Leader of the Pack (65 page)

Snarling viciously, Cullen joined the fray. He hurtled toward the dire and pummeled into the back of its knees with all of his weight. The monster’s legs collapsed and he fell back onto Cullen, dropping the mauled lycan from his claws. Someone pulled the lifeless lycan out of the way, as the dire scrambled to get back to his feet. Cullen bit down hard on the creature’s hamstring and yanked his head back, stripping muscle from bone. The dire howled in pain, and the rest of the lycans surrounding them descended on the crippled beast.

Seconds felt like hours, while Cullen helped them kill the dire. Suddenly he felt pain in the back of his mind, and Aislinn’s voice went silent. She was still there and still strong, but she wasn’t conscious. When he felt his sense of her fog over he raced to the stone circle, cursing himself for being distracted by anything.

* * * *

Jenna felt power surging through her. With each line that the druids drew on her body, she tingled a bit more. A strange euphoria flowed through her body.

Nearly incapacitated from blood loss, Maon knelt in the middle of the circle. The woad burned where it touched bloody gashes in his flesh.
If this works I’m gonna flay that bitch
, he thought. He couldn’t stand the idea that such a little thing from another pack had so thoroughly beaten him in front of Jenna.
Maybe Jenna’s right to be so jealous of her
, he begrudgingly conceded.
Nothing worse than admiring something you hate.

The druids spoke quietly, their words ominous, senseless contortions of the language. Jacob handed Jenna a jar containing a yellowish foul smelling mixture and she gagged as she drank it down. Another jar of the same stuff was placed in Maon’s trembling hands, and the druid helped him tip it to his mouth.

Malik eyed Jacob, and the man shook his head. Terror paled his face as he continued to speak the powerful words softly. Jenna unexpectedly felt an orgasmic surge of pain and her body began to rearrange itself. She fell to her knees and laughed manically, believing she already won. Maon was not enjoying the sensations as much as Jenna. He was light headed and feared that he may pass out. Will power and the belief that Jenna would think kept him standing.

Cullen exploded through the trees into the clearing. His mind reeled indecisively, when the scene began to solidify in front of him. He saw Malik and considered freeing him. There was Jenna and Maon, but Cullen was wary of entering the circle. When he saw Aislinn on the ground, his mind was made up for him. The Tairneach who had dragged her from the circle stood over her collapsed form menacingly. Cullen shredded him instantly without thinking about it. The fool shouldn’t have stood in his way. Cullen knelt next to Aislinn and pulled her into his arms gently.

He stroked her hair off her face.
Aislinn, baby, please,
he begged. It was a strange sight to see the large lycan being so gentle with her. Cullen’s heart skipped, when her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him. Tears glazed his eyes.
You’re alright
. He pulled her to his chest and held her tightly.
You scared me,
he growled at her. Aislinn couldn’t help but smile, even though her head was splitting. She nuzzled her face into his chest, not realizing that the fight wasn’t over yet.

A wicked howl like nothing Cullen had ever heard drew his attention back to the circle. The change was complete. Jacob retreated toward Malik, hoping that there were enough other things going on that he wouldn’t be noticed.

Cullen reluctantly released Aislinn and stood up, stepping between her and the howling dires in the center of the stones. Cullen glared in disgust at what Jenna had done to herself. She was definitely formidable enough to keep her seat as alpha now.

Aislinn scrambled to her feet, staring wide eyed at the two lycans who were menacing them. Maon was still a bit light headed, but the change healed a great deal of the damage Aislinn had done.

Are you frightened of me now,
Jenna asked.

No,
Cullen growled.
I wonder what Brennus would think of you now?

“Brennus,” Aislinn said, as her mind wrapped around something.

Fury blazed in Jenna’s eyes at the mention of her father. A low threatening growl emanated from deep in her chest and without warning she rushed at Cullen. There was no time for thought. Aislinn came out of nowhere and ran into the stone circle. She didn’t know if it would work, but she figured that it was worth trying. She focused her mind on Brennus Tairneach. As she stepped beyond the stones, the ruby ring around Jenna’s neck flashed blinding red, and suddenly Aislinn and Jenna were gone.

Cullen felt his sense of Aislinn fog over, and he roared in anger. She trapped herself somewhere with a dire lycan.
Aislinn,
his mind screamed futilely. In that instant Maon attacked him, and his attention was forced back to the circle. Cullen rolled away from the monstrous lycan and howled for reinforcements. He managed to dodge the brute again, at the same time he heard a response to his call, but it was far off. Cullen was no fool. He knew that he couldn’t take on Maon as a dire alone. He thought back to fighting Rafe, and really didn’t want to go through that again. In the end, Brinah’s sacrifice won that match.

Jacob watched Cullen dodging artfully out of the way of the giant lycan he had just created. He stood next to Malik and tried to be sly about reaching up and pulling the wad of cloth out of his mouth.

The Tairneachs for the most part seemed unconcerned with the druids now. “Where the hell is Jenna,” the blonde Tairneach next to Malik swore.

“As if I should know. Muin.” The other Tairneach searched the tree line as if Jenna would come walking out at any second. “Arnauk has reinforcements coming,” he added with uncertainty.

The blonde nodded, “I think Maon has Arnauk under control. Get the others and brace for whatever’s coming. Jenna will skin us if we lose ground at this point.” More howling spurred the two lycans to action, leaving Malik, Jacob and the other druids to their own devices

Jacob untied Malik the minute that the lycans were distracted. By then, the other three druids had worked their way over to Malik as well. “Strength in numbers,” Jacob said. Concerned nods answered his comment. There was a quiet conversation as more lycans burst into the clearing around the stones. The Tairneach, already in position, met the attack head on. As the lycans brawled, the druids silently spread out. They hid unobtrusively around the stone circle and began to speak quietly in unison.

Cullen was running out of steam fast. When he noticed that his call for help was being intercepted, he wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to keep avoiding Maon long enough for it to do him any good. Cullen leaped out of the way of the huge lycan and ran head-long into one of the standing stones. Falling to the ground, he knocked over a glass jar at the base of the stone. Before he could stand, Maon was coming at him again. Cullen picked up the jar and threw it at the lycan’s head. It shattered against his face and Maon roared in pain as glass shards sliced into his muzzle.

Cullen rolled under another grab, desperately trying to think of something. Maon was bigger than the others Cullen fought. He obviously lost speed in the transformation, but if he got his hands on Cullen it would be all over.

The druids continued speaking quietly. Their voices carried through the area as if the sound was coming from everywhere. It drew the attention of several lycans, however they had their hands full with actual fighting and didn’t have time to deal with the little men talking quietly to themselves in the background.

Cullen dodged again, but this time Maon got a hold of his foot. With one yank he whipped Cullen back and threw him against one of the stones. Cullen slammed into the stone with a solid crack and he wondered if his back was broken. He crumbled to the ground at the foot of the stone, the wind knocked out of him, and felt a glass jar beneath him break and slice into his side. Maon reached to grab hold of Cullen again. Cullen took a huge chunk of glass with him as Maon held him by the neck and slammed Cullen against the stone with one hand. Cullen felt the air forced out of his lungs and nearly forgot the glass in his fist, as black spots dotted his vision.

Cullen felt Maon’s grip on his neck tighten and his windpipe begin to crush under the pressure. He struggled against the ungodly strength of the dire lycan. Remembering the glass he slashed at Maon’s wrist and arm with the chunk of glass, trying to get Maon to release his hold. Cullen couldn’t breathe. The entire circle was spinning around him Maon’s disgusting muzzle was in his face, and the man was growling savagely at Cullen as the world went black.

* * * *

Aislinn scanned the area cautiously. She didn’t really know what she had done. Eerily still silence enveloped the circle. A vague sense that the battle raged on nearby whispered in the back of her mind. Here there was only power and the stones. A ghostly Brennus Tairneach stood statuesque on the slab at the center of the circle. Apparently dazed, he stared at Aislinn suspiciously. Then his eyes fell on his daughter.

Confusion blurred Jenna’s thoughts. She didn’t know where everyone went or why it was suddenly so quiet.
Just kill the bitch,
her brain screamed in single-minded determination.
Figure out what the muin happened later.
Jenna jumped to her feet and turned, searching for Aislinn. A combination of cold fear and uncertain joy brought Jenna to a standstill, as she came face to face with her dead father. Jenna immediately shifted to her human form. The look on her face was that of child caught doing something wrong. “Daddy,” she whimpered; then turned on Aislinn with tears in her eyes. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“No,” Aislinn answered softly. She didn’t know what to expect, but obviously this was doing something. “Brennus Tairneach is dead. I brought you to him.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “Am I dead?”

“No,” Aislinn said, cautiously. “You’re wasting time.”

Jenna looked back to her father. Anger contorted the features of his face. “What have you done to my pack, Jenna?”

There were more tears. “I’m making them stronger,” she said defiantly.

“By turning them against the Pack Council,” deadly wrath bled from his voice. Aislinn found herself stepping back. She didn’t know how Jenna could stand up to that.

“No. By making them-“

“Freaks,” Brennus finished. “I see all of it Jenna. I know you now.”

Jenna sobbed. “I want you to be proud of me Daddy.”

“And when did I ever give you the impression that this is the way to go about that?”

Jenna shook her head. “I’ll show you. I can be the alpha.”

“No, Jenna. You were never meant to be the alpha. That doesn’t matter. It never did.” Sadness softened his voice. “I love you, Jenna. You’ll always have my love. But you’re wrong, and you’re destroying everything.”

“No Daddy. It’ll work. You’ll see,” she pleaded.

Brennus stared at her. “You want to make me proud?”

“Yes Daddy. Please.”

“Then fix this,” he demanded.

Steadily increasing pain pounded in Aislinn’s skull. She didn’t know where it was coming from, but she was too involved with watching Brennus and Jenna to think about it now. She pitied Jenna. Aislinn didn’t understand how the girl got so warped. Brennus sounded somewhat intelligent from this angle. She blinked through the throbbing pain.

“How Daddy? How do you want me to fix it?” Jenna tried to touch him, but her hand went through the ghostly figure.

“Put things back the way they were.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “I’ll look like a fool. I’ll not be able to keep our bloodline leading the pack. They’ll never follow me,” she pleaded desperately.

“That doesn’t matter. Bring the peace back Jenna. That will make me proud of you.”

Aislinn couldn’t take it any longer. She staggered back from the stone she was leaning against and everything flashed back into motion, along with the realization that Cullen was in danger.

Jenna turned on Aislinn when Brennus disappeared. “Bring him back,” she screamed and ran to Aislinn, only to be shoved away.

Even after seeing the woman as a sobbing child, Aislinn couldn’t bring herself to comfort her. Violently grabbing Jenna by the arm, Aislinn made her look at Maon. “Make him stop,” Aislinn ordered in a desperate voice. “Make him stop now Jenna. Brennus said to make it stop.”

At first Jenna’s face was confused and defiant, until the mention of Brennus’ name. Reluctantly, she pulled away from Aislinn and went to Maon. Cullen’s eyes rolled back in his head and Aislinn felt the pain quiet. “No,” she whispered, her body trembling in disbelief.

Jenna seized Maon’s wrist and yanked him away from Cullen. “It’s done Maon. Make them stop,” she said weakly.

Maon growled at her.
Pathetic bitch. We’re winning and you’re giving up now?

“Just make it stop Maon,” she begged.

Maon wrenched Jenna around by the hair, and leaned down to meet her eye to eye.
I’ve had enough of your incompetence. First we’re going to finish this fight. Then I’m going to take you back to the manor, and we’ll decide how I’m going to deal with you.
He threw Jenna to the ground and started toward Aislinn.
You may be able to cow Jenna,
druis, but let’s see how you handle me
.