Wolf's Ascension (31 page)

Kari could feel Andreas out there somewhere. His fury roiled in the air, crackling with menace.

“Michael, you can’t win now. Can’t you see that?” Kari asked softly.

“Look, keep your fucking mouth shut or I’ll shut it permanently.”

“What do you plan to do, Michael?” Phillip asked calmly.

“I plan on killing this whore. Sure, I won’t be leading the Clan but she won’t either. In fact, neither will Andreas, because who would support an Alpha who allowed so many murder attempts on his own Mate? Her murder on his own land? If I’m going down, you’re all coming with me.

“
Poor little Michael, too weak to hold power
. You all looked at me with pity. Andreas thought he was being sooo good to me to allow me to watch over his human whore. Even when I tried to kill her, he didn’t punish me. Weak, pathetic and weak. I walked right into their bedroom and put that water there, hoping to take them both out, but only got her. And again, her stupendous luck saved her. I fucking tried to shoot her and got you instead, Phillip. How’s the shoulder, by the way?” he asked, snorting.

“All the time I danced around in your midst and you never suspected me once. Well, it’s too bad I couldn’t kill those brats of hers but I’ll just have to settle for killing her.”

“Oh man, do you have a case of the feeling sorry for yourself! I may be half wolf but I’m ten times the Alpha you’ll ever be. Why? Because you
are
weak. So weak you’d target children instead of openly challenging for a seat you
know
you don’t have the power to take much less hold. Andreas didn’t punish you because he has compassion. He believed your story because he loved you. You’re so pathetic you’d rather bring down an entire Pack instead of just dealing with the reality life has dealt you. That’s not leadership. You aren’t an Alpha, Michael. Suck it up. Life sucks large some days. Be what you can be and stop crying about what you can’t change.” Despite her fear, Kari snarled.

“What do you know about it?” His voice was petulant and Kari felt nothing but disgust.

“Oh, you think this was handed to me? I worked for everything I ever had in my life, which is more than I can say for you. You dare to call anyone else weak? You’re a coward! Here’s a clue, not everyone gets to be Alpha. Only two people do per Pack. The chances of it being you are astronomical.”

He yanked on her hair. “Shut up, you whore! You stole my seat with your mongrels. The only thing that’s kept me going all this time is the knowledge that I kept you terrified and worried for your sniveling brats.”

At that, Kari had had enough. She stomped back, hard, on his instep, elbowing him in the gut. He doubled over, his hands slipping but grabbing a fistful of her hair.

Andreas was a flash of movement. He was on top of Michael and it was only moments before she heard the sickening
crack
of bones breaking. Skye and Phillip grabbed the gun and stood over Michael but it wasn’t necessary. He wouldn’t be threatening anyone ever again. Andreas stepped back, “Michael Phinney, you’re sentenced to death for treason against a Pack Alpha.”

Kari looked around and saw that the rest of the Pack had gathered around. Sean came to her and pulled her into his arms, turning her face away. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?” he murmured into her ear.

“Ryan? Is Ryan all right?” she asked, weeping into his shoulder.

“Elaine and Ellen are with him. He’s lost a lot of blood but they got the bullets out. He’ll need to rest but he’ll live,” Alex said as he jogged up to the scene.

Andreas came to her then, sinking to his knees in front of her and putting his forehead to the ground. “Can you forgive me for letting this get so far? I had no idea he felt so much hatred toward me.”

She pulled him up then and stepped into his embrace. “There’s nothing to forgive, Andreas. You loved him. You didn’t want to think the worst of him. I wouldn’t want you any other way. I had no idea, none of us did. He was a really good actor. Too bad he couldn’t be bothered to put any of that work into making his own life better instead of plotting to take mine.”

She turned to the Pack. “Michael was the culprit all along. I hope that we can all move past this awful tragedy and work to build a better, stronger and more connected Pack.”

Kari looked into their faces and saw what she needed to garner the strength to lead them at Andreas’s side.

Epilogue

Three Years Later

Helene and her brothers, Tomas, Sean and Devon, played in the meadow with their cousins, Marie and Andy—short for little Andreas. The other Pack children ran out to greet them as their parents arrived for the Winter Gathering.

Emma, swollen with her second child, a brother for Jade, stood with Kari and Perri, watching the children play. Kari smiled at the scene and tried not to grimace as her sons crashed into each other and roughhoused in the snow. Helene, Julia, Marie and Mimi snorted and went back to their expansive snow family.

Jack walked in with Alyssa, her son and their daughter. It turned out that Alyssa had been holding back from committing to Jack because she was a werewolf. Small world. She’d joined the Pack three years before and she’d gotten pregnant with Drea soon after. Jack and Alyssa had followed Sean’s example and built a home about a mile from the lodge. Perri and Devon had considered it but they both loved Portland so much that they didn’t want to leave it behind. Andreas, their son, conceived after two years and four rounds of IVF, was a frequent visitor at the lodge, though, and was adored by his cousins. He looked so much like Perri, little elfin face and red hair, that it was startling to see them together.

Kari had gotten pregnant again two years before—another set of twins. Both boys. Afterward she and Andreas decided that four children were quite enough and decided to stop there.

The Pack had gotten past the tragic night when they’d lost Michael. They’d built a family based on love and trust. Each of the members had grown and prospered over the three years that’d passed.

But there was still yearning for a Mate among those who hadn’t found theirs yet. Skye had been seeing a human woman from town and it had seemed serious for a while but he always held a part of himself back, knowing his true other half was out there somewhere. It did give him pause, the idea that his Mate would be as difficult as he was. He hoped Kari’s words were just teasing. Even so, a difficult Mate would be better than none at all. And he liked his women with a little fire.

Phillip wanted that too. Wanted to find the person who would make him whole at last. He dated but never seriously, instead pouring his love into his Pack and the kids. At least he didn’t have to guard anyone twenty-four hours a day and had time for other work and for a social life.

Laurent had begun to be antsy with the yearning. He’d traveled around the country to other Packs and Gatherings, just hoping to find her. The older the children got, the more he wanted a family of his own. He and Andreas would be taking a trip into Seattle the next week and he hoped he could shake his need. Maybe he’d look up an old flame or two while they were in the city—anything to get his mind off the emptiness.

The Gathering had brought them all. They sat at the newly enlarged table in the dining room and toasted to the good fortunes of the Cherchez Clan for another year. New members had come to them over the last years. Luna had found her true Mate and the change in her personality had been striking. Henry had found his true Mate, as well, a man named Ben who’d moved to Seattle a year before. There were three new single females, which made it easier for the unmated males but not so much for the other women. The state of werewolf hierarchy and the status of unmated females led to tension and power plays between them all. Still, things were good, the wolves were happy and thriving.

Kari reached out, taking his hand, drawing it to kiss. “You have that face,” she teased.

“The my-wife-is-beautiful-and-damn-I’m-lucky face?”

Her smile sent warmth through him. “Your wife thinks you’re very lucky, but so is she. I meant the Alpha-at-the-head-of-the-table face. When all our wolves are here, kids all over the place, the house full of laughter and love, you just look so very satisfied. Even a little smug. But not so much it’s dickish.”

He tried not to laugh, but it was impossible not to. “I always try to stay on the non-dickish side of the road.”

“You usually make it.” She winked.

“I love you, little wolf.”

“I love you too.”

* * * * *

Now Available from Carina Press and Lauren Dane

Rowan Summerwaite is no ordinary woman. Physical vessel to the Celtic Goddess Brigid and raised by the leader of the Vampire Nation, she’s a supercharged hunter with the power to slay any vampire who violates the age-old treaty. Even if that vampire is the Vampire Nation’s new Scion—and someone she’s fighting her attraction to.

Read on for an excerpt from

GODDESS WITH A BLADE
,

the first book in
New York Times
bestselling author Lauren Dane’s

GODDESS WITH A BLADE
series

Goddess With a Blade

by Lauren Dane

The Silver Chalice was vintage Vegas in deep reds and golds. Whatever it was, the place managed to carry off the Rat Pack feel but made it modern and clean while also seeming luxurious. Hunter Corporation owned the residence tower to the south of the main casino floor and hotel. A nice sideline and a way to have heavy security without being too obvious.

Outside the revolving glass doors, the air was still warm. The streets teemed with tourists. Rowan understood the allure of being lost, of choosing to be someone or something else even for just a few days.

Vegas was a big game of pretend for a lot of people. And why not? Most had a great time and didn’t go too far. Some stepped far enough out of line to have secrets to carry for the rest of their lives.

Some didn’t go home at all.

In the circular drive just outside the doors, her valet, David, waited next to her Porsche. Even vessels for goddesses had guilty pleasures. Some women liked shoes and Coach bags. Rowan loved fast cars. The sexy sound of the engine always charged her blood. Something about the power that lurked there beneath the hood intoxicated her.

David nodded as he opened the door. She slid inside, the leather smooth and supple against her back and legs.

“The Scion sent a call for you to come to his office,
Déesse.
” He called her
goddess
because he knew what she was. “He says he needs to see you tonight. He was informed that should you find it in your schedule, you’d return his call.” Efficient and not entirely humorless, David had served the Hunters his whole life as Rowan’s father had served the Vampires. She hoped it ended better for David.

“Always so urgent, these Vampires. You’d think with such long lives they’d be more relaxed.”
Arrogant bastard.
Not an unusual trait for a Vampire. They did arrogant like no other species she’d ever dealt with. She wondered if this one would be as pompous as the last one.

David hid a smile and stepped back as she made to pull away from the drive. “Be safe,
Déesse.
The policeman was also looking for you.”

She smiled at the mention of Jack.

“Thank you, David. Have a lovely evening.”

He inclined his head and she pulled away, maneuvering around the knot of drunken people being delivered into cabs and vans in the drive on her way out.

After she’d pulled safely out onto Las Vegas Boulevard without mowing down any civilians, Rowan called Jack.

“‘Bout time you called back, Rowan.”

“I’m sure all you do all day is lay around and wait to hear from me.”

He snorted.

“What’s up?”

“What’s up? Gone for months and...” He sighed. “Listen, can you meet me for a drink? Come by the station, we can grab a bite or something.”

“Can it wait a few hours? I have a prior engagement but it shouldn’t take overlong.”

“I’m not gonna be here in two hours. I can come to your place or you can come to mine. Only I live in a townhouse a ways from town and you live in a swank apartment on the Strip. Personally I like your place better.”

She laughed, despite herself. “Fine. I’ll meet you at my apartment in two hours. I’ll instruct David to let you in if I’m late.”

“Fine. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay.” She hung up and called David to let him know Jack would be coming over. She didn’t need to tell him to keep Jack on the first floor. David was relentlessly efficient and she knew he always took care to keep the Hunter Corporation part of her life as secret as possible. Humans didn’t know about Hunter Corporation but for a few key people in G8 countries and those serving Hunter Corp. Jack thought she was a private investigator. It kept them both safer that way.

In a handy bit of coincidence, by the time she’d finished arranging things, she’d reached Die Mitte,
the casino/hotel run by the Vampire Nation. Oh, if those tourists only knew. Die Mitte meant “The Center” in German. It was the center of Vampire politics and jurisdiction in Las Vegas. The Scion ruled the local Vamps with an iron fist.

Once she’d stopped the Porsche, the valet rushed forward. When he saw who she was, he inclined his head slightly. Not quick enough for Rowan to miss the hatred and distrust in his eyes. Still, the awe tingeing the edges of that hatred was enough for her. The moment she got out, one of the Scion’s toadies rushed toward her with a sycophantic smile. Rowan didn’t return it.

There were times she wished she could be softer, but soft meant people took advantage or saw it as weak. She couldn’t afford to be anything but cold and hard. Even if it left her alone in bed at night.

Mr. Toadie’s smile edged into a smirk. “Mr. Stewart is ending a business call, Ms. Summerwaite. Please come with me and I’ll escort you up to his quarters. He appreciates your coming to see him this evening.”

She looked through him, dismissing any potential threat. “He should. I’m not an employee. He can’t just call me when he gets the urge to meet a Hunter face-to-face.” She didn’t wait to see the flinch the toadie gave when she used the
H
word.

There was a reason they flinched, a reason they all hated and feared not only Rowan but the Hunter Corporation. For centuries, the Vampires had marauded across the world, preying mercilessly on humans. It was, after all, their nature to do so. Until a group of priestesses, mages, holy men and women and other warriors stood together and waged war on the Vampires beneath the veil of secrecy while humans had no idea the paranormal not only existed but threatened to exterminate them.

Everywhere Vampires pushed, Hunters pushed back until there was no ground left. Vampires, however, would not have existed as long as they had without being pragmatic beings, and so they entered into negotiations with those Hunters and from that the treaty was forged and the Vampire Nation was born.

The Vampire Nation didn’t like Hunter Corp. and Hunters hated the Vampire Nation but as far as Rowan was concerned, neither could exist without the other. For better or worse.

Mr. Toadie kept his mouth shut as he led her into the private elevator to the top floor. When the doors opened, she had to admit she was impressed. Her penthouse was luxurious.
This
place was a freaking palace.

The last man to hold the position had lived in a mansion just outside the city. Just like him, the place had reeked of trying too hard.

By contrast, the new Scion had damned good taste and a whole lot of money. His quarters took up pretty much the entire top floor of the hotel. Lush white carpets alternated with Italian tile and Persian rugs. Antiques and expensive paintings dotted the place in an unobtrusive fashion. Yes, it was clear wealth ruled the space, but it wasn’t the kind of place most powerful Vamps had. It didn’t scream new money, it emanated with the surety of class.

Clive Stewart was old money. That much was obvious. She knew he’d had five centuries to amass capital, but money, even five-hundred-years’ worth, couldn’t buy class.

The Hunter Corporation had given her a dossier on Clive Stewart and she’d read it on the way back to Vegas from London.

She’d had a less-than-personable relationship with the last Scion. Oh, okay, so she staked him. Which made for a huge political problem for nearly eight months as she had to prove it was a defensible kill and that Jacques Martin had broken their laws.

The dossier was full of examples that told her the new Scion was capable of total ruthlessness. Other Vampires feared him and
The Powers That Be
admired his business sense and ability to keep his population in check. So much so that he’d been near the top of the Vampire Nation power structure for the last four-hundred-and-fifty years. Vampires respected and feared one thing—power. If Clive Stewart had held that much for that long, he’d be a force to be reckoned with. She didn’t want to be impressed.

She stood, looking out the windows over the Strip, watching the fountains at the Bellagio. In the background she heard him come in.

“Ms. Summerwaite, thank you for coming to see me.”

She turned.
Well.
That was unexpected. Holy shit, the man was delicious. No. The
Vampire
was delicious. Tall and substantial, he wore his Armani suit well. His eyes were a brilliant green. A blunt jaw framed lips that looked absolutely lickable. He was a big man. Imposing. The accent was quite nice. Like caramel.

She gave herself a mental slap. Focus!
He’s a Vampire and therefore off the menu.

“If I hadn’t come, you’d have pestered me endlessly until I did. Next time, ask instead of commanding me. I’m not one of your minions.”

His eyes flared for the briefest of moments but the mask never slipped otherwise. That little dig would have pushed a lesser man into a snit, but he wasn’t a lesser anything apparently.

“Would you like something to eat or drink?” He waved at a long bank of couches and she sat, crossing her legs. His control impressed her even as she began to wonder what it might take to make him lose it.

“No, thank you. I’d prefer you get to the point, Scion.”

He inclined his head and sat across from her. “Please, call me Clive. Since you’re newly returned and I’m here in charge now, I thought an introduction would be of use to us both. And I’d like to get some ground rules laid down. Just for safety’s sake.”

She raised a brow at his haughty tone. “
You’d
like to lay down ground rules? As far as I know, those are laid out in the treaty. I can retrieve a copy for you if you’re unfamiliar with it.”

“Ms. Summerwaite, I’m aware of the treaty’s tenets. I like to avoid murders on my watch. It costs me money. I don’t like that. There’s no need to be defensive.”

She realized then
he
was pushing her buttons too. She wasn’t sure if that irritated her more than it amused her.

“I’m pleased to hear that. I’d like to avoid murders on your watch too. My superiors’ll be relieved you plan to keep your people in line.”

“We both know what I meant. It’s your behavior I’m concerned with.”

“I obey the
rules
laid out in the treaty, Clive. Your people don’t. And when they don’t, I do my job.”

“And how does it feel that your job is killing people?” The taunt was delivered in a smooth, almost casual fashion. He watched her carefully, his body language deceptively relaxed. He was every bit the predator and she had no misconceptions about that. He’d be on her in a moment if she posed a real threat.

But he wasn’t the only predator in the room and she knew, as well as he did, that this little meeting was a show of dominance. She didn’t have a dick to take out to measure against his. But she wasn’t going to allow him to out-badass her either. Taking a calming breath, she put her hands on her knees and leaned forward. “As it happens, I like my job just fine. The dental plan is first-rate. My training started very early, I believe you know my first teacher. Let me simply reiterate this so we’re clear, because I completely agree that it’s important to be straightforward. I’m a Hunter. That means my job is to keep an eye on you all, and, if need be, kill Vampires who kill people. I don’t like Vampires who kill people. So when I have to slay them for breaking the treaty, I don’t need to go hug a teddy bear or talk to my therapist.”

“From where I sit, I come into town and find my people in utter disarray. An associate has been brutally murdered and you’re at the center of it. Surely you can understand my need to get things straight between us.” He looked so reasonable just then she wanted to smack him. But she wasn’t going to blink first.

She sighed, leaning back into the cushions. “Clive, Clive, Clive. Compared to being alive before electricity and all, I know I’m young. But I’m not new to this game. So let’s just cut the shit. You rolled into town and saw the mess
Jacques
made. I cleaned house for you people when you were too lazy to do it. Instead of thanks for identifying the Vampire who stole fifty million dollars—a Vampire who I hasten to add also killed multiple human beings—you pretend shock that I slayed him. You’re not werebunnies, you’re Vampires. You eat humans for pleasure, and not in the good way. I. Culled. The. Herd.” She shrugged.

His jaw tightened and a thrill ran through her that she’d affected him. Just as quickly, he forced himself to relax. Jacques would have popped a vein ten minutes ago but this one was made of far sterner stuff.

“I don’t need a rule breaker in my territory. My people don’t exist for you to make your reputation on. So we’re clear, Hunter, keep yourself in line or I’ll do it for you. I won’t abide any terrorizing of the Vampires here in Las Vegas.”

She stood but forced herself to do it slow. “I do my job. I obey the rules. I kill Vampires who don’t. Your
associate
Jacques didn’t. He violated the law and when he did, he stepped into my world. That’s the treaty
your
people worked out with the Hunter Corporation. You don’t like it, take it up with them. I didn’t make the rules, I simply enforce them. Me? I couldn’t possibly care less what you like or don’t like.”
You uptight British asshole
. “And as for you keeping me in line?” She looked him up and down very slowly. “The heat is making you delusional. I keep hearing what a big, bad tough guy you are, but that statement there is simply stupid.”

“You seem to have a problem with control, Ms. Summerwaite. Las Vegas is my town, I am in charge.” He held out his hands, oh-so-reasonably. “I want to be sure you don’t lose your temper and kill anyone else.”

She picked her bag up and turned, giving him her back. The message clear. Rowan Summerwaite didn’t fear him or his Nation. The minion who’d stood near the doors pretended he hadn’t heard the entire conversation and kept his eyes averted.

“Ms. Summerwaite.” His tone said he couldn’t quite believe she was walking out on him. She’d told him she wasn’t a minion and yet, he certainly liked to think so.

Turning to face him, she stayed where she was. “Yes, Scion?”

Fascinated, she watched as he unclenched his jaw. Apparently he’d never been disobeyed before. Well, she was all about bringing new experiences to those around her. A missionary of sorts even.