“So how was your day?”
He looked uncomfortable for a second, and then said, “Paul will be back tomorrow, I still don’t know what he was doing, but whatever it was is big. Joe, Ella, and Allen were considering calling a full joint council meeting, so whatever info he has… yeah.”
A joint council meeting was just what it sounded like. Joe, Ella, and Allen of the shifter council would request a meeting with the witches’ council, Bria, Damon, and Sue. Most probably in some neutral location. It wasn’t something that happened often, usually only when it came to establishing laws in relating how the two races dealt with each other. Okay, that was an understatement she knew, it hadn’t happened since the peace talks around ten years ago now.
“I guess we’ll find out, anything else?”
He shook his head, it wasn’t exactly a lie, but she knew he was nervous about something. Well, he’d either tell her or he wouldn’t, when he was ready. It wasn’t like she didn’t have to hide things from him all the time, like all those shifter secrets she held back from him. Sometimes being stuck in the middle was a burden, but she wouldn’t give up Silva or her magic for anything, they both defined who she was.
He turned off the stove, and they made a couple of plates. She smiled and stole a brief kiss before they sat down. She was feeling extra sexy with the red lacy lingerie she was wearing right now underneath the casual clothes, and quite warm under his gaze as she sat down. It wasn’t only his heart that raced after the kiss. She could hardly wait to see what he thought when he got an eyeful later that night.
Chapter 3
Celia was confused for a moment, when she saw the large forest around her. The trees were huge, ridiculously so, and everything was sharper, and felt even more real than the reality she’d left behind in sleep. It took her a few moments to get her bearings, and remember that this was the place she had met her grandmother Cillantaine for the first time.
She was startled by a purring growl next to her and looked down, and gasped. It had to be Silva, the great cat rolled her eyes.
“Of course it’s me.”
She snorted, that gave a whole new definition to split personality. It made her feel like a total narcissist, but she bent down and hugged the great cat around the neck, sending feelings of love to her. Which of course, was herself. It was too confusing to think about however, she loved Silva, and she didn’t really think it counted as narcissistic.
She heard tinkles of laughter and turned to take in her very short great grandmother. She had that same shiny platinum blonde hair on her short but curvy body, and looked to be only around eighteen, if that. She knew she looked younger than her age at twenty-eight, but not that young, and her grandmother was… old.
“Daughter,” her great grandmother said.
She smiled, “Mother, it’s good to see you.”
She figured something important and probably bad was going on if her fae mother was summoning her spirit to a higher plane while she slept, but she couldn’t help the feelings of peace and tranquility she felt in this place.
She knew from last time that the fae had no definition for multiple generations, she was ultimately a descendent of Cilla, making her a daughter of magic. The first time it had bothered her, from her point of view she would only ever have one mother, but she had come to understand the fae simply didn’t think that way. She might as well get angry about the tide for all the good it would do.
Cilla nodded, “You should practice daughter, you can do more with spirit magic than simply summon an elemental.”
She frowned. She was still trying to get a handle on normal magic, much less whatever this was.
“You mean I could visit you this way? Like you pulled me into here?”
Cilla looked at her like she declared the sky was blue, or water was wet and she blushed.
“Of course, spirit magic is of the ethereal, it has no basis in the physical world, or even the other power you possess, witch and shifter magic.”
She shook her head, “What can I do with it? Travel?”
Cilla shrugged, “Maybe nothing, I think you are strong enough to travel the astral, and to this higher plane, it can also be useful to learn about someone, who they are, not how they pretend to be, will be shown in the etheric. It can also be used to see spirits, and other bodiless entities on your plane. There are other things as well, like reading the truth, but of course you can already do that with your other magic. However, you cannot do it here with other magic, or even judge the truth of a spirit on your plane, so it might be worth figuring out daughter.”
“Is that why you brought me here?”
Cilla frowned, “No, I was distracted by your ignorance child.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that, and was honestly a little put out by it, so remained silent. How could ignorance be a distraction anyway?
Cilla walked forward and embraced her, and she felt suffused with love. The woman seemed so forbidding otherwise that it took her off guard.
“I brought you here to warn you, there is great risk in the days ahead, not only for you, but for all of us. If the near future isn’t handled right, there is a very great possibility of exposure. To the humans. I don’t have to tell you that could go very badly, although that isn’t certain.”
She tilted her head, “You can see the future?”
Cilla shook her head, “I can see the possible futures, some of them, and even then not clearly. I can’t tell you what the action will be to decide the matter either way, merely that it revolves around you, the packs, and the witches where you live. There is an enemy coming, one that no longer cares about such things, more than just exposure is at stake, there is also the possibility of the war resuming.”
War resuming? That should be more than just tacked on as an afterthought, shouldn’t it?
She frowned, “I’ll be cautious.”
Cilla nodded, “Don’t second guess yourself, just be aware.”
“I will mother.”
Cilla replied, “Be well daughter.”
She hugged Cilla, unsure of this relation, but the fae was family, and that’s what mattered the most. It felt like waking up as the forest faded and she fell back into a deep slumber.
The next morning her mind was spinning a bit as she followed her normal morning ritual of a run, shower, coffee, a large breakfast, and opening the store. She wasn’t sure what to make of the dream last night, that she could still remember with crystal clarity. She got the sense her grandmother was more worried about her, than actually worried about anything else. It wasn’t like she’d be able to make a big difference, she wasn’t a leader and had very little influence.
She also wasn’t sure if she should let anyone else know, how would she explain it if she did? Her grandmother clearly thought advertising she was part fae, even if only a little bit, would be a terrible idea. No, all she could really do is keep on her toes, which seemed like a good idea anyway, even if it was just business as usual in her world.
She wondered if the attack yesterday had anything to do with what was coming. It would be a coincidence otherwise, but she also knew the supernatural world could be a mess at times, so it could go either way. She’d already made a mistake assuming before, she’d been so positive that the assassins were coming because of the Albany coven, and clearly that had been an error of judgement on her part.
Ed came back by the store around nine thirty and they drove in to Charlotte to the first shifter and witch meeting in years. It was being held in a conference room at a holiday inn of all places. Neutral ground.
“You seem distracted.”
She shrugged, “Lot on my mind, I’ll be okay, just need to know what’s going on.”
Ed replied evenly, “We’ll know soon enough.”
She could tell he was nervous about something, “Is everything okay?”
Ed thought for a moment and then cleared his throat, “Fine. I guess I’m just wondering what it’s going to mean with Paul being back. I don’t w
ant things to be awkward.”
She shook her head, “I don’t think it will be.”
She honestly wasn’t sure, she just knew she didn’t want to be the center of a drama, or fought over. She didn’t get the impression that it would be that way though, tiger shifters were pretty relaxed when it came to relationships. Paul might be disappointed, but she didn’t believe he was capable of being possessive.
They pulled into the holiday inn and found a place to park. When they got inside there was a sign by the front desk with a list of meeting rooms, written next to one of them was Bria Whitehead, the quorum room. A quick walk down the hallway and they entered the room.
The room was fairly large, with a board room conference style table that looked to seat twenty, and a sideboard setup with bagels, coffee, spread, and muffins. She stared at the table for a moment in consternation, wondering why she hadn’t thought of this dilemma until now, and then went over and started to make a bagel with cream cheese to hold off on making her decision.
On one side sat Bria, she was around sixty-two as far as she knew, but looked closer to forty and was still attractive with raven black hair and sharp green eyes. Next to Bria on one side was Damon, a few years younger but already gray, but distinguished, and on the other side of Bria was the soon to be council member Sue. On the other side of Sue sat Fran, the coven leader for Rock Hill, which was somewhat of a surprise since she wasn’t a part of the council, but was a local coven leader. Ed took a seat next to her, on the witch side.
But then across the table from that group was the Rock Hill wolf pack alpha, Tony. Maybe they were both here just for better dissemination of information and advice? Next to Tony in order was Paul, who she hadn’t seen in forever. She felt that attraction she used to, but it was muted, and there was a sense of annoyance along with it, which said to her that it was instinct, and would be ignored.
At least, that’s what she hoped to do.
Next to Paul was the actual shifter council. Joe, the bear shifter, who sat next to Allen, the oldest wolf shifter she’d ever seen and the alpha of the Charlotte wolf pack. Next to him was the last shifter councilor, Ella, who was a tiger shifter and Paul’s sister.
She finished her bagel, grabbed a coffee and turned. Her dilemma of course was what side was she supposed to sit on? She belonged to both groups, and sure as hell if she picked one side, she’d be insulting the other. Ella was grinning at her evilly, the tiger shifter knew exactly what was going through her mind right now.
She sighed, having made a decision, and walked over to the table, grabbed a chair and pulled it to the head of the table, and sat down. She decided she would choose neither. She could be stuck in the middle, as she was both literally and figuratively in the rest of her life. She wasn’t complaining, that was just how it was.
Ella raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. Hopefully she hadn’t just pissed off both sides for not joining either. If so, they could suck it up.
Bria sat up a little straighter, drawing the room’s attention.
“So why are we here?”
Allen said, “We all have a problem I think, down in Florida. Just over a month ago we heard about a pack that took out an entire coven, and burned the coven house to the ground. It was a very public event, and wasn’t covered up very well at all.”
Sue got a rare look of disbelief on her face, “That seems unlikely. Even during the war something like that was incredibly rare.”
Allen nodded, “Wolves can’t cover up things like you witches can, we tended towards stealth, and picking off the unwary during the war. It was the best way to keep things hidden. At the very least we’d leave a witch or two alive so they could cover things up with glamour and manipulation when the dust settled. After all, concealing our existence from the humans is something, maybe the only thing, that we’ve always agreed upon. This time, well we sent Paul down there over a month ago to get a sense of things and to find out what was going on. If you don’t mind he’ll give that report now.”
Bria gestured, “Please do.”
Paul’s voice felt like being struck by lightning, and she felt both her stomach turn and light on fire. She locked down her expression.
“Tensions are rising in Florida, and southern Georgia. Mainly because of a stream of refugees of sorts that are trickling north from battles. From what I can piece together, there is a wolf shifter pack near Kissimmee state park that is the origin of all this. An alpha named Jake Collins. Apparently he had an okay relationship with the local coven, until the day witches attacked his pack and killed his mate and child. I haven’t been able to uncover why that attack took place, anyone that could tell us is now dead.
“I believe Jake is now insane, his beta Manny was from all accounts a sadistic bastard before any of this happened. Regardless, they took revenge and destroyed that coven down to the last person, and they clearly aren’t concerned with covering anything up. Local law enforcement is involved, though they don’t have a clue what’s going on yet. I wasn’t able to discover how they did it however.
“Jake is also clearly gathering other packs in to his cause, but again, I’m not sure how. Most alphas would object to that sort of thing and stop him. Yet, he is clearly growing an army. The witches in the area are too afraid to move in to cover it up, because since the initial attack he has been destroying any witches that come into his path.”
Tony interjected, “We caught one of his scouts yesterday. My beta and I finally broke him in the early hours this morning, I figured I’d wait until the meeting to pass on what I found out. He’s a scout of sorts for Jake, with the purpose of identifying cross species level of contention in an area. Specifically, ours in this case, but he has more than just one team. The scout is completely loyal, if I didn’t know better I’d say magic was involved in subverting local alphas as he gathers his army.
“Needless to say, Jake isn’t very happy with the rumors of cooperation between us in Charlotte and Rock Hill. The scouts secondary job was to talk up the local packs and see how they feel about witches in general, I guess to indicate the amount of effort it would take to make us join his cause. It seems absurd on the face of it, but he has something that’s making it actually work in most cases.”
Bria shook her head, “So what do you suggest?”
Ella spoke lightly, “We should be aware we may have an influx of supernaturals soon. Both ours and yours. Of course, we’ll also be looking for more enemy scouts on our side of things. I don’t know if there is much more we can do than that, but our enforcers will be very busy here soon.”
Damon frowned, “What about exposure, we need to stop this rogue pack do we not?”
Joe sighed, “It isn’t as easy as that, their reported numbers are above fifty now, and growing. Any action of direct confrontation would lead to exposure if we put together a force large enough to put them down hard and fast. Of course, doing nothing will lead to the same result. We believe the best chance to avoid exposure is to take out Jake quietly, and hope it all falls apart without him there holding it together. We’ve already made a move in that direction, hopefully it’s just a matter of time now.”
She wondered for a moment if they hired the same assassins that were after her… well the ones still alive anyway. She wasn’t sure what to think about that, it seemed wrong but at the same time… all she knew for sure was her dream conversation was starting to make more sense. Exposure, war, it all seemed very possible suddenly. She noted even though they were all here talking to each other, and calmly for the most part, that there wasn’t any love lost in the room, and there was plenty of distrust to go around. So far, no one had acted on that though, which was good as far as she was concerned.
She just hoped it lasted.
As for her, she kept quiet about things, but sent some mental commands to her air elemental, to find and watch everything Jake sees and hears until tomorrow morning. Maybe she could learn how he was holding such a large amount of shifters, fifty in one pack wasn’t natural
, ten to eighteen was the normal range, anything more than that the alpha wouldn’t be able to maintain control.
So how was he doing it then?
There was no new information for the rest of the meeting, though the discussions didn’t break up until lunch as different ideas were made and discarded. Apparently they were going to sit back and wait, and hope an assassin’s blade found Jake Collins before it all blew up in their faces. Somehow she just knew it wouldn’t be that easy, life never was after all.
Chapter 4
It was late in that afternoon, and Celia was at the store alone. Berny had left a few minutes early for a date with Dan, and Mia was off that evening so it was just her. She hadn’t really gotten time to talk to and catch up with Paul. Outside of a few looks, he’d pretty much ignored her during the meeting, so she was hoping at least that part of her life would turn out not to complicated.
She wasn’t sure what was more alarming though, as she considered the warnings of war or exposure. She hoped neither happened, but truthfully war sounded less scary. It was the devil she knew, humans coming after them sounded scarier in her mind for some reason. Of course, if war came again, her standing would flip from ally to both groups to enemy no doubt.
That might be a little paranoid, but she didn’t think so. In a way it was true, her loyalties were split. If war broke out, staying neutral would really be her only option, and seeing death on either side would bother her. Maybe she should just find somewhere away from everything if it came down to that, assuming of course, she wasn’t killed.
The front door opened breaking her morbid thoughts, and she looked over as Detectives Jim Peters and Brett Johnson walked in. She kept her face calm and folded her hands on the counter in front of her, they both looked rather nervous, but determined. What now? It was bad enough they thought she was psychotic killer that got away with killing her ex-boyfriend around two months ago now. She wondered for a minute if that case was still actively open, or on an unsolved case pile and filed away.
Shifter's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 3 Page 3
