Halfer said something, raising that paw high above his head, and the wolves turned as one enormous pack, their teeth bared and the need for blood howling through them. Though I hadn’t heard the command, I knew what it was.
Kill.
Chapter Thirty-One
I felt the magic pouring off my husband before the wolves had taken more than two steps toward the house. It wasn’t lust magic this time, but something a bit more helpful in this situation. Dev stood beside me, his hands splayed wide as he slowly brought them up, raising them with the greatest of intent from his legs to his chest. His arms moved slowly as though they were pressing against a great weight.
The ground outside the house rumbled as the dirt split open and spat out life. Flowing grass and vines and all manner of things green and vibrant flew up from the earth and formed a tangled mass roughly twelve feet high. Even from where I stood, I could plainly see the thorns that wove their way through the wall of green. It was a barrier as far as I could see either way.
“Goddess, brother,” Declan breathed as he watched the field outside. “When did you learn to do that?”
Dev took my hand and spun on his heels. “They will still get through. We have a little time though. Padric, do you have a guard with you?”
“Always, Your Grace,” Padric responded.
“When the time is right, you will call them,” Dev commanded, his voice all steely determination. I probably shouldn’t have found it irresistibly sexy given the situation, but I did. “They will protect my goddess. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Padric didn’t try to hide the small smile he had. I could guess what he was thinking. He was proud of the man Dev had become. He was proving cool in a crisis and capable of making the right decisions. Declan was the warrior, but Padric was looking to Dev for his orders.
McKenzie seemed a little better as we hurried back into the great room. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’m afraid we’ve brought some of our problems with us, John,” Dev admitted calmly. “You find yourself in the middle of a small war.”
“It did not look small, brother.” Declan didn’t seem terribly concerned, but rather intrigued by the prospect of a good fight. “That was a large army of wolves.”
“Wolves?” McKenzie spat. “Those are my wolves. Why would they be attacking me?”
“The Strong Arm of Remus,” I said and watched McKenzie blanch.
The alpha shook his head. “That’s a myth.”
Lee managed to sit up. The barrier of plants seemed to be helping him a little too. He was still shaky, but some of the color was coming back to his face. “It’s not a myth, Mac. Zoey tracked it down a couple of weeks ago with the full intention to destroy it. Just being near the damn thing made me violently ill. We got blindsided by that fucking demon and lost it. We thought it didn’t work. It didn’t affect Zack at all.”
Zack was one of two wolves on whom it had absolutely no effect. “I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s a petrified paw. It didn’t stop me from trying to kill that bastard and I don’t feel anything right now except regret that I didn’t tear his throat out the first time.”
“It’s not having any effect on Neil, either,” I pointed out.
“Are you telling me Halfer is out there and he has control of all the other wolves in the valley?” Neil asked, his eyes wide. He knew the story. All wolves knew the story of the Strong Arm of Remus. They had thought it was just that—a story. I now had irrefutable proof that it was more than a myth.
“Daniel’s blood is protecting you,” I told Neil and Zack. “You both took a blood oath to Daniel.”
“But Neil hasn’t taken Daniel’s blood in over seven months,” Sarah pointed out logically.
“Yeah, it’s some good shit,” Dev said, his face losing all its smoothness. His eyes were dark and he was ready to fight. Dev had been ready for this fight for a long time. “Tell me where your armory is, McKenzie. Please tell me you’re well equipped. We need guns, preferably semiautomatics at the very least, and silver rounds. Grenades or flash bangs would be helpful.”
“I have some guns, but I’m not running an army here. Why would I have silver rounds?” McKenzie still didn’t seem to believe what was going on. “I have a few in case of emergencies, but it’s just a single box. These are my people. I don’t shoot them full of silver.”
Declan rolled his eyes at what he clearly considered the naiveté of the alpha’s statement. “Certainly no one’s people ever rose up against their good leader. You wouldn’t last a day in Faery, McKenzie. The good news, brother, is my entire guard is excellently equipped.”
“With bows, arrows, swords, and knives.” Dev shook his head. “I wasn’t planning on doing close-combat fighting with a bunch of werewolves. It tends to be best to keep out of the range of claws and teeth.”
“Yes, it is traditional weaponry, but it is all reinforced with silver.” Declan sounded pleased with himself. “I changed all the tips on our arrows to silver and the knives and swords are all silver as well. I was serious about taking that vampire out, Zoey. Then there will be an opening in your bed.”
I ignored my obnoxious brother-in-law in favor of freaking out about another obvious problem. “Daniel’s out there, Dev.”
“Yes, he is,” Dev acknowledged as McKenzie began to lead our party toward the armory. “The good news is Halfer won’t consider him any kind of a threat and probably won’t even look for his resting place until after he kills all of us. The bad news is Daniel can’t hear a damn thing in that coffin. He’s wearing an advanced set of earplugs. I bought them because he’s such a grump when he doesn’t get enough sleep and Zoey snores.”
“I do not,” I protested as Dev drug me alongside him.
“Yes, you do, my goddess,” Dev shot back. “I think your little snuffles are sweet and they don’t bother me at all, but Daniel struggles because his hearing is so much better. He says you sometimes sound like a water buffalo trying to mate. His words, not mine, my love.”
I huffed, offended because I was quite certain I didn’t snore. Danny, on the other hand, had been known to blow the roof off from time to time when he was human. I was pretty sure vampires didn’t snore at all.
McKenzie stopped and opened a door. The armory was small and full of mostly shotguns and rifles. Dev would use his SIG as his primary weapon, but he took a shotgun and shoved a .38 in his pocket as well.
He sighed over the tiny armory. “I spend a fortune, deal with the most unsavory of arms dealers, and when I finally get my little war, I’m stuck with this. I hoped to finally get to use the P90s. Well, perhaps when we fight Marini.” He handed me two pistols and a box of bullets.
Felix stepped forward, his hand out.
Dev looked at him sympathetically. “Felix, we all know you’re a pacifist. You don’t have to do this. Just stay at the back of the group and we’ll protect you.”
Felix gave Dev a hard look and kept his hand out, waiting for his weapon. “Give me a gun, Dev. If you think for one moment I’m going to let a bunch of wolves tear my wife apart, then you’re wrong. I took vows. I took vows of nonviolence, but I took deeper vows, too. I vowed to protect her. It takes precedence over everything else.”
Dev passed Felix a shotgun and quickly showed him how to load it. Sarah had never been a pacifist and knew better than Felix how to use a gun. She shoved a .38 in her pocket and kissed her husband passionately.
“It’s going to be all right, Felix,” she said quietly. She would do whatever she could to protect the man she loved. She’d been off the black magic for a long time, but I was sure she would use it if she had to.