Chapter 347

“How did you know that?” Luca asks, frowning at Tony as we stand together in the middle of the road and I melt in my mortification. Poor Junie – and why the hell didn’t mom scold me for it when she was just here!? I can’t believe I forgot her eighteenth birthday!

God, I’m just the worst sister in the world.

“Some of us read the tabloids,” Tony says, giving a casual shrug and smirking at Luca like he knows all of his secrets. Which, honestly, I’m not putting past him at this point.

“Whatever,” Luca murmurs, looking at Tony like he’s a little bit insane and nodding down the road. “Come on, it’s this way.”

I stick close to Tony’s side as we move swiftly towards a large beige tent. “Thanks for the tip on Blythe,” I say, glancing up at him, still wanting more information but acknowledging this as a start. “And for keeping tabs on my family calendar.”

“Anytime,” Tony murmurs, smirking at me as he reaches for the tent flap and lifts it, bowing dramatically.

I follow Luca, ducking inside with Tony coming in after, my mind turning about how to get a minute alone with Rafe and Jesse to fill them in. I’m starting to get a very, very bad feeling about whatever is happening with Redman Blythe and my sister – and I’m deeply regretting that I’ve put off making this a priority until now.

“Hi!” Luca says to the woman behind the table at the front of the tent. I glance up at him, sufficiently distracted from my worries when I see that he’s putting on his best mega-wat smile. I laugh a little, looking at the woman and seeing that she is a little bit dazed, staring at him – either star-struck or immediately crushing on my pretty-boy mate.

“Um, what is it that you need?” the woman asks, looking anxiously between the three of us, even though her eyes move eagerly back to Luca’s face.

Luca leans forward and clearly explains our problem, gesturing towards me and my comparatively tiny frame. I laugh a little when I see the woman’s dazed expression as Luca speaks, his dimples flaring, and I wonder passively if she’s processing any of this or if she’s just lost in Luca’s rather magnetic pull.

Tony, at my side, just rolls his eyes, making me laugh.

“Jealous,” I murmur, elbowing him in the side.

“Completely,” he acknowledges.

“You’re pretty too, Tones!” I say, laughing, meaning it. Honestly, Tony isn’t as pretty as Luca or as stunning as Jackson, but as far as boys go? There’s something quite nice about his lanky frame, his easy smile, his sharp grey eyes.

“Can’t make ‘em fall at my feet like he can, though, can I?” Tony murmurs, nodding over at Luca. I shrug like it’s not that big of a deal – because Tony has his own great traits. If I were him, I wouldn’t be trading them in for anything Luca has.

“Um,” the woman says, turning her eyes to consider me with a grimace when Luca finishes outlining the problem. “I’m honestly not sure we have anything…at all that small. I mean, we were told to expect…Alphas.”

“He’s a mini Alpha,” Tony says, grinning and resting his arm on my shoulder as I scowl. “Pocket-sized for quick deployment.”

“Um, I can look?” she says, grimacing and turning towards the back.

Luca nods, again giving her that devastating smile as she turns towards the back of the tent, seeing what she can do.

“I need Daphne,” I sigh. “She’d fix me up good.”

“You’re developing quite the entourage, Clark,” Luca says, grinning at me and ensorcelling me a bit in turn with his bright brown eyes. “Seriously, you can’t go anywhere without your personal seamstress?”

“Oh, I’m not that spoiled,” I say, laughing and reaching out to swat him on the arm.

A muffled crash comes from the back of the tent as well as a little yell of surprise and then a curse from the woman. We all turn towards it, mildly concerned.

“Sounds like she dropped some stuff,” Luca murmurs. “I’ll go help her out.”

I nod to him, turning back to Tony as Luca swiftly moves around the table and towards the back of the tent.

“So, what are you going to send your poor forgotten sister for her birthday?” Tony asks, grinning at me, clearly not letting me off the hook.

“Tony!” I sigh, slipping out from beneath his arm and swatting him in turn. “I already feel horrible about that, you can’t –“

“What the hell are you doing here?” Tony snaps, interrupting me and frowning over my shoulder towards the entrance.

I turn suddenly, surprised, and blink in the sunlight coming through the tent flap, silhouetting a figure standing there.

When he drops the flap my mouth falls open in surprise to see Perry Gibson standing there, his mouth drawn into a straight, determined line. He doesn’t say anything.

Tony goes rigid, stepping slightly in front of me. “Don’t come another step closer, Gibson.”

“I have work to do,” Gibson growls. My eyes go wide when he speaks and I see his extended canines flash.

“Here to finish Wright’s job?” Tony snarls. “Always the fucking lackey, Gibson –“

My heart starts to pound even as Tony steps fully in front of me, as my eyes dart between them. No – there’s no way – Gibson always tried to calm Wright down – always the voice of reason –

“No,” Gibson snarls, his eyes shifting to me. “This isn’t for Wright. This is for Atalaxia.”

Then he moves.

Gibson darts fast towards us as a panicked shout breaks from my lips, knives slipping from his sleeves and into his hand. Faster than should be possible, he’s across the tent to me, dodging around Tony, slashing.

My hands are up, blocking the blow, and I scream as I feel the knife rip across my palms. Instantly flames erupt somewhere in front of me – but I’m too panicked to aim – don’t know what they’re catching on –

There’s a guttural yell and suddenly Tony is knocking me backwards, knives in his own hands as Gibson comes again. They move too fast to see, grappling wildly, until there’s a shout of pain and a groan as Tony’s body comes flying back, slamming into mine, taking me to the ground.

I scream as my back hits hard, Tony’s body sprawled over mine. Tony gasps, thick and wet, reaching for his throat -

But the flash of steel above me draws my attention upwards as it arcs down towards my face.

I scream again, shoving hard at Tony on top of me, trying to get away, feeling something wet seep all over me –

A sudden roar distracts from all other sounds, all other motion, and the steel flashes to the side before a wild brown blur flashes before my vision, snarling and hurling itself into Gibson, knocking him down to the ground.

“Tony!” I scream, doing my best to sit up, baffled by all the wet – all the warm, wet… “Luca!”

Tony goes still, his hands falling to his side, and I finally manage to shove him enough to sit up, panting, my eyes flashing around the tent as the woman working the counter screams too – but it’s all happening so fast, too fast to process it all -

My hands grapple for Tony, trying to see if he’s okay – but my eyes move instinctually to Luca’s wolf form as he stands panting and snarling with small flames flickering behind him, his face and jaws covered in blood, his body heaving over Gibson’s limp form, a ragged hole where his neck used to be.

But Tony –

Tony still doesn’t move, doesn’t get up, doesn’t look – doesn’t see what I’m seeing.

“Tony!” I whisper, sitting up further, grabbing for him, finally looking down.

But I still when I look down at the boy who stepped in front of me, who saved my life. Because all I see is red.

Red, just…everywhere.

Red all over my hands, my clothes – red all over him, his face, his pale skin –

Red, where Gibson slashed him across the neck.

Red smeared across his face, his cheeks – his eyelids, which have fallen shut.

“Tony,” I whisper, my whole body starting to tremble as I stare down at his empty face, at the wound across his throat still pulsing blood.

And then I gasp and grab for my friend as Luca transforms again and falls to his knees before us, reaching out a hand for Tony’s throat, clasping his palm against it like he can do something to stop the flow.

“Medic!” Luca screams, panicked, his eyes flashing up to the woman behind us. “Get a fucking medic! Now!”