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There wasn’t even a deliberation needed. The council voted for their death within seconds. They took custody of the three alphas and were planning to take them back to their pack for execution and to figure out what to do with the rest of the pack which now had no alpha. The council asked Zi if she wanted to be present for the execution, but she shook her head. I thought she changed her mind when she stopped us from exiting the conference room, but instead, she walked over to Anthony and kicked him right in the balls before punching him in the face as he went down.
“Fuck you. You tried to break me, but who’s broken now, asshole,” Zi spat at him before turning around and coming back to shake the hands of the council calmly as if nothing had happened. I was thoroughly impressed with our new gamma female, and James looked like the proudest motherfucker in the world. Evie was the only one unable to hide the grin on her face, and she high-fived Zi as her best friend walked back to our group.
“I’ll get these guys back to the dungeons, and how about lunch before you leave?” I asked, pretending not to hear the grunts of pain coming from Anthony on the floor, the silver cuffs not allowing his wolf to heal the pain quickly.
We walked the council members to the dining room to find the entire family still waiting for us with Molly. Everyone expelled a sigh of relief when Zi gave them the verdict, happy that she was finally free to live her life without any fear. This was closure for her and a clean beginning for the newly mated couple.
I sent a few extra guards with the council at Dad’s urging when they left with all three men. He grumbled something about how the last time the council had taken more than one prisoner with them, two managed to escape and caused a whole list of problems between him and Mom. I humored him because he had one of those looks that said whatever happened had scared the shit out of him, and Dad didn’t scare easily. Only when Mom was in trouble did anyone see that haunted look appear in his eyes.
The evening was quiet after the council left. Everyone helped Zi and James move her clothes and any furniture that Molly needed. Not that I didn’t catch James already looking online to buy new shit for her. We sent whatever wasn’t destroyed by the fight in the living room and kitchen to the storage unit we keep for members needing second-hand furniture. We had the door and drywall repaired, the floors replaced and the house ready for a new family by the end of the week.
As everyone settled into their roles, we found Meli and Zi getting along great and were helping Evie out with some of the more time-consuming tasks while she continued to work full-time at the lab on top of her luna duties. Zi was better at working half days at the lab because it allowed her to spend more time with Molly before she was due to start school. Zi kept trying to convince Evie to alternate the days they were at the lab so the employees were properly supervised, but Evie was still trying to do both at the same time. Her projects were pushing forward quickly thanks to her new gift, and she was assigning some people to verify her work and testing before she wanted to present them to the board.
I found myself having to drag my mate out of her luna office or the lab each evening because she was on a mission to be as productive as possible. It was hard work, taking care of my mate, but I was learning all the ways I could entice her to stop working. Fun, sexy ways full of rewards and punishments. We’d done some research together and now had a box of toys on the way to a PO box in town. No fucking way was I chancing James or Jo getting their hands on it. They would likely go through it and take our shit. They could do their own damn research. I was not about to start comparing ideas for the bedroom.
Life was quiet for the two weeks after the ceremony. Evie had two dedicated employees she trusted listening to the recordings from Tezcatlipoca’s headquarters in Vegas for any information that may be important, but so far, it felt like it was your run-of-the-mill business. In a way, it made sense to have a legitimate source of income to fund all your illegal ones. We weren’t ready to give up on it yet, so for the time being, the two employees divided their time between that and their regular duties. Adrien, Meli, Zi, and Jo were all still going through the files Evie had taken from their hard drive, but it looked like the Vegas was going to be a bust.
Not a complete bust. There’s that night at the club, Tenoch reminded me dreamily in the middle of a meeting with Uncle Helios, Uncle Lalo, Jo, Evergreen and Davidas we discussed the security measures we wanted in place for the next full moon ceremony. It was the first one that would take place in Blue Moon’s territory after the attack, and while I was confident in the work Evergreen did, there were a few holes in it as we waited for pieces that were still on backorder due to a shortage of processor chips.
Not helpful, giving me a boner in the middle of a meeting, I sighed as I tried to adjust myself discretely and make my body behave.
“So if we borrow a few of your sensors, we should be okay?” David’s worried voice came through the speakers.
“In theory. It should give us as much warning as possible and keep lives out of danger. We’ll optimize what we have here and at Guardian Moon. I know Evergreen has an overlap of sensors in some of the perimeter areas that have been a problem before for rogues. We can reduce that so we have enough equipment to hold you over until we get the new stuff,” I explained.
“I don’t want to leave your packs vulnerable. That defeats the purpose,” David argued.
“You won’t,” Evergreen answered. “I’m spreading out the sensors but adding more video cameras. Cory and Helios have already approved the funding for a couple of extra employees to mind the additional cameras until we get the necessary equipment. We’ll be just as protected as ever.”
“Okay. I’ll have Eddie reach out to you so you can teach him how to use it all and schedule when you’re bringing everything out our way,” David finally agreed.
“Got it. I’ll be on the lookout for his email or call. I should have the review of the security measures done with Adrien by the end of the week. Give me about ten days to do that and replace the equipment, and then I’m pretty open to head over your way,” Evergreen said, looking at his schedule.
“Thanks, Mr. Roswell.”
“Keeping the packs safe is nothing to thank for, son. It’s everyone’s duty.” The full moon coming up on Blue Moon grounds had everyone reflecting lately. The wounds were still too fresh. Areli would be taking her place officially as luna, having spent the last three months learning from Aunt Kelly.
We ended the meeting, and I walked toward the front doors. It was time to get my mate home. It was Friday, and I was looking forward to having a full weekend of having my mate’s undivided attention. I stopped in the living room of the pack house, thought, when I saw who was in there.
“Tori! I didn’t know you were back. How’s it going?” I asked. Tori stood and came to hug me before plopping back down on the couch she was sharing with Violet and...
“Dani? Is that you? When did you get back home?” I asked when James’ sister, Danielle, stood up and hugged me, too.
“Just for the day. I couldn’t miss Tori before she went off to school again. It’s only a couple hours’ drive,” she said, blushing.
“Maybe, but didn’t you run off to get married or something?” I teased, making her roll her eyes.
“It’s law school, Cory, not marriage.”
“It sure costs about the same,” James came out of the kitchen with a container of strawberries. I grinned.
“Time to pick up, Molly?” I asked.
“You bet! We’re grabbing Zi after, and I’m taking my girls to dinner. You know Molly gets cranky if she doesn’t have a snack.”
“I can’t believe I’ve been gone for four months, and you have a four-year-old,” Dani complained, but there was a yearning in her voice that told me she might not wait until she passed the bar to look for her mate.
“She’s so cute, too!” Tori said. “I met her yesterday when I got home.”
