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The nights longer.
There was so much to rebuild after the death of Granny. She’d known everything about us. Our plans, how we operated in the club. She’d sent her pack to steal our weapons and kill our men. The serum she’d injected into members of her pack had washed away their scent. Doc Carlson had taken control of the medical bay and lab at the compound. Most of the Elite had abandoned their posts and houses, fleeing for the hills.
We’d find them, and now that we knew why we couldn’t catch a scent, it would be easier to develop some kind of device to detect them. We would find them sooner or later. Granny had left us with quite the mess to pick up after.
Part of me was saddened at the loss of the woman who had raised me with so much love. She’d been the only parent I’d ever known. My own parents had died before I could remember them. Sarah, who would be visiting next week, had been even younger. Granny had been everything to us and Hunter.
It stung to know that the only reason she’d raised us was to hurt Freya. To keep us away from her until the time was right.The woman had been overconfident. She’d been surprised to see that Freya had survived the sacrifice. One look at her journal, and I could understand why. She’d been slowly losing her mind over the years. Without Freya to hold it together, her mind had begun to fracture from all the abuse of the magic.
All magic came at a price.
Then there was the part of Fenrir that lived inside me. The big bad wolf. Freya’s mate. His soul had been fractured in two in order to accommodate the ability to live within a human being. He’d wandered the world for centuries, waiting for the perfect hosts, and then he found us. Two broken souls, just like him.
I was still struggling to juggle between the two lives. It was easier because I’d been born with his soul attached to mine. My body wouldn’t deteriorate over time, because we were one. When my lifespan was done, his soul would move on to the next compatible hosts, and he would seek our mate all over again.
Across the ends of the earth.
Exactly how it should be.
The compound had been freed, and the members of the High Council taken into custody.
For years they had been putting just enough Monkshood in the water supply to be able to manipulate and control the population. The Choosing, which had been going on since the packs inception, hadn’t just been for the purpose of one dayseparating my soul from the human body. It was the reward she gave to members of the High Council and their families. Youth for allowing them to rule.
Fucking sick.
It would be a long road for those wolves who had been manipulated and drugged. Although Granny had been behind the concept of Delta Feed, she hadn’t been the one to start it. We still hadn’t caught Jediah, but we learned from members of the pack, who, once the Monkshood had receded from their bodies, offered up everything they could.
We were still looking into that. When news of the raid had reached some of the members’ ears, they ran. Jediah Banecroft was one of them, but I wasn’t worried. Hunter loved to track his prey. We’d shut down most of the mills using militia ambush techniques.
Which was a fancy way of saying that we blew them all up.
Still, there was someone out there who wanted to create chaos in the shifter community. I’d thought Granny was the mastermind, but her mind had been too fractured at the end for her to run something on that scale. I still wasn’t sure of their motives. I’d been asleep for centuries, and the new world was far bigger than it once was.
Sighing, I set the papers on the desk and ran a frustrated hand through my hair. Since I had awoken from my forced slumber, shifters were popping up like daisies. Infertile females were suddenly becoming pregnant, many were finding their mates, and new packs were being formed every day.
It was a struggle to maintain the distance I needed, and the sudden burst was draining. I’d been trapped for so long that now my magic was bleeding out of me like lava from a volcano.
“What the hell are you still doing in here?” Mariah walked herself straight into my office and planted her hands on her hips. “You were supposed to be downstairs fifteen minutes ago.”Brave little beta. Since that fateful day, the two of us had bonded. She really wasn’t that bad. I’d given her a job as my personal assistant. It paid better than being a club girl…which paid nothing.
I’d tried to advocate for wages, but Hunter and Wolf weren’t having it. Apparently, they got other perks. As long as my mates weren’t involved with that, I couldn’t care less. It was their club, and I was just their old lady.
What a weird term for a mate.
However, I was old…sort of.
Older than them in human years, anyway. Mariah called it being a cougar. Whatever that meant.
“I’m going,” I huffed, picking up my overnight bag from under the desk. The boys were taking me on an adventure. I followed her out of the office and down the front steps to the living room, where everyone waited.
It was good to see every one of their brothers in one piece. While we’d been in the mine, their club allies had stormed the castle where the High Council had been holding their brothers. Doc was the only one who hadn’t made it, but the moment I’d been lured into that cave, I knew he was dead. Damien had slipped up when he saidshe. The bitch had stolen Carlson’s body. Fenrir was still searching for the man’s soul, but in a world full of misplaced souls, it would take a while. Meanwhile, they were set on trying to find new homes for the souls that had been lost due to the actions of Lizzie and her brother.
“Are you ready to go, Red?” Hunter approached me, enveloping me in a warm hug. We hadn’t had much time to spend together. Not with how busy we had been.
“Yes.” I nodded enthusiastically. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
He shook his head. We left to a chorus of goodbyes.
“Here.” He handed me my helmet before he slung his leg over his motorcycle.
