United (The Ushers)

by Vanessa North

  “Aren’t we?” Ted asked softly. “With our enhanced physical capabilities and our greatly expanded lifespan, aren’t we?”

  “No,” Monica answered. “We are no threat to humans. We don’t change them with a bite. We don’t attack them. We have never made trouble for humans, and we won’t start now.”

  “We can bait them somehow.” Garrett, Ted’s interim Guardian, was standing in the doorway. “They know who the big guns are here in Mid-A. They know Fionn, Annie, and Monica for sure, and probably Ellen and Graham, too. While we move in, we can have some of our wolves create a diversion.”

  “Si. Si. Si. Yes, I like this.” Angelo’s voice crackled with excitement. “Yes, that’s exactly it. We create enough of a diversion, which will give the wolves time to move in on Kirk’s revival.”

  “Who?” Ted asked.

  “Me.” Monica met her mate’s eyes with a warning glare when he would have protested. “And Fionn. We’re fastest and strongest; we have the best chance.”

  “Me. Silver can’t kill me,” Annie volunteered. “Monica, you and Fionn need to be in that tent. Plus, Devon knows me. Maybe I can persuade him to leave this insane cult.”

  “I will come help my sister,” Gerard rumbled. “Usher, you must confront Kirk.”

  “I don’t like putting you two in danger.” Fionn frowned.

  “We’re in less danger than wolves would be,” Annie pointed out. “And like I said, I have no plans to purposefully walk into bullets.”

  Gerard’s growl of agreement rumbled over the phone line.

  “This is going to work.” Annie sighed suddenly, a faraway look on her face. “Angelo, Bianca, send emissaries to all the packs. Tell each to send their Alpha with two bodyguards and whoever else they want to send. The Alpha must come. Bee, you’re going to have to travel, I’m sorry.”

  Jack and Gerard both snarled at that.

  “It’s the only way. She won’t be harmed; we can keep her safe. Yes. We need her. We need every Alpha.”

  Fionn looked at Monica, and realization dawned on both of their faces. “Kill two birds with one stone,” Fionn said. “Eliminate Kirk, squashing his little cult, and unification all at once.”

  “I really hate that expression.” Bianca growled. “I’ll take care of gathering the Alphas. If I am willing to travel in my condition and put myself in danger, their pride won’t let them stay away.”

  “Yes, perfect. Shame them into it.” Monica grinned. “Goddess, I love your twisted brain, Bee.”

  “Thanks…I think.” Fionn could hear Bianca’s laugh over the phone.

  Annie began to purr loudly, her cat clearly pleased with herself as the plan shifted into place.

  Chapter Thirteen

  DEVON STOOD AT THE PODIUM and faced the men and women in the meeting hall with steel in his heart. He would introduce them to the Savior tonight, and tomorrow, they would hunt wolves. He looked over his shoulder at Jonny and Gordon. They nodded encouragingly, and he smiled back. These were his people now. He had learned a lot since Jonny first approached him after he sent that email. Everyone thought that it was the Savior who was in charge, but Gordon was the one who really ran things. Jonny was charming and tough, a good second, but Gordon was sharp as a tack and absolutely lethal. Devon found a part of him was afraid of Gordon, but another part admired him.

  But the Savior—Tavis—he was different. He was the spiritual leader. He would save them all from the Godless ones. He could bring them to Christ. And Devon could help. He took a deep breath.

  “Please, everyone be seated.” He deepened his voice, still astounded that he could make it sound so manly. Yes, things were changing. He might just be a boy, but he was doing a man’s work now.

  “I know you all came to hear the Savior talk. To take communion and join our fellowship. I promise to keep my remarks brief.” He placed his hands confidently on the podium and looked out at the men and women who had gathered to hear the Savior. As he spoke, he met the eyes of several of them, giving each a slight nod, the barest tilt of his chin. “Creating a rapport,” Gordon had called it. Gordon had taught him a lot about public speaking while they watched Tavis give his sermons, showing him how to use rhythm and pitch to persuade and encourage. Tavis was a different man when he stepped up to the podium, and Dev was learning a lot from hearing him speak.

  “Like you, I am human, as I was born to a human mother. However, I have recently learned that my father is a wolf—a Godless moon worshipper.” He hung his head theatrically. “For two days, I was consumed with shame. I loved my father, in spite of what he was. I honored my father, as the Bible teaches us to do. But I cannot condone what he is. What he does. Rather than atoning for his sins by settling down with my mother or the mother of his other human child, he has decided to live in sin with another wolf, creating more Godless ones to carry on their wretched perverse genes.

  “These wolves must be stopped. The females must be destroyed. They cannot be allowed to breed more wickedness into our world. The males must be offered a human wife—for human women will make human babies. I know that it is a great sacrifice we ask of our own women, to marry these godless ones. You are tender missionaries—missionaries of the heart as well as the soul. We ask you to win them over with love, so that they may find their way to Christ.”

  He smiled as he watched the women in the audience nodding. Some of them cried. He thought of his own mother, seduced by his father, willing to have a child with him in spite of his unwillingness to settle down. Oh, Fionn Murphy was handsome and charming, as lovely as Lucifer, wasn’t he? Devon fought the bitter smile that threatened.

  “Now, I know that I am not the one you came to hear tonight. Tonight, you came to hear our Prophet, our Savior, Tavis Kirk. Tavis was born a wolf, to a wolf mother. He was running as a wolf, praying to the moon—” here, he let his sneer of derision show “—when he stumbled in a hunter’s trap. He lost his leg—using his own teeth to chew his way free…but as he writhed in agony, he gained something far more valuable than a limb. He was saved that night. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior, and he was freed from his obsession with the moon. It is true, like the other wolves, our Savior becomes a wolf under the full moon, the only time he cannot stop it. But he swore to never breed more wolves. He has offered all the wolves he meets an opportunity to join us. Some have agreed, taken human wives and had human children. Others have been destroyed, for make no mistake, this is a war. A war for the soul of America. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce the Prophet, Tavis Kirk.” He stepped aside and reached out a hand.

  Kirk moved forward on crutches, slowly. He patted Devon’s hand and smiled at him. As always, Devon searched the old man’s face for some sign of affection, but there was none. He smiled at the old man, helping guide him to the podium, and then he stepped back to take his seat with Gordon and Jonny.

  “That was good work, Devon. You’re becoming quite the orator,” Gordon praised, his voice a low rumble.

  “Thank you, Mr. Kirk,” Devon whispered back. Then everyone stilled.

  Tavis Kirk began to speak. As always, Devon found himself slipping into the rhythm of the old man’s words, the cadence lulling him. He found himself rapt with adoration for this man, this brave wolf who was willing to overthrow his own in order to save them all. He watched as, one by one, everyone else fell under the spell of wonder and love that the Savior created with his speech. Devon found he was not quite able to remember the words, just the stirring feeling that rose in his chest as he listened. Hope. Love. Joy. Peace.

  When the Savior asked them to come forward and take communion, Devon was first in line. Tears shone in his eyes as he met the old man’s smile with his own. They were doing God’s work together. He was worthy. Righteous. They would destroy the female who had seduced his father, and he’d be free to return to Devon’s mother and make a real life for them. A life together. Maybe Rose could come and live with them, even. It was all going to work out just right.

  Devon sl
ipped out of the meeting room with the taste of victory and communion wine sweet on his lips.

  Gordon and Jonny watched as the humans filed out of the room, their newfound faith glittering in their eyes. Tavis sank to the floor, exhausted. Together, his brothers lifted him to a chair.

  “Excellent speech, Tavis,” Gordon whispered in his brother’s ear. “And young Devon Murphy did an excellent job introducing you. It was a good night.” He watched as his brother drifted to sleep.

  “Jonny,” he said quietly. “Encourage the humans to capture, not kill, the unmated females. Make something up about needing to study them if you have to. We can make a show of offering the males human women to marry, but you know as well as I do that they won’t. Especially the already-mated ones. We’ll kill the men, and the women will be able to re-mate. At least we can thank the albino bitch for that.”

  Jonny grinned. “Yeah, she’s ugly as sin, but at least we won’t have ghosts anymore. What do we do once we’ve bitten the females?”

  “We take over where they left off. Unification. When the humans have used up their usefulness, we can get rid of them easily enough.”

  “What ’bout the Moon?” Jonny asked quietly.

  “Without the third Usher, she won’t be able to get free. If the third isn’t there at the prescribed time and place when the eclipse happens, the Moon will stay trapped. We’ll have as much time as we need to subjugate the inferior species.”

  “How are we going to prevent that?” Jonny met his brother’s eyes warily.

  “Do you remember who the third Guide is supposed to be?”

  “Bear.”

  “A Bear shifter showed up a few days ago at the Amazon compound. The wolf we have inside says he’s there for the birth of the third Usher.”

  Jonny muddled over that thought for a moment. “The white bitch. She’s pregnant, ain’t she?”

  Gordon nodded. “Yes, she is.”

  “So we take her out, and the third Usher never gets born.”

  “Exactly.” The two brothers grinned at each other.

  “Dang, Gor, you thought all that up yourself?” Jonny asked.

  “Well, Tavis’s religious ranting helped—if they can’t free the Moon, it will look like his prophecies are coming true and the wolves are being punished for their sins. It will help strengthen our hold on the wolves we manage to convert.”

  “I don’t know how you think up this stuff, but I like it.” Jonny shook his head, grinning.

  Chapter Fourteen

  BIANCA AND JACK ARRIVED at the Murphy home a few days later. Leaving Angelo in charge, they’d traveled with Kathy and Gerard as bodyguards. Monica, both thrilled and relieved to see her former Seconds, rushed out to greet them. Fionn had been growing more withdrawn, and her whole body had been thrumming with nervous energy—both hers and his. Jack had always had a calming influence on his youngest brother, and Monica hoped his presence would help now.

  “Bee, Jack. I’m so glad you guys are here. Jack, I’m worried. Your brother—” She frowned, biting her lip. “He’s blaming himself.”

  Jack swore beneath his breath. “How is he, other than that?”

  “Himself. Indulgent.” She blushed. “Funny. Stubborn. But I think he’s caught in a riptide of an anxiety attack because his sense of humor is getting darker and he’s spending a lot of time alone. As a wolf. I’m feeling a lot of pain through our link. Despair, even.”

  “Telling secrets, mate?” Fionn stepped out the front door of the house, a scowl on the face that still had the crisscrossed lines of his pillowcase on it. He hadn’t expected to walk up on his mate talking about him behind his back. Monica could feel his hurt through the bond.

  “Fionn. Don’t—” Jack warned him.

  Monica reached out a hand and placed it on Jack’s chest. She shook her head.

  “Your brother and his mate care about you, Fionn. They are concerned about you. I was sharing my concerns with them because we all care about you.”

  “You can’t fix me, Monica.” Fionn glared at her. “You can’t make this better. We can get my son back, maybe, but he’s not the same kid he was. And it’s all my fault.”

  Monica felt it then, a wave of anguish and longing coming off him. She met his eyes with her own, steady and true, offered herself as a foil, a counterweight to his grief. She reached out a hand to him. “Fionn, please.” She poured all her love into the link they shared, then felt it surge back against her when he pinched the link closed in his mind.

  Monica recoiled, as if he had slapped her. Snarling, she took a step back. Jack and Bianca steadied her, a hand on each shoulder. Her mind reeling from the sudden loss of the connection, she felt tears welling in her eyes. Wordlessly, she shifted, letting her clothing fall in tatters to the ground. Her friends’ mouths dropped open: it had been years since she had shift-and-shredded. She took off at a furious run, determined to put some acreage between herself and her mate before she did something she’d regret. Her blood pounding furiously in her ears, she headed for the ocean.

  “What the hell did you do to her, Fionn Murphy?” Bianca growled. “Someone ought to blood you for that.”

  Fionn’s hands buried in his hair, and anguish crept across his features as he realized the enormity of what he’d done. He gasped, trying to feel along the link to his mate and not finding her. His pain rippled through Bianca and Jack as they watched him realize that he’d done the unthinkable. In a fit of self-loathing, he’d severed the bond.

  “Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?” Annie came out onto the porch. She was scowling, and he didn’t need to feel her through their bond to know she was spitting mad.

  “I need to go after her,” he whispered.

  “Don’t bother,” Annie hissed. “I’ll take care of your mate. You go take a shower, get your shit together, and wait right fucking here until we get back. You are in the dog house, Fionn Murphy.” Annie quickly dropped her clothes to the ground and took off after Monica.

  Monica was sitting on the dock in her wolf form, staring out at the bay, when Annie approached. The panther shook for a moment and then changed. Annie lay down on her stomach on the dock, tangling a hand in Monica’s fur. For a moment, the wolf stiffened, then she lay down next to Annie.

  “He loves you.” The rumbling feline mind touched hers.

  “I know. But what he did was so incredibly stupid.”

  “He didn’t realize what he was doing. If you two had been anyone else…”

  Monica shuddered at Annie’s unfinished thought. She and Fionn might have both been driven insane by his tantrum. As it was, their bond had been snapped, and it would take both effort and blood to reform it.

  “Do you think we can fix it?” Monica whined.

  Annie caressed Monica’s velvety ears, smiling her reassurance.

  “Yes. But you need to make sure he knows better than to ever do that again. He can’t shut you out every time you guys argue, or you will both go crazy.”

  Annie stood, shifted back to her cat form, and started to run back to the house. After a moment, Monica followed. She ran slower, not wanting to arrive before she knew what to say. Jack held the door open for her, and she took the stairs in her wolf form, pushing open the door to the room she’d been sharing with Fionn. He sat, naked, on the bed, elbows on his knees, hands buried in his hair. He looked up and met her eyes, a look of abject misery burning in his own.

  “Mo,” he whispered. The air around her seemed to crackle with energy as she shifted back into her human form. He knelt at her feet, neck bared in apology.

  She snarled.

  He looked up into her ravaged face. She wore her fury like a living veil, a seething, bitter thing.

  He winced.

  “Get up,” she demanded.

  He stood, baring his neck again as he did.

  “Please, Mo. I’m so damned sorry. Please.” He felt a sharp sting in his nose, realized he was on the verge of tears. “Forgive me.” He reached for her.

 
; “Not. Just. Yet.” She spit the words out, stepping back, both hands raised defensively in front of her. She watched him through anger-lidded eyes, the way he flinched at her words. She realized at that moment, she was every bit as powerful as he. She could blood him, if she so desired. She could fight him. Even kill him. Wolf justice had been delivered on far lesser insults.

  But that wasn’t what she desired.

  She wanted her man, and she wanted him whole.

  She picked up his hand and, without warning, sunk her teeth into the fleshy palm. He winced briefly, then his eyes closed in pleasure as she licked at the small wounds. She held out her own hand to him, knowing he would need to bite her to resurrect their bond.

  Fionn gently pressed a kiss to her palm before letting his teeth shift. He bit gently, and in the moment his teeth pierced her skin, she felt him flooding back into her as if he’d never gone. She felt the agony he’d suffered while he’d waited for her to come back. Remorse, self-loathing and, buried deep within, hope.

  She pulled her hand back. “Don’t you ever do that again,” she whispered.

  He shook his head.

  Nodding, she turned and left the room, letting the door swing shut behind her. She crossed the hallway to the room she knew Ellen and Annie were sharing and heard them laughing together inside. She knocked, heard Annie tell her to enter, and pushed her way inside.

  Flopping stomach-down on the bed, she looked up at Annie. “It’s done.”

  Annie caressed Monica’s arm. “And yet you’re coming into our room buck naked instead of screwing his brains out?”

  Monica let out a bark of laughter before reaching for Ellen’s robe from the door. “May I?”

  Ellen nodded.

  “I’m not ready to even speak to him yet. I just bit him, let him bite me, and left.”

  “Monica, he needs you more than ever right now.”