Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Alexis

It wasn’t a comfortable ride as Vince drove the car to the apartment building where Maliha lived. My escorts included the two wolves from the pack who had helped us, Morgan and John, making that battered-up Mitsubishi Lancer a very confined space with no room to breathe. As for Maliha, she was knocked out cold in the back of the car with her head in my lap. I could not wait to get out.

While the car took us to the flats, I tried to come up with a speech that I’d deliver to Maliha the moment she woke up. She had been through a lot and had seen just as much, not to mention watching her friend shift from a wolf right before her eyes. Things like that stayed with a person for the rest of her life. Knowing what I knew about my best friend, I understood that she would not take this sort of thing lightly. First, she would be mad at me for keeping such a big secret from her all this time. This would make her feel as if she was betrayed, kept out of the loop, and untrusted. Secondly, she’d fail to see how this didn’t link with some conspiracies out there. This would make her go crazy.

She’d end up thinking in tangents such as “If werewolves are real, then vampires are real, and if vampires and werewolves are real, then the Big Foot is real, and the aliens are real…” and so forth. She’d have to be admitted to the trauma ward in a mental hospital. There had to be some way I could break the news to her without compromising her mental health.

“Alexis, we’re there,” Vincent said. It was very rare that he called me by my first name. He was always calling me Lexie or Alex or something like that. This must mean that he was in a very grave mood.

“What’s up with you?” I asked as I got out of the car. Morgan and John helped me get Maliha out of the car. Morgan held her in his arms. She was still unconscious.

“Just this realization that we’re never going to be out of danger,” Vincent said. “I’m tired of all of this. Aren’t you? Isn’t it about damn time that we had some peace? First, the vampires, now the soldiers. And have you seen what the soldiers have done? Just a single one of them was able to break down one of our strongest walls as if it was made of play dough. Aren’t you a little bit scared?”

“Being scared is not one of my strongest suits. I’ve learned the hard way that being scared is just a synonym for being unprepared. I was always telling everyone that we should not let our guard down because there was something yet still out there. And there was. These soldiers. At least now the entire pack knows. What we can do instead of being scared is to look to Will for his leadership and arm ourselves so that when the soldiers come—and they will come, mark my words—we’ll be able to hold our own against them,” I said. It was odd that I was feeling this resolute after my brush with those soldiers.

Deep in the sea, there was a certain type of fish that thrived under pressure. They dwelled deep below the surface, never seeing any light and never coming in contact with the reefs and the shallower part of the sea. All they ever did was thrive under pressure. When they were forcefully taken out of that pressurized zone, they died because their bodies had adapted to such brute force being pushed down on them at all times.

Perhaps I was like those fish. Whenever there was no stress or pressure around me, I felt like my life was spiraling out of control. I’d get symptoms that would resemble PTSD or some other mental malady. But now, when such pressure was being applied, I felt normal. As if this was supposed to happen and I was just supposed to deal with it.

It was a disturbing thought but one that had crossed my mind many times. What if I was not suited to peacetime? What if my domain was the domain of war, battles, and uncertainty? If that was indeed the case, then I’d have to say goodbye to that distant utopian life that I’d thought I’d one day have with Will. A life where we’d have a family, a house, some boring white-collar job that he’d go to, and me being the traditional housewife.

Maybe that would never be my fate.

“You best hurry up. She’s waking up, and she’ll be wanting some answers quick,” Morgan said, nudging his head at Maliha, who was shaking in his arms and wincing in her state of unconsciousness.

I lifted her in my arms and took her inside the building. By the time we reached her floor, Maliha had woken up and was acting hysterically.

“Let me go! I don’t trust you! Who are you?” she yelled as I dragged her against her will into her apartment.

“Would you calm down, for fuck’s sake? I’m trying to help you,” I said and sat her down on her sofa.

“You!” Maliha lifted her finger blamefully. “You’re a bad friend. A liar.”

“A bad friend, a liar who just saved your life,” I said. It was not beneath me to play the hero card, and in this case, I did have to so that she’d realize that I wasn’t her enemy and that she was alive because of me.

“Fair enough, but don’t think I’ve recovered mentally, emotionally, or spiritually from the shit that I’ve just seen,” Maliha snapped, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “I saw you shift. You were a wolf one second ago, and then you were a human. And you killed that soldier with your teeth. You bit his entire head off!”

“Again, I saved your life, so you’re welcome,” I said.

“What are you talking about? It was only because of you that my life was in danger in the first place!”

I didn’t know what to say to her. She was agitated and not in her right senses. I wouldn’t blame her. Given what she had been through, anyone would be rattled. Truth be told, she was processing it better than most.

“Do you want an explanation or not?” I asked calmly.

“First, I want ten shots of tequila and a rum and coke chaser to go with them,” Maliha said. “And then I want an explanation, not for how you can turn into a wolf and back, but for why you never told me. I thought we were besties.”

“And we are. We still are. It’s nothing like that. Imagine it from my perspective, will you? I’m a werewolf, and I belong to a pack of werewolves, all of whom have been sworn to secrecy to hide the ways of supernatural creatures from normal human beings. It’s an oath as old as time. That’s why your kind never sees dragons flying about in the air or fairies in the prairies. There’s a fine line that separates our worlds, the very same line that makes sure that when you sleep at night, you don’t have to worry about vampires. It’s a whole world out there, a world filled with fantastical creatures.”

Maliha’s eyes had gone wide, even though I knew for a fact that alcohol had the opposite effect on her. “Ghouls are real?”

“Ghouls are real. And sprites too.”

“Just to be clear. You’re talking about sprites and not spirits. They’re different things,” Maliha clarified.

“Yes, sprites, spirits, they’re both real too. Vampires as well. All those folk tales that you used to hear growing up they’re all true. The world does have unicorns and magic. There are leprechauns and dwarves out there somewhere too. Probably,” I said, feeling overwhelmed by just telling her all this and wondering if she’d be able to keep this secret.

“That thing you said about trying to see things from your perspective, I get it. I’d have a hard time trusting anyone with this. I am glad you trusted me,” she said.

“Is this you or the booze talking?”

“Shut up, silly. It’s me talking. I wasn’t really mad or anything. I was just jittery from my life being in danger,” she said. “So, what else can you do? Are you like one of those classic wolves are shown in the movies? Are you weak to silver? Can you only turn on the full moon? Do you go crazy with bloodlust when you’re shifted into your wolf form?”

“Some of those are stereotypes, but yes, we’re somewhat weak to silver. Other than that, it’s all hogwash. But the moon does grant us some strength. We can shift pretty much as we want,” I said.

“Would you shift now, for me, please?” her eyes were as round as quarters as she asked this.

To placate her, I shifted in her room, filling up most of the space.

“Holy Mary, mother of Jesus!” Maliha gasped. Once the shock wore off, she came near me and patted me on the head. “Can you make sense of what I’m saying?”

I nodded in response.

“That’s so fucking cool!”

I promptly shifted back, seeing as I had my work cut out for me. “I figure I owe you an explanation, and so I’ll give you one,” I said. And then, I unpacked everything that had ever happened to me, starting with Will’s journey from Germany to my parents dying and ending with me rescuing Maliha today.

It took me a total of two hours to tell her everything.

***

“So how did she take it? You were there for quite a while,” Will asked, pouring himself some whiskey. He poured me one as well and handed me the glass. It was strange for me to see how disaffected he was by what had just happened. I wondered why he was being so calm about all this.

“Well, I told her everything, then made her swear that she’d never tell anyone anything and then explained to her why we needed her help. She’s in. She’s going to help us from now on,” I said somewhat happily. A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders now that I knew that my best friend was in on my secret.

“I’m glad,” Will said, then gulped his whiskey down in one. “We’re tending to the wall right now. I told the pack to reinforce it with lead.”

“Lead, iron, silver, what does it matter? They’re just going to break in again whenever they want to,” I said.

“I don’t believe that’s true,” Will said. “They must have learned that attacking us on our home front will only result in countless casualties for them. Last I checked, we’re still on the winning side. Sixteen we killed earlier, and ten we killed later on. That’s twenty-six dead soldiers.”

“In the face of an army, twenty-six is barely a number. Didn’t you hear what they were saying? They have an army at their disposal. An army, Will! That’s hundreds of soldiers. How are we going to take on so many of them at once?” I slammed my glass down on the coffee table. Alcohol was the last thing I needed right now. I wanted my head to be as clear as it could be to process everything that was happening around me.

“Haven’t we faced worse odds?” Will asked quietly.

“And look what happened! Once, you got almost killed, and I fell off a building. The second time, I got kidnapped and was held captive by Maurice. The third time, our entire town was about to be blown to the heavens with bombs! If it weren’t for me taking all those bombs out to sea, we’d have all been dead. Not to mention you lost your brother. The fourth time, we were quietly and calmly asleep when all the vampires attacked us at once. Have we taken it upon ourselves to come into the crosshairs of danger and recklessness every chance we get? Why can’t we do something else?” I was exhausted, not out of any physical exertion but because it was so difficult right now to make Will see where I was coming from.

“And what is it that you suggest we do? Abandon ship? Run for greener pastures? Stop fighting and surrender?” Will’s voice was raised.

“In another life, if things had been somewhat more normal, I would have loved to run away with you, but I know we cannot do that. The pack needs our help, and we must be there for them. I understand that. But for how long will we keep dragging the pack with us? How many times will it anchor us and be used as an excuse not to leave this godforsaken piece of land?” Tempers were running high, especially my own, but if I didn’t have this confrontation with Will right now, I’d never get the chance to do so. We had to air our dirty laundry right now, even though we might end up hurting each other.

“As long as I am the Alpha, I cannot leave the pack. You, of all people, should know better. You’re my fated mate. We’re bound to each other. Aren’t all these thoughts pretty much intuitive to you by now? Can’t you see what I’m thinking?”

“And can’t you see what I’m going through, then? If we’re fated mates, you should be able to sense that your mate is in mental anguish, that every day I wake up, I have to relive all my traumas over and over again, all those haunting memories of everything that has ever gone wrong in my life!” I didn’t want to scream, and I didn’t, but my voice had raised itself to match his, and I was certain that if it went just a decibel higher, it would devolve into a scream.

Will took a deep breath and then stood up, his hands on his waist, his face furrowed into a frown. “What would you have me do?”

“I would have you pass the baton to the next person in line to be Alpha and come with me so that we can start our lives together. Away from all this madness and danger and desolation,” I said. This time, my voice was soft and slow.

“Lexie,” Will said, then held my hands, “what are we going to do about the soldiers? Leave the pack to fend for themselves? Blair is the sort of person who makes good on his promises. He’s going to hunt both of us down just for revenge. Not to mention all the people who live in Fiddler’s Green, their lives would be in constant jeopardy.”

It was hard to argue with him when he was making such a strong and valid point, but this was not about valid points and strong arguments. This was about him validating my feelings and understanding what I was going through.

“I do understand what you’re going through,” Will said, smiling warmly at me. “And, if you, please bear with me, once this Blair dilemma has resolved itself, I promise you that we will fulfill your dream. It’s not just your dream. It’s ours.”

“Really?” I asked, holding his face in my hands and pulling him closer to me.

“I promise, baby,” Will said, then kissed me on my lips. There was a certain power to kissing after a quarrel. It was like reconnecting on a spiritual level and rediscovering my partner in a new light entirely. His lips felt suppler, his tongue smooth and wet. The way he sucked on my mouth as he held me in his arms made me feel turned on, and there I stood, wrapped in his arms, forgetting why we’d just squabbled with each other.

As he kissed me, all my worries dissolved. I kissed his cheek, then planted my lips on his neck to give him one heck of a hickey. He put his firm hands on my butt and squeezed, making me hornier. We’d crossed the borders of kiss-and-makeup territory and were stepping into makeup-sex land, where all things were solvable by lovemaking and orgasming together.

I nudged his hand between my thighs just as I grabbed the outline of his cock over his jeans.

But before we could make good on our foreplay’s promise of sex, there was a knock on the door. This was a strange knock that rapped five times at the door with a certain harshness to it. Almost businesslike.

“Who is it at this hour?” Will sighed as he headed to the door. “Don’t you go anywhere. I’m coming back to finish what we’ve started.”

He winked at me as he went to the door, causing me to blush in anticipation. I stood there as decently as possible in the living room, watching from behind him as he opened the door.

A gentleman holding a grey cane, wearing a deep purple suit, and sporting a long blonde ponytail stood at the door, his eyes shining blue, his jawline sharp and angular.

“Good day, Wilhelm Grimm. Good day, Alexis Richards. I come to you on behalf of the Clandestine Order to deliver you these summonses for your appearance in the Clandestine Court for the crimes that have been committed in Fiddler’s Green pertaining to the safety and harmony of the supernatural beings who reside in the vicinity,” this man stated in a strange accent.

“The Clandestine Order?” I asked Will.

He turned around and looked at me, an expression of shock on his face, and then shook his head dejectedly.