P.o.V. Narrator
Patrick could hardly contain himself as they pulled up to the High Valley pack house. He barely waited for the car to stop before jumping out and heading towards the trunk. He bounced impatiently shooting glares at the warrior who drove them who went to speak with a warrior from High Valley before opening the trunk. When the man finally turned around, he looked surprised to see Patrick waiting there and quickly fumbled in his pocket for the keys to unlock it.
As the trunk popped upwards, Patrick quickly grabbed his backpack and portfolio. They had everything for his presentation from the painstakingly drawn map to the detailed presentation he had put together using an old laptop his mother found for him. He turned quickly towards the house and shouldered the bag as he hurried after his father through the front door. Luckily whoever was
P.o.V. Millie the RogueThe room is dark and the bunk is hard, but no harder than the cots we stay on when we have a home. I have been brought food many times a day. There is a lot of it on the trays they bring in. I don't know if they'll keep bringing it, so I have been stashing things that will keep in a napkin under the bed.I think they're trying to convince me they're my friends. The wolves here are not cruel like I have been taught since young, but it has to be a trick of some sort. Miss Envy and Uncle Scrum have always told me that they're tricky in the packs. That if they don't just kill me on sight they must be planning something worse. I am ready for anything they might try. I have faith in the Goddess.I tell them as much every time they come into my small room. I tell them all about how we are g
P.o.V. Alpha Darren Leary/Tybris "We need to focus," I kept telling myself and Tybris, but it was useless. Between exhaustion from being up all night, the news we had to deal with, and the even greater urge to return to our pack to ensure everything was okay, we stood no chance of full mental control. It didn't help that Patrick, using us as his sounding board, had showcased this presentation probably a dozen times in varying formats. We made sure to hold our composure as best we could for his sake as he walked through the needed renovations in all of the towers and possible conversions for each. Possibly the only good thing about the horrible news Gerald gave us was that the tower recommissioning couldn’t have been more useful. “Rogues,” rumbled Tybris for what felt like the hundredth time. It took almost an hour for Gerald to get through the story
P.o.V. Envy the CruelI felt like I was living in a haze of endless frustration that blocked every bit of sunlight from my life. The information from the High Valley territory seemed to have gone dry. Our people couldn't get close enough to gather any new intelligence with how dense the patrols had become. And the contact we had inside doesn't even seem to realize anything has changed with the pack's security. That's what we get for relying at all on a human. Especially one so clearly disconnected from and unaware of the world around him.We convinced the idiot to help by telling him we were werewolf hunters. He'd apparently been asking around the area for people who would take on "the beasts" who had overrun the small town he lived in. Apparently his family had lived there for four generations and he only just realized the pack of werewolves wer
P.o.V. PatrickIn spite of the nerves that settled in my stomach after I got settled in the meeting room that morning, I managed to greet everyone in attendance for my presentation cordially and start smoothly. Aside from Alpha Gerald and father, I was proposing our joint work on the old towers to Ambassador Liam, Gerald's Beta Owen, and the High Valley Commander Rose. Father and Alpha Gerald looked tired and I could tell at least father’s focus was drifting in and out, but the others in the room were very attentive. The three guests perked up immensely as I discussed the original design and usage for these outposts as both watchtowers and troop housing as well as prisons. As I began discussing possible options for their rebuild, Commander Rose kept coming back to their original use.“A dungeon could just as easily be a store room in times
P.o.V. Darren/TybrisI could feel Liam’s rage at Patrick's dismissal of our warriors and complete lack of empathy for them as members of our pack. Gerald wasn't giving off a much better aura, but his anger was tempered with a sort of fascination that was almost more worrying. Rose and Owen looked livid and I don't think I've ever seen her sit more rigidly. Every time Patrick mentioned her idea for giving a longer rest between shifts as a way to bolster his disregard for our warrior’s basic need for their pack, she would wince and a look of regret gradually filled her face. Everyone seemed on the verge of erupting and I knew I had to step in so the whole idea didn't go down because he wasn't thinking about the human element of his plan.I gathered myself to step in and stood to make my piece and bring an end to this meeting before Patrick we
P.o.V. Liam/DelmontIt took every bit of self control I could muster not to storm out of the meeting when Patrick started talking about using our warriors to fill his outposts. Only my respect for the Alphas kept me from putting him in his place. Rumors I heard from the warriors and Alpha Gerald on Moira's situation all made more sense the longer I listened to him. Whether it was because of Moira and Trajan or his general inclination. He clearly looked down on the warriors.At least the Alphas were able to keep calm and come to a more reasonable proposal than sending large numbers of our warriors away from their safe town in the mountains to the middle of a forest to face rogues hours and hours away from everyone they know and love.I left as soon as I could. Delmont was not keeping his feelings to himself
Eulogy for the Lost Warriors of Grey PeakThe Goddess walks through the blackness surrounded by her children but always fixed at a distance. She can touch them only with her light and her grace as she gazes upon them and guides their lives. Her guidance and gifts have blessed our people from the moment she created us and bound us to her offspring.She gifts us with abilities, wolves, packs, and mates and, in remembrance of all she has done for us, we keep her legacy strong. We use our gifts to protect our packs and our mates. So that one day we each may have young that she will then gift with blessings of their own. Ready to continue the next generation to worship her and bask in her soft glow.Throughout our history we have faced strife and warfare. Many have been forced to flee their packs and territories
Moira LearyStanding between father and mother during Commander Alexi's eulogy was the last place Trajan and I wanted to be. We had actually fought both of them to stay with Chris, during the funeral, but they were on the same side about us having to stand with them. At least dad's arguments made sense. Only thinking about how it could make Hamm's family feel if we seemed to be giving preference to Tess' kept us from joining our friend.Mother's demand that the Alpha and his family always stood behind the warriors in these funerals was the weakest argument we'd heard in a long time. We started to tell her that as a warrior that meant we should be out there with everyone else, but dad stepped in and stopped me. He and Trajan had faced off about this already so we knew we'd lost, but had to try everything we could for Chris.
RichBy the time we had finished handing everything over to Patrick, Trisha, and their group, Troi was long gone from the pack house. Even their scent was growing faint as Claud tracked them through the forest and up towards some of the overhangs. It was well past dark when he finally found more than a wisp of them and was able to hone in on their location.As he got closer I realized where they were. It was the overhang where we found the phoenix feathers as kids. Sure enough, they were sitting on that ledge looking out into the distance. They were so focused, they didn’t even acknowledge Claud’s approach. I shifted back and put on the clothes he’d carried before climbing up beside them.They still didn’t act as if they noticed anyone else here. I tried to wait, but eventually grew
Alpha DarrenWith the discovery of survivors, the path forward seemed much more navigable than when we were dealing with a pack that had been entirely destroyed. As Teddy and his uncle spoke it was like watching fog clear from everyone in the room. When he mentioned Trisha finding her mate the relief from the other end of the line seemed to turn to excitement. That was the moment I realized what that actually meant.While Fallon had planned for numerous outcomes from the party she threw the kids to help find their mates, I don’t think she actually considered the possibility that Patrick may be mated to the sole heir of an Alpha. For any pack with no one in line to inherit, having their child mated to the offspring of an Alpha was a clear path forward and made the succession very easy. From what Fallon has said, Trisha was not raised to lead her p
XXXThe group making their way through Flowing Waters was taking ages. I understand their caution, but we have already been out here for a day waiting for their arrival. I had to hope they would investigate the house enough to find the message we left behind for them to discover. If they did not take the time, we would need to attract their attention enough to be discovered but still not be seen as a threat. That would be far more challenging and may even backfire if everyone doesn’t play their parts right.Luckily they were as thorough as I expected and one of the ones investigating the pack house did uncover the message we left. I had the scout who was watching them cut contact at that point and made sure everyone in the cavernous hideout was ready to put on a show. These warriors would be easy. They were already going to be sympathetic, as lon
TroiWe weren’t taking any chances with our guests until we had people reporting back from Flowing Waters everything they found. Our warriors reported that Trisha and Teddy stayed away from the rest of the pack and basically in a few rooms of the packhouse over the next few days. The only time the three weren't with him was when he went for his runs with dad. Then they'd stay together wherever he left them until he returned. When he did, the boys would bail while he and Trisha spent time together.The warriors who followed the boys reported that Teddy sometimes made brief phone calls. Usually that evening or the day after he would report something to the leaders. Dad wouldn't let us work with Tyko to listen in on his conversation. He still doesn't fully believe us that there is something suspicious about the wolves from Flowing Waters worth being
EnvyEverything clicked into place as Patrick spoke. His sister’s deeper voice when we were in the room upstairs definitely struck a nerve and I realized now she was the one taunting us after the failed High Valley assault. It also explained the way she was included at a critical level in the discussions of possible attacks on packs, though with twins it was possible they would both have a role in running the pack. Even knowing his sister’s ferocity and backing, I couldn’t help but be a little excited. We had found our way in to get through the pack defenses at Grey Peak and probably High Valley.I laid the groundwork for getting him away from the pack with the lure of power of his own. I could feel Strigga’s discomfort at our manipulation of our mate, but I made her understand he would be joining us in the end. If we told him t
PatrickIt was hard to know how to help Envy with everything going on. I was slightly glad we had not completed the marking process. I only occasionally got pangs of stress from her instead of the full blown grief she was clearly under. Moira’s suggestion that Envy stay in my room was completely shocking, but I later realized she must have said that just to get us out of her hair and annoy Mother all at once. Mother was entirely opposed to us staying there together alone, but didn’t want to push the issue openly where others would wonder why. Then she may have to admit she was worried about Colm or pretend she was against us completing the mate-bond for some reason. Either of which would also have benefitted Moira so it was really a win-win for her to make the suggestion.It worked for us. While we didn’t mark each other, we were able
TeddyCaleb’s quick thinking following Patrick’s sister and her friends seems to have paid off. I was able to call and warn our Boss and work out a plan quickly. The rogues torched the pack buildings and burned the bodies after the attack, so all evidence would be untraceable. By the time anyone went to investigate, everyone’s scents would have been wiped clean. He got off the phone with me and I deleted the log of the call. I continued the path I walked and turned towards the training fields. Exactly five minutes later he had one of the guys who joined up with me from Flowing Waters call me. In the brief call, he filled me in on happenings at the base while I acted as if I found out the world ended.I looked up dramatically before running toward the training field to find any leader really. It lucked out that the Beta was there and I
RichAs if the whole issue with Patrick finding his mate wasn’t enough, now Troi was having to deal with what looked like a war against packs and a potential spy or assassin inside ours. They’ve pushed themselves hard since we all were presented to the pack. Basically doing double duty here and High Valley as well as school activities and warrior training. They started to seem more on edge once people in our friend group started finding mates. It got even worse when their dad named them heir and Patrick got sick and they had even more to deal with. I was waiting for them to snap and I could see the moment it was about to happen.When they began to bulk up and I could see Trajan pushing forward, I knew they had reached a breaking point. I couldn’t tell if it was the news of all the attacks or something with Patrick’s mate or thei
TroiWhen Trisha pulled away she shot an embarrassed and scared glance at the everyone present that caused Mother to burst into tears and pull her into a bone crushing hug. Even Dad went over to mutter words of support and how we’d do everything we could to help and that he had the best warriors already on it and had rallied allies. Patrick kept in physical contact with his mate the whole time and pulled her back into his chest as soon as Mother released her. Trisha’s eyes were red, but we noticed that there were no signs of tears on her face, Patrick’s shirt, or Mother’s shoulder.Something about this whole situation felt wrong. Teddy said he got a call from a friend at his pack who said that something had happened. But that was only a couple of hours ago at this point and the coven’s scrying showed that the attack was fa