“I don’t need—”
His eyes flashed. “Don’t lie to me. Not about this.”
“It’s not as easy as you’re making it out to be.”
“I know. But surely it isn’t as hard as you seem to think it is.”
“I’m fucking broken, Ox,” I snapped at him. “Why can’t you see that? Why can’t any of you see that? All of you, you’re treating me like—like I’m—”
“A member of the Bennett pack,” Ox said. “Just as you’ve always been.”
“That’s not fair,” I said hoarsely. “You can’t just—goddammit.”
He stepped forward slowly, like he was approaching a skittish animal. I gave brief thought to jumping down the stairs and heading for the trees. Instead I just sagged when he stood in front of me. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine, and even though I tried to fight it, this was my Alpha, and I needed him here, with me. He hummed a little under his breath, mingling my scent with his.
“You gave part of yourself for me,” he whispered, and my eyes stung. I could barely breathe. “You protected me. And I will never forget that. I wish—I wish things could have been different. For all of us. But we are here. And we are together. And I will do everything in my power to make sure it stays that way. Do you believe me?”
Of course I did. I loved him. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
“It will work.”
I opened my eyes to stare directly into his.
“It will work,” he said again. “Because we are pack. We will sing them home, and one day they will be as they once were.”
A wolf climbed the steps, and a moment later a cold nose pressed against the roses.
gordo, the wolf whispered. gordo gordo gordo.
“A TETHER is the strength behind the wolf,” Abel Bennett told me once. “A feeling or a person or an idea that keeps us in touch with our human sides. It’s a song that calls us home when we are shifted. It reminds us of where we come from. My tether is my pack. The people who count on me to keep them safe. To protect them from those who would do them harm. Do you understand?”
I hadn’t. Not then.
But I did now.
“IT WON’T be the same,” Aileen told us. “I need you to understand that right now. It won’t be like it was before. Carter and Mark, they… won’t be Betas, at least not in the traditional sense. They’ll still be Omegas. But they will belong to Ox just as they did before, and to a lesser extent, to Joe. This isn’t a cure. It’s a stopgap. There’s nothing we can do to end whatever Robert Livingstone has brought upon them. It’s a magic that we have never seen before, this infection. It is corruption on a level that is unprecedented. We don’t know how he’s managed to achieve this, but we can do our best to contain it. The only way it can be completely broken is if the witch responsible breaks it himself, or… or if he’s dead. As for the others, they only feel an allegiance to Ox. They will see only him as their Alpha. Some are infected. Others are just feral, either because their pack was taken from them or their tethers lost. I can’t make any promises about them. They will not be your pack. Not really. But you will be tied to them because you are tied to Ox.
“It will need to be during the new moon, when the pull is at its weakest. It will require all of you, and all of us. Our combined strength. But I believe it will work. There are doors in the mind. Gordo shattered the door between Ox and the Omegas. We need to close the doors between the wolves and the wild that calls to them. Those infected will affix to Ox. Carter to Kelly. Mark to Gordo. But you must remember that they will scratch on the door. They’ll still feel it in their heads. It will not take much for the doors to blow wide open. And I cannot promise you that we can ever close it again should that happen. We need to find him. We need to find Robert Livingstone and end this once and for all. You have the support of the witches. We will do all we can to help you in this war.”
She smiled sadly. “Though I know not of what the future brings, this moment will be the greatest test of the strength of your pack. Of the bonds between you all. Only if they are true, and only if they are pure, will this ever have a chance of working. I believe you’re all capable of bringing them back. I just hope that you believe it too.”
WE LAY in the bed. The sounds of the pack moved through the house beneath us. In the basement, the Omegas gathered, sleeping on top of each other. Outside, daylight was giving way to night. I could hear Elizabeth singing somewhere in the house at the end of the lane, her voice mixing with Judy Garland’s, telling us to have a merry little Christmas. It was blue and blue and blue.
Mark’s massive head rested on my chest, rising with every breath I took. I ran a finger between his eyes. He rumbled his contentment, and I heard him whispering my name.
“You need to come back to me,” I whispered as the room darkened. “You need to come back to me, because we’ve only just begun. I’m sorry. For all the time I’ve wasted. For all my anger. For everything that’s happened between us. And I know I don’t deserve it after all we’ve been through, but I need you. I need you here with me. I can’t do this without you. Not anymore. I love you, and I don’t ever want to stop.”
His eyes flared violet, and for a moment, I felt GordoPackMateLove.
It was dirt and leaves and rain.
I hoped it would be enough.
It was almost time.
A COLD November had given way to a mild December. The snow had melted almost entirely, leaving behind a waterlogged earth. The ground squelched beneath our feet as we made our way through the forest.
Ox and Joe led the way, their pack moving behind them. Omegas crawled through the trees, trailing behind their Alpha.