Legacy (Blackwater Pack, #3)

by Hannah McBride

So much life thriving in front of me as the morning sun warmed the yard and deck. So much death in the house behind me.

“We’re with you. Come hell or high water, we’ve got your back.”

“Be a hell of a lot easier if we knew exactly what was coming next.” “We do,” I replied grimly, finally giving into the urge to pull the chain from my pocket. I clenched it in my fist, the crescent moon pendant digging into my palm. “We stop Norwood, we find the missing shifters, and I get my girl back.”

“Your country is strange,” Alexei remarked curiously. “Are your Alphas always so … wrong?”

Magic was real. Elias had betrayed us. I had a brother. Oh, and I was a freaking princess and the heir to the first pack of shifters ever.

“You should have seen the look on your face.” “That look is called panic because I thought your crazy ass pilot was going to fly us into a mountain!” I snapped. My head whipped around to the pilot, who was shutting down the controls. “No offense.”

He went from surly Russian Alpha to actual person with a single smile.

“You’re magnificent,” he said softly. “Everything I could have hoped for in a daughter.”

“My wolf is currently in limbo thanks to your witches or whatever.” “They prefer to be called Romani or Roma.” He shrugged indifferently, tugging the end of his sleeves. “I don’t really care if they want to be called Santa Claus.” “They do give gifts to good boys and girls,” he replied with a knowing grin.

I can assure you, little wolf, that we have both been wronged by people we trusted. We are both scrambling to make sense of a senseless situation.”

I didn’t really give a shit about shifting in front of my pack, and a year earlier I wouldn’t have cared that she was checking me out, but all of that changed with Skye.

“The states are a day behind us. You crossed several time zones on your journey,” he explained. That only made me acutely aware of the headache I still had. “So, I’m in the future?”

Storm or not, if I sensed in any way that she wasn’t perfect, I would fly into the closest airport, shift, and run across Russia to find her.

Doesn’t mean a guy can’t look.” I glared at him. “Look respectfully,” he corrected with a wry grin.

“Remy is not a hairy turnip,” I shot back, realizing how completely weird that sounded.

“Remy’s pretty damn fine. That smile and all those muscles, plus that good guy next door charm rolled into an alpha? If I swung that way, I might give you a run for your money.” “Oh, God. Just please stop talking,”

“I've known Dima since we were little. He’s always been infuriating. One of these days I’m going to curse him for good. Maybe make him fall in love with a brick or bark like a dog when a pretty girl walks by.”

“There was a beautiful sort of sadness to her. Like a tragic painting you wanted to know the story of.”

“Unfortunately there is no going back, is there?” “No,” I agreed. “All we can do is move forward.”

“Dima, certainly you’re old enough to understand that women enjoy sex as much as men. I didn’t have your father spend hours telling you how to please a woman because we loathe intimacy.” I almost choked on my own spit.

“So, you just told him Linden was a shitty Alpha? And he wanted you to bring him all the way to Russia to question him about being a bad leader? That Summit was full of awful men. You didn’t bring any of them for him to interrogate.” Dimitri sighed. “Dad isn’t stupid, Skye.”

Dimitri’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Skye, your uncle will be executed for what he did to you.”

“Sorry. I’m just so used to saying that to everyone because it’s what they need to hear.” “I’m not everyone,” I reminded him. “No,” he replied softly, his eyes warming. “You’re everything.”

“Are you … jealous?” My jaw dropped. A muscle in his jaw throbbed as he clenched his teeth. “No. Maybe. I don’t know. But I don’t like it, babe.”

I heard her hand connect solidly with his arm and then she was yelling, “Are you out of your fucking mind?” Remy grunted as she made contact again. “Jesus. Stop hitting me!” Another slap.

“When did you get so smart?” I asked wryly, shaking my head. “I’ve always been brilliant,” she replied smugly as she stood up. “You just finally started to notice it.”

I hid a smile by ducking my head. Larkin was the most selfless person I knew, but it was adorable watching her simultaneously tell us she would live wherever Rhodes was while still trying to be sweet and giving.

“I better see her face soon or I’m going to put out open interviews for a new best friend.”

“I was just a means to an end since she wasn’t here to slap Remy in person. Basically I was her extended arm and hand.”

I could still hear the tinny shouts of Remy through the phone’s speaker in the other room.

The eye that could still see locked onto mine, the green identical to my own. His mouth opened, my name forming soundlessly on his lips. My gaze swung to the only other occupant in the room. The man had flecks of red splattered on him, like he had stepped out into a blood storm without an umbrella. He passively wiped his knuckles on an already crimson rag as he glanced at me.

“Stop!” I yelled, whirling to my feet and glaring at Nikolai. He arched his brows, amused as hell that I was stepping in. “I would have assumed you would enjoy that, little wolf.” “He has answers I need,” I hissed. “Answers I can’t get from a dead man.” Smiling, Nikolai held up his hands and took an over-exaggerated step backwards.

Nikolai grinned, the look he gave me was positively wolfish. More predator than anything I had seen. “He wasn’t bleeding because he was cooperative, little wolf.”

“You may not want to own that princess title, but that closet begs to differ.”

Princess Diaries vibes I LOVE IT

“It’s only been a minute!” I protested weakly. “Do you know how many what-if scenarios you can conjure up in sixty seconds?” His brows rose dramatically. “Twenty-three.”

I promise it will all be over, and we’ll have that normal. Or whatever normal is for us because I have a feeling life with you, Skye Markham, will be anything except normal.”

“Thanks, you know, for knocking me unconscious and kidnapping me.” He puffed out his cheeks in thought. “I feel like you’re not entirely sincere.”

“Your hospitality isn’t as I recall, Alpha.” “And your loyalty isn’t as I recall.” Nikolai smiled, his teeth flashing. “I suppose we both must carry the burden of our disappointments.”

Elias swallowed, his breaths becoming shallow and panicked. “You don’t understand.” “Then enlighten us,” Nikolai said with a chuckle, spreading his arms wide.

“Do you make any decisions?” Nikolai sneered with a laugh. “Or are you only simply capable of thinking thoughts that your Alpha puts into your addled mind?”

Poor, poor Elias.”

He smiled softly at me. “I would say, due to your age and the rapid acceleration of your bond with Remy, there’s a decent chance you may also be pregnant.”

“My entire life I was taught the value of honor and family,” he went on woodenly. “I assumed her parents convinced her to continue with the marriage they had arranged for the sake of their pack. So, I left. I returned home to Russia to be the Alpha my pack needed.”

“Because I was young and hurt and proud. Too proud.” He hung his head in defeat. “I wasn’t a man given to his emotions, and in the few hours I was bonded to your mother, I was more vulnerable than I had ever been. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once.”

The glass in his hand shattered, shards exploding from his palm as blood dripped down the side of his hand.

“I’m well aware of who that asshole is. He thinks it’s okay to fuck with the natural order of things to get his way. Also? He smells like bengay. It’s gross.”

“I can give you the whole explanation, but honestly? Right now you both kind of look like I threw a toaster in your bathwater.”

“First generation bonds usually happen within the same pack, but second gens almost always come from separate packs.”

“You didn’t even know I existed until a few days ago.” “No,” he agreed, almost bitterly, “I didn’t. Not until Dimitri called me the morning of the explosion to alert me of your existence. I immediately began setting this room up for you.”

His cheeks were tinged red but I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold weather or the vodka he was throwing back. Either way, he beamed at me as he said it. “Uh, thanks,” I replied. I ducked my head a bit. “Uncle.” A second later, a salad was dropped in front of all of us by servers waiting in the wings. Half the table immediately dug in, switching to Russian as they spoke.