39. The Full Moon

Ichecked the time on my phone. After ten. Declan was partially right. I had lost track of time, but it wasn't because I was working. I'd instead been watching the light leave the sky as dread built. I put the gallery to rights for the night and then went into my studio to endure what was going to be one of the longest nights of my life.

As I had until recently spent most nights baking when I awoke from nightmares, I fell back on old habits to fill the time. Mind too scattered to concentrate, I went simple and made brownies, what I'd offered him on the day we'd met.

I took the brownies out to cool and was starting on the cinnamon rolls I'd promised him when a thought occurred to me. I ran out onto the deck, yanking off my gloves. Pulling up a fountain of seawater, I ran my hands through it, fortifying my magic and washing off Declan's nulling effects before jogging up the stairs to the loft and lying down on the bed. Breathing deeply, centering my magic with a prayer to the Goddess, I placed a bare, wet hand on his pillow. Show me Declan.

I was in the cab of his truck as he turned off a gravel road onto an even narrower one. When the trees opened, he was driving onto the pack grounds I'd seen in a vision. There was a huge meadow ringed with towering pines, rising into the mountains. Two dozen wolves paced in the center, growling and snapping at one another.

Declan parked, turned off the engine, and sat, readying himself. He took a pair of my green gloves out of his shirt pocket and breathed in my scent. Placing them on the passenger seat, he stepped out and began to undress. Howls rent the air as some wolves pawed at the ground, eager for the violence to begin.

He placed his belongings in the truck, shut the door, and walked naked across the meadow. A couple wolves couldn't control themselves and came racing toward him. He continued forward, unconcerned. When one came too close, Declan stopped, his wolf gold eyes boring into the other, whose legs buckled before he turned tail and ran back to the pack.

He was glorious and I, like the rest of the wolves, couldn't take my eyes off him. Something, though, was niggling at me. I wanted to watch Declan, but something was pulling my attention into the woods.

The compulsion was too strong, as though the Goddess Herself was directing me. I scanned the surrounding woods, looking for the threat.

There. A flash of metal in the moonlight. My consciousness went straight there and found Logan standing naked in the trees, looking up at a high branch where another man was perched, arms braced, a rifle in his hands.

"Keep him in your sights. As soon as it starts, take him out. Everyone will be too amped up to notice. I'll get out of the way and they can tear him apart."

"Yes, boss," the man said, Declan even now lined up in his scope.

"And be careful. Don't fucking hit me."

"No, boss."

Logan got down on his hands and knees and began to shift. It was a lengthy and painful process. Declan, a Quinn, was a born wolf. He could shift with a thought. For other, bitten wolves, it took some minutes. As Logan was the Alpha and it was a full moon, he was able to speed the process. Logan shook out his fur and then put a paw into a bowl of liquid. All four paws took a turn in the bowl, and my stomach sank even lower. He'd planned more than a sniper. I didn't know for sure, but I was guessing there was now poison on Logan's claws.

Declan stood outside the white chalk ring, waiting for Logan. The rest of the pack kept their distance, pacing between the far side of the ring and the trees.

"Big Sur Pack." Declan's voice boomed across the meadow. "I have come to challenge your Alpha. I would have lived peacefully in your backyard, but I wasn't given that option. If my only choices are leave or fight, then I fight."

Focusing all my attention on the sniper in the trees, I kept one hand on the pillow, needing to maintain the link, and circled the fingers of my other hand, building a spell strong enough to travel far from me.

"Please, Goddess," I whispered. "Please."

I flicked my fingers to jam the rifle. I didn't feel the snap I normally did when I knew my spell had landed. It hadn't worked. No, no, no. Declan was going to die by gunshot or poison while I watched, unable to do anything.

I was desperately readying another spell when I finally felt the snap. Sobbing out a breath, I tried to calm myself. I'd never set a spell from so far away. The distance must have caused a delay, meaning my magic would be useless in the fight, my spells arriving too late. Declan was going to get what he wanted. I wouldn't be able to help.

As Logan stalked out of the trees, Declan shifted to his wolf and stepped into the ring. The rest of the wolves raced around to close the circle.

I built another spell to neutralize the poison, sending it hurling across the mountains.

Logan shot forward but Declan didn't move. Waiting. A shot went off and then a crash in the woods, causing the ring of wolves to jump and bark, some howling, all agitated and searching for the source of the sound. Logan paused a few feet from Declan, no doubt expecting him to crumple to the ground. Instead, Declan sprang, taking Logan down, his jaws clamped tightly around Logan's neck as he shook him fiercely from side to side.

Logan's claws ripped into Declan, but still he held on, crushing Logan's neck. I felt the spell's snap too late to stop the poison from running through Declan's blood. I wasn't a healer, but I spun another spell, this one to pull the poison from Declan. Panicking, trying to build it as quickly as possible, I feared I'd screw it up and cause more harm than good. Praying, I flicked my fingers.

When Logan whined, two wolves jumped into the ring, causing chaos. They knew only the Alpha and the challenger could enter the ring, but more and more danced on the edge, putting a paw in and then stepping out.

The wolf in them wanted to save their Alpha and kill the intruder, but the men knew a fair fight was law. Declan had to let Logan loose, as he now had three to fight. Logan moved back, limping, the scent of blood heavy on him. The other two protected him, keeping themselves between Declan and Logan. They made moves to attack but didn't want to leave their Alpha unprotected.

Declan lurched to the side, almost losing his paws beneath him. I felt the snap and then saw him shake his fur. Body convulsing, he vomited up something black. The two wolves saw weakness and leapt, driving Declan to the ground and tearing into him.

Declan reared back, shaking them off. He snapped his jaws around the neck of one and heaved him out of the ring. The other closed back in on him. I worried that Logan would join in and overpower Declan, but he must have been too hurt to move.

When the wolf leapt, Declan slashed his razor-sharp claws down his opponent's side before tossing him out of the ring as well. Declan could have gutted him, could have killed the first one, but he was holding back, showing mercy, something the pack didn't seem familiar with.

The bloodshed excited the wolves pacing around the outside of the ring, prompting three more to cross the line and join the fight. Four against one.

The three moved in, circling Declan, trying to keep him from their wounded Alpha. Heads down, snarling, they each dove at him, biting and swiping his shoulder and flank with their claws. Declan howled and the wolves cringed away before shaking off his influence and moving back in.

Declan stilled, seeming to reassess. The wolves outside the ring were losing control, snapping and lunging at each other. The dead sniper had been found and dragged out into the open. A mournful howl went up, followed by others. The presence of a dead body, even one they knew, was sending them over the edge.

A fight broke out at the far side of the ring, with others quickly joining in. Attention moved from the Alpha fight in the ring to the larger brawl outside it. Declan, though, kept his focus on Logan.

Logan's three defenders were distracted by the other fight, their heads swinging back and forth. Declan wasn't moving, so the howls, barks and whines drew them. One shot off to join the other fight; the other two remained but were torn. Declan leapt over the top of them, landing beside Logan, who sprang to his paws and backed away, clearly not as wounded as he'd been feigning.

Instead of fighting his own Alpha challenge, he was letting others do the dirty work, and his wolves saw it, saw the strength in his stance, heard the steadiness of his breathing.

The two who had been circling moved back, leaving the ring. Others, at the periphery of the brawl, moved back to the line, seeming to understand what had happened. No longer were his wolves pawing at the ground, desperate to defend their Alpha. The group had gone quiet, shamed by their Alpha's cowardice.

Declan shifted to human and lunged for Logan, picking him up in his powerful arms, muscles bunching, and crushed Logan's ribs. He fought, snapping at Declan, clawing at him, scraping his claws up Declan's jaw, opening a deep wound, but Declan squeezed tighter.

The snap of bones breaking echoed across the field. All the combatants had come back to the ring to watch the Quinn crush their Alpha. When Logan finally went limp, Declan grabbed him by his muzzle and, using his razor-sharp claws, ripped through his neck, decapitating him.

Spattered with blood, fur, and dirt, he lifted his head, howling his victory to the moon, and the pack dropped to their bellies. Declan walked around the ring, staring down each and every wolf. The message was clear, even to me. He would take on all comers. No one moved.

"I am the Quinn, the Origin, the rightful Alpha of this pack."

The wolves rose, barking, yipping, and howling for their new Alpha.

"This is not a social club. We are wolves." He pounded his chest and the pack sounded off again. "We will work together. We will train together. We will help one another. Pack is family." More barks and howls. "If you want to stay in this pack, you will return here in three days. We will meet and we will train. I don't care how things used to be done. This is our way now."

He looked over his wolves again. "Tonight, the moon sings to us and we will answer. We will hunt as a pack." He lifted his nose to the wind. "Deer."

Shifting to his wolf, he howled again, and the pack joined him. When it quieted, he tore off across the meadow with the entire pack following him, ready to bring down the first deer of the night.

I left then. It was okay. I felt a harmony in the pack. They recognized him as Alpha and were following him. This was private wolf business, so I left them to it. I went back downstairs to put away the cinnamon roll ingredients so I could instead bake a celebratory cake and wait for my man, Monterey's new Alpha.