“Who?” I asked, smiling a little when Nic scowled at me. I made my way over to one of the banquet tables and ran my hand across the polished wood. In four days time, this place'd be crawling with members from the five most powerful packs in North America—as well as the most powerful pack. Our pack. Ebon Red.
I took a deep breath and looked up at the cool, yellow slants of sunshine peeking in through the glass roof.
“Julian. He reeks like blood so bad, I can taste it. And whoever he is, he spends an awful lot of frigging time with vampires.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, wishing I had more time to look around this place, explore the empty hallways with Nic and take my wolf form on a tour of the scents permeating the walls, years of human and 'were' history mixed into one derelict old place. Speaking of old … “But what did you want me to do, Nic? Julian found me standing alone with a pile of your clothes, with your boxers.” I sighed and shook my head, pushing aside the issue to deal with later. “I have to go see Majka,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. As old as she was, my grandma could still hear us down here. And my mother? I had no doubt she was listening in.
Nic nodded, his eyes flashing dark for a moment before he turned away, dragging my book bag up onto his shoulder and moving over to the stone steps to sit and wait. If I could've chosen to do anything in that moment, it would've been to spend every single second between now and Friday with Nic, savoring my last few days of freedom. After this, Nic would be taken from me and paired with whatever female my mother liked best, and we'd be nothing to one another. Nothing. Not that we were really anything right now—even our friendship was starting to feel forced—but having him as my guard was better than not having him at all.
I squared my shoulders, shook my red hair out and tried to steal a glance at myself in the broken mirror on the wall, squinting past years of tarnish and grime at the curve of feathered bangs across my forehead. I combed them out with my fingers and reached up to tie my hair back in a loose, low ponytail. Looking presentable for Majka was absolutely essential. She might not be the alpha anymore, but she was fierce, and terrifying, and she held a terrible amount of sway over Nikolina—not to mention the rest of Ebon Red.
“See you in a few,” I said to Nic, breezing past him without waiting for an answer. I knew my role at the ceremony, knew it well. I'd spent hours at home practicing with Nic, making sure I knew every little nuance of every stupid ritual. Practicing in my room was a million times better—and easier—than doing it under Majka's strict tutelage.
I took the steps two at a time, pausing only when I caught the strongest whiff of citrus, a bright splash of lemon and grapefruit on the back of my tongue. I paused at the first landing on the stairs and whirled to stare down the hall behind me, breath hitching as I caught sight of the silent intruder.
Sharp blue eyes met mine and a pink tongue lolled from frosty white lips lined with gray.
Wolves, real wolves, don't have blue eyes past puppyhood; werewolves do. Especially those from Pack Azure Frost.
I locked eyes hard and fast with the newcomer, not knowing or caring that I could very well be staring at my future mate. At least I knew this wasn't the current alpha—I was definitely looking at a male, a younger male. Couldn't be her mate either.
I felt my hackles raise, skin rippling as I pushed back the change and took a step forward, keeping my expression neutral and my gaze unblinking. Would it be nice to come home from school and plop down with my laptop? Text my friends? Play video games with my baby brother? Oh yeah. But this … I was made for this.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to step up and put on my mother's shoes. If I could get even half the amount of authority she put into her voice into mine, I'd be in good shape. “I think we were clear with our invitation,” I growled out as the wolf rose to his feet, shaking out his white and black fur, pelt rippling with the thickness of winter. God, he's beautiful, I thought as a warm feeling tickled my belly and I licked my lips.
On accident. Accident.
Crap.
Licking the lips is a show of deference in the pack, a way to demonstrate that you're not a threat. For humans, it was a flirtatious gesture. Either way, I was screwed.
I kept my gaze focused and moved forward, prepared to shift and fight for my position, but this male—whoever he was—trotted forward and sunk low, flattening his ears and slinking past me up the stairs. His body language said I'm sorry, you're the boss but his eyes were laughing as he disappeared from sight in a matter of seconds.
Hmm.
Whatever.
I didn't have time to dwell on it; Majka was waiting.
I followed the path the wolf had taken, but didn't see any signs of him as I moved up three more flights of stairs and down the hall, to the back bedroom that had been converted into an assembly room. Only my grandmother was here now, sitting naked in a chair at the end of it.
Yeah, it was as creepy as it sounded.
I swallowed hard and bowed my chin, moving into the room and closing the door softly behind me.
The word 'now' does not mean different things to different people, Alpha-Ki, she said, not bothering to move her lips, projecting that cold, cruel voice of hers directly into my head. She called me Alpha-Ki, Alpha-Daughter, the second half of the word some long diverted variation of the Croatian word for daughter. Just like Majka meant Mother in Croatian. Maybe my grandma was from there, maybe not, but she spoke several languages and seemed to prefer that one.
Hell if I knew; I didn't even know her real name.
I didn't apologize—according to my mother, leaders never acknowledge their mistakes.
I stared across the room, directly into my grandma's narrowed eyes, the flash of fury there unmistakeable; she hated that we were equals now, hated it. Still, if I wanted to get out of here in time to steal a movie and a bite to eat with Nic, I'd have to look away first.
A flicker of fairytale popped into my head, totally inappropriate and so out of place, I had to jerk my face to the side to hide a smile.
Oh, Grandmother, what big eyes you have!
All the better to stare you down and rip you apart from the inside out with, my dear.
“Stand up straight and be proud of your bloodline,” she said, her voice stern and solid, betraying the frail weakness of her body, the hundred and thirty-seven years she'd lived on this earth. Yes, werewolves live longer than humans, age more slowly, but we're not immortal and we're not immune to the cruelty of time. “With all of those”—a series of grating expletives exploded from her mouth in at least three or four different languages—“disgusting, ill-bred dogs lining our hall, you'll need to show Ebon Red's true strength.”
“Yes, Alpha-Majka,” I said, trying to be respectful as I glanced surreptitiously around the room, pretending to acquiesce to her desire for power as I checked out the place. Even this room had gone through a serious upgrade in the last few days; the walls were lined with live garland and dressed in pinecones and the last few fading blossoms of winter flowers. It was here, in this place, that I'd choose my mate.
Shit.
I couldn't help the shiver of fear that ate up my spine and made me quiver.
Majka noticed; Majka noticed everything.
The Alpha-Mother of Ebon Red was a strong, proud woman, a warrior with gently curling brick red hair, not brittled or whitened with age, still as vibrant and shining as always. I had the faintest suspicion that she dyed it, but I'd never had the courage to ask, especially not with her sitting naked in front of me, a silver crown drawing red drops of blood from her scalp. They clung to her hair like tiny ribbons, gleaming in the afternoon light. She sat like a queen rightfully should, back straight, and frail thin fingers curled around the ends of the arms of her chair. It was how an alpha always sat, bare and beautiful in silver and nothing else.
It was how I'd sit one day.
One day soon.
I swallowed hard and felt my pocket buzz with an incoming call.
> Oh. Crap.
I snapped up my gaze and found Majka's purple eyes boring into me.
“Zara,” she ground out, her pursed lips curling into a scowl, pushing around the wrinkles on her fine, thin face. “What is that?”
I reached into my pocket and saw an incoming call from Faith, my best friend. My human friend. A text immediately followed the call, popping up on the screen as my heart pounded in my chest.
srsly messed up shit happening @ my place. can u come over?
My thumb pressed hard against the power button and shut the phone off.
“Majka,” I began, but she waved one tiny, shaking hand at me. Her entire body radiated aggression, and I had no doubt that if she could, she'd challenge me right then and there, tear into me and draw blood across the broken tile at our feet.
“Get out,” she growled, her voice more wolf than human. “If you're so ready for the Pairing, then leave.” Her thin lips twisted back in a menacing snarl of a grin. “And be prepared for the hell I've planned to rain down on you.”
I backed slowly out of the room, dipping my chin in respect, and then sprinted all the way down the stairs, past Nic, and into the icy air of early evening.
“I want to talk about Jax,” Nic said as we wound down the long drive from the meeting hall, branches slapping at the windshield, pine needles dripping against the roof like rain. I leaned back into the leather upholstery, enjoying the heated seat and raising a dark brow at Nic.
“Jax?”
He snorted and shook his head, rose red hair falling across his forehead as he scowled. There were people in the pack who thought he was scary like that, but I wasn't one of them. I knew Nic well enough to know that a scowl from him was like a slight frown for other people; he was just expressive like that.
“You'll be dating this guy by the end of the week and you don't even know his name?” Nic said, his voice cranky and stern but sad, too, just as aware as I was about how close we were to losing each other. “From Azure Frost,” he added as I put the pieces together in my brain. “The guy with the doe blood all over his face, that shifted not a half mile away from our professor and laughed at me when I told him to screw off.”
Ah.
So, Blue Eyes was exactly who I thought he was. My lips felt suddenly moist and I had to force myself to look out the passenger side window to keep my tongue from sliding across them again.
“I don't want to talk about Jax,” I said, wondering if Nic knew I'd run into him at the meeting hall. Knowing him, he probably did. “Let's talk about something else,” I said as I closed my eyes, thankful to be away from Majka and Nikolina. Whenever I was around them, I felt like I was walking on eggshells—one wrong step and everything would collapse around me. Just the simple mistake of forgetting to silence my cell phone was enough to put Majka into a week long rage, just long enough to last through the Pairing.
And be prepared for the hell I've planned to rain down on you.
I had no idea what that meant, but I wasn't going to waste energy trying to figure it out. Majka would let me know when my time had come.
“I hate Faith,” he said blatantly, iterating a sentiment I'd heard a dozen times a week since junior high. Before that, during his first year as my guard when he'd still felt like just a childhood friend, he'd liked Faith as much as I had. I opened my eyes and looked over at him. “We have enough going on.” He snorted again and shook his head, risking a glance at me out of one slanted nearly-black eye, his hands tense on the wheel. “We don't have time to help her through another shitty boyfriend or another fight with her mom. Let her go, Zara. Some people need tough love to figure out how to help themselves.”
“She's the best friend I've ever had,” I said and then immediately regretted the words as I noticed Nic's reaction. “Besides you, of course,” I added, even though it was probably too late. Nic knew we weren't friends; we couldn't be. This … thing between us, whatever it was, it burned too hot and hurt too much to just stay friends. And yet, anything beyond friendship was impossible.
I sighed.
“She isn't Pack,” Nic said tightly, his words clipped. Every day we got closer to the Pairing, he got more agitated, more upset.
“Exactly,” I replied, folding my arms over my chest and letting the warm, dry air of the heater flutter against my face. Faith wasn't pack, didn't even know werewolves existed. Hell, she didn't even really know me at all because, let's be honest, there was no way I could tell her. But I liked that. I liked knowing her inside and out, hearing all her secrets, listening to her complain about her mom, about her crappy part-time job, her boyfriend. If I was honest with myself, I was envious, just a little. I might not have chosen to do the things that Faith did, but at least she had that, choice.
Then again … maybe the last thing I should've been complaining about was choice. After all, Friday evening would mark the start of a long, drawn-out ritual with only one outcome: choice. I'd have to choose between five different packs, five different heirs. I'd be picking a mate, a partner, for life.
A shiver overtook me, making my fingers curl around the edge of my seat.
It was a decision cloaked with the illusion of choice. I had to participate in this ritual whether I wanted to or not, and I had to select a mate from the males my mother had picked. That was it. End of story. Even then, she'd have a favorite or two that she'd strongly steer me towards. I hated feeling like my actions weren't my own, but then what could I do? I was part of the pack, lived for the pack, breathed the pack. I wouldn't survive without it, and that's exactly what my mother would make me do if I betrayed her.
“Don't think about it,” Nic said, reaching over and taking one of my hands in his. He paused at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill and sat there for a moment, one rough thumb pad grazing the back of my hand. My breath caught at his touch, called to the wolf whispering beneath my skin. I wanted him, wanted him so bad.
But we'd never be.
Never.
“I'm gonna miss you, Nic,” I said, my voice low and harsh, barely audible over the blasting air of the heater. “I don't know how to function without you.”
“You'll figure it out,” he whispered back, not looking at me, just touching, that gentle swirl of his thumb across my knuckles. “You're strong; I know you will. It's gonna be me who doesn't know how to function.”
Nic dropped my hand and turned on his blinker, checking out either window before pulling onto the street. Outside, in the brown and green blur of forest, I saw a flash of white and the bright burst of blue eyes watching.
Nic pulled into Faith's driveway and shut off the engine, letting the SUV tick and cool around us as the frigid evening air caressed the outside and pressed down on our heated little bubble. We hadn't spoken a word since pulling off the private gravel drive, not one word.
“You want me to wait here, don't you?” Nic asked, but that wasn't true, not today. Yes, sometimes I made him wait in the car or take a walk, just so I could have a moment alone with Faith; she wouldn't tell me what was really going on until we had complete privacy. But today … I wanted Nic with me.
“You should come in,” I said, staring across the car at him, at his straight nose and full lips, his steeply angled jaw, the perfect curve of his chin. In the past, in Majka's mother's generation, I could've picked Nic as my alpha male, could've chosen him without any pomp and circumstance. But Majka, in her unfailing wisdom, had decided that our pack was too closely related, almost too pure, and so she made it law that we'd mate only with select members of Pack Crimson Dusk for at least six generations. My mother had followed that rule in order to gain control of the pack, but as soon as I'd come of age, she'd broken it by announcing this alliance, an alliance that hinged completely and utterly on me.
“You sure you want me in there?” he asked, but his voice was devoid of emotion at this point, not angry, not sad either, just … empty. We were both tired, needed some sleep. Preparations for the ceremony had been ongoing for months, draining every
last ounce of mental and emotional strength we had.
“I'll make this quick,” I promised, knowing that Faith could and would drag things out if I let her. “Come on.”
I climbed out of the car, stretching my arms above my head and glancing around out of habit. I didn't expect anyone or anything to show up unexpectedly, but it'd happened before. Not in my time, but once. Majka still refused to get out of a car before her guard had circled around the block at least once. Packs were fewer and far between nowadays, but there was always the threat of a rival group, some assholes with guns and silver bullets that didn't play by the rules. Of course, with night falling fast, vampires were a much bigger threat. And as Majka always said: you only think the faeries are tales until one bites you in the ass.
Nic stood on the other side of the car, scenting the air with a slight lift of his chin and a flicker of long lashes against his cheeks. When I glanced up, I saw Faith watching us both from her bedroom window, a bemused smile teasing her lips.
“Stop being weird and come inside, please,” she insisted, pressing her face against the screen. “I made some lavender hot cocoa. I want you both to try it.” The window slammed shut and I listened carefully as Faith opened her bedroom door and started down the stairs. Neither of her parents' cars were in the driveway, and I didn't hear them inside either. Good. We were alone. Dealing with Faith's mom could be … interesting.
“Lavender hot chocolate,” Nic said, turning to look at me across the hood of the car. “Maybe I should wait out here?”
I reached up and pulled the band from my hair, letting the wind tease the flaming red tendrils around my face as I made my way over to him with a smile. Faith was a good cook—a great cook—but she liked to go heavy on spices and sauces, infusions and bold flavors. With our heightened senses, neither Nic nor I could stomach a whole lot of it.
Pack Ebon Red (The Seven Mates of Zara Wolf Book 1) Page 2
