Page 59 of Nightshade

Altair scrunched his nose and shook his head. “Why stake someone in the heart? That seems like a lot of work. Just regular wounds work. We can heal ourselves, assuming we’ve had enough to eat, but not quite as quickly as you lot. So . . . maybe he can heal as quickly as you. He’s always better at things than I am, because he’s older. He could go underground when I was still alive.”

He took a deep breath, which was always interesting, since I knew he didn’t need to breathe. After all, if he needed to breathe, he couldn’t survive underground. I thought he was breathing in just so he could sigh before he continued. “Running water does nothing. I have no idea why anyone thought that stopped us. As far as religious symbols, I’ve never been confronted with one. Do any of you have one? Or believe so deeply that you think it will help? I could be wrong, but my understanding behind the magic of such things is that deep-seated belief was the source of that particular magic.”

And frankly, after all our pack had been through, it was hard to believe that there were any gods out there looking out for us. Even the moon, which was a symbol to all wolves universally, wasn’t some benevolent goddess there to help us. It simply observed all that was before it, never affecting the world below, and that was nothing to believe in.

“The only thing that will protect us is ourselves,” Viktor said, his voice flat, but the words as true as anything I’d ever thought.

Tristan looked over at him, a strange look of tragedy playing over his features. “That’s so sad,” he said in a tiny voice. Then he slumped right over, falling out of his seat and into the middle of the living room rug, unconscious.

CHAPTER 30

Altair

Maybe the witch would die.

I wouldn’t mind if he did. Tristan had done me no particular wrong, but he’d done me no good either.

For so long, he’d been so deep in Ermengarde’s pocket that I had to assume she’d awakened him herself. Perhaps I was wrong, but clearly, Tristan held her in very high esteem.

If Ermengarde and I had ever agreed on anything, it was that Ivan was worth being afraid of. But these wolves were determined that they could fight him off. Aleks tossed off Ermengarde’s terror like it was nothing.

Next to Ivan, every single one of these wolves, even Henry, was a child. They might think they were invincible, because in almost every instance, they were, but Ivan wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have a clear idea how to win. He wouldn’t step foot in their territory if he didn’t mean to empty it.

I took a moment, the heels of my palms pressed against my closed eyelids, to figure out how to make them understand. Maybe Viktor was right, and my leaving wouldn’t change anything for them, but at the very least, Ivan wouldn’t be so set on carnage if he didn’t think there was any point in fighting them. He’d still attack, sure, but when he faced resistance, I doubted he’d risk his own life just to make a point.

Or maybe he’d scorch the earth for any potential allies I might have. Maybe he’d kill them no matter what I did.

With a huff, I dropped my hands.

Katya had crouched beside Tristan and felt his pulse. She frowned but shrugged, and none of the werewolves were particularly keen on seeing him safe and comfortable, or taking their eyes off of him.

Maybe it would’ve been kind of us to give up the couch, but I couldn’t be bothered and Leo didn’t make any move to change things. Once Katya had Tristan on his side, clearly still breathing, we went back to the business at hand.

“Ivan won’t come alone,” I said. “Hopefully, he hasn’t brought other progeny. His children can’t deny him anything, so we make a loyal fighting force that he doesn’t have to worry about betraying him. If he does bring more of our kind, that’d be worse. Vampires can be silent when they hunt, and they’ll take advantage of any opportunity they have. Witches . . . aren’t so careful. Since he’s already working with them, it’s a reasonable expectation that he’ll bring some along, and he’s . . . he keeps his progeny on a short leash, so he may have left them behind. It’ll be easier to sense the witches, and he’ll have no loyalty to them at all. In either case, he’s going to want people between you and him in case things go sideways. He’ll escape rather than fight a battle he thinks he’ll lose, but he doesn’t forgive, and he doesn’t forget. He’ll be back, so if the tides turn against him, it would . . . behoove you and me both if he didn’t escape.”

Evie climbed off my lap, and I thought for a second that she was going to check on Tristan, but she sauntered right by him into Katya’s rooms. A few heads turned after her, but one by one, every gaze in the room settled on me again.

My stomach was turning, snakes wiggling through me as I combed my mind for anything that might help them.

“I think you lot can hear better than us. Your sense of smell is better too. But no one sees better in the dark than a vampire. He’ll come when it’s darkest for the personal advantage, but if he’s working with the witches, it’ll put them on the back foot.”

“Would you be able to keep up with him in the dark?” Aleks asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe, but you don’t want me to. If I get close enough to him to hear an order, I become an immediate liability to you. The best thing I can do is . . . ”

“We won’t let you anywhere near him,” Leo promised, gripping my hand tight.

Near me . . .

Close, like when he’d whisper horrible things into my ear then lean down with his fangs and tear at my throat. When he’d tie me down and carve pieces away. He’d leave me open, too hungry to heal, starving but unable to help myself.

I shivered, shutting my eyes tight. A deep breath did nothing to calm my nerves.

And then Evie came back in one of Katya’s dresses. She padded barefoot through the living room, stepping over Tristan while she looked at me with worry.

“And if we manage to kill Ivan, what happens to you?” she asked.

Aleks scowled. “What do you mean, Evie? He’s free then, right?”