Note to the reader: Alpha Tamhas has a very thick accent. Don't worry if you can't understand, I tried to make the important parts clear in the rest of the dialog. If you're up for a challenge though, think of Scottie on Star Trek and see if you can hear his voice, although meaner than Scottie.
Even though he had the dark shadow of a day-old beard along his jaw, Cliff looked much younger when he was asleep. She would have never done it when he was awake, but she reached forward to touch the stubble, curious if it was soft like some of the books she'd read claimed or if it was scratchy like it looked.
"You haven't woken him yet?"
Aiyana jerked her hand back guiltily.
"Not yet." She pulled up a smile and turned to Mimi, searching the Luna's face for signs that she'd seen. "He's so calm and quiet when he's asleep."
Mimi squinted at her. "Did you two have a fight or something? Is that why he ran off last night?"
"He...," she didn't want Cliff to get in trouble. "Not exactly."
"Well," Mimi said, setting down the tray she was carrying, "I brought him breakfast. You should wake him before it gets cold."
"I'll do it right now."
She turned back to Cliff and took his hand. Coercing people seemed easier when she was touching them. "Wake up Cliff."
He sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes, then looked around. A broad smile broke out across his face when he saw sun-filled window. "It's morning?"
"Yeah."
He looked at her with one eyebrow up. "Did you make me sleep all night?"
She shrugged guiltily. "Well, it took a couple of hours to fix your foot and I thought it would be easier to keep you still while you were asleep, so I did."
"What if I need to use the bathroom?"
"Oh, we have crutches, but you have to be very careful and don't let your foot touch anything for several more hours. Don't even wiggle your toes if you can help it. I can get Alpha Miguel if you need help."
He grabbed her hand before she could go. "I don't need to go. I just wanted to see what you'd say."
She rolled her eyes at him as she pulled her hand away. "Mimi just brought you breakfast. Do you need any help adjusting the bed or do you know how to do it?"
"I remember," he sighed. "Was someone else here last night?" he asked, indicating the unmade second bed with a nod.
"I was. Someone had to keep an eye on you in case you shifted in your sleep or something."
He focused his dark eyes on her again. "That was kind of you."
She shrugged. "It's my job."
"Listen Aiyana, about last night..."
A door slammed near the front of the house. A few seconds later someone screamed. Her wolf sprang awake inside of her. "Don't move Cliff. I'll see what's going on."
He lunged and grabbed her hand before she could get away. "No. Lock the door. I know what's going on."
"What?"
His lips were moving like they were trying to open, but it looked like something was holding them shut. After a moment, he grunted and they finally did open. "Use your coercion to make me tell you about last night. It has to be strong."
"I don't want to force you."
"Just do it!"
His blazing eyes burned away her hesitation. "Cliff, tell me what happened last night."
Words started tumbling out of his mouth as if a dam had broke. "It's the crazy Scottish alpha. He wants you and the dagger. He caught me and ordered me using coercion to bring him to you last night. I couldn't fight it. Thank God he broke my foot too."
"He broke your foot?"
"He stomped on it after I tried to attack him when the tranquilizer wore off. Lock the door."
"To late," a woman's voice said behind them. "Both ay ye, come with me."
The woman was a little shorter than her with a blond ponytail, all black clothes, and a gun, not a tranquilizer gun either. Aiyana felt like she should have been scared, but the ferocious anger of her wolf overrode her human feelings. "He has a broken foot and he's not going anywhere. What do you want?"
The woman's smirk evaporated and her face paled. She dropped to one knee and bowed her head. "Alpha Tamhas requests yer presence, yer greatness."
Aiyana crossed her arms and gave her the sternest look she could muster. "Where is he?"
"Kitchen."
"Get up and go before me."
"Wait, Aiyana."
She turned around and focused her stern glare on Cliff. "Stay and eat your breakfast."
He fell back against the bed. "Aiyana, that's not fair. I'm supposed to be your guard. Let me help you."
She marched out of the room behind the woman leaving Cliff with a fork already in his hand. She hadn't meant to use her coercion on him but it was probably for the best.
The living room was crowded with wolves. Most of them were from the university pack and had been on guard duty from the way they were dressed. They all looked furious. It was the three at the table that she'd never seen before. Two were dressed all in black like the woman and carried guns. The third, also in black with black hair laced with silver, was sitting at the table eating a full plate of food. The man was wide, but not from fat. His aura of power was wide too. Mimi was glaring at him from the kitchen. She didn't see Alpha Miguel anywhere, or Nate.
"Ah, thaur she is," the man at the table said. "As suin as yer guidman gits back wi' mah son an' th' lassie hans ower th' dagger, we'll be oan uir way."
Aiyana suspected he was speaking English, but she wasn't entirely sure.
"That's all you want, the dagger and your son?" Mimi asked.
"Weel, an' th' lassie. She'll make an deagh Jo fur mah son."
He sounded a little bit like Scottie on the old Star Trek shows, but like he was speaking through a sock.
"Deagh Jo?" she asked.
"Good mate," the blond woman still standing beside her translated.
Her wolf growled. She could smell his lie. "I already have a mate."
"Aiyana, are you okay?" Nate ran into the room and hugged her as if he were completely oblivious to the gun-toting wolves right in front of her.
"Ah only found one other upstairs, Alpha. Sleepin' loch a bairn," the gun-wielding stranger who followed Nate in said as he moved to stand next to the blond woman.
"Ah tak' it that's yer Jo."
Aiyana barely had time to glare before Alpha Tamhas said, "Shet heem."
Shoot him? "No!" She pushed out of Nate's arms and pushed him behind her. Alpha Tamhas was grinning like a cat who'd caught a canary. He even had a bit of yellow egg yolk dribbling down the beard around his mouth like a feather.
"Ye want tae sae heem, gezz th' dagger."
What did that mean?
"Gezz?"
"Gezz, gezz. Dornt ye kin sassenach?"
"Um..."
"He wants ye to give him the dagger," the blond lady explained.
"I don't have it."
"Liar!" the alpha yelled. "Ah can feel th' power comin' aff ye."
The front door of the pack house squeaked a little as it opened behind her.
"Ah swatch, it's th' wee alpha wi' mah son," Alpha Tamhas said mockingly. "Colum, search 'er an' brin' me th' dagger."
It she'd interpreted the Scottish alpha correctly, he'd told his son to search her. She could feel her wolf's eyes looking out her own as she turned and looked at Colum. She didn't even have to tell him not to touch her. He immediately bowed and skirted around her. "Bhanrigh."
"Gonnae-no 'at grovelin' loon. She's naethin' but th' dochter ay a thief!" the alpha roared.
He was even harder to understand when he yelled. She guessed it wasn't aimed at her though since the man was glaring at his son. A large presence stopped at her other side. She didn't have to look to know it was Alpha Miguel - and he was infuriated. She could feel the anger rolling off him.
"Braw, I'll dae it myself." He shoved the last bite of eggs into his mouth, dabbed at the corners of his lips with a napkin he pulled off his lap, then slammed his hands on the table and stood, making the chair legs squeal against the hard floor.
Alpha Miguel stepped into Alpha Tamhas' path as he came around the table.
"Mah son hud a will stronger than yoors when he was two," Alpha Tamhas scoffed as Alpha Miguel shifted out of his way again, his fists clenched in frustration.
Aiyana's hair tingled under the coercion coming off of Alpha Tamhas. Nate stepped in front of her next with a growl. Nate was at least five inches taller but Alpha Tamhas grabbed Nate's throat and lifted until his Nate's toes were just brushing the ground.
"Wa yoo're naethin' mair than a gangly pup." He tossed Nate to the side. It would have been more impressive if Nate had flown more than a few feet, but it was enough to clear Alpha Tamhas' path to her. "Gie doon an' bide doon." Alpha Tamhas' command to Nate was laced with coercion. She wasn't quite sure what he meant, but Nate crouched and glared.
She met Alpha Tamhas' gray-blue eyes with her own, something you were never supposed to do to an alpha unless you had permission. Her thick brows lowered. "Ye arenae fit tae swatch me in th' yak."
She felt more than saw his fist rise. Instead of raising her arm, her wolf directed her to block him with her mind. A knife-like pang shot through her temple, but his fist never started down.
He looked surprised for a moment, then his face scrunched into an angry scowl. "Sae ye hae a wee bit ay power dae ye? Weel, Ah hae mair."
He dropped his fist to his pocket. When he raised it again, there was a big fat ring on his middle finger. It had a wolf's head that looked a lot like the one Nate's mother had given her except instead of blue jewels for eyes, it had holes that were blackened with age. The force projecting from him increased as his will washed over her. She could feel what he wanted. He wanted her to bow before him and offer him the dagger, but she had no inclination to do it. His fist shook a little and she noticed his skin turning red around the edges of the ring. It must be made of silver and not just colored that way. Why was he purposely touching silver and causing himself pain? She lifted her hand and touched the back of his hand with the question at the forefront of her mind.
Images of him using the ring on different wolves poured through the connection. Huge alphas were forced to their knees. Pretty female wolves were made to dance and do other things for his second and third, many of them with tears running down their faces. Wolves of his own pack grimaced as he ordered them to carry out assassinations and beatings. None appeared able to go against him.
She focused on his hateful eyes again. Could he see the images she was pulling from his mind? "It's all about power with you, isn't it? Why do you want the dagger if you have the ring?"
He shut his eyes. Beads of sweat had popped out on his brow, but his thoughts flowed to her as before. From the images she gathered that he preferred the ring to the dagger since it didn't hurt as much, it was also easier to carry around. She witnessed the blade burning a slash across his palm as he held it for his alpha ceremony and then saw an image of his son holding the blade, although the fog around the edges of the image suggested that hadn't happened yet.
"Why did you have my father killed? What really happened?" she demanded.
A vision of her father, looking very young without his beard, came through the connection next. Although she could only see pictures and not thoughts, somehow she could understand what was going on. Her father bowed before an Alpha Tamhas with hair unadulterated with gray and asked permission to study the pack collection of artifacts and ancient texts for a book he was writing on the history of werewolves. Alpha Tamhas agreed, but only if he could read it before it was published. Tamhas' spies reported that the scholar poured over the texts and took copious notes. He often disappeared for days with a small back-pack to trace the carvings on ancient stones that predated the written record.
Another image of her father with a scraggly beard just starting to grow on his smooth chin appeared next. This time he requested to see the dagger and perhaps take a picture and do a rubbing. Alpha Tamhas said no to the rubbing, but he agreed to let the young man view it. Her father was leaving the room after the viewing when a woman in need of punishment was brought before Alpha Tamhas. Alpha Tamhas used the power of the knife on her to enact one of his favorite punishments. He erased her memories and made her believe she was and had always been a slave to the pack. The archway where her father had been standing was empty when he looked up. The next image was of a shaking servant bowing before the alpha to say the woman had disappeared. His spies reported the scholar had disappeared too. He ordered them to find him.
In the next image, a few streaks of silver showed at the alpha's temples. The spy kneeling before him looked gaunt and travel worn. The spy extended a picture for the alpha to see and Aiyana immediately felt sick. She'd never seen pictures of her dead parents before. They were in human form. She'd always imagined the hunters her aunt had mentioned were human ones who had mistaken her parents for wolves. Either her aunt had meant another kind of hunter - those rumored to still target werewolves - or she'd lied to make it easier on her.
She pulled her hand away, shocked that someone could be so evil. Yes, her father had probably stolen the dagger, but she was sure he'd done so because of the way the alpha was abusing it. She wondered what had happened to the woman.
"You're an evil man. You don't deserve to be Alpha."
"Ah was born tae be Alpha wee pup an' there's naethin' ye can dae abit it."
Either she was getting used to his accent or searching his mind had given her the key to understanding him. There was something she could do about it.
"Oh, but there is." She grabbed the ring. His eyes widened and his fist shook as she focused her own coercive force on his hand. The force of his coercive will increased and his hand shook violently as he fought her, but he couldn't stop his fingers from opening under her command. She pulled the ring off his thick finger and the power flowing from him immediately lessened. She had no wish for him to submit to her, but her wolf raised her head in her mind and the man fell to his hands and knees before her.
"Even Alphas must answer to the Counsel. From what I just saw, there is plenty to charge you with. You will undoubtedly try and coerce your way out of everything, so I will place this command on you." She took a deep breath to think about what she wanted to say, then focused on him as hard as she could. "Until the case is dismissed or you are tried and found innocent, you cannot coerce anyone. Your powers of coercion will be weaker than that of the weakest wolf."
She knew immediately that it had worked. The pain in her head ratcheted up another level and the force flowing from him ceased. The words did not, however. She was pretty sure he was cursing at her, but she had no idea what he was saying. He couldn't lift his head, but as red as his neck was getting, she was afraid he was going to have a heart attack.
"Sleep Al.., no you don't deserve that. Sleep Tamhas, father of Colum until I tell you to wake."
He abruptly collapsed onto the floor. She sensed rather than heard something move beside her. Before she could register the gun pointed at her chest, something large and heavy fell on her and knocked her to the floor. She'd recognize that scent anywhere. "Cliff?"
He sprang up off her and dove at the two people in black who'd been standing at her side. A muffled bang sounded. All three fell with Cliff on top. Black limbs scrambled to push their way out from under Cliff but he wasn't moving. Oh no. She crawled forward to roll him over. Blood bloomed across his chest.
"Aiyana, watch out!" Nate called.
Aiyana looked up and found herself looking down the barrel of a gun. The blond was behind it, but she didn't look like she wanted to be.
This couldn't be happening. "Sleep, everyone sleep!"
The resulting headache made her want to curl into a ball on the floor, but she did manage to push the gun away as the blond collapsed. All around the room, quiet fell. She hadn't even noticed other fights were going on.
"Cliff. Can you hear me?"
He'd been shot at point-blank range. Desperately, she pressed her fingers into his wrist and then his neck, looking for a pulse. It was there, but he wasn't responding. She ripped open his shirt to find where the hole was. It didn't look too bad - Nate's had looked worse, but the location scared her. It was right next to his heart. She needed Doc now. She turned to ask someone to call him, but everyone was lying on the ground as if dead, even Nate. Her head was pounding so hard she knew she must have busted something, but she threw out one last command.
"Alpha Miguel, wake up!"