Nocturne 040 – Scions 02 - Patrice Michelle - Insurrection (27 page)

Garius’s gaze challenged Nathan. “She has requested admittance to this pack on the authority that she is indeed blood Lupreda. You are the Alpha. If she proves she is of our blood, you are bound by the ruling and must accept her into the pack. If you cannot fairly judge or don’t feel you can be impartial—as a good leader should be—then the Omega will take over the proceedings.”

Nathan pushed his shoulders back and stepped up to Kaitlyn. He leaned close to sniff her and Landon tensed, ready to spring to Kaitlyn’s defense.

Garius put a staying hand on Landon’s chest and slowly shook his head. With steady breaths, Landon was able to calm his protective wolf…just barely.

Nathan straightened and backed away, a smug smile on his face. “If she can prove she’s blood Lupreda, then I’ll admit her with full rights and privileges.”

Kaitlyn met Garius’s gaze. “Who do I address? You or him?” she finished, glancing at Nathan.

“You’ll address Nathan with your request. He’s the Alpha and will pass a fair judgment.”

Nodding, Kaitlyn turned to Nathan. “Is there a black wolf in your pack with a torn left ear and one blue and one brown eye?”

Landon tensed. Where was she going with this?

Nathan shook his head and replied in a pleased tone. “No. There isn’t.”

Kaitlyn’s lips thinned. “Let me rephrase the question. Did there used to be a black wolf in your pack with a torn left ear and one blue and one brown eye.”

Nathan clamped his lips together, then gave her a curt nod. “Yes. He is dead now.”

“How did he die?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. Landon had a feeling Kaitlyn already knew all the answers. He cut his gaze to Caine, who lifted his shoulders in an innocent manner. Yeah, right.

“He committed suicide,” Nathan said, through gritted teeth.

“For whatever reason, Andre didn’t shift back to human form at the end of the moon’s cycle. He remained in wolf form.”

Kaitlyn pulled a thin, gold-leafed book out from the deep pockets in her jacket. As she looked down at the pages, slowly flipping through them, she asked, “What is the rule that the Sanguinas made for the Lupreda about biting humans?”

A collective gasp rose among the pack and murmurs started anew. Nathan’s gaze narrowed. “How do you know so much about our pack?” He glared at Landon. “He shouldn’t have divulged our pack history.”

“Answer the damned question, Nathan.” Landon was so on edge he wanted to snap the man’s neck.

The Alpha addressed Kaitlyn. “We were told that if we bit a human while we were in our wolf form, we wouldn’t be able to shift back to human form.”

Kaitlyn walked over to Garius and handed him the opened book. “This is my father’s journal that dates back almost twenty-five years ago. Please read the pages that it’s open to.”

When Garius finished reading the first two pages of the journal out loud, Landon looked at Kaitlyn and realization sank in. She was indeed part of his pack and always had been.

Kaitlyn met his surprised gaze and gave him a small smile. Elation filled his heart, making it beat hard against his chest.

“Lies!” Nathan pointed at the book in Garius’s hands. “She made up the whole thing, fabricated this silly journal, but our senses speak the truth. She’s one-hundred-percent human.”

Kaitlyn pulled something out of her pocket. As she unfolded it, Landon realized it was a hunting knife. When she turned the knife to her palm, he understood her intent. She cut a slice in her hand before he could reach her.

Landon was by her side, pulling off his shirt as red blood flowed freely along her palm.

Taking the knife, he set it on the coffee table and tried to grab her hand so he could use his shirt to stanch the blood flow, but she pulled her hand away and lifted it high, calling out in a loud voice to the general pack. “Werewolves, what do you smell?”

“Lu-preda!” They all howled in unison, their collective voice deep with conviction.

Landon grabbed her hand and pushed his shirt against it to wipe away the blood. “Crazy woman,” he said with a smile, right before he swept his tongue over her wound to help it heal.

“I love you, too,” she said, cupping his jaw and turning his eyes to hers. Her loving gaze sent warmth straight to his heart. Landon’s fingers tightened around her wrist and for a few seconds, all the sounds around them faded into the background until it was just them.

“There’s a lot I have to tell you,” she whispered, then continued in a normal voice, “Being accepted into the pack isn’t the main reason I came today.”

Surprised, Landon watched her turn and address Nathan. “I think it’s unanimous that I’m blood Lupreda. Do you disagree?”

Landon relished how she didn’t really ask, but instead, stated a fact while thoroughly putting Nathan in his place. Damn, he loved this woman.

“You are Lupreda,” he said through gritted teeth, fury emanating off him.

“Now that we have that settled…” She paused and addressed Garius and the other Omega standing behind the couch. “I have something I would like to discuss with the Omega.”

“You will ask me!” Nathan roared.

Did he just see the man stomp his foot? Landon chuckled inwardly even as his mate continued to confound him.

She glanced at Nathan. “You would not be impartial when it comes to Landon, so, yes, I have every right to take my case about my mate to the Omega for their judgment.”

“She’s correct, Nathan,” Garius said in a calm tone. He looked at Kaitlyn.

“State your case.”

“I want my mate to be able to participate in the annual Alpha run.”

Nathan choked, then growled low in his throat.

As much as Landon appreciated Kaitlyn’s putting Nathan in his place, he didn’t want her to speak on his behalf. He didn’t need to be reminded he was lacking in the pack’s eyes.

Garius shook his head. “I’m sorry, but Landon’s muted sense of smell keeps him from qualifying. We’ve ruled on this a long time ago.”

Landon gritted his teeth. “I want this to stop now.”

Kaitlyn frowned at him, her hazel-blue eyes narrowing. “Why? You deserve the chance like every other were.”

“Yeah, Landon, why don’t you just go ahead and let her wear your pants, too, since she seems to be fighting your battles for you.” Nathan sneered.

Landon fisted his hands and glared at Nathan. “I could wipe the floor with you. You know it and I know it. That’s all that matters as far as I’m concerned.”

“What about your pack, Landon?” Kaitlyn asked. “Don’t they deserve the best Alpha they can have?” Before he could reply, she turned back to Garius. “Do you have a room in this big honking house where we can make it completely dark?”

Garius raised a dark eyebrow and the corner of his lip quirked upward.

“Now you’ve got me completely intrigued. Come along to the library. I believe it’s big enough for the entire pack.”

Landon tried to reach for Kaitlyn, but she quickly sidestepped him and was swallowed up in the crowd, who followed the Omega and her to the library.

Nathan was the only one left in the room. He snarled at Landon. “When this silly charade is over, I’m going to finally eliminate you once and for all.”

Landon chose to ignore him, mainly because he was curious as hell what his mate was up to. He started to walk away when Nathan continued,

“And when you’re dead and gone, I think I’ll take Kaitlyn as my mate. She needs to be broken. Maybe then she’d make a good bitch—”

Landon slammed his entire body into Nathan, sending him flying into the living room. When the Alpha landed on top of the coffee table, he fell into it, shattering the glass underneath him.

“Stay away from me and mine, or die,” Landon ground out before he walked away.

By the time he got to the room, all the heavy curtains had been drawn, closing out the daylight. The overhead chandelier sent a golden glow down on Kaitlyn’s gorgeous red hair as she stood before the entire pack with Garius and the other Omega flanking her right side.

Landon shouldered his way through the crowd until he stood just outside the group of people closest to Kaitlyn. He crossed his arms and frowned. When Kaitlyn reached into her pocket, Roman called out, “First a book, then a knife. Hell, I’m expecting the kitchen sink next.”

The entire group of weres laughed uproariously. Landon would’ve laughed, too, if he wasn’t currently being laid out like an animal about to be dissected and found lacking.

Again. Landon’s jaw tensed with his displeasure.

When they began to quiet down, Kaitlyn had a serious look on her face as she pulled out the bloody shirt Landon had left behind at the hospital and held it up in the air. “Will this do?” Digging her empty hand into her other pocket, she then held up something small and black, and continued in the same vein, “Or would this be better?”

Sudden quiet swept over the room as everyone realized she held a gun. Even as Landon tensed, he respected how effectively she’d captured their attention.

After they sat there in edgy silence for several seconds, a slow smile spread across her face. She tucked the gun back into her coat pocket and said, “Oh, come on. Roman’s not the only one with a sense of humor, people.”

The entire group laughed uproariously once more, but when she held up her hand, they instantly silenced and gave her their undivided and respectful attention.

Bravo, Kaitie, he silently praised her as his chest filled with pride. Holding Landon’s shirt up for everyone to see, she asked, “What do you see?”

“Tears.”

“Blood stains.”

She peered into the crowd. “What do you smell?”

“Landon’s blood.”

“Anything else?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

A few of the younger male weres walked up and touched the shirt, then leaned in to smell it. “We smell Landon,” they all agreed. She held the shirt toward the Omega. “And you?”

All the men nodded and Garius answered. “We see and smell what the other pack members do.”

Kaitlyn waved toward the crowd. “Will someone please turn off the lights?”

When the room went completely dark, Landon jumped to attention, his mind racing. Was she doing what he thought she was doing?

“Now what do you see?”

“We can see in the dark, Kaitlyn,” Laird called out. “We see and smell the same.”

“And you, Garius? Is it the same for you and the other Omega?”

“Yes, Kaitlyn. Nothing has changed.”

She turned to Landon and held up his shirt. “Landon. What do you see?”

“I see iridescent sparkles all around the tears in the shirt and on the shoulders,” he replied in a casual tone.

Facing the group of weres, Kaitlyn said, “It’s pitch-dark in this room to my human eyes, but I see more than Landon. I see actual handprints where the man who attacked him must’ve pushed on his shoulders before he swiped his claws down Landon’s chest.”

“Claws?” someone asked.

“Yes, claws,” she agreed. “But these claws were from a panther.”

Angry snarls erupted in the crowd.

“Turn the lights on,” Garius said in a hard voice.

When the lights flipped on and the room quieted, Garius glanced from Kaitlyn to Landon. “Why can you two see this and we don’t?”

Kaitlyn shrugged. “I’ve always had a kind of sight that allows me to see auras around dead bodies. I think my ability to ‘see’ what I do comes from my werewolf half trying to compensate for my human limitations.”

Gesturing to Landon, she continued, “Just like Landon’s ‘sight’ probably stems from his body compensating for his muted sense of smell.”

Holding up the shirt, she addressed the entire pack. “Today I’ve proven to you that Landon has a skill none of you possess. Should you all be kept from the hunt because you couldn’t go out there today and help us find where these panthers are hiding? They are leaving behind this trail. It’s just one only Landon and I can see.”

When the weres sat there in stunned silence, Landon moved to stand beside her. “Maybe it would matter more to you if I told you the panthers were responsible for the zerkers’ murders, not the Sanguinas. Yes, all three zerkers have been killed.”

Yells of outrage echoed in the room.

Garius held his hands up to silence them. When the weres settled down, he nodded to Kaitlyn. “Well done, proving your point. I agree with you, but let me discuss it with the other Omega—”

Landon turned back to the crowd to see Nathan hurtling through the air. He slammed against Landon, knocking him to the floor. Nathan tried to jam Kaitlyn’s knife into his jugular, but Landon turned at the last second, taking the knife’s blade deep in his shoulder.

Pain splintered through his body, and Landon roared his anger, shoving Nathan off him and into the crowd of weres.

When Landon pulled out the knife and jumped up to go after Nathan, Kaitlyn called his name. Landon paused, his entire body bunching, ready to fight. He fisted his hands as she approached him.

Kaitlyn lifted his necklace over his head. Stepping to the side, she placed the chain around her neck. “Go kick his dirty-fighting ass.”

As Landon leapt across the room, he already felt his change to Musk form rippling through his body; his jaw began to elongate, his knees snap and bend and his spine crack as his height elevated another foot and a half.

His clothes shredded as his body grew. Muscles popped and tendons stretched in milliseconds. When he landed on his feet in front of Nathan, a light coating of fur covered his body from head to foot. Landon vibrated with fury and the need for vengeance, but he waited for Nathan to fully shift to his Musk form. No one would claim this fight wasn’t a fair one.

Kaitlyn watched Landon shift to his Musk form midair. When he landed with a heavy thud in front of Nathan, she could only stare in awe at the intimidating picture he made.

He’d grown well over a foot taller, and his shoulders and back had bulked up with thicker muscles and fur. But it was the snarl twitching on his muzzle and deadly sharp teeth that made her insides tense. He was scary as hell in this form. She wasn’t afraid of him, but damn, she almost felt sorry for Nathan as the Alpha finally shifted to his own Musk form. Almost.