Fate Succumbs

by Tammy Blackwell

  “I’ve made some bad decisions,” he said when he looked back up. “I’m the first to admit it. But I’ve always done it to protect you.”

  “Did it ever occur to you I don’t need protecting?”

  He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It did. Around the same time you took down the Alpha Pack’s elite while in handcuffs.”

  Travis’s face flashed in my head, abruptly killing any pride I might have felt.

  I rolled onto my side to face him. “Are you really fully on board with these… rebels or whatever?”

  “Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “And it’s ‘Jedi’.”

  “Seriously?”

  This time his smile was genuine, lighting up his entire face. “No, but it should be.”

  “I suppose you’re the Luke Skywalker of this Jedi rebellion?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m the Han; she’s the Leia,” he said, indicating Talley with a nod of the head, “and you’re the Luke.”

  “Liam and Charlie?”

  “Yoda and Chewy, obviously.”

  “Sorry, but no. If I’m the Luke, then you have to be the Leia and Talley the Han. Charlie can still be Chewy, but no way is Liam Yoda. Maybe a pre-Dark Side Anakin?”

  Jase cringed. “Really? You’re going to bring those horrible prequels into this? Are you sure we’re related?”

  “You know, I’m not sure we’ve really got a Star Wars feel going on here anyway. I’m really feeling more like a Harry Potter to your Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.”

  “Harry Potter? Someone is awful full of themselves.”

  “And this way Charlie can be always-loyal and cooler than cool Neville Longbottom, and Liam gets to be Sirius.”

  Jase shook his head. “Sirius dies.”

  “Lupin?”

  “Also dies.”

  “A Weasley twin?”

  “Liam isn’t that funny, and Fred dies.”

  I searched over the entire cast of Harry Potter. “All the cool people die.”

  “Which is why we should stick to Star Wars and Jedi. What kind of cool team name would we get if we went with the wizards? Team Gryffindor?”

  “Or, you know, Order of the Phoenix.”

  “I think we’re more like Dumbledore’s Army,” was Talley’s sleepy reply. “Although, we’re more like Liam’s Army.”

  “You’re awake?”

  “She has been the whole time. She was just trying to give us some alone time,” Jase said to me before leaning down to plant another kiss on her cheek. “Yes, it was a very good try, but you’re not getting anything past me, Tal. I’m way too clever for you.”

  “It’s a good thing I’ve gotten used to your arrogance over the years,” she said.

  “You love my arrogance.”

  “I tolerate your arrogance,” she corrected.

  “Same thing,” he said before moving his kiss to her lips. It was just a little peck in the beginning, but then she tilted her head, and the kiss deepened. It took all of two seconds for me to get very, very uncomfortable.

  “I’m still sitting here,” I reminded them, but they kept going. “Like, two feet away from you.” Still no response. “Seriously, I can hear all your yucky smacking noises and stuff. I would really appreciate it if you would stop.” I was going to have to gouge out my eyeballs if they didn’t.

  “Sorry,” Talley said, finally pulling back. She pressed the back of her hand to her lips, and even in the darkness of the room I could see both the blush on her lips and stars in her eyes. “This whole newly-promised-to-be-mated things is kind of intense. Charlie has started keeping a water gun by his hospital bed to use on us.”

  Since everyone was fully awake I went ahead and sat back up. Exhaustion made my body heavy, but if this was the last time I was going to see my brother and best friend, I wanted to be awake for it. My foot rested on Talley’s calf, and before she could wrestle with the ethics of Seeing what was going on with me, I opened myself up to her.

  “You talked to Liam,” she said. “Good.”

  “Yeah, he’s considerably less annoying when he isn’t being all broody and silent. And it’s kind of nice being caught up on everything for once.” I shot Jase a look to let him know he still wasn’t completely forgiven.

  “Give him some slack,” Talley said, and I wasn’t quite sure if she was talking about Liam or Jase. Maybe both. Knowing Talley, she meant humans in general.

  I was willing to give Liam some slack, especially now that I knew what he had been through, but I wasn’t trusting him to become a regular Chatty Kathy and start sharing on a regular basis. Knowing this might be my last chance to gather information from people who really did care about my place in all of this, I ventured into an area of conversation I was mostly sure Liam wouldn’t approve.

  “I don’t suppose you guys are in on The Plan? Like what happens tomorrow, or the day after, or the month after?”

  Talley and Jase shared a look, and then Jase answered. “Liam is supposed to be training you. I’m not sure of any particulars as to where you are going or anything, but Toby and the others are busting their asses off to recruit as many Shifters to our side as possible before he declares you ready.”

  “Ready for what?”

  Talley’s eyes flicked towards the back porch where Liam was supposed to be sleeping.

  “He’s out by the barn,” I said, able to hear him walking around. He had to be as tired as I was, but I understood. He wasn’t really in a good place emotionally when I headed in, but it was the kind of thing you had to be in your own head for a while to get through. I knew. I had been there myself. “I don’t think he’s actively listening to our conversation.” Although I went ahead and dropped my voice a few notches.

  She nodded. It seemed more like a “Yes, I’m going to go ahead and do this,” than “Good to know.” “You’re supposed to Challenge the Alpha Female.”

  “I can do that?” It seemed logical, I guess. Although, there was no way in Hades I was going to become the new Alpha Female. Running an entire race of people wasn’t really something I am super-qualified for. “Why would I have to train for that? Not to be too horribly boastful here or anything, but I’m pretty sure I could take that skank down with one arm tied behind my back. I’m a Shifter. She’s evil, but a pampered princess all the same. It’ll take me less than two minutes to have her bleeding and broken.”

  “But can you kill her?”

  My heart paused dramatically in my chest. “I’ve killed before.” I could still feel the gun in my hand; see the shock and then nothingness in Travis’s eyes.

  Being more perceptive than normal, Jase said, “And you can’t think about it without turning green. That was in self-defense, kill or be killed. Right now could you honestly issue a Challenge to Sarvarna knowing you’re going to end her life?”

  “If I had to--”

  “And to claim the Alpha spot, you would also have to kill Stefan.”

  “He’s in a coma.”

  “Yes, he is,” Jase said. “Could you do that? Kill a defenseless man?”

  I wasn’t a fan of Stefan by a long shot - he did lock me in a cage and agree to have me killed - but I didn’t hate him with quite the same passion as I did Sarvarna. When it came down to it, he didn’t really want me dead. He regretted having to do it, but felt it was necessary for the greater good. Even though I disagreed, strongly, I understood. He was sort of noble in this really screwed up way. It was the kind of screwed up nobility which would have kept him from attacking someone in a hospital bed.

  No, I couldn’t do that. Not at all.

  “I don’t want to be Alpha. Can’t we just stage a coup and then have an Alpha election?”

  “That’s not the way it works,” Jase said.

  “It can’t work that way,” Talley added. “Wolves and coyotes need a hierarchy based on strength. Once you beat the Alphas, you’ll have to face Challenges, both from within the Alpha Pack and outside. Every Dominant in the world will see it as a
time to make a bid for power. You will have to fight every day, kill every day, for as long as it takes to prove you’re the strongest, most capable Shifter.”

  “But I’m not.” And I would never be prepared for what Talley was talking about. A life of fighting? Of killing? There was no amount of training Liam could do to prepare me for that. “Why not Liam? Why doesn’t he Challenge the Alphas?” I knew he was capable of taking them on, and might even have the fortitude to keep fighting once the initial battle was done.

  Jase’s mouth set as he slowly gave his a head a wish-I-knew shake. “I guess he figures there is no need to fight a war when you can program someone else to do it for you.”

  “That’s not it,” Talley said. I could see her wrestling with those morals of hers, but finally she came down on the side of sharing what she knew despite the invasion of Liam’s privacy. “He doesn’t feel worthy. He thinks he’ll fail.”

  “And I’m going to do a better job?” I snorted out a laugh. “Seriously, Tal? He has to know this is a suicide mission for me.”

  “No, it’s not!” Jase practically yelled at the same time Talley said, “You can’t think that.”

  I held up a hand to quiet them. “Listen, I don’t want to die, and I’m certainly going to do everything in my power to keep from biting the big one, but you both know I’m not going to be able to go all River Tam on the Shifters of the world.” I looked at Talley. “And we both know what you’ve Seen. It doesn’t look like I’m going to make it past Round One.”

  “I don’t See--”

  “Talley.”

  She took a deep breath. “The vision changes all the time. It’s not a definite thing.”

  “How many times does it not include me getting stabbed?”

  Her silence was answer enough.

  “I’m not lying. I’m scared, and I don’t want to die.” While part of me yearned to be at peace with Alex, I knew it was the coward’s way out. Not to mention, there were still things I wanted to do in this world. “But they can’t win. I’m not saying I’m going to go along with this whole Scout-Challenges-the-Alphas plan, but I’m willing to fight for the cause. If there’s going to be a war, then count me in as a soldier.”

  “That’s why we’re trying to gather up as many Jedi as possible,” Jase said. “You’ll need backup, an army at your command. Plus, the more people we already have on our side, the fewer Challenges you’ll have to take on. Those who sign on with us will already be willing to follow your lead.”

  Jase believed it. I could tell he actually thought I was going to go out there, take on the world, and win. He believed that Liam’s Army would put their faith in the leadership of an eighteen year old girl. I could have corrected him, pointed out how I was, as Liam had said, just a pawn. I could have told him that if destiny existed, mine wasn’t to lead a rebellion but be the catalyst for a revolution. I understood where I fit in to all of this. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out, just a realist. But Jase couldn’t see it, because he didn’t want to believe it, and I wasn’t about to be the one to open his eyes.

  “What’s your role in all of this?” I asked.

  My brother tried to look all haughty. “We’re spies, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  “We’ve earned Sarvarna’s trust,” Talley said. “We’re able to move about freely with no one tailing us or tapping our phones. We can pass information to Toby, who in turn passes it to other members of the rebellion, without any problems.”

  “Are you crazy? What if they catch you?” The idea of what could happen to them was enough to make my stomach hurt. “It’s too dangerous. You have to stop. Like, now.”

  Talley leaned against Jase’s arm. “It’s a dangerous world we live in, Scout. We all have to play our parts, do what we can.”

  “This is too much,” I said. “We’re kids. Why should we be the ones to save the world? Aren’t there adults much more qualified for this task?”

  “The adults have sat around and let the Alphas do whatever in the world they want for way too long. It’s our turn now. Our generation has to be the change we want to see in the world.”

  I was a little slack-jawed. “That’s very profound.”

  “It’s Ghandi,” Jase admitted. “But it’s true. If we want things to be different, we have to make them different, even if it means sacrificing our own safety for the future.”

  “It’s still not fair,” I said. We were supposed to be worrying about what classes to take and our roommate’s lack of hygiene or constant stream of sex partners. Normal college freshmen stuff. Instead we were planning to take down the Alpha Pack and putting our lives on the line. “I want to grow old with you guys. I want to be an aunt to your kids and teach them all the ways to annoy you.”

  “You will,” Talley said. “We’ll make it through this.”

  “How?”

  Jase met my eyes. “You’re the smart one. You figure it out.”

  Chapter 12

  Heaven smells like bacon. Well, not Alex’s part of heaven - if that is heaven - but the part with the pearly gates and harps and all that jazz? Fried porky goodness wafts through the air. It’s a truth I hold in my heart.

  I woke to the most wonderful of all wonderful smells to find Liam standing over the stove, spatula in hand, while Talley sliced a tomato at the counter. Jase was seated at the table, still in his pajama bottoms and UK Wildcats t-shirt. His face was a living testament to my rage the day before, swollen and bruised all over.

  “You trust the Alpha’s doctor?” Liam asked.

  “We don’t really have much choice,” Jase said, “but I can’t imagine why he would lie. If he wanted to hurt him he would’ve just let him die. He worked too hard to keep him alive to be screwing with us now.”

  “Damn. That’s just…” Liam stabbed at the skillet with undue force. “He deserves better.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jase and Talley both jumped at the sound of my voice, but Liam just scooped up the bacon and placed it on a plate. “What’s wrong with Charlie?”

  “Nothing,” the three of them said in unison.

  I sat up on the couch, eyes narrowed. “Yeah. Right.”

  “We weren’t talking about Charlie.” Talley’s finger snagged a lock of hair. “It’s Stefan. He’s not doing well.”

  Liar-Liar, pants on fire.

  “So Charlie is fine and dandy?”

  “Since I’m a guy and his cousin,” Jase said, “I can’t really comment on the ‘fine’ assessment, but the guy’s kind of a slouch when it comes to grooming. I don’t think ‘dandy’ really applies.”

  I wasn’t completely awake, and therefore couldn’t come up with a witty reply, so I extended my middle finger in his direction. Talley scowled at the profanity, but soothed me with, “He’s fine. Really. You heard him for yourself.”

  True, he sounded like Charlie on the phone yesterday, which was way more than I was expecting. My overactive imagination had him lying in a hospital bed with tubes sticking out everywhere, his face gaunt, the light gone from his eyes. But I still felt like something was off, that there was something they were keeping from me. Again.

  “Do you swear it, Talley? In front of me, God, and everybody, that Charlie is okay?”

  Talley looked to Jase, who held out a hand to her.

  “No! No hand holding.” I looked Talley in the eyes. Yes, I was being a bully, but this was the only way I would get any real information. Jase and Liam could both lie with aplomb, but as long as Talley wasn’t plugged into Jase’s brain, I knew she wouldn’t be able to fib, especially since I’d invoked the name of God. She was really paranoid about that sort of thing, thanks to her mother.

  I inwardly flinched at the thought of Mrs. Matthews.

  Talley took a deep breath and raised her left hand while the right one rested over her heart. “I swear that Charlie is getting better every day, and we fully expect him to almost completely heal.”

  “Almost completely?”

  “We didn�
�t want to you to worry,” Jase said, “but there have been some complications. He’s never going to be back to where he was before.”

  “But when he Changes…” A realization struck me. “He should already be completely healed. We’ve had two full moons since he was injured.”

  Liam, who was scrambling up at least a dozen eggs, answered. “Changing can’t fix everything, and sometimes injuries prevent you from Changing at all while you heal.”

  “Since when?” It didn’t make sense. Alex was able to Change from wolf to human after his fall, even with a stick protruding from his chest. Liam seemed disinclined to enlighten me, but I wasn’t having it. I stormed over to him, stopping just far enough away that I could look him in the eye without craning my neck. “What kind of injury could prevent a Shifter from Changing?” Liam just stood there. “Tell me, damn it!”

  He stepped closer, which pissed me off. Now I either had to look up to him or take a step backwards. I decided holding my ground was more important.

  “I don’t follow your orders.” His words were quiet, yet dripped with hostility. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jase and Talley watching with rapt interest.

  “Liam.” It came out as a growl, a warning.

  His eyes narrowed. “You have dad’s book. You tell me.”

  I was about to snap that there wasn’t anything in the book about injuries preventing a Change, but then it hit me. “Your brain and spinal cord don’t Change. They’re the same in either form.” Dr. Smith hypothesized the catalyst for the Change resided in the Central Nervous System. “Is that it? Does he have a brain injury?”