Pack Possessed, page 4
part #4 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
She shoots him a withering glare. “I get that you’re upset, but there’s no need to be condescending.”
His arctic gaze is engulfed in obsidian as he growls out an agitated sound and his other half takes over. “There is when you’re talking about playing into someone’s hands that either hates the demon currently housed in your body, or loves her enough to fucking resurrect her!” Taking a few breaths to settle down, he stares at her with a broken expression. “If Aurelia imprisoned them, then as soon as she sets them all free, even if he loves her, he’ll kill you both to make sure it can’t happen again. Why would any of us want to be free if it means losing you? This is all we’ve ever known; we’ll figure it out.”
Giving him a sad smile, she replies, “That’s what I would do in his shoes, so yeah, my brain already went there. Which is why I’m proposing that we set emotions aside for a little bit, and work together to actually consider what Kaige brought up initially. Map things out, make a plan. See if there are any patterns in his behavior that we can find, and what avenues might be hiding between the lines that Acheron wouldn’t have anticipated upon. If we can identify most of the contingency plans that he would have in place, then we can anticipate his actions. If we can lay all of those out visually, maybe we can find a path he wouldn’t have considered.”
Giving him a blinding smile that renders him immobile, she says, “It’s no different than Redemption, if you really think about it. We lay out all of the code, identify the imperfections and gaps, and create something new out of nothing more than our collective genius. Ash may have centuries of experience on us, but we have new perspectives and technology on our side, a different outlook on the world. Which means we stand a decent shot at seeing something he might have missed because he was too entrenched in hundreds of layers of schemes and manipulations. He had to leave a loose thread somewhere.”
Her coral irises sparkle with devilish intent before they’re engulfed. “And I know how to get under his skin better than anyone to buy us time to find it.”
***
“Why does it smell like a bottle of bleach exploded in here?” Bo pauses as soon as he opens the front door of the Slaughters' cabin. As soon as it clicks, he shoots an unamused glare back at Hunter. “Seriously?”
Shoving his shoulder in a half-assed attempt to get him out of the doorway, when Bo finally moves, Hunter passes by and takes a seat at the table before responding with a small smirk. “What was I going to do, tell her no?” He scoffs. "Like you'd be able to refuse her begging either."
A blush rapidly rises in Sabrina's cheeks. “I didn't beg. I just... pointed out the benefits of multitasking.”
"Getting off while getting a cabin we didn’t have to build since the Slaughters won't want to step foot in here anymore?"
Cin objects, "But then why bleach it?"
Damian refuses to meet anyone's eye as Hunter chuckles. "You have Sebastian to thank for that."
After he catches us up on that hilarious cluster fuck, Sabrina explains, "Long story short, I took Kaige’s advice to heart and we riddled out that my nefarious alter ego hid some of her power in each of you when claimed, and that’s why your stores weren’t completely depleted after the Alodia massacre. So I sucked down some of Hunter and Damian’s trauma and all of the lovely demonic power hidden inside, both benevolently ridding them of some of the guilt that plagued them, and gaining immunity from Ash’s mental tampering.” She takes a seat beside me at the table and adds, “Figured it might help condition my brain to associate pain and siphoning with sexy times, so it’d be less daunting when I need to. Masochism for the win, am I right?”
Slade steals the seat on her free side, studying her profile with an indecipherable expression. “Did it work?”
Wetting her lips nervously, she nods. “Still sucked a bit in a few patches, but it was easier to stay grounded so I didn’t get completely lost in my head. Images were clearer, too; more like being dropped in a memory, but aware enough to know it wasn’t my memory. Because of that, it was easier to pack away afterward. Honestly, I think I could handle it as well as you guys do now even without getting laid, but if I had to choose, I'm obviously going to vote for option number one.”
“That’s,” he trails off, staring at her in awe.
“Remarkable,” I finish for him, and she turns to give me an appreciative smile.
“To be fair, I didn’t do much of the work on this one,” she teases, but I shake my head in disbelief.
“Don’t sell yourself short, beautiful. And I’m jealous enough to ask if, when we get a little downtime, you might be willing to practice with me to see if that memory thing is unique to you, or the rest of us could learn how to do it as well. Sounds a hell of a lot better than random images and blips of emotion. Could be incredibly useful when interrogating people, too.”
Slade brushes his knuckles over her cheek. “Count me in on that experiment. Even if we fail, we still get to come out on top, so nothing to lose.”
A massive crack of thunder startles the fuck out of all of us, Bo and Hunter jumping to their feet instantly, while Cin loses control of the chair he was rocking back in and crashes to the floor. Heart sprinting in my chest, I crane my neck to see as Damian pulls the curtain back, storm clouds rolling in with a vengeance and darkening the sky alarmingly quickly. He, Hunter, and I turn to simply stare at Sabrina, rendered speechless.
It’s only been a couple of days since the last storm. If anyone was still clinging to denial that Sabrina was the blessing we all desperately needed, there’d be no denying the claim now.
“These aren’t some spring showers to get excited over. Storms are devastating and destructive.”
So is she, and she’s perfect. A different kind of disaster might just be what we need to clash with the current one in our lives.
“Maybe,” Hunter hesitantly begins, sitting back down, “it wasn’t Annika leaving that broke things like we thought. If Sabrina was born here and then Annika took her away, it was Sabrina leaving that broke things.”
“You mean Aurelia,” she replies with a weary sigh. “I’m just the meat suit stuck in the middle of this dramatic puppet show.”
Cinjin chimes in to keep her from discrediting herself. “You are not. Y-”
“I’m not upset about it, calm down.” Tugging out her ponytail, she runs her fingers through it before braiding it over her shoulder, always looking for something to fidget with when discussing difficult topics. “Honestly? I’ve read enough books with women that turned out to be the chosen ones, that had to sacrifice everything to save people. I don’t want to be important to anyone other than you guys, so I’m happy to pawn off all of the end of the world stuff on her. That way if we fuck this up and get everyone killed, it’s not my fault.” The last quip is tossed out flippantly, her smile genuine rather than the fragile one I was anticipating.
“We’ll make sure to carry disclaimers in our pockets for when people find our bodies. That way they’ll all know it’s really Damian’s fault so they spell his name right in the history books.”
Rolling his eyes, he flips me off.
As Reid returns from the bedroom, he declares, “I’ll schedule a mass email alert to let everyone know so he can’t escape responsibility, don’t worry.” Scowling, he slides a new pair of glasses on and adds, “Better do that now, actually; this is my last backup pair.”
“This might be a dumb question-” as Reid looks his way, Hunter awkwardly clears his throat. “Does your... other half have poor eyesight too?” When Reid simply blinks at him, Hunter immediately gets defensive. But much to the surprise of everyone in the room, he doesn’t bite Reid’s head off, instead actually trying to explain his point of view; even if it does look like he sucked on a lemon.
“Now more than ever it’s important for us all to know exactly what we have to work with; every potential weakness so we’re not blindsided in the heat of the moment, whatever we could possibly use to lure Ash into a false sense of security. Whatever plan we come up with, if we should make sure you aren’t alone if you shift or get punched in the face, that needs to be factored in.” Sighing, he scratches his jaw and looks anywhere but at the seven of us. “I’m not trying to be a dick, I just don’t want to lose anyone else because of that asshole, okay?”
Reid pulls out the chair opposite me and flops into it. “Yeah, it’s an issue for me too.” I watch in fascination as his pupils dilate only a fraction, his wolf -demon- pushing to the surface to answer Hunter, but not completely shoving Reid out of the way. “Not quite as near-sighted as him, but still not that great. The rest of my senses are a bit stronger and help counteract it, though.”
Hunter tilts his head in acknowledgement and they leave it at that. Damian catches my eye, as shocked as I am, but we’re wise enough not to say a damn thing about the subject.
Bo leaves long enough to unearth a notebook out of his backpack and a pen. “We should stop getting sidetracked and make the most of our time before the Slaughters come back.”
Sabrina steals it from him, only to slide it in front of Slade. “You have the best handwriting. Besides, you were looking for a new role. Let’s test out if ‘scribe’ is a good fit.”
He opens to a clean page. “Have I told you lately how perfect you are?”
She offers him a sad smile. “A few times, but as it turns out, I have a praise kink, so feel free to keep up the good work.”
“She’s deflecting again because she’s scared.”
We’re all scared, calm down. Our lives are depressing enough; we can either laugh at the bad shit, rage, or cry, but nothing we do is going to change the fact that it’s happening. We can only control how we respond to it.
His exaggerated groan makes the corner of my lips twitch. “You’ve always been such a philosophical douchebag; it’s fucking annoying.”
I’d rather conserve my energy than let every little thing piss me off. When your life has been orchestrated to make you as miserable as possible, the only place you’re ever going to be able to find peace is within yourself.
“Earth to Kaige.” Blinking, Cinjin’s blurred face gains clarity and I shake my head.
“Fuck, sorry. Not used to the devil on my shoulder prancing around my brain.”
Snorting, he gestures to the page torn out of the notebook lying in the center. A hastily doodled map of the mountain was sketched out, the lines of the territories marked along with the numbers of each pack. “Bullet point version to bring you up to speed since you were off in Lalaland. Even if we can’t count on the Slaughters’ pack to help us, so long as they don’t join Ash, we have enough men that we could likely win a direct fight if we cheat a little.”
“Okay? We already knew that.”
Rolling his eyes, he reminds me, “That’s if your packs did what you were hoping and Sabrina inspired them to wage war with Wilder’s pack. Instead, they’re more likely to mutiny against you three and attempt to steal her for themselves. So we need to figure out a way to get them on our side instead of against us, or Ash will be the least of our problems.”
Stealing Sabrina’s hand, I kiss the back and keep it captured in mine. “I don’t want to lie and make them think they have a shot with her, otherwise when they find out we were stringing them along, they’ll murder us on principle. We need some form of comparable incentive that they’d want as much as a mate.”
Bo claps his hands together, grinning ear to ear. “Most people want a mate simply to free their wolves. We get control of the Slaughters’ warehouse, we can offer the drug up as a prize.”
Slowly shaking his head, Damian points out, “That’s only a one off. Reid shifted into a lycan, then couldn’t become the hellhound he was destined to be until after Sabrina claimed him.”
Pointedly glancing at the door, I drop my voice to a whisper. “Storm or not, we need to be careful. There’s no telling who might be watching or listening, and the last thing we need is to gift wrap our plan for someone to deliver to Ash’s doorstep.”
Sabrina scrunches up her face, but none of us interrupt her, starting to become familiar with each other’s tells when they’re having an internal discussion with their resident demon. And by the way her expression morphs into one of annoyance, then pissed-off, and back to irritation, I can only imagine they’re getting into it about Aurelia’s silent act. Still, I can’t possibly be the only one that’s curious as hell to hear Aurelia’s version of events, even if I’m not sure how much we can trust her, either. She’s had weeks to tell us about this, but instead, left us all stumbling around in the dark.
Quieter now, Hunter tosses out, “Plus, Ash is still fucking with their heads. While he may not be able to turn people into mindless zombies, he managed to get us obsessed with the idea of Sabrina to the point we were willing to do a hell of a lot to bring her here. And Sebastian was acting... off, when we saw him earlier. Who knows what he’s planted in their heads?”
Slade taps his pen against the page as he considers something before hastily scribbling it down. Shamelessly, I lean over Sabrina’s lap to try and read what he’s writing, and my grin splits my face.
As his pen races across the paper, he muses, “The only way to free a wolf is a female’s claiming bite. That’s why the drug is only half-working; the person trapped in a half-human, half-wolf state. That’s the one thing that Ash hasn’t been able to replicate to pull it off permanently. And since your bite made us immune to external manipulation, and Aurelia created the original curse that imprisoned them-” his pen slows, and he looks up, more animated than I think I’ve ever seen the man. “This isn’t my area of expertise, but what if we mixed some of Sabrina’s blood into it? There’s little risk of her taking them on as mates since she isn't marking them, but we’ll test it on one guy first and kill him if it backfires to be completely sure before giving it out en masse.”
Reid strums his fingers on the table. “Theoretically, that could work. Can’t hurt to try at least.”
Another crack of thunder is followed by a deluge of rain assaulting the roof as Cin leans forward from his seat across from Sabrina. “She’s everyone’s missing piece, so it makes sense to me that she’d be the key to fixing a drug that he hasn’t been able to perfect even after a decade of trials.”
Sabrina cracks her neck from side to side. “So, we bribe the troops to be at the ready, I lure Ash into a false sense of security, crack open the apocalypse pinata, and then before he can murder my face, we chuck him in a woodchipper to make sure he actually dies this time.”
“Are you trying to seduce me?” Tugging on her braid to pull her closer, I kiss her as if the world isn’t collapsing around us. “Because it’s working.”
As she smiles against my lips, Damian muses, “You know, since Sabrina came into the picture, the Slaughters have been acting differently. Maybe just her presence is enough to have their inner demons recognizing Ash’s manipulation. I bet if we phrased it as the only way to save her, we wouldn’t have to fight them to gain control of the warehouse, they’d hand us the keys.”
“No.” Her voice is succinct and firm, tightening her grip on my hand. “We’re not playing them. When they come back, we’re laying all of our cards out on the table and letting them choose if they want to help us or not, and if they refuse, so be it. We’ll tranq them or something until we’re done doing what we need to, but we’re not going to trick them into this when it’s entirely possible it’s going to get them killed.”
Hunter grimaces. “If they say no, we’re giving away our entire fucking plan, Sabrina. If Ash is able to dig around in people's heads without having to siphon from them, that means he can tap in whenever he wants to a certain degree. Who's to say he doesn't use the ability to eavesdrop or root around in their memories to keep tabs on everyone that way?”
Lightning flashes, illuminating a slow smile spreading across her face. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
Chapter 4
Sabrina
I swipe some of the water out of my eyes, but it’s futile. It may be morning, but the storm has made it dark enough that it may as well be the middle of the night. The torrential rain has driven the majority of men indoors, so naturally, it’s the perfect time for us to go traipsing around outside.
Turning to Kaige, Damian, and Hunter, I exhale heavily, buzzing my lips. “Careful what you wish for, am I right?” But they look so damn peaceful despite everything that happened yesterday, it’s impossible not to take a little of the edge off of my nerves.
Kaige stretches his arms over his head, basking in the storm with a serene smile. “You mean because I might get everything I wished for and then some? Hate to be the one to break it to you, gorgeous, but this isn’t the life lesson that you think it is.”
Damian ducks beneath a low-hanging branch, leading our way down the path that’s rapidly disappearing beneath the onslaught of water. “We’ll happily endure whatever challenges come with having you in our lives; you’re worth jumping through hoops for. I’m not going to feel bad for getting the things I wished for, even if there are some strings attached. Surprises may suck at times, but still better than sitting around and waiting to die, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Isn’t that the damn truth. I’ll take a little chaos over mind-numbing monotony any day.”
Hunter scans the area with a critical eye, but even he appears less high-strung than usual despite the recent emotional whiplash. Wary of our surroundings and seeking potential threats, sure, but with less anxiety and more natural caution. I’m not sure if it’s because of what I took from him and Damian that caused the shift in their demeanor, or because we have a game plan to give us a false sense of confidence that everything’s going to work out in the end. Whatever the reason, they all seem to have embraced the mantra of ‘it is what it is at this point’, accepting the ironic sense of peace that comes from being at war with the world instead of themselves, for a change.
