“There you are, you tiny terrors,” a female shifter shouts as she crosses the street, then stops mid-step, her face paling when she sees who is holding the girl. Stuttering like I’m about to eat one of them, she apologizes, “I’m s-s-sorry, Alpha. They’re pups. They don’t know h-h-how to act proper a-a-around you.”
At the same time she’s apologizing, the girl in my arms yells, “Momma! Momma! I shifted all by myself!” But when she notices the fear on her mother’s face, her expression falls and she starts to cry.
I know if I tell her it’s fine it will fall on deaf ears. She’s so paralyzed with fear, she won’t approach me, even if it’s to take her crying daughter from my arms. Instead, I place the girl on the ground, only letting go when I’m sure she’s stable on her feet. She runs as best as she can to her mother, her ears growing pointed, and her body covered with fur. The pups, sensing that everything isn’t okay anymore, whine and cry as they follow the child back to the female shifter’s side.
Too distracted trying to numb myself from the pain of rejection—their anger is so much easier to bear than their fear—I don’t notice Callie move so her body now stands between me and the female shifter.
“Connor would never hurt a child,” Callie insists, her hands braced on her hips.
She has that puffed up look that Nolan’s nicknamed Warrior Witch, and I’m torn from hoping that her anger will blow up the Alpha house and knowing that it probably wouldn’t end well if she did. I place a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, but she only seems to puff up more.
“I don’t know what that son of a bitch you last called Alpha led you to believe, but you are all damn lucky to have Connor,” she continues, her voice thick and deep with conviction, rising in volume with each point. “He’s kind and compassionate. Loyal and honorable. He... he protects what’s his, and you should all count your fucking blessings that now includes you!”
I don’t get a chance to soak in her words before Bayne, the oldest of my twin half-brothers, states from his place at the bottom of the driveway, “It should’ve always included us. We’re his pack. Always have been.” Giving Callie a slow up and down, his interest in her obvious, he adds, “Convenient that he decides to claim us now that it means more power for him.”
“Yeah, convenient,” Daveth, Bayne’s twin and my other half-brother, echoes, incapable of having a thought of his own.
Callie cocks her head to one side, her hands curl into fists, and I sneeze as an unnatural wind blows through the trees.
“I see what you are,” she murmurs in a cold, detached way that has the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.
The scent of burnt ozone crackles around her, the amount of magic she’s calling into herself reaching the heights of when she still had the binding spell—only now she has control of what it does. Last time she sounded like this, there was nothing left of my bastard of a father.
“Go,” I bark at the female shifter surrounded by frightened pups.
None of them have to be told twice, escaping to the safety of one of the pack’s homes and slamming the door behind them.
Gently, I wrap my arms around Callie, her back against my stomach. Leaning down, I whisper into her hair, “Reina, stop. They’re mine to deal with.”
Her head jerks hard side to side. “No. I won’t let them hurt you. They’re snakes in the grass. Narcissism and betrayal paint their souls.”
No surprise there.
As I expected, the idiot twins feel the Call, and with so much of Callie’s magic filling the air, they’re like puppets on strings, walking toward her instead of running the fuck away like they should. They’re not the only ones. Shifters all over, in different states of preparation for the ceremony and celebrations, stop whatever they’re doing and slowly begin to approach. Some are taken by surprise, their wolves so desperate to be close to what calls to them that they fall to the ground—the shift overtaking them. Tangled in destroyed clothes, they struggle to run to her.
I don’t know if Callie’s magic has expanded to cover the residential part of pack lands, or if the shifters from school have developed a sixth sense from shadowing Callie over the past week, but a small pack of them, lead by Rand, race down the driveway as fast as their wolves will take them. Running more at their side, instead of as a part of them, is the unmistakable white blur of Sam’s wolf. All of them barrel through the crowd and circle around us, growling and snapping at the air to keep everyone back—including the twins.
“What the hell is going on?” Sam snarls, shifting back to her human form. She shoots warning glares at those that clearly don’t feel the Call, their distaste at the scent of witch etched on their faces.
“Knife. Water. Ceremony bowl. Get them. Now!” I order, running one of my hands down Callie’s arm to her hand, hoping to ground her to me—pull her back from whatever dark place her mind has caged itself.
Sam’s expression hardens, her dislike of orders without explanation clear in her eyes, but she knows as my second, it’s important not to argue with me in front of the pack. Her gaze promises I’ll get an earful later, before she shifts back, sprinting to gather what I asked for.
This isn’t exactly how I planned to do the ceremony, but I know if I don’t do something, the gathered crowd will start tearing each other apart. Not to mention whatever Callie will do if my half-brothers stupidly open their mouths again.
As the fastest wolf in the pack, Sam is back within five minutes, though it felt like hours—the divide of those that feel the Call and those that don’t made apparent by them snapping and snarling at each other. Sam drops a bag at my feet filled with the things that I asked for, then begins to howl. Those who feel the Call howl with her, summoning for the ceremony.
The few shifters that weren’t already gathered join the crowd—mostly consisting of the betas that patrol pack grounds. Everyone shifts to their human form and are ready to either pledge their loyalty to me as Alpha or reject me. Unlike most Alpha ceremonies that are performed shortly, if not immediately, after a new Alpha has risen, I’ve given them all a week to decide. They can join me or they can take their families and leave.
Releasing her hand, I turn Callie around, lift her face toward mine, and gently place a kiss to her forehead. She blinks, as if waking from a deep sleep, and nervously starts peering at the mostly naked crowd surrounding her. I know she’s herself again when her golden skin burns in shades of pink. She wraps her hand around her necklace, holding the now vibrant blue stone like a talisman.
“What’s going on?” she murmurs, her gaze searching for a safe place to land and finding it within my eyes.
“Ceremony starting early,” I answer, my hand cupping the back of her neck, kneading the tight muscles there.
“Oh.” She swallows heavily. “Because of me?”
I release a breathy chuckle, place another kiss on Callie’s forehead, and squat down to pick up the bag at my feet. There’s also a sundress inside the bag, which I hand it to Sam, and she quickly tugs it over her head. For obvious reasons, nudity isn’t really considered a big deal among shifters. Her newfound modesty is peculiar, but none of my business, so I busy myself with the task at hand.
