Lunatic Fringe (37 page)

Winter was on the horizon. She shivered
and turned, eager to head home and plot her next step.

Chapter 24

At the border of Archer’s territory,
Lexie picked up her lover’s faded scent as it traced a faint path
into the woods and along the river. Its familiarity eased the
trauma of the unraveling truths that tangled in her mind. She
pushed away the doubts that dogged her. Now was not the time to
worry about such things. Archer’s gentle, cedar scent ended in a
swirl at the base of their tree. Lexie would have come here anyway,
regardless of picking up a scent, knowing where her lover would
pace, tending her troubled heart.

At the highest bough, Lexie caught
sight of her lover silhouetted by the dying sun. Lexie nearly leapt
forth in relief. She was sorry and was ready to say so, wishing
only for solace and a friend.

With her first step onto the platform,
Lexie realized her mistake. Blythe sat with her legs dangling off
the edge, admiring the sunset. She turned when Lexie’s feet hit the
wood. Her smile was practiced in its perfection.

“
I’m so glad you’re here,”
Blythe said, as if this treehouse were her home, and she was
hosting a party.

Lexie’s heart sank.

“
I’d like to have a frank
discussion with you. Will you join me?” Blythe gestured to the spot
next to her, providing a view through the forest to the ocean. Even
from the distance to the edge of the platform, Lexie saw Blythe’s
icy shape shift. November’s full moon would rise soon.

Lexie sat.

“
This is a lovely spot. It
took me forever to figure out where you were. Archer did a great
job of ensconcing you up here like Rapunzel,” Blythe said. “She
never took me here, must be new.” She was barefoot, her sneakers
placed neatly next to her, each holding a sock rolled into a little
ball. She inhaled deeply, “Smells like sex.”

Lexie held her breath, avoiding
Blythe’s game while trying to track it.

“
Lexie, let me just dive in
here. I think you might be caught up in something you don’t
understand.” She placed her palms in her lap, attempting a gesture
of equanimity. “I want to honor the fact that you haven’t been in
possession of all the facts, and I think it’s unfair to you. For my
part in all of this, I apologize. It was never my intention to put
you in the middle of something you didn’t consent to. I hadn’t
realized what you’ve been going through. If I had, my sisters and I
would have been there to support you from the get-go. Do you
understand me?”

Lexie nodded. She thought she was
beginning to understand Blythe better than Blythe understood
herself.

“
Good,” Blythe smiled. “I
think it’s only fair that you learn the whole story. In the end, if
you would prefer to not stay with the sisters of the Pack, I’ll be
disappointed, but I will understand. Likewise, if what I share with
you makes you want to stay a part of our family and leave this
thing with Archer behind, we will all be elated.
Agreed?”

Lexie sat in silence, wondering where
the truth was in all this. Blythe was articulate but her intentions
confused her. She wished for the clear simplicity of communication
with Archer, where the truth was self-evident in her lover’s
eyes.

“
I want to talk to you
about Archer,” Blythe continued, straightening her shoes as if they
weren’t already perfectly aligned. “I think it’s important that you
know the truth about her. I know you have been spending a lot of
time with her. At first, I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.
You never shared it with any of us. I can only assume because you
were scared of something, and while I’m disappointed you felt the
need to keep your relationship a secret, I think your instincts
were correct. I wish you had come clean earlier with the sisters,
so we could have avoided heartache. I wish it didn’t have to be the
case, but I want you to know I’m here for you.” She paused and
offered another studied smile.

“
I assume you know Archer’s
true identity. You know that she’s not a real woman. Not a real
person. Archer poses as one of us at her convenience, to partake of
the privileges women like us have won for her.

“
You’ve been dealing with
your own changes, maybe thinking you might be like her. I know this
is confusing, but the truth is so much better than that for you.
You’re more than just a wolf like Archer. You’re a wolf, and a real
woman. But most importantly, you are a peacespeaker--a seer and an
interpreter. You are blessed to be from a noble line of wise
women.”

Blythe’s eloquence was surpassed only
by her diplomacy, at least in her own mind. Despite the mendacious
delivery, Lexie felt like the puzzle of her own mental health was
complete and she could see the cracks clearly, as integral parts of
the picture itself. The realization jarred Lexie with a tangible
tremor.

“
Why are you telling me
this?”

“
I’m sorry to be throwing
so much information at you so quickly, but Archer has me backed up
to a wall here,” Blythe said. “The Morloc-sired males continue to
multiply, and their aggression is going completely unchecked. The
Pack is the only army fighting the male menace. Without a
peacespeaker, we are at a huge disadvantage,” Blythe said. “Simply
speaking, we need your help. With a peacespeaker, the Pack can
eliminate the Morloc males completely. With your assistance, we
could neutralize the situation within a year.”

Lexie expected Blythe to whip out a
prospectus next, her points so well-honed and clinical.

Lexie shook her head before she even
noticed herself doing it. “I can’t do that.”

“
You’ve seen what these men
can do,” Blythe said.

“
Yes, but--”

“
Half the members of the
Pack are with me because they had their insides gouged by a
monster. They had their dignity and their humanity stripped from
them while the rest of the campus worried about finals. You want to
know a fight, Lexie? Imagine going up against one of those
werewolves when you were just a normal girl. No weapons, no means
of fighting back but to scream or cry and finally
concede.”

“
Christ, Blythe,” Lexie
shooed her voice away, not wanting to imagine such
horrors.

“
What happened to Duane was
nothing, nothing compared to what three of your sisters experienced
less than two years ago.” She spoke each syllable deliberately to
ensure her point was sinking in. “In refusing to help our cause,
you are implicitly siding with the rapists, the killers, and the
bigots of this town. You’re helping them with your
inaction.”

“
That’s not
fair.”

“
What’s not fair, Lexie, is
sitting on your hands when you have access to a precious gift that
none of the women you care about have. You’ll never know what
that’s like, to be pinned and terrorized like my girls, because you
have your fabulous new powers and a pureblood girlfriend. But your
girlfriend let six of my sisters die on the battlefield. What makes
you think she’ll save you?”

“
I can save
myself.”

Blythe smirked. “Care to test that
theory?”

“
What makes the males so
different than us? Who’s to say they’re all monsters?”

“
Maybe a small percentage
of the males are cognizant during the moon like we are. But they
are a small price to pay to eliminate the threat
entirely.”

“
Easy to say when it’s not
you who’s paying the price.”

Blythe fixed Lexie with her steely
gaze, but rage burned behind the steel, and the scent of Blythe’s
perspiration scalded Lexie’s nostrils. “Women have been paying the
price since the beginning of time. Let the men pay for
once.”

“
Doesn’t sound very
egalitarian of you, Blythe.” Lexie tried to capitalize on Blythe’s
tiny fractures, to see what would creep in between the
cracks.

Blythe sighed. “Lexie, I’ve been
desperate for an intellectual equal for years, and it would be
lovely if you were one. But you aren’t. Trying to use my intellect
against me is a weak, though clever, strategy.”

“
You can’t make me do
this.”

Blythe smirked at Lexie’s resistance.
“Perhaps. Though I do find Archer’s influence on you disconcerting.
I’d happily kill her to free up some of your time. Would likely
improve your grades, too.”

“
Fuck you.”

“
Your working-class roots
are truly charming. I admire your aspirational nature, but not your
adherence to worn, sexist clichés that rely on sexually violent
speech to make your points.”

“
We’re done,” Lexie rose
and walked across the platform, ready to dive headlong through the
branches.

“
No. We’re not.” Blythe’s
voice boomed. “Your ‘girlfriend’ is responsible for too many
deaths, and I won’t let her be responsible for your reticence at
watching a couple of rapist-murderer-thugs get what’s coming to
them.”

“
You’re the
murderer.”

“
Who are we talking about
here?” Blythe grinned. “Because I have an alibi.”

“
Does Renee?” Lexie
asked.

Blythe sighed and rolled her eyes.
“They weren’t boys, they were werewolves. Duane is alive because he
is human.”

“
They weren’t werewolves.
You killed Brian because you hated him and for no other
reason.”

“
No other reason? I can
name plenty!”

“
You’re a
murderer.”

“
I am not. But Archer is.
Isn’t that right, Archer?” Blythe said.

Lexie turned as Archer landed behind
her. Archer kept her eyes on Blythe, sizing her up. Lexie brushed
Archer’s arm, wanting to apologize for everything but fearing what
truths she was concealing.

“
Why don’t you tell Lexie
how many people you’ve killed?” Blythe said, giddy with
control.

Archer grasped Lexie’s shoulders,
looking into her eyes with a seriousness that scared Lexie as much
as it fortified her. They spoke without speaking and Lexie knew she
still trusted her, though fearing the veracity of Blythe’s
words.

Archer paced toward Blythe, who rose to
meet her. Blythe was taller than Archer, but only by a couple of
inches. Lexie’s sight burned them in different colors as they
confronted one another, Blythe with an aura of purple like the
twilit sky, Archer’s the gold of the autumn around them.

“
You look good, Blythe,”
Archer said.

“
Survival suits me,” she
replied.

“
You’re holding a grudge,”
Archer said, more apology than challenge.

“
Why are you back? What do
you think you have to offer?”

“
I know it was right to
leave when I did, but the situation was left unfinished. I’m back
to finish what I started. I’d like to help.”

“
We don’t need your
help.”

“
You’ve lost two girls, and
the male population has grown.”

“
No thanks to
you.”

“
You’re right. No thanks to
me. Now will you let me help?”

“
Hardly,” Blythe
said.

“
I’m still the Alpha of
this pack.”

“
You were a lousy Alpha. If
your leadership was worth our sisters’ lives, you would have seen
the Morloc situation a mile off. Instead, you sat chambered in your
ego, ruling from the distance of a king. You were oblivious to all
of us, especially Natalee. She needed someone to confide in, and
you weren’t there for her, or any of us towards the
end.”

“
I never lost track of
you.” Archer’s voice betrayed her emotion. “I was scared. It’s a
big job keeping that many alive.”

“
I’ve been doing it for ten
years, no thanks to you,” Blythe said. “You left your job
half-done.”

“
I know.”

“
Do you? Why do you think
my new pack has grown so quickly? It’s those fucking males! They’re
still out there, and they’ve mastered their changes. They’re as
violent and anarchistic as ever. Completely bestial. You left me
with that!”

“
I’ve come back. This pack
is my kin.”

“
They are NOT your
kin!”

Watching the two argue like wounded
women, Lexie wondered what they had been like as allies rather than
enemies. She would have liked to have known them then.

“
You left me with a mess,
Archer. This is my pack because they had no one else to follow. I
didn’t choose these women. They chose me. It’s my pack, Archer. And
you can go to hell before I let them follow you.”

“
They would follow me if
you gave them a choice--”

“
I won’t let that
happen.”

“
And I won’t let you have
Lexie.”

“
She’s not a possession to
be bought and sold.”

“
Nor is she another one of
your pawns to be trotted out when you’re in a tight spot. What good
is she to you anyway?”

“
You really don’t know?”
Blythe laughed. “I can’t tell if you’re a worse alpha or
lover.”