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Ominous howls began again.
“What did her blood buy?” I asked aloud, because I needed to know that I hadn’t sold it too cheaply.
“House Grey said that if we stole the blood from here for them, they would give us their blood in return. As they had once given it to Winter, prolonging his life. ” Helen’s eyes looked over to the emissary from House Grey. “Their devil’s pact with my father cost me my husband’s life. How I loved my husband and hated my father for killing him. ” She freed herself from Jorgen’s arms and threw herself at Anna’s feet. “Show us mercy. We repent. ”
The House Grey vampire coughed. “Your sentimentality is unbecoming. ”
“Dren, please kill him,” Anna said.
The Husker hesitated. “To kill him will make you a large number of enemies, Sanguine. Enemies you might not want yet, in your illustrious five-hour-old career. ”
“I don’t think I care. ”
Dren shrugged and set his sickle to the Grey’s throat. “Don’t you want to know about Santa—” the Grey began. Anna didn’t look up. Dren finished his move and the vampire dusted like a cloud.
The distant howling came nearer. Anna looked down to Helen now. “Such a meal I have not had before. No wonder we used to keep your kind as pets. Perhaps that can be your punishment. I’ll chain you to the end of my bed and drain you every night. ”
Lucas the wolf crouched at the edge of the circle, then bounded in. His wolf left him as fluidly as I knew it had arrived. He landed softly, on one knee, both hands touching down. Two other weres leapt in beside him.
“Their punishments are ours. ” He stood and turned to look at Helen. “What were you thinking? How could you shame us so?”
“My father killed my husband to hide his secret, to buy his extra years of life. Fenris—my Fenris—died for my father’s secret use of vampire blood, so that no one else would know. ” Helen picked up a handful of the slush beside her and threw it at Lucas’s feet. “Fenris Jr. was too young to lead, and the pack would never pick a woman. I had to let that bastard live until my son’s position was secure—then he went and got you to rule us!” Her face curdled in anger. “That was when I made my pact and told House Grey I’d raise an army to get the blood from here. They denied him vampire blood and Jorgen tried to kill him, but the bastard wouldn’t die. All of it was going to be ruined. All my waiting, all my patience, and for what?”
Lucas’s face held pity for her mixed with horror. “I told you I was only going to be pack leader for the interim. Why didn’t you believe me?”
“Have you ever known a man to step away from a throne?”
Lucas clenched his fists at his sides. “I am not like him, Helen. ”
“That’s what all men say. ”
Anna moved to stand in front of Lucas. “I demand her life. A life for a life—it is the old way. ”
“We will punish her in our own manner. Take Jorgen instead. ” The weres beside Lucas moved to grab Jorgen, and he fought back.
“No!” Helen screamed, reaching for him as they dragged him off.
“Is that the one who attacked you, Edie?” Anna asked. I nodded. “We’ll accept him then. His death shall be as you prefer. ”
I took two steps back. “What … if I don’t prefer it?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Sike did not die so that this one could live. ”
I waited, unable to speak.
I could use needles on patients; I could debride painful wounds; I could hold a crying child down to push a feeding tube up its nose—and I could bleed a vampire. But could I, with my voice, give the command to kill a man?
“If I may make a suggestion, ladies,” Dren said, stepping in. “I’ve always wanted a were for a Hound. ”
Anna looked at me, then back to Dren. “Do it. ”
It was better than death. Right? I didn’t fight when Dren took Jorgen in hand. I knew then I would always regret it. Dren pulled him outside the circle, and it was dark, so I couldn’t see, but I could hear Jorgen cry out.
“No—” Helen whispered. “Samson, Lars, Nichola—when they questioned how Winter was living so long, he bought some of them off with blood. Take one of them instead!” she pleaded. At the back of the pack, in the shadows, some weres peeled away and ran off.
Lucas snapped his fingers, and other wolves ran off after their traitors. “Who else?”
“No one!” she said.
“All right. Then we decide. ”
A high-pitched snarl began from inside the pack’s group. Helen blanched. “Fenris, no—”
Fenris Jr. ran in, on four legs, then two, crouching in front of his mom. “Don’t hurt her!”
Lucas swooped down and scruffed the boy, just like he was a puppy, holding him up by his neck.
