Shifter (Wicked Woods #6) Read online

  Meaning that once again, it was all up to her. Briony didn’t know if that was comforting or not. On the one hand, she still had to make her own choices about what happened next, but on the other, there were still all the vague hints that making the wrong one would cut her off from the power she needed to help Palisor.

  “What I don’t get,” Briony said after a minute or so, “is why Pietre is doing this now? Why is he suddenly so desperate to produce new vampires? I mean, he could have done this at any point in the last couple of hundred years. Is it just the gate, or is it something else, because he didn’t do this when the gate first showed up.”

  The picture in the pool changed again, taking them back to Pietre, who was feeding on a young woman now. Briony tried not to think about the fact that she was her age, blonde, and blue eyed. Or about how cruelly painful Pietre was making the feeding.

  “My guess is that he knows about the true power the scepter controls,” Archer said. “Now that you have it, he must know that it’s only a matter of time before that is unleashed and the vampires are wiped out.”

  Briony thought of Fallon and shuddered slightly. Only a matter of time. Archer made it sound like the deaths of Fallon, Jake, George and every other good vampire were inevitable. Briony couldn’t accept that. She wouldn’t accept that.

  “Is it really like the apocalypse for vampires, Archer? All vampires?”

  Archer nodded. “That’s what they say.”

  “But how would that happen?” Briony asked. “I mean, are we talking about some kind of magical field of destruction here? Some kind of plague that only kills them?”

  “You don’t know?” Archer replied, sounding slightly surprised.

  “No, of course I don’t know. I’m just the princess here. It’s not like people actually tell me things. Mostly, I get the feeling that they either think I should know already, like you, or they want to keep things from me to control me, like Josh.”

  “It’s not that,” Archer said. “You genuinely don’t know? I thought everyone in Palisor knew.”

  “I’m not from Palisor,” Briony reminded him. “So just tell me, Archer. What is it? Is it something we can stop, or control?”

  Archer shook his head. “I don’t think there’s much of a chance of that. It isn’t really a thing at all. It’s more of a who.”

  “So who then?” Briony sat down beside the pool, waiting for an answer.

  “The greatest slayer there ever was,” Archer said. “Him and his army.”

  “So we’d have a whole army here if I were to marry Josh?” Briony felt her determination not to do that strengthening in that moment. She wasn’t going to let something like that happen. She was almost glad in that moment that it was Josh who had crossed over in that moment. That it was Josh the scepter had latched onto as her possible consort. It made it easy to say no. A lot easier than it would have been if it had been Kevin there. With him there, the temptation would have been there to do it. To take him as her consort and just try to deal with the consequences.

  Maybe it was the thought of Kevin that made the pool shift again. It certainly seemed to have been shifting with her thoughts and mood so far. Kevin appeared in the pool, in a space Briony recognized as the front lawn of the werewolves’ home. His clothing was in tatters, like he’d just transformed from wolf form three or four times in quick succession, displaying his hard muscles and tanned skin underneath. Briony watched him closely, her eyes on his every movement, aching for him as she watched.

  Then she saw Carol. Carol’s clothing was, if anything, in a worse state than Kevin’s. It was barely covering her, though the werewolf didn’t seem to care about that at all, in fact, she seemed to be almost flaunting that fact, smiling at Kevin as he got closer to her and shifting so that there were tantalizing glimpses of skin showing along with her curves.

  Kevin said something to her, his mouth opening and closing in silent words. It seemed that the pool didn’t give them sound. Whatever it was though, it certainly seemed to excite Carol. She threw herself forward at Kevin, flinging her arms around his neck and pulling Kevin close for a kiss that went on for several seconds. It was all Briony could do to keep from jumping into the pond.

  “Oh no you don’t. You are not stealing him.”

  Archer stared at her, and Briony realized just how forcefully she’d said that.

  “Briony? What are you planning to do?”

  Briony barely had to think before she had an answer for that one. “I want you in your dragon form, Archer. Now. You’re going to take me back through that gate, whatever it takes, and then… then I’m going to go get Kevin back. She is not having him.”

  Chapter 7

  Kevin headed over to the werewolves’ mansion in his wolf form. It was the quickest way to cover the distance, and he wanted to get this over with. He still wasn’t quite sure how he’d let Jake and the others talk him into this. Except that he was going to do this. Briony. Unless he did this, he might never get to see her again, and he couldn’t risk that.

  He changed back on the lawn in front of the majestic house, which was neatly maintained in spite of being in the middle of a forest. The mansion itself was whitewashed and looked like the kind of place that might have been preserved as a monument from centuries ago, but very carefully. There were no traces of dilapidation around the werewolves’ house.

  As Kevin stood there, he was only too aware of the fact that he’d changed plenty of times in the same clothes. They hung off him now, rumpled and torn by the forces that came into play during the transformation. With most people, he would have worried about meeting them like this because of what they would have thought. With Carol, who had seen plenty of other werewolves like this, that wouldn’t be a problem, but there might be other difficulties if she took it as an invitation.

  The problem with Carol was… well, actually, there wasn’t a problem. Maybe that was the problem. She was pretty, closer to his age than Briony was, not to mention a werewolf just like him. And she was obviously interested in him. She’d made that clear plenty of times. Under other circumstances, Kevin could easily have seen himself getting together with her. Though maybe not for long. There were a few things about her that were more of a worry, like the fact that she didn’t seem to care too much for humans, and like that temper of hers. Even those had explanations though.

  Kevin found himself thinking about Carol’s temper then. How would she react to the idea of just pretending to be engaged? It wasn’t so much a question of whether she’d be angry as simply how angry she’d be. Yet with Briony at stake, Kevin decided that he didn’t care. He could deal with Carol’s anger.

  The sleek shape of a she wolf padded onto the lawn, looking up at him with intense eyes. Carol transformed then, her hair falling in wild tangles as she shot up into her human form. It wasn’t the only thing wild about her. Her clothing was in complete disarray, torn now from her transformations in a way it hadn’t been in town. It barely covered her.

  Carol seemed to know it, too. She shifted provocatively, seeming to enjoy Kevin’s eyes on her as glimpses of her flesh shifted beneath the cloth.

  “Like what you see, Kevin?” Carol laughed as she said it, reaching out a hand to trace down Kevin’s chest through his shirt. “I know I do.”

  “Carol,” Kevin said. “I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

  “It sounds serious,” Carol said. She rolled her eyes. “Not more vampires.”

  Kevin shook his head, trying to stop himself from pulling back. It wouldn’t exactly work, asking Carol to be his fiancé while shying away from even her touch.

  “No, it’s not that, but it is serious,” he said. He tried to work out how much to tell her. Would she go along with it if he explained everything? Would she agree to simply pretend? The truth was that she had no reason to pretend. Especially not when it meant tricking her brother. Which meant that Kevin couldn’t afford to explain all the details, even though that would end up hurting her later on. Was he okay with t
hat?

  “I hope this isn’t going to be all about Briony, then,” Carol said. “Because these days, it seems like it’s always either vampires or her.” She rearranged her clothing again, but not to cover her any better. “I bet we could think of better things to talk about than your ex if we wanted.”

  Yes, Kevin decided, he was absolutely fine with it.

  “Actually,” he said, “I wanted to talk about us.”

  “Us?” That seemed to make Carol pause. “I didn’t think there was an us. I mean…” she bit her lip. “I didn’t think you noticed me.”

  “It’s pretty hard not to,” Kevin said, absolutely truthfully. “And with Briony not here, I’ve been thinking about you a lot more recently. That, and I’ve been thinking about what you said before, about me being nearly a king. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. And I can’t deny that there’s something between us. I think it’s something big.”

  Carol looked up at him carefully. “What are you saying, Kevin?”

  “I’m saying…” Kevin took a breath, steeling himself to force the words out. “Carol, will you marry me?”

  The kiss caught him by surprise. Carol threw her arms around his neck, but didn’t move up on tiptoes to kiss him. Instead, she pulled him down to her level to kiss him, her mouth rough, almost fierce, against his. Her hands tangled in his hair almost painfully, and Carol seemed to enjoy the small sound of protest he made, at least if the way she kept kissing him was anything to go by. Her tongue started to explore his mouth hungrily.

  Kevin had to admit that there was something about being this close to a powerful, aggressive woman like this. One who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to take it. It was something that was surprisingly attractive, and Kevin could feel himself responding when Carol’s hands started to drift lower than his chest.

  “Of course,” Carol whispered to him, her voice husky, “once you become the king, you’ll need someone to show you the ropes. Someone to guide you. I hope you’re prepared to listen when a woman tells you what to do, Kevin.”

  But there was still Briony to consider. Whatever Carol made him feel, it wasn’t even close to the way he felt every time he was around Briony. It wasn’t the same. Which was why Kevin pulled back as Carol moved to continue her seduction.

  “No,” he said, “I can’t.”

  Carol raised an eyebrow. “No? You aren’t feeling shy, are you?”

  “It’s not that. It’s…”

  “It’s the fact that you’re using me to try to manipulate my brother?” Carol smiled, and then suddenly her leg was hooked around Kevin’s, so that when she shoved him, he went stumbling to the floor. Carol followed him, kneeling above him. Her fingers traced over his chest again, only this time her nails dug in hard enough to make Kevin wince. “Did you think I was stupid, Kevin?”

  “What?” Actually, there had been part of him that had thought it wouldn’t be a problem to trick her. Carol had always been so impulsive, and Kevin had been banking on her going along with another decision without thinking too hard.

  She slapped him then. Not hard, but not playfully, either. Above him, her features contorted into a brief expression of anger. “That’s for trying to manipulate me, for not paying attention, and for thinking the way all stupid male werewolves seem to.”

  “Carol…”

  “Shh!” She put a finger to his lips, and a playful edge seemed to return to her. “You’re going to have to learn not to interrupt. Another thing that you men never seem to get the hang of. Take my brothers. Brian was always talking over me, and Josh… he always assumed that since he was the clever one and I was just a girl, I had to be stupid. You’ve heard the way he talks to me.”

  Kevin had, though as he remembered it, Carol was mostly trying to persuade him to hurt Briony at the time. That or coming up with ideas that had more to do with her anger than anything else.

  “All of you men seem to be the same,” Carol said. “You see a werewolf girl like me and you try to treat me like something out of the nineteenth century. Like I don’t matter, and like I can’t possibly come up with an idea that might be worthwhile.”

  “What about Channing?” Kevin asked. “He didn’t treat you like that.”

  That got a wince of pain from Carol. “Channing was better than the rest of them. He understood. He…” she shook her head. “But he’s gone now, and we aren’t going to talk about him.”

  “Then what are we going to talk about?” Kevin asked. He wondered if he could roll Carol off him. She was smaller and lighter than him, but she knew enough about fighting that it would be hard to do.

  She leaned down and kissed him again then. This kiss was softer and gentler than the first one had been, but it was no less controlling. Kevin jerked his head away, risking the possibility of another slap, but Carol didn’t seem bothered. If anything, she smiled.

  “I like that. You aren’t some weakling who’s going to give up just like that. You’re worthy of me, Kevin. You’re the only man around here who is. But even you… I won’t let you control me and manipulate me like that. I won’t let you use me like that. Which is why it’s probably a good thing that I’m the one with all the cards here.”

  “Are you going to let me up?” Kevin asked.

  “Why, when I have you where I want you?” Carol shuffled a little higher on his chest and pinned his arms. “In every sense.”

  “So what do you want?” Kevin asked. Carol was obviously enjoying this. Far too much for his liking. Yet what could he do about it? Besides, she was right. He had tried to manipulate her.

  “Haven’t you been paying attention?” Carol asked. “I want all those big bad wolves in our pack to have to do what I tell them. I want them to stop ignoring me. I want them to get down on their knees the way they so obviously want to every time they look at you. And for that, I’m going to need you.”

  “How?” Kevin asked.

  “Exactly the way you already offered.” Carol slid off him then, moving to lay beside him on the grass, propped up on one elbow, so that to anyone watching they would have looked like a happy couple enjoying the sun. “We’re going to get married, Kevin. And before you start complaining, remember that you suggested it first. You’re getting what you wanted.”

  She reached out to stroke his face. “And I want you to know that I do want you. If I’d thought that you’d give yourself to me willingly… that you actually cared about me rather than her… I just want you to know that, so you don’t think it’s all about the power.”

  “What power?” Kevin demanded. “It sounds like you’re offering to make me the werewolves’ king.”

  “There you go thinking like a man again,” Carol said. “Deciding that you must be more important. You’re a bitten wolf. You’re a powerful enough alpha to make a play for the throne, but I’m the one who was born a werewolf. You wouldn’t be king, Kevin. You’d just be a consort.”

  “And you?”

  Carol smiled. “I have no parents. Two of my brothers are dead, and the one who’s left is too busy playing around in other worlds to look after his people. I think the werewolves need a new queen.”

  Chapter 8

  Briony headed back to her room with Archer in tow, practically running through the palace in search of a good place to leave from. In her room, she checked that the head of the scepter was safely stowed around her neck, and then started to hunt through the room’s furniture in search of her old clothes. There was no sign of them though.

  “It looks like I’m going to have to go home like this,” she said aloud, trying not to think about how she’d look walking down the main street of Wicked dressed like something out of a Renaissance Faire. Then she looked at Archer and smiled. Somehow, she suspected that flying in on a dragon would make people stare a little more than the dress.

  “Come on Archer, let’s get going.”

  She strode over to the open window and the balcony beyond. It would be easy for him to transform there, and then… then they would be on
their way, looking for a gate to take them back. Briony didn’t have full control over them yet, so they’d have to find one, but if anyone could find a route back to Wicked, Archer could.

  “Briony? What are you doing?”

  Briony turned to see Fallon coming back into the room. He was staring at her like he knew that something was wrong. Maybe he did. “I thought Sophie was giving you and Josh the tour.”

  “She was. I slipped away to see you.” He moved forward to catch hold of her elbow. “What’s going on, Briony?”

  “I have to go back to Wicked,” she explained. “I saw it in one of the reflecting pools they have here. Pietre is transforming people, and I can’t allow that.”

  What she didn’t say was that she couldn’t stay there when that would mean marrying Josh. When it would mean unleashing whoever it was who would kill all the vampires, including Fallon, Jake and George. It was easier to think about the need to protect the people of Wicked, and to concentrate on the way she was meant to be heading up the Preservation Society. She couldn’t do that in Palisor.

  She couldn’t see Kevin again here either. Josh had been wrong about that part. She didn’t have to marry him to see Kevin again. She just had to go back. Though that… she thought about the sight of Carol and Kevin kissing. Just the memory of the image hurt. How could Kevin have done that? With her?

  Was this how he felt every time she kissed Fallon? How Fallon felt when she was with Kevin?

  There was one other reason she wanted to go back then. She wanted Pietre gone. It wasn’t enough to just keep protecting people from him anymore. He wasn’t going to stop until he was killed. And if Briony wasn’t prepared to unleash the end of the vampires to do that, if she couldn’t bear to lose the others who would be killed, then that meant she owed it to the world to finish Pietre off herself.

  Fallon looked into her eyes, and in that moment, Briony knew that he’d guessed exactly what she had planned. She couldn’t keep anything hidden from him, not then. “You’re not planning to take on Pietre alone? No, you can’t. Not like that.”