Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

G autier Private Plane

Somewhere Between

Galveston, Texas and

New Orleans, Louisiana

Piper separated herself from the rest of those travelling from Wolf Meadow to Rivière Du Loup on the Gautier's private jet. Her family had talked about getting their own jet to facilitate her mother's travels, but in the end, it had seemed easier to simply have her fly first class. Piper listened to her brothers teasing each other. Austin had managed to get a couple of days off from the Texas Rangers and Cody had taken a break from the rodeo circuit.

"Since I have you all here, I thought y'all should know I've decided I want to go to school," said Cody.

"Tired of chasing buckle bunnies?" teased Austin.

"I didn't do the chasing, I'm always the one getting chased. I opened my eyes one morning and realized it was time to grow up and that the rodeo isn't where my heart is anymore. I think I can be of more help to the pack if I study law."

"You want to be a lawyer?" asked Cameron in disbelief.

"Yes. Dad, you and I both know that I've never been all that keen on working the ranch. And there isn't anyone in this plane, except maybe the pilot, who doesn't know Piper is the best one of us to see Wolf Meadow into the future."

Their mother lay her hand on their father's arm, and he relaxed and said, "There's no chance that Travis will come home to be alpha, is there?"

"I'm afraid not, my beloved. While he is your only alpha son, his calling is to be mate and protector to Skylar. He will not give her up for anything."

Piper sat quietly taking note that her mother had specifically said that Trav was his only alpha son . Piper, like her mother, was all alpha she-wolf and she now wished even more that she hadn't exploded at her father earlier in the day. She hoped he wasn't still mad, and she hoped…

"It won't work, Piper," said her father, understanding the argument she wanted to make before she'd said a word. "I'm sorry. The other packs would never sit still for it. Hell, I'm not even sure our own pack would accept such a radical idea."

"Then let them find other packs," said Piper quietly. "No one knows the ranch or the cattle business better than me. I have no desire to ever leave Wolf Meadow, and despite what you think, I'm not overly enamored of the idea of being some wolf's mate." Knowing she was about to throw a gauntlet at her father's feet, she took a deep breath before continuing. "I know you think that's the way it should be, mostly because that's the way it's always been and because it worked out for mother and you. But I have to tell you that I will never be any wolf's mate. I will either be allowed to stay at Wolf Meadow, or I will go rogue."

Her father looked as though she'd just punched him in the gut.

"I think it's always been that way because it works," said Cameron.

"If you're a male wolf, yes. Think about it, Dad. If mom hadn't been willing to go against the grain, if she had allowed Uncle Aidan to control her future, you might never have met her," argued Piper.

"I would have found your mother regardless of where she hid. We are fated mates and despite what you think, I'm not just trying to get you mated to any alpha wolf who comes along. Each of the wolves who have been invited to visit us are ranchers of some sort, and I felt they were seeking an alpha female who could be their partner as well as their mate. You didn't give any of them a chance."

"They weren't my fated mate," said Piper. "Would you have me mated against my wishes to one who wasn't fated to me?"

"Would you agree to be the mate to the one who is your fated mate?" countered her father.

"Probably not."

R ivière Du Loup

New Orleans, Louisiana

All invited parties had now arrived at the plantation. Branson and Renata had come just after lunch and the Nichols clan later in the afternoon. Rémy hadn't been gifted with the sight like some of the she-wolves of their line, but he could often sense when change was coming. He hadn't felt it so much when he'd arrived, but even though he'd been immersed in playing pool, he was quite certain that he felt the minute the plane touched down. No, not the plane, Piper.

Piper was here. Piper with the feminine curves, willowy frame, green eyes, and gorgeous red hair. There hadn't been a night since they'd rescued him when he hadn't dreamt of not only fucking her but driving his knot up inside her and tying her to him for hours. Piper with the sultry voice and throaty laugh. He wanted to hear her scream his name as he brought her to immeasurable heights of pleasure.

Piper whose pride he had wounded and whose heart he had stomped on. Piper who caused him to secretly rejoice each time he heard that she'd run off another wolf her father had invited to sniff around her tail. Piper who he was going to have. He'd lived through hell in order to make her his, and not Skylar, Riley, or Piper herself was going to stop him from having her. He had even less to offer her now than he had back then, but he was still determined.

Although it seemed that Skylar meant to do her damndest to keep them apart. It didn't matter to Rémy that Skylar—and others, he was sure—seemed to think they shouldn't be together. Piper was his fated mate and it was long past time he claimed her. When Skylar had intercepted Piper upon her arrival and announced they were going for a ride, Rémy shot Travis such a dagger-filled look that it should have either killed the celebrated chef on the spot or at least made him run interference for him with Skylar. Sadly it did neither.

"Calm down, Rémy," said Travis. "I'll deal with her. I think she's more worried about Piper than she is about you, which should tell you something about the way Piper must be feeling. Are you going to be able to hold it together?"

"Yes. And from what I've heard today, I don't have much of a choice. We need to deal with the Darkness before it finds a way to put my whole family in the grave. Your family needs to go home to be safe, Trav. And if I thought you could keep Skylar away from this fight, I'd tell you to toss her over your shoulder and drag her to safety as well."

"Sometimes I forget you've never dealt with your sister when she is on the scent of something. The Gautiers, all of you, are not known for your easy-going dispositions. You're a fairly intense group—all easy smiles and Southern drawls until someone crosses you."

"Is my little sister more than you can handle?" Rémy teased.

"Last time I checked, she was older than you."

"Yes, but she's much smaller."

Travis snorted. "Make sure I'm around when you try and run that past her. At least I've taken mine to mate and have her in hand for the most part. Too bad you can't say the same."

Rémy shook his head. "I know. She's going to give me hell."

"And in case you missed it, she's going to have help."

"What do you mean?"

"You saw Skylar. I suspect both your mother and mine will back whatever Piper wants to do. Keep in mind she was raised with the tales of our mothers' daring deeds. Piper, Sky—the whole second generation wants a shot at this thing."

Piper was missing from the main house for the rest of the day but joined the others in the dining room for dinner.

Rémy pulled out the chair next to hers as everyone took their seats. "Would you mind if I sat next to you?"

"Would it matter?" she responded.

"Yes, it would. Piper, I'd like for us to have a chance to talk."

Piper pulled the napkin from beside her plate and spread it neatly across her lap. "Let me be very clear. I have nothing to say to you and there's nothing you could say that I'd want to hear. You do whatever you need to do, but as far as I'm concerned, you're just one of Skylar's annoying little brothers. Questions? No? Good." Piper turned her back to him and began to work her charm on Lucien, who looked perplexed and bewildered.

Rémy drank his way through dinner, barely bothering to eat a large portion of blackened steak. Piper steadfastly ignored him, flirting with Lucien who seemed to become more uncomfortable by the minute. She talked with everyone at the table except Rémy.

When dinner was over, those who were going to try and come up with a plan removed themselves from the dining room and made their way to Jean-Michel's study, an enormous room filled with leather-bound first editions, priceless paintings, and detailed, hand-drawn maps from the time of Jean Lafitte. As everyone took their places, Piper pointedly chose to sit between her mother and Darby.

"Patience, my son," whispered his father. "You knew she would be difficult." His father took his seat behind the large desk and motioned for his mate to join him. "Darby, sweetheart, we don't have enough chairs. Come and sit on my lap."

"You're right," said Cameron Nichols. "Riley, if you come and sit with me, then Skylar can sit in Travis' lap and Rémy can sit beside Piper."

Rémy looked down, avoiding what he was sure was a flash of fire in Piper's eyes. He made a mental note to thank his father and Cameron for their interference on his behalf. His father was often called wily and Machiavellian, and Rémy knew he'd just seen proof of that. Once he was seated next to Piper, her Aunt Amy stood up.

"First, I'd like to thank everyone for having Sam and I here today. As most of you know, I've always been interested in history and am the unofficial historian for the Wolf Meadow pack. I think we can all agree that the Darkness has returned to the States and is once again putting the Gautiers in its crosshairs."

"Papa, how do we know that? Couldn't it still be somewhere in the UK?" asked Rémy.

Skylar interrupted her father before he could answer. "We were able to identify the new host by watching some CCTV footage from a traffic accident outside of London a few weeks ago. This thing is intelligent. It created an oil fire during the accident, which hid its existence—unless you knew what to look for. We saw the new host as the Darkness possessed it." She shuddered. "Possession seems like too weak of a word to use. The takeover was violent and completely overwhelming for the person it chooses. Anyway, once we knew who to look for, we ran them through a facial recognition program Marissa Storm had created, got a name, and the rest was easy."

"That's one thing I don't understand," said Darby. "Why is it so fixated on us? Hasn't it learned there are easier targets? Jean Lafitte was the one who trapped it for more than two hundred years, and the last time it tried to make a run at us we sent it packing. It also knows we have Travis and Skylar."

"You answered the why for yourself. Whatever it is or was, and whatever it wanted to do originally, your ancestor stopped it from happening and put the Darkness on ice, so to speak, for more than two hundred years," Amy continued. "It manages finally to break free, and Skylar puts an end to its murderous rampage here in the Crescent City. Then it thinks it has freed itself by possessing Kat Steele and again the Gautiers put an end to its fun. It escapes to the United Kingdom and the next thing anyone knows, Travis and Skylar are again with those who force it to flee."

"In other words," said Rémy, "every time it turns around, someone from our family is ruining its plans."

"If I may," interrupted Branson. "I came across some interesting stories when I was trying to unravel fact from fantasy back in my undergrad days. There are a great many rumors about an evil presence that roamed Great Britain during the time of King Arthur. They say it descended from the North and that the Emperor Hadrian constructed a massive wall to try and keep what was then known as Britannia safe. But as we know, this thing has no issues with going straight through solid structures."

"I thought Hadrian built the wall to keep the barbarian hordes at bay," said Octavio.

Branson nodded. "He did, but there are writings that allude to something darker, something more sinister at play."

"What caught your interest about the stories?" asked Travis.

"As you know, I'm a wee bit obsessed with the legends of King Arthur."

"More than a bit," teased Renata.

"I am convinced he existed, as did most of the main characters in the tales of King Arthur and his knights."

"But what does that have to do with a monstrous black cloud?" asked Skylar.

"On the surface? Absolutely nothing. But ask yourself, why did it go to England? There are more hostile, violent, less progressive places on this earth that it could have fled to, but it chose England. It knew about wolves, and having possessed a Hunter, it knew that wolf-shifters are flourishing in the United Kingdom. It makes no sense for it to go there unless it was going back to a place it had flourished once before—a place where the Gautiers do not rule—hoping to have a better shot at regenerating."

"So you think it was a part of the truth behind Arthurian legend?" asked Rémy. "Kind of knocks the shit out of all the noble chivalry crap."

"And you would be an expert on noble crap," snarked Piper. Before her father could say something, Piper held up her hand. "Sorry about that. I'll try to keep my comments on point." Rémy reached for her hand and Piper snatched it away and growled low. "Keep away from me."

Not wanting to cause a scene or distress her further, Rémy sat back. "You think it fits in? With the legends?"

"I do," said Bran. "I'd always wondered why Merlin, who in every other way acted in the best interest of the kingdom, had suddenly helped Uther Pendragon to cross into the castle at Tintagel to rape and impregnate Igraine. Merlin was said to have had the gift of being able to see the future. I could never find a satisfactory answer as to why he would do what he did. Wouldn't he have seen all that would befall from that one act?"

"You think it was the Darkness?"

Bran nodded. "I do now. Most of the tales say they went under the cover of night and there was a dark mist. Besides, Uther was not known for being the most upstanding kind of guy."

"Just the kind of man the Darkness could possess and use to its advantage," said Rémy.

"Exactly. There are other places in the legend where having a dark mist at your power or at least in league with you would give you a decided advantage. Mordred would not have had a superior force to Arthur's and yet he is said to have mortally wounded his father at the Battle of Camlann. Some of the tales even say that his aunt, Morgan Le Fay, used the dark arts and a dark mist in support of Mordred."

"You think this thing is as old as the legends?" asked Piper.

"Older. I think the Darkness may be one of the elements that came together to form the earth as we know it."

"Thus the reason Mawmaw Chantal said we needed an elemental sorceress," said Rémy.