by E Hall
She squares off in front of Amanda, a wolf who’s been among us as long as I’ve been here. One of the fiercest non-betas in Pack Hjalmor. Then again, Kenna is a tri-magical. Or, I should say, the tri-magical since there has never been another like her.
“Here’s how it’s going to work,” Amanda says. “I dare you to fight me for—” She points to me.
“For him? We can’t fight over him,” Kenna says.
Magical energy pulses through her veins. If Amanda weren’t so arrogant, I’d warn her to stand down, but perhaps she needs Kenna to put her in her place.
“Actually, we can. It’s one of the oldest customs in the shifter world. Two wolves challenge each other for a mate. Mate Call-Out. A fight to the death.”
Kenna turns to me as her lips draw down into a frown.
I nod. “She’s right. Two wolves can fight over to mate with the Alpha.”
She whispers, “But what about our fated mated-ness or whatever it’s called? Don’t you have a say?”
I hitch a smile and lean in. “Not when a challenge is cast. It’s rare because typically the one who calls the challenge has no chance of winning so they don’t dare do it because they know they’ll die. But Amanda doesn’t know about us.”
“That also means I’d have to kill.”
“Your wolf would. As for our status, Kenna, it means you’ll win,” I say, only now realizing what these customs must sound like to an outsider.
Amanda narrows her eyes as if she heard. “Win?” She barks a laugh. “An untrained, new mutt? I very much doubt that. I will kick your butt, newbie. And then Corbin will be mine. I’ll do the Council a favor and finish what Corbin couldn’t. I’ll eliminate you, Kenna. Or I could send you to the Council and they can dispose of you.” She laughs darkly.
Kenna grips my arm and pulls me outside again. The vibe between us when we were out here before when we were kissing snaps. Now, it feels like someone slapped me in the face.
“So within your pack’s barbaric code of conduct, Amanda can challenge me to a battle. If I lose, I die or get turned over to the Council where I will probably be put to death anyway. This information would have been helpful before.”
I nod slowly.
She rounds on me. “You didn’t kill me before or report to the Council that I’m here, breaking the rules.” Her face is hard. “If we bond, you lose your role as a Council member. Knowing all this, do I want to bond with someone who was planning to kill me?” Her glare is accusatory.
I wince.
“These options suck. This whole thing sucks. I want my old life back where I worked at a doughnut shop, hung out with Andi, and everything fantastical was merely a daydream.”
“I agree, and I’m sorry. I know you’ll win though.” I lean in, breathing her cherry scent. “You’re backed by centuries of instincts. You’re a shifter, a fae, and a vampire. The tri-magical. You will win.” I leave out any thought of facing the Council. It seemed so simple before. Now, I definitely don’t want the fate that the Council slated for Magical’s Most Wanted.
She swallows thickly. “But what if I don’t want to play? Corbin—” She shakes her head slowly.
“I’m an Alpha. The whole thing about eliminating you was me carrying out my duties. But I soon realized there’s more to you than we thought.”
Her nostrils flare as she exhales a long breath. “I don’t understand, and yet I do. This is all new to me. It freaks me out beyond belief that I just barely escaped the clutches of death at your hands only to be thrown into the fire with Amanda. What about you losing your role as Council member? There must be a way to stop this, for you to keep your status and—”
“To keep you. Not to hurt you. To bond with you. That’s what my wolf wants.” I speak my heart’s truth.
She tilts her head left and then right.
“Is that what your wolf wants too?” I risk asking.
She nods, and bites her lip then lifts onto her toes.
My lips drop to hers with a light kiss.
Amanda’s scent pollutes my senses, and Kenna and I pull apart.
The subordinate wolf clicks her tongue. “Next full moon, Kenna. You, me, Mate Call-Out.”
I want to get her out of it, but the custom can’t be disputed. If Amanda challenges Kenna, she has to follow through. I’m not proud of it, but a challenge like this will draw spectators, including, hopefully, members of the Klave. Maybe even Greyson Slade, once word spreads that his daughter is here. The pieces are coming into play in a dangerous game I don’t want to play either, but as Alpha, I’ll do whatever I can to protect my pack and fulfill my responsibilities.
However, maybe I can have it both ways. Kenna will win, and we’ll bond. If I expose the actual enemy, the Klave, perhaps the Council will also let me keep my position.
Kenna’s expression fractures as though she fully collided with the reality of this situation. “I need some time,” she says, brushing past me.
I extend my hand to stop her, but she shakes her head. “No, Corbin.”
Then again, maybe fate has something else in mind.
Chapter 21
Kenna
I’ve never flown so high and fallen so low. There must be a quote in there somewhere. Late into the night, I scrawl in my diary, writing down everything that transpired at the barn dance. Trying to make sense of it.
I am certain my wolf is Corbin’s fated mate. I know it as surely I do my own name, the color of my eyes, and that I could really use some chocolate right now.
However, everything else that came to light disturbs me, rubs against me like sandpaper. I search for understanding as I continue to write. I want answers or an epiphany, but this situation isn’t as simple as high school drama. It doesn’t even come close.
I wish I could talk to my mother or Andi, but I’m stuck here at the wolf pack Headquarters. Patrols run the trails at night, and where would I go, anyway?
This is a puzzle I cannot figure out how to solve.
A puzzle. Pepper.
A grin lifts on my lips. I’d do anything to talk to her right now. She’s a human who knows about this wacky magical world, giving her a fairly unbiased opinion.
It’s just a hunch, but after everything that happened earlier, I don’t think Corbin will be sitting in my room tonight, watching over me to make sure...well, it turns out he was the one who was the biggest threat to my existence.
Choppy water fills my stomach at that fact. I tell myself he was just doing what he thought was right for his pack, as an Alpha.
Stalking to the door, I listen. Revelers still return from the barn dance. By the window, the faint strains of music continue. Corbin mentioned wolves are nocturnal, and I figure the summer solstice is no exception.
In an ordinary setting, sneaking out after everyone fell asleep would make the most sense—not that I’ve ever done that. But among the wolves, perhaps I’ll blend in better if I don’t try to be overly inconspicuously as I take my leave.
Still, I open the window and climb out instead of using the door. This endeavor is a fool’s hope, but I want some girl time with Pepper, and I hope distance from Corbin will return me to myself, not clouded by the magic of being his fated mate.
I stalk toward the bushes, summoning my wolf. There’s a saying about never arriving if you don’t leave the shore. Running to town and waking up Pepper is a risk I’m willing to take because I’m not sure which shore I want to end up on.
I thought home was in New Hampshire, but where is it really? It’s where comfort and safety and love come together. It’s not a place, but a family. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. How do I figure in? Who am I really?
I still don’t know.
I close my eyes under the glittering sky, call upon the energy I didn’t realize I possessed until recently, and let the shift press against my being.
As I run, my thoughts empty from my mind, leaving me operating on pure instinct. My wolf knows the way to town by scent, and too soon my nails are scratching aga
inst the sidewalk. I duck into an alley and shift back to human form. The only problem is, I’m naked, and it’s the middle of the night.
Didn’t think this plan through in its entirety.
Unlike the wolves, the humans are fast asleep, but which room above the bakery belongs to Pepper? Another puzzle.
However, my wolf scents the air and guides me to the back of the building where there’s a ladder. Must be a fire escape. I climb. Like a creeper, I peer into the window. It doesn’t help in the slightest that I’m not wearing clothes. I hope Pepper understands.
A faint glow from the hallway illuminates a room with a few posters on the wall—bingo. They’re probably leftover from when Pepper was younger. She didn’t mention siblings, and they and definitely don’t belong to her grandparents.
I tap lightly on the glass. “Pepper,” I whisper.
I almost lose my grip on the metal ladder when a pair of eyes flash open, shining a deep shade of gold for a moment. I shake my head. It must have been a reflection from the dim streetlights filtering from beyond the alley.
Pepper’s bed is close to the window, and she gets up, squinting. Kenna? She mouths through the glass before opening the window.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry. This looks so weird. Also, it’s late, but before I explain, can I borrow some clothes?”
Her face wrinkles with concern, and then she hurries back with a T-shirt and a pair of flannel pajama pants. I scurry through the window and pull them on, ready with an apology.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Pepper asks.
I tilt my head from side to side. “I’m not hurt, unless you count, well, not my pride or ego, but maybe my sense of reality.” I blink a few times, feeling, in Pepper’s presence, like my old self.
She sits crisscross on her bed and pats the covers. I join her on the other end and tell her everything about the barn dance, Amanda’s challenge, and how overwhelming it all is. “Plus, knowing Corbin was among those out to kill me...” I shiver.
“But he’s your fated mate. He was just doing his duty. Think about it this way, knowing more about the wolves, the hierarchy and their commitment to the pack, would you do the same if the roles were reversed?”
A smile approaches my face. Of course I would. I’d have done anything to protect my mother, not realizing the insanity it was about to unleash on my world. “I knew you could help me. Thank you.”
“So I take it you’d do the same, right?” Pepper asks.
I nod. “But now I have to fight Amanda.”
“Tell me about her.”
I shrug. “I don’t know much. She’s not a beta, but she’s fierce. Purple-ish hair, strong, wicked. By that I mean, she’s not very nice. Even before this. She wanted to be with Corbin before I came along.”
“She must be confident if she knows you’re his fated mate and still called the fight. Have you been training?” Doubt creeps into Pepper’s voice.
“Yeah, but not exactly for a fight to the death.” I smooth a loose string on the hem of Pepper’s quilt. “There’s something else. I’m not only a wolf. They say I’m a Tri-magical. I’m a wolf, fae, and a vampire. Magical’s Most Wanted.”
Pepper bounces from her bed. “I knew it.” She claps her hands together and her eyes widen, hushing herself. “Not the MMW part, but the Tri-magical.” At a whisper, she says, “When you came into the bakery, I knew there was something different about you. Whenever my father leaves for business, he leaves me with a puzzle. Usually, I figure them out pretty quickly. Figuring you out has kept me occupied. Sorry, if that sounds weird. It’s just, your energy is different. No offense or anything.”
“None taken. I don’t understand any of it. My mother is missing, I don’t know my father. It’s almost like I hardly know myself anymore.”
Pepper taps her cheek. “I don’t claim to be an expert on magic, but living here with little technology, I’m fairly old school, reading a ton, and I pay attention.” She rolls her eyes. “My grandmother teases me about my exceptional hearing. I usually have my Christmas gifts figured out before the big day.”
“So do you think you can help?”
“I’ll try. Where to start?” She gazes at an enormous bookshelf I’m only noticing now. “Ah, you connected with your wolf first, right?”
I recall the last day of school when my mother broke up with Matt and fill Pepper in. “I think so. At least now I have.”
“That could be because your wolf is more accessible, dominant, or because you’ve been around the wolves the most. Say you’d gone to live with the vampires right off the bat—” Pepper giggles. “No pun intended. And by the way, vampires do not turn into bats. They’re not shifters.”
“Are there other kinds of shifters?”
“In addition to wolves, there are bears, dragons, fox, tigers, and a few others. But because you connected most to your wolf and maybe because you’re Corbin’s fated mate—an aside here, I’m so jealous. Don’t worry, not like Amanda, but he is so hot.”
“What about Clove?” I ask.
She smirks. “He’s more my type for sure.” She tells me how they chatted after I left the other day. “Okay, back on track. You lived with your mother who’s a vampire, right? And you weren’t ever craving blood.”
I shake my head rapidly. “No, just the sight of it makes me sick.”
“Interesting. I wish I paid more attention in biology.”
“Me too. Not that they taught the supernature genome.”
Pepper laughs. “But it’s interesting you didn’t go insta-vampire. Maybe it’s because you hadn’t synthesized.”
“Good hypothesis.”
“Here’s what I can tell you based on what I know. Magic isn’t infinite, at least in this realm. You know the Law of the Conservation of Matter? It’s kind of like that. In Terra, there’s a limit of how much energy, or magic, that exists. Some magicals are more skilled at capturing and using it. Others naturally have access to more of it because of their magical makeup. And I think you, as a Tri-magical, have triple the amount of access.”
“But I’ve only scratched the surface of my wolf powers.”
Pepper giggles.
“No pun intended.” I shove a pillow over my face and flop back on the bed. I’m such a dork. “I don’t stand a chance,” I say in a muffled voice.
Pepper grabs the pillow and mock-bops me on the head with it. “You can capture more magic, but you just need the skill. If threatened during the wolf fight, like during the argument between your mom and her ex-boyfriend, you might find it at your fingertips.”
This time we both laugh at how corny we are.
“Here are some things I know about wolves, fae, and vampires. Wolves can jump really high, they have exceptional night vision—”
I stop her. “Tell me about vampires and fae.”
“Vamps are super-fast, super-strong, and have strong intuition. They can tell when someone is lying and convince someone to tell the truth. As well as mesmer people—think of it like mesmerizing or hypnotizing their victims into doing their bidding.”
I grimace, recalling the look the female vampire gave me on the street in Intherness.
“Okay, so for fae, there’s so much to say. They’re composed of light and shadow. Unseelie fae veer toward the shadow and seelies toward the light. But mostly they’re supposed to balance the two. Oh, this is a cool thing I learned recently. Fae can use their shadow to remain relatively unseen. Well, they used to. Then, the fae king Melchior used some grim spell to transfer that power to the red, hooded cloaks his maiden fae wore. In other words, the cloaks took on the magic to conceal them.”
“Like an invisibility cloak?”
“From Harry Potter? Not exactly. I heard it was more like wearing sunglasses, shading the fae from view, especially from humans. The cloaks also had the power to repel unwanted forces.” She waggles her eyebrows. “Cool, huh?”
“I take it you literally heard all of this.”
She nods. “Clove knows
a lot about fae lore too. But tell me more about Corbin.”
I blow a stray hair from my face. “Where to start? The first time I saw him I swooned, well, I passed out. The second time I hated him. The third time he spoke, touched me, smiled...I don’t know when exactly I fell in love, but I did. He has handsome hands. Can hands be handsome?”
“The answer is yes.”
“He has broad palms, strong, symmetrical fingers, trim nails, callouses,” I continue.
“Wolf girl, you’ve got it bad, not that you have a choice.”
Pepper and I talk until the sky lightens with the dawn.
“I’d better head back. Thank you for everything. Do you mind if I leave your clothes down there?” I point to the alley.
“No problem. I’m happy to help. When is the fight?” Pepper asks.
“Next full moon.”
“Okay, I’m going to bring you a box of sweets to celebrate your win.”
My brow furrows. “That’s an excellent incentive to survive.” I wave goodbye and climb down the ladder, shifting as soon as I cross the street.
I run back to Headquarters on fleet feet. When I near the boundary, my wolf gets excited at Corbin’s proximity. I growl at myself. I’m as in love and bonded with him as ever, but the fact remains that he nearly betrayed me by ending my life. I haven’t quite reconciled that. But I cannot deny the overpowering feelings my wolf has for him, and by default, I have for him.
I stick to the scrub and low bushes, loping along toward a trail on the side of the property. As I get closer, the wind kicks up a foul smell, sending my wolf senses on alert.
Only, instead of wolves patrolling, I spot a female with purplish hair speaking to someone wearing a cloak. Like Pepper, my hearing is exceptional, and the content of their conversation lifts my hackles.
Chapter 22
Corbin
The last few weeks as the full moon draws close blur. Kenna and I spend a lot of time training...and kissing, but I’m afraid it’s because she can’t resist me and not because she wants my mouth on hers.
