“Only because Thomas’s dad, Klaus, is a bigoted asshole who thinks girls shouldn’t be in power. He’ll get over it.”
“It’s not just that,” Grant said. “Klaus fought with your dad all the time about the direction of the pack.”
“So did my uncle. So did lots of people, including the chief and your parents,” she said. “Your parents hate me.”
“My parents don’t know you.” Grant turned his attention to Rain. “Klaus Weigl didn’t agree with Hans Burkhart on anything.”
“Only because his family was overthrown at the last culling in 1916,” Freddie snapped.
“No. Because he fundamentally disagreed with the direction of the pack.”
“My dad was a visionary. Klaus is a hateful bigot. And he’s trying to poison his son to be the same way. Your dad’s just like him. Have you been poisoned, too, Grant?”
“No.”
Knowing how Grant felt about Freddie, Rain almost felt sorry for the guy.
Freddie huffed and sped up. Outside the window, fields whizzed by in a blur as Rain’s thoughts did the same. He knew all major disputes resulted from a desire for more power. Money was power. Sex was power. Hans Burkhart and Gerald Loche were both dead as a result of someone’s quest for power. Who in the pack or coven would kill for money or sex? Thomas came to mind immediately. He wanted Freddie. Whoever had Freddie had power if she became Alpha. But then, there was this culling bullshit. Whoever displaced her from becoming Alpha had power. Probably not sexually motivated, which left money as the motive.
Rain shifted to face Freddie more. “Tell me about your dad’s plans for the pack that pissed people off.” He’d heard of Hans’s approach from Petra and Grant but wanted Freddie’s take on it.
“My dad wanted us to modernize. He proposed a new structure. Watchers would protect Weavers voluntarily in exchange for herbs and the charms used to control our inner wolves. We’d be liberated from coven control and breeding programs but would consult and pay the Weavers for services regarding breeding and power stabilization. We’d work together equally.” She shot a look over her shoulder at Grant then back at the road. “No more threats of kenneling and euthanasia. No more forced pairings or trading with other packs. No more phone taps or microchips. We’d handle it ourselves.”
“That sounds like something everyone in the pack would approve. Why was there opposition?”
“Because some people are closed-minded assholes.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Grant said. “Hans Burkhart’s plan, according to the elders on both sides, wasn’t in the best interest of the region. He wanted to close in and isolate the pack from the global community and make it self-sufficient, only producing what it needed to survive and stay just large enough to protect the local coven. Many elders disagreed and wanted economic growth.”
There it was. Less money meant less power. Somebody didn’t like that. The question was, who?
The lights at Haven were on when Freddie pulled into the gravel parking lot. Rain unclipped his seat belt. “So, who killed Hans, Gerald, and tried to kill Moth?”
Freddie turned off the engine as a group of people poured from the building holding flaming torches. “Probably the same person who’s about to try to kill me.”
Rain studied her face, flickering gold in the torchlight through the windshield, and knew two things for certain. He’d never felt this strongly for any person in his life and he’d do whatever it took to protect her. Someone wanted her dead, and they were about to find out it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Over my dead body, he vowed.
Forty
“I can’t believe you’re actually going to do this,” Freddie shouted at her pack through the open window before she even got out of the car.
There were some muted, surprised remarks from the three dozen or so people who had gathered around the Explorer at this point. Somehow, Rain thought the pack would be larger. That explained the need for new blood. Kurt and Thomas stood apart from the others and didn’t have torches. Rain didn’t see Merrick anywhere.
Freddie slammed the door of her car. “Who’s the challenger? Whose throat am I going to rip out?”
A shudder ran through Rain as glimpses of the black wolf flashed in his brain.
More people joined the group, which had grown to about fifty now, while yet more lit torches at a fire pit near the pavilion where humans had danced and drunk wine during business hours only short while ago, completely unaware that their hosts were not like them. Not at all.
“My son, Thomas, challenges Friederike Burkhart for the position of Alpha,” Klaus Weigl shouted from the far side of the circle.
“Thomas? Are you kidding me?” Freddie yelled back.
“So be it!” called someone.
“So be it,” replied the rest.
The crowd struck out toward the vineyard where Hans Burkhart had been murdered. Fire contorted in a macabre dance on the ends of the torches, flickering in time to their strides. Nobody else would have noticed it, probably, but Freddie’s fingers trembled as she rested her hand on the hood of her Explorer. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Thomas and Kurt, chins down, were the last to join the others. If they’d been in their wolf forms, their tails would have been tucked between their legs.
“That’s it? They can just spring this shit on you. No heads up or anything?” Rain joined her at the driver’s side of the car.
“Yep. That’s it,” Freddie said.
“Well, at least it won’t last long.” Grant slammed his door. “Thomas is no match for you.”
Rain looked up at the brilliant stars that sparkled like pinholes in an indigo piece of paper. A breeze rolled across the grapevines, rattling through the leaves—sounding like a snake ready to strike. Rain took a deep breath and shuddered again.
“You okay, Ryland?” Grant asked. “You look like someone just stepped on your grave.”
What the hell was he talking about?
Grant shrugged. “We say that when somebody shivers for no reason.”
Except he had a reason. This was the sky in his vision. Crisp. Distinctive. The person metaphorically stepping on his grave was himself.
Freddie struck out in the direction of the others. “If y’all are done with the chitchat, I’ve gotta go rip out my cousin’s throat now.”
“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” Grant asked.
She turned to face them. “I hope not, but it’s what he’ll have to do to me to get me to back down. He’s too hotheaded to be Alpha and is too deep into his dad’s ideology. I can’t let Klaus Weigl call the shots like this.” Her lips drew to a thin line, and she blinked rapidly. “I owe it to my dad to fight. To do whatever it takes to keep his dreams alive. Even if it means killing one of my best friends.” A tear breached her lid before she spun around and stomped through the gate to the vineyard.
For a moment, Rain found it hard to breathe. Freddie was in a horrible position with no way of winning, no matter the outcome. She either killed Thomas or died. As she moved in large strides through the row of vines, she looked confident, but he knew she was collapsing inside.
“I’m not allowed to witness this,” Grant said as she disappeared into the vineyard. “They’ll let you in because you’ve passed the first test. You’re not really human or Watcher.”
Rain could tell the guy was worried; he’d never seen him fidget before. As if Grant realized he was drumming his fingers on his leg, he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Keep her safe. I don’t trust any of this. Thomas would never challenge Freddie. He loves her. Damn, I hope she doesn’t have to kill him.” Then, he shook his head and wandered back to Freddie’s car and got in the driver’s seat. She must’ve left the keys, because he drove off in a cloud of dust from the gravel parking lot. Rain watched the cloud settle, realizing nothing else would be settled until Freddie was safe.
It must’ve been hard for Grant to leave like that. No way in hell could Rain have
driven away with Freddie in danger. For the first time, he wasn’t pissed about being tricked into drinking the poisoned wine.
The torches had been speared into the ground in a lopsided circle about fifty feet across in the vineyard. They filled the air with the acrid smell of cinders and cast a wavering amber light on all the Watchers circling the space. The entire scene was like something out of a monster movie. Only it wasn’t a movie. These monsters were real…and they wanted to hurt someone he cared about. Rain wondered how many of them really supported this culling. Again, he stared at the brilliant stars overhead, knowing his time was running out.
“The rules of our forefathers are absolute,” an older guy with a beard bellowed from the north side of the circle of torches. “Once a challenge is made, it cannot be retracted.”
Thomas shifted his weight from foot to foot, avoiding Freddie’s stony glare as she stood stock-still on Rain’s left.
“The only way to end the match is surrender or death.”
“As if,” Freddie muttered under her breath. It was a good bluff, but Rain knew she was worried. Not about if she could beat her cousin but about the fallout after she did.
The man stroked his beard as if remembering his lines. “The challenge must commence and remain within the circle of fire.”
Which basically meant they were confined to the narrow rows between grapevines. The only way from one row to the next within the circle was under the wires holding the vines or over them.
“The challenge must be conducted without the weapons of man but is not limited to the wolf form. Are the combatants ready?”
“The challenger and defender are allowed seconds,” Thomas’s dad bellowed.
“We don’t need seconds,” Freddie said.
“Thomas calls Klaus Weigl,” Klaus shouted.
Oh shit. That put a new spin on things. Rain gritted his teeth as Thomas took a step back, shaking his head. Clearly, he hadn’t known about this. He probably had planned to throw the fight away and just get on with things. As Klaus balled his fists and grinned, it was obvious he had no intention of throwing anything away, except maybe his son.
“The boy is supposed to name his own second!” someone shouted.
The guy with the beard cleared his throat and rubbed his chin. “Um, that has been tradition, but it’s not written in the rules.”
Whispers hissed through the gathered Watchers as Freddie searched the circle. “Where’s Merrick?” she asked.
Merrick would be a terrible choice. He was scared of his own shadow. Rain was relieved he wasn’t there.
“Must be changing his pants,” Klaus said. “Probably soiled himself when the culling was called. He was highly opposed. I can’t imagine why…”
Freddie gave Kurt a pleading look. He wouldn’t even meet her eyes. He wouldn’t fight for her. She had to be stopped before she named Kurt to back her up.
“Friederike Burkhart calls Rain Ryland as her second,” Rain said in a voice that, to his relief, came out strong and loud.
“Not a chance,” she hissed.
The grin on Klaus Weigl’s face stood all of the hairs on Rain’s neck at attention. This was exactly what Klaus had wanted. And he’d walked right into it.
“It has been called,” said the guy with the beard.
“He’s not a Watcher.” Freddie wasn’t even trying to hide her panic. “Humans are untouchable. He can’t participate. You can’t hurt him.”
“He’s in between,” Kurt said, still not looking in Freddie’s direction. “I was there when the wine was administered.”
“You asshole!” Freddie shouted. “I’m going to skin you for this.”
The hurt on Kurt’s face was clear. “H-He passed the test.”
“He’s trying to help you,” Rain whispered in her ear. “You don’t stand a chance against both of them. I’m your only hope.”
“You’re going to die,” she said.
“Not if I can help it.”
It seemed like an eternity, waiting for her answer. All around them, torches crackled and the wind hissed through the grapevine leaves. Above, the stars beckoned him to look up and remember the vision. To follow his instinct to protect himself and survive. But he didn’t. He studied Freddie’s beautiful face instead and knew that even if the black wolf appeared and he died tonight, it would have been worth it. He would do it all again, just to be with her the short time they’d had together.
She turned away from the circle and moved to the bare spot where the vines hadn’t grown back after her dad’s murder. She skimmed her fingers over the naked wire, then wrapped them around it, as if it were some kind of anchor. “Everything I’ve done has been to protect you.” She blinked several times and notched up her chin. “It was a mistake, but I wanted you and was selfish. I’ve never felt…” Her voice trailed off and she took a deep breath. “I wanted you. I didn’t want this.”
He placed a hand over hers, and her grip on the wire loosened. “It wasn’t a mistake.” His emotions bubbled up, but he kept his cool. She needed him level. “It wasn’t a mistake, Freddie. I want to do this. I have no doubts about this. About you. Let me do this.”
“I can’t.” She didn’t meet his eyes. “I like you too much. Way too much.”
“Not too much. Never enough. I’ll never get enough of you, no matter how long I live.” As he stared at her face, for the first time since the vision, he was truly scared. Terrified. Not of death. Not of pain. But of losing her. “Let me be your second.”
She took a deep breath. “I didn’t want you involved. I don’t want this.”
He tightened his grip on her hand. “I do. It was my choice.”
“You really suck at making choices, Sprinkles.”
“You really suck at accepting help, Burkhart.” He slipped his arm around her waist. “You told me you felt alone after your dad died. You’re not alone anymore. Neither am I. For the first time in my life, I have something worth fighting for. Worth living for.” Worth dying for.
He stepped back, holding his breath, praying she wouldn’t insist on doing this alone, and headed to join the circle. Sprinkles. She’d called him that the first day they met. It seemed so long ago. She’d fascinated him immediately. She still did. She always would—until his very last breath.
After several moments, she joined him in the circle but said nothing. The tension was as thick as the smoke from the torches encircling them. Rain found it hard to get a full breath. Then, she laced her fingers through his and gave a squeeze.
“So be it,” she said.
“So be it!” the Watchers chanted.
“Begin!” the man with the beard shouted.
With a sharp tug, Freddie ripped off her shirt, striding to the center, and the circle widened, the Watchers moving back behind the torches. In the firelight, she looked golden and alive…and powerful. An invisible band tightened around Rain’s chest.
Thomas tugged off his shirt and shuffled forward several steps. Rain had seen guys fight against their will, and he had no doubt that’s what was happening here. Slumped shoulders, glazed expression, even his arms hung limply by his sides; Thomas wanted nothing to do with this. His father was a whole other story. Studying Rain as if summing up his weaknesses, Klaus didn’t move a muscle as Freddie and Thomas stripped out of the rest of their clothes.
“Let’s go, Tommy,” she said, ripping off her necklace and tossing it toward the spot where her father’s body had hung.
“Where’s Ulrich?” a woman shouted. “The acting Alpha has to serve as judge.”
“He’s not here,” Klaus said. “Pity. I’m second in command. I’ll judge.”
“You can’t be a judge and a participant,” Freddie said.
With a smirk, Klaus turned his attention to the man who had called out the rules. “Is that correct?”
The guy shrugged. “There is nothing in the rules prohibiting it.”
He waved his hand in a smart-ass twirling gesture. “Carry on, children.”
 
; Rain had no clue what to do as Freddie dropped to a crouch and Thomas did the same. All he knew was he didn’t trust Klaus at all, but the man did nothing but stand there grinning as Freddie and Thomas shifted fully to their wolf forms, surrounded by a pack of shifters that looked like they were ready to lose control at any second.
A quick scan of the circle revealed that Kurt had slipped away. The chickenshit probably couldn’t bear to watch. If Rain lived through this, he planned to kick all her cousins’ asses.
As they circled, Freddie was the first to lunge, getting a good bite on Thomas’s shoulder. Her gray and white fur rippled over flexing muscles. He yelped, and his form flickered back and forth between wolf and human. The crowd remained silent, as if in a church service or something, which made things even eerier. In gang fights, the combatants were cheered on. This was weird—well, that went without saying, but weirder than anticipated.
Again, Thomas flickered between forms, and Freddie bit down harder. Still, Klaus remained motionless, watching Rain. Did the seconds only step in if their partners asked them to? Maybe he was supposed to intervene if she appeared to be losing. Rain felt way out of his depth as Klaus studied him without any apparent interest in what was happening in the center of the ring. He wished he knew the fucking rules.
Thomas flickered and this time stuck in his human form. Freddie didn’t let go. He glanced at his father, fear clear on his face, but the man didn’t even look his way. Then Thomas stared at Rain, whose breath caught. The poor guy was terrified. He looked like Moth had when the black wolf had stepped from the corn. Eyes wide and mouth drawn tight, he dropped to his knees. He was going to give up without even trying to fight back. Without delivering one bite.
“He can’t shift,” someone shouted.
“Worthless!” someone else yelled.
Freddie flickered, too, but only briefly, never fully leaving her wolf form. She’d said the inability to hold a shift was seen as weakness. She couldn’t appear weak in front of her pack. Rain held his breath, willing her to fight and stay in her wolf skin.