by Jeff D Ellis
“I hope you don’t mind. We have been so busy, I just needed you any way I could get you.”
“Oh, Chloe. I’m so sorry. Being busy should never be an excuse for not taking care of your needs. That felt amazing! I was even dreaming about sex with you at the time.”
Chloe smiled and got out of bed. Mark felt the pangs of guilt flow over him. Yesterday had flown by so fast, he forgot that Chloe’s hunger would be starving for sex. It wasn’t that facing life and death situations didn’t count as a good reason for not thinking about it, but it didn’t change the reality of her needs. He felt more alive than ever before. Maybe they should fit in morning sex more often.
Mark got dressed and headed to the dining room. Chloe was looking through the cupboards.
“Hey, lover boy! Their idea of being stocked is different than ours. Unless you think champagne and caviar is a good idea for breakfast.”
Mark shook his head. “We can stop for breakfast on the way in.”
“I expected you would feel that way. You aren’t the caviar type. I didn’t think John was either, so maybe it was last stocked for a fancy party.”
“Chloe, I am so sorry for not thinking of the needs of your hunger.”
She gave him a languid smile. “It’s fine, we had fun this morning.”
“I feel I owe you more than that.”
“I love you, Mark. You don’t owe me anything, but I will look forward to more later. For now, we need to focus on the job and replacing some of what we lost at the house. Hey, what if I talked to your mother? Would she pack up our clothes for us and meet us on neutral ground, or what if we sent someone to get our clothes?”
“Don’t call. I should call Sam now and tell him I will not be part of his Pack. He will already know he is out of the Vampire business. I don’t have to admit to knowing he is siding with monsters. I can ask him about our stuff while I’m at it. I’m not going to trust him, not after our father being killed to support his takeover.”
Chloe hugged him. “You’re showing real leadership skills. Trust me. You are not second best.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am going to call Sam now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Moving out
MARK CALLED SAM.
“Hey, Mark. Did you hear what that Vampire bitch did to us?”
“That was part of the reason I was calling. I just talked with her and she said our contract died with Father and she was not going to make a new deal with you.”
“Right, she dumped us out in the middle of the night. Like after all we did, we could not be trusted.”
“Sorry, Sam. You did say you wanted to dump the Vampires and bring in jobs from other places. Now you have a good reason. It might have a looked bad overturning Father’s last act as your first act as Alpha.”
“I had not looked at it that way. Smart. What about you? Are you going to show your support for me at full moon?”
“That brings up the second reason I called. I got back together with Chloe and I found out some Pack ancient history.”
“Such as?”
“Did you know we used to be coyotes?”
“Where did you hear that load of bull?”
“I heard it from the Shaman we used to use for special Pack needs.”
“Why do you believe him?”
“Because I can Shapeshift into a coyote now.”
“You’re shitting me, right?”
“I’m not. That is why I have not been into work or near any of the Pack. They would smell the coyote on me, and the last thing I want to do is start a fight or cause you embarrassment when you are about to become Alpha.”
“That was good thinking, but it would have been better if you hadn’t been messing around with things that don’t concern you. You put me in a bad situation. I agree you need to stay away from the Pack until after they make the bond with me, but it will also look bad if you aren’t standing beside me and the first one to bond.”
“I can’t do that, Sam. With this change, I can’t be Pack anymore.”
“You can if I say you can.”
“Let’s put it this way. I will not be part of the Pack bonding.”
“If that’s the way you want it, I am not going to force you.”
“Is it all right if I make one last visit to the house and collect my clothes and personal items? The house and everything else is Pack property and it’s not right for Chloe and I stay there. I expect when you move into the Alpha’s house, you might want to move Mother into that one.”
“I haven’t decided yet what to do about Mom, but I might do that.”
“Do I have your permission to remove our personal items?”
“Fine, but be quick about it and do it when everybody is off at work. Also, I don’t want you upsetting Mom. You are going to really hurt her by this, and all for a Coyote bitch.”
“Thank you for being understanding.”
“Just be quick and leave the SUV. That is also Pack property.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chloe came in as he put his phone away. “How did it go? It seemed like from what I could hear, it went with the least amount of drama.”
“He wants us out ASAP, and he reminded me the SUV is also theirs. He said it was Pack property, but actually it’s the company’s. So he fired me as well, but that was a given.”
“Then we better get it done. When should we go?”
“Chloe, don’t take this wrong, but I don’t want you going near the place. It’s not safe.”
“If it’s safe for you, it should be safe enough for me.”
“I think we need backup. Somebody they can’t afford to do anything in front of.”
She smiled knowingly. “Let me make a call.”
“Hi, Abby. Is this a bad time to call?”
“How can I help you, Chloe?”
“Mark and I are in a little bit of a situation that we don’t want to escalate. It involves wolf and coyote politics.”
“David told me about what happened with Sin-ka-lip'. Did Mark take that option?”
“In a way; he visited Grandfather, who helped Mark shift to coyote form without Sin-ka-lip's help. Now Mark is a Coyote and has left the Wolf Pack. We need to get our personal stuff moved out of the house we were living in, because it is Pack property. We are worried that whoever killed the old Alpha might take this as an opportunity to eliminate the opposition.”
“Are you asking me or Deputy Marshal Abby?”
“I am asking the future tribal Shaman and her husband to help two of her tribe members move.”
“Congrats! I had heard the Elders made Mark a member of the tribe, but I wanted to let you tell me. I sometimes hate it when Grandfather jumps ahead when I am trying to tell him my story.”
“Can you help us?”
“One moment… Yes, we will help you, but it would be best if we can do it now. Will that work for you?”
Chloe pointed at her watch and Mark nodded. “Yes, now would be fine.”
“I suspect we could carry more in our SUV than in whatever car you have. We can ride together. Where are you?”
“The Clan put us up in John’s Seattle penthouse while we look for housing.”
“I bet Mark loves that … not.”
Chloe laughed. “How did you know?”
“Maybe it’s a shifter thing but David would feel the same way about being in a fancy glass apartment in the sky.”
“I think we could be great friends, Abby. Thanks for being there for us.”
“We were already on our way into the office, so we can be there in ten minutes.”
“We will be waiting out front. See you soon.”
Chloe put her phone away and smiled up at Mark. “That went really well. They agreed to help us and they offered to drive.”
“I still need to take back my SUV so they can follow me, and you can ride with them and navigate in case we get separated.”
“Okay. Let’s get the SUV and move it around fron
t. They should be here in about ten minutes so breakfast will have to wait.”
They got the SUV and parked in the loading zone in front of the building. Some people gave them some dirty looks taking up the space, but all that changed when a SUV with U.S. Marshals markings pulled up ahead of them. David got out of the passenger side and approached Chloe.
“Why don’t we switch places? Chloe can ride with Abby and Mark and I can get to know each other.”
Chloe flung the door open and laughed. “Great, I would love that.”
David climbed into her seat. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought we should talk.”
Mark took a deep breath. “Yes, sir.”
“Hey, it’s not like that. I just know a little bit of what you are going through. When I learned I was a Shapeshifter, it turned my world upside down. It just happened to be Sin-ka-lip' that introduced me to my heritage, along with some baggage about being his Champion. So, if anybody can understand you, I can.”
Mark held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, David. At a time like this, I can use all the understanding I can get. I gave up everything I know for being with Chloe.”
“I did the same with Abby. Fill me in on what to expect when we get there.”
Mark started driving. “I don’t know for sure, but I fear my brother had my father killed so he could become Alpha. I am worried he would rather see me out of the way as well.”
“Vukodlak?”
“I think he is involved with them. How did you know?”
“We have been keeping our eyes open for them ever since John Burke killed a Vukodlak crime lord. It seemed like a matter of time before they sent his replacement.”
“That is what Greta and my father felt as well, but he didn’t know who might be involved with the Vukodlak.”
“Why do you think they killed your dad?”
“He was killed at a long distance while he was on a wolf run. It would have taken someone being fed with inside information to pull it off.”
“Could it have been a hunter?”
“This had to be a sniper.”
“You think your brother paid them off in some way to do this?”
“From the things he has said, yes, I do think that, and Grandfather thinks Sam wants to be like monsters.”
“That is good enough for me. Why do you think there could be trouble today?”
“Sam knows I am coming, and someone shot one of our Vampire security guards last night. They smelled like some sort of predator I have never smelled before.”
“One moment…” David looked like he was concentrating. “I let Abby know what you told me.”
“How?”
“Abby and I can communicate telepathically to each other. It comes in handy when I am in different animal forms.”
“Can I do that?”
“Not that I know of. I can only do it with Abby. It’s something Grandfather did for us and it might have only been because Abby is connected to tribal magic.”
“Gotcha. Chloe and I have a shared empathy over our mating bonds. It’s not as good as your thing but I can at least tell when she is in trouble.”
David clapped Mark on the back with a smile. “You’re a lucky man. Chloe seems like a wonderful woman. Abby has taken a shine to her.”
They arrived. Mark parked the SUV in the garage and got out.
Abby backed her SUV into the driveway to make it easy to load.
“Mark, wait here a moment.”
The side window on Abby’s SUV went down and a raven flew out and started a wide circle of the neighborhood.
“That was Ember, Abby’s raven familiar. She will provide overwatch while we work. If we have a sniper watching, she will find them.”
Marks eyes got wide. “I never thought of such a thing.”
Chloe and Abby exited and came to meet them.
Chloe had a big grin on her face. “Did you see Ember? She is wonderful!”
“David pointed her out. Chloe, why don’t we grab a couple of boxes and get to work? Can we get you anything to drink while you wait?”
“We can pitch in and help, right, David?”
“Right! Show us the way.”
Chloe gave them a quick tour of the house before heading back to the closet.
“Abby and I can shove the clothes into boxes. Why don’t you make sure we are not leaving any Clan property behind?”
“This way, David.”
Mark looked around the home office and put the few things Chloe had into a box. “We have not lived here long enough to have much stuff yet.”
“This is a nice place. It reminds me of our house in Issaquah. The forest is not as connected as yours, but we have Cougar Mountain almost for our backyard.”
“Is that the place where hikers went missing a while back?”
“That was my and Abby’s first case as Marshals. We had a necromancer hiding out in an abandoned cave kidnapping young women. I almost died on that one. Maybe someday I’ll tell you the story.”
“I look forward to hearing about it. Chloe and I need to find a place like this somewhere. I can’t stay in that penthouse very long; it freaks me out.”
“You should talk to John and Henry. Both of them live in houses that back up to forest and may know of something.”
“Thanks! I was going to talk to John today about other things. I will see if he has any ideas. I don’t know who Henry is.”
“John’s daughter, Kat is married to Henry.”
“I haven’t met them yet.”
“I don’t expect you would have heard of Henry and Kat. They were able to escape from the Clan. He and Greta have a bad history. It’s another long story that you should hear from Kat.”
“How do you know them?”
“Kat is Abby’s best friend. I met Kat when I first started dating Abby. You would like Henry.”
“David, am I doing the right thing, becoming the head of security for the Clan?”
“You will have to decide for yourself. I don’t agree with many things Greta does, but my parents had an understanding with her and so do I.”
“That is a fair answer. I am not sure what I want but Chloe is in the Clan, so I can’t leave them unprotected against the Vukodlak. I don’t see me doing this forever. The tribe wants me to become some sort of leader of the Coyote Shapeshifters. I can see myself doing that. I do think I want to get some training in their lore and magic first.”
“I expect Chloe’s grandparents can put you in touch with the right resource for that. It’s a big responsibility.”
Mark laughed. “What, like being the Protector of the People?”
“I got conned into it and I was taking on the legacy of my father. It was his job when he died.”
“I am sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay. I never really knew my parents. They died when I was young.”
Mark felt bad for bringing up painful memories while laughing. He took one last look around the office.
“Looks like we are done here. Is it safe to put this in the car?”
“Abby says it’s all clear.”
“I don’t think I am ever going to get used to you doing that.”
Mark put his box in the SUV and went to check on the ladies. They were ready to go as well. He grabbed a box and they headed out.
“Guys, Ember says we have company coming. A woman from the house next door is on her way.”
“It’s okay. That must be my mother. Get ready to go and I will talk to her.”
Felicia was walking up at a fast pace. “Mark, is everything all right?”
“Yes, Mother, these are some friends helping us with a couple of things.”
Felicia sniffed the air. “Mark, tell me right now what is going on.”
“Sam didn’t want me to say anything, but I am leaving the Pack.”
“Why do you smell strange?”
“I am a Coyote now, but you can’t tell anybody in the Pack. Sam knows and wants to keep it quiet until after h
e is Alpha.”
“This is your home. Don’t leave.”
“You know it’s Pack property and I can’t stay.”
Felicia pointed at Chloe. “This is all your fault! I trusted you with my son and you betrayed the Pack.”
“Quiet, Mother. This is what Sam thinks is best.”
Tears formed in her eyes. She turned and walked way without another word.
Mark rubbed at his eyes. “That could have gone better.”
Abby called out, “Chloe, why don’t you ride up front with me? The boys can ride in the back.”
Chloe put her arm around Mark and pushed him into the car. “Mark, we better do what she says. I think we have worn out our welcome here.”
They got in the car and drove away.
“What about your bird?”
“Don’t let Ember hear you talk about her that way. She will keep flying overhead watching for trouble.”
Abby took them back to the apartment and they agreed to meet up sometime soon for dinner.
Mark and Chloe were finally alone again, but now were late to work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Fact Finding
MARK AND CHLOE took a seat in John’s office.
“Thank you for meeting us, John. Greta said you have some network security people we can use to make sure the Pack didn’t slip something in.”
“Congrats, Mark. It’s good you have now entered the inner circle. There were things we kept from you both and it’s time to fix that.”
