Chapter 40
FORTY
NATALIE
We travel down the only road leading to Clément Duval’s private airfield, the path veering up and down the steep French landscape like a snake.
Nik hasn’t let go of my hand the entire trip so far, but I’ve lost count of the times Alexey has tried to do the same with Dimitri.
First he grunted a nyet to which the soldier snorted.
Then, he smacked his hand away with enough force to tilt the entire truck to one side.
If Alexey tries again, I fear we might all end up in a ditch.
The questions I want to ask have only simmered in my stomach since we left the Duval castle, and now they’re starting to reach a rolling boil.
There’s a chance when I turn I will go into a blind rage and attack the first wolf or human I see.
But Nik has considered this, right? What is his plan to prevent me from trying to kill our own forces?
Flip a coin and hope it lands on heads? Surely, he can’t be na?ve enough to believe it’s not possible.
But for some reason … I can’t bring myself to ask him.
Maybe I’m afraid to know. That he’ll have no other choice than to put me down like a rabid dog if it means saving the world from his father.
And to be honest, knowing the horrible things his family has done for over a century, I don’t think I would blame him.
“Keep your eyes on the fuckin’ road,” Dimitri shouts from the passenger seat, swatting Alexey’s hand away once more. The truck swerves but ultimately remains in line with the rest of the vehicles enroute.
Alexey stifles his laughter with a fist and slows down as we reach the airfield gates. “We could die tonight, ya know. Wouldn’t want you to go out without showing I care, roomie.”
Dimitri tilts his large head, nostrils flaring. “Only you can make death sound like a reward.”
“No one is dying today,” Nik interrupts, leaning forward between the seats. “And if you two don’t stop bickering, when I take control of my house, you will share a room again.”
Dimitri jerks his head to glare at Nikolai, disgust trampling his features.
Nik holds up his index finger for emphasis and finishes the threat with, “One bed.”
Through the rearview, I watch Alexey’s grin grow impossibly wide, and he wiggles his thick eyebrows at Dimitri. “Hear that, roomie? One bed.”
I’m the first to burst out in laughter, soon followed by Alexey and Nik.
The truck interior fills with snickers and snorts, an unexpected jaunty chorus I can’t imagine is shared in any of the vehicles traveling behind us.
I saw the grim looks on some of the other wolf’s faces.
There was an undeniable sense of dread. Not quite fear, but they weren’t oblivious to their slim chances of making it back to the den in one piece.
No one has ever been bold enough to challenge the Vostik pack, much less with a homefield advantage.
Alexey might be right. We could all die tonight.
There’s a cargo plane waiting for us next to the runway with giant propellers kicking up dust and debris into the air.
The back hatch is open when we park, and the soldiers not already seated inside continue to load crate after crate into the wide hull, ensuring each is strapped down for the flight.
It’s starting to make sense why Alexey was a ghost during our stay in the Duval castle.
There are more boxes being fitted in the belly of this plane than people expected to board.
I’m not exactly sure what he spent his time making for this fight, but whatever is in those crates is heavy enough that it takes two wolves to carry them.
“A fine day for a blood moon,” Clément announces, marching up to our truck, arm outstretched.
His hair is braided down the back of his head, and the beard covering most of his face is more gray and trimmed than I’ve seen it before.
The armor over his torso gleams in the sunlight with a distinct sheen of silver, hiding his robust stomach and the head-to-toe black leathers beneath it.
Here I was wondering if there might be a neck pillow on this flight.
Clément on the other hand looks like he’s ready for battle.
Nik shakes his hand with hesitation, and I can only assume the nauseating amount of silver on him might be the culprit. “Is your pack ready?”
“For a revolution?” He slams his fist against the chest of his armor, adding the sound of clanking metal to the whirling engines. “I’ve waited a long time for this, Nikolai. I wanna see that smug look wiped right off your father’s face. No offense.”
One side of Nik’s face tilts up in a grin.
“None taken. I have waited years to see it, too.” He peers over Clément’s shoulder, and that’s when I notice it as well.
The soldiers are here. The alpha of the pack is here.
But I can’t spot a single wolf that sat at his table every morning, the same ones who had their noses practically scraping the ceiling with judgement.
“I take it your council is running late?”
Clément rolls his eyes and scoffs. “My council informed me this morning they will be keeping watch over the castle. Old decree passed down by my grandfather. One council member must remain behind in the absence of an alpha to ensure the survival of our pack. One. Tell me why the remaining five are nowhere to be found?”
“Four. And that’s always been your problem, Father.” Jade Duval maneuvers the crowd of soldiers, clad in a matching set of black leathers and silver armor. Two swords are secured in sheaths at her back. “You care more about tradition than those that actually fight for our bloodline.”
Clément beams at her the moment Jade reaches his side and draws a lengthy breath.
He opens his mouth and closes it a few times.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he finally says, a slight glisten coating his red glowing eyes.
I don’t know a lot about the head of the Duval pack, but I don’t need to listen to his heartbeat to know whether or not he’s lying.
The alpha peering at his daughter for what seems like the first time is telling the truth.
She scans each of us, giving me a slight nod, and eventually lands on Dimitri, one eyebrow raising curiously. “Nice axes, lumberjack.”
The color drains from Dimitri’s face, and surely it doesn’t help when Alexey jabs an elbow in his ribs. “Hear that, big man? She admires my work.”
I’ve never been a fan of flying. Something about being helplessly suspended thousands of feet in the air is enough to gnaw away at my insides.
Add a few tons of silver to the mix, and it feels as though every single organ in my body is ready to self-destruct.
I’ve tried to slow my heart rate down for the past two hours but nothing is helping, not even the way Nik rubs his palm on my back as I cradle my head between my thighs in pure torture.
He’s feeling the effects too, at least his heartbeat doesn’t sound far off from mine, though he’s managed to stay upright so far.
“We’re almost there. Just hold on a little longer,” he says, his voice low and soothing.
“Almost there?” Alexey shouts in the jump seat next to Nik, his voice struggling to match the four engines deafening the hull. “We have at least another hour, Nikolai.”
“Thanks, Alexey,” Nik mutters and continues stroking long patterns down my spine with his fingertips.
Every time I find the strength to lift my head, I can’t help but stare at the seats across from us, each one filled by Duval wolves who appear as unaffected by the silver crates as the few humans on board, our pilot, Lev, included.
Even the youngest members of the pack aren’t wincing or curling into the fetal position.
Whatever regimen Clément has them on to tolerate the effects, it’s working.
And me? Well, I have another hour of clearly being the weakest link here.
“Feeling okay, Nikolai?” Clément says from across the cabin. He appears as relaxed as he did every single morning at breakfast. Large body practically melting into the seat with his fingers interlocked on his shielded stomach. “Silver too much?”
I gather what resolve I have to look at the man still rubbing tiny circles on my back.
Maybe the distraction is as helpful to him as it is to me.
His heartbeat hasn’t slowed at all, not since we first stepped inside.
I hear the way he tries to control his breathing, but every exhale is more pitched and ragged than the last. I’m not the only one hanging in there, it seems. Nik is just as ill-prepared to handle this amount of silver in such a confined space.
Except he somehow remains seated. Never faltering or dipping his chin in surrender, not even for a second.
Weakness is never tolerated, not when the survival of the pack is at stake. And there will always be an alpha to ensure the survival of the pack.
His words. The conversation that feels like it happened months ago at Club Volk after I found out what he was.
Somehow now more than ever, I understand.
Nik isn’t just supposed to lead his family’s pack, but every single werewolf pack out there.
The alpha all packs answer to. He knows despite his organs on the verge of failing, he can’t show the pain coursing through him, especially not to the ones ready to fight and die helping him reclaim his birthright.
“I’m fine,” Nik says and gives a gentle nod. His eyes meet mine, and the gold bands surrounding his pupils flickers. A flash of the same color we expect the moon to be tonight. Red. A striking, bloody red.