Another man stepped forward. He looked impossibly young. A teenager. His light hair was cut short. He was tall and thin, and I didn’t like the look in his eyes, cold and knowing. He reminded me of Dale. He glanced down at the dead man between us before shrugging. The stench of magic was thick around him, even through the wards.
Gregory.
The witch who’d betrayed Aileen, Patrice, and the others. He stepped over Santos and stood just before the wards. He clasped his hands behind him, looking at each of us in turn.
He said, “Santos always did talk too much. Pity, though. I liked him. This will be easy. Give us Gavin. Hell, I’ll even let you keep Robbie, though he doesn’t seem to be here. Hiding somewhere?”
I said, “Gavin, huh? So we’ll give you Gavin, and you’ll… what. Go? Leave us be?”
“Eh,” he said. “Sort of. A little more to it, but we can start there.” He waved his hand airily. “Give up the territory, Green Creek will be ours, blah, blah, blah.” He chuckled. “I would make threats, but that woman seems to be a little trigger-happy.”
“Men,” Jessie grumbled. “Don’t know when to keep their mouths shut.”
My mother snorted but didn’t speak. She was watching. Waiting. Taking these wolves in. Looking for weaknesses. We all were.
I stepped forward. The wolves behind Gregory flinched, though they recovered quickly. To his credit, Gregory barely blinked. If anything, he seemed curious. I didn’t like that. He wasn’t scared of me. Fucking teenagers. “He out there?”
“Who?”
I snorted. “Yeah, okay. Can he hear me?”
He narrowed his eyes. “He hears all. He knows all.”
“Yikes,” I said. “That’s a little too cult-y for me. I have a counteroffer for you. Think hard about it before you answer. Can you do that?”
He stared at me.
I whirled my finger in a little circle. “Turn around. Head west as far as you can go. You’ll find the ocean. Keep walking until the water is over your head. Open your mouth. Take the water into your lungs. Don’t fight it. It’ll be better for you. Easier. I can promise you that.”
Gregory cocked his head. “Can you?”
“Yes.”
“How so?”
I nodded at the wolves behind him. “You outnumber us.”
“I see that.”
“You know how many times that’s happened to us?”
“Tell me.”
I grinned at him. “Every time. Wolves. Hunters. Witches. Doesn’t matter. You all come here with your numbers and your threats and we tell you to leave. But for whatever reason, people like you just don’t listen. You think in your tiny little brains that numbers matter. You, like everyone who has come before, forget one important thing. And it will be the end of you.”
“What have I’ve forgotten?” Gregory asked, and there was a twitch just underneath his right eye. He was hearing me, really hearing me. Oh, he didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth, but he was listening.
“We’re the goddamn Bennett pack,” I said coldly. “And you’re in our territory. You come for us, it’ll be the last thing you do.”
Gregory looked at the others behind me again. His eyes narrowed when his gaze settled on Gavin. I had to stop myself from crossing the wards and tearing out his throat. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You know that, right, Gavin? Your father only wants what belongs to him. You fight it. I get that. I may not know why, but I don’t blame you. Finding out about all of this must have been… trying.”
“Jesus Christ,” Tanner said. “Why the hell do they all talk the same?”
“It’s like they practice in the mirror,” Chris said, sounding bored. He puffed out his chest, deepening his voice as he mocked them. “I am death, destroyer of worlds. Bow before me or we’ll spill your blood upon the land.” He sighed. “You’d think they’d learn new material. We’ve heard all this before.”
“It makes them feel better,” Rico said. “Gotta give them props for that. Kid looks barely old enough to drive. Remember when we were his age? Beer and boobs. That’s all it was.” He shook his head. “Millennials. Always trying to kill everything.”
Mark sighed as if he couldn’t believe the pack he stood with. I didn’t blame him.