Hammers in the Shadows

Part Two: Hammers in the Night - Chapter Fifteen

Adam smiled, "We were coming to see you, there was no way that we were going to leave him behind." He smiled tolerantly at my cub, and I could see that he had been looking out for Shawn's welfare personally. "He's been better than many pups his age, even those that he looks to have cause more trouble than he has." Brook came beside her mate before Adam carried on. "We plan on leaving Beth and Shawn here while we continue to Ice Lake, so you have more time with your cub."

Anna and I nodded our thanks before I released Shawn from my hug, to give him a chance to hug Anna while I picked up Tanya and turned to face Adam, "Adam I would like you to meet Tanya Yashekov. She is one of the cubs who survived the horrors that were inflicted on the people who were here when we took it from Vladimir." I said softly rubbing her back. I hoped that she wasn't feeling too nervous at meeting Adam and his family, though she could probably tell that he was an Alpha. "All of the orphans that Vlad, his mate, and his cronies created have homes now among members of the Pride. The main issue is that, as I've already informed Brook, they're having a tough time getting over the abuse that was inflicted upon them by those monsters."

Adam came over to me and gave me a good hug, being careful of my daughter, though I knew that he was taking a moment to get a good sniff to let his wolf catch a whiff of her scent. Both Beth, and Brook did the same thing.

I smiled at Beth, I was glad to see her, though I knew that the next little while wouldn't be easy on her. "Beth, it has been a while, I hope that we don't overwork you too much here, but we have a definite need of your skills." I said as we hugged.

Beth smiled stepping back while looking at me, "I can feel it already with her," She indicated Tanya, "I will do my best to help deal with your problems, which I can tell are multitude. While it won't fix it, hopefully it will give those who've suffered so much, the tools they need to deal with the aftereffects of the abuse and, eventually, heal from it." She closed her eyes. "I think the loss of so many of their Pridemates hurt everyone, even you and your mate are still hurting from those losses. You've buried your grief in work, but you need to let yourself grieve properly." She told me.

That much was true, both Anna and I could still feel the grief at the loss of so many of our fellow cats in the Pride Bonds. What made those losses all that much worse was the fact that among the dead were all of the Elders that had followed Vladimir when he left the Pride eleven years ago. He'd somehow managed to get six of the Pride's eight Elders to follow him and the fact that they'd all died under his leadership had been especially hard on those of us who'd come to Silver Peak from Blackwater. "Yes, we are still hurting." I confirmed, "What hurt us the most was the loss of so many of our Elders." Currently the Pride only has three, and two of those only recently retired."

Beth could only nod as Tanya shivered when she touched her back and I felt the tell-tall warmth on my hand from my daughter's pull-up. "I think that loss hurt you guys more than the rest of those losses combined. I've spoken with others in my line of work, and often the loss of that many Elders in a short period of time really hurts the Pack or Pride that they are part of." She stated removing her hand from Tanya's back.

"Thank you, I am sorry for her reaction Beth, but almost all of the cubs who survived have a deep distrust of females due to the one who was their supervisor." I said sadly while hugging my cub gently while her older brother looked up at her. "Yasmira was a horrible cat, she did awful things to the cubs, and it will take time for them to recover."

"I can try and do my best Mark, but I know that it won't be easy." She told me as one of the Pride's Juniors walked over to Adam and bowed his head in submission.

"Sir we can take care of your vehicle for you. It will be ready to go in the morning."

For his part, Adam nodded to the cat and handed him the remote to his vehicle after grabbing a pair of overnight bags for Brook, Tala, and himself. Jess had made a grab for the bags, and had glared softly at her Alpha, as she grabbed a bag for herself and two larger bags for Shawn and Beth.