24. Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-three

What the hell? Rome caught Amelia before she banged her head on his desk.

“You don’t want to do that, mate.” He fought with his wolf to keep from shifting. “Start from the beginning.”

“When Brittany came, she got in good with a couple of the pack’s females, and then she told them she was an oracle for the goddess.”

“What goddess?” Amelia asked.

Leif’s eyes widened to the point they could have fallen out before he shrugged his shoulders.

“At first, we thought it was Goddess Luna. Who else could it be?”

“At first?” Rome said.

“Then two days ago, she thought I was asleep, and she was mumbling to herself as she slipped out of the bed. She was talking about meetings and then said something about the goddess of the Black Night. You don’t think she’s an oracle for her, do you?” His eyes were filled with fear, the pupils becoming a deeper blue color as they tried to shift into brown, the color of his wolf.

“Why are you sleeping with her?” Amelia growled. She knew it was pertinent to the conversation, but something wasn’t sitting well with her. Brittany seduced the head enforcer. How? Was he that desperate to get laid? Did he see her as an uncommon beauty?

Leif gawked but said nothing. “I’ll take you love her, or it’s a case of lust where you tear each other’s clothes off. Give me something.”

“I don’t think I like her, alpha-mate.” The room was silent; she couldn’t hear anyone breathing.

“Explain yourself. You allowed a teen wolf to stay in a cabin that we condemned and was scheduled for demolition. Then you took up with a woman who was poisoning you against the pack. You condoned the pack treating this young wolf as if he were worthless. Something on the bottom of their paws to be scraped off. Why didn’t you come to me?” Rome asked. His voice was steady as he stared at his enforcer. The feeling of being betrayed was stark, but he didn’t believe his enforcer was the cause.

Leif’s shoulders shook as his throat worked to get air; the palms of his hands were bloody from his nails digging into them. “Because I couldn’t,” he screamed before he fell from the chair. His body shook and a white foam came from his lips.

“Compulsion,” Amelia said. She jumped across the table and slid next to him. “Move back against the windows.” Her order came out with a scream, there wasn’t time to explain.

“Leif on a tree strong and proud, Leif gliding on the wind as is your right. Listen to me now and follow me to the light. The compulsion placed on you has no hold on a majestic Leif swirling in the wind giving the goddess Luna homage, bathed in her light.” She placed her hand on his chest. “Feel the grace of the goddess racing through your chest, chasing the compulsion until it’s no longer there. Breathe easily and think for yourself. The nightmare you’ve lived is over, breathe for me, Leif.” The last words were soft, but there was a thread of steel entwined with them. Leif sat up and took a deep breath before he started throwing up a black foul substance.

Amelia fell to the floor. Rome was there to pick her up. He cradled her in his arms, trying to understand what had just happened.

She raised a trembling hand to his cheek as she nuzzled into his warm embrace. “This isn’t my talent, it belongs to my cousin, but she would teach me when we were bored. It’s draining, but I’ll be fine.” She closed her eyes and went to sleep in his arms.

Rome took her to the couch and grabbed a throw he kept there for decoration.

“What is happening with my pack, our pack?” Rome had moments when he thought of this as his pack. One big happy family, but the pack belonged to his brothers as much as it did to him.

“I’ve been waiting for this and if you’re honest with yourself, Alpha, you’ve been waiting for it too. The goddess of the Dark Night hasn’t shown up in one hundred or maybe seventy-five years. I never trusted that goddess,” Saul said.

“What are we going to do?” Theron asked.

“Can we throw Brittany out of the pack?”

“No,” Rome said. “We have nothing concrete to go on. When we break the tie with her, it will have to be with solid proof. We need to keep our pack whole and sending her out on her own won’t do it.”

“How do you think she put a compulsion on him?” Saul asked.

“I don’t think she’s the oracle for Black Night. I do think she entered into a deal with her. Dark Night enhanced her with different abilities to do her dirty work,” Rome said.

“How do you get to be a goddess if your heart is evil? I don’t get it,” Theron said.

“The humans have their angels and demons. I suspect each culture has a good and a bad goddess. We just happen to know both of them, and they both play a part in our lives.”

Saul cleaned up the mess Lief made and when he was ready, Saul helped him to his feet.

Leif’s legs trembled, making him fall into the chair. “Right after…” he stopped talking; his throat was dry, and it still burned. Theron got him a bottle of water.

Leif had been duped by Brittany, but so had the brothers. They approved her becoming part of the pack. She did her dirty work where they couldn’t see her, and then acted like an angel in front of them. Leif gave Saul a look of appreciation and then slowly drank the water.

“The day Randy came to me, your small pack had gone for a run in the woods. Brittany came by wanting to talk about the abomination and what he would do to the pack if you found out about him. I told her to leave. I didn’t have time for conspiracy theories; she sounded like she was human. She begged for a cup of tea first. I would have given anyone in the pack something to drink. I made two cups and then my phone rang. It was in the bedroom, and I excused myself. It was a dropped call. When I came back, she was contentedly drinking her tea, so I sipped from mine. I remember her telling me to drink it all. After that, things get kind of foggy. We were in bed, and I couldn’t remember who Malcolm was.”

“She added something to the tea that helped the compulsion to stick. Whatever it was, she fed you more than one dose; you almost died,” Saul said.

“I will kill her!” Leif tried to scream, but his throat was too damaged.

“We aren’t done. You glared at my mate and showed your teeth before howling. By the way, your teeth in this shifted form aren’t scary or dangerous.”

“Please forgive me, Alpha, and please ask the alpha-mate to forgive me.” Leif shook his head. “When I saw her, all I could hear was Brittany saying she was here to kill you. She’d be the downfall of our pack. She said to me right before you summoned me that the alpha-mate was working with the abomination to kill us all.”

Rome took it all in before meeting Leif’s eyes straight on. “I’m going to ask you to step down as head enforcer. One day you may hold that position again.”

“I willingly step down, Alpha. I ask for permission to visit my brother’s pack. I need some time away.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Clear it with your brother and his pack. I’ll send one of my brothers to make sure you get there safely.”

“I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”

“As long as you’re part of my pack, there is no inconvenience. Theron will be escorting you to your cabin and then back to the pack house, where you’ll be staying until you leave.”

“Thank you, Alpha.” Leif was unsteady as he walked out, but he was making it on his own.

Rome waited until they were out of hearing range. “I want a guard on him. Break it up into three shifts. Pick some of the candidates we were thinking of moving to the role of enforcer or protector. I don’t want to use anyone that might be compromised.”

“I’ll get started on that now. The alpha-mate?” Saul asked.

“I’ll take her to bed. Ask Sheela to bring us something later. I want her to rest for now.”

“I will.” Saul hesitated by the door. “Stay safe.”

“The same to you.” Rome picked up Amelia.

It had been a long time since they had felt the fury of Dark Night nipping at their heels. They’d grown complacent over the years. There were sightings of her creatures, but none stayed around long enough for them to capture. Could Amelia coming into his life be what kicked this off? What about the timing of Malcolm? He was going to tell Amelia when they were alone, but that young wolf had extraordinary power that came with a gift that would shock the wolf world if he lived long enough to develop it.

He took his mate to bed.

Brianna was pacing outside of pack lands. Close enough that she could run to them for safety or call the pack, but far enough away that no one would stumble onto her. Everything was going fine; she muttered to herself. Now everything was falling apart. It was the half-breed and alpha-mate’s faults. She didn’t like her. Any wolf who thought dying her hair white was the thing to do was silly. It did get the alpha’s attention. He mated her all over some white hair. If she knew that was what it took, she’d have dyed her hair white too.

She was blonde; he should have kissed her feet. Rome should have been excited that she would lower herself enough to sleep with someone like him. Brittany straightened when a figure walked out of the darkness.

“Goddess of the Black Night.” Brittany gave her a bow. Had the goddess come to finally reward her for the effort she put into causing chaos in the Hunter pack? One of her rewards was to be alpha-mate. That wouldn’t happen unless the goddess killed Amelia. She might miss her, but Amelia was always meant to die.

“Brittany.” When Dark Night said her name, nothing followed it, meaning that she was tired of waiting for Brittany to report. Why couldn’t she just ask for a report like a normal person?

“The alpha-mate roamed around the pack lands today, and she seemed to be drawn to the cabin the half-blood was staying in.” Her actions while discovering the cabin may have seemed accidental, but to Brittany it felt inevitable.

“She took him to the pack house. He’s not been seen since. The alpha brought several wolves in to talk too. I would say he was doubting his people just as you wanted. Have I finished playing my part?”

Brittany felt like it was time to be done schlepping around this small town. Her considerable talent in causing chaos could be used elsewhere. She’d be unstoppable with what she’d been promised.

“Do you think you earned a goddess’s blessings?” Dark Night looked at her, cutting her down with her eyes.

Brittany’s shoulders slumped as she felt her dreams crash and burn. It was too good to be true for a little nobody like her to live a powerful dream.

“However, there is something you can do. That will make up for the wreck you created.” Dark Night smiled, and it wasn’t a beautiful one.

Brittany ignored the smile. Her dream was almost hers, and that’s all she cared about. The others could burn for all she cared.

“What?”

“Come closer, child.” Brittany approached her. Dark Night whispered into her ear. Brittany’s smile grew devious with what she was hearing.