But my anxiousness for wanting to get Markus back, is being tested. Of course there is a part of me that wants to go charging off to battle now. To get him back. But that would be stupid and I’m more than aware of that.
All of us wolves, need to be prepared and ready, not have spent two days travelling in a car, tired and hungry and out of our regular lunar week routines as preparation for battle. We need to be on our best game and to do that, we need to slow it down, and allow for now, Norden to call the time and make the moves to systematically attack and retreat.
“He pursued me like you wouldn’t believe.” I start off as Paris shakes a finger at me while heading off to round up the boys.
“No telling tales.” He smiles and Aubrey with him.
“Paris has never bought a consort back to meet the family. Ever. You’re a first.” Aubrey says to me as we watch the boys all thank Pensee and Xavier for their hospitality, and kiss Pensee on the cheek much to her delight.
“Here’s hoping that’s a good thing.” I reply as everyone regroups with Aubrey and me.
30
“I have to admit, I never saw Paris as the settle down type.” Aubrey says to me as we drive to her house. “You must be pretty damn special to get and keep his attention.”
“People keep saying that, but that just makes me think they don’t know Paris all that well.” I state back at her.
“I guess one could look at it that way. It’s not like my cousin and I hang out regularly, when was the last time we saw each other Paris?”
“The funeral was the last time.” Paris replies. “We let too much time slip between us.”
“Our lives got busy and we got busy leading them.” Aubrey concedes.
“Funny how you’re both pack leaders though.” I say
“Anyone would think it was a prerequisite for being in this family and carrying the D’arenberg name.” Aubrey laughs. “Speaking of, how is the family? Wiatt?”
“They’re all good, Wiatt is running the pack in my absence.” Paris replies.
“So fill me in here, how long are you planning on being in Quebec, do I need to plan for long term fall out of what is about to happen or can we wrap this up neatly?” Aubrey asks turning into a street.
“I believe we can deal with it once and for all, no further ramifications from this one event.” I say looking over at her.
“Paris?” Aubrey asks looking in the rear vision mirror.
“Bg speaks for all of us here, Aubrey. She’s the one leading the charge, you should be addressing her.” Paris says causing Aubrey to glance over at me.
“So you back her a hundred percent?”
“I do.” Paris replies as Aubrey drives into a driveway and parks the car, pulling the handbrake on.
“Love, it does crazy things kids. But it also strengthens us in ways we couldn’t even begin to conceive. I should know. I didn’t have to take up the pack leader role. I could have easily lead my life as just another pack werewolf and it would have be fine. Problem was, it wouldn’t have been enough. It wouldn’t be me to be so damn passive when I knew I could help my community, my pack, my family.” Aubrey says holding my attention.
“I don’t know you Bg, but I hope to. Not just because you’re the apple of my cousin’s eye. But because in order for me to involve my pack in anything you two have gotten yourselves into, I need to do more than understand the situation. My pack has passion a plenty. But give us purpose, and you’ll see just what power is about. But I won’t risk them for petty vengeance.”
I keep looking at Aubrey, allowing her to set the ground rules with me. “Let’s get inside and figure out what the situation is.” Aubrey says turning off the engine. “And what can be done about it.”
31
“Nicholas Norden has kidnapped my brother, Markus. I want him back, preferably un-harmed.” I state at Aubrey when we get down to business.
I’m standing again, it suits me better than sitting. Sitting feels to passive and agitating. I need to move, because I’m trying my hardest not to get angst. Its night three of lunar week and my world has tipped upside down and I’m fighting tiredness, anger and a new enemy.
“Nicolas Norden,” Aubrey repeats. “He’s a piece of work.”
“You know of him then,” Paris says watching her.
“I’m lucky I’ve never had to have personal dealings with him, but I’ve heard of him. Of his reputation. The man is a psychopath and the werewolf.…”
“So you understand what we’re up against.” I state at her. I turn to Thane and Phelan.
“My brothers Thane and Phelan here, have been subjected to Norden’s vicious whims all they’re lives, even past the point of leaving their pack. Norden has tunnel vision for inflicting whatever pain and havoc he can on their family.”
“They’re family, you speak as if you are removed from them, yet you call them brothers.” Aubrey says scrutinizing me. “Do you not see yourself as one of them? Perhaps you think yourself above them?”
Right away I can tell that family is important to Aubrey and I need to ensure I do not offend her sense of family and its meaning. “No, our relationship between the three of us is rather new and well, a little complicated.”
“And you’re brother Markus, how does he fit in?” Aubrey asks me.
I sigh and rub my face. “Markus and I are family. Always have been, always will be.” I state back at her. “Less complicated.” Aubrey looks at Thane and Phelan.
I look over at them and they look back at me. “Everyone in my group is free to speak here, I do not need to stand on ceremony and expectation.”
Phelan stands up and walks over to me and lets Aubrey see us together.
“Twins?”
“Yes.” I state at her.
“Nordon has a personal vendetta against our family.” Thane speaks up capturing Aubrey’s attention.
“And now, as a means to getting at Phelan and I again, he’s dragged Bg and Markus into his games. He kidnapped Bg from her hometown in New York, along with me and Phelan and tried to hunt us in Baniff National Park. Just because he thought it would be fun. Needless to say, we managed to get away. Not before we killed his youngest son. Now as a result of that action he took Markus when we were vulnerable travelling here.”
I see emotions flit across Aubrey’s face and she puts a hand to her mouth. “Oh that is, fucked.” She mutters.
But I know it will take more than a sense of family to hook Aubrey for help. Like she told me upfront, she won’t risk her pack for something petty.
I understand that, I wouldn’t ask anyone to risk themselves for something they couldn’t believe in or find a benefit to them. I need to give her, something that her pack can have, can use.
“We need your help cus,” Paris speaks up softly. “To end this, to make sure Norden doesn’t keep doing this to us and others. He’s stepping outside his own territory now, to play these games. He took Bg from Brooklyn, her home, I was there when they invaded her house and snatched her out of my arms.” Paris says playing up to the emotion he to can see on Aubrey’s face.
“Now, he’s out of his territory lines again, trailing us to Quebec, snatching Markus just outside of the city limits, just a few hours ago.”
“He’s not adhering to pack laws.” Addison pipes up angrily. “Surely even up here you guys work on the basics, no one crossing territory lines during lunar week nights?” Aubrey nods her head in understanding.
“Yes, it’s a rule that actually makes sense and does help us keep incidents to a minimum. Helps the packs remain in control.” She says back at Addison.
“And Norden is just disregarding pack laws, he doesn't care about them. He doesn’t care about anything that he doesn’t agree with.” I state back at her.
“Especially if it gets in the way what he wants.” Phelan says to her beside me.
“Which makes him a liability,” Thane speaks up. “If a pack leader with a pack of werewolves at his disposal won’t adhere to rules agreed u
pon and upheld by the rest of the werewolf community, what’s to stop him from doing worse than playing games of manipulation and vengeance with our family.”
I can see it in Aubrey’s eyes, we almost have her on our side. I want to tell Phelan to say something but I’m afraid to speak with our telepathic ability at the moment. So I let him feel my emotion. The anxiousness at being held on a razor’s edge.
“He’s been doing this to us since we, Bg and I were born.” Aubrey’s eyes widen in surprise. Almost, almost. She is almost ready to help us. “That was twenty nine years ago and he’s still seeking his revenge.”
Aubrey lets out a heavy sigh and flops into the chair behind her. Relaxing into it. “Why? What does he have to be vengeful for that would drive him to do this to you for so long?”
“There’s only one thing that can drive man and werewolf so insane at the same time and for all time.” I state back at her.
“Love.” Aubrey answers me as I nod my head.
32
Aubrey breaks out the beer for the boys and pours me a wine. “Love is a crazy motivator.” She says pouring herself a wine as well.
“Norden had designs on my mother,” I tell her. “And she didn’t reciprocate the attention.” Aubrey groans as she sips her wine. “That wouldn’t have gone done well with an unstable werewolf male.”
“And here we are, because she said no. He’s been making Thane and Phelan’s lives a misery ever since.” I tell her. “I was in a sense, a bit luckier. She obviously knew what kind of mad man Norden was and she hid me from him. She gave birth to me and Phelan and ensured I would lead a very different life to her one with the boys.”
“So what’s his end game then by stealing your other brother, Markus from you? To ensnare you in your mothers place?” Aubrey asks me as the boys talk amongst themselves.
“Possibly.” I answer. “But I think it’s more likely he just wants to ensure he can get his hands on me to destroy in front of Thane and Phelan and make them watch, after they just found me after all this time.”
“That’s just twisted.” Aubrey says lifting up her glass.
“Yep, but Nordon likes his twisted little games. He likes hurting people, he enjoys the pain and suffering. It’s how he controls his pack. How’s he’s probably kept his leadership for so damn long.”
“How do you mean?” Aubrey asks me downing a mouthful of wine.
“I’ve just learnt about an ability he has to enter wolves form his pack’s dreams. He can subliminally plant messages and beliefs in their heads so that when they wake up, they know no better. It’s how he got to Markus as we were coming here. I fell asleep in the car and he set up a scenario in a dream where I would feel most vulnerable and in doing so I called out my brother’s name.”
“And Norden sees that as a weakness he can use against you.” Aubrey says sipping her wine.
“Yes, but the weird thing is, for his dream power to work on me, he has to be close. It can’t be done over great distances.” I watch as Aubrey thinks while she sips her wine.
“You think he’s encroaching on territories, namely the Quebec pack.”
“Yes.” I drink some wine. I can feel her falling towards my side and I need to tread carefully, I need a gentle feather light touch to sway her to help us.
“Who’s the great artist?” I ask looking at a child’s painting stuck to her fridge.
“A little boy, my husband and I were trying to adopt. My husband and I never got pregnant before his passing and since then I’ve been going through the process of adoption as a single parent.” Aubrey says looking at the painting. “I put it there till I could find a frame for it.”
“I think it’d look good in a blue frame.” I offer sipping my wine. Aubrey smiles as if she is reminding about the little boy who gave her such a precious little piece of himself. I have to strike now.
“Imagine if Norden doesn't get stopped, and for the next twenty nine years, he continues his twisted games, only now because you’re associated with us, helped to harbor us and feed us, you become cannon fodder to him too. All so he can prove a point, mainly to himself, but to us. As long as we’re alive, the games continue. And anyone related to us, is in danger. That’s what kidnapping my brother tells me he wants me to know.”
We look out at the boys and my eyes fall on Paris. “I’m in love with him.” I state simply. “And I’m prepared to die for him, for all of them, if it comes down to it.” I turn back to Aubrey.
“It shouldn’t have to be that way, I know. But just like you couldn’t not step up and take responsibility and lead your pack when you’re husband died, I can’t allow Norden’s reign of terror to continue to affect those I love and care about. I can’t let him keep doing this to anyone whether they are pack or not. I’m not the type of woman who can turn away and ignore everything, and be okay with it. Because, that’s not me.”
Aubrey looks at me over her glass of wine. “I have no right to dictate to Norden how he rule, control or manage his pack.”
“I understand that.” I down a large mouthful. “I also understand that as a pack leader, you are held up to a higher degree of standard and expectation than the rest of us pack wolves. And that a smart pack leader, would see the potential threat of Norden coming without me trying to wave red flags at you for attention.”
“We have no quarrel with Norden or his pack. The quarrel is yours.”
“And you welcomed us to Quebec, and gave us hospitality, that makes you an enemy of Nordens and a foe of ours. That’s the way he’ll see it. He’s got spies, trailing us.” I continue sipping more wine.
“But that’s not even the reason you should join our fight.”
Aubrey picks up the wine bottle and pours more into her own glass and mine. “Go on.”
“At a very basic level, he’s broken pack laws, werewolf protocols.” I say. “Leadership and responsibility at your level are about upholding these rules so that this kind of thing doesn't happen and can’t continue to be seen as okay to happen.”
Aubrey throws up an arm and it drops slapping her thigh. “You have no proof.”
“The dreamscape power. He can’t do it from the other side of the country.”
“That doesn’t prove he’s here. If he can only be in your head!” She says to me. We fall into silence and I drink more wine.
“Tomorrow night, is full moon. He’ll strike then. You’re going to want to be as far and clear from us as you can get. Because I don’t intend to hold anything back.”
I’m pissed Aubrey hasn’t said she’ll help us or get the pack to help us, the god damn road trip was all for naught. I walk out of the kitchen and back over to the boys.
Paris looks at me. “How’d you go?” He asks softly.
I shake my head. “We’re on our own. The Quebec Pack won’t help.” I state tiredly.
Paris frowns and looks over at Aubrey. “What? I’ll talk to her.” Paris goes to move and I grab his arm.
“Don’t. She’s right, this isn’t her battle. It’s mine. Ours, I say waving a hand between Thane and Phelan. Get some sleep and rest up. Tomorrow we face Norden.”
33
We say goodnight to Aubrey and the Cavello brothers part and head to their rooms. Addison goes to head off to his assigned room and I grab his arm. He looks at my hand on his arm and up at me.
“Bg?”
I look at Paris and back at Addison. “It’s not safe to use telepathy at the moment given that Norden is close by. So we can’t speak mind to mind.” Addison still looks puzzled and back at my hand on his arm.
“Okay. What did you want to talk to me about?” He asks.
“We know Norden can reach me through the dreamscape and manipulate information out of me. He’s been doing this type of thing for years, so he knows exactly how it works and what to do. All he has to do is wait until I’m, relaxed enough.”
I bite my lip before continuing on with what I have planned. I haven’t discussed this with Paris yet, so this could go rathe
r horribly wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been reading the situation correctly. The three of us in the forest was another form of confirmation for me.
“I would like it if you would join Paris and I in our bed tonight.”
The surprise look on Addison’s face is un-missable. He has been waiting for this invite for a very long time. I look over at Paris. He says nothing and remains as he was, a mask of cool collectedness.
“I need my head filled with everything Norden would hate to get from me, lust, love, desire, passion and sex.”
“Lots of sex.” Addison smirks.
I tilt my head. “We’ll see. Depends what your alphas want of you, doesn’t it?” I smile looking at Paris.
“It does.” Paris remarks.
“So whilst we’re all having sex, and enjoying one another, I need you both to be whispering your sexual intentions into my ears so that my subconscious picks them up. So tonight when I dream, it’s all I can think about.”
“You’re going to trap Norden in the dream world?” Paris says seeing where my mind is going.
“I’m not sure I know how to do that. Give me time.” I reply back at him, finishing the rest of my wine. “But I plan to see if this dreamscape thing is a two way open gateway and hopefully we capture his attention enough for me to figure out how to get into his head.”
“Happy to do my part.” Addison smiles at me.
“Then get to our room.” Paris instructs him.
Addison runs off fast and Paris turns back to me. “I hope you’re okay with this, if you’re not, now’s the time to speak up. It’s not that you’re not enough for me, you are.” I ramble on quickly putting my glass aside.
“I get it, it’s about overwhelming your senses so it seems real to Norden. It’s also about let-ting him think he can come after me and Addison as his next targets.” Paris replies holding my hand.
“Yes, but there’s more.” I state indicating we should head to our bedroom. Paris falls into step with me.
Red White and Werewolf Page 13
