Finding the Fire Within

by C. C. Masters

  Jason wandered out of the kitchen and stood in the doorway. “C’mon, Anna. I made bacon.”

  “I know.” I told him, not taking my eyes off the door. The smell of bacon had been drifting out of the kitchen for some time now, trying to tempt me into leaving my post.

  “He’s not going to tell you anything if he thinks it’s in your best interest not to.” Mason told me quietly, joining Jason in the doorway.

  I sighed sadly. “Am I being selfish right now?”

  They both gave me identical frowns.

  “Because I’m thinking about myself instead of Caleb.” I told them.

  Mason gave me a small smile. “You have wondered all your life about your family, and you finally got a small hint. Of course, you are going to want to ask questions.”

  I gave him a smile in return. “It’s just… he made it sound like my mom wanted me.” I whispered, tears gathering in my eyes.

  I had tried to hold back my emotions for as long as I could, but they were starting to come to the surface now that we were talking about it. The twins both came to me and wrapped me in their arms.

  Mason was in front of me and I squeezed him tightly. As a child, I had daydreamed about my real parents coming to rescue me from the hell I lived in. As I got older, I became more disillusioned and thought that no one could ever love me. I became resigned to my fate and accepted that no one was coming for me and that my real parents had most likely just thrown me in the trash because I was worthless.

  Now, I was hearing that there was a chance that someone had loved me once. What if my mom had hidden me with a loving family, thinking I would be safe there? What if she never knew that my adopted parents had died, and that I had ended up with my uncle? Was my mom out there somewhere, thinking that my life was better without her?

  All of these emotions, on top of my worry for Caleb, were just too much for me to handle. Tears started to leak from my eyes and when the twins started murmuring encouragement to me, I just lost it. I sobbed as if my heart were broken.

  Neither of them backed away in horror, the way that I was afraid they would. They both held me close and rubbed my back and my arms, giving me comfort. Eventually my sobs turned to hiccups and I started to pull away from them.

  They both watched me with concerned eyes. I looked down in shame, unable to make eye contact.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled, trying to make it upstairs where I could hide in my embarrassment. I had just cried all over them like I was a baby.

  “Don’t be sorry.” Mason told me, grabbing a hold of my hand and pulling me back to him. He wrapped me back in his arms and I didn’t fight it. I just relaxed and inhaled his scent.

  Jason rubbed my back. “It’s okay to let stuff out with us.”

  “We’re your pack.” Mason added. “You don’t have to hide anything from us.”

  Jason chuckled. “I wondered if you did anything that normal girls do.” He teased me.

  Mason tensed but I laughed and pulled away from him, wiping the tears from my face. “Normal girls randomly have crying fits in the middle of the foyer?”

  Jason nodded solemnly but I saw a glint of humor in his eye. “They have crying fits all the time. Usually it’s over something stupid, but yours had a legit reason behind it.”

  I smiled and reached down for one of the puppies. They were both watching us with concern, not sure what was going on. Tigger snuggled into me when I picked him up and licked the tears from my face.

  Mason started to relax and rubbed the top of Tigger’s head. “We can talk to James for you. He can be kind of an ass sometimes.”

  “Yeah, we will find out what’s going on.” Jason added.

  I smiled at both of them. “I appreciate the thought, but I can handle this.” Tigger started to squirm, so I let him down to chase after his brother.

  “I know you can.” Mason told me, “But you don’t have to handle anything alone ever again.”

  For some reason, his words pulled at my heartstrings and I felt tears coming on again. I swallowed them back. “I’ve always wanted a family who loved me.” I told him seriously. “I wanted my real parents to come for me…” my voice cracked but I pressed on. “But now I already have a family, I don’t need anything more than you guys.”

  My self-control slipped, and a tear slid free. I reached out one hand to each of them. “I just want to know for sure where I came from. Once I get closure I can move on to the next chapter in my life. If that means I find a family who cares about me, great.” I shrugged. “If not, that’s okay. I don’t need anyone else when I have you.”

  “Damn, Anna.” When I met Mason’s eyes I swear they looked a little shiny.

  Jason just grabbed me in a tight squeeze and lifted me off my feet.

  Mason laughed when I squeaked, but he still made a grab for me when Jason set me down.

  I backed away from both of them slowly. “That’s enough squeezing from both of you.” I told them sternly.

  They both grinned and circled me. Luckily, the door opened before either one of them had the chance to snatch me up again.

  “James!” I headed toward him purposely.

  He stopped me with a raised hand and I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Anna, I know you are upset and have a lot of questions right now.”

  He paused, and I eyed him warily. Of course I had a lot of questions right now!

  He cleared his throat. “For right now, can we focus on Caleb? We are right in the middle of trying to get him free from the council and I don’t want to split our focus. I’m sure you don’t want anything critical slipping by us and Caleb paying the price.”

  I let out my breath and felt some guilt creep back in. He was right. We did need to focus on Caleb right now. Caleb was in danger and I had lived without knowing anything about my family for this long. I could wait a little longer. That didn’t mean I wasn’t still upset with him for keeping secrets from me.

  I marched over to James so that we were only inches away. “I’m willing to let it go for now. But when we get Caleb back, you and I are going to have a talk.”

  James watched me without an expression on his face, but I caught a little flicker of guilt in his eyes. He might get away with keeping this a secret from me for now, but as soon as Caleb was back I was going to be on him. I marched into the kitchen to grab the plate of bacon. He had better not be expecting me to save any for him after this.

  I turned the corner into the kitchen, but I still caught what Jason said to him.

  “That was fucked up, even for you.”

  I must be getting better at using my wolf senses without realizing it. That gave me a little bit of satisfaction, but I grabbed the entire plate of bacon and took it with me outside. The two pups happily followed me out.

  I settled down at one of the tables outside with my bacon. There was no way I could eat all of this, but I was sure that the twins would not be far behind me. I was right, because they followed me outside after only a few minutes.

  They both sat down at the table and watched the puppies with me. I saw Jason eyeing the plate of bacon out of the corner of his eye. I crunched into another piece, just to tease him. He licked his lips and I let out a giggle.

  “You think that’s funny?” he asked me with a grin on his face.

  I slid the plate of bacon over to him in apology. He started to reach for a piece but then dove for me instead.

  I squealed in surprise as he started to tickle me. I had found out last week that I was extremely ticklish, and he had spent the time tormenting me to find my most ticklish spots. I did my best to squirm away from him while laughing hysterically.

  Mason was no help. He just grinned at me and then swiped the plate of bacon from both of us. Jason finally let me up when he realized that Mason taking advantage of his distraction to chow down on the bacon.

  I sat back and sighed when the moment passed, and thoughts of Caleb came back. He would be in the middle of his hearing now, waiting anxiously to see
if Emerys would show up and be able to clear his name. Even if Emerys made it there in time, would the council listen to what he had to say? Would they believe him?

  “Do you think this is going to work?” I asked the twins. “Do you think they will take Emerys word over whatever evidence they have?”

  Mason looked thoughtful. “Austin thinks it will, and he knows the council better than any of us.”

  I nodded. I would have to trust that Austin knew what he was doing.

  “Do you guys want to go work out?” I asked them. “I really need some physical exercise to work through all of these emotions and I know Austin would not want us going for a run in the forest.”

  “Yeah.” Jason said. He reached out and gave my bicep a squeeze. “We need to get you working on your upper body strength if you want to learn how to fight.”

  I looked at him in surprise.

  “We heard about that.” Mason added with a grin. “I really want to see you surprise James and take him down at least once.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I really doubt that will ever happen.”

  “We’ll see,” Jason said with a smile. “Go get changed and we’ll meet you in the gym”.

  I bounced up out of my seat and headed for the door. The puppies started to run after me, but Jason called them back to him. I smiled as I walked inside. Jason was so good to them. Really, all of the guys have been good with them. I had expected them to be annoyed by having two little pups around, but it didn’t seem like any of the guys really minded. I think that Caleb and the twins actually enjoyed having them around.

  My heart gave a twinge as I thought of Caleb, but I quickly changed and headed to the gym. A good workout would help me relax, and by the time we were done Caleb should be on his way home.

  I was halfway down the hall when I heard Reagan. “Anna! There you are.”

  I groaned but pasted a smile on my face by the time I turned to face her.

  “Good morning, Reagan.” I said brightly.

  She smiled at me. “I decided to stay until Austin cleaned up that mess with your pack.” She waved a hand to me. “After all, it’s clear that you need me here.”

  My smiled slipped a little. While I was glad that I hadn’t hurt her feelings last night, I was a little disappointed that she had decided to stay. Her presence seemed to stress the guys out, and there was already enough for them to worry about.

  “Austin should be back later today.” I told her.

  “Oh, you never know with the boys and their council meetings.” She said airily. “Kaitlyn should be here soon, let one of your wolves know to bring her up here to your room.”

  I blinked in confusion. Kaitlyn must be the stylist she mentioned yesterday. I thought that was off the table after she decided she wanted to leave?

  “Umm” I said awkwardly. “I don’t have a pack bond with the other guys yet.”

  It was her turn to look surprised. She tilted her head and got a glint in her eye. “I thought Austin was determined to keep you here?”

  “Yes, but with everything going on-“

  “That’s fine.” She interrupted. “Just call them then.”

  I already had my phone on me so that I could listen to my music when working out so I texted Mason. He would be able to let the wolf on guard duty at the gate know to let Kaitlyn in. Mason just texted me back a sad face.

  I followed Reagan back to my room sadly as she chattered about clothes. This was the last thing that I wanted to be doing right now. I really needed a good run to work through all of my thoughts and emotions. But I couldn’t complain, because she was helping me with something I needed to do.

  I tried to keep a polite smile on my face while Reagan talked at me. Luckily, it didn’t look like she expected me to have much of an option on the clothing she was talking about.

  Chapter 11

  Cody

  The longer these proceedings carried on, the more I was sure that Austin’s father had something to do with this. Sure, he played the role of impartial council member and concerned father well, but I watched his eyes. Every time a piece of ‘evidence’ came up that looked bad for Caleb and our pack, Austin looked more frustrated and his father would get a small light in his eyes.

  I think the fucker was enjoying watching Austin squirm. I looked over at Austin. He was a smart guy, but I think most us want to believe the best of our loved ones. I wondered if he was seeing the same thing that I was?

  Pack and family were everything to Austin. It would kill him to know that his father had set up one of his pack mates and came after our pack. Aus already had to deal with an asshole of a brother and a superficial socialite for a mother, what would it do to him to realize that his father wanted him to fail?

  I think part of the reason why Austin worked so hard to make this pack a success was to prove himself to his father, although he would never admit that. He had grown up as the ‘spare’ son and was kept mostly in case anything was to happen to his brother. Once his brother reached adulthood, Justin had made certain that there was no place for Austin in the pack.

  Austin had gotten out of the military determined to build the family and the pack that he had always wanted. It meant everything to him when his father supported him and helped get him council approval for his new pack.

  I suspected that the reason why Austin’s father had changed his opinion of Austin’s pack was because Aus was quickly becoming an influential member of our community. We had Austin to thank for our close alliance with the lamia and our pack was a strong military force. If we kept growing at this pace we would soon rival the council’s own enforcers.

  “I think that was everything we had.” Mr. Zilker said with regretful tone in his voice but a smug look in his eyes. “The council is going to step out to deliberate-“

  There was the sound of commotion at the door and everyone turned their attention that way. Mr. Zilker scowled at the interruption.

  “See what that’s about!” he waved a hand at one of the council enforcers standing on that side of the room. The enforcer opened the door and I saw a flash of blue hair in the doorway.

  I smiled to myself. Emerys had come through for us.

  The enforcer spoke with whomever was out there and walked back to Mr. Zilker to murmur quietly to him.

  Austin interrupted their side bar. “I believe that is our rebuttal evidence at the door.”

  Mr. Zilker’s scowl deepened. “They might be our allies, but they are not wolves. This is none of their business.”

  “Emerys works closely with Caleb on almost all of the projects that we do for them. I think we owe it to him to listen to what he has to say.” Austin argued.

  Mr. Reed chimed in with a sigh. “Just let him in so we can get this over with. Their expertise in technology is one of the reasons why we have this alliance to begin with.” Two of the other council members agreed and Mr. Zilker was overruled.

  Two of the enforcers escorted Emerys into the room and he gave Caleb a nod before sitting down at the table.

  “May I address the council?” he asked politely. Several of them gave nods so he continued. “I examined the evidence that this council has provided to accuse Caleb of espionage and I have to say that it is complete bullshit.”

  I did my best to hold in my snort. Trust Emerys to be blunt.

  Emerys outlined his investigation and what he had found, but honestly, most of it went completely over my head. I think the council felt the same way because almost all of them had their eyes glazed over before Emerys finished. I started to pay attention again as he was winding down.

  “In conclusion, I was able to track the source of the spyware to here, in council headquarters.”

  There were dropped jaws all around. I wanted to stand up and fist pump, that’s what happened when you tried to mess with the Seaside Pack.

  Mr. Zilker stuttered, “He must have just made it look that way.”

  Emerys grinned at him. “Not unless he was here on the premises for extended periods o
f time over the last few months. I think his pack can corroborate his whereabouts for that time.”

  “I would be more than happy to examine the equipment here on the premises in order to trace back to the real spy.”

  Mr. Reed snorted. “Access to the council member’s private computers? I think not.” All of the other council members murmured in agreement.

  Mr. Zilker seemed to recover from his shock at having all of the accusations against Caleb disproved. “We thank you for bringing this information to our attention and we will be looking further into it. But we just have your word that Caleb wasn’t the one who did it.”

  Emerys rolled his eyes. “The only ‘evidence’ you have to show it was Caleb is that he is the only wolf intelligent enough to pull something like this off. And if I’m a liar that can’t be trusted to testify in a trial, then I’m a liar who can’t be trusted to make your fake identities and cover up your messes.”

  Mr. Reed narrowed his eyes. “He is the only wolf we know who could do it. It didn’t help that his pack had reason to put him up to it. But now that new evidence has been brought to light, we will be looking at everyone in this organization.”

  “I hope so,” Emerys told him. “Our alliance isn’t worth much if your organization is full of traitors.” He started to stand and then added as an afterthought, “No offense.”

  I could see quite a few red faces on council members and I did my best to hide my smirk. Austin clapped Emerys on the shoulder and Caleb reached out to shake his hand.

  “Thanks, dude.”

  Emerys smiled at him. “No worries, wish we would have finally met in person under better circumstances.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mr. Zilker heading for the door, it didn’t surprise me that he was turning tail and running away.

  “Excuse me for a moment. I want to have a word with my father.” Austin murmured quietly.

  I made a move to follow him, but he held up a hand with a sad smile. “Thanks, Cody. But I need to do this alone.”