“Edie—get out of the way.”
“I can’t let you do this, Lucas.” I looked to Anna for help, but she raised her hands as if they were tied. “You’ll regret it forever if you kill him!”
“I’ll regret it forever if I let him live. I’ll be the pack leader who was dishonored.”
“So? Who cares? No one cares about that! No one has to care!” I reached around behind myself to press Fenris Jr. tight.
A phalanx of new wolves and wolfmen arrived, and one of them pressed through. It was deep black, with white splotches. When it reached the circle’s edge, the wolf skin fell away. Viktor stood there, finally without his hat. “I care. None of your bloodline deserves to lead this pack, not anymore.” Viktor moved into the center of the circle, shouting loud enough for all. “I figured it all out. All of it. Only none of you would have listened to me. I brought one of the drug dealers here—I interrogated him. Found out he got his drug—his Lobos Luna—straight from Jorgen.” The wolfmen shoved forward a man, who hit the pavement on his knees.
The dealer was Jake. My heart stopped. How come Jake wasn’t out there with the rest of the crazed new weres? I couldn’t look behind me now to see how the Shadows were “taking care” of things. And Jake was looking down—soon he had to look up and see me.
Viktor continued. “You’re not fit to lead, Lucas. Look at all this chaos in your pack. So many traitors. Kill the boy—and then fight me for your pack.”
Lucas watched Viktor as the newcomer walked proudly around. “Who are you to tell me what to do?” Lucas asked.
“I’ve watched all of your fights. I know where all your weaknesses are. To the Viktor will go the spoils!” Viktor said, thumping his chest, stepping aside.
Lucas took three steps toward me, as though he were coming for Fenris. Fenris scrabbled behind me, reaching the edge of the circle at last. I heard the snarls as he changed into a wolf, and frightened yips as he ran away. Lucas made like he’d give chase, then whirled and took two low steps back at Viktor, punching out to shove his human hand into Viktor’s stomach, carrying Viktor upward with the force of the blow. Standing, he drew the other were onto his toes, his arm embedded in Viktor’s chest. “It seems I have your heart.”
Viktor couldn’t say anything. His face went red, his rib cage straining the confines of his chest, gasping for air. Lucas went on.
“No one tells me how to lead my pack.” He flung Viktor outside the circle, and the black wolf form enveloped him as he left it. “Heal—and heel. Don’t offer me counsel ever again.”
Lucas looked out at the rest of his pack, held his arms wide. “Is this settled? Is there anyone else?” His pack gave no response. “Good. No one harms a hair on Junior’s head. Bring him home safe, to me.”
He turned toward me, sitting in the circle with him, and offered me a gore-covered hand. Since I’d already had one were-shot that evening, I took it. “You were born the wrong species.”
I sagged with relief and exhaustion. “I don’t think so.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Lucas left with his pack. I couldn’t imagine how Fenris Jr. would deal with things tomorrow morning. I had no doubt what the punishment for Helen would be. And what exactly had I condemned Jorgen to, giving him over to Dren? I didn’t want to know.
Jake still hadn’t looked up. I wondered if the weres had hurt him or if he was fighting the Luna Lobos. “Jake?”
He held his hand up, in a stop. “I’m fine. Just do what you need to do, Edie.” Normally, I would have fought him on that, only Anna interrupted us.
“Is there anything else that needs doing tonight?” She put her hands on her hips and stood tall.
I remembered what I’d been doing right before Sike died. “There is one more thing for me to confess to.”
“Hmmm?”
“I … destroyed a lot of blood. All of it, in fact. I didn’t think I could risk them getting it.”
Behind her, Gina heard me and pumped her fist in the air.
“Well, that was unexpected.” Anna said and looked around, calling out, “Shadows—”
As the moon sank, the shadows of the trees were growing. The nearest Shadow answered her. “We can return the hospital to the way it was, and also many of these people. But we cannot find individual blood cells and return them to their original state. If they were here, perhaps. But they were washed away an hour ago, and denatured before that.”
“Denatured by what?”
“Chemical solvents.”
Anna’s shoulders slumped. From behind, and the side, she must have looked dismayed. But when she spoke next, her eyes were lit up by power. “When the other Houses find out—” She shook her head, mystified at the future she was seeing, with an avaricious smile. “They will all be indebted to me. I will, of course, have to be gracious, and give them pint upon pint of replacement blood. For a nominal fee.”