by Zoe Winters
She stuck close to Noah because she didn’t want to be pulled away by the females for gossip. Their jealousy was barely contained. It had been much easier to gain acceptance with the male members of the pack. She wasn’t taking some spot they’d fantasized about having in the hierarchy. But the bitches could get over it because it wasn’t as if Noah had been a longstanding member. They’d just met the guy.
“Are you okay?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, why?” She looked up to find several of the wolves had taken several steps back.
“You’re growling. You look ready to attack.”
“Oh. Sorry. I was thinking.”
Noah went back to speaking with Milo. Sydney hadn’t heard an official announcement, but the pack had either been informed through gossip, or they’d simply intuited that Milo was the new beta. Or maybe he’d been Shira’s beta as well.
Noah’s feelings about trying to run a pack with his history were beginning to seem logical. How were a wolf who hadn’t been properly socialized in a pack for most of his life and a vampire going to successfully run a whole pack?
“Why can’t we just leave tonight?” the beta asked.
Noah pulled Milo and Sydney farther away from the others. “Motorcycle lesson?”
“Well, yeah, but I meant after that. Or tomorrow night. We could leave tomorrow night.”
Noah growled. “Why are you in such a hurry to leave your home?”
The beta glanced around to see if anyone was eavesdropping, then he turned back to Noah and Sydney. “I didn’t want to say anything, but the night Shira brought you guys here, one of our wolves didn’t come back from the hunt. He could have been killed by a vampire or in the fight when they were creating a diversion so you guys could get away, but he also could have been taken. We haven’t found a body. If they captured him, we’re sitting ducks. The den isn’t safe anymore. We have to leave.”
In Sydney’s opinion, this den had never been particularly safe. It was too close to the established city for her taste. She could understand why the vampires would troll outside the cities, waiting for a human to disobey the grand order and be thrown out to the monsters. But why wolves?
Unless the wolves were sometimes feeding on humans themselves.
“Why have you guys been this close to the city to begin with?” Sydney asked.
“We had an uneasy alliance with the vampires,” Milo said, “to keep more from being kidnapped. Some of us suspected Shira might have had a thing with their leader. Once they know she’s gone, our alliance might be gone with it. It may be why she didn’t take a mate from among the pack.”
Or she didn’t want to give her power away. But Sydney kept that thought to herself. They may have accepted Shira as the sole alpha as long as she was single, and as long as one of them might have a chance at alpha by becoming her mate, but the second she took someone, things would change. Wasn’t that how it had always been through history? Sydney hadn’t known her long, but Shira seemed like the type who enjoyed her power and wanted to maintain it. Not that Sydney could blame her. Power became quickly addictive. If told she could keep Noah but lose her strength or keep her strength but lose Noah, she’d choose Noah, but it wouldn’t be easy.
“You wouldn’t need so much protecting if you were farther from the city. This is still inside the radius of where they would go to take werewolves and other therians,” Noah said.
The vein in his neck had become more prominent as his muscles tensed. Sydney tried to ignore it. It would hardly be appropriate for her to launch herself at him and feed right now. Anyway, she’d just eaten.
“But being close to the city has its advantages. We can leech off their power grid and use the water infrastructure already in place. In case you weren’t aware, life is easier with hot running water and lights.”
Noah gave him a warning growl and Milo quickly remembered who he was speaking to.
“Sorry, sir. My mouth got away from me.”
“How many wolves can reclaim their human form under the full moon?” Noah asked.
“Only a couple of others besides myself. And of course, Shira could.”
“That’s why we aren’t leaving yet. Travel as a group would be impossible.”
The Beta glanced over at Sydney, a touch of resentment in his eyes. They’d have to ditch the motorcycles and any belongings they might otherwise want to take with them if they went now, but they could run as a pack of wolves if it weren’t for her.
Sydney growled.
“You know it’s true. A vampire in the pack makes it impossible for us to leave during a full moon.”
“You’re right. This is too complicated,” Noah said. “I’ll just take my mate and leave.”
Milo looked panicked and a few of the other wolves ambled over. “NO! You can’t leave us.”
So they’d been listening the whole time. Great. Noah must not have moved them far enough away from the others.
The wolf that had spoken said, “Look, we’ll work it out. It’s not ideal, but we like Sydney. She’s pretty cool. If she’s part of the deal, okay, but we need you.”
It seemed that a few of the wolves weren’t entirely sold on Sydney’s coolness.
“Oh yeah?” Noah said. “Well, let me educate you about the truth of the pack alpha you need so badly. I was kidnapped by those people and separated from my pack when I was just a pup. I was their captive for two decades before I got out. The only reason I escaped was because they had flaws in their security system, it was my twenty-eighth birth moon, and Sydney got captured. So I am not an alpha by any definition of that word. I can’t lead you. I have only the slightest fucking clue how packs even work. I’ve been bullshitting my way through it this entire time. So there’s your alpha pair. A vampire, and a wolf that doesn’t know how to be a wolf. Come on Sydney, we’re leaving.”
He grabbed her arm and took her out of the bar.
“It’ll be safer to travel with a pack,” Sydney said as he dragged her through the lobby like some errant child.
He growled, and fur began to sprout out of his arms. She’d never seen him this angry before. They were halfway through the lobby when the revolving doors opened and in poured human magic users from the city. Their ringleader held a roughed-up looking guy who’d been beaten nearly to death.
“Oscar!” Livia shouted.
The missing pack wolf. But if he was a werewolf, why wasn’t he healing? The pack might not have had a strong enough wolf to lead them all, but they were still werewolves. Sydney suspected magic had been incorporated in the wolf’s torture to overcome any healing advantage.
The human threw the missing wolf to the ground.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I tried not to tell them. W-where’s Shira?”
Noah began barking orders to the others to shift. “Sydney, take this guy to the bar out of the way. I don’t want you in the middle of this.”
She wanted to argue, but it wasn’t as if they could get away now without a fight, and she didn’t want to risk her mate by distracting him. With her claim, it was unlikely he’d die. And she’d keep telling herself that over and over to get through this because every instinct inside her screamed not to leave his side.
Sydney helped the wounded werewolf up. The violence started all too fast, exploding in the lobby like a bomb that had just ticked down and detonated. There was no warning, just a flurry of fur and growling and magic sizzling the air. A stray ball of magical electricity hit her on the back as she took Oscar out of the lobby and into the bar.
Someone cranked the sound system way up. The metal pounding out was nearly deafening. It drowned out the jazz in the bar.
“Where’s Shira?” Oscar asked again over the din.
Sydney took him to the back lounge area as far away from the noise as she could get him, trying desperately not to think about Noah out there. She wanted to kill the wolf that had led the humans back to the den, but then she remembered the UV lasers.
It hadn’t taken long for her to br
eak and kill Jacob, and these people had a pack member for over twenty-four hours. She doubted he’d slept in that time.
“What happened to Shira?” But from the look on his face, he knew.
“Shira is dead. My mate and I are the new alphas.” It seemed so cold to state so bluntly when Oscar’s people… when her mate could be dying out there, but if she thought too hard about the chaos happening in the lobby, she wouldn’t get through these next moments.
Oscar growled. Given his condition, it wasn’t a very menacing growl, but he made an effort. “You’re a vampire.”
Sydney smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Great species identification. Now let’s move on to shapes and colors!” The sarcasm was inappropriate right now. She knew that, but the fear of her mate dying or of both of them being dragged back to the place they’d only just escaped, sat like a heavy weight trying to press her down beneath the earth and suffocate her.
“I’m a dead man. They should have just killed me. I might have had a chance if Shira was here.”
Livia rushed into the bar. She looked worse for wear. The bandage Sydney put on her earlier in the night had all but come off. So much for that.
“Oscar! I thought you were dead.” She crushed him in a hug, and he groaned.
“Not yet,” he said, giving Sydney a look as if she were going to order his execution.
That was Noah’s department, not hers. And given how a few minutes ago he’d been ready to abandon them, Sydney wasn’t sure it was right for him to order anybody’s head on a platter.
“Oh screw this,” Sydney said. She ripped into her wrist and held it out to Oscar.
“No, way.”
She growled. “Drink!”
He looked briefly at Livia who nodded quickly. So he drank. Oscar healed before her eyes, and then she turned her attention to the female wolf.
“But what about the punishment earlier?”
“I don’t care. There are bigger things to worry about. You both need to be able to fight. I’ll deal with Noah if he has a problem with it. Drink.”
It didn’t take much blood to help both wolves reclaim their healing abilities.
“Why is that music so fucking loud?” Sydney asked. It was so irritating, it made her teeth grind. Now seemed like a stupid time to turn the lobby into a rave.
“It’s a magical defense system,” Livia said. “It doesn’t stop those electricity balls they throw, but it keeps them from chanting and having more of an advantage. The louder it is, the better it works. Shira got it a few years ago from some witch who was passing through. What was her name? Frances? Fontaine?”
“Fiona,” Oscar offered.
“Right! Fiona. She was traveling with a panther therian and she gave us the music in exchange for shelter for a few days. There is no way we would have trusted she wasn’t working for the city. But she had a therian mate, so it seemed pretty unlikely.”
The music stopped suddenly. Sydney ran into the lobby, followed by Oscar and Livia. The humans were all dead, along with half a dozen of the pack. More were seriously wounded.
“We need to get out of here, now,” Noah said. “When the magic users don’t return by morning, they’ll send more. Everyone pack light and put your bags with your bikes. We’ll find somewhere nearby we can hole up in until the full moon passes. We can move the bikes there during the day while Sydney is resting.”
Several of the wolves who weren’t too badly injured moved to carry out the order, but a few stood defiantly in the middle of the lobby.
“You were right,” one of them said. “Just go. You’ve brought nothing but chaos with you since you got here. You don’t want us, anyway. We can’t go anywhere tonight. Some are too injured to be moved. So I guess we’re targets until they heal. Thanks.”
“Fine,” Noah said. “Sydney…”
Sydney walked to the center of the lobby with Oscar and Livia behind her. It didn’t escape the pack’s notice that the wolves were fully healed.
“Noah, can I speak with you privately?”
He growled but followed her out the back door and far enough away this time that no one could overhear.
“You gave them your blood didn’t you? I can’t believe that you would…”
“Noah, shut up.”
He looked angry and then hurt, and then angry again.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. You are kidding yourself. You are an alpha. You took control in there when the magic users came. Yes, there were casualties, but no one would have survived without you, and they all know that whether they are ready to admit it or not. The humans would have won and taken those they didn’t kill captive.”
Noah’s jaw clenched. “They don’t want me. They don’t want you.”
“Give them time. They loved Shira. You need a pack. You know you do, and you’re not going to be content to integrate into your dad’s pack. You need your own people. This is them. If you think fate brought me to you, maybe it brought us to them, too. I can get every single one of them on our side if you give me a chance.”
Noah pulled her to him and held her. “You’re right. I know what you’re going to do. At least feed again first.”
Sydney drank long and deep, no longer afraid to absorb that kind of power because she needed it to help lead this pack. And they needed her. She wouldn’t continue to be afraid and back away from something she needed to make her strong.
She turned and started back for the door.
“Hey Sydney?”
“Yeah?”
“You know I love you, right? It’s not just fate and blood. I’ve loved you since we were kids.”
“Noah. Dammit, don’t make me all weepy before I have to go in there and be a bad ass.”
He chuckled.
“I love you, too.”
The room was still tense when they returned to the lobby.
“I’m going to make the same offer I made last night,” Noah said. “Anyone who wants to stay behind can stay behind. Anyone who wants to come with us can come with us.”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want us?” one of the wolves asked, sounding bitter and hurt.
“Didn’t I also say I was kept captive for years? I’m not going to be perfect, but I won’t threaten to abandon any of you again. I swear it.”
“What about Oscar? What will happen to him if we follow you?” Livia asked. She gripped his arm as if it were a lifeline holding her stable out at sea.
Sydney hoped with every fiber of her being that Noah would make the right call on this one.
“Nothing will happen to Oscar. Do you guys not understand when I tell you I was their captive for years? I’ve watched them torture. I’ve watched them kill. I escaped most of it by being quiet and not looking threatening. The only thing they wanted from me was my blood. But when they want anything else from someone, it’s much worse. Oscar can choose just like the rest of you. No grudges. No punishments. No killing.”
Sydney moved through the group of wounded werewolves and fed them each her blood until they began to heal.
As the wolves healed, Noah moved to one side of the room. “Sydney and I will commit fully to you if you commit fully to us. If you’re going with us, join me on this side of the lobby.”
One by one the wolves came to stand with Noah until the only wolves not standing with him were the ones that were dead.
***
Noah watched as the wolves joined him on his side of the room. He’d half-believed they would reject him now that they knew the truth of things. He’d been a fool to ever think it would remain a secret forever. When he’d been ready to run, it didn’t seem to matter that they knew. It felt like the last word in an argument. Look how stupid you were to follow me. You don’t even know anything about me.
The beta stepped forward. “Noah, sir, You want that motorcycle lesson now?”
He glanced at the other wolves to see if any were laughing at him, but they were all deadly solemn.
“Yeah, that would b
e good.” He turned back to the pack. When he’d seen the motorcycles the previous night, he’d noticed they all had saddlebags on the sides. “Guys, pack whatever is necessary that you can fit on or inside your bike. We’ll scout out a place tonight and get Sydney settled before sunrise, you can follow the scent when the sun comes up.”
This time the wolves scattered to carry out the order. Some of them looked distraught. He didn’t blame them. In the space of twenty-four hours they’d lost their leader, several other wolves, and now their home. He had no idea why they would follow him after all of that, but if the vampire alliance had broken down now and the humans knew the location of the den, it wouldn’t be long until a lot more danger was on their doorstep. They had to move fast.
Sydney didn’t say anything as they went to their room. Milo followed.
“Saddlebags for Shira’s bike are in her closet. Sydney can use that. I’ll get you some others from one of the fallen wolves”
“Thanks.”
The beta started to leave.
“Hey, Milo. Tell them after they pack, they can bury those that died.”
“They’ll appreciate that.”
Noah sat on the edge of the bed and watched while Sydney went through the clothes to find the few she could take. Possibly the only good thing about this was that they could all travel light. They had weapons already: fangs, claws, brute strength. They were weapons. Even Sydney, now.
They hunted, so they didn’t need to pack food. Just clothing. And in truth, in a worst case situation they could simply live as wolves in the woods. It wouldn’t be the first pack that had tried to blend as animals in that way to avoid the humans, but it didn’t always work. Some of Noah’s fellow prisoners had come from packs using that strategy. Their magical signature followed them wherever they went. Too close to a city or a strong magic user, and it was only a matter of time before they were found out.
