“Look, I’ll help Becky get a few things together before anyone goes. Why don’t you two make sure there’s no one sulking around out there? I don’t know about you, but Officer Hebbs showing up here is a little disturbing at this early hour. He should just be getting to work right now. Not banging on Becky’s door. You might want to remind him about decency and all that.” Jane Ann said as she tucked her garbage back into the bag it came in. “Truthfully, I believe you’re correct. To get here from where he stays, he has had to leave his home well before six in the morning. He must have planned to come out here for this reason.” “Where does he live?” “Two towns over, barely outside of my territory. It either took him over an hour to get here this morning, or he’s been waiting all night to do that. Either way, he planned to be here and in your face.” Rob didn’t like this at all. Once Becky was in a safe and guarded location, he and Officer Hobbs were having
“You’re sure you want to have double trouble? I mean, I can just watch mine from a distance.” It was Jon’s voice Becky heard as she and Jane Ann walked down the stairs back to the kitchen. Her bag of belongings in her hand. “Call him and tell him what is going on. We’ll make sure everyone stays safe. Use her phone and I’ll use yours so Hebbs can’t connect me to her. We can’t leave any loose ends, or they could end up catastrophic.” Robert’s voice sounded stressed, more so than when they went upstairs. Both women frowned at each other. “Fine, but you won’t be able to hold that conversation on the phone. It’s too easy for someone to trace or record.” Jon again. Becky wondered if that was the conversation Robert planned to have with the officer. “I don’t plan to. He’s coming to the Wolf’s Den for this meeting. No more middle ground now. You’ll go with them when the time comes. Take them to the vet clinic and let them do what it is they want there. I’ll
Jon followed Rob upstairs. “Hey, listen, I know I said some things that she didn’t enjoy hearing, but it’s my job to remind you of the unsavoury truths. The elders will make her miserable until she left to get away from it. You need to talk to them before she meets them. The others would probably go along with whatever you wanted if the elders kept their opinion to themselves. But until that can happen. Why don’t you stay with her? At the Wolf’s Den or here. I don’t think it would matter which place. Well, that’s not true. The Wolf’s Den is more secure, and it has that apartment above it. She’d never be late for work. With a minor change to schedules, you could be with her when she works, and she could be with you when you do.” “I get it. Thank you. Now I have to call Hebbs and get this meeting set up. I’ll need you to be my hand on pack territory. I think Jane Ann should stay at the bar too. You okay with making the trip back and forth each day?” Rob knew Jon didn’t
Bill James, the head of this detachment, stormed up and through Bart Hebbs’ office door. He hated his domain being invaded, but there was no telling this human. Bill was opinionated, brash, and pushy with his rank. He was a typical bureaucrat through and through. Bart didn’t believe he’d been to a scene of a crime or on a call in decades and his waistline showed it. If that wasn’t enough, the man’s receding grey hairline gave him the air of a boiled egg.Bart glimpsed another man behind Bill. He didn’t recognize. When the door opened, though, Bart forced himself not to growl at the wolf smirking behind Bill. “What do you need, Bill?” Bart clipped out as Bill threw open his office door and stomped in. The wolf behind him stopped in his tracks at the door and cocked his head, waiting for acknowledgement. The wolf wanted permission to enter his domain. That surprised Bart after seeing the smirk on his face. Bart gave him a nod.Bill, on the other hand, turned and glared
“Why are we going to the bar? I don’t understand.” Becky asked Robert as he drove the vet mobile back into town. “It’s hard to explain, but I’ll try. I said something to you out of context. The word mate. You took it to another of my kind and they put it back into context. The part that makes this dangerous to you is. I suspect the officer has ulterior motives in this town. Those motives could put my pack and you in danger. If they don’t, but that information gets out to certain unknown people, it again could put you in danger to get to me or do something to you that could put your life and freedom in danger. As it’s my fault that you heard that word and didn’t understand who or what you were saying to an authority figure, I feel responsible for your safety and freedom.” Robert tried to look Becky in the eye, but she wouldn’t look at him. Instead, she stared out the passenger side window. “By effectively kidnapping me?” She sounded tiny, but resolute. He cou
Jon had to admit he didn’t like the silence it the vehicle as they drove. Janie sat in the passenger seat, staring ahead. Every time he turned on the music, she’d turn it off, and she didn’t explain why. This wasn’t his Janie. His Janie would chatter the entire way about everything and nothing. She was fun and playful. Now she fumed and ground her teeth. “Talk to me. Why did you leave like that?” “I had a choice to make, and you would have made me regret whatever I did.” “I would not have.” “Really? Would we have known any peace from your elders about mating? Don’t bother answering. I know exactly what’s going down with them. I’d have regretted not finishing my education really quick if I chose you over it. Do you think settling down with you and popping out a few kids would make me happy? Think again. I like to live, not subsist. We needed someone who could make money. Then having to listen to other wolves reminds me I’m only a weak, lowly
Becky finally got to escape her truck. Robert made her feel tiny sitting in the driver’s seat. However, she got some small satisfaction when he had to pull the seat back all the way so he could fit behind the wheel. But she didn’t like forcing herself to talk to him as she had. Yes, as they drove, and he did most of the talking, she’d relaxed a little. But it was a little. Becky was relieved still to step away from him. His size and his looks made Becky averse to interacting with him. It’s one thing for him to be in the same room as her. She was just struggling with the idea that he would want to be attached to her in any way. Becky didn’t see herself as a catch for anyone really, so she’d stopped looking at men for potential relationships, even though she craved to be in one desperately. All she figured was that she’d been burnt once, and she’d be shy wanting to avoid a second incident like the first. Robert wasn’t having anything to do with it. Or he didn’t notice
“Now Alpha, where have you been? We’ve had the police crawling over every corner of this bar for most of yesterday. Then we get called in here with the message that you’re back and you need all hands on deck. Now you come in here with a human mate?” Alex looked confused, and Becky got the idea that she wasn’t sure where to look or what to think. “A group of unknown wolves jumped me. Not a word to me, no warning, they just went to take me out. They then left me for dead in the woods off a side road. I guess they figured I’d bleed out and the animals would deal with my body. I came to and dragged myself to the road where I passed out again. Becky and Janie found me and patched me up.” Rob took a breath then and Becky stepped in with a few details of her own. “First, it was Bole’s Road. Janie’s parents have a small farm off of it and my house is at the end. I didn’t know who he was because he was a wolf when we found him. It was late and my house was closer, so
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