| |
––––––––
REMAINING IN HER WEREWOLF form, Quin sauntered towards the farmhouse. Xavier’s entire pack were lined up in the yard. They’d witnessed their alpha being beaten and were shaken by his defeat. Parting to let her through, they bowed their heads in submission. She had to duck to enter the house and returned a few minutes later in her human form wearing borrowed clothes. From their size and style, they’d belonged to one of the men.
Xavier had climbed to his feet while she’d been absent. He still looked stunned that he’d lost a challenge to the half-blood daughter he’d thought was still defective.
“Maybe you should craft a necklace like that for all the shifters,” Jonah said to me.
“That would be a very bad idea,” Connor replied before I could say anything. “Werewolves are far too volatile to be allowed to shift at will. They wouldn’t be happy hiding who and what they are from the humans. They would no doubt turn out to be a big problem.”
Quin reached us and held out her hand to take the items that Connor had picked up. Nodding her thanks, she tucked them into her pockets. Turning to address the alphas, she barely spared her cowed father a glance. “True shapeshifters are gathering in Europe to assist us in a battle against human-monster hybrids. Call your people and tell them to get ready for war. Rudy will take each of you home, then teleport your packs to Scotland where we have our base.”
Rudy wasn’t thrilled at being our errand boy, but he merely let out a loud sigh. “This is going to be a very long night,” he complained.
“Jonah, take us back to the Scottish Archives,” Quin ordered. It was clear she didn’t want to spend another second in her father’s presence. The look he sent her bordered on hatred as the ghost used the veil to whisk us back to our lair.
We ended up in the kitchen and Roderick immediately went about making tea and coffee. Quin disappeared into her room to change into her own clothes and to take a few minutes to calm herself down.
“I’m so glad I was there to see Quin kick her Dad’s butt,” Jonah said with a grin.
“The man deserved it,” Mirra said tightly. She still wore her sheer red nightgown and robe. Two shifters entered, saw her and instantly became entranced by her beauty. She checked her pendant, but she’d turned her power off. Looking down, she realized her boobs were barely constrained by her clothes and sighed.
It was barely an hour past dawn, but we were too keyed up to attempt to get some more sleep. The siren ambled off to her room to change and Quin returned a few minutes later.
“How are you, Quin?” Jake asked sympathetically. “It can’t have been easy standing up to Xavier like that.”
“Mirra is right,” she replied. “That man isn’t worthy of being my father.”
Returning just in time to hear her, Mirra hugged Quin from behind, then smacked a noisy kiss on her cheek. “I am glad you put him in his place,” she said, ignoring Quin’s annoyed look at her sign of affection. “He had it coming.”
“I have Ari to thank that I’m still alive,” our boss said with a nod of thanks at me. “If I hadn’t been able to shift so quickly, that stab to the heart would have killed me.”
“You’re a very resourceful young woman,” Winston said in approval. “We’re extremely lucky to have you on our side.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m awesome,” I said, waving away their praise. “I still want to be Quin when I grow up.”
The alpha flicked a look at me. “After everything we’ve seen you do, I think I want to be you when I grow up.”
I’d just taken a swig of coffee and almost sprayed it on the table as I tried to explode into laughter. Choking instead, I pounded on my chest while the two younger ghosts sniggered at me.
“That’s Ari for you,” Mirra said fondly. “All class as usual.”
Blair, Jean and Marcus entered the kitchen in search of breakfast. All three looked weary. They’d been up most of the night calling the other shifter clans. “Did you convince the werewolves to join us?” Blair asked.
“We did,” Quin replied. “Rudy will begin bringing their packs here shortly.”
“We don’t have enough bedrooms for them all,” Roderick said in realization. “We certainly don’t have enough food for everyone.”
“We’ll make do,” Jake reassured him. “I’m sure we can find tents and have food shipped here.”
“It’s still winter,” I reminded him. “It’s kind of freezing outside.”
“Werewolves won’t feel it as badly as humans would,” Quin told me. “They’ll be fine.”
As the day wore on, Rudy ferried more and more shifters to our base. A babble of voices echoed up from the Archives below. Word had spread among the supernatural community and other were-creatures had flocked here to help.
Curious about our guests, we headed downstairs to see shifters of all kinds packed into the Archives. All were alphas and their seconds. They stood in groups of their own kind, eyeing their rivals mistrustfully. Xavier Vale and his people had been the last pack Rudy had teleported here. He and his second glowered at Quin. She’d cowed him, but she hadn’t earned his respect. He hated her more than ever after being bested by her.
“How many shifters have we managed to round up?” I asked.
“Over two thousand,” Quin replied. “That includes some of the clans from Europe. The last group arrived about an hour ago.”
Mirra sauntered over to us and she wasn’t alone. Her mother and eight other sirens were here. All wore tight dresses in bright colors that flattered their perfect figures. “How lovely to see you all again,” Mayra said. She was the most beautiful siren in existence. The shifters were having a hard time dealing with so many of them being in the same room.
“You’re going to be helping us again?” I asked in surprise. Mirra must have called them and asked for their help.
“Of course,” Mayra replied. “We’re not going to sit back and do nothing while these Dread Wraiths and human-hybrid monsters decimate humanity. Who will father our daughters if the humans are wiped out?”
I almost laughed, then realized she wasn’t joking. Mirra rolled her eyes, then saw how her kin were primping and preening for their audience. Even with their power banked, eyes were glazing over and a few of the men were beginning to drool. “Can you girls behave yourselves?” she asked. “We need the shifters to be able to fight, not to be turned into mindless zombies.”
“We can’t help being irresistible,” one of the sirens said and sent a seductive smile at the crowd. I’d seen them in action during a mission against some zombie mermen. Even with only ten of their kind, I knew they could cause a lot of damage.
Shifters were sent out for supplies and to bring back shelter for our army. Tents were erected around the cottage and were claimed by various groups. Each clan and pack had their own space, which they would use as their territory while they were here. It was an uneasy alliance, but we had a common goal. The moment we learned that Harrow’s hybrids had gone on the attack again, they would be called into action. If last night was any indication, they would wait until nightfall to coincide their attack with Morgwen’s.
