Page 3 of Resurgence of the Pack

I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other and pull open the double doors. With aneffort, I left as dramatically as I had arrived and slammed the doors shut behind me. The force sent reverberations up the wall.

The brethren soldier who’d let me in raised his eyebrow in silent question. I shook my head. ‘I tried my best,’ I admitted. ‘But it’s not looking good.’

His mouth tightened and he took a step to his right, freeing up space for me to stand by him if I wished. I joined him to stand silently with the others to await the dreaded outcome.

Twice the hall broke out in noise – and the third time it was deafening. It raged on and then cut off abruptly like a switch had been thrown. Moments later, the double doors swung open and out strode Emory with Jess by his side. He was no longer wearing the cuffs and his head was held high but his eyes were sad. I didn’t need to be an empath to feel the waves of fury that were rolling off Jess.

My own rage increased in response; at first I thought it was natural anger, but then I felt the urge to punch the man next to me in the face. Shit – Jess was an empath. ‘Jess,’ I snapped. ‘Lock it down. You’re projecting your rage. You’re going to start a brawl.’

‘Let them fight among themselves,’ she snarled.

‘It won’t be the poncey dragon Elders fighting,’ I pointed out as calmly as I could through the fog of pulsing red anger that was pouring throughme. ‘It’ll be the ones aroundyouandyourrage – the brethren. They don’t deserve your ire.’

The soldier next to me was opening and closing his hands, clenching them in fists of rage and then trying to push away the urge to fight.

Emory reached out to Jess and laced his fingers through hers. He raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them softly. ‘Easy, tiger,’ he murmured. ‘We’ll ride this wave just like all the others.’

The fury left me as abruptly as it had arrived and I sagged with relief. Jess’s eyes softened a little as she got a handle on her own anger and locked it down. She nodded tightly to the man she loved. ‘We will,’ she agreed. ‘Just like the others.’

Next to me the brethren soldier relaxed his fists and then he knelt. ‘Elite,’ he murmured. Every brethren soldier lining the walls did the same, and emotion caught in my throat at their devotion. I could only dream of inspiring such loyalty in my wolves; yes, they had knelt to me but they didn’t look at me the way the brethren looked at Emory.

‘I’m the Elite no longer, I’m afraid,’ Emory said, true regret colouring his tone.

The soldier shook his head. ‘Regardless, I will followwherever you go.’

It seemed it wasn’t only the dark seraph that were fanatically loyal to Emory; he had a powerful charisma that made even me want to kneel before him. I was sure he could do a better job of leading the werewolves than I could. He had been born to lead but now he’d been ousted from his crown; it was all kinds of wrong.

Emory smiled at the soldier but shook his head. He spoke loudly to those who were still kneeling in front of him. ‘I fear that dark times are coming. I need you all to be here, serving the dragon court as you should. They will need good, honest men and I know I can rely on your continued service even in my absence.’ He reached out and pulled the nearest man to his feet. ‘My honour to know you, Geraint Flynn.’

‘My honour to serve you, Emory,’ the other man choked out. The omission of Emory’s ‘Elite’ title stung.

Emory clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Good man,’ he murmured. He tugged Jess down the hallway and I followed, at a loss.

Emory’s right-hand man, Tom Smith, fell into step next to me. Emory might be making some of the brethren stay to serve the dragon court but I was pretty sure he’d be able to move the sun before he could stop his devoted second from following him. I knew that because, up until very recently, Greg had felt the same.

Oh God, this sucked. Poor Jess. Poor Emory. What were they going to do now? I had no idea how to make this better and I hated feeling so helpless.

Sometimes it is enough to be there,Esme murmured quietly.

Every now and again she floored me with her wisdom. Esme was literal, brash and violent so often that when she spoke a deep truth it hit me like a bomb. She was right: I would be there for them until they didn’t need me.

At Jess’s tug on my arm, I followed them into Emory’s private quarters. ‘This is bullshit,’ she snarled when the doors were closed.

‘It is done.’ Emory shrugged philosophically and gave his fiancée a smile. ‘Think of all the time we’ll have together now.’

Jess smiled back faintly. ‘Well, it’s true – thatisan upside.’

‘I have plenty of business ventures to keep myself busy,’ Emory said lightly. ‘And I’ll be able to work out more. This is going to be a good thing.’ None of us were convinced, but I gave him points for trying.

‘We can totally do the war thing,’ I said into the silence. ‘I’m Queen of the Werewolves. I’m more than willing to wage war on your enemies.’ Especially that snooty bitch Geneve.

Emory grinned. ‘I appreciate the thought, Lucy, but I don’t want harm to come to my people.’

‘What about just the pig-headed ones?’ I compromised.

‘Not even them.’

I sighed. ‘I’m the worst ally ever. If I can’t bring war, what should I bring? Wine? Do you need wine?’

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