Rebellious Hood

by Kendrai Meeks

  “She’s half-werewolf.”

  “Fine, puppy then. My point is, she doesn’t scream and shout and act like the world is ending because of a wet nappy or anything. She’s special. And I like her just fine.”

  Who was I kidding? I loved the little thing. We all did. Hell, even the hoods who saw her in the courtyard when we’d taken a walk earlier went gaga over her, and according to Markus, most of them were so high-and-mightiest, they questioned the reverence of saints.

  “At least tell me you’re here because you have news. Did they finally say Geri and Tobias could have guests?”

  The sparkle in his eyes dulled as his hand and eyes dropped away. “No, they’re both still isolated from the others at the top of the tower. No one’s allowed up there except Brünhild and Petunia. Even Markus says he’s embargoed.”

  Damn it. It had been two days since they’d come back from Spain, since the horrific word that the mission to kill the Ravens failed. Well, wasn’t totally successful, anyway. Three had been whacked, I’d heard from Yan. The Grand Matron managed to take out two during the escape, and Igor Kharmarov had given his life to destroy another. That left three, one of them being the Big Bad Daddy Vamp, Vlad Tepeş. As sad as that was, worse news came later: Geri’s dad had been killed during the mission. Officially, Pietro had been exiled at the time of his death, so he wouldn’t be allotted any memorial. Which, IMHO, was sucky on the hoods’ part. I mean, damn. But unofficially, his death painted a gray cloth over everything and everyone, most of all Brünhild, who’d left the compound soon after getting back to Triberg, and hadn’t been seen by anyone since.

  Mina grunted, her little lips puckering and drawing me from my reverie. “Looks like someone is hungry again. I swear, at the rate this child eats, she should be the size of a sewer rat by next week. I better make up some more formula.”

  But before I could get three steps to the door, Caleb swooped her out of my arms. “I got her. You get some rest. It’s late.”

  “It’s only 1 AM.”

  “And you’re still a huey,” he said. “All good little girl and boy humans should be tucked up in their beds by now.”

  “I’m not good. Or little. And if there’s any word from Geri, I want to know.”

  “I promise, if anything comes before morning, I’ll let you know. Get some shut-eye. The others and I will be on Mina duty through the night.” He shifted the baby from the cradle of his arms to his shoulder, giving her a little bounce. “We’ll count on you to handle the day shift again.”

  “In that case, I think I’ll grab a few hours then. You guys might sleep during the day, but this little one doesn’t seem to give a damn that she’s supposed to be nocturnal.” I extended my arms over my head, inverting my steepled fingers and feeling a beautiful stretch down the sides of my midframe. “Thanks, Buffy. Sometimes you don’t totally suck.”

  “That might be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, Barbie.”

  Little Mina’s eyes caught mine as the slayer turned away. I’d blame being tired for why the shut off key in my brain didn’t turn in time.

  “You’d be such a good daddy.”

  Caleb froze. Turned his head halfway back toward me. Turned it back toward the door.

  And left.

  THIRTY-ONE

  GERI

  His scent filled my senses. My hand reached for his, which was stroking my cheek. “Tobias...”

  Slowly, the world came back into focus.

  I opened my eyes to see beauty. My love, my wolf, my mate, smiling down at me. He’d grown a full beard, which, combined with his usual mess of shoulder-length hair, made him look like a lumberjack who’d escaped a Pacific rainforest, but I didn’t care. I’d take him bald or wild, just as long as I had him.

  I reached up, tracing my finger over the significant beardage. “Hi there.”

  His eyes closed as he huffed out his relief, his forehead falling to mine. “Bloody hell. I thought I lost you. I thought you’d never wake up.”

  “I rescued you,” I said, like that was the perfect counterargument to being comatose. “I came for you.”

  He grinned as he pulled back. “Yes, you did. You total badass, you did.”

  But with consciousness came memory, and the realization of the cost for his delivery.

  “My father...”

  His smile dissolved. “I’m sorry, Geri.”

  Panic struck my heart. “Markus? My mother?”

  “They’re okay. Mourning, but alive.”

  “And the Ravens?”

  He shied away his eyes. “Your mother killed two. Igor a third. Three, they presume, fled.”

  I pushed myself up by the elbows, ready to jump to my feet, but stopped when I realized I was in a bed.

  With Tobias.

  I sat up, observing the space. No doubts about where we were. The carved wooden bed frame, the dark velvet bed curtains, the large oval window that opened out to the view of the valley below.

  “This is the Grand Matron’s suite. This is my mother’s bedroom.” I turned to Tobias. “And you’re here.”

  The lupine blushed, pushing himself off the bed. He adjusted the bathrobe tied around him as he took to his feet. “I swear, nothing happened. I’ve been in my wolf most of the time, just as soon as I was able to do it again. I only took on my skin when I noticed you were waking up.”

  “No, it’s fine. I—”

  I threw off the blanket and discovered I was dressed in a white nightgown that ran down to my feet and its sleeves to my wrists. A bandage covered a patch of skin where I suspected an IV line had dripped a steady bead into my veins.

  “How long was I out?”

  “Three days under. But that was only because Petunia induced it. She wanted to make sure the worst of your injuries healed before you could argue with her. I guess everyone thought you’d fight your way back to Spain if they’d woken you any sooner. Good thing hoods heal with superhuman speed. It’s still red and swollen, but the skin has closed over.”

  “Three days? I’ve been out for three days. And you’ve just sat there the whole time? How did you get up here? Wolves aren’t allowed in Schloss Wolfsretter without being bound in silver. To have a wolf in the tower, though? I’m surprised the council didn’t riot.”

  He smirked. “I’m sure they weren’t happy, but no one’s going to attack the decisions of a grieving widow.”

  His words trickled off just as my sadness rose anew. My dad. If he hadn’t bound me in blood-claimed silver, I would have been with him when he’d been captured. Maybe I could have fought off the Ravens with him. Maybe things would have been different. Maybe... so many things. Nothing could be done when a page was turned. The story stopped for no one. His was just another name of the fallen now, joining Igor, Inga, Kara, and Alex.

  Alex!

  I leaped up. “Oh my god, Mina!”

  Tobias’s mighty arms caught me as I tried to fly by. “Hold up now, explain yourself.”

  “Mina, the baby,” I said, pulling back. “She’s... It’s complicated. But she’s mine. Ours. I mean, she’s pack. Our pack. She’s our...”

  “Daughter?” The wolf grinned, pulling me into his embrace. “Is that the word you’re looking for, Geri? Our daughter?”

  I swallowed, even though his scent was making me dizzy. “I’m her godmother, and, well, her mother died, so I just assumed... We can talk about our kids... I mean, if you ever wanted to have kids, but with Mina, given the situation...”

  Tobias brought his hand between us, pushing a finger against my lips. “Shhhh.” A moment later, his mouth replaced the hold as the werewolf brushed a kiss across my lips. “I felt the quickening, too. I knew she was ours. And if that is as a daughter, then we have a daughter.”

  The girly parts of me wanted to swoon, but the hood parts of me were doggedly practical and wanton of formality. “We’re not even mates yet. Not in any real way. Seems like things are out of order: first kids, then becoming a couple? Assuming, that is, that you mea
nt what you said in Istanbul. And that whatever happened to you these last weeks hasn’t changed....”

  “You and I will have a proper munch later and discuss what happened. But let’s get this set right from the get-go.” Another brush of his lips, this one softer, and yet, more intense, chased by another. “I love you, and I have every intention of mating you just as soon as we can make the arrangements.”

  “I love you, too...” Another visit of his mouth on mine, and I was positively melting in his arms. “...but is that even possible?” I threaded my fingers through his mangy hair, pulling him closer, deepening the connection. “Can we be together, that way?”

  He bit my lip before pulling back to examine me. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  His hands gathered the nightgown as he inched higher, building a delicious anxiety with every bit of territory he claimed.

  I licked my lips. “There’s no rush, Tobias. After what you’ve been through... If you need time to...”

  “I don’t need a moment more to know how I feel about you.” He paused midway, kissed the rise of my hip bone, dotted the planes of my stomach with his lips, the white folds of cloth filling his hands. “And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s not to waste time doing what’s proper, when you could spend your time doing what’s possible. I love you. I am in love with you, and I don’t want to lose you again. I want you as my mate, my friend, my lover, my companion. I want you as the mother of my pups.”

  Logical and rational Geri tried one more hostile takeover of my brain. “They’ll never understand. Not the hoods, not the wolves, no one. Our lives will be...”

  He paused, looking up from where his two fingers had hooked around the top of... when had someone put underwear on me?

  “Hard as hades?” he said, pulling down the cotton band with aching deliberateness. “Yeah, I know. But at least at the end of the night, I’ll be with you.”

  No panic, no pain, no sudden anxiety. Nothing but peace. His eyes stayed locked on mine as he pulled himself over me, and as his mouth closed in on mine, so did his heart.

  He was my wolf.

  And I was his.

  EPILOGUE

  I bit my lip, sensing in every fiber of my being what even the patch of sky I could see through the windows above had yet to acknowledge. Dawn was coming.

  She was not.

  Tobias pulled me under his wing, squeezing my shoulder. “It’s not about you or Mina. She’s grieving the loss of her mate. She needs time and space to do it however she needs to.”

  The old familiar streak of guilt ran the length of me. Kara. Tobias’s words weren’t derived from assumption, but from experience. But he was a wolf; my mother was not. My mother was the Grand Matron, head of the House of Red, and one of the toughest women ever to walk the earth.

  “I just wish she’d let us know she’s okay,” I said. “I mean, I know she’s not okay, but that she’s safe. We don’t even know where she is. And if something happens to her...”

  “Shhhh...” The lupine pressed a kiss against my forehead. The shift of my body made Mina flinch in her sleep. Tobias kept his voice low, trying not to wake her. “Nothing will happen to Brünhild Kline. And now that I’m back, nothing’s going to happen to her daughter either.” He ghosted a finger down Mina’s cheek. “Or our daughter.”

  A rush of warmth filled me. Our daughter. Tobias and I had had one of the quickest progressions to establishing a family in history. Here we were, parents, despite the fact that we’d only slept together for the first time two nights ago.

  And the second time the same night.

  The fifth through eighth times, in the past twenty-four hours.

  His lips claimed mine for a kiss that was all too brief. Barely had we touched when the doors leading to the courtyard of the inner bailey opened and Rebecca shuffled in.

  The grin on her face brought a blush to my cheeks. “Are you ready, or do you want me to watch the baby and tell everyone to wait so you can sneak a quickie in the armory?”

  Tobias cleared his throat and pulled back his focus to the ground. How curious that a wolf was so prudish when it came to a little raucous humor.

  Then again, he was English.

  “No, Becky,” I said. “The sunrise waits for no one. Thank you, we’re coming now.”

  The castellan winked and left us alone, leaving the door open in her wake.

  Formal affairs required formal attire. My cloak materialized into existence with my beckoning, falling over my shoulders and covering me down to my calves. I shifted Mina so I could cradle her with one arm and offered my free one to Tobias. “Bailey or call Becky back and head to the armory?”

  “Stuck in a room surrounded by silver weapons?” Dousing the residue of his blush, he hooked his arm with mine. “Even with you, I’d pass. I’m still chuffed they let me stay without chains. But... maybe you could wear that—” His free hand motioned vaguely at my cloak. “to bed? Like, just that?”

  “Tobias Somfield, are you telling me you have a hood fantasy?”

  “No, Geri Kline, I’m telling you I have a little red riding hood fantasy. And I promise, I will try to eat you.”

  Shivers went down my spine. If not for the pink beginning to tickle the horizon, I’d hand Mina off that very second.

  Though we wouldn’t get as far as the armory.

  Markus planted balled-up fists on his hips, personifying the concerns of the slayers, hoods, two asenaics and two hueys paying witnesses. “Anytime please, or we’re going to miss the sunrise.”

  “Okay, okay!”

  Despite the nip of the early winter air, all the research Yan and Markus had done in the few remaining slayer texts suggested the ceremony required the child to be naked. Amy took up the blankets as Caleb unwrapped our illustrian burrito, holding them at the ready to swaddle Mina the second the ceremony concluded.

  “We gather today to welcome a new beam of light.”

  An uncertain Caleb Helsing was an amusing sight. The slayer clutched the index card in his hand as though it was his lifeline as he managed a newly-awoken-and-more-than-a-little-confused-about-being-naked baby in the crook of his other arm. Caleb’s shiver didn’t go unnoticed, and it wasn’t because of the cold. Even Amy had noted the very thing I was coming to suspect: as the only awoken male slayer and the only one with substantial defensive training and world experience, he had defaulted to being the leader of his kind, and that prospect scared him to hell.

  “As the sun falls upon her now,” he continued, the formality sounding like a foreign tongue on his lips, “may it fill her with life, lighting a path of righteousness and honor, and into a world where she is known as...”

  Cue: my line.

  “Mina Alexandria Petra Kline,” I said. “May the sun blaze her name into the hearts of her people, and light the path of righteousness—"

  “Yeah, righteousness and honor,” Caleb mumbled over my words, cutting me off. “I already said that part.”

  He pivoted, just as the sun peeked over the eastern ridge of the sky. Its amber light seemed to be drawn to her, the beam setting my daughter aglow, the baby golden in Caleb’s arms.

  “Mina Alexandria Petra Kline, you have been accepted by the sun. All here bare witness, a slayer is born.”

  “A slayer is born!” said every single slayer in the compound, standing in witness.

  As the clapping and cheering arose, Amy’s patience snapped. She swooped in, coating Mina in folds of wool.

  Tobias waited until the clamor had died away before clearing his throat, calling the crowd’s attention. “And as alpha of the...” He turned to me. “What pack are we?”

  A good question. Packs were generally identified by the region or town in which they lived. But where did Tobias and I live? We didn’t have a home anymore, and who knew when we would again.

  But we did have something in common that bonded us together, something which very few others could claim.

  “I believe that’s the asenaic pack, d
ear.”

  He grinned. “Bloody right we are.” A swooping kiss sealed the deal. He turned back to the crowd. “As alpha of the asenaic pack, I claim Mina Alexandria Petra Kline as one of my pups, under my protection and the protection of all my packlings.”

  “So just you and Geri then?” Caleb couldn’t help a little sarcasm.

  I turned my face up to Tobias. “For now.”

  I mean, we were having lots and lots of sex, so things could happen...

  The subtext of my comment didn’t fly over Amy’s head. “Finally! Okay, now that you’ve gotten over that hurdle, I need to educate you on advanced practices.”

  A growl rumbled through the chest of the alpha beside me.

  The blonde huey threw her hands up in surrender. “Fine. But if a copy of the Kama Sutra should show up in Geri’s library someday, you’d thank me for it.”

  Before I could frame up a witty response, my words died in the air. The rays of the sun took on shape, an object that seemed distant in one blink solidified the next into meaning. My mother landed in the midst of the bailey without pretext.

  “Mom, I—”

  Tobias pulled me back, shaking his head. Had he sensed something I hadn’t, or did he just want me to give her space?

  Brünhild took in the scene through a confused expression. “What is this?”

  “A slayer naming ceremony,” I said. “We’re doing it as best we can figure out from research. Mina has just been recognized as a member of the slayer community.”

  “And as a member of my pack,” Tobias said. “She’s slayer and wolf, and we’ll all protect her.”

  “An illustrian will need such protection,” my mother concurred. She looked at the baby in Amy’s arms. “And who will protect the protectors?”

  Tobias and I exchanged a look. “We’ll watch out for each other. Wherever the slayers go, Tobias and I will follow. We’ll... We’ll make our pack where they settle their pride.”

  “A pride of slayers?” Caleb asked. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

  Teiko called out, “You’re sure as hell not calling us a harem anymore!”