by Lexi Blake
“Lies,” John spat my way. “That ain’t nothing but lies.”
“Yeah, well, I met a couple of angels and demons who would argue with you.” There was a gate ahead and that was where I would leave behind the man who’d made my childhood a living hell. The wolves had made it back much faster than our poor two legs had. I could see Trent’s brother at the gate. He’d changed into jeans and a plain T-shirt and boots. A woman stood beside him dressed in flowy skirts, her hair long down her back.
“Thank you for escorting our guests,” Trent’s brother said.
“Guests? I thought they were prisoners.” John settled his rifle over his shoulder again. “She’s a mutant, you know.”
“Yes, she is impure,” the female said. She looked to be in her early forties, but you can’t tell with wolves. They have longer life-spans than humans. A healthy wolf who doesn’t get involved in pack wars can live to roughly two hundred and fifty or so. “But if she is what they say she is, she also has a purpose. In the past the great Hunters of the world protected the packs from demons. Of course then the vampires took them over and began training them. This one has already dumped her academic master. She’s strong. She’s already taken her wolf consort.”
“A traitor,” Trent’s brother said.
“Trent always was a wild child,” she replied, touching the younger man. “You are a much better son, but if Trent has connected with a Hunter on a physical level, we must think about the implications. He is pure. She is strong. A child from such a union should be watched. Why is there a human with you?”
She said it with vague distaste, not deigning to look down at Lee.
I was stuck on something. “You’re Trent’s mom?”
She nodded my way. “Yes. I’m the high priestess Nesta. Trent and Tanner are my only living children. I was pregnant with Tanner when my oldest son decided to leave the family. He wasn’t as thorough as he’d planned. He wouldn’t kill the children. He’s always been weak that way. I happened to be inside with them that day. I survived and moved out here. Now is this truly the son of the King of all Vampire? His companion is spitting out humans with that Fae lover of hers?”
Oh, I was glad Trent wasn’t close to his fam because the MIL and I would have a hard time getting along. “First off, stay out of my womb. If I have a baby, she’s not going to become one of your freaky experiments, and if you lay a hand on this kid here, you won’t get it back. I am everything they say I am and way more cranky. Especially because someone killed one of my friends and I’m missing lunch.”
“She takes lunch seriously,” Lee offered, showing me he wasn’t intimidated in the least. “Why are you trying to kill the wolf kid?”
Nesta looked down at him. “That is none of your business, child, but it is something we can talk about in our meeting. Mr. Atwood, your services are required in the woods. My son believes the boy is out there even as we speak. He found evidence of a pack nearby. They shouldn’t be in our woods.”
My stepfather nodded and strode back into the forest. But not before he turned and gave me a long look. Fen might not be the only one John Atwood ended up hunting.
“Let’s do this thing,” I said as the gates opened. “And does my insane stepfather know you have zero intentions of finding this mythical wolf plane and heading there?”
Nesta gave me a superior look. “Once we have the wolf king at the head of our pack, we can conquer all the planes.”
There was the crazy I was looking for. I held Lee’s hand as we walked into the compound which seemed to be made up of a bunch of mobile homes and prefab buildings. An air of poverty clung to the place. The trucks and cars parked around were all at least twenty years old. It was eerily quiet as we walked up the dirt road with Trent’s family.
“And we did not kill the Fae creature, though we would have,” Tanner explained. “I didn’t smell a wolf on the body. I smelled other Fae creatures and a witch and a demon and something else. It smelled human but not. My brother had also been around the creature at some point in time this morning.”
Racha had worked in the kitchens. After the night before, Trent would have gone straight there for his warm-up breakfast. The human would have been Meredith. I hoped that lab of hers was fully stocked because she would be doing an autopsy.
“You know we could consider your very presence here an act of war,” Tanner said. “You’re in our territory. You brought impure creatures with you. And a traitor.”
Nesta put a hand on her son’s arm. “We talked about this. We don’t want a war. We merely wish to be left alone to follow our calling. The King of all Vampire has his role, too.”
“Yes, his role is to enslave us,” Tanner replied.
“My dad freed the slaves,” Lee argued.
“Hush, human. You have no voice here,” Nesta said.
I picked up Lee and turned around. Fuck them. Like I said before, I’m not good at politics. There’s a reason they don’t call me in when the situation is delicate. I call assholes assholes, and I don’t deal with them.
“Kelsey,” Lee complained. “Put me down.”
Tanner was suddenly in front of us, proving his speed wasn’t merely a function of his wolf. “The Three require your presence.”
“The Three can bite my ass.” I started to move around him.
“Ms. Owens, wait. I apologize. I will be more tolerant of the human,” Nesta offered. “We really must speak with you. If the king sent you to find the mutant, then we have similar goals. The boy wolf is dangerous. He can do great damage.”
I set Lee down because if they were willing to talk, I should listen. Especially since they seemed to know a bunch of stuff I didn’t. “The kid doesn’t leave my side and the first time one of you looks at him sideways, you’ll find out why they call me a death machine.”
Nesta inclined her head. “As you wish. You have my word no harm will come to you or the child during this meeting with the Three. Will you promise not to harm any of our community while you’re here?”
“During this meeting,” Lee said, tugging on my hand. “That’s all she really promised. She didn’t say she would never hurt us.”
Lee was pretty good at politics. He’d lived with the master all of his life. “I agree that I’m not going to take anyone out I don’t have to.”
“Then come and meet the Three,” she offered.
It all sounded super pretentious and like powerful and shit, but Lee and I got led to a doublewide that smelled pretty herbal to me. It made me wonder what kind of rituals Lupus Solum participated in.
“They’re watching us,” Lee whispered.
I looked around and saw that he was right. People peeked out from behind curtains in every home we passed. There were a few men outside, but I saw not a single woman or child beyond Nesta.
Tanner stood in the middle of the road and the curtains all closed.
“You can’t blame them for being curious, son,” Nesta said.
“They have their orders,” Tanner replied. I could practically see him making a list in his head of who had disobeyed.
I didn’t like Trent’s brother much.
“Don’t want the women and children getting a look at the freaks, huh? Might give them ideas,” I muttered.
“They don’t need to be around the impure,” Tanner shot back. “They need to do their assigned tasks and pray for deliverance.”
“This place is weird.” But Lee was looking around, taking it all in. He smiled suddenly and waved.
The curtains closed on a child’s face as someone snatched him back.
“Come along,” Nesta said. “The sooner we get this meeting done, the sooner we can allow normalcy again.”
Meaning the women and children wouldn’t be allowed out of their homes until the interlopers were gone. I was all for getting out of the creepy cult compound as soon as possible.
She opened the door and I walked through first, keeping Lee close. The trailer was dark, candlelight filling what should have been the li
ving room of the home. There were no comfy couches or big screen TVs. There were two dudes sitting cross-legged around an altar. They might not like the impure, but it appeared they didn’t hate a little magic. The candles illuminated a lovely centerpiece consisting of bones and hair and other things I didn’t want to think about.
“This is the Hunter?” The man who sat at the center had long dark hair streaked with gray. Neither of the men wore shirts and the pants they both wore seemed to be ceremonial. They were of the same material as Nesta’s skirt.
She took her place at the man’s side, gracefully easing down to the pillow. “She is. She’s the daughter of the Lone Wolf Lee Owens. Son of the Lone Wolf Lewis Owens. I can send you a report on her family. She is mated to my son, Trent Wilcox.”
“Please be seated, Hunter. You may call me The Eye,” the man in the middle said.
The man to his left was younger and harder looking. “I am The Claw.”
Nesta inclined her head. “And I am The Womb.”
“That’s very Handmaid’s Tale of you. Blessed be the fruit and all that,” I remarked, sitting down. Lee settled in beside me. “So, Mr. Eye, what’s up with the wolf kid?”
His brow rose, letting me know he didn’t appreciate my sarcasm. That was too bad for him because I spoke no other languages. “The child is an abomination. It must be found before it can infect the plane.”
“Them’s some harsh words there, Eye. Would the Claw like to weigh in?” If they were just going to tell me a bunch of religious crap about impurity, this wouldn’t be a long meeting.
The Claw’s lips curled up slightly. “She’s a feisty one. No wonder our wayward brother has selected her as his mate.” He turned his eyes on me. “I am the alpha of this clan. My father is our elder counselor. He’s a stickler for tradition but I can see that won’t work for you. How about you call me Erik. That’s my human world name. Hank is my father and you’ve met Nesta.”
At least there was a somewhat reasonable guy. “You’re Trent’s brother, too? I thought he only had that one asshole out there.”
“Tanner is one of our most faithful sons,” the Eye guy said. It was hard to think of him as Hank after so closely associating him with eyes. “But he doesn’t seem strong enough to deal with the abomination.”
“His name is Fen.” Lee had totally forgotten the “humans don’t say shit” rule.
Three pairs of eyes were suddenly staring at him.
“As names go, Fen is way better than abomination,” I said, hoping to get the focus back on me. “Why don’t you tell me about Hester?”
“How did you know?” Nesta asked, obviously surprised we were prepared.
“The kid’s good with a computer and he’s got wretchedly awesome instincts when it comes to a case. Do not watch Scooby-Doo with him. He always knows which old dude is the bad guy.” I leaned in. I had a million questions, but I didn’t want to let them know how much I hadn’t put together. “Hester was one of your breeders, wasn’t she? How did she meet Christopher?”
They were silent for a moment and then the Eye dude nodded Nesta’s way.
“She was to be groomed to take my position in another pack,” Nesta began. “The high priestess must learn to meditate on her fertility, to try to bring it about for the rest of the pack. She is responsible for praying to our ancestors.”
That made sense. “She spent a bunch of time in the woods and he worked as a nature guide. Got it.”
“That is a gross oversimplification, but it is also true,” Nesta allowed. “Hester was a deeply devout woman before she met that man. We didn’t know what he was…”
The Eye growled. “We didn’t know he was the type of man who would betray our trust.”
Yeah, I didn’t think that was what she’d been planning on saying, but I wasn’t going to push it. “They ran away?” The Eye nodded and I continued. “They were gone for years. How did you find them? I’m going to assume you’re the ones who murdered them.”
“They were brought to justice,” Erik corrected, though I was more right than he was. “They broke the rules of our religion, and there is only one way to pay for such transgressions.”
“Why kill Hester? Why not drag her back?” I asked. “And what did you do with Christopher’s body?”
“That is none of your concern,” the Eye replied. “If the Council has a problem, they can send their lawyers. We have our laws. We do not interfere with the Council and we expect them to leave us be as well.”
“Are you coming after Trent, too?” I needed to know how much trouble my boy was going to be in. “Tanner mentioned he intended to see his brother brought to justice now that he is no longer under the Council’s protection.”
Erik frowned. “As I said, Tanner is very devout. Had this happened before he became involved with a Hunter, we likely would have brought him to trial. Nesta is very interested in seeing…”
I could finish that one out. “If I can produce a child with a purebred wolf. I’m half human, you know. I would think I might produce another abomination.”
“I don’t believe that would be possible,” Nesta said. “I have always believed Trent is special. When he was young I thought he could be the one we seek.”
“The wolf king? Lupus Rex?” I asked.
She nodded shortly. “Yes, it is our highest purpose to become pure enough to receive the king into our pack. The Unbinder will break the cycle of our enslavement and lead the wolves into a new age.”
But the crown was twofold. Those words rang in my head and I had to wonder if that dream was trying to tell me something. “What are the signs the wolf king would exhibit?”
“Strength,” Erik replied. “The ability to call the pack together with his mind. He will be the largest and bravest among us. The vampires will have no sway over him.”
So Donovan’s power to call wolves wouldn’t work on this mythical king. I could see where that would be a nice power for the head of a pack to have. Though I’d never seen Donovan’s gift in action, I knew it was something all the wolves worried about. “Fen is Hester’s child, correct? Her child with her human lover.”
“Yes,” the Eye answered. “It was rumors about the child wolf that led us to Hester. She’d hidden for many years. She’d managed to keep the abom…Fen under control. But roughly eight months ago a pack member from the Colorado compound came across the child in the mountains. He was running on a full moon and his mother had lost track of him. He was shocked at the size of the abomination. The very fact that the child can maintain that size at his age proves he’s dangerous.”
“Or that he’s the wolf king,” Lee pointed out.
“He cannot be the king,” Erik insisted. “The king is pure.”
“The king is pure,” the Eye echoed.
I noticed that Nesta simply nodded but said nothing.
“Why do you think he’s here?” Something nasty was going on. Fen had been taken from this place long before he’d been born. I didn’t care how good his senses were, he was a kid and his mother’s scent wouldn’t have led him from Colorado to Wyoming. Unless someone was playing hard ball. “You led him here. How did you do it? You couldn’t catch him in the mountains.”
“We tried everything. We sent all our trackers out after him and he evaded us all.” Erik didn’t bother to hide his disgust. “That was when we decided to trick the child. We kept certain objects of Hester’s.”
“Things that would have her scent.” I knew where this was going. “You lured him along and he still evaded you. He doesn’t have a scent or he’s somehow masking it.”
“He’s an abomination.” The Eye wasn’t backing down. “This is why he leaves no scent. This is why the natural wolf packs follow him. He brings them here. He’s dragged them along like a magnet pulling at the lower wolves.”
“Tanner said something about that,” Lee mused. “Normal wolves follow Fen? That sounds cool.”
I thought it sounded a whole lot like power, and I didn’t understand. This grou
p spent all their time, every bit of their energy trying to bring about super-powerful wolves. Here one was and they wouldn’t accept him because he was part human? “What do you mean when you call him an abomination?”
“He is impure,” the Eye swore.
“I am, too. I’m part wolf and part human. Am I an abomination?” I looked to Nesta, who had flushed slightly. She was the weak link. “Do you kill every wolf who has other blood? Or simply the ones who are part human?”
“Of course not,” she insisted. “We would draw the Council down on us. We are not ready for a war.”
But they were planning one. If they were planning one, why would they attempt to kill off a potentially powerful weapon? “You want me to hunt Fen? That’s why you’ve allowed me in today, right?”
“Our attempts have not worked,” Erik replied with a sigh. “Every time we get close, he gets away and hides. He’s almost here. He’s somewhere in this forest, and I don’t know what will happen if he finds the compound.”
They were seriously worried about what a kid could do? I wasn’t sure Fen had been the one to kill Racha, but I doubted it. He hadn’t been covered in blood and if he’d ripped her up, he should have been. Somehow I doubted he’d stopped in the middle of his kill to wash up in case someone found him.
And yet none of the werewolves had been covered in blood, but the point was they were grown, powerful wolves frightened of a child.
Who as far as I knew was only part werewolf and the other part was sad-sack human.
It did not add up.
“We brought in John Atwood because we needed to try something different. Atwood hates the Council as much as we do. In this case the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Erik continued.
“Who killed the witches?” I watched Nesta because she seemed to be the most reasonable of the three.
“The abomination,” she insisted. “There is something wrong with the child.”
But I’d met him twice now and he hadn’t tried to hurt me. He’d kept the wolves away from us. Now I knew why he seemed so odd to me that night. He was a child.
