Hayden watched April step outside of the restaurant to phone her elder again if she didn’t have any messages from them. It took quite some time for her to return. It wasn’t looking good by her body language was. But he’d stay here and respect her semi privacy. Even though it killed him to see.
April swung around and smiled at him. She gave him a thumbs up before she turned away. Then she was putting the phone away and returned to her seat. “It’s alright. It would appear as we have more than just consulting between us. Before you ask. I can’t say anything. But I’ve been given clear limits, so when I say I can’t say something, can you respect that?”
“I will assume I don’t have a choice in th
Magnus couldn’t understand how this worked, but he wasn’t happy to let Sapphire out of his sight for this business. “Fine. In that case, April, Hayden, it will be the two of you discussing this between each other. I and Sapphire will take on setting up for the pack gathering to discuss the pending war. We expect you both to be there and we’ll leave the questions to the last so that Sapphire can be there to hear most of it. Hayden, you’ll take notes of the questions and leave them on my desk.” “Sounds like a plan. What are we discussing before the meeting? April and I, that is.” Hayden wasn’t sure what was happening, other than the letter was vague and full of threats that meant little to them. “
Hayden sat there and read the interpretation of the treaty. Why hadn’t they been able to break these treaties before? He kept looking from the documents to April, who was reading a different section of the legal translation. “Does this sound right to you? I’ve never seen a legal document with spell work written into it.” “It happens, but not normally to this extent. I don’t recognize it either and I’ve studied quite a lot of it, looking for a way to break this. But whoever interpreted this has a different take completely on it. I’m surprised I didn’t see it before this. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was because I was too close to it.” April rambled on as she flipped pages, trying to take in as much as she could before this meeting. She knew it was complicated, but
Magnus needed to hear what was going on at the meeting. He couldn’t wait to hear it secondhand. But he didn’t want to abandon Sapphire to herself. He didn’t know if he could trust her not to run while he was gone, and he couldn’t bear for her to be locked away again. No, she needed to have a reason to stay and if he couldn’t mate with her, then there must be another reason beyond him to keep her here. Learning to be his Luna was not a one day crash course. She needed people she could trust to have her back and be there to guide her along the way. Sarah Ann appeared to adore her and had expressed an interest in befriending Sapphire. She knew the workings of the pack inside and out. He was pretty confident that she would assist with this.
“What do you mean, this is all you have? Why? What happened?” Lenny couldn’t believe it. He was stuck with six people and that included Cliff and himself. This is ridiculous. How was he to do anything decent like this? He was sure the Alpha himself had promised him more than this. “Alpha took them to protect stuff around here. He’s afraid the new pack will do more than move into the old Johannesson territory. He passionately believes they are out to take over everything and wipe us off the map.” Xavier tried to explain what he’d been told that morning when their alpha took most of his crew from him. “Why didn’t he say any of this to me?” Lenny couldn’t understand any of this. What was thei
It surprised Hayden to see Magnus back without Sapphire, but he was here, and it would make everything easier to explain in the long run. April stood before the pack and tried to compose what she would say. “I guess should first say that I’m sorry your leaders can’t make their relationship permanent yet. But it’s a good thing currently because technically Sapphire is still a member of her pack and not yours. If she were to mate with Magnus, then he would effectively side with her pack and becoming an offshoot. He’d effectively be giving your pack away to Kilburn. Now to fix this, she must tell her uncle that she rejects him and the Vagas Moon publicly to leave it. I know it’s not normally how things are done, but it’s how the treaties were written. So, I’m hoping that some of you may g
Ivory couldn’t believe them, her friends. That mini pack she ran with all her life. The group that made her laugh and teased Sapphire with her on rainy days as they grew up. Were now giving her the cold shoulder. Snubbing her like she was Sapphire. She was the Alpha’s daughter. How could they? There must be a way for her to punish them for their insolence. Ivory couldn’t bear this any longer. She needed to leave. No wonder Sapphire left. Ivory knew she needed to leave, but how? How did she get up the guts to walk away? She was a pack animal at heart, like most wolf shifters, and the thought of being alone terrified her. What did she know about being a lone wolf, let alone surviving on her own? She had to get Sapphire to return. That way, life would return to normal and even out. Yes, she needed to do that. “What can I do to get you all to act like you used to? This isn’t fair. I didn’t do anything to deserve this.” Ivory was desperate to fix this. H
It’d been several hours now since Magnus left Sapphire with Sarah Ann and her plethora of helpers. She showed Sapphire the inner workings of their pack. It wasn’t new to Sapphire. What was new, however, was the fact that people weren’t fighting with each other, and things were running smoothly, even if there were problems. Sapphire was used to running into disgruntled people and people who just had it out for her. But here, people stopped to introduce themselves, tell her what they were doing, ask for her opinion, and tell her about their family. The craziest thing of all, many told her they were happy she was here, and welcomed her with open arms. Now Sapphire was wondering if all her plans to leave were for not. Was this where she should stay? Could she stay here? Or would her uncle and his family cause nothing but trouble? Magnus did was really nice to her, and so far, he appeared to be well liked by everyone she met. There wasn’t anyone resigned to his d
Magnus watched Sapphire as she moved from books to the computer and back again. She was interested in what Sarah Ann gave her. Of course, she was interested. Sapphire was his Luna, his mate. She was born for this role. The gods wouldn’t create a person and place them in a position they were skilled at, but hated performing. “I’ve been thinking.” “If it’s more interesting than planning a yearly celebration or the next food order, then interrupt me.” Oh, she had a sense of human, and he was correct she was getting into the job. He couldn’t be happier, and had to resist the urge to scoop her up and kiss her. Only the gods knew how complicated that would get if they got carried away and mated. “I’m still not sure we understand why these people signed these treaties. I don’t believe it was just for access to the white wolf. There must be other reasons, because no one signs a magic imbued treaty of any kind so they can talk once in a while to the moon goddess.”
Sapphire and Ivory met the rest of their family over time. It took a long time to become comfortable with every one of them. So many differences from how she grew up to her life as she knew it now. She needed to find a new normal as mate, sister, and Luna. But it happened. Ivory and Ran took over the Vagas Moon Pack, and they renamed it, the New Moon Rising. Ran was still not sure he wanted to be their Alpha, but his family and his in-laws made it clear he could and would be the Alpha of this pack. The girls’ father took some time to warm up to Magnus and Ran. He claimed he needed to know his daughters first, to know what was best for them. Until then, he would reserve his opinion on if he approved of their mates. Ivory and Sapphire found their mother was a force all her own to be reckoned with. Margaret insisted there be ceremonies to recognise their mating. She was the mover and shaker when it came to teaching her daughters how to be e
“We’re still trying to unravel the truth here. So when we figure it out, we’ll happily tell you the entire gory and horrific parts. Just understand Ivory and I are learning to get along, but we only found out we were sisters. That we still need to work through.” “Betty made us adversaries. Sapphire was all but a slave. She had me believing I was their daughter and better than everyone. Sapphire was trying to replace me. I know better now and I’m trying to make amends. This is new for us. We just learned they planned to force Sapphire to commune with the Moon Goddess, and I was a sacrifice. We believed I was her daughter then.” Both parents were horrified. “We’d have tried harder if we knew she would try that. Gods, we’re sorry.” Howard came closer to their sister’s back. “It’s complicated.” “Let’s move on to happier things. If we’re talking, we can enter. So, let’s get the introductions done. You know me. I work as a teacher and r
Sapphire was too confused and overwhelmed. She let Ivory lead her to the bathroom, where they straightened themselves. Both looked at the results in the mirror. With the same ponytail and makeup. Thank. They looked similar. “I’m not wearing the same outfit, so don’t suggest it. Gods, Ivory, I don’t look like me.” “Yes, you do. If that monster hadn’t this, we’d be sisters, and this Sapphire is what you would be. No wonder I was jealous of you.” Sapphire’s head shot to Ivory’s face for clarification she’d heard correctly. “Jealous? I thought you hated me. I would never have said you were jealous.” “Do you think our mom can reverse the suppression spell on you? Or me? If there is one on me.” Sapphire pretended she didn’t hear it. They had enough to deal. “Why not? We’re part of a magical litter of wolf shifter pups. Does that sound like a fairy tale comedy movie opening line said by a narrator?” Sapphire wondered what would have happened if she’d gone to t
“Let’s see if we can figure this out.” April leaned over the page. “Okay, this is an edited version of what we see here. Well, that’s interesting, though it shouldn’t be a surprise.” April pored over the papers, looking closely at the words and symbols. Ivory tried her best, but she wasn’t sure what was important and what wasn’t. So, she tried to get everything she could. “What is it? I don’t get half the marks on the page. I just copied them the best I could.” She felt like a fool. What good was she? “The mark here leading to Betty. That’s new, or old. Different, at the very least. However, you want to describe it. It’s the mark used to denote an adoption. Betty isn’t blood related to your mother. She’s an aunt by adoption, not by blood. Her blood would have been useless, and she wasn’t the girls, so she’d have seen nothing. Now here are the names we’re interested in. Jane and Howard Percival. That next part here says there are three pups all born over two days. L
April couldn’t believe what she was about to do. Normally, anything to do with blood magic was off limits. Well, usually that’s because the magic would cause get harm to the person or persons involved. In this case, she’d risk the disapproval and any punishment. Which would be laughable when she showed the council of elders what they would have to do to break the curse. From what little she could understand of the magic used in the treaties, and resulting events. No one before her cared about the limits that were placed long ago on how magic could be used. When someone called North America a Wild and Lawless Land. It wasn’t just the humans that were wild and lawless. Those that practiced magic were too. Doing things in the middle of nowhere that they couldn’t anywhere else. Even now, they uncovered places like this occasionally. Places that the locals would call, better left alone and untouched. In this case, if April was correct. The page with their b
Magnus watched his mate carefully as she and Ivory went through the journals and other documents they recovered. April was still completing what they needed to do for the witches to be released by the nature spirit. Or if anything needed to be done since this Roger Helbourne was gone. As far as anyone could tell, Roger made the deals. Without him, they weren’t sure if the deals survived. That’s why he’d been kept like he was. As long as he was here and functioning, the treaties were active. But they wanted to be sure they were gone for good before inviting the other packs back. Ran was in talks with those of the Vagas Moon Pack who ran and survived. They’d have the grisly job of cleaning up the land and making amends to it. The Vagas Moon would then fall under the McConnell Pack umbrella after that, and the isolation would have to end as well. Magnus’ pack was settled here now and the previous pack happy where they were now, with no interest in returning here. Each
Ivory couldn’t find out what happened to Cliff or Xavier. Those two and their buddies were missing in action. They’d been at the fight, but they weren’t among the dead there or on the Vagas Moon Pack territory. Ran assumed they went rogue after the battle and were in the wind. Ivory wasn’t so sure. Cliff was a jerk, but he wasn’t a very bright one. It took days to find any trace of them. Sadly, that trace was a campsite out in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, whoever they joined up with at the end was more than evil and stronger than them. They’d survived only to end up being hunted by a human with more money than brains. If they read correctly, the evidence. She was scared now. What if they were wrong and Cliff came back for revenge? Ivory couldn’t tell Ran what she’d done. Snubbing Cliff after her father turned rescinded his favour. Cliff came to her for help, and she deliberately messed up his plans to get back into her father’s favour. It hadn’t
Ran watched the two women leave out of the corner of his eye. “Gods, I thought they’d never leave.” The two men stopped training and mopped themselves of the sweat they’d built up as they spoke. “Here’s hoping they can be sensible and learn to get along with each other.” Magnus said as they tapped water bottles. “Have you told Ivory she’s taking over as your Luna?” “No, not yet. I’m not sure how she will take the news, and I’m still coming to terms with it.” “I get it. Sapphire took some easing into it, too. I couldn’t just hand her the keys after I bit her. Sarah Ann says there are things Sapphire just doesn’t have a clue about, so it will take a while before she’s got things mastered.” “Oh, I suspect she does not understand about what the position truly entails. My problem is not having her bulk in fear. Her training is still months away from completion.” “So, you really are training her to obey you without question?” “I
Sapphire and Ivory sat in her office drinking coffee for a little bit before Ivory gathered up enough courage to speak to Sapphire. “If my mother was the reason we hate each other, does that mean in another life we might have been friends?” Ivory wasn’t sure if she was ready to apologize to Sapphire for the years of emotional and physical torture, she put her through.” “I don’t know. If you weren’t so self absorbed and demanding, maybe. It’s hard to tell, really. Your mother tried with all her might to make you into a shifter version of herself. Now I don’t mean this as a slight against you, but she was pretty successful. She pulled so many tricks with us, I’m not sure either of us knows who we truly are.” “You really think that?” “We’ll see, won’t we, now that we know she’s gone and can no longer influence us directly? I know that her influence made someone lock my abilities away so I couldn’t use them. Whoever did that seemed to know a wa