IRIS, BLAKE AND Vikram sat in the SUV across the road from the house Alfie had rented for him and his pack when he first came to Oxford in search of the Silver Collar. This was the house where Alfie had changed so suddenly on the doorstep and bitten Aurelia. The house where Iris had cornered Alfie in his attic bedroom and pressed two guns against his chest. The house where Iris and Alfie had finally realised what their insistent feelings for each other meant. And, of course, it was the house where the Silver Crown had brought them when they captured them and locked them in the basement to await their fate. It was, in short, a house with more than a couple of memories. More significant and poignant to Iris than Dr Tobias’s rambling manor. She swallowed.
Blake said, ‘OK, I reckon the back’s our best bet. We got in through the back once before.’
‘No need, Blake,’ Iris said softly. She was rummaging in the pocket of her combats for her key chain. She drew it out, sparkling. ‘I still have a key.’
‘Oh, cute!’ said Blake. ‘Alfie gave you a key. I never knew you were that serious about him.’
Iris opened the door of the SUV, slipped out on to the pavement and turned to look at Blake. ‘I am deadly serious about him, Blake.’
Alfie opened his eyes. His hand still hurt. His cock was still sore. His balls still throbbed.
Divinia was stood over him. He swallowed hard and looked up at her. She smiled a terrible smile. He felt her thrall rush over him like a terrible living death, the power she had to command him. To suck him deeper into obedience or to let him dance away from her, held only by the lightest thread – but a thread she could use to yank him close again whenever she pleased.
Divinia said, ‘As I was saying to Sabrina, the power I have to call all lycans to me, like a reversal of summoning is only the beginning. I can use that to create a link through you. With the power of the Sacred Silvers. The Collar, the Crown, the Cage, the chains. A thread that binds us all. A connection that will let your power ripple through them all. All Beasts. All close to the skin. Tell me, Alfred, don’t you think it’s a wonderful idea?’
Alfie shook his head. ‘Why? Why ever would you want to do this?’
Divinia laughed. ‘You don’t even know who you are, do you? What you are.’
‘I guess I do actually. Maybe. I’m coming to realise.’
‘Do you remember me, Alfred?’ Divinia said softly. ‘We’ve met before.’
‘I don’t think.’
‘I can be in any wolf. Take them. Control them. The Silver Crown didn’t hold me all the time. I have tested your power once before. You remember Hera.’
‘Hera in Brazil, who gave me my chains.’
‘Yes. She tested you first, didn’t she? Used your power. The wolves who guard the Amazon gateway are a rare breed. Every month they save the earth from destruction by those terrible creatures that leak through the gate, the Carci. But only werewolves can kill Carci. So every month at full moon when the gate opens they protect it. But if anything slips through – like those triplets – they are powerless for twenty-eight days. And then you came along. With your power to change when you needed to. Unimaginable.’
Alfie looked at her. ‘Well, I guess. In fact, Hera did say something about that.’
‘It was all foretold. That you would slay the triplets, find the collar, that your woman would be the warrior that freed me.’
‘Iris didn’t free you.’
‘She destroyed the Silver Crown. They were holding me. I gave them power and they contained me. They used to use this cage to dampen my power. The silver is spelled for more than just holding your form.’
‘So why did they let you out?’
‘Sabrina. She controlled me with witchcraft. She was my portable prison. Until your woman helped me out there too.’
‘What?’
‘She led a coven to Sabrina. Powered her down. Set me free.’
‘But you and Sabrina are in this together.’
‘Ah, Sabrina. She is a tricky one. Now she knows that she and I have common goals, yes, we are working together. She is a useful ally. And so are you.’
‘I still don’t . . . What do you want?’
‘You know it, werewolf. I need your power. The power to change outside the moon, to flip, to have the wolf close to your skin. To be the Beast. What if every werewolf had that power? We are so vulnerable – a silver blade or a silver bullet. If every wolf could change whenever he wanted . . .’
‘I don’t change whenever I want –’
‘Shush, werewolf. You don’t understand. I will draw them to me. Just before the full moon rises I will have my maximum power. The moon herself draws her strength into me to show my true form. I can use that power to call the wolves. Turn the power of summoning around. Draw every wolf to me and give them a taste of you, my prince, of your power. Let them all taste you. Draw them tight to you with thrall. And let them be part of what you are and at your command.’
‘Why?’
Divinia looked slightly surprised. ‘So we can rise. So wolves can rise. It was written.’
Alfie rolled his eyes. ‘I’m starting to get awfully tired of things that are written.’