Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(103)

The Pack was circling them, passing the duty of responding from one member to another as if they were one mind with many voices.

They are a coven, Rowan said, realizing it at the same time Lily did. They’re sharing mindspeak as they talk to you.

They’re toying with us, Lily replied to both Rowan and Pale One, connecting them to each other through her.

Circling closer and closer, Pale One added. Lily felt Rowan startle to hear the Woven in his mind, but he accepted it.

Pale One, watch Lily’s flank, Rowan ordered, taking the defensive lead.

Next thing: one will come inside circle and snap with teeth to show they are Biggers, Pale One said as she followed Rowan’s order.

They may be Biggers, but they aren’t stronger, Lily replied.

“Where is your witch?” Lily demanded, suddenly sick of playing this game for dominance. “Bring me to her.”

“We need no witch,” hissed yet another voice from the dark. Lily felt Rowan count six in his mind.

Many more, Pale One said, disagreeing. Many, many smells.

“You have no fire, witch,” sneered a seventh.

“You are meat,” said yet another.

“I didn’t bring fire because I didn’t come here to fight you,” Lily said. “I came here to ask you to join us. In three days we go to destroy the Hive.”

Yips and barks burst from the Pack. There were dozens of them out there in the dark. Maybe hundreds. Lily felt Rowan slump, knowing they didn’t stand a chance against so many.

“My army is thirty thousand strong,” Lily said proudly, her voice ringing out in the darkness.

“The Hive are millions,” said a softer voice, and all of the other Pack members fell silent at the sound of it. “Thirty thousand is not enough, not even for a witch.”

Lily turned to face the soft voice. “I am not like other witches,” she said.

The soft voice chuckled. “And yet you still need our help,” it taunted.

“I need the Pack, the Pride, the raptors, the simians, and even the insect Woven, or I don’t stand a chance,” Lily admitted shamelessly. “And you need me or you don’t stand a chance. Because if I fail, the Hive will be coming for you next.”

There was a momentary silence. “The Hive can’t reach this far. Their range—”

“Their range will mean nothing in a few days,” Lily said, interrupting. “The witch who fuels them is going to learn how to appear anywhere she wants in the blink of eye. She’ll be able to be practically everywhere at once, and when she can do that, she’ll claim new Queens who will start new Hive colonies, spreading farther and farther until she’s conquered the whole world. Unless we stop her.”

Lily stared into the silent darkness, her heart in her throat, as the seconds ticked by. Finally, the soft voice spoke again.

“Light a fire and let the witch see us,” it said.

A spark was struck and torches flared. Lily tried not to show her reaction to the half-human, half-wolf figures that came to light. Their faces were snouted and fanged, and their arms were elongated to reach the ground in a sloped-back posture that had them hunkering over their dog-like hind legs. Their hands were clawed and padded with thick calluses like a canine’s, but still five fingered and mobile like a human’s, and their eyes had round pupils.

“My name is Lily,” she told the one who sat on his haunches across from her.

“We don’t have names like your kind,” he responded. “Who we are is more complicated than that.”

“Who you are is a scent and a rank, both of which are always changing,” Lily said. She saw surprise flash across his eyes and knew she’d guessed right from what she’d gathered from sharing mindspace with Pale One and Blueback. “You’re the alpha. For now.”

“You may call me Alpha.” He regarded Rowan and Pale One in turn. “The western witch only claims Woven,” he remarked, “but you claim all kinds.”

“So you know about Grace,” Rowan said.

Alpha’s eyes flicked over to Rowan. “We’ve always known. She created us to hunt and kill your kind, and your kind hunted and killed us in return. Many of us died. She was a bad alpha.” His eyes went back to Lily. “We would not be ruled by a witch. Not during my ancestors’ time. Not during mine.”

Lily nodded understandingly. “I have no interest in controlling you or forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“We don’t want to go to war.”

“Neither do we,” Lily rebutted.

“Witches always want war,” Alpha said, a faint sneer on his lips.

“Not Lily,” Rowan said. He and Alpha locked eyes. “I didn’t trust her at first, either, but you don’t have to trust her. You just have to decide what’s better—being claimed and having a chance at survival, or being free and getting wiped out by the Hive.”

The Alpha stood, obviously done with this interview. Lily called after him.

“You’ve seen them, haven’t you?” she asked, loud enough for the betas to hear. “You’ve seen the Hive flying through your territory, carrying humans back and forth. You’ve seen the Hive searching for someone. They enter your lands now without fear, and no matter how many of them you’ve tried to turn away at your borders, Grace sends more, doesn’t she?”