Marc gestured for Faith and Kaylee to join him. Kaylee was a bit hesitant, but when Aldric started to move as well she let him usher them both to the top of the deck steps. Faith wasn't upset for the support either, if she was being honest. Public speaking was definitely not her thing.
"I present to you your newest Clanmates: Faith Latham and her niece, Kaylee Latham!"
The response to that news was significantly happier, and mixed in with the applause and the whoops and the shouts of welcome, there rose a chorus of howls that Faith felt reverberate in her soul. Beside her, Kaylee threw back her head and joined her voice to the song of the wolves.
After a moment, she locked eyes with Aldric, who then threw his own head back to join the song. With a laugh, Faith did as well, and the night was full of the Frostwalkers’ voices.
Epilogue
Aldric sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face and dug his fingertips into his eyes. His palms chafed and scratched against the beard growing in, and he sighed again.
"What's that noise all about?" Marc's voice interrupted his thoughts and he lowered his hands to find his friend sitting in the chair in front of his desk.
"I was trying to recall the last time I shaved," Aldric answered. “I cannot.”
"Probably before the pack welcome. That was only yesterday, and the rugged bad-boy look seems to be working for you, but you do need some sleep. You were badly injured just a few days ago, and even though you’re mostly healed now, there is still some recovery to do. Your body is exhausted from so much healing work, and I’d bet you already need more blood. Have you been feeding enough?”
“I have, yes,” Aldric sighed. “Faith has been making sure of that.”
Marc's expression was mild, but Aldric knew full well that he could flip from mildly concerned friend to either overbearing father or dedicated leader in one short second. "You should take a lesson from the kids. Kaylee didn't even bother to pull out the trundle tonight, just piled right into Jake's bed.” Now Marc sighed. “Although, as adorable as it is at their age, I'm going to have to put a stop to that pretty soon. Get her all set up in a bedroom of her own."
"I will sleep, I simply want to be certain that I have as much completed as I can, first. I feel that we must be prepared for something serious," Aldric grimaced.
He didn't like admitting to it, but this situation was tugging at some long-dormant instinct. To protect his people, to keep Faith and Kaylee safe. And, more: to destroy whoever threatened his clan. And Aldric had the bad feeling that the threat was bigger than they yet knew. Someone was determined to have all three of the Latham ladies, and right now all that stood between them and whatever dark fate their enemies had planned was the Frostwalker clan.
"Aldric," Marc raised an eyebrow at him. "There will always be something more to do. Some detail to see to. Some plan to polish. You have had meetings with all of your enforcers and briefed them on what is happening in more detail than they need. There are extra patrols out and more security, and several new guards and enforcer applicants. Some of them might even be reasonably decent. I saw some of the wolves that came in to talk to you about it."
Aldric nodded. That was true. After he had formally introduced Faith and Kaylee at the meeting, Marc had explained in greater detail about the attacks against the clan.
That had set the whole clan talking, loudly. It was the first serious incursion into their lands since they had reformed themselves, evolving from pack to clan when Aldric's own family asked for asylum just over eight decades earlier.
"True. If they all work out, and I see no reason why they won't, I will have another full team of enforcers at the end of their training. And how is the situation with the Goldfang Stalker Pack?"
Marc sighed. "God, that Alpha is ridiculous. Posturing and puffing. How they ever got to be feared at all is beyond me. Must have been thanks to his dad or something.” Now it was Marc's turn to scrub a hand over his face. "Basically, he's threatening us with a pack war if we don't hand over Kaylee. He's barely even mentioned his buddy over in our holding cells."
"Let him try to take her. I doubt very much that anyone will regret the loss of that pack," Aldric smirked and Marc chuckled his agreement.
"Leo got back to me about David Leja He’s the wolf that was with Honeyford at the lodge and then petitioned for membership with us. It seems that his story checks out. He was swept into the Goldfangs sort of by accident in a raid on a motorcycle club a few hours south of here. Guy was still a kid back then and was locked in the basement, and the wolves could tell he was one of them so they took him with when they left. Leo found the missing persons report for the kid and his mom, and about the destruction of the MC when the cops found it, but then nothing ever came of it, and the mom was killed in the raid.”
Aldric nodded. "He did a reasonable job tracking the group that took Crissy, and I saw him fighting before I took on the vampire threatening Faith and the kids. He can fight well enough that he won't need much guard training there. I was thinking that I would assign him to Rod for enforcer training if you approved his probationary period."
"Good thinking. Leo said he's got some more information for us about all sorts of things he wouldn't elaborate on. We're going to all talk to him tomorrow. Now that's sorted out, go to bed. Get a shower maybe, you smell like office work," Marc laughed as he stood up. "Don't make me get all Alpha on you, you know I’ll do it. Let me leave it as the strong suggestion of your friend. I should also tell you that Faith sounded like she was pacing up a storm in her room, muttering something under her breath. Sounded frustrated.“
Aldric took a deep breath and looked around his desk, then sighed. "Very well. You are likely right. Continuing with this work will not prove productive if I am too tired. And Faith needs support as well. This has been extremely stressful for her.“
Marc laughed again, then grinned at him. "Just take your shower before you go check on Faith, hmm? And maybe think about shaving."
Aldric glared at his friend, who only laughed.
"Enjoy life while you can, Aldric," Marc said, the humor falling away and a grim determination replaced it. "Don't lose sight of what matters, because that's what we're going to be fighting for. And we will be fighting. After this last week it's clear. We're going to war."
If you want to find out what happens next, read on for an unedited excerpt from Magaestra: Loyalties, the next book in the Magaestra Trilogy!
Excerpt from Magaestra: Loyalties
Faith paced in her room, still feeling guilty about bringing this mess to the Frostwaker's doorstep. Now, however, she was more frustrated as hell at the lack of clues about Crissy’s kidnappers. She understood that the vampires they had killed at the lodge were useless, since their identifications were all fakes and they had all withered when they died. They’d been largely unrecognizable by the time Leo asked for photos.
It was maddening, this lack of knowing, and now she was trying very hard not to be angry at Marc and Aldric and the rest of the Frostwalker Clan. After all, they had only known her for a little while. Not quite even two weeks, she grumbled to herself. It made sense that they would be more focussed on the pack war than on her sister.
But Faith was feeling like she was unravelling a little. Sure, she had gone days, weeks even, without talking to Crissy in the past, but even then they checked in with each other. Text messages or photos of whatever had them too busy to call. A comment or a tagged post on social media. There was always something to connect to each other, even when they didn't talk.
But now? There was nothing. Just a sick, greasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that was starting to creep into the rest of her life. She knew perfectly well what it was. Fear and anger. Fear of what Crissy might be going through. Fear that she might never see Crissy again. Fear that she or Kaylee might be next. And so much anger at the assholes that thought they had any right to steal a person and use them like a piece of office equipment.
A light tap on her door broke her out of h
er thoughts and she realized that she had been stomping around her room, growling.
“Are you well?” Aldric’s voice came through the door.
She sighed and walked over to open it and waved him in.
“No, I’m not, really,” she said. “I’m sorry if I was making too much noise, though. I was maybe thinking too hard and it was coming out through my feet.”
Aldric laughed softly. “I can certainly understand that. I don’t think you were being particularly loud, however. I simply came to check on you.” He opened his mouth to keep speaking, but then closed it again and frowned slightly. “I know that you have only known us for a short while, but please believe that we are doing everything we can to find your sister. We will not abandon her, even if we have other events demanding our attention as well.”
That was so close to what Faith had been thinking that all her irritation with him fizzled, and she sat heavily on the bed.
“I’m just so scared, Aldric,” she said. “What if she’s already dead?”
Aldric grimaced. “Then we will avenge her.”
He said it as if it would be easy.
“But how? Who has her? Where do we go to do that?” Faith asked.
Aldric frowned and shook his head. “I do not know. Leo is working on it. He is hopeful about the photo that he has from today.” He moved to stand by the window and stare out of it. “I don’t like that the vampires at the lodge were fighting against the Goldfangs that were there, but the ones this week have been fighting alongside of them. It’s a change that does not sit well with me.”
Faith frowned now, too. “Do you think that they joined forces? Like ‘the enemy of my enemy’ style?”
Aldric nodded. “I am afraid of just exactly that.”
“Which would mean we’re up against two separate groups. The Goldfangs and the vampires.”
“Indeed. I am not sure that we can fight a war on two fronts like that. Not as we are now.”
They both sat there with their thoughts for a long moment. What would cause two different groups to band together like that? It could be as simple as what she just said. It could be that their goals weren’t identical, simply aligned neatly.
“What if,” Faith started slowly. “What if the Goldfangs want the territory and the vampires just want us? Me and Kaylee, I mean? Or even just me and they’d give Kaylee to Alpha Molin like he originally wanted?”
“Or even they said they would hand her over and have no actual plans to do so?” Aldric raised a bow at her. “It’s possible.”
“But then…” Faith looked up at him, searching his eyes. “Why wouldn’t you give us up to get rid of the vampires? You guys could easily beat the Goldfang pack on its own. It’s the vampires and their blight hounds that are making it difficult.”
Aldric blinked at her for a long moment. “Are you seriously asking if we would trade you two for our own safety?”
Faith winced at his tone, but plunged ahead anyway. “I mean, we’re basically strangers, right? Why would you care about us enough to fight two different factions at the same time?”
“Faith…” Aldric started. He sighed and drove his fingers through his hair. “Faith, do you truly think we would do that? Is that how you see us? How you see me?”
Author’s Note
This book was started during the first flush of the Coronavirus lockdown in Tokyo. It was edited, revised, beta read, revised again, and re-edited all during various degrees of lockdown. While the impact of the virus wasn’t as severe in Tokyo as it was in many other parts of the world, it was still tricky to keep any approximation of normal.
For me, that meant writing every day.
Writing trapped in a tiny Tokyo apartment while supervising my ADHD son’s home-learning what have you was, er… challenging, I won’t lie. But I’m glad I made the effort. Aldric and Faith helped me stay sane.
I want to thank Margaret and Stuart, as always, for their insight. This is definitely a stronger story thanks to you both. Sabrina Watts at Enchanted Ink Book Covers was incredibly helpful and I am so, so in love with the covers for this trilogy.
I even want to thank my family. My son who was unrelentingly cheerful (if a bit insane) during lockdown, and my husband who was super supportive and tried his best to keep the kid busy while I worked.
Thanks everyone.
About the Author
Katherine Kim is a lifelong lover of fantasy. She started early, being read Tolkien as bedtime stories, which honestly explains a lot. More recently she’s been drawn to more urban fantasy stories through both books and television, and reading continues to be a passion. She is an American that lives and writes in Tokyo, with her family.
Books by Katherine Kim
The Demon Guardian
A Demon’s Duty
A Demon’s Sanction
A Demon Saved
The Riverton Demons
Personal Demons
Spirits of Los Gatos
Sarah’s Inheritance
A Spirit’s Kindred
Finding Insight
Brewing Trouble
Spiritkind
Federal Paranormal Activities Agency
Quick Study (Prequel)
Caroline’s Internship
In The Blood
Heavy Traffic
Vampire’s Curse
Fighting Fire
Magaestra: Found: An urban fantasy series Page 18
