9. Remy

Chapter nine

Remy

With her foot firmly on the gas pedal, Remy sped down the road and left the enemy Lycans in the dust. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she sighed at seeing no one trailing after them. Lycans were definitely fast, but not so fast that they could outrun a car, so Remy stopped for a moment to thank the Moon Goddess for building them that way. Remy caught her father in the backseat while her eyes were still in the mirror, and her heart sank. Lykos was still in his Lycan form, and its black and gray coat was so soaked with blood that Remy’s concern rooted deeper inside her.

Lycans were tough. It was extremely hard to kill a Lycan without snapping their neck or ripping them apart so that their bodies couldn’t heal fast enough before they bled out. The one benefit of being a Lycan was the rapid healing. If a Lycan was in a pack, they could draw upon the power from the pack bonds to speed up the healing, especially Alphas. Now that Remy was in the pack bonds again, she waited for her father to draw on them to heal. Instead, her father was laid out in the backseat, his large form giving him very little room to move and his breathing ragged from the busted ribs.

Fuck, is he too hurt to heal?

The pack bonds are still a little wonky on our end. I can’t tell.

This is weird. Why are my pack bonds still messed up?

Pack magic was a tricky form sometimes. For some people, it could take a few hours longer to settle into them. It didn’t help that Remy was unique being a Meta Wolf. She had a different form of magic than any other Lycan in the kingdom that allowed her to become more of a wolf than the standard Lycan form. She had been told that the magic was more flexible and would enable the shift of a more wolfish form, making Lycan magic work differently for her. It was different when she was growing up, naturally added to the pack bonds when she was born.

Maybe it is due to the bond with Chase being stitched together before the pack bonds were.

That thought didn’t occur to her.

What if the bond with Chase was why the pack bonds haven’t settled? Wouldn’t another Alpha want to screw things up for another pack right now when they are fighting over territory lines?

The Howell family was one of the top families in the kingdom because of the produce and meat shipped out to the rest of the kingdom. The Great Plains pack was the top pack outside the Alpha King’s. Many had tried and failed to bring down the pack over the years, and it would be the perfect way to throw Lykos off his game.

But how would Chase anticipate that I would be his mate to do that?

That was the question that foiled her whole theory. There is no way to anticipate who someone’s mate will be. Remy remembered that, once, someone told her a story about someone going to a witch to have their future read to them. Some Seers had that kind of ability, and some were able to answer specific questions if they were given the right ingredients. Mainly blood. That person asked the Seer who their mate would be, and their reading was inaccurate. The Seer told them they would meet their mate when they were twenty-three, and he would be the pack’s Alpha. Their mate was not the Alpha. Not even the top ten wolves in the pack. This only showed Remy that it was hogwash to be able to predict the Moon Goddess’s plan for anyone.

Lykos groaned in the backseat. Remy looked in the rearview mirror to find Lykos’s Lycan form still struggling to heal. He was trying to situate himself to be more comfortable and must have aggravated his ribs. She could see him panting as his Lycan whined at her. Blood was all over the fabric of the backseat, and it was slowly trickling from his wounds. If she didn’t get him home soon, she would lose him.

With the hope that her voice would soothe him, she said, "My foot can’t press any further on this gas pedal. I’m going as fast as I can. Hold on, Dad. I’ll take you home and to the pack healer."

Remy wasn’t the type to pray to their goddess often, but now seemed like a great time to send up a Hail Mary to give her father a better chance of surviving. Moon Goddess doesn’t take my father away from me. I need him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The squealing tires must have gotten those inside the packhouse’s attention because Tala and Bryan were ripping the car doors open before the car even stopped. Tala’s screams were frantic as she assessed her mate being pulled from the vehicle. Now that they were back in their territory, the pack bonds seemed to work better, and Remy could feel her father pulling on them to start the healing process. Bryan growled as he smelled the wounds for infections. Remy already knew there weren’t any, thank the Goddess, but he was going to be more coherent than her or her mother with Lykos slowly dying as they carried him toward the infirmary. Bryan talked soothingly to Lykos, telling him that he would need to carry him over his shoulder in that form to get him there. Lykos whined in response, which was a more positive response than Remy expected. Bryan hoisted her father over his shoulder and dashed across the land toward the small building beside the building she was housed in. With a pack the size of the Great Plains, they needed their own hospital. Tala was trailing after Bryan to be beside her mate.

The sudden drop in energy from seeing her father in capable hands had Remy falling to the ground and leaning herself on the car to keep her steady. She could feel her body shaking, and she found herself thinking about the attack they had both just lived through. Whoever coordinated the attack must have been trailing their car to be able to descend on them while they were sitting on the side of the road. They followed them and waited for them to either get out of the car or sit long enough to rush in. Neither Remy nor her father could catch their scent since they were inside the car with the wind blowing around them and not in the vehicle. Neither of them expected to have a small pack of Lycans ambush them when they were inside a car. Remy didn’t think to scan the woods around them while traveling along the road, either to ensure that no one was running alongside the car in the tree line or trying to find a perfect moment to attack them.

I won’t make that mistake again.

With little energy, and no inkling of when it would return to her, Remy sat on the ground for what seemed like forever. The sun hung low in the sky, and Remy’s stomach gurgled loud enough to compete with her Lycan. After shifting back and forth briefly, Remy needed food to bring her energy back up. The tiny clumps of dirt and rocks from the ground dug into her mostly-naked butt; clearly, she also needed some clothes. The downside of being a Lycan was that, when she shifted, her clothes were ripped to pieces. She was only thankful that she changed into more "proper" clothing to meet other alphas. She tried to argue, but Lykos wasn’t having it. The black button-up shirt and black slacks were torn, and they were not her favorite leather jacket that Azulia had made for her. Lykos also didn’t budge on her wearing her boots, so she had a pair of low heels from her mom instead. Remy tried to reach her feet, but her legs didn’t want to move.

Then, a sudden rush of warmth spread through her veins, and she could feel the bond between her and Chase heat up inside her chest. Her lost energy was replenished, and his scent wrapped around her like a blanket. Remy looked around to see if his handsome self was near her, but she didn’t find him. Silver Ridge was at least one hundred miles away from the Great Plains. Mate bonds weren’t supposed to be this active with that distance between them, especially with it not being completed. It was the same with pack bonds. How this was possible was now on her laundry list of questions she wished she could have answers to since Kaida was dropped off on the beach.

Who knew a dragon would cause this much trouble?

Remy breathed in Chase’s scent and relaxed a little, knowing he was trying to comfort her. Knowing that he could still feel her and send her strength in her time of need made things a little easier. This was what her parents told her having a Fated Mate would be like, and it was enlightening to see Chase be that kind of mate for her. How he dared her into their little shared moment that night made her think he would be a handful.

Well, the jury is still out on that one.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The pack bonds settled sometime while Remy was in the shower, and the rhythmic hum of her father’s heart gave her the relief she needed to relax. It wasn’t long after that Remy had the bright fluorescent lights of the infirmary making her eyes twitch. With the enhanced sight the Goddess gifted the Lycans, she didn’t understand why it was used. Something about its brightness guaranteeing visibility for the wounds while the doctors worked was the bullshit they tried to feed her. Bryan once told her it was cheaper, and she believed that theory more.

The scents of infection and death overwhelmed her nose, and Remy had to sneeze to clear her nose. Lykos drew energy from the pack, allowing her to follow the chord to his room. With Lykos being the Alpha, he had the suite on the top floor to ensure privacy. It was best to do it that way. If an Alpha showed signs of weakness or were too injured to take care of the pack, someone would kill him to ensure the prosperity of the pack. The pack doctor would know this and put him in the suite with a guard outside so no one would take advantage of Lykos being on the brink of death and move to take the Alpha position. As far as she knew, Bryan would be stationed outside the room since he was the Beta and Lykos’s right-hand man. Having no interest in taking the Alpha position, he was heavily trusted and would make the best decisions for the pack. After she walked down the long hallway and up three flights of stairs, she stood in front of the door, proving that her thought pattern was accurate. Bryan was outside of the door.

"How is he?" Remy demanded.

Bryan remained stoic as he bent his head down to look at her. "Better than when you first brought him in, though the doctor wasn’t sure he wouldn’t make it. What the hell happened to you two?"

Remy’s lips tightened together. "I am still trying to understand it all myself. They came out of nowhere, Bryan. We pulled over to discuss some things, and they were on us. That would mean they were tailing our car from a distance. They were waiting for the right time to swoop in to catch us off guard."

"Great," he said with a sigh and leaned his head back on the wall. "He feared something like that would happen."

Remy cocked her eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

"Your father should answer that. None of us are allowed to explain things to you unless he can. As far as I know, he is awake, so make him fill you in."

Remy nodded at him, patted his arm as she walked to the door, and pushed it open. Her mother sat in a chair beside the bed, her head resting on her father’s hand. Lykos was on his back in a hospital bed in his human form. It was a good sign that he was able to shift back. It meant he could heal properly and be as good as new in a day or two.

Lykos opened his eyes and lifted his head when Remy closed the door behind her. He gave her a weak smile and motioned for her to sit on his other side. Remy walked over, pulled up a chair, and sat down. Lykos held out his hand to her, and Remy took it.

"I’m not dead, Rem. Don’t start mourning me, yet."

Remy chortled at him. "Who was mourning? I was just terrified I’d have to run the pack."

Lykos tried to laugh but cut himself off, and Remy noticed him wincing. His ribs had not healed yet, and it was hurting him. "I thought I was heading toward the light there for a second."

"Well, Old Man, it looks like the Goddess still has a purpose for you."

Lykos frowned. "That isn’t something to celebrate these days."

Remy was stunned to hear Lykos say such a thing. Growing up, she was never to say something negative about the Goddess’s plans. The Goddess did everything for a reason, and no one was to question Her. If Lykos was questioning his path, something was truly bothering him.

"What’s going on, Dad? How did those wolves ambush us? Why did they ambush us?"

Lykos leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Laughing must have caused him more pain than he was letting on. She could see him trying to control his labored breathing and peered down at her mother to ensure he wasn’t causing her to wake up. "A lot has happened. Things haven’t been easy, as I told you earlier. I was hoping that, with your return, we could find a way to fix this mess together."

Remy growled. "What does that mean?"

Her growl woke Tala, and Remy could see she was a little disoriented. Her mother blinked for a moment and then stared up at Lykos. Words passed between them with just a look. A mark of a true pairing. They were most likely talking through their bond, meaning Remy wasn’t privy to the conversation. She hated it when her parents would do that. It meant she was being left out of information, and she despised not having the whole story.

"Yo, I’m still here! Mind clueing me in?"

Tala narrowed her eyes at her. "Hush, Remy. I told him how keeping you out of the loop for so long was wrong. We should have sent you letters to explain what was happening. This was your pack regardless of having a mate reject you and send you to that island."

"Then explain it to me now!" Remy demanded, getting more frustrated with the continued lack of information.

Lykos sighed and nodded at Tala. Her mother looked back at her and gave her a pained look. "This isn’t the first attack we have experienced. Lycans are not happy with their territories anymore, which you know. Many packs are so angry that they resort to the Old Ways to get things to happen for them."

Remy widened her eyes. "As in-"

"As in Raid, Ravage, Reclaim," her mother interrupted. "They are raiding the borders of territories, ravaging anyone who stands in their way, and reclaiming the land they feel was theirs in the first place."

This was not good. The Old Ways were banished long ago due to the number of deaths in the kingdom. Because of the death count, Lycans were beginning to go extinct. That is why territory lines were drawn in the first place. If Lycans were fighting for land in this manner, things would get very bloody inside the kingdom.

"What is Fenry doing about it?"

Tala’s mouth tightened as she sighed. "Nothing. He has been trying to keep his own territory safe. People are breaking their bonds with him, weakening his power, and trying to attack to take over."

"What?" Remy snarled. "How is he surviving?"

"Barely. He is barely surviving. All of his energy has gone into keeping his territory and family safe. He can’t help us."

Lykos adjusted, groaned, and then looked at Remy. "We are glad you are home because that added to my power. You are an Alpha yourself, and your power has helped the pack bonds become stronger. We needed that before the next attack to keep our territory safe."

"How many attacks?"

"Two so far," Tala answered.

I really don’t like that ‘so far’…

Lykos winced as he moved and groaned again. Tala helped with his pillow placement and got him situated. Remy thought about what they had told her some more. When Tala sat back down, she looked at Remy.

"What happened today was most likely to rid your father of his pack while he was away from it. Somehow, they knew that he was leaving today. If he is away from his pack, he can’t draw on their power as much."

"It’s allowing them to kill him and take over the pack," Remy finished. Maybe that’s why they chose now. I was in the car, too, the heir to the pack."

Lykos growled. "That’s what I thought, too. They knew you were home and that I would be stronger now because of it. So, if they kill us both, that will weaken the pack from the missing natural power."

"That also means we have a traitor in our midst," Remy deadpanned.

Tala and Lykos wouldn’t meet her eyes. That thought had occurred to them, too. Someone in the pack fed this information to whoever coordinated the attacks. No one outside the pack should have known they were leaving. The problem was they didn’t know who it could be. If they could smell lies, which she knew they could, this person was telling them the truth just enough to keep them safe from persecution.

"It wasn’t rogues that attacked, was it?"

Tala shook her head. "No. We haven’t been telling the pack much about this. We don’t want to scare them."

"It’s easier to state they are rogues. It helps keep the morale up within the pack. Rogues are always a problem. It is not always a problem that a pack is trying to take over—not since Fenry took over all those years ago."

No wonder Remy was pulled into the pack bonds so quickly. It would help boost the morale in the pack, knowing the heir had returned. It meant more stability if a rogue would happen to get the jump on her father. Remy’s power matched, if not beat, her father’s. If he were gone, the same power level, as usual, would still flow through the pack bonds. Lycans would become a disorganized mess if the pack power were disrupted. Lycans needed order and a hierarchy to keep their beasts in check. Upsetting that balance could make Lycans go berserk.

Oh, fuck me...that’s why this is happening—the Dark Dimension is here. They are affecting the packs and making the balance skew!