by Ryan Michele
“No. We will not do this,” my father states adamantly and my mother nods in agreement.
“They’re here,” Gary says from the corner.
Xavier called Camp to come here for a meeting, thinking that once my parents heard our arguments they would help me, us. I should have pushed harder to tell the pack that my parents wouldn’t budge. But a small part of me dared to hope. Dared to hope that I would matter to them. That I meant something to them. But this confirms it. I close my eyes and ball my fists. Anger radiates off of me and my blood pumps hard.
“Grab on to her,” Zara calls from the side and suddenly hands are pressing against me.
Hot lava courses through my veins and something changes. It’s deep within my soul like a lock that has just been opened for the first time ever. Wind blows my hair, but my eyes remain closed. Whatever was in that locked space infiltrates me, and sparks of red and blue lights shine under my eye lids. When I open my eyes, the wind stops and my gaze is focused hard on my parents. I wish I knew what was happening, but it’s like I’m not in control. My wolf is glowing blue, her eyes fierce. Holy shit.
Max
WHAT THE FUCK IS going on with my mate? Her body is strung taut. We’ve called her name repeatedly, but she hasn’t responded. She acts like she’s going to murder her parents, and we can’t have that no matter how much they fucking deserve it. I’ve shaken her shoulders, but she stands stock-still like a statue made of granite.
“You will tell Camp that I was born half-witch and half-wolf. You will tell him that I changed on my own, that it is ridiculous to think I got bit by wolves and changed. You will tell them that you support me and my family. You will order Camp to leave us alone on my behalf. Do you understand?”
Kenly’s parents stand there in some sort of trance, listening to what she says, I think, but I have no fucking clue. Their eyes are glazed over and their lips parted, each wearing the same expression. The room is filled with a wicked presence. What is going on?
“Kenly!” I bark, this time loudly, and a small jolt shakes Kenly’s shoulder. “Kenly!” Another jump and she turns around to me, the color drained from her face. “Babe. What’s going on?” I grab her in my arms and she falls into me, not being able to hold her own weight. I take it on.
“I don’t know. I feel funny.” Her eyes are clouded, but begin to clear as she regains her footing. “I’m better.” She rests her head on my chest, breathing deeply.
I look to Xavier. “What was that?”
He shrugs as I turn back to her parents. The glassy look in their eyes begins to clear and they blink repeatedly as if they have something inside of them. “We will do as you ask,” her father says, shocking the hell out of everyone in the room. “We will say what you need.” It’s almost like they are robots that we just programmed.
Kenly’s Grams, Maggie, gasps.
“What?” I bark a little roughly, but this shit is crazy-ass.
Grams walks up to me, turns her back to her son and daughter-in-law. Kenly, Xavier, and Zara pull in close. “Mind control,” she whispers softly. Holy fuck.
“Seriously?” Kenly says, just as shocked as the rest of us.
“Yes, sweetheart. How else do you explain the change of heart so quickly? Whatever happened to you for that moment, you were able to change what they were thinking,” Maggie states.
“Holy shit,” Kenly breathes out.
“We will discuss this later. Let’s get them out there and get this over with.” Xavier, ever the leader, cuts all the bullshit and gets down to business. Fine by me. I need this shit over. “Come on,” he says to Kenly’s parents but they do not move. They just stare at Kenly.
Something clicks inside that brain of hers. “Follow him and do not look at me while talking.” They nod, following Xavier.
This is creepy as hell, Max. What is going on with me?
Guess we found your power.
Really? I can control people’s minds?
Don’t get ahead of yourself. It may only apply to certain beings. Let’s deal with it when this is over. One thing at a time, babe.
WELL, SHIT. I WAS expecting Camp. What I was not expecting were the hundreds of people and the damn news stations here ready to witness this whole thing. Shit.
Oh. My. Max! What is all of this? Kenly’s hand squeezes mine tightly as it trembles. I pull her close to my body and shield her from whatever this is, but we have to face it. I look over to Xavier and his jaw ticks, clearly pissed right the fuck off. Double shit.
Where in the hell is Thor? He was due back by now.
All heads swing our way as we make it to the gate. I’m thinking we shouldn’t open it. Hopefully Xavier sees it the same.
“I was hoping to have a civil conversation, Mr. Camp, but I see that is not going to happen.” Xavier motions to all of the people. “So we will not be opening the gates for this, out of respect for each of our kinds.” Yeah. Right. So, Xavier and I don’t lose our shit and take on the human mob.
“We have nothing to hide. You can open the gate,” Camp’s smarmy ass states.
“No,” is all Xavier replies, and Camp’s smile falls. What in the fuck does this man have planned?
“What did you call me here for? My people and I only want Kenly Conner and then we will go.” What is up this guy Camp’s ass? We had him checked up one leg and down the other and have found nothing that would stir up this much animosity. Just bored? What?
“This is Kenly.” Xavier points to her and lightbulbs flash. Fucking great. “She is with her mate, Max. Kenly, please tell the man if you’d like to stay or go.”
Kenly clears her throat. “I will stay here. Thank you, Alpha.”
“There you have it, Camp. You may leave now.”
“Her parents sent me here and I have a moral obligation to take Kenly with me. And are you stating, in fact, that she is a wolf?” Camp counters.
“She is a wolf, and I don’t know who sent you here, but this is Mr. and Mrs. Conner.” Xavier motions to her parents and they slowly step forward. “Go ahead.”
“We are Kenly’s parents,” her father states, her mom remaining quiet, letting him take the reins. “We did not contact you, Mr. Camp, and have no idea who you are, but Kenly is where she was always intended to be. With her mate.”
Camp eyes him, crossing his arms over his chest. “You didn’t contact me saying that your daughter was attacked by wolves, asking me to come and get her?”
“No, my wife and I have been out of the country, and came back when all this happened. You are acting of your own volition, not on our behalf.”
“So, you’re fine with your daughter becoming a wolf and living with them when she was once human? How do you think she turned?” Camp challenges. Gotta admit, he’s quick with the questions. Hope her father can keep up. My wolf just wants to take good old Camp out of his misery, but that would be bad with all the cameras.
“She turned because it is her destiny. She is part witch and part wolf and that is why she changed, to be with her mate,” her father states clearly, without any hesitation. “There is no malice here.”
“So, does that mean you also have witch and wolf in you?”
“Yes, it does. I choose not to live that life. I choose to live in the human world,” he states.
“I find this all very hard to choke down.” Where did the stick up this guy’s ass come from?
“You have no reason to choke anything down.” Xavier steps in. “This is none of your concern. You were not asked to get involved. It seems that you are the problem here, not us, and I need you to leave.”
Camp studies us back and forth. I can’t wait to find out what Zara says he was thinking about.
“Fine. Glad you have your family together.” Camp turns to the crowd. “I guess someone was playing a joke on me. I apologize for taking up your time, but it looks like Kenly is with her kind. Please. Let’s leave them in peace.” The animosity drips from his words and I know we haven’t seen the last of him.
Many of the reporters yell at us for comments, but we have said everything that we need to. Walking backward, we head back into the house, shutting and locking the doors. Kenly’s parents sit on the couch, but say nothing.
“Well, that went well.” I break the silence and everyone lets out an exasperated breath.
“DAD, WHY DIDN’T you tell me?” Kenly asks her father who looks sheepishly over at his wife.
“I didn’t want that life for you. I wanted you to be normal, out of the confines of magic,” he replies and Kenly’s cheek twitches.
“Why don’t you want this life?” she asks, moving next to me as I wrap my arm around her protectively.
“This was all my mother’s. It was never mine. I wanted to go into medicine and help people. Now, I’m sure that I will lose many patients over this.” He shakes his head.
“I can not believe you kept this from me!” Kenly’s mother exclaims, falling back onto the living room couch in a huff.
“It was the best way.” Her father continually shakes his head, like he can’t believe that everything is coming out.
“Dad,” Kenly says softly, surprising me. Her compassion is admirable. “You could have been a doctor in this world, helping immortals. I get that you wanted to help humans, but the way that it sounds from Grams is that you have a lot of power. Why not use it on this side?”
For a woman who has just changed into wolf and is going through a kaleidoscope of feelings herself, she sure as shit has her head together. I love that.
“Now it doesn’t look like I’ll have a choice,” he grunts. I don’t know how the outside world will react to him, but that is for him to deal with, not us.
I just can’t.” Kenly’s mother looks down at her hands, her shoulders shaking slightly. “Do you realize what you’ve done, Kenly?” she asks and my mate stiffens in my arms. I squeeze her, trying to reassure her. “You’ve ruined our lives.” Her head pops up as she glares at my mate. I growl loudly, ready to protect Kenly at any cost.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Kenly responds and I want to shake her. Why doesn’t she snap at her?
“Of course I feel that way. You made us out your father. I don’t know how you did it, but the damage is already done and there is no way to get around it.” Her mother rises, an evil gleam coming to her eyes. “I never want to see you again.”
Kenly gasps, but nothing comes out of her mouth.
“Mary, shut the fuck up!” I bark, done with her treating Kenly like this. I’d never speak to my mate’s parents like this, but fuck them. They brought this shit on themselves. Mary gasps, holding her chest to be all dramatic. “You don’t want Kenly in your life? That’s your choice. A shitty one, but she’ll survive. You’re the most self-centered bitch I’ve ever met and you need to take a look in the mirror, because you are throwing away the best part of you. Your daughter.”
I pull Kenly tighter against me, smelling her tears as they fall down her cheeks. Damn, where is my spitfire? Her parents hold a lot of power over her and that kills me.
“How dare you speak to me like that?” Mary says, turning to her husband. “We need to leave now and try to salvage what your daughter did to our careers. Though something Kenly did to us won’t let me say the words. I don’t know how that is possible.” I want to be relieved that they are going to continue with the story and relieved that Kenly’s mind control stuck.
Her parents turn and walk out of the den as Kenly spins in my arms, resting her head on my chest. I kiss the top of her head reassuringly. I’ll protect her with everything I am.
FUCKING HELL.
“He’s completely blocked. I heard nothing,” Zara says from Xavier’s lap. Those two, Kenly, me, Maggie, and Thor, who finally showed up, all sit in Xavier’s office dissecting what just went down.
“How would he know how to block you? That you had the power to read him?” Kenly asks. I love how well she’s doing with the transition. I thought she’d have a tougher time, but she sees herself as one of us, including herself fully with what is going on here.
“My guess is a spell,” Maggie says, pushing out of her chair and pacing the room.
“So, he’s working with a witch or wizard?” I ask, a bit floored. Humans mixing with wizards? This just isn’t heard of.
“I wouldn’t say Camp is working directly with them, but whoever he is working with has access to them and is using the magic. It could be a number of things.”
Thor pushes off the wall and tosses a piece of paper down on Xavier’s desk. “This is why I was late.” Xavier studies the paper and his eyes light in recognition. He hands me the paper.
“Fucking shit,” I gasp. The paper in my hand has a picture of a very young David Camp with his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather with the caption:
“Family Eaten by Wolves. Only One Survivor.”
The article goes on to talk about how they were camping and fishing out at Lake Lakeside when an animal came out of nowhere and brutally killed the three older men. For some reason, the wolf left the little boy alive. It was said that this was a wild wolf attack and the wolf must have gotten spooked to leave the little boy alive. I hand it over to Zara.
“I started digging into Camp and for some reason, this was buried deep. It made the newspaper, but then it wasn’t discussed again. It was like poof gone, never existed,” Thor states, his arms crossed over each other. “I had to go to the library and dig through a ton of shit to find this. I almost gave up, but something told me not to, and bam. This fell into my lap.”
“It had to be the Lobo Pack,” I say to Xavier, who nods as anger pulses off him and throughout the room. We had heard about attacks in that area all those years ago and after careful digging, we determined it was the Lobos.
Kenly gasps, her hand over her mouth, remembering what I told her earlier. “They killed your father,” she whispers to him, her words more of a thought than her actually wanting to say them.
“Yes, they did,” Xavier says, low, Zara at his side rubbing his arm up and down.
“I’m so sorry,” Kenly says, and the pain she’s feeling cuts through me. I rub my nose and mouth over her cheek, needing to touch her, calm her, take her pain away.
“Thanks,” he replies, shockingly. Zara really has done a number on him. “Back to our problem. We need to figure out who Camp is working with, and what they want. But with the Lobos trying to attack Kenly and then this…there’s got to be a connection. Maggie, is there any way for you to trace where his spells came from?”
“I can try some spells and see if I can get any information, but if Camp’s been blocked there won’t be much I can do until I figure out exactly what spell he’s under. There are so many different ones and the only way to know for certain is from his blood.”
“Like when I went to Marvin,” Zara says softly to the room, looking down at Xavier. “Marvin helped me get all the spells off of me, by taking my blood.”
“Yes, that is the easiest way,” Maggie replies.
“You want me to grab him?” I ask Xavier. I could materialize into his place, grab him, and be back here in a flash.
“Not yet. Let’s get eyes on him, though. I need you to dig deeper, Thor. Get some of the guys on it, too. Have them break into his computer systems, I don’t give a shit. There has to be something, some proof.” Xavier breathes in deeply, his chest puffing out as he does. “We will need to eliminate them,” he says, and I know he’s talking about the Lobos. I have to agree with him. He swipes a hand over his face. “But what I don’t get is why Camp, if he is indeed involved with the Lobos, why? They killed his family. I just don’t get it.”
“You and me both, brother,” I mumble. Thor exits the office with a determined look on his face.
“We’ll work that angle, and anything you can help us with would be appreciated, Maggie.”
Maggie sighs. “Of course. I’d never let anything happen to my granddaughter and that makes all of you family now.” She pauses. “I can’t believe I a
m family with wolves now.” She shakes her head.
Kenly reaches out and grabs her hand. “Thank you, Grams.” She nods.
“Now, we need to discuss you.” Xavier’s eyes pin on Kenly and a growl escapes. “Down, Max.” I try. “Mind control. You seem to have it. Not many wolves do. It is actually a rarity that is only given to vampires.” Kenly stiffens in my arms. “We know you are not a vamp.” She sags. “You have a unique gift and we need to test it out. I want you to try to get me to do something. Anything. It could be as simple as standing up or moving something on my desk. I need to see if you can control it.”
“Okay,” Kenly says, closing her eyes. Her hands ball into fists and strain shows in her arms. Xavier does nothing. Just waits, his eyes the same as always, not glassy at all. Kenly lifts her head, looking directly at Xavier. “I want you to get up and go to the door.”
Xavier doesn’t move. “All right, we need to find out how exactly your powers work.” He looks to Maggie. “Help?”
“I will do my best.”
“Dammit,” Kenly grumbles. “Maybe I have to be pissed or mad or something for it to work. I was livid with my folks. Maybe that’s my trigger?”
“Could be but we need to figure that out. It could become very useful in the near future,” Xavier replies. “Maggie, you have any idea why Zara can beam light from her body with enough force to knock everything down in her path, and Kenly can do the same but it’s orange?” Xavier rubs Zara’s arm. She’s been exceptionally quiet during this.
