As we make our way through the halls, my men keep a close formation around me. They field any attempts of those trying to gain my attention, allowing me to retreat within myself and garner peace from my solitude.
Alex has his nose in a tablet, trying to track any and all movements Silas makes using his devices. He follows behind me, keeping an eye on my back so he doesn’t run into anything while his attention is mostly diverted to his work.
When we reach the recently constructed barracks, Marcus and William combine efforts with my father to get the soldiers ready for marching out. An arm wraps around me as we wait, but I don’t notice who it belongs to. I soak up the comforting gesture with gratitude.
Klaus and Derrick flank my sides, keeping up a spell to discourage anyone from approaching us. Before long, we shift and march to the location my twins picked out for tonight’s camp. We keep up a moderate pace, leading the long line of those following us into battle.
My thoughts are a dark storm, like a cyclone, running through every little detail I’ve ever learned which could be of use to me now. Every lesson my parents ever gave me regarding battles, formations, leading others, defensive spells. Then there’s the more recent lessons with my mates and combining our powers, and more importantly, harnessing control over the Queen’s Thistle vine. As I run through all this information, I try to compare it against what I know about Silas. Every little detail, from every single interaction I’ve ever had with him, runs through my mind on repeat.
Each step I take is a step closer to the end. What that finish line will look like is a mystery, but I have hopes and dreams of what it could be. So many, that I have to concentrate on pushing them to the back of my thoughts lest they cloud my judgment in a critical moment.
“Cecily, sweetheart. I’ve been thinking. Due to distractions as of late, I haven’t pulled any good pranks on the others. Would you like to join me in having some fun?”Derrick’s voice enters my thoughts through the bond. I blink the world back into focus and wonder exactly how long we’ve been marching.
I glance around, taking in my surroundings. There’s a burning in my haunches, bringing my attention to the steep incline we’re traversing. The trees are sparse, due to the rocky terrain, allowing me to see into the distance. A deep, burned orange greets me on the skyline, causing me to stumble with shock. Derrick’s head swings over, pressing into my side to steady me.
Klaus runs his gaze over my form, concern shining from his eyes. Apparently, I’m not the only one surprised with how absent I’ve been this whole time. We’ve clearly been traveling the whole day, and I was introspective the entire time, completely lost within myself. I’m so thankful my mates instinctively knew I needed this time and provided me protection until I was ready to focus on my surroundings once more.
I’m also thankful Derrick’s comment pulled me out of my depths. I spent enough time drowning in my thoughts. I nuzzle his face with the thought and lick his cheek.“I absolutely want in on some pranking fun!”I finally respond. His wolfish grin shines back at me and we get to work plotting how to get the others.
By the time we stop for the night, Derrick and I have a solid plan of how to fuck with the other members of our family. The idea of it alone has my spirits soaring higher than they’ve been all day. With the use of magic, camp is set up in no time. The tents make it appear like we’re glamping. Some of the canvas structures rival the size of small homes. Our enclosure is in the center of the encampment and while Klaus builds us a fire pit, Marcus works on making us a private dinner, separate from the rest of the soldiers who will eat what the camp cook serves.
William strides off in search of my father, to make sure he knows the plan he and Marcus came up with for running patrols. This leaves Alex with time to sit down and dive into his tablet again, searching for any new information that may have come up in the last several hours. Huddled to the side, Derrick and I discreetly discuss the spell we want to use in our prank. We lean against a log by the fire, enjoying the heat it gives off, chasing away the chill in the air.
We aren’t quite high enough on the mountain for there to be snow on the ground, but I wouldn’t be surprised if temps drop low enough for there to be frost when we wake up. We didn’t want to be too close to where Silas is holed up, so we stopped with an hour left to hike in the morning. The sizzle and pop of the fire offers a soothing calm, and the smell of roasting meat sets off my stomach.
By the time dinner is ready, all of my mates are sitting around the fire. It feels like we have complete privacy here. The tents surrounding us are facing away, providing a wall blocking off any view of the soldiers around us. The soundproof bubble we put up helps too.
I can almost pretend it’s any other night, just my mates and I spending some time under the shining stars. As we eat, Derrick kicks off our plan. “So we never really talked about when you guys met our woman when she was a kid. Did you have many adventures together?” He knows the answer since I told him as we planned this out, but he’s convincing as he says it.
Marcus smirks remembering how it was the first thing he recalled when his memories came back. William perks up, leaning toward us as if he can hear better for being that much closer. “Oh! I’d love to hear stories from when Cecily was young.” His excitement is clear. I love how he always clenches on to any opportunity to learn something new about me.
Klaus is the one who answers. “We always had grand plans of tempting the princess to leave her tower to join us, but she was always too busy.” His bottom lip juts out in a fake pout.I never knew that!There were just a few times they caught me watching from a window where one of them would wave me down to join, but he makes it sound like there was more behind those off-hand actions.
“Really?” I ask him, not ready to let it drop.
“Of course we did,” Alex jumps in. “We would come up with plans to rescue you from the evil dragon hoarding you away, but we were never successful. I really wish we were able to though. How great would it have been if we were friends way back then?” He sounds melancholy by the end.
Remembering our plan, I push forward toward our goals. “What games would you have wanted to play?” I ask them.
“Obviously we wanted to rescue the princess from the monsters who stole her away from us. We would have shown our superior skills with our swords,” Marcus offers.
Klaus jumps in next, “We also could have teamed up to play tag. Fuck, why is it so difficult to remember what games we used to play back then?” He looks like he’s staring into the past trying to dig up the memories he can’t grasp at the moment.
“When we were pups and first learning to shift, we used to see who could change into each animal the best,” Alex throws in.
“Oh! That sounds like fun! It feels like I missed out on so much, not having grown up with you guys. By the time I was learning to shift, everyone thought we could only change into wolves. What animals would you shift into?” Derrick may be steering things toward our goal, but he sounds sincere all the same.
“What didn’t we shift into?” Marcus throws out. “Of course we all had our strengths, and weaknesses. And if we fucked up a shift, we wouldn’t let the person live it down. Klaus, remember that time we talked you into shifting into a dolphin, but since we weren’t by any water, you just ended up flopping around gasping for air?” They all laugh at the memory as Derrick and I sit with horrified expressions. Man, boys can be ruthless sometimes.
“I’m almost embarrassed to try shifting into anything other than a wolf at this point,” Derrick declares. Now he’s definitely going off script from what we planned out. “Everyone else learned how to control their shifts at such a young age, and here I am, several centuries-old... you can’t teach an old wolf new tricks. Not to mention if I fuck it up, all of you will never let me live it down. It’ll haunt me for the rest of our lives.”
Will pipes in next, “I’m in almost the same boat as you, man. I was never taught how to use my magic. I had to teach myself everything I know. And even when I thought I wasn’t able to wield magic, my uncle taught me a wolf was the only animal we could shift into. You all know the bullshit he spews on that subject; I don’t need to repeat it. So anyways, I haven’t really learned how to shift into anything else either. We can learn together.” Awww, William is always such a sweetheart when it comes to understanding a lack of knowledge on something. Whenever he isn’t working with the soldiers, he tries to help out with teaching others how to better understand their magic.
Relief crosses over Derrick’s features. He pauses, and I get the impression he’s speaking to William through our bond. After a moment, he finally speaks up to the rest of us, “I’d really like that, thank you. It would probably help to have an example. Marcus, would you mind showing us how to shift into something?”
Marcus’ eyebrows pinch together, creating a deep crevice. Not the cutest expression on him. “Why me?” he grunts.
“Obviously you’d be the best choice since you're identical to William. It will help him to see someone who looks just like him,” Derrick explains. It’s total and complete crap, but it was the best way we came up with having the most success in getting him to participate in our prank.
