Chapter 167
Heather
When the last of them were gone, Mr. Langdon raised his hands in the air. "The pack is now solid and closed. You will abide by my law or face the consequences. I am the alpha." The command in his words knocked me back.
Donovan raised his hands in the air. "By the power of the Seven, the ranks of the Cazadores are now sealed. Any who left are to be treated as dead." His command was stronger, and I nearly fell to the pavement as it slammed in to me.
I focused in on the pack bonds. The lines that linked us were thicker and clearer than they’d been before. "Are you going to follow them? The ones who aren’t going back to their home packs?" I asked Donovan.
"Yes and no," Donovan said. "They’ll have to join another pack or stay lone wolves, but they’re subject to Were laws regardless. If they’re joining up with Ferdinand—"
"We’ll have a mess on our hands."
"Aye. But it should keep for a while. I’ll send someone I trust to keep an eye on them. I’m not liking the fact that Rupert’s daughter is in this bunch."
"Agreed," Mr. Langdon said. "Who will you send?"
"Mal."
Who’s Mal? I asked Brent.
One of the best wolves I’ve ever known.
Coming from Brent, that was high praise.
"Good choice."
"Aye. He’s been working on a problem for me in the area. Just going to have to expand his job a bit now. Pack is feeling better from my end. On yours?" He asked Mr. Langdon.
"Much better, but I wasn’t feeling much before."
"And you?" Donovan asked me.
"Me?"
"Aye. What are you feeling?"
"It’s good. As soon as you closed the pack, it was like everything solidified. It felt calm again."
"Good. We’ve had enough of that then. When this bit with Luciana is over with, I’ll meet up with Mal. See what’s what. Until then..." He turned back toward campus. A group of students and Cazadores were watching the flood of Weres leaving campus. "Show’s over. Everyone who’s not patrolling get to bed."
Mr. Langdon and Donovan headed for the admin building, hauling a very unhappy looking Joseph between them.
I shook my head at the sight. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. Not in a million years.
Finally, everyone dispersed, with Adrian giving orders on getting their road trip to Peru underway. Brent and I started walking toward his cabin, but he was even more quiet than usual. "Are you okay?"
"Sure."
"Why don’t I believe you?"
He tucked a strand of curls behind his ear. "Some of the Cazadores that left—they were my friends. I trusted them. Fought with them. But they left? When we’re in the middle of a war with the witches?"
"I’m sorry." I said the words even though I knew they probably wouldn’t help.
He was hurting now, but Donovan had a point. We were better off cutting loose the Weres who weren’t behind our cause. If we were going to beat Luciana, we had to be united.
If this was part of one of her schemes—to weaken the pack—it had definitely been a good one. Luckily, we’d caught it sooner rather than later.
I had a feeling it wasn’t the last we’d see of those wolves.
Maybe they’d stay gone until Luciana was out of the way, but we hadn’t gotten rid of them for good. I just hoped this Mal guy—whoever he was—was as badass as Brent thought
For now, I was pushing away any thoughts of rogue Weres. That was one thing off my already full plate.
Now all I had to worry about were psychotic witches and night terrors that might be visions of the future.
An echo boomed through the empty gym as my back slammed against the mat. Air wrenched from my lungs. "Fuck." I moaned the word as soon as I could catch my breath. It was the third time in less than five minutes that I’d ended up on the floor.
The pain receded almost as quickly as it came.
At least being a werewolf was good for some things.
"You okay?" Brent’s voice had only a hint of concern.
Jerk. "No." I squeezed my eyes shut. If I pretended really hard, I could nearly imagine I was snug in my bed. Then I caught the scent of the highly polished wood mixed with the plastic in the floor mats and even I couldn’t pretend I was anywhere but the gym.
After a few hours of fitful sleep, we’d seen Adrian, Shane, Beth, and Kaden off on their way to move Raphael, and Brent had dragged me here.
It was half-past five in the morning, and he was convinced that getting me totally exhausted would loosen my mind enough that I’d finally see what I needed to see. "I’m dead. You killed me this time."
"You’re breathing fine." My mate’s voice lifted up at the end, and I knew he was smiling at me. He was closer now.
Standing right above me even though I hadn’t heard him move. The scent of forest overpowered the plastic as he moved even closer.
"I wasn’t a second ago. Can we be done?"
He nudged my leg with his foot. "I told you I wasn’t going easy on you."
I finally opened my eyes. I was right. He was smiling.
No. Not smiling. Smirking.
"I think we passed the ’not going easy’ on me and went straight for ’kicking my ass.’ Really. This is getting a bit ridiculous."
"I have to go hard on you right now. You want to stop having nightmares, right?" I didn’t like the stress in his voice. I wasn’t the only one being affected by my dreams.
"Right." I wiped the sweat off my face and onto my collar, but it didn’t help much. My T-shirt was already soaked through.
"Come on. I know you’re tired, but I think this is loosening you up. Just relax. Let your mind wander, and it’ll come." Brent reached down to me, muscles flexing under his gray T-shirt. His sweatpants hung low on his hips, and he was barefoot. The sight of him made me melt.
From the second I first saw him I’d wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything. I’d fought our bond when I first became a Were—because the whole biting thing hadn’t gone over well—but I was done with that. Long done.
He leaned forward, patiently waiting for me to take his hand. "Come on," he said again. When he smiled, his dimples made deep dents in his cheeks.
Damn it. He knew exactly what he was doing to me, but I couldn’t deny that face. Maybe one day I’d get used to him and I’d be able to get my own way once in a while.
I put my hand in his and instantly our bond strengthened. "I’m glad you’re enjoying this."
His grin got even bigger. "You can’t lie to me. I know you’re having fun, too."
"I’d rather do a different kind of wrestling on the mat." I raised an eyebrow.
"Don’t try to tempt me with your wiles."
I shook my head. "Wiles? Seriously?" Sometimes he acted way older than twenty.
"Let’s try it again. This time you try and take me to the mat."
"But I don’t know what I’m doing." A piece of my long, brown hair fell in my eyes, and I pulled my hair out of its rubber band.
"Just do whatever feels right. This is good for you, beyond helping with the visions. We’re going to be fighting for our lives. Maybe tonight. You have to be ready. I don’t—"
"Want to lose you." I finished for him. I’d heard this speech a lot the past few days. When Luciana stripped me of my powers, it had affected Brent in a big way. He kept worrying about losing me or losing our bond. Honestly, I wasn’t sure which of us it had hurt more. But it didn’t matter. We were dealing with the fallout together.
This was Brent’s way. Preparing me for next time.
Making sure there wasn’t a next time.