The next shifter was looking right at me. Green gold predatory eyes gazed into mine expressionlessly. I snapped my eyes back to the floor and stopped breathing.
I’m no-one, no-one worthy of attention, I whispered silently, trying to quash the rising panic. I couldn’t endanger the rest of the pack by being discovered. Every sinew in my body screamed but I forced myself to keep my eyes and head trained on the ground.
Don’t look up. Don’t look up. Don’t look up. Seconds passed. Minutes.
“Hey,” Tom nudged me. “What are you doing? Let’s go.”
I slowly raised my head and abruptly realised that the introductory assembly was over. The Brethren, including scary green eyes, were leaving to be directed to the guest quarters and the rest of the pack who hadn’t rushed off to play the part of ingratiating hosts were milling about in little huddles, no doubt discussing just who the ‘best and brightest’ would be. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was okay, I’d passed. Now all I had to do was keep out of their way for the next three days and I’d be free.
Chapter Five
Back in the dorm, I paced around, trying to release some of my earlier anxiety. I wondered if I’d able to sneak out and do some hunting without any of the Brethren noticing. Probably not. I picked up a pillow from a nearby bed instead and pushed it against the wall, starting to pummel it , the speed and weight of my fists keeping it in place. 3 days. That was just 72 hours – in fact make that 70 now. I could do this.
A throat cleared behind me. “Julia, won’t be pleased if you destroy her soft furnishings.”
“I’m not destroying anything, Tom.”
A few stray feathers fell from the edge of the now burst pillow. I cursed and let it drop, turning round.
“It’s okay,” he said, reassuringly. “The masking worked – they didn’t smell you.”
“Sure, as long as I don’t plan on bathing any time soon and keep slathering myself every 6 – 8 hours, then I’ll be absolutely fine.” I retorted sarcastically.
Tom came closer. “You will be great. They’ll do the rites, choose the alpha, ask for leavers and then it’ll all be over.”
“He’ll still be dead.” I looked at Tom and breathed out. “Sorry. I just….”
“I know.” He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my hair and changed the subject. “I miss the red.”
“Yeah, me too.”
I was pretty sure I could never be called vain but I did love my hair. I patted its new colour self-consciously.
Mackenzie.
Julia’s voice popped into my head.
I need you to meet me by the tree.
I’m on my way. I sent back immediately before turning to Tom. “I have to go.”
“Practise with me later?” His eyes held mine pleadingly.
“You want to join the Brethren.” It wasn’t a question.
“They’re not all bad, Mackenzie.”
“They’re brutes.”
“Please?” He blinked at me with large brown puppy dog eyes.
Oh for goodness’ sake. I sighed and nodded. “I’ll meet you at the usual place after dark. Around 8pm?”
Tom nodded at me and I spun around to leave the dorm. I padded down the draughty corridor to the stairs thinking for the millionth time how handy it would be to be able to shift into something warm and fuzzy. John had refused to install central heating, insisting that Cornwall’s warmer climate and woolly jumpers were enough. I shivered. My beloved keep was old and in dire need of a makeover. The stone steps leading down to the ground floor at least were covered with a shabby red carpet that had definitely seen better days. Some insulation was better than none, I supposed. John had said the keep had charm and character; I had retorted that Stonehenge had character but that it didn’t make me want to live there. I tugged at my ponytail and sighed. I missed him. I closed my eyes and briefly pinched the bridge of my nose, causing me to stupidly miss the hole in the carpet on the next step. My foot slipped and, before I knew it, I was sliding down the rest of the stairs on my arse, coming to land in a rather undignified heap at the bottom.“Graceful as always, Mackenzie,” drawled Anton.
I glanced up and saw to my horror that he was stood there with two of the Brethren, the bored looking blonde and another, who were both looking down at me with slightly disgusted expressions. Shit. Shifters didn’t fall, they had too much balance and grace for that.
I cleared my throat too loudly, muttering something inane about ungainly new shoes designed for humans, and pulled myself to my feet. I aimed for the front door trying to pretend that my left hip wasn’t completely killing me and tugged at the handle to get out. I could hear Anton’s voice behind me. “Of course, not all our pack will impress you….”
I slammed the door shut behind me and stalked out before realising that stalking hurt too much and a limp was much more called for. That had been a careless move.
Several gleaming – and expensive – cars sat in the driveway. At the front was a sleek black sporty car and, just visible and bending down next to it, running his hands over the paintwork, was the green eyed Brethren bloke. I tried not to smirk as I realised that his showy pride and joy had clearly been scratched by one of the unreliable pieces of gravel that lined the ground of the drive. His back stiffened as he sensed my presence and started to rotate round to look at me so I quickly turned away and began walking smartly to the meeting point before he could start talking. I got lucky and he stayed silent, but I could feel his eyes on my back until I turned round the tree-lined corner towards the green.
By the time I reached the old oak tree where I used to practise archery, dusk was approaching. I could just make out Julia’s figure in the dim light.
“I’m sorry it took me so long, I…er…” I didn’t want to disappoint her with tales of my already clumsy human behavior.
“Enough. It’s not important,” she said dismissively. “Whatever you’ve done so far can no doubt be explained away.”
How did she do that? I could feel myself redden in embarrassment; it wasn’t my fault that the carpet needed replacing after all.
Julia ignored my blush. “We’ve got more pressing matters to discuss,” she continued. “I wasn’t expecting the Lord Alpha himself to be here.”
“You mean the gray haired guy? He didn’t seem that bad actually, “ I commented, swinging myself on to a low branch.
“Fool,” she hissed unexpectedly. I almost preferred dear. Almost. “He’s not the Brethren’s alpha, that’s just what they want you to think. He’s merely their spokesperson. I thought you’d have picked up on where the real power was coming from.”
I suddenly had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Ummm…green eyes?” I offered tentatively, hoping I was wrong.
“Green eyes of the devil, hair as black as his were’s and physical strength to match his strategic skills.”
“Oh.” I’d only noticed his eyes. My hackles rose. “So he thinks that he’ll trick us by pretending to just be a minion?”
Julia sighed. “It’s a smart move. He can find out more about us if we’re not jumping to attention every time he walks past. Besides which, regardless of the attempts at blurry paparazzi shots on the Othernet, he appears to dislike the limelight.”
“We’re not his enemy, Julia, he doesn’t need to dislike us,” I pointed out.
“He doesn’t know that. There was a lot of resistance when he took over as Lord. And he’s only been in that position since August - he’s ridiculously strong, and not just physically, but there are a lot of the Brethren who still don’t feel that they can trust him.”
I dismissed the topic. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll stay out of all their way and he’ll never notice me.” Of course that meant trying to ignore the fact that he’d noticed me during the welcome ceremony.
“You can’t,” she said flatly. “He’s demanding that every single pack member’s skills are tested and that he personally oversees each evaluation. I can’t gainsay him. No doubt there will also be interrogations to find out who is responsible for John’s death.”
“But everyone’s whereabouts have been accounted for!” I burst out, suddenly angry. The embers of flame inside me that had been quashed since the terrible meeting in the hall were starting to flicker. “What right does he have to come in here and do this? We don’t need to be evaluated to know what our skills are. And what right does he have to take away pack members to London? Why the fuck should we do anything they ask?”
“Because no matter what your opinions may be, Mackenzie, they are the alpha pack, and he is their alpha leader. Without the Brethren we would not exist. They support us financially and allow us to live here with minimum interruption in the relative safety of Cornwall.”
I scoffed. “If it was safe here in Cornwall then John would still be alive. Besides, why is this the first time they have come here in thirty years? They didn’t care about us before.”
“For which we should be thankful, dear.”
I could feel the flames continue to rise, scorching my insides and daring me to let them out. I forced myself to control them and looked at Julia right in the eyes. “Are you going to let them just take our people away?”
Julia sighed. “You know as well as I do that those who leave will want to do so. The old ties to the pack are gone with John’s death”
I wasn’t going to give up and was breathing harder at the effort of banking the fire. “Why are they going through this pretense of choosing our new alpha? We all know it’s you already!”
“We’ve been through this. The rituals are what keep us together, and this is one of the most important. If I want to be a strong leader, then I need to be seen to be following the Way.”
“It’s stupid,” I muttered childishly.