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Yes, we are.
You grow weary of the deaths, and I know you will carry that weariness with you – though I do not understand why. And I suppose that we want some of them to survive, so we need to shock them a little more. We must grasp the bull by the balls.
Even with the seriousness of the moment, I couldn’t help the snicker. Grab a bull by the horns, I corrected.
That’s stupid. Grasping a bull by its testicles will certainly have the desired effect. Trying to grasp its horns will simply get you skewered in the side. She shook her head and muttered to herself, Honestly, it is a wonder you humans have survived for as long as you have.
The phrase actually means doing the right thing, even though it is difficult or even dangerous, I explained.
She sniffed. We refocused as the marauding wolf slunk towards us. This one showed some caution; perhaps we could actually spare him. As he approached, I wove my piping magic in and around him as subtly as I could then ordered him: Hesitate.
He paused and that was when Esme and I took control of our body at the same time. Together we willed our head to shift whilst we were still very much on two legs.
Jacob’s partial shift had been surprisingly easy to master once we’d realised that we had to share our body equally to achieve it. That was why it hadn’t worked when we were at loggerheads; we had to hold our body exactly in equilibrium.
We pinned our attacker with our gaze, one eye golden and one eye blue, then threw back our new wolf head and howled our challenge. The wolf before me let out a whimper and hit the ground with a thump as he hastily laid down and showed us his belly in submission.
Esme wanted to rip out his throat, just to shock the onlookers a little more, but I restrained her. There has been enough death. Please, Esme.
Only three, she whined. Think of Nina.
I am thinking of her. Three souls to connect to the Great Pack should sustain her.
We held the shift. It was odd to be so tall and to see half in colour and half in muted shades, to be able to smell the world around us in such depth. We could scent the blood of our enemies on the ground and the urine of the wolf that was whimpering at our feet.
Enough, I said firmly. Enough death now, Esme.
I felt her grudging assent and she let out a yip of dismissal to the cringing wolf. He shot to his feet and ran back to the terrace as fast as he could.
Even with the dead bodies strewn around me, I felt a chill. This was eerily similar to the scene that I had seen in Ben’s mind, but it wasn’t at home, it wasn’t summer and Ben wasn’t here. I wanted this battle to tick all those boxes and then that scary vision of the future would be eradicated, but my gut told me that this massacre was merely the starting point.
It seemed a century ago that I’d ripped James’s dick off and let him live; now I was virtually bathing in the blood of my enemies. I’d come a long way, and I wasn’t sure that it was in a good direction. Still, needs must.
We shifted back to wholly human so I could address the alpha and beta wolves who were watching us in shocked silence. ‘The seat of power has accepted me,’ I called loudly. ‘Your challengers have not survived me. I am Queen of the werewolves. If you do not accept my rule, come to me now and be destroyed.’
I waited calmly, chin up and haughty. Let them come to me if they dared.
No one moved, not an inch; the breeze ruffled their clothes more than their own movements did and I felt a thrill at that. I had come here intending to make them fear me and it seemed I had succeeded. They recognised my power even if they didn’t relish my rule.
I stared into the crowd but I couldn’t see Rain or his cronies. The wolves looked back at me, their body language apprehensive and fear in their eyes. Esme felt triumphant but all I felt was sick, sick, sick. I didn’t want to rule by fear. I didn’t want to stoop to their level.
Fear is the first step, Esme assured me quietly. Next we work on respect.
And then? I asked bitterly.
And then adoration. The road seems dark now but soon everything will change for the better. We must show them we are strong first.
I would show them that I wasn’t afraid to stamp my mark. ‘Excellent,’ I called imperiously. ‘Then, as my first rule, I hereby return the old tradition of taking our dead to the seat of power.’
With that, I turned and used my shifter strength to lift one of the dead bodies onto my back, carrying the now-human corpse with ease. I tramped the short distance to the seat of power and laid the body at the entrance for Nina, then I made two more trips to collect the other bodies. On the final one there was no sign of the other bodies and the doorway remained open to us.
Nina gave a shudder as energy ran through her and her walls lit up, glowing with the golden light of the wolves’ eyes. I reached out to her and felt her jubilation as energy swamped her trusses. She was no longer starving.
You did it! she said triumphantly into my mind. You brought me wolves.
I did. I am pleased to feel your energy has returned.
She laughed joyfully and her window shutters clacked with happiness. As I watched, the rotting wooden floors were replaced with healthy, strong wood; dust and grime disappeared in an instant and the pervading scent of death faded. Her walls were suddenly a light cream rather than the dirty, white colour they’d been before.
