by Tamar Sloan
“Just like my father,” Alistair mutters behind me. I turn, my heart leaping into my throat when I see what he’s steadily raising to point at Zephyr.
Alistair has a gun.
It only takes two steps to be back by Alistair’s side. Grabbing the pistol, I yank it from his grasp. “He can’t get to her, you fool. He’s in an enclosure.”
Alistair’s face is mottled with red. “This is what he saw. This is what they’re all like!”
I jam my face close to his. “This is nothing like what they are like.” I hold the gun up between us. “And this would be murder.”
Alistair jerks back, smart enough to look scared. “Well…” His voice trails over as he looks over my shoulder, eyes going the widest I’ve seen them.
Spinning around, Gloria’s scream yanks at the boulder in my chest. My blood seems to have congealed in my veins.
Zephyr is leaping, claws digging into the fence as he tries to reach the top. Like a hare on speed, each time he hits the ground, he jumps again. The white around his mouth is now a foam, his growls distorted with fury.
Gloria’s scream seems to have loosened her muscles because she starts to move backward. Her eyes never leaving Zephyr, she slowly creates space between them. She seems to realize the fence is designed to be too high.
“Dammit. I told you to leave.”
They shouldn’t have been in here in the first place.
On the next leap Zephyr takes, he lodges his claws in the wire. Expecting him to drop to the ground, I gasp when he pushes up then slams into the fence again. Almost a foot from the top, he loses traction and falls to the ground.
The hard rock of tension in my chest explodes into fear. It propels adrenaline through my body, spikes my heart-rate. This is too far outside of normal. Wolves aren’t supposed to be able to do that.
As Zephyr launches up again, Gloria turns and runs. This time her scream is the sound of a woman who’s terrified.
A woman who believes this time he’s going to make it.
Just like before, Zephyr’s claws latch onto the wire and he uses the foothold to push up again. He hits the wire a foot from the top and I freeze as time draws out what will happen next. I will him to drop to the ground again. Will him to stop whatever he’s starting.
For some reason, these two humans have prompted a rage that has Zephyr out of control. And I can’t stop it, nor can I shift because of these two humans.
If Zephyr clears that fence, someone’s going to die.
The wire bows as Zephyr’s claws slam against it. With a violent roar, he pushes up again. Like an evangelical angel, he soars over the fence and lands on the other side.
“No!” My shout is as powered by fear as Gloria’s frantic run to her car.
Except the sound doesn’t puncture Zephyr’s fury. He compresses as he lands, joints folding down, then seems to use it like a springboard as he propels forward again.
Gloria is all Zephyr sees.
Death is all that’s stamped in his glowing eyes, his spit stained mouth, his arrow-like trajectory.
“Oh god…” Alistair’s voice is barely a whisper, but those two words feel like a slap.
Zephyr powers forward, a white bullet that’s found its target.
I raise the gun, holding it with my right hand as I cup it with my left. Training to use the tranquilizer gun was never meant for this. I was supposed to help these wolves. Protect them.
Not kill them because of the very people who hate them.
I track Zephyr’s moving body, my arm tracing his trajectory. My breath stops and my heart shatters as I irrevocably, undeniably pull the trigger.
There’s the crack of the shot and Zephyr drops as the bullet rips through his chest. He plows into the ground, body crumpling over the gravel. As he comes to a stop he pushes himself up, his body failing, but his mind still intent on killing.
This time I squeeze my eyes shut as I pull the trigger. Except I still hear the sound of the gun firing, still feel the recoil through my arms.
I open my eyes to see Zephyr drop as death claims him.
After I killed him.
My arms drop as my chest feels like someone just took to it with a sledgehammer. My insides feel like I’ve been gutted with a pitchfork.
Alistair rushes to Gloria, and as much as I want to go to Zephyr and tell his lifeless body how sorry I am, I know there’s one more thing I need to do.
I head to where Gloria was standing, to where she dropped her phone. I stand over it and look up at them as they stand in the center of the parking lot. “Don’t come back.”
With that, I stomp down on the phone, grinding it beneath my boot. The sound of grass crackling and plastic snapping fills the silence.
Turning away, I head over to Zephyr’s dead body. Dropping to my knees I hear them over-rev the car as Alistair and Gloria drive away, leaving behind the damage they’ve caused.
Zephyr is splattered with blood, his tongue lolling out of his foam-rimmed mouth. Slowly the hollow, gouged out feeling in my gut starts to fill up. Guilt feels frozen and jagged, but I don’t try to stop it. Zephyr wouldn’t be in captivity if it wasn’t for me.
I was responsible for him.
There’s no way I can be the one who'll save these magnificent creatures.
Hunter
LEGACY AWAKENED
The pull of my golden wolf is strong today, the strongest it’s ever been, particularly considering it’s daylight.
But I know I’m not going to shift even though I’m out here.
In all those magical moments out on the tundra, the moments where it was just her and me, there’s no way she could have realized who I really am.
What I really am.
And it seems I can’t hide it anymore. Losing my father. Starting captive breeding. Losing Miki.
And now Zephyr. All those graves are a testament to what I am.
Stepping back from the mound of soil, I lean on the shovel, but its slender strength isn’t enough. I crumble, my legs collapsing under the weight of my failures. I welcome the bite of pain as rocks stab into my knees. I consider staying here the night, letting them worm their way deeper and deeper into my skin. Pain has become my constant companion anyway.
Behind me, my phone vibrates for the millionth time today, and I ignore it like I have all the others. Riley or Mom were worried about me. Except this time it vibrates right off the quad and drops onto the ground.
Crap. Rising like I have arthritis, I walk over and pick up. Through the cracked screen I see exactly how many missed calls there are. Scrolling through Riley’s texts that become progressively angrier, I realize why they’ve been trying to get hold of me.
Shit. Ava is arriving today.
As I climb on the quad, I almost laugh at the conversation I had with her father yesterday. I promised him I’d keep an eye out on her. That she’d be safe here.
At the time I believed I was someone who could do that.
Accelerating, I welcome the wind in my face and the jarring of my joints. I’m going to encourage her to drop off her cargo, then hightail it back to her cotton-lined home as quickly as she can, despite how much Mom has been looking forward to this. She’s a responsibility I shouldn’t be shouldering.
Oddly enough, the sense of connection with golden wolf only seems to strengthen the closer I get to Resolve. It doesn’t surprise me. The closer I get, the more my body tightens with tension at the prospect of seeing all the people I’ve let down. And golden wolf has always been the balm to my pain. It makes sense that the more my heart aches, the more I feel the pull towards her.
Entering through the back door, I’m struck by the out of place sounds. There are people here, a lot of them. Sniffing the air, I register the member of my family and pack. Oh yeah. The Phelan princess was going to do some sort of speech.
Heading left, I decide I’m not as ready to face them all as I thought. I’ll do all the Alpha formalities this afternoon at home. Maybe I’ll go for a run. Pretend
one more time that I’m someone worthy of spending time with golden wolf.
Even as I hate myself for being so weak and selfish, my chest feels the first speck of warmth as I reach the decision.
Just for a little while, I can pretend.
Heading to the kitchenette, my plan is to grab a covert coffee, then head back out, but I realize it’s not going to be that simple when I hear footsteps down the hall.
The same Were hearing and the same Were smell that tells me it’s KJ, means he knows it’s me. I glance at the back door, wondering if I can still make it in time.
“You’re putting off the inevitable.”
Damn Were hearing. Damn Were smell.
Damned cousins who can read your mind.
He comes around the corner, stopping a few feet away. “If you sneak in now, you can pretend you were there all along.”
I’m already shaking my head. “I’m going out on patrol.”
KJ impales me with his gaze. “We got Zephyr’s bloods back. He had Furious.”
“The rabies virus?”
KJ sighs. “Yeah, but it’s more like rabies on speed.”
I take a step forward. “And the others?”
“All clean.”
The good news feels so alien it takes me a few breaths to assimilate it. I nod. “That’s great.”
“Seems the vaccines got here in the nick of time.”
Our visitors. More Alpha responsibilities that I don’t believe I can live up to anymore.
One last run with golden wolf before painful reality is all I have. That’s all I’m asking for. I turn for the door. “I’ll be back later.”
“You get here late, and now you’re leaving early? I get that the patrols are important, Hunter, but you’ve spent almost every night out over the past two years.”
I quell the anger that shoots through my veins. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“As opposed to all the other times you’ve wanted to talk about it?”
“KJ. Now really isn’t the time. I need….” My golden wolf. “A break. Just for a bit.”
“Going out alone again isn’t the answer, Hunter. Take advice from an orphan who knows what they’re talking about.”
I shut my eyes, concentrating on letting my breath out a second at a time. “I’ll explain tomorrow.”
“You know what? Don’t bother. If you want to kill yourself, don’t let someone who cares about you get in the way.”
KJ spins on his heels and starts to stride away. I open my mouth but then shut it. KJ knows we need to talk about what we’re up against. The truth, a trident that spears me right through the chest, hits me.
Sakari no longer has a mate.
Captive breeding may not work.
And now there’s a virus we’ve never heard of.
This time, I find my voice and force myself to say it. “KJ. I think we start it.”
KJ stops, then turns back. “What?” He takes long moments to scan my face. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
I swallow, wondering if I’ve just proposed a solution or dug my grave deeper. “We’ve run out of options.”
A squeak, the slightest of sounds, carries down the hallway. We look at each other, alarmed. Someone was listening? I go to walk forward, already reviewing what we just said. No one can know what we’re about to start.
For some reason, golden wolf flashes through my mind. The vision, the feeling of connection, is so strong that I stop. It’s like she’s calling me.
When a girl walks around the corner, I’m glad I’m motionless with some sort of center of gravity—the sense of connection that hits me would have knocked me on my ass.
Her eyes are what grab me first. They’re eyes I’ve connected with countless times before. Wintergreen eyes.
She opens her mouth to say something, and I register there’s more than just eyes to this girl. Gossamer blonde hair falls in waves behind her; her fragile, sculpted face is one that belongs in a magazine or an art gallery or heaven. I knew my golden wolf would be beautiful, but I hadn’t realized it would be a beauty that would suck the air straight from my lungs.
Oh my god. She’s real.
And then I register who I’m looking at. Her name slips past my lips. “Ava.”
Ava Phelan. The girl in the photo who was holding the wolf.
As the shock wears off, reality feels like too much. “It’s true, you’re Ava Phelan.” A cold, penetrating hardness starts to seep around me. “The girl who never changed.”
I’m glad it feels like my chest has turned to stone, I’d probably be doubled over if it weren’t.
There’s no way this girl can be my golden wolf.
“What?” Her voice is a shocked whisper.
I know I’m being inexplicably rude, but there’s no room for manners in my tight body. This girl has just shattered my dreams.
“Hey.” KJ steps between us. Damn, I’d forgotten he existed there for a second. I need to get a grip. “What’s going on?”
Ava steps back. “It seems I’ve made a mistake.”
KJ is looking from her to me and back again. “Dude, I know you don’t get out much. But that was just damned rude.”
I have enough guilt as it is. My jaw is so tight it hurts, my body so frozen that I’m scared to move. “Mistakes.” I look away, her wintergreen gaze the one thing that could shatter me. “They’re not a feeling you want to repeat.”
Looking like I’ve just taken more from her than I’ve lost, Ava turns on her heel and leaves. I give her marks for the straight back and high chin. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but I can recognize someone pulling together their armor.
Thing is, I don’t know if I can apologize.
KJ turns to me, but I stride straight past him and out the door. I don’t have any answers for the questions stamped all over his face.
Outside, I stop. Leaning against the door, I realize I don’t know where to go.
Resolve is full of people who believe I’m something I’m not.
The enclosures house the wolves I’ve failed to protect.
Home is full of family I’ve let down too many times.
And now the wild is no longer a haven.
I jam my palms into my temples, trying to stop the painful conclusions.
My poor, screwed-up mind created a damn good delusion after seeing Ava in that photo two years ago. Maybe my stupid subconscious wanted for golden wolf to be someone like Ava.
Special. Important.
My hands squeeze tight. But it seemed so real…
I crumple over, folding in over the pain. Ava has never been a wolf.
Ava and golden wolf cannot coexist in the same reality.
And the shock and hurt I saw in her eyes were undeniable. Ava is the living breathing child of the prophecy.
I push away from the door, walking forward mindlessly…like a lost soul.
I’ve just joined the harsh world of reality.
And I’m not sure it’s a world I want to be part of.
Ava
Waiting for the screens to come alive for the committee meeting, I’ve never felt more of an imposter. Only the leaders are allowed in the room for this meeting. Dawn is here. Hunter is here, but I haven’t looked at him since he walked through the door. The others will be here shortly thanks to KJ’s skill with computers.
Fae Elders.
Were Alphas.
And me.
Nothing but a watered-down version of them all.
The first monitor flickers to life, and my eyes sting as my parents fill the rectangle. God, I’ve missed them. Mom’s gentle smile is a balm for the ache in my chest, whilst Dad’s quiet confidence is the foundation I wish I still had. We already chatted earlier today as we updated each other on everything that’s going on, and I’m glad that the seriousness of everything that’s happened masked the strain in my voice. Seeing them though, reminds me that we’ve decided I’ll be coming home soon.
They’re the ones I
’m letting down the most.
The next one brings up River the Fae Elder, and then my Uncle Orin. Then there’s Uncle Mitch and Aunt Tara, and the Alphas of the key regions—the Lyalls, the Tates, the Bardolfs, even Nian, the sole representative of the Lang pack.
“We’re all here, Prime Alpha.”
I almost jump at Hunter’s voice. He’s stepped forward, shoulders square, back straight. Even as I mourn something I never had, I admire the strength he projects. No wonder I was drawn to him, he’s my age and can exude the feeling that we have a chance against everything we’re facing.
“Thank you, Hunter.” Dad pulls in a breath. “We’re here to discuss what we’re seeing.”
John Tate crosses his arms. “We’ve lost four wolves to poachers in the last week.”
There’s a rumble of Alpha voices as they all join in. Most have lost wolves to targeted attacks.
Oh god. More poachers? I look to my mother, and find she’s watching me. I try not to be weak, but I can already feel the tears catching at the back of my throat.
Dad nods. “It has to be more than a coincidence.”
Hunter glances at the faces around him. “You think this is systematic? That someone’s coordinating this?”
“We believe that may be the case.”
Hunter rubs his chin. “Alistair Davenport?”
Mom sighs. “We don’t know yet.”
I wish Hunter and I had enough of a connection that he would look my way too. I want to get a sense of what he thinks of this all, particularly when I’ve been told Alistair has been seen here at Resolve.
Dawn comes to stand beside Hunter. “There’s more.”
A low rumble collects from each of the screens. My shoulders hunch as I anticipate the blow this is going to be.
“We had a wolf infected with Furious.” She sighs. “The therapeutic vaccine didn’t work.”
There’s silence. Full of shock and heavy with implications.
Hunter’s shoulders tense, and I know he’s thinking of Desna, maybe even Zephyr…both of who he had to kill. How does he manage to stand there, so strong and sure? As much as I don’t want to respect someone who’s stolen my dreams, I do.
