170
Matt
I watched as Oren flew into a rage, his temper flaring at the officer, who looked like she was doing it on purpose. I shook my head as the scent of blood filled the air, and he let out a pained sound. Cline jumped out of the car, and I almost laughed. I was glad his plans were being frustrated. Maybe watching him lose his mind at such a small thing would slap some sense into Tony.
I looked over at him and was relieved to see the look of shock on Tony's face. Tony might be losing grip on himself because of stress, but he wasn’t as crazy as Oren.
Yet. I shuddered at the thought.
It would be okay for now. As I jerked back away from the barrier line, my heart raced. Had Tony or anyone else seen the fact that I’d crossed it? I hadn’t felt it at all. How had I crossed it when it was clear that Oren couldn’t. Other members of the pack tried as well, but they were pushed back. Even Tony was.
By the moon, if any of them found out, I’d be in trouble.
As the fight with the enforcers escalated, I couldn't help but feel a sense of worry and tension building up inside me. Oren's uncontrollable anger was not helping the situation. How long would it be before he started killing? I turned, and the enforcer looked at me. Her eyes narrowed.
I would not kill you.
My eyes widened.
Hecate would offer you protection. Her eyes narrowed. I will speak to them. Wait for the message.
My blood went cold, then she turned her gaze away as a shrieking roar shook the air. I looked back. Oren twisted, half bent in half and screaming. Cline shifted, and he was caught in the swirl of light, letting out a sharp howl before he was forced to turn back into his human form and fell to the ground.
I looked back to where the lights were coming from.
It was the woman who had spoken to me in my mind. She walked out of the barrier, and every time one of the pack members ran at her, she caught them in the light. The twisted and shrieked. She swung her blade, casually approaching Cline as he lay curled on the ground. He looked up and started dragging himself away.
“Now you run?” She asked, tilting her head. “How interesting. I suppose once a coward, always a coward.”
Oren growled, trying to lift himself and snarl, but he collapsed without even getting close. The other enforcers came towards her as Tony twisted on the ground under another bolt of light.
“Captain?”
“We don’t have a kill order,” she said. “Unfortunately. Let them drag themselves into whatever cars that still move and crawl back to their dens.”
She turned and flicked a bolt of light at me. It struck me. There was tension and a bit of pain, but something else, much warmer and freer, rushed through me. She led the rest of the enforcers through the barrier. They drove their car around the caravan and into the barrier.
Oren growled, but it had lost a lot of its menace and power. His eyes didn’t flicker, and I realized that it hadn’t been lightning.
She had put a restraint on him, the same that had been put on me and Tony.
But if it was the same, why had it felt so different for me? Tony was barely panting as I got over to him. His eyes were hazy and unfocused.
“Again,” he panted. “Again…”
I looked across the area. On the one hand, it would destabilize the entire pack to have us all unavailable to shift, but it also meant that neither he nor Tony was much of a threat to anyone.
Neither of them would chance getting into a fight without most of their strength, if not all of it, and it bought us more time to deal with them.
After all, no one would be able to turn Ginevra when they couldn’t even shift themselves.
Soon, other cars from the pack came to help us and call the Council. I pretended to be just as hurt and incapacitated as everyone else, leaning my weight on someone as they helped us into a sprinter van. Cline climbed behind the driver’s seat of the van and drove us. I looked around, not fully recognizing all the men who had gotten in the van with us, but they all looked at Oren like they were waiting for their next orders.
Something was up. I couldn't shake the feeling of unease.
As we started driving, Oren was panting in pain from the curse, curled against the side of the van.
I could feel the tension in the van as the rest of the pack members in the van with us panted and groaned. Some of them had passed out. Oren was still seething with anger, but now that he couldn't shift, he seemed more subdued. Tony stared at him in shock.
My thoughts were interrupted when Oren suddenly turned with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "This isn't over," he growled. “Call the fucking Council, boy! Those fucking witches think they’ve won. I’ll tear that bitch’s head off first chance--”
He broke off with a hiss of pain.
As we drove away from the barrier, I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Oren clearly had an in with the Council. Who had thwarted him like that, and how had that woman known that I would need sanctuary eventually?
Would I need sanctuary?
I looked over at Tony, who was staring at me even as he was dialing the number on his phone. My stomach twisted. Had he seen?
“Can’t…” Someone groaned. “I can’t feel my…”
“Me either.”
"What do we do now?"
“What have those witches done to us?”
I swallowed. “It’s called a restraint.”
Oren's face twisted with anger and bitterness. “Restraint? I’m a Blue Moon wolf. Nothing can restrain—“
He hissed again.
“The more you fight it, the stronger it binds you,” I said, leaning back. “They use it for criminals. I’m surprised you’re not familiar with it.”
Oren growled. “Don’t test me, Matt. It’s a fucking curse.”
His eyes narrowed. “Only witches can break curses.”
Tony put the phone on speaker.
“This is Alpha Oren of the Blue Moon pack,” Oren growled. “The fucking Hecate Coven has attacked me while on the way to pick up new members of my pack, they have in their city under the Bond of the Moon.”
The clerk on the other side hummed. “I don’t see an Alpha Oren of the Blue Moon Pack in the system.”
“Little girl, I—”
“He’s our father,” Tony said, seeming a little pleased. “This is Alpha Tony of the Blue Moon Pack.”
She hummed again a little disdainfully. “I see. Well, you’re in the system, but this Bond of the Moon you’re talking about isn’t in here.”
“What?” Oren growled. “We’re annexing the refugees of the White Moon Pack.”
“There aren’t any refugees of the White Moon Pack,” she said. “They’ve been given familial pack status.”
Oren’s eyes bulged. “That’s impossible!”
“Sir, if you’re going to continue to yell, I’m going to hang up and flag your profile for belligerence.”
Tony took the phone off speaker. “We had a summons for this. Could you tell me what happened?”
Oren tried to lean and listen, but it was clear that he couldn’t head anything.
“Blood Moon?” Tony growled. “We should have first—That case is bullshit! Hey! Hey!”
He growled and went back to dialing. I looked over at Oren, who narrowed his eyes.
“What does Blood Moon have to do with anything?” He asked. “They shouldn’t even have a hereditary alpha.”
“David, the former alpha’s son, is alpha now.”
He growled. “That whelp survived?”
He scoffed. "Xavier never knew when to die, either… And now his pup is getting in the way of everything. What the hell have you two been doing while I’ve been gone?"
My eyes widened. What the hell did that mean? Had Oren tried to kill David’s father? Did David know? How long ago? When? Xavier hadn’t been dead but a few years at this point.
Cline looked at me. “Look up this registration they have. We’ll need it to argue against it.”
I hesitated, not wanting to help him, but I didn’t need to since Tony already had and handed it to him.
His eyes widened with surprise and frustration. "Lucian is taking up the helm as alpha of White Moon, huh? I hadn’t realized he survived, too,” Oren said, his voice seething with anger. "They've already registered formal alliances with Hecate, Shell Cove, Blue Scale, Black Elm, and Blood Moon. Who the hell do they know in Blue Scale?”
Tony growled. “Our liaison is a Blue Scale shifter.”
Oren huffed. “Well, that’s your first problem.”
“He and his sister are the only ones who had been willing to work with us.”
Though I had a feeling that would be coming to an end soon. Oren then turned and yelled at Cline in the front seat.
"Head to White Moon's mountains."
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