I figured that wouldn’t stop me from blowing his head up, though.
You can’t explode his head, either.
It doesn’t break any of the rules Cora told me.
You can’t. Vampires are all about loopholes, but werewolves are more about the spirit of what’s intended. In this case, it’s supposed to be between wolves without interference.
The other wolf stripped and changed into his warrior form, but Cora merely took her clothes off and stood before him naked. Waiting.
The difference between them was shocking — big strong male in warrior form, and strong, lithe female, so much smaller in her human form. I had a feeling she intended that to be the case.
They circled each other a good three minutes before the other wolf finally attacked. I think she threw him off guard by staying in human form, but when he attacked, she practically exploded into her warrior form, and I felt the pull from every wolf in the Southeast. It may not have been much from each wolf, but it gave her nearly as much energy as the time I’d pulled from every one of Randall’s wolves in order to fight Gavin and the other vampires at the little podunk airport in the middle of nowhere.
I’d forgotten how good that’d felt.
The two wolves fought fast and hard — too fast for me to see who was winning or losing. I could feel Cora, and I knew he got a few hard hits in, but I also felt her punching and clawing and making solid contact.
And then she was standing still, bloody, in warrior form with his head hanging from her right hand while she held the hair, and his broken body ten feet from her. She turned to the men who’d come with him, and all but two went to their knees.
She changed back to her human form without letting go of the head.
“No,” she told the men still standing. “If a pack member wants out, I’ll be open to negotiations, but if you come here with someone who challenges me, you either accept the loss or accept death. Kneel or die.”
One of the men went to his knees about fifteen seconds later, but the other looked her in the eyes. A clear challenge.
In the blink of an eye, she had him on the ground, her hand around his throat while he helplessly fought her. She gave him time and ample opportunity to submit, but he didn’t, and she killed him too. This time, she ripped his heart from his chest and tossed it to the ground beside the other man’s head.
The rest of the visiting wolves were on their knees, still, all in human form, though I noted a few seemed to be barely holding on. Cora stood before them and asked, “Who will be Alpha?”
Their heads all swiveled the same direction, and she walked to the man they were looking at and ordered him to stand. Cora was only a few inches shorter, and she looked him in the eyes and held her hands out in front of her, palms up and still bloody. He settled his hands in hers and didn’t look down, but it didn’t feel like a challenge. It felt respectful.
“Lead them with strength and compassion.”
He nodded, and she pulled him into a hug. “Stay and have a meal with us, you and your new pack. We should get to know one another before you take your leave.”
He knelt, kissed her right foot, stood, and hugged her again. One-by-one, the entire visiting pack did the same, and once again, I was mesmerized by the magic of the energy.
We moved to the farmhouse’s screened in porch, and Cora put her clothes back on. Cora and Ranger worked the grill, and I put potatoes on to boil. It was a huge pot, so I used my energy to bring the water to boil faster, then let the stove’s eye keep it boiling.
Mordecai stood behind me, leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. He was pissy, and I knew why.
You aren’t my pet god, I telepathed. He was trying to provoke a response.
Right, because involving me would’ve broken the rules of challenge.
So why haven’t you let it go?
Because the bastard’s dead and I can’t beat the hell out of him.
I laughed. “Will it be okay for us to eat and return to Nathan’s?”
“It will. You have to know others will challenge her once Randall is in the ground.”
“I do. I also know she’ll have to be just as brutal. She can’t be nice and let them live.”
Technically, he wasn’t wrong to require you to leave. A wolf Alpha with ties to a vampire or another shifter species can be required to fight without their mental or energetic influence.
Tough toenails. They want me gone, they can get rid of me.
Keep saying it and it might be true, but you should be prepared for a formal complaint at some point.
The Alpha decides such things, right?
They’ll bring in a higher Alpha if enough wolves complain.
And if I tell that Alpha to remove me if he doesn’t like it?
He gave me a deadpan look, and I turned to check the potatoes.
Okay. I’ll talk to Cora when we’re alone and ask how she wants me to handle such orders in the future.
Chapter 5
Nathan
Mordecai texted me to let me know when Cora had won. She was feeding the wolves who’d come with him, and who’d submitted to her when their leader was dead. Fitting.
I’ve been known to slaughter the entire group, and if Cora starts getting too many challenges she may end up having to as well, but I could certainly see her strategy in befriending this first group. They’d go out and become her ambassadors.
I think I’ve reached a balance between ruling because I’m a good leader, and staying in charge because everyone’s too fucking afraid to challenge me. I’d made a horrific example of the pride who challenged me with Abbott’s help. I didn’t expect anyone else would make another attempt for at least a decade.
And having to be so ruthless had forced me to face some unpleasant facts I’d conveniently forgotten, and I’d finally come to terms with the things Kirsten had done to protect Lauren and the other people in her life she cares about. I wanted to see her as good and pure and loving, but that was my problem, not hers. She is all of those things, but she can also be cruel and brutal when her loved ones are threatened, and I respected her all the more for it.
Once I’d gotten over myself.
I texted Mordecai to ask if he thought there’d be a benefit to me showing up, and he texted me back to walk to the end of my driveway and he’d come get me.
I should probably consider putting a doorway into my property somewhere, but it was a security risk. Still, it would be safer for Kirsten to flash into a locked room than to arrive on the street down from my house.
I jogged out to the road, and Mordecai flashed us to the farmhouse kitchen. He had a key that let him come and go to Homewood. Perhaps that was a better option for my property. I’d need to look into all possibilities.
I stepped onto the porch, walked straight to Cora, and pulled her into a hug. “I’m happy to hear I’ll still be dealing with you. Congrats on getting your first challenge behind you.” I looked out at the wolves I didn’t know, and looked back to Cora. “I usually slaughter everyone.”
She laughed. “Yeah, but you’re an asshole cat. The time may come when that’s appropriate for me, but on this day, it didn’t feel like the right choice.”
“Then it wasn’t. Whatever you did was right. Go with your instincts.” I gave her a small bow of respect and went to Kirsten, who let me pull her into my arms.
And as always when she’s in my arms, my cat stretched inside me, wanting her.
Even when she rebuffed me in human form, she’d still touch the cat. She wasn’t rejecting me today, though. She’d been by my side when I’d needed her. I mean, sure, I’d have been okay at the funeral with merely the lionesses of my personal pride, but having Kirsten at my side had made a tough day a little easier.
I took a chance and kissed the top of her head. She hadn’t said kissing was okay, but she didn’t argue or push me away. Maybe doing it front of an audience was a shitty way to pull it off, but cats don’t play fair.
Mordecai’s grin let me k
now he understood what I’d done. He seemed to be in favor of Kirsten being back in my bed again, and it didn’t make sense. He and I needed to have a conversation, but now wasn’t the time.
Wolves have an exceptionally morbid way of burying the bodies of their challengers. They get buried on pack lands, and the area above them is paved in some way, so nothing can grow over them. In contrast, loved and honored werewolves are buried with a sapling of their favorite tree, so their earthly body feeds the roots, and their loved ones can take comfort in the strength and beauty of the tree. However, disgraced wolves are buried so they become worm food. They can’t directly nourish anything that will see sunlight. Before concrete, ground above the graves was lined with rocks, stones, or pavers. Now, large patios with obvious additions broadcast how many challengers an Alpha has faced and beaten. Randall’s patio was behind his old house. It’d been so long since anyone had challenged him, it wasn’t important for him to have it close to his new home to remind people.
Several wolves were behind the parking area digging a hole, so I assumed Cora was going to use her challenger burial ground as extra parking.
I approved.
Kirsten’s heart beat strong in her chest. I wasn’t sure where her energy would level off, but she was stronger than I’d ever felt her. Was there really a danger of her taking on too much of my energy while she was getting settled into this new power signature? Another conversation I needed to have with the god of old, but if he was abstaining too, there was a good chance it wasn’t bullshit.
I breathed her in and analyzed her scent. The wolf scent was stronger that it’d been earlier, but she was embroiled in Cora’s drama at the moment. I also smelled cedar. It’d been in her essence for a while, but it was more intense now that she was the Goblin Queen. She could use the term Harlequin if she chose, and I’d honor that decision, but it was just another word for the Queen of Alfheim.
Queen of an entire realm. The little human warrior had made a name for herself, and it was bigger than any of us expected. We’d all known she was destined for something bigger, but I’d had no idea how big.
And then the little minx stood, kissed the top of my head, and went to Cora. The two stood arm-in-arm while others took control of the grill, and I couldn’t be jealous. Somehow, they’d become a set. Human and wolf, bound. Best friends. Loyal and true, and always there for each other.
A pride leader’s mate has to be loyal to him under all circumstances but one — the Amakhosi. However, the Amakhosi’s mate has no exceptions. It doesn’t matter that I had to screw hundreds of people a year as part of the job title, my mate couldn’t be with anyone but me.
Except Kirsten had, impossibly, found an exception. Whether people saw her as the Elf Queen or Goblin Queen or Harlequin or Mother Nature, it was expected she’d be free sexually. Not even the King of the Lions could demand monogamy.
She could be mine. Not exclusively mine, but still.... mine.
Mordecai sat beside me and asked, “Does ours work for you?”
“Maybe. Probably. I guess you and I need to have a long talk.”
“We do, but not today or tomorrow. You good with laying the groundwork for it?”
“I think I have to be.”
“You have choices. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you don’t.”
He was right, of course.
Kirsten brought me a plate of steaks, and sat between Mordecai and me to eat her plate of potatoes piled high with cheese, butter, and sour cream. The group talked about wolves and lions we’d lost. It was a little like a wake, and I hope we did our recently dead proud.
When it was time to go back to my place, Mordecai took us to an in-between realm and told me, “If you focus on your bedroom with the intent of giving me permission to take us there, I can. It isn’t an open invitation. It’ll only work when I have you with me, focusing on permission and meaning it. It won’t work if you’re under duress.”
I noted the look Kirsten gave him clearly meant she hadn’t known about this trick, but I merely did as he said, and nodded when I was focused.
Less than a second later, we were in my bedroom, and I walked to the wall panel to disable the interior alarms and motion detectors in this part of the house. “Ya’ll are free to move around in the room and bathroom, and to walk to the kitchen and move around there. Anywhere else, an alarm will sound.”
I wanted to trust Mordecai, but I hadn’t made it to 800 years of age by being too trusting.
Mordecai looked at my bed. “I assumed it would be bigger.”
“It’s a king sized bed.”
“Don’t you sleep with your entire pride, at times?”
“Yes, but in their house, not mine.”
He shrugged. “Well then, we’ll all sleep close tonight.”
“Wait.” Kirsten crossed her arms. “Mordecai has a big bed. We can sleep there. I don’t want to be crushed between the two of you. Tomorrow’s going to be a rough day and I need sleep.”
I held my hand out to Mordecai. “Take us.”
Instead of taking us to Olympus, he took us to Kirsten’s room, and a huge assed bed identical to hers, but orgy sized. She rolled her eyes at him and told me, “He’s big on modifications. Are you good to stay here?”
“Yeah. I prefer it to Olympus, so...” I met Mordecai’s gaze. “Thank you.”
“I let Cora know we’re here,” Kirsten told us as she walked to her bathroom. “I’ll be out in a few minutes, and I was serious about needing actual sleep.”
I looked at Mordecai, unsure of what came next. He pulled his shirt off and tossed it on a chair. “Do you have a side preference?”
“The right side.”
“Then I’ll take the left.”
He was being a little too accommodating, but I wasn’t sure how to bring it up. I pulled my shirt off, and then my jeans. Mordecai stripped down to nothing, but Kirsten and I weren’t there yet, so I only went down to my boxer briefs.
Mordecai slid between the sheets and fluffed a pillow under his head. “I can’t imagine a scenario where I fuck you or you fuck me. We’ve both fucked plenty of men, though, so can we agree not to get uptight about touching each other while we’re with her?”
I stared at him a few moments, trying to figure him out. Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with any ulterior motives. He seemed to want this to work, but I didn’t trust it.
“Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.”
Kirsten came out of the bathroom with her face clean of makeup, her hair in a bun, and her body covered in zebra striped pajamas. My first thought was that lions eat zebras, but before I could say anything, she asked, “Did someone set an alarm?”
I reached for my phone to doublecheck. “Yeah. We have to be at the pride’s land in Atlanta at one. The plane leaves at eleven thirty, so I have the alarm set for nine.”
She climbed over Mordecai and settled between us. “I finally got to talk to Lauren. She got an email saying Harvard is hoping to start classes back in ten days. Is everything going to be behind us by then?”
This, I had an answer for. “Aaron says Washington is ready to get the country back to normal as quickly as possible. Electricity is back in most of the largest cities, but the rural areas are going to take months. If Harvard is planning to have their electricity back by then, they should be able to pull it off. Security will be tight. I’ll talk to Aaron about making sure she has extra coverage.”
And then she curled up around a pillow and fell asleep. Without touching either of us.
I grabbed my phone and texted Mordecai to ask if we could telepath. A few seconds later, I felt him trying to make contact, and I let him in.
What the fuck are we doing?
She’ll gravitate to one or both of us in her sleep. It doesn’t matter who or how long. Sleep, Nathan. She was right about tomorrow being a difficult day.
You made her bed bigger.
I did.
You couldn’t do that to mine?
I wouldn’t dare
alter the Amakhosi’s house without him asking me to.
That gave me pause. He was showing respect. What are you up to?
She needs you in her life, and I need her in my life. My goal is to create a situation so she has us both, and we both have her.
And is she aware of this goal?
She understands I believe it’s possible. I don’t believe she thinks it is, but she isn’t fighting it.
Cora’s going to have more challengers. Cora’s death would cripple Kirsten, so I worried.
I know.
Can she beat them all?
I don’t know.
Kirsten won’t watch Cora die. She says she understands the rules, but when it comes to it...
He finished my sentence for me. She’ll blow their head up, or their heart, if she’s trying to be secretive. Depends on her mood at the time.
I resisted the urge to pull Kirsten to me. Like Mordecai said, she’d gravitate to one of us. The cat needed to see who she went to.
Chapter 6
Kirsten
I awoke between the Lion King and a god of old, my legs wrapped up with Nathan’s and my body cradled in Mordecai’s arms. Nathan reached for his phone and turned the alarm off, and I reached for his hand when he rolled back to me.
“I can feel Kane’s grief,” I told him. “I think it’s through my connection with you. It’s breaking my heart.” My eyes filled with tears and my grief threatened to pierce my heart. I was going to have to watch two people I cared about be put into the ground today.
And shifters don’t do this like humans. The body goes into the ground without a casket. Their people dig the hole and then fill it back in as part of the ritual. In Randall’s case, an oak tree sapling would be planted on his belly, and then the dirt filled in around it. Fencing and rocks would make sure the body wasn’t disturbed, since it wasn’t going six feet under.
The men Cora had killed during the challenge were being buried more than six feet under, with a layer of concrete over them, but that was a whole different matter and I couldn’t feel any pity for them. They’d come to kill Cora and take our home.
Unhuman Acts Page 19
