Asia watched Thomas listen to message after message of similar oaths of loyalty and reports of neglect and difficulty. Henry didn’t care about the chaos he created. To Asia, it was as if Henry was blind to all of it. This was definitely not the sign of a leader, but that of a puppet. Clearly, someone else pulled his strings, and it wasn’t for the benefit of the pack. She currently pondered if this person was going after something in particular. Land? Slaves? Money? She wasn’t sure yet what the endgame of these people was.
“Darling, listen to this and tell me. Does this sound like they are deliberately attempting to make it impossible for the hunters to do their job?” Thomas held a phone up and placed a clip for her as she listened again to it.
 
Janine sat in her office cursing herself off silently. She couldn’t keep her mind on anything today, and it was showing in the lack of quality work. Haden threw her for a loop last night and she’d still not gotten over it. She’d been dealing with him under the premise that he wanted a long-term fling or a short-term one but will lie about wanting a long-term one. What he was lying about wasn’t the length of their affair. No, it was the fact that he wanted a permanent relationship. If they weren’t so old, she’d say he wanted a second chance mating. That realization was what threw Janine off-kilter. She’d deliberately avoided thinking of any kind of relationship since she’d lost her mate in the last attack all those years ago. Her pack was so devastated that she’d thrown herself into helping others heal and find a new purpose that time had just slipped past he
Damon found the trackers, but currently they weren’t hiding their scent. The enemy would have smelt it before this, so it shouldn’t trigger anyone’s warning bells. “What have you got?” “We found it, but there are guards who are randomly checking up on it. We were just working out how we were going to get to it. Damaging it without making it visible is a simple procedure. We want to keep it where it is and just dismantle it without it being obvious. The roaming security is making this difficult. We’ll get this figured out in the next hour or less.” “Glad to hear it. Now be careful, witches and werebears are involved somehow. Both groups have representation within the packhouse right now.” Damon w
James went for a run the next morning. The sun would not be rising for another hour or two yet. He’d still not proved to Emily that they truly were meant to be together, and it was killing him. He could feel her moods now and James wasn’t sure how she lived with all the high emotions. Emily always seemed so calm and put together. Now he could feel the chaos she endured every day and how his words and actions affected it. James hated it and he couldn’t stand for it. Things must change that he knew for sure. The issue was how to change them. As he made his way through the wooded area, he kept his eye out for anything that was off. Within his fur, he could see, smell, and feel his surroundings so much better. His mate, it appeared, was included in there somewhere. James knew as soon as she’d awakened and the rel
“Now when the howl comes, everyone is supposed to descend into the packhouse in ones and twos. Those with experience fighting will head for locations like the armoury, the cells, and the basement. They must avoid any of the witches and no one takes on a bear alone. Those without experience will head toward the office and other spaces within the house. The object is to push these fools out of the packhouse.” Thomas instructed the healers before they went out with the final instructions for those that would take part in returning control of the pack to Thomas. This was the first step, and it would be hours before they put it into action. They still waited for the return of the team, whose job is returning phone service to the pack’s territory. “If they ask about the witches?” One healer asked to clear up
Banging on the door woke up Janine. She couldn’t figure out what was going on. It was all too early in the morning. Haden, of course, lay beside her. She couldn’t get rid of him if she tried. He was bound to her side so much he only left to change his clothes and use the bathroom. Janine prayed it was a novelty and it would wear down to a more reasonable level as time went on. Janine was still thinking about it when she got Haden to stop growling at the person banging on her door. “What is going on?” Janine swung the door open to find Evan at the door. “Are we being attacked?” “Sort of. No, I don’t think so. Luna Emily needs you downstairs quickly. I can’t do this. It’s above my pay grade.&rdquo
Eva sat in the room with everyone crowded around. She struggled, knowing she didn’t have a job to do. Well, at least not yet. No one outside of this room knew who she was, so she was worthless to send out to spread the word of the plan. But she could help the healers, and as soon as they came back, she’d offer her help. She’d finished her training as a human medical doctor, and she was almost finished with her veterinary medicine, too. She watched as Thomas worked his magic on the representatives of both the witches and the werebears. The witches recognized the two witches and admitted they were a problem. The witches wanted to get their hands on the two for other reasons. Their list of crimes was impressive before they disappeared from the watchful eye of the local coven. They wanted them back and would send in pe
Emily watched James leave the packhouse for a run. She felt tired still but right now she needed to get things going to reclaim some part of her life. Whether it was getting all her personal items in the world back. Or get enough clothes to last until she could. But right now, she needed some stability in her life, or she’d go crazy. You’d think being in a familiar place would make it easier for a person. But that wasn’t what I did it. If that familiar place wasn’t filled with things familiar to you, it was no better than an unknown place. Right now, Emily wasn’t feeling the best. She wanted to blame it on James and him insisting they sleep together, but she didn’t believe it was. Emily slept fine and should have awoke
“The coven representatives will go in with the first wave of wolves. These are our best fighters, and I want a few to stay with the witches to protect them from any physical attacks from others in there as they do their work. They need to combat anything the witches inside might have left as boo-bee traps. We know where things are, but we don’t know how it’s been changed. So we go in slow and steady. Watch everyone’s back. They could be well organized or in utter chaos. Either way has its own group of complications for us. I’m concerned because we know there’s at least one bear, maybe more. But they are dangerous enough alone and a nightmare in a group. If you can get the bears cornered in a location too small for them to shift in, we might stand a chance.” Thomas stood in the woods out back of Elder Ambrose’s cabin talking to several of his pack hidden among the
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