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A sharp pain shot through our leg; somehow he’d managed to cut our front leg with his teeth. There would only be a brief respite before another attack came, so we took the chance and did a fast shift to human and then instantly back to wolf. The wound began to heal.
We waited, teeth bared, a low growl rumbling through our body.
A man I didn’t recognise started to remove his suit, shifted and pranced towards us in wolf form, his tail high. He was agitated and ready to attack, circling us, lunging occasionally, feeling us out. We avoided him and waited for him to get serious, letting the suspense build in the crowd.
Esme howled a mocking challenge and stood her ground, tempting him. The wolf took the bait and sprang at us. This time we increased the drama; we needed to shock the others, make them truly fear us. As he leapt, I gathered my piping magic so it was close to the surface and ready. The moment he barrelled into us and touched our fur, I unleashed my magic and seized control of the werewolf whose name I didn’t even know.
Stop, I barked into his mind.
He froze mid-leap and we ripped out his throat in a single twisting move. Blood sprayed our muzzle and fur. His body thunked to the ground in a boneless heap while we landed gracefully. With our four feet planted, head lowered as we stared down the crowd, we let our tongue loll out and a wolfy grin proclaimed our mettle. Our savage stare challenged them all and silence fell over the terrace.
I hoped that two deaths would make an impression on the rowdy alphas, but the challengers continued to line up; it looked like Nina would have plenty of souls to offer up to the Great Pack. The next alpha was already stripping. By now, a smart werewolf would have changed tactics and sent a number of challengers in at once, but I suspected that the alphas were rather set in their ways. Lucky us: we would kill them all if they kept coming one after another.
The wolf that ran towards us was another alpha we’d never met; Jimmy Rain was no doubt planning to send more wolves as cannon fodder like the coward he was. He was studying us, watching our technique, hoping the wolves he sent would injure us and tire us out for him. We couldn’t reveal our piping ability; it was too dangerous for our skills ever to be known in this deadly magical realm.
Esme made the next battle a bit showier, and growls, snaps and snarls filled the air. We let him run at us; once he was close, we sidestepped and so he ran past. He slid as he scrambled to turn – but he was too late.
We bit down on his back leg and crunched bone. He tripped, but he couldn’t attack again; it was death to stop and he knew it. He lunged at us but, propelled only by one rear leg, he wasn’t quick enough to stop us. We ripped out his throat and let his body fall. Hot blood exploded in our mouth and Esme revelled in its taste and heat as it went down our throat.
We howled in triumph, grabbed the body with our teeth and shook it, then flung it away as though it weighed nothing. It was a show of strength.
Esme’s glee filled my mind. She was ready to kill them all.
Is it enough yet? I asked plaintively. We have shown them we are strong and tough. We have shown them we can kill – and easily. Surely it’s enough? I felt sick to my stomach: three men no longer lived and breathed because of me, because they didn’t think I should have the crown that the seat of power had given to me.
I would not give food in exchange for thoughts, she sniffed. Thoughts will not sustain you in winter. That is a poor trade.
Esme, I sighed. Focus.
I am, she replied in all seriousness. She threw her head back and howled again. The challenge was clear as she fixed her golden eyes on Rain and waited to see if he would answer it.
His face was twisted in a snarl. He barked an order but the murmuring of the crowd was so loud that we couldn’t make it out. Five of his wolves surrounded him then they all melted into the crowd. I scanned it but I couldn’t see him.
Shift, Esme ordered. Let us show them we are so unconcerned that we can waste energy on shifting back and forth.
I did as she suggested and an alien warmth rolled over me. Even weirder, when I stood up I was fully clothed with Terrance on my head.
How come I’m dressed? I thought in surprise.
Terrance’s tone was reproachful. You are a Queen; you cannot stroll around in the nude. It isn’t seemly. I stored your clothes for you. You had them on at your last shift; though that one was so quick you may not have noticed.
Huh, I hadn’t noticed. My new haunted crown might be a prude, but I was freaking delighted that I never needed to lose a favourite pair of jeans again.
My stomach let out a loud rumble; hunger felt like it was tearing me apart, but I thought of poor Nina who was starving. She hadn’t been fed in a century or two and my hunger was nothing compared to hers. Luckily, now I had three bodies to feed her; I had promised, after all.
I stood in the ballgown that was the same colour as the blood leaking into the grass around me and waited, chin up, eyes on fire, hands clenched into fists.
The question was: how many more of them had to die before they finally accepted that I was just as deadly as Rain? And that I was wearing the fucking crown?
Chapter 33
Another wolf came to challenge me and I sighed; the alphas were slower on the uptake than I’d hoped.
As we practised, Esme said suddenly.
Are you sure? I asked dubiously. It didn’t work last time.
We are in accord now, are we not?
