The trip back to the EVP wasn’t exactly celebratory, but it wasn’t somber, either. The tension of knowing what lay ahead had vanished, leaving a tram full of predators to mingle and discuss the mess that was the challenge.
Impressed by the shifter ferocity they witnessed, the elvish guards that accompanied them broke their usual stony silence to talk to the bloodied and rowdy coyotes. Kaz sprawled in his seat and stared out the window, his expression darkly satisfied, and Valen had broken the usual code of conduct and gotten his phone out to call Theodore as soon as the tram lifted off the platform.
Benny was in a heated discussion about the best way for a coyote pack to overcome a larger threat — say, a dragon — and Diana sat in the back, calmly polishing a wicked looking harpy knife with a tiny rag pulled from the pocket of her jeans.
Camille sat in Viktor’s lap. Her legs were slung over the arm of their chair, and her head rested beside his on the seat. They were set away from the rest of the group, and with all the talking, it was easy to feel like they were in their own little world.
“Were you scared?” he asked, skimming his palms up and down her back.
She stared at a fleck of dried blood on his cheek. He missed it when he’d washed in the compound’s bathroom, probably because it was hidden in his usual scruff.
Lifting her hand, she used her thumb to ever-so-gently scrape it away from his skin.
“No,” she answered. “Not after I knew you weren’t fighting. I knew something was going to go wrong if you did. Once Lana took your place, I was okay — even when shit hit the fan.”
She shuddered to think of what might have happened if things had gone according to plan. Would she have been too focused on the fight to catch the two cougars mid-shift? Would Viktor have been slaughtered before they even felt the need to break the rules? Camille couldn’t possibly know and didn’t want to.
My consort is safe in my arms. Nothing else matters.
“It didn’t bother you seeing me fight?”
She shook her head. “No. I knew you would be okay.”
“You trusted me.” Viktor turned his head to brush the tip of his nose against her cheek. His voice was soft, husky with feeling. “You knew I’d keep my promise to come back to you.”
Camille swallowed the lump in her throat. “Of course I did. I’m your mate.”
“You are. Gods, I don’t know how I got so lucky, but you are.” He curled his arms around her middle and hugged her close. Burying his nose in her hair, he whispered, “Thank you for being here with me, Cam. I know how hard this was for you.”
“I don’t care. You don’t do anything without me anymore. We’re a team.”
“No,” he said, pulling back just enough to give her a wide, coyote grin, “we’re pack.”
“Right.” Camille stroked blond waves back from his cheeks, her expression tender. “We’re pack. You and me and Benny and Diana and all the babies and everyone else. Right?”
“Right.”
Trailing her fingers down across his brow, she asked, “Are you okay? Did this bring up…”
She couldn’t quite figure out how to finish that sentence, so instead she left it hanging. There was no good way to ask if seeing Lana execute her father had brought up trauma from his own death match, after all.
And of course, Viktor understood what she couldn’t say. Gaze darkening, he answered, “It’ll never be a good memory, Cam. There will always be a part of me that hated doing it, that hates myself for doing it — that will always hate him for making me do it. But I don’t regret it and I don’t think Lana will, either.”
Viktor pressed the softest of kisses to her lips, seeking and taking comfort, before he continued, “My father terrorized his pack. He stole money and nearly bankrupted the pack. He didn’t even like cubs. I don’t think he was always like that, but by the time I came around, I think he’d grown to hate being an alpha — maybe even having a pack at all. I don’t think I would have begrudged him that if he just did the right thing and walked away, but he couldn’t seem to give it up.”
“Some people become trapped in their own power,” she said, thinking of her uncle Thaddeus and his half-orc son sitting at the far end of the tram. “Even when they want to leave it behind, they can’t seem to fathom ever doing so. It’s somehow better to destroy everyone else’s life than give up control.”
Viktor touched their foreheads together and closed his eyes. “You’re right. And because they’re miserable, selfish fucks, they make their pain everyone else’s problem. So to answer your question, yeah, today hurt. It brought up shit I wish I could bury, but it also reminded me that what I did was right, just as what Lana did was right.”
They were quiet for a while, half-listening to the buzz of conversation and their own steady breathing, until Camille dipped her head to give him a long, thorough kiss.
When she pulled back, Viktor looked up at her from under eyes gone half-mast and asked, “What was that for?”
“I’m proud of you,” she answered, blinking back the sting of tears. “You’re a good alpha, Viktor. I am… I am so proud to be your mate.”
Instead of speaking, he let out a huff of air and bent to bury his face in her shoulder. Strong arms locked around her back. His muffled “I love you” barely made it over the hum of the tram and the current of conversation ebbing and flowing around them.
But she heard it.
Nearly the entire pack met them on their return. Their elvish entourage waited on the city side of the green corridor, their vehicles idling quietly in the final splash of sunlight before sunset. The Merced pack had set up tables and barbecues while they waited for their alpha’s return. Cubs tumbled together in the grass, shifted and un-shifted, while the adults mingled with beers in their hands.
A cheer of relief went up when Viktor climbed out of their car. Unwilling to make them wait a moment longer than necessary, Benny had called the waiting pack seniors with the news well before they touched down in San Francisco. Still, they rushed toward the cars to pull their alpha into a series of bone crushing hugs.
Little ones swarmed around, eager to get in on the action, and exuberant yips mingled with the childlike howls of delight when cubs were hoisted up onto shoulders and swung playfully in the air.
While Viktor was busy, Camille slowly climbed out of the car and hung back on the border, where the sidewalk met the line of lush green grass. Other doors opened, too, and soon an uneasy group of stern-faced elves joined her.
Kaz slung a heavy arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side. His rich scent of wood smoke and leather was a familiar comfort. When he spoke, his voice was dark with the protectiveness that made him exactly who he was. “You okay, sweet?”
“Yeah,” she answered, leaning into him. “It’s good to see Viktor with his pack, is all.”
He nudged her back. “Aren’t they your pack now, too?”
She glanced down at where the tips of her stilettos touched the grass. “Yes. It’ll take a while to get used to, though.”
Elves didn’t share well. That was part of the reason they could never manage the close-knit pack system that the shifters had. Instinct made her want nothing more than to hide her consort away from the world. She wanted to dig her claws into him and keep him to herself.