Page 74 of Hexy Beast

“You’re full of shit,” he says, his voice wobbling as he looks over at the werewolves making their way toward the park.

I can’t blame Nikos for being shaken; the crowd does not look pleased with him. Most of them are rubbing their temples and shaking their heads as if they’re trying to make sense of what has happened. A handful make a beeline to Aunt Artemis and begin untying her. Others have a blank stare like they don’t understand how things got like this. And then there are the ones who look like they want to feed Nikos about a million knuckle sandwiches. That group is gonna have to wait in line.

“If I’m so full of shit,” I say, “why don’t you tell them all about it? I’m sure they’d love to hear it.”

Nikos’s face falls as he looks around at those in wolf form who’ve gathered, and fear flashes across his features as several of them move forward, snarling and baring their teeth.

When they turn toward me, they lower their ears and tails in a sign of submission, showing I am their alpha since in their current state they can’t say the words. Nikos lets out a howl of outrage at their supplication.

“Look at him,” Nikos hollers, his whole face beet red with anger. “He is not the strongest. He cannot overpower me. He is not the alpha.” He reaches under his shirt and pulls out a medallion hanging from a leather strap tied around his neck. Runes like the ones carved around the door of the jail and my cave are etched into it. “I am your alpha.”

A bright bloodred glow of magic surrounds the medallion, and I realize what he’s about to do half a second before Nikos starts to pivot to face the folks helping to free Aunt Artemis. I rush toward him, throwing myself directly between my pack and the laser of light now shooting from the medallion. But before the beam can get to me, it’s blocked by a mirror that appears out of nowhere and bounces the light back onto Nikos.

He lets out a bloodcurdling scream as it burns a hole right through his shoulder, and he drops to his knees in agony.

I already know who I’m going to see before I look over, and fuck me, I can’t wait to see her.

Effie shoots me a sassy grin. “Miss me, honey?”

Damn. I’m really starting to love being asked that question. This woman has fucking ruined me in the best way. “You were supposed to go home.”

“I did,” she says before nodding toward the others. “We all did.”

And when she says we, she means it. The rest of the Aetos pack who’d been in the woods running the blue moon gauntlet are racing into town. My wolf howls in my head and theirs all answer in a pitch only we can hear. To the rest of Witchingdom, the exchange may have been made in silence, but to me, it’s louder than a freight train running on a track lined with cherry bombs.

This is my pack.

This is what it means to be a true alpha—not to be the one standing solitary, but to be the one surrounded, supported, sustained, leading all of us together.

“No,” Nikos yells. “He is weak. Instead of fully fighting me, he sent his power out to you. That is weakness. You can only help yourself. You can only depend on yourself. You can only fight for yourself.”

You can only win if you sacrifice yourself, isn’t that what I’d been thinking? Not about building alliances or coming together or fighting with my pack family like Effie’s sisters showing up for her—and Effie showing up for me along with my pack. Shit. It really has taken me long enough to figure out that leading isn’t about locking things down; it’s about building one another up.

All of us together against our shared enemies.

“That’s bullshit,” I tell Nikos, almost feeling sorry for him because I know, no matter what, he’s not going to understand. “We’re all in this together. Witches, werewolves, everyone else—it’s up to us, and we’re not going to let the Council or anyone like them win.”

Panic flashes across Nikos’s face, and he rips the leather strap holding the carved rune from his neck. “This isn’t ove—”

He doesn’t get the chance to finish his threat because he’s gone. Poof. There one minute and nothing but air the next. I whip around to Effie, but she shakes her head.

“Wasn’t me,” she says.

So whose magic? The Council’s? Someone else’s?

My brain hurts even more from contemplating the options than it does from any of the shots Nikos delivered to my head. But it’s not just my head that feels weird.

There’s a buzzing in my toes and a strange vibrating sensation rattling through me, growing bigger and bigger until I’m just air too.

I’m not here or there or anywhere, and then suddenly I’m back in Arcadia.

But it’s not Arcadia. It’s like a ghost town version of Arcadia frozen in that moment right between dusk and nightfall, as if it’s a permanent gloaming. And I’m not alone.

Aunt Artemis is there, holding a pair of gleaming golden scissors—but she’s with two women who look nearly identical to her. They’re standing only a step or two behind her. One is holding a ball of metallic purple twine, and the other has a tailor’s measuring tape draped around her neck.

That last punch of Nikos’s must have landed harder than I thought. I give my head a little shake and try to figure out what is going on.

Aunt Artemis walks over and gives me a quick hug before turning me to face the other women. “I think it’s time you met my sisters, Clotho and Lachesis. And, of course, I’m Atropos.” She gives me an indulgent smile as if she knows I’m having trouble keeping up. “We are the Fates.”