'Anubis, the bed …' I whispered, so only he could hear.
'Already taken care of, Alpha,' he replied, and I relaxed slightly.
“Magic,” Nikolina said, staring at me with an expression of complete and utter bafflement on her beautiful face. “But it doesn't smell like witches.”
“It's not,” I said, and paused, switching my voice to a private link between me, the boys, and my mother. 'I need to show you something—just you. Then you can decide how to tell the others.'
Nikolina took a step toward me and narrowed her eyes.
Before I could question the wisdom of what I was about to do, I reached out and grabbed hold of Nic's shoulder. Although it wasn't nearly as powerful as it had been, a gust of wind swirled through the room and tore the closet doors from their hinges, leaving them hanging at awkward angles.
The Alpha Female of Pack Ebon Red stared at me then, in a way that said that even though she couldn't smell it on us, she knew anyway.
'Why should Ebon Red be mandated to give up half our power to take on the other packs? We're the largest, and the most powerful. We should have a male in the Pairing, too—particularly one that might be able to wake our sleeping magics.'
Nikolina curled her lips back from her teeth and I very quickly dropped to one knee.
For several moments, nobody moved.
“Because our magic is so rare and so missed, and because of this recent and entirely random development,” she said with an angry bite of sarcasm, “I am adding Nicoli Hallett to the Pairing to fight for Pack Ebon Red.”
I had to work really hard not to smile in that moment.
That task was made easier by Nikolina grabbing me by the hair and dragging me to my feet. I heard several of the boys growl, but they knew better than to move from their positions.
Although it hurt like hell, I didn't make a single sound.
'You best hope none of the other alphas find out you've fucked your guard before the Pairing. If they do, I'll give them my permission to rip him limb from limb in Coyote Creek.'
'Yes, Alpha,' I replied calmly, letting her throw me to the floor and climb over me, pinning me with my belly exposed. Every single molecule in my body rallied against the act of submission, but I was fighting for something bigger here, and I knew how to choose my battles.
'And you will mate with one of the others after the bonding ritual is complete and ensure that his identity becomes common knowledge through the packs. If you're a smart girl, you'll make it Crimson Dusk or Violet Shadow.'
Nikolina shifted while she was on top of me and put her mouth to my throat, teeth against the wildly throbbing heartbeat of my pulse. Because I had few good choices in the matter, I shifted, too, and tucked my tail between my legs. But that was as far as I'd take it. Normally, in a situation like this, the subordinate wolf would urinate to show complete submission; I wasn't going to do that.
'Maybe you're not such a useless heir after all?' I heard Majka say and then Nikolina was moving away and letting me up as my grandmother's hearty laughter echoed inside my skull.
I shook out my snow-white pelt—a strange anomaly amongst Pack Ebon Red—and kept my head down, the bloodred and black speckles that striped my spine and trickled down my sides making me easily recognizable. I didn't look like anyone in my pack or any other when I was in wolf form. That was how I'd gotten my nickname: White Wolf. There were plenty of white wolves—Jax and Montgomery for example—but none in Pack Ebon Red, and none with markings like mine.
'Now,' my mother continued as I slunk low and crouched with my belly touching the floor. I hated every second of it, but on Saturday, I'd get the chance to fight her. Right now, I needed to placate her instead. I watched as she lifted her nose and scented the air again. 'Can someone please explain to me why there's a human girl inside my house?'
Well, crap.
After reassuring Faith that the massive explosion she'd heard was just Nic's bookshelf toppling over (I couldn't very well tell her that we'd had sex and blown his room to smithereens with werewolf magic, now could I?), I climbed into bed with her and tried to force myself to fall asleep.
I get Nic; I get to keep Nic.
I curled into a ball and let Faith snuggle against my back, a smile taking over my mouth as I thought of Nic's hands on my breasts, the heat of his lips, the force of his pelvis as he thrust into me. And then I thought about the other alpha-sons and how they'd not only decided to keep our secret, but actively helped us through it.
I thought I'd be up all night, reliving my first time and tasting the earthy warmth of magic on the back of my tongue. How Nic and I had conjured it and why we were able to do that in the first place were mysteries for another day it seemed, because I was asleep before the numbers on my digital clock had ticked forward more than five minutes.
The next thing I knew, the alarm on my cell phone was going off and Faith was smacking me mercilessly in the side of the face. I almost growled at her, but managed to regain my common sense just in time.
“I'm getting it,” I barked at her instead, climbing out of bed with sticky eyes and stumbling over to my phone. I'd put it all the way across my room on the desk, so I'd be forced to get up before I could hit snooze. The bright white of the screen blinded my sticky eyes as I struggled to turn off the alarm.
“No sane human being gets up at dawn, Zara,” Faith mumbled, rolling over and using her braid to protect her eyes from the white light.
I smiled.
Good thing I wasn't a human being then.
“Where are you going anyway?” she asked as I stood there and debated climbing back into bed for just ten more minutes. Between my thighs, there was a slightly sore spot, making me bite my lower lip as my skin flushed with heat and I remembered that not only had I claimed Nic as a mate … but I'd managed to wrangle him into the Pairing—and summoned up some long dormant pack magic.
I had to seriously lock down on my self-control to keep from squealing and hopping up and down.
“Majka and I need to leave early to get to the hospital on time—all those tests, remember?”
Faith was already snoring again.
Nikolina had been pissed at the fact that Faith had been staying at the house, but I'd placated her by spilling a tiny bit of information about the Contribution, admitting that I'd scented vampires around Faith's place and that I was worried for her. I didn't mention the vampire blood in her mother's bathroom—or Diya's disappearance—but I phrased the information in such a way that Nikolina seemed to think I was insinuating the vampires were following my best friend because of me.
She'd decided to let her stay until Saturday.
As I was resetting the alarm for those extra ten precious minutes of sleep that I felt like I'd die without, the door cracked open and my younger sister, Avita, popped her head in.
Luckily for her, she gave me a proper amount of respect by averting her eyes and dipping her chin.
“Majka and Mom just left; they told me to make sure you were up and getting ready. For whatever reason, they sent a new guard over to replace Nic.” Avita paused for a moment and then lifted her eyes briefly. “Where is he anyway?”
I smiled, but decided it was best if I didn't say anything yet. Last night, Nikolina had personally escorted Nic to a guest room on the first floor and locked him in with an iron key. As of now, he and the other alpha-sons—including the two I hadn't met yet—would be at the Hall, going through the long laborious rituals of the Pairing.
Good thing Nic had spent weeks helping me practice; he'd know exactly what he needed to do.
“Thank you, Avita,” I said, ignoring her question completely. “I'll be down shortly.”
The look she threw me was pure hate. In just over twenty-four hours, Coyote Creek would be filled with spectators and I'd be open for challenges against my position. I knew without a doubt that my little sister would be first in line.
She nodded at me in a mock gesture of respect and slammed my bedroom door hard enough to wake
Faith.
“Tell your creepy, weird old grandma that I hope she passes all her tests.”
“I'll tell her,” I said, moving over and giving Faith a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Remember: no Owen until Saturday, okay? And text me ASAP if your mom gets in touch with you.”
“I got it, square-bear,” she grumbled, yanking a pillow over her head and scooting away from me.
Once I was positive that Faith had fallen back asleep again, I opened one of the drawers on my vanity table and pulled out an iron key. Inside my bathroom, there was a locked door that I told Faith was just a closet for a water heater. In all actuality, it's where I kept all of my 'werewolf stuff' that I didn't want her to see.
After unlocking it, I stepped inside the walk-in closet and moved to the back where all my Pairing outfits were kept, hanging nice and neat on wooden hangers. You might think that we'd do this entire thing in the nude, but nope. Instead, everyone had fancy shifter-friendly outfits to wear for each portion of the ceremony.
I grabbed a black belt from a hook on the wall first, running my fingers across the blades tucked into the leather. It was basically a mini tool kit to facilitate being a total badass: knives in various flavors (just like Montgomery wore), as well as a few ready-to-cast spells that had been purchased from various covens over the years, and assorted other useful things that I might need if a war really did erupt between Pack and Bloods, Pack and Witches.
I gathered up the outfits and draped them over one arm, laying them on the bathroom counter so I could turn the closet light off, close and lock the door. After putting the key away, I slipped my feet into some cozy slippers and picked the clothes and the belt back up before heading down to the kitchen.
If I was going to do this today, I was going to need coffee.
Gallons of it.
After two healthy mugs of caffeine, I loaded my stuff into one of the black Yukon SUVs and let my guard—who just happened to be Nic's mother—drive me to the Hall while excitedly describing how, in the good old days (there was that phrase again), alpha-daughters and sons used to arrive at their Pairing ceremonies in fine horse-drawn carriages.
“I'm pretty sure that was before even you were born,” I told her, and got a wolfy smile in return. Where her son was dark and brooding and way too serious all the time, Lana was bright and bubbly and always in a good mood. Sometimes it was hard to believe they were related.
“I still remember your mother's Pairing,” she said dreamily, purple-black eyes glazing over in remembrance. “She was so beautiful the first time she sat on that throne, dressed in her fresh silver, all of that brightly colored hair draped over her shoulders.”
I yawned, but tried to stop myself with a hand over the mouth. It wasn't that Lana's stories were boring; I was just exhausted. Something about losing my virginity and blowing up a TV, a computer, and a wall had really sucked the life out of me.
My lips twitched into a goofy smile.
“Hey,” Lana said softly, almost a whisper. In an instant, her face had gone from a smile to a frown. “Do you know where Nic is? I think … I think he's having a really hard time adjusting to all of this.”
The smile faded from my face, but then popped right back. Lana cringed a little when she glanced my direction, like maybe she was misinterpreting my grin as something cruel, like I was mocking her son's pain. As the alpha-daughter, she wouldn't say a thing to me, even if I were. But I liked Lana; I kind of considered her a friend of sorts.
“Do you mind my asking why Nikolina relieved him from duty last night?”
“Lana,” I started, paused, considered. “He's being included in the Pairing.”
The SUV swerved suddenly and Lana let out a whoop of excitement, throwing her fist in the air and then blushing furiously.
“My apologies, Alpha-Daughter,” she said, bowing her head in submission. Didn't matter. She couldn't hide the smile dancing across her lips. “How did you swing that one?” she asked after a moment, flicking her eyes in my direction.
“Careful political maneuvering,” I said cryptically and she just laughed.
When we got to the Hall, the entire length of the gravel road was lined with cars and SUVs on either side, all the way up to the front doors. Assorted members of all the major packs (and a few minor ones, too) milled around outside, on the steps, crowded in the lobby of the old hotel building. About half of them were in human form, dressed up and ready to go for the first of the day's rituals, while the other half were in wolf form, some of them also dressed up in fancy collars or golden gauntlets.
As soon as they saw my SUV rambling by, a good portion of them threw back their heads and howled.
I found myself smiling—and then yawning again.
I can't believe I slept with Nic last night, I thought as Lana pulled us past the hotel's front entrance and around to the back, where food deliveries used to be made when the place was still operational.
Majka was waiting for me in a long black dress that fell to the floor in silken puddles, the sleeves hooking over her middle fingers with tiny loops of fabric.
As soon as she saw me climbing out in my slippers and pajamas, she scowled and spit at me.
My mouth twitched with an inappropriate smile as I thought of the movie Mulan, that part when the main character's mother and grandmother meet her in town to get her all dolled up for a matchmaking ceremony so she can find a husband. When they first lay eyes on her, they start singing about how awful she looks.
That's how I felt in that moment, like Mulan.
At the very least, unlike the ancient China Mulan lived in, the society and time period I called home weren't sexist (a concept I could barely even grasp), so I counted myself lucky.
“You look a fool,” Majka said aloud, her strong, clear voice most likely carrying to the ears of any 'were' outside the front of the Hall or in the forest around us. She cursed at me in Croatian—some really awful things that I didn't care to repeat—and grabbed my hand to drag me inside.
Unlike Lana, my grandmother did not regale me with beautiful, enchanting stories of times past. Instead, as she used a strength that was surprising for such frail hands to shove me into a chair, she started to tell me about all the Pairings she'd been to in her life where the alpha-daughter or son had been crippled, bloodied, and beaten into submission by those seeking to take their place as leader.
I wasn't worried.
Majka, the Alpha-Mother of Pack Ebon Red, swept my hair into an intricate braid around the crown of my head and straightened my waist-length red locks with a pair of heated iron blades—not a flatiron, but actual metal knives—until it shone like fresh blood. She then used kohl to draw thick, dark lines around my eyes so that they looked less eggplant purple and more like they were simply shiny pools of black.
Ebon Red.
The name of our pack, the colors of our eyes and hair. Skin color was literally irrelevant to werewolves; there were wolves in each pack with skin ranging from snow-white to darkest ebony and everything in between. No matter what shade their flesh was, they'd still get the eye color and hair color of their pack. Like I said, it was magic, not genetics. And anyway, it was used only as a pack identifier—pigmentation did not dictate worth, intelligence, or anything else of import. Only humans would be stupid enough to judge others for dumb shit like the shape of a person's genitals, the consenting adults they liked to sleep with, and the shade of their skin.
My grandmother slathered my lips with bright red paste that I think in her time was considered lipstick. She took extra care to make sure my hair and makeup were perfect for the first ritual. After that, there'd be too much shifting between forms to bother with anything except a quick outfit change (without shoes or accessories of any kind barring alpha silver). When a werewolf shifted forms, their hairdo and their makeup were inevitably lost in the transformation, so there was no point in bothering with it except for special social occasions.
Like the Pairing.
Once she was finished, she
shooed me out of the old wooden chair with the rose vines crawling all over it, and gave me a once-over that was at least half approving.
On her head was the silver crown, drawing tiny beads of blood from her scalp. They slid down the brick red strands of her hair and dripped to the floor, reminding me that I still hadn't decided on my silver—and that I had to now add an extra piece for Nic.
“Since you felt little need to practice the rituals with me, let's hope you don't trip,” Majka said, tottering past me with yet another frustrated curl of her lips. “If I don't like what I see, I can make this year a living hell for you and those pathetic alpha-sons you'll be courting.”
“Yes, Alpha-Majka,” I said simply, waiting as she disappeared through a curtain made of ivy. It hung across a doorway that used to lead the hotel's restaurant staff from the kitchen to the dining room. Now, it would take me into an antechamber whose carpeted floor was now covered in soft, green grass, the limbs of a young maple curling through one of the broken windows.
As I turned to head for the old, rusted pot rack where my clothes were hanging, I heard the creak of an old door and spun to find Nic's face peeking through the crack, his eyes rimmed in just as much liner as my own, his dark red bangs pinned back.
The second I saw him, I felt a physical reaction that was impossible to ignore. My heart soared on wild wings, lifted by the swirling heat of a lusty breeze. And it wasn't just because we'd had sex last night. No, it was because he was in the Pairing. He was in. In, in, in.
He stepped into the room and I ran to him, throwing my arms around his neck. I pressed our foreheads together, but I didn't kiss him. Touching like this was risky enough; even a small touch could leave enough scent for another werewolf to pick up on. I figured with all the visitors, all the activity, the makeup, and the clothes, that my mother would probably miss something this small.
It only occurred to me after I'd leapt into his arms that their was the chance of another magical explosion. But all I felt was a small swirling breeze that tasted like wet earth on the back of my tongue. I had no idea how Nic and I summoned that magic, but it was right up there on my list of top priorities to figure out. Right after, you know, finding Faith's mom, determining why she had vampire blood, deciding if Owen was really a threat or just a douche, discovering where the witches were getting werewolf meat from, and rescuing all the missing pack members … or at least recovering their remains.
Pack Ebon Red (The Seven Mates of Zara Wolf Book 1) Page 14
