Savage (23 page)

A fly was buzzing around Regan’s head and Katelyn wondered how it wasn’t driving the woman crazy with its sound. She stared at it and she could see the wings beating.

Everything had been leading to this moment. This decision.

This move.

The Hounds of God had known that the only way to bring peace was if she, Katelyn, took over leadership of the pack. They had believed in her even when pack leadership was the farthest thing from her mind.

That’s just crazy
, she thought. But was it? Were these selfish, power-hungry women better choices? Was Justin, with all his secrets? She was the most impartial. And she was immune to silver.

So . . . not crazy. All right then.
She swallowed hard, aware that no one else knew she had just made a life-altering choice for all of them.

She couldn’t, wouldn’t kill Regan. The Hellhounds had commanded that no more blood be spilled. But she didn’t have to kill her. She just had to best Regan as she had Wanda Mae, force her to swear allegiance to her and then she, as alpha, could declare that the Fenners wanted peace.

Cordelia might have already achieved her part in all this since she and Dom were coming under a white flag. Which meant it was up to Katelyn to end this.

“If it’s the only chance to save all of us, then yes, I challenge you for leadership of this pack,” Katelyn said.

Startled gasps rose from some of the onlookers and she saw the merest moment of hesitation on Regan’s face. Regan had expected her to back down. But she didn’t understand what was at stake. There was no backing down.

Regan took a step forward and then a roar from the other side of the room drew everyone’s eyes. Arial was standing, her body starting the transformation.

Katelyn blinked in surprise. Arial had told her father just a few weeks before that she couldn’t change at will yet. Had she been lying? Or was the stress of the moment bringing it out for the first time?

She glanced at Regan, who looked equally surprised, then turned back to Arial.

“If there is to be any challenge for leadership of this pack it has to come to me,” Arial said. “I am alpha.”

More muttering from the onlookers who each took a few steps back, shrinking against the walls.

Making it clear they have no challenges to issue
, Katelyn realized. Justin stayed where he was, wary and poised for action. She knew he wouldn’t interfere. If she wanted to be the alpha, she had to fight for it alone.

“You are not alpha. You haven’t earned the right,” Regan said, herself beginning to shift.

Things were going from bad to worse. The two sisters were going to bite and maim each other until one fell. And Katelyn would have been happy to let them do so, but if one of them died it could trigger an attack by the Hellhounds. And even if both of them lived, one would be the winner and presumed alpha and Katelyn would still have to fight her in order to bring peace with the Gaudin pack.

A hand descended on her shoulder, making her jump.

It was Justin, pulling her out of the way. She allowed him to drag her a couple steps toward the wall. He bent down and put his lips against her ear, making the skin tingle.

“Wait and fight the victor, who will be exhausted, easier to take.”

She knew he was whispering, but his voice still seemed thunderously loud, ringing in her head. She was shocked no one else seemed to have heard him. All eyes, though, were glued to the two werewolf princesses who were sprouting fur and fangs and beginning to circle each other. They dropped down to all fours as bones cracked and reformed.

Justin’s hand tightened around her shoulder, squeezing painfully tight. His heartrate had accelerated dramatically and she realized in a flash that he wasn’t afraid; he was excited.

He wants me to be alpha
, she realized.

She twisted around, coming face-to-face with him. His lips were a breath away. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Lucy, but his girlfriend was staring fixedly at the looming werewolf battle. That was good.

Justin studied Katelyn, clearly wondering what she was about to do. She stood on tiptoe and moved her lips toward his ear. Understanding flashed across his face and he tilted his head and lowered it. She placed her lips against his ear and whispered as softly as she could.

“Why don’t
you
challenge the winner?” she suggested. Then you could end this war.”

It made sense. Justin was older, stronger, more experienced. She had heard he’d been in fights before. And he was a Fenner. Lee had clearly been considering him as a possible successor after Cordelia had been banished.

She pulled away and studied his face. He had wanted to be alpha, she knew. He couldn’t hide it from her. Something was stopping him, and she didn’t know what it was.

He shook his head ever so slightly. “It’s you,” he mouthed.

He was right. As much as she’d like to pass the responsibility on to someone else, it was hers to take. She alone had to end this and make this pack toe the line for the good of all.

I am my grandfather’s legacy
, she realized with a start.

And in that split-second, she knew she couldn’t risk waiting for one of Cordelia’s sisters to best the other.

“No!” she said, and strode out into the middle of the floor.

Both wolves turned to stare at her, saliva dripping from their jaws.

I’m ready for this
, she told herself. She had to be.

“I’m immune to silver. I was the chosen of Lee Fenner. He revealed things to me that he hasn’t shown to anyone else.”

It had been more the other way around, her revealing secrets to him, but none of the others knew that.

She sneered at the two sisters. “The two of you have had your entire lives to figure out which of you was more fit to be alpha. The answer is neither of you. It was always meant to be Cordelia.”

She heard gasps at the fact that she had actually mentioned the banished one’s name.

“But even she was weak compared to me,” Katelyn said.

That was true. Cordelia had always struggled to placate everyone. Not so with Katelyn.

“We don’t have all night for the two of you to battle it out. If you don’t already know which of you is the better fighter, not much is going to change except one of you is going to get in a lucky bite at some point.”

Katelyn paused and stared around the room, seeking out each pair of eyes. Some met hers, but over half of the onlookers looked at the floor as a show of submission. They were clearly hedging their bets in case she was their new alpha.

“The time for picking out the new alpha based on brute strength is over. We don’t need to hunt to survive. And we don’t need to tear our enemies apart in battle.”

“This is the way it’s
done
,” a man said. “The alpha has to be the strongest to lead.”

Heads nodded, and Katelyn shook her head. “Everything has changed. We’re not roaming the fjords. We live in Arkansas, and fighting with other packs for dominance is threatening our existence. We have to change with the times. Do things in a new way.”

She saw acute discomfort on most of the faces around the room. “
I’m
new,” she said.

“My son is dead because of you,” a woman said, practically spitting on the floor. “Quentin Lloyd.”

Murmurs of assent vibrated around the room and Katelyn fought not to react. His blood was on her hands, that was true. She had done a terrible thing. But she’d done it to survive.

The two werewolf sisters kept circling each other. Then, sensing her unease, both of them looked in unison at Katelyn as if sizing up how to take her down together.

“Quentin Lloyd got what he deserved,” said a sandy-haired man Katelyn didn’t know. He was standing beside an unlit fireplace, beneath an oil painting of a man who looked a lot like Justin. “He recruited me months ago to go against our alpha. Said Lee was too crazy—”

The werewolf daughters of Lee Fenner turned and bared their teeth at the man. He clamped his jaw and began to change.

“Enough!” Katelyn shouted. “We don’t have time for this!”

“Break your neck!” Jesse cried, and Katelyn looked around, startled. She hadn’t realized Jesse was there.

“The Hounds of God are moving against us
right now
,” Katelyn said. “The Hellhound has already warned us to make peace.”

“You’re just a bit-in,” Quentin Lloyd’s mother said spitefully. “You don’t understand our ways.”

“I’m not
just
a bit-in, and you know it,” Katelyn said. “Everyone in this room knows it. There’s nothing magical about learning how to live as a werewolf. There’s nothing you can do that I can’t learn, but
you
can never become immune to silver. The Hounds of God have communicated with
me
. Not you. Not any of you.”

The face of Quentin Lloyd’s mother crumpled and she lowered her head. Katelyn realized the woman was submitting to her, accepting her as alpha.

Katelyn ticked her attention back to Regan and Arial. Fangs glistening, they were both growling, crouching and stalking toward her. More people pushed backwards against the walls. A hush descended.

The wolf eyes of the daughters of Lee Fenner glowed in the light. Katelyn knew that protocol required single combat, but Arial had declared herself the alpha. She might skip over her sister’s challenge and go for Katelyn instead, while she was fresh.

“I’ll take you on,” Katelyn said to the two of them. “You can waste everyone’s time and challenge me if you want, but I would advise against it.”

It was bold, audacious. And as the two wolves stood there, hesitant, she knew it had been exactly the right move.

She heard the floorboards creak behind her. Justin walked up beside her, turned to face her squarely, and dropped to one knee.

“I am yours to command, my alpha.”

More gasps bounced around the room.

“You have my allegiance,” Justin continued. “And if you wish it, my heart and body.”

He was offering to be her mate.

“No!” Lucy screamed and jumped forward. “You can’t have him! He’s mine!”

“Not yet, he isn’t,” Katelyn said. “Pledged isn’t married.” She was echoing something her grandfather had once said about Justin.

“I’ll kill you!” Lucy yelled.

“No, Lucy, no!” Jesse shouted. “Justin will marry Kat! I will marry you!”

“Jesse James, go outside,” Lucy snapped.

“Someone take Jesse out of here,” Katelyn agreed. She looked at Jesse. “Don’t worry, buddy. Everything is going to be okay.”

Justin looked around the room. Quentin Lloyd’s mother opened her mouth to speak, but Jesse clung to Justin.

“Nobody but you, little brother,” he said. “You go with me.”

“Jesse, I’m needed here.”

“No! Justin!” Jesse shrieked.

Justin swiftly crossed the room and clapped his hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “Okay, come on, big brother. I think there’s candy in the truck.”

Jesse gave Justin a hug. “Lucy is shouting. I’m scared.”

“I’ve got it under control,” Justin said, easing himself out of Jesse’s arms. “Just like always.”

“It’s a secret,” Jesse whispered in a stage voice. Then he took Justin’s outstretched hand and the two walked out of the room.

“Time to end this,
bitch
,” Lucy said, as soon as the front door shut.

“Lucy!” Katelyn roared. “Don’t be stupid,” she said in a softer voice. “Stand down.”

She felt for Lucy, she really did. And her head was reeling at the implications of Justin’s offer, but now was so not the time to straighten out who was going to be with whom.

“Listen to Miz McBride,” an older man urged, taking a few steps forward. “She
is
our alpha.”

And he, too, dropped to his knees.

In front of her, the two wolf princesses were no longer staring at her but looking at their pack mates, snarling and snapping as they realized that they were dangerously close to losing everything.

“Who am I?” Katelyn demanded, sweeping her eyes around the room.

Most who had refused to meet her eyes a minute before fell to their knees. Several still stood, clearly trying to decide what they were going to do.

Katelyn moved closer to a woman a couple of years older than she, and who had been standing right next to Regan when Katelyn had come in.

“Who am I?” Katelyn asked her, voice ringing.

The woman cleared her throat and dipped her head. “You are my alpha.” Then she knelt, and the others who had been standing with Regan followed suit.

Katelyn surveyed the holdouts who had been supporting Arial. “Who am I?” she asked one of the men.

“Our alpha,” he said, as he and the others knelt as well.

Katelyn moved to her rival. A few tense seconds ticked past; then Lucy capitulated, tears streaming down her face.

That left only Regan and Arial. Katelyn approached both wolves, refusing to show fear even though they were snapping at her.

“Who am I?” Katelyn asked, drawing each word out.

She waited, hoping that the weight of everyone else’s acceptance would matter. A moment passed, then another. She dared to hope that she had pulled this off without battle and bloodshed.

Arial’s muscles coiled and she leaped, but before Katelyn could react, Regan clamped her jaws on her sister’s throat and slammed Arial’s head against the floor.

Regan shifted back until she was human again. She was on all fours and rose slowly to her knees.

“You are my alpha,” she said.

Pinned, Arial slowly shifted back as well.

“Alpha,” Arial gasped as soon as she was able.

Katelyn blinked. She had done it. She had seized control of the pack.

“Swear allegiance to your new alpha!” Justin called, as he came back into the room without Jesse.

A chorus of cheers rose up around her. They changed into howls issued from human throats. A few of the assembled began to shift into werewolf form, then shifted back to human form.

Remaining in human form since she had yet to divulge that she could shift at will, Katelyn nodded her approval. “All right. Now that that’s taken care of, let’s see what Dom and Cordelia have to say.”