Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
The Blood Moon shone overhead as Summer and Rowan crossed into pack territory.
The crimson light transformed the bayou.
Ancient cypress trees cast twisted shadows across the water, while Spanish moss swayed in the nighttime breeze.
All the familiar scents and sounds of their home were carried on the winds.
“It’s so beautiful,” Summer whispered, using her car’s steering wheel to pull herself forward and stare out at the night sky.
“And dangerous,” Rowan added. “Lena would tell you Blood Moons amplify everything—power, emotion, instinct. The pack are always at the mercy of the full moon, this one will be even more powerful.”
Silence fell in the car, each lost in their own thought as they made their way toward the pack house.
The landscape seemed to pulse with primal energy.
Every shadow hid movement, every sound carried magic.
Summer felt the moon’s influence singing in her blood.
She reached over to hold Rowan’s hand, relieved to have the chaotic escape through New Orleans behind them.
But as they approached the main compound, the signs of destruction were impossible to ignore.
The pack house was in disrepair, its windows smashed and every room in darkness. At this hour, Blood Moon gatherings should have drawn the entire community together. Where children usually played showed signs of neglect. All the community areas were empty.
“Where is everyone?” Summer asked, as she and Rowan stepped out of the car.
Rowan glanced around looking for signs of life. Summer didn’t speak, letting his wolf hearing listen out for sounds from the pack. He turned to Summer with a shrug and a shake of his head.
She flung herself into his arms, trying to draw strength from him even though she knew he needed food and plenty of rest.
He held her close, and it was a comfort to feel his heart against her ribs, even if it was pounding in alarm.
He let her go and shoved her behind him as he twisted around to look into the dark by the outbuildings.
“Come out,” he demanded, putting all the alpha authority he could manage into his voice.
Lena Broussard emerged from behind one of the outbuildings, her expression grim as she took in their condition.
“Lena,” cried Summer. “Where is everyone?”
“Scattered,” Lena replied. “Half the pack left after Axel’s latest grand idea led us into yet another disaster. The rest are hiding in their homes.”
“What disaster?” Rowan snapped.
“Territory war with the Tremé pack. Axel decided we were being too passive, he said we needed to ‘reclaim our rightful dominance.’” Lena’s tone made it clear what she thought of such reasoning.
“Three pack members should be hospitalized, two are missing, probably dead. Our hunting grounds have been decimated.”
Summer felt anger flare, power crackling visibly around her hands. “Show me to the wounded,” she said to Lena. “It’s as we always said. He’s destroying everything Maurice built.”
“Everything Rowan would have inherited,” Lena replied, looking at Rowan with pain in her eyes. “The pack knows they made a mistake. Axel has strength but no wisdom, ambition without judgment. But pack law is clear—alpha challenges can’t be reversed without just cause.”
“Doesn’t systematic destruction of pack welfare qualify as cause?” Summer placed her hands on her hips, and her tone made Lena’s eyebrows rise.
“I’ll show you to the wounded, then we must talk,” Lena said. “Do you have your medical bag?”
Summer shook her head. “No. Long story. Let’s see the injuries first.”
Lena led her to her cabin. She’d made it into a field hospital using any flat surface available for the wounded.
Rowan followed, but Lena placed her hand on his chest. “I think you should sit down before you fall down, my son.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are not fine, chile. Let me fix you a plate.”
Rowan laughed, but let the old woman who was almost his mother fetch him a plate of food and call him by the name he’d not heard since he really was a child.
When he’d finished a second plateful, he rose and entered the cabin to see what Lena was hiding from him.
He clenched his jaw so none of the wounded pack members could see dismay on his face.
“Maurice?” he asked Lena, but the old woman shook her head.
“He’s held on, son, but I don’t think he’ll last the night.”
Rowan put out a hand to steady himself. Maurice was like a father to him. “I must see him,” he said.
Lena beckoned and headed into a separate room. Summer was already there tending to the old Alpha.
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” she said to them both. “Is there anyone fit enough to give blood for a transfusion?”
“Me,” came a voice. “I’m O-neg. Universal donor.”
Rowan whirled around and immediately hugged the wolf filling the doorway.
“Marcus! I feared the worst,” he said to his oldest friend.
“It’ll take more than Axel Mouton to put me out of action. Especially if he’s not using toxins on his claws.”
Rowan nodded. It was as he’d always suspected, but it was a shock to hear Axel’s cheating spoken about so openly.
“Blood now. Talk while you squeeze this ball,” said Summer. She placed a strap around Marcus’s upper arm and tightened it until a vein stood up. Then she punctured the vein with a needle and attached a plastic tube to it. The tube dripped the blood into a bag.
Lena watched keenly. “I’m glad you’re back,” she murmured to Summer. “I guess you have quite the story to tell.”
And conceal. Summer dipped her head, thinking back to a conversation she’d had with Lena a few weeks, no, not weeks it was just a few days ago.
“We’ve learned some hard truths about trust and leadership,” Rowan replied. “About the difference between strength and wisdom.”
Sounds of voices and shuffling outside on Lena’s porch could be heard as pack members began emerging from their homes, drawn by the familiar scents of their former alpha and his mate.
Summer saw relief on many faces, but also wariness.
These people had been burned by poor leadership decisions and weren’t ready to trust blindly again.
“Where’s Axel?” Rowan asked, scanning the gathering crowd for signs of the current alpha.
“In the main house, probably drunk on power and whatever he’s been using to dull his guilt,” Marcus said.
He glanced at Summer and Rowan, then immediately resumed squeezing the rubber ball Summer had given him pumping blood for Maurice’s transfusion into the bag.
“He’s not going to give up leadership willingly. ”
“Then we won’t ask him.” Summer moved the blood bag from the end of the plastic tube and replaced it with another one. “We invoke pack law and demand a formal review of his leadership decisions.”
“Summer,” Lena called softly. “That’s not how pack law works. Only alphas can challenge other alphas. Rowan was formally exiled?—”
“But not stripped of his bloodline,” Summer interrupted, her supernatural heritage singing with certainty. “And I’m his mate, which gives me a voice in pack decisions. It’s law, especially under a Blood Moon.”
The pack members exchanged hopeful glances. Blood Moon law was ancient, rarely invoked, but legally binding when properly applied.
“You still know pack law?” Marcus asked.
“I’ve been studying,” Summer replied, thinking of the long hours in Fabian’s library where she’d learned about more than supernatural bonds and Vatican hunting techniques. “And I know enough to understand pack welfare supersedes individual authority when leadership becomes destructive.”
Rowan inched along, using Maurice’s gurney for support until he stood beside her. “If I could shift, I could help.”
Summer shook her head. “Not yet. You’re not strong enough to hold a shift right now. We’re just here to restore balance.”
She pulled an IV stand next to Maurice and prepared him for the transfusion of Marcus’s blood. “When you’re fit again we could raise a challenge together. “As partners, not as traditional alpha hierarchy.”
The concept was radical and several pack members murmured with surprise. Shared leadership wasn’t unprecedented in werewolf society, but it required both parties to demonstrate equal authority and competence.
“But no one is fit enough,” a voice growled from outside.
Axel entered the healer’s cabin. He was showing the strain of leadership. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, his clothes were dirty and rumpled. The cocky confidence once driving his ambition was replaced by defensive aggression.
“Neither of you have the authority to question my decisions,” he continued, prowling into the room. “You chose exile, Calder. Prove why the pack should follow you and your human mate over appropriate alpha leadership.”
Summer patted Maurice’s forearm and signaled a couple of wolves to move the gurney aside. The Blood Moon’s influence was building to its peak, and she sensed it in her skin sparking palms. Pack members stepped backward, forming a loose circle. They were alert to the building tension.
“Rowan and I don’t need to prove anything to you,” Summer murmured. Her soft voice carried authority. “We need to demonstrate it to them. To the whole pack. And we will when Rowan is recovered. You will be confined until such a time. There will be no cheating this time, Axel Mouton.”
She raised her hands, drawing on the lunar energy to make her blood sing. Power flowed from her fingertips, illuminating the room.
But Summer’s light carried healing. She glanced at Marcus and Maurice.
The old alpha pulled the transfusion needle from his vein. He slipped from the gurney and pulled himself to his full height. “Not sure what you added to the blood, doc, but I feel twenty years younger.”
By his side Marcus began to shift, and the room shrunk as two, and then a third, giant wolf filled the space.
“I may have added a little something to the mix, Maurice,” replied Summer with a smile in his direction.
“This is what leadership should feel like,” she said as pack members straightened with renewed strength. “Not domination, but service. Not control, but support.”
Rowan’s alpha nature was responding to the Blood Moon and the presence of his mate. But Summer placed a hand on his shoulder. “There will be ample time to put this wolf in his place.”
Axel backed away until he was outside in the compound. Maurice, Marcus and a few other wolves followed encircling Axel.
“Blood Moon law recognizes shared authority when both parties demonstrate equal commitment to pack welfare,” Rowan said. “I invoke the ancient right of pack review, with my mate as co-petitioner.”
Maurice barked and pressed his nose to Axel’s.
Axel dropped his tail. He growled, but it sounded weak and impotent. Snarling, he peered at the surrounding wolves. Only two came to stand beside him.
Summer made a note of who they were. “You can stay and fight Rowan again when he is recovered. With none of your little enhancements, Axel. Or you can leave now. The choice is entirely yours.”
She stepped forward facing her palms outward. Silver flames sparked and spat at Axel and his two companions.
“You violated every principle of alpha responsibility,” Summer told him. “Leadership isn’t about winning fights. It’s about protecting and nurturing the people who trust you with their welfare.”
Axel growled and edged toward her, but Summer took a huge stride toward him and together the three wolves fled.
Summer dropped to her knees, exhausted. Lena, Maurice and Marcus battled each other to carry her to the cabin she and Rowan had once shared.
She shuddered as they drew close to the porch, but it had been neglected rather than damaged.
“I’d like to sit outside for a while,” she said. “Rowan needs lots of rest, and I’d like to talk to Lena.”
“I’ll see my boy settled,” the old healer replied, “and then I’ll bring tea.”
Summer sat, closed her eyes and rested her feet on a second chair. She linked her fingers and rested them on her stomach.
“Is it his or the vampire’s?” asked Lena. She set a mug of herbal tea on the floor next to Summer and dragged another chair beside her.
“Rowan’s, I think,” replied Summer. She pressed her fingers into her lower belly. “I believe I’m around six to eight weeks gone.”
“And no chance it’s the vampires?”
“It’s just over a week since he raped me, Lena.”
Lena placed her mug on the floor and reached over to squeeze Summer’s hand. “Does he know?” she asked nodding in the direction of where Rowan was sleeping.
Summer shook her head. “I just want to put it all behind me.”