37. Sedrick
Sedrick
A n eerie calm settled over the courtroom. Outwardly, I mimicked that calm. Inwardly, my wolf clawed at the surface, itching to answer Edward’s challenge. My wolf might be gung ho, but my rational side knew better. My rational side was also offended.
“You would have your second challenge Mr. Voss instead of yourself, Arie? I realize I’m only a vampire, but I did not think that was how werewolf packs operated.” Lucroy Moony’s stone-cold voice echoed my internal sentiments.
The noise Arie made was somewhere between a growl and a dismissive grunt.
“Sedrick Voss is a pack of one. Fighting him would be far beneath an alpha of my status. Truthfully, it is below my second, but,” Arie shrugged, “the situation is what it is. If Sedrick had a second, Edward would happily fight them instead.”
Dillon jumped up, standing on the pew behind me, barely keeping his transformation in check. “Uncle Sed has a pack.” Dillon puffed up and threw his chest out. “Ruthie and I are part of Uncle Sed’s pack. So is Phil.”
Arie’s irritated grunt made it more than obvious what he thought about Dillon considering himself part of my pack instead of the Belviews. And as for Phil—
“A pixie? Part of a werewolf pack? That’s insulting to werewolves all over the world.”
Dillon lunged forward. Thankfully Phil grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back.
I stepped forward, and Ray placed a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to do this, Sedrick.”
I gave Ray the incredulous stare his comment deserved.
Despite what Arie thought, I had a pack, one I was proud of and would defend.
Werewolf alphas didn’t ignore challenges, and Arie knew that.
I’d thought I might be challenged or more likely, be the one doing the challenging.
Every scenario I’d mentally gone through was Arie and me in the challenge ring.
Edward was an unknown—an outlier I didn’t like.
Regardless, I wouldn’t back down. I couldn’t.
Stepping around Ray, I walked toward the aisle. Head held high, I tugged at the tie circling my neck. Ray’s earlier trick worked, and it wasn’t constrictive. I wasn’t sure my wolf would feel the same when I let my fur take over.
“Dillon’s right, Arie. The children are part of the Voss pack.
Phil is too. And I’m happy to report my pack doesn’t just have werewolves and pixies, but dwarves and humans too.
” I thought about the workers at the mine and knew my words were true.
I would fight to defend any of them. In their own way, they were mine just as much as Dillon and Ruthie.
“Two pixies.” Golden pixie dust drifted in my periphery. “I’m part of Sedrick’s pack too.” When I glanced Peaches’s way, I had to look up. Peaches’s wings fluttered at breakneck speed, lifting his body off the pew, his toes barely dusted the top of the wooden seat.
“I hadn’t realized joining a werewolf pack would be such a fascinating venture.
” Lucroy Moony stood, lightly running his slender fingers over his crisp white shirt.
Satisfied, he tucked his hands behind his lower back and said, “I might be interested in joining this pack, Mr. Voss. In fact, if you so wish, it would be my pleasure to stand in as your, what did Mr. Belview call it?” Lucroy appeared to think hard.
“Ah, that was it, his second. Yes, that’s what he said.
” Head ever so slightly tilted to the side, Lucroy gave a smile that hinted at fang.
“I would be happy to fill that role for you tonight. It’s been far too long since I’ve tasted werewolf blood.
They seldom offer blood of their own volition, and sadly, fairy law doesn’t like us taking when blood is not offered willingly. ”
Arie’s cheeks flushed with rage.
Edward remained emotionless.
“I appreciate the offer, Mr. Moony, but unlike Arie, I fight my own battles.” My wolf perked up with pride.
My relationship with Will had suffered when he mated Kelsie, and my wolf and I’d felt alone for far too long.
Werewolves were pack creatures at heart.
We didn’t thrive in solitude. For a long time, I thought I’d spend the rest of my life like that—alone.
But nothing could be farther from the truth.
Maybe we were an odd pack, one of a kind.
That didn’t mean any less to my wolf. We had others to protect, others to care for, and that was all that mattered.
“Very well,” Lucroy Moony said. “The offer is genuine.”
“And appreciated.”
Still standing at the podium, Judge Langley said, “I fail to see the point in this challenge, Mr. Belview. Even if your second, Edward Gerrard, is the victor, the children still cannot be removed from the home.”
The fur on Arie’s hands retreated, his canines sliding back into humanoid teeth.
His eyes still burned wolf-bright. “I have no intention of removing the children from that hovel Sedrick calls home, the one the pixie has evidently had the misfortune of bonding to. But there is nothing in fairy law that states no one else can move into the house with Phil and the children. If Edward wins, he will effectively take over Sedrick’s pack , which, as already stated by Sedrick himself, includes Dillon, Ruthie, and Philodendron.
” Arie turned his wicked gaze my way, his amber eyes shimmering.
“I believe there was also something about dwarves in that sweeping statement of claim. Edward would take over the dwarves and humans Sedrick mentioned, as well as his current property. And, as Edward’s alpha, those properties and persons would then fall to me. ”
The room burst to life with a cacophony of noise.
Pleas full of disbelief rang from Phil and Peaches while Dillon pulled against Phil’s hold.
Ray slid up next to me, the picture of calm ease.
“Perhaps Mr. Belview has fairy blood hidden in his genetic background. I’ve only ever known fairies to manipulate their enemies so well.
” I couldn’t tell if Ray was complimenting Arie or not.
Backing away, Ray and Hamish walked toward the judge’s bench.
“Werewolf challenge is an accepted practice, sanctioned under fairy law, but it is outside the purview of legal counsel.” Judge Langley sat and leaned back in his chair.
“As judge, I will bear witness to the fight and record its outcome, but while inside the challenge ring, none may interfere, including me.”
“Sedrick.” Phil sounded heartsick.
When I turned, he stood there, holding Ruthie against his chest, her head tucked into his neck.
Ruthie’s eyes weren’t as glazed over as they’d been, and I was tempted to add another hint of alpha power into her trance to maintain it.
Ruthie didn’t need to see what was about to happen. None of them did.
“Don’t worry, Phil.” I leaned over the railing, separating my seat from Phil’s.
Running my fingers through his hair, I let the unimaginably soft magenta ends slide through my fingers.
I couldn’t believe Lucroy Moony had actually wanted Phil to cut it.
Peaches was right; doing something like that was worse than sinful.
Phil leaned forward, meeting me halfway. Wings fluttering, I was surrounded by a pink haze. “If you tell me you can beat him, I’ll believe you.”
“I can beat him.” What I didn’t tell Phil was that I could beat Edward in a fair fight, and there was no guarantee this would be. I also didn’t tell Phil that there was no other option but to beat Edward Gerrard. Losing wasn’t an option.
Phil’s plush lips lifted. His grass-green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “Then I’ve got nothing to worry about.” Lifting his head, Phil’s pink lips whispered against mine, the barest touch that sent lightning running down my spine.
I wanted to reach over and pull him into my arms, crush his body against mine. But Ruthie was between us, cradled safely within Phil’s arms.
“Kick his ass.” Dillon stood on the pew, his elevated position placing him eye to eye with me. “You’ve got this, Uncle Sed.” Dillon sounded sure enough for both of us.
I should have scolded Dillon for his language but couldn’t muster up the energy or inclination.
Instead, I turned my attention to Edward.
“I accept the challenge and will meet you in the ring.” I glared at Arie.
“But when I win, I don’t want shit to do with the Belview pack.
It’s nothing but toxic. When I win, you will leave my pack and me alone.
You give up all rights, including visitation, with Dillon and Ruthie.
You lay a hand on, threaten, or so much as look wrong at anyone current or future regarded as Voss pack—including their friends, families, or acquaintances, and I will consider it a violation of the agreed-upon terms—a violation of fairy law.
” Shoulders back, I brought myself up to full height.
“You’ll lose everything, Arie, including your second. Are you willing to risk that?”
I had to give Arie credit. He didn’t answer right away. He knew the stakes, understood them, and didn’t like them any more than I did. The difference between us was that he was more than willing to risk it. To Arie Belview, it was all or nothing.
“I accept.” Arie’s jaw locked, muscles ticking. “I find it amusing you believe you’ll win.”
“Really? Because I don’t find any of this bullshit amusing in the fucking least.” I was glad I hadn’t scolded Dillon for his language before. When this was all over, I’d sit down with him and have a serious do as I say, not as I do conversation.
“Edward.” Arie’s voice fell like an alpha bomb. If he’d needed any proof that his grandchildren weren’t a part of his pack, he got it when Dillon didn’t so much as flinch.
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Deliver my grandchildren to me. Deliver your future alpha.”
And there it was. Ray was right. Why had Arie fought so hard and spent so much money on the best damn forger he could find?
Dillon was an alpha. Ruthie might be one too, and the Belview line was short on alphas.
Had Arie cared to ask, I would have told him I thought it was the Moon Goddess’s way of culling his pack, of cutting out the poisoned seed they’d become.
While Dillon roared his denial, Edward answered another clipped, “Yes, Alpha.”
“The terms have been agreed to by both parties,” Judge Langley stated. “Let the record show the terms and bind them into law.”
I don’t know when the pair of brownies entered the courtroom.
Most likely they’d snuck in while Arie, Edward, and I’d been having our verbal smackdown.
The unmistakable feel of magic snuck down my spine, making my skin crawl and itch.
Brownies were experts in space and time.
They warped them both. It was the way they transported from one location to the other.
What they could also do was change the space around them.
In our case, the brownies changed the dimensions of the courtroom, expanding the space between the judge’s podium and where Arie and I’d argued our cases.
Dirt replaced marbled tiles, and patches of weeds and scant grass spread across the ground like a case of chickenpox. Open air filtered in, the nearly full moon shining high in the sky, dimming nearby stars.
I stared up at that giant sphere, so much a part of my soul, and silently prayed that the Moon Goddess would see me through the next few minutes, that I’d hold my niece and nephew again, that I’d know more than the scant feel of Phil’s lips whisper across my own.
I’d never had so much to live for, so much to fight for.
I didn’t look back at Phil and the children. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take a step forward if I did. I’d told Phil I could win, and I planned on doing nothing less. But we all knew plans went to shit every day.
Edward was mere inches from my shoulder as we walked toward the circle.
Brownie magic increased as we drew closer, its power grating like sandpaper.
My wolf whined. Edward had to feel the same sensation I did.
Neither of us hinted at our discomfort. As soon as my foot stepped over the edge of the circle, that prickly feeling vanished, and relief swamped me.
It was short-lived.
No pistol shot indicated the start of battle, no “on your mark, get set, go.” There was no preparation, warning, or time to devise a battle strategy.
Edward’s transformation into his wolf form was as fast as any alpha I’d ever seen.
His wolf wasn’t massive, but it was whipcord lean and hungry. It was also fast.
Thankfully, I was faster. I tucked and ducked, rolling out of the way, transforming and shredding the fancy suit I’d paid far too much for. Beezie would be pissed to learn her hard work had been ripped to shreds in less than three seconds.
A piece of my pants clung to me, and I kicked out a back leg to get rid of the annoying cloth.
Shaking out my body, I let my fur settle.
Letting my wolf free was always a heady rush.
It felt like coming home, like undressing and slipping into a warm shower.
It felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Typically, my wolf was playful and eager to explore the world around us.
But tonight, there was no exploration. There was no interest in jovial flights of fancy.
Tonight, there was one mission and one mission only—utterly destroy Edward Gerrard.