Chapter 10: Everett

Chapter 10: Everett

A day should have been enough time for Aislin to get her injury taken care of. She had plenty of options: going to see a doctor, even going to a hospital if she didn’t want to see Muriel, which would have been the easiest and fastest option. And yet when I woke on Sunday morning, I was discouraged to find that terrible pressure crushing my chest, warning that Aislin still hadn’t gotten herself taken care of.

I had to do something about this.

A mass text went out to the nineteen members of my pack. ‘Meeting tonight, 6 p.m., my place.’

She lingered on my mind all day, as much as I wished I could have thought about anything else. Aislin had set herself on the path of self-destruction and I couldn’t understand why, especially when her pack was already in so much danger. The feelings she inspired were an infuriating mix of confusion, worry, and annoyance, all three of which would have pushed me to reach out under normal circumstances. I could have texted her, but it would have been futile. She would only snap back at me and dismiss my concerns.

Intending to share my plan with Sebastian, I summoned him to the house first. He received my idea with reluctance, but ultimately, he was willing to see it through.

Ten of my packmates filtered in through my front door that evening. Most notably were Taylor and his girlfriend Bree, and my mom, Lyssa, a widow since the death of my father nearly ten years ago. We all sat in my living room, a wide room with ample floor space surrounding a grey sectional couch and my flat screen television mounted on the wall. I liked to keep my living space clean and open, my only adornments being two ferns in white pots, the remainder of my white walls and grey stone floor left barren. While some of my packmates got comfortable on the couch, Sebastian hovered nearby and I stood before everyone, my arms folded across my chest. I could feel their curious eyes scouring my bandaged wounds, but they were aware of my encounter with the Inkscales. They’d been informed of that yesterday already.

“This may come as a shock to all of you,” I began slowly, “but I experienced a Moondream on Friday morning in which my fated mate was revealed. Some of you may be familiar with her… it’s Aislin Mundy of Grandbay.”

The collective surprise and excitement of my packmates was palpable, as if this was a blessing in the midst of the chaos. My solemn expression insisted otherwise, and they were quick to turn silent, realizing that there was no celebration surrounding the news.

“I don’t intend to take her as my mate. As you all know, I value the discipline and integrity of our pack too highly to allow somebody with an affinity for irresponsibility to influence my leadership. As control over my wolf has always been a non-issue, I will remain unmarked and Aislin will not be involved in Eastpeak or the Mythguard.”

My mother spoke up, prim and expectant. “Have you spoken with Aislin already?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Does she agree with your decision?”

I prickled at this slightest hint of criticism. “We are of the same opinion that our fated mate bond is misplaced.”

No emotion crossed my mother whether in expression or body posture. I suppose I had learned that from her, the way she sat up straight with her hands neatly on her lap, her blond hair perfectly styled in loose coils, a white blouse, and dark grey slacks smooth enough to look fresh from the drycleaner’s. Despite appearing unaffected by this news, the long look she gave me spoke heavily of her judgment. I suppose she’d been hoping for something more constructive than immediate rejection on my end.

“However, our mate bond has already proven to be an interference in both of our daily lives. Neither of us are equipped to handle the physical consequences of our telepathic connection. Aislin in particular has received a grievous wound that she refuses to treat and it prevents me from operating at my full potential as I’m accustomed to—and, I suspect, as most of you depend on me to. With this information in mind, Sebastian and I have collaborated on a solution that should see not only Aislin’s wound treated, but the danger posed by Grandbay keeping the unicorn resolved as well. I ask that you bear with us in light of this unorthodox approach,” I relayed to my packmates. They followed along, nodding, hungry for this solution of ours. “Sebastian and I will seek the most immediate opportunity to extract Aislin and Muriel Vale from Grandbay.”

I expected not all of my packmates would approve of this idea. The wolves of Eastpeak were hardly the type to go out and make trouble. They exchanged glances and murmurs, clearly none too keen on what seemed like an overt act of aggression to Grandbay, who was already on edge.

“Don’t you think this will damage our alliance with Grandbay even more?” asked someone.

“I know for a fact it will, but we are prepared to take that risk,” I said.

“That’s going to endanger Grandbay worse if Dalesbloom attacks without realizing the unicorn is gone,” said somebody else. “Not to mention, we’d be removing one of their warriors from the front line.”

“We won’t be keeping Aislin. She’ll be in our custody long enough to have her injuries healed, then she’ll be sent back. I trust that they’ll continue with their own plan of replacing the leadership of the Hexens even without Muriel.”

“You really think Gavin’s just going to be okay with this?”

“It will likely deepen the rift between Eastpeak and Grandbay, but I’m unwilling to leave Muriel vulnerable in Grandbay territory knowing that David intends to strike with full force. I’m confident that extracting Muriel and replacing the Hexens will return peace to our packs. Gavin just has to accept that the only way to resolve this without any more loss of life is to cooperate.”

Now it was my mother speaking up again, regarding me with wizened composure. “And how exactly do you intend to kidnap Aislin and Muriel?”

For years, my mother’s guidance had contributed to my rigid control over Eastpeak. Once the Alpha’s mate, Lyssa March had seen her fair share of conflicts and helped Eastpeak to emerge unharmed. She retired when my father died, and now enjoyed her freedom away from the pack and the lumber mill—but that didn’t seem to stop her from needling me with her judgments any chance she could.

“I know that they rotate Muriel through several locations within Grandbay, one of them being Aislin’s apartment. We’ll pay them a visit during one of those occasions so we can take them both at the same time,” I said.

“How will you know when that is?”

It took all my strength not to sigh. “Taylor and I have been experimenting with surveillance devices. I believe we can use this method to track activity around Aislin’s apartment.”

Lyssa hummed, tolerant of my answer.

I had to field a few more concerns, but otherwise, my packmates entrusted the success of this plan to me. Never before had I failed them, and I didn’t intend to now. Mostly, I felt they were satisfied that it wouldn’t drag any of them into trouble. It occurred to me then how comfortable they had become in my practice of isolating Eastpeak from the other two packs. They didn’t want to interfere, either. Their appearance during the fight between Grandbay and Dalesbloom had been enough action for a long time.

A small, but heavy dread found its way into my chest when I thought of how David planned to eventually turn his wrath onto us. My packmates were aware of it, but I didn’t think they took his threat seriously. They expected me to prevent it from happening, and so they remained blissfully ignorant of just how close to death they might be, content to continue living their lives as if there wasn’t a monster waiting to erupt just beyond our borders.

After everyone left, it was just me, Taylor, and Sebastian in my office, listening to the audio recordings saved on the cloud.

“You know, when this is all over, I think us three should go out for drinks,” said Taylor.

Sebastian leaned back in his chair and snickered. “If we can settle this without anybody else dying, drinks are on me.”

“Deal,” said Taylor. “All we have to do is ship Muriel off and take care of David, and we’re golden.”

“Between you and me, I think it’s for the better that David gets terminated. The Mythguard might oppose inter-shifter termination, but it’ll only deteriorate Dalesbloom’s opinion of the Mythguard if we step in,” said Sebastian.

“So you’d rather we gank David than you guys?”

“Well, I’d prefer nobody died. But since that seems to be our only option, yeah, maybe it’s better for the shifters to deal with it among themselves.”

“Even Lothair?”

Sebastian nodded. “He’d be written off as collateral damage.”

I snorted from where I sat behind my desk. “It’s funny, but David seems to think the Mythguard wants to control every aspect of the shifters’ existence. He doesn’t believe that we only step in when it’s necessary.”

“If I’m being totally honest, my superiors would prefer the Mythguard deal with this. I don’t always share their opinion,” said Sebastian.

That didn’t reassure me. It only proved David and Gavin’s accusations right.

“So this Aislin girl, you really don’t think your fated mate bond with her will work out?” asked Sebastian.

This time, Taylor scoffed. “You met her, dude. You know what she’s like. Her and Everett are like an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Soon as they collide, it’s a nuclear explosion.”

I grumbled, thinking back to the last conversation I shared with Aislin. Nuclear explosion felt like an understatement.

“She’s not like that all the time, is she?” asked Sebastian.

“From what I’ve seen of her, yes,” I said.

“But you must have known her nearly all your life.”

“I have. And every interaction we’ve had, she’s been brash, stubborn, and crude—trust me when I say we are very much polar opposites.”

“That’s what gets the sparks flying sometimes though,” said Taylor.

I glared at Taylor. He was supposed to be on my side about this.

“That’s hilarious she wants to be in the Mythguard,” Sebastian said nonchalantly. “She wouldn’t last a day.”

Next, I glared at Sebastian. Taylor and I could pass judgment on Aislin, but somehow it felt like crossing a line to hear Sebastian speak of my fated mate that way. Even if he was right.

The audio echoed footsteps back at us. After hours of silence, it seemed there had finally been some activity around 7 a.m. this morning in Hexen Manor. All three of us listened as Colt’s voice crackled through the recording.

“What’s the plan tonight?” he asked, cautiously approaching a body lurking elsewhere in the room.

“Surveillance as usual,” drawled Lothair, his velvety voice distinct from the growls of the Hexen wolves.

“Why?” asked David.

Something shuffled, accompanying silence in the voices of those gathered as they digested some new form of information. Then Colt provided, “Aislin wants to meet me.”

Nausea immediately turned my stomach. My breath caught in my lungs, suffocating me until a cough ripped out of my chest in the same way that Aislin’s lungs had been congested and wounded. I felt hot and cold all at once, my shoulders shaking with the intensity of my visceral reaction as I tried to understand why Aislin would reach out to Colt of all people. Didn’t she know how dangerous that was?

“Shit,” muttered Taylor.

The recording continued. “Interesting,” said David. “You don’t suppose it would be a trap, do you?”

“She has to have ulterior motives,” said Colt. “She’s never been interested in me before.”

“Obviously she wants to do more than just talk,” said David.

“That’s the girl you were sweet on, isn’t it?” asked Lothair.

Seconds after my coughing died down, a growl rose in my throat, nearly launching me into another coughing fit. I didn’t know Colt had any such feelings toward Aislin.

“Not anymore,” muttered Colt.

I didn’t trust that.

“I suspect she’s counting on that little crush of yours to still be in play,” said David. “Grandbay must be scheming something then. You intend to meet her?”

“Should I?”

“Of course you should,” said Lothair. “It would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to gain more insight on Grandbay’s plans. My guess is that they hope to strike us through you somehow. But, ah… you won’t let that happen, will you Colt?”

“No,” he said.

“Good,” rumbled David. “Meet with her then. We’ll hang back and observe. Don’t worry about being outnumbered if Grandbay tries to ambush us. Just keep your word of meeting Aislin alone, and we’ll do the rest.”

Colt’s silence implied there was something else he wanted to ask, but it was never vocalized. I was desperate to know if he really did have feelings for her still, or if she’d obliterated those feelings when she lashed out at him during the fight. I wasn’t sure which would make Colt more dangerous, either.

“I’ll tell her to meet us in the neutral zone at midnight,” said Colt.

Silence returned to the audio recording. I glanced between Taylor and Sebastian, unable to describe what stirred in my heart after learning that. I wanted to call it betrayal, but I knew I had no right to accuse Aislin of that when I was the one that rejected her.

My wolf screamed with possession of her all the same.

“You’re going to intervene in that, aren’t you,” said Taylor.

“I’m not letting her fall victim to whatever David intends to do to her. I don’t think she’ll be killed, but they may take her prisoner just to damage Grandbay’s numbers,” I said.

“This is purely a strategic decision on your part, right?”

My eyes darkened with warning to Taylor. “I’m preventing Aislin from making a deadly mistake.”

“Will you need the support of the Mythguard?” asked Sebastian.

“No,” I said. “We can’t afford to let this devolve into another fight. I’ll inform Gavin of this and hope he meets me there.”

“I’ll come with you,” offered Taylor.

I nodded. Unlike the rest of my packmates, Taylor had always been eager to stand by my side, and I appreciated that.

Whatever Aislin was up to tonight, I couldn’t let it come to fruition. I had the sneaking suspicion that she was doing this just to piss me off.