'What problem?' I bite the bait.
Vanessa walks past, passing between Mason and me. She is white with concern and worry, or maybe she just looks as ordinary as always.
I am all the while trying to guess why she can be so unlike herself. Maybe Vanessa is the origin of my flippancy. It is a possibility that years of sliding easily into and out of people's anxious thoughts have dulled anxiety for her. Indeed, how many of our everyday worries actually come to pass? But this cheerful beauty is troubled today.
What can scare Vanessa?
Like Dean, only hurt to her mate can really get to her.
But there is also us, the rest of the pack. When Troy first turned into a wolf, Vanessa and Dean were there to walk him through the excruciating process. The night of Alicia's principal heartbreak, Vanessa cradled her in her arms every night along with me until she was better. Ever since I became affected with lycanthropy, Vanessa White has always been close to me, though in the background oftentimes, like a shadow. Now that I think of it, maybe she has always been in the background of my thoughts too.
Does she know I had a crush on Dean once? At that thought, Vanessa turns an eye in my direction, a smile bouncing on the corner of her lips. Of course, she knows.
When she turns fully to me, I ask, 'It's the huntsmen, isn't it? The lycans?'
She nods. 'They are onto Alicia.'
Something vacuums the air from my lungs. 'Please, tell me they have not captured her.'
Mason walks forward. 'They will observe her first, to see if she will lead them to Dean,' he interjects. 'If she doesn't—and soon too—they'll capture her and use her as a bargaining chip. But they will also try to have the whole pack as a bargaining chip, if they can.' His voice becomes pointy as a sword, accusatory. 'They only want Dean. They won't hurt anyone else except in every other case that they don't have him. Or is he too much of a coward now?'
'Cowardice? Don't speak of cowardice to me, Mason!' Vanessa hisses. Her entire visage is changed. A bare hint of something past, something ruthless, has seeped into her voice.
Mason of course doesn't back down. His eyes are shifting, and the hair on his neck is erect.
'This is what you wanted, isn't it? Go on ahead and gloat, Mason,' I say.
The amused look is back on Vanessa's face as she watches the livid glare I exchange with Mason. He looks almost mindlessly furious. I let my claws grow out stealthily, in case.
'You know nothing about this, Claire,' He growls.
'I think I know enough. As the only true Elderwood heir, the lycans had no problem accepting Dean; even the Imperials did. But you they have had to suffer and endure, like a boil on Augusta Lycaone's perfect face!'
Surprisingly, Mason doesn't instantly go for my jugular for that jibe, though his face reddens more with fury.
'Actually, I have told him that one before. It won't have the same effect twice,' Vanessa beams brightly at me.
I can't stop the shocked look I give her.
'How long does she have before your memories become a strain she cannot bear? It's still a death sentence no matter how you look at it,' Mason accuses Vanessa. 'Everything you Whites touch shatters like the ice you are rumoured to come from.'
My mouth turns dry. 'What, Vanessa?'
She gives me a fond, loving, reassuring look before replying Mason. 'Why do you think she has Elderwood blood in her? My coldness and Dean's warmth,' she smiles. 'Even the Imperials say the Elderwoods almost rival them in lifespan.'
Mason's eyes darken. 'The Imperials will have limited choices when they learn of this experiment you and Olligrander and Dean have done. I imagine she will be alpha when you are all gone. What will that make her into then?'
'She will be an outcast like you, Mason, with claims to three of the great werewolf families; the second remaining Elderwood heir after Dean's cousin, and the only remaining White. And she will be your false-mate. Claire will be the only one who truly understands your pain, Mason. And she loves you. Even without the mate bond,' Vanessa informs.
I am too awestruck by everything to say a word. Mason spares me a contemptuous glance. 'I'd sooner imprison her than accept her as mate. No,' he shakes his head, 'I could even kill her if the Imperials ordered it. Just to see what would then become of your plans, Vanessa,' Mason says.
A shadow briefly crosses Vanessa's features, then it is gone. 'That is why she has Olligrander blood: to make that as difficult as possible,' she smiles. 'We will always be with you, Mason, even if it is only through Claire. And likely we shall continue our war or you will choose peace with us through her.'
Mason turns to leave.
'You are really the coward here, aren't you, Mason With-no-last-name? Did Lauren ever tell you her secret?' I shoot. I am basically just rummaging through Vanessa's memories for something to gift Mason as a parting slight as I ramble. 'That human girl who loved you and died in her ex's car, did you try to know how it happened? Did you even care to establish her unfaithfulness? Do you know why the Lycans hate you so much? In everything, the answer is that you lack a spine! Dean and Vanessa have one. You are not a lycan, Mason. You are not even a werewolf. On a third thought, you are not even a vertebrate. The worse thing than falling a moment in love with you is having a mate bond to complicate things.'
Mason is instantly standing inches from me. 'Watch your tongue, Claire,' he warns. 'If we ever cross paths again, I may not be so restrained.'
I am shaking with rage too. My extended claws, concealed behind me, are eager to shred. The rage wants a way out. I have been keeping it all in. I have always wanted to blot out the superiority from Mason's face, the satisfaction from Lauren's, the predatory hunger and scheming from Sebastian and Seamus'. I am prepared to snap—
'Claire...' Vanessa cautions.
The rage slowly boils off. When I glance at Vanessa, she only looks amused, entertained. I have to take a step back, since Mason is too close.
With a curt, backward glance, Mason bids farewell to Vanessa. I am puzzled, because his voice possesses a much deeper note of finality than a regular goodbye would.
'Farewell,' Vanessa returns, equally as gravelly.
No, it is not the parting greeting of two good friends who will miss each other, but the somewhat forced greeting of two opponents who have been involved in an ancient fight, who have gained some understanding of and respect for each other as a result; and who have now come to the knowledge that they can no longer continue their contest.
Before leaving, Mason replaces his hellish gaze on me. His next words deliver his intended slow poison: 'Understand that every story needs a villain, Claire,' he sculpts me a sneer, 'and I'm happy to be yours.'
And so Mason, by a single leap, spears through the tree canopy above. I breathe easier at his disappearance.
I fix Vanessa with a stern stare. 'You didn't have to say all that to him.'
'Maybe not,' Vanessa agrees. 'But it was fun! Oh, the drama of love,' she coos with a wink.
I let her have a full, sour, dour glare. 'Can we return to the part where Alicia is being followed by the huntsmen?'
'I have taken care of it a little,' she tells me.
'What do you mean?'
'You will know any minute now.'
Her words have barely passed my ears when I feel it, a quake that is so deep that it rattles my hair roots and the roots of my teeth. A location drops into my mind. For a split second, I want to follow it, find it; except I'm already there.
Dean has summoned everyone to this place.
What the lycans will see will be Alicia suddenly taking off. I lick parched lips. 'She will lead the huntsmen here. Is that the plan?'
I don't think it comes close to the best plan we could have come up with, but Vanessa reassures me. 'The Hunt live by a few simple codes of honour, and which give us a chance—not to win; 'cause we can't, but to buy us some time. The huntsmen are a bunch gorged and bloated on their pride. They can hunt us indefinitely, but if they engage, they have to finish the fight before the next moonrise.'
A ray of hope shines on me like light from the end of a tunnel. The sun is rapidly dropping from the sky to the horizon. It will be moonrise soon. 'What happens if they don't finish the fight?' I ask.
'They leave it to the next higher ranking lycans,' Vanessa shrugs almost nonchalantly.
I feel like I have received a swing to the head. 'What?'
'Yeah. In theory, the Imperials will ultimately have to run their own errand if we keep up this tactic, which is remaining unbeaten before moonrising.'
Not only will it be impossible to go so high in the Imperial ladder, after defeating the huntsmen and the Imperial guard, that the werewolf kings and queens come to personally judge us; but we would have had to go through many personalities like Earl and Pearl Lycaone, even Mason himself, to all the members of the Lycaone family and other lycan families, many of them sheer monsters even by werewolf standards.
It would also be enormous stupidity if they all always attacked at sundown. Much sooner rather than later, someone a little smart would attack us just after moonrise, despite the difference in power levels. It's what I would do. It's what Lauren would.
As we watch the sun recede, I feel the nightmares advance. And they have dead emotions.