The Catalyst (17 page)

Chapter Nine

Cole surveyed the pack, looking for any hint of
mutiny. He’d called the meeting to tell them Jane’s status. Nobody
seemed too worked up, but maybe they were in shock. He hadn’t been
their leader for months, and now he was coming back with this
story. It was possible anything he told them would result in a
smile-and-nod response. But just to make sure…

“Are we going to have any problems over this? Do I
need to throw my weight around?”

They all shook their heads quickly. Various voices
murmured things like “no sir,” “we’re cool,” “whatever you say,
we’re just glad you’re back with us.” That last one was Blake.

Cole arched a brow at the beta. “You didn’t enjoy
playing substitute alpha?”

“Hell, no. It’s too much work. I prefer being
second-in-command where I can just stand around and look
pretty.”

Cole chuckled. “Good to hear.” In between drunken
stupors, he’d worried Blake would get a taste of power and he’d
have to fight the beta to get his pack back. The last thing he
wanted to do was hurt his friend, but Cole didn’t sing backup for
anybody.

“There’s one other thing I think everyone should
know. The pup is alive.”

A murmur went up from the gathered wolves.

“How do you know?” one of the pack members in the
back asked.

“Shut up!” another pack member said to the first one,
jabbing him in the ribs.

“Guys, it’s okay. I’m not going to bite anybody’s
head off for asking a question. Jane saw him while she was in
heaven. She knows the pup’s location, and the last she saw he was
safe and being cared for. We’re going to go get him as soon as she
gets back.”

“Where is she?” the same wolf asked. He was about
nineteen. The potential alpha-ness rolled off him. Cole was going
to have to keep an eye on him or encourage him to seek leadership
opportunities elsewhere.

“She’s with Cain learning alternate ways to feed when
she isn’t with me. I expect everybody to treat her like they always
have. This is a good thing. Our alliance with Cain is secure now.
We have a stable ally if we ever have to go against Anthony and the
other vampires. Cain takes an interest in the well-being of the
demons in his care. This involves him in issues he’s previously had
no interest in getting involved in, which could be good for
us.”

“How do we know Cain won’t turn on us?” Ed asked. Ed.
Always the cynic.

“Trust me. I know. Cain has a strong sense of
responsibility toward his kind, and our alliance was solid before
this happened.”

The wolf seemed satisfied by the answer. Murmurs
bounced around the cave as wolves discussed the new situation
amongst themselves.

It had taken Cole a while after getting back to the
hive to realize all the benefits of Jane’s new condition. Once he’d
pushed past his insecurities with regards to her strength—or mostly
pushed past them—he’d seen that as a pack they could only be
stronger now with Cain’s interest in Jane. This new development
would ensure they always remained free of Anthony’s encroaching
police state. The effects of the vampire’s takeover weren’t
affecting the Cary Town pack, yet. But they would. Sooner or later
they’d be found. At some point, there may be no place safe to be
outside Cain’s dimension.

“Hey, guys. Did you miss me?”

If he hadn’t been preoccupied, Cole would have
smelled her and felt her before he heard her, but he’d been too
lost in thought. He looked up to see Jane standing in the cave
entrance, a sassy grin on her face. The wolves inclined their heads
toward her, offering their throat in a symbolic gesture. Good. They
could accept her. No one had hesitated for a second when she’d
stepped into the cave.

But then why would they? They’d come to love her when
she’d had the enemy’s blood in her veins and was human to boot.
What difference would a change in species make now? Anything short
of a vampire, they’d accept.

Against all odds they’d welcomed her when she’d been
the weakest pack member, being only human. Their allegiance hadn’t
shifted in the slightest since she’d become a demon. There didn’t
seem to be a Goldilocks happy medium with her.

With the pack’s support, it might be easier for Cole
to accept the change. He didn’t think she’d try to usurp him; he
just wasn’t sure if she’d start overstepping bounds, knowing she
could get away with it. It made him feel like a powerless
figurehead, and he hoped none of the pack started to see it that
way. He tensed as she moved through the crowd to reach him, knowing
she was about to set a precedent for how their relationship would
be seen by the others.

But when she got there, she inclined her head. Her
honey-brown hair fell back behind one shoulder, baring her mating
mark to his gaze. She was going to play by the rules. Good. Cole
growled his approval, allowing some of the wolf to come out in his
eyes. He nuzzled the mark, then bit gently over it, eliciting a
shiver from his mate.

“I told you, you were being ridiculous,” she
whispered, too soft for the pack to hear. “You think I want to boss
you or the others around? Please.”

“That’ll be enough of that,” he whispered back.

She shrugged. “You’re the boss.”

“Try not to forget it.”

Slowly, pack members approached her. The males kept a
larger distance, wary of crossing lines or appearing too
affectionate. The females, however, came up and hugged her and
started talking about how bad things had been without her. A few of
them cried. Nobody came out and said anything about Cole not being
himself while she was gone or him being unable to lead them, but
the sentiment was there, just under the surface. It was an unspoken
conversation that everyone but Cole was involved in. Without Jane,
he’d become ineffective as a leader.

“As much as I hate to interrupt this happy reunion,
it has to wait. We need to go collect our pup,” Cole said,
reasserting control of the situation.

“Of course.”

Cole arched a brow at Jane’s sudden diplomacy, but he
didn’t say anything until he’d led her away from the hive and into
the forest. It wasn’t just the words she’d said. It was the way
she’d inclined her head and the plastic smile she’d put on, for
whose benefit he could no longer be sure.

“Of course? What are you, a head of state now? Did
Cain teach you that diplomatic submission crap?” It was always a
mask with Jane. First the mask she’d worn while she was with the
vampires to blend in as a vampire groupie to stay alive, and now
this new mask: Jane the diplomat. It was less convincing than the
vampire-slut mask had been.

It was an adaptation, something she’d learned to
survive in varied and unpleasant life circumstances, but it still
left him wondering who the real Jane was. Was she the tough-talking
and jaded vampire groupie, the vulnerable and scared girl he’d
rescued, some super-demon, or this new politically enhanced first
lady image she projected now?

Her arms crossed over her chest, the posture
telegraphing that she was more annoyed than defensive. “All Cain
taught me was how to feed without cheating on you. And a few other
demon tricks. Why don’t you tell me who you want me to be, and I’ll
try to fit that role? I’m just trying to reassure you that I have
no interest in changing the dynamics of our personal relationship.
I’m sending the same message to the pack. There is no reason for
them to suspect I could or would challenge you, because I won’t. I
trust you. I like it when you take care of me and take the lead. So
I got stronger while I was away. So what? I’m here! Doesn’t that
matter to you at all?”

She hurriedly moved to wipe tears off her face. Now
he felt like an ass. And he was an ass. The love of his life had
returned to him, and he was still worrying about his territory
being usurped, then throwing a fit as his mate tried to reassure
him that wasn’t her plan.

“I came back for you,” she whispered. “And our pup. I
thought you guys needed me.”

Cole didn’t hesitate. He opened his arms to his mate
and held her, his lips brushing over his mark. “Shhh. We do. You
know we do. You saw how I was without you. I’m sorry. You’re right.
I know you came back for us. Heaven must have been wonderful, and
now you’ve come back to all this. And you gave it up forever.” He
didn’t want to initiate the discussion about him losing heaven,
too, and how her decision had affected him, tying him to her and
her fate on Earth. As long as he had her, he didn’t care.

Jane pulled away, her nose wrinkling in distaste.
“Are you kidding me? Heaven was fucking boring and just awful.”

Cole hid a smile at her potty mouth coming back in
full force… courtesy of the tough-Jane mask she’d worn for so long.
The truth was, she
was
tough. And she’d been tough before
she’d been upgraded into a new, fully-loaded demon package. If she
hadn’t been, the pack never would have accepted her as a leader,
mating mark or no mating mark. They would have deserted.

“What?” Jane said, her scowl deepening. “It was
boring. It’s like the cruel joke of the universe. It was so…
plastic. I mean, there were lovely meadows and the sun never set
and water so clear you can see miles down to the colorful plant
life on the bottom and flowers of every variety you could imagine,
but… do you know they have literal streets of gold? I couldn’t
believe it. Why would anybody care about gold in the afterlife? Who
are they trying to impress? There was no challenge there, and it
seemed like people were afraid of being thrown into hell. I like
Cain’s dimension much better. It’s earthy and real. I guess heaven
or hell is all a matter of perspective. It can’t be one size fits
all or it’s not heaven.”

“It sounds like a prison camp,” Cole said
sarcastically, amused by how adamant she was over what seemed like
a world without worry. Wasn’t a world without worry a good thing?
Especially one so beautiful?

“You have no idea. Husbands and wives didn’t have sex
or any real physical or emotional intimacy. They lived in mansions
next door to each other and waved like you’d wave to a neighbor as
he got in his big SUV to go to work. I kept thinking about how sad
I would be if you and I had been there together. We would have led
lives of quiet desperation… except forever. There is something
seriously wrong with the people up there, Cole. I’m not even sure
it’s the real heaven.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just thought ‘is this all
there is?’ I know people think it’ll be great, but you’d have to be
a totally different type of being to think it’s great. Nothing
matters there. I’m just not sure it’s all there is. And I get why
people choose to come back. That’s all I’m saying.”

Cole shook his head, intrigued by the insight into
the afterlife. It was yet another proof he’d had his head up his
ass behaving like some animal since she’d returned. Otherwise
wouldn’t he have asked about her experience in heaven before
now?

He brushed a stray bit of hair out of her face. “You
don’t have to worry about that place anymore. Does it bother you
that you’re trapped here and can’t go back?”

“If I were powerless, yes. But I’m not powerless
anymore.”

“And I wouldn’t want you to be.” For the first time,
he meant it.

They walked in a comfortable silence through the
forest, their hands linked together, until they reached the portal
point. Cole pulled out the talisman, and Jane put a hand on his arm
to stop him.

“We don’t need that if you’re with me, remember?”

The shimmery film appeared when she stretched out her
hand, and she pulled him through.

“Remember when I was trying to convince you this
portal was safe? And now you don’t even need a key.”

“I
am
a key,” she said.

“Just don’t let it go to your head.”

“Of course.” She put on the diplomatic Jane face
again, then broke into a laugh.

Now she was doing it on purpose. Cole stripped out of
his clothes and tossed them at his mate.

She caught them, her brow raising in question. “I
thought you said we were going to get the pup.” She must have
mistook the nudity for an overture.

“We are. I’ll race you.” He shifted and ran full
speed through the cobblestone streets, past the colorful tents and
torchlight to reach the portal for Golatha Falls. He couldn’t have
raced Jane full-out before. There would have been no challenge. No
point. Now there was a good chance she could beat him. It was the
next best thing to being able to run with her as wolves.

As he ran, Cole looked behind him, expecting to see
Jane looking like Jane, or maybe in Demon form if she wanted to
have a competitive edge. He was shocked to find a light brown wolf
chasing him.

He put on another burst of speed, determined now, and
reached the portal point just before her. He shifted back, still
trying to pant like a wolf, re-acclimating to his human form. He
wasn’t sure if she’d let him win, but when she arrived and shifted,
she was out of breath, too.

“Wow, that’s trippy,” she said. She stood fully
clothed, holding Cole’s clothes. She handed them back.

“What the hell was that? And how can you shift with
clothes?”

“That was me taking another form and experiencing the
limits of that form. As for the clothing, it’s hard to explain. I
basically held it in my mind. It’s a demon thing. I guess we get to
run together after all.”

Cole slipped his clothes back on, a goofy grin
covering his face. He’d never loved Jane less because she couldn’t
shift and run with him on the full moon, but he’d always wished it
could be different. Now it was.

“It’s hard for me to hold an animal form for long.
Maybe I’ll get better with practice. It’s more an illusion than
anything,” Jane said.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s great.”

When they crossed into the Golatha Falls forest, Cole
nearly hummed with anticipation over getting to see his pup. He
followed Jane through the tangled woods.