Chapter 42
S
o much had happened over the past weeks—the past twenty-four hours—that Gwen’s Sister Wolf was urging her to shift, to stop thinking and start letting her beast side take over to handle things.
It seemed like an awesome idea, but first she needed to communicate with Rifter, and that had to be through talking.
“I’m worried about Stray,” Gwen told him, the words tumbling out as he emerged from the shower, before he could take her to bed again. It didn’t stop him from coming over to her, nuzzling her neck before answering. “You’re worried because of Killian?”
“Killian, the witch . . . there’s a lot of pressure on him.”
“On all of us.”
“Yes, but you’re all old,” she teased. Rifter grabbed her and tickled her for a few seconds until she sputtered, “Uncle—I’ll remember to mind my elders.”
“Yes, you’d better.” Rifter nipped her neck gently. “I’ll keep an eye on him, Gwen. And you—promise me.”
“You’re going to make me do this on a daily basis, right? I won’t go anywhere without you or one of your brothers. I’d never put myself into a position where I could be used as a weapon against you.”
“I know you wouldn’t. But in the heat of battle, if something goes wrong, your Sister Wolf’s first instinct will be to save me. You have to fight that. Know that I’ll always come back to you. You’re safest in here, you and Sister Wolf. And I hate having to cage you in.”
“I have everything I need—I have family,” she said quietly. “This seems a small price to pay.”
Finding out that her blood had the capacity to kill the Dires—that it was the one, the only thing that could end their centuries of immortality—was a sobering discovery for all of them. Gwen couldn’t imagine them being taken from her, since upon her mating, the Elders had granted her immortality as well.
She would do everything in her power to keep her new mate and his family safe. Being watched over when she was allowed out seemed a small price to pay for getting rid of the seizures that had been killing her.
Maybe in a century, she’d feel differently.
“Anything more happening with the clinic?”
“I’ve been ordering more supplies, stocking up,” she said. She couldn’t help thinking about Rogue telling her she was both healer and destroyer.
Healer. If she could actually heal, if that was her ability, the clinic could handle the load it might see when the Dire ghost army marched through town.
But if Kate could stop it . . . Well, it seemed like a long shot no matter how Gwen looked at it.
“Hey, we’ll be okay,” Rifter told her. “We’ll find a way—we always do.”
“Are you ever going to let Harm fight with you again? Or at least, run with the pack?”
“I think he’ll work the clinic with you for the time being. With the fed still around looking for him, it’s too dangerous for him to show his face and risk our exposure.” He paused. “Will you be okay working with him?”
“We need to repair the relationship between all of us,” Gwen said. “That starts with me.”
“Good. Harm’s open to it.”
She knew Rifter would still prefer to barbecue Harm over an open pit, but maybe that would ease somehow. Before she could say anything else, Rifter’s phone beeped and he pulled away reluctantly. He read the text message with a serious look on his face, and then he showed it to her.
It was from Jinx—and he had information. “Let’s go hear him out, Rift.”
“Jinx and a vampire—this better be good.”
* * *
Jinx and Jez both rode their own Harleys, the vamp’s quiet next to Jinx’s noisy ride. The two, Jinx was sure, were quite a sight tearing through the streets and up the private road to the Dire house.
Brother Wolf howled, grateful to be home. Jinx didn’t have the heart to remind the wolf that wouldn’t happen yet. Instead, he led Jez toward the gazebo where the wolves, Dire and Were, waited for them.
They parked, and Jinx led the way to his family, feeling strangely out of place. Rifter was the only one who waited outside the sunroom for them, but Jinx could see inside to the others. Kate and Stray were there, on opposite sides of the crowd. They weren’t all right yet, which was a shame, because they needed that damned bond to get through this.
“Keep your cool,” Jez told him. Jinx wanted to snap at him, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued along with a deep breath and jumped right in.
“We’ve got some intel from Cain on Leo’s plans,” he reported.
Rifter didn’t say anything, moved tensely to one side and allowed them to walk past him.
“I can see your goddamned house, wolf,” Jez told Rifter by way of greeting.
“I can beat the shit out of you, vamp,” Rifter replied haughtily. Then the two shook hands. Two centuries-old supernatural creatures. Jinx didn’t know if Jez was a king or not, but he sure as hell acted like it. Jez immediately sat in an empty spot on the couch next to Kate while the others stared at him. “Tell them what you told me, Jinx.”
Jinx did and Vice clarified. “Cain’s still with the fed, Angus, making sure he’s safe from Shimmin.”
“Because he’s so trustworthy?” Stray muttered.
“Anyway, I think we’ve finally got intel we can use, and the fed nearly lost his life over it. I don’t know if he’d go that far for the trappers,” Jinx said.
“Could be a trap,” Stray pointed out.
“Angus saved Cain—why go to all that trouble?” Jinx asked. Stray shrugged. “Look, he said that Shimmin basically has us where he wants us—chasing our tails, looking for a way to defeat the Dire army that involves Rogue and witches and magic.”
“What the hell else are we supposed to defeat them with?” Vice asked.
“Us,” Jinx told them. For a long, astonished second, no one spoke.
When Rifter did, it was with the calm purpose of a leader. “Then we fight, using the old ways.”
Vice nodded in agreement. “It makes so much goddamned sense. That’s what Jameson has always wanted—a fight from Rifter.”
“And Harm,” Stray added. “You’re going to have to let him out to fight.”
“It’s not a matter of me letting him any longer. Now it’s up to him,” Rifter said. He stared at Harm, who held out his hands, wrists ringed in silver.
“Take this shit off. I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” Harm said with such command in his voice, it left no doubt that he could’ve led the Dires as the Elders wanted centuries ago. “And that is not a challenge to Rifter—he’s the rightful king now.”
“What about Seb?” Stray asked.
“He’s turned,” Jinx said. “The demons are making him push things too far. Seb had to know it would all start backfiring, that soon no one would control the demon-possessed humans but the demons themselves.”
“What if we can’t save enough of them?” Stray asked. “Maybe we should have some kind of contingency plan.”
“What, take all the Weres we can and hide on some deserted island until this is all over?’ Vice asked.
“Not a bad plan,” Kill said. “Maybe this is like survival of the fittest.”
“Or maybe the Elders will have our heads,” Jinx said darkly.
“Not necessarily a bad thing,” Vice pointed out.
Rifter began to laugh, long and loud, and the others joined in, even Jez. Jinx knew it would be the last time they shared this for some time. He pretended that everything was fine for the moment, because he desperately wanted it to be.
Chapter 43
G
wen knew what Rifter would want to do directly following the meeting. The mood was somber, although she finally felt as if everything was settled. The Dires had a true direction, a plan that seemed right, if not completely dangerous.
Jinx and Jez left. Gwen wished Rifter had invited both of them to stay, but knew he wouldn’t. Cain was still with Angus, and Cyd went with Liam to do some more scouting.
Harm went back upstairs. He’d looked more like a warrior than a rock star during that meeting, and she wondered if her father was finally accepting himself as wolf. If she had more courage, she might talk to him about it. But her husband—her love—was her first priority.
Rifter came into Rogue’s room and found her there. Vice was behind him. She realized it had been one of the first meetings they’d had that didn’t center literally around Rogue.
She reached out and stroked his hair.
“Vice, you stay here with us,” Rifter told the wild wolf. “Gwen and I are going to see Rogue.”
Gwen knew Vice noted the determination in Rifter’s eyes. There was no talking him out of this. “We have to confirm what Jinx told us.”
“Because you don’t trust him?”
“Because Rogue might be giving Kate misinformation,” Rifter growled.
“Jinx thinks it’s the best way to give Kate help,” Gwen explained. “We can’t put this all on her.”
“What do you want me to say—you know it’s the most dangerous thing you can do now,” Vice told her.
“I’m more afraid of losing my family than anything,” Gwen said softly. She took Vice’s hand in hers. “We’ll be careful.”
She tried to reassure Vice, who walked away without being very reassured at all. Still, she had no doubt he’d watch over them.
She did, however, have other doubts. “We haven’t been able to do this since Rogue helped to save me,” she reminded Rifter, although he hadn’t needed it.
“We haven’t been able to because he hasn’t let us,” Rifter growled. “He goddamned will now, because I’m his king—he will remember that.”
Gwen didn’t doubt Rifter’s words at that moment—the alpha was large and in charge, his eyes lupine, the growls coming so fast she was sure she’d be holding Brother Wolf’s paw at any moment. And as usual, Sister Wolf wanted in.
Down, girl
, she told her wolf, who whined impatiently.
In the privacy of Rogue’s room, she and Rifter joined hands and she grabbed Rogue’s cool one. They were sitting on the floor next to the bed and Rifter pulled her into a deep slumber easily.
His powers were getting stronger. Hers seemed stagnant, beyond the fact that, because of their bond, she was linked to his dreamwalking into Rogue’s mind. And from what they said, it was no trip to Disney.
She moved through the familiar bowels of what looked like hell to her, stayed away from the walls dripping with blood and entered the room where Rogue lay, the mare on his chest, marking him and cackling. The familiar torture of random people went on all around him, the way it had the last time.
“Too dangerous for you to be here. I told you not to come back.”
“Jinx moved out,” Rifter said instead of dealing with Rogue’s statement.
Rogue glanced at him. “Your alpha’s really showing, isn’t it?”
“Kate says Jinx is evil,” Gwen blurted out. “I can’t believe that’s true, but . . .”
“If that’s what the witch sees . . .” Rogue trailed off and shut his eyes. The markings on the side of his face were darker now. He muttered something under his breath. “Tell the witch to leave the mare. I sing to her and she seems to like it.”
Rogue had gone too long without a shift. The mare had started scratching him along his neck and chest, and the marks were showing up on Rogue’s motionless body.
“What about the ghost army?” Rifter asked. “Is what we think true—we should fight them?”
“You can defeat most of it, but some will escape, no matter what. And the demons are turning bad. Well, turning against their makers—Seb and by extension, the politicians and the Weres who are possessed. Kate needs to do what she can against the army—it will be enough for now.”
At Rogue’s words, Rifter jerked away from Gwen. “There’s got to be something more we can do.”
“For me? Not likely. Not soon, anyway. Let Kate focus on the ghost army now,” Rogue insisted.
“We can’t leave you here like this.”
“You have no choice. Just fucking go, and don’t come back.” Rogue closed his eyes and he started to sing, low and sweet. The mare began to giggle in a psychopathic way and clap her hands.
Rifter tugged Gwen back from the abyss and for a long while, they held on to each other in Rogue’s room, feeling like they’d already completely lost him.
* * *
Physical strength, when combined with emotional fortitude, was unbeatable. Over the past twenty-four hours, Kate trained both as if her life depended on it. She still wasn’t quite sure what would happen to her if she failed.
Vice helped her in the gym room she’d run to that first night—her cheeks burned with those memories every time she walked in there, and if the wolf noticed, he never said.
Jinx went over spells with Stray and Gwen and they helped her. Gwen was
new,
she’d called it. A little hard to control, Stray said. Kate watched with more-than-mild jealousy the ease with which Gwen and Rifter climbed all over each other.
Stray was still standoffish, but she swore he was thinking about her an awful lot.
As his weapon
. No matter how she tried to pretend there was more, she couldn’t.
He comes when you call him
. . . because of magic.
She was pretty sure he hated her for it. She tried not to call on him without warning him, but sometimes it just happened and he was there at her side. Glowering.
He was glowering now, even though she couldn’t see him, since he rode in front, Vice in the back with her. Kate wondered if insisting on going to the cemetery had been the best of ideas.
Trust yourself.
That was her voice, or maybe it was Lila’s, but either way, she needed to listen. And as they walked in through the opened iron gates, she spotted Jinx and Jez together by the ruins of what was once a mausoleum.
“I’ve got to talk to him,” she said, was surprised when neither wolf protested. She walked toward them and Jez nodded and took leave, while Jinx remained rooted in place, watching her warily.
“You’re . . .”
“Evil, I know,” Jinx said tightly.
“No, that’s not it.”
“Well, at least you’re not collapsing this time,” Jinx said wryly.
“This isn’t right—not at all,” she murmured. “I want to help . . . but I can’t.”
Jinx nodded. “I agree.”
“It’s not . . . because of you.”
“Why can you suddenly stand being in my presence?”
“I spoke to Rogue,” she said. His eyes widened. “I’ll keep your secret for now.”
He turned away, stared up at the sky.
“I know it’s not your fault—you were tricked,” she continued.
He turned. “Guess you were, too, since Rogue told you to help me with the Dire ghost army.”
She frowned at the truth of that statement. “Maybe I misinterpreted something with him. I definitely did with you. You’re not evil—you’re a pawn. I know one when I see one.”
“I should be offended by that, but I don’t think you mean it that way.”
“I don’t, Jinx. I really don’t.” She held out her hand for him to shake. “We can work together, okay?”
He grasped it firmly and she noted the pain in his eyes, the burden from the secret he carried.
It was then that the others joined around them, because Jinx had ripped his gaze from her and gone still, his hand still on hers. She heard Stray’s growl of possessiveness and tugged her hand away, not wanting to be the cause of any further strife.
Stray’s wolf relaxed momentarily. She was surprised he hadn’t shifted forms yet. It seemed to be the only way he could handle being around her at this point. But that thought soon faded as something whooshed by her head.
“I don’t normally see ghosts. Can witches see them?”
“No,” Stray told her.
“Maybe being with me and Jinx is like the perfect storm,” Vice said. “Besides, do you really think we’re going to question when weird, unexplained things happen among us? I don’t give a shit how or why it happens, just that it does. You want to figure out how, good luck. But the unexplained is usually that way for a reason, and sometimes it makes things a hell of a lot more fun to just roll with it.”
Kate didn’t have time to ponder before the apparitions floated around her. She fought the urge to swat them away, because it made her uncomfortable as anything.
Jinx looked so relaxed, used to it, but his eyes were lupine, belying what she saw on the outside. “It’s not the ghost army.”
“Rogue told me I could help with them—with you. But I think he was lying.”
Jinx’s eyes went to hers. “What makes you think that?”
“The words he spoke in my head didn’t match the movement of his lips. It was like he was layering thoughts to keep me off balance.”
“Or to keep Seb from knowing what he was saying. The mare reports directly back to the Adept,” Jinx said. “You’ve got to go back over what he told you and figure out what to do. But you and I both know, we can’t stop the ghost army with your powers, no matter how strong. Your job lies in dealing with Seb. No question.”