I doubted that, but I was willing to give my mother-in-law a chance since this journey meant so much to Dev. Walking in and punching his mother might cause him trouble. It seemed like it was going to be hard on me, though. “So I’m a second wife?”
Dev would have been married to the witch when she came up pregnant. The fact that they were compatible would have ensured the marriage. Being a second wife limited my rights once we got to Faery, the way I understood it. I wouldn’t be running Dev’s household and I would be relegated to second class status, given only the rights his first wife was willing to give me.
“Miria annulled the marriage herself when Declan and I returned and told her Devinshea was taking a goddess,” Padric explained.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. I wasn’t sure how Dev would have reacted to being forced to live with a wife he hated. I was certain he wouldn’t be happy that she would have had authority over me.
Padric smiled at my relief. “She loves her son, Zoey. It was her right to annul the marriage because there were no children. You’re Devinshea’s only wife and a full member of the royal family. You should take it as a great sign of her love for her son that she consented to the marriage with no proof of your fertility.”
I was choosing to ignore that. I didn’t wish to be married for my fertility, but I knew it would be highly prized in Faery. “And Gilliana is all right with this?”
“She realized how much she angered the queen when she lost the child.” Padric frowned. “You will have trouble with her. She’s been petitioning the queen to be allowed to leave the sithein to join her husband on this plane in the hopes she would get pregnant again. She wasn’t happy when Miria denied her and then annulled the marriage. She’s vowing vengeance on you, Your Grace. I fear she won’t go down without a fight.”
So I’d be packing my Manolos and my Ruger. I’d take some knives with me too, I decided. Cold steel. I smiled up at Padric. “She won’t find me an easy mark.”
“I do not doubt that. I believe she is expecting a sweet little flower like Devinshea’s priestesses. You’ll be a shock. She will also not be expecting your vampire. I’ve already discussed the situation with him. I thought it best that he understand the position you’re in. Devinshea must act the royal and the priest. Daniel’s position is freer. He can protect you without worrying about any consequences.”
“So you think the queen will allow Daniel to stay with us?”
“If it means her son comes home then yes, she will most likely make allowances.” Padric gestured to my left. “I think something is wrong with your wolf, Your Grace.”
I turned to see Lee as he fell to the floor, clutching his stomach. Zack and I got to him at the same time.
“What’s going on, brother?” Zack took a knee beside him.
I got down on the floor with the wolf, who seemed weak all of a sudden.
Lee was sweating and his face had lost its color. “I hate this. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t get sick, damn it.”
Dev left his conversation and looked down at us now with great concern in his eyes. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” I put my palm against Lee’s forehead. It was cold and clammy, not warm as it should have been. Wolves tend to be warmer than humans. Even as I touched him, his muscles began to shake. “He said he was feeling bad this morning. Sarah gave him some ginger for nausea.”
“It’s like before.” Lee ground out the words between clenched teeth.
I started to have a very bad feeling because I had an inkling of what he was talking about. I remembered well the last time Lee had gotten this ill.
I looked around the room. All of the humans and the wolves associated with us were watching Lee with concern on their faces.
The crash of glass breaking forced my attention away from Lee. And then another, and then there was the sound of a plate smashing. The other wolves in the room dropped whatever they were holding and blank looks came across their faces. They dropped their drinks or the plates they’d been holding and no one made a move to clean up the mess. Almost as though they were one, their heads turned toward the front of the house and without a word to anyone, they began walking.
I stood, terror starting to creep across my heart. One moment they were laughing and joking together and the next all those alphas were zombie-like, moving as though someone else controlled them.
John McKenzie was the only wolf left with us, and he was sweating and shaking. “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know,” Dev replied, his eyes tight. “Are you feeling ill?”
McKenzie shook his head. “I feel a great urge to leave this house and join the crowd in the field. I didn’t even know there was a crowd in the field. He’s calling to me, but I won’t answer, damn it. I am the alpha. I submit to no one.”
Just as Dev shot me a look of sudden understanding, my cell phone rang. I took a deep breath, praying it was a wrong number. I was pretty sure if I looked down the number would be 1-800-YOU’RE FUCKED. I slid my finger across the phone to connect the call.
“Hello, Zoey,” Lucas Halfer’s smooth voice said, not bothering to wait for me to say hello. “I finally figured out why our little prize didn’t work on old Zack that night. You had me worried there. I thought this whole Strong Arm of Remus thing was just a bunch of bullshit.”
“Why didn’t it work on Zack?” I kept him talking while I tried to take inventory of exactly what our assets were. I hoped McKenzie had an armory somewhere because my little war with Halfer was heating up again. Dev already had his SIG out, checking the clip and flicking the safety off.
Halfer chuckled in my ear. “You neglected to tell me Donovan had found another idiot wolf willing to take his blood. It doesn’t work on loners or wolves who are dumb enough to oath themselves to vampires. So I guess you’ll at least have Zack to defend you. I’m sure your faery is there, too. Loved the show last night, by the way. You’re a woman of many talents. I would have been envied by all the demons if I’d managed to get you into Hell with me.”
“What do you want, Halfer?” I finally asked and heard Dev curse beside me the minute he heard that name.
“I want you to come to the window. Come see what I have planned for you.”
“I think I’ll pass,” I replied flatly. “You probably have a rocket launcher planned for me. I’ll stay out of sight where it’s nice and cozy and you’re not precisely certain of my position.”
“No rocket launcher, though I like the way you think,” he said with a chuckle that froze my insides. “You can come to the window and see my impressive display or I can start killing these wolves. I think I’ll start with the kiddos.”
There was a click that told me Halfer had said all he was going to for the moment. I cursed vilely and got my ass up to do what he told me to.
“What are you doing?” Dev asked, pulling me back.
I took his hand in mine and dragged him along. Padric and Declan followed close behind. “I’m seeing just how screwed we are, my husband. This might be one of the shorter marriages on record.”
All the breath in my body seemed to flee as I stared through the huge bay windows that looked over the valley below McKenzie’s house. I saw Lucas Halfer, ex-demon but still full-time asshole. He stood in the middle of the field with a shit-eating grin on his face and the Strong Arm of Remus in his hand.
All around him a massive army of wolves twitched and growled, waiting for their new master to give the command. They were all in wolf form, clothes ripped from their sudden and unexpected change and strewn throughout the valley. The wolves had been called and they answered, dropping everything they’d been doing to heed the siren’s call.