by Limelan Z
‘It comes out once a decade.’ He held out his arms and looked down. ‘Not bad, is it?’ I rolled my eyes and looked around the room.
‘Who is everyone?’
‘Mostly seconds and a few key advisors to each pack. Some tough guys, too. I guess no one’s expecting this to go smoothly.’ Despite myself, my stomach jolted. Vince touched my arm. ‘It will be fine. You’ve got this.’ I wanted to believe in myself as much as he seemed to.
‘Do they know who I am?’
‘Right now?’ He shook his head. ‘I doubt it. But you’re the only human not holding a tray. Or at least you smell that way.’ And then he got a sly look on his face. ‘And of Wolfe.’
I went red.
‘They probably just think you’re his.’
I felt myself bristle. ‘His? His human?’ I didn’t like the idea that anyone thought I was owned. ‘Is it customary for you all to have pets?’
‘Certainly not that we’d bring here.’ That wasn’t the response I’d been looking for. I let out a breath.
‘And how many pets does Wolfe have?’ I shook myself before he had a chance to speak. ‘Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business.’
I tried to subdue my frustration before turning back to him. Vince just seemed amused.
‘The Ceri I know doesn’t get jealous.’
‘I’m not jealous.’ I was jealous. Irrationally jealous of hypothetical pets.
‘You’re jealous.’
I tried to make myself sound blasé. ‘Why would I be jealous? A week ago, I didn’t know him at all.’
‘Ariane knows him.’
And there it was. Further evidence that my inner wolf was not a carefree scamp but jealous and possessive. Ariane had lashed out when another wolf had failed to drop her eyes and made a bid for her mate. And now Ariane’s emotions were leeching into me.
‘It’s a good thing,’ Vince continued. ‘He’s yours. That’s what it means to have a mate. Embrace the feeling.’
I thought about saying “fine” and demanding to know everything about Wolfe’s sex life over the last four hundred years, but managed to subdue the need. Somehow.
‘There aren’t as many people here as I’d expected,’ I said, looking around.
‘Less than ten from each pack. Our own included. They try to limit numbers to help reduce the severity of any disagreement.’ I glanced at him. For disagreement, I read bloodshed.
‘How do they decide who makes the final cut?’
Vince shrugged. ‘Some balance of who you can afford to take and leave, I suppose. Specifics way above my paygrade.’
‘Are you part of the core group, then?’
He laughed and shook his head. ‘A one-off invitation was extended to the likes of me because of you. Because of our friendship. I’m very near the bottom in terms of hierarchy.’ I was a long way off understanding lupine politics.
I looked around. There were a few familiar faces. ‘Cara Haymes and James Trevelyan are mated and both here.’ He gave a nod. ‘How does it work? Will some of these people be the plus-one?’
He shook his head, a lazy amused smile on his face. ‘It’s not how it works. They are together but independently highly ranked in the pack. James is Wolfe’s second. Cara’s quite dominant too, in case you hadn’t noticed. Not surprising given she spearheaded a mutiny back as a human.’ My brow lifted in interest so he continued. ‘She was a slave as a human. Started a mutiny on a slaver ship. Castrated and killed the captain and most of the crew. I think she was a pirate for a bit before she came to England as a privateer and was turned.’
‘Is all of this written down somewhere?’ I asked. I wanted to learn more. ‘So far everyone’s story seems like it could easily fill a book.’
‘The Neverending Bio?’ he suggested as a title. ‘An interesting read but there are only really a handful of wolves who have been written about in any detail. You being one of them.’
I turned the topic to work, which kept us occupied until two great doors at one end of the room opened.
The room fell silent.
On the other side of the doors was a large room with a round table. There were a dozen or so people already sat around it. Wolfe was at the far end. He stood.
‘Come,’ Wolfe commanded.
At that one word, everyone filtered in, separating into groups. I felt Vince’s hand on my back.
‘We’re splitting into houses. Everyone needs to stand by their pack alpha – the ones seated. We need to stand by Wolfe,’ he murmured in my ear. I gave a nod and headed over to him. I concentrated on him rather than the equally immaculate-looking alphas upon their respective thrones.
The doors closed just as I took up a place behind him. The power in the room was intense. It seemed to ripple in waves. The crowd was deceptively still. I could feel their readiness, their willingness to attack.
Vince was by my side. Other familiar faces were around me. And Wolfe a few feet in front. I was glad of it. I felt a growing sense of unease.
‘Welcome all,’ Wolfe began. ‘It is an honour to host so many distinguished houses.’ I looked around at the predators. All eyes were either on Wolfe or the floor, presumably in obeisance. ‘You have come because an old friend has returned to us. And here she is.’
He turned towards me and invited me to move forwards. I did so and tried to subdue the attack of imminent nerves. My heart began to beat faster. I focussed my attention on Wolfe and tried to ignore the room.
‘Ariane.’
A murmuring began.
‘She is mostly human,’ said a Viking of a man with ice white hair and piercing blue eyes from the other side of the table. I looked across at him. “Mostly” meant that he could tell I wasn’t. He could scent Ariane too. ‘I assume you have proof it is her.’
He wanted proof? What the hell kind of proof was I supposed to give? Ariane and I hadn’t exactly been working on any party tricks. I swallowed. Don’t freak out, don’t freak out, don’t freak out…
‘She is my mate,’ Wolfe said calmly, placing a possessive hand on my hip. ‘I do not need proof.’ A strange sensation buzzed against my skin where he touched me. Almost a numbing feeling. Was the seemingly proprietorial touch a way of discretely helping me control my reaction? If so, I was grateful for it. I glanced at him.
‘But we do. You call us here with news of the return of a legendary wolf and present us with…’ I looked at the man. ‘This.’
Any bubble of nerves were overtaken by anger. Without thinking, I took a step forwards. Wolfe’s fingers bit into my side to keep me still. At the same time, all chairs were pushed out and the alphas stood in readiness. They were prepared to fight. Even though I wasn’t, it seemed Ariane was happy to oblige.
‘Carlos,’ Wolfe murmured, deceptively calmly. The Viking was called Carlos? ‘You do not want to anger her. You remember the old days.’
A woman to my left lifted her head. ‘Let her fight one of ours. If she is Ariane, she will have no difficulty. But if she is a ploy—’
I sensed a change in Wolfe. ‘A ploy? You accuse me of lying?’
‘The return of Ariane would be a great asset to your claim on the north lands, would it not?’
‘Those lands are mine by right.’ I swallowed. Was Wolfe confirming my earlier suspicions? Was I only a weapon to be used against enemies? Mate or no mate, was he intending to make me his lapdog?
A buzzing appeared in my ears. It couldn’t be good.
Alpha eyes around the table uniformly shot to mine. Could they sense the coming change in me? Could they sense Ariane starting to pace?
Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. The other wolves in the room slowly began to sense the shift as well. Their eyes lifted from the floor to where I was standing.
‘Do not come to my house and threaten me,’ Wolfe said with a deceptive calm. ‘She does not need to fight any of you.’
The buzzing increased. Should they have dropped their eyes? If they were the most powerful alphas, they had no reason to dr
op them in front of me. Would Ariane feel the same? Or would she see it as a slight?
‘It is not a threat,’ the woman said, her eyes still on mine.
One of the alphas to my right lifted his head. ‘It is a challenge.’ My heart began to thud in my chest. ‘I challenge her.’
I felt anger pouring off Wolfe in waves. ‘She is my mate. I do not allow it.’ In other words, he didn’t think I’d win. Maybe I could take on a normal wolf in human form, but an alpha… What chance did I have to survive?
My body didn’t seem to care. My heart beat faster. My fight-or-flight was flaring up.
‘You have no right deny it. I challenge her. Now.’
The room was deadly still. ‘I will fight you in her place,’ Wolfe countered.
‘Unacceptable. I am alpha. I challenge her and her alone.’ The man paused and then tilted his head to one side. ‘If she truly is Ariane, then you have nothing to fear, Wolfe. I should be the one afraid.’
I noticed it then. A slight acidic tinge to the air. Was that fear? Was Wolfe genuinely worried for me? If so, he was announcing his weakness to the entire room. Even I knew that.
I watched a muscle tick in his jaw. ‘Very well. But no wolves. Human form only. Do you accept the condition?’
The man smiled. ‘I do.’
Chapter 13
Vince avoided my eyes as we moved outside but I could feel the aggression in him. Even my own fear wasn’t enough to dull the scent of my pack. They were itching to fight. I could feel it. Even though I was certain I was about to die, I also felt honoured that these strangers wanted to fight for me.
Wolfe stood in front of me but looked passed me at the circling spectators and the man who was about to kill me.
‘He is weak,’ he said. ‘You can take him easily.’
I felt sick. ‘How? I can’t control Ariane. What if she doesn’t appear?’
He looked at me then. ‘You can take him.’
I held my breath. His vote of confidence was meaningless. A werewolf – a pack alpha – was about to fight me, Ceri Hatherton, postgrad researcher. What was I going to do? Equation-him down?
‘Is this to the death?’ I swallowed.
He was very still. ‘Try to stop before, if you can.’
His words chilled me. I had wanted to trust him. I had wanted to feel more than a weapon, but wasn’t this what I’d feared? That my only use was as a tool for the CEO of a defence technology company. Whatever claim he had on the Northlands, no doubt my taking out some of his competition was some incentive to keep me under his control. Maybe the kiss had been just that too – a controlling technique.
‘Ready?’ called the voice of my challenger.
I didn’t even know his name. I was about to die after nearly four centuries of dumb, lucky survival and I didn’t even know my murderer’s name.
‘You are ready,’ murmured Wolfe.
And then he left me standing in a wide circle on the gravel of Fareham Castle.
‘R-Ready,’ I croaked as I watched the wolf take off his jacket.
I glanced down then at my dress and ridiculous shoes. Should I take the shoes off? The gravel would hurt my feet, so maybe I would fight better in four-inch stilettos.
Or maybe I would break my ankle minutes before I broke my neck.
Hah! Minutes… This wasn’t going to last that long.
I heard the crunch of stones and looked up just in time to see a hand reach out and grip my throat. A second later I was in the air and then shards of gravel were scraping along my arm as I skidded along the ground. I cried out at the acrid, slicing sting as shock and pain bit through me.
‘Well, this is not very impressive,’ he smirked.
Fear closed up my throat as I watched him slowly move towards where I now lay. It was hard fear. Like a piercing lump that paralysed every muscle.
I closed my eyes, bracing for the next attack. Don’t die, don’t kill him, don’t die, don’t kill him…
Then, in an instant, my heart had calmed. It was beating slow and steady. I could even feel the slight breeze against my hair.
I didn’t want to open my eyes. I was comfortable in my cocoon. Perhaps it had all been a dream. Perhaps werewolves didn’t exist. Perhaps I was really somewhere I could laze around in my pyjamas for a while. It certainly felt that way. My seat was comfortable and warm. I felt safe. Calm. Relaxed.
And then my seat twitched.
My eyes shot open. I looked down.
Stupidly.
And then jumped up. There was a mangled creature beneath me – half man, half wolf. Enough of his face was visible that I knew who it was. Had he tried to change during the fight? There was blood. Everywhere. I could smell it clearly now, but it didn’t repulse me as much as I had expected it to.
I turned my head as footsteps crunched beside me.
Wolfe. Instant relief flooded me.
‘I-Is he dead?’
He signalled for Haymes to come and check him over. She did so in silence while the circle watched on. No one else moved.
‘He will recover from this. Eventually,’ she added, looking at me. I paled but it wasn’t disgust in her eyes, it was pride. She was proud of my controlled carnage. ‘May I assess your wound?’
I blinked and noticed then the throbbing in my leg. I looked down. My shoes were still on, I noted, but the bone by my right ankle was poking through the skin. I stared at it at moment as one might watch some leaves dancing in the wind. Utterly detached from it.
And then passed out.
Vince was with me when I woke up in a bed on the estate a few hours later. He was nodding off in a chair but shook himself awake when he realised I was conscious.
‘Hey,’ he said with a sleepy smile.
I carefully shuffled my way up the bed until I could lean against the headboard and cushions. ‘Hey,’ I said. I looked around a bit to get my bearings. The room was nice. It looked like a period piece in keeping with the rest of the estate. Even had a four-poster bed. I settled my head against the wood of the headboard. ‘What happened in the circle?’
‘You fainted when you saw your leg.’
I sent him a look. I had surmised that much. ‘In the fight,’ I clarified.
‘Oh. You tore him to shreds with your bare hands, Ceri. And you looked like you were enjoying it, too.’ I frowned, not even sure how such a thing was possible. I glanced down at my fingernails. They were always cut short, but noticeably none were chipped or bloody. They looked as they always did. How could I have fought him with them? ‘Even when he broke the rules and started to change.’ That explained the half-wolf, half-man pile.
I blinked away the image. ‘Was it a fair fight?’
He laughed. ‘No chance. You looked like...’ he stopped himself.
‘What?’
‘Well, like you were playing with him, eking out the time you had with him. And then, calm as you like, you sat on him and closed your eyes like you were meditating.’
Somewhere in his description of my psychotic episode, my body had decided it wanted to empty the contents of my stomach. Just as he finished speaking, I twisted to one side and threw up over the edge of the bed.
‘Oh, god,’ I choked when I regained my bearings, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand. I felt dizzy. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘Wrong with her?’ Vince frowned as he called someone to help clean up. ‘Ariane was perfectly controlled in her actions. She followed the rules – she didn’t change, she didn’t kill him. Victor’s house is dishonoured now because he changed mid-challenge. When he is recovered someone will challenge his position as alpha.’
Victor. Somehow it was worse now he had a name.
And it wasn’t just Ariane who had done it. I had. Only that wasn’t me at all. I didn’t like violence. I didn’t like blood. I would never have wanted to play torture something. Even the thought of it made me sick. And yet that beast had used my body to mangle some creature.
‘It was a work of art.’
> ‘It was barbarism!’ I snapped. ‘What is wrong with you?’
Vince seemed surprised by my position. ‘It’s in our nature, Ceri. You may be a pacifist but I can guarantee that if you’d waved a white flag in that a fight, they’d be hosing down your body parts from the driveway.’ He opted to change the subject. ‘How does your leg feel?’
‘Numb.’
He gave a nod. ‘Cara gave you something when she reset it. She’s not sure how fast you heal so wants to wait before bandaging it. Do you heal fast?’
‘No.’
He gave another nod. ‘I figured as much. There are still scrapes on your face.’ Instinctively, I pressed my fingers tentatively against my cheek. It stung.
I stared at my leg a while, still processing. ‘Are challenges common in your world?’ Vince frowned. ‘Should I be bracing myself for more?’
‘I doubt it. You just publicly took down an alpha without even turning.’ Or taking off my heels. He seemed amused by the look I gave him. ‘What? You think they’ll be queueing up to have their immortality ended?’
‘No, I just… I’m having a hard time believing that I am so strong I can hurt an alpha,’ I tried to explain. ‘If they’re so very powerful.’
‘Ariane is strong.’
I let out a breath. ‘Not Ariane, how did I win? I’m not particularly strong or fast. How would my body be able to do half the things you said?’
‘Oh. That’s down to the wolf. They learn how to use your body to best advantage. I saw Trevelyan fight once,’ he said, conversationally. ‘As a human, he has a limp, you know.’ I didn’t know. If he did, I had never noticed it. ‘He was hobbled during his turning by some vigilante monks who thought he was the devil. They smashed in his knees and they didn’t set right. But in human form, he uses that. He doesn’t kick so much as catapult his limb at you. It’s surprisingly effective.’
It had been a long time since such violence was everyday. I struggled to listen. I wasn’t a squeamish person, but I generally thought peace was a good thing. People don’t get how lucky they are if they can get through life without seeing someone’s flesh destroyed by pick, or fire, or mill, or bomb.
