by Fel Fern
Deacon regarded him. The Alpha knew this information as much as he did, but let him repeat it, because maybe Deacon knew he needed to say it out loud. “Santino,” Deacon hesitated. “You know that’s impossible.”
He let out a bitter laugh. The Devil Hills community might consider those other two communities as allies, but each paranormal group remained protective of their own. They would never allow an outsider, especially a pack enforcer with a black reputation like him. Santino knew the nicknames the other pack members called him and his sister. The Devil and the Ghost.
Santino didn’t mind, he considered being called the Devil a compliment, but not now, not when they refused him entry because of what he was.
“They refused to let a monster like me into their land?” he asked with a mocking voice.
His wolf had gone silent with fury inside him. His lips twitched and he clenched his fists by his side. Even growing up, both he and his sister had been different from the other pack members. Other shifters feared them, although he never fully understood why. Only Deacon understood them.
“No, not because of you, but me.”
Santino blinked past his anger. “What?”
“I’ve let more outsiders into our territory, granted refuge to people who are Espers or relatives to Espers fleeing the Humans Matter government, but the other communities consider them outsiders. Red Sky and Blue Tooth consider me too… progressive.”
Santino had been part of the group that disagreed with that decision initially, especially given what happened to the pack in the past. Deacon’s father, the former Alpha, could barely hold the pack together during his time. The old Alpha had allowed too many fleeing fugitives on their lands.
As a result, one of those refugees had turned traitor and let the paranormal-hating humans into the territory. He and Sabine had been there when most of the pack had been decimated, massacred was a better word. Deacon took the position of Alpha at such a young age and built the pack from the ground up.
Deacon was stronger, more cunning than his father, and was capable of making the hard decisions no one else could. He invited other paranormal groups to Devil Hills and chose their allies carefully. He made sure to create bonds with them, made sure the Devil Hills territory wasn’t just home to the werewolf pack, but also to a group of hawk shifters, a coven of vampires, and other smaller groups who’d come to his call without hesitation if the territory was under attack.
Santino shook his head.
“If you didn’t let them in, you wouldn’t have met Daryl, and Forrest wouldn’t have met his mate,” he answered, referring to the youngest enforcer in the pack.
Daryl Rush didn’t make their Alpha weak as he initially thought, but the Esper had proven himself to be formidable. Daryl formed the missing piece in the Alpha’s heart, and through his kindness, other submissive and weaker pack members didn’t fear approaching Deacon anymore to talk about their problems.
“I don’t regret the decision, even if it meant dealing with more of those Discipline Squad members,” Deacon said.
Santino suppressed a snarl. He hated the Humans Matter’s task force in charge of capturing or killing paranormals with a passion. Deacon continued, “Thankfully, those bastards learned their lesson, but back to our original discussion, there is one community who—”
“Fuck, Deacon, why didn’t you open up with this earlier?” Santino demanded.
Deacon, the Alpha, gave him a pointed look which shut him up. “The Silver Thunder community, or the remnants of them, were hit by the Discipline Squad two days ago. The Alpha, the center of the pack, died.”
Santino swore. He’d never heard of this community before, so it must be small. “They have a healer?”
“Yes, but the healer’s demanding we take all the survivors with him, not just him.”
The healer’s demand caught Santino off-guard. He gritted his teeth. “How dare this werewolf—”
“Bobcat,” Deacon corrected.
Stumped, he stared at his Alpha. “You’re telling me a bobcat shifter is making demands of us wolves? Deacon, we’re one of the most feared werewolf packs in the country.”
“Exactly, that’s probably why Zack made that ultimatum.”
Santino wanted to head to the garage and wreck things. Sabine bought some second-hand furniture a while ago for him vent his anger on. His wolf felt on edge, pissed. Santino knew, ultimately, the decision to let the bobcat healer and his friends in their territory was entirely up to Deacon.
“I told Zack I needed to talk to my Beta and enforcers,” Deacon continued. “I want your opinion first.”
“Mine? Why?” Santino didn’t bother hiding the suspicion in his voice.
Deacon shrugged. “Because apparently Zack heard you’re my best enforcer, but I want your consent first. I’ll be sending you to dangerous ground and, given a choice, I don’t want to send any of my inner circle to an uncertain mission like this.”
He snarled. So, this little cat thought he could bargain with the Devil? Interesting. His anger cooled and he curved his lips to a smile. Even the most daring packmate had been terrified of dealing with him, both on the battlefield and in the bedroom. This little bobcat clearly didn’t know who he was dealing with.
“Santino, you know that’s the smile which frightens most of the other wolves?” Deacon asked with a grin. “So, I’m guessing you’re volunteering to escort Zack and his band of strays to Devil Hills?”
“If this little cat wants to dance with the Devil, then I can’t refuse,” he answered.
Chapter Two
“Wake up, Zack. Damn it,” a familiar voice yelled in his ear.
Zack groggily opened his eyes, uncertain where he was at first. Then it all came crashing back to him, the smell of smoke suffocating his lungs and the sight of his home burning. Tears hovered in the corner of his eyes, but Zack refused to cry.
Adam and the others expected him to be strong, even though he was no leader. They had no leader now. The Discipline Squad took out the two Alphas in charge of running Silver Thunder. Henry, the wolf Alpha, and Glenn, his own Alpha, had been the first two casualties.
“I’m awake,” he mumbled, sitting up. His back protested, reminding him he’d been sleeping in the front of the car again. “What’s happening?”
“Milo came back from his scouting mission and spotted two white sedans with New City plates,” Adam whispered.
That jolted him awake. The Discipline Squad’s main headquarters were located in New City, the largest Humans Matter-run city on the continent.
“How did they catch up to us?” he whispered. Zack remembered being chased down by one of the Discipline Squad members as he ran to his car with Adam. They must have known there were survivors. “Where’s Milo?”
Zack stumbled out of Adam’s car, relieved to see Milo and the others huddled outside Natasha’s blue Road Ranger. Their small group of seven had only been the survivors of a paranormal community which had been a hundred strong. None of them were fighters. Zack was a healer, Adam and Milo submissive raven shifters, while Natasha and her brother Gavin were bobcat submissive shifters. The other two members of their sad little party were Tyler and Sammy, two orphaned werewolf pups.
Seeing him awake, Milo came running toward him. The other man looked spooked, but seeing him whole and uninjured, he breathed a sigh of relief. They all started out as strangers. The Silver Thunder community had been made up of a few groups but kept to their own, but Zack was the only healer there, so he knew Adam and the rest. Together, they rounded up the survivors and got the hell out of the land they’d never see again.
Zack looked back as the old gorgeous forests surrounding the community burned down. Thinking of the Discipline Squad and their flame throwers made them angry.
“Z-Zack, thank God you’re awake,” Milo blurted. The raven shifter started speaking, words rushing out of his mouth.
Zack gripped Milo’s shoulders and said in a firm voice, “Calm down, Milo, I can’t understan
d you. Breathe in and out. Good. Okay. What did you see?”
“I didn’t linger. I was too scared they’d somehow notice me,” Milo said, teeth clattering.
Zack heard rumors that the Discipline Squad was able to identify Espers, shifters, and other paranormals. New technology, maybe, or worse. The Humans Matter government hadn’t exactly been quiet about their program to ‘rehabilitate’ Espers so they’d become contributing members of their community.
“Go on,” Zack said. His nerves were on edge and his inner cat restlessly paced inside him, wary. The animal had been doing that lately, but he didn’t have the luxury of shifting and letting off steam.
“About a dozen men and two white vans. They stopped by that last convenience store where we made a food run last night,” Milo whispered.
He froze, recalling the grizzly old werebear who ran the store.
“They killed him, Zack. Two of them emptied their bullets into the werebear, and they all laughed afterwards,” Milo said, beginning to shiver. He walked up to the other man and gave him a fierce hug, because Milo looked like he needed it and all shifters welcomed touch. Milo calmed down a little.
“They started grabbing food from the aisles,” Milo finished. “I couldn’t linger because one of them noticed me watching on the roof of their van, so I flew. That was an hour ago. They’ll be here soon, thirty minutes maybe.”
“Get everyone back to the truck,” he said to Milo. He watched the raven shifter relay the news to the others.
Adam and he got back into his car, with Adam at the wheel. He chose the raven shifter as the driver, because he could rely on Adam to react rationally in a dangerous situation.
“We’re still heading toward the Devil Hills territory?” Adam asked once he got the engine started.
Zack looked behind him, relieved to see Milo and the others following behind them. He needed the reassurance they were safe.
“Yeah, I managed to speak to the Alpha, Deacon Becker, using the phone in Rig’s store.”
He swallowed, recalling the silver-haired werebear who insisted on giving them a fifty percent discount on all their purchases when he couldn’t convince them to take the food and drinks for free.
Those Discipline Squad bastards gunned Rig down like an animal, the way they did the rest of his bobcat pack. He clenched his fists. Remembering the horror of the night of the massacre would only resurface grief. He hastily swiped at his eyes, glad Adam’s gaze remained on the road. Zack couldn’t allow himself to grieve, not yet. There was plenty of time for that later, once he got everyone to safety.
Realizing he left Adam hanging, he continued, “Becker said once we get within this coordinates near their territory, his enforcer Santino and his team of soldiers will escort us the rest of the way.”
He opened up his phone and showed Adam the coordinates on his GPS. He’d already informed Milo and the rest. Zack didn’t manage to give them to Adam last night because the raven shifter had fallen asleep right away, probably from driving eight hours straight. Their group agreed to rest for the night because the werewolf pups needed rest and they needed to come up with their next plan.
Admittedly, heading toward an unknown territory ruled by one of the most vicious and largest werewolf packs in the country wasn’t exactly the best strategy, but they had no other choice, not with the Discipline Squad members so close.
“The Devil?” Adam asked with awe in his voice.
Everyone in the paranormal world knew about Deacon Becker and his Devil and Ghost, the two terrifying werewolf enforcers he kept by his side. Even in the world of the supernatural, Deacon was considered the Alpha of Alphas, because rumor had it he possessed abilities other shifter Alphas didn’t. There was no denying the facts, either. That Deacon was able to hold a territory as large as Devil Hills for so many years was only proof of his leadership skills.
Zack didn’t bother mentioning to Adam about Deacon’s parting remark, which unsettled him.
Be careful when you dance with the Devil, little cat. If you survive him, then congratulations, Deacon had said.
What the hell did that mean? Was the most dangerous Alpha in the country trying to scare him? Well, Deacon had another thing coming if he thought Zack would be quivering in his boots by that threat. Then again, if what he heard about Santino Moreno was true, he was glad the Devil was on their side.
“How did you convince Deacon to let us stay? I thought the Devil Hills community is picky about which outsiders or refugees they allow in.”
This was the hard part. He swallowed and told Adam the truth. “I lied.”
The car swerved and it took Adam a few seconds to get it back on path. “What?” Adam asked.
“I heard Deacon was looking for a special kind of healer, and I told him I can probably wake one of his enforcers from a comma with the help of an empath.”
It wasn’t the best time to mention that said enforcer also happened to be Santino’s sister.
Adam let out a string of creative curses before finally being able to speak again. “Zack, you’re probably underestimating yourself again. You’re the best healer in Silver Thunder.”
“I was the only healer in Silver Thunder after my mom passed away,” he corrected.
He let out a breath. His mom had been his best friend growing up, because Zack sometimes felt like an outsider in the bobcat pack. Zack was neither a warrior nor a submissive cat shifter, but his mother had been the one to teach him that healers were important to any shifter group. She passed away in his teens, though, and as a result, Zack never fully completed his training.
There were two kinds of shifters in their world, those who were born and those created by the bite of an Alpha. It was still a mystery where healers originated from, but in Zack’s case, his entire bloodline had been made up of healers. They were considered essential to a healthy pack, a bridge between the dominant warriors and submissive members.
“A pack as large as the Devil Hills should have a healer,” Adam pointed out.
“They do, but Deacon mentioned their healer, Elaine, isn’t able to help. This kind of healing is kind of unique,” he admitted. “It’s not just about healing physical wounds, but mental ones, too, so the healer has to work together with an empath Esper.”
“An Esper that’s able to read emotions?” Adam asked.
He nodded. “Deacon’s mate is one, but he lacks training in this area, too. So, in other words—”
“We’re fucked once Deacon discovers you lied to him.”
“Don’t use that tone on me, Adam. I did what I can to secure our group safe passage. If we didn’t have anything a powerful group like that needed, then I doubt they’d allow us entry into their lands.”
He let out a breath and shut his eyes. Damn it. Zack was so tired, and he pitied the Alphas who were in charge of all the members of their pack. Leading was hard work. Zack wanted to return to doing what he born for, being a healer.
“I’m sorry,” Adam finally said. “I know we’ve been putting pressure on you, and I respect your decision.”
He opened his eyes. “Thanks, Adam. That means a lot. First order of business, we head there. Even the Disciple Squad steers clear of the Devil Hills territory, knowing they’ll kill uninvited guests first before asking questions. Once we get there, then I’ll figure out a way to deal with Deacon.”
Easy enough words to say, but in truth? Zack was scared shitless. No one tangled with Deacon Becker or the Devil without expecting dire consequences.
Chapter Three
Santino restlessly paced on all four paws. Zack and his group of misfits must have arrived by now. Did they run into unexpected trouble? Pack protocol demanded he must standby on these coordinates, which was no longer considered part of Devil Hills territory.
This area was where the pack usually met other paranormal groups for gatherings or meetings, those the pack didn’t quite yet trust to let into their land. After all, the town formed the core of their territory and it not only housed packm
ates who chose to live a little ways from the wolf pack house, but also entire families of paranormals and Espers. It was the duty of the dominant paranormal group, in that case, the pack, to safeguard the rest of the community.
He knew he should calm down, because it might affect the rest of his team. Already, Jared and Noah, the two newest members of his team, looked uneasy. The older ones, those who’d been with him longest, knew his moods by now, though. The Beta and six enforcers formed Deacon’s inner circle, but Lance and the enforcers also led their respective teams.
Santino knew he’d been neglecting his duties since Sabine fell into a coma, but not anymore. He understood that Deacon and the pack needed him, and Sabine would have chastised him if she saw him slacking off his responsibilities.
Instinct told him to pad closer to the border which divided the woods from the main stretch of road that Zack and his friends would most likely come through. Remaining shielded in the trees provided him and his team the most tactical advantage, especially against Discipline Squad humans who trained their entire lives to take down paranormals.
His second-in-command, Ariel, brushed against his fur, silent question in her clear summer-blue eyes. If another female werewolf did that to him, he’d take it as a sign of flirting, but Ariel was happily mated and one of the best senior warriors in the pack. Since they were all in wolf form, they couldn’t speak, and Santino couldn’t talk to any of them mind-to-mind the way he could to Deacon or his sister.
Santino padded forward, his wolf telling him Zack would arrive anytime soon. He spun, noticing Ariel tailing him, but he gave her a gentle shove using his telekinesis Esper abilities. Santino seldom showed off his Esper abilities to anyone, but he trusted Ariel. She gave him a snarl, accompanied by an annoyed look, telling him she didn’t like his command that he’d go alone. Nonetheless, she returned to the others.
A hawk screeched in the distance, and he found two of Malden, the hawk king’s, hawk shifters perched on a nearby tree. The hawk shifters were their closest allies and would relay any critical information back to Deacon and the pack. Santino growled at them in acknowledgement.
