Shards of Hope(28)

“Our position on a rise should protect us from any mudslides,” he said. “Theo, I want you to take a team and make sure there’s nothing to worry about around us regardless—be careful, but check to see if the ground shows signs of becoming unstable.”

“Will do.” Theo rubbed at his jaw, as if his stubble itched. “I think we should be good. These trees have roots so deep nothing but the earth cracking open’s going to shake them.”

That was why Remi had chosen this place for the pack’s heart. These “aerie trees” had been planted over three hundred years before by a small pack named RainStone. Then had come the Territorial Wars; RainStone had been decimated in the ensuing fighting, their land passing into the trust created after the wars to hold pack lands that no longer had a living pulse.

Remi and the other founding members of RainFire had flat-out bought a great big chunk of land around this section for their new pack and they had certain changeling rights to areas in public ownership, but the heart piece, they’d had to request from the trust. The trust’s founding document decreed that the entrusted pack lands could never be sold, only be given—to new or old changeling packs that needed it.

As a result, the testing process for those who applied for a land grant was stringent. For an inexperienced alpha who wanted to set up a brand-new pack, it was brutal. That process was overseen by the ten most powerful alphas in the country at any given time. Remi had had to show those tough men and women not only that he had enough committed people and resources to set up a pack and hold the land against outside threats, but also that he had the strength to keep his new pack safe.

Not every changeling with the dominance to be alpha has the heart for it.

It was Lucas Hunter, alpha of DarkRiver, who’d said that to Remi at the start of the three-month period in which he’d acted as Remi’s mentor—a condition of the land grant. His task had been to give Remi a crash course in what it meant to be alpha of a vibrant, growing pack, and assess if Remi had the goods to be entrusted with the task.

Lucas had gone on to add, “You have to create bonds so strong that your packmates know you’ll always have their backs.”

“That’s not even a question.” Remi would fight to the death for his people. “It might’ve taken time for my alpha nature to assert itself, but it’s fucking wide awake now. All I want is my own pack, my own sprawling family to protect.”

Lucas’s green eyes had glinted in approval. “Never forget that—your pack is the heart. The alphas who fuck up are the ones who start to think they’re the most important element of a pack.” A shake of his head, his hair gleaming blue-black in the sunlight, the savage clawlike lines that marked one side of his face clearly delineated. “We’re just the lucky bastards who have the honor of protecting the heart.”

Remi would allow nothing to harm that heart. He intended for RainFire to put down roots as deep and as strong and as unshakable as those of the trees in which they’d made their homes. “Cubs?” he asked, his mind on the most vulnerable of their packmates.

Theo was the one who answered. “All accounted for and where they should be.” His smile reached the warm brown of his eyes. “I did have to chase a couple who thought we were playing hide-and-seek.”

Lark pointed her chin toward the infirmary, her pixie cap of hair standing up in all directions after she ran her fingers through it. “What’s the story with those two?”

Remi gave the three sentinels a rundown of everything he knew to date. With the comm lines down, he couldn’t touch base with Lucas, find out if the more experienced alpha—who also had direct contacts among the Psy—knew what the hell was going on. It looked like he’d simply have to wait for the Arrows to wake up.

If they woke up.

Because right now, from the grim look on Finn’s face, he knew that wasn’t a guaranteed outcome. “How bad?” he asked the healer when Finn paused to gulp down some water.

Wiping off his mouth, Finn just shook his head.





Chapter 10




SELENKA DUREV, ALPHA of the Moscow-based BlackEdge wolves, glanced at the report one of her senior lieutenants had just brought in. Her wolf’s claws immediately pricked at the tips of her fingers, a growl building in her throat. “This is confirmed?”

“As far as it can be.” Gregori’s expression was harsh. “The bones of a hostile competing company are all there—Krychek’s gone so far as to buy the Cavzi plant out from under us.”

Selenka wrestled her wolf into patience, flipped through the report again. As one of the strongest and most established packs in Russia, BlackEdge had a diversified business base, but a large part of the pack’s income came from producing environmentally friendly components for various vehicles. They’d been building up their reserves to go into the full-on production of vehicles within the next three months. Except it appeared Kaleb Krychek had stealthily put his own plan in play to serve the same market.