My Mate is amazing. The best Mate on the whole planet. Stepping up, taking command. Defending Jade against her own brother. Her insanely powerful brother. Only a few weeks ago she was terrified of any vampire. I could hug her. I could drag her off into those trees we passed on the way up the drive, take all our clothes off and show her just how much I love her, but that will have to wait.
"/Thank you,/" I tell my Pack, because they were all awesome too, trusting Sarah. Trusting me. Our decision. “I was ready to fight, we all were, and we didn’t.”
"/Hey, conversation not conflict, right?/" Tom replies.
"/First proper test of the Pack principles,/" Shelley agrees.
"/I think we did okay there,/" Reese says, "/and Sarah, your brother is fuckin
I don’t know what I am expecting. After the Pack’s reactions to Anthony’s shouted threats, I was dreading the worst. Anthony really is all bark and no bite, but he is a master at verbal combat and seldom takes prisoners. I could easily see him winding someone up enough that they’d think about lashing out. I don’t know the others as well as Aiden does, although I think they would all keep their temper. If only I could be completely certain. Anthony is in the center of the sand school, propped up on a mounting block with a cane for balance. I am so focussed on him that I only register what the rhythmic thudding sounds are when Crystal rounds the end of the school at a canter, right in front of us. Her poor, sweet bay gelding catches sight of us and goes rigid. Nostrils flared, eyes bugging out, ears stiff as boards. All his forward momentum is suddenly passed to his rider as he skids to a halt with a horrif
I’m already in the kitchen, the rest of the Pack following, when I hear Jade’s “Oof!” I stop and turn, Tom nearly running into me. Jade’s right behind Tala, still outside the doorway. She’s got her gloved hand lifted to her scarf-and-hat-shielded face. Her eyes are wide and startled.“What’s up, Jade?” I ask. Shelley and Sarah come up behind her, peering over her shoulders.“I…” Jade puts out her other hand towards the doorway, then pulls it away again. “I… can’t.”“Hmm,” says Shelley, before anyone else can voice a response. “This is an old house, right? It might have protections on it.”“Protections?” Tala asks, sounding suspicious. I he
“Do you know, I haven’t seen him for a few days,” Katie says. “It’s not that unusual,” I add for the benefit of the Pack. “He’s the groundskeeper, he hasn’t always got any reason to come to the house. There’s a lot of land to cover. If he’s checking the fences he could be busy out there for a week. Tim?” I look at my brother, who’s the one most likely to know where Baxter is if he has been working around the outer edges of the estate. “We did a full perimeter check about a fortnight ago,” Tim reports, frowning. “I think he was planning to check the wooded areas. There’s been ash dieback disease reported a few miles to the east, and he wanted to look for any signs it had spread over here too.” “I’ll try his number,” Tony says, pulling out his mobile. If Baxter’s running around as a wolf I don’t suppose he’ll be ab
I’m glad of my Pack. They’re not going to let me do anything stupid unless the other options are even worse. I can tell Sarah is getting more agitated every time Timothy insists that it’s no problem to let the Marsh deal with Alpha Black. I don’t know whether it would be polite to hug her, so I reach under the table to put my hand on her knee instead, giving it a little squeeze, and feel her tense, relax in a rush, then tense all over again.She lifts her voice over the current argument. “Timothy, you’re just casually talking about going and killing someone.”It goes silent very quickly.“I just…” There’s tears in her eyes. I don’t care what others are thinking, I take my hand off her knee to put it around her shoulders as her voice wavers. She
I’ve never really watched war films. I’ve never really been that interested. It feels as if I’m in one now, although I have no idea how accurate that thought is. We’ve crossed the nature reserve as if it’s enemy territory, constantly on the alert even though we’re keeping to the public paths, so we’re not, technically, on Badger’s Den territory. “If we’re talking technicalities, that would be Aiden’s territory anyway,” Reese points out when I mention it. We see neither hide nor hair of the Pack that claims the surrounding land, and veer out of the reserve into farmland where we are coming up on the small coastal village where Baxter says he’s being held. It looks like one of those lost-in-time places where cosy TV murders are set, except half the houses are holiday cottages now and empty for most of the year. It’s ever so slightly spooky, riding past bl
Nothing’s ever simple. Now I’ve got Caroline to look after. It’s irresponsible to bring her along, but it’d be worse telling her to stay out of it and expecting her to obey. There’s Alphas that nobody would dare disobey. My father, for example. I’m not him. “/Am I a bad Alpha?/” I make sure it’s just my Pack hearing that. The Peace Seekers. They’re not the right people to ask though. None of them are werewolves. “/You think we’d let you stick around if you were, boss?/” Sarah reaches over to give my hand a squeeze. “/If this is about Caroline, you said it yourself, if you tried sending her away
Black’s arrogance wins out over any caution he might have. He signals to one of the werewolves with him, announcing his Second.“What’s he playing at?” Baxter mutters when he realises that Aiden isn’t just buying time with Black’s Challenge, but is actively looking to fight that way.Baxter isn’t Pack, not yet, not officially. I doubt I can speak to him with the Pack link. It’s Aiden himself who can do that. I don’t even want to risk whispering. Werewolves have good hearing. I nudge his arm, to get his attention, and take my phone out.Aiden is considering Baxter as a Packmate. Blackmarsh trusts him. I don’t think Aiden will mind. “immune 2 silver” I type. “knows sword”. I turn the screen so Baxter can see it but, hopefully, nobody e
An angry opponent makes mistakes.That’s what my father and Caleb never understood. Anger is a weapon to their thinking, not a liability. Black is cast from the same mould. I’ve wound him up by staying calm, by being polite, and most of all by humiliating him, and he can’t see clearly through the red mist of fury. He’s three hundred pounds of muscle and rage, as unstoppable, dangerous and terrifying as a runaway locomotive, charging down on me. His free hand is out with claws ready, blocking any escape. Blinding sunlight flashes from the silver of his blade as it sweeps down.Now, Frost whispers, lending me his speed. I slip beneath Black’s raised elbow, drawing a line of fire across his exposed stomach with my sword. I spin and dance backwards as Black skids and stumbles before he crosses the outside edge of the duelling square. &