Yolanda and Ian finally got out of their cottage. They returned to the packhouse and promptly found breakfast platters in their hands, thanks to a rather perky Hilda.
“The dining room is still available for those eating up here, but the buffet won’t be until lunch, and you’ll find that served in the main lobby to go only. We’ve more soldiers than we have spaces for. At least the Bears and Vampires are feeding themselves. Everyone else is in the dining room, so mind the crowd, and no, the sitting rooms are off limits to food. I’m not clean sofas and carpets again.” Hilda puttered about the kitchen serving area, adjusting various containers.
She’d clearly organized the various meals by dietary needs of the now vari
The group left the dining room quickly once they’d finished their breakfast. Once they found their meeting’s conference room, inside, they found only the back of the room available. Yolanda looked at the people already there. Ambassadors and staff, military, and someone from almost every branch of the pack’s command structure. “What’s going on? I don’t see Edith or Allen. That mage dude isn’t here either.” Ian leaned over and quietly asked Yolanda. “I don’t know, but the Dragon ambassador isn’t here either. The bears are. Maybe they’re just late for the meeting.” As she finished saying this, a screen rolled down and a mage, she didn’t know, cast several images there. Imag
Most of the people left the room. In the entrance lobby of the packhouse, several tables lay set up. One filled with various snack foods, another with an array of hot and cold drinks. The last two had nothing displayed yet. Yolanda assumed those were for the meals to come. The line formed up the stairs as people picked up their drinks and snacks, then moved on. It took a few minutes to get there, and they all grabbed a drink. “Did I miss how long before we reconvene, or was it not mentioned?” Jaxon frowned over a hot mocha chocolate coffee. “Normally, these ambassadors like a half an hour break. This lets them get their asses together. I swear if you listen to Edith talk sometimes, they make it their missing to screw up everyone else&rs
After the organized confusion of several teams leaving, the small group sat down to discover everything they’d missed. “Where does the time go? How can it take so long to get everything done?” Aria stared at her phone in wonder. “Because we are the least magical creatures of the supernatural world. A one-trick pony, if you will. We got the party trick of turning into a critter. What do we have here, anyway?” Yolanda pulled a yellow envelope from a pile Gregory tossed their way before storming into his office. He wasn’t angry with him. No, that anger’s reserved for the mother of his future pups. He’d found out she’d made a break from their apartment without Catherine or another Hell Hound beside her. H
Yolanda watched the last of the enforcers leave. Two came in carrying a third’s gear. That third enforcer lay in the Medical Center and her people prayed she’d pull through. Other groups complained about barely getting away with their hides intact. They’d pushed the Fae back away from the humans, but the toll on the secret of their existence was high. The Mages and Fianna struggled now covering up the mess. From finding video and eyewitnesses, to coming up with reasonable excuses. It became a grim task. Ian offered to go into the field and head off some reports by creating unbelievable conspiracy theories. After all, his old job was to investigate these things and find the truth behind it. What better way to stop people from hunting a monster than to say the police are on its tail?&n
The time came and Yolanda needed to find out what Gregory needed to tell her. Entering his office, it appeared empty without all the people trying to do their own thing. Ian wasn’t far behind her. Once in the office and seated, Yolanda looked about the office. “Sir, where is everyone? This is weird, not having everyone tripping over each other in here. The dining room felt empty as well.” “I finally arranged for space for everyone on the property. The Bears have helped greatly with their knowledge of building. We’ve opened a temporary building for the research. The military planning moved up to the second floor. Communications are still within the ballroom, the armoury is enlarging to hold more there too. The next stages w
“One day to do all this. How are we going to ensure that’s what happens?” “There’s a group there right now that’s recorded routines and potential informants. We’ll walk in with targets selected for us. Arianna will get to pick which person she speaks with. It’s our just to ensure that she stays safe. You are a backup if we need a cover story. Think about it. If there’s any media coverage. You’re investigating and have no comment. Not only will it cover up what we’re doing, but any smart investigative reporter will target the cult. In investigating them, it puts the cult into the public eye and makes it harder for them to continue doing whatever it is they’re trying to do.” &ld
Ian felt himself roughly pulled through the portal. Of course, he couldn’t keep his eyes closed, and it was extremely difficult to keep his balance. With his balance, off and his mind couldn’t find a place to lock his eyes on. There wasn’t a horizon to stare at, and everything moved about him in an unsettling way. Thankfully, it ended as abruptly as it started, and he didn’t embarrass himself by puking. Once he composed himself enough. Ian took in his surroundings. They were all in what looked like was an unused storage warehouse. This wasn’t the same place they started in. “Looks like we all survived in one piece. Now, where are the others?”
They spent many hours as Arianna worked with Larry’s blocks. Frustrating as it was, she finally made headway. He believed his people went on through the portals to the promised land. They were summoning powerful beings to open up this world to the promised land for all who were worthy. Whoever gave them the ability to open the portals lied to them about what would happen. The five portals were open, and the old, powerful ones now walked the Earth. Larry possessed an answer for everything. They were worthy yet of the old ones’ attentions. They must further prove their worthiness. The old ones would make this world like the other once they cleansed the world of the unworthy.  
The group hobbled into the kitchen since the main sitting room and games room on that floor now contained meeting rooms that were in use. Their aim was to see if the back private sitting room was available. It was as if you ignored the food stored in the back of the room and glares at Hilda, warning them not to damage anything. But neither Yolanda nor Hal enjoyed the prospect of walking up the stairs to the second-floor apartments. No one expected them to walk to their cottages now in their state. The cold and snow made it a less than enjoyable walk, with their pace slowed by their injuries. Now is the time she cursed the fact that instant healing wasn’t real. “So, we’re all stuck on the injured list and out of the action. What do we do
Several days later, their little coterie assembled outside of the hospital in the Alpha’s office to be debriefed on their mission and their future. With them sat several other people. Mages, dragons and other species representatives involved in the mission sat in on the debriefing. “I’ve been able to piece together the facts from speaking to most of you, but I wanted to hear from the two I couldn’t speak with. Please correct me if I’m wrong. You were all successful in deploying the bombs to disrupt the movement of the Fae in and out of the Dream Realm. However, because of unforeseen incidents, that injured two of my people. Now they will heal in time. But that means they’ve are now added to the temporarily out of commission list along with the rest of their group. What exactly is the state of the
Aria sat in a chair and watched Hal breathe, willing him to awaken. Five days passed since his surgery. Dr. Graves believed Hal improved daily, but she wouldn’t be happy until Hal spoke to her directly. She had hoped Hal would awaken soon. Because every time he needed more medication, he’d fret and make noise. Each time it happened, Aria became more hopeful, only to have that hope dashed. Jax came in and took over often for her so she could get food, a shower, or even a little sleep. Gregory pulled the teams from that night for work, except for Ian. He managed the armoury to ensure the enforcers, combating and hunting the Fae, had access to weapons and supplies. The hospital room door opened and Jax’s head poked through. “Hey, shi
Ian’s phone trilled with a text message as he lay in the dark. He’d been strong-armed into bed by Gregory’s mother, Edith. If he hadn’t been so tired, he’d have thought it funny. Growing up and for most of his adult life, he’d never truly understood the meaning of a smother. But Edith showed Ian exactly that with Hilda as backup. The two women watched him eat, all the while reminding him that Yolanda needed him to look after himself. He needed to eat and sleep more. But when Ian tried, he couldn’t forget his mate and one of his best friends lying in the hospital not far away. Even Jaxon felt the effects of Edith’s smothering. She’d hauled his butt out of the armoury and force him to go to bed.
Yolanda’s eyes were extremely heavy when she finally pried them open and then she realized what a waste of time that was. The room was practically pitch dark. The silence was broken by beastly snoring that was all too familiar. Desire was in a chair in the far corner of the room, asleep. This wasn’t where she lay down to enter the Dream Realm. That’s when everything came rushing back to her and she realized she’d beat the odds. She’d survived the blast and returned to herself. But her ankle throbbed quite a bit, and she wondered if she’d broken it. It’s a hazard of the Dream Realm. It may be harder to get injured or die in the Dream Realm, but if you succeeded in either, then it occurred in this realm, too. Findi
Ian wasn’t sure how long he’d sat with Yolanda quietly in the dim hospital room. His mind ignored the strange noises from outside in the corridor. This sounded more like what he’d expect an animal hospital to sound like than a human one. But he needed to stop himself from that. This wasn’t a human hospital, and the patients weren’t human. The growls, roars, and inhuman screams proved that. But for him now, he felt such a mix of emotions from it. Ian now knew many as people, and his brain couldn’t reconcile their animal sides without feeling their pain. He now felt sure he’d gone into the right profession. He couldn’t see himself in any form of the medical profession or veterinary practice. He wouldn’t be able to do it. Now add in that he’d seen actual magic used to save some of these beings’ lives. It boggled his mind. From putting beings into a
Ian and Jaxon paced one of the medical centre’s private waiting rooms with Gregory and several others. Hal was in surgery to have an arrow removed from his back. They’d been told over an hour ago that it would take time, but he’d survive. However, Ian only moments ago found out that Yolanda’s team returned safely except Yolanda. Now Ian paced for a new reason. Yolanda should have awakened with her team. Dr. Graves now worked on her with a team to find out why she wasn’t awake. Everyone in the room could all but taste stress and tension in the air. The medical centre was an example of organized chaos. Between medical staff, druids, and mages. Merfolk acted as orderlies, cleaning staff, caregivers, and even administrative staf
Yolanda now carried the device into a sling in her jaws. Her patrol followed her. All were in their wolf form. They were all highly strung, waiting for word to move out and place the device, or found by the Fae and attacked. No one wanted the last option, so they went out of their way not to attract Fae’s attention. There they lay lying in wait in the dirt beneath several bushes.These Fae appeared very busy partying and playing their twisted games. Some flitted in and out of the Dream Realm. Time meant little within the Dream Realm. With its perpetual twilight. It’s sky bearing no moon and the world itself giving off an odd ethereal glow from no specific place. The foot of a goblin appeared out of nowhere before Yolanda took her by surprise. She held strong and didn’t grasp. The goblin in all its ugly glory failed to see her behind him. So, moments later, he moved off into the distance
Ian stood watching shapes flit from one shadow to another. He could hear music from live musicians playing. These Fae lived up to every nightmarish tale he’d ever read. Dancing, drinking, and not caring about the world around them. They destroyed as much as they created. Now, though, he’d caught glimpses of humans within their midst. Humans were so far gone into drink and drugs, they probably believed this was all a drug-induced hallucination. These humans must have come from the streets mostly, but there were a few that appeared to come from other sectors of life. “Sickening to watch, isn’t it? They’re completely lost to the glamour of the fae. The only way to get them out of it is to remove the Fae from this realm.”