Page 85 of House of Kallan
“To keep each other alive? To keep Obry safe? Fuck yes, they will be,” Idris said.
Iker nodded. His gaze moved around the group while his grip on Jex tightened. “We’re in too.”
It wasn’t long before they were talking details. Where to find a suitable place. How to erect the buildings and safety perimeter we’d need. How to clear the families asking to come in. What to do about The Harem Project.
None of their buildings had actually fallen. They’d made it into Haven but by the time they gained access to the rest of the network, the portals were all shut down. When Silence breached the walls of the other buildings, they found them abandoned with nothing left inside.
That’s some magic for you.
“Hey, baby.” I looked up when I heard Tatum’s voice.
Our beautiful wife was smiling. It made my heart skip.
“Come on over, honey,” she said, reaching out her hands.
I shifted a little until I saw Shadow picking his way through our group until Tatum could reach him. She picked him up and cuddled him into her arms. A blanket fell over her and she tucked him in tightly.
“You were so brave today, sweet boy,” she said quietly. Shadow sighed, pulling his stuffed fox up under his chin and closing his eyes. “So, very brave.”
“These children need medals of honor,” Maryn said.
I couldn’t have agreed more.
Tatum
It tooksix months to complete our compound. We ‘found’ an abandoned military base pretty quickly and used that as a foundation. Between the fae and the earth monsters, it took the better part of that time to create the town that we required within its walls.
We were leaving behind some of the space and luxuries in favor of close-proximity and safety. I wasn’t upset about it. My house really wasn’t ever a home. It took me meeting my men to realize that.
We placed Haven close to the center of the compound. There were a dozen houses set up for the different classes of supernaturals and we split them up that way, housing all ages together. Their houses all faced a center square that was set up with toys and learning stations.
The women were close by, set up in their own barracks. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the nice suites that we’d had at Haven, but they still had their own bathrooms and bedrooms. I figured that was a good start, anyway. They were safe, and that was the most important thing.
The six families that we’d gone to rescue on that fateful day lived right alongside us while we built this compound. We movedthem in first, since they were all homeless now. Kormak was running the effort to reach out to every family on the initial hit list. We decided to use that one instead of any of the updated documents.
Once word reached Silence about what we were doing, none of us had any doubt that they’d try to breach our walls. Silence enjoyed being the biggest bully. For so long, they’d left HP alone because they weren’t a threat, and had made no clear effort to oppose Silence at all. They were less than neutral.
It wasn’t even until we started retaliating that Silence took note that there were organized groups that might stand in their way. It wouldn’t be a single species that saw their asshole behavior, but families. Especially families of victims.
And thus, the list was made.
I was partially convinced that the reason they attacked HP that day was because so many of the strongest families had ties there. It wouldn’t have been a far-fetched conclusion that HP was behind it all, since so many of us worked for or were associated with HP. Why wouldn’t they think HP was the one pulling the strings?
Unfortunately for them, all they managed to do was force us to organize a bit more. Now we were what they had been trying to circumvent. The strongest families were banding together.
Right now, our only mission was one of defense, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before we had an offensive branch. In some ways, we already did. The raiding teams that hunt down Silence’s Breeding Houses and the hit teams that eliminate ORKA facilities.
At some point, we would make an actual effort to take out Silence. Somehow, someway. It was going to happen.
The destroyed HP buildings were also rebuilt, and the organization made sure that there was regular, day-to-day activity that made it appear people were working out of them again. I kind of found it funny and felt like we were laughing at Silence.
Hahaha, you tried and failed. We’re still here. Not even threatened enough to move!
But the actual locations of those departments were now no longer public knowledge. If you didn’t work for HP, you simply didn’t need to know. That’s not to say the happily ever after branches weren’t still littered throughout the world and aptly labeled. Just none of the corporate buildings were anymore.
Except the old ones. Bailey made sure those signs went right back up for the world to see.
She said it was her middle finger to Silence.
