Chapter Twenty-Two

j' adoube

 

I walked over to the house they had chosen to congregate at which still had its old style wraparound porch and Victorian architecture. I loved old houses like this. In their presence alone, one could feel the history in the style of the house. They don't make houses like this anymore.

Most homes now had a cookie cutter look for the Smiths and Jones' of the world. All alike, and most even had the same paint on them. I would go out of my mind living in such a neighborhood with the weekend husbands mowing their lawns all together, soccer moms driving their kids to their various sports, dance recitals and play dates. What happened to the good old days of the kids just going outside and playing together on their own? Now, some parents think they have to schedule every second of their lives, driving not only their kids into needing Prozac, but driving themselves into the ground, as well.

This neighborhood had more of that old time relaxation of weekend barbecues, kids playing together because they want to and moms talking about their husbands on the porch as they drank their iced teas and lemonades. I loved that New Orleans held on to the old and accepted with grace the new and unconventional. What a wonderful blend of cultures they had managed with aplomb, I thought to myself.

And these werewolves; I shook my head inwardly. Talk about new and unconventional, yet old at the same time. They blended in perfectly with this city. Ironic that it was a city many books had based paranormal myths and legends into their writing with imagination and old style charm, and yet here in this city there really were werewolves living amongst the humans and no one really paid much attention to it. Like it was normal for this city to have such occupants. I had to laugh out loud at the absurdity. Ashton looked at me with that confused look which almost made me want to scratch his head playfully.

I refrained, though it was hard, and just sat down next to the female alpha, who had a pitcher of iced tea waiting for me. She had put back on her sundress and sandals, but her demeanor was subdued.

“What's your name?” I asked her gently.

“Domica, My Lady.”

Oh, here we go again with the titles. Well, it still beat Meshallima Ama Ja' Catrina all to hell. So, I didn't bitch about it.

“Thank you, for the tea. It's good.”

She gave me a shy smile for that and sat down next to me at the small table they had on the porch with some seats set all around haphazardly, more for the comfort of having many guests, than to look good.

Rock, taking my cue at the ease I had set, also allowed his men to look relaxed as well. Though, I knew these guys could snap into action within a heartbeat if the situation demanded it.

“So, I think I would like Ashton to tell me everything, from the beginning to save me time. I want to know when you came here. When you saw the black trucks like ours and when each missing wolven happened and what was going on at the time and who put the shield up around the neighborhood. In that order, leave nothing out. I'll let him talk and ask my questions afterwards. Is that agreeable?”

“Of course, My Lady.”

I ground my teeth and set myself up for Ashton's report.

He set down his glass and looked at me. “Several years ago, a doorway opened up from our world to this one. What we saw on this side looked like the place had been ravaged by something powerful. I didn't know about it yet. It was one of our lower-ranked alphas who discovered the doorway to a world not ours.”

I almost broke my own guidelines in wanting to know about his world, but caught myself in time and let Ashton continue.

“He wandered around here, seeing people and broken buildings, but no shifters. Just these humans and signs of severe flooding. As time passed, the flooding went down and he ventured out further to gather more information about this place. A group of humans jumped him. We didn't know why at the time, but we surmised later it was for food or money. Many were starving and desperate here, but he beat them off easily. Very easily,” he stressed. “He then knew we would have no competition or worry for the safety of the pack, as we did have at home. That's when he came to tell me everything he had found out.”

I couldn't hold back my question. “Why would you be worried about the safety of your own pack on your own world?”

“Cadia is ruled by the five Royal packs. My father is the leader for one of the Royal packs. All of the rulers there are brutal and some are absolutely ruthless, killing young male cubs of alpha males who have mated when there are enough alphas in the ranks. They fear that if there were too many alphas, there might be more challenges to their seat of power. My own father had started to kill the young cubs when our lower echelon of alphas had filled to overflowing. I didn't agree with the decision and I wouldn't help with 'The Gleaning'. He had me banned to my apartments in the main citadel and I couldn't warn the lower alphas when he was coming to 'Glean'. It was also how I found out he had been spiking my food with a drug that sterilizes a male, so I couldn't breed with my mate, Domica. He would have used this on all the males if it wasn't so expensive to get, so only the upper echelon alphas and his own son were treated with the drug but it was still better then when the ‘Gleaning' time came for the lower echelon wolven.”

Man, that sucked and I felt for him and his wolves. His father is as much a bastard as my own is.

“I still have another three years before I can hope the drug has run its course and I can breed with my own mate and give her the cub she has wanted for so long. The drug lasts for seven years and costs a fortune to be made.” He reached over to hold his mates hand. “That was when Lecaino came and told me of this place here and a plan began to form in my mind. I arranged for my mate and I and those of the upper echelons that wanted to come with me to run to this world. We took everything we could that might be used for trade to buy what we would need to live on this side of the doorway. We found gold and gems worked the best for transactions here into the local currency and with that, we bought these home and repaired those that were damaged in the storm. We found out that's what had caused all the damage here to begin with. Slowly, we would get the lower echelons here and give them a home, working our way outward in the neighborhood. After the first six months here, is when we saw the black trucks coming into the neighborhood, as if they were looking for something or someone. I was afraid we had let down our guard and someone had accidentally let a human know about the pack, but nobody came forward with such a mistake. The bonds between me and those who left my father's rule had transferred to me strong enough by then, so I could tell none were lying. I was of his bloodline, so the transfer was easy. We just needed distance from my father and being on another world did the trick rather well.” He grinned ruefully at me.

Well, now that made sense as to why they would prefer Earth, as opposed to their home world. Werewolf refugees. This just kept getting better and better. General Pierce was going to just love this one. Not.

But, I couldn't make this pack go back to their world. They had broken no human laws until Howard Frankton, and the asswipe deserved it. According to the New Orleans Police reports, this is the first unusual happenstance. Other than the dead girl, who I was convinced wasn't this pack's kill. There could be another pack from another world that didn't have this packs wisdom in keeping a low profile, or something more insidious was going on. I was betting the latter. Two werewolf packs from two different worlds winding up here in New Orleans would be too much of a coincidence and there hasn't been another category five hurricane for another portal to form from. This had to be something else then.

Ashton continued. “Once we have another home ready for living in, one of my pack volunteers to go back and try to rescue more of our people and bring them here. We then set up and get to know the local language, habits and find jobs. The hardest part is the schooling. Some of our cubs are just too aggressive to hold themselves in control at school, without an alpha to keep them in line.”

I interrupted again. “Home school. It's what we do. We have the same problem.”

“Is that legal here?”

“I am sure it is, though each state has its own requirements for home schooling. There is always a way around it to get the set up you want for your cubs.”

He looked relieved. “I have been racking my brain on how to fix this one. We have been hiding our kids in the houses during the day until school is out, then allowing them out in the neighborhood to play. I know it’s illegal, but we couldn't do anything else that wouldn't eventually expose what we are.”

“Didn't you ask questions to people around here or at the school?”

“No, we were afraid it would draw attention to the fact that we wanted some of our young at home. We don't talk to anyone here unless it is absolutely necessary. The realtor lady doesn't care if we seem odd, so long as we have enough money for the houses around here. I could tell we could walk down the road naked and she wouldn't bat an eyelash at it, but that's because we have made her very, very rich in buying up homes here from people and filling them with our own pack.”

I believed him. Money can make even the most insane people just seem like harmless eccentrics to others here. Money lets one do a lot of things most can't even fathom getting away with.

“All right. You used the portal; that's what we call it here, portals, and you made a home for yourself. Then, the trucks came. Tell me about that.”

“We had been here for about six months and the pack at that time was much smaller. Only about twenty-five or so. The black trucks came in, cruising at all hours of the night and day. Sometimes, two or three men would jump out of the trucks and walk through the neighborhood, sometimes with their hands out like this.” He showed me his palms facing up with his fingers spread about half an inch apart. Then he mimicked their movements.

“Shit, they were casting for a psychic feel, searching for the portal.”

General Robertson and his men, I'd bet. I would bet a lot of money on this one. Now, we may have something to justify helping the wolves out with their missing wolven to General Pierce.

“That's what we thought, but they didn't find it. Later though, we were missing Germund and then two days later, Sumini. We couldn't find them anywhere and I couldn't even track them through the bonding cord. It was like they were just simply gone. We even searched for them on the other side of the doorway, thinking my father had found out about our secret and had dragged them back, but they weren't there, either. I couldn't feel them there or on this world.”

He wouldn't be able to either; not if General Robertson used the Moiré Mesh. It blocked out any psychic energy or magick use, either in or out. Bonding cords were useless for tracking in that instance, as we'd learned the hard way ourselves. My heart went out to them.

“Then, this human in a uniform came three months later, asking for a meeting with the leader of the clan. We knew he knew something but at the time, we didn't know how much, so I went to meet with him. If I hadn't taken so many with me that night, I am not sure I would have made it back from that meeting.”

Now, that had to be a hard thing for a werewolf leader to admit to. Werewolves were not easy to take and they sure didn't like admitting any weakness. It made for more challenges later by the young and upcoming alphas.

“He said he was a leader of a military branch here in the USA. He wanted an allegiance with my clan for anything that he and his troops might need. He said he would help keep our secret if we aligned ourselves with him and his agenda, no matter what it was. He said he could also provide humans if we had a need for them for anything we wanted to do for hunting, mating, and for killing. That was when I told him no, not under any circumstances. He smelled bad to me. I know the scent of a ruthless leader. My father is one but he smelled purely evil. I bluffed our way out, by saying we could go right back home that second and he wouldn't have anything to tell anyone else about. No proof. So he had no hold on us. It was a nerve racking time after that, always being on the lookout for some military vehicles to pull in. We had escape routes set up and someone was always on guard, so we could move everybody out if we needed to. I knew we could handle a group of humans, but we've watched TV here and know there are many thousands in the military. Too many for us to hold our own against, even if it meant going back to Cadia. That's when one of my people met a powerful Vaudoun Priestess.”

My ears perked up over this, as this was the second thing I had to do on my list- make contact with a true voodoo practitioner and get the word out to stop the curses being thrown at our people here with weather magick. What was really interesting to me, was the fact General Robertson did not have this portal under his control, but a Voodoo Priestess did.

I frowned inwardly. Ok, that may be even worse news, actually.

“I went to meet her and told her of our problem here and she said she could protect our neighborhood, but I had to allow a bonding cord between her and me, since I was tied to all of my wolves.”

I knew it; this was not good. I leaned back into my chair and used my second sigh to gaze at his solar-plex chakra. I saw his tie to his mate but the ties to his wolves had transferred to Craven. There was still one blackish cord going from him to somewhere outside this group and if I had to guess I could follow this all the way to voodoo priestess herself.

She won't be a happy camper, when she finds out about Craven taking over and I'd be damned if I would allow her a bond to my son. NO fucking way. Pieces of the puzzle were coming together in my head with General Robertson and this Voodoo Priestess at two centers. I could see a real bad scenario unfolding for these people, hitting them from both sides. Goddess help them.

“She said she would protect our neighborhood from any malicious magicks and also cloak the doorway from the military. It was the only other option we had at the time or face having to go home and back to my father's rule and his gleanings. I know he would take me back, as I am his only Heir, but the others will suffer more from returning. So, I took what she offered. It's been quiet since until three days ago when Takani there,” Ashton pointed to the female who lost her young son, “took little Nicus to the park to play. She said she had only taken her eyes off him for a minute and when she turned back around, he was gone. There was no scent trial. Nothing she or any of our best hunters could track with.”

He sighed and picked his drink back up. “Then, you came and we thought you were here to either bring the cub back or grab another. Well, we didn't know exactly what the plan was and now your son is our leader.”

He hung his head. “I have failed my people here, if you've come to take us or kill us. None here want challenge. We just want a safe home. That's all.”

Craven had shifted back to human form and joined the group sitting at my other side. He gave me an odd look. 'Why is he so sad?' he asked on our private path.

'He thinks you will take out his serving guard and place your own in their place.'

'Oh, classic takeover tactics!' He knew his war history better than most adults did and knew too, the strategies that went along with a hostile takeover. 'No. I'll just give back control to his wolves. I don't want this. Too much shit, already. I feel everyone's pain, worry, fear, anxiety. It is too much for me, Mom. He is much more qualified for running his wolves. I don't know any of these people.'

'Cat. And, it's too late for that.'

'Why?' he asked suspiciously.

'Look with your third eye and see the psychic bonds that tie you to these people.'

He did as I asked and then jumped up to his feet, growling and cussing. Ashton and his people looked at him, with alarm in their faces. Takani was whimpering in fear, huddled next to her mate.

'Craven, control yourself.'

'I can't do this. I don't want this,'

'You have to; these people need your help.'

'What do you mean?' His anger deflated and he took deep breaths to calm down. I didn't do anything to calm the wolven. A little bit of fear was good and Craven needed all the tools of leadership, Machiavellian or not, to keep things as stable as possible, both for his own safety and that of this new pack of his.

With the clues I have been putting together in my head, things didn't look good for any of us right now. I needed time to come up with a solution for everyone. For the time being, having Craven as the leader of this pack served my own purposes very well in making things easier for me to plan around. I told him everything Ashton had related to me so far.

I added my own order as I finished. 'You need to follow my lead and make sure they do as I say but the orders have to come from you, not me, or it will weaken your position in the pack. None here may want challenge, but their base instincts may drive them to challenge you if they sense any weakness. Do you understand? I can't fight three fronts; it's insane enough to take on two fronts in a battle. I need you to back me up all the way. Later we will see what we can do about this pack leader thing, but for the time being, just deal with it.'

'But, the voices in my head, their feelings; it's making it hard for me to think.'

'Put all that in a tiny bubble and place it in the back of your head. If something comes through that bubble, it means one of them is in serious trouble. Then, you open the bubble, but until then, it should quiet the voices and dampen down the emotions.'

'Is that what you do with your bonds?'

'Yes.'

He shut his eyes and started his breathing exercises, creating the images I had given him in his mind and shut the pack out. Once he was done, his face had cleared up a bit and he didn't look like he was going to bolt anymore. Having a lot of voices and emotions in one's head can drive a person insane if they don't learn how to shield from it. Now, he knew what I had to go through every day with our family and the Coven.

Craven looked around and saw the fear in their faces. “No one dies. So, don't worry about that.”

Ashton came up and dropped to his knees in front of him, placing his arms around him, “Thank you, My Lord.”

Craven pasted a smile on his face and gently moved him off. I knew why. It wasn't because Ashton was male, but blocking out other people was much harder, bubble or no bubble, when there was skin to skin contact. Werewolves would even be harder than a human to block, because of their psychic strength.

I gained Ashton's attention again to help out Craven. “Ashton, so what you were telling me about the Voodoo Priestess being the one who cloaked the portal and putting up the shield around your neighborhood, says to me none of you have any magick beyond the telepathy and empathy through the bonds?”

Again, Ashton gave me that odd look. “No. None of us can wield magick; we're wolves. Werewolves can't do magick.”

'Quiet, Craven. It's another tool in your arsenal if you ever need it.'

He nodded his head to me slightly, letting me know he caught on and agreed to play along. We didn't know everything about these people or if what was going on in their world was a fact. Yes, I believed them, but I didn't have hard, concrete proof of anything. Until then, it was best to keep a close eye and play this with caution.

“I'll need the name of this Voodoo Priestess and where she can be found.”

Rock was looking at ease again, seeing I was still taking care of business, even though we now had personal shit going on with these people. Andre was sitting across from me, thinking his own thoughts. If I knew my mate, he would have seen the clues, as well and was as disturbed by them as I was. And I was about to make things worse for these wolves.

“Why?”

“I'll need to go and have a talk with her about a lot of other things that are on my to-do list here in Louisiana.”

“So, your territory isn't this state?”

“No, Texas, actually.”

Ashton's worried look was back. “What are we to do then, if our leader leaves this state?”

Craven took a deep breath. “I think it would be best for now that you run this pack as my second in command. Your people know you best and they are already used to you commanding. I need to finish out this mission and then we will see what needs doing.”

Ashton relaxed a bit. “But the others through the doorway? Our plans to bring more across? What do you want done?”

Craven looked to me and I spoke in his stead. “Actually, I need to see this portal.”

Ashton was looking leery again, but stood up to show me the way.

I was amazed that between two sheds was the portal. with a black, psychic smoky curtain covering it. Damn strong sheds to have withstood the hurricane winds that ripped through this neighborhood. But, there it was.

Andre walked up to it and psychically felt for the energy signature.

“We can rip through this easily, Cat and close it.”

Ashton gasped, looking to Craven. “But, My Lord, you said,”

Craven glanced at me again and I shook my head at him, answering his silent question. Out loud, to ease everyone, I countered Andre's assessment, “Andre, we can't close it right this second, but we can take her cloak down and add one of our own, until we get the Bokaris stones in place.”

My cloaking would hold for a while, but once I ripped through this black shield, she would know another major magick user was in the neighborhood. Ashton apparently had the same thoughts as I did,

“She won't be pleased.”

“She is forsworn. It's now our responsibility to take care of this and we will, but I can't let another magick user have control of this portal.”

“How is she forsworn?” The angry glare was back in his eyes.

“She didn't protect this neighborhood from ALL malicious magicks or Nicus wouldn't be missing. Those were Dark Adepts that rolled through here taking your people. They are obviously stronger in some magicks than the Voodoo Priestess is, or she underestimated them; either way, Nicus is missing, so she cannot have control of this or you anymore. That also means, I have to cut that black bond off of you.”

He backed up, until Craven growled at him.

“I am sorry, but that black cord is connected to you and will eventually hook into Craven. This is not allowed by our contract with him. That cord will place him in danger, and by extension our Coven.”

He thought about what I had said and then nodded his head silently.

I walked up in front of him and gathered my power, making an astral white sword. You couldn't see it with physical eyes unless I used a lot of power, but that wasn't needed. I only needed to cut the cord spiritually, not physically. I reached for the cord and grabbed it. I took the astral sword and swung down on it. It snapped with a hiss of sulfuric odor filling the air.

Oh, this was so not good. She had been siphoning off psychic energy from the pack all this time. Like a psychic vampire. Rock looked at me with questions in his eyes but I shook my head, letting him know this was not the time.

“Andre.” He nodded, knowing I wanted extra shielding put up around us until I was done. I made my hand glow pure white and cleansed the astral wound I had made in Ashton's solar-plex chakra area. I then turned to the portal and slashed at the shield, bursting it. There was a small backlash of power, but our shields deflected it.

I then quickly put up our own cloaking on it, adding a few surprises for any magick user crossing this area until I could get the Bokaris Stones to close the portal. No practitioner would know how to deal with an otherworldly device such as a Bokaris stone. I wouldn't breathe easily about this until we got those stones here or we shut the portal all together, but that would be a last resort right now.

I looked at Andre. “Oh yeah, she is going to be pissed. What a way to start negotiations for stopping those curses, eh?”

Andre shook his head at me, laughing and Rock just gave me the eyebrow. The rest of the team? I looked over my shoulder and sure as shit, they were taking bets. “Twenty, in my favor,” I shouted to them.