Julie

by Foster, Sherry

  When Gammon shook his head Mia sagged a little more in his arms. Sometimes the despair the other females carried weighed heavy on her shoulders.

  “Marcus said Kate regained consciousness earlier long enough for him to take her oath and get in touch with her parents. As soon as Kate can talk to us we will see what she knows and ask her about the number. Did you write it down? Is it the same number every time?”

  “Yes, I did and it is.”

  “Well, all we can do is wait. We will leave tomorrow and head back to Alaska with the two. I know you had your heart set on spending time with Trina, but we need to get Julie and Allison to Alaska so they can heal. And I need to send some of the men down here to help Marcus and Trey find the other females and rescue them. Marcus mentioned something about Kate being able to track one of the females named Dawn. I also need to go over the compound and see what other safety measures I can enact. If a Senator’s son was involved in this we may have trouble coming our way. The High Council will have to be informed. Senator Avery is on the High Council. Shit, the only person we know we can trust on the Council is William.” Gammon stroked her hair as he spoke. He had brought her down specifically to see Trina and he hated to disappoint her.

  “Will it ever end? Will our race ever recover do you think? What do you think the curse means? Just to forget the witches or even worse, destroy us?” Mia had been as surprised as everyone else to find out about the existence of witches and the curse hanging over the shifters.

  “I don’t know. I get the feeling Casey knows more than she is willing to tell us about the situation. Come on, we need to get you in bed so you can rest. Will Allison be okay sharing a room with Julie for the night?” Gammon never turned turned his head as he lead Mia toward the room where the other females were resting. His voice drifted back toward Delany as the two walked away.

  Delany watched them as they turned the corner before he settled his back against the wall facing the door. His mate was in that room and hell would freeze over before anyone got through that door other than Mia. He couldn’t take the screaming from Julie. She wasn’t the first female to come to their pack damaged and he was certain she would not be the last. He didn’t resent her keeping him from Allison. From what he knew of true matings the poor girl was probably saving him from fighting with his wolf. His wolf was more than willing to stay away from the screaming and guard the two females from the hallway.

  He had a mystery to solve and he was determined to solve it before the night was over. The lost little one they called Julie smelled familiar to him also. Something about her scent made him think he had met her before. If not her, then someone of her family. But the question was, who?

  The others in the pack were still going through the prison with the ones from Marcus’ pack looking for any clues they could find. Jamie had gone after Kate’s parents just a few minutes earlier in the helicopter. While he watched over the door Delany searched his memory for the elusive scent Julie shared with another.

  As the hours passed the others kept him informed of what they found or rather what they had not found. The human side of the prison seemed empty of anything personal save some clothing and toiletries. The male wing had little information they had not already pieced together. He almost regretting keeping watch over the two females when word began to trickled to him of the events happening in Craig’s room. The others had started calling the poor guy box man. Marcus’ pack sure was collecting some odd females.

  Delany’s eyes widened as he realized his mate had been involved with Craig’s mate for at least a year. A year of what ever influence, good or bad, Kate may have had on Allison was sure to show.

  Groggy from lack of sleep but unwilling to turn over the care of the two females to another male, even one from his pack Delany finally gave in and let one of the others drag two mattresses into the hall. While he set one up in front of the door Shilo settled down on the other mattress. No one was getting into the room without going through both men.

  As he drifted between waking and sleep he heard a murmured “Trisah” from Shilo’s direction. Jerking back awake he stared over at his pack-mate. Everyone knew Shilo was in love with Trisah, had been for years, but no one had ever mentioned him calling for her in his sleep. As he drifted back to sleep his last thought was of Trisah. The screaming female reminded him of Trisah.

  Chapter Two

  “They are hiding something!” Gammon growled.

  “Yes dear, but whatever secrets they have are their secrets. They have been hiding Kate all her life and you heard what they said about the curse.”

  “Mia, sweetheart, I heard what they didn’t say also. All they admitted about the curse was how it affected them. And how it affected the shifter community in relation to the witches. I can not believe the curse was only to make the shifters forget witches exist. I think it mighty strange the curse to cause a rift between the two and the lack of females born to us both happened within the last three hundred years. They know more than they are saying. And Casey knows more than she will admit. I want to know why Casey claims no clan. I want to know more about the curse. No, I need to know more.”

  “I don’t know dear. Can you imagine being a shifter but no one remembering you because you are mated to a witch? Can you imagine what the last three hundred years must have been like for those two. Forced to live apart from her family and his for centuries.”

  “Yes, and another thing. If Kate mating a shifter broke the curse, why didn’t Sibeal mating a shifter break the curse? His name, Conall is Irish, he looks a bit like the Irish shifters and according to Casey, Miranda is Irish. Though how she got a name like that is a bit baffling. No Mia, something more is going on here and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

  “Now Gammon, admit it, you are searching for someone to blame. Any way at all to connect the dots to get you an answer. Well stop it. I know you too well. If the curse has anything to do with the lack of females you can bet it is not Conall and Sibeal’s fault. Nor is it Kate’s fault or even Casey’s. Why is the name baffling?”

  “So why didn’t Conall and Sibeal’s mating break the curse? Why do they insist the curse is more complicated than just the mating? What? Oh the name? Well Will invented that name back in the 1700’s no wait, I guess it would have been the 1,600s. To hear Casey tell it Miranda has been around for hundreds of years. Far longer than the 1,600’s, but just the name gives a clue as to how old she really is, unless she changed her name.”

  “You realize sometimes you come up with the most obscure bits of trivia when you start investigating something?”

  “I know honey, but sometimes the smallest insignificant detail can change the entire story. If the name did not exist until the early 1600’s, and it didn’t because I helped William come up with the name for one of his plays, actually the name was my idea, and the witch is named Miranda, that tells me her age. According to Casey, Miranda is so arrogant and entitled she even named her only daughter Miranda. No, something is not adding up. You heard the last question I asked Casey before the meeting broke up, What was the witch called before she took the name Miranda? What did she say? Miranda was always her name. If one thing doesn’t add up then you start there and work your way outward.”

  “So you are basing all of your investigation on the name of the witch?”

  “I helped Will invent that name for a stupid play in return for a favor so I know exactly, approximately how long the damn name has existed. But no sweetheart, I am questioning things because, what happened to the daughter.”

  “Casey said she died.”

  Gammon looked down at Mia, “Yes, she did didn’t she, but what did Sibeal say happened to her?”

  “She said she died.”

  “Uh huh, and what did Conall say?”

  “Gammon, where are you going with these questions? All three of them agree Miranda’s daughter, also called Miranda, died.”

  Gammon turned to the door as Marcus entered. Before he could answer Mia, Marcus g
rowled, “Yeah, but Conall lied. I smelled it. They are hiding something.”

  “Exactly what I was telling Mia. What are they hiding? Miranda the first put a curse on the shifter community to forget witches. The shifter female birth starts declining. The only four we know who know anything about the curse insist the curse concerns the knowledge of witches. But Conall lied about Miranda the daughter. Why? They gave their oath to you Marcus so the question now becomes, what are you going to do about the situation?”

  “Not much I can do. Conall is smart. He didn’t take the pack oath until he got one from me first. I can not ask him about his past beyond a certain point. If I had known they were going to be hiding something about the curse from me I would not have made the oath nor taken his oath. I am sure I could have gotten him to give since I had his daughter’s oath at that point. He and his mate have been secluded in Australia for much of the last two hundred years. Maybe he has not realized how far the shifter community has fallen and how close we are skirting extinction if we can’t do something about the lack of female births. I don’t know what the birth rate is in your pack but my pack only births one female to every ten or fifteen males. We might have more if we had realized we had a problem sooner. By the time anyone realized though, the population of females had become critical with no known solution.”

  “How are they still alive? Every female we have ever saved from captivity was an orphan. The rogues kill the parents, how did they live? Where was Kate and why wasn’t she with them?”

  “Doesn’t matter at this point. I had Jamie fly me up to the cabin to use the tower to call back to the pack. I have Kent working on finding more about that number Julie keeps muttering. If Kate and her parents are right the number is an Australian telephone number. I have zero connections to anyone in Australia without bringing Trina’s grandfather into the situation and possibly William. Knowing Senator Avery is High Council and William is High Council has me wary of bringing any High Council into this.”

  “No Marcus, I will vouch for William myself. I have known him, and respected him before I even came to this country. Senator Avery I have never had much respect for at all. Something has always seemed off about him. Do you know he was the only High Council member to vote against having a safe haven built for the females in my territory? No,if William has connections in Australia we can use I vote we use them. Trey can call him to visit when he gets back to his territory and you and Trey can fill him in on everything we found.”

  “Who can I call to visit?” Trey stuck his head in the door.

  “We want you to call your grandfather when you get home. He is, at this point, the only High Council we trust.”

  “What does that have to do with Australia? I heard something about Australia as I walked up.”

  “The little one they call Julie has started muttering a number. We think it is an Australian telephone number but since she is so obviously American no one can figure out why she would have a number memorized from another country.” Gammon shrugged as he told Trey what they had been discussing.

  “Interesting. Even more interesting news about your little Julie, Delany thought I would like to know he solved the mystery of who Julie smells like.”

  Three sets of eyes focused on Trey as he delivered the news he was still trying to come to terms with himself. “Trisah, Julie smells like Trisah. Your fellow Shilo can’t get close enough to her to positively identify the smell as being close to Trisah, but his wolf refuses to leave the area.” Turning toward Gammon he continued, “You might want to check in with those two and find out what is going on. By all accounts Delany is confused as hell about Shilo’s actions. Not enough to bother you at the moment since Shilo is not claiming Julie as his mate. But he is acting “damn odd” to quote Delany. I don’t know your men well enough to know when one is acting odd much less damn odd and I didn’t see anything odd about his actions at all.”

  “Well, huh, that does create a dilemma. Trisah refuses to talk about her past. Julie smells like Trisah. Shilo is in love with Trisah and his wolf refuses to get too far from Julie. Well fuck, what next?” Gammon scrubbed his hand across his face as he made the connections.

  Marcus shrugged, “Don’t know man. Take your pack members home and figure it out. Trey and I will get with William. Kent will track down what he can about the phone number and we will work on finding out about your Julie from our end. Seems the best news we have going for us at this point is Kate’s ability to probably find the others through Dawn. We will scout out that situation and let you know what we find.”

  As Gammon turned to walk out Trey called out to him, “How did you take Allison’s oath if she is still underage?”

  Gammon, arm around Mia, stopped, without turning around he laughed, “I didn’t, she just thinks she gave it. Won’t be binding till she turns twenty-one and her wolf can be called forth.” At this he did turn around and looked at Trey, seeming to remember how lacking his Alpha education, “Sometimes, it isn’t about what you can do, it is all about what they believe. She will be pack, she will be mated, so with the oath I asked for she believes she is part of my pack. She needs that after all she has been through. The person she is gave the oath, the wolf she will become will bind the oath. To the person she is, the oath is already binding, she knows she belongs. She won’t feel the difference until the wolf is part of the oath. Letting her give her oath, makes her family in her eyes. Telling her to wait, would make her feel as though we did not accept her. I take the oath of any female who mates into my pack. Sometimes I just have to take it twice.” With that he turned himself and Mia around and headed to find Casey and Jamie.

  Trey saw the stunned look on Marcus’ face. “I take it you were surprised by that knowledge also?”

  Marcus shook himself, “You could say that. We have rescued several females over the years and not once did one of them have a mate in my pack. We haven’t had a non-pack female mate into my pack until Trina in decades. I guess taking their oath would give them a sense of belonging. I just never had a reason to think about it before now. Doc says Craig can be moved later today so we need to wrap it up here and get back to our territories. I am more than a little nervous being so far from civilization with a corrupt government official involved.”

  “Yeah, the government and the High Council. I don’t even want to know what all that man can bring down on top of us.”

  Chapter Three

  “Gammon I am telling you it won’t work. You are asking for trouble if you just let it go. You have to tell her about the girl. At least ask her if she has any family named Julie, if that is even her real name.” Willow paced around the living room as she explained to Gammon her observations of the new girl.

  “Look Willow, I understand what you are saying, but what you are asking me to do is break a promise, and that I will not do. Find another way, one that doesn’t break a promise, one that allows for the mental health of both females. You know as well as I do what Trisah has been through. The last thing I want to do is cause problems with one of my females. How do you think she is going to react if I go asking about her past?”

  “Dammit Gammon, how is she going to react if someone asks her how Julie is related to her and she doesn’t even know Julie is here. We can’t keep the girl hidden, not from a teacher at the school. You know how quick Trisah is to start her demands with the new ones. I can only hold her off for a week at best. After that she is going to demand access to the girl. And you and I both know Trisah won’t give up till I give in and give her access. “

  Gammon snorted, “Tell her I forbid her to be around the new girl. Tell her the new girl is not stable enough for her interference. Tell her what ever the hell you want but keep her away until we can try to find out more about her.”

  Willow closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, taking a deep breath she opened her eyes to stare at her Alpha. Most of the time he was the best Alpha in the entire world, other times he was a clueless as any male. “Seriously? Do you really think
I am going to tell the best resource I have ever had she can’t have access to the worst patient I have ever had? You have seen how the damaged ones react to Trisah. You know she can get them to open up when the best you have fail. Do you want me to start naming names of all the females she has helped these last few years? You know good and damn well what she does is not interference. Gammon, what is really going on? This isn’t like you at all. You never interfere in the therapy of the girls. You have never called what Trisah does interference. I have never seen you back down from finding out something when it comes to helping the girls we get in the school.

  “I am not backing down Willow. Tell you what, see if you can buy us two more days. While we were at the prison Julie started mumbling a number. According to Kate, who is from Australia, Julie had never mumbled the number before she was rescued. Since Julie doesn’t talk to anyone we are trying to track down who the number belongs to and investigate to find out more information. The number was an Australian number and we don’t have the resources there we have in the States. We are trying to step lightly because the number could be family, or it could be someone like Trisah’s uncle.”

  “But Gammon, Trisah could help us find out who Julie is if we only get them together. At least let Trisah see Julie from a distance and go from there. Trisah said she lost a baby sister when she was younger. Julie must be the missing sister.”

  “No Willow, Trisah did not lose a baby sister like you lose a set of keys. Her family died in front of her. Now you want to bring out a girl who in all likely hood is the dead sister and say what exactly to Trisah? Surprise, look what we found all locked up and terrorized. You are in a fine place to be telling me my actions don’t fit when what you are doing is not like you at all. Sit down, your pacing is giving me a headache. Now think about what you are asking. We know her parents and baby sister died in a house fire in front of her. She saw them die. If that little girl turns out to be her sister, what is she going to feel? Happy? Or guilty as fuck for leaving her behind even if she herself was later imprisoned? What about the parents? If the baby sister survived where were the parents? And what if Julie is not Trisah’s sister? What is she is just close kin? Maybe Trisah knew her, maybe she didn’t. Maybe the child would look close enough to the baby sister for Trisah to believe it, and then turn out to be just a close cousin. Did you think about the consequences of how it could turn out?”