Pack Ivory Emerald

by Stunich, C. M.

  I really hoped none of the neighbors looked out their second story windows and saw us standing here. Neighborhood watch would not fare well in this fight, and I was fresh out of glamours.

  Silas and Jax carried the prone witch girl over to where I was standing and chucked her unceremoniously at my feet. Part of me wanted to feel sorry for her, and that was good because a ruler without compassion and sympathy was nothing but a tyrant.

  At the same time, she had attacked my people, maybe even killed some of them. Mercy was good and great, a powerful force, but there was also such a thing as being too nice. Walking that line would be my greatest challenge.

  “We're not going to be attacked by that freaky angel again, are we?” Silas asked, directing his question toward Anubis. The Crimson Dusk Alpha-Son shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

  “Eventually, I'm sure we will be. But I don't know a lot about the politicking of angels and demons.” Anubis paused at the sound of footsteps, boots actually, walking slowly and casually through the shadows of one of the partially finished houses.

  My heart leapt in my throat, and I almost took a step forward when I saw Montgomery Graves, the Alpha-Son of Pack Ivory Emerald, walking through the framed arch of the building.

  He paused in the sunlight, his white braid and trench coat blowing in the breeze. His swords were crossed on his back, his knives tucked into his belt. My ebon eyes met his dark green ones from across the lot.

  “Zara Wolf,” he greeted … and then he reached up and pulled a silver sword from his back. He hadn't had a silver sword before, just iron and wood.

  “Montgomery Wolf,” I said carefully, and then it was all happening so fast. He came at me, running full-speed, and I twisted just in time to avoid getting a sword to the gut.

  I'd heard what Harlem and Majka had said, about Monty being spelled, about killing his own people against his will, but seeing it was a whole different story.

  Montgomery spun, pulling out the second silver sword from his back and wielding them with such careful, perfect precision that I knew I was bound to get cut sooner or later.

  We were so close as I sidestepped that first swing, that I could see the darkness in his eyes. Montgomery was in there, but he wasn't in control, and I didn't know how to help him. My goal here was to either cure him or … worst case scenario, bash him over the head and kidnap his ass.

  He spun his swords around in an impressive flash of silver, and then danced back, just out of reach of Che and Silas.

  “We've come to make an exchange,” I called out, knowing this bargain was going nowhere. Clearly, for Monty to have come to us so soon, it meant we were being followed.

  I expected that.

  There were no wards on pack land anymore, and there was nothing stopping Coven Triad from using scrying spells. Looking around the construction site, I could see cats everywhere, in all shapes and sizes. Their eyes glittered at me as they hissed and clawed at the air.

  “My mate for your witch.” I glanced over at Montgomery, but he simply smiled.

  “Not happening, Wolf,” he told me, his voice smooth and familiar. But that spark of recognition was gone. He looked at me the way he'd look at a piece of crumpled trash on the pavement. This wasn't my mate, however, it was someone else looking out through his eyes. “We don't need her. What we needed was the cauldron, and you've taken that from us. You'll get no more concessions from Coven Triad.”

  Montgomery charged me as the whizzing sound of brooms came from overhead. There were a good half-dozen witches above me, but mostly, I was concerned with Allister Vetter, appearing from around the back side of one of the houses.

  We've come full circle, I thought as I watched him stride toward us, his smile darkening what should rightfully be a bright and cheery afternoon.

  I knew why they'd sent him: wolf against wolf, pack against pack. Nothing was more powerful than that.

  And besides, Allister could make as many deals and bargains as he wanted: he wasn't one of theirs and they would never truly care what happened to him.

  “Dad,” Silas said, his voice hard. He'd given up on his father a long time ago, but the loss of a possibility, a promise … that was never easy. And he hadn't time to grieve his mother either. After all of this was over, we needed a long break, a sit down meeting to go over our list of all one million things that had to be done … and an afternoon in the sunshine to just nap.

  I was overworked, overtired, and pissed all the way off.

  “Kill the boys if you have to, and we'll take the female.” Allister shook his hands out and then shifted forms, blurring into a gold wolf with a dark stripe down his back. He was on me as fast as Montgomery, the two of them using the combination of human and wolf form to throw me off my game.

  Besides that, they knew I wouldn't hurt Montgomery.

  Well, they knew I wouldn't kill him.

  I danced back as the witches chucked charms and spells from the air, the power unfolding from the small items in big ways. The first thing that was tossed at my boys was this small, glass figurine. When it shattered, pieces of glass the size of my hand flew out, slicing through the fabric of my dress and cutting across my arm.

  Blood flowed sticky and hot as I skidded out of the way, kicking up dirt and digging into my badass toolkit. One of the items in there was a charm meant to disrupt witches in flight. I pulled it off the tool belt and snapped the little stick in half. It was like an explosion went off, sending pulses of power through the air that knocked the Coven Triad members off their brooms and to the ground.

  We don't have to win here, that's not the goal. No, we just have to wait.

  Tidus and Anubis had disappeared into the neighbor's backyard, hopping the fence in search of a hose. When I saw the puddle of water slowly forming nearby, I almost smiled.

  Almost.

  But then, my mate was coming at me with two silver swords, swinging them in an arc that could probably sever my head from my neck. To die at Montgomery's hands, that would kill us both. No, worse: that was the sort of pain that bled into the afterlife, that followed a soul into rebirth.

  I ducked low and kicked out hard, the red and black of my dress swirling as I hit him in the shins with more force than I really wanted to. But I had to keep Monty from killing me, keep Allister from mauling me, and fend off a half-dozen witches at the same time. If the worst thing my mate walked out of here with were a few bruises, well then, we were in good shape.

  Nic slammed into Monty next, using the bulk of his massive wolf body to knock them both over. The silver swords stayed in Montgomery's hands however, and he very quickly brought them up to defend against his newest attacker.

  Tearing a knife from my belt, I flung it at Allister, burying the silver tip in his left shoulder blade and knocking him off course just enough so that when he fell into me, it wasn't with as much force as he'd intended. I was able to push him off and send him stumbling to the side, trailing blood behind him as he howled in pain.

  “Monty!” I screamed, lifting my wrist to my teeth and tearing the flesh wide, spattering blood and not caring. The vines exploded from my skin, just as hot and painful as before, lashing out and tangling around the pair of silver blades. With a yank of my arm, I took them out of the possessed boy's hands and threw them.

  Using both feet, he kicked Nic off of him and sent him flying.

  And then he came for me.

  I ran toward the half-constructed house and met Monty in the shadowed darkness of the first floor.

  'I'm here if you need me,' Che said, his ebony form circling the outside of the structure. He kept the witches away which was exactly what I needed. I needed a moment alone with my mate.

  “You have something dark inside of you,” I told him, but even though he had the white braid, green eyes, and black trench of Montgomery Graves, the person staring back at me was not him.

  No, it was the new Crone of Coven Triad.

  Blood dripped from my wrist, this soft pitter-patter as I back
ed away from Monty, and he continued forward, his boots loud on the cement. When he was close enough, he pulled the silver knife and came for me. My fingers curled around his wrist and pulled his hand away, but the other was just as quick, removing a second knife and plunging it into my stomach.

  The blade sunk deep, but I managed to hold him still, keep him locked there. Che howled with rage, but I stopped him with wolfspeak. It wasn’t easy, with that white-hot agony spiraling through me like a storm. My knees nearly buckled, and my body screamed with the need to get that poisoned silver out, out, out.

  'No, Che! Let me do this. He's my mate, and my responsibility.'

  Montgomery struggled against me, but as strong as he was, as alpha as he was, I too was an alpha. The Alpha-Heir, the heir to all the packs, the female in charge of her seven mates.

  I leaned forward and pressed my blood-soaked lips to his. The magic arced between us like a bolt of electricity, tearing through me and into him. I was in so much pain in that moment, with that silver blade buried deep. My fingers relaxed on his wrist just slightly, and he turned the knife, blinding me with anguish that seemed to blister the soul it hurt so damn bad.

  'This isn't working, and I'm coming in there,' Che snapped, but I used the magic inside of me to physically push him back, keeping him off the cement pad of the half-done house. I could feel his shock through our bond, dark and frustrated.

  “Montgomery, wake up,” I whispered against his lips, and then I kissed him again, tongue tracing his bottom lip. Magic was quite literally flowing between us, an unstoppable stream of power. His hand withdrew the knife, and I felt it clatter to the floor.

  Within just a few seconds, we were on the ground together, me on my back with him on top. His fingers tore at his pants with a frenzy even as his eyes flickered between two different souls.

  We needed to mate.

  Mating was grounding. It was the most basic and yet most miraculous thing we could do. We could be animals, we could breed, but we could also communicate our very human feelings through pure pleasure.

  His pants finally came undone, and I wrapped my legs around him. There was a lot of blood, and there was still a battle raging outside, but first … I would claim my mate back.

  Monty thrust into me, hard and deep, the groan breaking from his lips the first, true sound I'd heard from him. His body was his own again as he lay shuddering on top of me, eyes closed, white braid thrown over one shoulder. I rubbed it against my face, and reveled in the feel of him touching the deepest part of me. The pain from my knife wound was nothing compared to the pleasure of having my alpha male inside of me.

  “Zara,” he whispered, opening green eyes to look at me. He tried to glance away, but I touched his face and forced his attention back, lifting my hips to encourage him to move.

  We kissed again, and then our natural instincts took over, bodies sliding together, his hips crushing me to the cement floor. It was fast and rough and messy, just a wild rut. But that's all we needed. When we'd both finished, and our coupling was over, Montgomery was rising to his feet with a new determination in his gaze.

  “I'm assuming you have a plan?” he asked, looking at me with such a deep mix of tenderness and affection that I knew it went beyond the natural high of a good fuck. No, I think … I think the Alpha-Son was in love with me.

  Good thing, I supposed, since I was most definitely in love with him, too.

  “I do.”

  Che joined us, trotting alongside in his big, black wolf body and scowling the best way a wolf really can. It was pretty funny actually, or it would have been had we been in different circumstances.

  'Remind me to get spelled next time, so we can fuck during a high-stakes battle royale,' Che murmured, and I scratched his ear, pausing as Montgomery coughed and doubled over. I rubbed at his back, but he ended up on his knees, choking and flecking the ground with blood. A small silver coin came up, dark shadows flickering around it.

  I knew right away that it was bad news.

  My first instinct was to step on it, covering it up and pushing power down through the soul of my foot to banish whatever the hell it was. A gush of wind rushed out from underneath me, making my dress and hair flutter, and a broken cackle caught on the wind.

  When I pulled my foot back, it was just a coin again. Montgomery picked it up, stashed it in the pocket of his jacket and lifted his head to examine the scene before us.

  Allister Vetter waited there, and he'd brought friends.

  We had more than just witches to contend with now: some of our daywalking vampire buddies were back.

  But this time, things were going to be different.

  Today was the first day of Rusalnaya Nedelja.

  And I'd brought a friend, too.

  The rusalka girl rose from the puddle of water like a zombie, her hair hanging in her face, her dress torn and dripping. Slowly, she padded across the ground toward Allister.

  He hadn't noticed her just yet, but Montgomery was already drawing his wooden knife, preparing to deal with the vampires.

  I wasn't worried about them. There were maybe two dozen, at most.

  Like Harlem had said, I had magic. Big magic. I wasn't claiming to understand it just yet, but at least I had some idea of how to wield it.

  Silas moved up to stand beside me, watching his father with sad, gold eyes, and reaching fingers up to touch what was left of the scar over his eye.

  “Goodbye, Dad,” he whispered, and then he turned away. I put my hand on the back of his arm, and he paused, but he didn't look. No, as he was saying goodbye, the rusalka was starting her greeting.

  “Hello Allister,” she said, and the alpha male of Pack Obsidian Gold spun as cold, wet fingers curled in his fur. His scream echoed across the construction site as he was forcefully shifted back into the form of a cowering, pathetic, weak little man.

  With a single finger, Karma pushed him to his knees.

  “You left me alone in a watery grave,” she whispered, her voice the twisted darkness of a lost soul. “You promised me the world, and you betrayed me. I'm taking the vengeance that's rightfully due.” Her hands wrapped around his neck, tearing a scream from his throat as the water in the puddle rose up to become a tsunami.

  It crashed down on the witches, and the daywalking vamps, knocking everyone but us down like pins in a bowling alley. The water was soft and gentle as it lapped around me, like a cocoon.

  'I didn't fare well with my Obsidian Gold alpha, but I wish you luck with yours. Goodbye, Zara Wolf.'

  The water retreated, leaving everyone but Allister behind.

  “Let's go,” Nic said, appearing beside us, naked and spattered with blood. “Before they all realize we don't have any more tricks up our sleeves.”

  He grabbed my hand, and I grabbed Monty's, and we got out of there before the first security guard showed up on the scene. Guess the neighborhood watch was in full effect.

  Lucky for him—and all the neighbors—the vamps and the witches weren't interested in humans.

  They were interested in us.

  No rest for the wicked.

  As soon as we got back to pack property, we reset the wards, starting at the cardinal and ordinal points, and adding on a few extra spots for good measure. By the time we landed at the Pairing House, I was having trouble walking. The knife wound had knitted up quite nicely, but I was still dizzy from the blood loss. That, and I'm sure it didn't help that I'd poured every drop of my magic into those wards.

  I felt drained, but in a good way, like I'd spent all day exercising and was now just in need of a good rest.

  “I'm so glad you're home,” I whispered as Montgomery joined the rest of us naked in the downstairs shower. At first, Faith had tried to approach and ask questions, but she must've sensed that we needed a moment alone, so she backed off, hiding herself in the kitchen.

  “I missed you terribly,” Monty said, but there was a heavy sadness in his eyes. He saw and felt everything that happened while he was cursed. That me
ant that each time his blade cut through the flesh of a wolf, he was present. That was a lot to deal with. “And I'm afraid I'm not going to be here with you for long.”

  “How so?” Tidus asked for me, his blond hair wet and dripping into his face.

  “He thinks he's going to get dragged into the Convocation and tried. I'm sort of wondering the same thing about myself,” Silas added, leaning against the wall and watching me with those gorgeous eyes of his. He looked tired. I think we were all seriously fucking tired.

  It was time to regroup, to make a plan, and fight back.

  I wanted it all: the college life, the best friend, the pack … the mates.

  Zara Wolf could be greedy sometimes.

  “I'm not going to let that happen,” I told them, and either they were too tired to argue, or else they believed me because nobody said anything more. Instead, we retired to our bed and tangled together in a big, naked puppy pile. Well, I guess you'd call it a naked teenager/young adult pile since we were all still wearing our human skin, but still.

  It was closeness, it was pack, it was warmth.

  It was everything I needed in that moment.

  The next morning was much better, much more normal. Of course, it was all a facade, hovering over the giant mess of my life. The Sluagh had attacked us in Faerie for a reason, the Seelie Court had ulterior motives I couldn't even begin to guess at.

  That, and Pack Ebon Red was still in disarray. People had died. The Forest Spirit had died, and I had no idea what that meant for me.

  The boys and I got dressed, and Montgomery and Faith had a minor tussle over a spatula that Faith somehow ended up winning. I think that was mostly because we'd told him about what she'd been through in Faerie, and I think he felt sorry for her.

  He did not, however, allow her to wear his apron.

  “Some things are just sacred,” he murmured, sitting at the table and pulling a stale donut from the pink box. My heart swelled to see all seven boys sitting there, and a possessive urge swept over me. When I glanced over and found Faith gazing at Tidus again, I knew we had yet another problem to deal with.