by TJ Klune
I felt wild and savage.
Feral.
The tattoos on my arms hadn’t stopped glowing since I’d woken up after shattering the door.
I snorted, shaking my head.
Ox looked back at me, a question in the form of ???? pushing through the bond between us.
I sent back a memory of when we were younger, buried under the wasps—
Does it hurt?
What?
The colors.
No. It pulls and I push and it crawls along my skin, but it never hurts. Not anymore.
—and I knew the moment it hit him, the moment he remembered, because he responded in the voice of an overgrown boy who was about to find out that monsters were real, that magic was real, that the world was a dark and frightening place because it was all real and—
shiny arms you have shiny arms gordo you’re a wizard harry
—I choked on a laugh at the absurdity of it all.
“Yeah,” I told him. “I’m a wizard, Ox.”
His tongue lolled out of his mouth, and I heard Joe huff behind me.
“Yeah, Yeah. We’re going.”
THEY WERE waiting for us, as they’d been before. As if they knew we were coming. They probably did. They just didn’t know what was coming for them.
The wooden bridge loomed behind them. The dirt road was covered with snow that crunched beneath our feet. The same people waited for us. Three men. One woman. All witches.
Dale was absent.
I wasn’t surprised.
He’d probably left Green Creek right after we’d met.
He wouldn’t have thought we’d come to this point.
If we survived this day, I’d show him just how wrong he was.
The witches looked nervous as we approached, though they tried hard to cover it. Problem was, they weren’t very good at it.
The wards felt sticky and hot, the magic foreign.
Maybe they’d been telling the truth before. That my father had nothing to do with this. That Michelle wasn’t working with him.
It didn’t matter now.
They were the same to me.
They weren’t with us. Which meant they were against us. That much was clear.
Ox shifted, just as he’d said he would. He stood nude in the snow, the shadows crawling along his skin. The others remained as they were.
“Alpha Matheson,” the woman said, voice defiant. “We didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Have you given further consideration to what Alpha Hughes has—”
“I stood here once,” Ox said, and a chill went down my spine. “When I was human. And right where you are were Omegas who had come to take what belonged to me. They had a member of my pack, though we didn’t know that she was then. She was scared, but she was strong. So much stronger than they expected. They tried to use her as leverage against me.”
The witches glanced warily at each other. The woman said, “I don’t see what a history lesson has to do with—”
Ox didn’t let her finish. “They thought because we’d been broken, because we were hurting and scared, we would just… fold. That I would let them take away everything I had left without a fight. I asked a question that night. One question that I wanted answered. Many things could have ended differently if they had just told me what I wanted to know. I want you to remember that, because I’m going to give you the same courtesy. I am going to ask you one question.”
“We won’t be intimidated like feral dogs,” one of the men spat. “You have nothing that can—”
And Oxnard Matheson asked, “What are your names?”
The witches were startled. They hadn’t been expecting that.
Ox waited.
The wolves stood stock-still.
In the trees, I heard the crunch of snow as a timber wolf prowled.
“What does it matter?” the woman asked.
Ox shook his head. “That’s not what I asked. What are your names?”
A man shoved the woman to the side, a scowl on his face. “I’m fucking sick of this. I don’t give a shit what Alpha Hughes said. I’m going to end this—”
“How many are you?” I asked.
The man narrowed his eyes at me. “What?”
“Around Green Creek. I mean, you guys have us surrounded, right? How many witches? You four. Is there another dozen? Two dozen?”
“Thirty of us,” the man said, a nasty smile on his face. “Spread around the perimeter of your territory. All volunteers. They couldn’t wait to come here. Nothing gets in and nothing gets out.”
“Dale?”
He rolled his eyes. “His work was done. He fucked your mate, didn’t he? Wasn’t needed anymore. Ran back to Alpha Hughes like the good little lapdog.”
Oh, I was going to enjoy this. “And you won’t leave? Like, leave right now. Turn around and walk away. Any of you.”
He bristled at that. “Of course not. Why the fuck would we do that?”
I whistled lowly. “That’s going to be a blow. There aren’t many witches left that I know of. Ah well. We’ll make do somehow.”
“What the hell are you talking about—”
“I am going to give you one last chance,” Ox growled. “What. Are. Your. Names.”
The man in front spat on the ground at the Alpha’s feet.
That was the wrong move.
All I felt was packpackpack, but it was so much bigger than it’d been before.
So much angrier.
So much more violet.
“In a minute,” Ox said, and I’d never heard him speak so coldly, “there’s going to be yelling. Probably some screaming. Things are going to get confusing. Blood will be spilled. I want you to remember something for me when that happens. All I wanted to know was your names.”
The woman said, “Look. Oh my god, look.”
I followed her trembling finger.
She was pointing at the wolves behind us. They stood in a row, almost shoulder to shoulder. Joe was the farthest left, teeth bared. Elizabeth was on the right, and her ears were flat against her head.
And between them were Mark and Carter, eyes Omega-bright.
Behind them, the feral timber wolf prowled back and forth, dwarfing them all.
“They’re feral,” one of the men said. “They’ve already turned. How are they not—”
The woman stepped forward. The wards burst brightly as she neared. The echoing ping stretched far down either side of us. She was sending a warning. That was okay. It was already too late. They just didn’t know it yet. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Why aren’t they attacking you? That’s not possible. They’re Omegas. They’re monsters.” She looked at Ox, eyes wide and wet, like she knew it was almost the end. Her voice broke. “How are you doing this?”
“I am Oxnard Matheson,” he told her. “I am the Alpha to the Bennett pack, like my father before me.” His eyes began to glow. Red and violet. “And I am the Alpha of the Omegas.”
The witches took a step back.
They should have told Ox their names.
Behind them, on the banks of the creek that ran under the covered bridge, violet eyes began to glow.
At first there were only a few of them, blinking slowly in the dark. And then came more. So many more than I ever expected. They stretched along the creek, going down as far as I could see.
Some were shifted completely.
Others were caught in between.
A few were still human.
They were in the bridge, eyes glowing in the dark.
Two stood on top of the bridge, the wood creaking underneath their feet as they stepped forward.
One of the men at the rear heard them first. He turned slowly, his breath coming out in great gasps as his chest heaved. “Oh no,” he whispered.
The other witches whirled at the sound of his voice.
And then they froze.
“This moment,” I told them. “This is the exact moment you realize why no one fucks with the Bennett pack.”
The man with the nasty smile was the first to move. He stumbled back toward the wards, eyes wide. The line of wolves behind us snarled angrily, and he slipped in the snow, trying to stay on his feet. “You can’t do this,” he said, sounding breathless. “You wouldn’t. You’re an Alpha. You’re supposed to protect.”
Ox leaned forward, face almost pressed flat against the ward in front of him.
The man cowered.
The Alpha wolf said, “All I wanted to know was your name.”
In the end, it was swift. The Omegas surged forward, moving quick and sure. Some leapt over the creek bed and took off down either side of the wards, heading for the other witches just out of sight.
Others shifted in the covered bridge, their claws digging into the wood as they tilted their heads back and howled.
The two on top of the bridge jumped down and crouched low in the snow, fangs bared at the witches trying to hurt their Alpha.
The witches fought back. There were flashes of light as the ground split beneath the feral wolves. Some were knocked off their feet, crashing down hard on the ground. One of the men clapped his hands together in front of him, and a burst of compressed air flew out around him, slamming into the approaching waves of Omegas. They flew back.
Most got up immediately.
The witches were hopelessly outnumbered.
In the distance, I could hear the shouts and screams of the other witches in the woods, could see light bursting in the trees.
The man with the nasty smile was the first to fall, throat torn out, blood gushing onto the snow. He was on his knees, head tilted back as he gurgled. A blood bubble burst from his mouth, red mist landing on his face. He turned his head toward me, eyes locking with mine, pleading silently.
I didn’t react as another wolf descended on him, and he was no more.
One of the remaining men tried to run.
He didn’t get very far before two half-shifted wolves landed on his back, fangs and claws tearing.
The last man turned and ran toward us, through the wards. He wasn’t afraid.
He was going for Ox.
He didn’t make it.
Joe moved in front of his mate.
The man tried to stop, but he slid in the snow right into Joe’s open jaws. He barely made a sound as the jaws shut tight.
The woman was last.
Her arms moved.
Her fingers twitched.
One of the shifted Omegas, a thin and mangy creature, rose in the air in front of her. She twisted her wrist, muttering under her breath, and it folded in half, the sound of its back breaking loud and wet. It writhed, feet kicking, and she threw it at a small group of approaching Omegas. They yelped as the wolf collided with them.
A half-shifted wolf came running at her from her left, but she raised her leg at an angle before slamming it down against the ground in the snow. The ground split beneath the Omega, swallowing it down to its hips before closing around it. It struggled to pull itself out, but then it tilted its head back and screamed as it began to thrash. Whatever was happening below the ground was hurting it, and it took only seconds before it slumped over, violet fading from its unblinking eyes.
But that was as much damage as she could do.
Another Omega jumped at her, and she stumbled backward through the wards.
Directly into Ox.
She whirled around, the Omegas behind her throwing themselves against the wards, trying to get through to her, to their Alpha.
Ox wrapped a hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground.
Her feet kicked uselessly.
She clung to his bare arm as he lowered her face toward his.
She said, “My name is Emma,” and Ox stopped.
The feral Omegas growled along the wards. There were so many of them.
“My name is Emma,” she said again, voice frantic. “Emma Patterson. I am Emma. I am Emma. I am Emma.”
Ox’s half shift faded.
He blinked slowly up at her.
And then—
He set her down on the ground.
She wheezed as he let go of her neck.
“Emma,” Ox said. “Emma Patterson.”
She nodded. “Yes. Yes. Yes. You said you only wanted my name. You asked me for my name—”
She was smart. We were distracted. Violence and bloodshed spread out before us, and this woman, this tiny woman, was sobbing her name, telling us to please spare her, her name was Emma and she didn’t want to be here, this wasn’t even her idea, she only went along with it because she had to, she thought she had to.
It was only at the last second that I saw her reaching into her coat. The moonlight caught the blade, causing it to glitter in the dark. The knife was long and curved, looking as if it were made of pure silver.
They couldn’t see it. Not like I could. She was bent away from them.
I ran toward her. Toward my Alpha.
She spun on her heels, bringing the knife out in a flat arc and—
I reached out to grab her wrist and overshot.
I saved my Alpha.
But there was nothing I could do about my hand.
There was a wet thunk of knife hitting bone, before it continued on.
Continued through.
I felt nothing at first. I fell against Ox, and his arms came around me. I was breathing, I was breathing, I was breathing, and I looked up at him, frowning at his expression of horror.
“What’s wrong?” I tried to ask, but was hit with a wave of pain like nothing I’d ever felt before. I screamed in my Alpha’s arms as I looked down, trying to find why it hurt, oh god, it hurt.
I saw my hand.
Lying in the snow a few feet away, fingers curled up toward the sky. The snow underneath it was turning red.
I raised my arm to see where my hand had once been. It was a clean cut, the skin barely ragged. Blood was spilling from it down my arm, mixing in with the roses.
There came the roar of an enraged animal.
Through the red-hot sheen of pain I saw a brown wolf leap forward and land on top of Emma. Her hands came up to ward him off, but it was too late. His jaws closed over her throat and twisted viciously. Her neck snapped loudly, blood gushing around wicked sharp teeth. She barely made a sound.
“No,” I heard Ox muttering above me. “No, no, no, stay with me, Gordo, you need to stay with me—”
There came a groan of muscle and bone. I heard Joe. He said, “Holy shit, what the fuck, we need to bite him, Ox, we need to bite him—”
Elizabeth said, “You can’t, you can’t, he’s a witch, a powerful witch, it would kill him, it would kill him, he can’t be changed into a wolf, it would kill him.”
A brown wolf stood in front of me, eyes violet and searching. He whined lowly, leaning his head forward, pressing his nose against my cheek.
“Hey,” I said, feeling floaty and disconnected. “It’s okay. It hurt, but it’s not that bad anymore. I probably won’t be as handy as I was before, ha, ha, ha—”
“Jesus Christ,” Joe said, sounding strangled. “Did he just—”
The wolves all growled angrily, louder than I’d ever heard it before. It sounded like there were hundreds of them. But I was safe, safe, safe in my Alpha’s arms, and I knew he would never let anyone hurt me again.
I wanted to close my eyes.
“Alpha Matheson!” a shrill voice called. “Please, if we’re to help Gordo, you need to let us through. We are here because of him. We can break the wards. There are enough of us. My name is Aileen. This is Patrice. We’re here to help. We’re here to—”
Ox howled above me. It reverberated down to my bones. It felt like it was a part of me.
I heard strange voices sounding like they were chanting in unison from somewhere far away. The brown wolf licked my cheek, and I couldn’t even be bothered to try to push him away. There was a pulse of something heated on my shoulder, and I remembered I was marked by the one I loved. It calmed me, knowing that no
matter what happened, everyone would know I belonged to a wolf.
I screamed as I felt the wards break, body electrified as my back arched.
Ox whispered in my ear, telling me I was safe, I was safe, and he would always watch over me, please, Gordo, please, please listen, listen to me, can you hear them? Can you hear us? All of us, Gordo. All of us, because we are—
pack, the wolves and humans whispered in my head, we are packpackpack and you are BrotherFriendLoveMate you are witch you are life you are love and we will protect you.
“Hold him down,” a voice said, the words lilted and smooth. “Dis is gonna hurt.”
Tears leaked from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I stared up at Ox, who still held me in his arms. He reached up and brushed the wetness from my face. He said, “I’ve got him. I’ve got him.”
“Patrice?” I heard Aileen ask. “Can you help him?”
“Petèt. Maybe. Won’t be like it was. Dat hand is gone. Dat’s over with now. But he won’t need dat. Maji. The magic in him and dis pack. It’s big. It’ll compensate. Parè. Get ready, Alpha. You in dis as much as I am. Whole pack. We have help. Lalin. The moon.”
I was floating away, away, away, and I was higher than I’d ever been before, and I swore I could see all of Green Creek, all of the territory that the packpackpack called home, and it was alight with a deep violet, all moving toward a group of witches and wolves hunched over a bleeding body and—
I was slammed back down as the pain returned with a vengeance, ferocious and clawing. I howled a song of agony as the raven stretched its wings, a hand that felt like it was made of molten steel closing over the gushing wound and—
I OPENED my eyes.
I was in the clearing.
A man sat across from me. His back was to me. His head was tilted back toward the sky. The moon was full. The stars looked like wolves.
Around us, in the trees, prowled great beasts.
The man said, “I was foolish. Proud. Angry. I tried not to be. I thought being an Alpha meant—I don’t know. That I could be above all that. That I wouldn’t be so… human. But as it turned out, I had so much to learn. Even at the end.”
I couldn’t speak.
“I hear you,” the man said. “All of you. When you sing your wolfsongs. Even the humans. They—I always thought they made us better. Made us whole. Reminded us who were supposed to be. Call it tethers or something more, it doesn’t matter. They… it’s something others don’t understand. They don’t see it like we do.” The man bowed his head. “I should have fought harder for you. And for that, I am sorry. You were my family. And I should have remembered that above all else. I failed you.”
