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I started getting things ready for some biscuits and croissants and was in the middle of adding the first layer of butter when James walked in. He didn’t say anything, he simply went into the fridge, grabbed a bunch of vegetables and proteins and started chopping. Jo and Mel showed up a few minutes later, grabbing fruit and beginning to cut and mix.
I didn’t stop until Evie and Zi showed up with Molly hanging off Zi’s hip. Evie was dressed while Zi and Molly were in their pajamas. Zi grabbed bananas from Jo and set Molly up to cut with a plastic knife. Evie took the biscuit dough and started cutting them and dumping them in the oven, while Zi cracked and scrambled eggs with whatever James gave her.
No one spoke —there was no need to. We all knew what was at stake and what could happen in a few short hours. We worked comfortably together with the occasional babble from Molly. By the time everyone began gathering, we were only waiting for the last batch of croissants to come out of the oven so we could assemble them into breakfast sandwiches.
Mom walked into the kitchen with Dad and looked at all the work we’ve done. She smiled at me and came over to hug me.
“Everyone’s in the dining room waiting for you to talk. I’ll grab Helios and Nat and we can bring in all this wonderful food you all made.” Her eyes glazed over and we started putting everything in the serving trays.
We ate breakfast quickly and quietly together. Only hushed talk between mates. There was uncertainty in some because we’d said nothing to them about where we were going. James got quiet and moody as we started getting up, and I knew he was still unhappy to be left behind. Lucien was also standing at the steps of the pack house, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
‘You know I’m not leaving you because I don’t trust you or your abilities, right?’ I linked them both.
‘Yes, but I’m still not happy,’ Lucien grumbled.
‘Same. I don’t like you putting yourself in danger while I’m sitting in air conditioning waiting for you to tell us it’s done,’ James answered.
‘I need you both here. I trust no one more than you two and Jo with the pack if something happens.’
‘And yet Jo gets to go,’ James grumbled.
‘Jo needs to go. They killed Tyler and he wasn’t there to help. We both know he’s still beating himself up about having stayed behind that night. He couldn’t leave to help or fight. I kept him here to make sure there was no follow-up attack,’ I told him and they both sighed in my head.
‘I understand. Just let me be grumpy until you’re all back and safe,’ James whined.
“Don’t be too grumpy. You’ll be in good company,” I answered out loud now, pointing him to where Zi and Molly were talking to Evie.
A few hours later, we were getting into rental buses after the short flight. A few blocks from the office, we stopped and went over the plan with everyone. There were only a few questions once we told them who these people were. These were our most trusted warriors. They had all been through hell and back with all of us.
We arrived and filed out as out of sight as we could. Thanks to Evie and Evergreen, we had access to the building without having to break down doors. We ran up to the top floors, split as instructed and waited for the go-ahead from Aunt Nat. Aside from having healing powers, she could mind-link with anyone she had a personal connection to, whether they were part of the pack or not. It was a white wolf gift and it came in handy. We needed to attack all at once so we didn’t risk any of the groups.
‘Go now.’ Her mind-link came in. I pushed the door open and we rushed in. Everything happened at once. There were about twenty-five people on the top floor. I kept Evie close behind me as I fought while the rest took care of anyone trying to fight or flee. Most of these people were humans and surrendered quickly. We were prepared for this, having told everyone to use non-lethal action on humans unless they resorted to violence. We did encounter a few people that smelled like Uncle Helios’ pack, though, and they didn’t want to go quietly. Two died, trying to fight, but we managed to knock one out before he could try anything.
‘There are more people here that smell like Uncle.’
‘Keep them alive if you can. They should have more information than the humans,’ Aunt Nat said and I relayed the message to all of my people.
When we had them all subdued, or dead, I led Evie to the main office. I needed her to grab the hard drive or anything else she thought would be important. The office was empty, but there were indications that there had been someone here recently.
‘Check the staircase. Make sure no one escapes,’ I instructed a few of my warriors. Evie started working right away while I made sure everyone was doing well from the door of the office. Dad started leading the warriors with the people we were taking with us down to the bus.
‘We’re on our way down with the first set of computers. Did you find the main office?’ Evergreen mind-linked.
‘Yes. Evie’s working on the mainframe to make sure we have access to everything that may not be stored locally,’ I informed him.
‘Atta girl. We’ll get more out of that if she can hack before they know we’re here. Rhett wants to know if you need any backup. They were mostly human down here so there wasn’t much to do. They’re already being transported down to the buses.’
‘We’re good. We’ve got a couple more of Uncle’s old warriors. Hopefully, we get something good out of them.’
‘Okay. We’ll see you back down,’ he said and ended the mind-link.
I talked to Aunt Nat to make sure everyone was okay, then I turned back to Evie and the room.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“Good. I’m in,” she answered and continued working. I wanted to chuckle. She had the cutest look on her face —her nose was scrunched up, she was biting her lower lip and her eyes were moving back and forth on both computer screens rapidly.
I looked around the room, trying to let her work in peace. It was sparse with not much in the way of decorations or furniture other than a bookshelf with encyclopedias. Only one of the shelves had anything other than books on it. I approached to take a closer look. There was a small paperweight on the side. The material was a blue cobalt and it was in the shape of a cat. No, not a cat, it was a jaguar. There were a bunch of other small trinkets. Some clearly old and with Aztec symbols on them, but it was the picture behind the jaguar that caught my attention. I looked at it closely and frowned.
