Bart could spend some quality time with Grace that evening and still got enough sleep before work. The next morning, they could come in late because of the fire investigation and the break-in. The bull pen was jumping today, and Grace was sitting in his office looking angry. “Morning. What brings you here?” “You know how I want to talk to a few of the families of the missing?” “Yeah, have any of them contacted you?” “Now that I think about it. No, and that is odd. Normally, in something like this family is out trying to lead the charge. What did you find out?” “Well, it’s taken a week to get any of them to return my calls. I ended up on the doorstep of one in sheer desperation of speaking to someone. Bart, someone paid for their silence with money and who knows what threats.” “That’s crazy, and it makes it a matter for me to investigate, not yours. This proved my point last night that this is far too dangerous for you. Who
Becky couldn’t believe how casually Rob spoke of this. He knew, and she felt like he’d let things go so that she’d play right into his hands. He’d all but planned for her to seduce him and set herself up. The truck barely pulled out a stop in a parking space. Miracle after miracle, a decent parking space. Becky grabbed the med kit bag and tore out of the truck. She was storming through the clinic door by the time Rob shut the engine off and followed her. “Hey, Beck... Uh... What hurricane level is this blow out and am I the cause?” Jane Ann asked from behind the front desk. She knew Becky by now and what she looked like when her temper actually found a crack to escape from. “I’ll be in my office, and I don’t want to see Rob.” She stormed through and slammed her office door, all before Rob could follow her into the clinic. “Hey, Rob. I’d let her calm down a bit. This isn’t a good time. I’m not sure what you said to her, but she’s not in a po
Grace couldn’t get a moment to herself to think about today. She’d slipped out of the police station while Bart was dealing with his own nightmare of a boss. That, too, was a story she’d love to tackle. There was something weird about what he permitted to be done and what he didn’t. Grace hadn’t figured out what he was trying to do. If he was padding numbers or letting certain people get away with crimes and not others. It was a problem in many of the small towns. But as long as it didn’t go too far, no one blinked an eye. Now, though, Grace was looking at this small town through a microscope and little things would pop up. No trails to follow or signs spelling out exactly what was going on. But it was enough to keep her here. That and this Hectric situation. That would go a long way if she could offer them up to the correct media and law enforcement agencies. She was coming to terms with the idea that Charlie was small potatoes, and her story was too big fo
Grace couldn’t find a connection to the last two to go missing to working for any of the subsidiaries of Hectric. So, when she got to the police station, she was glad to hear the news that they found them and were in hospital, but they’d be fine. One was injured, and the other stayed with them as they waited for help. The phone they took with them malfunctioned, and they couldn’t call for help. The rangers’ dogs did their work and found them within a few days. They needed a miracle, and they got it. There was an article about their job. Showcase their talent and their track record. What made them different from the groups that existed around the country and the world? That would be an interesting article to research, if she didn’t have to worry about eating, or a roof over her head. “I’m glad they found them. Now, if only we could find something on these others that are missing.” Grace sat in Bart’s office speaking with him as he finished up for the day.
Becky couldn’t believe this was happening in her clinic. She couldn’t deal with it. This wasn’t her problem. Why did she have to deal with any of it? She’d still not come to terms with the idea that she’d messed up her life by having sex with someone who wasn’t fully human. What was she thinking about that? If she got pregnant, it would be nothing but trouble. How could she protect herself and a baby? Now, there were people in her waiting room protesting and threatening her against becoming Rob’s mate. They’d just met a few days ago. This was all too fast for her.“Jane Ann, I can’t. Make them stop, please. This is all too much. I never asked for any of this. Who do these people are to threaten and bully me? What did I ever do to them?” Jane Ann watched the door close behind Becky as she leaned against it and melted down into quiet sobs.They could hear the confrontation happening in the waiting room through the door. Rob handled the heated situation with authority. If Becky wasn’t so
Grace felt a sinking feeling punch her in the gut. This wasn’t delivered by a mail person or a parcel delivery company. Only her name was scrawled on it in childish script. If she had to figure out. The person used their non-writing hand to write her name. “Bart, I do not know where that came from. I don’t expect anything ever to come to the motel. I have a PO Box in the city for anything or I set up to pick up the package at a local postal outlet.” “Then we start by leaving it there and getting your things out of here. Then we get everyone to move their vehicles a safe distance away for the time being. Get everyone out of the surrounding motel suites. You get the motel manager and I’ll call this in. We’re going to take this seriously. There could be evidence on the package, or it could be explosive. We don’t know right now.” Bart couldn’t believe they would stoop to such a cowardly act of intimidation. The motel wasn’t heavily populated, but still blowing u
Becky didn’t believe the day could get any odder. Once the Elders of Rob’s wolf pack left, they left her feeling drained and vulnerable. They needed to finish cleaning up the back rooms after they were ransacked. Rob kept trying to talk to her about what happened, and Becky would brush it off. Several times she’d pick up something and then leave the room to put it away somewhere else. It was irritating, Rob. Becky could see that. But she couldn’t bear dealing with it right now. Every time she thought too long on it, her hands shook, and she wanted to curl up in a dark corner and cry. Becky couldn’t deal with anyone right now. “Becky? Becky, did you do something or say something to the Robinson’s?” Jane Ann came in with a questioning look. “No, why?” “Or the Samuels’?” “What are you talking about, Jane Ann? Please, get to the point.” “I’ve got several payments from several business accounts that I have to process.
Bart got the guys out there and he suffered a ribbing about it until he reminded them this was how organized crime warned people they would be killed if they continued to do what they were doing. “Look, how do we know she didn’t leave it here for you to find?” “Because she’s having a hard enough day as it is. Whoever did this got her fired from her job. Also, she was with me. Helping me out with some research.” “Oh? You call it research now, do you? Anything else we should know about you and redheads?” “You have got to be kidding me. We were looking at business records. She’d already done the research, and she was offering it to me without a warrant. Think about it, we could connect it to the missing persons.” “If that’s the case, you need to tell us about your secrets on how to get women to cooperate in investigating better. Geez.” Bart snorted. “Nothing I can see on the packaging and the rat’s throat was slashed
Becky stopped in at the new broadcasting centre in town to have lunch with Grace. Jane Ann was back in the pack, claiming she couldn’t get away because her twins didn’t let them sleep last night. She’d had two males in offspring. Becky still thought it was odd to say that, but they could be lynx, wolf, or human. It was anyone’s guess right now. No one would know for another seven to ten years. Grace sadly lost a pregnancy. The healers claimed it was because she was doing too much, and the stress was too much for her. They would continue trying to have pups once Grace’s schedule settled down and became more manageable. Becky and Rob were still trying after a few false positives. But today was the day they’d first gathered as the mate’s self-help group and explained everything to Grace. How did the pack take the news that their Beta’s mate wasn’t human but a lynx shifter? It was mixed, but nothing like the reaction of the elders who were remo
3 Months later- First Lycan Pack The seer entered the new territory and felt the rush of the past and present mingling there. Sadly, she may feel it. She wasn’t strong enough to see it. Thankfully, she couldn’t see it either. The headache she received to some time to get rid of. The land had a lot of traumas associated with it; the druids did their job and tried to wash it away. The issue was that only a god or time could purify a land fully, and no one had time like that to wait. She settled into the seat the pack provided for her as she waited for the time she’d be needed. Many spoke carefully with her, and it was all quite sombre and different from the last one she’d presided over. Someone pushed her right shoulder forward and when she looked behind her, there was no one there. Well, no one with a physical body. She’d told no one that she had a physical connection to the dream realm. She’d encountered no one with this curse? Ability? Whatever people
“Jon, wait. Uh, we need to talk. I want to know when we’re breaking the news to everyone. I mean, what’s one more scandal? One more controversial mating fact? I hate sitting here lying to everyone.” Jane Ann held onto Jon’s forearm and looking into his eyes. Her guilt and frustration were written all over her face. Only Jon knew their family’s secret, the reason they were one of the few families that kept the pack’s secrets over the years. Only the alpha’s knew about them, except no one told Rob directly and since Rob didn’t correct anyone about assuming Jane Ann’s species, she’d struggled with telling him. Jon though kept begging her not to say anything to him, because it was all too much at the time. Her big secret? Her mother and she were lynx shifters. One of the few shifters that didn’t have a pack or community. They lived usually in family groupings only. Jane Ann’s father followed her momma here and kept her secret and that of the pack this entire tim
Becky couldn’t believe how quickly the pack pulled off the preparations for the mating ceremonies. Two for the price of one. It seemed this was offending the case where there would be a spree of matings at the same time. She’d been given several reasons for this, but it all came down to people finding the one that fate made perfect for them. The wolf shifters don’t believe that people complete each other. Rather that they complement each other. No one is lesser in a pairing. Where one goes, the other will surely follow. The drive for family and community or pack was a driving force for the wolf shifters Becky was somehow now intertwined with. Rogues were an exception to the rule she found out, and it often harmed them mentally and eventually they would see physically it. That’s why the Ruling Council and Rob were so keen on convincing the young rogues and their pups to settle for the pack life. They didn’t show the signed of the mental of physical decay yet;
Everyone in the First Lycan Pack territory was trying their best to adjust to the changes. Even Bart found he had difficulty adjusting to the new routines. Half his problem, he found, was that he needed to write the routines so he could refer to them again and again. The week went by far too fast. Bart learned quickly that the rules and routines he introduced were a strong suggestion. Those rules and routines right now needed to be written in wet cement rather than be set in stone. Grace’s day was insanely busy with her forced to travel between the packs for her job with the Ruling Council. Once the rest of the pack was here, they’d find people to train for the jobs she’d need help with, and then they’d move everything over to their territory. Rob right now was being nice to them and more than generous to let them use the space they were using. Today, the plan to bring the rest of the pack here was in full swing. There was an excitement in
The seer sat last, and she smiled nervously between her guests. “Now, let me guess. You’re here because you want your lives to go on as the Moon Goddess planned them, but you’re encountering obstacles. Am I right?” She looked expectantly at Rob and Becky as if they had the answer she sought. They looked among themselves to see who would be the first to say anything, but the seer carried on as if there wasn’t an awkward silence. Her friendly voice prattled on as she tried to entertain her guests. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything mystical or magical that gave me that information. My phone and messages have been lighting up like a Christmas tree mid season with calls from many people who are angry one way or the other. Heck, one elder called me to find out if I, a seer, could put a curse on you, like I was a mage, druid, or witch. When I told him I couldn’t and wouldn’t he threatened to harm me. You really must get those old wolves under control, Alpha Northgate.”
The next day, Rob took his brother and their mates to see the local seer. She wouldn’t accept membership within his pack, but she didn’t have to. All she needed to do was provide guidance when some came looking for it. They well paid the seer for that. They hoped she wouldn’t respond like the Council of Elders had. If she did, they’d have to delay the mating ceremony until he would repopulate the Council of Elders with a better representation of the pack. This wasn’t something Rod discussed with anyone else. It was a silent worry that nagged on his mind as they travelled the distance to get to the Seer’s small home, which she’d built in a quiet corner of the county district. “How are we going to approach this one? A little more information would go down more nicely this time, because what you did yesterday, Rob, was a shocking revelation, and it doesn’t look good when the people backing you up have to pick up their jaws off the floor. We should k
“Okay, now I have a list of all your names here, and packages with the information you’ll need to know to settle in here. These packages contain everything from what room you’ll have here for now to the house that will be yours. Contact numbers are pre-programmed into the phone inside each package, so when you get your package, don’t drop it. Yes, your new position is within the package, along with a list of your duties. There are several maps, so you can get around here on your own. Your phones have an app that, if you get close to one of the current borders, it will beep. No one is coming to get you if this happens. But if you’re lost, please call. I’ve seen the land out there and it’s a mess. The humans messed with the terrain extensively. So try going for a run in pairs or small groups until you are familiar with the location. Or at least tell someone you’re going and about when you’ll be back. One of the lynx stone masons found a rather steep hillside one evening and wen
Becky and Rob were both pleasantly surprised by the response his speech received from the pack. Rob learned quickly that he’d been wrong. His pack was with him, and not the Council of Elders. He couldn’t believe the support he received with people volunteering to help set up the mating ceremonies for both couples. “Yes, I’ll let everyone know when we have a planning meeting, and we can make all the decisions then.” Rob assured them over and over until he had to stop the crowd forming. “I’d like to thank everyone who’s offering or offered to help right now. I’ll set up a meeting for everyone who’s interested in offering their services or volunteering. We’ll take a few hours and decide, organize who’s doing what. Just set things up so we don’t miss anything, or have too many people doing one thing. We’ll make this a success.” A murmur of approval went through the small crowd of people, and they talked among themselves. “Look, I’ll put a clipboard out tonight in the pac