Grimm: A Novel In The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 3) (34 page)

Gunnar finally let out a snarl. “How can I trust you?
Any
of you?” He rounded on the pack, eyes glittering like shards of ice. “Despite what you were commanded to do, none should have obeyed. Kidnapping a Regular.” He said in disgust. “If I ever hear of anyone doing that again,” he pointed a thumb back at the dead body, “You will beg for such a clean end. Regulars, all of them, are off limits.” His tone dripped menace.

The pack dropped their heads, looking ashamed.

I recalled the drone to me, where it calmly latched onto my wrist, folding neatly into my watch. Death and Achilles watched the tiny technology thoughtfully, saying nothing. My phone rang.

I answered it, confident that Gunnar could handle himself for a few minutes without me. “Yes,” I answered apprehensively, recognizing the number.

“Get the fuck over here! We’re being overwhelmed. Operation White Knight has been compromised!” An explosion roared in the background, and gunshots almost made the words illegible. Then the line went dead.

Shit. Raego was under attack.

Chapter 34

I
let out a sharp whistle and Gunnar spun, claws out, scanning the streets. His eyes latched onto me. “Time to roll,” I yelled. “Raego’s under attack!”

Gunnar stared back in shock. He was aware of my secret mission,
Operation White Knight
, and the implications of Raego being under attack were not lost on him. He practically picked up Ashley and raced towards the car. Indie never strayed from my side. I rested my hand on the door and paused, realizing there was no way we could take the girls with us. It had sounded like a war zone. And I didn’t even know who the attackers were, or whom they had with them. I assumed the Grimms, but given the alliances they had made so far, I could be facing off against a gang of Trolls or vampires or wizards or possibly more wolves. My stomach roiled a little at that. What difference were Gunnar and I going to make? My gaze slowly followed Gunnar and Ashley as they raced towards us. The pack remained behind, looking agitated, but Geri was hot on Gunnar’s heels, eyes hungry with anticipation of a scrap.

Gunnar had made new friends. Perhaps…

He met my eyes, and knowing me too well, he shook his head resolutely. “No.” He said simply, under his breath.

I scowled. “But-”

“I can’t bring them into that five minutes after I killed their leader.”

“But-”

“The Maker is right. We want to be there by your side. Our old Alpha was boring. Fresh leadership and a fresh fight go hand in hand.” Geri spoke respectfully. Gunnar grumbled under his breath, not pleased.

“What are you doing over here?” He demanded in a low voice.

“Where you go, I follow. It is my duty to be a voice of reason for you and to watch your back.” He answered simply. “Despite the consequences, as you saw earlier.” He added drily, reminding us of the previous Alpha decking him for speaking out.

I smiled smugly to myself, careful not to let Gunnar see. “We can’t take the girls.” They, of course objected to this with much yelling and shirt grabbing. Well, arm grabbing in Gunnar’s case. “You didn’t hear what it sounded like. A war zone.” I added. “We can’t help Raego and watch over you two at the same time.”

Death approached on silent feet. “I can take Indie to safety.” He offered softly, dangling his motorcycle keys. Gunnar whirled.

“Take both of them.” He demanded.

Death studied him with a squint. “I ride a
motorcycle
, not a
minivan
.”

Geri spoke up. “Let the pack watch over Ashley.” Gunnar’s fists flexed as he slowly rounded on his second in command.

“You honestly believe I can trust you five minutes after you
kidnapped
her?”

Geri lifted a hand in understanding. “But was she harmed?”

Gunnar’s eyes danced dangerously. Geri held up his hands. “I’m not excusing our actions. But we
were
commanded to do a distasteful thing, which we could not disobey, and we did it professionally and gently. How many kidnappers act in such a way?” He added. I didn’t like it, but he had a point. Then he drove that point home with a sledgehammer that made me angry for not remembering sooner. “Don’t forget that we quite literally cannot disobey you. Only an Alpha potential could do such a thing, and I assure you none of us are up to the task.” He glanced back at the two dead bodies. “I just killed the only other threat to your authority. If you missed it.”

“What about you?” I asked.

He chuckled. “As a Geri, I have immense power over other wolves, but I forfeit any rights to Alpha-ship in exchange.” He turned to Gunnar, eyes contemplating. “You do not know of this?” He asked.

Gunnar grunted. “I’ve never been much of a team player. Never really spent any length of time around other wolves.” He admitted.

Geri nodded. “Understandable. Then our intelligence was sound, but it is still surprising to hear that you know nothing of our rules. I’ll tell you true. None of the wolves are strong enough to challenge your order. None are strong enough to challenge your authority. All must obey. Even your Geri.
Especially
your Geri. You can trust us with your lives. And we are quite good as a pack.” He promised darkly.

Gunnar sized up Geri for a few long moments. “But you were, by extension, working for the Grimms. My enemies.” He added in a soft, iron-weighted voice that sent his words crashing to the ground like a crystal vase.

Geri winced, nodding. “True. By command of our Alpha.” He waggled his fingers, as if having already explained that part. “We had no choice. By killing him, you severed our… agreement with the vile creatures. We are all a bit… perturbed about having to work for them by extension. It didn’t sit well. To be honest, we were all quite glad our Alpha challenged you. Having heard the stories of you two, we thought we finally stood a chance of gaining new leadership. Perhaps the wolves you slew in the sewers were in fact martyrs, knowing that their deaths would cause a chain of events that would lead to the only other Alpha potential in town going claw-to-claw with our Alpha…” His words trailed off, and the sewer exchange grew a little more significant in my mind. Geri looked thoughtful, as if only just now thinking of the possibility himself.

And as I thought about it… It kind of made sense. After all, they had stated their orders not to
kill
me, but their orders hadn’t said anything about
hurting
me. Fine distinction, but enough to skate by.

Ashley spoke up. “Gunnar.” He turned to her, the same hard-eyed gaze fixating on her until she took an instinctive step back. “They were completely respectful about my kidnapping. Honestly. Not a hair on my head was harmed. If you must fight, I won’t hold you back. It terrifies me, but I know you have no choice. Let them take me to safety. The Chateau or wherever you want.” She paused. “Just murder some Grimms for me and get back home.” She winked.

Gunnar smiled for the first time in a long time. Still looking concerned, but resolved to the situation. The clock was ticking. I could
Shadow Walk
us their in a blink, as long as I knew the girls were safe. He nodded, so I turned to Indie and Death.

“You will keep her safe. No matter what. Stick by her side until I call you. No deviations. Keep her away from
Chateau Falco
. The Grimms know the place like it’s their own home. I would feel safer knowing she was at one of your safehouses or whatever biker bar you call home.” I remembered the one time I had tried summoning him, when I had been transported to some kind of seedy bar. It was a safe bet that not many knew of the place. Death nodded, looking oddly intense as his gaze shifted to Indie. I remembered his thoughtful looks at her over the past hour and felt a little anxiety creep up my neck. What had his interest been all about? Had he sensed something in my future? Or maybe things were simply serious enough for even him to be concerned.

I mean, to be honest, I didn’t really have an idea what he could do. I had seen him get mildly perturbed before, and it had been downright terrifying, but I had never seen him really let loose. I would need to look into the Horsemen a bit further. If I survived this. But I trusted him enough to keep Indie safe. I couldn’t imagine anyone attempting to pull one over on one of the Four Horsemen.

I kept my smile in check. If all went well at Raego’s I could run home to bake my cake without fear of Indie catching me. I had effectively just hired a babysitter.

“You ready, Alpha?” I grinned.

He nodded back and extended his still bloody arm. I noticed that his chest wasn’t bleeding so much anymore, thanks to his slow but steady healing factor. I blew a kiss at Indie. Then thought,
what the hell?

I blew a kiss at Geri and Ashley.

But not Death.

One does not simply blow a kiss at Death.

Then instead of taking Gunnar’s arm and
Shadow Walking
, I tried out the gateway spell I had recently learned. A ring of blue fire erupted before me, tall enough for Gunnar and I to walk through. Death flinched, but the sound on the other side of the gateway immediately drew everyone’s attention. Raego’s mansion rose up in the distance, but a war plagued the lawn. We dove through and I pulled it closed before Geri or anyone else decided they wanted to join the fight.

I immediately screamed as the world erupted in chaos; screams, dragon fire, machine guns, and the steady roar of
magic
shattered the air, causing my ears to instantly pop. Gunnar instantly shifted to full on giant werewolf. “Welcome to the jungle,” I yelled for encouragement, whips of liquid fire and ice snapping to existence as extensions of my fists.

Chapter 35

T
wo smaller than usual red dragons abruptly swooped down over our heads, missing me by inches, and snatching a stealthy Justice whom I hadn’t noticed sneaking up behind me. Misha’s daughters had come out to play. I smiled, but it didn’t last long as the image finally struck my rational mind.

Justices.

That meant we weren’t fighting Grimms. And I wasn’t sure my allies knew the distinction. I had to stop this. We didn’t stand a chance if any Justices were murdered. The entire Academy would come back and destroy everyone. These were supposedly the
good
guys.

I summoned up my new power, growing a large quivering orb of it to coalesce in front of me. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing, merely trying to duplicate spells I had used as a wizard. Once complete, I shouted into the rippling orb at the top of my lungs.

My new powers might have beefed it up too much.

A nearby tree branch shattered as if struck by lightning as the amplified sound of my voice struck it like a battering ram. The force struck the house and windows shattered.

“PEACE! Everyone stop! Jafar! Show yourself!”

Absolutely everyone halted. The dragons in the skies pumped their powerful wings to land lightly atop the mansion before us. Everyone turned to me, looking startled.

Well, the Justices, of course, stared back at me with their stupid silver masks that replicated various forms of human emotion.
Sadness
,
laughter
,
rage
,
compassion
, and
hatred
, even an
expressionless
mask stared back at me. But I told myself that deep down they were scared.

Yeah.

One person touched his mask and it disintegrated, revealing Jafar. He approached me slowly, wary of a trap. I honestly had none. My only interest in this was everyone walking away more or less satisfied. Or dissatisfied on an equal level. Which I had heard was the sign of a good compromise.

“What is the meaning of this, Temple?” His voice dripped raw fury.

“What we have here is a grievous misunderstanding, obviously. You show up, for whatever reason, attacking the Dragon Lord’s home. What did you expect?”

“We got a distress call.” My inner psyche screamed in panic to kill him before he spoke any further, or discovered the truth. But I calmed it. Barely.

“What kind of distress call would warrant an entire batallion of Justices?” I asked carefully. “There must be some kind of mistake.”