Misfit Fortune

by Stephanie Foxe

  She knew he was right, but she didn’t like it any more than Genevieve did. “Do we have any reason to believe someone will try to interfere with Paul’s Trials because of that?”

  Shane’s face darkened with anger. “No. Interference is almost unheard of. Underhanded crap like that goes against our nature. What happened to you was an anomaly.”

  She doubted that was true but kept her opinion to herself. Bitten werewolves probably didn’t get sabotaged simply because most could never make it to the Trials.

  Amber looked to Paul, who shook his head.

  “No threats. Plenty of people who think I’m an idiot for choosing you as my sponsor, but they’re going to show up with popcorn to watch me fail, not sabotage me.”

  “Alright, what else do we need to prepare for?” Amber clasped her hands in front of her, looking to Genevieve first.

  “Other alphas or betas trying to annoy you into losing control or challenging someone. There’s always a bit of posturing and some scuffles from what I’ve seen in my research, but only the truly stupid, or very well prepared challenge another alpha at The Gathering,” Genevieve said, flipping through her notes.

  Shane nodded as he took another bite of a cookie.

  “Everybody acts like they’ve got something to prove when they’re at The Gathering,” Paul added. “Keep a cool head and you’ll be golden.”

  “There will be a chance to form some alliances, or at least start discussions with other packs while we’re there.” Genevieve slid a binder with colored tabs toward her. “This is a detailed list of every alpha in attendance. I have more information on some than others. The most important ones to familiarize yourself with are the ones with the green tabs –– bitten-friendly packs, and the red tabs –– bigoted assholes who think they’re better than everyone else.”

  Amber took the binder and flipped it open, slightly overwhelmed at the amount of information. “This is definitely going to be valuable.”

  “I have it in a spreadsheet as well, which I emailed to you so you can access it on your phone. Sorry I couldn’t get it to you sooner. It took longer than I wanted.”

  “This is awesome, don’t worry about it. Did you already send Paul a copy?”

  Genevieve pulled out her phone. “Doing that now.”

  “So, the Trials, challenges, potential alliances.” Amber leaned back, tapping her fingers against the table thoughtfully. “Not as bad as I thought.”

  Her beta grimaced. “Well, there are the rumors.”

  Amber shut her eyes for a moment. “The sorcerer?”

  “And the demon,” Shane added. “No one knows what really went down but they like to think they do. Some of the packs will just be curious, some are ready to pass judgment. There will be questions.”

  “We’ll stick to the same answers we gave the police,” she said firmly. The questioning they’d had to endure after that had been annoying, but Genevieve’s law firm had stepped in and taken the pressure off them. They had told the truth about everything they could.

  Because of the demon mark, they had to keep Evangeline’s involvement under wraps. Jameson’s statement had been that his pack had briefly seen the demon standing over Zachariah Hudson’s body, but she had fled before they could do anything. She’d been surprised that Jameson had been so ready to lie to the police, but Shane had explained that werewolves took care of each other first. Laws were more of a thing to work around than follow absolutely.

  She rubbed her temples, trying to fend off the headache building in in her skull. “Paul, you up to date on all that?”

  He nodded. “Genevieve filled me in. I’ve got your back.”

  “Then I guess we’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”

  Shane’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, then excused himself and headed toward the living room.

  Paul pulled out his phone and walked around the table to sit next to Genevieve instead of across from her. “I have a few things to add to this spreadsheet that may be helpful later.”

  The two of them got to work and Amber’s focus drifted. The incident with the sorcerer had attracted a lot of attention. After all, the no magic zones threatened everything. Finally having proof that they weren’t a natural phenomenon had further unsettled the general public.

  “Do you ever wonder how werewolves went from savage infighting to holding conferences in hotels?” Angel asked, appearing in front of her as a little red devil in a puff of smoke.

  She snorted before she could catch herself. Genevieve and Paul were too absorbed in their conversation to pay any attention to her though.

  Without bothering trying to interrupt Genevieve and Paul, she got up from the table and headed out the back door to get a little privacy. It was insanely irritating to not be able to talk back to Angel.

  Once the door was shut firmly behind them, she turned to the pesky demon. “Did you come to harass me, or do you have any news?”

  He crossed his tiny arms and nodded. “In a way.”

  She waited for a moment, then gave up. “Well?”

  “I have reason to believe that your defeat of the sorcerer has managed to make some of our enemies nervous. Some people that haven’t moved openly in a very long time are doing some unexpected things.”

  She curled her hands into a fist, nails biting into her palm. Yet again, he was being infuriatingly vague. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  A puff of smoke erupted from his nose as he sighed in irritation. “Just watch your back for unexpected threats. Nothing may happen, or someone may come after you. If I knew who or what exactly we wouldn’t even be having this conversation because I would have already taken care of it.”

  “How comforting,” she muttered.

  “It should be. You’re important enough that I would actually be annoyed if you died.”

  After he’d given her the second mark, Amber had never doubted her importance. It was easy when he was floating there looking ridiculous to forget for a moment that he was using her and her pack, and would continue to do so.

  “Thanks for the warning, you can leave now,” she said irritably.

  “I actually plan on being around a lot more often, especially at the conference. Someone has to watch your back.”

  Amber crossed her arms. “Genevieve has that covered.”

  “More backup is always better. Speaking of, Shane is watching you talk to yourself and he looks very worried.”

  She jerked around and saw Shane looking through the window in the back door. He did look worried.

  With a sigh, she nodded and waved in what she hoped was a reassuring way. It’s not like she could convince Shane that Angel was safe. He wasn’t. It was still annoying to have to hide her conversations with the demon constantly just to keep everyone from worrying.

  Sometimes she wished Angel would just appear in a way that allowed everyone to see and hear him but she suspected that exhausted the demon. She wasn’t going to ask anyhow. He’d probably just end up insulting her openly instead of privately.

  Shane opened the door and stepped outside. “Everything okay?”

  “It’s fine.”

  Angel snorted. “You lie a lot.”

  Chapter 10

  Genevieve

  Genevieve did a double-take. She’d been reading up on old werewolf traditions, just to have some context for current behaviors. This was not something she’d expected to find. Picking up the book, she raced downstairs to Ceri’s room.

  “Ceri! I know you’re up, let me in!” she whispered loudly, tapping softly on the door. Everyone else was asleep so she didn’t want to wake them.

  The door cracked open and Ceri glared at her. “I was in the middle of something.”

  “I don’t care, this is important.” She shoved her way inside, ignoring the witch’s eye roll. Ceri might be grumpy now but she’d be thanking her in a moment. “So, I was reading this book on old werewolf traditions and it has a few things that pertain to shamans.”

  “What? Le
t me see,” Ceri said reaching for the book.

  She hopped back and held it just out of reach. “Only if you promise to actually discuss it and not just zone out and run off with it.”

  “Fine, hand it over.” Ceri wiggled her hand demandingly.

  She gave it to Ceri and watched her face eagerly as she skimmed the page. It was obvious when she got to it.

  Ceri’s blue eyes went wide and she looked up in shock. “This…”

  “I know,” Genevieve agreed smugly. “I had no idea.”

  “How does no one talk about this anymore? Maybe they’re mistaken.”

  “Witches probably buried it. You said your grandmother would have had a fit knowing you’d joined the pack if she’d still been alive.”

  Ceri sat down heavily on her bed, resting the book on her knees. “It would benefit the pack and the coven so much though. Both would be stronger.”

  Genevieve shrugged. “Witches are generally control freaks. No offense.”

  “No, you’re right. They are secretive, selfish, control freaks.”

  They were silent for a moment, thinking through what this meant. How it might change things.

  “We have to talk to Amber about it before she leaves. Your role in the pack needs to be kept under wraps as long as possible. I don’t want someone thinking we’re a threat,” Genevieve said seriously, her mind running through every worst case scenario and how to avoid them.

  Ceri glanced at the clock on her nightstand. “We should just wake her up then. She won’t want this dumped on her an hour before she leaves.”

  “Agreed. I’ll go get her.”

  Ceri nodded and started reading through the book.

  Genevieve hurried across the hall and opened Amber’s door, which immediately woke the alpha up. Her eyes flared red in the darkness.

  “What’s wrong?” Her voice was still rough with sleep.

  “I found something interesting about the shaman stuff. Ceri and I need to talk to you.”

  Amber nodded dutifully and slid out of bed, upsetting Captain Jack, who meowed moodily and padded up to her pillow. Genevieve had wondered where he’d been sleeping when he wasn’t with her. She would not have guessed with Amber.

  “I knew you secretly loved Captain Jack,” she said with a sly smile.

  Amber glared at her. “I really, really don’t.”

  Laughing, Genevieve followed her across the hall to Ceri’s room. She was torn between excitement at the discovery and trepidation at how it could change things. Despite all that, she was so glad they’d found this out now.

  Jameson’s pack knew Ceri was considered part of the pack. They knew Amber had been able to track her through the pack bond, but they’d never said the word shaman around anyone else. It hadn’t been discussed, they’d simply all kept it to themselves by some unspoken agreement.

  Amber shut the door behind them and crossed her arms. “Alright, what did y’all find?”

  Ceri sighed, lowering the book to look at her alpha. “We already knew my magic was changing due to my joining the pack.”

  Amber nodded.

  “Well, it’s also changing the pack,” Ceri said quietly, reaching up to push back a curl that was brushing her cheek.

  “Not necessarily in a bad way,” Genevieve added quickly.

  “Just explain,” Amber said, dragging a hand down her face.

  Ceri took a deep breath, as though steeling herself. “What I’m reading here isn’t super clear, but it does say that your wolves will grow stronger. It suggests that they may change somehow but I don’t recognize the term they’re using.”

  “It also said you’re going to get stronger as the alpha, though it wasn’t specific with how,” Genevieve added.

  “Yes, it talks a little more about that a few chapters later,” Ceri said, flipping to that section. “You will get physically bigger, apparently. In wolf form at least. I think.”

  “I better not end up seven feet tall,” Amber muttered.

  “The last thing it mentions is that the pack bond will slowly grow. It could eventually become more than just a one way thing. We might be able to communicate through it somehow,” Genevieve said. That had been the one thing that interested her the most. Being able to actually talk through it, even if it was just images or impressions, would be very useful.

  “None of that sounds bad. Why do you look worried…ah,” Amber said, understanding dawning on her face. “The other packs won’t like this.”

  “We’re already breaking their social norms, this will be even more threatening to the unenlightened among them,” Genevieve said with a sigh.

  “Not many people know about this though, right?” Amber asked, looking between them.

  Genevieve shook her head. “Not as far as I know. Ceri hadn’t heard about it. If witches don’t know, or don’t talk about it, then it stands to reason it’s been mostly forgotten, if not entirely.”

  “I agree,” Ceri said with a nod. “There are probably a few older packs that have the knowledge, but I’ve never heard even a rumor about something like this.”

  “Alright, then all we can do is keep it quiet and try to figure out what else might change.”

  Amber was taking this better than she expected. Something had shifted in her after the fight with the sorcerer. She was calmer and less pushy. A better alpha.

  After a moment’s thought, Genevieve asked. “Is it alright if I ask Steven for help?”

  Amber looked to Ceri for input. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t think he’d intentionally say anything but he can be a little…thoughtless when he gets excited about something,” Ceri said hesitantly.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” she agreed with a sigh. And she didn’t want to say it out loud, but if they broke up it would be better if he didn’t know. “Pack only. And Derek, he should know.”

  Amber nodded, frowning slightly as if something about what she’d said had bothered her. “Sounds like a plan. I’m going to go ahead and wake Tommy up so he doesn’t feel left out in the morning.”

  Genevieve cringed a little. She hadn’t exactly forgotten about Tommy, but she hadn’t thought to wake him up for this too. She should have. The pack needed to discuss these things together. He was still young but he wasn’t stupid.

  “I’ll grab Derek, too,” Ceri said, rising from the bed. “No point in going over this three separate times.”

  While they went to get the others, Genevieve picked up the book and flipped through it, tracing her finger over the single drawing included. A woman wreathed in flame hovered between two people, their hands linked. Shadowy wolves sat at the feet of the two people on the side, their heads lifted in a howl.

  Chapter 11

  Ceri

  Ceri tucked the covers closer around Derek’s shoulders. He’d stayed after the others had gone back to bed and ended up falling asleep after a long conversation. They hadn’t chatted about anything important, really. Both of them had avoided everything to do with her becoming a shaman and the sorcerer. It had been nice. She’d even managed to sleep for a couple of hours after as well.

  Then the usual dream had woken her up.

  She wrapped her robe a little tighter around her waist as she padded to her work room. The door creaked as she closed it but it didn’t seem to wake Derek. He was a heavy sleeper.

  The room was a bit of a mess. She’d been studying old family spells and brewing almost non-stop since they’d taken down the sorcerer.

  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she picked up her spellbook and plopped down in a chair. The old thing was starting to fall apart. She really needed to remake it –– organized this time –– before she started losing pieces of paper out of it.

  She flipped to the place she’d left off the night before and resumed reviewing all the spells she learned over the years. The only thing that would keep her and the pack safe in the future was if she could become more powerful. More prepared.

  They needed salves and potions for injuries,
amulets of protection, better wards. All of it. She might not be able to sleep but she could do this.

  Turning the page, a spell caught her eye. It was a variation of the spell the sorcerer had cast to track down Evangeline. Blood magic. The darkest of the dark.

  Her fingers tapped restlessly against the page. She could use it to find Selena. She knew the witch was out there still plotting against them. They had no way of knowing when she’d strike next but she would. She’d seen the hate in Selena’s eyes. That wasn’t something anyone would just put aside and forget about because they’d lost one fight.

  She scanned through the ingredients. Blood of the witch. Snake eyes. When she saw the third ingredient she slammed the spell book shut. Ten hearts of a pixie.

  A year ago, she wouldn’t have hesitated. Even now she was tempted. It was sick and twisted that she could be tempted to do this, but she was so scared. Maybe it would be worth the sacrifice if it would protect the pack. Were the lives of ten pixies worth those of her friends?

  Something tapped against her window and she almost jumped out of her skin, dropping the spellbook on the floor. It fell open, crumpling some of the pages.

  “Dammit.” She knelt down and tried to smooth it out before closing it. The tapping started again, more earnestly this time.

  She was pretty sure it was her spirit guide, but just in case it wasn’t actually the helpful owl spirit outside, she grabbed a bundle of sage and began cleansing the room. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

  Learning the new ways the pack could grow as her magic changed only made her more paranoid. Power like that had a way of drawing things to it.

  The piney scent of the sage cleared her mind and the last vestiges of sleepiness faded away. She set the bundle down in a bowl near the window then drew the curtains open.

  It wasn’t yet dawn but the moon was nearly full. Soft, silvery light filled the room and she found her gaze drawn upward. Perhaps it was her imagination because of what they’d discussed last night, but she could have sworn she felt something move inside of her. Something that delighted in the pull of the moon.