— Kaden —

I didn’t offer the curtesy of having dinner with the Brothers, and I went home instead. This was one of the perks of not living inside the packhouse. It was a lot harder for them to sneak up on me and encroach on my life.

“What’s going on?” asked Elaeya who came home right after me.

I was still fuming from the damn meeting, but I tried to smooth my expression as I turned around to look at her.

“Maybe you should stay home for a few days,” I told her.

“Why?” she asked.

“The Brotherhood is here and I don’t want to take unnecessary risks with them around.”

“I can do that. Is this why you are so upset?”

“They are fucking inspecting my pack,” I seethed. “They’re treating me like a vulgar rogue. They dare come here and tell me what I can and cannot do. I swear if they do anything, anything to hurt any of my people, heads will roll.”

“Do you think they came here for some kind of attack?” she asked me as we walked to the living room.

I didn’t feel like eating.

“Not outright, that’s for sure. They’re afraid of us. Or at least, some are. They’re too few of them here to try anything like this, and they would never do that inside my stronghold, if they’d attack, they’d do it where I’d be weak and at a disadvantage. But that doesn’t mean they’re not planning some slimy scheme either.”

Mrs. Raynolds came in with a beer for me, tea for Elaeya and a tray of entrées. I inclined my head lightly to her in gage of thank you, and took a swig.

“What happened exactly?” Elaeya asked.

I don’t know if she could discover anything more in this than I, so I didn’t hold back and told her everything. Which has prompted more questions about the packs that asked to join and what is going on in Stonewillow to finally landed on the whole story about the artifacts and what happened to Eva last summer.

Mrs. Raynolds had supplied us with more bite-sized food throughout the evening and we ate casually on the couch. She lit the fireplace at some point too.

I haven’t talked this much in a long while. There haven’t been many people that I’ve trusted enough to open up so much, and tonight, the thought of building a life with her, felt more tangible than it had ever done until now.

* * * * *

I woke at four thirty in the morning with a loud ‘bang’ that resonated through the house, from the outside.

I sat upright instantly and rubbed at my crusty eyes and turned the lamp on.

It was obviously still dark outside. I grabbed a pair of pants and a tee, took my phone and rushed out. I head Elaeya do something similar behind me.

I could hear some distant ruckus outside.

I ran to the lawn beside one of packhouse wings. I speed dialed security to have all the lights on, and it took a few seconds, as I approached, for the night to become as bright as day.

There were three big wolves fanned out in front of one human, and other people came rushing to the location, security with weapons, and a few others ready to shift.

“WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?” I screamed with all the authority I could muster.

The wolves turned to look at me briefly, but the man kept his eyes carefully on them.

“Could you tell those idiots to back off, or I’m going to fry them?” he told me.

“Get away from the wily wizard,” I told them. “He’s my wily wizard. You hurt him and you’ve attacked Blakemore.”

I knew no one in my pack was stupid enough to do something like this. I wasn’t sure of the smell of those wolves, but I was pretty sure they were with the Brotherhood. A few of the Brothers had rushed out, probably attracted by the commotion.

I suspected that this morning’s alarm clock had been supplied by the wizard himself.

One of the wolves shifted back to its human form to look confused at me. He was one of the Brother’s entourage. The rotund brother was rushing out, sweating on his way. A few more were already here.

“What is going on here?” asked Sinclair.

“That’s exactly what I want to know?” I asked.

One of the attackers opened his mouth to answer but I turned my attention to Alik instead.

“Wizard?” I asked.

Sinclair looked absolutely insulted that I would refer to Alik first. But I also always go for the reliable source first.

“I came in late from the job,” said Alik. “One of them saw me in the corridor as he was strangely wandering around the packhouse, and I’ve never seen him there before. Plus, he looked pretty suspicious. I called him up and he realized I was human. So he started to act all high and mighty, until her realized I have magic, then he freaked and a few of his friends joined him in his freak out and I had to defend myself. Violently.”

I turned to the man and two wolves.

“Shift,” I ordered them.

In a few seconds, I had three naked men before me.

“What were you doing in the wee hours, wandering in my packhouse?” I asked them. My voice was low and dangerous, but I knew they understood every word.

“You’re taking the words or a deceitful wizard before your own kin?” asked Sinclair.

“I ask a member of my pack before a stranger, as is customary.”

His eyes rounded. I turned to the naked men again. “Talk,” I ordered them.

They tried to babble some sort of excuses, but it came out as mostly gibberish.

The whole Brotherhood congregation was there now, but so were a lot of my men too.

“Your pack?” Sinclair said. “Are you saying you have a wizard now.”

“Is there a spell for stupidity?” I asked Alik.

“Sadly no,” he said. “This is the biggest and most devastating plague the world will ever face and it will end only when we are all dead.”

“Dang,” said Mishka. “I kinda wished you had one of those spells, I could have raised my IQ by a few points to begin with—for shits and giggles—then de-stupid-fied the rest of the world one smarmy idiot at a time. I would have gotten a Nobel Peace Prize for this shit.”

That got more than a few snickers around my people, most of the Brotherhood though, didn’t laugh.

Elaeya joined me, her body next to mine.

“This one,” she muttered looking at the naked guy in the middle. I didn’t know what was wrong with him—and she probably didn’t either—but now, I was not leaving here without some serious answers from him.

“I’m sure we can sort this whole mess passively,” said Rotund Brother.

Joffrey’s eyes were nothing but slits as he looked at the situation, then I saw something I’d dreaded for a long time. I saw his gaze triangulate on Elaeya and his eyes widen in comprehension.

“Get this one in interrogation,” I told some of my warriors, pointing at middle-naked-guy.

“Wait,” said Joffrey. “You have no authority in the matter.”

“Maybe you haven’t noticed but this is my pack and your men attack a pack member, inside the bloody packhouse, while doing suspicious things. I have all the rights.”

“It’s just a misunderstanding,” he said.

“I’m sure it is,” said Rotund.

“No,” said Elaeya.

“Cells,” I told my men and they carried all three of them off, with particular attention to middle-guy.

“A spirit wolf,” said Joffrey looking intently at Elaeya. “Aren’t your kind instinct?”

“What’s that?” asked Rotund curiously.

Joffrey’s eyes went down Elaeya’s body in a way that made me want to really punch him. And his gazed locked on the tip of her hair. He took a shark intake of air in a hiss.

“Hybrid?” he asked.

“Common friend,” said Rotund. “The times for hate towards half-breeds have passed a long time ago.”

“Those things are different,” Joffrey said.

“Things,” I said, my voice barely audible, but it got everyone’s attention.

“Is this what you’ve been truly preparing?” he asked unperturbed. “You sought an ace to change your status.”

“No, but if you insult my mate and future wife one more time, there will be blood.”

“Ah, well, young lady, we finally meet. I’m Stevens, I’m happy to great Blakemore’s future Luna—or are you already?” said Rotund.

He extended his hand to Elaeya ad she complied politely, but Joffrey slapped Stevens’ hand out of the way.

“Out!” I said to him. “Get their things in their car, I want them out within the hour,” I told my men. Many rushed inside the home to comply instantly.

“You can’t do that,” said Sinclair.

“He can,” corrected Stevens before I could spit venom in Sinclair’s face. “We have just given him one of the biggest insults. We are at the heart of Blakemore, he could ask bloodgild for this, or at least a weregild for the insult.”

“What about them?” asked Joffrey, with a rictus at the corner of his eyes. I knew he was referring to the men I’d taken.

“They will be returned once I have what I need.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but I believe that returning them alive, would be a sign of good faith,” said Stevens.

I listened but didn’t take my eyes from Joffrey’s.

“I understand we are in no positions to ask for such, but I believe we could exchange this for dropping the investigation into Blakemore.”

“They will return alive and unarmed,” Elaeya told him.

“Much appreciated,” he said. “And I’m story it has come to this. I would have preferred meeting under better circumstances.”

I saw her incline her head respectfully, he mirrored her, and then ushered the rest of their people to the cars. They were all wearing nightwear or in various states of undress.

I didn’t question Elaeya and stayed looking at Joffrey’s eyes until he was the last one there, then he broke contact first and left.

I wanted to sink my teeth into their flesh.

They did the biggest fuckup in their fucking career.

Even if I do nothing, this will tarnish their reputation for good.

I sighed, and it also means that I no longer control information on who and what Elaeya is.

It means everything could change. And now I have a bloody trio to interrogate.

Elaeya put her hand on my arm. “I will do it.”

I blinked at her.