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Ha
s to be the cartels. They gain if he moves into power. He’s already made it clear he’ll sacrifice everyone in his pack to do the bidding of the drug lords. Even hearing these words telepathically distressed Mary. She knew the cartels had been involved in Sydon’s attempted takeover. And Sydon had already shown what his ambitions would mean for any pack he tried to engulf.
As Fergus made his descent toward the Gordion Compound, Mary was surprised to see dozens of wolves lined up at the entrance, many levitating.
“They’re welcoming you home. Fergus, are you sure I should even be with you right now? Because this is for you, their alpha.”
He squeezed her waist. “That’s where you’re wrong. Can’t you feel it, the pack’s desire to thank you for all that you’ve done? By now, they know it was you who kept me from receiving a killing portion of the dark spell. This greeting is as much for you as for me. So, embrace it.”
He flew lower toward his people so that soon he was within handshaking distance, even while levitating.
Applause resounded into the warm June night air. Mary’s cheeks warmed up as she saw the appreciation on many of the wolves’ faces. Several reached out and touched her as she moved by. Each time contact was made, she felt a warmth flow through her that was all wolf and very much a pack sensation.
Fergus dropped them slowly down to the stone entrance to walk the rest of the way. More of the pack was lined up to welcome Fergus home.
As soon as she crossed the threshold into the main entrance, like Warren’s compound, she could see through to the back gathering area. Hundreds were assembled for Fergus’s return, maybe the entire pack, starting out front, then ranging along both sides of the massive entry hall, and finally grouped in the large patio area out back.
Harley and his team were in the center of the large foyer where a three-tiered fountain flowed. One of Harley’s team, Ryan, called out, “We have a celebration planned in the communal area. There will be three shifts so we can include everyone. We have champagne on ice and plenty of beer. We’re firing up the barbecues as we speak and two of the Savage packs are sending extra meat over to help us celebrate. And, best of all, Councilor Dean called to let you know the council has approved your default dominance win.”
Another cheer went up, traveling through all the wolves present.
Mary worked hard to avoid eye-contact with Harley and instead focused her attention on Fergus. But the pull was there, a concern Harley was a linchpin for Sydon in some inexplicable way.
She stuck close to Fergus, which wasn’t hard to do since his arm never left her waist. Though, after the first shift was called down to the second level dining area, Harley made sure Fergus was given some time to shower and dress.
Mary went with him to his master bedroom, where she found her flight bag. She suspected Fergus’s wolves, who had provided meatloaf and wine the night before, must have packed up her things from the den and brought them to the compound.
She was about to pick it up, when she realized Fergus had grown very quiet. Reaching out with her fae senses and seeing that he was staring at his bed, she realized he was remembering what Sydon had done here.
Fergus’s wolves, thank God, had already cleaned up the space.
“Even though this is a different bed, I don’t want to be in this room,” he said. “Sydon shot up all three of those women with amber flame.”
Mary knew what it meant to have a flame drug forced into her system. The withdrawal process had required days in order to completely get the highly addictive substance out of her body. And even then, she’d had regular treatments for residual reactions to the drug.
His voice was low as he said, “They’ll need therapy as well.”
She drew close and took his hand. “Do you have another place where we can stay?”
He inclined his head in a northerly direction. “A guest suite just down the hall. We’ll go there now to get cleaned up because I don’t want either of us in this room as it is. I’ll want it gutted before I return.”
She understood completely. She could recall the horror she’d felt when she’d first seen the three female wolves chained to the bed. She remembered Fergus’s order to burn the bed, which she suspected had already been done. But the space felt evil to her as well.
When he gathered up his clothes, and picked up Mary’s flight bag, she left the room with him.
He immediately summoned his housekeeper and issued orders that after he and Mary had used the guest suite to change clothes, he wanted the rest of his belongings moved temporarily to the guest bedroom.
His housekeeper wore a solemn expression as she said, “I’ll put everything in motion right away.”
A half hour later, Mary still wore her jeans, black t-shirt and the thin silver belt, but Fergus had showered and changed into a new set of leathers and a t-shirt bearing the amber logo patch of the Gordion pack. With his arm once more around her waist, he led her to the soundproof communal dining area where the first shift of wolves was howling, noisy and exuberant with celebration. They’d finished their meal, but had waited to greet their alpha before turning the space over to the second shift.
He took her first to the head table where she sat while he made a speech, thanking everyone for their support. Afterward, she watched him do the same thing Warren had done at his compound. Fergus made his way from table-to-table and wolf-to-wolf, making contact with each person in his pack.
Much later and well into the third-shift celebration, Mary was woozy from too much champagne. She sat in the same place, at the head table and had been visited by most all of the Gordion wolves. She was pretty sure it would take a full day of self-healing for her fingers to recover from so much hand-shaking.
How did you know about the spell?
The sound of Sharon’s voice in her head forced Mary to sit up a little straighter and look around.
