Wolfsong (26 page)

He took a step toward me. “I can take you away from here. Away from all of this.”

And the wolves growled around me.

I ignored them. “And go where?” I asked.

“Anywhere you want. We can leave Green Creek and never look back.”

Joe stood and moved around in front of me. “Back off,” he snarled, and I knew his eyes were orange.

“Joseph,” Thomas said, his Alpha voice rolling through us. “Stand down.”

Joe looked like he’d been struck. He said, “Ox. You can’t.”

Gordo said, “He can. He can do anything he wants.”

“Can I?” I asked.

“Yes,” Gordo said. “Anything.”

I turned to Thomas. “Can I?”

“Yes, Ox,” he said quietly.

“Good,” I said. “I want to hunt down Richard Collins and kill him.”

No one spoke.

Then, “Ox,” Gordo said, sounding like he was choking. He took another step toward me.

My hand tightened on my crowbar.

“This isn’t what she’d want,” he said.

And I said, “Don’t you tell me what my mother wanted.” My voice shook. I didn’t know if it was with sadness or rage. “Don’t you dare.” Because she was still lying in our house in a puddle of her own blood and he didn’t get to say anything about her. Elizabeth had told me she’d covered her with a blanket and I’d wanted to say thank you, but said nothing instead because of how
inconsequential
it was. A fucking
blanket
.

“Please,” Gordo said. “Let me take you away from here. Away from all of this.”

“I don’t run from things,” I said as cold as I could. “I’m not you.”

And he took a step back, eyes going wide.

A hand on my shoulder. I thought it would be Joe. Or Thomas. Or Elizabeth.

But it wasn’t.

It tightened with the barest hint of claws as Mark said, “Stop, Ox. I know it hurts. I know it burns like nothing you’ve ever felt before. But
stop
. This isn’t his fault. Don’t say something that you won’t be able to take back.”

I ground my teeth as I bit back words I knew would hurt. That was the danger with knowing and loving others. You always knew things about them to throw back in their faces.

I was capable of doing that. Most people were.

But it came down to a choice.

So I swallowed down the hurt (
it’s his fault it’s your fault it’s
all
of you because you brought this here you made this happen why couldn’t you just leave us alone why did joe have to give me his wolf i hate you all of you
) and asked, “Will you help me?”

Gordo said, “Ox. This is… this isn’t the end, okay? I promise. It seems like it. It feels like it. But it’s not the end. I swear to you.”

And then Osmond said, “Gordo, you should know. There was a… dampening. On the Matheson house. A powerful one. It didn’t just mute the bonds. It made it so that no one outside the house could sense any distress in them.”

Gordo said, “My father. The wards to the north. They were modified. And I never felt them change. He’s the only one that could have done it. It felt like him. But different.”

“Could you change them back?” Osmond asked.

Gordo nodded. “I’m better than I used to be. He doesn’t know that. He might have seen how complex they were at first, but he won’t know just how deep they go. It was like an infection on the surface. I healed them.”

Osmond’s wolves appeared out of the dark. “North,” one said. “They went northwest.”

“How many?”

“Ten or so. Maybe more. Maybe less.”

Osmond looked to Thomas. “What’s northwest of here?”

“A clearing,” Thomas said. “One we use often. He knows of it. We played there as children. It’s a sacred place for my family.”

“He’s spiraling,” Osmond said quietly. “Coming into your territory. Knowing the magic that’s here in this forest. It’s
old
, Thomas. And on the far side of a full moon? He can’t possibly think he’ll win.”

“He’s probably heard the stories of the fallen king,” Thomas said. His voice was bitter and dark. It was the first time I’d ever heard him sound like that. “He no doubt thinks me weak. That all he has to do is divide and conquer. He started with the humans because all he knows of humans is how easily they can break. He didn’t expect to find the strength in them.”

His words were proud, but I felt nothing from them. I couldn’t.

He looked at me and said, “If I asked you to trust me and stay here, would you do it?”

“No.”

“Ox.”

I said, “That’s not fair.”

Red curled into his eyes. I felt the pull of it, the need to submit blooming deep within me. “I could make you,” he said. “You know I could.”

“You wouldn’t, though.”

“Oh? And why wouldn’t I? I am your Alpha. You do as I say.”

“That’s not who you are. And I trust you to remember that. But I’m not staying here. Where you go, I go.”

He looked sad. “Sometimes we go places where others cannot follow.”

“He took her from me.” My voice shook.

Thomas said, “I know.”

He stepped forward then. Stepped forward until he was standing in front of me. He put his hand on my neck and pulled me to him, my face at his throat. A soothing rumble rose up from his chest and he whispered, “I am so sorry this has happened to you. I wish I could take away all of the pain you feel. But I wouldn’t, even if I could, because that pain shows you you’re alive. That you’re breathing. That you can take another step. And where you go, I will go too. We will finish this and then our pack will help put your mother to rest. You are not alone, Ox, and you never will be.”

The crowbar fell to the ground as I gripped him tightly.

I still didn’t cry.

alpha

THEY WAITED
for us in the clearing. The stars were bright overhead, and the violet Omega eyes shone in the dark. I counted fifteen. All wolves. Omegas weren’t supposed to group like this. It was almost like they were pack. They didn’t have an Alpha, not yet, so they couldn’t be Betas. But they seemed united somehow.

Richard said, “Thomas.”

And Thomas said, “You shouldn’t have come here.”

Richard laughed. “You knew this would happen one day.” He glanced over at me before looking back at Thomas. “Humans, Thomas. Really? Still? Have you learned nothing from the past? You should be thanking me for taking care of the problem for you.”

I was not an Alpha, but layers of red fell over my eyes and all I could think of was
death
and
murder
and
blood
.

Thomas said, “That’s always been your problem, Richard. You underestimate the value of those you deem beneath you. Just because you can’t appreciate their value doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

Richard’s eyes flashed. “Your idolatry was amusing thirty years ago. It’s since lost its meaning.”

Gordo’s voice was low when he asked, “Where is he?”

Richard smiled. “Who?”

“You know who.”

“Ah. But I just want to hear you say it.”

It was a game to him. All of this was.

“My father.”

Richard said, “Yes. Him. He had… other matters to attend to. He sends his regards. I’m sure you’ll see him soon.” He scanned over the rest of us until he stopped on Joe. “Well,
you’ve
certainly grown up. Hello, Joseph. It’s lovely to see you again.”

And that was enough. That was it. No more. He could speak to me as he wanted. He could say shit to Thomas. And Gordo. They could take it. They could. But this man had killed my mother and now he was talking to Joe and I was done.

But apparently so were Carter and Kelly because they
flew
forward as I snarled, their claws extended, their teeth bared.

I followed because they were my brothers.

I followed because of my mother.

I followed because of Joe.

The bonds were there. Between us all.

We were pack. We were outnumbered, but we were still pack.

I raised my crowbar and smashed it down on a clawed arm that swiped at me. Bone cracked before the claws tore at my stomach. The Omega screamed as his skin burned away at the touch of silver. He started to shift to his wolf, but I spun low on my heels, launching myself up halfway through, arcing the crowbar up in a golf swing. The shock of the impact shook through my hands as the Omega’s jaw broke. Shards of teeth and blood sprayed from his mouth and splattered over his face as he rocked back. The curve of the crowbar slid through the skin on the underside of his jaw and hooked behind the ridge of his teeth. I jerked my arms as hard as I could and tore his lower jawbone from his skull.

A line of fire etched down my back. I grunted and stumbled away. Somewhere off to my right, Joe roared in anger, either at the Omega that had come up from behind me or at something else, I didn’t know.

I turned on the Omega behind me. She had blood on her face. She sneered at me and reminded me of Marie.

She said, “Your mother will start to rot soon. Decompose and fill with gas. How she’ll
bloat.
”

And I knew what she was doing. Thomas had taught me that. Rage and anger caused surges in power and strength at the cost of precision. It was easy to sink into the red sheen because it was all-encompassing. But it made you sloppy.

She was baiting me.

And it was close.

Because she was talking about my
mother
.

Maggie Callaway had never hurt anyone. She’d been given shit all her life, and all she wanted was to be happy. She never asked for much. She didn’t
need
much. She had me. Eventually, she had the pack too.

And she was taken from us.

From me.

It was close, though, because the Omega was
right
. I could feel it pulling me under. Blood trickled down my back, and the pain was bright and awesome and
it was so close
. But then there was a
ping
through the bonds of the pack. A pulse. It hit me and I took it in and it said
home
and
trust
and
sorrow
and
love
.

And part of it was missing. Because
she
was gone.

It was acid on my skin.

Ice in my veins.

I said, “You shouldn’t have come here.”

And I was
clear
. I was
precise
. I took a step forward and her claws came toward my face, coated with my blood. She was fast. I sidestepped her, feinting left but going right. I brought the crowbar around in a flat arc behind her, the curved point slamming into the back of her head.

She grunted, low and guttural. Took a breath. Let out a choked sound.

I crouched and slid my right shoulder under the crowbar. It held tight in her head as I grabbed it with both hands. I gritted my teeth together and pulled myself to my full height. The Omega fell against my back as I jerked the crowbar forward. The momentum caused her to flip up and over my back, feet going skyward, landing flat on her face in front of me. She twitched along the ground as I tore the crowbar loose. I raised it above my head to bring it down again and again and again.

I was hit from the right side. The force of it knocked me off my feet and into a tree, shoulder first, my head rapping against wood. There were stars and lights flashing. I fell to the ground and thought,
get up get up get up
, but nothing happened. It was easier to stay down.

There were snarls and angry roars around me.

My vision wouldn’t clear.

I closed my eyes again.

I thought of many things.

Like Joe.

And my mother.

How dark it was.

How much my back hurt.

How much my head hurt.

How much my heart hurt.

“Ox!” a voice cried out above me.

I meant to tell whoever it was that I was okay.

Instead, I said, “G’way.”

The voice said, “I need you.”

And it was
Joe
. It was
Joe
who knelt beside me.
Joe
whose claws stretched against my skin.
Joe
who said my name again and again telling me to
move
, to
open my eyes
, to
be okay, just be okay
.

Part of me had been taken away. Crushed and destroyed when blood hit the floor.

Part of me burned up and became nothing but smoke and ash and charred remains.

But part of me still held together.

The part that belonged to him. To Gordo. To my pack.

I opened my eyes. My vision blurred. I blinked once. Twice. A third time.

He was there above me. With his orange eyes. His sharpened fangs. Half-shifted and worried.

I reached up and touched his face.

He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

I said, “We have to finish this.”

He opened his eyes and said, “It’s almost over.”

He pulled me up, and it
was
almost over.

But not in the way I’d hoped.

We were too spread out. I couldn’t see Carter or Kelly, but I could hear them snarling somewhere in the trees, their anger evident. The bond between us was stretched tight and thin, pulsing in dull rage.

I thought I saw a flash of Elizabeth, full wolf and graceful, eyes bright and teeth bared, but then she was gone, Omegas crawling after her.

Mark was crumpled on the ground, breathing shallowly. Gordo stood in front of him, tattoos glowing, blood dribbling down from a gash on his forehead. A group of Omegas surrounded them. Gordo grinned. His teeth were bloody. He said, “Yeah. Come on.
Come on
.”

And then there was Thomas. The Alpha.

I said, “No,” because he was bleeding from every inch of exposed skin, half-shifted, eyes red and claws dripping. Dead Omegas were strewn about his feet, gore spilling into the grass of the clearing.

He was breathing heavily, chest rising and falling. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, a knob of bone poking through on his forearm, his healing not yet kicked in. His shoulders were hunched and fangs extended, and still more Omegas came. They poured out from the trees and I didn’t know how there could be so many. How so many Omegas could be in Green Creek without us knowing. Without
Thomas
knowing, because this was his land. This was his
home
and I didn’t
understand
.