Chapter 25
Ulric
“Bro, I’m nervous.” Jasper’s wings fluttered as he and Ulric stood near the van. “I’ve never been to one of the top three cairns. Besides Gimerel, but that doesn’t count because we raided and left.”
“Me, neither. That’s not why I’m nervous, though,” Ulric replied.
“My mom should’ve arrived over a week ago.
She said she would go straight there, so she was probably only a few days late.
She’s had, like, days to get all up in everyone’s business.
I hope she hasn’t pissed off the new cairn leader. ”
“Nah.” Jasper waved it away. They watched Jessie climb out of her van. “Your mom will be fine. She’s in her element. I’d worry more about Mr. Tom. He’s been out of the gargoyle culture for…”
“No one knows. He never mentions it.”
“Well…a long time. Long enough to be very strange. By gargoyle standards, at any rate. He won’t help our image.”
Jessie reached for her suitcase. The driver tried to hand it over, but Austin stepped in the way to retrieve it for her.
“Now, that really is going too far, sir.” Mr. Tom intercepted and wrestled the suitcase away. “There is a time to be helpful, and there is a time to get out of the way. I would’ve assumed you’d know which was which at this point.”
His wings fluttering, Mr. Tom grabbed Austin’s suitcase as well before heading to the waiting private jet. Jessie put a hand on Austin’s arm to stop him from reacting.
“He didn’t seem to embarrass us at the connection request meetup,” Ulric said slowly.
Jasper shook his head. “You didn’t listen to much of the gossip about Jessie’s setup, apparently.”
No, Ulric had, he’d just tried to ignore most of it. He believed in this outfit and he knew Jessie would eventually win the day.
But Jasper was right. Going into an all-gargoyle establishment, one of the largest cairns… Well, Mr. Tom would not fit in.
Then again, would any of them? With all the various creatures in the convocation, it was necessary to compromise a great deal. That must’ve changed them. They might be outcasts among their own kind.
“Hey, guys.” Aurora stepped up to them as the group slowly moved toward the private jet. It was customary to give Mr. Tom about ten minutes to check out the plane and get things ready for Jessie. If they rushed him, he was a nightmare.
“Hey.” Jasper put up his hand for a high-five, and she slapped his palm without hesitation. Even a few months ago, she wouldn’t have done that. “Haven’t seen much of you.”
“Yeah.” She glanced to the side, her gaze sticking to the new shifter. “Without a family pass, I’m not high enough in the pack to do much on these excursions.”
“Well, then.” Jasper lifted his eyebrows at her. “Get high enough. Word on the street is you’ve got alpha juice. You’re plenty powerful enough.”
“I’m going as fast as I can.” She shoved him. “There are rules in a pack. I’ve climbed faster than anyone else but I have to stop for a moment at each level. It’s how it’s done.”
“All due disrespect, my lady,” Jasper said with a flourish, “this is not a pack, and our great alpha is making up rules as he goes. You’ve got the training. If you’ve also got the power, knock it out.”
Her lips tweaked in a bud of a smile. Ulric pointed at it immediately. “She’s human! Look Jasper, she’s turning human. Our baby is emerging from her cyborg cocoon.”
“Oh, shut up,” Aurora said, her gaze drifting over to the new shifter again.
He had his hands shoved in his pockets and his body was slightly bowed, like he was trying not to be noticed. Even though he was moving in the general direction they all were, his body screamed wariness, and he looked ready to bolt.
Ulric dropped his voice to a whisper. “What’s his deal, anyway? A bunch of the shifters seem to know who he is. They talk about him like he’s some sort of god, but when I ask, everyone clams up.”
Aurora grabbed their arms and moved them a little faster, putting distance between them and him.
“Uncle Auzzie told people not to talk about it,” she murmured. “John wants to move on from his past, and Uncle Auzzie wants to let him. He might as well be a Dick for all he wants to do with packs and magic.”
“I get that,” Ulric whispered, “but you know my mom is going to try and sus out the details, not to mention Niamh. I need to know the deets so that I can buffer and keep them from pestering him.”
“Stop saying things like deets,” Jasper said. “You sound ridiculous.”
“Comb your hair once in a while,” Ulric retorted. “You look ridiculous.”
“Like you can talk,” he snapped back.
“Okay, okay, fine. Shh!” Aurora shook their arms. “He’s technically a generational alpha.
His father was fourth generation of a huge and powerful pack.
A very prosperous pack. His uncle, also a powerful lion, started his own pack, but it didn’t work out.
So, his uncle made a play for his father’s pack.
He challenged, but not to the death. Betas and enforcers were standing by to break them up.
But the thing was, I guess, that they were very similar in power and fighting prowess.
They were evenly matched. There wasn’t a clear winner and so the betas let the fight continue, trying to decide when to step in.
When they finally acted, it was too late. ”
“Who died?” Ulric asked.
“Both. First the uncle, and then the father bled out before they could save him.”
“Oh, man, tough break,” Jasper murmured. “It’s strange, all this challenging that shifters do. What does one-on-one fighting have to do with being a good leader?”
Aurora ticked up a shoulder, her version of a shrug. A guy had to pay attention when she spoke, or he missed half the things she was trying to say.
“Yazanth—sorry, John, was only twelve at the time. He was big for his age, and already had a decent amount of power, but he was twelve. He was vulnerable.”
“What about his mom?” Ulric asked.
“Died giving birth to triplets. His sisters were only four when all of this was going down. His grandma and grandpa stepped in to train him and help run the pack. That’s probably the only thing that kept it together.
But they had stepped down for a reason. They were older and couldn’t withstand challenges. ”
“What about the enforcers?” Jasper asked.
“They were among the first to start challenging.” Aurora bowed a little, sadness on John’s behalf.
“These were people John had known all his life. They’d probably helped raise him, were always around his father, and they turned on him.
Tried to take him off the pedestal of alpha and claim it for themselves.
They wanted money and power, and John had the keys to the castle.
” She paused. “Imagine if Uncle Auzzie tried to kill me to take my father’s pack.
It must’ve crushed him to field those challenges, because they were to the death.
” She shook her head. “He was only twelve, and I heard he nearly died with a great many challenges in those days, but miracle of miracles, he was able to survive.”
“Wow.” Jasper nodded with respect.
“When he got older, he got better, obviously,” Aurora went on.
“Meaner. Tougher. He still had the training from his grandparents, and not as many challenges, so he was flourishing as an alpha. And then his beta, who I hear was his longtime friend, tried to take him in the shadows. That means…” She tilted her head.
“It wasn’t a sanctioned challenge or even a public attack.
It was when John’s back was turned, and he was indisposed somehow. ”
“A sucker punch, but to kill.” Jasper nodded. “Got it.”
“Yeah. John had to kill his longtime friend and others, or so I hear. At that time, we were having our own family…issues, so I stopped hearing about it for a bit. But when he emerged from the fires, as it were, he was the undisputed power player in the alpha community. You did not mess with Yazanth. He had incredible sway, too. When he spoke, people listened. They dubbed him Golden Fang.”
“So, what happened?” Ulric asked as they neared the plane.
“When his sisters came of age and had been solidly trained up and could hold their own, he shocked everyone by handing the pack over. To all three of them! Two co-leaders is rare and doesn’t often work, but three is unheard of.
That was about five years ago. Then he disappeared.
I guess he took off in the middle of the night. ”
“Why?” Jasper asked.
She shook her head. “That’s the mystery. Some say the sisters killed him. Others say—he said—he was exiled, but there’s no real basis for that rumor. Why would they exile him? He handed them the pack. My dad thinks he needed to cut ties so people would follow the sisters’ lead.”
“Didn’t Alpha Steele have something like that happen?” Ulric asked.
“Kinda. His situation was messier and more complicated.”
“Well.” Jasper slowed with the group in front of them. “I hope he’s not a drinking man, or Niamh is going to sit next to him at the bar and start poking, you can guarantee it.”
“She wouldn’t want to poke very hard,” Aurora murmured as the crowd parted. “He might rip her face off.”
“Ulric.” Jessie lifted her hand as the crowd parted further.
“She wants you.” Aurora took her hand away from his arm.
“Yeah?” He hastened toward her. The stairs to the private jet waited just in front of her with a red carpet leading down. Attendants were stowing suitcases.
She met him halfway and lowered her voice. “Go back with John, would you? Be chipper and upbeat. Maybe take Nessa, too. He doesn’t seem very comfortable about all this. You guys are personable. Maybe grab Fred. She made him laugh.”
“I think he was laughing at her and not with her, though.” Jessie hesitated, and he shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”
He made his way through the others before motioning for Nessa. “Come on, pretty girl. We’ve got work to do.”
She beamed and jogged his way. She could always be counted on to act at a moment’s notice with minimal questions.
John trailed behind the group now, the last of the line. He stared down at his feet, his hands still in his pockets. Every once in a while he would glance off toward the mountain he’d recently called home and the basajaunak that didn’t much want him there.
He glanced up at Ulric and Nessa when they neared.
“Hey.” Nessa fell in at his side. “We’ve been sent to corral you.”
Ulric laughed. “Or help you escape, if that’s the way the wind blows.”
John grunted and looked back down at his feet. “She doesn’t leave anyone behind, huh?”
“Who, Jessie?” Nessa stretched her arms wide. “Absolutely not. Edgar has asked to be retired, what? Dozens of times?”
“Has to be over a hundred by now,” Ulric said.
“Retired?” John studied Nessa’s face with a blank expression.
She smiled at him disarmingly. She was very good at handling surly alphas. “Edgar is a vampire and already dead. Retired means deader. Like, retired from existence.”
“He asks to be killed?”
“Whenever he does something wrong, yes.” Nessa laughed. “And that’s often. I’m glad she’s got such a soft heart and doesn’t listen. He’s my battle buddy. He always seems to know how to skirt the worst of the danger and show up at the crucial moment. He helps me be a hero.”
“He doesn’t do much for your image any other time, though,” Ulric said.
She laughed again. “What image? Death’s angel? Evil villain mastermind and morally defunct mage torturer? Adding a senile vampire bestie really isn’t taking me down a peg.”
Ulric grimaced at her. “Are you sure about that?”
“Okay, we’re here.” Nessa looped her arm into John’s.
He stiffened, but if she noticed, she gave no sign.
Or maybe she just didn’t care. “Now, John, this is the moment of truth.” She turned to face him in the line waiting to board the plane.
The others were making their way up the stairs and finding seats. “Have you been on a plane before?”
A tiny line formed between his brows. Confusion? Bewilderment? Ulric couldn’t tell. Shifters really needed to start using their faces more.
“Yes,” he replied.
She ticked her head at him and Ulric wondered where she was going with this. “Have you been on a chartered plane with a prominent figure of authority where snacks were provided?”
His expression turned to stone. “Yes,” he growled.
She held up her finger. “No, you haven’t.” Her smile was infectious. “Trust me. Okay, here we go. Don’t worry about being trapped in a small space way up in the air with all these weirdoes. It doesn’t seem so bad after the panic takes root. Hope you’re hungry.”
She let go of his arm at the exact moment there was room to progress and then stepped in front of him.
“Want me to go first?” Ulric said, pointing at Nessa. “I know shifters don’t like people at their backs. Plus, this is your last chance to run. I can go before you, if you want?”
“Is it always like this?” John asked. Definitely bewildered.
Nessa stopped on the stairs to look back at him, her brows raised.
“Is it always this…?” John didn’t finish the sentence, probably not sure what words to put with it.
Ulric laughed and stepped in front of the powerful shifter. “Yup. It defies logic, but we are incredibly effective in battle.”
Nessa winked before continuing up the stairs.
Ulric entered the doorway of the jet after Nessa and held his breath. Two steps, three, no one entered behind him. Jessie looked up from her seat, her brows lifted in question. Austin’s face was blank, his alpha mask that hid his thoughts.
And then John appeared in the doorway, hands in his pockets, and stepped across the threshold.
They had him. If he hadn’t run by now, he wouldn’t. He’d be sucked in like they all were, a misfit recognizing a home when he saw it. A bunch of eccentric oddballs who somehow fit together.
It was incredibly humbling that Ulric was part of this oddity, but so was Tristan, and he was renowned in the gargoyle culture. That definitely softened the blow.
And then Ulric heard, “What in the hell is with all this food?”
Nessa turned back to John, laughing merrily. She leaned around Ulric to say, “Told you so!”