Stephen handed Danika some 8x10 photographs. They showed the Luna ceremony from the perspective of one of the participants. Danika was clearly visible glowing in both her human and wolf forms.
Stephen drew in a big breath, then released it slowly looking at Danika and trying to contain his anger. "I received these photos early this morning with this note. They were tacked on a post at the end of the road leading up here." Stephen handed her a folded piece of paper. "We will be expecting a visitor around 9am."
The short printed note explained how they had been careless, but there was now interest the Pine Ridge Pack's 'new Luna'. The mysterious man would arrive in about a half-hour, and was signed 'Colton Reynolds'.
Stephen watched Danika as she crinkled her eyebrows in confusion.
"I don't understand, Stephen," was all she said as she handed the photos and note back.
"I've been negligent with your safety, love, and now we will both pay the price. I believed that our facilities were fully secure and secret, and had no idea anyone in our pack would reveal our operations. And now my mistakes have put you in danger." Stephen looked down at the photos again and growled in anger, his eyes becoming black.
Danika put her hand on his arm and started making small soothing circles with her hand. Stephen looked up at her and gave her a one-sided smile. "Stephen, there's absolutely no way you could have prevented this.
Stephen studied her for a few seconds. "God I love you," he said quietly as his eyes returned to normal. "I'll never let anything happen to you."
"I know. What have you already planned?" Danika asked, knowing that he already had one.
"Tyler is arranging for a special welcome for our 'guest'. Warriors will be staged all along the road leading into the compound, and all along the house and surrounding area. Your 'Guard' will be around you at all times, they have normally been hidden from you, but will be quite visible to keep you safe. This compound looks open, but actually is quite secure- we have no need for fences. Snipers have special blinds in the trees and are constantly manned, we have infra-red and normal monitoring cameras covering all angles. Patrols have been doubled and families are being moved to our Safe Building for their protection- which is really a fully stocked underground warehouse.
"I don't know who this man is, I assume he's a wolf from the phrasing in his note, but am unsure. Only three of his people will be allowed in the house for our negotiations."
"Negotiations? I thought this was a meeting?" Danika said, clearly out of her depth.
Stephen chuckled humorlessly. "Oh, this will be a negotiation of some sort. Why else would he show his hand? He wants something, and you are at the top of his list. Or at least your powers."
"But Stephen, I don't know what happened that night, I thought it was because of the ceremony and the mixing of our blood somehow? I haven't changed and have no idea what happened."
Sighing in frustration Stephen ran a hand through his hair. "Remember when you spoke to the pack about 'dark forces' coming? And then you told me about traitors being in the remote stations? You somehow knew something that was going to happen in the future that affects the largest pack in the world. After our day in the small cabin, I've had people do some research and there have been a few instances of this happening over the centuries."
"We are going to be attacked, love, and because of you we are now preparing. We have laid traps to catch the spies, and we're monitoring and reviewing all pack communications. It's only a matter of time before we find out who they are. And since you announced this to the entire pack, they have been warned as well. But the information we've leaked to the outposts is too tempting to pass up. We have to just wait now, and continue with our preparations."
Matthew, Stephen's father, walked in the room. He was dressed similar to his son, but was armed with both pistols and knives. Stephen wore no obvious weapons as a sign of his confidence.
"Son, Luna," Matthew said nodding at both of us. "All families have been moved underground and are secure. All warriors are either on patrol, at their monitoring stations, or at their assigned guard posts.
"And Luna," Matthew motioned to me, "I would encourage you to visit the underground Safe Building to make sure everyone remains calm. It's just a suggestion of course since we regularly practice these drills."
"Of course Matthew, I'll leave in just a few minutes," I said and walked to a couch to be out of the way. I wanted to know what was going on.
"Stephen, these photos are disturbing since they were purposely focused on our ceremony. We are in a remote wilderness and this wasn't an accident."
I listened to the conversation for another ten minutes, then stood and excused myself. There were no new developments, and it appeared that the pack was already well prepared. There was something bothering me and my wolf, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As I walked out of Stephen's office, my 'Guard' as Stephen called them immediately joined me. There were two huge men- who were mated of course, and one woman who always looked intimidating. Buck and Handy were Stephen's cousins, and had grown up in the pack. Elise was a mate of another one of their cousins, so they knew each other well. Buck and Handy constantly teased Elise who simply ignored the pair out of habit.
"Hello Guard," I said a little annoyed.
"Good morning Luna," they all replied as one voice.
Stephen had already mind-linked us all and let them know I was heading to the Safe Building.
"You know," I said a little mischievously, "we should all get matching tattoos. I think a Luna's Guard should have matching tattoos."
"I would get a tattoo of a glowing wolf, Luna," Buck said solemnly.
"I would too, Luna," Handy chimed in. "With the tips of the fur and eyes glowing a liquid silver." Elise simply shook her head at them and scanned the area since she brought up the rear, but I thought I heard her say 'Me too'.
"I was just kidding for petes sake. Well, I think we have other things to worry about right now," I told them while rolling my eyes as we walked to the building.
Inside the enormous concrete building everyone seemed to know their roles, there were cots with families sitting in them- except for the warriors who were busy elsewhere. There was an area to keep children busy, a training area to keep the teenagers busy, a utilitarian kitchen with people fixing food , refrigerators full of food, shelves full of all sorts of bulk food, restrooms, sinks, a small library, and a small hospital clinic with a few wolves with serious injuries. I nodded to a few people I knew and headed over to the doctor I saw working. She appeared to be in her forty's and had long dark hair that was pulled back.
As I approached, the doctor looked up at me surprised. "Hello Luna," she said and straightened up.
"Please don't let me bother you," as I looked down at a young boy with a dislocated shoulder.
"Oh, it's nothing that Raymond hasn't been through before," continued the doctor, then wrenched the boy's shoulder pretty hard as he yelped. "There, all popped back into place," the doctor said and nodded to one of her nurses who came over to put a sling on the boy and give him a lecture that he was ignoring. His mother then came over and started fussing.
"So what can I do for you Luna?" the doctor said and gestured that we take a few steps away. She was waiting for me to tell her the purpose of my impromptu visit.
"Nothing, I really don't want to interfere, I thought I'd just introduce myself."
"Doctor Martina Tosell," she said putting her hand out.
"Please call me Danika," I said hoping someone would call me by my name.
Dr. Tosell just laughed a little, "No, I'm afraid I'll have to call you Luna, the title's too ingrained on our pack consciousness for me to change it." She just shrugged a shoulder like that's just the way things are.
"Well, Doctor, I'll check in with you later since I know you're busy. I just wanted to say hi."
"Thank you Luna, and please call me Martina."
"Oh no Doctor, I'm afraid the name's just too ingrained for me to change it," I smiled back at her. "But I do want to talk to you sometime about the she-rogue that Stephen sent to your facility a month or so ago. I'll stop by your clinic after this is all over."
"Oh you mean Mave? She's a special case, and I'd love to talk to you about her later. I believe she now is on a 'quest' because of you."
"Quest?"
"You promised her the job of 'protector' if she survived. She's taken it to heart."
"Oh. Um, well. That's actually up to Stephen, we came to an agreement that I would try to stop being stupid, and he would stop being mad at me." I ran my hand over the top of my head, trying to figure this out.
"Well," Doctor Tosell laughed, "this will be interesting since Mave is very determined to be worthy and wants to earn her place in your Guard. You've given her a purpose in life."
Oh great I thought to myself, I don't think I could survive another argument with Stephen over it. "Yea," I said thoughtfully, "I just want her to live. Well, I'll go and check in with the other stations. It looks like you've setup a great system here."
"That's because there's not an actual war right now," the Doctor replied. I nodded goodbye and started to check in to see if anyone needed anything. I was wondering how Stephen was doing when I heard him through my mind-link.
"Danika, can I see you at the House now?" I replied that we would be there and I met my Guard at the Safe Building door. We walked quickly across the way and noticed three black armored Humvees in front of the pack house, and each car had two guards standing on each side. They were dressed in black suits and ties, and each wore sunglasses like government agents do in the movies. I smiled, this was just too cliché.
In a minute, all of us stood at Stephen's door, and before we could knock he said, "Enter." Inside was Stephen standing at his desk holding some papers, while Matthew and Tyler were standing at either side of him. His office was large, with a large desk, two sofas, a computer workstation, and a wet bar. An older man in a tailored, black suit sat leaning back comfortably in a chair in front of the desk. He looked handsome with his silver hair and military pinky ring. Buck and Handy stood a little in front of me and Stephen gestured for them that it was ok.
"At ease, Guard," Stephen told them. None of my Guard moved a muscle since they sensed danger, but they didn't move in front of me anymore. The older man stood up and Stephen growled low. The man ignored him, but didn't move near me.
"Danika, this is Colton Reynolds, also known as Zeke."
"Nice to meet you Luna, please call me Zeke," he said- but again made no movement toward me.
"Zeke was my father's old commander of his old special forces team, Zeke saved my father's life once, but he didn't recognize the name of 'Colton'."
Matthew jumped forward and started arguing with his son, "That's a lie, son, it was me that saved him that day at the falls."
"Regardless of who-saved-who," Stephen said through clenched teeth, "Zeke brought us some information regarding the traitors in our pack. He thinks these pictures were taken by a small group that means to sell our data to the highest bidder. We have some enemies, Danika, it appears that a small group have banded together to try to disrupt our operations. Zeke?" Stephen nodded to the man and sat down.
I walked over to a couch near Stephen and settled down.
"Well ma'am, I operate a different kind of 'intelligence team' and we monitor communications between many disruptive groups and the US. These communications don't run through normal channels, and we intercepted a courier trying to cross from the US into Canada. He had these interesting pictures on a memory stick, and during his interrogation last night it was discovered that the Pine Ridge Pack has a new Luna with some extraordinary skills, shall we say."
I just continued to look at Zeke, waiting for him to continue.
"This courier is Nick Donohue, and he is recently mated to a female in your pack. He decided to move here with his mate, probably to sell your secrets to your enemies. I hope he had just started out, it looks like he was heading to your 'friends' in the east."
Stephen made a disgusted grunt, "I'm not surprised."
Zeke turned to face me, there was something about the way that he looked at me that was starting to creep me out. "Ma'am, I need to ask you something." Stephen growled at him just a little bit and stood up, he could feel it also.
Zeke just turned to Stephen and held up his hand and shouted "Stay!" Before Stephen could even move, the entire room seemed to freeze in time. No one moved, no one blinked, it was if they were absolutely frozen
"I'm sorry to do that, but we only have a few minutes left and that one," Zeke gestured to Stephen, "won't let me say two words to you."
I stood up quickly and took a step backwards, and Zeke just watched me.
"It's crucial that you tell me what you know about the 'Azhar Pact'. SPEAK!" Zeke shouted at me as I flinched a little bit since he shouted so loud.
"What the hell!" I shouted back, "Let them go!"
Zeke just continued to stand, but didn't move toward me. "So the spells don't work on you, interesting. Have you discovered how to harness the Visions yet? Have you seen anything about some ancient middle eastern structures, or balls of flame?" Zeke could barely restrain himself, he just stood there looking at me.
"What the HELL are you talking about? Now let them go!" I reached over and grabbed Matthew's gun and released the safety, aiming it right for his chest. "Now."
"As you wish," Zeke said and turned towards the door. "Just what I need, a Luna with a weapon."
"Now, I said!"
Zeke stopped at the door and turned back to look right at me, I could feel a distinct chill emanate from him dropping the air temperature. "They will be free in a few minutes but you will be trapped by your Visions. There are many more important things than this small little 'island' you are trying to protect. You live in a bubble, and the world will start to crash down all around you. When you begin to see visions of your horrendous future-and you will - send word to me. You'll know how." He nodded to me and left the room muttering something about 'crazy' and 'difficult'. I could hear his footsteps fade, and the front door slam. The cars then started up and drove away down the road. I walked to Stephen and touched his face, his skin was still soft and warm- there was absolutely nothing I could do. So I sat on the couch with Matthew's pistol and waited, guarding all of them.
About ten minutes later, time started moving again, I assume that Zeke had left the area. Stephen pushed his chair back and lunged forward.
Looking around wildly, Stephen yelled, "Where the FUCK did he go?" Stephen leaped towards me, noticing that I was holding Matthew's gun. "And what the FUCK is that!"
My Guard jumped to create a circle around me, looking all around. I just murmured that we really needed tattoos or matching shirts. Stephen ran out the door and to the front of the house. I could hear a distant 'son of a bitch!' as Stephen scared the hell out of everyone. He ran back into the room to make sure I was alright, then started to run his hands through his hair. He walked up to me and took the pistol from my hand, then carefully put the safety back on and laid it on his desk pointing to the wall. He lifted me up and held me and put his forehead on mine, while breathing deep trying to calm down.
Keeping his eyes closed, he said calmly, "What happened Danika?"
I kept holding him since I had no idea how to explain it. "Stephen, that manmade time stand still."
Stephen opened his eyes and said softly, "What the hell is going on around here?" After taking another deep breath he said, "Continue."
I took a moment to figure out how to phrase things. "He shouted 'Stay' at you, and time stood still. He didn't seem surprised that I wasn't frozen either." I finished telling him the story, I was in shock I think. I know what I experienced, but it just wasn't possible.
"Anything else?" Stephen asked me as he sat me down on the couch and sat next to me, holding my hand.
"As he left, I shouted for him to let you all go. I was going to kill him Stephen, I grabbed Matthew's gun and aimed for his heart. And he simply looked at me and told me that you would be free soon, but I would be trapped by my Visions. I just simply don't know what he's talking about. I haven't had any Visions."
"Danika, love, you've had two visions so far. Plus we inexplicably started to mind-link before we even met, and you started glowing during your ceremony. You might not have seen any images yet, but you've had two Visions. You felt that something was about to happen, you warned us, you warned me. Anything else?"
"Yes, he told me that when I started to have horrible visions to let him know, I think I may have surprised him with the gun."
Stephen just chuckled a little at that last part, "I bet." He then stood up and walked to his desk. "Tyler, Father, go get Donohue's mate, family, friends, co-workers, in fact everybody he has associated with and put them in lockdown. Confiscate all their electronics and trace their communications, we have a leak to plug. I only wish I could get my hands on the traitor."
While Stephen was talking and making plans, there was something pushing at the back of my mind, there was something my wolf wanted me to pay attention to.
"Stephen, this is just a diversion!" I shouted and the room became silent. "They're coming from the sea!" I pointed my arm out, I pointed to the West. I felt a little bit like Paul Revere.
**End of chapter, please vote and comment.
Thanks, Olympic Wolf