Inheritance (The Dark Gifts) (9 page)

She focused on the images radiating from her pack and connected fully, as if she fought each individual battle.  Sarah’s eyes rolled back in their sockets.  Her body seized and convulsed in response to the onslaught of razor-sharp teeth and claws tearing through flesh that didn’t belong to her.  Agonizing pain blotted out the visions, sound, and her ability to comprehend what was happening.  An ear-splitting scream erupted from her core.   The tortured shriek enraged the Masada pack.  Strengthened, the wolves retaliated against the interlopers with violent fervor. 

A desperate voice breached Sarah’s pain,
“Sarah, you must take control.  They will kill us!” 

Sarah latched on to the lifeline her brother had thrown her.  With all her focus on him, the pain receded and allowed her to view the pack instead of joining with them. 

The Savata leader‘s jaws sunk into Jason‘s hide.  Jason spun and the leader fell back.  Sarah linked with Jason and instinctively, he let her take over.  The two massive beasts were in a standoff.  Eyeing each other, they waited for the next chance to strike.  Using Jason’s eyes, Sarah dove into the other’s mind.  She sifted through a kaleidoscope of his memories before trying to make contact.  His name was Christian.  A loner most of his life, he had no mate or children.  He was a solid leader and cared for his pack.  The only emotion stronger than his loyalty to his pack was his lust for power and Shana.  That feeling saturated his essence, driving him unceasingly.  In the seconds it took to read him, she knew everything about him. 

Christian shook his head in an attempt to force her out.  “
Get out!”

She doubled her effort to stay. 
“You must stop this.”

“You…will…not--”

“Look.  See what you are doing,”
Sarah said as she planted images in his mind.  Laughing, pack children tossed a red ball back and forth.  One dropped the ball and ran to a lovely woman saying, “I love you, Mommy,” as he wrapped his arms around her waist.  Visions of herself and her brother talking and laughing.  Jason giving her a hug and the feeling of security it gave her.  A picture of her parents and the pain she felt in losing them.  Thomas in one of his gentle moments slipping his arm around her, trying to comfort.  Any good and wonderful thing she could think of to make him see the loss her people would endure if he continued, she thrust into his mind. 

She felt his mind rage against the intrusions, pushing and prodding, trying to regain control of his thoughts.  With his thought processes broken, Christian’s pack fell apart.  They were no longer fighting as one. 

The Masada pack took full advantage of the disoriented Savata.  One by one, they brought them down, while Sarah and Christian fought for control of his mind.  Many of the injured opponents fled the area, running into the woods to hide.

Christian had no choice.  He could not break Sarah’s hold on his mind.  Although she could not control his actions, her invasion left him unable to focus or call out to his pack.  She felt her consciousness fly out of him as he shimmered and regained his human form.  “Enough!” he bellowed.

Sarah released Jason with a swift order to maintain his position.  Her eyes flew open and she groaned as she observed the injured and dead strewn about the lawn like discarded debris.  Every wolf there, Masada and Savata alike, had sustained injuries.  Many of them critical, some fatal.  “Look what you’ve done,” she raged.

Contempt filled Shana’s voice as she answered, “Look what I have done?  You have done this thing.  You and you alone ordered the pack forward.  I warned you there would be consequences for your actions.  It was you that chose not to listen. 
You
do not belong here.  Both you and your brother are aberrations and should have been exterminated at birth.  If your parents had not been so weak and disgustingly human, none of this would have ever happened.”

Those with less serious injuries began returning to human form.  The Masada pack stood with their new leader awaiting her next order.  A coldness began to fill her, weaving through her mind, wrapping around her heart, it settled and allowed her to think clearly.  “Help the injured, all of them, regardless of
clan
.”  Then looking at Christian she went on, “We can be friends or we can be enemies, it makes no difference to me.  You need to choose your friends with more care, Christian.  You trespass on
our
lands, take your people and go.”

Naked and bleeding, the man nodded before once again transforming to wolf form.

A woman Sarah now knew as Rene, whispered quietly at her side, “What are you going to do with Shana?”

The rest of her pack waited silently for her reply.  She thought it over and called out to the retreating Savata, “Wait.”

Christian stopped and faced her. 

“One more thing before you go.  Pack law dictates we have the right to ask for reparation in an unwarranted attack.  This is your penance…take her with you.  She is no longer welcome here.”

Sarah flinched as Jason’s fist hit the table for the second time.  “It would be nice if you'd learn to control your temper.”

“You had no right!  How could you just let her go?  Three are dead because of her.”

“You’ve yelled at me for two days now Jason, I’m sick of hearing it.  I did what I thought was the right thing to do.  It’s not like you made any suggestions.  Besides I couldn’t just kill her.  After everything that happened, so many were hurt and some were dead, there’d been enough killing for one night.”

Thomas listened as the siblings hashed it out.  He agreed with Jason.  Sarah let her off too easy, but nothing could be done about it now.  Sarah was just a seventeen-year-old girl, for being so young, she had acted wisely and without malice, he couldn’t fault her in her judgment.  The argument between the two had worn down and now they glowered at each other.  Thomas decided it was time, once again, to put in his unwanted opinion, “Guys, this is not getting us anywhere.  Sarah did a remarkable job for someone her age; you have to see that, Jason.”

“I know, I know…I just feel like this is not over.  Do you think she’ll be back?” 

“She will most definitely return, and next time she’ll have greater numbers on her side.  It won’t be difficult for her to find help; many from the other packs will not want to see a female take leadership.” 

“So they won't follow me, but they'll follow her.  That makes no sense at all!”  Sarah exclaimed.  Leaning forward, he spoke earnestly, “It’s not about you per-say, our people are very old and drenched in tradition.  Those Shana works her charms on do not fear her.  She's smart.  She has a knack of making you think you're the one in charge.  Those that come will not be following her as much as obeying direct orders from their leader.  I knew Christian loved her.  I didn't realize how far he'd go to have her, but I knew he wanted her.  I should’ve seen this coming.” 

“Who can we trust
, Thomas?  Now that she's betrayed them, I'm sure most of our clans have our backs, but how many packs will we have to fight?”  Jason asked.

Shaking his head, the older man sighed.  “I don't know if all of them can be trusted.  They're scared.  Our pack has grown weak.  For many years now, wolflings have been few and far between.  With more old than young, well, I'm sure you can grasp the situation.”

Sarah began nervously tapping her fingers on the table.  “What is their problem with me exactly?”

“New things have never gone over well with the Lycan people.  To have a female lead, especially one of breeding age, is unheard of.  There have been times in the past when females held command, usually the wife of a deceased leader, but they were much older and past child bearing years.  And they were not Alpha status; they lead because the pack chose to have them.”

“I didn’t ask for any of this, why can’t they understand?  It’s not like I woke up one morning and thought...Oh gee, I’m going to be a monster and spend the rest of my life pissing off other monsters.”

Thomas cleared his throat, but couldn’t quite keep the smirk from his face.

Sarah’s arms swung in a wide arc as she continued.  “It’s ridiculous!  Don’t they know I’d rather be in school and hanging out with my friends than be some prophesied leader for a bunch of jerks I’ve never met?” 

“No, they don’t know, Sarah.  They all think the same thing…any one of them would exploit an opportunity to control the pack.  I’m sure many believe they'd accomplish great and terrible things if they had the power to do so--the sort of Alphas regaled in legends of old.  And most
, above all, don’t have any idea how a person raised outside the pack would think.  The concept is completely alien to them.” 

Thomas stretched and began pacing the kitchen.  “We have to prepare for her return.  The only way to do it is to call in the local clans.  You have our clan, after the other night everyone in the Masada clan will follow you.  We need to get the Indera and Rashuk on our side too.  There are a few others that are close, but do not fall under my jurisdiction, we need those clans to join us.  We only have a few days to get ready, kids, at full moon we are the strongest.  That is when I believe she will come.  And when she comes, it will be with a vengeance.”

“I don’t want this.” Sarah said.

“Neither do I,” Jason agreed.

“I can call the meeting, but that’s all I can do.  Sarah, when you took over the clan you became the leader.  Jason has little power over them now.  Because you cannot shift, you cannot control the other clans.  You two will have to do this together.  It is the only way.”

Sarah dropped into a chair at the table.  “Why can’t we just leave and the pack can go on like nothing ever happened?”

Thomas sighed and shook his head.  He would love to tell the poor girl what she wanted to hear, but this was not the time for sugarcoating.  “Sarah, you don’t understand Shana.  If I had not kept her from searching, she would have found you both before Jason was old enough to turn and killed you then.  She wants control.  The only way she can get it is for me, and both of you, to die.  She is not going to just limp away defeated.  It is not in her nature to do so.”

“I hate this,” Sarah replied.

“I know,” Thomas answered as he moved towards the phone.  “I have some calls to make.  We’re running out of time.”

***

The slamming screen door jolted Sarah from her thoughts.  Her eyes darted from the trees to the porch. 

Leaning against a support beam, Thomas nodded at her, and pulled out a cigarette. 

Sarah turned her body and head away from him and continued watching the woods.  Although her gaze remained on the trees ahead, she could feel his eyes on her.  A tendril of smoke floated past her head.  Nose crinkled in disgust, she continued to ignore him.  Silence deepened and became uncomfortable.  “If you keep staring at me like that, you’re going to burn holes through my back,” she said.

“You’re doing very well, you know.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

A board squeaked and she heard and felt him move forward. 
Oh geeze, why can’t he just leave me alone?

“Look, I’m not trying--” Thomas grunted and paused as he lowered himself to sit beside her on the stoop.  “--trying to bug you, child.  I just think we need to have a little one-on-one time.”

She exhaled and resigned herself to yet another conversation she didn’t want to have.  It wasn't that she didn't like Thomas, or appreciate what he was trying to do for them.  For the most part, he was kind of fun to be around, but he had this way of going all fatherly on her.  And she didn't like that.  “Okay?”

After another pause, a ring of smoke floated out in front of her.  “Your brother is really worried about you.”

“I’m fine.” 
And here we go.  Now I'm going to get a daddy speech. 

“You’re not fine.  You’re anything but fine.”  He leaned against the step behind and extended his legs.

“I’m fine.  Jason worries too much.”  She answered without looking at him.  Allowing herself a mental sigh, she thought,
I don't need another father.  People that give a rat's ass about me die.  Why doesn't he just leave me alone?

“He loves you.”

“I know.”

Thomas sighed.  This wasn’t going as well as he’d hoped.  He’d always liked children.  For several years, he’d wanted children of his own.  When it became clear Shana would not conceive, he’d given up.  Now these two show up, and not just any two, Rodger’s two.  And they were more important to him than he’d thought they’d be.  Maybe it was the guilt.  Years of feeling responsible for allowing the pack to put down Rod and Kate, might have lead to this attachment.  Thomas exhaled and tried again.  “Sarah, you know your dad was my best--”

“Yeah, you skipped out on him, and he died.  Some friend.”  Sarah glared straight ahead refusing to look at him.

“It was out of my hands.  I didn’t want them to die.  Regardless, I’m trying to help you now.  Doesn’t that count for anything?”

Sarah’s eyes grew wide as she finally turned to face him.  Her voice quivered with barely controlled rage.  “What?  Better late than never?  We’re supposed to just be okay now?  Let me remind you of something, I know what it feels like now.  Having this power, this control…I know it now.  You could have done something if you’d wanted.  But what you wanted most was to be in charge.  Both of my parents are dead because of you, and I will never forgive you for it.”