“Wh-what?” Ned Wilsons features panicked in disbelief. “N-no. You can’t.” He begged, falling forward onto his knees.
“You made your choice, and now you have to live with the consequences.” Charlotte intoned moving to stand beside her niece.
“I was only following orders!” Ned cried, searching for mercy where there was none to be found.
“What orders?” Gaerik snarled coming closer his fist smashing into the right side of Ned’s face. “Who sent you?” He demanded. Ned toppled over onto his back as Gaerik moved over him, crouching as he gripped the back of the man’s neck, roaring in fury. “Tell me who!” Birds flew from their nests, abandoning the scene with the roar of an Alpha ringing in their ears.
“William Levins, the Alpha of Connecticut.” Ned stammered pitifully.
“My father is the only Connecticut Alpha.” Gaerik snarled taking the man’s head into his hands, and within a blink of an eye, they all heard the hollow snap of his neck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“What in holy hell happened here?” Molly said walking up the flagstone towards the front porch with Shaye and Alex not too far behind her.
“Nana, hold on.” Shaye reached out grabbing Molly’s elbow, preventing her from climbing any further up the steps. “I can smell wolves here and they ain’t none of ours,” Shaye told the two while cautiously moving towards the front door that lay shattered on the floor inside the front room of the house.
Testing the air, Shaye sniffed attempting to pick out the scent of others, getting blood mingled in her higher senses.
“Stay outside,” Shaye warned them, stepping within the door. Casting those sharp eyes around the room finding the source of the smell quickly along with the sound of people coming through the back door. Swiftly Shaye hid behind the banister of the stairs listening, glancing out the door and waving her grandmother and new-found friend Alex back as she heard the sound of voices coming from the kitchen.
“First things first we need to get dressed before we go to check on the others, Elle you stay right where you are and you three as well.” It was Gallen.
A breath of relief whooshed from Shaye’s lungs as she came out of her crouch and motioned for Alex and Molly to make their way inside. “They’re here,” Shaye called turning her attention to Molly who charged into the front door like a woman on a mission before she suddenly halted with a shout.
“Oh hello!” Molly exclaimed suddenly turning around so that she was looking out at the morning sky lightening.
Shaye wrinkled her brow slightly, not sure what her grandmother was going on about, but the sight of Alex’s eyes going wide before suddenly becoming very interested in the ceiling should have tipped Shaye off, but Shaye wasn’t that type of girl. Subtleties were lost on her.
Gallen and Marik were standing in the doorway of the kitchen, both stark naked and holding their groins to conceal themselves from the Pritchett’s as well as Alex. Gaerik, however, seemed perfectly comfortable standing there, naked, covered in splotches of blood, his hair a wild mess.
“Morning ladies, Alex.” Gaerik tipped his head moving around his father and brother, both red-faced as he made his way through the ransacked living room and over the dead body that was laying on the floor.
“Gaerik Chaliceman do you have no shame?” Moonie called, scurrying through the living room and grabbing throw blankets from the sofa’s and chair and handing them to Gallen and Marik to cover themselves.
“No. I don’t.” Gaerik said, those well-sculpted butt-cheeks popping with muscles as he made his way up to his bedroom to retrieve his clothes.
Moonie’s head shook with frustration, her blonde curls moving about as she maneuvered through the men to get back into the kitchen so she could help her aunt and cousin with Elle. She seemed to be in a state of shock after seeing all that had happened out in the woods.
“It’s a lot to explain.” Gallen began as Marik followed his brother up the stairs quickly. “But I assure you that we’re all alive and well. Please, call Lucas and start checking on everyone else, we can’t be sure that we were the only people attacked this morning.” Gallen’s eyes slowly traveled down to the dead body on the floor. “And we’re going to have to figure out what to do with all of the bodies.” Shaking his head, he reached up, scrubbing a blood-smeared hand through his hair. “I’ll be down shortly, see if you can talk to Elle.” With that, Gallen ascended the stairs there was no time for showering, but he needed to at least get the blood wiped off, and they needed to get a plan set in place. William Levins a man he’d known most of his life, in fact, had grown up with had staked his claim for Alpha of Connecticut and sent a death squad for them in their sleep. The situation was escalating with each day that passed, and they needed to move quickly if they wanted to prevent any more unwanted deaths.
Molly made her way into the kitchen with unresolved questions as to the details of what happened here, but when she found Elle, Molly didn’t know if she could get the answers she was looking for. The young blonde looked pale sitting in the chair in the kitchen as the witches from last night scurried around her getting glass and drywall swept up. Molly scanned the room noticing the bullet hole in the wall before she pulled a chair up to the table and sat down, carefully taking Elle’s hand into her own.
“Honey, can you tell me what happened?” Molly questioned her gently.
“I didn’t do anything Molly, I couldn’t. I just stood there.” Elle murmured bringing her eyes up to meet the woman. “I didn’t do anything to help them. It was like I was just frozen watching everything in awe. If they hadn’t come,” she paused looking around at Charlotte putting on the kettle, Moonie sweeping up the glass while Jean Louise was somehow piecing the broken glass back together at the window and sealing it as if the bullet had never come through it. “We would have been dead, the guys wouldn’t have been able to take on that many wolves all by themselves, and I wasn’t brave enough to do anything.”
“Who says you weren’t brave?” Charlotte asked shaking her head. “You were there, you leant your power to ours.”
Molly nodded up and down quickly although she had no idea what they were talking about. “You sure did, sweetie and don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise,” Molly told her, squeezed Elle’s hand once more before she looked around the kitchen at the raven-haired woman who had spoken before.
“What happened last night?” Molly asked timidly fearing that if she said the wrong thing it could send Elle straight off the deep end of whatever might remain of her sanity.
“This morning actually.” Charlotte clarified placing a steaming hot mug of tea down in front of Elle before she took a seat herself. “We’d only just arrived when Gallen was able to kill the man in the living room. From what I’ve pieced together, they were assassins sent to make sure that the Chaliceman men do not return to Connecticut.” Charlotte explained. Once Jean Louise was finished with the window and Moonie had collected every piece of glass and drywall dust from the floor the two witches left the women alone to see what could be done about the door in the living room. “When we got here, only Gallen and Elle were in the house, and then we heard the fighting. Gallen got there first, then my family and Elle met them there. There were nine other wolves all ganging up on the Chaliceman’s. They certainly didn’t come to play games with them, but I don’t believe that they knew we would be here and I think that tipped the scales in our favor and they most certainly would have been able to beat them if the rest of your pack was here to help defend them.”
“I’d better get home and call Lucas then. He’ll want to know what happened.” Molly swallowed tightly, tears brimming her eyes before she quickly wiped them away with her thumbs. Molly didn’t believe for a second that Elle had frozen, but this was the young woman’s first taste of what a war between werewolves would be like. This was unseen by their kind. When an Alpha was challenged they fought one on one, each wolf had to use not only their brawn but their brains, this was something altogether differ
ent.
Rising from her seat, her hazel eyes swept over Elle again before she leaned down and wrapped her arms around the woman, but right now Molly saw a little girl still sitting in her kitchen crying because someone had picked on Shaye and she wasn’t there to stand up for her. Or she had and was hurt in the process. Elle looked as guilty as if she’d committed murder.
“It’s okay, darlin’,” Molly whispered and kissed the top of her head. “Ya’ll take care of her, I’ll be back as soon as I get ahold of Lucas.” Molly nodded quickly causing her small double chin to wobble in the process. “I’ll be right back, okay?” Reassuring Elle that she would only be gone for as long as she needed to be.
“Alex, you stay here with Elle.” Shaye had been standing in the doorway with Alex as the morning's events were recounted by the witches who’d shown up the night before. Somehow Shaye couldn’t imagine what they might have walked in on if they hadn’t been here. Of course, the Chaliceman wolves could put up a fight no doubt about that, but outnumbered like that, they didn’t stand a chance. “I’m gonna walk Nana back to the house to call Lucas.” She explained to Alex.
“Jean Louise, would you mind walking with the ladies?” Charlotte asked. She was thinking the same thing very much as Shaye was. If there were more wolves out there, no one could breathe easy until they knew the fate of the rest of their pack members.
“Of course.” Jean Louise was closing the blinds in the kitchen window and double checking that the back door was also locked. Apparently, it didn’t mean that no one could get it, but it was an extra precautionary measure that was the instinct to take.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Hours later after the house was put back to rights and the sun was getting low they were all seated in the living room while Elle and Marik explained what kicked off the fight with the assassins that morning, minus the part where they were making out like two teenagers in the backseat of a ’66 Mustang. No one needed to know about that, not yet, if ever.
“Gaerik, how did you get there so fast?” Elle asked because that was the question that had been bum tumbling around inside of her brain since she came to her senses again and began the grueling task of trying to kick her feelings of guilt for not acting at all this morning in the woods.
“I was staying out there,” Gaerik replied calmly. “I was, for lack of a better word being an asshole as my brother would say, and I was sulking when I heard the wolves and went to investigate.”
“The fight had already started when I chased the shooter out there,” Marik added pressing the palms of his hands together and rubbing them so that the whole room could hear the skin sweeping against one another.
“Ok.” Lucas exhaled. “Now that we all know about the gory details what exactly are we going to do about this? This Levins guy already sent one team of wolves out here to try to kill you three if not all of you and anyone who tries to help you, who’s to say that he won’t do it again?” Lucas said raising the question that was on all their minds.
“There isn’t,” Elle spoke up, pulling her arms closer around her body. “The question is what are we going to do about it?” They all knew what they were training for, but they didn’t imagine that it would be coming straight to their doorstep so soon, at least Elle hadn’t. In her mind, they were nowhere near ready to take on a whole pack, even with those who joined them from the Arkansas pack, she had no idea how large the Connecticut pack was, and it was mere luck that they hadn’t been killed already.
As they all lost themselves in thought, finally someone spoke.
“Well, I don’t suppose we’re going to be dicking around here much longer then.” Harriet seemed to have a way with words when it came to cutting through the bullshit.
“William Levins is a little pansy squirt. Always was and I don’t think that we are going to be able to count on him bringing the fight to us. He’ll just keep sending more of his goons to do his dirty work until eventually, he succeeds in his mission.” Harriet told them while idly running her hands along the arms of the recliner she sat in, looking like she would pop out of her seat at any moment and start packing her bags. “We’re going to have to take the fight to him.” Her salt and pepper permed head bobbed up and down with a nod of self-confirmation.
“I believe Harriet is right.” Gallen agreed.
“Damn straight I am.” Harriet chimed in, her chin slightly jutting out, which it always did whenever she made a statement that she believed was right, which was almost all of the time.
“So, what? We just hop a plane and show up there?” Lucas asked uncomfortable without having a clear plan of what they were doing.
“No, we can’t do that. We need to know what we are walking into, we’ll need intel.” Gaerik said turning to look at Alex.
“I could scare up some information from my contacts back home.” Alex supplied a bit nervously as he sat up in his seat digging his cell phone out of his back pocket.
“We will also need to know how many allies we have there.” Gallen addressed the room, lacing his fingers together. “We’re going to need to play this very cautiously, we don’t know who William already has in his back pocket, and anyone willing to help us will know the dangers.” Gallen breathed out a heavy sigh.
“Start putting together a list of everyone we know, you too Elle. Even if they aren’t werewolves, they can still get information for us. What about your publicist Julie? She might be able to dig up some dirt on what’s been going on without anyone taking notice, and I’ll start making calls to all of the people who owe me favors.” Gaerik said scratching his head slowly before leaning into the back of the couch.
“Lucas, we came here for help, but I think that we will all understand if you decide not to follow us.” Gallen stood up.
“Hell no, I’m not letting you all do this alone.” Lucas looked at him like he’d just been slapped across the face. “These sons of bitches came into our territory and who is to say that if we don’t stop them now, Connecticut will be enough for them?” Lucas asked.
“I guess that settles it.” Gallen nodded feeling the weight of not just his own pack on his shoulders but that of the Arkansas wolves as well.
“I think I might know how to get us there without anyone ever finding out,” Gaerik said, his brow pinched in thought before he stood up. “I need to make some phone calls, and I will let you know what I find out.” he said mysteriously before disappearing upstairs in search of his cell phone. It was strange how things had all come full circle, that this was where he ended up anyway.
“He has a flair for the dramatic, doesn’t he?” Moonie asked. It was the first time any of the witches had said anything for some time, as they were sitting quietly together on the floor letting it all play out before them.
The witch wasn’t wrong, even when they were boys Gaerik was very mysterious about his thoughts and his friends, and as he grew older he realized that not all his brother’s friends were on the up, and up, maybe that would give them some advantage in this situation, but Marik didn’t want to get his hopes up. It had been a very long day, and the sun was already beginning to sink into the sky.
“Luke, if you could round up the wolves and see who will be coming with us that would be great. I don’t think we’re going to be here much longer, so we should act fast.” Marik told the Alpha respectfully as he stood up, shaking his hand.
“No problem, word spreads fast around here, and I’m sure everyone is asking questions by now,” Lucas told him clapping him on the shoulder. “I’m going to call out a couple of the guys to keep watch on the house tonight too.” He told Marik helping his grandmother into her coat. Alex and Shaye both stood to grab their coats as they all said their goodbyes for the evening not knowing what tomorrow would bring, hoping for the best but fearing for the worst.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Moonie slipped outside through the kitchen door while everyone was saying their goodbyes. Inhaling she tried to clear her head while tilting her face toward the sky.
Something wasn’t right. These poor people had been attacked twice now, but that wasn’t it. Something that Moonie couldn’t shake, but once the meeting was over the general atmosphere shifted.
“You’ve been very quiet.” Charlotte’s voice made her presence known as she stepped out of the house with Jean Louise.
“What are you feeling, Moonie?” Jean asked her, looking at her aunt Charlotte who was studying Moonie closely.
“I don’t know,” Moonie replied in confusion. Normally she could easily pinpoint out what emotions were coming from the people around her, but this was different. “I can’t help feeling like someone’s is hiding something, but every time I try to look deeper, to figure it out, it keeps flitting away from me, like someone knows I am feeling them out. Maybe it’s just the atmosphere. I’m picking up on everyone’s emotional atmosphere, and it’s confusing me, but it still doesn’t fit the sense of anger.”
“Well,” Charlotte began, linking her arm through Moonie’s as the trio made their way out into the yard, walking to their campsite. “The Chaliceman family has been attacked twice now, people have shown up trying to kill them. I would warrant that deserves some feelings of anger.” The older woman explained, of course, the logic itself made sense to Moonie.
“I get that.” Jean Louise said nodding in agreement.
“I know,” Moonie sighed. “But it feels different, it’s like anger mixed with bitterness and a desire for something, but I can’t taste what that desire is,” Moonie spoke. Often, as she was so open to the emotional atmosphere of those around her, she called it tasting their feelings and right now, the witch didn’t know what it was. “It’s bothering me, and I want to understand it,” Moonie complained as they came to the tree that the three witches picked out the night before.
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