Burn the Night

Four

“Damn it, Mira!” Danaus taunted in a low whisper, a smirk pulling at one corner of his mouth. “Are you going to need a tissue or can you pull it together?”

I threw the hunter a dark look, but otherwise kept my comments to myself. The ceremony in the small clearing in the woods would start soon, and Barrett had generously allowed us to attend since we were the only people James saw as both friends and, in a twisted way, as family. I wasn’t going to be the one that started trouble.

Yet, I could understand Danaus’s teasing all too well. As we stood there in the quiet forest, a ring of werewolves around us, I tried to focus on the bare-chested James next to Barrett and the rest of the Rainer family. Unfortunately, my mind drifted too often to my recently lost Lily and Tristan. Two people I had taken into my family, into my heart, who were stolen from me through violence and treachery just a few months ago. Watching James being inducted into the Savannah pack, I tried to reassure myself that he would be safe and that no one would strike at him in an effort to get to me. He was now a part of Savannah, but there was a safe distance between me and him.

A hollow ache echoed through my chest. Months had passed and still I found myself conjuring up ways that things could have gone differently, resulting in Lily or Tristan or both of them being alive today. It was a futile act that only extended my pain, making me more vulnerable to the world around me, but I had Danaus at my side.

The hunter had returned from Venice with me, and moved into my town house in the historic district of Savannah. I had opened my house outside of the city to him, but he proclaimed that living together was a bit fast for him. But even that was said with a smile, as he tended to spend most of his evenings wrapped in my arms at my home. He had left Themis behind, and a part of me was relieved to have him out of Ryan’s grasp. The warlock leader of the so-called research society was more trouble than either of us was prepared to deal with. I had no doubt that Ryan still had more schemes that included us, but for now he seemed content to let us live in peace in Savannah.

Determined to earn his keep, Danaus took a job as a bartender and occasional bouncer down at the Dark Room. The exclusive club that catered only to nightwalkers and lycanthropes suffered a bit of a shake-up at his presence, but things had settled back into their normal routine. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that as part owner of the Dark Room, I was the one paying his salary each week. Danaus needed to feel independent and yet still connected to the dark other world that pulsed just beyond the notice of humans.

To my surprise, his fingers brushed against my hand, hanging down at my side, before he finally entwined his fingers around mine. Stop thinking about them. Let them rest, he admonished in my brain.

Will he be safe?

He will be safe.

Some of the tension finally flowed out of my shoulders and I squeezed his hand as I resisted the urge to lay my head against his hard shoulder. Danaus had become my rock, my one shining lighthouse in the storm, my last hold on sanity in this world. More darkness and evil lay just over the horizon, but I knew that I would at least have him at my side.

Keep thinking thoughts like that and I’m going to need a tissue, Danaus teased.

Asshole, I replied, mentally chuckling at him. I should have known he would be a silent specter in my thoughts. I’d been too dark lately as the world grew quiet. The naturi had left my territory and there was no word from the coven. Not even my father, Nick, had popped in recently to torment me. I paced the floor and stared out the window with my arms folded over my stomach, waiting. I didn’t know what it was, but something bad was coming.

At the other end of the circle, Barrett spoke to his pack, fewer than twenty members strong. Their number had been slashed, as they had once been controlled by the animal clan, forced to attack nightwalkers as the naturi searched for me. Barrett had lost two of his brothers, leaving only his younger brother Cooper and sister Erica at his side.

The alpha spoke of unity and family. He spoke of loyalty not only to the pack, but also to their race. He then turned to James and spoke about the young man’s accomplishments. He heralded James’s unwavering determination and his dedication to understanding the other races throughout his life, as well as James’s boundless compassion and fierce loyalty to his friends. And when the vote came down for his acceptance in the pack, it was unanimous. But then, it was rare for anyone to speak out against an applicant when the person had the alpha’s full support.

And then it was official. There were no fights. No bloody, exhausting trials in order to enter into the Savannah pack, just a pile of paperwork and a thorough interview with Barrett. James had been considerate enough to ask if I minded if he moved to Savannah before he officially petitioned Barrett. I’d simply smiled and nodded at him.

The only one ever known to skip the formal induction process into the Savannah pack stood on my right, watching the proceedings in silence. Nicolai Gromenko had been a desperate act on my part. Stuck in a bad situation with Jabari as his owner, he was about to be handed over to the naturi as a sacrifice when I finally stepped in and swore to protect him with my life.

Unfortunately, moving the shifter to my domain in Savannah meant that he also had to be accepted by the local pack to survive.

So at my request, Barrett took Nicolai in. But the arrangement couldn’t last. Nicolai needed a pack of his own, a place to call his own. He was born to be an alpha, and I knew that a part of him was chafing under Barrett’s rule.

“You’ve brought another sheep into the flock,” Nicolai said.

A broad smile finally lifted my lips. “I had nothing to do with this one.”

“No, you just look like a proud parent watching her child win his first award.”

“Just think of us as friends of the family,” Danaus interjected without taking his eyes off James. I inwardly shook my head. Danaus had never truly cared for the shapeshifter, and a small part of me thought it might have to do with my brief past with Nicolai. Of course, that was assuming Danaus was capable of feeling jealousy. I wasn’t about to get my hopes up.

At the other end of the clearing a cry of pain rose up, crashing through the air as James began the process of changing into a wolf. A quick conversation with Barrett a few nights earlier revealed that James had spent two months in the winter with the pack, learning what he could do before he briefly returned to Themis with the intention of living without the support of a pack.

While I wasn’t thoroughly versed in the lycanthrope world, it was my understanding that transition from man to wolf was painful for the first year, as the person learned muscle control and focus. I squeezed Danaus’s hand, a part of me wishing I could take away James’s pain. The sweet young man had always expected to be a spectator on the outside of the supernatural world, not a member.

Danaus squeezed my hand back. “He’s fine.”

“It will get easier,” Nicolai reassured me. “In a few months he’ll be able to shift anytime that he wants to. For now, he’ll be limited to the call of the full moon or the naturi.”

Others joined James, the clearing suddenly filled with large wolves of various color. I never took my eyes off of James as I saw the wiry young man change into a wolf with a thick black coat. When the transformation was complete, he shook himself once, as if brushing away the last of the pain, before he trotted over to me.

His long pink tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth as he stared up at me. I could feel his happiness. It seemed he’d finally found his home, and I couldn’t have been happier for him. Kneeling down, I plunged my hand through his thick coat, rubbing his ears.

“You’re a beautiful wolf,” I proclaimed with a grin. “I’m very proud of you.”

James nuzzled my arm once before brushing against me and turning back to the rest of the pack, which was milling around the circle. They sniffed and snapped at each other in play, eager to finally be running and hunting on the night of the full moon. As James rejoined the group, I noticed a smaller wolf with a mix of gray and white fur nip at his neck before she trotted off, giving him a little bark as if to encourage him to follow her.

Beside me, Nicolai chuckled. “I wonder how Barrett’s going to take that.”

“What?”

“That’s his sister who’s taken an interest in James. I almost pity the boy.”

Only Barrett and Nicolai remained in human form. I noted the look that passed between the two men before Barrett finally shifted into a large brown wolf and led his pack out into the woods.

I glanced up at the sky one last time, taking note of the full moon that hung bloated over our heads. “How is it that you’re not hunting with them tonight?”

“I will,” Nicolai murmured, his direct gaze straying away from my face. “There is something that I wanted to discuss with you first.”

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

“You had to know it was coming.”

“I did.”

“Look, I know you saved my life, not only from the naturi, but from Jabari too. Hell, you’ve probably protected me from my own kind as well, considering my past. I don’t want you to think I’m turning my back on what you did for me.”

“But two alphas can’t exist in the same pack,” Danaus said.

“You knew?”

“Only recently,” the hunter admitted. “It’s how the others behave around you. You’re a natural leader, and it makes things . . . uncomfortable for you when you are forced to constantly heel to Barrett.”

“It’s not Barrett,” Nicolai quickly countered with a shake of his head. “He’s a great leader and he has taken amazing care of his people. I . . . just . . . don’t belong here.”

My brow furrowed. My protection of Nicolai had been distant at best, but I’d always felt that if he was in my domain, I could reach him in time. I would always be there for him. “Where will you go?”

“Argentina.”

“What?”

“To be more precise, Buenos Aires,” Nicolai said. “There’s a very large concentration of lycanthropes in Argentina. Word has come up through the grapevine that warlocks and witches are going missing from the region and people are starting to point fingers in the direction of my kind. My Spanish is solid and I thought I could go down and see if I could look deeper into the situation before it turns into an indiscriminate hunting party. With the naturi on the loose, we can’t afford to have our numbers drop.”

“What did Barrett say?” Danaus inquired from behind me.

“Can I help you pack?” Nicolai joked, earning a smack on the chest from me.

“If he ever uttered those words, I would skin him alive and he knows it,” I growled.

“No, he said that a place would always be open for me in the Savannah pack should I ever decide to return.”

I nodded, shifting my shoulders against the newfound tension accumulating there. “So?”

“So the question has been left up to you. Can I go?” Nicolai demanded.

Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, I paced away from the two men, walking into the open clearing while crossing my arms over my chest. The spring wind was cool and there was still a bite in the air, as if winter were still fighting to hold its grip on the area. But the world was a lush green again and life stirred around us. The earth was awake and alive again. And thanks to my dear father, I could now sense it all, unlike any other nightwalker.

“Why are you asking me?” I said, defensively. “You know you don’t need my permission to leave or stay in Savannah. You don’t belong to me.”

“You did claim me in Venice before the coven.”

I shoved one hand through my hair. “You know that was just for their benefit. You’ve never belonged to me.”

“You might not have seen it that way, but I know that you’ve been protecting me with your life from that very first moment in Venice. I can’t just walk away without . . .” Nicolai’s voice drifted off.

“Say the words, Mira,” Danaus gently instructed.

“Go, Nicolai. Help the other shifters,” I whispered past the unexpected lump in my throat. The lycanthrope walked over and wrapped his large arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug. He was my golden boy, my earthbound Adonis, and he was permanently walking out of my life. “Just don’t get yourself killed.”

Nicolai pulled away, holding me at arm’s length so he could look down and smile at me. “I promise to avoid getting killed.”

“And don’t go picking fights with any nightwalkers,”

“There aren’t any nightwalkers in South America,” Danaus reminded me, but I ignored him.

“And keep your distance from the naturi. There’s no telling where Aurora is right now, and you don’t want to go waltzing into a nest of those bastards. Just keep your head down and your nose clean while in Argentina. If you need anything—”

My next words were cut off by Danaus placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing it tightly while he extended his other hand toward Nicolai. “Be careful,” the hunter said, neatly summing everything up when I seemed unable to stop babbling. It felt like if I stopped talking, Nicolai would disappear.

“Thanks. I will,” Nicolai said, shaking Danaus’s hand. “I’ll leave it to you to keep an eye on things here for me while I’m gone.”

“Screw you both,” I snapped, turning my back on them. Danaus softly chuckled, while I heard Nicolai shift from human into wolf. I stared off into the woods until I felt something large press against my thigh. I looked down to find an enormous white wolf with a burnished reddish gold streaking his fur. I had never seen Nicolai as a wolf and he was just as beautiful in that form as he was in human form.

“Be safe,” I whispered, running my hand over his head. Nicolai lifted his muzzle and quickly licked the palm of my hand before darting off into the woods. I stared at the last spot where I saw him before he disappeared into the thick bank of trees that surrounded us. The hollow ache I’d felt earlier in the evening throbbed to life once again in my chest.

Danaus came up behind me and slid one arm around my waist, pulling me back against him. “He’ll be fine.”

“In less than a year, I’ve lost Michael, Lily, and Tristan. I nearly lost Valerio, and I was forced to fight Knox, endangering his life. Now, Nicolai is going somewhere that I can’t protect him.”

“You can’t protect the world,” Danaus said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“I’m not trying to, even though it feels like it at times.”

Danaus grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “James is here, safe from the reach of Ryan and Themis. That should make you happy. I am here, out of the reach of Themis, and ready to protect you and the rest of Savannah. That should make you happy. Things are quiet now. Enjoy it.”

A reluctant smile pulled at the corners of my mouth as I stared up at the hunter. Less than a year ago we were at each other’s throats, looking for the first opening to insert a well-sharpened blade. Now we stood alone in the woods, a deep sense of peace sinking into my bones. While I was reluctant to release Nicolai, I knew it was time for him to go. For now, the others in my life were safe.