Nathaniel was holding my arm, steadying me. “Are you alright?”
I nodded. Being thrust out like that was always disorienting. Richard knew that. Fuck. “I’m okay.” I pulled away from Nathaniel and had to call information for the number for The Lunatic Cafe. Richard was in the meeting room in the back of the restaurant. Raina had owned the restaurant, and according to pack law, it could have belonged to me, if I hadn’t used a gun to kill her. It had to be mano-a-mano, hand-to-hand, or claws, or at least a knife before all that was hers would be mine. Possessions anyway. You can’t get anyone’s power by killing them. It just doesn’t work that way. And anyway, who would want it to? Guns were considered cheating, so I didn’t inherit all of Raina’s stuff.
Richard picked up on the second ring, as if he’d been expecting the call. “Richard, it’s Anita.”
“I know.” His voice was angry, closed, and tight.
“We need to talk.”
“I’m in the middle of something here, Anita.”
Fine, if he wanted to play it brusque and hostile, I’d play. “Where’s Gregory?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why?”
“Because, you might try and rescue him, and you’re not lupa anymore. The pack would defend itself, and I don’t want you shooting holes in my wolves.”
“You leave my leopards alone, and I’ll leave your wolves alone.”
“Anita, it’s not that simple.”
“I got the explanation, Richard. You freaked when you found out Gregory may have infected me with leopard juice. You had your enforcers grab him, and you’ve charged him with killing your lupa. Which is just stupid, I’m not dead.”
“Do you know what the pack is voting on right now, right this minute?”
“Not a clue.”
“Whether I will be picking another lupa from the pack before the next full moon.”
“I guess you’ll need one,” I said, and even hearing myself acknowledge it made my stomach clench.
“A lover, Anita, they’re wanting to force me to pick a lover from the pack.”
“You mean we can’t date now?”
“That’s the vote.”
“Stephen, one of your wolves, and Vivian, one of my leopards, are living together. No one seems to care about that.”
“Stephen is one of the least of us. They wouldn’t tolerate cross-species dating for a dominant. And they certainly won’t tolerate it for their Ulfric.”
“Human is good enough to fuck, but not leopard,” I said.
“We are human, Anita. But we aren’t cats, we’re wolves.”
“So you won’t be dating me, or anything, now?”
“Not if I want to stay Ulfric.”
“What happens to the triumvirate?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re going to give me up just like that.” I was suddenly cold, my stomach like a hard frozen knot.
“You’ve been out of my life for over half a year. How do I know that something else won’t scare you off again?”
“I planned on dating you both, Richard, on being with you both.” I realized as soon as I said it that I meant it. I’d made a decision and hadn’t realized it.
“What about a week from now, or a month, or even a year? What will scare you off next time?”
“I don’t plan on running anymore, Richard.”
“Nice to know.” I could feel his anger like something hot and touchable over the phone. Either his shield was leaking, or he’d lowered it.
“You don’t want to be with me anymore?” My voice was soft, hurt, and I hated it. Hated it.
“I want to be with you, you know that. You drive me crazy, but I still want you.”
“But you’ll still give me up,” I said. My voice was a little stronger, but not much. Richard was dumping me. Fine, it was his prerogative. I was a pain in the ass, I knew that. But my chest ached with it, damn it.
“I don’t want to, Anita, but I’ll do what I have to do. You taught me that.”
My eyes were hot. I’d taught him that. Great. If we were really going to break up for good, then I would not cry or beg. I would not be weak. My voice came out more solid, more sure of itself. My stomach was still in cold knots, but it didn’t show in my voice. The effort that it took to just sound normal over the phone made my chest tight. “You’re Ulfric, wolf king. Your word is law in the pack.”
“I’ve worked hard to make sure that everyone has an equal voice, Anita. I can’t pull rank now. It would undo everything I’ve tried to change.”
“Ideals are great in theory, Richard, but they don’t work too well in real life.”
“I disagree,” he said. His anger was already leaking away. He just sounded tired.
“I’m not going to argue things we’ve been arguing since we met. I’m going to concentrate on the things I can change. And no matter how much we want to, we can’t change each other, Richard. We are what we are.” My voice was uncertain again, full of some of the emotion I was feeling. “So, is Gregory okay?”
“He’s okay.”
“I want him back, you know that.”
“I know that.” His anger was making a comeback.
“Now that I’m not lupa, not pack, how do I get him back?”
“You have to come to the lupanar tomorrow night and petition for him.”
“What do you mean, ‘petition for him?’ ”
“You have to prove yourself worthy. There’ll be some kind of test.”
“Like multiple choice, essay, what?”
“I don’t know yet. We’re . . . voting on it.”
“Fuck, Richard, there’s a reason why we have a representative democracy in this country, not a pure one. Pure one person, one vote, just doesn’t work well. You can’t decide anything that way.”
“They’re deciding, Anita. You’re just not liking the way it’s going.”
“How could you take Gregory? How could you do that?”
“As soon as I realized what had happened, I knew that the pack would vote you out. Most of them weren’t happy with you even before. You weren’t pack, and they didn’t like that. The fact that you’ve avoided them—all of them—for six months didn’t help.”
“I had to get my shit together before I could come back, Richard.”
“And while you were getting your shit together, mine was falling apart.”
“I’m sorry, Richard, I am. But I didn’t know.”
“Tomorrow night at the lupanar, about an hour after dark. You can bring all your wereleopards and any other shapeshifters that are your allies. If it were me, as Ulfric, I’d bring the wererats.”
“I’m not lupa anymore, so they aren’t my allies, are they?”
“No,” he said, and the anger was gone again. Richard never could hold a grudge for long.
“What happens if I don’t win Gregory back?”
He didn’t answer me, just the sound of his breathing on the phone. “Richard, what happens to Gregory?”
“He’ll be judged by the pack.”
“And?”
“If he’s convicted of killing our lupa, it’s a death sentence.”
“But I’m right here, Richard. I’m not dead. You can’t kill Gregory for killing me, when he didn’t do it.”
“I delayed the judgment until you were well enough to attend. It was the best I could do.”
“You know, Richard, sometimes it’s good to be king. A king gets to pardon whomever he wants, a king gets to fuck whomever he wants.”
“I know that.”
“Then be king, Richard, really be king. Be their Ulfric, not their president.”
“I’m doing what I think best for them all.”
“Richard, you can’t do this.”
“It’s already done.”
“Richard, if I fail your little test, I will not let you execute Gregory. Do you understand me?”
“You won’t be allowed to bring guns into the lupanar, just knives.” His voice
had gone very careful.
“I remember the rule. But Richard, are you listening to me? Are you understanding me?”
“If we try to execute Gregory tomorrow night, you’ll fight us, I understand. But understand this, Anita, your leopards are no match for us, not even with Micah and his pard. We outnumber you five to one, maybe more.”
“It doesn’t matter, Richard. I can’t stand by and watch Gregory die, not for something stupid like this.”
“Will you try to save one of your cats and risk losing them all? Do you really want to see what would happen if they tried to fight their way out of the lupanar, through the pack? I wouldn’t want to see it.”
“This is . . . damn it, Richard, don’t put me in a corner, you won’t like it.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Richard . . .” I had to stop in mid-sentence and count slowly under my breath. But counting to ten wasn’t going to do it, maybe a bijillion. “Richard,” my voice came out calmer, “I will save Gregory, whatever it takes. I will not let the wolves slaughter my leopards, whatever that takes. You lost your temper and took one of my leopards. You made your pack a freaking democracy, where you don’t even have presidential veto. Are you really going to compound the mistakes by starting a war between your pack and my pard?”
“I still think that everyone having a voice is a good idea.”
“It’s a great idea, but it’s not working, is it?” He was quiet again. “Richard, don’t do this.”
“It’s out of my hands. I’m sorry, Anita, you don’t know how sorry.”
“Richard, you won’t really let them execute Gregory. I mean, not really.”
Silence again.
“Richard, talk to me.”
“I’ll do what I can, but I’ve lost the vote on it. I can’t change that.”
“Can you really stand by and watch him die for something he didn’t do?”
“How do you know he didn’t infect you on purpose?”
“I was there. He fell on top of me with two of the snake things riding him. It was an accident. He kept them from cutting out my heart. He saved my life, Richard, and this is damn poor payment.”
“He couldn’t have turned his claws aside at the last minute?” Richard asked.
“No, it all happened too fast.”
He laughed, but it was bitter. “You’ve been around us so long, and you still don’t understand what we are. I could turn aside in less than a blink of an eye. Gregory isn’t slower than I am. As a leopard he’s quicker, more agile.”
“Are you saying he did this on purpose?”
“I’m saying that he had a fraction of a second to decide what he’d do, and he decided to keep you as their Nimir-Ra. He made the choice to take you from me.”
“And you’re going to make him pay for that. Is that it?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“With his life?”
He sighed. “I don’t want him dead, Anita. But when I first found out what he’d done, I wanted to kill him myself. I wanted it so badly I didn’t trust myself around him, so I had him taken somewhere safe until I could cool down. But Jacob got wind of it, and forced a vote.”
“Who’s Jacob?”
“My new Geri, third in charge behind Sylvie.”
“I’ve never heard of him before.”
“He’s new.”
“Damn, third in line, and he’s new. He’s either a very good fighter, or a very vicious one, to win that many fights in less than half a year.”
“He’s good, and he’s vicious.”
“Is he ambitious?” I asked.
“Why?”
“If Jacob hadn’t forced a vote, would you have given Gregory back to me?”
He remained quiet so long, that I finally asked, “You still there?”
“I’m here. Yes, I would have given him back to you. I can’t kill him for what he’s done.”
“So Jacob set in motion something that’s stripped you of a powerful ally—me—and forced you to declare war on another group—the wereleopards. He’s been a busy boy.”
“He’s just doing what he thinks is right.”
“Jesus, Richard, how can you still be this naive?”
“You think he wants my job?”
“You know he wants your job. I can hear it in your voice.”
“If I’m not strong enough to hold the pack, then it’s Jacob’s prerogative to challenge me. But he’s got to defeat Sylvie first, and she’s as good as he is—and as vicious.”
“How big is Jacob?”
“My size, not as muscled.”
“Sylvie is good, but she’s five six, and slender, and a woman. And as much as I hate to say it, that makes a difference. Pound for pound you guys have the upper body strength on us. If the skill is equal, a larger person will beat a smaller one.”
“Don’t underestimate Sylvie,” he said.
“Don’t overestimate her, either. She’s my friend, too, and I don’t want her dead just because you’re not willing to take care of business.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means until he defeats Sylvie and becomes Freki, your second in command, you can kill him outside of a challenge. You can have him executed.”
“And if Marcus had thought that about me, I’d be dead now.”
“And Marcus would be alive, Richard. You’re not helping your case.”
“We aren’t animals, Anita, we’re people. And I can’t just kill him because I think he’s after my job.”
“You don’t just stand down as Ulfric, Richard, you fight to the death for it. I know theoretically if you both agree, it doesn’t have to be death. But I’ve been asking around, and no werewolf I’ve talked to can remember a fight for Ulfric that wasn’t to the death. He’s not after your job, Richard, he’s after your life.”
“I can’t control what Jacob does, only what I do.”
I was beginning to remember why Richard and I didn’t make a go of it as a couple. Oh, there had been a lot of reasons. I’d seen him eat Marcus, and that had made me run away. Then we got back together, and the marks were overwhelming. But there were other reasons. Reasons that made me feel tired and older than Richard, even though he was actually two years older than me. “You’re being stupid, Richard.”
“It’s not really any of your business, Anita. You’re not my lupa anymore.”
“If you die, the marks may drag Jean-Claude and me down to die with you, so that sort of makes it my business.”
“And you don’t risk your life every time you go hunting vampires or preternatural creatures with the police? You almost died in New Mexico less than a month ago. You risked all of us.”
“I was trying to save people’s lives, Richard. You’re trying to remake a political system. Ideology is great in a classroom or a debate, but it’s flesh and blood that counts, Richard. It’s life and death we’re talking about here, not some outdated ideal you have in your head about what a better world you can make for the pack.”
“If ideals mean nothing, Anita, then we are just animals.”
“Richard, if Gregory dies for this, then I will kill Jacob, and anyone else who gets in my way. I’ll destroy your lupanar and salt the ground, so help me. You explain to Jacob, and anyone else that needs convincing, that if they fuck with me, they will die.”
“You can’t fight the entire pack, Anita. Not and win.”
“If you think the only thing I care about is winning, then you don’t know me at all. I will save Gregory because I said I would.”
“If you fail the tests, you can’t save him.”
“What sort of tests are we talking about?”
“Ones that only a shapeshifter could pass.”
“Richard, Richard . . .” I wanted to scream and rant at him, but I was suddenly more tired than angry, more discouraged than enraged. “Mark me on this, Richard, if I fail to save Gregory, then I will remake heaven into hell to avenge him. You explain that to Jacob, make sure he under
stands.”
“Tell him yourself.” There was silence and the sound of movement. Then a man’s voice came on, a voice that I’d never heard before. The voice was pleasant, young, but not too young.
“Hello, I’m Jacob, I’ve heard a lot about you.” His voice made it plain that he hadn’t liked what he’d heard.
“Look, Jacob, we don’t know each other, but I cannot allow you to kill Gregory for something he didn’t do.”
“The only way you can stop us is by winning him back.”
“Richard explained that I’d have to pass a test to get Gregory back. He also said if I failed that you’d execute Gregory.”
“It’s pack law.”
“Jacob, you don’t want to make me your enemy.”
“You are Nimir-Ra of a small leopard pard. We are the Thronnos Rokke Clan. We are the lukoi, and you are nothing to us.”
“Yeah, I’m coming tomorrow night as Nimir-Ra of the Blooddrinker’s Pard. But I’m Anita Blake. Ask the vampires and other shapeshifters around town about me. See what they say. You don’t want to fuck with me, Jacob, you really don’t.”
“I’ve already asked around. I know your reputation.”
“Then why are you pushing this?”
“That’s my business,” he said.
“Fine, you want to do this, we can do this. If you cause Gregory’s death through voting or werewolf politics, I will bury you.”
“If you can,” he said. “You’re a brand-new shapeshifter. You won’t even change form until the full moon, and that’s weeks away. You are no match for me.”
“You say that like I’m going to offer to fight you one-on-one. I’m not. If Gregory dies, you die. Simple as that.”
“If you shoot me, it won’t reinstate you into the pack. If you could possibly win one-on-one against me, then maybe they’d vote you back to lupa. But if you just shoot me, you’ll never be lupa again.”
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Collection 6-10 Page 210
