I couldn’t help it; I grinned back. “Not for nothing, but I think shooting your mortal enemy in the chest will do that to a person,” I allowed.
Eli nodded. “That’s some serious closure,” he said gravely, trying to keep a straight face.
“Closure’s my bitch.”
He leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs in front of him. Then without saying anything, he bent forward, gently scooped up my injured left leg, and placed it on his knee. “You should be elevating this,” he lectured. A long time ago, Eli had been a paramedic. I smiled. “So,” he continued. “What do you need to know about werewolves?”
Oh, right. “Jesse will probably have his own questions,” I said hesitantly. I wasn’t excited about the two of them getting in a room together. “But for starters, Will keeps saying that the pack is unstable. What exactly does that mean, unstable?”
He tilted his head, gathering his thoughts. “Packs get unstable for a lot of reasons,” Eli began, “but most of them have to do with the alpha. He’s weak, or he dies suddenly, or he abuses his power. When that happens, the werewolves’ magic gets all lopsided all of a sudden. Fights break out, pack hierarchy is challenged, control weakens . . .” He winced. “It’s not good.”
“Wait, back up. What do you mean the magic gets lopsided?”
“Oh, right.” He smiled briefly. “Sorry, it’s weird to actually talk about this stuff. It’s like explaining what it’s like to have hair or something. What I mean is, an alpha is the leader of the wolf pack based on a few factors: physical power, magical power—which usually includes control of his wolf form—but also qualities like leadership, authority, kindness. But most important is that the pack agrees that he’s alpha. Think of it like . . .” He paused, considering for a moment, and continued, “A magic-based shield, made out of fused patches. Each pack member contributes a patch, and when cobbled together, they make Will stronger and more powerful. He in turn uses the shield to protect the pack.”
I looked at him for a long moment, working on the metaphor. “So the patches are like . . . their acknowledgment of him? As their alpha?”
He released my hand and twisted his fingers in the air, looking for words. “Acknowledgment, yes, but also their belief in him. In his ability to do the job. It’s all subconscious and almost automatic, but basically every pack member gives up a tiny piece of their magic, their own relationship with their wolf. That power, collected from the pack, builds the alpha’s shield.”
“So it’s like a self-feeding system. They believe he’s the alpha so he can be the alpha so they believe he’s the alpha.” Eli nodded. I frowned. “And when the pack gets unstable?”
“When a pack member stops trusting in the alpha, that magic is returned to him. But it’s also taken away from the alpha, creating a little hole in the shield.”
“And the more pack members who lose faith in the alpha, the more holes in the shield,” I said, understanding.
“I know, it’s weird,” Eli said, shrugging a little. “Wild wolves have this complex pack structure, and werewolves are emotionally and socially even more complicated than wild wolves. That gap, between wolf and werewolf, is filled in by magic.”
Huh. That explained why Will was looking so haggard lately, and why he’d been so busy. He was trying to get the pack’s faith back.
“We did it,” I said slowly. “I did it. I made the pack unstable when I changed you.”
Eli sighed. “How were you supposed to know? Besides,” he added, taking my hand again, “I know it looks bad now, but Will is a good alpha. He’ll get them back when this stuff with Anastasia and Lydia blows over.”
“But how is it going to blow over?” I asked. As long as Eli was around, the pack’s integrity was going to be constantly threatened. “Ana seemed more than just irked. She’s losing it. You almost have to . . . leave town. And tell everyone you left of your own free will.”
Eli considered that for a moment. We both knew that if he left, it would most likely be the end of us. I couldn’t go with him unless Dashiell released me from my job arrangement, which was unlikely. And I couldn’t run away with him, because Dashiell was keeping my brother under his thumb for the very purpose of preventing that. Eli opened his mouth to answer, his face troubled, but at that moment my phone rang.
We both jumped a little. A tinny version of “Werewolves of London” came burbling out of my pocket. I fished out my phone and answered it without checking the screen.
“Hey, Will.”
“Scarlett,” Will said, his voice despairing, “there’s another one.” I met Eli’s blue eyes. He raised his eyebrows in question and I just shook my head.
“Another . . . ?”
“Another disaster. At my house.”
Chapter 12
After calling Jesse and giving him the address, I drove straight to Will’s house, beating Jesse by about twenty-five seconds. I backed the van into the driveway again, opened the van door, and pointed with my cane so Jesse would know to stash his sedan in the empty lot across the street from Will’s house.