by Zandria West
This all sounds like a pretty good reason for me to stay up on this platform and not head down until it’s clear what the situation is with the newcomers.
There’s a lengthy welcoming ceremony that involves Paul blowing the horn at regular intervals, a series of long speeches, and then Paul and Varik drinking a mind-boggling quantity of spirits in a remarkably short period of time.
Then the party starts. I’d kind of thought that they’d get down to the business side of things straight away but apparently that’s not how werewolves operate. They’re all about the fun.
Now that it’s been established that the visitors aren’t going to immediately disembowel and eat the children, some of the younger women brave the crowd, looking at them with an open interest which is clearly returned.
‘They don’t meet werewolves from outside the pack very often,’ Reuben tells me in a low voice. ‘It’s seen as an important opportunity to look for a mate. Or at least someone to spend a night or two with.’
The drinks flow and the laughter and voices become louder as the darkness grows. I find myself exhausted and dizzied by it. It all seems harmless enough, but Gabriel, Reuben and Alex stay close to me. We don’t leave our hiding spot high above it all.
‘I don’t think they know you’re here yet,’ Reuben whispers. ‘Everything’s new and different so they probably won’t have picked up your scent. And Paul hasn’t mentioned anything. I’m sure it will be fine, this is Paul’s territory, so they’ll obey his rules, but I just want to make sure there are no misunderstandings…’
The party goes on for long enough below us that I start to get sleepy. I’m drifting half in a dream when I hear a sudden yelling, then everything falls silent.
‘Reuben my man! What are you doing hiding up in a tree like a fucking squirrel? Get the fuck down here and bring that human with you.’
I freeze. Varik is standing in the middle of the clearing. The fire blazing behind him is making his hair glow golden. He’s taken his top off and I see that his heavily muscled body is covered in jagged black tattoos.
‘Stay here, Lana. Whatever happens, do not come down unless I tell you to. Gabriel, Alex, protect her.’ The stress in Reuben’s voice tells me everything I need to know. The mood in the clearing below has shifted completely. A few minutes ago, it was a party. Now it feels like something else altogether – something ominous.
I watch as Reuben climbs down. Varik spreads his arms wide like he’s waiting to welcome him into embrace.
‘You’re fucking cold, Reuben, so fucking cold to an old friend, hiding yourself away like that. I’m surprised to see you here. Last I heard you’d left with your tail between your legs, whining like a bitch.’
Reuben stands to his full height. He and Varik are evenly matched in size and build, but the other man has a wildness and unpredictability about him that frightens me. Reuben is earth. Varik is lightning.
‘Varik. I see you’ve found a place for yourself. I’m glad.’
Varik laughs. ‘Give me a fucking break. You’re not glad, brother. You thought I was dead and now you’re disappointed that I’m not.’
Reuben holds the other man’s gaze and doesn’t deny his words.
Varik shakes his head. ‘But this is all small-talk. Foreplay you might say. I want to know about the human. I knew you were fucking loco brother, but this is some next level crazy shit even for you. You brought a human here of all places? Well hey, your crazy is my lucky night. I knew the party was missing something. Not enough fresh meat…’ He licks his lips and my stomach lurches.
Paul steps forward, taking his place by Reuben’s side. ‘The human is under the protection of the Grey Pack. She’s not to be touched.’
‘I wonder if the rest of the pack share that sentiment, old man? Have you asked them lately?’ Varik grins a wild grin and looks around to where the younger members of the Grey Pack are watching on. ‘Honestly, Uncle Paul, I’m surprised to find you still in charge. This is the time for the young. Young blood needs to take its fucking place, and that’s on top. Have you even had any challengers recently? Or are they all too fucking cowed to consider it…’
I see Paul’s expression change in an instant. His eyes narrow, his teeth are bared. He growls, low. ‘What did you say to me?’
‘I asked you a question. No harm in that, is there?’
‘You’re on my territory. You will address me with respect.’
Paul’s voice sends a shiver through me, but Varik doesn’t even blink.
‘You think I’m here to pay my fucking respects? To you?’ He laughs, a manic laugh that seems to echo off the surrounding forest. ‘I’m not here for you. I’m here for the fucking revolution. I am the fucking revolution.’
Paul roars and lunges for him but Varik is quicker. In a moment, he’s drawn a knife and plunged it deep into Paul’s abdomen.
I hear a collective gasp, and then Reuben shouts and catches Paul as he falls, pressing his hands over his uncle’s stomach to try to stop the bleeding.
Varik laughs again, holding the blade high, the blood looking black in the moonlight. ‘Now the party’s started!’
Other members of the Gaping Maw leap from where they’ve been standing in the shadows, blades in hands. They clearly have targets in mind, and they make for them almost instantly. Mostly older pack members, all men, dispatched with ruthless efficiency. I hear women screaming, and children crying, but to my surprise few of the younger pack members do anything to try and prevent the attack. It’s almost as if… I watch astounded… it’s almost like they are expecting it.
‘We have to get you out of here,’ Alex says urgently, grabbing my hand. I look down. The platform we’re sitting on is a dizzying height from the ground, and right now my legs are shaking like crazy.
‘Reuben said not to come down,’ I say, fear churning sickeningly in my gut.
‘Yeah, well things have changed,’ Alex says.
‘I’ll create a distraction,’ Gabriel says. ‘You make for the falls on the upper reaches of the river. Reuben and I will meet you there.’
Alex nods, which I hope is a sign that he knows what Gabriel means and that this is a water-tight plan not just something desperate and doomed to failure they’re concocting right now on the spot.
I look down to where Reuben still crouches over Paul. The old man’s face is pale, almost grey, and his eyes are wide open, dully reflecting the flicker of flames from the fire-pit.
‘It’s barbecue time—’ Varik cries. A couple of his followers take Reuben by the arms and pull him off the alpha. Reuben struggles, but it’s him against three and he’s just not strong enough. Varik lifts Paul up as easily as though he were a sack of grain and throws his body onto the fire. I gasp and choke in horror as the flames rise around him and an acrid smoke fills the air.
Reuben thrashes and swears but the attackers have him pinned.
‘We have to help Reuben,’ I say to Alex. ‘We can’t just leave him there like that…’
Reuben continues fighting wildly against the two who are restraining him but they’re too strong. Varik just watches, with that mad grin on his face.
‘Now…’ he says clapping his hands theatrically. ‘Where’s that human I’ve heard so much about. A beautiful girl, they say. Reuben’s in fucking love, they say. Fucking perfect. Couldn’t have come up with a better climax to this whole miserable scene myself.’
He looks around just as I set my feet down off the ladder and onto the ground. His eyes rest on me and my blood freezes. He lets out a low growl and licks his lips.
‘Don’t move,’ Alex whispers urgently. ‘Not until I tell you to. Then run.’
16
LANA
Varik seems bigger now I’m standing on the level with him. His eyes are wide, and his pupils are huge. He looks wired, like he’s on drugs. He tilts his head to one side.
‘Aren’t you a picture, sweetheart. A before and after picture. I’ve seen one like this. What we’re looking at now is the be
fore. And I’m afraid the after got a bit… bloody… Do you remember that one, Reuben?’
The two guys holding Reuben jerk him up to a standing position and Varik grabs him by his hair so he’s facing me. Reuben roars with pain and outrage.
‘You don’t remember? Gee, don’t tell me I’m going to have to give you a refresher. Human girl, cute as a button. You tore her throat out from memory. Was a fucking mess. Blood everywhere. A lot of screaming before she died. Or burbling more accurately. You know, no tongue, hole in the throat, all of that, kind of makes it hard to scream properly. Do you want this one, Rue, or shall I have her?’
Varik takes a step closer to me.
I feel suddenly dizzy. What’s he talking about? Reuben wouldn’t kill a human. He worked with Gabriel to protect humans. He’s risked his life…
But then I see that expression of agony contorting Reuben’s face and in an instant, I know it’s true. I feel sick.
Alex glances across to Varik, over to where Reuben is pinned, then up to Gabriel like he’s doing a complicated calculation in his mind. I’m sure it doesn’t all add up. I don’t see how it can. We can’t rescue Reuben and escape Varik and get away free, all four of us. We’re outnumbered and overpowered and it’s just not going to work. Then I hear Gabriel whispering a few words, and there’s a hissing noise like something searing hot being dropped into cold water. A moment later the air around us seems to explode. I jump and Alex grabs my hand and squeezes it, as if for reassurance. A thick grey smoke grows around us, choking and blinding us. I pull my shirt up instinctively to cover my face, then duck low. I grab Alex’s hand and we start to run, making a zig-zagging path away from the fire pit and towards the outer ring of trees.
I hear muffled cursing and the sound of people bumping into things.
‘Reuben –’ I cry, slowing. I don’t want to leave him behind.
‘Leave it to Gabe. We’ve gotta get you to safety…’
The smoke is disorientating, but we move quickly and in a few minutes we’re clear of it and heading through the forest, scrambling over vines and thick tangled roots.
I look back for just a moment and see something – a bright flash of light, and then I hear screaming. I figure it must be another side-effect of Gabriel’s magic, so I don’t worry too much about it, just follow Alex as he tugs me on in the direction of the river.
We’re a distance from the campsite now and there are no indications that we’re being followed.
‘Paul –’ I say, my brain still struggling to compute everything that’s just happened.
‘Yep,’ Alex says, starting to slow.
‘But he’s –’
‘Dead. The only way an alpha can stop being an alpha. And you wonder why Reuben doesn’t want the job?’
‘What?’ I gawp at him.
‘What do you think would have happened if Reuben had fought back when Paul attacked him that first night? Instant promotion.’
Okay. I knew that was how it worked with werewolves, but I hadn’t thought it would still apply to Reuben. He was outcast by his family and magically bound to me, a human. He couldn’t be alpha of the Grey Pack. Could he?
‘Werewolf society is all about dominance,’ Alex says. ‘What Varik just did was messy but expected. An alpha who can’t stay alive doesn’t deserve to be an alpha anymore, that’s pretty much the long and short of it.’
‘Will they kill Reuben?’ I ask, shivering. Surely Varik will see him as a threat.
‘Not if Gabe has anything to do with it. Come on, I said we’d meet him at the waterfall.’
Then I hear something that chills my blood. It’s muted by the distance but unmistakable. There’s a siren sounding in the air, keening like something in pain. I hear a voice being projected over a loudspeaker. I can only make out a few words but what I hear makes me freeze.
‘— Council raid. Do not resist. Come out with your hands up. Identification papers –’
‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…’ Alex says, rubbing his fists against his temples. ‘The Council are here? Now? Well fuck...’
‘We have to go back,’ I say. ‘What if they get Reuben and Gabriel? You’re all on the blacklist because of me. They could be arrested. We have to do something…’
‘No way. We’re not going anywhere near there. The only thing we have to do right now is run. Far and fast.’
I stop walking and shake my head. ‘I can’t leave them. They’d never leave us if were still back there…’
Alex closes his eyes. ‘Fucking fuck. Okay. We’ll double back. Carefully. But only so we can see what the hell is going on. I don’t know what kind of coincidence this is, that Varik kills Paul and on the very same day the Council show up—’
‘Not a coincidence at all.’
I jump as I hear the voice too close behind me. I turn and feel a chill of terror as I see that it’s Andreas, the angry, dark-haired werewolf. I didn’t even hear him approaching.
‘I called them.’ He’s looking remarkably relaxed, given the chaos that is unfolding back at the campsite.
Alex’s eyes widen. ‘You called the fucking Demon Council? Onto Grey Pack territory? Are you out of your mind?’
‘I knew what Varik was planning. Half the pack knew. I’m not strong enough to take him on alone. And don’t get me wrong, it was time for Paul to go. He was getting stale. Weak. But Varik. He’s not the answer. He’s not strong. He’s a psychopath. I don’t want him in charge…’
‘I’m sorry, I’m still not getting it,’ Alex says, taking a step closer to Andreas. I see the other man narrow his eyes. If he had hackles, they’d be up. There’s way too much testosterone floating around right now. ‘Do you not know what the Council are like? Do you have any idea what they’ll do? They’re not an obedient dog that you can unleash and then leash again at your pleasure. You send them in, you won’t be able to control the consequences. If you have anyone you love back there, anyone, you’d better fucking hope they’re running right now. You’d better hope they can run fast.’
I see Andreas flinch.
‘I’m going back,’ I say, then turn and start back the way we came.
‘Not that way –’ Andreas says. ‘They’ll catch you in a heartbeat. There’s a better way. I’ll show you.’
Alex glares at him and Andreas stares back, not breaking his gaze.
‘If I’ve made a mistake, I’ll pay for it,’ he says quietly. ‘But I couldn’t let Varik win. He needs to be put down and I knew I wasn’t strong enough. Let me show you a better way back.’
Alex looks at me without saying a word.
‘Okay,’ I say. I don’t know why I trust Andreas. I have absolutely no reason to. But somehow, I feel certain that right now he’s telling the truth.
We creep through a moonlit grove of trees then take a path that leads into a gully and traces a wide circuit around the campsite. Andreas was right. This is a much better approach than the route I would have taken. We can get close without being seen or heard. He shows us where a narrow trail leads up an embankment and ends in a bushy thicket.
‘The camp is just ahead,’ he whispers.
Everything seems to have gone ominously silent. I don’t know what that means but I can’t think it’s anything good. I trail behind Andreas and Alex shadows me, watching behind us to make sure we’re not being followed. The fact that Andreas was able to sneak up on us completely undetected is worrying. I try to walk as quietly as I can, but my guide turns back and glares at me at the exact moment I tread on a twig that snaps. I glare back. It’s not my fault I wasn’t raised in the forest since before I could walk. I’m not a fucking forest ninja. I’m a fairly clumsy human at the best of times and by my standards I’m being damn quiet.
We finally make it to a small structure at the edge of the brush. It’s a hide, like I’ve seen used by hunters when they’re stalking prey. Andreas gestures for us to follow and we climb in carefully, ducking low and rising only enough that we can peer out onto the unfolding scene.
I look for Reuben and Gabriel but can’t see them anywhere.
Varik is on his knees, his hands chained behind him, his head bowed. A huge demon towers over him, whip at the ready. Another handful of demons, only slightly less huge, stand around watching. Varik’s followers are beside him, similarly chained, except for one who lies prostate in a pool of blood, an axe buried in his skull.
Well I guess Andreas’ plan has worked, kind of.
‘They’re wanted on dozens of capital felonies,’ Andreas whispers to me. ‘That’s why most of them ended up out there in the Gaping Maws. No other Pack would take them, and they couldn’t stay in the city. They were being hunted. All I did was speed the process up. Good riddance to bad scum, I say.’
As much as I’m pleased that the guy who had been threatening to disembowel me is no longer going to cause me any problems, I am still far from sold on the concept that my enemy’s enemy is my friend. My enemy’s enemy looks pretty fucking terrifying right now. I scan as much of the camp as I can, looking for Reuben and Gabriel. I’m hoping the fact that I can’t see them is a good sign.
A demon steps from just out of sight into view. I’ve seen him before, I’m sure of it. Maybe from Hell on Earth? Or maybe somewhere else? I never forget a face that terrifying.
His voice is acid and gravel mixed with a rusty knife. ‘We’ve heard word of undocumented minors in the Grey Pack campsite. You have three minutes to gather all your paperwork, then there will be an inspection of each of the quarters.’
I feel Andreas tense up beside me, then he looks around wildly.
‘What?’ I whisper as quietly as I can.
‘Briony… Vera never registered her birth. She didn’t want Reuben to find out about the baby until she was ready to talk to him about it. She’d have had to put a father on the papers—’
Oh no.
I see a scramble of activity throughout the camp as parents desperately try to find the correct paperwork for their children. I finally spot Reuben and Gabriel, they’re in the shadows at the very back of a group of watching werewolves. The fire casts just enough light that I can see that Reuben has even more injuries layered on top of the ones that Paul inflicted when we arrived. He’s bruised and bloodied. Gabriel looks furious, like he’s ready to unleash some kind of deadly blast of power. But he does nothing, just stands, head bowed, keeping between Reuben and the Demon Guard.
