“It’s not her, it’s the car,” Haru said.
“That’s one fine car.” Reo nodded his agreement beside him, his sexy man bun bouncing along with his head.
I stared ahead at the sleek lines of Tianna’s ‘67 Mustang Fastback. She’d pulled ahead of Brock at the end, and I could tell Brock was pissed he didn’t have the chance to pass her before we arrived at the property. The cherry red finish of the Mustang gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. No doubt, that was one fine car, all sexy curves. But still, Tianna kicked ass and took names.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s the woman,” I said.
My bestie was definitely going to have his hands full with that wild woman. And he was going to love it.
Brock ignored our chatter about Tianna’s ride. “Ray’s gathered all the wolves.” His words were curt and strong—he was in alpha mode. “I’m going to have to tell them about you, Ev. The gate you protect—everything. They’ve seen your fox form and been good about not asking a lot of questions, but they need to better understand what’s going on since we’re going to need their help protecting you.”
I squirmed in my seat. “Okay. So you’re going to tell them I’m a kitsune?”
“I think I should. The stakes have gotten too high to keep them in the dark. I’m asking them to risk their lives and remain in place while a tsunami comes for them. I’d like to be able to explain so they understand. They’ll follow my orders no matter what I command, but everything will go smoother if they know why they’re doing things.”
I suspected this was as close as the alpha was going to get to asking for my permission. His responsibility was to me and our baby, but also to his pack. And there were a lot of wolves in his pack—in our pack. I was a part of them too. They were my family as much as the people in this car.
I turned to the back seat. “Haru? Reo? Will that be a problem?”
The brothers exchanged a look. “Not anymore,” Reo answered. “The greatest danger was having the Akuma find out what you are.”
“That cat’s well and truly out of the bag, meowing like a bitch in heat,” Molly grumbled. She rubbed absently at the puckered scar on her belly. I imagined it’d be a long time before she could forget what the Akuma did to her.
Haru squeezed her hand. “I’d still recommend asking your wolves not to share the information, Brock. The fewer people that know, the safer Evie will be.”
“You don’t need to tell me that twice,” Brock said, throwing the truck in park amidst a plume of dirt. A second later he was out of the truck, racing around the hood to open my door. I hopped out and we turned to face his advancing wolves.
They were walking out of the woods in large groups. There had to be nearly a hundred of them, all strong and fierce as they took in their alpha and my motley crew.
My stomach quivered at the thought of how many lives I was endangering with my mission. It didn’t matter one bit that I’d done nothing to choose the situation, nor that I couldn’t control a fucking tsunami or the underworld. Meeting the waiting gazes of so many wolves felt like crap. How many would die before this shit-fest was over?
“Wolves,” Brock called out to them. “I’m sure you’re all wondering what the hell is going on. Time isn’t on our side, so I’ll make it brief. The siren, Calista, has escaped. This time she has one of her triplet sisters with her.”
Disgruntled sounds of objection circled the standing wolves.
“The sirens escaped around the same time as the tsunami warning was issued. I doubt that’s a coincidence. Calista’s power has been enhanced by some nasty witches, and with the addition of her sister, we think she’s capable of directing such massive amounts of water here.”
A few of the wolves nodded. They’d all have a basic understanding of how siren magic worked.
“We assume the sirens want to evacuate the area so they can come onto our property without our interference and access the gate to the underworld.”
I scanned the wolves, spotting Ray, Sabine, Chad, and Goose. They hung on every one of their alpha’s words.
Brock took my hand and pulled me closer to him, his way of showing his support of me, and I knew the big announcement was coming. I tilted my chin upward and pretended I didn’t give a fuck what any of them thought of me.
“What I haven’t told you yet is that”—Brock looked over at me—“Evie is a kitsune.”
A few gasps interrupted the silence that followed Brock’s pronouncement.
Cass sidled to my other side and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He cut a black-stared glare across the field of wolves. It said, you mess with Evie, you mess with me. My good ol’ bestie...
“A fox shifter?” someone asked from the far right.
Brock nodded. “Not just any fox shifter. She’s the true protector of the gate to the underworld. Her kitsune power is the one thing that can close the gate. Combined with her witch magic, she’s the only chance we have at sealing the gate for good. I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you how important it is that we prevent the underworld from pouring out onto Earth. Evie’s the only person alive who can prevent that. We protect her with everything we’ve got. If we have to, we give our lives.”
Brock took a couple of steps toward his wolves, pulling me along with him. Cass moved with us, puffing out his chest to make himself appear bigger.
“From here on out, the pack’s number one priority is protecting Evie,” Brock stated.
A few of the wolves bristled.
“And no, it’s not because she’s the woman I love, and it’s not because she’s carrying my child. Keeping them safe is just a sweet bonus. You’re my family as much as she is. It’s because she was born to guard the gate and keep our land, and all of humanity, safe from the creatures of the underworld.”
He paused, allowing his message to settle across his audience, while my heart thumped in my chest. He’d announced that he loved me to all his wolves.
Murmurs spread across the wolves, though I wasn’t yet able to gauge their general response.
“As a pack, we’ve always protected humanity from evil. Safeguarding this land which holds the gate has been my family’s priority for years. Now there’s no one left to do it but us. The pack will scour the property for the sirens. If you find them, you kill them. I’m no longer interested in trapping them, and I think the werewolf council would agree.”
I suspected not even Mack would object too highly if we delivered the sirens to him dead, as long as we delivered them. Sure, we’d be out a bounty of a hundred grand, but at this point the relief would be well worth the monetary loss.
Wolves growled their agreement. It was good the pack was on the same page.
“Catch or kill the sirens and let me know immediately. We’ll need to incapacitate their magic to end this tsunami threat.”
I bit my lip. I hoped Tianna knew how to do that. This was going to be a team effort all around.
“Stay alert. Stay safe. And stay alive.” Brock took a few precious moments to meet the eyes of his wolves, and I could understand why he was their alpha. They trusted and respected him.
Brock met Ray’s gaze last. Whatever else Brock was saying, he spoke only for his second to hear. Finally, Ray nodded and spun to face the wolves. He started rattling off names while pointing to quadrants of the property, and wolves scurried to do his bidding—Brock’s bidding.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s go find this gate and close ‘er up.” Yeah, I wasn’t believing it was going to be that easy either. I patted my katana in its sheath across my back to reassure myself that I sort of had my shit together. “Molly, you protect the cabin.”
She was already shaking her purple head. “No way. Who cares what happens to the cabin if the world goes to shit?”
“You need rest. You almost just died. We got really lucky you didn’t. Go to the cabin, kick your feet up, watch some old flicks. I think there’s still beer in the fridge.”
And I cared if my beloved Gran’s cabin was damaged.
Molly brought her shotgun to rest on her shoulder. “You’ve never rested when you almost died, and you’ve almost died plenty.”
Brock growled next to me.
Thanks for reminding him, Molly.
I steeled my face to my apprentice. Whether she liked it or not, she was my responsibility, which meant I needed to look after her even when she didn’t like how I went about it. “Just take a time out for now.”
Molly’s eyes blazed before she breathed deeply and got herself under control. “This is all because I’m the only human here, isn’t it? I’ll bet if I was a wolf no one would treat me like I was made of glass.”
“You had an Akuma talon in you just a few hours ago!” I barked, but Molly was right. If she were a supernatural, I wouldn’t worry about her as much.
Molly cocked a hip and an eyebrow. “So? You healed me.”
Cass moved over to our apprentice. “Come on, Molly. I’ll help you get settled in and then join them.” Oh, Molly wasn’t happy about that, but she followed my BFF off to the cabin anyway.
I unclasped the band of my sword’s sheath from across my chest and handed my katana to Haru. “Take it. I need to shift to check out the gate,” I said. That green phosphorescent gate was only visible in my fox form. I needed to fully assess how open it was. Had things changed?
The warriors nodded. “Good plan,” Reo agreed.
“Lucky me.” I forced a tight smile. Shifting hurt like a motherfucker. The pain was supposed to diminish with each time, but so far it hadn’t diminished enough. Maybe the fifth time would be the charm.
“Hold up, Evie,” Haru said. “Before you shift, we need to talk to you about something.” He and Reo walked away from the others, just far enough that they wouldn’t overhear. Curious, I followed them, Brock on my tail.
“What is it?” Brock asked sharply. He was on edge. Tension rolled off his taut muscles and through our bond.
Haru and Reo exchange a wary look. “Closing the gate isn’t a science,” Reo said. “There’s no one single confirmed way to do it. It’s more of a guess, really—”
“Out with it,” Brock said, and I slipped my hand into his and squeezed in an effort to calm him down.
Haru sighed and ran a hand through his short hair, a rare nervous gesture. “Her father didn’t give us much direction, but one thing was clear. Evie needs all nine tails before she’ll be able to harness enough power to close the gate.”
And just like that, they dropped the bomb. Five more shifts. Five. I would have to complete five more shifts before I was ready. Even if I did one a day that might be too much for the baby, and we had hours to close this gate before the tsunami arrived, not days.