Chapter 1 #2
“And so the elders don’t think we have as much time as we thought,” I explained. “There are some areas of Florida, Mississippi, and Georgia that we don’t think have any packs at all. And more worryingly, the rate of missing persons in those states has risen by as much as twenty percent.”
Kaylan and Bayer were both silent for a minute as the knowledge sank in.
The taking of young people against their will was a practice that had incited the catastrophic race wars of five hundred years ago.
“The council has requested a meeting with the clan elders, but obviously, with no proof, we can hardly accuse them of anything. Apparently, one of their leaders—Alessandro—said he had no wish to meet and to stop wasting their time.”
“He spoke with Alessandro?” Bayer exclaimed.
I shook my head. “He refused.”
“Damn,” Bayer said. “The guy’s a legend.”
“Alessandro is an evil masochistic bastard who’s killed thousands,” I pointed out, and Bayer colored slightly.
“I know.”
I put my hand up. “Sorry, I’m just frustrated.
” Five hundred years ago, the immortals had been utterly out of control, and humans had been enslaved in the thousands.
It was the first time the shifters had banded together across species, knowing only we could end the destruction.
Kaylan’s eyes glowed with the silver of his cat. He nodded.
“At least you’re trying something,” Bayer said. “My pack is still convinced breeding is the answer.”
“My grandmother says she’s seen visions of a witch,” Kaylan muttered uncomfortably.
I nearly scoffed, but seeing as I turned into an animal at will and our biggest enemy were the silver-skins, or vampires, as human folklore called them, I could hardly talk.
“Meaning she can reverse the curse?” Bayer asked, a small amount of optimism creeping through his words.
“She doesn’t know,” Kaylan admitted, and I understood because no one actually knew if it even was a curse.
Some had suggested poison, except the she-wolves weren’t dying, simply not coming into their heats.
No heats meant no pregnancies in wolf packs.
And it affected all the females in all the shifter packs.
And because all the packs had been so insular, no one had realized it was affecting everyone until our births and Esther’s pronouncement that she’d seen in a vision we would be the last alphas born unless the curse could be broken.
Of course, no one believed her at first, but as months then years went by with fewer and fewer pups and the females that reached maturity never had heats any longer, anger then desperation settled across the packs.
There was even talk of warning the humans, but that was such a final panicked act, no one shifter species wanted to go to those lengths yet.
One of the truce conditions that ended the fight with the silver-skins was that the humans remained ignorant of their existence, and for any of the shifters to break that condition would be an outright declaration of war.
But as every full moon passed, it grew worse.
Kaylan, Bayer, and I had been the last alpha-heirs born into any pack that we had contact with.
The shifter alphas—desperate to try anything—had even attempted to impregnate human females when Esther had insisted that hybrids may be the answer.
The trouble was, so far, all hybrid babies born were all human.
I’d flatly refused. There was no way I was going to bring a child into the world—any child—and not give it a home and the love it deserved.
It simply wasn’t in me to reject an innocent because it didn’t fit the mold of what we needed.
Not that the packs would leave them uncared for financially, but I wasn’t playing some sick lottery with other lives.
I wasn’t sure what the answer was, but everything in me told me that wasn’t it.
And did I care? Some days, I wasn’t sure I actually did.
My human side preferred men, but I wasn’t a fool.
I knew my mate had to be able to bear pups, even if the temptation to forget my responsibilities was huge.
Not that I was ready to live without my wolf, and I wondered how desperate I would have to be to finally turn my back.
The indisputable fact was I was going to find out, and sooner than everyone was thinking.
Dad said the silver-skins would come for the remaining alphas first when they knew there weren’t enough of them left to fight.
But something—and I wasn’t sure what—told me Dad was wrong.
Not about the curse or the silver-skins being responsible, but about them killing the alphas first. If what we knew about the race that slaughtered for fun and not just food was even half-true, then I imagined I would be kept alive deliberately.
Something to gloat over, toy with. If the day ever came and I had nothing left to protect, I would end it myself before I gave any silver-skin the satisfaction.
Another forced laugh went up from the crowd surrounding my dad, and I knew I really didn’t want to go over there.
“How about we go into town?” Kaylan suddenly suggested.
Bayer chuckled, and I glanced at both my friends’ faces. “You’re serious?”
“We can’t help right at this moment.” Kaylan nodded to the pack circle. “They feel as bad for us as we do for them.”
I huffed. It was Friday night, and while the local town was small, it had two decent bars that would be hopping. Molly’s would have a live band, and for once, it would be so good just to forget everything. Even for an hour or two.
“Come on, Phoenix,” Kaylan urged. “Bayer and I are already in trouble for coming here, and we always promised to have each other’s backs.”
“If I remember rightly, that was when we were seven.”
“And?” Kaylan challenged me.
One night away from all the problems sounded so tempting. Bayer waggled his truck keys temptingly, and it was all the invitation I needed.