Tears of the Moon

by Quinn Loftis

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Studying history comes with both good and bad elements. It is good to learn from history so that we do not repeat the parts that are harmful. Unfortunately, the bad aspect comes when we are constantly reminded of what we cannot change. For what is in the past has been set in stone.” ~ Wadim

  * * *

  “Why are we so stupid?” Wadim growled as he stared at the many screens in front of him.

  “Speak for yourself, history boy,” Jen said as she descended the last few stairs. “Hey, Zara,” she said to his mate, who was sitting in a chair next to him looking through a book that was older than Wadim.

  “I’m working as fast as I can,” Wadim told her. “Vasile called me literally fifteen minutes ago. Where does he expect me to pull this information from? Because I’ve tried my ass, and there just isn’t anything there.”

  “We could try pulling it out of your nose, but we might pull your brain right along with it,” Jen said, her voice sounding like her typical sarcastic self.

  “There will be no brain pulling,” he warned. “If you took me out then you wouldn’t have a historian who knew all the archives—digital and paper—like the back of his hand. I am strictly off limits.”

  “To anyone but Zara, right?” Jen asked.

  Wadim glanced at his mate whose face had gone a shade of red that made him think of red roses containing a haze of morning dew.

  “What do you need, Jen?” he asked, ignoring her remark, not wanting to embarrass Zara any further.

  “Vasile is pacing, Decebel is giving the unknown fae the death stare, Fane is practicing being like Decebel, and Costin is trying to make the fae, who have the blankest faces I’ve ever seen, laugh. I’m serious. No smiles, no facial movement at all. They’re handsome and the one called Ona is beautiful, but their personalities leave much to be desired. In short, I had to get out of there. The tension was tight and, knowing me, I’d be the one to make someone snap.”

  “So you came here for refuge?” Wadim said as he turned his chair to face her.

  “I wanted to see Zara,” Jen said. “You’ve kept her prisoner down here for the past couple days, and I needed to make sure you hadn’t tied her to your bed.”

  “UGH.” Zara groaned. “Could we please not talk about Wadim tying me to a bed right now?”

  Wadim couldn’t help but grin. “Does that mean we can talk about it later?”

  “Ooh, he got you there. You sort of walked right into that one.” Jen crossed her arms in front of her and leaned against the wall closest to the computer monitors on his desk.

  “Earlier you said, ‘Why are we so stupid?’,” Zara said, completely changing the subject. “Why do you think we’re stupid? What did you find?”

  He winked at her, making it clear that he didn’t miss her evasion of the topic. He turned back around to face his screen and began scrolling quickly through the text. “Not there, not there, not there, wait … and boom. Got it.” He pointed to a paragraph and then began reading out loud. “There is a new threat facing our race. The Order of the Burning Claw is a new radical organization that has grown in numbers at an alarming rate. We have been attempting to find their headquarters with no success. We do know the organization is led by a vampire named Sincaro. We are still trying to determine the group’s ultimate goal. They haven’t exhibited any violence so far, but vampires aren’t known for their self-control. For now, we will wait and watch.” Wadim looked up from the screen and spoke to the others.

  “We’re stupid because we should have recognized that a radical organization of supernatural beings would not remain harmless. We should have struck while they were still relatively small. But we didn’t. We waited and then it was too late,” Wadim explained.

  “What did they do that made the leaders of the packs realize they’d waited too long?” Zara asked.

  Wadim scrolled through more text until stopping again and then reading out loud. “The Order of the Burning Claw began as an organization that a supernatural could join voluntarily. However, five years after the start of TOBC, they resorted to attempting to force compliance. The fae have contacted us to let us know they are beginning to receive reports of supernaturals being murdered if they refuse to join TOBC. At this time, it is unclear as to how many people the organization has killed. The fae are looking into it, and the Alphas in the United States will be joining in the hunt. We realize we should have acted swiftly in stifling their message and cause. Now we are reaping the results of our inaction.”

  “Whoa.” Jen breathed out. “That’s intense.”

  Wadim nodded. “According to the date on this record, this happened before the werewolf wars.” He printed off a copy of the text and turned to face Jen.

  “I think it’s time for you to take this to Vasile,” Jen said.

  “Agreed. And I think we are going to be paying the Alphas in the U.S. a visit,” Wadim added.

  “Road trip,” Jen sang out.

  Zara snorted. “Wouldn’t it be more of an air trip?”

  Jen laughed. “That sounds like some sort of drug reaction.”

  Wadim stood up and reached for Zara’s hand. He pulled her up from her seat and placed his palm against her face as he looked down at her. “You don’t have to come if you’d rather stay down here.”

  “I disagree wholeheartedly,” Jen said.

  Wadim rolled his eyes. “You aren’t invited to this conversation, Jen.”

  “I want to come,” Zara assured him. “If I’m a member of this pack, and mated to the historian, then I need to step up and help.”

  Jen held up a hand to her. “High five, little Z,” she said. “You’re a woman after my own heart. When we get kicked, we don’t stay down for long, and when we get up, we come up snapping sharp fangs at the idiot who kicked us.”

  “And who, exactly, kicked us?” Zara asked as they headed for the stairs.

  Jen shrugged. “There’s been several but we’ve taken them out. You, on the other hand, have been kicked in the balls repeatedly by life, most recently by a dormant gene that has been hibernating in your DNA. But you aren’t going to let that pesky bit of wolf DNA make you cower in a corner. You’re going tooo,” Jen drew out the word and raised her eyebrows at Zara.

  “Kick the gene in the balls?” Zara said.

  “Exactly! When in doubt, always kick it in the balls.”

  Wadim held open the door at the top of the stairs as he shot Jen a look. “Could you maybe not encourage my mate to go around kicking things in the balls?”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault that if something has balls it usually deserves to be kicked in them at least a couple times in their existence.” Jen winked at him as she stepped out into the hall with Zara right behind her.

  Zara patted Wadim’s shoulder as she smiled at him. “Don’t worry, history boy, I’ll warn you if I ever feel the need to kick you in—”

  Wadim placed a finger over her lips and shook his head. “Nope. Don’t even say the words unless you want to see me cringe.”

  Jen let out an exasperated sigh and flung her hands in the air. “It’s not like you guys are defenseless. You can totally punch us in the boob when we deserve it, and I’m big enough to admit that occasionally a woman needs a good punch to the boob.”

  Zara laughed and Wadim felt his wolf hum in contentment. They loved hearing their mate laugh. If Jen talking about punching boobs and kicking balls made his mate light up like that, then he’d deal with the painful topic.

  He leaned down next to her ear as they approached Vasile’s office. “I adore you,” he whispered.

  Zara nudged him with her shoulder. “I’m pretty fond of you myself.”

  “Okay, enough mushy crap, people. Game faces on. Zara, we’re going to have to stand our ground when Vasile tells us we can’t help, because he will tell us that. It’s like some sort of man code they feel they need to follow despite the fact they know they will eventually give in and let us assist them in saving the world. I mean, as if th
ey could do it without us.” Jen said. “Be strong and do not surrender. Clear?”

  Zara saluted and grinned when Jen stuck her tongue out at her.

  “We’re going in.” Jen growled as she opened the door to the Alpha’s office.

  Decebel watched as his mate entered the room with Wadim and Zara right behind her. The look on her face was one with which he’d grown very familiar. She was going to put up a fight and dig her heels in if she wasn’t allowed to help with whatever Vasile was about to tell them.

  He held his hand out to her, wanting her close to him. There were two unknown males in the room, and Decebel didn’t like the idea of Jen in the same vicinity. Call him overprotective, but after everything they’d been through, he felt he had every right to be.

  The office door opened again, and Jacque and Sally stepped in, closing the door quietly behind them. Decebel watched as Fane pushed off the wall where he’d been leaning and made a beeline for his mate. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then turned around, placing his body protectively in front of hers. A small smirk appeared on his face when Jacque huffed for him to move. He simply shook his head and folded his arms in front of his chest.

  Costin was sitting on the couch and had snatched Sally’s hand the moment she was within reaching distance and pulled her down onto his lap. Of all of them, Costin looked the most relaxed, but Decebel knew better. His former Beta was just as observant and vigilant as he and Fane. He just hid it better.

  “Gavril and Rachel have the kids?” Decebel asked through their bond.

  “Yep. I think Gavril secretly wants them to call him Grandpa, despite the fact that he doesn’t look old enough to be anyone’s Grandpa.” She snickered in his mind. Decebel had to agree the old wolf loved the three newest members of the pack as if they were his own, and so did Rachel. It was a blessing to have people they could trust watch their kids, and the list of people Decebel trusted with their pups was extremely short.

  Vasile stood from his desk and walked around to the front, leaning back on it as he often did. He was dressed in black dress pants and a casual polo-style black shirt, looking more like a relaxed businessman than a deadly werewolf.

  “He’s hot,” Jennifer said into Decebel’s mind, obviously eavesdropping on his thoughts. “I mean, especially for his age.”

  “Could you please refrain from checking out Fane’s father?” Decebel growled.

  “What about the pretty fae boys? Can I check them out? I mean, they aren’t exactly super masculine, but they have a lethal edge to them that has a sexy vibe going on. Sort of like they would just as soon slit your throat as kiss you.”

  “Jennifer.” He growled out loud, unable to keep it to himself. “Could you please refrain from talking about the male fae and kissing?” She knew exactly which buttons to push, and she did it well. Decebel knew she was just goading him, but he was a possessive male and wouldn’t pretend otherwise.

  “What about slitting throats? Can I talk about the new male fae and slitting throats?”

  He growled again. It was a regular occurrence with his mate. “Only if it’s me slitting their throats.”

  She purred in his head. “Are you trying to best them in sexiness?”

  “She’s checking out the new eye candy, isn’t she?” Jacque asked Decebel.

  “I’m hardly new,” Fane said without missing a beat.

  Jen laughed out loud, a sound that Decebel and his wolf adored. “Fane, I swear, you’ve been a dull, brooding bore lately, but that was actually funny.”

  Fane’s face was blank as he looked at Jennifer. “I live to make you laugh, Jen. Truly, it’s my life’s passion,” he said dryly.

  Decebel smacked his mate on her rear. “What is it going to take to make you behave?”

  “I have a few ideas,” she said, grinning and winking up at him.

  Vasile cleared his throat and looked at their fae guests. “I apologize for my pack’s behavior. They forget sometimes that they are more than just a pack of wolves.”

  “We know we’re more than a pack of wolves,” Jen said. “We’re a freaky pack of wolves.”

  Jacque and Sally groaned at the same time, both lowering their heads and shaking them slowly.

  “Never-ending,” Sally said. “She simply has a never-ending supply of dirty commentary.”

  “It’s a gift,” Jen said, grinning at them.

  “Or my punishment for some horrible thing I don’t remember doing,” Decebel muttered.

  The male called Riven bowed his head slightly. “Peri explained that we might find your pack … strange,” the Fae said, as if that would completely explain the ridiculousness that tended to come from Jen’s mouth and, if Decebel was honest, the mouths of Jacque and Sally as well … and even Peri’s for that matter. He smirked. Bet she didn’t mention that Jen had rubbed off on her and she was nearly as ridiculous as his female.

  “Great,” Jacque said from across the room. “She told you we were all idiots, didn’t she?”

  Riven turned his eyes on her and Fane growled. Jacque smacked his arm. “Quit growling at the guests. It’s rude.”

  “He protects you,” Riven said, his voice somehow melodic and yet emotionless at the same time. “He would attempt to kill me if he thought he needed to.”

  “That’s how they roll,” Jen spoke up from beside Decebel. “Killing anything that breathes wrongly in our direction.”

  “Sounds messy,” the female called Ona said.

  Sally, Jacque, and Jen laughed.

  “I like her,” Jacque said, motioning her head toward the female fae.

  “Great,” Fane said through gritted teeth.

  “Why does this irritate you, wolf?” Ona asked him.

  It was Jacque who answered her. “Because he knows it would royally tick me off if he hurt you. People I like do not get to be wolf kibble.”

  Ona’s inhumanly beautiful eyes shifted to Jacque. “You don’t even know me.”

  “You’re a kindred spirit. I can feel it.”

  Sally nodded. “Me too. Totally feel it.”

  “What about them?” Ona motioned to her male companions.

  “Dude, we can’t go around feeling them.” Jen snorted. “We can get away with a lot, but I’m pretty sure that’s where our men draw the lines.”

  “Oh, now you’re setting boundaries,” Decebel said as he looked down at his mate.

  Jen shrugged. “I’m turning over a new leaf.”

  “Didn’t you turn over a new leaf like a week ago?” Sally asked.

  “Probably, but it shriveled and died. So on to the next leaf.”

  Vasile rubbed his face and let out a sigh as he folded his arms in front of his chest. “If you three are done,” he said pointedly, looking at each of the females of his pack.

  “I think we’re good,” Jen said.

  “How kind of you,” Vasile said dryly and then once again looked at the three fae. “Now, if you please, fill us in on what you know.”

  “I hate to break up all the wonderful banter,” Wadim broke in, “but I’ve got something to tell you.” He looked at Vasile. “I found something in our records about the Order.” Wadim read from the printed pages, explaining how their ancestors had let the Order get out of control.

  “They were forcing supernatural beings to join them against their will?” Decebel growled. “How on earth could the leaders allow it to get that far?”

  “It was easier to pretend the situation wasn’t as bad as it truly was,” Riven said.

  Ona nodded. “The fae have always stayed in our realm, unless we absolutely had to come to the human realm for something. The reason we finally even looked into the matter was because we had several fae go missing.”

  “They’d been captured by the Order,” Vale finished.

  * * *

  Fane watched the three fae with glowing eyes. He was having a hard time paying attention to what they were saying. His wolf didn’t trust the newcomers, regardless of the fact that Peri had sent them. They w
ere new, two of them male, and in their home where his mate and child were.

  “Relax, wolf-man,” Jacque said into his mind, her hand slipping up under his shirt where it rested, skin to skin, against his back. “Nothing is going to happen, especially not with all of you males in here. Peri, no doubt, warned these fae of Vasile’s strength, if they didn’t already know it for themselves.”

  Fane knew she was right, but he couldn’t stop his wolf from being very leery of the fae. “I would rather you be with Slate right now.”

  “No. You aren’t going to try and push me aside just because we have a son. He is safe with Gavril and Rachel, who are both strong and capable. We are a team, Fane. I told you that from the beginning. Where you go, I go. Remember?” She was growling at him and her nails were digging into his back, the gentle touch now gone.

  “I remember,” he grudgingly admitted. “But I agreed to that before we had a child.”

  “Fane, do you really want to protect me by forcing me away? We are connected. Our lives are tied to one another. I’m not saying I don’t want to be with our son. I love him desperately. But I know he is safe, and we will fight together. We are stronger together.”

  Fane reached back and took the hand that wasn’t under his shirt and entwined their fingers. “Okay, Luna, I hear you. I love you. It’s my instinct to want to shield you from everything, but I know that’s not for the best.”

  “Don’t stick me in a bubble, Fane. I’ll just pop it and then come after your furry butt.”

  He chuckled to himself and sent her a mental caress. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

  “I swear Jen is wearing off on all of you,” she said and then pressed a kiss to his back. She’d have kissed his neck if she could’ve reached it, but Jacque was considerably shorter than him and it was no doubt a good thing her lips hadn’t contacted his flesh. His wolf was feeling possessive and loved the idea of showing the new males in the room that Jacque was theirs.