Part 51 (1/2)
Redford could only nod an affirmative before she was a wolf again, and the pack started leaving. Anthony scowled at their retreating forms and carefully stood, Edwin supported in his arms. ”Where's Jed?” Anthony asked.
”Right here.” Jed had found a shovel somewhere and was marching through the camp to the middle of the clearing. ”Sick of burying these G.o.dd.a.m.n bodies.” And he started to dig there, alone in the center of the camp and the corpses.
”You go back, Anthony,” Redford directed. ”We'll take care of this.”
”No.” Jed just kept his head down, digging. ”You go too.” A caustic smile touched Jed's lips, a weary slump to his shoulders. ”It's a human thing.”
Redford knew Jed didn't blame him for what had happened here. Jed wasn't an illogical person by nature, but Redford still winced at the tone in Jed's voice. He was a wolf too, or at least half of one, and right then the anger in Jed's body language toward wolves was clear.
Redford didn't blame him. He wasn't too happy with them himself.
Anthony left with Edwin, and Redford took a moment to stand by Jed's side, feeling useless. The smell of death was near-suffocating to his nose, and if he looked more than two feet in either direction, he'd see a severed limb or a puddle of blood. It had been a slaughter, a horrifically messy one.
Redford wanted to ask Jed not to take too long, but he also wanted to insist that he could take all the time he needed. The conflicting thoughts made him hesitate, and in the end he just wrapped his arms around Jed from behind, hugging him tight. ”I'll see you soon,” he murmured.
Jed's fingers tightened on top of Redford's and Jed nodded, eyes fixed on the ground. ”I don't want to be in another war,” he muttered, almost to himself. ”This didn't have to happen. I'm not saying n.o.body had to die tonight. Just... not like this.”
”I know.” Redford laid his cheek against Jed's shoulder blade. ”We'll talk to them, I promise.”
It was different now. This wasn't just a pack of rowdy hunters that could be beaten off with a show of teeth and a trained force. This wasn't an office that Jed could stomp into and blackmail the ringleader into stopping. This attack had felt so much more volatile than the others.
Maybe it had been because of Victor's visions, and maybe they were just riled up from those. Or maybe there was just a feeling in the air, an intangible sense that this would lead to something so much worse, like the smell of burnt ozone after a flint had been struck.
n.o.body wanted a war. But it looked like they might just get one.
Redford gave Jed a final squeeze and left for the Lewises' house. He looked over his shoulder as he did. Jed cut a very lonely figure, surrounded by blood and dismembered bodies. But Redford forced himself to keep walking, because Randall and Anthony would be more focused on Edwin right now, so somebody had to beg the Gray Lady to not escalate this into full-blown war.
The wolves were gathered around the edge of the lake when Redford arrived. Some of them were was.h.i.+ng blood off themselves. Anthony was bundling Edwin into the cabin, though he kept darting glances back at the blood drifting into the water, a pained look flickering over his expression. Randall met them at the door, and they vanished inside. The Gray Lady was crouched by the sh.o.r.eline, dipping her hands into the water to rub the flecks of blood off her face. Even now, with her white hair matted at the tips with red, she was the most graceful creature Redford had ever seen.
She was conversing lowly with Mallory, so Redford sat down on the front porch and decided to stay there. Waiting for Jed to return so they could speak to her together would probably be their best bet, because however much Redford could list off the exact same reasons that a war was bad, he knew they didn't sound quite as believable coming from him.
Jed had actually been involved in a war. People took his word on it much more seriously, and that was an advantage they were going to need.
There was the sound of voices from inside the cabin, soft noises of pain from Edwin, Randall's patient tone. When Randall finally emerged, his own hands stained red, he sank down on the steps next to Redford, looking decidedly unsettled. ”Some days,” he said, mostly to himself, ”I wish I smoked. It's supposed to be relaxing.”
”Jed used to smoke sometimes when I first knew him,” Redford said contemplatively. ”It doesn't smell nice.”
”True.” Randall stared down at his hands. ”Maybe I'll take up heavy drinking, then.”
Redford wrinkled his nose. ”That doesn't smell nice either.”
He was about to continue when he heard the sound of footsteps coming back through the forest. Redford could smell him long before he saw him. When Jed emerged, his forearms and clothing were streaked with blood and dirt. And he didn't wait for the Gray Lady to be done talking, he just strode up to her and said, ”Lady, you need to be real f.u.c.king careful about who you p.i.s.s off.”
The Gray Lady's eyes flashed in fury, though her expression barely changed. ”Are you implying that I haven't thought about this? My pack is in danger, and I am within my rights to protect them.”
”Sure,” Jed agreed. ”And that would be just f.u.c.king peachy if it was just your pack involved. But it's not. Take a look at this whole f.u.c.king mess we've been in for months now. It's not just wolves. It's humans too. There was a half blood playing middleman. There's a half blood sitting in that cabin right now, and you signed a G.o.dd.a.m.n deal with a half blood for freak solidarity. If you pull too hard at this string, it's not just wolves that are going to get hung by it. It's everybody. Those hunters aren't going to stop at wolves. Not now.” Jed spread his arms, a rigid, too-wide smile creasing his face, making lines in the mud and dried flecks of blood. ”Welcome to war, sister. It's open season on freaks, and you just fired the first f.u.c.king shot.”
”They began this-” The Gray Lady started, but Jed was on a roll. He didn't even let her finish her thought.
”Oh, but you ended it, didn't you?” he bit out, jabbing his finger in her direction. ”You let everyone know that you're big and bad and you've got fangs you're willing to use. And you forgot one thing in all your furry pride.”
”And what is that?” the Gray Lady said coldly, her eyes glinting yellow in warning.
”Humans don't just retaliate. We go G.o.dd.a.m.n nuclear.” Spinning on his heel, Jed stalked back toward the cabin, shoulders set in a furious line.
”Is that a threat, little human?” The Gray Lady sounded as though she was moments from ripping out Jed's throat herself.
But he just laughed. ”Don't need to threaten when it's the truth, sister.” He turned back to her, pointing toward her pack. ”We know O'Malley hired those guys, but he says that chain of cash changing hands goes even further than him. He paid them. Gave them cash to leave their wives, their kids, their partners, and come out here to shoot at wolves. That was all. And I'm not saying they weren't going to die anyway. But you brutalized them. For no reason.”
”And you haven't done the same,” the Gray Lady snarled.
”Probably shouldn't use me as your moral G.o.dd.a.m.n compa.s.s,” Jed shouted back. ”Because I am exactly like those men. h.e.l.l, if Buck had called me first, I probably would have been. But me doing that s.h.i.+t? That's one thing. That's my life. You? You're in charge of the furry brigade. You didn't just retaliate. You started a war. If you thought they were coming after you before? Sister, you're t.i.ts deep in s.h.i.+t now.”
”I did what I had to do.” The Gray Lady drew herself up. ”And I will do it again.”
”Yeah,” Jed muttered, turning his back to her and walking away. ”You d.a.m.n well will. Get used to the feel of blood in your fur, kids.”
Redford noticed that most of the wolves had stopped whatever they were doing to listen. Half of them were still wolf, half were human, and none of them looked like they liked what they were hearing. But the Gray Lady didn't seem willing to back down when she was talking to Jed.
So Redford stepped up. As Jed walked away, the Gray Lady crouched back down by the lake, though she didn't resume was.h.i.+ng the blood off herself. Instead she stared at the water, her gaze far away. Redford picked his way through the wolves and sat down next to her.
”Jed's been involved in a war before,” he said, keeping his tone respectful.
”You think I haven't seen wars?” Far from the angry tone of before, now the Gray Lady just sounded weary. ”I have seen all of them, child. I have seen what the humans do when they think they must kill something.”
”So why do you want another one?” Redford didn't dip his own hands into the water. After what Anthony had told them yesterday, it would have felt wrong to mar the lake with blood. ”This has to be avoidable.”
She simply shook her head. ”The only ways we would avoid this war are through extreme measures, ones that I do not wish to take. They found us in both of the places I had believed to be safe.”
Redford refrained from pointing out that what she'd just done had been extreme enough. ”What would the measures be?”
”Deep isolation.” The Gray Lady rubbed her hands together, ridding them of excess water. She still didn't look up from the lake. ”Much further than we went before. It would require a complete severance from the rest of the wolves. I would have to put out word for all the other packs to force them to choose, to come with us, or to be cut off from us and our help completely.”
To Redford, that still sounded like a better option than war, even if it would be harsh to smaller wolf packs.
”There are many that would not come with us,” she continued. There was an upset edge at the corner of her lips, a deep sadness in her eyes. ”I don't think I could sleep at night, with the knowledge that many of my children would be so out of reach.”
”It might not be my place to say so,” Redford offered, ”but I think that's the better choice. Jed's right about what the humans will do if this escalates. You might be able to take them now, but what happens when they bring in snipers? Helicopters? Remote explosives? They'll win through technology and numbers.”
The Gray Lady almost smiled. ”How strange it is to long for the days when man fought with their bare hands.”
Redford didn't even try to imagine. He couldn't comprehend how long she had been alive, and the thought of truly understanding made him feel a little queasy-he didn't envy Victor, having seen all of that.
”And would it truly matter?” the Gray Lady asked with a sad smile. ”There would be wolves beyond my reach. They would be slaughtered. And then what? Half bloods? The vampires, if they are not the ones behind this whole plot? And eventually, they would find me, little wolf. Eventually they always do. No, I am not afraid of war. It has happened before, it will happen again.”
”It will,” Redford agreed. ”Victor's seen it, and this time it doesn't look like multiple choice. But we don't have to jump right into it.” He found himself almost pleading with her. ”We don't have to make it start right now.”
He froze when she finally looked at him, all the weight of what she'd seen pinning him where he sat. ”If we were to delay, to hide and hope for a few more years before this war, I would require every wolf to find a pack, if they did not come with me. Loners are a weak spot. They know too much, and information is too easily pulled out of them.”
”Okay,” Redford said, mostly for a lack of anything else to say. He'd admit he wasn't entirely sure what that meant for him-did he and Jed count as a pack? He didn't want to go find some larger group of a few dozen.