“I’m guessing that hasn’t been going so well?”
“Not at all. They’re full of the urge to train and fight, but they had no idea what to fight or who. The confusion is eating them up. I wish that I had called you sooner. It’s been tearing them apart.”
Kelton nodded. He understood completely what Patrick was saying. The lure of the mark was undeniable. Once the mark appeared, the need to train and fight was the main thing that drove you.
This was different, though. They had no real idea of what they’d be facing. They weren’t even Lamia Matris.
“They need to come to the academy as soon as possible.”
“I thought you would probably say that.” Patrick nodded solemnly. “The pack has done everything they could for them, but this isn’t something we’re equipped to handle. I can’t believe that I’m handing my boys over to you fangers.”
“I can’t believe that I’m going to have to babysit a couple of your fur-balls.” Kelton quipped.
They had always had good banter between them, even in serious times such as this.
The vampire and the shifter.
Patrick was the Alpha of the local shifter pack and had been for several decades. He was a huge hulk of a man, tattoos covering his rippling muscles and he generally looked like a badass that you wouldn’t mess with if you had half a brain cell. Patrick was the kind of guy who would do anything for the ones that he loved, but if you crossed him, then the full weight of his wrath would be unleashed. He was a fierce creature, even in his human form.
Luckily, shifters weren’t controlled by the call of the moon or any other cycle. They could change at will, but it didn’t happen as often as they liked to portray in the books or the movies. Patrick preferred to keep his pack in human form as much as possible. The last thing any of them needed was to lose their humanity.
When the two of them had first started speaking, the others in his pack had been a bit perturbed by it. There was no age old war between the two races, but they never went out of their way to socialise before. Each kept to their own drama. Now, here they were, mixing it up. Kelton and Patrick had set a precedent.
However, this situation with the boys was going to have to be handled very carefully. They had a good friendship going on between them, but their family and race would always come first. This would the first time that something as monumental as this had happened. Kelton didn’t want to get any of this wrong, especially for the kid’s sake. They were caught up in the middle of this and it wouldn’t be easy for them to deal with.
“Do you think that they’ll be okay?” Patrick asked, the concern for his pack members clear in his voice.
“I’ll make sure of it.” Kelton assured him.
Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure how this was all going to work yet, but Kelton was determined to get it right. Those boys were being thrown into a situation that was beyond their control and he would try to make their transition to their new life as smooth as possible. This was a hell of a thing to have happened and, despite their best efforts, they both knew that it wouldn’t go without a hitch. Kelton just hoped that he wouldn’t screw up too badly and that the problems would be kept to a minimum.
“Who is it? Do I know them?” Kelton was quite familiar with some of the pack members, but not all of them. They were a large pack, one of the strongest in the country.
“No. You’ve never met them. One of them is eighteen, and the other is only sixteen.”
“Sixteen? Jesus Christ.” Kelton whistled. This was getting worse than he imagined.
“They looked to me for help as soon as the mark appeared. I couldn’t do anything to help them.” Patrick glared down at the table. He was the goddamn Alpha of the pack and there wasn’t a problem that he couldn’t solve. Or smash to pieces with his fists. Until this had happened.
“I’ll text you the address of the new location. Bring them both by tomorrow night and we’ll get them settled in and assessed.” Plans were already starting to formulate in his mind. “We’ll get somewhere ready for them to sleep and I’ll get them introduced to the rest of the trainees that they’ll be working with.” He was already thinking that he could rope Trey into showing them around. He was an excellent warrior in training and a laid back kid, and would hopefully be a reassuring presence for the new guys.
Patrick let out an audible sigh of relief. “Thanks, Kelton. I have no idea what I would have done without you. This isn’t something I can deal with.”
“Not a problem, man. We’ll deal with this. I’m sorry that this happened to your pack” Kelton stood up to leave after polishing off his beer. He had put off returning to the academy for as long as he could and now he had to get back. There was so much to do.
“I’ll call you tomorrow when we’re on our way to you.” Patrick said as he waved Kelton off and settled back in his chair with another beer. He’d had a hard time of it in the last few days and he knew that there were more troubles to come. Sending his boys off to the academy to live with the bloodsuckers wasn’t making him feeling very easy, but he knew that Kelton would look out for them.
What a night, Kelton thought to himself. He couldn’t wait to get it over and done with so he could collapse into bed. There were still several hours before dawn approached and there was even more work ahead of him now that he knew about the boys. He had to arrange for an emergency meeting to pass on the news to the others that Merion had been dealt with. He had to call up the council to inform them and he had to speak to Merion’s wife. That wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. Also, he had to speak to Kayleigh and arrange accommodation for the boys.
After all that, he may have a few peaceful hours to spend with the woman he loved. Well, he it was something to hope for, anyway.
The meeting went pretty much the way he thought it would. Outwardly, the warriors were all pleased that the enemy had been eliminated and that Merion had gotten what he deserved, but Kelton could see that each and every one of them had wished it had been them. They all wanted revenge on Merion, but they had to settle for the face that the job had been done.
Kelton also filled them in on the fact that the warrior mark had appeared on two new recruits and there was a loud murmur of conversation when he told them exactly who had received the mark. This was not something any of them had seen coming. It was going to take a lot of work to make things right.
One of the good things was that shifters were naturally physical and would be able to keep up with the training no problem at all. In fact, they would have to go a long way to trying to tire the shifters out, but that was something else that Kelton was looking forward to working on.
He had already decided that the boys should be in his training team. It was Master Warrior Verynai who suggested that it may actually be a good idea to split them up. Kelton thought that it may have been more reassuring for them to stay together, but Verynai pointed out that if they were in separate classes, the warriors teaching them could focus on them better.
In the end, Kelton had to agree and assigned Verynai to one of the shifters. It was settled. The basics, anyway. They still had to find them somewhere to sleep and make the rest of it work, but that would all have to wait until tomorrow.
It wasn’t going to be easy, but the warriors thrived on challenges.
Chapter Twelve
Aisline could feel something in the air. She couldn’t put her finger on it and the rest of the trainees seemed totally oblivious as they tucked into their breakfast, but she could feel it. The warriors were all buzzing with nervous energy that was barely caged. Ash couldn’t help but wonder if something else had gone wrong.
“Are you okay?”
She turned to look at Trey and realised that she’d been staring off into space. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”
“They’ll let you get back to training soon, don’t worry.”
That was another thing that was playing on her mind. She wanted to train, she really did. But, on the other hand, it was still a
worry for her. There was no telling how she would handle someone coming at her during sparring, fists and feet flying. Would she freak out? Would the memories come tumbling back to her and make her freeze to the spot? Or would she lose the plot completely and beat the ever living crap out of everyone she came into contact with? It really was a worry. “I’m sure they will.”
She glanced over at Jackson out the corner of her eye and caught him watching her again. That was another problem that she didn’t know how to solve. “Are you training today?” she asked him, getting fed up of the silent treatment.
Jackson looked away briefly and smiled blandly. “Nope. Still on with the punishment. I don’t think I’ll be back to training for at least another year the way things are going.”
“Which is worse, the actual work or working with Denver?” she grinned, hoping to break the ice that was rapidly forming between them. Where had their easy friendship gone?
“Denver. That’s for sure. He’s such a whiny baby.” Jackson rolled his eyes and grinned back at her.
Aisline wasn’t sure what to say next so she looked back down at her plate and carried on eating her bagel. It was enough anyway. They’d spoken which was a big step forward. He may not want to be with her, but she wasn’t willing to let go of that friendship that easily. She’d fight for him if she had to.
Soon enough, Kelton came over and waited silently at Jackson’s shoulder. He knew better than to keep the warrior waiting and quickly took his plate over and emptied what he hadn’t managed to have time to eat into the trash. With one last lingering glance at Aisline, he followed Kelton and Denver back out into the cold night air.
He’d wrapped himself up in several layers as the nights were turning frigid. It smelled like snow. You know that kind of wintry feeing when you know that Christmas will he here in the blink of an eye? It felt like that tonight.
Kelton didn’t bother to say a single word. He gave them each a pointed look and turned away, leaving them to their own devices. Denver immediately started bitching and complaining as soon as the warrior was out of ear shot, but Jackson just got on with the shovelling. He didn’t see the point in voicing any complaints. It wouldn’t get them anywhere. They were here to do this and they wouldn’t stop until the job was finished. And, seeing as they still had a hell of a lot of work ahead of them, the finish was nowhere in sight as of yet.
The mansion was bigger than he remembered. Patrick and his buddies used to run around these parts when they were younger. Things had been different back then. This place had been left to ruin for years and had fallen into a state of serious disrepair. It was clear to see that the warriors were trying to bring it back to what it originally was, but they had a long way to go. Patrick respected them for at least trying. He knew they wouldn’t give up until it was restored to its former glory and it would be magnificent when they were through with it.
Back when he was a kid, he had never thought for a single moment that he would ever be friends with a fanger, much less that he would entrust members of his pack into their care. It beggared belief. But, here he was, ready to hand over two of his boys to Kelton. It could have been a lot worse, he knew that. At least he knew the guy that was going to look after them and more importantly, he trusted him. Kelton may be of the fanged variety, but he was still one of the good guys.
The problems had started a week or so before. He had held off for as long as he could before contacting Kelton and bringing him in on the problem. In a way, it was a blessing that they had sighted Merion as it gave him an excuse to speak to the warrior.
As soon as he saw the star shaped birth mark make an appearance on the boys’ temples, he knew. He had seen it too many times not to recognise it. Patrick knew what was happening and feared what they would have to do in the future.
However, he didn’t contact Kelton straight away because he wanted to see if there was any way for the boys to fight against the mark. He needed to give them both some time to prepare for what they were going to have to face. This was going to be, without a doubt, one of the biggest changes they were going to have to go through in their lives.
It wasn’t enough time. Caleb wasn’t ready for this. Patrick wasn’t ready for this. Rees seemed to be handling the whole thing better than the two of them put together. He had waved off his mother like he was going to camp for a few weeks, not like he was starting out a whole new life at the tender age of sixteen.
Now that they were finally here at the academy, Rees was itching to get inside and down to business. The idea of being some kind of warrior thrilled him no end and he wasn’t at all phased that he was going to be working and living with vampires. Patrick tried to put it down to childish enthusiasm as opposed to blind foolishness. At sixteen, Patrick wasn’t at all sure that Rees completely understood what he was letting himself in for.
Caleb was silent in the front seat of the car. He didn’t say a single word the entire ride over. Patrick didn’t know what to say to him to make any of it better. It wasn’t like he could turn around and say that it was all going to be okay because he wasn’t about to lie to the boy. Who knew how this was all going to end? All they could do was hope for the best.
The drive up the long winding driveway seemed to take them forever. Rees was bouncing excitedly in the backseat and Caleb remained sullen. It didn’t bode well.
Turning off the engine when they finally pulled up outside the looming building, Patrick leaned forward in his seat to look at the old place. It sure looked different now that there was obviously life inside. Lights blazed into the night. In a way, he was glad that the Sons had moved to this location. It was much more suitable to a shifter way of life than the tunnels and underground layout of the old place. That would have felt claustrophobic to him. Here, they had the advantages of the fresh air and wide open space surrounding the mansion.
“Are you ready?” he asked them, glancing over at Caleb in the passenger seat and then over his shoulder at Rees.
“Yeah! Let’s go!” Rees grinned like this was all one big adventure.
Patrick appreciated his enthusiasm, but on the other hand, he was desperately worried that the boy was going into this blindly. It wasn’t going to be one big game, but no matter how much Patrick tried to explain it to him, Rees was still as giddy as a kid at Christmas. That was just how he was. Patrick had to hope that the harsh reality wouldn’t crush him.
“Caleb?”
Patrick stared over at him until the boy finally turned around to look at him. “Yeah. I’m ready. Whatever.”
“Kelton’s a good guy. He’ll look out for you both. If you have any problems at all, you can always call me. I’ll sort out anything that you’re not comfortable talking to Kelton about.”
“I can handle a bunch of bloodsuckers.” Caleb glared over at his master defiantly.
Patrick frowned. “Caleb. I don’t want you causing unnecessary problems. We’ve got enough to deal with without you starting something up.”
“I’m not about to start something. But, if they start it, then don’t expect me to just roll over and take it.” Caleb’s eyes raged.
“You know that Kelton’s doing us a favour, having you here. We aren’t equipped to deal with this kind of thing.”
“I don’t need him, or any of them, doing me any favours.”
“Quit being such a whiny bitch, Caleb. I’m simply asking you to control your temper and not cause any problems. I’m not asking you to take grief from anybody, I’m just asking you not to start it. If they bring it to you, and I very much doubt that they will, then you tell me or Kelton and we’ll sort it.”
“Go running to the teacher? As if.”
“Dammit, Caleb! None of us want this for you and we’re trying to make the best of a god-awful situation bearable for you. But, it’s on you to make it work, too.”
Caleb was quiet for a moment before muttering, “Whatever.”
Patrick shook his head in frustration. He knew that if there was going to be any trouble, then out
of the two boys, it was going to be Caleb that caused it. Caleb was often found in the centre of trouble. He turned and got out of the car. “Come on. It’s time.”
The boys grabbed their bags and followed him up to the front of the house. The building was imposing. The front doors were a lot taller and wider than in your average house and the whole exterior screamed gothic. With a mental grin to himself, Patrick thought that this was the perfect place for a bunch of vampires to dwell. Reaching up, he rapped on the door with the old brass knocker that had been polished to within an inch of his life.
“Yes?” A voice came through on a little box that was placed on the wall next to the door. Patrick knew that there would also be several well placed cameras focused on the three of them right now. He was a modern man, but Kelton had also taught him more than one technological trick when it came to high class security.
“Patrick Mulholland to see Master Warrior Kelton.”
“One moment, please.”
Patrick spared a glance over at the boys. Caleb still looked as pissed off as ever and was trying hard not to look around in awe at his new surroundings, while Rees was grinning from ear to ear.
In no time at all, the front door swung open to reveal one of the many warriors that Patrick knew only on sight. His first thought was that he was glad that the shifters were a well-built bunch of males, as the vampire warriors were impressive specimens. It would have been downright intimidating to come in here, a nine stone weakling, and have to try and compete with men of this size. Luckily, Caleb and Rees had nothing to worry about, and they were both still growing. They’d fit in well here, physically at least.
“Mr Mulholland, please come in. If you would like to take a seat, someone will be with you shortly.” The warrior waved a hand toward a small seating area that was opposite the security desk. “Can I get you anything while you’re waiting? Coffee?”
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