IZZY POV
And, with that, our lives changed. Days went by so fast and we all fell into bed exhausted every night. I had plenty of help with the babies, and I still felt like I was late for everything and I was usually dressed wrong. But the boys were my life. All six of them.
The prophecy moved to the background, never forgotten but not obsessed over. With every major milestone, I would look at the prophecy again and see if it was mentioned. The problem with prophecies is that they’re not really clear and you can make most scenarios fit. Cornelius had tried to do that, and it didn’t end well for him. Most times I would close the computer, deciding that I didn’t need to worry just yet.
When the triplets were five, we moved them down a floor into my mates’ old quarters. That decision came one night after Axl walked in on us enjoying an intimate moment. He was concerned because he ha
IZZY POV I knocked on the boys’ bedrooms doors, one after the other. “Hurry up!” I shouted. “Your fathers are waiting! We have a surprise for you!” Today was the boys’ twelfth birthday and we had a surprise planned for them. We were leaving the Pack in the hands of Alpha Steven, and we were taking a week long vacation to a private island that my mates had rented for the week. We were bringing Lucy, Brian and Zaria; Kat; Griz, Destiny and their new little one, Pete; and my mother and her mate. It would be a full plane and a week’s worth of fun. Troi twined around my legs, and I reached down to pet her. She was going on thirteen years old, elderly for a cat, but she was as nimble and agile as a kitten. She leaned into my hand and purred. I absently patted her and then went down to breakfast. Joanna was finally retired and her granddaughter, Piper, had replaced her, schooled by her grandma
KAT POVI sat up in the tree, my down coat tucked around me. It had taken me four days to make it this far north. I didn’t want to use any sort of traceable transportation, so I shifted and ran at night, carrying a backpack of supplies and finding caves to curl up in during the day. Despite the massive snowstorm, I had finally made it to Cornelius’s old compound.I was in a lodgepole pine, forty feet in the air. It was high enough that I had a huge vantage point, but low enough that the branches weren’t too sparce. The branches provided some coverage so that I wasn’t easily seen, but I could still see everything.Below me I watched the movement in the compound. I had heard rumors that someone was running Cornelius’s old business, but I hadn’t believed it until now. It looked like someone had moved in and taken over, expanding. I needed to figure out if they were any threat
IZZY POVCaleb put his arm around me and I shivered at his touch. I loved that even after all these years, my mates could arouse me with just a caress. I leaned back into his bare chest, and he put his arms around me.“It’s beautiful here,” I said, watching the kids play in the water. The triplets were ganging up on Zaria but she was holding her own, swimming like a fish. Most wolves didn’t swim well, but since I grew up human, I did. I made sure to teach our children to swim and Lucy had asked me to include Zaria in the lessons as well. She was a much better swimmer than my boys.“Yes, you are beautiful,” Caleb murmured, kissing my mark. I laughed and reached up to hold my hat on while I tipped my head back so that he could attack my lips with his. He obliged, bumping his head on the rim of my hat. Chuckling, he pulled it off.“This makes it hard to kiss
REESE POV Three planes later, we landed in a small village. We started out in a tiny sea plane to leave the island and ended with a tiny sea plane landing us in a remote area in Canada. We were all appropriately dressed for the weather, thanks to Izzy’s foresight to call and have clothing picked out and ready for us. The plane took off again, leaving us on the dock. The north wind was fierce, chilling me to the bone despite the thick coat I wore. Izzy shivered next to me, and I protectively put my arm around her. “Let’s go talk to the magistrate,” I suggested. “Maybe one of them has seen Kat.” Griz was already forging ahead, his huge coat trimmed in fake fur and looking a little farcical on his big body. “She wouldn’t have stopped to talk to anyone,” Griz said with finality. “I know her. She traveled up here alone. She would be worried about leaving a trail that someone could follow.”
GRIZ POVThe radio of one of the men squawked and a question was asked. I recognized the language and held out my hand. Reese put the radio in it and I answered.“Vse khorosho,” I answered, hoping that my accent was right. There was a response, and I lowered the my arm.“We got a half hour, tops,” I said. Everyone was looking at me.“Were they speaking Russian?” Reese asked. I nodded.“Were you speaking Russian?” Izzy asked. I nodded again.“That’s where I’m from,” I said by means of explanation. “But it’s been a long time. My accent is off.” They all looked at me, saying nothing. Finally, Alessia broke the silence.“Half hour tops,” she repeated. I ignored everyone’s look and turned, striding into the compound’s territory, raising my head and sn
KAT POVI slowly regained consciousness and I was surprised by two things.First, that I was alive.And second, that I was warm.I didn’t know how either of those were possible. When the men had found me in the tree, they took turns laughing and shooting up at me. I dodged, trying to keep the trunk between me and them but a bullet caught me in my side and I fell to the ground, hitting most branches on the way down. They had left me, thinking I was dead. I almost was.I drifted in and out of consciousness, cold every time I woke up. I was able to pull part of my coat over the top of me, but it wasn’t enough. I was bleeding from my wound and freezing to death. One of the times I woke up I could feel my cell phone vibrating and knew that Griz was trying to get ahold of me. I sent up a silent apology to my friend for not keeping my promise. He was going to be pissed when he found o
IZZY POVI was shocked at how much making a decision to be proactive instead of reactive was in raising our morale. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off from all of us. Griz quit being mad at Kat and even Reese softened towards her, though I could tell he was still mad that she had gone off on her own and been irresponsible.“I think we should just storm the compound,” mom said, peeling a piece of roasted rabbit off the bone. Kat eyed the decimated carcass and I noticed she had completely eaten her portion already. I slid the rest of mine over to her, winking. She took it with thanks.“And do what when we’re there?” Reese asked reasonably. “We did that when we rescued Izzy and they just built another compound and came back stronger.”“That’s not really what happened, though,” Kat pointed out. Reese stiffened when she spoke but at least he wasn&rs
CALEB POVThe first order of business was to recruit volunteers. Ethan and I sat down, and we came up with a list.“How about Adam?” I suggested, looking at the roster of warriors that I had on my computer.“He just found his mate,” Ethan said. I crossed him off the list. We were only asking unmated warriors without families who relied on their income to meet with us, and we were giving each of them the full option to opt out. There was a very real possibility that this coup may not end well and that they would either be killed in action, or they would be prosecuted by the Council.“Joel?”“He’s good. What about Mary?”“Her mom is widowed. She lives with her and her sisters.”We came up with a list of approximately forty, hoping that two dozen warriors would agree to join us. I printed out the list and handed i