by TJ Klune
“I think so.”
She nodded slowly. “Can we beat this? All of this?”
“I don’t know. But we’re going to fight like hell.”
She pushed herself off the wall, leaning forward to kiss me on the cheek. “I’m glad you got your mystical moon magic mate.”
I scowled at her.
She wasn’t fooled.
“Elizabeth is waiting for you outside. Get to the bar. Bring the rest of the pack home. Stay out of sight.”
She eyed me curiously. “What are you going to do?”
I looked at the cellar door. I could hear the sounds of wolves beneath us. “What I have to.”
“WE DON’T need the wolves,” my father had told me once. “They need us, yes, but we have never needed them. They use our magic. As a tether. It binds a pack together. Yes, there are packs without witches. More than have them. But the ones that do have witches are the ones in power. There’s a reason for that. You need to remember that, Gordo. They will always need you more than you could ever need them.”
My father had never understood. Even when he had pledged himself to Abel Bennett, he hadn’t understood. What it meant to be tied to a wolf. What it meant to be pack. It wasn’t about necessity.
It was about choice.
He hadn’t given me one.
Neither had Abel Bennett.
Thomas Bennett had. In the end. I was just too blind to see it through the fury I felt at everything that was being taken away from me.
He’d been wrong to do it the way he had.
But in the end, I’d been given a choice.
I’d said no.
He had threatened me. I wasn’t lying when I’d told Elizabeth that.
But there’d been more. After fang and claws and red, red eyes.
“My son,” he’d told me. “Please, Gordo. It’s Joe. It’s my son. Please help me.”
He’d fallen to his knees then, tilting his head back, exposing his neck.
The Alpha of all, begging me to help him.
I’d almost turned and left him there, on the ground.
And I half think he expected it.
But it was there, wasn’t it?
Deep down, buried in an ocean of blue.
That spark that demanded my Alpha.
I’d forgotten how bright it burned.
“Get up,” I’d told him roughly. “Get up. Get up, and I’ll help you.”
I chose him then. Chose to help him.
Even after everything.
It wasn’t about necessity.
We were pack because we chose to be.
And I wasn’t going to let that go without a fight.
I knew now what needed to be done.
I just hoped they would be able to forgive me.
PAPPAS PROWLED along the line of silver spread out in front of him, boxing him in. The metal wall behind him was scored with thick claw marks. He snarled at the sight of me, throwing himself against the invisible wall that held him in.
Carter and Kelly stood face-to-face, the silver running between them on the floor. Kelly reached up and pressed his hand against the wall. Carter hesitated before doing the same. The timber wolf was trapped inside with him, pacing behind him, tail flicking dangerously.
And Mark.
Always Mark.
He sat nude in the middle of the floor, eyes closed. He was awake, and his hands were on his knees, digging into his skin. The raven on his throat fluttered every time he swallowed. Ox was crouched on the other side of the line of silver before him, watching him intently.
Joe touched Ox’s shoulder, causing him to look back. He stood as I approached, nodding toward Mark. “It’s like it was with Pappas,” he said quietly. “The lull before….”
I nodded tightly.
Joe squinted at me. He reached out and pressed his fingers against my forehead. “It’s in here, isn’t it? Something’s happened.”
I nodded, and his hand fell away. “I… might have a plan. But it’s going to take all of us, I think. And you’re not going to like it.”
Joe frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s… we need to wait. For the others. Elizabeth and Jessie, they’ll…. We just need to wait. I only want to say this once.”
Ox stared at me. “Will it help them? Carter. And Mark.”
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “But it’s the only thing I’ve got. Tomorrow’s the full moon. There’s not time. I just… can you give me a moment? I need to….”
Ox and Joe stepped back.
I took a deep breath and turned to Mark.
I sat down on the floor, mirroring his position. My eyes burned when I looked at him, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“Mark,” I said. His name on my tongue broke into pieces, and I cleared my throat.
He opened his eyes. The violet had faded. All that was left was the frozen blue. “Gordo,” he rumbled. “I—I’m sorry. I tried to fight it. I tried to—”
“It’s okay. I’m okay. You didn’t—you didn’t hurt me.”
He looked stricken. “If Ox hadn’t been there—”
I snorted. “I don’t need Ox to kick your ass, you overgrown mutt. I can handle myself just fine.”
His jaw clenched. “This isn’t a joke, Gordo.”
“Good thing I’m not joking. If you think you can take me in a fight, you’re even dumber than I thought you were.”
“I wanted to hurt you,” Mark said. “I saw you lying in the bed next to me sleeping and I wanted to tear your throat out. I wanted to stain my teeth with your blood. It was close, Gordo. You don’t know how close it was.”
“But you didn’t.”
His claws extended, digging into his knees. “Because it burned.”
I frowned. “What did?”
He tilted his head back slightly, exposing the raven. “This. I thought—it felt like it was flying in the sun, and it burned.”
“That’s because I’m your mate, jackass. You’re bonded to a Livingstone now. The only way you get out of this is if I kill you myself, just like dear old Dad.”
“Do it, then. Kill me.”
And I said, “No.”
His eyes flashed violet.
“Gordo,” Ox said as he took a step toward us.
I turned and glared at him over my shoulder. “Don’t. Stay back.”
Ox looked like he was going to argue, but Joe put his hand on his arm, and he nodded.
I looked back at Mark. His knees were bleeding from his claws. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” he growled. “But I can’t trust myself. It’s here, Gordo.” He reached with a bloody claw, tapping the side of his head. “It’s taking you away from me. I can feel it. It hurts. It hurts like nothing I’ve ever felt before. And I’m trying to hold on. I’m trying to hold on to it as best I can. But it’s slipping through my fingers. I want you. I want you so bad.” He snapped his teeth at me.
I said, “Let go.”
That startled the violet out of his eyes. “What?”
“Let me go.”
Ox said, “Gordo, you need to—”
I held my hand up over my shoulder, and he fell quiet. “Give in to it.”
Mark snarled at me. “You would like that, wouldn’t you? Mated to me for less than a day and you’re already looking for a way out. You running again, Gordo? Just like always. Things get rough and Gordo Livingstone just fucking runs.”
I tilted my head to the side, trying to remain calm. “I’m not going anywhere. Listen to my heartbeat. Tell me if I’m lying.”
He stood slowly. His knees popped. His chest heaved. His eyes flickered between ice and violet.
Pappas threw himself at the line of silver again. I thought I heard a bone snap.
Carter stood stock-still, nostrils flaring as he stared at me. The timber wolf stood at his side. Kelly was watching me with a look of horror, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Why?” Mark demanded, pacing back and f
orth. “Why are you here? Why are any of you here? You don’t want me. You don’t need me. I’m losing my goddamned mind, and you’re just sitting there like it’s nothing.”
“I don’t need you.”
He rushed forward, and I had to fight to keep from flinching. “Why!” he shouted at me. “Why! Why!” Each why was punctuated with a fist against the barrier.
I stood slowly.
He tracked my movements, ever the predator.
I stood before him. Only a few feet separated us.
“Because I chose you instead,” I told him quietly, and he reared back. “We never needed each other to survive. If we did, we would have both been dead a long time ago. It’s never been about that, Mark. We’re here now because we chose each other. In the end, it’s always been about choice. We chose to fight each other until we chose to fight together. You chose me a long time ago. And now I’m choosing you back.”
Conflicting emotions battled on his face: incredulity, sadness, anger, and hope. “I don’t—”
“You broke the raven you made for me.”
His face crumpled and his shoulders shook. “I know. I know, and I will never forgive myself for—”
“Do you still have it?”
“It’s broken, Gordo, it’s on the floor and it’s broken—” Coherency dissolved, words becoming garbled snarls.
“The stone wolf. The one you gave me a long time ago. And the one I gave back. Do you still have it?”
He looked up at me, eyes wet and wild. “I… yeah. Yes.” His chest hitched. “I still have it. It hurts, Gordo. It hurts.”
“You’re going to give it to me, okay? When all this is done, I’m going to ask that you give it back to me. And if you think that’s all right, if you think that’s the right thing to do, I promise you I’m going to take care of it for the rest of our days.”
He pressed his hand flat against the barrier. “Show me,” he said through a mouthful of fangs.
I knew what he meant. I tilted my head to the side and stretched the collar of my coat until he could see the bite mark. It was throbbing angrily, and I relished each pulse of pain that shot through me.
“I’ll give you my wolf, witch,” he growled. “If I don’t kill you first.”
I grinned at him nastily. “I’d like to see you try.”
The ice-blue was gone.
All that was left was violet.
“What are you doing?” Ox asked me angrily. “What the hell are you doing, Gordo?”
I stared at Mark as his half shift came over him and he began to prowl along the line of silver, narrowed gaze trained on me. “I’m going to make them pay. All of them.”
shatter
IT WAS midday before the others returned. I’d stayed down in the basement, watching Mark as he descended. It was slow going, and painful, and I knew that if this didn’t work, I probably wouldn’t last long enough to live to regret it.
Kelly was furious with me, daring me to do the same with Carter, daring me to try to make his brother feral. Joe barely held him back. I ignored them both, focusing everything I had on Mark. Kelly had broken down in tears, and Carter had tried to console him, but he was breathing heavily, tense and stiff. The timber wolf with him kept pressing against his shoulder until Carter snarled at it to stay the fuck away from him.
Ox hadn’t moved, and I could feel him staring at the back of my head. Jumbled emotions poured through the bonds between us. He was angry with me and saddened at the sight before him. But he knew me, knew I wouldn’t do what I’d done without a reason. He was still holding on, still trusting me, and I hoped it was enough.
“They’re here,” Ox said, and a moment later, there came the sound of a door being thrown open at the front of the house. Footsteps thundered overhead, heading toward the stairs. Ox’s eyes flared brightly. “But not all of them. Something’s wrong.”
Robbie came down first, looking frantic. He must have felt Kelly’s anguish, because he looked like he wanted to shred the cause of it. I hoped Kelly wouldn’t sic him on me. Granted, it would have given me an excuse to break his glasses, but I’d hate to have to hurt the kid right off the bat.
He stood in front of Kelly, reaching up like he wanted to touch him, but he closed his fingers into fists and brought them back to his sides. “Are you okay?” he asked in a hushed voice. “I tried to get here as fast as I could, but Elizabeth said we needed to move together, and she wouldn’t let me shift, and then we got attacked and—”
“I’m fine,” Kelly said through gritted teeth. “What do you mean attacked?”
“Hunters,” Robbie said, face pale. “They found us when we were halfway here. I should have—but I was trying to get back here and I didn’t hear them. I didn’t hear them. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
My blood ran cold. “Who?” I managed to ask. “Who did they—”
Elizabeth came down next. And she wasn’t alone.
She had an arm wrapped around Rico’s back, trying to hold his weight up. Jessie was on his other side, arm around his waist. Rico’s face was pinched and he was gritting his teeth. His left pant leg was soaked with blood.
Ox and Joe were in front of them before anyone could speak. Elizabeth and Jessie handed him off to the Alphas. “I’m fine,” Rico muttered, trying to put on a brave face. “Just clipped me. Looks worse than it is.”
“Those bastards,” Jessie growled, hair hanging in wisps around her forehead. “I’m going to kill them.”
“We’ll get the hunters,” Joe told her, kneeling in front of Rico. “We’ll—”
“Not the hunters,” she snapped. “Although you bet your ass we will. I’m talking about Chris and Tanner. I’m going to fucking murder them.”
I looked back at the stairs, waiting for them to appear. “What did they do now?”
She whirled on me, looking furious. “They—they—goddammit, what is with the men in this pack? Why are you like this?”
“They told us to run,” Robbie said quietly, looking down at his hands. “Told us to get away. They… the hunters surprised us. A group of them. Elijah wasn’t there, but. Rico was hit, and Chris took Rico’s gun and told us to run. That we needed to get Elizabeth away from them.” He took in a shuddering breath. “Chris said he didn’t want Elizabeth to ever be hurt by them again.”
Elizabeth reached up and wiped a sweaty lock of hair from Rico’s face. “They were very brave. They gave us time to get away.”
I barely knew I was speaking. “Are they… are they still alive?”
“Yes,” Ox said, watching as Joe tore Rico’s pant leg. “They’re still alive. I didn’t… I was so focused on Mark and Carter that I didn’t even feel them being taken.” He breathed heavily out his nose. “They’re alive. And angry.”
“The Lighthouse,” Carter asked, voice harder than I’d ever heard it. “Do the hunters know about the Lighthouse?”
Rico shook his head, groaning as Joe pressed his fingers around the wound on his leg. “Don’t think so. We were far enough away. Covered our tracks. Bambi, she—anyone tries to come for them will get a face full of buckshot. She’s hard-core like that.”
“It’s not bad,” Joe told Ox. “Winged him. Took a chunk out, but the bullet isn’t in him.”
“Told you,” Rico said as he grimaced. “Lucky shot, anyway. If Chris hadn’t taken my gun, I would have shot the bastard between the eyes. Pendejo. Had sideburns. You know how I feel about sideburns.”
“Jessie,” Ox said, “get the med kit. We need to get this cleaned and wrapped.”
Jessie nodded, turned, and ran back upstairs.
“Great,” Rico muttered. “Because that’s going to feel good.”
“Shut up,” I told him, nudging Joe out of the way. “It’ll scar. Bambi seems like the type that likes scars.”
He perked up at that. “You think? Because if she gets over the whole I-run-around-with-werewolves thing, that’d be pretty cool and—oh my god, why are you touching it? I’m bleeding, Gordo!”
&
nbsp; I pressed my palm flat against the wound. The raven’s talons tightened around vines and thorns as I pulled the pain as best I could. It rolled through my arm and into my chest, wrapping itself around my heart and squeezing.
And then Elizabeth said, “Mark?” and I hung my head.
Mark growled in response.
“What happened?” she asked, and everything felt blue coming from her. “Why is he—”
“It was Gordo,” Kelly spat, sounding furious. “Gordo made him like this. Gordo made him turn into an Omega and—”
“That’s enough,” Ox said, and everyone fell silent. Jessie came back down the stairs, white box clutched against her chest. The mood had shifted drastically in the few seconds she’d been gone, and she kept her mouth shut as she knelt next to me. She moved my hand, and Rico hissed as the pain returned. I stood slowly, letting her take over.
Elizabeth was watching me with an inscrutable expression. “Gordo?” she asked. “Is that true?”
I took a deep breath. “It is.”
Her eyes flashed orange, but that was all. “Why?”
Kelly glared at me as Robbie stood at his side, looking confused. Carter paced behind them, the timber wolf acting as his shadow. Pappas was sitting in a corner, mewling loudly. Ox and Joe stood side by side. Rico yelped as Jessie did something to the wound on his leg.
And Mark.
Mark stood in the center of his cage. He was caught in his shift, though he was still more man than wolf. His bottom lip was bleeding from where a fang had pierced it. And his eyes were violet. So violet.
“Do you see the mark on his neck?” I asked her.
She nodded tightly. “The raven.”
“Do you know what that means?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know I would do anything for him.”
“Would you?” she asked. “Why now? Why after all this time?”
“Because if this is the end,” I said as honestly as I could, “he needed to know that I never stopped loving him.”
My heartbeat, though accelerated, remained steady.
And she knew it.
Kelly scoffed. “You forced him to turn Omega. You told him to let go. How the hell can you say that you—”
