the stench of weak fear that was emanating from those around me. It was so obvious that even I could smell it. By my side I could feel Tom shifting from foot to foot. I hissed at him in irritation and he stilled for a heartbeat before returning to his nervous shuffle.
“It’s been almost an hour,” he moaned. “Why aren’t they here yet?”
“Perhaps they’ve been held up because they haven’t finished eating all their young yet,” I snapped.
“Oh dear,” came a soft voice sheathed in steel from behind me. “I hardly think that attitude is going to impress the Brethren, Mackenzie.”
“And why the fuck would I want to impress them, Anton?”
The voice laughed, gratingly. “I give you two hours before they see you for the rabid animal you are and put you out of your misery. Oh, but wait, you’re not an animal, are you? You’re…” The voice deliberately stopped just there, daring me to fill in the blank myself.
I spun around, left hand clenched whilst my right reached into my sleeve for my dagger.
Cease.
I brushed away the voice inside my head and began to slide it out of its sheath. In front of me, Anton’s blue eyes sparked, daring me to continue.
Mackenzie Smith. You are drawing attention to yourself.
I stilled, realizing that other heads were starting to turn my way.
“Red, are you crazy?” Tom’s hand snatched at my wrist although his body remained facing the front. “Do you want them to notice you?”
“They’re not here yet.”
“And what happens when they arrive and you’ve got your hands wrapped around his throat?” Tom nodded his head in Anton’s direction. “You don’t want to give them any reason to single you out.”
Anton’s eyebrows raised tauntingly.
Mackenzie. The boy is right. Remember what we spoke about. You know what would happen if…
I pushed the voice out, slamming shut the mental gates, and turned back to face the dais. Unable to help myself, I glanced in Julia’s direction. The older woman gazed back impassively, no sign on her face that she was upset that she’d been shut out from my thoughts. I grimaced and forced my hand to move back down to my side. My fingernails dug into my palms. I could hear Anton laughing from behind me.
Not a good start. And it hadn’t actually even started yet.
Anton had the same geas about revealing my true nature placed on him as the rest of my pack, and couldn’t say a direct word about it, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t find other ways of forcing my hand and making me show who I really was. I didn’t know why my presence caused him to feel so much animosity but I’d given up trying to change his mind about me years ago. I was certainly never going to be anything but human, not unless a vamp decided to snack on me at least and even then that might not work. John had offered me the chance to be turned into a shifter when I reached my majority of eighteen. I had jumped at the chance, naturally. It had meant that I would finally, truly, belong. He’d bitten me and waited for the cells in his saliva to work their way through my body. Unfortunately something inexplicable had prevented the lycanthropic cells from taking hold – just another reason for Anton to jibe at me for being different. The result of the bite had merely been several days of unbelievable agony. And of course by the end of it I was still frustratingly human. However, if I kept my cool, and didn’t let my bloodfire get out of control then Anton wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Piece of cake.
Tom’s eyes slid towards me. I nodded slowly and he exhaled, his hand releasing my arm.
My usual bright red hair was now a mousy brown and I was wearing a uniform of generic jeans and t-shirt. Nothing that would draw any attention to me whatsoever, unlike several of the pack members who had taken the opportunity to dress dramatically. As far as I was concerned, though, as soon as this rigmarole of a ceremony was over, I could forget the Brethren ever existed. Until then all my attempts to hide in plain sight would be for nothing if I couldn’t get a grip on my temper.
I slowly uncurled my fingers and forced myself to relax. Perhaps they weren’t coming after all I pondered, half hoping - and half chafing at the thought that they had so