by Jana Leigh
Trinity leaned around her father and watched a man take the frail looking woman into his arms and try to soothe her. She wondered why this woman had such a huge reaction. It seemed a little surreal. Trinity gathered her things assuming that they would be leaving now. Hopefully, they would at least feed them before they left. She was starving.
Devon reentered the room and said, “He"s gone. Left only minutes ago. I sent some Enforcers after him, but I really think he"s gone in the wind.”
“Fuck!” Quin yelled and ran his hands through his hair leaving it messy. Trinity looked at the female Alpha and smiled, she was staring at her mate like she wanted to drag him out of the room and have her way with him.
Jaden turned and looked at her father and said with frustration. “Tell us the rest.” Her father nodded and continued. “I walked into the room and saw the humans lying on the floor. I knew them because they were the head of the staff for Oliver"s household.
At first, I could not believe what I was seeing. I stepped to the side and hid in a closet while I watched a large wolf shift back. It was Braden. Oliver had a bunch of exits for emergencies and so I went back out into the hallway to tell my wife to go back to our rooms. Braden opened the door just as I had reached her. He smelled of death. And then he said the strangest thing. „Oliver has gone mad". I, of course, knew the truth but did not want to challenge him. My wife and I reacted like we believed him. He spun this tale about how we needed to protect the Alpha and we should hide the evidence. Oliver was in the room unconscious but just waking up when we got to his side. Braden told him the lie and Oliver was devastated. He wanted to tell the rest of the Council the truth. Braden talked him out of it. It was a mess. My wife and I helped cover it up, then went to Spencer and told him the truth. He told me to take our family and go to his Pack house in the mountains. We left and never looked back. Braden would have killed us if we had told the truth. He said as much that night.” The room was silent except for two women"s sobs. Trinity looked and the woman who had been so detached and calm before was now sobbing in her mates arms. She was so confused.
“Spencer, what else can you tell us?” Quin ordered.
Spencer once again rose on shaky legs and stepped forward. “Alpha, I did what was best for my wolves. You have to understand. Braden was the strongest of the New Council. I truly believe he would have killed us all. I have watched and waited all these years, but until recently, I knew nothing of Braden being involved here. I brought the only gift that I could as a peace offering. I have kept her secret and safe all these years with the hope that one day the New Council would return. Trinity is the child born in October. She is the Pack builder.”
Trinity gasped and looked around the room at the people suddenly staring at her.
“Spencer, stop telling them such lies.” Trinity said and turned to her mother. “Mother, please, what is going on?”
Her mother gently pushed the hair from her face and smiled gently. “Oh, my darling girl. I am so sorry for the life you have had to live until now. We could think of no other way, and we could not prepare you for what you needed to do. Your life would have been in too much danger. Remember the Prophesy?”
Trinity rolled her eyes and said, “Of course, what member of the shifter community doesn"t?”
“Let me give you a little lesson though, Trinity, while I introduce the members of our New Council.” Quin said softly and stepped forward.
“The spirits gave each of the Chosen a gift that coincided with the astrological signs they were born under. Something that would help them fulfill their position on the Council.
The Spirits assigned each of them with a specific job, which would ensure the New Council would succeed in their enormous task.” Quin started. Trinity nodded and once again rolled her eyes. This is what was written in the book that Spencer had brought with him. She had read it enough because he had insisted on it. She never understood why.
“I was born in January, which makes me the Alpha of the New Council. Being a Capricorn, I was regarded as the zodiac's leader. My gift was being in an Alpha Triad.
Thus, having stability and strength needed to lead the Pack and the Council at the same time. As well as being a stable influence for humans to see and would not fear the shifters would try to take over their realm. Because both jobs were of equal importance, the Gods gifted the Triad to help share the duties. Cami, the female Alpha, has a strong personality in her own right. Jaden, the other wolf in the Triad, was also an Alpha.
Before coming here, he had been planning on setting up his own Pack somewhere close.
When he arrived and discovered that he was mated to both Cami and me, he had been shocked and happy. We decided that Jaden would be the Denver Pack Alpha, while I would be the Council Pack Alpha. We would share the responsibilities, but it made it easier on both Packs to have one Alpha to go to. This is Jaden and Cami, my mates.” Quin said and smiled to his mates. “We have three children, two boys and a girl. They are the lights of our lives.”
Trinity nodded and smiled at the Alphas, she noticed how in love they were and wished she would find that with someone. Her mate had to be out there somewhere.
“Jo was born in February. She was an Aquarius, the humanitarian. She was a White Wolf and had the ability to feel the entire Pack and Council, and transfer emotions to calm and reassure others. She is the emotional balance needed for all the New Pack members. Tey, her mate, would call it a curse as well as a blessing. Tey is the one who has to hold her when the emotions overwhelm her or try to calm her down when she is high on excitement from all the emotions the Pack can give off. He has done a wonderful job so far, but taking care of the Pack"s emotional well-being is a full-time job.
Tey has to be with her always and so the Pack lost one of its best Enforcers.” Quin continued and pointed to the frail woman and the large man. She was happy that she had someone so strong to help her, one good brisk breeze and she would be swept away.
“Jo"s father is also Oliver. She has been waiting and hoping that someone would come and help her father. Jo was the child assumed dead. That is a long story in and of itself, we can talk more later.”
“The next was the child born in March, Pisces. This child would be the visionary of the group. They would be the one who had the ideas and ability to see what the future held for the Pack. Though we had the Seer from the European Council Pack, the Spirits intended for this child"s gift to surpass that of the Seer. This person would see the very future of the Council, and the wolf whom I had wanted found first. After reading the papers from the previous Council, they also figured that he would be the hardest to find.
However, we had been wrong, Blaine had been right under our noses. Now that they found him, and his mates, we hoped it would be easier to find the Chosen. His mates are Dalton, he is a Sidhe and Kira, she is Blaine"s balanced Seer half. They can see visions together. Dalton is the New Council pain in the ass, but if you want anything done, he is the one to go to. He knows all the ins and outs of Milliken.” Quin said and pointed to the threesome sitting in the middle of the table. They looked happy too. Goodness, all of these were true matches.
“Then, the child born under the April constellation is an Ares. This child will be the one who will be the liaison between the humans and the Were. They will travel all over the world promoting the harmony that is needed for both races to coexist. There were more shifters than just the Werewolves, and making the decision to come out into the open was going to be difficult. All shifter communities needed to be involved in planning the Revelation. So far, we have not found this member of the New Council. We are researching and hoping to find them soon.” Quin spoke gently and smiled at her as she took in all of this information. Trinity was not sure where this was leading. There is no way she was a part of these beautiful people.
“After April is, of course, May, the Taurus. This will be the spiritual advisor and historian of the Council. This Wolf will confer with the past notes and make sure the Council is no
t making the same mistakes the previous Council made. They will record our history as it happens, and make sure that future generations have documentation of shifter history. This is Jordan, and her mates Romy and Larkin, they share in their mate"s love of history and have offered to help Jordan with her assignment. They are cat shifters, black jaguars. Jordan is human, the only one on the Council. Her parents are the ones who were killed that night. So far, Jordan has been researching the Old Council and trying to get the books from them, obviously because of what happened they are kind of scattered. She is currently building a program to help her find lost items and enter them in so we can read them easier.” Quin said pointing to the woman who had stopped crying and smiled at her through her tears.
“I am so sorry, Jordan. I wish things had been different for our first time meeting. But my father and mother are good people; they will help all they can.” Trinity said and wanted to stand up and give the woman a hug. She felt a connection with her. She seemed like maybe she was an outsider too. Trinity knew she would be friends with this woman given the chance. She only hoped that maybe she would be able to.
“The child born in June is one of the most unique among the zodiacs, Gemini, the twins.
This was Reggie and Casey. They will be the only ones who share a month, and will share the seat on the Council. They will be the financial managers of the Pack. Because of the responsibility, and the task being so vast, two children needed the gift. The current Council had amassed a great fortune and the Denver Pack was extremely prosperous. We needed to build more room for the new members of both Packs as well as making sure that each member was taken care of. As the Alphas of the Packs, we would never allow anyone in their Pack to want for anything. It would take a team loaded with financial people to normally run the funds from a Pack. The twins are going to be in command of the group. Casey is sitting with her mates, Devon and Sid. Devon is also a member of the Council; I will explain his role later. Sid and his brothers are the construction workers in the Pack. They are building houses for all the Chosen. Now that you are here, you will get to choose your home layout. Reggie is sitting with his mates, Levi and Ruby. Levi is an Enforcer of the New Council Pack.” Quin said taking a step forward and pointing to the group at the end of the table. Trinity looked at Casey and Reggie and saw the resemblance. They were both gorgeous. She wished she had a sibling like them. It would have been nice not to be so lonely while growing up.
“The next child is born in July, a Cancer. They are the overseer of mates. Lacy had been the newest member to the New Council, before Jordan. Her gift allows her to see who is supposed to mate and who is not. They are also the protector of the mates, should anyone force a mating or abuse a mate, and they are the ones who will deal with it. I will not tolerate any abuse of a mate in the Denver Pack. We have heard stories of other Packs that used their females as slaves, and we will never do anything like this. The overseer of mates for the Council has a big job trying to clean up the mess in America.
Jaden and I spent half of our time calling the Alphas from other Packs and taking reports of mate abuse that they heard about. Lacy was a witch, she and her mates have just settled in their job. Her mates are twins, Blaine"s brothers and bear shifters. Shawn and Sevi. They own the Pack supply store and if you need anything ordered for your new home, go to them. They can usually get it here quickly.” Quin explained. Trinity wondered if Lacy would be able to tell her who her mates are? Wow, these people were all amazing.
“Devon was born in August. He is the Leo, the leader of the Enforcers of both the Denver Pack and the Council Pack, the leader of our army, a natural protector. Should he wish, he could challenge me, of course he would never do that because he does not want the headache. He is perfectly happy being the Beta. Devon is the leader of all the Betas. He sets up training for them and makes sure that they are doing their job as well as making sure the Enforcers do theirs. He is like the military leader in the United States, the highest ranking General in the Were community. If there was a war with the Rogues, Devon would be leading it. He is also the mate of Casey and Sid.” Trinity nodded and looked again at the large man who was sitting at the table. He probably could take Quin, just from size alone.
“Next in line is Virgo, the child born in September. Cloe is our medical adviser. She works with the human doctors to understand the physiology of the Were, and the trainer of the Were doctors. Cloe is mated to Beta of the Denver Pack and my brother, Darien.
They shared a bond with another member of the new Pack, Teagan, who is trained to be a nurse and well as an Enforcer.” Quin said and pointed to the group sitting next to his mates.
“The child born in October, Libra, will be the Pack builder, that is apparently you. You will be responsible for setting up a new Pack and knowing what is going on in each of the Packs and report to the Council. Once the Council officially moved to Denver, there was an influx of Packs starting in the United States. Many of the Packs from Europe had small Packs in the States, but I knew that they would grow and be much larger than they were now. We have requests daily for someone to help organize their Pack. As the Chosen of the Pack builder, only you can name the Alpha or leader of any new formed Pack. From there you will help them secure their hierarchy. There will be traveling involved, but until you find your mates and this mess with the Rogues is over, I have to ask that you remain in the compound.” Quin said directly to Trinity who was nodding.
She was not going to argue yet, but she was sure that she was not one of the Chosen.
How would they even know? Her parents could be mistaken after all.
“In case you don"t think you are one of the Chosen. Kira also has the gift of seeing auras.
She is able to see who the Chosen are by their aura. Kira?” Quin asked and turned to the woman sitting at the table staring at Trinity like she knew this question was coming.
“Yes, I can honestly say that you are one of the Chosen, Trinity.” Kira said softly.
Trinity shook her head. It just was not possible.
Quin continued as though he could not tell she was struggling. “The next is the child born in November, the Scorpio. They are considered the oldest of souls and will be the consultant with the previous Council, using them as a resource, should the Council need them. There is much to be learned from humans and other Were. I want the Old Council to be advisers, but we need someone appointed to help with organizing them.
Of course, not found yet. Finally, the child born in December, the Capricorn will be the liaison between the other shifters and the Council. They knew there were other shifters, all with different hierarchies, and this person will be the go-between for the groups.
Most of the shifter community kept hidden, even from fellow shifters. Once they become public, it would be a huge job to organize all the different communities. Also not found yet.” Quin said and then stood in front of her.
Trinity looked up and met his gaze. “I need to talk to my parents.” She said softly and almost let out a breath of relief when the man nodded and turned.
“Let"s go and get lunch on the table, join us when you are finished. Then we will resume the meeting after we are done.” Quin said and moved his arm to his friends indicating they should leave the room.
Finally, there were only four people left in the room. Her parents, Spencer, and her.
Trinity let loose the breath she had been holding in. What the heck was going on?
“Mother, father, we need to leave before they discover the truth and kill us.” Trinity whispered urgently.
Her father laughed and knelt in front of her. “Trinity, you were listening the same as all of us. You are one of the Chosen. They could see your aura and know that you belong here. I know you are confused, but let us explain a little.” Trinity looked at her parents and then nodded slowly. She would listen, but she really thought that maybe they had been drugged or something, she would hate to think her parents had begun getting dementia, in a wolf it was the worst thing. Usually t
hose were put to death. She would take her parents far away before she let that happen. Maybe they could find a nice place in the mountains; she could take care of them.
“Trinity,” Spencer said and drew her attention. “We are telling you this now because we found out recently the New Council was back. Living where we do, the news travels slowly. I know that they had begun to search for the Chosen, but I was worried about your safety. I did not want to come out in the open until I was sure that you would be protected. It looks like they have this well in hand. The night that your parents witnessed the murder, we decided that we would have to keep you a secret. That is why you were a servant all these years. I am so embarrassed to say that I had one of the Chosen as a mere hired hand, but if Braden would have found you, I have no doubt in my mind he would have tried to kill you.”
Her mother took her hands. “Trinity. You have been sheltered for so long. Now is the time that you spread your wings and take your rightful place on the Council.” Trinity sat quietly and nodded, finally it began to sink in. She was one of the Chosen.
“But, I don"t fit in. They are all so beautiful and confident.” She muttered almost to herself.
Her father lifted her head until she looked at him in the eyes and said, “Young lady, you are more beautiful than any of the women I have seen. You are smart and capable; do not let anyone tell you different.”
Trinity felt the tears gather in her eyes. She wanted to blurt out that he was her father so he had to say that, but she held back, not wanting to hurt his feelings. What he had said meant the world to her.
“I agree. My mate is absolutely gorgeous.” A deep voice said from the door.
Her father stood quickly and stood in front of her as if to protect her. Her mother gasped in surprise and Spencer stood.
