Tarnished Read online

  “You may say that, but attacking Dare at the edge of Seattle’s territory is one thing. Showing up in the center is another,” Silver snapped at an empty patch of air. Susan pressed her lips together. Silver had seemed not quite all there before, and now she was talking to the air. It wasn’t that much of a stretch to assume that their pursuer might be just as imaginary. Maybe she should call John. But she couldn’t reach her purse while she was being pulled along like this, so she went along with Silver without protest. None of the woman’s crazy moments had lasted very long so far.

  An emergency exit buzzer sounded briefly as they pushed through the doors. A man stepped away from the side of the building as they turned toward the main parking lot. Silver jerked to a stop when it became clear that the man would reach them before they reached the corner of the building.

  “You must be Silver,” the man said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

  Susan took a couple steps back. One piece of advice had always stuck with her, from a self-defense class she’d taken in college. Trust your instincts, your fear, about whether a person or situation is dangerous. There wasn’t anything about the man she would point to—he had a sharp face, gelled black hair, and had his hands in the pockets of expensive slacks—but she wanted to get away from him. The atmosphere out here didn’t help. Most of the light was only spillover from the streetlights covering the front parking lot and the delivery bays in the back.

  “You have the advantage of me.” Silver gave him a dangerous smile of her own. Susan had to look away when her fingers fumbled too much to find her cell phone by feel. “I have permission to be here. Do you? I know your underling doesn’t.” Silver nodded to the store.

  The man turned a blinding smile on Susan. “Silver here and I are old friends. Why don’t you let us catch up, hm? I’ll give her a ride home when we’re done.”

  Susan froze when the man looked at her, phone halfway out of her purse. Like hell she was going to leave Silver alone with him. He smirked over her shoulder, and Susan whirled. A bleached-blond man with multiple gold rings along the tops of his ears swaggered around the side of the building from the front doors. He must not have wanted to set the emergency alarm off a second time by using the same side door as them.

  “Hurry up,” the sharp-faced man behind Susan said. Leaving Silver alone looked like the lesser of two evils now. She needed to get help. Susan started to run past the blond to the light and people and safety, but he moved so fast. One breath he was at the corner of the building, the next his hand was on Susan’s shoulder as he slammed her into the gray-painted cinder blocks of the store wall. Agony bloomed up from her temple, making it hard to see for a moment. Her phone fell with a distant clatter. Tears stung her eyes from the unexpected force of the pain. Susan mentally screamed at herself to move, to do something when the man stepped away from her. Instead she continued to hug the wall, waiting for the throbbing pain to fade enough for her thoughts to move again.

  * * *

  With Susan taken care of, the underling caught Silver’s good wrist and twisted her arm, forcing her into the wall. She whimpered, and let him. Time to play wounded little thing. She had a weapon of her own, but if she used it too soon, they could still rush her, two against one. Better to draw them in close and let them relax.

  “You do stink of silver, just like the gossip said,” the alpha murmured with mocking casualness. “Is there really some still in your blood?”

  “Watch what you say,” Silver said, twisting to get at least her cheek away from the wall. “The human—” Of all the people who might discover Susan knew about the Were, this man had to be one of the worst. Everyone knew not to reveal themselves in front of the humans, though. If she could get the alpha to play along with that, he’d never have the opportunity to notice that Susan was much less surprised than she should have been.

  “Is stunned, poor thing.” The alpha leaned in so close Silver could feel his breath on her cheek, smell his satisfaction with her weakness. “Even if she could hear this far.”

  “Call for your lover.” Silver raised her voice so Susan could hear. “Leave anyone else out of this.” The last thing they needed was more humans. A beat later, the underling slammed a fist into her back. Apparently the alpha didn’t approve of her order to Susan. Silver closed her eyes to weather the surge of pain.

  “This party is for Dare. No need to be inviting others. Unless your mate happens to have a human piece on the side.” Some anger sneaked into the alpha’s tone, but he was back to mocking by the end.

  The underling pulled Silver back and slammed her into the wall again. She went limp and managed to lead with her shoulder. Pain clawed at her, but only enough force reached her temple to scrape it. The smell of her own blood fogged her nose. She rolled her other shoulder, but it only pulled her bad hand free to hang dead and useless. “Dare will be coming, don’t worry.”

  The alpha laughed. “Oh, good. I’m looking forward to talking to him.” He looked pityingly at Silver. “I didn’t think it would be so easy.”

  “If you have never learned the lesson that once in a while a cowering enemy bites all the harder when you least expect it, I think you are about to,” Death said. He stood proud and tall silhouetted against the Lady’s piercing light, and the underling’s sandy-colored wild self showed its belly. The alpha’s wild self was gray and built low to the ground, probably perfect for a lifetime of hugging the shadows before jumping out to attack. He didn’t even seem to notice Death, more fool he.

  Silver tested the underling’s hold, and he smashed another punch into the same place on her back for her trouble. Shadows sucked in her vision for a moment. She whimpered for effect, though if she was honest, it wasn’t far from the truth. The blood trail down her cheek turned from warm to chill. “Why hurt me, if it’s my mate you want? Why anger Seattle with this trespass?”

  “I’m doing Seattle a favor, getting the Butcher out of his territory for him. He should be grateful.” The alpha touched a fingertip to her chin and then rocked back. “You’re my message. Since Dare doesn’t wish to listen to what I have to say.”

  Silver ignored the alpha for a moment to gather her thoughts, though she was careful to leave her muscles limp. She didn’t want to give the underling any warning. Then she smashed her head back and heard the satisfying snap of the underling’s nose. He didn’t drop her, but his grip loosened enough for Silver to pull free.

  The underling was back on her a moment later, but a moment was all Silver needed. She wormed her fingers into her pocket and found the comforting chill of her necklace chain. She pulled the silver metal out and the underling flinched back.

  The alpha hissed in shock. “Lady, how can you touch—” He fell silent and stared at her fingertips, as if searching for burns that didn’t exist.

  Into the silence of the fragile stalemate, Susan spoke. “John. You have to get here right now.” Her voice stretched high and thin until it broke. She spoke more, details of their location Silver couldn’t make herself follow at the moment. It was enough to know help would arrive soon. For now, she needed information.

  She planted her feet and let the chain trickle from her hand until she had only a single loop over her fingers. She waited a beat, letting them second-guess their instincts about the danger she posed, letting them relax. Then she lashed out with it. The underling, smarter, flinched faster. She caught the alpha across the cheek, smelled the sizzle-burn of his skin under the metal, and showed him her teeth.

  “And you call me a drama queen,” Death said, but his tone approved.

  “What was your name again?” Silver dimly recalled it from Dare’s discussions with her cousin, but she wanted to force the man to give it to her in his own voice. To give her some shade of Death’s power over him.

  “Sacramento. You crazy cat.” The man put fingertips to his cheek, disbelief sharpening into rage, and hissed in surprised pain. The silver-made wound hadn’t healed as a normal one would have.

  “Wh
at’s your plan?” Silver let the chain hang loose. Not a weapon to be overused. Just the threat of it held the underling back. “You could challenge Dare to a fight in revenge for your son’s death this moment. But instead you talk, you attack me, you attack a human under Seattle’s protection. Why? Are you so certain you’d lose?”

  Sacramento tried to sneer but it caught at wounded muscles and he stopped with a gasp. “Death in a fight is short, pussy. The world holds far more painful and fitting punishments for what he did to my son.”

  “Short?” Death used the voice of the one who’d killed Silver’s pack, jagged with his madness. She had to suppress a shiver. “Only if you ask me nicely.”

  Silver stepped back. “How very human of you. They’re the ones who invented—” She hesitated, not finding the saying she wanted among the more slippery of her former memories.

  “An eye for an eye,” Death supplied, and Silver repeated it. With that prompting, the rest followed.

  “And the whole world goes blind.” Silver stepped to Susan’s side.

  Sacramento ignored her and gestured his underling to circle around behind Susan. The underling herded her, and by extension Silver, even farther from where other humans hurried back and forth. “Perhaps Seattle will be crashing our party this time, but I’m still staying to make sure Dare receives my message properly. Get comfortable.”

  7

  Andrew beat everyone out of the pack’s minivan. John had to slam it into park before his feet hit the asphalt a second later. The rest of his Were followed shortly. John had said Susan was garbled on the phone about their exact location, but the scents came starkly clear from the side of the store. Andrew ran. John followed, the limp he’d picked up hunting hardly slowing him down.

  Silver was first in his mind, but strangely Andrew couldn’t stop thinking of his wife as well. Something was wrong, and he was running to her, but would he get there soon enough this time? He had to. He refused to believe otherwise, but his heart still pounded in his ears, rabbit-fast.

  “Susan? Selene?” John called as they all turned the corner. Silver stood beside Susan, confident and patient in her waiting stance, her silver chain in hand. The rush of relief was so great, Andrew didn’t bother to correct John about using the wrong name for Silver.

  Sacramento had a fresh silver burn on his cheek. The bleached-blond man who had attacked Andrew at the pass blocked the women’s path to the parking lot, but he skittered aside on seeing Andrew, as if the silver metal had weakened his confidence.

  Under the stink of Sacramento’s burn, Andrew smelled blood. When he spotted it on Silver’s temple, panic changed to rage as easily as shifting in the full. Sacramento would pay for that blood. Andrew could imagine the feeling of the man’s throat in his teeth even now.

  John crossed immediately to his girlfriend and enfolded her in a tight embrace. He drew her away from Sacramento and toward the pack’s fighters massed near the minivan, waiting for orders. Andrew would have loved to do the same to Silver, but he knew better than to imply she needed such reassurance in front of an enemy. He came to stand behind her and she backed up to create contact between their bodies without his hands touching her. She was all right, he reminded himself to try to slow his heart. Hurt, but all right.

  “Hello, Nate. Long time no see.”

  Sacramento snorted at the borderline insult. Technically, Andrew was out of line to drop Sacramento’s title when he didn’t have a personal relationship with the man, or wasn’t another alpha. The years since Andrew had seen him had sharpened his face, especially since he’d shaved the beard that once softened his jaw. Maybe he’d want to grow it back now, to hide the scar, Andrew reflected with satisfaction. “I hear we have a problem.”

  “You should discipline your mate.” Sacramento mustered a sneer through the pain of the burn. Andrew rubbed at the ridges along his back through his shirt, and felt not an ounce of sympathy. “Using silver on her own kind. Is that what her leash on you is made of?” He nodded to John. “Like whatever that human has on Seattle. What is she, his fuck-toy? I had no idea he was into that kind of thing.” Sacramento pointedly kept his voice below Susan’s threshold of hearing at her distance.

  “You’re trespassing, Sacramento.” John growled, full-throated and threatening. Sacramento’s voice carried fine to werewolf hearing. He left Susan to join them. “And attacking those under my protection. You have an hour to make it beyond the border, or I’ll throw you out myself.”

  Sacramento held up his hands. “I’ve delivered my message. I have no beef with you, Seattle. I’ll be waiting on the other side of your southern border tomorrow morning. I’d suggest you send Dare to face the Lady’s clear gaze.” He pressed a hand to his cheek and walked with pointed insouciance toward a truck dimly visible in a parking lot adjoining the back of the store’s lot. The blond hurried after. Sacramento turned over his shoulder to blow a kiss from his fingertips to Silver. “You and me, babe. I look forward to the rematch soon.”

  Silver lifted her chin as she watched him go. “I’ve found Death tends to punish those who assume he’ll come at their call like some kind of domesticated pet. Watch out for him yourself.” Sacramento laughed in the slightly awkward way of someone who didn’t understand the joke.

  John’s beta, Pierce, came up behind him to bolster Seattle’s appearance of strength, and all of them watched until the taillights of Sacramento’s truck disappeared onto the road beyond. “No point following them on foot,” John told the rest of the pack over his shoulder. “And we need the van to take Susan and Silver home. Do a quick sweep now to make sure they’re really gone. Then I want you all on extra patrols near the house.”

  Andrew caught himself before he nodded. John didn’t need Andrew to approve. But since they couldn’t follow Sacramento immediately, John was right. If they wasted time casting around to find his truck to make sure he made it over the territory line, he could circle around to attack the house.

  Everyone relaxed as they turned back to the van: Silver allowed Andrew to pull her against his side, Susan sniffed, and John limped over to her. To Andrew’s surprise, Susan noticed the limp, even after the upset and in poor lighting for human eyes. “Were you attacked too?” Her tone wavered, but no tears materialized.

  Andrew kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know what story John would choose to tell her. Silver speared him with a look. Even not having been out on the hunt, she could probably guess what had happened. It was common enough.

  After a tired sigh, John went with the truth. “We strayed off the land we actually own. Some codger on his back porch with a twenty-two decided to shoot at the coyote or stray dog. Or maybe even Bigfoot, Lady only knows. It’s nothing, I just didn’t have time to dig out the bullet before it healed in. I’ll do it when I get home.”

  “Not silver, huh?” Susan said with a weak laugh, then looked back at Silver. “Metal, I mean.”

  “Yes, though it’s not so simple.” Silver turned her look on Andrew this time, and it took him a long moment to realize he was supposed to fill in the rest for the human. He frowned and shook his head, but Silver started to pull away, so he gave in as he opened the minivan’s side door and handed her up inside.

  “It doesn’t have to be a silver bullet to kill a werewolf,” he explained. “Head shots are generally lethal.” As he knew from experience, but he wasn’t going to mention that. He’d executed Sacramento’s son that way. The Were stigma against guns aside, it had been the cleanest death he could offer the man. European claims about their favored beheading with a silver sword being quick and clean were so much bullshit. The guillotine had been necessary for a reason. “Or enough shots in a row can soak through our ability to heal another injury without rest and food.”

  Andrew scooted into the first row of seats beside Silver. The cut on her temple had stopped bleeding so he lifted her arm first to run his hand along it. She winced when he neared purpling finger marks at her wrist, but otherwise she showed no pain.

  Silver
made a token effort to fend him off. “I’m fine.” She submitted to his touch after that, letting it calm them both down. He could feel her heartbeat pounding under her skin.

  The sound of Susan talking to John carried into the minivan. “No, Silver’s the one who got hurt. I was just stunned. I’ll have a goose egg there later, I guess.” The passenger door opened and slammed, though John stayed outside, probably to wait for the patrol. Susan knelt up on the seat to look back at them. “Is she okay?”

  Andrew shook his head. “She heals like a human.” Silver braced when he started to slide a hand down her back. He rolled up her top and growled at the ugly spread of the bruise he found low on her back. It was huge. Silver snapped her teeth at him when his fingers just brushed it. He took his hands away immediately and kissed the back of her neck in apology.

  Silver’s injuries cataloged, Andrew returned to the cut. He started by licking his thumb to clean away the blood, but that was inefficient and he switched to licking it directly. Silver’s heart slowed.

  Then the stupid human made some noise, maybe shock, maybe disgust, and Andrew realized that he’d let his exhaustion in the wake of fear for Silver make him slip into behavior unacceptable to humans. He raised his eyebrows at Susan, daring her to make a comment. She shrank back.

  Silver hit him. “Leave her alone. She called you all here quickly, didn’t she? She did well. Otherwise Sacramento might have had much more time alone with me to craft his ‘message.’”

  “If one of us had been with you instead, you wouldn’t have been in that situation at all.” Andrew smoothed Silver’s hair away from the cut again, even though it hadn’t fallen forward in the last few seconds. “Silver—” Words deserted him as the fear surged up again in a dozen mental pictures of what could have happened. “I’m sorry…”