The Wolves of London Book 2: The House of Striker

(Chapter song ‘Chronicles of a Hero' by Eternal Eclipse)

ZEN

He blinks at me for a second, then motions to the door to lead the way. “Be right back.” I mutter as I push through everyone and take Avery to the hallway. Once outside the room, I shut the door.

“Zen, I…”

I whip around. “Who’s side are you on?”

“What kind of question is that? I’m on your side.” He furrows his brow.

“Really? Because it doesn’t sound like it.” I point to the door. “You saw it. You saw what Mikael did. You saw what Icarus did. I have a weapon to kill them both and you won’t let me use it?”

“You can’t control them, Esmerelda. What don’t you understand about that? You’ll let William out and he will kill, not only me, but you, too. Is that what you want?” He crosses his arms and leans to me.

“You don’t know that.” I grumble.

“I do, Zen. Zayden only confirmed what I knew. I knew this weapon was bad. I knew these monsters were uncontrollable.” He points behind him. “Even Miranda knew that. She was going to inject them with some sort of self destruct chemical when the fucking genocide was over because she knew they wouldn’t stop at the Supernaturals! Please. I know you. You aren’t evil or murderous, and deep down you know this shit is just wrong.”

I scratch my hair and flop my hand to my side. “I can’t win this, Ave. I can’t fight these people without ending up in a hospital or dead. I can’t.”

He holds my cheeks in his hands. “You’re human. You are not that fragile. You’re strong, quick, and damn smart. You don’t need some mutated army to fight this. And you aren’t fighting alone. You have me.”

I chuckle. “The son of a mass murderer.”

He nods. “Honestly. It’s better than nothing.”

I hold myself and look at the floor. “I hate feeling weak. When Icarus attacked and Mikael had me…” I look down the hall and blink at the heat in my eyes. I turn back to his. “I was frightened. Actually fucking scared, Avery. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

“Then fight with me. Follow me, instead. Stand behind me. I’ll be your shield or whatever. But don’t walk away and give your soul up for this. If you don’t want to do it for Supernaturals, do it for humans. They can’t fight William any more than you can. You know they won't survive this war. You know in your heart this isn’t the way.” He says low as he stares into my eyes. “I love you, Zennie. I don’t want to see you destroy yourself by unleashing this onto the world. And it will destroy you. Knowing what William’s plan was… going through with it will wreck you in ways you will never understand. Trust me. I say this because of my father’s past. Please. If you feel anything for me, you won’t do this.”

I sigh and look down. “What do I do?”

“We find Icarus before he can open it and we get the painting. We do Dorian’s plan. More importantly, we work together as a team. What do you say? Can you do that? Can you team up with a shifter to save the world?” He locks with my eyes and I have no choice.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I can.” I force a little smile.

He grabs my head and hugs it. “We'll beat this. We’ll do this and survive.” He says as he kisses my hair.

I want to be mad at him for lying to me, but I can see that it’s not him I should be mad at. It’s me. I took my human superiority to another level just now and he cared enough to talk me down. I can’t be mad at him for not being who I assumed he was. This whole time he’s shown his true colors and I've only shown how dark mine are. I think I understand why he ran now. I didn’t give him the safety that he needed or trust. I only cared about myself. I didn’t give him the home I was supposed to. I've changed a lot in five years and none of it was for the better. It took a brave shifter to show me that. All I can do is repay him with acceptance and respect. Something I’m going to start doing right now.

If what they say is true about my great grandfather, the House of Striker was built on lies and deceit. My father hung off the word of a dictator who wanted the kill the world. My father raised me under this umbrella of hate though he was more subtle about it. Either way, they sat on that throne and pretended to be allies knowing that someday, genocide would be the end result. The more I think about it. The more it turns my stomach.

I can’t be mad at Avery for hiding his past. Now that I know mine, I’ll be hiding it, too. Both of us have to choose to push our pasts behind us and never speak of it again. Never let it out. We'll be on edge. We'll always be aware that our pasts can rise to bite us in the ass, but if Avery is determined to fight his past, then I’m just as determined.

He pushes me back, and holds my head as he leans to my eyes. “I’ll be with you every step. I lost you once, I won’t do it again. I will always be there. Remember that.”

I feel my eyes start to well as I nod. “I’m sorry.” I choke.

“I know. I’m sorry, too. No more lies and anger?” He smiles as he wipes my eye.

“No.” I shake my head. “No more lies.”

He places his lips on mine and I never felt so safe in a kiss before. I feel the changes in us and I hope this ends well like he says. I’m still scared, but with Avery in my corner, it’s not as bad. I just hope that in the end, he’ll make good on his promise. That he’ll never leave me again.

As I drowned in his lips, a massive roar came from the council room. We broke the kiss, turned to the door as screams and yelling started to rise. More roars and crashing of things hit the door. We look back at each other with wide eyes and rush through the door.

I skid to a stop and see a massive Saber toothed tiger on Demetri. He has him pinned and everyone is trying to separate them.

“DAD! LET HIM GO!!” Zander has the beast by the waist as his massive canines threaten to rip the vampires head off.

Cora tries to stab him, but his fur slams shut like armor. Nathaniel shoots an angel ball, and it bounces off Zayden’s back, then shot up through a stained glass window. The glass shatters and the angel ball flies into the sky and explodes.

“I don’t… That should have worked!” Nathaniel looks at his hands.

“He's evolved. You’re powers are useless.” Cora says.

Nathaniel’s brows go up. “Crap.”

“Stand back.” Krestin takes a deep breath, his chest glows red under his dress shirt, and he blows out a stream of fire. Zayden whips his head to the dragon before the fire could hit him, and blows his own fire back. It’s so powerful, Krestin has to cut his off and shield himself.

“GET OFF ME!!” Demetri hollers as Zayden goes back to attacking him.

Darius helps Krestin put out the fire on his clothes. “Shit! What the hell?!” Krestin breathes.

“ZAYDEN! STOP THIS!” Cora yells.

As he snaps and drools over the Vampire, Giovanni explodes into his lycan. He wraps his long arms around Zaydens waist and tries to pry him off, but the tiger’s paw turns into a lycan clawed hand and arm. He grabs Giovanni by the waist and throws him into the thrones. Giovanni crashes over them and hits the floor.

“Stay here.” I say to Avery and run to where the audience members sit. Behind the seating area on the wall is a box. I rip it open, and inside is tranquilizers with everything in them. One should work, but I’ll bring more. I grab the gun and load it as I watch the council try to stop Zayden from killing the vampire. I run to Zander’s throne and drop to a knee.

“MOVE!!” I yell as I aim for his inner thigh.

Zander sees me, moves, and I fire. The dart lands perfectly in the soft fur of Zayden's leg and the black liquid enters his bloodstream.

I quickly reload as Zayden roars to the ceiling and turns around over Demetri. I meet Zayden’s gold eyes as he lowers his head. His teeth snap and his ears lay back.

I tick my head. “I like my kings with manners.” I grit.

I fire again and it hits him just at the spot where his front leg meets his chest.

Zayden jumps at me with a swipe of his paws and his lips curled.

I reload again. “Try it, buddy. Come on.” I aim and fire hitting his neck.

He rears up, lunges at me, and knocks me over onto my back.

“ZEN!!”

His tiger eyes bore into my soul as his nose almost touches mine. His growl hurts my chest as he looms over me. I see all his sharp teeth and my heart races.

“I like you, Zayden. I really do. But right now. You’re a giant dick!” I aim the gun up and fire a dart into his chin.

He screams and rears back. He shakes his head and stumbles backward. His eyes begin to droop and he shakes his head again. His hard fur rattles as he does. His back end begins to drop as I sit up on my but. Avery lands on the floor at my side. Cora and Nathaniel help Demetri to his feet and we all watch Zayden fight the tranquilizers.

He chuffs and lets out low growls as his ass hits the floor and his eyes begin to close.

Zander approaches him with caution. “It’s OK, Dad. I’m here.”

Zayden let’s out a soft roar to the ceiling, lifts up off his front paws, and falls with a thud to the floor on his side. His eyes close and he’s asleep.

We all blow out a collective sigh of relief.

Zander turns to me. “He’s just one. What’s an entire army going to do?”

I bite my top lip and nod as Avery rests his head on mine. “See. You don’t need them.” I hug his head as I watch Zander look over his father.

“I WANT HIM BLOODY WELL LOCKED UP!” Demetri demands.

“Oh, shut up!” Cora yells as she crosses her arms. “If you hadn’t insulted his dead wife, you wouldn’t have been attacked. It’s your fault.”

Demetri fixes his jacket. “Yes, well. I may have gone too far, but that was just uncalled for.” He says smugly.

Avery stands and helps me up. Zander takes off his jacket and throws it over his father’s body. “We'll get him back to the mansion. In the meantime, come together and make a plan. We need to find that painting.”

The roar of what sounds like a sick lycan comes from the broken window outside.

“What’s that?” I ask as we walk to the window, the flash of black creature soars across the sky.

My eyes widen and I run to Dorian. “You’re gun! Quick!” I motion quickly for him to give it up.

“Why? What’s wrong?!” He says as he reaches for his holster.

“JUST GIVE ME IT!” I demand as the creature smashes through what was left of the glass hanging in the frame, screeches out and flies around the ceiling.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”

“NIGHTFLYER! EVERYONE DOWN!” I yell as I aim Dorian’s gun and fire.

The bullets ricochet off the stone and the Nightflyer spins around, then shoots its leathery wings up. It’s lycan feet hit the floor and it’s black eyes eye us all. It shakes its wolf head as it tucks its wings in. Its lips curl on its elongated muzzle and its teeth drip with drool.

Giovanni growls and Demetri hisses. Zanders eyes glow white, Krestin huffs smoke and ash. Darius growls and Dorian hides behind me with Avery.

Nathaniel pushes Cora behind him as his eyes glow silver white.

I step forward as the creature breathes heavily and eyes the room.

“You got a lot of balls coming in here.” I say.

Zander steps in front of me. “SHIFT!” He orders.

Gold shimmers around its body and it melts into a young blonde woman.

“Riley.” I mutter.

“Hey, Zen. Miss me?” She crosses her arms with a smart look on her face.

I hand Dorian back his gun. “Relax. She’s not dangerous. What do you want, Riley? It better be good, or I won’t miss next time.”

“You're one of me. How?” Nathaniel points to his chest.

“I’m sure you know how, Nate.” She looks him over.

He steps up to her. “How do you know me?”

“More importantly, how many ways are we going to kill you for entering the High Council chamber?” Zander approaches her and scowls.

“Well, since I can only be killed once, I’d answer one?” She raises a brow to him as she kicks out a leg. “But I’m sure you won’t after hearing about this great party involving necromancers and my kind. If you aren’t interested, I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait!” Cora interjects. “What do you mean party?”

She looks around the room. “I mean, party. A huge bash. A wild get together. And every necromancer around the globe has RSVP'd. They're also kidnapping my children which is really pissing me off.”

Cora eyes widen.

“All of them?” I question.

Riley looks at Zander. “Every… single… one.”

The entire room falls silent.

This isn’t good.