Chapter 16
sixteen
. . .
We broke away and turned to see our daughter where she stood in the doorway wearing striped pajamas and a scowl that was almost scary.
Granted, I shouldn’t have been kissing Josiah in the middle of his big bad ball, but I was having a surreal moment. Seeing Sammy made it just too real. What was I doing? I was an accountant, not some shapewear goddess who needed to be sexy so that men wanted her. Nope. I wanted to be professional so that men and women respected me without being threatened, because I didn’t have time to deal with those kinds of feelings. And now I was publicly demonstrating my possessiveness? How old was I? Yes, I was a new werewolf, but I’d been around the block more than a few times.
Okay. First thing, I needed to get Sammy out of there and calm her down. Second, I needed to give myself time to grow into this werewolf thing so that I knew what I wanted in this new life stage. Sure. Let’s call it a life stage. Third, I needed to get a therapist so that I could work through my cage phobia, and relationship phobia, and abandonment issues. I probably had other issues that weren’t quite as glaringly obvious.
The thing is that as I hurried to Sammy, Diamond moved faster, so fast, and that dress was so stretchy, it just moved with her instead of exploding in lace and sequin shrapnel.
“Are you Honey’s child? How sweet.” Diamond walked around Sammy, looking down at her like she was one of those pigs on a table with an apple in its mouth. Edible.
“You will not touch my child,” Josiah said, sounding calm, relaxed, but Diamond jerked her hand back as she’d been about to touch Sam’s hair.
“You had a child? How extraordinary. I’ve never heard of anyone with a dark wolf having a child with a human female,” Malachi said, stepping up on my right and brushing my arm with his suit.
I flinched and snarled at him. How dare he even look at my daughter? I would rip him limb from limb, absolutely tear him apart if he took another step towards her.
“My wife is extremely remarkable,” Josiah said, his words soft, but the tone, something about it made the great Malachi psycho cringe. Ah, because he used to be Joe’s second, so he was kind of still programmed to be dominated. He probably hated that instinct. He’d probably love to kill Joe just for that one thing, that he was naturally subordinate to him.
“That is interesting,” the soft guy said, the one who was older, and then Bonnet and her Canadian puppy was there, along with all the other alphas, studying Sammy like she was a great science project, and then me because how did someone who stank of fear when I first came down create such a wonder.
“She needs to rest,” I said, stepping forward and blocking Diamond from my sweetheart. “She’s taking the transition with difficulty.”
“Curious that she’s taking it at all,” Malachi said with a gleaming look and a malicious smile. “How could she possibly survive without any intervention from the one who created such a miracle?”
The experimenting. All the blood taken, all the injections, all the tests. Had that somehow turned me into a super werewolf breeder? I turned to look at Diamond, at the hard rage in her eyes. “What did he do to you?” I whispered.
Sammy grabbed my hand and dug her nails into my palm, her scent fear and anger, with the sickness burning away with her emotions. “He? The guy who caged you is one of these losers?” She gestured with her other hand at the hovering alphas, each of whom could kill her with an absent swipe of his paw. She was too bright for her own good, reading things into this situation that I’d rather she not worry about.
“It was a long time ago,” I said stiffly, pulling her towards the door, to safety and freedom.
She yanked her hand out of mine and then glared into the faces of all the gathered power houses. “Which one of you caged and tortured my mom? Was it you?” she demanded, pointing at Canada dog. Her finger thickened and a long claw extruded from the pad. Everyone noticed but her.
The Canadian gave her a slight smile. “My mate wouldn’t approve of me taking any other females. I’ve been with her for sixty-seven years this spring.” He gestured at Malachi. “This is the man who enjoys playing with breeding. It takes a strong stomach or a psychopath, because there’s so many dead babies, children, and women involved in such experimentation. Your mother is lucky to be alive.”
She blinked rapidly at him and then turned her glare at Malachi. He was still too close for comfort, and he smiled at her, so charming, so handsome, so sweetly.
“You hurt my mom?”
“I made her strong enough to bear a child without it killing her. If I hadn’t done so, your dad would have her blood on his hands. She was irresistible, so strong, so unbreakable. I thought that she’d have a dark wolf she is so powerful. But she didn’t break for me before someone stole her. I actually thought she died in the fire. I was heartbroken,” he said with another pleasant smile.
Sammy started shaking, her hands curling into fists while her knuckles bulged and swelled. Hair sprouted from her ears as they pointed and became elongated. “You kept my mom in a cage? You’re the jerk who she’s been running from for so long? You’re the reason she can’t trust hot men? Seriously? You’re going to die!” Here we go.
I moved to grab her and carry her away, kicking and screaming, but her whole body spasmed and out came this monster. Twelve feet tall, arms like tree trunks, teeth like daggers, and so much drool. Strands and strands of the stuff got all over me before I got back far enough. She’d shifted a little before, but nothing like this.
“Joe, is this a dark wolf?” I whispered, edging away from the seething beast. She was getting bigger still as she pounced on Malachi. He shifted into another monster, but he wasn’t like her, probably eight feet tall, so enormous, but nothing like Sammy. Diamond took a step towards her alpha before she willed herself to stop, hating me, Sammy, and the rest of the world, but Malachi her mate most of all.
“No, this is something different, but she’s shifted,” Joe said, staring at Sam with a happy relief in his eyes that lasted until the front windows exploded glass into the room as dark wolves poured in.
“Wait, she’s not in danger anymore?” I asked, even as I searched the ballroom for weapons, exits, and exactly how many werewolf monsters were threatening us.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me close, looking down at me for too long because we had things to do, like get Sammy into a cage before she brought the house down, and then the wolf invaders, not to mention the alphas who probably hadn’t come here for a free-for-all.
“You have a dark wolf,” he said, like he didn’t want to admit it. “With Sammy shifted, you don’t need me, and with the two of you being so strong, I can’t stop you from leaving. Take her and go. This world has given you nothing but grief. What Malachi did to you… I should have killed him the moment I realized what he was becoming. I will kill him for you. I will send you his head, but if you want to go, if you truly wish to be free of me, take Sammy now and run.”
I stared at him for a second longer before I touched his cheek, skimming over his cheekbones to the corner of his beautiful brown eyes. “You’re seriously bringing this up now? Are you mental? We have a war to fight.”
“It is an ideal time to escape, while I’m occupied with other things. I don’t know if I can let you go otherwise.” His eyes burned golden in intensity. But seriously, this was not the time.
I kissed him quickly. “You think I’m going to let another woman have you? Hardly. You’re mine. Even if I don’t need you for life and death issues, I need you for all the other stuff, like your naked thighs. I love you.”
He grabbed me and kissed me hard, almost painfully, before he turned away and then the dark wolf came out. His dark wolf wasn’t quite as big as Sammy, somewhere between Malachi and her, but he dominated every other wolf in the place because he was death in every breath, every movement. There was nothing about him that wasn’t perfect discipline, perfect technique, even as that vicious monster. He had trained in the art of combat for centuries, and it showed. He was war, and no one else could compare.
Honestly, it was the most remarkable thing, watching him how he moved, staying so aware of his surroundings, defeating multiple opponents with hands, claws, jaws, all with perfect balance, perfect control. He wasn’t killing the wolves. No, he was knocking them unconscious, and then Celeste or one of the other wolves would drag the poor creature away, probably to lock them in one of his cages.
Sammy was chasing the great warlord all over the ballroom. Then when she’d leap forward and catch him, she’d beat him against the floor before throwing him into a wall, and then the chase would continue again. She was clearly undisciplined, childish, unfocused, but also basically unkillable since she’d actually shifted. She wasn’t going to die! My heart beat and I felt giddy with happiness. Sure, the place was getting trashed, but my sweet baby was safe!
“Your daughter has humiliated Malachi well enough that he won’t be able to keep his pack,” Bonnet said cheerfully, handing me a glass of champagne.
I blinked at her and took it, although alcohol and I were not good friends. “Oh, that’s good.”
“Very good. No war. The Grand Master specifically asked your mate not to start a war. The Grand Master is far too demanding, but what can we do? Literally. I heard that you’re family with his bride. Do you know their children?”
I took a sip while I tried to process. She must be talking about Lucky. I’d met her husband back in the day. He seemed weird, always reading old books and talking about stars, but he hadn’t seemed like a vampire.
“We aren’t as close as we used to be. She got married young, and I…” I’d gotten married pretty young too. I just hadn’t stayed with him for very long. “I’ve only seen them a few times.”
Her eyes widened. “You’ve actually met the Grand Master’s blood children? How astonishing. I heard a prophesy about the raising up of a new generation of supers, but you know how prophesies are. Always so Delphic.”
“Um, sure. You’re saying that my daughter was prophesied?” I asked, pointing at my enormous, terrifying, playful child. She was sitting on Malachi’s back and beating his head with a metal pitcher. The sound was on rhythm. Maybe she should be a drummer. Now that she wouldn’t have to miss school from being sick all the time, she could join all sorts of clubs and things.
A swipe of claws and a wide open maw flashed before my eyes. Then Celeste was there, and the offensive creature was gone.
“I think she likes you,” Bonnet said, clinking her glass with mine. “I never thought Joe could find a woman his loyal pack would accept, but there you are.”
“Do you think we should just stand here sipping champagne when there are battles to fight?”
“Fighting would spoil your lovely dress,” she said.
I smiled at her, letting my teeth sharpen in my mouth. “And the shapewear under it. Yes. I’m definitely joining in the fun.”
I exploded out of that dress, my dark wolf leaping to intercept another wolf who was headed towards my daughter and her toy, like there was some loyalty there or something. Malachi had earned my fear and hatred. Curious that he could inspire anything else in someone.
The battle felt good, my dark wolf relishing in the blood, the screams, the pain, but always right there, under my control, together, united, so I wasn’t sure where she began and where I left off. We were the dark wolf.
When Sammy stumbled in her chase, I zeroed in on her, tossing away the weak wolf who had come to play. I raced across the ballroom, hands and legs pumping until I reached her, so that when she fell, I caught her, for a moment weight down by the bulk and mass of her, but then she shifted and she was a downy, light, delicate child who I cradled to my chest.
Malachi’s dark wolf glared at me for a long moment before he turned to the nearest window, shifting into a gray wolf as he leapt through it.
Sammy blinked her unfocused eyes while she gazed up at me. “Mom? You’re drooling on me.”
I licked her, because turnabout was fair play. And also, she wasn’t going to die. She’d shifted, and it was a weird monster shift, but anything beat the struggle of transition.
She struggled and screeched while I licked her thoroughly, until Joe joined us, still in his monster wolf that was much taller than me. He licked her too, and then she was really howling.
Joe started to laugh, and so did I, until the dark wolf melted into me again, but only wearing shapewear, because apparently, it was reinforced with steel. Good thing it wasn’t silver. As a werewolf, I had to watch my health and that of my family. I couldn’t have Joe dying from silver shapewear shrapnel.