Tethers (28 page)

“Well,” Willow said, “the point’s been proven enough for my liking.”

“And mine,” Daimhín said. “I’m sick to death of talking about shifters. Can we please move on?”

One by one, the Senate members agreed that the untethered issue was, in fact, a non-issue.

Callista beamed at me. “I’m preparing a new set at Gabe’s—oh.” She gave me an apologetic look. “I mean
Finn’s
bar. You and your friends should come to celebrate everything.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Celebrations always go down well with my crowd.”

Breslin and I made to leave, but James followed. I waited for a smart remark, but he looked impressed.

“I just wanted to let you know that I think you’ve handled all of this impressively well,” James said. “For who you are, and what you are, I know I’ve made assumptions. Few people make me change my mind, but I’ve seen that sometimes a situation needs a second look.”

“Is that an apology?” I teased.

“No, it’s an admittance that I underestimated you.” He gave me a curious look. “I’ll have to be warier of you; that’s for sure.”

“Well, I’m just hoping I’m done with the Senate for at least another decade,” I said. “And I really don’t want to have to drag my solicitor out here again. He makes you all look kinda stupid.”

And with that, I walked away, arm in arm with Breslin, who gently scolded me for not taking the higher ground. But it had been worth it.

Epilogue

Finn’s bar was alive. I had never seen it as busy in Gabe’s time. After Gabe’s death, walking through the doors had been hard for me, but I was getting used to the place again. I waited for my drink at the bar, listening to Finn’s terrible jokes as people shouted at him to hurry up.

“A good drink, like a good joke, takes time,” the redhead said.

“You need more staff,” I said. “Hire people, you scabby eejit.”

“I keep forgetting I can do that,” he said with a wink. “The boss man is probably looking down on me and shaking his head at everything I’m doing wrong.” He pushed a glass in front of me. “On the house.”

I raised the glass. “To the boss.” I narrowed my eyes. “And this better be juice.”

“I’m working on something new,” he said. “I’ll test it out on you sometime.”

“No, thanks.”

He nodded at my companions. “You really enjoy fuelling the rumour mill, eh?”

“You know it.”

The fae winked at me, and I left the bar with my drink. Callista’s new set had pulled in admirers from all over the city. On one side of the room, I spotted Peter and Melody Love, politely chatting together. She looked nervous, but I thought that might have been because she was sitting very close to a sweaty fellow with horns that kept accidentally bumping her chair. Peter saw me looking and raised his glass.

I nodded and turned away. In a darkened corner, Phoenix and Rosa were both looking in my direction as though they were talking about me, and their gazes sent shivers down my spine.

I pushed through the crowd until I found my table. Shay, Moses, and Carl were playing cards, arguing about the rules. I sat down and grabbed the cards to shuffle them.

“All right, boys,” I said. “Let the games begin.”

And with every card I dealt, a little stress left me. Once again, the world had taken us on. Once again, we were the winners.

***

I took a cup of hot chocolate and went out the back to sit under the moon. I relaxed under the glowing moon’s gentle caress. The pub had been fun, but sometimes I preferred the peace and quiet of home. The moon had always called to me, but I had often avoided that part of my nature. It seemed dangerously close to the darkness that existed in the world. But since moving into the cul-de-sac, I had learned to relish the darkness—and the things that made me different.

When Carl had realised how much time I was spending out in my backyard, he’d secretly installed a swinging chair to replace the crappy old garden chairs I’d always used. It was probably one of the sweetest gestures of all time and reason seven hundred and two why he was my best friend without question—even when he commissioned horrific paintings just to torture me.

I sat on the chair and relaxed, swinging gently as I sipped the hot drink. The last few weeks had been tough, but satisfying. Life had gotten a little intense and dramatic, but I knew I had helped Esther, because as soon as the Senate agreed to drop the untethered rubbish, something inside of me had shifted into… balance.

Esther had been my second lost soul, and in the end, all I’d needed was a little common sense to help her. Not that she knew about that part. But the werewolf issues and the pack violence had all gotten in the way of something relatively simple, something only I could have done. And I wondered if it would always be that way.

The shifters were still half-crazed, but the Senate’s reassurance that a new alpha was on the way kept them from going completely feral. Aiden had vanished, I’d heard nothing official about the new paragon, and we were all slowly getting back to normal.

A soft scuffling noise close by set me on edge. I quickly sent out my other senses then instantly relaxed. Phoenix flung himself over the wall and landed in my grass. As though it were the most normal thing in the world, he sauntered toward me then sat on the swinging chair next to me.

“This is new,” he said. “It’s nice.”

“Carl’s responsible.” I nodded at the wall. “Are we not using the front door anymore?”

“I had a feeling you’d be out here, and I didn’t want to disturb you by forcing you to open the front door.”

I took a sip of my drink. “Some people would call that creepy and weird, Phoenix.”

He hesitated. “But not you.” It was
almost
a question, and I
almost
felt guilty for my answer.

I sank lower in my chair. “It’s a little creepy.”

“I apologise then.”

“It’s okay. I
would
have been pissed if you made me get up to answer the door.”

“I saw you in Finn’s bar,” he said.

“I know.”

“We couldn’t speak there.” He sighed. “I wanted to update you on… everything.”

“Oh?”

“There’s been communication from the… rightful alpha. He’s confirmed he is returning to the country soon and wanted to stake his claim. Not one person has objected, so he is alpha by default.”

“But is he
alpha
alpha?”

He thought about it. “From what I’ve gathered, yes. He’s already responsible for a roaming pack of shifters.”

“So a separate pack?”

“Yes,” he said. “Separate from the others. They have a long tradition of travelling. They are reluctant to settle in the one place.”

“So how is this alpha going to lead the pack?”

“He’s confident he’s strong enough to lead from afar. His family will be returning more regularly. They’ll be staying on a campsite in Northern Ireland next month, I believe. And as the alpha doesn’t want to have dealings with the Senate—he doesn’t trust us, I’m afraid—he’s willing to use a liaison to deal with us instead.”

“That’s different,” I admitted. “So what’s his stance on Esther? Should I expect trouble?”

“Quite the opposite. I’m not sure if Aiden appealed to him or what, but the alpha brought up the issue of Esther all by himself. He has forbidden any aggression toward her that has its basis in issues with her brother.”

“So he’s absolving her of Aiden’s guilt?”

“Exactly. Although, he’s inferred he would like to meet you before taking away the ‘enemy of the pack’ title from you.”

“Figures.”

He hesitated again. “The thing is, he wants Esther to be the liaison. And he wants you to accompany her when she visits him for the first time.”

“Is he a control freak?”

“I think he wants to figure out the situation for himself. If he’s a true alpha, he’ll know if you’re a threat to him or not.”

“And if it’s all a big trick to get me and Esther alone with a group of angry shifters?”

“He already knows that kind of action would have serious consequences. He seems quite reasonable.”

“Fine.” I sighed. “If Esther’s well enough to go and if she actually wants to be his liaison, then I’ll go with her. I’m hardly going to let her visit there alone.”

“Well,” he said with a smile. “As Esther’s alpha, he probably thought it polite to invite you along, too. What on earth possessed you to claim her as your pack?”

“Because
pack
is just a supernatural word for family,” I said. “And it’s true.”

He nodded. “I see. And how is Esther getting on?”

“Great,” I said, brightening. The doctors had given us good news. “They think the swelling was causing the migraines, and the seizure was because of pressure on her brain. She’s lucky she’s a tough-headed bear, let me tell you.”

He laughed. “I’m glad she’s feeling better then.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I couldn’t stand it anymore. “So is Rosa leaving soon?”

A quick hiss was the only sign of his consternation. He didn’t want to tell me.

“She’s following Regis’s body out of the country soon. She sent it as a sign to the other paragons. Apparently, being a paragon is a constant power struggle, and she and the other paragon were losing. One of them had to go, and she was determined it wouldn’t be her.”

“The werewolves,” I said. “That’s the reason both of them were here then.”

He nodded. “I met Rosa when I was away, and she explained how the paragons… tick. I knew Regis was here to eliminate a threat. The werewolves were too risky to let live, and it was all because he had the wendigo. There were more wendigo, but Rosa assures me they are being taken care of.”

“And you trust her?”

He shook his head. “No. Not even a little. When we met, she made sure she found an advantage over me.”

I bit on my next question.
Was she the one who kissed him?

“She warned me that she needed the werewolves and that she would take care of Regis in exchange. It was only a matter of time.”

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, Phoenix.”

“It’s simple, really. Regis needed to get rid of the werewolves, who were the biggest threat to his army. Rosa needed something that could beat Regis’s army. In the end, she got everything she wanted—an asset in Ireland and a way to rid herself of her rival. Paragons are competitive, and she just proved herself and established her place, thanks to the werewolves backing up her claim. If the paragons need them, the werewolves will be a great help.”

“And if Rosa ever wants to rid herself of another paragon, she just has to show off her new pets? What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t have a choice,” he said. “What Rosa wants, she almost always gets.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“Not a very interesting one,” he said flatly.

I set down my empty cup and tried to relax again. But it was no use. The paragon problem would continue to niggle at me, even if none ever returned to Ireland.

“I should thank you,” he said abruptly.

I looked at him. “What for?”

“For being… exactly what you say you are. There’s no guessing, no game, no hidden agenda. I never grasped how comforting that was until recently. There are a lot of terrible people in the world, Ava. But I see you and your pack.” He huffed out a laugh. “You were right. You are a family, a pack, and the care you have for each other is genuine and pure. I should have thanked you for letting the twins be a part of that, not felt jealous of it.”

“Does that mean you’re going to cut Val and Peter a little slack?”

He let out a low chuckle. “Only if they give me some first.” He looked up at the moon. “I meant what I said before, Ava. I’m not scared or repulsed by what you are. It’s who you are that counts.”

I lifted my face to the moon and closed my eyes. The paragons could have their battles far away. I had everything I needed at home.