by C. Gockel
It made sense, but now he couldn’t avenge himself. Where was the justice in that? It wasn’t fair. Georgie had killed the old him and stolen his life. He had lost everything—his career, his girl, his friends. Everything. He took a deep breath and nodded. He had Mist and a new life now. He had new friends like Stephen and Lawrence, and he had a new girl though she hadn’t figured it out yet. A career? Well, he had the beginnings of one. His new pack might be a full time job for all he knew, and he had some ideas about changing how shifters had to live. Ronnie insisted there was no changing things and survival was all that mattered, but he hadn’t accepted that before and didn’t now. He wanted to help all shifters, not just his own pack.
The human world was incredibly tough on non-humans. A simple thing like getting a loan to start a business was almost impossible, and stuff like insurance and medical care was out of reach. Just getting a job with human run companies was hard because they had trouble with their insurance premiums if they hired non-humans. Many businesses were closed to shifters; places that produced, packaged, or served food to humans for instance. It was not only illegal to hire non-humans to work in such places; it was illegal to serve them as customers.
He had so many ideas about how to make things better, a lifetime of work ahead to fill his time, but he mourned the loss of his past dreams. In his heart, he was a healer still, but his patient had changed. He only had one now—society itself—and to heal it, he needed to change it.
“I’m okay, you can let go.”
Lawrence studied his face warily, but he did step back puffing a little. “You’re damn strong, and I’m not talking about just the physical. You nearly squashed me like a bug.”
David frowned at that, but realised immediately what Lawrence meant. He had been pushing with more than muscle. He had been using his Presence to push too. Lucky for his friend he hadn’t been aware of it and hadn’t pushed very hard. Mist hadn’t helped at all, though Lawrence seemed to think he had. Interesting.
Everyone was watching him. He grimaced. “Sorry. I’ve just realised I can’t kill Georgie for changing me.”
Jonas nodded. “Understandable but easily remedied. The challenge was delivered properly and accepted. Ronnie will fight in your place.”
“No!” he snapped but then he realised he couldn’t stop it. “I mean...”
Georgie laughed. “You’re going to be such fun.”
“You won’t live a minute against Ronnie,” he said staunchly, but he had his doubts. That night was emblazoned upon his memory. Georgie had gutted Callia that night; had literally eviscerated her. “If by some miracle you win, I’ll see you challenged every day until you go down for good. I swear it. Do you want to withdraw the challenge now?”
The Alphas murmured among themselves and turned to regard Georgie speculatively.
She glared at them. “I’ll take my chances. Maybe after I become Alpha, I’ll arrange something special for you. Maybe your second would like to be Alpha in your place.”
“I’d sooner gnaw my own arm off than mate with you!” Lawrence said.
Jonas laughed. “Enough of the funnies. I have to get up early for work. Let’s get this thing done so my boys can bury the body before dawn.”
David looked at Jonas in appalled silence.
“What?”
“Nothing I guess.”
Both women stripped for the fight to make shifting faster and not risk getting tangled. The sight didn’t move David at all. He was too worried to think about how beautiful Ronnie looked, or how muscular Georgie seemed in comparison. He couldn’t get the image of a half-dead Callia dragging her broken body away the night he hit Ronnie with his car. By the goddess, what was he going to do? He couldn’t let this happen! Georgie was too powerful.
This is The Way, and our She will win. She is strong.
You can’t be sure. You didn’t see Georgie that night. She’s a vicious fighter.
I see everything. I know what you know. I see what you see. We are one.
That distracted him a moment. You can see my memory of that night?
All.
All? You can see all of my memories?
Of course. We are one, as it should be.
But... if so, why can’t I see yours?
You have tried?
Well no, I didn’t know to try.
Try, but not now. They begin.
Jonas’ coyotes gathered to watch the fight edging the arena but not so close as to risk crossing the chalk line. That was forbidden apparently. Pederson’s wolves had also gathered to cheer on their wolf. The coyotes seemed more interested in watching for interference than in watching two naked women fight for their lives. David was grateful, but not for Ronnie’s dignity; she didn’t give a damn. Shifters were inveterate exhibitionists, every single one of them. No, it was that they were alert for cheating. He didn’t know how anyone could with so many witnesses present, but if there was a way, he was sure Georgie would know how and employ it.
“Don’t worry. She’s got this,” Lawrence said.
“You didn’t see the fight that night.”
“No, but I’ve seen Ronnie fight before.”
He looked at his friend in surprise. “When?”
“When she first asked Stephen to take her in. You don’t think the others just welcomed her and let her take over without challenging her do you?”
“I hadn’t thought about it.”
“We haven’t got very many females at Lost Souls, but those we do have aren’t pushovers. You’ll need to recruit more for balance. A healthy pack needs a decent mix of male and female betas.”
He nodded; it was another thing to add to his growing list of things he had to take care of.
“Anyway, Stephen has a rule about fighting. He knows it would be pointless to ban challenges, but he does insist they’re not to the death. He needs us; he can’t afford to have us killing each other, so our challenges are always to submission. Ronnie took all of them apart in minutes.”
“Martina too?” he said feeling more hopeful. Martina was a werelynx and a formidable woman.
“Yeah. Martina was one surprised kitty that day I can tell you.”
“What do I do about her and Darrin? I don’t like the thought of Stephen turning them out.”
“They can join us. You need to stop worrying about the whole wolf with wolf and kitty with kitty thing. Oh sure, that’s the best way when it can be managed, but sometimes it can’t. I mean, how many werelynx or weretiger groups do you think are even in the country let alone LA? Sometimes a loner can’t find an animal group in the area to join, so they become affiliate members of a pack like us. That’s just the way it is.”
He nodded and watched as Ronnie and Georgie circled each other, feinting and lunging but never striking a blow. They were pushing power at each other, grappling invisibly using their Presence alone. He wondered if perhaps Ronnie might win without even drawing blood, but no, Georgie had to die. He couldn’t imagine she would ever feel safe until that was accomplished, and he wanted Georgie dead too. A short time ago, that realisation would have appalled him, but it no longer did. Ronnie wouldn’t be safe with Georgie still breathing, so she must stop that annoying habit and do them all a favour by dying.
Georgie lost patience with the dance first and began to shift, Ronnie stayed in human form and took advantage. She rained kicks and punches into the shifting form as Georgie went furry. It was a vulnerable time for any shifter. When they were between forms, they couldn’t do much but concentrate on the Change, which was extremely painful. Ribs snapped as Ronnie viciously stove them in, but David couldn’t see any advantage in doing that. Georgie was healing the damage instantly as she shifted to her wolf form. Sure it must hurt, but the process of changing form hurt worse.
Ronnie didn’t let up, if anything she forced herself into a frenzy, burning energy in an almost berserk fury of blows. She smashed her fists into Georgie’s face, obliterating the semi-wolf features. Blood flew and splashed upon t
he concrete. Georgie howled and bit, ripping Ronnie’s hands and arms to shredded ribbons.
“Go for it,” Lawrence growled under his breath, willing Ronnie on as she mauled her opponent.
“Why isn’t she changing too? She’ll be on the receiving end of this when she shifts. She should have changed at the same time!”
“That’s not what this is about. Georgie is healing all the damage as part of her shift, but that takes strength and energy. Healing and shifting are two sides of the same coin. They both work exactly the same way. Exactly the same. By ripping her up and forcing her to heal the damage, Ronnie is making her use up her strength. It will be as if Georgie shifted twice not once. This is going to come down to stamina, and Ronnie is conserving hers.”
“That’s... that bloody brilliant!”
Lawrence shrugged. “Challenges aren’t all about strength. Well they are, but there’s more than physical strength involved. There’s your Presence as well, and tactics in the arena too, but strategy relies upon cleverness. A clever opponent can win against a physically stronger one sometimes. A super strong alpha doesn’t necessarily make a good pack leader. He needs to know how to lead people, and persuade them to do what’s good for the pack a lot of the time, not beat them into submission.”
He nodded; there was another lesson in there. Lawrence was good at telling him things without appearing to do that, and it was no accident. A pack leader’s second could suggest and advise but he couldn’t be seen to be giving his Alpha orders or challenging him. Lawrence was a natural second; he’d slipped into the role as if he’d been doing it for years. It was no wonder Stephen had relied upon him so much.
Georgie was the stronger physically, it was obvious naked as she was, but Ronnie matched her in Presence, and now over matched her in cleverness. She was winning.
Georgie finally completed her shift to full wolf form and attacked. Ronnie backed off, bloodied but still very strong. Her hands and arms were shredded, but she let the blood spatter upon the ground not bothering to use her energy on healing. Georgie’s wolf charged and ripped into Ronnie’s leg in frenzy. David paled at the sight thinking something was wrong, but no, Ronnie wanted her enemy in close. She reached down almost casually and grasped Georgie around the neck, heaving her into the air and throwing her contemptuously across the arena. Georgie rolled back onto her feet and charged back in the blink of an eye, absolutely furious and raging with no thought in her head but blood lust and a need to kill.
Ronnie was ready.
David might have missed it, but Lawrence had seen it before and was waiting for the move. He hissed in excitement as Ronnie shifted her arms and hands. Suddenly they were no longer bleeding or human either. They reached down below her knees now and wicked claws sprang out as she flexed alien fingers. She stood her ground as Georgie leapt and David cried out an involuntary warning.
Ronnie caught the wolf easily in her new powerful arms and said almost gently, “Goodbye, Georgie.”
Her wonderfully sharp claws sliced the wolf’s throat open and ripped its trachea away. She threw the disgusting mess on the floor, and before the dying wolf could begin to heal, twisted its head all the way around and pulled with all her strength. Flesh tore and the head came free in a fountain of gore. The twitching body fell away. Ronnie held the head up before her, staring into its face until the still glowing eyes dimmed and flickered out, glazing in death.
Jonas’ coyotes yipped and barked in that spine-crawling call of theirs.
David shivered. They were all in human form, and that sound coming from ordinary men and women’s throats was just plain unnerving. Alien. Ronnie threw the head and Jonas caught it. He lobbed it like a football to one of his boys who caught it with a laugh. David felt his gorge rise as it shifted back to Georgie’s human head, but the coyotes continued playing catch with it and laughing all the while.
“Keep it together,” Stephen whispered. “Show no weakness here or anywhere if you can avoid it. This is your new reality. Embrace it, or learn to fake embracing it. I would advise the former for your own peace of mind.”
He swallowed bile keeping his expression neutral as the shifters had their fun tossing the human head from one end of the arena to the other in a sick game of catch. Georgie’s body had turned human too now, and Ronnie stepped over it, not giving it a glance. She was untroubled by the coyote’s antics. He watched her approach. She was so damned primal, bloody hands and naked body splashed with gore. She was so beautiful to his hot eyes, but how would he ever understand her or his new people?
Georgie had needed to die. It was necessary and he was glad Ronnie had won, but it was obvious she had no qualms about anything that had happened. Survival was all that mattered to her, and she was full of her victory. How could he live that way even with her? The answer was he couldn’t, but he would have to or change the reality they had to live with. He was determined to try, but it would take time.
Our She, Mist said with pride as Lawrence handed Ronnie her clothes. Ours.
Ours, David agreed, still seeing the moment she ripped her enemy’s head off. She was theirs, the goddess help them.
24
Nspcl
“Be on your guard. I don’t say you’ll be challenged immediately upon our return, but you cannot know for sure,” Stephen was saying. “Lawrence will advise you, but I know shifters at least as well as my own people. None of us like uncertainty. You will have to prove your dominance, probably more than a few times during the coming weeks. The others will insist upon knowing where they stand in your pack. I ask that you maintain the challenge to submission rule, at least while on properties I own.”
David nodded and tried to concentrate upon his plans. The limo had regained I-215 now and the tyres hummed quietly over the pavement. It was dark outside and traffic was lighter than earlier. He had been staring out a window while the others discussed things, seeing Ronnie’s fight over and over again in his mind. How could he be attracted to that, be turned on by that? He was. He could pretend disgust at the violence and blood, but it really would be just pretence. When he thought about it, really concentrated upon it, he wasn’t disgusted at all. He was excited. It was that knowledge that actually did disgust him, not the violence itself. It wasn’t civilised. Civilised behaviour was one thing he’d thought he was certain of; it was something to believe in and base his plans upon, but now when he imagined Ronnie killing Georgie all he felt was Mist’s pride and sense of ownership.
We are one. We are pack. Our She is pack. Lawrence is pack.
As if that explained anything.
He shook his head trying to understand the changes within himself. They were ongoing. He hadn’t stopped changing since the attack and his first day as a shifter. They were gradual, those changes, or they had been until now. His acceptance of Mist as a real person or entity in his head had only been the first of many. His lost career and relationships, his realisation at conclave that he really had given himself to Stephen, or his loyalty at least, and now things were going to change again. He was Alpha of the Blood Drinkers, mate to Ronnie if she ever let him close enough, ally to House Edmonton... what else would happen in the coming days? So many changes, yet he didn’t want to change so much that the old David died completely. He didn’t want to turn into some ravening beast. He was a man, not an animal. He wanted to remain a civilised man, and become a civilised leader to his people.
Do not fret so. We are together. We are pack. We are one. The others will challenge us, but we are strong. We will protect the pack, protect the den, protect Stephen and our She.
Stephen was still talking and David tried to concentrate on his words.
“Do you not agree, Lawrence?”
Lawrence nodded. “I don’t think there’s much choice.”
“Wait, what?” he said. He had lost the thread of the conversation.
“The little packs in Stephen’s... our territory need to be folded into the Blood Drinkers.”
“By force?”
&
nbsp; “If necessary.” David didn’t like that and his expression gave him away. “It’s kinder.”
“How can force be kinder?”
“They will face challenges. We all do, but until now no one has bothered with them because they lived in Stephen’s territory. They were considered his, and were left alone for fear or respect for House Edmonton. His threat was enough to keep them safe, despite his disinterest in them.”
“I was not disinterested in them,” Stephen qualified. “I just didn’t see the benefit of trying to negotiate terms with so many individual groups when I was strong enough without them. Besides, they would compete with each other to see who could gouge me the deepest!”
Lawrence grinned.
“You’re saying that if I don’t take them in hand, outsiders will? Who, Pederson?”
“Not Raymond,” Stephen said. “His pack is big enough already. I doubt he wants to add more uncertainty into the Alley Dogs right now. New recruits have to be brought into a pack under controlled conditions. You don’t want too many challenges all at once; it would destabilise your power base while the hierarchy reorders itself. It takes time for newcomers to settle in and find their place within the pack’s power structure.”
“But the territory is yours,” he protested. “The Blood Drinkers will share it as we agreed, but we both know who really holds it. You do. Why won’t the status quo remain as it always was?”
“You don’t actually want that.”
“Why?”
“He’s right,” Lawrence said. “You are too, but Stephen is more right. The Blood Drinkers needs to make its rep. A new pack has no threat at all. Stephen could do the work for us by keeping things as they are, but that won’t be good for the pack. We need to make our mark before other packs start thinking they can take our territory.”
“I would not allow that,” Stephen said, “But Lawrence is essentially correct. To outsiders it should seem that shifters living in our territory are your responsibility, while vampires and my business holdings remain mine. The reality can be whatever we decide it is privately, but my preference would be a full partnership, not just an alliance based upon defending the territory. It’s in both our interests for outsiders to see a strong House allied with a powerful pack, not a strong House propping up a weak pack. Weakness will be exploited.”
