Kitty Steals the Show (Kitty Norville) (21 page)

Britain’s alpha werewolf closed the distance with an easy stride, as if he’d happened to meet friends on the path during a casual stroll. But his gaze was focused, his shoulders tense.

I smiled at him. “We thought maybe you changed your mind at the last minute.”

“Naw, I wouldn’t miss this. You bossing the bloodsuckers around? Priceless.”

“I do what I can.”

“Ned,” Caleb said flatly.

“Caleb, good of you to come.” The vampire offered his hand. The werewolf considered it a moment, as if thinking of biting it. He finally shook it in a civilized manner. “Kitty said you disabled the security cameras?”

“Of course I did. We’re not stupid, no matter what you lot think of us.”

Ned pouted, but his eyes crinkled with amusement. “Don’t be cross. I had to ask.”

“You wanted this meeting. Why?”

Ned answered, “There’s a war coming, we both know it. There are forces that would destroy what we’ve worked for, and destroy
us.
I would like to prevent that and I assume you would as well. I believe we can no longer approach this conflict defensively, as insular entities.”

Caleb studied him for a long moment. I was about to interrupt when he finally answered. “That all sounds very fine, but my only concern is keeping the isles stable. You sound like you want to bring a war to our doorstep ahead of schedule.”

Ned said, “If we’re strong enough, the war may not come here at all. We might even consider launching an offensive.”

“Have you been giving him ideas?” Caleb said to me.

I winced. “I might have made a suggestion or two.”

“I knew you were trouble.”

“Here’s the thing,” I said. “This isn’t about territory, this is about building an army to withstand Roman. To raise a defense that he can’t touch. If he solidifies his power in Europe, what does that do to your stability?”

The werewolf frowned. “You’re staging World War Two over again, you know that?”

I considered that a moment. The comparison seemed too easy to make. Maybe there was a reason for that. “I guess I am. So how about it?”

“You remember the Blitz, Caleb?” Ned said.

“Before my time, but I know the stories,” he said. “The city’s werewolves could see and move in the blackouts, and they weren’t easily injured by falling debris and shrapnel in the bombing. They organized, became Air Raid Wardens, walked patrols, and arranged rescues of survivors buried in fallen buildings. They could smell them and guide the rescue crews to them. The city’s alpha at the time, a hoary old monster without a lick of patience, punished any wolves caught hunting or killing in the chaos.”

Ned said, “I gave the wolves who patrolled the run of my properties so they always had a safe place to go, rations that no one else had access to. I organized—”

“Give yourself a bloody medal, why don’t you,” Caleb said.

Ned pursed his lips. “I’m merely demonstrating that we can work together to protect the city because we’ve done it before.”

“This isn’t the Blitz.”

“Not yet,” Ned said.

Even I thought that might have been overstating the case, except for the voice in the back of my head that said,
What if he’s not?

Caleb might have been asking himself the same question, the way he scowled.

Ned continued. “The turmoil surrounding this conference of Ms. Norville’s has convinced me that I can no longer watch events from the sidelines. Our two tribes working together must be stronger than the sum of our parts.”

The werewolf gave him a sour look. “You talk high and mighty, sir, but you’re no Churchill.”

“I knew him, you know.”

Caleb turned away, scowling dramatically.

“What do you think, Caleb?” I said.

“I’m willing to consider an alliance. But an alliance isn’t strategy. How do you expect—”

A long, strained howl echoed from a distant part of the park, then cut off abruptly. A warning.

“That was Sam,” Caleb said, listening, ear cocked. “He’s meant to be watching the east approach.”

“That sounded like trouble,” Ben said.

“Yes,” Caleb said.

We all faced different directions, scanning the edges of the open space.

“Might I suggest moving indoors?” Ned said. His town house was maybe ten blocks away.

“It’s too late for that, I think,” Caleb murmured.

The figure of a man, shirtless and barefoot, came toward us across the lawn from a distant row of trees. He was fast, powerful, running with a long, loose stride that had an animal quality to it, easy and fluid. One of Caleb’s pack—the lieutenant who’d been with him the other night. The alpha trotted out to meet him.

“They got him, they killed Sam,” he said to Caleb. “They went right for his heart, he didn’t have a chance—”

“Who is it, Michael? Who got him?” Caleb held the man’s head steady and made him look in his eyes. The wolf, Michael, was struggling, gasping for breath, his muscles tense. All his instincts were telling him to shift, but he was holding on. “Was it vampires or wolves, Michael?”

“Both, Caleb. Both!”

Chapter 15

M
ICHAEL LOST
control, doubling over and hugging himself, groaning as his wolf fought free. Caleb knelt with him, hand on his shoulder, steadying him as he fought the last of his clothing. Bronze-gray fur rippled across Michael’s back, and his face stretched.

The instinct to Change spiked through us.

“Keep it together,” Ben murmured, for my benefit or his I couldn’t tell.

“Kitty?” Ned asked cautiously.

“We’re fine,” I shot back. “Where are they? I don’t smell them.”

“They’re moving downwind of us,” Ben said. We stood back-to-back, our natural posture in the face of danger.

“Caleb, how many are there? How many did he see?” Ned said, but Michael’s last moan turned into a growl of warning.

“He saw enough, likely,” Caleb said.

Ben looked at Ned. “Well, Churchill, have any ideas?”

“If I’m not mistaken, they’re hoping to corner us, attack us all at once. Bloody and decisive.”

“There’s a reason I’m the alpha of this territory. They’re not going to win this,” Caleb said. “Michael, call them.”

The wolf had been pacing back and forth before his alpha, ranging forward and circling back. His ears were flat, his lips drawn back. Tipping his head back, he howled a series of long warning notes.

“That going to be a problem when people start calling the police about wolves running wild in Hyde Park?” Ben said.

“They’ll say it was kids messing around. It’s happened before.”

The open, sloping lawn meant we had a good view in every direction. The position might not have been as defensible as I liked. Behind walls would have been better.

“Here they come,” Ned said.

Four wolves ran, bodies rippling, strangely liquid, shadows flowing across the lawn. They approached at a wide angle, aiming to converge on us. At the same time, three more wolves, stretching legs to make huge strides, came obliquely to intercept them.

“Those three are mine!” Caleb called. They were all just shapes, creatures from a nightmare, multiplying.

“I should Change,” Ben said. “I can fight better if I Change.”

“Too late,” I said. “Stay with me.”

The two waves of animals met each other, bodies crashing, pale teeth bared and flashing in the dark. Their snarls cut like rasps on wood.

I looked behind us, because no way would a pack of wolves have launched an attack on just one front. Sure enough, two more rocketed from the back of the hill, in beautiful motion, without a wasted step. They aimed toward Ned.

The vampire waited calmly on the crest of the hill. He’d taken off his coat, laid it on the grass, and rolled up his sleeves. Ben and I ran to join him, reaching him as the wolves did. Three against two—not terrible odds. But this was going to hurt.

The two of us jumped at one of the wolves, tackling him, using our weight to pin him to the ground. The wolf was ready for us and writhed, twisting back on himself, flexing every muscle to wrench out of our grasp. He snapped; his teeth caught on my arm, and I hissed at the pain. I managed to grab his ear and twist; he yelped, then jerked out of my grip. Ben was trying to turn him onto his back, but the wolf kicked, digging claws into us, and tumbled away.

Ned had pinned the second wolf with a knee and wrenched back its head until bone snapped. The wolf fell limp. Our opponent jumped on him, and we scrambled to help. Moving so fast he blurred, Ned swung around and punched from the shoulder, striking the animal in the eyes, knocking him over. That gave us a chance to grab him. I leaned an elbow into the wolf’s belly, Ben dug into his rib cage, and Ned, once again, took hold of the head and twisted. This one collapsed, too.

They weren’t dead—they didn’t shift back to their human forms. They’d heal from the broken necks. But it would take a while.

“I thought you had this one,” Ned said, nudging the unconscious wolf with a toe.

“Yeah, well,” I muttered. We weren’t fighters, just stubborn.

The battle continued down the hill. Caleb was the only human figure among the swarm of battling wolves. More had arrived since we turned away. Growls rumbled; I could feel them through the ground, as well as the impacts of dense bodies slamming into each other. Teeth ripped at flesh; fur, spit, and blood flew. A couple of wolf bodies lay abandoned—one panted, bleeding from a gash in his side. The smell of it was thick, sour. Caleb crouched near this one, snarling, slashing with clawed hands to drive off enemies who came too close.

“What a mess,” Ned said with a sigh, marching down the hill and into the swarm. One of the wolves turned toward his approach, dark eyes gleaming, and let out a sharp bark. A couple of the others who were still standing looked up, and they all ran at the vampire, ignoring the attackers slashing at their heels.

This wasn’t a general attack; it was a suicide mission aimed at Ned. Not that he seemed concerned. When the lead wolf jumped at him, he sidestepped in a blur and punched the animal in the gut. Yelping, the wolf toppled. Ned kicked him for good measure.

I was about to run and help—or at least try to help—when Ben gripped my arm.

“We’re missing something,” he said.

Michael had told us he’d spotted both vampires and werewolves. So where were the vampires?

“Where are they?” I said, panicked. He shook his head, scanning the park on all sides.

The vampires had sent the wolves to scatter us, soften us up, before they came in to clean up the mess. Antony and Marid were out there somewhere—surely they’d heard the warning? Couldn’t they take care of it?

“Wait a minute,” Ben said, and nodded to one of the paths beyond a stand of trees. “Smell that?”

I had a hard time smelling anything apart from the slaughter, the sweat and adrenaline of the battle nearby. But I tipped my nose up and the air brought me a touch of cold, of death.

“I can smell them but I can’t find them,” Ben said.

“Let’s go.” I tugged him forward and we set off to find the trail.

The first of them hid among the trees, surveying the battle. I recognized him from the convocation the other evening—not one of the delegates seated at the table, but one of the henchmen standing guard. That meant he wasn’t ancient, which meant we might have a chance of taking him out.

We wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him, but if we attacked as fast and hard as we could, we might get lucky. We had a few tricks on our side.

Ben pointed, and I nodded. Circling around, I approached from the front. Ben continued on, softly, stake in hand.

Yelling, I ran straight for the vampire. Head down, I reached with my hands, curling my fingers as if they were claws, charging as a werewolf might attack. The vampire didn’t even look surprised. He merely narrowed his gaze and twitched a smile.

Then his eyes widened as Ben drove the stake into his back.

The vampire had time to cough and clutch at his chest. The point hadn’t gone all the way through, and he craned his neck to try to look over his shoulder, but Ben remained hidden. The vampire dropped to his knees. He didn’t decay, didn’t turn to ash and dust. Instead, he slumped over as his skin dried out and turned gray, leathery, drawing taut over sharp bones. He hadn’t been old at all—a few decades at most.

I’d pulled my attack short to watch. Ben stood before me, holding the stake, staring at the shrunken vampire, looking about as surprised as the vampire had.

“We did it,” he said, blinking.

“That wasn’t so bad,” I said. “Maybe we can do it again.”

Ben fell backward, yanked by a shadow into the trees, the stake knocked out of his hand by his attacker. Growling, I sprang after him.

The vampire loomed over Ben’s prone form. Tall, broad, dressed in a T-shirt and slacks, he was another of the bodyguards from the convocation. So where were the leaders, the guys in charge? I wanted to find
them.