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Unwillingly, I turned away from Kira and sought out the alpha who had watched me shift less than an hour earlier. Gunner must have heard Crow’s side of the story already, must be rewriting all of our past interactions in light of recent events....
Only, it wasn’t just Gunner glowering at me from across the thinning gathering. Instead, both siblings stood shoulder to shoulder, their features so similar a stranger might have found it hard to tell them apart.
To me, though, the males were night-and-day different. Because Ransom’s eyes were filled with amusement—had he somehow missed my fox fur party before all hell broke loose? Gunner, on the other hand, boasted muscles clenched so tightly I was pretty sure nobody would have been able to pull the stick out of his ass.
“Come here,” Gunner growled once he saw he’d gotten my attention. And to my despair, my feet began moving in his direction no matter how hard I fought the impulse with my rational mind. It was the debt, I realized. The dragon of an owing that I’d willingly allowed to sink its claws into my flesh while Kira was caught in the grasp of someone who’d already murdered two innocents at least.
The more I fought, though, the more control slipped through my fingers. So I wasn’t even able to glance sideways by the time we three settled beneath an awning and out of the snow. Instead, I peered straight ahead, noting that the huge male bodies raising my heart rate also blocked the entrance to a pawnshop. Unfortunately, it was far past closing time. So no one came out to drive the werewolves away and set me free.
“Well,” Ransom said at last, breaking the silence after we’d stood there for several long seconds, nothing but white breath flowing between us in the cold. “A fox.”
He paused, and for the space of one hopeful breath I thought maybe the local pack leader didn’t know whatever secrets made bearing star-ball magic so dangerous for me and my kin. After all, I wasn’t privy to that information. Why should a werewolf be more knowledgeable about my own heritage than I was?
But then he continued: “A kitsune. An offense punishable by death.”
“My sister isn’t like me,” I started, lying about the one thing that truly mattered. My own fate had already hardened into certainty, but I could at least ensure Kira slipped out from beneath the descending ton of bricks before they landed on her head. “We’re half-sisters. Same mother, different fathers....”
“...strange, then that fox nature travels down through the mother’s line.” Ransom smiled at me then, his teeth so sharp they gleamed despite the gray of incipient snowfall. He’d apparently researched this subject, or perhaps had been raised to hunt foxes at his father’s knee.
Wherever Ransom’s savvy came from, it was clearly bad news for me and Kira. And my first impulse, as always, was to count on fox agility to ensure my escape. To run through the crowd and snatch my sister then flee together until both Atwood brothers faded into a vague memory from our past.
But the debt didn’t let me twitch a single muscle away from my current companions. And now Gunner was sliding closer to back up his sibling, fist clenched and brow lowered as pure aggression radiated off his skin.
***
ONLY, GUNNER DIDN’T face me when he finally interjected himself into the conversation. Instead, his shoulder slid between me and his brother, making promises that contradicted his unwillingness to meet my eye. “I’ll take care of this.”
“Hmm, yes, I do believe you will.” Ransom had appeared to possess a weak underbelly in the Arena, where his brother persisted in protecting him at every turn. But now I began second-guessing the notion that Ransom was the underdog. Because the elder sibling appeared plenty authoritative at the moment, his mere presence making it difficult for me to breathe. “If you don’t want me to deal with these two kitsune in the traditional manner,” he informed his brother, “then you’ll keep them far away from the heart of our pack.”
“Of course.” Gunner pushed himself further between me and the pack leader as he spoke, the wall of flesh allowing me to suck in a much-needed lungful of air. “I’ll make sure they do no damage...”
“...And you’ll keep an eye on them personally.”
“Brother?” Gunner’s question was careful, his eyes averted so far I could make out the pained crinkling above his cheekbones. This level of submission was traditional when speaking to a stronger werewolf, but I’d always gotten the impression that power flowed in the opposite direction between the two brothers.
Apparently I’d been wrong about a lot.
“Let me be more clear.” Now I could once again smell the fur of Ransom’s presence, could see the older male’s eyes piercing me over his brother’s shoulder as he stepped up into Gunner’s personal space. “I’m done being mollycoddled. You’re not the pack leader. I am. And now you’ll take one huge step backwards as I stand in my rightful place at the head of the clan.”
“Of course you’re the pack leader.” I could have told Gunner that such a placating tone wouldn’t work against his brother. But apparently the younger alpha felt the need to at least try.
“Silence.” Whether or not Ransom was powerful enough to make that command stick, the male between us subsided instantly. And we both listened as the Atwood pack leader laid down the law. “You’ll stay here until I call for you. No more manipulations to avert my orders. No more undermining my commands.”
“Yes, Chief.” Gunner’s head bowed in acceptance. But his fists clenched when his brother refused to accept a simple affirmative.
“You’ll swear it.”
I kept expecting Gunner to sell me out, to decide that Kira and I weren’t worthy of such a severe loss of face. But, instead, he dropped down onto one knee in the slush of snow melt without hesitation, the ice that currently froze my toes surely sliding through his clothes to bite at his skin as well.
But Gunner’s feet were warmer than mine, metaphorically at least. Because he spoke so clearly that even I could feel the magic imbuing his promise. “I swear to obey you, brother, in this as in all things. From this moment forward, I am your man.”
“Good,” Ransom answered. Then, without a hint of compassion for the profound concession he’d dragged out of his sibling, he turned on his heel and left us both alone.