Pack Bonds, page 13
part #4 of Amarok Series
“Information. It’s what we desperately need. Rosa’s people are all over the city. She finds a lot of them menial jobs. Mailmen, security guards, landscapers. Feet on the ground. They’re the perfect people to work as scouts.”
“You think they’re going to listen to you.”
“Doubt it. Which is where Pruella and her endless resources come into play.”
“Vikky came up with a great plan,” Rachel said, leaning into Dean’s side heavily. “A lot of our people are scraping by. They don’t have the means to get a lot of things. One of which is phones.”
“Pruella supplied us with sixty top-of-the-line smartphones. We’re going to head over later and hand them out. All they have to do in return is every time they pass by a rogue or a fae is snap their picture and mark their location. Which the phone does for them.”
“So, our people get new toys, Vikky’s reputation with them jumps through the roof, and our communication network gets a major upgrade for free.”
“All the photos will get loaded into a private chat and we can sort through them as we please.”
Dean purred with satisfaction. She had to admit, while she was comfortable in a head to head fight, the politics of the city eluded her. It felt good having someone competent at her side who could take command of the more annoying details without having to worry about their motivations. But she was alpha. She needed to consider what she should be doing to improve their situation. “We should be thinking about what we ask from the vampire.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s a plan but results are pending. More importantly, Dean, there’s something I wanted to run by…” She grabbed Dean’s arm, bringing them to a stop.
Dean followed her eyes to see Kyle Freewood coming up the hall, Malcolm Eerie and a group of humans walking beside him. He paused when he noticed their gazes, his eyes wary but not hostile. “Problem?”
“Hopefully not. I’ll catch up with the two of you later.”
“Alright.”
Dean looked over her head as she walked toward him, meeting Kyle’s gaze. She bared her teeth while giving him an evil glare. To his credit, Kyle returned it for a moment, but after a few seconds, he looked to the ground, shoulders stiff with tension. Dean huffed in satisfaction and kept walking.
Rachel looped their arms together. “I’m a little surprised you didn’t you insist on going with her.”
“No need. The two of us already had that conversation.” A memory of her confrontation with Kyle Freewood flashed through her mind. It was less of a fight and more of a demonstration where she made it clear exactly where the two of them stood.
That combined with her display at the Freewood house left her confident Kyle understood certain death awaited if he dared to lay a hand on her mate. “Besides, nothing will happen here. This is truly Pruella’s domain. I would love to see what would happen to anyone fool enough to disrupt it.”
-
Kyle pushed open the back door, stepping to the side to allow Viktoriya to move ahead of him. A group of students sat on the steps, but they quickly ignored the two changers as they moved to a distance that ensured their privacy. “We don’t have a lot of time so make it quick, Vikky.”
“It will be.” Viktoriya took a deep breath. “It’s time to bury the hatchet, Kyle.”
He sighed. “What hatchet would that be? We’ve got a lot of history.”
“Don’t play games. We are past the point of poking each other. In case you haven’t noticed, this city is on the brink of something.”
“I know my city.”
She scoffed. “Your city?”
“Yeah, Vikky, my city.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Don’t worry. Dugen already gave me the speech. Chances are slim I’ll ever be alpha of the Freewood pack and downright astronomical that I’ll be in charge of the city. I’d have to get through too many people, including you. I could handle you and maybe Martin Eerie, but Dugen and—”
“Whoa, back up a minute,” she interrupted, eyes narrowed. “Did you say Martin Eerie?”
Kyle spit to the side like he had a nasty taste in his house. “He’s been making trouble. Nothing too loud, just whispers behind Dugen’s back, spreading doubt. He probably doesn’t mean it that way but it’s only riling everyone up. Dugen may be dominant but he’s not like Franklin. Not…”
“Proactively aggressive.” Viktoriya shook her head. The quiet commander was a wall. He excelled at stopping trouble in its tracks or acting as a support. He wasn’t a hammer to smack down moles rearing their heads in his backyard, so to speak.
Kyle nodded. “Something like that. I don’t think he’ll challenge Dugen, at least not now with all this trouble brewing. But later? There’s no telling. Like I said, I could handle him but Dugen, Rosa Salvatore? That monster of a mate of yours?” He let out an explosive sigh.
Viktoriya clapped him on the shoulder but he shrugged off her hand. “Don’t try to coddle me, Vikky. I already know and I’m not going to whine about it. Dugen said I should find a place to carve out for myself, even if it’s not as alpha. That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
“Admirable.” She found herself surprised that she meant it. Kyle had changed, matured. Without his uncle controlling him, it seemed he was finally coming into his own. “If there’s something you need, let me know. I’ll help if I can.”
“Why? You feeling bad about abandoning your family?”
“I didn’t abandon anyone. Franklin had me chased out.”
“…You could come back.”
Viktoriya smirked. “Thought you said you didn’t want me coddling you?”
“Shut up. It’s not like that. It’s…the wolves are at the door—”
“Literally.”
He gave her a droll look. “Funny. What I’m saying is that this is the time where lines are drawn and people need to know where they stand. What happened between the two of us and Franklin wasn’t good, but it’s over. He’s dead, we’re not. It’s stupid to let him dictate our lives from the grave.”
“You make a good point. It is time for everyone to know where they stand.” She slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m standing beside Dean and Rachel. She stands beside her mother, and the Salvatores stand by her. Dugen stands by me, you and the Freewood wolves stand by him. So really Kyle, the changers haven’t realized it yet, but we’re all standing with each other. We’re all in this together.”
Kyle grunted. “You’ve been hanging around those felines too long.”
“Maybe. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong though.”
“Maybe.”
Their heads snapped up as the bell rang and they moved back into the school, stepping past the lounging students who showed no intentions of moving. “Why’d you come here anyway?” Viktoriya asked. “You know the rogues are targeting you.”
“Because they’re targeting me. I’m not going to run away with my tail tucked between my legs. And if they’re hanging around the school, trying to get in, we know where to find them and they’re not causing a ruckus in the streets.”
She grinned at him. “There may be hope for you after all.”
-
The constant drone of noise that characterized the school had shrunk to distant echoes as the students left the grounds. Dean strolled down the empty hallways, taking in the discarded papers and the fliers posted to the numerous billboards.
It was amazing how many worlds existed. The blood wolves lived in a separate world on top of the mountain she had called home. She’d found another world in the small town at its base and another when she came to Freewood. Pruella’s academy offered an introduction into the world of humans and now she was willingly walking into the world of the fae.
How far she was from the days when the dangers were outside the wall. In Freewood, allies moved amongst enemies and it took more than a sensitive nose to pick them apart. As she paused in front of the door to her homeroom, she wondered what Lucien would think of her now.
The man would most likely be appalled. She imagined him scowling at her from his office, the maps showing the tiny black dots that represented the decline of the blood wolves pressing down on her from their place on the wall behind him.
“Hmph.” For some reason, imagining her uncle’s anger made her smile. She raised her hand and knocked on the door, not bothering to wait for an answer before she walked inside.
Tobias sat at his desk penciling something into a large open calendar. He looked up as she came in, closing the book and standing from his chair. “Thank you for coming, Deanna.”
“Call me Dean already. I’m only called that when I’m in trouble.” She took the empty seat, leaning back in it as she focused on the halfling. “What do you need, Tobias?”
“It is less about what I need and more about what you need.”
The teacher grabbed a free chair and pulled it up to the desk, crossing his fingers on the surface. His expression remained neutral, but Dean got the impression that he was pleased. “You sound much better.”
“I take it you’re not talking about my voice.”
He chuckled. “In a sense, I am. Your inner voice. The two of you have made peace.”
“You need to explain that to me.” Dean leaned forward. “You keep saying two, as in two different people, but then you turn around and say we’re the same person. Now the beast is talking to me. This is getting confusing.”
“What exactly is confusing you?”
“People with voices in their heads are called crazy.”
“You’re not crazy, Deanna.”
“Then what am I?”
“You’re perfectly normal. Everyone has different versions of the self.”
Tobias stood and came around the desk. She scooted back the chair to make way for him as he opened the bottom left drawer, smirking as he pulled out a small plastic container filled with little army men in different colors. “Hobby?”
“No, I prepared them specifically for this meeting.” Tobias went back to his seat and spilled the toys across the desk. He grabbed a green soldier and placed it upright in front of Deanna. “Imagine this is you.” He reached over and placed a red soldier next to the green. “Imagine this is you when you’re angry. How different is the normal you from an angry you?”
“Different,” Dean acknowledged slowly.
“Now.” He grabbed a blue soldier and placed it next to the red. “This is you in a calm atmosphere, void of any stress and completely relaxed. Would you say this person is different from the other two?”
“I would think.” She couldn’t imagine herself completely relaxed. Her family wasn’t known for their calm demeanor and pleasant interactions.
He placed a yellow soldier in the line. “This is you when you’re happy.” A purple soldier followed. “This is you when you’re sad or lonely. And so on.” He lined up all the soldiers, spreading his hands over the myriad of colors. “So, you see, all of us have many selves.”
“Which one of these is the animal?”
“None of them.”
Dean growled. “Then what was the point of that?”
Tobias scooped all if the soldiers into his hands and dropped them back into their container. He slid it in front of her, tapping the lid. “Where do feelings come from? Our thoughts? The instincts your people thrive on? They come from the subconscious, a space in our minds that we can’t touch but is shaped by our experiences. We process so much, too much for our conscious selves to perceive. But what if there was a gate to the subconscious? A window that, for a moment, allowed you to glimpse the whole of what you perceive?”
He held out his hands and beckoned her forward. Dean hesitated, but followed the direction, placing her head in his grip.
“I ask that you close your eyes. It’s a lot less disorientating that way.”
She closed her eyes. The sudden darkness combined with a stranger in such proximity set her on edge and she took deep breaths to remain calm, reminding herself though her nose smelled an enemy, the teacher was not a threat.
“Relax, Deanna. I won’t hurt you.”
“No, because I’d kill you before you got the chance.”
“Precisely why there is no reason to be so tense.”
She chuckled but her shoulders came down. As she exhaled another breath, her remaining tension went with it.
“Good. Now, call out to your other half. Become aware of her.”
The beast appeared at her back, a presence she couldn’t see or touch, only feel.
“What does it feel like?”
“Does this have a point, Tobias?”
“Trust me.”
“You ask for much.” She felt ridiculous but Dean told herself that he had been a crucial element in saving Rachel’s life. He deserved a bit of leeway if only to repay that debt. “It—”
“She.”
“She is behind me. Breathing down my neck.”
“That’s a very ominous description. I suppose that comes from the two years you felt oppressed by your other half, at war within your psyche. Tell me what it feels like when you transform.”
“The exact opposite. I’m behind her, locked within that white prison.”
“That is your relationship. One dominating the other, one in control. But that is not how it is meant to be. Or, perhaps I should say that is not all it can be. The two of you are one and once you act as one, then you will realize the true strength of changers. Relax and allow me to guide you.”
It was the strangest thing. Dean struggled not to react as she felt Tobias working his influence on her. She swore she could feel his hand reaching into her mind and it sent chills down her spine. But the hand didn’t reach for her. It grabbed the animal, pulling her forward an inch at a time until…
Until the two of them stood side by side at the forefront of her mind, neither one subjugated by the other.
“Open your eyes.”
Dean’s eyelids felt heavier than normal as she raised them.
“Now feel.”
And she felt. Dean understood why the halfling said he was connected to her. They were all connected. Her eyes burned as she tried to focus on the rays of light extending from her chest. A blue thread went from her to Tobias. It was nearly translucent but midway down, a much more vibrant green thread curled around it, forming a knot.
Dean hesitantly reached up to touch it. She gasped as her fingers made contact as she suddenly became aware of the halfling.
“Deanna, I’m going to release you now. Prepare yourself. This will not be pleasant.”
The hand in her mind pulled back. The beast yelped as it was violently shoved backward. Dean groaned and bent over double as the world swam. Her hands grasped for something as her stomach twisted dangerously. The trash bin was placed in front of her as she heaved, emptying her stomach into it.
Dean spit when she was finished vomiting, grimacing at the rancid taste in her mouth. “…The hell?”
“Your senses were overloaded. Take a few deep—”
“Not that! What was that? That thing. It was coming from me and reaching out to you and when I touched it…”
Tobias smiled. “That is something to be explored later.”
“It’s what you do, isn’t it?”
“A variation.”
Dean attempted to push to her feet. She had to pause when the ground tilted beneath her. She squeezed her eyes shut and let the episode pass, straightening when the world righted itself again. Using her height, she glared down at the teacher. “Why can I, a changer, use the abilities of a fae?”
“Changer, vampire, fae. Each of us much more than the rest of the natural world has to offer. The three races are keenly aware of their differences. I wonder, if we stopped fighting each other, how aware we would become of our similarities.”
“That didn’t answer the question.”
“No, it didn’t. I don’t have the answer to that question. What I can offer you—” He leaned over the desk, opening the top left drawer. An unopened pack of toothbrushes, a tube of toothpaste and a small bottle of mouth rinse sat on top of office supplies. “—is this.”
“Always prepared.”
“I strive to be.”
She huffed as she grabbed the items. “I want to know more about this.”
“I will guide you. But the answer lies within you. She is the gate that leads to your true potential. Do not be afraid of your many selves, or the new you that is waiting to be seen.”
“Hmm.” Dean took one hesitant step toward the door, checking her balance. When she didn’t threaten to fall over, she moved more confidently across the room, pausing with her hand on the knob. “I have two questions for you, Tobias Harmony,” she said without turning. “Why are you doing so much for me?”
