She was so confused and angry and scared.
And angry.
And…scared.
She’d nearly killed that hyena.
Who was now a man, standing naked in front of her, breathing heavy, a confused frown furrowing his brow.
Dexx looked at something behind Paige.
Chuck.
She turned to see him.
He raised his chin and stepped forward, unfurling his arms. “You both have performed well.”
Performed? Balls. Paige closed her eyes. She’d forgotten. He was the regional high alpha. And Dexx had just performed…as an alpha…in his territory.
A chill swept through her, afraid to see his hand. He’d laid this all out. Brought them to Oregon. Helped them rebuild. Helped them land jobs. Hell, their kids were in his school.
She opened her eyes. Was this the moment she’d been dreading this entire time? Were they about to see what Chuck had been working towards for so long?
Chuck turned to her, concern filling his expression as he narrowed his blue eyes. He reached forward and cupped her cheek.
She swallowed, battening down her initial instinct to pull away. She didn’t feel anything untoward. He wasn’t moving in on her. He wasn’t being manipulative.
He was simply offering comfort.
He tipped his head to the side. “You’re finding your place in the pack. That is all this is. There is no reason to fear.”
With all the people playing her—Sven. Oriel. Merry friggin’ Eastwood. Eldora Blackman. Rachel—it was hard to believe he wasn’t there to do the same.
He shook his head and moved to face her squarely. “You are a force we haven’t seen in a very long time. You are not something to be caged or bottled or controlled. I won’t have you answering to me as a beta. You will be an equal, but you will need to learn that in pack matters, my voice is the last that is heard. In order to keep the peace. I maintain order. I don’t randomly inflict my will upon others.”
She swallowed and hesitantly nodded. It wasn’t that much different in the Whiskey household. Except that Alma’s voice had been the “last to be heard” on any given matter, and now that ‘honor’ belonged to Paige.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that this was weird. Beyond strange.
But she couldn’t ignore the fact that relief slowly crept through her chilled blood just knowing that there was someone else, someone else she could rely on, to lean on, to leave things up to.
He smiled gently, then turned toward Dexx, dropping his hand.
Dexx looked over at Paige, a fierce look gripping his eyes and lips.
Paige shook her head, a slight smile on her lips, tears threatening to overtake her eyes. Though, why? Why would she cry that moment? Fucking emotions.
Because up until this point, she’d been taking on more and more and more and things were getting out of control and she didn’t know what to do and now, all of a sudden, she had this death magick and it scared the crap out of her and she didn’t know if she was even the best fit to lead the Whiskeys and maybe she needed to step down and who would keep her children safe and what the fuck was she doing?
Electric energy tickled along her skin, her scalp. Her ears buzzed.
Chuck held out his hand, palm down behind him.
Calm covered her like a blanket.
She breathed it in. The electricity evaporated. Her shoulders loosened minutely.
The bitch—Paige really needed her name so she could stop thinking about her as “the bitch,” which was just a female dog, but also a derogatory thing and she needed to stop that—watched Paige. Her stance relaxed bit by bit until she took in a deep breath, turning her attention to Chuck.
“Alex,” Margo said behind Paige.
Paige turned. “Margo, what are you doing here?”
Margo walked toward them, barefoot, but otherwise clothed. Her brothers followed, wearing jeans, and nothing else.
Boot grinned at Paige as they stopped next to her.
“I saw you two tear out of there like your tail was on fire.” Margo glared at Paige. “We’re here to protect you. Had you forgotten? Can’t very well protect you if you go off half-cocked without us.”
Paige released a long breath out of the corner of her mouth. She had a half-cocked problem. “Sorry.”
“What the hell happened?” Margo stepped forward. “And what the hell are you doing here, Alex?”
The bitch—Alex—lowered her head and looked at Margo out of the corner of her eye. “Kelly wouldn’t let it go.”
Margo’s face melted into lividity, her jaw lowering, her eyes going cold. “And you followed.”
“She was her alpha,” Chuck said.
“Do you see the rest of the pack here?” Margo flung her arm wide. “Because I don’t.”
“She lost most of the pack.” Alex’s shoulders tensed and she pulled her head back almost like a turtle. Or as much as a human could imitate a turtle.
The screen door closed and clothes were flung at Alex, Dexx, and the other shifter. “Get dressed,” Alma demanded. “I’m tired of seeing tatas and hoohahs standing proud in my front lawn.”
That was something the Whiskeys would have to get used to.
“What happened to Kelly?” Paige asked, watching Dexx slide on a pair of jeans.
“Dead,” Chuck said simply. He glanced at Paige. “I felt her passing.”
Awesome. So…now they had a pack? Balls of hell.
Chuck gestured to Dexx. “You have some decisions to make.”
Dexx glanced at Alex and the other shifter.
Another man limped from around the side of the house, blood trailing down his leg.
Alma grunted and disappeared back inside the house.
Alex straightened, raising her head high as she brushed down one of Leslie’s broom skirts that Alex had rigged into a dress. She met Paige’s gaze, then concentrated on Dexx.
“What decisions?” he asked, though by the sound of his voice, he already knew what kind of decision needed to be made.
Chuck didn’t immediately answer.
No one else filled the silence.
The screen door closed and more clothes filled the lawn, landing a bit short of the new shifter. “Are we stitchin’ ‘em up? Or lettin’ ‘em bleed?”
“We’ll stitch them up,” Paige said softly.
Alex shifted her startled gaze toward Paige.
Having a pack wouldn’t be bad. Not really.
But it would be one more thing they had to take care of.
Margo bit the inside of her cheek, thinking something through. Finally, she turned to Paige. “Alex is a good kid. She’s stronger than she thinks.”
“I’ve seen her in battle, Margo.” Paige took in a deep breath. “She’s plenty strong.”
“And kinda stupid.” Margo shot a derogatory look at Alex.
“We all were,” Paige said, glancing at Alex. “At some point.”
Margo smiled, the corners of her mouth slipping downward again as she turned to Alex. “And Paige is good people.”
“She took our life.” Alex shook her head. “It felt like my life was being sucked from me.”
“And you were eating my soul.” The air stuck in Paige’s throat as she said that last word. Reality. This was more than just some story. This was real life.
Chuck looked at Alex, his eyes wide. “Is this true?”
Paige raised her hands. She didn’t want Chuck to go all regional high alpha on the woman. “In her defense, I really was taking away their life.” She held her breath, unable to get her mind wrapped around the reality of those words. She’d thought them. She’d experienced them. But to say them out loud?
“You did what?” Alma asked.
Paige sucked in a breath. “Blackman magick is death magick.” She licked her lips and shook her head. “I…I don’t want to ever do that again. It was…wrong.” Her whole body shook as she relived the feeling of sheer power, the control she’d felt in bringing that death moment
closer.
Alex frowned, taking one hesitant step after another toward Paige. She reached out and touched Paige’s arm, her fingertips light. “You gave it back.”
“It was wrong,” Paige whispered, blinking away the tears. Again. Tears. Seriously. Was she a fucking baby? But there they were anyway. Because…well, shit was real.
Alex stared up into Paige’s face. “Your own powers scare you.”
Paige released a ghost of a chuckle. “You have no idea.”
Alex glanced at her packmates and dropped her arm. “You can’t do that to us again. Okay?”
Easily granted. Paige never wanted to use that magick again. Ever. “Okay.”
Alex turned to Chuck and raised her chin. “I will accept them as alpha.”
Paige raked her shaking fingers through her hair.
“Wait,” Dexx said. “I need to know what that means.”
“It means,” Chuck said with a slight smile, “that you accept them as family, that you protect them when they need it, guide them, teach them, look after them.”
“And in return,” Alex said, “we help you. We do what we can for you and protect you.”
Paige narrowed her eyes at Margo. They already had shifters doing just that.
Margo shrugged. “We’ve been trying to get into your pack since day one.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Paige hadn’t even thought about it.
“It’s not something,” Chuck said, “that is openly discussed. Either the alpha initiates the discussion, or there is no discussion to be had.”
So, reality was a lot more like those paranormal romance novels she’d read after all. She had notes, information she could half-way rely on. Awesome. “Where’s your pack?”
Chuck lowered his head. “They have none.”
Narrowing her eyes, Paige turned to Margo. “Why not?”
Margo ran her tongue along her back molars, thinking before she answered. “We had a difference of opinion with our last alpha.”
“And when you have a difference of opinions with us?”
Margo shook her head. “He was a bad alpha.”
Chuck shrugged. “He is not the greatest. No.”
“You wouldn’t ask us to do the things he did.” Margo shrugged deeply, her gaze lowered as if in shame.
Paige shook her head and turned to Dexx. “Well, you’d be their alpha.”
“You both would,” Chuck said. “You are mates.”
They hadn’t really made anything official.
“Your hearts call to one another. You are incomplete unless the other is around.”
That was all true. Paige latched onto Dexx’s green gaze. She couldn’t imagine life without him.
“You are both alphas.”
“Like you and Faith,” Dexx said.
Chuck nodded. “Much like me and Faith. Do you accept these shifters?”
Dexx glanced at Alma.
Alma threw up her hands and disappeared back into the house. “I’ll gather the first aid kit.”
Dexx looked at Paige with a look of “what do you think,” on his face.
He doesn’t know, Kamden’s sweet baby voice said in Paige’s head.
She nearly jumped out of her skin. She didn’t know when she’d ever get used to Kamden just randomly hopping inside her brain. Well, tell him I don’t know, either.
He says they could be helpful.
That poor kid. Why in the world did the All Mother think that giving a baby telepathic abilities was a good thing? Well, they could also be a lot of work. We’d have to feed them, keep them safe. Our house is crazy enough as it is.
He says they could work that out.
So, is he okay with this?
Kamden didn’t immediately answer.
What would all this do to his maturity? He was reading the minds of adults and, today, he was helping with a very adult situation. All before he was six months old.
And what about her own son’s maturity level? What was he seeing in his dreams when he woke up glowing?
Scary things, Kamden said. Dexx says yes.
Paige shrugged. Then, I say yes, too, but this is going to be mostly on him because my plate is already full and he’s just going to have to deal with this. Like deal with this.
Dexx nodded slowly, his gaze never leaving hers.
Now, you get back to school. What are you even doing anyway?
Playing with the fledglings.
What fledglings?
The ones outside. They’re shifting for the first time and I’m watching.
You’re three months old.
I don’t know what that means.
Blessed Mother. What had they done? Go back to whatever it was you were doing and try to be a baby. Okay? Lift a crayon and eat dirt.
Okay! Kamden’s voice disappeared.
That conversation was all kinds of wrong. Why, why, why had the All Mother awakened his gift so early? She was afraid of the answer.
“We accept,” Dexx said softly.
Before Paige could do much more, her phone rang.
Ethel.
“Hey,” Paige said as she walked around the back of Jackie. “What’s up?”
“I have some information I think you’ll find very interesting.”
“Oooookay. What is it?” Paige struggled to shake off what had just happened. Real world. Real world problems. Things she could deal with. Calm seeped through her inch by inch.
“DNA on your latest vic.” Ethel’s tone was cocky. “And you wouldn’t guess whose.”
After the conversation she’d had with Oliver, she knew whose DNA it was. “Vivien Blackman.”
“No. Merry Eastwood.”
“Merry—what?” But Oliver had said this woman had been killed by Vivien.
And that he’d been helping her.
Planting evidence? DNA?
“You have what you need to arrest her.” Ethel’s voice rose a few notes. “I don’t understand why you’re not more excited about this. You could put her behind bars.”
Yeah. She could. With doctored evidence. That wasn’t something Paige was just okay with. Merry had threatened.
Okay. Keeping it real, what kind of threat was Merry? Really? She’d tried to keep the Whiskeys out of her territory, but she’d done so with threats. Words.
The one attack on the Whiskey house had come from the shifters.
“I’m going to go visit with her. You run more tests.”
“What do you want me to run them for? This is solid.”
“And the results came back pretty quick.”
“Science isn’t that slow, Paige. It’s been days. Long enough for me to set up my lab and run the tests with time to spare.”
“Right. You just set up your lab. Can you just…” Run the tests again to make sure that nothing was tainted? So that no one could tell that the DNA had been planted? “Run it again? Please?”
Ethel sighed. “You murder my joy.”
“I love you, too. Thanks, Eth.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Ethel hung up the phone.
Paige turned to Dexx. “I need the keys.”
“No.” The shifters surrounded him. They’d been talking quietly.
“You’re busy and I need to get to work.”
“You’re their alpha, too. You need to be a part of this.”
Paige walked toward him, nodding and shaking her head at the same time. “And I will. But right now, I’m tracking down a killer. There’s new evidence and I need to go interview a witch.”
Margo raised her head from where she’d been talking to her brother, Boot. “Witch?”
“Yeah.” Paige released a breath. “Keys.”
“You’re not taking Jackie.”
“Fine.” Paige forced a smile. “Then I’ll take Jackie into town and take my car from there.”
“And how will I get there?”
“I can drive you,” Chuck said, his eyes narrowed, “or you can run.” Chuck glared at Dexx, then turned to Paige. “Do y
ou require our assistance?”
Paige shook her head. “It’ll be better if I go alone.” But there had been more with his words. He wanted her under his protection. “We’ll do whatever alpha thing or whatever we need to when I get back.”
He quirked his lips.
“I’ve got the first aid kit,” Alma said from the porch. “Who needs stitches and who needs Band-Aids?
Dexx growled low in his throat. “Keys should still be in the car.”
Right.
Paige slid into the driver’s seat. The keys were still in the ignition. Fuck. She didn’t even have Merry Eastwood’s address to plug into her phone. She had to stop by the office anyway. She’d just grab the address then.
The passenger door opened and Margo slid into the seat. She didn’t look at Paige. She simply grabbed the lap belt and snapped it into place.
“This would go better if I went alone.”
Margo gave Paige a hard look. “Not going to happen.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Margo didn’t speak for a long moment.
Paige decided to give the other woman a little time. Goodness only knew Paige could use a little.
“You don’t suck.”
Paige blinked in surprise.
“As a human being. You try to do what’s right. That’s someone I could follow, someone I could die to protect.”
What? No. Was that what these shifters thought they were signing on for? “You won’t be dying to protect me.”
“You hope.”
“Yeah. Of course that’s what I hope.”
“Not all alphas think that way.”
“I’m not an alpha. Not like what you think I am. I’m just—”
“A witch?” Margo finished for her. “Save it. Okay? Maybe my brothers and me need someone like you to believe in. Maybe my brothers and me need a home to belong in. Maybe it’s less to do with you and more to do with us.”
Paige swallowed, blinking back tears—again. What the fuck?—and looked at the house. “I’m glad to hear it.”
Margo shrugged. “We aren’t goin’ anywhere this way.”
Paige turned the key in the ignition and Jackie rumbled to life around them.
A smile slowly slid onto Margo’s lips. “We could just take his car.”
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