Page 23 of Blood Pearl

“Yes, I have heard and have seen these females in the past,” Flint replies.

“The alpha wanted myself or Wynona to be his mate and Luna. He didn’t care which of us, as he just wanted a powerful female. But, my worry is he was calling his Luna a Queen, and that he would be King. It told me he wants to take over all the packs and rule the land.”

“Sounds power crazy, but we get this with some alphas and it’s a mentality we usually can calm and redirect. But a rogue alpha is another thing altogether.” Gerry rubs his chin in thought with a frown on his forehead.

“The whole thing is getting more than serious. Alpha Lyle has tripled the warriors on his border to no-man’s-land. Alpha Connell has provided fifteen warriors and so has Alpha Chet. I’m not sure about Alpha Gabriel, but for now, it has helped the situation. Our border has our warriors rotating alongside the council warriors that arrived. They are on high alert and watching no-man’s-land closely. So far, I have no reports of any skirmishes happening,” Raina informs us.

“I will send another dozen warriors from the council. I have selected who to remain and continue training new recruits, but the seasoned warriors I want to be on this border. Can you accommodate more warriors?” Flint asks.

“Yes, we have the old warrior building. It’s been unused for quite some time, but we can clean it out and open it for use. It will accommodate twenty warriors, which will ease the housing situation.”

“Good, good, that’s what may be needed. If you need extra helpers for the kitchen or cleaning, I can bring staff to help,” Flint suggests.

“For now, I think we are okay, but I will ask if I feel it’s needed. I don’t want my females overworked and tired out.” Rubbing my forehead I continue, “back to the topic at hand. The camp is, I think, on top of something underground. The rogues would disappear and I mean they were there one minute, step out of the camp and all sounds and smell of them went. It was the only logical explanation that they had gone underground.”

“Well, that makes things trickier, but good to know,” Roul comments.

“They are not organized, so an attack would have them fighting singly instead of in units. Some would run away or hide, I’m sure. The she-wolves are making what they call meals, but it’s basically slop unless someone does any hunting, which I did not see evidence of. I don’t know how the alpha would react. He was strutting around looking important, but I didn’t see him doing anything that would help his so-called pack.”

“We will need to have a warrior meeting before making any kind of advance on them. I wouldn’t want our warriors going into that place and being wiped out. I think it may pay for me to go back and do more surveillance.” Gerry rubs his chin, deep in thought.

“I can go with you, as it’s not safe for Alpha Aurora to go again. He knows what she looks like, and he may double efforts to get her if he’s wanting a strong Luna as was mentioned earlier,” Raina shifts on her seat knowing that I’ll not like this.

“We have female warriors that can go with me. I’d rather go with them as we train together and have signals and signs that we don’t share with others that will help me do this with the least chance of detection.” Gerry looks at Roul, then Flint, and it seems they are having a linked conversation.

We cannot go back, Aurora. It would take too large a risk. Let the council deal with them, as you will have more meetings you have to attend.

Aztec throws that out, then turns her back on me in my mind and goes back to sleep.

“Roul, you assist Aurora and Raina with the training. You have made significant improvements with the pack's fighting style, and they fight more as a unit. If the pack is attacked at this point, they can fight and hold their ground. I think we’d see fewer casualties and hopefully no fatalities.” Flint looks over at me, and I give him a nod of agreement.

“I will contact the other pack alphas and arrange a meeting. We all need to be more alert regarding this situation, and although Eclipse is the furthest away from no-man’s-land, they are still under threat.” Roul surprises when he continues, “I don’t know if you are aware, but the alpha you brought back with you is Alpha Heir Bronze of the Eclipse Pack. He was on his way back from alpha camp after completing his training.”

“No, I didn’t know that, but I had a feeling I knew him. I just couldn’t seem to put my finger on it. Well, I’m more than happy we got him out with us, but the amount of sedation could have killed him, I’m sure. He was sedated from the moment he was brought into the camp, and he had a massive alpha aura before they injected him. He’s going to be an alpha of great power when he takes over the Eclipse Pack.” I look around, and can’t help but notice Taria has not appeared. Now that is unusual as she is naturally nosy and likes to keep abreast of things because, according to her, ‘It’s what a good Luna should do.’

“I felt some of his alpha power and I agree when he recovers, and he takes the pack over he is going to be a huge force and we all have to be thankful that Alpha Chet taught Bronze only good ways of being a pack’s alpha.” Flint grimaces somewhat at the thought of Bronze being a wild-card. “Leave the other packs to me Aurora, I will organize the alphas to come here for the meeting. We will have to decide if we want to wait or if we want to attack. It’s a huge decision that we all have to make, and it’s one that will have to be unanimous.”

The door bursts open and Taria rushes into the office. I pinch the top of my nose at the sight of her. She is disheveled to say the least, but giving her a closer inspection, she has a glint in her eye and my stomach drops. If what I’m suspecting is true, then I’m about to lose my daughter to another pack.

“Sorry I’m late. I was waylaid and forgot the time.” Taria takes a seat and waits for what is going to happen next. I can see she is trying to give a serene aura, but it’s not quite happening.

“Let’s close for now as I need to check the infirmary, contact Alpha Chet regarding his son, then take to the training field. I need to be seen by the pack or they will start to panic, and that’s the last thing we need.” I stand and give everyone a small smile before walking out of the office with Raina behind me.

“What is going on with Taria? She looked a bit flushed,” Raina asks.

“I think she’s going to be leaving the pack soon, Raina. It feels like it's time to fill her destiny.”

Raina stops walking as she realizes what I’m saying, without putting it into words. I continue walking and grin when I hear Raina rushing to catch up with me.

“You mean?” Raina says, then giggles a little, more to herself than to me, I have to say. “Oh, my, this is going to be interesting.”

“Yeah, it is. But let’s keep it to ourselves for now and see how long little Miss Taria keeps this to herself.”

We enter the hospital, which is an old house converted, but it’s better than no place for injured to be treated. “Welcome, Alpha Aurora.”

Looking at Doctor Patricia, I give her a smile as I reply, “Good Morning, Patricia. We are here to see the Alpha you have in your care. Please update me on his condition.”

“Nurse Chloe has given him breakfast, which he ate all of this morning. He had been heavily sedated and there is nothing we can do but wait for it to leave his system. Thankfully, it appears he was not hurt physically. There was, of course, wolfsbane in the sedative they gave him, but he said he heard his wolf speak to him this morning. That all indicates things will return to him as they should once his system is clean.”

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