Page 2 of Protection of the Pack

Now, even though I’d once fancied myself in love with him, I didn’t feel any sympathy. I was all out of fucks to give and, more importantly, so was Esme. She hadn’t been with me then, but she could feel the echoes of my remembered fear and it made her rage.

Esme prowled around James and let out a fierce growl. He took an involuntary step back. I wondered what I’d ever seen in him. He didn’t look so sexy now; he was sullen faced and his hard eyes showed no remorse.

He looked around the room, turned and tried to flee. The gathered werewolves wouldn’t let that happen, nor would Esme. With another growl, she bounded two steps and landed on his back. He let out an ‘oof’ as he fell, the breath knocked out of him.

Esme grabbed his arm in her jaws and flipped him onto his back. For the first time, I saw panic flare in his eyes, and a dark part of me took pleasure in that. It turns out we can all engage in a littleschadenfreudenow and again.

But James’s panic wasn’t wholly justified. After all, we weren’t going to kill him.

Esme paused.We’re not?

No,I confirmed.Just some maiming.

She sighed, but I didn’t need to explain again to her about my moral compass. We’d discussed it at length and, although she hadn’t really grasped it, she understood some lines in the sand were important to me. She wanted me to be happy, so she agreed to observe them. She’s good like that.

James was still staring at us, his chestnut eyes filled with defiance and an edge of fear. He’d had a moment of panic but he still didn’t think I’d do anything to him. He’d dated me,knownme, and a few months ago I couldn’t kill a spider. He was scared but he thought he was safe. Perhaps he was safe from me – but he wasn’t safe from Esme.

Pathetic.Esme slunk around him as he lay immobile, as if playing dead. We didn’t buy his act. She prowled for a good minute or two. When he started to relax and think we weren’t going to hurt him – that was when she struck.

She ripped into the crotch of his trousers, tearing away the fabric and burying into his soft flesh. That was when he started to scream. Esme kept tearing, ripping his family jewels away from his body. Hot blood filled our mouth and we liked the taste.

James sobbed hopelessly, but all I felt was Esme’s satisfaction mirroring my own. He would never kill another innocent again. He was a succubus, cursed now to live a half-life. He would get his energy through stolen kisses, but never again could he take a life force. I suspected he might have preferred death.

When Esme had finished shredding James’s manhood, she padded back to our clothes.Over to you,she murmured and relinquished her hold on us.

The transformation rolled over us and we barely bit back a moan of pleasure. Changing wasgood.The blood that had been coating our muzzle was gone; I was naked, but clean.

I dressed unhurriedly and turned to the pack members who were still standing in the living room, hunched together in a confusion of limbs. ‘Staunch the bleeding and keep him alive for the next fifteen minutes,’ I said in my bossiest voice, as if orders came naturally. They didn’t, but I was working on it. Then I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Amber DeLea.

My favourite witch answered on the second ring. ‘Lucy, what do you want?’ she bit out. She is so warm and fuzzy.

‘You remember how a succubus nearly killed me?’

‘I recall the story, yes.’

‘Well, I’ve maimed him a little. Can you come and heal him so he doesn’t die? I want him to live a long and unhappy life.’

‘Remind me not to piss you off,’ Amber commented drily. ‘You’re in luck, I’m just driving back from Rosie’s and I was on my way to see you. I’ll be with you in five.’ She rang off.

Amber is abrupt, blunt and pushy; when I grow up, I want to be just like her. I wondered why she was coming to see me; we weren’t quite friends, so it wasn’t like she was coming to plait my hair. I pushed it from my mind; I had more pressing concerns.

I pocketed the phone and picked a comforting face out of the crowd. ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Dawes,’ I said to our resident housekeeper. ‘I’ve made a bit of a mess of the lounge carpet.’

The lounge is our name for the gargantuan room that frequently hosts the pack members. It has numerous sofas, TVs and beanbags strewn around. There is a corner with kids’ toys and books for when the pack’s pups come to play, and there’s a corner with game consoles for when the pack’s grown-up pups come to play.

Mrs Dawes gave me a warm smile. ‘Never mind, dear. I have an excellent carpet cleaner. If I treat it fresh, it will come right out.’ The carpet in the lounge is a dark floral monstrosity, which I hate, but at least the pattern helped hide the stains that had amassed over the years. This pool of blood was much like the other marks the carpet bore witness to.

Nothing fazes Mrs Dawes. Like me she came late to the supernatural game, and like me she was turned by the former alpha, Lord Samuel. He’d saved her life too, just like he had saved mine. I tried not to think about how I’d ended his.

Two werewolves had stepped out of the crowd to obey me: Manners, my second, was no surprise, but Archie, who was twelfth in the pack, was quite a shock. Archie was Lord Samuel’s son, and he hadn’t managed much in the way of friendliness so far. I didn’t blame him; even knowing the circumstances, I still blamed myself for his father’s death. Evidently, so did he.

Manners took control of the situation and gruffly ordered Archie to help compress the grisly wound to staunch the blood. The rest of the room was silent, watching. I stared right back. You craved this, I wanted to growl. You wanted to see me – well, see me. I won’t blink first and I’m not giving up my throne for anyone. Abdication isn’t an option in werewolf culture and, as I’ve said already, I’m not ready to die.

I held their gazes one by one until they looked away. One point to Lucy.

Chapter 2

Amberbustledinwithher customary black skirt swishing around her ankles. Today it was paired with a sky-blue top that made her scarlet hair pop. Her black tote bag swung by her side. She barely spared the room and its occupants a glance before she turned her attention to my murdering ex.

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