Page 20 of Pack Rage
“I could be Finnick Dimitrivich?”
“Or Finnick Grigorovich, if you like,” he suggested. “I’m afraid… if you go by Dimitrivich, no one will invite you… to their dinner parties.”
I almost laughed, but he was falling down again, so I gathered him up. He felt frail and light in my arms. “No, I like Finnick Dimitrivich.”
“Then that is your name. The moon may not be visible in this place, but She sees all. By Her power, I name you Finnick Dimitrivich, child of my line.” He repeated it two more times. At first, I didn’t feel anything change, though my heart was lighter. But after a few seconds, something did seem… odd. I closed my eyes, focusing on the sensations.
Flor’s bond with me was where it had been since she bit me at Northern. But now, there was something else—a misty, elusive connection, like someone was calling my name from very far away. It was a welcoming sensation, a settling in.
It felt like, for the first time, I’d come home.
“I can feel it,” I told him. “Our bond.”
“Already? That’s good. That’s a facet of our magic, our bloodline. We’re good with bonds. We can manipulate them, use them. Create them. Draw power from them. Eventually, you will be able to use bonds for healing as well.” His voice dropped to no more than a whisper. “She won’t be able to draw your power now, Finnick Dimitrivich. She has no hold on you, though your father, as Alpha…”
“Right.” Getting rid of his last name was the easy part. Getting rid ofhimwould be much more perilous.
Chapter 10
Sketching Out the Plan
FLOR
Glen and I went back from the Pack House to Del’s cabin that night, my head buzzing with plans, but also pain, and more fear than I liked to acknowledge. Fear for Luke, Grigor, Finnick, Glen, and Brand. For my mama. For myself, even.
I wasn’t sure if the plan that had started forming in my mind was just crazy enough to work, or crappy enough to get us all killed.
Glen used his hands and lips to convince me to set aside the worry for an hour. It was exactly what I needed. We made love tenderly, both of us ignoring the feeling of doom that stemmed from the odd pangs and cold patches within our bonds.
Afterward, we fell asleep, and the fear returned when I couldn’t fight it. I had vivid nightmares starring all my mates tied up in silver wire in wolf form, whimpering in pain, near death. In every dream, I was handed a puzzle with a clicking timer, while Elina McDonnell wrapped more silver around the men who’d somehow worked their way into my heart. I couldn’tsolve the puzzle in time, and I had to watch them die, again and again.
“You can’t really love them, little witchling,” Elina hissed as she used the wire as a garrote on Brand’s thick neck. “If you did, you’d already be here. They don’t have to die.”
Sometime around three a.m., I woke, her voice seeming to echo in the bedroom, the worddiebouncing through the dark. “I don’t fucking think so, ya skanky ol’ bitch,” I muttered through gritted teeth while Glen turned restlessly in his sleep.
I needed to plan better. Faster. I stared at the ceiling, silently asking Del to help me see how to do it all, how to keep the ones I loved safe. Maybe he heard me, maybe it was just being half-asleep and able to see things I couldn’t in my waking hours. But the knowledge of what I had to do, and how, began to fall into place like puzzle pieces.
An hour before dawn, Glen’s voice drew me from my plans. “You’re awake? Did you sleep at all?”
“Nightmares,” I explained absently, my mind still whirring. “Brand’ll be there this morning. I’m…” I was terrified. “Concerned,” I said instead.
“They’ll be all right,” Glen murmured. He kissed me drowsily, then curled up behind me, tucking my hair behind my ear and toying with the metal tag that hung from the top. “And after Brand’s pack gets here, we’ll come up with a plan, one that doesn’t risk you?—”
“We can’t wait.”
“What do you mean?” He sat up, staring down at me in alarm.
He wasn’t going to like this at all. “We don’t have time to wait for them to arrive. We gotta go now, and try to sneak in.”
Glen took my hands, and our bond started tingling as the nervous energy inside me moved to him. I told him about the nightmares, then swallowed hard. “It wasn’t that part that gotto me. It was what came after.” He waited, and finally I said, “I sorta prayed for help. Del answered. It was like he was right there with me. He was pissed all to hell at Brand for puttin’ himself in the enemy’s hands. Said he’d handed the most powerful pack on the continent to an evil Eastern witch. And if she’s a smart one, she’d waste no time making sure he was leashed.” I thought for a moment. “I don’t know if it was Del in my dream, or just my memories of him, but itfeltlike him, Glen.”
I closed my eyes and repeated what Del had said. “If you can’t run, then try to talk your way out. If you can’t do that, then fight. But if you know you’ll lose—if you aren’t as strong or as fast or as smart as your opponent—never forget, you can always be ten times as crazy. Unpredictable shifters are the most dangerous.” I opened my eyes. “It worked in the forest with that fucker Ivan. I keep feeling like being away from the others will be why we might lose everything. We need to be together, Glenda. All of us.”
Glen half-smiled as our bond zinged again. He agreed with me, I could tell. Or at least he was gonna go along. “How do we get into the Mansion?”
I swallowed hard. “With magic.”
He frowned. “Sergeant told you he doesn’t have magic to hide us.”
