“Hey Stace, been a while since I’ve seen that one,” Tyrone’s voice was clearer than last time Stacy heard it, she looked up from the filigree blade into his grey eyes,
“Hey, you look good, for a guy who is well you know,”
Tyrone smiled, “Well I wouldn’t want to look bad when I see my favourite Beta now would I?”
“Have you heard? About the prophecy?” Stacy asked as she tapped the head of the axe against a protruding oak root,
“Yeah, I have, I’m sorry Stace, I know how much you care for Mal….”
Stacy cut off Tyrone’s words, “Care for? I fucking love that man, that unbelievable, crazy, genius Demon,” tears welled up in her eyes as Tyrone pulled her into an embrace,
“I know, I knew before you did, if I didn’t know better i would say you were Soulmates,” Tyrone wasn’t wrong, there has always been a pull between Mal and Stacy, it wasn’t sexual, it was protective, Mal always felt the need to stand up for Stacy and vice versa, there wasn’t a moment since they met they didn’t feel it,
“Wait, you’re right, he never found his Soulmate, he went to that realm, he fathered a child but no Soulmate,”
Tyrone put his finger to Stacy’s lips, “Demons can only have a Soulmate in the Valkyries,”
“NO! I won't believe that, I can’t, I need him Ty,”
“Then do what you do best Stace, find a way,”
Stacy smiled and kissed Tyrone’s forehead before running off towards the pack house, Tyrone smiled as she bolted but quickly his face turned, the pain he felt was agonizing, radiating from his chest and down his arm, his vision blurred and his hearing could no longer pick up the sound of the river, then like a switch, there was nothing.
Due to Tyrone’s illness and the medication he was on, the pack link was extremely weak, the only person who felt him fade away was Amber, she was baking at the time, some oatmeal and raisin cookies, she knew instantly that it wasn’t just some mixed signal or him cutting her off, she felt his spirit leave him, she broke down falling to the cold tiled floor of the main kitchen, her screams were filled with such raw emotion that her Wolf came forward and howled them out, Lucy who was grabbing a drink tried her hardest to console the heartbroken cook, but nothing worked, Charlie had to sedate her and move her to the medical floor, not something anyone should ever wish to witness was a Wolf-shifter who had just felt the only man they ever loved leave the realm of the living,
“How is she?” Valaria asked Charlie as he stepped out of Amber’s room closing the door behind him,
Charlie’s eyes dulled, Valaria could see the sorrow in them, “She, she is fine, medically speaking, I have only seen a Wolf react like this when they were bonded, they never instigated, so my only guess is that her Wolf imprinted and Amber is heartbroken, the mix of the two…”
“Do what you can for her, Dominic is making arrangements for the funeral, it will happen this Friday," Valaria explained placing a hand on Charlie’s shoulder,
“The new moon, never a better day to say goodbye to an old friend,”
Valaria agreed but could only manage a swift nod, she didn’t want to think about death right now, not with everything they had learned, it seemed to her that everywhere she turned was death and there was no escaping it.
Charlie accepted his Alpha’s response and walked down the hall towards the back elevator, one that is usually only used in emergencies to escape the underground compound has now been repurposed, due to the Packs growth having only one way in or out wasn’t practical, the back elevator exits into a small bunker at the rear of the compound outside the walls of the large parking garage, when the doors opened Charlie was met with the setting sun as it began to vanish behind the surrounding foothills, even after living in Westingdale for nearly a year Charlie was still in awe of its beauty, he made his way to the river that ran through the property and seated himself on one of the many picnic benches that were scattered along the western bank, it wasn’t long before he heard footsteps approaching and then the scent, the scent of Dragon, more specifically Drake,
“Mind if I join you?” the deep European accent rang like a bell to Charlie, he was never fond of Dragon-shifters but Drake had only ever shown himself to be friendly,
“Yeah, sure,” Charlie replied sharply, he eyed Drake as he took a seat next to him,
“I know you and Tyrone were close, he was your mentor wasn’t he?” Drake asked obviously trying to spark a conversation,
“He was, and a good man, I met him long before Riverside was even a notion, I was in a different Pack to him and Stacy, our Alpha’s had an allegiance together, I readily remember he had a Mohawk back then,” the pair laughed at the thought, “Looked like an absolute knob,” Charlie added recounting such fond memories, Drake stayed silent, “More are going to die, aren't they?”
“The prophecy only goes as far as Mal,” replied Drake, his voice dripped sympathy over the loss of such a fond friend,
“Bah to the prophecy, I mean the ailments, Christ, you guys have it worse, at least Wolves can be treated if it’s caught in time, you guys just keel over,”
“Sometimes, but sometimes we suffer through many attacks before our hearts finally give up, my grandfather had six over the course of three years, during which time he was unable to shift, all he wanted was to fly one last time,” Drake, not accustomed to speaking about his family had finally opened up about the painful agonizing death of one of the most famous Dragon-shifters,
“Draco, that was his name?” Charlie asked, he already knew the answer, Draco was famous for putting out fires in the Amazon, using his Ice powers to shower the forest with billions of gallons of ice cold water,
Drake nodded and smiled before responding, “You know, I have heard of your mother also, she was a great scientist, she rivalled Dr Hawking himself,”
Charlie chuckled, “Dr Hawking, you mean uncle Stephen, he may not have been a Preter but he was family, helped with my mothers research, found a cure for Vampire blood lust, without those two, half of the world would have been ravaged or turned by now,”
“And yet here we sit, wallowing in what might happen, instead of planning to prevent it, Lucifer is only a man, an extremely powerful man but he can not have all of his godly power in this realm, he will be a strong Demon, but we have a world full of Preternatural, we just need to convince them to help,”
Charlie eyed Drake again, “You mean to headhunt?”
“Nothing so mundane, I aim to help unite all fifteen,”
“Fifteen, so what are you going to build an aquarium? Cause I’m pretty sure Merfolk live in water,” Charlie argued, his eyes flashed Wolf and the last word had a hint of a growl to it,
“That is the problem, everyone is thinking that to be united we need be under one roof, besides, finding Atlantis is a bigger problem,” Drake explained in a calm tone hoping to soothe Charlie’s Wolf,
“Wait, you lost it? The whole purpose of Dragons Keep was to keep track of all the species and you lost one?”
Atlantis wasn’t so much lost as it was abandoned, the Merfolk left their city to spread amongst the vast oceans, so finding any of them was going to be a hard task, but one that Drake was willing to undertake, with Ellie’s help of course.
“Page Lap Zomdv Acocasahe I Vaoresa” Ellie whispered the words over the pier that would soon be engulfed in flame to carry Tyrone and his Wolf to the next life, Enochian funeral rites that loosely translates to, Rest for your time is over, the tall blonde Valkyrie circled the pier dousing it with sage oil while Stacy scattered Tyrone’s body with a mix of wolfs bane and ambergris, these two combined would help each spirit find its way to new bodies and start life fresh and free of memory.
Valaria and Dominic stood to the side with Amber who was now free of sedation drugs, her wolf was heartbroken and it seemed that she had indeed imprinted on Tyrone, it would take time for her to heal and every Wolf does so in their own way, some shut themselves away, others surround themselves with family and friends, Amb
er on the other hand, she vowed to help find the Hippogriffs with Stacy and Dominic, Grace would accompany Drake and Ellie to seek out the Merfolk, Valaria would join Lucy and Charlie to find an Incubi lair then they would reunite to speak to the remaining shifter species together, Mal, Valor, Mikhail and Mickey along with Kacy and her daughter Laura would look out for the Pack and continue to look into Gareth Malcomson and oversee the construction efforts, but not until they had said their final farewell to Tyrone,
The entire Pack had gathered in the woods, there as a clearing about two thirds of the way through, large enough for the Pack and the Pyre, Wendy, the local Witch coven high priestess had blessed the ground as a ceremonious place, every member felt close to their ancestors in this spot, what better place to send Tyrone off to meet them,
The Pack circled the pyre and Stacy marched in with her head held high, she was dressed in a long flowing burgundy maxi dress, and in her right hand was a flaming torch, Wendy chanted over the pyre, asking the gods to welcome back their son and allow his wolf to rest.
Stacy stood at the head of the pyre and a single tear ran down her pale cheeks, without a word she placed the head of the torch into the kindling and stepped back, she had done her part and now she wanted to forget, forget the pain she was feeling from losing her friend, the man that saved her from being slaughtered and brought her to her new family.
Chapter 14
Amber awoke and was greeted by the wretched stench of unwashed feet, blood, sweat and vomit, with a passing hint of leather and copper, when she finally decided to open her eyes she realized her worst fears were indeed correct, Dominic, Stacy and herself were currently riding in the back of a London Taxi cab through Piccadilly circus, the nausea of the flight from LAX to Heathrow caught up with her, now she realized why the cab smelt the way it did and why her Alpha was currently looking back at her while wearing a knitted scarf over the lower half of his face in the middle of summer, she had thrown up in her sleep, Stacy was doing her best to clean up with wet wipes and antiperspirant spray but it was only making the matter worse, like covering up the smell of death by hanging a magic tree air freshener.
“You Preter’s are going to have to pay for that,” came the disgruntled voice of the cockney taxi driver, his narrow eyes spied Stacy via the rear-view mirror,
Dominic turned from his rear facing seat and stuffed a handful of British notes through the security partition, “That should cover it, oh and use that condescending tone with our kind again, next time the Preter in question might not be as forgiving as myself,” Dominic let his wolf flash to the surface making sure the cabbie saw the amber of his eyes and the glint of his teeth,
Amber couldn’t help but smile as the scent of human fear filled the cab and replaced the other scents almost entirely, she sent a psychic message to Dominic of thanks to which he replied with a nod and a smile, Stacy quickly gave up on cleaning the taxi’s floor, Amber had managed to miss herself and her friends when the movement of the cab reacted badly with her stomach, but they were here after a ten hour flight, in first class of course, thank you Dominic, and a twenty minute cab drive they had reached their destination, The Rio Pack of Greater London had a Pack house that used to be a royal manor of some sort, the Alpha, Richard Webber, was some sort of Earl or Duke, Dominic could never remember his exact title, he just knew that Richard was a friend and sympathetic to the cross Species mating of Dominic and Valaria, probably because he was soon to mate a Bear-shifter, Richard had offered the services of his Pack in the search for the Hippogriff hide, it would seem that most of the living Hippogriffs lived and worked in England, a lot of them apparently in service to the monarchy as personal assistants, butlers, drivers and the sort, Richard knew a few by name and agreed to set a meeting, but being British he insisted that his guests rest for the night first,
The door of the cab swung open in the hand of a tall Wolf-shifter, he was dressed in tails like a concierge would wear at a high end hotel, he looked to be in his early twenties, short trim dark hair with a faint moustache, his eyes were like Dominic’s, Golden, he was definitely a dominant Wolf but in a role that called for him to be submissive, Amber, Grace and Dominic stepped out of the cab and looked up the ten steps to the large double doors at the front of the building, at the top stood Richard and his Bear-shifter mate, Dominic smiled seeing them,
“I will have your bags taken to your rooms Sir,” the doorman said as he closed the cab door and whistled for two bag boys who were very much boys, no older than fifteen,
Dominic rose the steps as if they were nothing quickly making his way to his old friend while Amber and Stacy followed,
“Richard,” Dominic’s tone was friendly but assertive, it was a clash of dominant vibes between the two Alpha males,
“Dominic old chap, how was your flight?” if ever there was a competition for best posh British accent, it would go to Richard Webber, he oozed pomp and circumstance as though he was the king or something, but he was also modest, there was something about him that said behind closed doors he was a typical Wolf,
Amber and Stacy made the top step as Dominic replied, “It was good, thank you, may I introduce the Betas of Riverside Stacy and Amber,”
Amber performed her best curtsy while Stacy simply nodded, Richard could tell instantly that Stacy was a dominant Wolf and Amber was not,
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance ladies,” Richard said kissing the back of each of their hands, “May I introduce my Mate, Juliette,” the woman to Richards side bowed her head, she was quite tall, only a little shorter that Richard, long auburn hair and eyes as deep as space and just as dark with flecks of orange and green in the irises,
“Please come in out of the cold, it may be summer but this is England,” to the surprise of Dominic and is Betas, Juliette spoke with a French accent, it was thick too, she must not have been in England long though she did speak remarkable English,
They followed Richard and Juliette into the house and were draped in golden light emanating from a hallway chandelier the size of Stacy’s bedroom, in front of them was a grand staircase that split in a middle landing to both sides leading to multiple hallways all lined with large mahogany doors and ornate trim,
“Wow!” Stacy erupted as she took in the splendour of the manor,
“It is quite something is it not?” Juliette replied, she then took Stacy in one hand and Amber in another and lead them away to the left into a reception room with a large leather sofa and a few luxurious armchairs, as she gestured for the ladies to take a seat she whispered into another woman’s ear, she was also wearing a tails suit but was definitely no Wolf, after a moment she returned with a tray, three glasses and a bottle of red wine, no doubt some rare vintage from some amazing vineyard, the woman poured the glasses and handed them out, first to Juliette than to Amber and Stacy,
“Can I ask, what species are you? I don’t recognize the scents,” Amber requested politely to the server,
The server first looked to Juliette for approval before she spoke, “I am an Eagle-shifter ma’am,”
“Ma’am? Please call me Amber,” the Wolf replied smiling,
“Payed help must always refer to the guests by their title,” Juliette explained waving the Eagle-shifter away,
“We don’t have titles,” Amber added, slightly bemused by the etiquette,
“Nevertheless, you are ladies of a Pack, and Beta Females, and of course members of The All Kinds Pack, to us, you are very special, even if you don’t see it,” Juliette insisted before taking in the scent of the wine and taking a sip,
Stacy not knowing the correct etiquette drank half of her glass and smiled, “Nice, but could I trouble you for a glass of rum? I don’t want to waste expensive wine on someone who cant appreciate it,”
Juliette smiled widely, “Of course, she put her own glass to the side, “One glass of Kraken, for Stacy, I’ll have a Bloody Mary, and I think Miss Amber would like a,” she paused for a moment to read her guest, “Ah, a Tequila Sunrise,�
��
Amber was shocked, “You’re a reader?”
“No not at all dear, I am just very good with drinks,” the three laughed as they received their drinks.
Dominic was taken to the opposite reception room, and treated to a well aged Scotch whisky and a cigar,
“So, do you believe what this Valkyrie says?” Richard asked as he swirled the drink in his palm glass and bit the tip of his cigar.
“I have no reason to think she is lying, Valkyries aren’t exactly known for spinning falsehoods,” Dominic replied as he puffed away on the very rich tasting cocoa and spices, “Richard, are you treating me to your Louixs cigars?”
Richard couldn’t help but smile, “You remember them, remind me to send you back with a box or two,”
“Not sure how Val will take it that I smoke the things…”
“Trust me my boy, she already knows, women always know, and she is a Panther of royal blood, who essentially spied on you for gods know how long before you caught her in the bushes,”
The All Kinds Pack: The All Kinds Saga Book 1 Page 9
