Circle of Wolves

by Jacqueline Roth

  The first spark of light flared from the bottom of the helicopter and fell to earth. A flare was fired directly toward their side of the river. Before Evan could open his mouth three small water globes shot from the river and drowned the single target. He smiled brightly and wished like hell he could be there to see Carsten’s face. Yeah, asshole, I got water mages. Bite on that a while.

  The second volley launched four flares. Globes he knew came from Kira and Sasha’s locations hit two of them and twin water orbs launched from Katerina’s position finished off the other two. The third volley doubled the number and the women dealt with them easily. Kira was smiling slightly and Mizu, who had stretched out a tendril of water from his tail to rest against her shoulder yawned as if bored.

  The fourth volley included flares aimed at the Wolves’ side of the river as well as the far side. Again the women dealt with them efficiently. Just then a loud howl was heard from the direction of the northern bridge. It was followed almost immediately by a loud explosion. Carsten had people on the ground and they’d just blown the bridge. Or rather, disintegrated it. The wood had blown itself into microscopic particles. Earth magic. No flames. Evan felt his confidence rising but kept telling himself the battle was far from over. Hell, it hadn’t even begun.

  The next attempt to get fire on the ground didn’t come from the helicopters, it came from the ground. Two large blazes erupted directly across from where Evan stood and two figures stepped out of the flames. The fire mages had arrived. The response from the Wolves was instant. The sound of the weapons discharging all around him was momentarily disorienting. The rapid pops and snaps exploded out from the village and the two fire mages hit the ground. Evan spent a quick moment to hope one of them was Julien. He’d like to think the Wolves had set the arrogant bastard on his face in the dirt.

  “Mother of God,” Sonya exclaimed as she saw the figures drop from the helicopters and float gently to the ground below. “They really can fly.”

  “Stay focused, Sonya,” Kira muttered. She had set down her weapon and was sending large orbs of water at the two fires on the ground. But the mages were on their feet now, the air mages standing at attention to either side, hands outstretched as if holding back a great wall. And they were. Evan could see the bullets hitting the wall of air and dropping harmlessly to the ground. But it was working. The gunfire was keeping the air mages too busy to do anything but stop the deadly projectiles from striking their targets.

  The fire mages began to walk a circle, spreading their flames as they moved until two large concentric circles of fire had been drawn on the ground, out of reach of the water missiles. Evan laid a hand on Kira’s arm, “Slow down. You can’t reach that far. Don’t expend the energy. We’ll need it later.”

  Evan watched the rings grow brighter and the flames grow higher. If what he thought was going to happen, it would be Julien’s doing. Only Julien could— The flames shot up into the sky and when they lowered standing in the center of the circle was a tight group of mages. And hunters. Evan cursed low in his throat.

  Two figures rose up out of the flames and soared high up in the air. The Wolves drove them back to the ground as they intensified the weapons fire. Four air mages stood in a line now on the opposite bank, each forced to concentrate hard to keep the ceaseless volleys of bullets from gaining entry. The best part of this was that it meant the hunters couldn’t fire through the protective wall of air. It would halt their bullets as surely as it would halt those of the Wolves.

  The mages spread out and Evan turned to Kira. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “Don’t let anything past, my love.” He rose and moved away.

  “Evan.” Her voice made him look back. He saw Mizu had now wrapped around Kira. His tail circled her waist and held him to her. “Be careful.”

  “Go wolf,” Mizu interrupted sternly. And Evan nodded and turned to jog out of the building before he gave in to his impulses and stayed at his mate’s side.

  He crept quickly through the shadows between the buildings. He moved around to where the first of the small houses stood. Damek’s small hand touched his. “Shall I go?” the small one asked. The green eyes burned brightly.

  “Go watch the bridge. Carsten will try to cross there soon. Make sure the earth does not allow that to happen.” Evan turned to his left and found Adem standing there. “Go to the river’s edge. Make things interesting on his side of the shore when he tries to reach the river that way. He’s seen we have water magic, so surely he’s not foolish enough to try to cross the river. But be ready for him.”

  “Foolish, no,” Adem replied. “Arrogant, yes. And so is his earth mage Mistress Kesia. She has been itching to try herself against you for years, Master.” He smiled brightly. “But her gnomes are too close in age. She has two gone to ground right now. The other two.” Adem shrugged as if to say they were of no consequence. Then he was gone and in the next second a small shrub appeared among a cluster of bushes where one had not been before.

  “You’re with me, kiddo,” Evan said, not bothering to look back to confirm she was there. He didn’t need to. Keita would be at his side. She was always at his side.

  “They are nearly in place, Master.” Her soft voice soothed his nerves. “He will try to talk, he always wants to talk.”

  “He’ll need to be sure the blood Wolves are really a part of this, that they’ve joined the fight. There is no other way to do that except to attempt a parlay.” Evan frowned. “Let’s see just how much Carsten underestimates me.”

  Circle of Wolves

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Dragons of Fire, Earth and Water

  There was a collective gasp of surprise from the Wolves as the white dove appeared in the sky over the heads of the mages. Score one for Keita, Evan thought. Carsten wanted to talk. The problem was Evan didn’t trust Carsten. Not one tiny little bit. But the playing field was different from what it ever had been. This wasn’t a training game or a covert excursion that Carsten was running. The presence of the white robes scattered among the mages and the hunters, meant he had witnesses. He had people who would be evaluating him, judging him and reporting to others on how he conducted this little adventure. And that meant they’d be evaluating the Wolves as well. Evan had to play by the rules, even if Carsten didn’t in the end.

  Evan’s left hand clutched the green aventurine stone and lifted. He allowed himself the futile wish that he’d been more prepared for this. His battle staff with its large sphere of amber, his preferred focus for larger magics, was locked away at his master’s house. As he gazed across the river at the mages with their staffs in hand, he cursed his lack of foresight. The small green quartzite stone he could hide in his hand was serviceable and would have to do. It had seemed a less obtrusive choice for traveling and it was better than nothing. It would amplify his magic if not channel and refine it as the amber would have done.

  “Pax.” A light burst from Evan’s fist. It shot up into the sky overhead and formed itself into the twin of the first dove. Keita transformed into a vine of ivy and wrapped herself around his left forearm just before he stepped away from the building and out into the shadows. Evan waited until all the wolves had registered the signs. He’d warned the key players about this and they knew it was a sign to halt their fire. Within a few seconds’ time, all gunfire ceased. Certain he wouldn’t be accidentally hit by one of the Wolves’ bullets, Evan moved out into a clear patch of ground just beyond the marketplace building.

  It was still dark on their side of the river. Carsten’s side was ablaze with light. “He’s not much of a tactician is he?” came the familiar voice from behind him. The air mages had shifted the currents and he was now upwind from the man whose approach he had not heard until seconds before.

  “No,” Evan agreed with his father-in-law, “he’s a showman. Always has been.”

  “And you think that makes him even more dangerous,” Gregoravitch said plainly.

  “Just like Wyton,” Evan agreed. “He knows how
to make things appear to be what he wants them to be.”

  “Yes,” the Alpha agreed quietly. “My father was very good at that.” His dark eyes did not follow the impressive display of magical lights overhead but stayed fixed on the mages. “I suppose you’re going to hand him a platform for his pretty speeches.”

  The side of Evan’s mouth curled slightly. “If I see a way around it, I’ll take it. But I think the best we can hope for is to give him enough rope to hang himself.”

  Carsten’s voice sounded loudly, seeming to come from the glowing bird that circled overhead. “Brother, it has been a long time. We are surprised to see you here and surprised by the hostility of our reception.”

  Liar, thought Evan. “Not that long, brother,” he replied. He hated the ostentation of using the light dove above them but had little choice if he wanted to be heard. “And what other reception would you expect hunters to receive from these people? Can you blame them? What other reason could you have for coming than a hunt? I had no information to offer that would justify such a show of force on your behalf.”

  “We do not blame them. There is a great deal of bad history between us. We acknowledge that. But there has been no harm done and we come on no mission of aggression toward the natural shapeshifters. You were not present at the last Master’s Circle.” Carsten’s voice was deceptively genial. “Cross over the river and come to us, Evan. We have much to discuss.”

  “You didn’t come all this way to talk to me, Ian.” Evan deliberately omitted the honorarium of master.

  There was a pause before Carsten replied. “No, I came for a different purpose. I came to help out your friends. We stand before you ready to perform an act of good faith, one beneficial to Wolf and human alike. We have too long left our problems for them to deal with. It is time that humans dealt with humans who are…a menace.” Evan tensed and waited. Carsten continued, “We know you have the ear of the Alpha of the Wolves. We would speak to him.”

  “Tell him you speak for us,” Gregoriavitch said softly, keeping his place in the shadows. Evan resisted the urge to turn but frowned at the words. Now this made him uncomfortable. It was one thing to be a liaison between the two sides but it was another to step into the role as the voice of the Wolves. “Evan,” the Alpha continued, “you are now my son. I am not asking you to turn against your first loyalties. Just to speak for us, for Kira and her family. I’m asking you to keep your vow, not break it.”

  When he’d spoken the words of his oath it had seemed a clear distinction. His loyalty was to Kira and her life would become his life. He’d seen the delineation plainly. His life would go back to the way it had been except that Kira would be at his side. Oh, he’d considered the possibility of a confrontation but it had always appeared in his mind as a dispute between light and dark. Seth, Marcus, Arianna and his master would be at his side. They would fight, mage and Wolf, together. Now mage and Wolf stood together but instead of being allies joined for a common good, they were a cluster of hybrids with no line to mark where mage ended and Wolf began. The choice didn’t seem like the same one he thought he’d made.

  But it came down to Kira. Nakira Forester Gregoravitch was his mate and his wife. There was not a part of him that did not love her completely. These people were her family and with rare exceptions, they had welcomed him and accepted him as part of that family. They, Kira especially, offered him love, kinship and friendship because of and in celebration of the wolf in him and not despite it. They wouldn’t turn away from him at the height of the full moon each month. The Alpha had opened his home to the werewolf and, no matter what their personal opinions, the people of the Wolf had recognized his worth and his status as mate to the woman who could one day rule them. The night of the hunt they had recognized him as a potential alpha male at the side of his female.

  Evan gripped the stone in his hand so hard he felt the smooth edges start to bruise his palm. He heard the sounds of movement around him. Soft, almost silent footsteps to his right heralded the approach of an older untrained water mage in the company of an impressive gray she-Wolf. Sasha and Sonya. Around Sasha’s neck was a necklace of pearls that hung to her sternum. The pearls seemed to be swimming laps around her neck as if alive. The undine Nitu. To his left he caught the shifting shadows of two very large and powerful Wolves, one a rich sable and the other a variegated gray. Standing between Alexi and William was the beautiful auburn-haired child mage. Around her shoulders was an iridescent cloak that moved and flowed. Aegia. At his back he felt the last of his chestnut water witches approach. She stepped up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The reassurance and acceptance flooded up the bond to him. His Kira, trying to calm her Evan.

  Evan let his eyes shift from Carsten to the figure in black on the dark master’s left. He recognized the battle staff in the man’s hand. The orb on the end was the only one of its kind. Obsidian inlaid with a swirl of pearl. There was no other stone like it. It shouldn’t even exist. It had been created by accident. A spell gone out of control had melded two smaller orbs, one large pearl and one obsidian sphere. The two materials were now fused together, never to be separated. The wooden staff was carved with images of flames, salamanders, undines and other water creatures. It was as unique as the mage who wielded it. Julien Amiens. The impossible. The man who ruled fire and water. The man who should not exist but who refused to die. Evan didn’t need to see the pale blue eyes to know the smirking derision they held at this moment.

  “If you would speak to the Wolves, speak to me.” Evan finally spoke the words. Carsten cast a quick glance to Julien who did not so much as twitch at the proclamation.

  “You?” The dark master mage’s voice was wary but held an underlying hint of amusement. “By what right do you speak for the Wolves, mage? You are an earth mage, not a Were.”

  “I am Evan Gregoravitch Forester, Beta male of the Family,” he spoke the name and rank that was now his. “I am mate to Nakira Forester Gregoravitch, Beta female. I am son by mating to Stanislav Petrov Gregoravitch, Alpha male of the Family.” Evan paused. As if he heard her call to him, he turned to look into Katerina’s eyes. The pride and hope he saw there made his stomach lurch. It churned as his decision was made. “And I am a shapeshifter. I am a werewolf.”

  There was a low murmur and a few shouts that ran through the mages as his words sank in. Every one of them, particularly Carsten’s mages, knew Evan personally. The only two figures who did not react in shock were Carsten and Julien. The only sign that Evan had surprised the fire mage came from the slight dip of the tip of his staff but he recovered and shifted it higher.

  “Are you saying, that the Grand Light Master has been hiding a werewolf in the highest ranks of the gifted? That he has allowed a monster access to magical knowledge and to the inner sanctum of the conclave?” The glee in Carsten’s voice was ill-concealed. He was positively beside himself with joy. In claiming his wife, his pack, Evan had just handed Carsten the Grand Dark Master’s robes. The masters’ circle would reward Ian Carsten for this news. And only the fact that a Grand Master’s appointment was for life would save Ryder from disciplinary action. Evan had just crippled his own circle. With one blow he’d stripped them of their earth mage and was on the verge of subjecting them to disbandment. He no longer had a circle but how could he destroy what Ryder had worked for all his life? There was only one way out of this and he hoped that the Wolves around him would forgive him for the lie he was about to tell.

  “No.” The word came out in a harsh, hollow tone. “The Grand Light Master knew nothing of my condition. My circle knew nothing of it. I’ve kept it a secret from them. I hid my curse even from my parents. No one knew until I came here.” He could smell and feel the tension rise among the members of the Family. The Wolves read his lie on his scent but not one of them showed their surprise. And with their silent complicity Evan watched as the momentary flash of hope Carsten had enjoyed died. To challenge Evan’s veracity would mean admitting that he had known about Evan all alon
g and remained silent. Only someone like Julien would be contrary enough to do something like that and strong enough to survive the fallout. Evan was grateful that again, at least in the short term, the fire mage’s interest ran parallel to his.

  “Are you saying you were infected by these creatures?” Carsten twisted again, trying to gain his footing in the exchange.

  “I did not know the Wolf who bit me,” Evan told the half truth. He hadn’t known Alexi at the time. He prayed all would stay silent, the admission that one of these Wolves had caused his curse would be manipulated by Carsten and the others to look as if it had been deliberate.

  “Then neither you nor the Wolves have any cause to protect these werewolves. We will accept the interest of the Weres in protecting you. But they must withdraw and allow us to deal with the infected humans who have made this area dangerous for everyone.”

  “No,” Kira’s voice broke through and Evan heard it echo softly through his link to the light bird. Realizing her voice could be heard through her mate’s magic, Kira continued. “This is Gregoravitch land and we will allow no outsider to hunt any living creature on our land.”