Authors: Tammy Blackwell
Wait. Alex and Liam’s mom was going to be
the Alpha? “I thought you were the potential Alpha.”
A soft chuckle. “That was many, many years
ago. I had already been passed over and was beginning to train as a
Bibliothecary, although I hadn’t really planned on moving off and
using the knowledge. It was simply a way to fill my days. But then
Alexandria came to me. She said the Alpha Female took her aside and
told her the story of Lilith, the demon who seeks to eliminate
Seers from the face of the earth. According to her, every
generation Lilith is born into the form of a female Shifter, who
are in and of themselves an abomination. In order to protect Seers,
and the world, the Alpha Female must ensure no female Shifter is
allowed to come of age. It was a compelling story, one I’m almost
positive she believed, but Alexandria struggled. She came to me,
asked me to See the truth in what was being said.” There was a
brief stretch of silence on the line. “She and I both left the Den
by the end of the month. By the end of the year, Alexandria had
begun to put things into motion that would become this insurgence
you have joined.”
My chest was tight, and my stomach queasy. I
felt like curling up into a little ball and crying, but I couldn’t
figure out what was causing this almost-panic-attack. Something
wasn’t sitting right with my subconscious, but for the life of my
consciousness, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Luckily, Rachel
knew.
“
You’re questioning what
you’re going to do. You worry you’re going to be spilling innocent
blood.”
Yes. That was it exactly.
“
Liam said Sarvarna
believes she’s doing the right thing. This is what he meant, isn’t
it? She honestly thinks I’m an evil being bent on Seer
genocide.”
“
Does that change what she
has done? The deaths she has condoned?” I laid my head on the
pillow. It suddenly seemed too heavy. “You’ve spoken with her, seen
how she treats others. Do you really think the truth will change
her actions? Do you honestly believe she will allow anyone who
might take her power away from her to live?”
“
What about the Stratego
and Taxiarho? They’re not evil.” I knew from all those hours I
spent locked in a basement with them. Sure, they held guns to my
head and led me to death, and I did have to kill one just to stay
alive, but they were just people. In any other circumstance, I
might have considered some of them friends. Was it their fault they
worked for a corrupted system? Did they even know? “Some of them
will die, some of them already have, because of me.”
“
No, they will die because
this is a war, and innocents always die in war.”
Chapter 26
Liam was standing in front of the stove when
I finally came out of my exhaustion-induced hibernation and
ventured out of my room.
“
I know it’s technically
supper time, but breakfast just sounded better,” he said without
turning towards me.
“
Sounds great.” And it
smelled even better. I walked past the toaster just as two pieces
of bread jumped out. I grabbed a butter knife and tub of margarine
and started in on one of the few culinary tasks I was ever allowed
to do at home. “Liam, we need to talk.”
I was expecting an exasperated sigh or
annoyed glare, but instead I got no response.
Zero.
None.
Nada.
“
I’m not this Lilith
person.”
“
Rachel said you are, and
she Sees truth.” Stoic Liam was stoic.
“
My great-great-grandfather
was Reginald Armstrong, a Shifter.” Still nothing. “I think I was
born with Shifter genes, but they didn’t become active until Jase
gave me blood after the accident.” And still nothing. “See? There
is an actual reason I can Change. No personification of the moon or
offspring of deity. I’m just a normal girl with some abnormal
genetics.”
Finally, he looked at me. “What makes you
think one cancels out the other?”
“
Liam, you can’t seriously
believe I’m some destined leader sent to save the race or whatever.
That’s crap, and you know it.”
And there was the annoyance and anger I was
looking for. “Why? Why is it crap?”
“
Because it is! There isn’t
any such thing as fated paths and destined leaders.”
“
And if I believe there
is?”
I sagged against the counter. “Come on,
Liam. You said it yourself. You don’t believe in fate. You’re not
Alex.”
“
No, I’m not.” He turned
back to the stove and stabbed the eggs with excessive force. “Too
bad you didn’t remember that sooner.”
“
And what’s that supposed
to mean?”
More egg stabbing. I considered doing a
little stabbing of my own.
“
You are so pissing me
off.” Although, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure if it was the
fact he was being a giant pain in the ass, or if it was because I
could feel the force of his anger pulsing through me. It was
probably a combination of both. “Will you just turn the Hades
around and talk to me?”
He slammed the skillet onto the counter, his
shoulders caving in as he dragged in a breath. “This is wrong,” he
told the eggs.
“
Is this about the mating
thing?” I could be brave and bring this up, right? “Listen, Liam, I
think our wolves somehow made the choice for us, and--”
“
This is wrong!” He wheeled
from the counter. The moment his eyes met mine, he dropped them.
“You’re Alex’s mate. He chose you.
He
loved you.”
“
In case you’ve forgotten,
Alex is dead.” I don’t know who was more shocked and appalled by
the callous way the words fell from my mouth, Liam or me. I do know
the sword of pain stabbing my heart had two edges, one for each of
us. And I know that when he walked out of the kitchen and away from
me, I had to let him.
***
I don’t deal well with straight-forward
rejection. The whole rejection en masse thing? Eh. No big. People,
in general, suck. I don’t really give a crap what they think about
me. But I did care what Liam thought. A lot. A whole, whole lot.
The more I thought about it, the more I cared, and the more it
hurt.
For three days we avoided one another as
much as possible. In the rare instances when we found ourselves
forced to be in the same room together, like when his Aunt Rachel
came to check on us, we adopted façades of apathy. My wandering
eyes and carefully blank express didn’t betray my wounded ego any
more than Liam’s bored scowl showed his true anger.
I don’t know how or why he
ended up in the living room where I was immersed in a
Downton Abbey
marathon.
Maybe he wasn’t paying attention, or maybe it was intentional.
Whatever the case, one minute I was watching Professor McGonagall
snip at some poor lady, and the next I couldn’t tell you if there
was a naked Jensen Ackles on the screen or not because Liam was
standing in the doorway.
“
Couldn’t sleep?” I said
without turning around, certain he would disappear like a ghost.
“Me either.” I remembered sleep. I wanted sleep. It just wasn’t
happening.
Without saying anything, he left. I knew he
would. What I didn’t expect was for him to come back.
“
Liam?” I turned to find a
wolf peering over the arm of the chair. “Oh. Hey you.” I rubbed my
hand over his head, and then dipped down to press a kiss there.
“You know this is cheating, right?”
The wolf barked and backed up a couple of
steps. Fully understanding his intent, because I was like Dr.
Doolittle or something, I got up and followed him. We ended up back
in my room. That night, for the first time since our little
discussion in the kitchen, I got a full night of deep sleep. He was
gone the next morning, but his scent still clung to my pillows.
***
“
If you put your weight on
your right foot in the second turn, you would get more force behind
the kick.”
I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe the
sweat off my forehead. Well, mostly to get the sweat off my
forehead. It also did a great job of hiding my face long enough for
me to school my expression.
“
I don’t have time,” I
said, turning towards him with a perfectly bland face. “I’m coming
off the roundhouse. I’ll lose my balance.”
Liam rubbed the back of his head, the first
slip in his own carefully constructed mask.
“
Make it a part of the same
move. The momentum will keep you going. Here…” He walked up behind
me and placed his hands on my hips. “Start the roundhouse…” I
brought my leg up with exaggerated slowness. “…And as you bring
this foot down…” Liam shifted my hips with his hands, which I
wasn’t expecting at all. As a result, I toppled right into him,
catching myself by grabbing onto his shoulders.
He looked down. I looked up. Our faces were
only inches apart. I could feel his breath sliding against my
lips--
A knock pounded on the front door.
I didn’t know if I wanted to kill or kiss
whoever it was for interrupting. I saw the merit in both as I
trailed behind Liam down the hallway. We were only a few feet away
when I caught their scent.
“
We come in peace,” said a
voice I knew as well as my own.
Liam had enough good sense to move out of
the way as I flung myself through the door. Jase caught me around
the waist, our momentum driving us straight into Toby.
“
Whoa, calm down. Someone
might think you’re happy to see me,” he said as I sobbed against
his shoulder, unable to catch my breath the tears were coming so
hard. “Scout, those are happy tears, right?”
“
I missed you,” was my
garbled reply.
“
Hey, I missed you, too.”
He squeezed me harder, and then I felt another arm slung across my
back as the smell of Talley’s shampoo tickled my nose. Someone
rubbed a hand over my hair, and another squeezed my shoulder. And
then there was another pair of arms joining into our group hug and
I finally found a reason to pull back from my brother.
I tried to say his name, but only some sort
of embarrassing bleating noise came out. It didn’t matter. Charlie
always knew what I meant anyway and had seen me a complete sobbing
mess many times over the past eighteen years.
“
Hey, shhhhh….” He pressed
a soft kiss against my forehead. “It’s okay. We’re here. It’s
okay.”
It took me longer than I care to admit to
pull it together. I almost had it at one point, but then I made the
mistake of noticing how Toby’s eyes weren’t one hundred percent
dry, and lost it again. By the time I could form real words,
everyone had shed at least a tear or two.
“
I can’t believe you’re all
here.” Toby, Jase, Charlie, Talley, and a handful of other Hagans,
including a guy my age I’d never seen before, stood on the front
porch of the Safe House.
“
We heard some crazy kid
was Challenging the Alphas and wanted to get in on it,” Toby said,
pulling himself up onto the railing of the porch. Sitting up there
he was above everyone else, just like a Pack Leader is supposed to
be.
I hopped up to sit beside him.
“
Sensei.”
“
Scout.”
“
It’s been a while.” I
hadn’t seen Charlie’s older brother since he basically offered his
life in exchange for mine at the trial back in July.
“
It has,” he agreed. His
eyes trailed critically over me. “You look like crap, kid. And that
hair… not the best look for you.”
Because it was Toby who always made me feel
like a five year old, I stuck out my tongue while pulling up my
nose so it would resemble a pig’s snout.
“
That’s very mature and
classy, Scout. I hope you use it during your Challenge to the Alpha
Female.”
“
Yeah, about that,” I said.
“How did you know we were here getting ready for that?”
Toby raised his eyebrows and looked at Liam,
who was leaning against the door frame. So much for mine and Toby’s
play for Dominance. Liam was the uncontested winner even when he
was slouching.
“
I thought it was time to
start gathering the troops,” Liam said.
God, I loved him at that moment.
Not that I
loved
loved
him.
Or maybe I did.
Crap. This was so not the time to be doing
the angsty teenage boy problems thing.
“
I thought we were going to
wait until we were ready?”
“
You are ready,” Liam
said.
Did I say “love”? I think I meant
“hate”.
“
Ummm… No. I’m
not.”
“
Ummm… Yeah. You are.” For
someone who hadn’t been able to look at me since Friday, he sure
wasn’t having trouble maintaining eye contact now. “You’re lifting
200 pounds twice a day, running five miles, and can do more
push-ups in under a minute than most Americans can in an hour.
You’re fine.”
Jase laughed, although I’m not sure what he
found so funny. “Good to see you two worked out all your
differences over the past few months.”
“
She’s who we want to be
our new Alpha?” That shining endorsement came from Makya, Jase’s
cousin who was ranked somewhere below foot fungus in Things Scout
Finds Awesome. Not only had the annoying brat from childhood grown
into an even brattier teenager, but he was also turning into a
total skeeze ball. I always felt the need to shower after all of
our run-ins over the past year. “Someone remind me why.”