Of course, as soon as she awoke, the first thing, she heard was her mother’s voice telling her father what to do. Well, that cinched it. She was about to become a pelt for display somewhere. Her father was here, and all the guys were out cold naked around her. It didn’t help that someone’s hand was between her thighs and her breast was a pillow for Benedict’s head. She started shaking the guys awake as best she could. Once they each realized what was happening outside and who it was. The quietest mad scramble for clothes and to hide that fact they slept together occurred. “I’ll go greet them and stall so you guys can make it look like it’s business as usual. I’ll tell them you’re staying in one room so the other one can house my parents. The rest will stay out here.” Ebony scrambled to pull on clothes. “I’ll go make coffee for everyone.” “We’ll do our best. Just make sure your father won’t kill us or something crazy.” Peter reassured her and made one
“Magnus, we need to talk quickly. The other rangers will be out here any minute and I don’t want to have any surprises when you meet them. Please listen to me all the way through. Okay?” Sapphire looked hesitantly to the large male who was her new mate. They were still working out how to communicate with each other. She’d never thought she’d meet her mate, but she had, and he’d abducted her to protect her. “Now you have my attention. What would set me off?” He smiled good with a good sense of humour. “First, the next three rangers you meet are bonded lone wolves. Second, all three are contemplating a shared mating with Ebony. Third, she welcomes it, so please don’t mess it up on her. Fourth, one of them looks a lot like Ran. There may be a reason, and it’s not his fault.” Magnus was not sure he liked the idea that there were lone wolves in the area. They didn’t have a pack reputation to show their character. Several he’d encountered over the years were bord
Ebony stood between Ran, her sister, Ivory’s mate, and Benedict. Peter and Franco were smart enough not to make things more charged than they were. “That’s enough, both of you. This is getting us nowhere fast. Benedict has claimed no genuine connection to the McConnell Pack. In fact, he’s not sure his mother mated one. I’m the one that said it.” Her father snorted at that. “Ran which parent has the russet hair?” Ran blinked before he frowned at Howard, Ebony’s father. “My father. What has that got to do with anything?” “Benedict, your mother’s mate, what colour of hair did he have?” “Red.” “Your mother, and her name?” “Blonde. Mary. What has this got to do with anything?” “Ran, your mother’s hair colour and name?” “You have got to be kidding me. You don’t believe he’s, my half-brother.” “Ran?” “Fine, she’s blonde and her name is Mary. But you know that already.” “Benedict, what colour was your f
The three men went their separate ways to do the chores Ebony gave them. Ebony, however, was not the complete focus of everyone’s attention for a rather large number of uncomfortable heartbeats. Her father, Magnus, and Ran broke the staring contest first and drifted toward each other. Ebony could hear them talking and she felt the bottom of the pit that was her stomach fall out. The men were discussing what to do about Benedict and the others. Ran wanted him confined until they were safe enough to deal with him. Magnus said he wanted to know the facts, first. Her father, though, was oddly the most reasonable of them all. Though he sighted some freezing reasoning why. “Hold up, you young fools. Now let’s look at this from a logical standpoint. What is he actually claiming? Then what does he stand to gain from that claim? What has he demanded to get from this claim?” “He’s rather vague on names and dates.” “He asked to be left alone
Ebony finally got away from her parents and went in search of Benedict. She worried for the better part of an hour about him. “Hey, I just wanted to find you and see how you’re doing after that interrogation from Ran. Are you okay?” She caught him out by the entrance to one trail. He was working on chopping some more wood. He put the axe into the log they were using to chop the wood on before he turned around and glared at her. “I don’t want to talk. Come here.” Ebony watched his hands go to his pants and open them. “Kneel honey. You need to make it up to me to tell everyone what I told you in confidence.” He grabbed her hair and pushed her to her knees. His shaft was now outside of his pants as they slipped to catch around his knees. Benedict leaved against a tree and pulled her face toward his straining shaft. “Suck it. I want to lose myself in that hot mouth of yours. I want to blow down your throat.” Ebony gasped at his crude words, and he took the ad
“Benedict, are you really that unhappy I told Ran about your situation?” They’d dressed and now shared a bottle of water in the shade. Sharing a tree to lean against their shoulders and thighs, touching each other’s. Ebony felt at home at this point. Sitting here with Benedict felt right. “Angry? Not anymore. But I am embarrassed. I didn’t go to any of them because I don’t have the facts they want to know. Now you’re family is telling me that the wolf I called my father wasn’t my father and he may have stolen me from my mother and pack. Do you know how horrible it feels to think there might be a chance there’s a place out there that I might belong to? I’ve belonged nowhere with anyone except with the guys and now you.” He looked sad and unhappy. Like someone had kicked his puppy, and he wasn’t allowed to take revenge on that person. “Hey, it sounds like you possibly have a family that is chosen and blood related. There’s nothing that says you can’t hav
“Okay, so here we go. With the first groups out exploring and looking for information. A few have radioed in to say that yes, there’s a null area within the woods similar to the one we had to deal with earlier. There’s no way to tell which null area it formed first. But it’s clearly made the same way as the other. History sucks because this occurrence wasn’t mentioned all that much. But as far as I can tell, the wight should be here hiding somewhere. I suspect this is the most recent void spot.” Ebony’s mother spoke about this. “Basically, the wight somehow forms this territory of theirs where they suck all the life out of the area and everything in it. Everyone knows how a black hole pulls in all matter and light until there’s nothing left. Well, a wight is the same way with life force. Ebony says the animals in the area know enough to stay away from the area. So we might see a few bones and dead plants. But the land itself will change from forest to barren rock
After the meeting broke up so that Jane, Ebony’s mother, could finish packing what she’d need at the site where they’d do the purification spell. She’d definitely need help to get all the salt alone to the site. Peter was not sure how they’d do it. But Jane had it all worked out, she claimed. Peter somehow ended up being Ebony’s only mate with the rest of her male family and he keenly felt their eyes watching him as he set up for the next meal. It seemed he would be the chief cook and bottle washer for this gathering. He didn’t mind so much because it gave him a place within the group with an excuse to make himself scarce when it all got too much for him. “So, we’ve not had a chance to really talk to you, Peter. Why don’t you come sit and we can all get to know each other better?” Ebony’s father’s voice wasn’t exactly as friendly as his words. Peter could hear that this wasn’t a suggestion, and Howard did not mean it as one. “If you like, but if I don’t get this started, my meal pr
Ebony took Benedict to the closest healing center she had her Beta call ahead to explain the situation to explain that they weren’t having an emergency but they did need extensive healing for a leader. Her Beta sent a file that Benedict’s Beta received from the healer about his condition so that they could understand what to expect when they arrived. They wouldn’t book an appointment until the healer received it. But when she received the file it took minutes to receive a response. Ebony wasn’t happy that they didn’t seem to accept their words and explanations. It wasn’t until someone recognized Ebony’s last name and connected it to her mother then things changed. “Why did you have no one say anything about it Luna?” A junior healer who worked as a senior administrator and was working as the leader of the group managing Benedict’s needs while was there. “I love my family but I’m not a shadow or a facet of anyone of them. I’m
“When when last spoke and I told you I hadn’t received injuries I wasn’t lying. We had a freak accident nothing that we could have predicted or accounted for. They misplaced truck and the ground was too wet under it. When a second vehicle moved out while they were moving a skid of equipment into place. The earth under the rear wheels shifted off the back of the truck in seconds and I was beneath it. The skid was no longer full but heavy enough to break my femur and three ribs.We had a healer there, so they patched me up. The planes needed several repairs that would take days. I didn’t want them to take time away from the repairs to take me to a healing center then it would take longer to get home. Before you say anything, I didn’t believe I was that severely injured.” Benedict hadn’t believed he’d been that injured until after the Druid had stabilized his breaks and the pain had settled in when his adrenaline had faded. He’d been embarrassed by his response to that, but it was to la
Benedict didn’t tell Ebony that he stayed away an extra two days because he had gone to the front lines to review the damage to their equipment and vehicles. Fate got him and he ran right into a freak accident and a human skid slid off the back of a flatbed truck. There was no question about it the accident being an accident. Wolves and humans were working together to pack the truck at the time. But the mud under the truck shifted when another vehicle started and moved out.He’d left with a broken leg and three ribs. At least they’d had a druid healer here who could start his healing process. But he wouldn’t be able to shift for a week. Benedict would walk home though a little slowly.Benedict knew he’d lied to Ebony, but he didn’t want to explain it on the phone. Not when she was so close to giving birth. His people had to make several repairs on their vehicles there in the field to get it home anyway. It took a day longer and it didn’t hurt Benedict’s recovery. Even though h
Ebony waited at the Pack house. It had been three days since Benedict and their team had left for the fire. The pilots had come in for fuel and repairs. Several vehicles had come in baring injured people on the way to get care. They’d been found trapped within the fire or were injured during fighting the fire. But so far, their wolves, mages, druids, bears, and such had stayed safe and were still working toward stopping the fire. However, Ebony had heard complaints that magic was a disappointment by the human fighting contingents and not nearly as powerful or magical as they had believed it should have been. Which received sighs, warnings, and reminders of their that there were limits like anything within reality. Ebony used the time, or she tried to, to finish the pups’ suite. It wouldn’t be used fully right away. They would have the pups in their room first before they would use their suite. She wondered who these pups would look like. Ebony h
Benedict was teasing Ebony with names over dinner when the call came through. The first real call. They’d been watching a storm for the last three days. It’s winds were pushing thirty-five miles an hour and lightning was flashing randomly throughout the mountains. The problems they were having was the area the storm was in had been a dry zone for the last eight months. They were waiting for the lightning to start multiple fires, flash floods, landslides, and car accidents. Humans would need help it’s how these things worked. Extreme weather was becoming worse not better. Humans could handle a lot but it was adding up.“Go on, this is what we made this place for. Show them why we’re here and what we can offer.” Ebony all but pushed Benedict out the door. “I have enough people here to help me. I’ll be fine here missing you. Now go.”“Right. Don’t do anything crazy while I’m gone okay?” Benedict begged. He wasn’t sure what she would do. But she was pushing him out the door when he w
Ebony couldn’t get comfortable. Her stomach was so large now. She struggled to get out of the bed and chairs. Ebony avoided standing for too long. It had been months since she’d shifted into fur, and she missed hunting. She missed running and there wasn’t any way she was going to run like this. But her balance was off like her pups decided they wanted to sit only on one side of her body. That’s the only way she could describe it in her grumpy upset mood.Benedict was distracted by Ebony’s distressed attitude. She still had two months until she gave birth. He tried to ensure she had everything she could want and if she wanted to move then she had someone with her to help her. Preferably it would be him. He hated anyone touching her but him now. They spent more time together. “I have a few gifts here from the families and the Pack wants to set up the pups’ nursery. Are you ready for that or is it too early for you?”“oh no I’m great. Go ahead and have them bring me in the gifts
Ebony had her staff enter and between her staff as Marian’s staff they worked with the school’s staff. They had to brute force at times to get the documentation completed and wait times waived. To gain the testing schedules at a specific date and location. But between Marian and Ebony’s joint effort they were able to overcome the bureaucratic mess presented to them. Marian used the media and the public eye to keep the gears moving. While Ebony had the eye of the supernatural government on her through Benedict’s father and her father. So, there was no room to falter and no time.Even so it took months to achieve this and get this far. Now they were able to step back into their everyday life. Ebony’s baby bump was beginning to show now. Benedict was managing the building of the healing center and hiring of healers as many would also work as teachers, rescuers, emergency workers, and such.Benedict knew he had to have a certain amount of medical foundation up and running fast sin
Benedict moved through the Pack house searching for Ebony. He’d received word that Marian had arrived at the gates and was headed there right now. This was the first time she’d visited their territory and Ebony along with many others were abuzz with trying to make everything perfect for her visit. “Ebony, Marian is here. She wants to talk to you about the results of her PTA meeting.” Benedict leaned into her study and saw the stress on her face. “What’s going on? Do you think it went that badly?”“Badly? I don’t know. I mean come on. It can’t get any worse than they say no, and we carry on with our previous plans. No, they might want to limit where out pups can and can’t go after this. They might fear our pups can’t control their aggressive nature and might cause problems.” “I don’t know about that wouldn’t she have said something on the phone if it had been a no.” Benedict asked in an effort to point out the effort Marian was taking to come to their home.“I don’t know Ben
“Marian, I know in a perfect world we could plan this between the two of us and we’d have pups and children learning together without a problem.” Ebony went to a meeting luncheon with Marian to speak about Marian’s idea of the pups going to school in the town with the town’s human children.“Right. It would never happen that way, would it? Alright, so how will we do this?” Marian said a little chagrinned. Ebony shook her head and shrugged. She cocked her head to the side as she got a sudden thought.“We’ll start with talking to the children’s parents. We don’t have to talk to them. A questionnaire or a phone call. A town hall meeting or a PTA meeting. You can choose what would make the community feel more comfortable. I would hate to hear someone a year from now say that they felt they were left out of the decision and didn’t feel like a member of the community.” Ebony gave a vague idea. A blush crossed her cheeks when she realized how random and unworkable it was. But Marian did