Page 34 of Shifters Unifying (Shifters Destiny: Willow Creek Shifters #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

emma

One Week Later

The Gathering Place

Between Bear Trees & Red Tail Territories

“Is it November yet?” I asked Salali.

She had volunteered to drive me to the called conclave, already determined to sing my praises to the council, since as an alpha, she had to be there anyway. We sat in the front two seats with the younglings in the seats behind us.

She tilted her head. “I think so, but only just. Why do you ask?”

“The days are all running together, so fast I can barely keep up. Before long, it’ll be the Beaver Moon, and time to prepare for winter.”

“Winter is coming,” John quipped from the back seat of the SUV.

“Shut up, John Snow,” Izzie answered.

Salali laughed along with the others. A small smile was all I could manage.

Training in East Nuttal had been long and hard, but successful, and she’d been satisfied by the attention I’d given her, her warriors, and her clan. However, since spies were a real and present risk, I didn’t want to showcase what I’d learned from her warriors or what they’d taught me.

Not yet.

So, as we came to a stop near the safety of the gathering place, I was still trying to come up with another way to impress the assembled alphas.

The bond flickered in my mind, rife with tension.

Logan’s nerves were doing a good job of obliterating my concentration.

Izzie, Blaze, Oliver, and John all climbed out and hurried toward the amphitheater, probably anxious to see it for the first time.

After the doors slammed, Salali cleared her throat.

“Yes?”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to send for my warriors?” she asked again as she shut off the engine.

I shook my head. “We have to behave as though we have unidentified traitors in our midst.”

“Surely, they’ve all been discovered.”

“We won’t know who they all are until Acheron is dead… sent back to hell where he belongs.”

She fell silent. Then she slid from the drivers’ seat, made her way around the vehicle, and opened the front passenger door of the single, modest four-wheel drive vehicle East Nuttal owned. Their clan was neither affluent nor trying to be.

Neither of us spoke as we approached the safety of the warded space. In the quiet, an audible tumult spilled out from inside. The cacophony made my stomach flip flop. Maybe a week had been too long to leave them stewing. Ominous lightning flashed on the horizon.

The thunderhead was no match for the storm brewing within.

Lightning flashed lit up the darkening clouds.

The gathering place had been warded, protected from attacks.

However, I wasn’t sure if the invisible barrier was waterproof, so I hoped it wouldn’t start pouring before I managed to captivate the audience.

Besides, the last conclave location still succumbed to Acheron’s attack.

Izzie, John, Oliver, and Blaze had all come along to show off what I’d taught them about shifting, and they huddled near the entrance, a group of young people who still didn’t quite know their place in the shifter hierarchy at large. All four of them wore clothes and still averted their eyes.

I shook my head. I’d acted that way that once… a lifetime ago. “You go on in, Salali. I need to have a word with them,” I said, inclining my head toward the four young ones. When I stepped in front of them, they halted. “Can I talk to you?”

“All of us?” Blaze asked, tucking a strand of her blue hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, I have a plan, and I need your help.”

John crossed his arms, not really old enough to pull off the stern look he was probably going for. “What’s your plan?”

“John, stop. Don’t you know she’s the multimorph? That means she’s in charge of everything. Not you,” Izzie cautioned. “You heard about all the shit she’s done, and all the shit she did in the last week. She could probably snap you in two. With magic.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s a reasonable question.” I gestured toward the young woman. “I’d like to link with the four of you to show the council what I can do and what we can do together.”

John frowned. “Are you going to fling fireballs or something?”

“I probably could,” I said glancing at the dark clouds. “Maybe throw some balefire or some lightning.”

Izzie’s eyes went wide. “Balefire? You can fling balefire?” Her eyebrows lowered over her eyes. “What is balefire?”

My shrug was the only answer I had. I didn’t actually know what balefire was made of, just took everyone’s word for that being what I’d flung back when Giselda and Tossle were bickering over the bit of ground between them.

John’s gaze narrowed. “So, what is it?”

“It’s like a ribbon of energy, liquid fire, not that much different than lightning, but less… zappy,” I finished, finally. “At one point, Acheron used it to kill Logan, but I healed him.”

“You healed death?” Oliver asked, smoothing his fingers over the thin beginnings of a new mustache. “Is that really possible?”

“Well…” I paused, trying to put my words together in a way that wouldn’t promise something I wasn’t able to do.

I wasn’t some supernatural savior who could resurrect the dead.

“I was able to heal my fated mate, knit his chest back together, and make his heart start beating again. I think it worked that time because of the link between us… and his body hadn’t even gotten cold, sooo… .”

“So…?” Blaze pressed.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure that’s healing death. Not exactly. And I’m not sure I can do that with anyone else.” I took a deep breath and released it. “But none of that is really what I wanted to discuss.”

“Then what?” John asked.

“I need to link with you four, do some fancy shit, and then basically prove to all the alphas and the attendees that linking through me is a good way to protect the clans. Despite what they may have heard or what they may themselves believe.”

John shook his head and dropped his arms. “I’m not sure—”

Blaze snorted. “Shut up, John.”

Izzie grinned at her friend. “Ignore him. He thinks he needs to dad the rest of us because he’s the oldest… by twenty days.” She added an eye roll. “We’ll be glad to help you, Emma. We know how important it is that everybody gets on board with your plans to beat Acheron. Besides, we owe you.”

“It’s not like any of us knew what to do with our newfound abilities, and you helped me shift for the first time, so…” She took a breath. “Yeah, we owe you, and you did some crazy-awesome shit back in Nuttal.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Whoever wants to help, stick close, and when I link to you, you’ll know. Let the energy flow through you. Don’t fight it. Maybe we’ll even come up with something new to show everyone.”

They all nodded.

Then I raised my chin, squared my shoulders, and marched into the gathering place like I owned the place. Or at least like I was in charge of it.

Logan met me as I stepped inside. “There you are,” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the cacophony. He hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me close.

The scent of him, of smoked whisky and freshly cut pine trees nearly strangled my resolve to bring the conclave to order. Fuck me. “I missed you.”

He nuzzled my neck. “It’s been an eternity, and I have a lot to tell you.”

I have a lot to tell you, too.

Nearby, Jasper nodded toward me and returned to his conversation with Olivia.

I took a deep breath, sighed, and stepped out of his reach. “But we have work to do.”

He shoved his hands through his hair, making it stick out in all directions. “They’ve been waiting… not all that patiently.”

“It took Salali a while to get all her people gathered up, and I needed to talk to the younglings before we came in. I plan to link with them later and show off lightning or balefire or something else with a lot of pizazz.” My use of “jazz hands” when I said pizazz didn’t seem to impress him.

“Well? Tell me all the reasons I’m making the wrong decisions. Out with it.”

“It’s risky, Emma.” His mouth puckered. “After what happened last time.”

“Well, it’s what I’ve got to work with right now, and I’ve gotten much better.” I moved to get around him. And I might try something new while I’m at it.

Logan scowled and caught my wrist, drawing me back. “Say what?”

I shrugged, unwilling to hear any more reasons I shouldn’t do what I thought was needed to help drag these bunch of obstinate alphaholes along on my mission to save them.

Several in the rear rows of the amphitheater glanced toward us and then turned around in their seats, their eyes gleaming with interest. More and more would soon realize I’d arrived, and I took a step toward the front.

Logan released my hand, but his frustration reverberated through our bond. You risk yourself too easily, carelessly.

Without turning to face him, I took three steps down the center aisle. Logan, you know as well as I do that it’ll be a miracle if we both make it to the end of everything… alive and together.

His pained gasp stopped me short, and I turned to face him, one step up and behind me.

Hurt and concern clouded his icy blue eyes.

“Don’t say that,” he snarled, his voice a harsh whisper.

“Don’t you ever fucking say that. The only way I care about any of this,” he gestured to the crowd of growing onlookers, “is if we make it to the end alive and together.”

I laid my hand on his chest, inhaling the essence of him, relishing his aroma. “I know, my love. But I have to do what I have to do, and I’m tired of not being in the driver’s seat.” Then I winked at him. “I never said riding bitch wouldn’t get bumpy.”

His mouth opened in a silent ‘o.’ Then the corner of his mouth twitched, and he barked a laugh. He took a predatory step toward me. “I like this version of you,” he growled. “Come here.”

Instead, I spun and marched the rest of the way down the aisle. I recognize that look, and I don’t plan on fucking in the middle of the conclave. It’s not my orgasms that’ll win these ones over.

We could try.

No.

Don’t tempt me.