if this is you, I haven’t made up my mind yet. If it isn’t, speak up!”

  Stephen chuckled. “Jonas, Stephen. I have a situation.”

  Jonas sighed. “Of course you do. What is the nature of the problem? You’ve killed someone you shouldn’t have? You plan to kill someone you shouldn’t and you need me to make it go away? What?”

  “Surprisingly the second option is rather apt, but no, none of the above. The Alley Dogs staged a raid on my House this evening.”

  Silence.

  “Are you still there, Jonas?”

  “I’m waiting for the punchline.”

  “I do not joke where my people’s safety is concerned,” Stephen said frostily. “I’m sure you’ve heard that about me.”

  “Is Pederson dead?”

  “Surprisingly no. No one died tonight, but it’s still early. Perhaps that might be remedied.”

  “Thank the Goddess for that! What do you need?”

  “Raymond has asked for arbitration at conclave.”

  “He what!”

  “Arbitration, you heard it right.”

  Jonas spluttered. “He can’t do that! He attacks another pack and then... oh. I guess he can, technically at least. Hmmm, tricky one eh?”

  “You might say,” Stephen said dryly. “The attack was unprovoked and unannounced. No challenge or notification of intention was issued. My House wasn’t at war with the Alley Dogs at the time. It was a sneak attack while I rested for the day.”

  Jonas hissed. “You know this is gonna be a shit-storm. Your House isn’t a pack even though we pretend it is for convenience and various other reasons. There’s no precedent for this.”

  “Well I suggest you dust off the rule books and figure it out, because he’s calling for conclave tonight.”

  “Tonight. Right, of course. Tonight! I don’t even know if all the Alphas are available. It’s a little short notice.”

  “Short notice is far from my primary concern. I was given none at all. If you don’t want to be down one Alpha come role call at the next meeting, you’ll find a way to summon everyone together tonight.”

  “Give me fifteen minutes. I’ll call you back on this number,” Jonas said and broke the connection.

  Edward turned off the link.

  Everyone looked at Pederson in silence. He glared back, but said nothing. What could he say? He had managed a last minute reprieve. Essentially, he’d staged an unprovoked attack, been defeated handily, yet had lost nothing by it. Yet. That might change at the conclave, but that was still to play for. He was lucky to be breathing and must know it.

  Stephen was the one to break the silence. He gestured at the door. “You’re free to leave. Your wolves are under guard in the lobby. Take them and go. I’m sure Jonas will be in contact with a time for the meeting.”

  Pederson edged between the hostile shifters near the door. Ronnie snarled something low under her breath, and Pederson responded. Lawrence snarled at what he heard, but before Mist could do anything, Pederson slipped out the door and was gone.

  Stephen turned his attention to Mist. “Thank you for what you did tonight, but I would like words with David now. If you would allow?”

  Mist nodded and began the change.

  22

  Conclave

  David peered out into the night as the limo approached the long abandoned air base. George AFB had closed at the end of the last century due to budget cuts, and even civilian flights had dried up in the end. The base was a ghost town these days; the only things calling it home now were cockroaches, tarantulas, and wild coyotes. A sign flashed by announcing their destination. It was still legible despite desert storms attempting to sandblast the lettering into obscurity.

  The limo turned into Phantom Street through the main gate, and onto the base, Charles piloting the big car smoothly. Off to the right, David could make out a group of storage tanks glowing in the dark. They were still white after years of abandonment. There was nothing else to catch his eye but broken fencing with the desert flatlands beyond, and scraggly sagebrush clinging to life in sandy soil.

  “Why an air base?” he asked. “Why not a warehouse in the city, or one of the rundown buildings in Monster Central?”

  Danyelle snorted.

  Stephen smiled. “A few reasons, but the main one would be that Jonas controls this entire area absolutely. The Desert Warriors are a big pack. They claim the base and desert all around here as part of their wider territory, and are strong enough to make it stick. That in turn means our privacy is assured.”

  “And the desert is good for hiding the bodies,” Ronnie added. Lawrence nodded seriously. “You’ll learn that secrecy isn’t a luxury; it’s a way of life. It’s survival.”

  “Just so,” Stephen agreed. “Some things, even what we would consider to be the least shocking, have a tendency to upset the human authorities. Our disputes are not the least shocking, or rather the results of them aren’t. We do our best not to draw attention to our little wars, not always successfully.”

  David turned his attention away from sightseeing and back to Stephen. “What’s going to happen? What can I expect tonight?”

  “That’s hard to say. We can rely upon Raymond to try weaselling out of any sanction or punishment for his actions. That’s a given, but how he plans to do that I have no notion. Your statement of intention regarding Ms. Burdett here will be a spur to him. He’ll think of something that we won’t like, I’m sure.”

  “No doubt. You think me foolish to have said it within his hearing?”

  Stephen shrugged. “Secrecy remember? Revealing one’s plans to enemies is never a good idea.”

  “I didn’t plan it. I don’t want to take over the Alley Dogs.”

  “But you will?”

  “If I have to.”

  “That’s all that matters, and it might come to that. This escalation over Ronnie’s rogue status must be ended before it gets completely out of my control. The root of the problem isn’t Ronnie herself; it’s my refusal to give her back.
The Alley Dogs see her as a rogue female in need of punishment; while I regard her as no different from other loners who I’ve taken in. I pride myself upon keeping my word once given, but even if that weren’t so, I still wouldn’t give her back. It would set a bad precedent. She’s mine to discipline or reward, as all of you are. I’ll not have anyone thinking they can interfere in my concerns whenever they feel like it.”

  David shifted uncomfortably at hearing that, but it wasn’t as if he was surprised. It was part of the deal. Stephen was very open about it. He wouldn’t hold anyone against their will, but if they wanted to work for him and enjoy his protection, they had to toe the line; his line. Stephen ruled his House, no other, and those living under its roof accepted that or they could leave LA. It was as simple as that.

  “The Alley Dogs consider it a kind of kidnapping despite the fact Ronnie gave herself to Stephen willingly,” Lawrence put in. “They still think of her as one of their own.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” David protested. “Georgie tried to kill her.”

  Ronnie grinned. “Of course it makes sense, maybe not in human terms, but we aren’t human. In Raymond’s mind, I defied him—my pack leader. I’m not dominant enough to do that and get away with it, so he has to punish me. If I won’t accept his rule over me or my punishment, then he has to kill me to maintain his authority. It’s really very simple and direct. In the eyes of the pack the only thing I did wrong was not let him screw me.”

  “That’s insane, and disgusting.”

  “Not really. It’s a tradition among the bigger old-fashioned packs like the Alley Dogs for unmated males to have their pick of the unmated females. The smaller family packs don’t do it for obvious reasons, and there are a lot more like them now than there are packs like the Alley Dogs. I could have avoided the obligation entirely by choosing a mate, but Callia and I didn’t like any of the males enough to do that.”

  He was disgusted at the thought of Ronnie having to prostitute herself to gain a little safety. “Do all the bigger packs force their women to do this?”