Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,11

down and kill whatever had done this as soon as was humanly possible.

Eventually Julia returned. As soon as her presence was registered, everyone stilled and looked at her in unhappy anticipation. “They will be here by noon tomorrow. Their delegation will stay for the requisite three days, during which time they will also investigate John’s passing and the manner of it.” Her voice was quiet but it completely filled the space. “They will perform the rites to appoint a new alpha and release any pack members who wish to depart, as is the Way.”

“Will they stay for longer if they can’t find John’s killer straightaway?” someone asked.

I felt a frightened heat rise at the thought being voiced aloud.

“Not unless there is evidence of further imminent danger,” she said.

Bloody lazy arses, I thought, contrarily. One of their own alphas had been murdered and they wouldn’t see the investigation through to its conclusion because they couldn’t bother themselves to take the time. I knew that was what I wanted but, still, it irked.

“Take this time to come to terms with tonight’s events and to decide what your personal plans are, whether to stay with the Cornish pack or to move on. Make sure you choose the right path for you, because once it’s made there will be no going back.”

The Way stated that pack members were tied to their alphas for better or worse, no matter what happened. However, once an alpha passed away, members were free to choose other packs. It happened from time to time. Johannes in fact had joined us from another pack when his alpha had died several years ago. It occasionally meant that packs were weakened considerably from within in more ways than one, but the Brethren apparently kept a close eye on the situation and would allow a small number of humans to be turned and recruited if it was deemed absolutely necessary. They generally frowned upon it happening too often, as that put all shifters at greater risk of discovery. Potential newbies were chosen very carefully and I’d heard it was a particularly bureaucratic process, even though those who turned down the option were spelled by mages to forget they’d ever come into contact with shapeshifters. In fact, it had only happened three times in the last decade. After all pack members did not, as a rule, have any trouble reproducing all on their own. It was extraordinarily rare that shapeshifters left without joining another pack, of course, as then they would deemed as rogue. In those situations, the Brethren would get all uppity and track down said shifter to prevent them from doing anything that might be considered unsavoury or even dangerous.

Julia continued. “We may need some intervention at some point with the local law enforcement. Mackenzie?”

“If they come sniffing around, I’ll deal with them.” One of the advantages of having a policeman as an ex-boyfriend I supposed.

“Good. I will need to talk to you about the – other issue too.”

Anton laughed coldly. “You mean the fact that she’s human? We’ll all be dead if the Brethren find out.”

“Which they won’t,” she said, without looking at him. “The geas still stands. Not just for Mackenzie’s sake but for all our sakes. The Brethren’s ways are an unknown quantity to me.”

I had to batten down the urge not to stick my tongue out at him, as if she had been particularly protecting just me when I really knew it was about everyone. I held no illusions that even though most of them liked me, their lives would be simpler and safer without me. They had all been bound and forbidden to speak of me as a human to any outsider, even another shifter, after my arrival when I was just a kid. And it was pretty much universally believed that if I was discovered they would all be put to death. No-one really knew that much about how the Brethren would actually react though. Probably because no human had ever been stupid enough to stick around shifters for any length of time without being eventually turned – not that the Cornwall pack hadn’t already tried to turn me. I was clearly defective in some way if even a lycanthropic bite wouldn’t do its stuff.

Regardless of any of that, it was usually only the alpha who would travel to London every trimester to meet and talk to the bigwigs so it was only John who’d ever known that much about them. He’d give them reports on