Page 28 of Pack Ruin
Samuel smiled up at the ceiling. “She was tall, like her mother, with nice broad shoulders and hips. Good thing. When Brand was born, he weighed fourteen pounds.” He laughed as I shuddered. “We wanted more children, but it never happened. So she poured all her affection into Brand. It’s why he’s so spoiled.” We both chuckled at that. “Her love was like sunlight, soft and warm. But when she got riled up? She was a thunderstorm, raining hell down on anyone who hurt the ones she protected.”
My heart ached. Usually, Samuel was reserved and quiet. But he’d obviously passed down a deeply romantic streak to Brand.And now, on what might be my last day to get to know him, he was opening up, sharing all the stories I should have had years to learn.
“I wish I’d known her.” I wondered if she’d looked like Verona. If she’d loved books, or fighting, or something else. I made myself a promise to walk down the hall of portraits slower when I had a chance, and see if she was there.
“She would have loved everything about you.”
“Even though I have more mates than a dog has ticks?” I grumbled.
He sighed. “She’d have crocheted matching wedding tuxedos for all your males.”
“Crochet?” I couldn’t even picture it.
Samuel laughed quietly. “She wasn’t very good at it, but she loved to crochet. She made me a pair of shorts one year. Yellow wool, in some sort of pattern she called granny squares. Itchy ashell. She asked me to wear them to the Conclave the first year after we mated. With a matching short-sleeve shirt thing.”
“How did you get out of it?”
He huffed. “I didn’t. I wore them, and fought every shifter who laughed.” His lips twitched under his beard. “All seventy-three.” I couldn’t laugh; Brand would probably do the same thing for me. “Do you crochet?”
“Not a stitch. So don’t worry, Brand’s safe.” I sighed when I realized what I’d said. He was anything but safe. He could die tonight, and it would be his own father who did it. Though even if Samuel was the one to fall, a part of Brand would disappear with him. I went on, as if I could talk away the sadness. “I did like to sketch, back at Southern. I could usually get hold of some old pencils and paper. I wasn’t great—I’m not an artist like Brand—but it was fun. It was about the only fun I had, growing up.”
Samuel sat up. “Brand needs fun.” The light had diminished, so it was hard now to make out his features. “Promise me you’ll enjoy every minute you have together. Even the hard ones. I’d pay any price for even one day more with my Lore. Even one kiss. Don’t take my boy for granted.”
“I never could. His love is more than I ever dreamed.”
He reached through the bars, and I grasped his hand gently. “Don’t take any of your mates for granted. You’re going to change this world, Florida Wi…” We both held our breath for a moment before he finished, “FloridaWills.” His smile widened as I stared into his eyes. Maybe he was weaker, or maybe I had grown stronger, but it wasn’t hard to meet his gaze now.
“I’d settle for changing this fight,” I admitted.
He opened his mouth to say something, but the door at the top of the stairs swung wide. Ida came down, her face blotchy and swollen from crying. She pulled a key from her pocket and opened the cell door while I slipped away, my lungs tight.
I looked for Brand in the library, but only Verona was there, furiously reading and taking notes. “Did you find a way out?” I asked quietly.
“Not yet.” Her voice sounded as rough as mine. She had two books open in front of her, one antique and one brand new. “The old ways were recorded in our modern books, but they’ve been simplified over the years. The oldest recorded pack laws are where I’ve been trying to find another solution. A loophole, a precedent. Something.” She pulled the older one of the books toward her and read aloud with increasing frustration. “The passage of power from Alpha to Alpha shall take place under the eyes of the Moon Goddess and before Her gathered children. The decision of who receives the power is not made by tooth or claw, but by Her favor, which She makes known through blood and light.”
Blood and light?“That doesn’t make sense.”
“They simplified the description of the old ritual in the most current pack law books.” She pulled the freshly printed book closer.
I peeked at the page she tapped with one bony finger, scanning a few lines. This one was straightforward, even though the author had made it clear that these “old ways” were only included in this text as a historical footnote. The challenge had to be offered with witnesses, with a fight to the death that took place under a full moon. The winner was the shifter who survived. That was it.
“And then the power just… goes to the winner? Like… woo-woo magic shit?”
“You know magic is outlawed,” she replied, but something in her tone made me curious.
“It is? I never learned about magic at all back at Southern. Why is it outlawed? The Russian, General Ivan, had a wand withmagic. Where did it come from? Did we shifters have magic? And gave it up or something?”
Verona moved her mouth, like she was trying to chew gum, but couldn’t speak. Finally, she took a breath and let it out. “You wrote your mother’s name: Lily Rain Wills. I looked into all the Southern pack registries we have here. There is no recording of a Rain at Southern. Were there others with your name?”
“Ah, no,” I answered. “Just me and my mother.”
She hummed. “As I suspected. Mountain also has no Rain family. So I looked into the smaller packs that are allied with Southern, then Eastern, and Northern. There are no Rains. And then I remembered, I’d seen that name once before.”
I blinked, wondering what she was getting at. Did I have some family she knew about? “Where?”
After a long moment, she walked to the back of the library, using a brass key to open a locked bookcase. She reached behind the shelved books to something hidden there.When she returned to the table, I saw what she’d retrieved. It was an antique-looking book that smelled like old blood and mildew, small enough to fit into my pocket and bound with faded red leather, with a brass hinge closure.
Verona placed it gently on the table. “You asked about magic. You should know, you should have been taught, that any use of magic is forbidden since the war with the Russians. Any hint that a wolf has magic can lead to banishment or death. Anyone possessing an item that has magical properties is to be executed.”
