Chapter Eleven #2
“They must be released,” Dave said, seeing my face.
“They are not prisoners; they have violated no law. Yet, if we don’t find a way to reach them, they will end up back on the streets—and back in the Black Circle’s clutches—swelling the ranks of our enemies.
” He looked at the young people scattered around the suite.
“I thought that you might have some insight into how to explain the situation to them, how to get through—”
“They know the situation!” Lee said angrily.
Something that didn't faze Dave at all.
“—after all, someone got through to you. And you were brave enough to give the Were world a second chance after—”
“I wasn’t brave!” Jace yelled suddenly. “I ran away! I almost got Lia killed!”
He looked like he wanted to run again, but the desperation on his face said that he didn’t know where to go. He felt trapped, to the point that he was all but vibrating against me, and I didn’t know how to help him, or even what to say. But Dave didn’t have that problem.
“You could look at it like that,” he said soberly.
“Or you could look at it like you ended up leading Lia and the others where they needed to be to save those boys. There were a lot of vargulfs in Tartarus, but every time we tried to reach out to them, they ran. One can hardly blame them, considering some of their experiences, but now they’re here—because of you. ”
“They’re here because of Arnou!” Noah snapped. “Dragging them back by force!”
“And you know what the clans are gonna want,” Lee added. “You know what the council is gonna say—”
“What?” I stared at him.
“What they always say, Lia! The only good vargulf is a dead one!”
It landed like a blow, strong enough to stagger me even when sitting down.
“Then you see my problem,” Dave said, spreading his hands. “We have three hundred people downstairs who need help. I can’t do much about the council, or what they may decide, but perhaps I can offer some assistance to—”
I didn’t hear anymore, as I was already striding out of the door.
“Lia!” Sienna’s voice and then her person followed me down the hall. “Sebastian wants to see you—”
“And he can damned well wait.”
“For what?” She caught my arm, her dark eyes half angry and half worried. “What is wrong with you?”
“I could ask you the same question! Those boys—and men, and women—fought for me, for all of us. And you locked them up?”
“They were out of control,” she said, as my clan gathered around, having followed hard on my heels.
“Tearing those mages apart, even after they were dead, the ones who didn’t battle their way free—and there weren’t many of those!
We arrived to see a room full of savaged bodies, some civilians scared out of their minds, and a bunch of half-mad vargulfs—”
“And you didn’t wonder why?” The elevator came, and I got on, followed by Sienna, Laura, and as many of Fireborn as could fit. Others Changed and ran for the stairs. “Those men tried to kidnap them! They would have taken them away and done God knows what—”
“And what are we going to do?” Laura asked, puffing slightly from catching up. “There are three hundred vargulfs in the basement!” she said, as if she couldn’t believe it.
“I didn’t tell you to take them prisoner!” I snarled.
“You didn’t tell anyone anything,” Sienna said. “You were so far into wolf mind that it took you most of the trip back here to surface.” Her expression said that she wasn’t entirely sure I had yet.
Frankly, neither was I. Patches of fur kept breaking out on my skin under my clothes, then fading back again.
It was all I could do to hold shape, and I didn’t know—honestly, did not know—whether I would be able to manage it for much longer.
I needed something, I wasn’t sure what, but I could feel my wolf pacing inside my skin—and sometimes out of it.
She was so worked up that none of the soothing tips and tricks I knew made any difference. “But the clans,” Laura was saying, oblivious. “Some of them are wavering already. If they find out we have three hundred vargulfs in the basement—”
“Stop saying that!” Sienna snapped.
“Not saying it won’t make it go away! What are we going to do?”
For some reason, they both looked at me. Like I had any damned idea! I didn’t even know what the hell was wrong with me!
And then the elevator dinged, and we were there, spilling out into a hallway echoing with wolf voices, and not happy ones.
And I let loose a sound from deep inside my diaphragm that was impossible to describe, but that immediately quieted the howling.
And then started it up again, almost in a frenzy.
“Lia—Lia!” Someone said behind me, but I had broken into a run and wasn’t listening.
The basement of the hotel was almost as much of a rabbit warren as Tartarus, only with corridors and seemingly endless rooms instead of tunnels.
But they didn’t matter; I could smell the pack ahead, hear their enthusiastic calls, feel their blood thrumming through my veins.
Mother’s home.
I burst through a door into a cavernous room that looked more like a dungeon than any of the antiseptic-looking hallways outside.
It was large and dark, with a couple of short stacks of bleachers on either side, like a high school gym, and a sand-covered space in the middle that reminded me of a boxing ring.
Or maybe a sumo dohyo, as there was nothing to delineate the space—except for the pale blue ward wavering in front of my vision.
A spell took it out, sending it sparking away into metaphysical space, and the pack swarmed me.
Many had never Changed back to human form, and they sent up a frantic chorus of howls, permeated by a few whimpers and some excited huffing.
They crowded close, with those who had them wagging their tails furiously, and trying to lick my face, while others made play bows out of respect.
Those still in human form had no less of a boisterous greeting, although theirs consisted of outrage—and rightfully so.
“They locked us up! They won’t let us leave!”
“They said it was for our protection—we know how much we can rely on that!”
“Are we really to be kept here?”
“There are clan wolves all over this hotel! It reeks—”
“Lupa, lupa, lupa! You came back for us!”
“I’ll always come for you,” I heard myself say. And then I was Changing, as how could I not?
It felt wonderful, like taking pinched feet out of too small shoes. Like slipping out of a tight bra at the end of a long, hard day. Like a cool shower after the heat of summer burned its memory into tender flesh.
It felt like coming home, and they agreed, with the rest transforming immediately, and it was the strangest thing.
I could feel them in my head, not some but all.
I knew that those who had held form had done so because they were afraid to ruin their clothes, as the set they stood up in was all they had.
I knew that many of them were hurting, wounded in the fight or from the scuffle with Arnou afterward, and no one had helped them.
Knew that they were afraid, in this unfamiliar place with the smell of clan everywhere, but none of it home.
Not until now, when I showed up, and my little pack came forward, cautiously at first, almost timidly, but that didn’t last long.
Jace was pounced on by two young wolves, and immediately Changed, with the three of them turning into a playful, growling, happy ball of fur as they rolled around the floor in welcome.
And the other Fireborn were just as quickly sniffed and snuffled and bowed to and jumped, while I greeted my new pack members, because that was who they were.
Some still human part of me was screaming, because this wasn’t possible, this was insane, but the wolf didn’t care.
She had been going out of her mind, separated from her clan, not sure what was happening to them or where they were in this great, unfamiliar place.
But now that she was with them, she was home, and everything was good again.
Everything was perfect and right, allowing her to finally settle down contentedly.
And leave the human to find a way to make this work when…
Yeah.
Yeah.
I met Sienna’s horrified gaze over the heads of my new pack and sighed inwardly.
Absolutely everyone was going to hate the fuck out of this.