Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Ididn’t even have time to say goodbye.
I’d never had him in my life, so I shouldn’t miss my dad, but damn it, I did. It was a strange feeling never having missed someone in your entire life up to ten minutes ago and then suddenly missing them fiercely.
Seconds passed. An eye blink of time.
One moment, I was in the pocket dimension, chains flying in my hands, and the next I was in the back yard of the East Pluto house with my chains at my feet, where a raging angry group of buzzards, a small army of humans—or non-shifter paranormals—were standing off with Ronan, my coven, and about fifty Pallás wolves, including Mason Hartman.
“Betty?” The relief in Ronan was a touchable, desperate thing. I felt it wrap around me seconds before his arm banded around my waist and jerked me back against him. “Thank the gods.”
“Sorry I’m late,” I said, leaning into him without taking my eyes off the others. “Looks like things got out of hand while I was gone.”
“About time you got back, Alpha,” Mason grumbled. The half-shifted wolf gestured to the paranormals standing in a half-circle behind the birds. “Half The Org showed up an hour ago. They haven’t said anything, but they’ve got to know their star necromancers are dead.”
“Pardon me. I didn’t expect you to start a war in the ten minutes I was gone.”
An artery bulged on his temple. “Ten minutes? Try more like sixteen hours.”
“Bullshit,” I said.
“Look.” Ronan set his curved index finger beneath my chin and tilted my head back. Sunlight painted the gray sky above the horizon in broad stripes of yellow and orange and red.
The first signs of dawn.
“What? But I was only there for … Last time I came back almost before I left, and I assumed…” Maybe I should be thankful it had only been hours instead of days, weeks—or years.
“It’s five thirty in the morning.” Ronan’s shoulders were hunched, his face a series of hardened planes, expression veering from worry to anger to relief.
No wonder he’d been upset when I appeared.
If the situation had been reversed, I’d have been losing my mind.
He’d gone missing once, and I’d wanted to tear down the world.
“I’m sorry.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a fierce hug. “I didn’t know how long I’d been away. There’s so much to tell you.”
“It’s okay. Glad you’re back.” He hugged me back for a moment then let me go. “We’ll talk later. Right now, you’ve got some diplomacy to do.”
“Where are my partners?” I visually scouted the area between the house, the crowd, and the cemetery next door. “Cecil? Fennel?”
I peered over my shoulder at the witches.
Bronwyn looked no worse for wear from her ordeal, but Margaux was another story.
Her makeup was smudged and her French twist only seventy-five percent perfectly coiffed.
My partners were beside her. Cecil gave me a thumbs-up.
Fennel was back to normal size. He blinked golden eyes at me and meowed when I said his name, tail thumping the dirt listlessly.
I started to edge around Ronan. “I need to talk to them.”
“You need to focus.” He deftly spun me around and bumped me in front of him, by Mason. “They’ll understand.”
There were so many people watching me it was unnerving. Every eye was on me. Mouths hung agape. No one spoke.
“You’d think no one’s ever popped out of a pocket dimension in front of them before,” I muttered.
Mason spoke without looking at me. “Deal with the wake first, the org after. They’re not here together, but they’re definitely united in their hatred of you and our people.”
I approached the buzzard standing in front of the others. Half-shifted, he was well over six feet and muscled, like a very fit runner. He had golden brown skin and dark brown hair that fell in a sheet to his shoulders, which was threaded through with feathers.
This wasn’t Alpha Tomas. He was older and scary. This guy was young and scary.
“Hatred is a strong word. However,” he said, his voice loud and clear, “you were to have cleared out of our territory hours ago. When your second explained your unfortunate situation, we agreed to an extension.”
“I appreciate that.”
“What we did not agree to was an army of wolves and unauthorized paranormals intruding on our land.” He lowered his head, and I saw that the dark feathers weaved into his hair weren’t an accessory but part of his animal.
“Sorry about the wolves,” I said. “That’s on me. I didn’t bring the paranormals. They’re the last people I want to see.”
This did not appear to placate the man. “We have been patient.”
“Yes, you have.” I held up a hand. “If I may speak informally?”
He nodded curtly.
“I’m Betty Lennox. What’s your name?”
“David.” He pronounced it Dav-EEd. “Dominguez.”
“David, I deeply apologize for overstepping the bounds of our agreement.”
“You didn’t overstep, Alpha Betty Lennox. You stomped,” he replied.
“There’s no question that we’re in the wrong here. Please understand, my wolves came only because they felt I was in danger.” That was a stretch. More likely they were here because Mason and Ronan threatened them. “Has my pack caused damage to your wake, either property or personal?”
“Nina?” David looked to the woman at his right, who shook her head. He obviously considered that my answer, because he turned back to me and said nothing.
Thank the gods for small favors. “Even so, we have caused disruption and have gone back on our word—inadvertently, but the trust we’ve broken can’t be ignored. We would like to offer you not only our apologies, but restitution, if you will accept it. You set the terms.”
“The wolves do not appear apologetic,” David said, his intense brown gaze drilling into mine. “None of you do.”
Although I still didn’t know how to tap into the pack bonds with any sort of accuracy, I did my best. I reached inside myself and sent out a command to all wolves present to follow my lead.
“Our deepest apologies for this insult to your wake.” I went to one knee before the buzzard shifter. Behind me, in a succession of exhalations and a couple of joint snaps, the others followed suit—including the witches.
The birds began murmuring amongst themselves.
David continued meeting my gaze with quiet authority. He was definitely the wake second—the man exuded power. In a shifter group with a leader that wasn’t a terrifying otherworldly beast, he would’ve been Alpha.
Had I not killed Floyd Pallás, I was certain this man or his alpha soon would have. I shuddered at the thought of Ronan and him locked in a physical challenge. Ronan would win, there was no doubt about that, but it would be a brutal battle.
Nina leaned over and whispered into David’s ear.
“The wake agrees to restitution. Here are our terms.” He rattled off a dollar amount that seemed a little too fair.
I rose but signaled for the others to remain kneeling. “Agreed.”
“Additionally, we hear that you are reopening the wolf bar in La Paloma. As you can see, there’s not a great deal of commerce in East Pluto. There are a few of us who require work. We ask that two positions at the bar be reserved for members of our wake.”
“My answer is yes, but I reserve the right to fire anyone who doesn’t pull their weight. However, I will instruct my manager to bring the issue to you before acting.”
“That is acceptable.”
One of the wolves behind me cleared their throat. “If I may approach, Alpha, Second Alpha?”
David nodded. I did the same.
Dr. Marrakchi approached, her delicate features schooled into a friendly yet respectful expression. “I’m looking for front-facing office staff for my veterinary practice. I prefer a candidate experienced with client billing. I’ll provide Alpha Lennox with contact information.”
David’s gaze whipped away from mine and settled on the doctor’s. The tiniest smile twitched his lips before his mouth flattened again. “Thank you, Doctor,” he said.
“If we’re putting it out there, I own a garage in town—any of you good with transmissions?” another wolf called out.
“I need a receptionist,” another one said. “Insurance office downtown La Paloma.”
Mason turned to me, shook his head. His expression was pure annoyance, yet there was a lightness to it, like he wasn’t as mad as he was letting on.
Behind me, Ronan chuckled softly and murmured, “Our diplomat. You never stop amazing me, Alpha Betty.”
“If it is agreeable to you, Alpha, your wolves may rise,” David said. “We accept your apology and agree to your terms. Our wake looks forward to a pleasant working relationship with the pack in the future.”
The buzzards behind him who hadn’t already shifted did and rose several feet in the air where they glided and swooped in a celebratory circle above our heads.
“You have one hour to leave our territory, Alpha Betty,” David said.
“I don’t know if I’ll be done by then,” I said, with a head flick toward The Org.
“Two, then. Or I start adding zeroes to that restitution check.” He shifted like Clark Kent to Superman, except he did a sort of bend and half-spin thing instead of climbing into a phone booth.
When he was all buzzard, he shot into the air beak first. The other birds followed.
We were alone with The Org.
“Alpha Betty saves the day using economics instead of bloodshed,” Bronwyn said from behind me.
Mason shifted further into his wolf and growled at the approaching humans. “Day’s not over yet.”
It would have been easy to mistake the patience of The Org assassins during our shifter negotiations as a sign that they, too, were willing to negotiate.
That was not the case.
What they’d done was use the time to their advantage and prepared a spell to use on us the second the birds left.
It was sloppy, but powerful, and had the effect of sequestering a small group of us away from the pack wolves.
Only Ronan, Mason, the witches, my partners, and I were inside the barrier.