"Want some blobs?" Ethan murmured against the skin of my shoulder.
I sniffled the air; coffee, bacon, and something sweet was already there. "Did you already make some?"
He shook his head sleepily while he pulled me back into his chest. "No–"
"Derek," I breathed out with a sleepy smile as Ethan nuzzled my neck.
I started to scoot out of bed to follow the enticing trail that the scent of coffee had made when Ethan pulled me right back to him with a cranky rumble. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Coffee," I muttered out. Ethan paused, thinking for a moment because we both were suckers for our morning cup of coffee, but he decided to flip me so I was on my stomach instead. Kissing up my spine, causing me to slightly arch into him while his hand grabbed a handful of my ass. "What are you doing?" I breathed out as my eyelids fluttered open, more awake as he nipped at my mark.
"A surprise sunshine," he murmured against my skin as he captured my lips, his hardness pressing against my rear that I pushed back against him as my own arousal started to grow more needed.
"Is this the only definition of surprise in your dictionary?" I asked while he ground himself slowly against me, drawing a soft moan from my lips.
He chuckled then kissed back down my spine, biting my ass cheek before he kissed it tenderly. "I don't see you complaining."
"True," I mused while I heard him move behind me, arms wrapping around my legs and pulling me backward. "Ethan?"
It was then I felt him there, licking me from behind and causing me to bite down into the pillows while his tongue worked in and out of me, every now and then stopping to suck on my folds while lost myself in the bliss of the moment. I couldn't lie, I was never going to complain about his surprises–ever, and this morning apparently I was getting a few surprises.
After the 'surprise' or 'surprises,' I showered quickly and made it downstairs to see Derek reading a copy of Sherlock Holmes while he sipped his coffee. He looked up and smiled at me, eyes tired and a bit red. Elliot had left this morning for his trip to the caverns with Frank's pack and I knew that the whole thing more than bothered Derek.
I walked over and hugged him before I looked over to see fresh Cinnamon scones cooling on top of the stove. "Scones? This is new."
"It's a new recipe that I wanted to try, there's bacon, and there are eggs too."
"You know he'll be alright, right?" I said gently.
Derek let out a shaky breath and nodded. "He linked me this morning and was more excited to see if he could get a bear than anything else. I just–those caves are just dangerous in themselves. They are all ice and basically one big floating death trap over the ocean that he could freeze to death in."
"I mean, does the cold bother you?" I asked carefully as I reached for a coffee mug. "Not to be insensitive, but I just–I guess I never thought of it."
Derek shrugged. "It can, but not as much as humans. What's more dangerous is how fast the water freezes. I'm more worried that he'll fall in, and then lose track of where he fell in and either the water will freeze or hell get lost and I mean we need air, we can't just hold our damn breaths forever and–"
"Derek!" He paused and looked at me before he let out a hot breath. "He'll be alright. He's been before and he doesn't have to go through pack land. Ok?"
He nodded before I turned to pour myself some coffee. "Scone?"
I smiled at him as I eyed the scones hungrily. "Absolutely, those smell divine." I went to the refrigerator and fetched my Coffeemate while Ethan trotted down the stairs; pouring in a little until it was just the right amount of creamy. "Well, did you sleep alright otherwise?"
"Yes," Derek answered as he scooped scones onto three plates. "Well, other than feverish lovemaking next door, it was a pretty peaceful night."
My cheeks flamed red causing Derek to laugh hard right as Ethan turned the corner. He looked at me then at Derek with a raised brow. "Did I miss something?"
Derek shook his head before he winked deviously at me, causing me to bury my face in my coffee mug. "No, but I hope you like scones."
"Did you make them?" Ethan asked as he walked to the coffeepot.
Derek nodded as he put some bacon on a plate along with some eggs. "I did."
"Then I will definitely like them," Ethan replied with a smile as he pulled out a mug.
I followed Derek to the island and slid onto a barstool as he passed me a plate. Ethan put his mug down next to mine then walked to the refrigerator to grab the butter dish. "So," Derek asked as he cut into his scone while Ethan placed the dish on the table. "What's on the agenda for today?"
I sliced some butter off them placed it on my plate before I broke off a piece of scone and put a little butter one it. It was a firework of cinnamon, brown sugar, and what tasted like a little nutmeg in my mouth. I had to suppress a groan while I made a mental note to get Derek to make up some dough so I could freeze it for later.
"Well, Evan's coming over with Lyanna and Bernard. We need to go back through the new material we have, as fun as it sounds," Ethan said, his voice almost grumbling as he finished.
"Well, we can make mimosas?" Derek said, faint hope in his voice.
I quickly nodded. "Yes, yes, yes–all the above."
Ethan rolled his eyes before he bit into his scone. "This is so good," he said through his mouthful.
Derek chuckled and shook his head at me. "Elliot's just as bad."
We finished breakfast in time for Derek to run home and bring back a few bottles of champagne he had left in my cabin and some orange juice. He and I drank mimosas while he taught me how to make his favorite granola as Ethan started to unpack some boxes of paperwork around the living room.
"Babe?"
"Yes?" I called back.
"Do we still have popcorn?"
"Would you like some?" I replied while Derek checked the oven as the smell of our granola mixed with various dried fruit, nuts, and this brown sugar cinnamon heavenly concoction filled my kitchen.
"Please?" Ethan asked, looking up at me with faint puppy dog eyes.
Evan was walking to our door with Lyanna next to him and Bernard behind him. He had trimmed his hair, but it was still long enough for him to pull back in a small ponytail, which Ethan seemed to be slightly envious of.
I shook my head at him with a sly smile, causing him to roll his eyes as Evan opened the door. Evan walked in with a box of cookies that Lyanna had baked along with some yogurt-dipped pretzels that he and Ethan started to argue over, mostly because Ethan kept stealing some from Evan.
"Mimosa?" I offered Bernard.
He looked over at me with a relieved nod. "Please."
"Morning Char," Lyanna said as she rubbed my cheek against hers.
"There's scones Lyanna if you want some," Derek said as he poured Bernard his drink.
"Scones?" Evan said with hungry eyes. "Bro you didn't tell me that Derek made breakfast."
"You would have eaten all the damn scones!" Ethan bit back.
"Would not," Evan retorted back before he looked over at us with a slight pout.
Derek rolled his eyes as he handed Bernard his drink. "I'll make you some Evan. There are some left over if you want one."
"I do," he replied smugly.
I took a sip of my mimosa then walked to hug Evan. "Your hair's getting long again Ev."
"I know," Lyanna slightly groaned.
Evan shrugged. "We compromised. I get to keep my hair as long as long as I shave the beard."
"It's not like you like it that long," Lyanna said, looking over to Evan with a raised knowing brow.
Evan mused for a moment then nodded. "You may have a point there, Derek can you cut my hair?"
Derek chuckled while Lyanna smiled smugly. "Sure Ev."
Ethan groaned. "Come on babe..."
"What?" I replied innocently.
"She makes me shave my beard and cut all my hair off–I'm like Samson loosing all my powers," Ethan replied as he sat back on the couch.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, choose one."
"Really?" Ethan asked with a raised brow.
I nodded, I mean, I did like him with a slight beard. I loved the way it tickled my skin and defined his jaw, although I wasn't about to admit that to him.
Ethan leaned back and scratched at his head. "You drive a tough deal sunshine."
I chuckled and sat down while he took a long sip of coffee. "I think it's fair."
"As do I," Lyanna added as she munched on a scone while she walked over to a couch.
Evan rolled his eyes as he took a long sip of coffee while he helped Derek carry bowls of granola, popcorn, and a plate of scones out. He looked over at Ethan as he walked to sit down next to Lyanna. "There's no winning brother."
"Alright," Bernard breathed out, his voice a bit annoyed. "Let's get to it."
"Right," Lyanna said. She walked over to her tote and pulled out this tall rolled-up piece of paper.
Evan helped her unroll it and lay random objects like candles, books, and a Darth Vader book end that Elliot had spray painted cream on the edges of what was a map to keep it from rolling back up. It was a map of the United States with little red dots all over it.
"Ok so the red dots are where I have tracked incidents with everything we have," Lyanna said. "As you can see, they mostly congregate in more populated areas like Virginia, central to south Texas and Louisiana, and the east coast up by Seattle and Portland. Canada has some as well, but I didn't find a lot there. I think there are probably more than I have marked out, we just don't have that information."
I looked it over then thought back to history–to what Ezra had told us. Ethan started to explain to our group what we had seen at the tree, but I couldn't take my eyes off the map. Evan was more than surprised that we saw Eli, but he was not surprised to hear that Eli and Lucas still picked at each other like they were children–that was apparently the norm.
Bernard hadn't found anything particularly unique about the tree. He had brought some old texts to look through, but his focus for now, was on other things–like the cursed blood.
"What do you think sunshine?" Ethan asked.
I looked at the map then back at Lyanna. "How far back to these go? The incidents you have marked?"
"Uh," she breathed out while she chewed on her bottom lip. "I think three hundred years. I couldn't correlate them obviously to Jeremiah's journals, but he was right literally about all of them–I think it's safe to assume that his journal is on point."
"I think so too," Bernard added. "What are you thinking little wolf?"
"So, we know of cursed blood rogues rising from 'major' instances, like the Black Plague, Trojan War, World War II, etc. I'm curious to see if we could see if there is a trend here," I thought out loud.
"How would you do that little wolf? Do you have any rogue information?"
"We have instances where there were rogues involved and I have reports that go way back of rogues in different pack areas from all of the packs that we had at that meeting the other day."
"What are you thinking Char?" Ethan asked.
"We follow the trend and see if it leads somewhere, pools to a city or a state? Maybe we can use that to determine if that place is their headquarters or where 'The Snake' is from? Maybe it all clusters in certain areas?"
Ethan nodded. "That could work. Want my laptop?"
"Please," I breathed out as Lyanna's mind started to turn.
She looked up at me with excited eyes before she started to dig journals, notebooks, and binders our of the boxes. "It's going to be some work, but this could work."
"Ethan and I can comb through the journals again," Evan said.
"I have our coven records, I can see if there is any mention of 'The Snake' or the cursed blood that could have been lost," Derek added.
We looked at Bernard who lazily looked up at us from a book that looked older than the dirt our house was built on. "Blood magic research obviously."
Ethan returned with his Macbook then brought me another cup of coffee. He and Evan went quickly to work while Lyanna and I worked furiously at our new task.
We were at it for hours; thank God for the snacks. I think I ate half the bowl of granola by myself. Our poor little coffee pot had been going all day, and Ethan had made a quick trip to the pack house to get extra stick notes for us to use–well more for Bernard. He was a huge fan of sticky notes, which made me giggle as I watched the witch carefully paste bright pink and green sticky notes all over the various texts he was reading out of.
We used Excel to build out a map that would fluctuate with the different years; so it would show the different data points associated with the year in the correct place where we had tracked the incidents. It was really tedious work and halfway through I had cursed myself for not taking more Excel courses in college, but eventually by mid-afternoon Lyanna and I thought we had something.
I hit 'airplay' on the computer then connected it to our television so Lyanna and I could show everyone what we found. Ethan walked in with a cup of coffee in his hand while Evan looked up at the screen then back at Lyanna with a mix of pride and admiration.
"Well, what is this?" Bernard asked as he looked up from his texts.
"Ok so that is obviously the United States, including Alaska," Lyanna said as she got up and walked to the television to point on the screen to the light green colored digital map of the U.S.
"So Charlotte and I went back through and put all the incidents into the spreadsheet, as well as and rogue data that correlated to the year that incident was filed. We did everything in twenty-five year increments, so as of three hundred years ago, this is the map," she said, while I clicked a button to reveal a series of blue dots with red dots clustering around them over on the east coast by West Virginia. "The blue dots are the incidents and the red dots are the rogue reports," Lyanna pointed out.
"What did you base the rogue information off of?" Derek asked.
"Well, rogue reports for one," Lyanna said. "And incidents that reported a rogue involved."
Derek nodded while I continued to click. We moved forward a hundred years to show the red dots chasing clusters of blue. Some of the incidents were scattered randomly–no correlation whatsoever, but some were more interesting.
"Ok stop Char," Lyanna said. "Now go back."
I clicked back a few times so Lyanna could point to a cluster of blue dots over in Seattle. "What's that babe?" Evan said.
"Ok Char, can you do it in ten years?" Lyanna asked.
"Sure," I breathed out, punching a few buttons and making sure all the data and formulas in the spreadsheet were functioning properly. I inwardly thanked my annoying roommate who majored in statistics in college, she drug me to a few excel workshops so I would have more 'marketable skills' for the job force. I ended up doing better than she did, and I guess I ended up using this shit later on after all.
"Ok now go forward," Lyanna said. I started to click, revealing blue dots that would start to slowly grow then after a few years, usually ten to fifteen, red dots would start to form around them. "This example was two hundred and twenty-five years ago. Charlotte and I found, and we probably need to keep going to be sure, that every twenty-five years there is a surge of incidents somewhere then subsequently there is a rise in rogues."
"Do you know the breakup of vampire-were incidents to just same species incidents?" Derek asked.
Lyanna shook her head. "No, but we could look into that."
"The data moves to one of three places; the pacific northwest, the eat coast-ish by West Virginia and Kentucky, or here but mostly close to Anchorage or McCarthy. I know there is some in Canada, we just haven't gotten that far yet," I said, looking around the room that nodded in understanding.
"So you think one of these three areas?" Ethan asked.
"Maybe," I replied as I leaned back against the couch. "We need to add the Canadian data, but it's looking like it all really forms in a majority around these areas."
"Cursed blood," Derek breathed out. "It has to be."
"Did you find anything?" Evan asked.
Derek shook his head. "No, nothing."
"It has to be someone's blood, a family maybe?" I thought out loud. "Are we sure that the Hagan and Balak did not have children and that the witch that originally cast the cursed blood died along with all her line?"
"We would have known if Balak was still around," Derek replied. "A vampire like him could not hide for long."
"What about Hagan?" Lyanna asked. "What about the witch during the Trojan War?"
"It's worth looking into," Bernard said. "I have a feeling this is coming from the same veins."
"Just to play the Devil's advocate," I replied. "Wouldn't any child of that line be a rogue with that blood in them?"
"Not necessarily little wolf. If they had a mate, then that would prove that the blood doesn't turn you rogue, but maybe the blood mixed with magic does?" Bernard mused.
"Well, who would have it? The original families?" I asked.
Derek shrugged. "Your guess is as good as any, but if you are thinking in that direction then you can through your two families along with Deryl and Ajax's lines out."
"Ok, well, Bernard what about you?"
"I have no utter idea what they are after as far as magic goes," he replied, his voice tired and almost borderline annoyed. "I've never seen blood fused into a powder like that and honestly, I'm not even sure how or what they used it for."
"What do you mean?" Evan asked.
"All blood is alive until it leaves your body, the minute it does it starts dying and the power in it," Bernard answered before he took a sip of coffee. "There's always part that lives on, like the tree. There's a little bit of power in that blood, but there is so much blood pooled together in that area that it makes it one very powerful place, although I think more is going on there."
"Like what?" Ethan asked as he walked back over to me.
"You shouldn't be able to talk to the dead like that," Bernard answered ominously. "Dagny is looking at it right now with your wolves. I'm going to ask Caleb about it and the blood, it doesn't help that some texts are missing, but maybe we'll get lucky."
"Do we think there are rogues like this right now in the mainland U.S.?" Ethan asked.
Bernard shook his head. "You're the spark that they need to set the treaty on fire, they don't need other places. It would be a waste of resources for them."
"But what about Aaron and Amber," I pushed back. "The pack they tried to transfer to was attacked by rogues as well as other wolves."
"Yes but that wasn't a big pack," Bernard replied. "Those were not the same kind of numbers as what we've seen here."
Lyanna sighed and looked back up at our chart before she turned to Evan. "I need a break, and dinner."
"Hunt first?" Evan asked.
Lyanna nodded while I leaned back against Ethan. He kissed my hair while Derek nursed on his coffee. "Hungry sunshine? "
I shrugged. "Not really, maybe in a little bit?"
Ethan, Derek, and I worked for a few hours longer after Evan, Lyanna, and Bernard left. Bernard wanted to go check on Dagny and start checking borders. I had worked and worked and worked until my brain felt fried.
Derek decided to run out and go find some 'dinner' in the form of an unlucky deer or five, before he linked with Elliot that night; that was one good thing about Elliot's trip, Derek would always be able to link with him.
Ethan worked with me a little longer until he demanded that we have a picnic. I ran the bath while he carried our dinner upstairs; leftover scones that he became obsessed with, Oreo's, beef jerky, popcorn, and wine for me. He found a small travel cooler and filled it with some ice so he could have his beer while we soaked.
"What's wrong sunshine?" he asked while I tossed some popcorn in my mouth.
"I just feel like we are so close but not close at all. It's like it's on the tip of my tongue and I have no idea what it is," I said before I took another sip of wine.
Ethan leaned back against my chest while one of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street,' movies played on his laptop. His fingers were mindlessly tracing up and down my calve that were wrapped around him. He sighed then placed a kiss above my knee. "I don't know what to tell you Char, but I feel like we're getting close–like there's an end in sight."
I broke off a piece of a scone and nibbled on it for a bit while my free fingers played with the little bits of Ethan's chest hair. Our world seemed so screwed up and growing more complicated by the day.
"What will we do if there is a horrible allegation–like a smoking gun that we found with Thomas?"
"About the treaty?" Ethan asked.
"Mhmm," I hummed into my glass.
Ethan shrugged. "I don't know babe, but I know it would have to be pretty bad for me or for you to want to flip. Arguably I wouldn't be opposed to a new treaty, actually, I think that it needs to be ripped apart along with some other characters, but I won't fight against the vampires. There are plenty of them that are good people and plenty of weres that are bad. Whatever we do, we need to do what will lead to peace. I don't want us or any family of ours to have to live through a war."
"I know," I breathed out. "They must know, or at least know that whatever it is they are looking for would be pretty insane to be holding out this long."
"I just can't get over all that blood," Ethan breathed out while he leaned his head back against my chest. My fingers started to play with his wet locks, causing him to quietly groan before he fluttered his eyes back open. "That's so many people they've had to drain for God knows what..."
Sighing I kissed his shoulder then reached forward for another Oreo. Ethan growled playfully while I broke the cookie apart and licked the white frosting off, before I ate the actual cookie part.
I took a sip of wine while Ethan leaned back and sipped his beer, watching the movie while I lazily ate some more Oreo's. He stopped my fingers on one of their trips for more because apparently 'I had crumbs all over them,' and I, 'shouldn't waste them sunshine.' Damn male.
"When do you think it would be safe to send Amber and Aaron away?" I asked.
"We could now? Just not a pack, we could just send them away to hide?" Ethan suggested.
I mused a bit before I started shaking my head. "I don't know if that would be good for them, I would feel better if they were in a pack."
"I don't know if any pack is going to be safe right now sunshine," Ethan answered. I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder, my hand mindlessly following his trail of hair lower which made his skin shiver slightly. "Careful sunshine."
"Or what?" I teased before I nipped at his earlobe; placing kissed down from his ear to the edge of his mark where his breath hitched in anticipation.
I kissed it tenderly, slowly, and let my tongue savor the taste of it–it tasted like a spicy honey on my tongue; swirling in a mix of flavorful explosions as I continued to kiss it. Ethan groaned and gripped at my legs a little harder. Smiling deviously I playfully bit at his mark then kissed it harder while my hand found what it was looking for.
I grabbed my wine glass and brought it to my lips; taking a long sip with wicked satisfaction while he growled lowly at me. "Charlotte..."
"What?" I asked innocently as I set my glass down.
"I think this picnic is over," he stated, moving the piece of plywood holding all the food carefully on the floor before he turned back to me with dark lustful eyes.
"Ethan?" The next thing I knew, he was picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder. Water was sloshing everywhere while he stepped out of the tub. "Ethan!?"
He laughed deviously and smacked my ass, drawing a squeal from my lips, while he marched us over to the bed where he tossed me down. He bent down and kissed me; slowly, lazily, and borderline sloppy while he crawled towards me as I crawled back on the bed.
Growling lowly into his kiss, he broke away and places a series of kisses against the wet skin of my jaw. "You're such a tease."
"Yes but you love it," I added before he nipped at the skin of my collarbone.
"Clearly" he breathed out against the skin of my chest before he moved back up to kissed me. "And I do love when you're all wet for me."
I smacked his shoulder while his body vibrated in laughter. "You're not funny!"
"Yes I am baby," Ethan laughed out against my shoulder before he nipped at my earlobe.
I bit back a smile then let out a defeated breath. "Ok, maybe a little."
"Baby, there's nothing little about me," Ethan replied in mock hurt.
I groaned and smacked his shoulder again. "God Everette, real creative there."
He dipped down to kiss me, slowly before he rested his forehead on mine. "I love you."
I leaned up and kissed him again. "I love you too, even if you're a little shit."
"No baby, I'm the shit. We already talked about this."
I rolled my eyes and was about to answer when Ethan kissed me again, erasing any smart thought in my brain away while I started to melt away in his arms. Damn male.