by Caris Roane
But she glanced up at him. It might be better if you’re both sitting. Ralph’s in awe. Then she smiled.
For a moment, time drew to a screeching halt. He loved her smile and her surprising presence in his life. Maybe they’d agreed on a stolen season, but for a split-second he wanted to beg her to stay with him forever.
These were hopeless, foolish thoughts, however, and he gave himself a mental shake. He glanced at Fergus then dipped his chin slightly. When he sat down, Fergus joined him. Kiara was right. Two alphas in the same room would be enough to intimidate any lesser-ranking wolf. But Ralph was so low in terms of pack order that both men standing would have caused him distress. The club owner, who had always done right by his wolves, including protecting them, deserved consideration.
Ralph walked in. He’d cleaned up as well, though his sharkskin suit seemed at odds with his new environment. He looked the part of a strip club owner from the black cross earring all the way down to his pointed and very glossy patent leather shoes.
Kiara gestured for him to come forward. Ralph looked uneasy, his gaze darting around. Warren knew instinctively his nerves weren’t due to either his or Fergus’s alpha status. Instead, he’d swear Ralph was feeling guilty as hell about something.
Kiara crossed to the kitchen doorway to let them know she’d arrived.
When she sat down next to Warren, again, without giving it a thought his hand went to her knee. Her fingers quickly glided over his and pressed down in warm response.
Ralph drew his attention away. “I need to come clean and now seems like the right time.”
~ ~ ~
Kiara felt both alphas tense up. She’d worked with Ralph for the past year and then some to move at-risk wolves off the Strip. She knew his good heart despite his chosen profession. No one took better care of his workers than Ralph.
She couldn’t imagine what kind of confession he’d come to make. He’d been through hell over the past couple of hours. He’d almost lost the love of his life, his club had been shot up and a number of people he cared about had been killed. Now, what?
“Spill it.” Warren’s sharp tone had her squeezing his hand in warning.
He shot his gaze to hers, his emerald green eyes flashing fire.
He could glare at her all he wanted, but she knew Ralph and what this was costing him. Don’t jump down his throat or he might piss on my beautiful earthen floor.
Warren’s eyes widened then he laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Fergus asked. He was frowning as he glanced from Warren to her.
Warren shook his head, but didn’t answer. Instead, he returned his attention to Ralph. “Sorry for barking at you. I know you’ve been one of the best club owners in Savage. Whatever you need to tell us, I know it’s in the context of a difficult line of work.”
Kiara resisted the urge to pat his hand in approval. Instead, she worked at staying calm because she had a feeling what Ralph was about to say wasn’t going to be easy for either Warren or Fergus to hear.
Ralph grew paler still, but he drew his shoulders back and started in. “For the past several months, I’ve known Julio was working with a wizard, but I didn’t say anything, not even when Julio took over the packs and killed the alphas.”
Fergus interjected. “You know he killed them then?”
Ralph nodded his head slowly. “I hear all the rumors, but this time, Susie got a call from her cousin, a wolf who lives in the eastern sector not far from the Bridge. He was there the night Julio took over the second pack. Her cousin witnessed the battle. He was just far enough away that the subduing wave missed him. He said a wizard showed up, moved behind Julio and it seemed to this wolf, the wizard took possession of Julio.
“At first, I wasn’t sure I could believe him. That wolf is on so much emerald flame he has flame points up to his eyeballs. He’s a complete flame freak. Plus, he drinks like a fish. But the more he talked, I knew he was telling the truth. I mean maybe the drugs and the booze kept the wave from taking him down.”
“What wave?” Both alphas spoke at the same time.
“The wave. That’s how Julio and this wizard do what they do. Some kind of wave comes out of Julio and anyone in the vicinity is knocked unconscious with no memory of what happened. But Jim, Susie’s cousin, said he thought maybe he’d been outside the wave’s reach. He recalls feeling a weird vibration then the pack wolves passed out cold.”
Ralph compressed his lips before continuing, “He saw Julio make a phone call and his army descended on the battlefield, though it wasn’t really a battle, just a K.O. in the first round. Some of his men hauled the alpha in Jim’s direction.
“Jim hid, but he saw it all. They dragged the alpha into the forest and took off his head. What happened next was worse. They boxed up the head and that’s when the wizard showed up. He took the box then directed the wolves to take the body straight to the Savage morgue. He had a man there ready to give the alpha to the incinerator.”
Warren slid his hand off Kiara’s knee. She almost reached for him, but Warren had stopped eating. He turned in his chair and leaned forward resting his forearms on his legs.
Kiara felt his ire boiling, a sensation that felt like pinpricks all over her skin. She knew he was working hard to control his temper. She wanted to say something to diffuse the moment.
But it was Fergus who gave the subject the right turn and addressed how the pack was taken over. “So, a wizard somehow uses Julio to create a disorienting wave of power.”
Kiara glanced at him. She realized there was a huge difference between the alphas right now. Warren was almost beside himself with rage, while Fergus actually leaned back in his chair. He’d crossed a booted foot over his thigh and plucked at the buckles.
Ralph’s eyes were wide as he stared at Fergus. “That’s right.”
She felt it then. Fergus was communicating telepathically with someone. The recipient felt female. Of course. Fergus was talking to Mary, his alpha female. Kiara could also sense her influence.
She’d known Fergus before and after his bond to the veterinarian from Revel Territory. He was a changed man and all for the better. He seemed bigger to her now, somehow. More in command of himself.
Warren, his voice edged with accusation, asked, “Which wizard?”
Ralph squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them, he swallowed hard. “Glissane. Your enemy here is Wizard Glissane.”
Both Fergus and Warren released a few choice words.
Fergus said, “Well, at least we know what we’re up against.”
“Why didn’t you say something before?” Warren asked. “Don’t you trust me?”
Kiara drew in an uneasy breath, her gaze fixed to Ralph. She hoped like anything he had a good explanation, or this would not go well.
“I couldn’t. Julio and his men came into the club every night always with threats. They said they knew I was friendly with you and if I knew what was good for myself, my club and my wolves, I’d stay out of his business on every front and that included avoiding the leader of the Caldion Pack.
“I knew Julio would be targeting your pack soon. I’m sorry, Alpha Warren, but I didn’t know what to do.”
Warren leaned back in his chair. “Then why did he come after your club if you’d kept silent?”
Ralph shrugged but glanced at Kiara. “I don’t know, but I think it has something to do with Kiara. It’s possible Glissane has an interest in her.” He shifted his gaze back to Warren. “Maybe Julio learned I was helping her rescue wolves out of some of the clubs he owns. That’s my best guess.”
Warren turned his head to look at Kiara. “Do you think either Julio or Glissane knows you have a refuge here?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. I’ve tried to be discreet. Both Ralph and I have taken pains to avoid discovery. He would keep rescue wolves hidden in the safe room, sometimes for days, until we could sneak them out.”
“Do you think Julio knew you were involved, though? Is it possibl
e this attack was about you?”
She shook her head. “I doubt it. Even if Julio suspected I was saving wolves, why would he care?”
“Well, for one thing, if some of those women came out of his clubs, he wouldn’t like it.”
She shrugged. “It seems like a long shot. I don’t see why Julio would care one way or another about me.”
He placed his hand back on her knee. The warmth of his touch, even through her jeans, made her heart quiver. “What if this is more about Glissane like Ralph said? Maybe Glissane is after you. You’re more powerful than you know.”
At that, a cold chill went through her. She leaned back, her lips parting. Her gaze flickered back and forth as though searching for a place to land. She thought back and tried to recall a place where her path might have crossed Glissane’s, but she’d never met the wizard before. “Honestly, I’d be surprised if he even knew I existed.”
Warren shifted farther in her direction. “That’s where I think you’re wrong. He’s a wizard of enormous power who has come to Savage for no doubt a host of bad reasons. With that power, why wouldn’t he know about you? That’s the real question. If he’s able to use Julio as a host to subdue dozens of wolves all at the same time, maybe you’re not as invisible as you think.”
She pressed two fingers to her lips and wrapped her other arm around her stomach. She hadn’t given the wizard much thought at all. But Warren was right. Glissane was one of those men who didn’t seek the limelight, though by the power of his personality and his wizard abilities he could have easily owned the stage.
His reputation was simple: He was a true villain of darkness. The crimes rumored to belong to him were more often done in secret than in the open. He would prefer to remain invisible rather than risk exposure and possible retribution or imprisonment.
She knew Veyda had worked with a wizard, but she’d never known which one. She found she could hardly breathe as she travelled back to being tortured by the dark witch.
The smell of the poisoned paste returned to her with its acrid stench. She forced herself to move past the immediate, difficult memories in order to better examine the environs.
Part of the way she’d survived was by staring up at the ceiling, marveling at its beauty while the poison ate away at her skin and muscles and lit each nerve ending on fire. She’d pretend she was floating up there. Even as she screamed in pain, part of her was suspended in the air looking down at the brutal, medieval scene.
She went there now and searched her memories from a position near the ceiling. She mentally traveled the perimeter of the room.
She saw something she hadn’t noticed before. The air wavered in the south corner and she could now see how often Veyda turned in that direction and smiled. She even nodded more than once.
Then she understood. “Glissane was there. He was testing me. All that time.”
Warren’s voice brought her out of her reverie. “When was this?”
“During my incarceration in Veyda’s compound. When she used the poisoned paste on me, he was there. Glissane.”
“Are you remembering more?”
“Forcing myself to, yes. But I can sense him now, in the torture room, though I can’t see him. I’m convinced Veyda could. She was very powerful.” She frowned as a new question surfaced. “But if he was there, why didn’t he intervene when Braden and his wolves attacked the compound and rescued me? If he possesses this kind of wave power, why didn’t he use it then?”
Fergus spoke up. “He might not have been able to. He might have needed a host, the way he uses Julio.”
Dread rode her hard. Until this moment, she’d thought Julio was the problem. Now she knew he was little more than a pawn of Glissane’s in some larger game. Men or women of power often wanted more, then much more.
Fergus asked. “But why Savage? Why not take over Elegance?”
Kiara thought she understood. “He would risk being exposed among our kind. We would be able to detect him more easily than the wolves in your territory could. Here in Savage, he has a powerful advantage.”
~ ~ ~
Warren sipped the last of his beer then fell into a deep well of thought. Like Kiara, he’d labored under the belief Julio was the problem. But as a wolf, Julio had limitations. He couldn’t employ a spell to make himself invisible or to create a wave of power to incapacitate an entire pack of wolves.
Warren mused aloud, “These packs Julio took over, they were the two smallest in our territory.”
“Yes,” Fergus responded. “But he’s combined them and now he’s the alpha of a pack almost as large as yours.”
“True. But only after he’d subdued each pack separately. I’m wondering if Glissane can do the same with a single, but larger pack.”
“Maybe he can’t,” Kiara offered. “Maybe it’s the reason why he hasn’t attacked Caldion even though you’re absent. Surely, all he’d have to do is march over there with Julio and together, they’d do their thing. So, I’m guessing Caldion won’t be as simple as either of the two he blended.”
Warren tapped his fingers on the table. “Here’s what I think. Glissane needs the alpha out of the way. So long as the alpha lives and can function, the pack remains loyal. Julio wouldn’t be able to bond himself to my pack or any other if the alpha was alive.”
“There’s something else,” Ralph said.
Warren shifted his gaze to him. “What’s that?”
“It’s rumored Julio keeps the wolves in line with emerald flame.”
“Oh, no,” Kiara murmured. “But it makes sense. Most of the wolves I know would never want to be pack-bound with that bastard.”
All the men turned to look at her since she rarely cursed. Fergus’s lips curved. “You said it exactly right.” He reverted his gaze to Ralph. “Now that I think about it, the few times I’ve come in contact with wolves from Julio’s pack, most of them bore the flame markings on their necks and faces.”
“Should we get the Trib involved?” Ralph asked.
The Tribunal, which served as the government for the five territories, had its own policing force and created the laws for their world.
Warren snorted. “Look, as much as I would love to call on Donaldson and have him hunt Glissane down and throw him in jail, it’s not going to happen. The Trib doesn’t have the manpower or the tacit authority to come in here and attack Julio’s pack. It’s that simple.”
Ralph turned his head toward the door. His feet were moving before he said, “I’m hearing Susie. I have to go to her.”
Warren didn’t have a chance to prevent him. Or the heart. He could hear Susie howling her grief.
Fergus stood up and started to pace. “We’ve got a real shitfest here.”
Warren turned once more toward Kiara and took her hands in his. “I have no right to ask, but can you help us out? You have your invisible spell-cloak and you and I could do some spying of our own. What do you say?”
Yet as he looked at her, once more time slowed to a stop. He felt caught in-between seconds as he held her gaze. She was so beautiful, with her large brown eyes, her arched brows, and a complexion like cream. But what he loved even more was the glint of wolf-like excitement he saw reflected in her expression.
Every part of him felt drawn to her in that moment as though he wanted to swallow her up in a huge embrace, maybe never let her go. Somewhere deep in his mind, the words floated up from the loneliest part of his soul, She’s my mate.
At nearly the same moment, however, he repressed the sensation. He could never bring a witch into Caldion.
“Warren?” Her melodious voice brought him back.
“What did you say?” he asked.
She smiled and caressed his face, her fingertips stroking his scars. “I said, hell, yeah. But I want my meal first.”
“Of course.”
As if on cue, one of the wolves emerged from the kitchen, carrying a tray and a cob salad.
While she ate, a plan began to formulate in his mind and he shifted
his gaze to Fergus. “What do you think about Kiara and I scoping out Julio’s compound?”
“I think it’s exactly what’s needed. The more we know about his set-up, the better.”
Chapter Eight
A half hour later, Kiara flew beside Warren. He’d quickly developed the habit of drawing her tight against his side before he took off into the air. Though she could levitate perfectly well, she saw no reason to discourage him. Being this close to him had become a treasured sensation in the short time they’d started working together.
None of the territories were very large, only a few miles square. As more alters entered Five Bridges, the buildings either went up or descended underground. So, it was a short trip to Julio’s combined pack, El Lobo Grande.
When Warren began to slow, Kiara knew they were getting close. Julio’s compound was on the western side of the forest. The packs he’d taken over were two of the less affluent ones and part of the compound included a rundown strip mall. The rest of it was pieced together with adjoining homes and a lot of cement in-between. Word had it Julio was doing renovations.
As Warren took them past the forest he hovered above the strip mall. There were at least a hundred vehicles, all makes and models, in the parking lot, but no one was around.
This seems odd. Where is everyone?
I have no idea. But these two packs now have a large underground area, probably bigger than the spread of the external compound.
Her nose twitched. Am I smelling emerald flame?
I think you’re right. He began a slow descent and the smell grew stronger.
He angled them toward the commercial air conditioners. Once above them, the scent of the drug was everywhere.
Shit, it’s only been two months and already the cartel has set up an operation in the pack compound. I have no doubt half his wolves are processing drugs.
They’ll all be addicted soon, if they aren’t already. She surveyed the situation and it seemed to her there was only one thing they could do. We need to go inside.
She sensed Warren’s hesitation. I’d hoped we’d be able to learn something from this vantage. I hate the idea of taking you underground, even if we are invisible. What if Glissane is down there?
