by Aileen Erin
“But now…You’ve gone too far, Michael.”
Lady had lost her damned mind. No way was I leaving Dastien or the pack. I was done listening. “We’ve been over this.” I made sure to enunciate so there’d be no misunderstandings. “I’m not going back to the coven. Not when you were so quick to try manipulating me with magic. Not when you nearly killed my friend without a whisper of remorse. I don’t want to be anywhere near you let alone join your coven.”
“But you’ll take our help when you need it.”
That was low. Claudia and Raphael had helped me more than once, but they were family. And to be honest, the first two times I hadn’t even asked for it. “If you’re referring to my cousins, then yes. I’ll take my family’s help and I’ll help my family. But you—you’re not family. This—” I waved my arms toward the assembled Weres—“is my family.”
Fire shot from Luciana’s fingertips, and she wavered. A coven member—also dressed in white—came to help her stand. Whatever flashy spell was lighting her hands must’ve been costing her.
“Donovan. Sebastian. I know you remember the last time our people fought. Surely you don’t wish to repeat that.”
“Are you threatenin’ us? With war?” Donovan jumped smoothly down from the dais, his Irish accent thickening with his anger.
I’d never seen Donovan so furious, but when his eyes flashed to blue, I knew he was not someone I ever wanted to piss off. I stepped back, giving him room.
“It’s not a threat. It’s a fact,” Luciana said.
What the hell was going on? Why did she fucking care so much where I was? What was her endgame? It didn’t make any sense. If she forced the pack to make me go with her, then I’d do everything in my power to tear her down. To get back here. I was nothing if not stubborn.
Could she be that dense?
No. Not being as high in the coven as she was. Which meant that she had to be up to something. The big question was what?
“Luciana,” I said. My voice sounded much calmer than I felt. “I want nothing to do with you. Forcing me to go with you will not end up with me helping you in any way, shape, or form. I will never be like you.” I paused to let my words sink in. “You need to leave. Now.”
The spell on her hands strengthened, and I blinked my eyes from the sudden bright light surrounding her. “I think Donovan and Sebastian would disagree. Is it worth it to fight now? Why not complete your ritual at the next full moon? Give us the chance to make our case.”
“Or else?” I asked.
She held up her hands. “I’ll do what I must.”
The circling wolves moved forward, but knocked into an invisible barrier that surrounded the brujos. They snarled and a few more Weres shifted as they ran at the barrier.
One of the coven members threw a bottle filled with red powder at the closest wolf, and it cut through the invisible wall. The wolf yelped as the glass smashed against his hindquarters and he went down in a whimpering heap as magic flashed.
They were going to fight. Over me. People—my pack—could get hurt. I had to stop this.
“Wait.” I took a breath.
“Non. You can’t—”
The fight started to grow around us. Wolves crashed into the invisible barrier, bones crunching as they hit. The witches threw potions into the pack. Some sparked in blazing fire. Others were more subtle, casting shadows or fog. But every vial sparked a chorus of whimpers. Pain rippled through the pack bonds and for the first time, I could feel each wolf—and every injury.
I had to stop this before it got out of control. I grabbed Dastien’s hand. “We get through the Tribunal and in a month, we’re right back here. Nothing will change, except this fight.”
He pulled me close, running his nose along my cheek. “I don’t trust them,” he whispered in my ear. “If we don’t press this now, I could lose you.”
I pulled back. “Impossible. We’ll get through this.” I cleared my throat. “We’ll wait,” I said to Mr. Dawson.
Sebastian shook his head. “Let us handle this.”
One of the coven members yelled an incantation in language I didn’t know. The ground exploded off to my right and howls rent the night.
At once, Sebastian shifted. A spell flew his way and he dodged it, but a blast of light hit another wolf who collapsed to the ground.
Wolves were getting hurt. Arguing about this was a waste of time.
I spun to Mr. Dawson. “We have to stop this.”
“I’m with Dastien. That’s a huge mistake. You give in now, you’ll be giving in to them forever.”
Non. Please. We have to do this now. You can’t let her affect our actions. Dastien protested through our bond, but I tuned him out.
It was too much. Spells flew, crisscrossing the night in streaks of jagged light. Wolves circled the coven, slamming their bodies into the barrier. It was chaos, and all because I couldn’t wait one month?
“Stop.” I yelled the word as loud as I could and backed it with alpha powers. Every wolf froze in place.
I held my breath, hoping that the brujos would stop, too. When no one moved, I said, “This isn’t worth fighting over. I’ll promise not to finish the bonding ceremony tonight if you’ll leave now.”
“Are you sure?” Mr. Dawson said softly to me, but every Were heard the question.
The night was quiet as everyone waited for my answer. I knew that what I was doing was right. I couldn’t let any more wolves get injured because of me. But that didn’t make this any easier. “Yes,” I said finally.
Mr. Dawson gave me a solemn nod before turning to Luciana. “You’re getting this much from us, but nothing else.”
She raised her head in the air, like she thought she was the queen of the universe, and I wanted to strangle her. “I need your word. The spell please.”
Spell?
Fur sprouted over Mr. Dawson’s face. “We won’t finish this bonding ceremony tonight. You have my word. I shall break it only on punishment of death by the gods above and below.” His voice was growly with the wolf. “Leave now, Luciana. Or we will remove you from our land.”
The fire went out of Luciana’s hands. “That’s all we ask.” She grinned, and my stomach flip-flopped.
I knew that smile. The feeling of dread that it invoked in me. That was what my premonition had been about. This moment.
She and the rest of la Alquelarre walked away, but I knew whatever they were plotting was far from over.
“Oh God,” I muttered. My heart was racing so fast that my hands shook. Dastien hugged me to his chest. “Did I do the right thing?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think we had any good option, but I was ready to fight for you. For us.”
“I know.”
“You gave up.” His sadness and disappointment flowed freely through the bond, and my eyes welled.
This wasn’t what I wanted to happen. “Did you hear the wolves in pain? It wasn’t about giving up. It was about not causing a huge blow up if it could be prevented.”
It took a while for everyone to calm down. A few wolves shifted back and Dr. Gonzales led them as they took the injured to the infirmary. I hoped whatever spells had been cast could be easily removed.
“Lass,” Donovan said beside me.
I pulled away from Dastien enough to see Donovan.
He looked shaken, with his skin a little paler than normal and his eyes glowing bright blue, signaling his wolf was ready to take over. “It was a hard choice, but I think it was the right one. Even I was ready to fight, and it wouldn’t have been pretty. The last war with the witches…suffice it to say it took a few centuries before the world recovered. Thank you for keeping your head when no one else did. You’ll be a good leader.”
“Thanks.” But I was still hung up on war. It was such a strong word. “Is that what’s going to happen now? War?”
“You may have stayed it for a while, but it could be unavoidable if Luciana calls the other covens for aid.” He clasped Dastien�
��s shoulder. “Hang on, you two. If it’s you they want, they’ll have quite a battle in store for them.”
I took a breath. “Thanks.”
He nodded. “The moon is high in the night. Let us run together and renew the friendship and bond that takes us from lone wolf to pack.” He raised his arms, and power flowed through the pack. It hit me, rushing along my skin. My inner wolf rose up and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. I let go, and within a breath, I was on four feet.
Wolf-Dastien butted his head against mine and took off running.
The power of the full moon filled me with energy and I took off after him. The trees whipped past as I let the power of the pack take my worries away. It was almost like I had no problems as a wolf. Everything was simplified.
A wolf howled off to the left, and the group moved as one in that direction.
I caught the scent of the deer a second before I smelled its blood.
The wolf wanted to go after it, but I didn’t.
I shouldered into Dastien, and he led us around the kill. He howled again, and the pack followed.
I caught the moonlight and the wolf took over. I lost myself in my senses, the feel of the run, and the pack around me.
Chapter Five
I woke up the next morning in Dastien’s arms. His cabin was just one big room. The blackout curtains had parted a little bit, letting a sliver of light in. I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip, and nuzzled his nose against the back of my neck.
“More sleep.” His voice rumbled.
I sighed and closed my eyes. After the run, we’d come back here to eat. That’d always been our plan, except that we hadn’t gone through with the ceremony. It was supposed to be romantic. We were supposed to take the next step, but Dastien didn’t want to do that until after the ceremony. I’d been scared about it, but excited too. Now that was all shot to shit.
As I lay there, my nervous anticipation kicked into overdrive. Tomorrow was the Tribunal. I knew Dastien was worried about it, but I didn’t think the worry I was feeling was his. A lot of it was mine. There was so much more on the line now that we hadn’t cemented our bond.
“How much do you think we should worry about Luciana?”
Dastien growled. “Merde. She’s a pain in the ass.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I saw that.”
“That’s literally impossible. Your eyes are closed and you’re spooning me. You can’t see my face.”
“Fine. I felt you do it.”
“That’s creepy.”
“I’m not creepy. I’m your mate. Remember?”
I rolled my eyes again, and he squeezed me tighter.
“The thing is, Luciana isn’t stupid. She’s conniving. I felt like postponing the ceremony was my only choice, and it wasn’t that big of a deal to—”
Dastien flipped me onto my back. He hovered over me, balanced on his forearms. His eyes were bright yellow. “Not that big of a deal?”
I reached up, cupping his face with my hand. “What are a few more weeks when we have a lifetime ahead of us?”
He sagged down beside me. “I didn’t want to wait. And now we have to fight to be together during the Tribunal. If we’d gone through with it, we’d be together. End of story.” His words were gravelly, thick with the wolf.
I winced. Okay. So it was a big deal. “I know. But she came to fight, and I didn’t want to go there when waiting a few weeks will protect the pack. What could change?”
We were quiet for a second.
“That’s the thing, though. What could change? What is she going to try to do?” I asked.
“She’s going to the Tribunal to make a case stating that I took you from them.”
“Which is kind of true.”
Dastien huffed. “I know. Which is why I wanted to do the ceremony yesterday. You’re pack now, so it’s a bit of a moot point, but she wouldn’t have wanted you to wait if she didn’t have something up her sleeve. I wanted that extra protection.”
I chewed my lip as I thought. “I want to know why she’s doing this.”
“We’ve been over that. She wants you back with the coven.”
“I know. But why?” There had to be a bigger picture, but I wasn’t seeing it. “So she gets me back over there. Then what? Is she really that delusional that she thinks she can convince me to take over? And if she hates wolves so much, why would she even want me? Hello. I go furry and I’d never let her curse me like she did Meredith.”
“She wouldn’t exactly need your permission to curse you.” Dastien cut me off before I could protest. “Okay. If she doesn’t want you to run the coven, then why’s she doing this?”
I backhanded his stomach. “That’s what I’ve been asking.” Damn it. That hurt my hand more than it hurt him. Dastien rubbed his thumb along my skin, soothing the sting. “There’s one more thing I don’t like.”
“Just one more?” He asked.
“When I begged her to save Meredith, she said she’d only help if I stayed at the compound. I didn’t go for it. Even with Meredith’s life on the line. So, what’s she got that’s worse than killing someone I love?”
“Killing lots of someones.”
“War?”
“Yes. War.”
A chill ran through my body, but the question remained the same. “Why, though? I’m not that important.”
Dastien ran his fingers through my hair. He was quiet for a second. “She knows something about you that we don’t. Or she wants to use you somehow.”
He was on to something with that one. “Like what? What could she know? How could she use me?”
“I have no idea, but if she’d risk centuries of peace over this, it’s got to be big.”
I rolled over and pressed my face against his sternum, breathing in his scent. “I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“For the way things went last night. For not fighting for us.”
He ran his fingers through my hair. “It’s never a good idea to fight when it can be avoided.” He tugged on my hair a little until I looked at him. “But I wished we’d gotten to do the ceremony.”
“Me, too.” I pressed my lips gently to his. “Me, too.”
***
Since I still hadn’t fully moved over to Dastien’s cabin, I made my way back to my room to shower and change. And call my parents. They’d want an update.
Mom was shocked about what’d happened. She didn’t trust Luciana at all. It was the whole reason she’d kept me away from the coven growing up. She made me promise to keep her updated before hanging up.
I plopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling.
This wasn’t how my day was supposed to be going. It wasn’t like we were going to get a honeymoon or anything. We had to stick around for the Tribunal, but I’d been looking forward to relaxing the day away with Dastien. Instead, he was revising his speech, which I should’ve been working on, too, but I couldn’t. The words weren’t there. How many ways could I say ‘leave me and Dastien the fuck alone’?
I dug through my bedside table until I found my red and blue bouncy ball. I threw it against the wall by my tiny window as I thought.
There had to be something more that I could be doing. This was my fault…well, not exactly my fault, but still. I wanted to fix it. I wanted to make this whole situation with Luciana go away.
When I tried to talk to her rationally about the curse she’d put on Meredith, it’d been a disaster. A complete waste of time.
Damn it. Why had I told my cousins we were doing the ceremony? That was so dumb. They’d been so helpful before, I’d just thought they were my friends. They were my family.
A blur of movement caught my eye before the ball was snatched out of the air. “You’re killing me with this.” Meredith wore a pair of pink camo sleep shorts and a tank, and her hair stuck out all crazy.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Donovan already left, so I was up-ish. Just not physical
ly up.” She sat on my bed. “You’re not doing so hot, huh?”
When I first got here, she’d walked right into my room and made me feel better about everything. It was pretty damned awesome of her to do that for a total stranger. But this time she had her work cut out for her. It felt like I couldn’t catch a break. All I wanted was a little peace. I wanted to enjoy Dastien and my friends. It’d taken me so long to get to where I was—a really good, happy place—that I really resented what was happening.
Meredith nudged her shoulder against mine. “Brunch? I’m feeling like it’s omelet time.”
“I seriously don’t think food is going to fix this.”
She scoffed at me. “A good meal can fix just about anything.”
Werewolves and their food addiction…
My stomach growled. The traitor.
“I’m going to throw on some clothes.” She jumped up from my bed. “I won’t even shower. Give me five.”
“Cool.” I reached my hand out. “Can I have my ball back?”
She narrowed her gaze at me. “Are you going to bounce it against the wall again?”
“No?”
“No. I don’t trust you with it.” She threw the ball in the air and then caught it. “Your bouncy ball privileges have been revoked.”
I pouted. “But I had a really bad birthday.”
She pointed a finger at me. “Don’t give me that face. It’s not going to work.” She closed the bathroom door. “Read one of your steamy romance novels. I’ll be ready in a sec.”
By sec, Meredith definitely meant at least fifteen minutes. It’d been a while since I’d actually had time to sit down and read a book. I scanned my shelves, picked up a random one, and flipped through. The scent of forest and wolf filled my senses. I put my nose to the spine and inhaled.
The books still smelled like Dastien. When I’d first moved in, he’d brought all my stuff. He even made sure to put all my books in order alphabetically by author and separated by genre.
I grabbed a Christine Feehan book, one of her Sea Haven novels. That series was seriously awesome. I got swept away by the sisters that all had special powers. Kind of like the coven.
