The healer returned and sat solemnly across from them. “Now, before you say anything, I took it upon myself to contact those conducting the trails currently. I did not disclose names, but I gave them the general parameters of your situation. They have given those parameters a general overview. It’s believed that from the results they have received so far from other trials, your situation is hopeful for a positive response to the treatments. There’s no surgery and your pups should survive. Now this trial only started a few years ago, and it’s a long-term commitment. The trial looks at both the mother and the pups as they grow. One question they could not answer was the long-term effects any pups would experience. With that information, they have also said that because you have waited so long for the trial, not your fault the trial didn’t exist much before this. But the sooner they a
Thomas and Asia walked through the compound looking in on people and places. Find out what was going on with requests and complaints. They got reports from the witches on the state of the wards they were reenforcing and their progress. Thomas couldn’t be happier with that. He made sure to make notes of all the issues he’d found. This was something he should have done much earlier than this. But better late than never. He might not be doing this now if he’d failed to send Henry and his friends packing. That was another thing he must look into. How was the tracking of that group going? It sounded promising the last time he received news. “This is going well. I think you have some great people here. Once we’ve fully mated, I believe we should introduce people to each other so that they are comfortable talk
“Okay, this is great.” Damon put his phone back on the table. “The group that took the young pups into the woods for safety under a guise of a camping trip will arrive soon. So you’ll finally get to meet Penelope and Rhoda.” “Sorry, who’s Rhoda? I know Penelope is your daughter.” It distracted Eva from putting away some journals by Damon’s words. “She’s the wolf that’s been helping me care for Penelope when I can’t. She took Penelope and others into the woods to keep them out of the trouble here. That group is finally been contacted and has returned. The message was from Rhoda.” Damon was smiling from ear to ear. Eva could see how eager he was for her to meet Penelope fin
Emily sat in the sitting area of the Alpha apartments, staring at an appointment card in her hand. She didn’t have a clue on what she was doing. Her brain kept telling her this would kill her, and she kept reminding it that wasn’t the case. That fact changed as research and knowledge grew. Why did she let James go into the office with her? She couldn’t keep this to herself now because he knew. Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about this yet. She needed to wrap her head around it. With her life turning upside down and just getting a handle on that. This was like falling into a pit someone was filling with dirt while she was trying to climb out of it. Now it wasn’t just the two of them during it out to find a common ground. How would this work for the future? For crying out loud, no one knew how far a
Asia lay in bed beside Thomas now and watched the darkness outside the window. She could see the treetops all shadowy in the dark. He’d talked about the past and they’d gotten side tracked after the rather public disagreement. Oh, there would be repercussions from that whole incident. How should she continue to clear the air? Or should she let it get forgotten in the light of the bliss they both shared now? As she debated this, Thomas must have noticed and homed in what she was thinking about. Because he started talking about what she was thinking about. “I think we need to talk about what happened back then and how things are changing between us right now.” Is all he said to her. Then there was silence as Thomas waited for her to respond. Asia knew this was one of the most important conversations they would
Damon wiped down the outside table on his private balcony. He’ll enjoy summer mornings out there with his full family. Before the chaos of pack life took over, he missed sitting out here with his breakfast. He could see his peace being shattered by Penny and reminders from Eva. The two interacting out here while they tried to get ready for the day. Some people would hate that. Damon would probably act like he did eventually, but deep down, this was the life he wanted. He chose, and now he just needed to convince Eva to make it permanent. With Penny here, life would change again, and he wasn’t sure how Eva would handle it. Was she prepared enough to handle getting to know him and a lively pup running rough-shod over everyone’s lives? He&
Eva found it hard to settle down after the day they experienced. The research and hope that they may have found some sort of useable information. Then Penny bounding into her life like she had. The girl definitely made Eva think about how decisions made right now would affect how things unfolded in the future. The hardest part was this pup was nothing like Eva expected. In a good way, of course, she’s openly embraced the idea that Eva was hers and expected her to give her the attention she demanded. Wanting to know her opinion on everything from her thoughts on toys to television shows. Which, of course, Eva knew nothing of, so after dinner Penny gave her an education on it all. When it became her bedtime, it was difficult to get her to settle and Penny insisted on three stories from Eva before she’d settled down to sleep.&nbs
They both agreed, get away from the work. It was too much, and they were both climbing the walls. Janine realized what tonight was for the pack and Haden agreed they’d adhere to the traditional gathering of her pack. He’d go as her guest. Basically, once a month, the pack came together and spent time with each other. Often this was the time for announcements, celebrations of the minor achievements of various members, recognition of pack birthdays, introductions of new members, airing of grievances informally, and all that drama. Janine, at this point in time, needed to hear about someone else’s drama and forget about hers. “Are you ready to go?” Haden leaned against the bathroom door frame and watched Janine fiddle with her hair. She felt self-conscious of the streaks of grey appearing in her hair. Janine knew she’d have to come to terms that she was now firmly in the elder status of the pack, and she’d be treated differently because of it. “Yeah, I
Thomas watched the last of the witches leave his territory. It and them were secure again. The others who came with the witches were long gone, too, and all that was left in his territory were his people. They now needed to explain what the future would hold for everyone. He expected some confusion and conflict for a while. The two packs would have to learn about each other’s customs and work with each other. No pack would take over the other. This wasn’t the Middle Ages after all. The two packs would work together, but stay where they are and live mostly independently of each other. They’d share an Alpha couple. He was the leader of his pack and she’d be the leader of hers. Later they’d settle the two packs onto different pups. Hoping the two packs would become sister packs. Asia stayed up at the packhouse, claiming that she wanted to get a few things done with her Beta over a video call. He could understand that. Packs took work and constant overs
Happy EndingsJames and EmilyEmily and James have come so far from the stunted, messy, immature, and abusive relationship of their early years, overcome medical disaster, and so much more. Now, as parents and on the verge of a successful resort business, they deserve a little peace and quiet to enjoy their second chance. Their highlight success was with the rogue wolves that came to them. All but two survived the trip and the great adjustment into pack life. They had such success that eventually both twins had their own packs when they were old enough.Janine and HadenThey have both found a second chance with each other and a new lease on life managing the resort. Life won’t be quiet for them, but that’s the life they chose. So we leave off with the weapons, passing to the Largest Ontario Wolf Shifter Pack and the political power of the Wolf Shifters. Now they can settle into their twilight years together, chasing Duck Shifters from the front fountain, and keeping bear shif
The candle and a long stem lighter, so Gwenda chose to use the lighter without the candle and she heated the back of the paper. “Here goes nothing.” It took several minutes, but something appeared. “No one knows we used this trick. I had to have written it. There’s no other way this could have worked. Now what do we have? GPS coordinates, wait. There’s another set. Maybe I went back to get the coordinates?” As she move about the page, a set of seven coordinates appeared. She took the flame away, but gasped. “There’s something else here. Hold, let me reveal it too.” Everyone moved in closer and watched an eighth GPS location appear. “Either location? Where’s does that lead to?” This stumped her for a moment. “We need to plug these into a GPS system and see where they all lead to. The first one isn’t anywhere near the others.” “Of course not. The first one is in Orion’s Forest Territory. They probably scattered the others around here. I recognize the general numbers f
Finally, Asia’s plan came to fruition. Today, they would have their mating ceremony. Janine helped so much, with all the plans. She’d gone above and beyond when it came to their unique needs. But Asia now saw that it was safer for their packs to stay where they were. Penny now scared Asia with little comments, and her track record of being accurate with those comments was the reason.Asia watched the internet as information leaked out. Much of the speculation came from disbelievers and conspiracy theorists. The government and law enforcement had little to say, which only fuelled the debate more. Asia knew there was nothing to be done but to stay quiet and let the ruling council deal with it.Today was her mating ceremony, and it would be a good time in her life. It took long enough to get this far with Thomas and her pack. She wasn’t going to fool herself. There would always be someone commenting on the changes in a negative way.Those witnessing in person were minimal and all, but Ap
Karl greets the Alphas as they file into the room he’s using as a study currently. Once they’re settled with tablets, notepads, etcetera, James opened the meeting. “Alright, I think we can skip the intro to the reason for this meeting. We all know why and who we are. Okay Karl, tell us what you have found.”“Thank you, Alpha De Marre. Yes, uh, this is extremely complicated, so please bear with me as I need to explain there’s far too much back story. First, I have received some upsetting news. The latest attack by the Fae was investigated by my life partner’s enforcement team. The entire team is missing. I want to leave and go help, but I have been told not to stay here to continue working. Second, there’s supposed to be a Fianna weapons expert coming, and they are now late. Now, what I found while translating the journal. Hold on, I missed a few disturbing facts.” Karl held up a smaller book. “All original surviving copies of the translation book for the Fae language at in the univers
Karl now turned his attention to contacting his life mate, Pat. Everyone should be home. It was early there.He kept trying with no luck to connect with Pat. Karl didn’t like the feelings of isolation. Or that he didn’t know where Pat was.After some time, it forced him to decide to stop trying. He couldn’t reach anyone at home. It was as if the location was empty of life and that was far from normal. He took a break and found himself a drink and lunch. He could eat before stopping by the front desk to request that they explain how to find the room he was using to study the books in. When he identified the weapons, he did it under the view of the local arms master who ran James’ armoury. They worked together with attempting to understand what weapons killed which creatures. Some were pretty famous while others were far front known. He needed a person who understood lore and creatures from it. He knew languages used for writing magic spells and rituals. He wasn’t truly a specialist an
“Morning Karl, I have a response from the council. The Fianna will send a representative out to assist you. I’m surprised they moved this quickly. They have requested we send them via a mage driven portal rather than flighting out there. You should see them after lunch. Let the front desk know where they will find you. We’ve arranged for their stay. Now, how is the translation coming? Those weapons can’t be handed over without an understanding of what their purpose and function is.” Mages were well ahead of the everyday man. Humans finally got video calling, mages always had that. They called it scrying and Karl used it now to contact his mentor. Who was within the grand walls of the great library? Mages had to have a mentor while they studied and proved themselves. “Thank you, that’s great news. I have most of it translated. Currently, I’m attempting to build a detailed catalogue. With entries about each weapon mentioned within the journal. After that, I must identi
Asia met with Janine the next morning to organize her mating ceremony. Thomas and Haden couldn’t help with it since they needed them to help with the latest discovery. “So here we are. I think I have everything ready for you to look through. There’s even a checklist, so as we fill the binder, we know we haven’t missed anything. Now, so I can help direct you in the right direction. What did you have in mind?” Janine tried to give off a professional air. She ended her words and held her breath, waiting for Asia’s response. “Oh, well, I don’t want anything too complicated. Actually, Thomas and I have been talking about it and we realized that there’s no way we can get everyone we want here without going over the budget.” Asia peaked at Janine, unsure how she would react. Asia watched Janine’s face fall. “Oh, we still want a simple mating ceremony, but we want to live stream it to both territories. We’ll have two receptions later on. But it makes everything a hu
“Okay, now you have to tell me who pushed you to do that. I want to thank them. It was perfect.” Emily sat in the bath with James and a glass of wine. She couldn’t see her official mate as she sat between his thighs with her back leaning against his chest. “I’ll start getting offended if you won’t believe me. It was my idea and others just helped. I didn’t like how much you were doing with the pups, pack, resort, and trying to get the mating ceremony setup. It was too much for anyone. I wanted you to relax and enjoy this time.” “You really have changed. A year ago, you wouldn’t have cared if I collapsed from exhaustion.” Emily was a little beyond tipsy now after the refreshments at the reception and drinks at the spa. She’d been careful, but they added up. James, too, was nicely mellowed out. They handed their pups off with a pack caregiver on duty for the night. “Yes, I would have. I relied on you far too much. I think if things hadn’t gotten to the extreme, thi
You’d think mages would write everything down on paper and there would be hundreds if not thousands of people employed to look it up at the university. But that wasn’t the case. Computers hold their own kind of logical magic. People just accept that it’s a science. But Karl was aware of the rare instance when some sort of information made it into the hands and minds of those that needed to information to change the world.Here, Karl had the name of a mage, but no time period. They had an app for that. He sent the information about the approximate dates from the journal. Then he hoped for the best. If the name was in the database, he would receive that information soon enough. If it wasn’t, then he could proceed to a physical look up within the older written documents that had yet to be transferred into their version of a computer. Now he continued to translate the stories within the book. That’s what they were, stories. Each weapon had a story. No facts or statistics were t