Saviour of the Pack, page 19
‘Exactly,’ Greg said grimly. ‘I’ve been doing a quick roll call to see who’s fallen in the battle. Ares was here and now he’s not. But he was just by me, and he definitely didn’t die.’
‘Who did we lose?’ I asked. I should have asked that question sooner but I’d dreaded the answer.
‘Most of the dead were Beckett’s. Their hearts weren’t in the battle like ours. But we did lose a couple.’
‘Who?’
‘Brian and Cassie.’
‘Dammit.’ My heart clenched. They were dead because of me. Cassie had been vibrant and vivacious, a real force of nature. She wasn’t an easy person to get on with, but she’d been through the mill. She’d lost her ex-husband, whom she’d never really gotten over, and she’d never had the children that she dreamed of. Now she never would.
Brian had never liked me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel awful at his passing. I was responsible for it; I would never forget that, or the sense of heavy responsibility. Never before had calling myself alpha meant so much, but it was a hard lesson to learn.
‘We need to find Ares,’ Greg said, ruining my moment of introspection. There was no time for regret. We weren’t done.
‘You think Mrs Dawes has him,’ I said flatly.
‘Yes, I do. She had to be close to reanimate the dead like that. She’s on our grounds somewhere.’
Fuck.
Chapter 25
‘Try and locate Ares,’ I said briskly. ‘Check the security footage. I need to speak to Frost’s wolves, then I’ll be right with you.’
Greg hesitated. ‘I’ll come with you first.’
‘No, find Ares. Beckett’s pack won’t give me any trouble.’ I hoped I was right. They were sitting on the other side of our huge lawn, but they’d made no effort to leave. I grabbed a robe from inside the house and strode across the ground to meet them.
‘Hello,’ I said as I neared them.
I was greeted with a chorus: ‘Alpha.’ My mind went blank, then cleared. Of course I was their alpha: I’d killed Frost, though I hadn’t thought of that in the moment, I’d thought only of revenge. Not the worthiest of motives.
‘I’m Lucy,’ I said. ‘Nice to meet you all. Is anyone badly injured?’
There was murmuring amongst them, then a young lad was shoved forward. ‘We have a few that are hurt.’
‘Okay. Well, welcome to my pack. Let’s get you all sorted. Take the injured to that witch over there. That’s Amber DeLea, and she’s going to help you.’
They stood slowly and started to follow me back across the grass, looking at me cautiously like they expected me to explode.
Thea pelted towards me. ‘Xander!’ she shouted.
‘Thea!’ A young man ran across the remaining space between them and pulled her into his arms, nudity be damned. ‘Baby girl, don’t you run off in the dead of night like that ever again!’
‘It wasn’t exactly my choice,’ she grumped. ‘Beckett grabbed me out of my bed.’ Xander gave a low growl. ‘It’s okay! He didn’t hurt me – and he sent me to Lucy. Come and meet her.’ She pulled him over, smiling, her body relaxed for the first time since I’d met her.
I gave a finger wave and a smile. ‘Hi.’
He touched his hand to his heart, dropped to one knee and bowed his head. ‘My honour to meet you, Alpha.’
Thea grabbed him by his elbow and pulled him up. ‘Get up, she’s not like that. She doesn’t want any grovelling.’ She turned to me. ‘Do you?’
I smiled. ‘No. This is a grovel-free zone.’
I quite like the grovelling, Esme objected.
Shush, you. We’re being welcoming.
Ah. Is that what we’re being? She sounded amused.
‘My honour to meet you Xander. You’re a friend of Thea’s?’
Xander hesitated as he stood up. ‘As much as I could be,’ he admitted unhappily.
‘Beckett didn’t like anyone talking to me,’ Thea explained. ‘Xander would sneak down to see me sometimes. We’ve been friends since we were pups, and he never abandoned me even when I lost my wolf.’
Xander shot her an alarmed look, like she shouldn’t be talking about her inability to shift.
‘It’s good,’ Thea reassured him loudly. ‘Lucy fixed it. I can shift again.’ Murmurs and gasps ran through the Devon pack. Thea swallowed. ‘Actually, my wolf named herself Sophie.’
Xander’s eyes softened. ‘Sophie?’ He took a sharp breath and tears sparkled in his eyes before he blinked them away. ‘That’s nice. She would have loved that.’ He saw my questioning look. ‘Sophie was my mother. Frost killed her when we were young.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Yeah, me too. You can see why I’m not shedding any tears over you killing him.’
‘Indeed. Will there be tears from anyone present?’ I asked softly for his and Thea’s ears alone.
‘A few,’ Xander murmured, equally softly. His eyes lingered on a couple of muscley-looking men towards the front.
‘Keep your eyes on them,’ I instructed Xander. ‘There are other matters that require my attention just now, but I’ll need a full debrief when we have time.’ Me, using words like ‘debrief’? Spending time with Greg had rubbed off on me.
‘Yes, Alpha.’ He bristled to attention.
I bit back a sigh; I suspected it would take a long while for the new wolves to stop looking at me without fear. But I’d got there with Thea, and I could do it again.
I looked at the throng of people behind Xander. There were thirty people joining me, and probably more waiting for me in Devon. Life was never boring since I’d become a werewolf. I decided I needed to address the new group before starting the hunt for Ares, so I strode over to them.
‘Hi, everyone. My name is Lucy, and I killed Beckett Frost. This makes me your new alpha. I’m much nicer than he was.’ I smiled and met the eyes of a couple of the wolves that Xander had pegged as Beckett’s supporters.
‘He could be charming,’ an older woman called out from the back.
‘No doubt,’ I agreed. I’d heard that Hitler was charismatic.
‘Charming, but deadly. You’re charming, too,’ the woman continued. The rest of the sentence hung in the air, so I said it for her.
‘And deadly too.’ My smile faded and I gave the whole pack a long stare. I let the moment draw out so that they felt the threat. Coming from an environment like Beckett Frost’s, I couldn’t allow them to think that I was weak. I would adjust their attitudes towards pack life, but it had to be done delicately.
I smiled again. ‘But mostly, I’m nice. I really only kill people that threaten my pack, so I’m sure we’ll all get along famously.’ My eyes lingered on the two men that Xander had picked out; they knew that I had their measure. ‘My pack recently completed a tourney, so for now you will join unranked. We’ll get to know each other a little better and then, when the time is right, I’ll call another tourney.’
There were a few disgruntled looks but nobody spoke out against my pronouncement. Nobody likes to remain unranked in a pack where rank determines your role, pride and position, but I wasn’t going to risk some of the new pack wolves entering my battle core before I knew who they were and if they could be trusted.
I raised my voice and looked at my own pack to make sure they knew that they were included in what I said next. ‘Today we broke the curse that has lingered over the werewolves for centuries. You will feel your wolf in a way that you’ve never felt before. Talk to your wolf, get to know each other. Through them, you now have access to the Great Pack, and through the Great Pack you can communicate with any other werewolf. If you find yourself alone and under attack, your wolf can send an alert to any other wolf close by. With our link to our wolves restored, and through them our link to the Great Pack, times are going to change for the werewolves. We are no longer going to be second-class citizens in the Other realm, half on the human side, half on the creature side, embraced by no one. With the curse lifted, we are once more a force to be reckoned with.’
My pack broke into whoops and cheers. Frost’s wolves looked encouraged, but none of them visibly celebrated the changes that I proposed. It would take time to amalgamate the two packs – but I had time, and I would use it wisely.
As I looked at my pack, I noted that Greg must have released the pups from the basement. Marissa was sitting next to Seren, her arm around her, her gaze defiant, daring anyone to comment on the clear affection between them. Seren looked decidedly smug. Bobby ran out to stand by a tired and mucky Sonia. Elena was handing out jogging bottoms to our pack. I met her eyes and tilted my head towards the other pack. She grimaced a little, but nodded and started passing them clothes as well.
As soon as they were clothed, the two men who’d been glaring at me started to walk off the grounds. We should kill them, Esme advised, but there was a sigh in her voice. She knew I wouldn’t go for it; time was pressing and our priority had to be to find Ares and Mrs Dawes.
We need to find Mrs Dawes. Let them go lone.
They’ll be back.
And we’ll be ready for them, I said confidently.
David’s leg was healed and Amber had moved on to her next patient. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked him.
He beamed at me. ‘I’ll be just fine, Alpha, thank you,’ he said, polishing his glasses on his top. I wondered how many spare sets of glasses he had squirreled away. It was even funnier when you considered that his eyesight was perfect as a result of the change, and his glasses were made with plain lenses.
‘Can you help with food?’ I asked the former loner Finley as my tummy gave a vicious growl.
‘Of course,’ the chef agreed. ‘I’ll get right on it.’ He straightened and strode off purposefully. There was another man who was beginning to find his way in our pack.
Normally, I wouldn’t have to ask someone to sort out food because Mrs Dawes would have been there handing out biscuits before I even thought of it. Damn it. How could she be the black witch?
I realised that I was stalling. A part of me – a large part of me – didn’t want to find her, to believe that her betrayal was real. Time to put on my big girl panties. I was in charge of even more people now and I couldn’t hide because I didn’t like something. It was time to face the music – even if it was loud, screamy, rock music.
Heart pounding and feeling sick, I stretched my senses out to search for the duplicitous necromancer.
Chapter 26
You must stop the witch. NOW! the Great Pack’s choral voice called urgently. I could feel their fear, and it scared me shitless.
I’m trying, I responded shortly, continuing to stretch out my piping magic. I sent it wide, hoping to collide with Mrs Dawes’ familiar mind, but I encountered nothing. It was hard skimming over all the new packmates, all of whom were unfamiliar to my magic, and I struggled to discern who was who. But no one felt like Mrs Dawes.
In frustration – and desperation – I sent my senses out to the woods. I didn’t find Mrs Dawes, but I did find the trees, and they were anxious, upset. A feeling of abhorrence was rising in them, like their bark was crawling. Something unspeakable was occurring in the woods, and my money was on a spot of necromancy.
The black witch – Mrs Dawes – had made it so that Bobby and the other kids couldn’t be scried. I guess she had a few other tricks up her sleeve after two centuries that would make my magic skim over her like a pebble on a still lake. Too bad she didn’t know I could commune with trees.
I thanked them for their insight and snapped back to my body. When I’d been searching, I’d felt Greg in my office, so I ran in to him. I didn’t bother dressing because I knew I’d be shifting again soon.
‘You got anything?’ I asked.
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. ‘Nothing. She’s not anywhere on camera.’
‘She knows where the cameras are,’ I pointed out. ‘She’s not stupid.’
‘No. She’s not stupid,’ he admitted grudgingly.
‘I think I know where she is – and the Great Pack says we need to hurry.’
He didn’t question me, he simply stood up from his desk. ‘Then let’s go.’ He was dressed, not just in clothes, but with weapons. He had two guns – that I could see – and a few knives.
‘Let’s take some back-up,’ I suggested.
He flashed me a grin. ‘You’re learning.’
‘Even the most hard-headed of us get the idea eventually.’
‘It’s not about being hard-headed, it’s about learning to trust the team around you. Who are we taking?’
‘Archie, Liam and Maxwell?’ I suggested. Jess was still tending to an unconscious Emory, and I didn’t want to take her away from him. I hesitated a moment. ‘Tristan, too.’ Tristan was my third; my continued failure to treat him as such would cause an issue if I didn’t make a conscious effort to get over my mistrust of him.
‘Not bad,’ he said about my proposed line-up. ‘But let’s take Amber and Bastion as well.’
‘I’m not sure if Amber is done healing people.’
‘Most of the wounds were either deadly or flesh wounds. The flesh wounds will heal by themselves.’
I grimaced. ‘And the deadly wounds have done their job,’ I said balefully.
‘Exactly. Let’s see what she’s up to.’
Noah was looking pale and haunted. Sally hovered behind him, touching him frequently like she was afraid her son would disappear. Noah was ignoring her, determinedly helping David to distribute biscuits and crisps to the assembled wolves, including Frost’s pack. My new pack, I corrected. It would take some major adjustments for all of us.
Amber looked tired. She was packing her supplies back into her trusty bag.
‘You good to come witch hunting with us?’ I asked her.
She rubbed a hand across her green eyes. ‘Sure. Who needs rest?’
‘Rest is for the wicked.’
‘Then let’s hope we catch Mrs Dawes napping,’ she said darkly. She grabbed my wrist. ‘Listen, I know this is going to sound crazy, but when I joined this coven there was an older witch who went by the name of Jane Dorey. When Mrs Dawes tied her hair back, she looked like Jane Dorey’s twin who’d not aged a day since the last time I’d seen her. Jane disappeared and was presumed dead – there was a thing with a local vampyr clan. Anyway, none of that matters. What’s important is that Jane was very anti-werewolf. I remember because she was fanatical about it. I think that Janice Dawes is Jane Dorey, and she’s been using her magic to extend her life force. That’s what all of this has been about. That’s my theory, anyway – I know it sounds crazy.’
I shook my head. ‘Not really, Frost more or less confirmed it. He said she was one of the original witches to cast the curse on the golden-eyes werewolves. He said she was more than two hundred years old.’
Amber’s expression was horrified as she stared at Greg and me. ‘She must have killed so many people to survive that long, Lucy. She must be stopped. At any cost.’
We exchanged grim glances, united in our dark purpose. Mrs Dawes or Mrs Dorey – whatever or whoever she was – wasn’t walking out of our woods.
‘Let’s go,’ Greg called, collaring Liam, Tristan and Archie to join us. Tristan looked at us in surprise when he got the tag, but he gave a willing nod. Whatever our differences, he was still on Team Home Counties Pack. The boys shucked off their clothes and shifted back onto four and into fur.
‘To the woods.’ I led the way. Tristan quickly swept ahead, and Archie and Liam brought up the rear. I caught Bastion’s eye and he gave me a weary nod, tiredness wracking him once more. The boost that he’d gotten from fighting and killing the vampyrs was gone; if anything he looked worse. That was another urgent reason to catch Mrs Dawes; I was honestly not sure how long Bastion had left.
I grimaced with worry as I watched him take nearly a minute to shift; in the past, his change had always been instantaneous. Bastion didn’t look at me as he took to the skies.
I shifted, too, and let Esme take control. As I reached outwards with my magic, I felt the trees’ unease and let them tug us forward and guide our steps. My communion with the elder tree felt like it had happened years ago, but really it was only a matter of a few weeks. It had done something to me, given me an affinity with the trees around me and my piping magic an extra depth. Esme followed the tug of my magic, and we plunged deeper into the woods.
The woods around the mansion aren’t vast, and it didn’t take long for us to find Mrs Dawes – and Ares.
He was tied to the floor, trapped under ropes that were secured with wooden stakes. It was entirely too reminiscent of a certain scene with Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia. My unicorn’s eyes were wide with fear and rage, but his body was eerily still. I suspected the rune painted on his back was keeping him immobile.
Outrage welled up within me. I shifted onto two and darted forward. ‘You bitch!’ I yelled. ‘Leave him alone.’
Mrs Dawes was dressed in a black cloak, straight from Victorian times. Her hair was swept back and her smile was cold, cold, cold.
‘Hello, Lucy,’ she crowed. ‘How kind of you to join me. And thank you for giving me access to the Great Pack.’ She smirked. ‘Our curse all those years ago didn’t go far enough. It shielded the Great Pack from their humans, but it didn’t destroy the bloody thing. Now I can go that bit further and fix that oversight. I’m grateful to you for restoring them. I never dreamt I’d have a second chance to destroy the wolves utterly.’ She smiled happily.
I stepped towards her. ‘You do realise you’re talking about yourself? You’re a wolf.’
‘Tisch, nonsense! My wolf is wrapped up tighter than a mummy. Now, Alpha, step back if you don’t want your dear Ares to die.’
She was kneeling by his side, and she lifted her hand a little so I could see the wicked serrated knife in her hands. It was long and curved with a hook at the end, designed to pull out insides. She’d drawn a pentagram around her more complex than the one that Amber had been painstakingly painting only an hour earlier. Ares lay frozen across its centre, obscuring a good chunk of the runes.
