Chapter 4
Anders coughed slightly. “All three?”
Kastner rolled his head to stare at him. “Yes. All three. It’s the only way… to have real and lasting peace.”
“But your heir.” Misti shook her head. “You haven’t named one?—”
“Because I don’t need to.” Kastner’s smile was weak at best. Although the two had never gotten along swimmingly, Anders hated to see the man in such a weakened, pain state. Every time he breathed, he winced. His breathing was becoming shallower, and his voice was growing faint.
Misti stared at Anders. “I don’t understand.”
“My heir… was Talon. When he died…”
“You became his heir,” Anders finished for him. He placed his hand on Misti’s shoulder and squeezed.
“Yes.” Kastner all but wheezed out the word. “You two… together…”
“We’ll do what we can,” Misti promised.
“Together… you can…”
Tia rushed forward to stand by Kastner on the other side of the bed. She touched his hand then placed two fingers against his throat. His chest wasn’t moving anymore.
Tears streamed down both women’s faces. Anders didn’t know how to comfort Tia, and it looked like she wouldn’t be leaving Kastner’s side any time soon, so he guided Misti out to the room next door, an office of some kind. This time, he made sure to close the door.
By now, she was bawling, crying even harder than she had when her father had died. Not knowing what else to do, he hugged her tight to his chest and rubbed her back. “Sh, babe, it’s all right.”
“No.” She pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks even though more slid down to drip onto her shirt. “It’s not. It’s too much.”
“What is?” He had never seen her so worked up before.
“All of it. Us being alphas of different packs that aren’t exactly on good terms yet after an entire year. And now we’re supposed to bring another pack into the fold? How? Is it even possible to have a pack that size? We’d be huge!”
“Unstoppable. We’d never have to worry about being hunted and killed. No one would dare rise up against us. We’d be safe. Always.”
“Safe?” she snorted. “No more battles, you mean? What about the skirmish last week?”
“That… had been unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?” At least she had stopped crying, but now she seemed almost angry. “Tell that to Joe. He almost had his nose bitten off!”
“Hey, now. Joe’s fine. We handled the skirmish. It happens?—”
“It can’t keep happening, though!” Misti jerked away from him.
She wanted to pace, he knew, but he also knew she needed to be close to him, so he embraced her once more. “Let’s just try and relax.”
Misti stiffened in his arms. “Relax?”
“Yes. There’s only so much you can do right now. Sort through your feelings. Take a nap.” He jerked his chin toward a comfortable looking chair behind the desk. “Here if you want. I’ll come and get you soon.”
“Where are you going?”
“We have to tell everyone about Kastner and his last wish.”
She bit her lower lip. “He expects… expected too much of me.”
“Impossible.” Anders kissed her forehead. “You can do anything. After all, you fell in love with me.”
Normally, that would’ve brought a smile to her lips and maybe earned him a kiss, and possibly even a whole lot more. But right now, there was a fire in her eyes, and her thoughts were so loud they were almost screaming at him. “This isn’t about you.”
“It’s about us,” he said calmly. “All of us.”
She couldn’t deny that.
At least she allowed him to guide her over to the chair. “Do you want a blanket? Do you need anything?”
Misti shook her head, and for once, he couldn’t quite make out what she was thinking. It unnerved him.
He kissed her, this time on the lips, and left her there.
It took a lot of phone calls, but in an hour, most of the werewolves from the three packs had gathered together in the huge lawn in front of Kastner’s alpha quarters. Anders glanced out the window to make sure no one was killing anyone else before returning to Misti’s side.
“Come on, babe.” He nuzzled his nose against hers.
Her eyes opened. She yawned and stretched. “Yes?”
“It’s time.”
As if a curtain had fallen over her face, her features twisted from sleepiness to sorrow. “Yes. Right.”
Anders helped her to her feet, and they walked out, hand in hand, onto the balcony Kastner had used many times to address his werewolves. He didn’t see Tia anywhere.
Misti shifted nervously beside him.
Do you want me to address them? he sent to her.
No. I’ll do it. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, still holding his hand. “Werewolves, please, settle down.”
Five minutes passed before they shut up.
“It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that Dunn Kastner has passed over to the endless night.”
Mutterings and howls broke out from the crowd. A few werewolves shoved each other, but no fists flew, and no fangs or claws came out.
“The Wild Shades have a new alpha now.” Misti’s voice rang clear and loud. Any trace of the fear she’d shown earlier, any grief, that was all gone. She was back to herself again, strong and proud and noble.
Some of the mutterings grew louder.
“I am that alpha,” Misti shouted. “Wild Shades, you are with me and the Red Nightwalkers.”
Chaos was close to erupting.
Anders slid forward to stand beside her. “And the Shadowed Stars are mine. But as we are married and expecting our heir to be born in two months’ time, now is the time for the distinctions between the packs to be no more.”
Misti stared at him, slack-jawed.
Below them, the wolves started to give in to their baser instincts.