Pack Ebon Red (The Seven Mates of Zara Wolf Book 1) Page 22

  Abruptly, I jammed my knife into one of the trunks, right there at waist level, and hopped up on it, leaping over my sister's head and landing in a pool of bloodred skirts on the opposite side. As I turned back, I threw my booted foot out and hit Avita right in the stomach.

  Her knife fell from her fingers and clattered to the pavement as she doubled over with an angry snarl, using the involuntary motion as a chance to shift. Her body liquefied beneath the pouring rain and oozed into the sleek red-brown shape of a small wolf, fangs bared, front legs splayed in an aggressive stance.

  I stood back up and pulled another knife from my belt, spinning it around in my fingers and waiting for Avita to come at me. She was too angry to be a patient fighter, too worked up—or at least that's what I thought.

  'What are you doing this for?' I asked her as she lifted her head and surprised me by making a slow, predatory circle through the driving rain. Her coloring was exactly what one would expect from a member of Pack Ebon Red: auburn with hints of cream, gray, and black. I don't know what the hell had happened to turn me white, but at least I'd gotten a nickname out of it.

  'None of your damn business,' Avita said, right before she threw herself at me.

  I let her hit me, using the motion to rock back and throw her over, sending her body sliding across the pavement as I rolled to my belly and pulled back into a crouch. Fighting was something I was good at. As the Alpha-Daughter of Pack Ebon Red, I'd been training for years. In human form or wolf form, it didn't matter. Most 'weres' preferred one or the other, but I had no preference. What I did do was try to stick to human form as much as possible. That way, when I did go wolf … it had this effect.

  I rose to my feet and took a few steps back, reaching down to unhook my belt, and tossed both it and the knife aside. The metal clattered as it skidded across the pavement, and I disrobed, shedding the beautiful bloodred dress by pulling it over my shoulders and letting it fall to my feet. I kicked my boots off next, all the while watching as Avita struggled to get to her feet in the pouring rain.

  My outfit had been designed to fall right off when I shifted—but getting naked like this made it seem so dramatic.

  I shook out my hands, tossed heaps of sopping wet red hair over my shoulder and summoned up the change as easily as I drew in breath.

  My body reshaped itself like a sculpture, like an earth goddess was turning my essence to clay and molding me to fit her selfish designs. My mouth extended out into a bone white muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth and my nose exploded with new scents, ones that were undetectable even in my souped-up human form. Claws protruded from the tips of my fingers, and my spine stretched out into a feathered white tail. It all happened so quick that by the time my palms hit the ground, they were paws.

  Shaking out my winter thick coat, I listened to the packs respond to my presence with excited howling and small puppyish yips that denoted their submission to me. Even from down here, I felt them acquiesce to my ranking.

  I wondered briefly what they thought of my bizarre markings from up there? The black and red coloring started at my spine and dripped down my sides, staining my body with instantly recognizable color, causing me to stand out in a crowd. A good thing, for an alpha. But still, I couldn't help but be curious about how and why I'd turned out like this. I didn't look like Majka or Nikolina, not like my father or grandfather. At the same time, there was no doubting my (at the very least maternal) parentage. In human form, I did look like Majka and Nikolina, almost eerily so.

  But my sister, Avita, looked like them in both forms.

  She came at me again, but I was easily a good fifty pounds heavier than her, so I let her hit me.

  It was like she'd slammed into a brick wall.

  My sister stumbled off course and slipped on the wet pavement, giving me the opening I needed to grab her by the throat with my jaws. I didn't squeeze hard—I would've killed her if I had—and threw her to the ground.

  Instead of tucking her tail and submitting, possibly urinating, licking my mouth as an apology, she continued to fight. Her teeth snapped at the air, paws scrambling to push me off as I towered over her and pushed her harder into the ground, clamping my teeth tighter, ignoring her back legs as they raked over my belly.

  After several minutes of her snarling and whimpering and yelping, I heard Nikolina's voice tear through Coyote Creek like a storm.

  “Avita, enough!” she snarled, loud enough that my little sister was startled into stillness. “In a real fight, Zara would've killed you by now. Get up and stop shaming your pack.”

  I released Avita and she bit me hard on the throat, drawing blood.

  In an instant, Anubis was there in wolf form, crimson eyes flashing as he knocked my sister off her feet and towered over her, lips pulled back over his teeth.

  It was then and only then that she submitted, dropping to her belly and licking his mouth the way a puppy does to its parents; all subordinate wolves did it to their superiors when they became adults.

  Nobody stopped him or even cared about what he was doing; Avita was way, way, way out of line and he was putting her in her place as punishment for disrespecting his mate. But the way she reacted to him? I knew instantly that he was at least one of the reasons why she'd fought me.

  Avita had a thing for Anubis.

  'Do you two know each other?' I asked him privately as he stepped back and let her up, red eyes lifting to meet mine.

  'We met briefly last year when your mother first invited us in to discuss the alliance and the Pairing. We hung out for maybe … a half a day? Nothing happened,' he added, lowering his head and sneaking forward to lick my mouth. I lifted my head and my tail, and wagged it fiercely, announcing with my body language that I was accepting his submission.

  I realized then that Anubis liked protocol and rules and rituals—even if he was willing to break them. It seemed like he maybe found some sort of comfort in them? At least that's what it looked like to me.

  'We split a Coke and talked on the Hall steps, that's about it.'

  'I think she's in love with you anyway,' I said, knowing my sister well enough to understand how she worked. She was cruel and selfish, and maybe that was just because she was young, but I would never let her be alpha—not just for my own sake but for the packs'.

  'I'm pretty easy to love, don't you think?' Anubis joked, shaking rainwater off his black and gray coat. Even though I didn't need it, it was cute, him coming to my rescue like that—and then throwing out a flirty line on top of it all. It occurred to me that if you counted the witch hazel incident, this wasn't the first time he'd saved my ass.

  If I'd been human, I would've smiled. Instead, I relaxed the stance of my head and tail—that was close enough.

  Anubis rose to his feet, gave me a low, easy wag of his ashy black tail and then absently licked the bleeding wound on my neck.

  Earth magic snapped out along with his tongue, sealed the hot achy pain of the bite … and cracked what was left of the ceiling in half.

  Pieces of debris crashed into the center of the amphitheater, crushing a few of the saplings, splashing rainwater on the crowd all the way up to the third floor. But thankfully, Anubis and I were the only ones standing in the open and we managed to dodge the falling pieces of glass, rotted wood, and steel without much trouble.

  It was only after the rain settled the dust and debris that I realized how quiet it had gotten.

  And then … it was thunderous, the sounds my people made as Nikolina came down the steps to stand beside me. I noticed then that Nic and Tidus were already missing which sort of scared the crap out of me. First off, someone was now bound to notice their absence. And second, if Owen and Faith were meeting this early in the day, then something was probably wrong.

  I thought of my promise to her that I'd find her mom. I had, but … she'd already been dead, lying in a pool of blood with her throat torn out. I couldn't let anything else happen to my best friend. I realized for the first time in my life that I felt like I'd br
oken a promise. Technically, I hadn't. But in my heart, I hurt like I had.

  I did not want to break another one like, say, promising my people that I would bring our old magic back.

  “Zara,” Nikolina began as she looked down at me, ebon eyes framed with long, thick lashes.

  I shifted into human form and stood naked in the pouring rain, my fingers curling automatically in Anubis' thick fur.

  “I know,” I said, my heart thundering with fear. “I know.”

  They howled with joy, flooded the amphitheater floor, surrounded us.

  In that moment, I was a reluctant hero, standing there with mouths licking my right palm, furred bodies rubbing against my legs as everyone fought for the chance to touch me. For a long time, I just stood stone-still and I let them, let them touch me and think that maybe, just maybe, they might get a little bit of what I had—what we had really, because the magic was clearly somehow linked to these guys I'd been Bonded to.

  One hour. Two.

  I swear, I stood naked in that rain until every wolf that had attended the Pairing had come up and at least touched their nose to my calf, trailed their human fingers down my shoulder, or pressed a chaste kiss to one of my cheeks.

  Afterward, nobody wanted to challenge me—not even my mother's sadistic betas. I guess the promise of what they saw in me was worth more than a slim shot at power. I knew that to get their magic back, my people would do anything.

  Unfortunately for me, my mother was not as amused by my show of magical prowess.

  “If there are no more challengers,” she said finally, after the last wolf had left the arena floor and Anubis had loped back to join the other males— still minus Tidus and Nic. I felt my jaw clench slightly. All I wanted to do was call them, text them, go out and find them. Instead, I was about to get my face smashed into the pavement. “Then Zara of Ebon Red, I am proud to call you my successor.” Nikolina's lips curved into a vicious smile that made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. “As with all things however, the young must learn from the old. Zara Wolf, you have bested the Challenge but to understand victory, a leader must first learn the bitter taste of defeat.”

  I took several deep breaths and met my mother's eyes through the silver rain, the words of the scripted ritual running through my head. I was so flustered in that moment—from both my peoples' reaction to the magic as well the boys' absence—that if I hadn't practiced this part literally hundreds of times with Nic, I wouldn't have been able to do it.

  “Who offers this wolf a lesson?” I asked, proud that at least my voice was still echoing around Coyote Creek.

  “I do,” the alpha said in a violence hungry whisper, reaching back to twist her hair up onto her head. “Nikolina of Ebon Red.”

  Majka laughed at me from beneath the stone awning.

  “Nikolina Wolf,” I breathed, heart racing, blood pumping fiercely through my veins. My hands curled into tight fists. “Lesson accepted.”

  My mother waited for me to dress myself in the heavy wet cloak, dress and belt, watching with hungry eyes as I collected my knives from the ground and the tree trunk and slipped them back into place.

  When I took my spot across from her, I already knew I was in for a world of hurt.

  “Begin,” Majka snapped from behind me and … I swear, I blinked and Nikolina was on me.

  It was in that split second that I knew: when the Crown Aurora Blood Queen had said I imagine if I killed you right now, your pack would not be pleased what she really meant was I imagine if I killed you right now, your mother would not be pleased. Just as I'd understood at the time that the vampire queen could kill me if she wanted, the same could be said for Nikolina Castille.

  The Alpha Female of Pack Ebon Red grabbed me by the hair and dragged me forward, dropping me hard onto the pavement, so hard that the shock of pain in my knees made my vision flicker white. I let instinct take over then, sliding a knife from my belt and cutting off the bottom six inches of my hair. In the same breath, I threw myself to the side and narrowly missed her hand as it dove for my throat.

  Nikolina's claws smashed into the pavement right where I'd be kneeling, bloodred hair fluttering around like discarded rose petals. I was still in the process of turning to face her when she was just right there in front of me again, knocking the knife from my hand and tearing the leather belt from my waist.

  She tossed it aside with a not-so-friendly smile.

  “On your toes, Alpha-Heir,” she growled as I dropped low and rolled, coming back to my feet at the same moment I shifted. My dress opened at the loose leather ties around my waist, my boots sloughed off, and the cloak slipped harmlessly over my neck. With Avita, undressing dramatically had been fun.

  Nikolina didn't play games.

  I took off as fast as I could, trying to put some space between us.

  It didn't work.

  She was on my back in wolf form before I got halfway across the arena.

  Talk about a reality check.

  When that fae girl had told me how lucky we were that the Ironbound vamps we'd been fighting had been young, she was right. I did fine during that battle; I was getting my ass handed to me during this one.

  Nikolina wrestled me to the ground, her jaws clamped on my neck and for a second there, I thought it was over.

  But no.

  I was supposed to lose this battle, not give up.

  With a violent thrash of my muscles, I managed to shake her off, slipping and sliding on the wet cement and knocking chunks of bright green moss off in the process. It floated like lily pads in the puddle near my paws. If I'd known how to summon magic on my own, I would've used it in that moment, cast some sort of spell to knock my mother off her feet. Since that wasn't an option, I tried something else, backing up slowly until I was standing close to my badass tool kit. For most werewolves, even if they favored their human form, when they went wolf, it was to play for keeps. Not me. I knew how deceivingly useful opposable thumbs could be.

  Nikolina circled slowly and I followed her, keeping our faces level, locking aubergine eyes with one another. That glossy red coat of hers was the color of blood beneath the deluge of rain. I wondered what mine looked like?

  And then, even though she was still circling, looking for an opening, I shifted again.

  The timing was almost perfect. Nikolina was so goddamn fast that she'd already been moving by the time my hands found the belt and withdrew a knife. I plunged it into her back at just about the same second she knocked me on mine.

  My head hit the pavement hard, stars clouding my vision as I struggled to blink through the rain, using the second knife I'd grabbed to swing for Nikolina's face. This time, I cut her across the top of the muzzle and she snarled in rage, clamping down on my wrist and forcing my arm to the ground above my head.

  Once again, I shifted abruptly and the force of the change pushed her off of me, giving me a chance to back up and regroup once again.

  Am I winning?! I wondered briefly, but no. I was just getting lucky. As soon as I ran out of tricks, she would pin me, force me to show my belly, and let me have that lick of defeat she'd promised.

  Nikolina didn't even bother waiting for an opening this time, coming at me in a flash of red and black, but that was what I'd expected.

  I shifted back to human and jumped at the same time, grabbing a branch and swinging myself up on it. As soon as I landed in a crouch on the wood, I noticed Nic and Tidus slipping back into the room. The look on Nic's face was not good.

  Nikolina grabbed my ankle with her jaw, dragged me from the branch and threw me so hard to the ground that for several seconds, I couldn't even remember how to breathe. Her teeth clamped over my neck, cutting off my air supply just long enough that I had to remind myself that this not a real fight.

  In a real fight, I'd have been dead.

  I went completely still, unable to shift but still attempting to show my submission. Although she released the hold on my throat and let me suck in several gasping breaths
, Nikolina held me there for the better part of five minutes, until she was satisfied that she'd accomplished what she set out to do.

  As soon as she released me it seemed, the rain stopped and I found myself blinking up at her outstretched hand.

  “Stand up,” she commanded me as I struggled to reach out and take it. I stood on shaky legs and sucked in several more long, quivering breaths as my mother studied me with her ebon eyes. “Zara of Ebon Red, keep this lesson close and remember it well.” She kissed me on either cheek and stepped back. “Tomorrow,” Nikolina began, retrieving her crimson dress from the wet ground, “we Hunt.”

  I stood there bleeding just long enough for her to disappear through the archway beneath the stone awning … and then I took off to see why Nic looked like he was about to puke.

  “Please tell me Faith is okay,” I breathed, grabbing onto Nic's arm outside the Pairing House. We'd had to walk all the way over here just to get some space. Because of my little magic stunt with Anubis, everyone and their Alpha-Majka wanted to talk to me, squeeze my hand, tell me how the future of our entire species was riding on my ability to figure the old magic out.

  I'd really had to give Montgomery a look at that one.

  “On our ability,” he'd whispered against my ear, making me shiver with delight at the feel of his breath stirring my hair. “We're in this together.”

  So. I'd dragged the guys back over here to get some peace since besides us, only alphas, betas, and guards with specifically ordained tasks were allowed to get within twenty feet of the house. And by within twenty feet, I meant they'd best just steer clear of it altogether because wolves didn't like to see subordinates testing the rules. If a crowd had formed exactly twenty feet and one inch away from the outer walls of the house, they'd have gotten their asses kicked as bad as I'd just had mine.

  “Zara,” Nic said and the way he said my name like that scared the crap out of me.