Craig walked up the packhouse stairs and left the day’s mess outside. Until he must explain it all to Alrick. This distracted him enough that he almost missed the chaos in the kitchen.
He poked his head in. He needed to why they sounded like a fox in the henhouse. That’s when he saw Ashley. That explained all the drama. She’d been Alrick’s on again and off again. What would you call her? Sexual playmate? Whore was too course. Girlfriend gave the idea that there was an emotional bond. For Alrick, that wasn’t the case.
Craig told Alrick to stay away from her. She was clinging and a drama queen. For all Alrick’s claims to hate these types of females. He attracted them like flies, and Ashley got her claws in him. Whether he admitted it. But what was she
Craig struggled with the order of the news he must report to Alrick as he walked up the stairs to Alrick’s apartment. With a heavy sigh, he knocked and waited for a response. Alrick opened the door a moment later. “I was trying to call you and didn’t get a response.” “My phone is dead, and I figured it was better to deliver the news I have in person.” Alrick lost his smile at the sight of Craig’s face and his words. “Then come in. We can talk about it. What do you have?” Craig spotted Jessica-Lyn in the room. H
“Craig, while I remember. The pack is still adhering to traditions. What’s on tomorrow night?” “Lighting the fires. I believe a group is heading out for a night revelry by Sky Lake. To honour those not with us.” Craig threw out. “Good plan a gathering for before that. An hour or two. I want to introduce Jessica-Lyn to them.” “Good. It’s about time you recognize who she is with you. To us. How do you feel about this Luna?” That was the first time. Jessie heard anyone other than Alrick mentioned
Alrick sat in the back of the vehicle while Craig drove. Two of his enforcers sat behind him, and a third sat shotgun. While Jessie sat beside him. “Jessica-Lyn. I promise I won’t hand you over to your brother. You are being loyal to your pack and the law. No one will punish you for that. The NARC Investigators saw you helping and I’m sure they will hold that to your benefit.” He couldn’t believe the amount of anxiety flowing off her. Silent, but so expressive.“I said you could call me Jessie. You don’t think he'll try to hunt me down and punish me? Or kill me?” Jessie's emotions rolled over her face so fast that Alrick wasn't exactly sure how to read them. “I believe if he tries, it’ll be his mistake. He won’t get near you. He’ll also walk into his own demise. I suspect he’ll wish soon that he’d died in that explosion of his. Jessie, I don’t believe he’s in his right mind anymore. I don’t know why. He’s become a rogue. From those drugs he was making, or by choi
Alrick’s alert system on his cellphone went off. An attack was happening, and someone needed help. A quick look at his phone showed it was Craig at the cabin the now belonging to an Iron Hill pack member. A break-in occurred there and the residence status was unknown. Back up, needed. He’d to get out there. But Jessie needed to be secure before he left. If this was just a distraction. Was it to get to Jessie? “Jessie. I’m afraid we have a change in plans. Your friend…” He realized. This was someone Jessie knew and loved. She wasn’t the type of person to shirk her responsibilities to those she felt responsible for. “What’s wrong? I heard your phone from the bathroom.” &nb
Jessie watched Kevin taken away in an SUV like the monster he acted like. The man was always a crappy person. But the flashing violence in his eyes as he yelled at her. That’s a whole new kettle of fish. His violent thoughts spewed from his mouth like venom from a snake. He held the cage walls like he would tear them down if he could. They made the cage to hold wolves the size of shifters, but that didn’t mean he’d find comfort in his human form. Shaking, Jessie didn’t realize she clung to Alrick. Caught up in memories of past incidents, and Kevin’s words, the ramifications became real. What if Kevin was right? What if they weren’t safe here? Would they never stop looking for them to punish them for talking or leaving? Could she keep them safe in the long run? J
They stayed for a time. The women getting to know one another. It’d been difficult to watch for Alrick. Eden and Petra weren’t sure about their new Luna. They stayed in the background at first. She answered questions or offered a helpful comment. Jessie’s sweet, quiet nature came through and won them over. Kelly helped, by reminding the women of stories she’d told. The women from the Iron Hill pack spoke often of Jessie. Eden asked several questions to Jessie. Jessie responded to them. Confirming what Eden wanted to hear. The relaxed smile on Eden’s face must mean something. Petra was took a more active method of analysing her new Luna. Would she get her hands dirty? Coul
When Alrick got back into the cottage. The women appeared to be finished settling Kelly and Eddie in. Now, they chatted around a pot of tea. It became clear Eden directed the conversation. Jessie listened from her crouched position on the edge of the sofa. He felt the need to come in. Alrick offered her a polite escape by making excuses. “Jessie, hon. I’m sorry, ladies. But are we done? If we are. Then we need to go. There’re things we need to deal with tonight. I’ve received updates on several ongoing things. We must make some decisions for tomorrow.” Jessie perked up at his words. Yes, he was saving her from something. He wasn’t sure what, though. “Oh, I&rsq
Alrick and Jessie made a late-night raid of the packhouse kitchens. He ensured there was a note left for Bonnie. It apologized for the dishes in the sink and hardship from the missing food. With their food haul in their hands, the pair returned to the Alpha apartment. The food decorated the coffee table in the sitting room. Alrick looked at it, then at Jessie. “Should be get your things? Or eat first?” Jessie made that conflicted face. “Why don’t we get it now? Then eat. I don’t know about you, but I’ll feel stuffed from all this. Once that happens, I don’t think I’ll want to move.” She saw Alrick get an odd look on his face. “The last time you looked like that. You contradicted me.” She remembered now that he’d said it bought
Three months since the mine returned to the Silver Ridge Pack’s control. It’d been out of their hands for almost six months in total. The miners could finally return to the mine safely. Oddly, the Fae never returned to the region. Perhaps the Fae thought better of returning for some unknown reason? Either way, the pack now settled into their new way of life. Everyone lived more closely together and now grew closer to each other every day. Kelly and Kyle focused on themselves and the things going on in the tavern. Making changes where needed to make life easier for the suddenly overflowing pack living and working under the tavern’s roof. Not everyone initially was a pack member, which meant there were strangers among them, but they were in the same position as the pack. They would come to find their places in the pack. It wasn’t smo
Kyle left Craig’s office and went back to the tavern. The changes around here didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t know how he’d tell Kelly the truth about him. He’d told Alpha Alrick when he approached him to ask for membership, and they both agreed that they would take it easy and not tell anyone about it. He entered the warmth of the tavern and went in search of Kelly. There were more people staying here. Kyle would need to get used to it. On a good note, someone started preparing the bar for tonight. He wondered who that was. He’d need to find out and see what he could arrange. It would be nice to have someone else behind the bar a few nights per week. He’d have time to focus on Kelly and Eddie. Here’s hoping it wasn’t Kelly. She would have so much on her hands right now. He w
In the Chamber, Dean found his people working hard to document everything they could. He thought of the worst-case scenario. His mind worked out vague plans on how they’d evacuate the entire pack or packs. He didn’t know where the blast radius would be. If they could use this magical leak to their advantage, they could use it to attract the magically starved Fae here. Because they’d attacked several wells of power in Europe. Well, ancient wells, wells that ran dry over a thousand years ago of their magic. “Sir! I think you need to see this.” One of the portal experts brought in to review what they’d found. “I need to show you what we have. Though I think we just might have a weapon on our hands that we can use.&r
Dean left the Alpha’s office and moved towards the vehicle that would take him to the mine. His heart sank. Because of the lies he must tell these shifters. But the mage’s council ordered the information with a need to know thing. Those runes weren’t the mystery. It’s the placement of them. Dates and times didn’t add up for them. The meaning of the runes was what they wanted, kept quiet. Mages or even druids opened these portals. It’d been the humans, but that wasn’t the shocking thing. Humans didn’t possess magic, meaning someone was powering them. Someone supernatural, and the traces of power he’d found at the other site told him far too much. It took him several weeks to discover what supern
Alrick sat back in his chair as he watched Jessie walk from the room. He hated doing that, but the future didn’t look like it would be any easier. If Kelly and Kyle possessed any chance at happiness, they must work things out by themselves. Interfering with any part of the process would cause complications and all involved would suffer for it. He couldn’t stand for that. Now he needed to focus on the issues at hand and put out as many of the dumpster fires as possible. Craig found three incidents already where he’d forced wolves into time out, meaning they’d locked them away for a time to cool off. To wolves, this was like putting a drunk into a drunk tank to sober up. Territorial instinct still lingered within wolf shifter’s minds.&nbs
Jessie now sat in Alrick’s office again. Alrick returned to the office and instantly went to his computer and copying something to everyone. There were two mages in there with them and they were watching a video Alrick took of the portal. “Well, it’s definitely not natural, and whatever is trapped inside the crystal isn’t as secure as we hoped. Look at this crack here. When the wall came down, it must have damaged it. We’ll get it secured as soon as we’re done here. But the runes are fascinating. I’ve not seen anything similar to this. We need to get copies of them. Then we’ll get people in translating them. But I know these aren’t from the local area. They didn’t have a written language when these runes appeared, that’s for sure. Someone came here and did this long
Kyle couldn’t believe this. It took him several attempts to discover why this summons came so suddenly. When the enforcers first entered the tavern, he thought they were there to take him away from everything and everyone that he’d grown to love within the last few years. Now, with Kelly so close all the time, he didn’t want to deal with this. He just wanted to live a quiet life. Thank the gods he didn’t go off on them. Because what they called them in for was far more unbelievable. The Fae were back. Gods, the Fae. Now here they were setting up people to stay above the tavern. Several would stay in the restaurant, studying the human media for mentions of their actions. Others looked after the cattle. The mine would one day return to the pack, and only the gods knew when it would happen. NARC sent a motley cr
Kelly couldn’t believe what was going on. Her heart pounded as they escorted everyone to the Audience Chamber. Her confusion increased when she saw everyone entering at the same time. Was there something wrong with the refugees? Before entering she asked several people but all she learnt was, it was an emergency. Once inside, though, she learnt quickly about some very unbelievable things. The Fae were back and roaming the world again. How could that happen? No one was aware of that. They could only find out that one enforcer on duty at the mine experienced an attack by an unknown Fae. Where and why were both great mysteries? Kelly quickly found Petra and retriev
Alrick sent the first force back to the Audience Chamber to help with organizing nearly three hundred shifters. They would fan out throughout the emergency land. When this pack first settled here, they laid out the main buildings in such a way that they could guard them easier, and the pack could monitor each others’ safety. The issue with this is it didn’t take into the changes within fighting over time. With machine flight, and now Fae using the Dream Realm as their public transit. They literally popped in and out at will. But at least it gave protection from physical attack and a false belief that everything would be okay. He prepared to go with his second set of forces for a short time. He needed to assess what truly was there. Not that he didn’t believe Herald. If Herald said he saw this, then Alrick believed