by Aline Hunter
She ran her fingers across the paper. “Sneaky bastard.”
Diskant reached past her to turn to the next page. This one had some handwritten notes and a sketch of a sword with a stone in the center of the pommel. More pictures followed, with the same stone featured, a stone that his mate recognized.
The Brisbane locket.
She removed the note attached to the photo, the wax seal with the symbol of the Villati already broken, and handed him the file. She started reading the moment she could see the words, whispering each sentence.
The locket wasn’t a locket at all but something called a zephyr. With it her telepathy would be enhanced significantly, to the point that she could possibly read people from miles away. Unfortunately, the Villati weren’t the only ones who knew about it and as such, keeping it placed the holder in a substantial amount of danger. That was why Craig had given the package to Thomas and had it delivered to her. He still wanted to meet to discuss the details and ended the missive by imploring her to contact him as soon as possible.
“Damn it, Thomas.” She closed the note. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
In that moment Diskant realized she loved her brother, no matter how much of a consummate fuckup he was. In her mind the good memories—of them as children, teenagers and college-age students—suffocated the bad, taking her back to a time when he didn’t gamble and was actually a decent man.
“I can put out word with the packs,” he offered, stroking her hair. “They might be able to track him down.”
“No.” She sighed. “I can’t keep bailing Thomas out. As much as I worry about him, he’s going to have to start taking care of himself. I’m not his keeper anymore and I have other people to think about.”
His hand stilled as he realized even though he was blocking her link to the pack and lessening the full impact of their loss, she was well aware of it using her telepathy. Her heart was heavy, her mind attuned to him, seeking to remove the ache in his chest and replace it with the promise of something better.
“Ava…” He attempted to extend her comfort but couldn’t find the words, unable to say exactly how he felt.
She turned to him, offered a small smile and leaned across the tub to place the note on top of the file he’d plopped onto the floor. She brushed her lips against his, prepared to ease his pain. A knock came from the bedroom and she pulled away, gazing up at him with eyes full of desire and love.
“It’s going to be fine,” she said softly, reading his thoughts with ease, and rose from the water like Venus, beads of water trickling along her fair skin, traveling down the valleys of her breast and abdomen. She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his bare torso and pressed her wet chest to his.
“D,” Nathan called through the door.
Ava kissed him quickly, unwound her arms and reached for a towel. “Go ahead,” she said as she lifted her foot, placed it on the rim of the tub and started fluffing and drying her leg, revealing fleeting flashes of the smooth, pink mound at the apex of her thighs. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Diskant turned from the temptation and strode from the bathroom. He could sense agitation radiating through door, could feel his pack mate’s worry long before he grasped the handle and stood before Nathan.
The Beta didn’t waste any time. “If you still want Ava to see that asshole we brought in with the Shepherd, bring her to the basement—now. The bastard is running off at the mouth and Trey is eventually going to lose it and kill his worthless ass.”
“Why didn’t you gag him?”
Nathan lifted his hand. There was a large, gaping wound in the fleshy portion between his index finger and thumb. The injury had started to mend but it was apparent by the missing flap of skin that a massive chunk had been removed.
“He bit you?”
Nathan nodded and lowered his hand. “He’s been an absolute cockbite since he came around. His eye is swollen shut, and I’d guess more than one of his ribs is broken since he’s having a hard time breathing. But he’s still not willing to back down.”
“Stupid fuck,” Diskant snapped.
“Nathan?” Ava spoke from just behind Diskant and then he felt her hand against his back. He turned slightly and she came around, dressed in one of his T-shirts, which fell to her knee. “Is everything okay?”
Diskant wondered if she was attuning to Nathan, listening in to his thoughts, but realized she wasn’t when her concerned gaze returned to him.
“We need to go downstairs,” Diskant answered before Nathan could. “We need you to get any information you can from the men we brought back with us. Can you do that?”
When she nodded, Nathan’s shoulders relaxed. “You’d better hurry. Doc said the Shepherd doesn’t have a lot of time left with the blood loss he’s sustained.”
Ava paled. “Blood loss?”
“It’s going to be okay.” Diskant wrapped an arm around her waist. “You won’t face them alone, baby.”
“As much as I hate to rush you, you’d better hurry.” Nathan interrupted and spun toward the staircase. “If Trey can’t kill one of them, he’s bound to take out a wall or two. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be able to hold out.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Where are they?” Trey sneered into the bloodied face of the man, who didn’t flinch or give an inch. “You will tell me what you know or I’ll make you wish you’d never been born. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The masochistic asshole smiled, spat in his face and taunted, “Fuck you.”
Trey had brought his hand back, prepared to deliver a blow that would crush the eye on the unmarred side of the bastard’s face, when a hand wound around his wrist.
“Stop, brother,” Emory said evenly though his voice was rough. “The Shepherds are long gone. I think everyone knows they never intended to stay.”
Emory nodded to his former friend and pack mate, Brian. “Shut him up.”
Brian stepped behind the man strapped to the chair in the center of the room and lifted the kitchen towel they’d been forced to use as a gag. The man struggled as Brian forced the material into his mouth like a cloth bridle.
Trey snarled his outrage. There wasn’t much left intact in the basement now. In an effort to curb his temper, Trey had attacked any object in the room that could take the edge off his anger and lessen the sting of the vast ache in his chest. Like Diskant, he felt the loss of his pack mates, was aware of the precise moment when their lives had been snuffed from existence.
Gazing around the room, he studied the pensive faces of those who had lost loved ones. Some were fortunate, having lost only close friends and acquaintances as their immediate families chose to remain outside the city, in more rural, less-populated areas. Others, however, were in the grip of grief.
His attention drifted to two of the mated males who’d lost their females in the explosion.
One was newly mated to a wolf female, which meant he might survive the loss. There was no bloodbond to complicate things.
The same couldn’t be said for the other.
Trey ripped his gaze from Zach, who was now a virtual dead-shifter-walking, detached from everything around him. He sat unmoving, staring blindly across the room. Although he’d only been in the second stage of the bond with Katie, it was enough that he probably wouldn’t survive the loss.
Fuck if it didn’t make him furious. So goddamn angry he wanted to tear the Shepherd from throat to asshole and feast on his heart. The void was bad enough without what could occur as a consequence in the aftermath. If Zach didn’t improve, the humane thing would be to put him out of his misery.
A fucking kindness that Trey would be expected to deliver as an Alpha.
Shuffling diverted his focus and he turned in time to see Kinsley descend the stairs with Nathan on his heels. The expression on his face spoke volumes, reminding the pack that while he wasn’t one of their own, his loyalty was as strong and unshakable.
“It took a lot
of ass-kissing but the prides have agreed to take turns monitoring the city if you decide to track down the Shepherds responsible.”
“You’re sure we can trust them?” Nathan asked as he strode past Trey.
“They know that this isn’t something they can turn their backs on,” Kinsley answered. “Once Shepherds decide to make a statement like this it’s only a matter of time before they return. The prides won’t risk their own. They’ll band together now. They won’t stand alone when the shit hits the fan.”
“I want their fucking blood.” Trey rotated in a circle until he located Emory. He stared his brother in the eye, wanting to be clear. “Retrieving your mate is only the beginning.”
Emory’s irises flared, shifting from caramel to amber, and he nodded.
“You can’t go to war with the Shepherds,” Kinsley said, reading between the lines. “As Alpha, you’ll bring danger to the packs.”
“You’re right,” Trey remarked dryly. “Which is why I’ll be relinquishing my place before we leave.”
“What?” Everyone in the room questioned in unison, their disbelieving gazes falling on him.
“I’ve lost over half of my pack tonight.” His voice nearly cracked, strained by emotion. “Some of them were friends, others were family. I have to make sure something like this never happens again. We can’t continue to allow Shepherds to choose the battleground and kill us as it suits them. We’ve been neutral for too long. That means some hard choices have to be made. It’s the best time for me to step aside and allow another to take my place so that things will transition smoothly.”
No one spoke yet Trey could hear the unspoken question. The remaining pack wanted to know who would be in charge when he left, who would take control to rebuild and put things back in order. Every Alpha chose his successor. While there could always be a challenge for the position, it was a common practice and display of respect to honor the Alpha’s decision in the matter.
Taking a deep breath, he decided there was no better time than the present to make his intentions known. Although he hadn’t asked the man of the hour to consider accepting the position, he was confident he would nonetheless. It wasn’t just his city at stake but his race as a whole. Being an Omega didn’t change that, it only raised the stakes.
“I plan to ask Diskant to take his rightful place as Alpha. He was born into my pack, raised in my pack, and had the Omega mark not surfaced upon maturity would have become my immediate choice.” A stunned silence spread through the room and he waited several seconds before he continued. “Diskant will want to remain here with his mate. He’s fully bloodbonded now, which means he’ll need to establish a safe haven for Ava and a family.”
“But he’s an Omega,” Brian remarked cautiously.
“So is Ewan McCormick,” Kinsley said, taking slow, intentional strides into the room. “He manages the jaguar pride in New Orleans and resides over the packs in the vicinity. A shifter can be an Omega and the Alpha of a pack. If Diskant is willing to take on the responsibility, it is possible to do both.”
“Do you honestly think he’ll consider it?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, I do,” Trey answered. “He’ll want to make as stable and safe an environment as he can for his mate. There is no better way than to call on the power of a pack.”
“Unless he decides to move to Alaska where they can’t be tracked,” Nathan countered.
“How about you discuss the situation with me instead of taking bets on what I will or won’t do?” Diskant appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in nothing more than blue jeans and a grim smirk, his mate standing at his side.
Trey watched him descend the stairs with the blonde pixie. Diskant’s gaze darted to the Shepherd strapped to a chair, the bandage obscuring his stumped wrist bright red with blood, and for a moment his eyes shifted gold—revealing the wolf. He stopped several feet away and stared at the man, saying nothing, just watching him with a hunter’s eyes. Trey could understand the impulse he was experiencing. Setting the asshole loose and giving chase appealed to him as well but that couldn’t happen.
Not yet.
“I should torture you slowly, you know,” Diskant finally said, tone menacing, moving closer as Ava remained rooted to the spot. “Considering what you are and what you to do our kind, I’m sure you’re aware of how long you can keep someone alive if you really want to. There are so many ways we can stretch the misery out. Maybe we could start simple, by breaking your fingers at the knuckles. We’d reset them, of course, so that we could do it all over again. Or maybe we could get a few needles from the tattoo shop Brian owns. I’ve always wondered how badly it hurts when your cock is pierced like a fucking pin cushion.”
The man remained silent and harsh lines appeared around his mouth as he forced his lips together, as if he knew he’d give over the goods if the punishment for remaining silent was brutal enough. It was a damn shame the son of a bitch couldn’t be told that he would be tortured regardless of his cooperation, his pain used as a balm to nourish and solidify the bonds of the pack. When this was all said and done, he would be provided the opportunity to flee, a fucking sheep amidst a pack of wolves. They would hunt him. They would track him. And when they found him they would take him down as a group, feasting on his blood while ripping him apart piece by piece.
“Nothing to say?” Diskant asked. “That’s all right. We’ll get there. We have all the time in the world.” Bending at the waist, he pressed into the man’s space, forcing him to move his head back or risk bumping noses. “You’ve gone and fucked with the wrong pack, Shepherd.”
“Is that a yes?” Trey asked, stepping closer. “You’ll ascend?”
Diskant snarled into the face of the man in front of him, his teeth no longer human but wolf, the canines large, sharp and prominent. “I’ll deal with you soon,” he promised. His features returned to normal as he moved away from the bound man and stared at Trey.
There was an enormity of pain in his eyes but there was also something else. Something that removed the sickening weight in the pit of Trey’s stomach, providing the first semblance of relief he’d experienced since he’d made the decision to hunt each and every Shepherd down until they’d never threaten another shifter.
“Ava mine,” Diskant’s voice changed as he addressed his mate, leaving Trey’s question unanswered. “Come here.”
She padded over to him, her bare feet silent on the carpet, and stopped at his side. Her focus was entirely on the Shepherd now, a visible crease marring her brow. The Shepherd’s expression suddenly changed. His eyes became cloudy and his facial muscles relaxed. It was as if he’d been given a strong drug of some kind, erasing all the worry, doubt and fear evident in his expression.
Ava unexpectedly brought her right hand to her mouth, her index finger and thumb resting on each side of her nose, and closed her eyes. Even from where he stood, Trey could see that she was trembling. Diskant placed his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers able to encompass the entire circumference of her throat. She took several deep breaths before she opened her eyes and moved her hand until her fingers rested over his.
“They wanted to take out as many of you as they could.” Her voice was quaking and Trey could scent the tangy smell of anxiety and fear radiating from her skin. “They’ve been planning this for weeks.”
“Planning what?”
She lifted her head and looked at Diskant. “To leave a hole in the heart of the shifter population by making sure they killed you.”
“Fucking hell,” Diskant murmured and drew her into his arms.
“And Mary?” Emory asked anxiously.
“She’s at her uncle’s ranch.” Ava’s answer was muffled against Diskant’s chest. “She’s been on lockdown since they found her with you.”
Ava peered up at Diskant and their gazes met. They remained that way for several seconds, as if they were communicating in some manner. Diskant’s face became a mask of fury and outrage.
“Doc,” Diskant growled,
never taking his attention from the tiny blonde who studied him with an increasingly sad expression.
The pack physician moved from his spot behind the bar, appearing so different from the professional who practiced family medicine in the human world. His normally tidy appearance was ruined by wrinkled, bloodstained clothing.
“Boss?” Doc asked as he stopped beside the Shepherd who was no longer in a daze and gawked at Ava in horror, trembling violently, the smell of his terror burning in Trey’s nose like Tabasco.
“How long until he bleeds out?”
“A couple hours, maybe more. He’s been slipping into shock ever since we brought him in.”
“Diskant.” Ava’s voice seemed so out of place, so incredibly wrong in the violent fury that permeated the room. She rested her fingers on his cheek. “Don’t be the animal they believe you to be. You’re better than that.”
Pain flitted across Diskant’s face as he gazed down at his female and Trey knew that as much as Diskant wanted to give her what she wanted, he wouldn’t be able to. Pack law dictated revenge and consequence.
“She shouldn’t stay down here, D. It’s too much, too soon,” Trey spoke up. “Have her take the information we need and go back upstairs.”
Diskant bent over and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and turned toward the asshole who remained a mystery to them all. As soon she stepped toward him he started struggling, fists opening and closing as he attempted to rotate his wrists and free himself from the restraints. His good eye narrowed, a line of spit seeping past the gag and down his chin. His words were muffled but his anger was evident, his fury so strong that the pack started shuffling around the room.
Halfway to the man, Ava stopped. A soft intake of air was followed by an ominously whispered, “Oh, dear god.”
She gagged and sagged to the floor. Diskant’s much larger body covered her like a shield as he placed a hand on her lower back and followed her down. She vomited while on her hands and knees, the retching sound loud inside the too-quiet room. She continued until the gagging noises vanished and her heavy breathing replaced them.
