Shit, he brings up a really good point... “Heh, I’ve asked him, many times. He always deflects or straight up tells me it’s none of my concern. He’s quick to turn the tables, and says I need to stay focused on my place in power, to leave the trivial things to him. He likes to remind me I’m not Alpha to the pack quite yet. What I don’t understand is why my dad backs him up when I bring up Silas to him.” Marcus’ voice drips with disdain.
“The only way we’ll find out is to investigate what’s going on when we get to his castle. I don’t look forward to his reaction when we don’t show up with the feral, and I’m willing to wager the bear shifter won’t be coming with us either. Remember the last time one of the ferals escaped our capture? He went ballistic.” I shiver with the thoughts of how he overreacted. He almost came across as unhinged. A crazy Silas is a Silas I hope to never encounter.
Derrick reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone. I don’t wonder for long what he’s up to, because the sound of Alex’s phone ringing sounds throughout the hall. Alex glances up from his phone and narrows his eyes on Derrick. “Any particular reason you’re calling me while sitting just feet away?”
Mischief dances in Derrick’s eyes. “Just wanted to see if you were going to join the conversation at all, or if you were too immersed in tech land.”
Rolling his eyes, Alex focuses back on his phone. “I’ve been following along; shifters we failed to catch and even some we did are here, Silas being mad blah blah. Not much for me to respond to.” He waves his hand toward us in a nonchalant way.
Derrick taps at his phone again, and the ringing picks up once more on Alex’s phone. “Dude! What do you want?” Alex growls, glaring up with aggravation at having to swipe away the notification for another phone call.
“My bad. Must’ve butt dialed you. So sorry to interrupt your important work!” Derrick still has the twinkle in his eyes of being up to no good.
My pacing doesn’t seem to be getting any of my energy out, and only seems to be more of a distraction than anything else. Leaning against the wall with my hands in my pockets, I glance at the other guys. “It seems like we can no longer just brush off what Silas has been doing with the shifters we’ve been bringing him. It’s obvious our girl is able to help them out in some way. We can’t just let him continue holding them prisoner if she can coach them through shifting back to human form. And it’s possible she has an answer to why some people are shifting into other animals.”
“Dude, don’t you remember? We can shift into more than just wolves. We can choose any animal we want. I’m willing to bet those people we’ve captured who shift into other animals, just have a stronger affinity to that animal versus most of us who choose to go with a wolf form. Nothing wrong with the animal they’ve chosen. If I recall correctly, Cecily was rather fond of shifting into a fox.
“But you’re right, we do need to find out what Silas has been doing with the people we’ve brought him. It’s not right to let them suffer being stuck in wolf form for longer than they already have been. And then, there are those who’ve been persecuted for being different and locked up for it. Just because he has a following of people who can’t understand someone who’s different, doesn’t mean we should lock them up. I know we’ve all been against it from the start, but it’s even worse now remembering the truth.” Marcus peers back into the room where Cecily is still helping the shifters get comfortable, wanting to reassure himself of her safety.
Derrick reaches for his phone again, and when Alex’s device starts to ring, it’s clear Derrick hasn’t given up his quest of fucking with Alex. Not sure how much longer Alex will put up with it, though. “Derrick, is there some reason why you want my attention, or are you just being your usual dick self?” Yep, Alex is getting to the end of his patience with Derrick.
“Alex, I just want to feel like you’re here with us, instead of always having your nose in your phone or computer,” Derrick coos.
With a scoff, Alex rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay. And if you had a book in your hand, your nose wouldn’t be pressed up inside it? Hypocritical much?” Before he even finishes his statement, Derrick is calling him again. Seconds later, Alex’s wolf form has Derrick’s phone in his jaws, letting out a growl.
“Dude, no! You’re going to scratch my screen. I’m done, I’m done. Okay?” Derrick’s smirk is no longer on his face, seeing as his personal property has been brought into his fun and games.
“A scratch would serve you right.”We hear in our minds as Alex walks back over to his spot, where he left his phone. He drops Derrick’s phone onto the ground next to his own, before shifting back into human form.
“Promise I’m done, Alex! Can I have my phone back? I want to check my messages.” Derrick holds his hand out, waving his fingers to get his phone back.
“Nah, I don’t think so. You need to learn your lesson, otherwise you’ll never decide to grow up. Plus, everyone who would message you is here. I’m not falling for your excuses.” Alex picks up his own phone and scrolls through what he was looking at, before being distracted.
“Ouch! I have other people who care about me besides you guys! Rude much?” Derrick complains, but doesn’t push it, knowing he took his game past Alex’s tolerance.
“Aside from Derrick’s rude interruptions, I’ve been working on hacking into Silas’ network at his castle. He has a solid firewall, and heavy encryptions blocking me out. It’s going to take me some time to break through them. I’ve always assumed he never really cared about having strong security around his network, since he never asked me to work on it. Now seeing as it’s exactly the opposite, and his firewalls are putting up such a resistance to me, I’m wondering what he’s hiding.” That’s the thing about Alex, he may seem like he’s ignoring the world around him, but really he’s working on getting answers to the questions on hand.
Finally, Derrick decides to add value to the conversation around him, instead of getting his jollies off on fucking with one of us. “How have we just ignored Silas and what he’s up to for so long? It’s become glaringly obvious he’s up to some shady shit, if he’s blowing off Marcus’ inquiries, and has a firewall giving Alex trouble. What do you guys think it could be?”
Before any of us can answer him, Cecily walks through the doorway, causing all of us to scramble to give her our attention. She gives us a smile, her eyes sparkling like a weight has been lifted from her. “I’m exhausted, but man has it felt good being able to help my people again.”
Marcus takes a step toward her, but hesitates at the last second, doubting himself and not wanting to crumble the fragile truce they have built. Derrick takes advantage of it and swoops in, putting an arm around her lower back. “Let’s all go to our own room so we can relax for the night, regroup, and plan out what we’re going to do about finding the bear shifter tomorrow,” Derrick tosses his suggestion.
She gives him another smile and nods. “That sounds like a great plan.”
Alex perks up. “I call dibs on cuddling tonight. Let me press my body up against you, Angel, I know you’ll enjoy it.” She tries not to pay any attention to him, but there is no mistaking the blush appearing on her cheeks.
Cecily and Derrick lead us up a grand staircase, located in the middle of the castle. As we walk, she illuminates our surroundings with orbs of light. There are a lot of windows in the castle as well, letting in light from the moon and stars outside. I barely remember what the castle was like when I was a kid, but I know it didn’t look like this. There’s a haunted feel to it with nothing in it. I can’t wait to see what changes she makes, once there’s time to come back and set up a life here. We haven’t talked about it, but I have no doubts that’s what’s going to happen.
We finally arrive in a room on the top floor, and we get to work spreading out bedrolls to sleep on tonight. The shifters insisted on us sharing a meal with them, which was quickly put together due to all the teamwork they rallied together. Deer meat, and salads made up of plants forged in the surrounding woods. Simple but delicious, hitting the spot and doing its job.
As we set up the bedrolls, Cecily starts a crackling fire in the fireplace. When she’s done, she turns back to us. “It doesn’t give off any heat, but I thought it would be nice for ambiance. It’s so cold and lonely in the castle with nothing in it.” As weird as it is for me, I’m sure it’s a huge shock for her seeing it so barren. Glancing around the room, she rubs her lip with one finger. “Maybe I should do some renovations to the room. It’s set up for me and one mate, but with the four of you, I’m sure you would like your own spaces. Constantly being on top of each other can’t be healthy in the long term.”
Not one to waste an opportunity like this, Alex jumps in with a quick reply, “I’ll be happy to spend all my time constantly on top of you. We can mix it up for me to be under, behind, or in front of you if you want. It won’t be any imposition though.” So incorrigible. Cecily laughs his comment off, probably unsure of how to respond to what he said.
“Not to sound like a broken record with handing out plans, but we need to leave first thing in the morning to find the bear shifter. I’m confident the feral wolf we were searching for ended up here and there’s no reason to bring a human with us to Silas. The mission he sent us out for is nullified where the wolf is concerned.
“The bear, though, is still in danger the longer she’s out there. I know Alex has been monitoring the situation to make sure panic doesn’t spread on the internet, but it doesn’t cover the people who were there for the incident. Not like we can wipe their memory and magically make her safe.” Marcus rubs a hand over his head. It’s odd seeing him uncomfortable in a situation, when he’s usually so confident while giving us instructions and coming up with the plans. Cecily sure has thrown him completely off his axes.
