Shadow Wars (The Stoneridge Pack Book 2)

by CJ Cooke

  “It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” she said, shaking her head, but she couldn’t hide the exhaustion in her voice.

  “Calli is going to put together a list of things for you to pack in a go-bag. These are to be kept ready at all times in the hall closet. Once we are all set up with the system Nash and... Calli… are putting in place, if you get the alert to move, you grab your bag, and we meet at a rendezvous which will be sent to you. If you aren’t at the packhouse, whoever is here will grab your bag for you.”

  And that was when it finally sunk in that shit was getting real.

  “Why is Calli sorting out the list for the go bags?” Holly asked, cocking her head to the side in question.

  “Because I’ve had one since I was little and have extensive experience in putting one together,” Calli shrugged.

  “That’s, that’s really awful, hon,” Holly told her, sympathy lining her face.

  Calli just shrugged it off. It was the reality of her childhood. Did it suck? Absolutely. But she’d grown up with two loving parents, and it was more than a lot of people could say, including a lot of people around this table.

  “I think that’s all for now. Let’s get some food and try and have a night off,” Grey suggested.

  As everyone started to move away from the table, he called out to Nash, “Nash, can I have a word.”

  “Sure thing, Alpha.”

  I hung back with Grey because he didn’t seem too bothered about me staying and also because I wanted to talk to him about Calli.

  Once the room had emptied, he spoke. “Where do you see your relationship with Holly going?” Grey came right out and said.

  “Erm, well… I love her,” Nash stammered out.

  “What I’m trying to say is that I think you should consider having her move here if she is someone you want to keep in your life. You need to ask her if the pack goes on the run if she’s going to come with you. Being linked to the pack could be dangerous for her if she’s still living on the outside.”

  Nash nodded thoughtfully, looking a bit lost. It was a hard decision to make. They hadn’t been together that long, but it was clear as day they were both completely in love with each other. Holly was human though, and Nash needed to decide if he wanted to stay with her, or if he wanted to wait and find a mate for his wolf. I didn’t envy his position, and I was grateful it was a decision I’d never have to make.

  “I know this is hard,” Grey told him. “But right now, maybe all we need to concentrate on is keeping her safe.”

  Nash left with the excuse that he’d put some things together for tomorrow to try and make it a bit easier on Calli.

  “We need to talk,” I said as soon as the door closed and we were alone.

  “I know,” Grey sighed, dropping back down into his seat.

  “This was a good idea. Getting the pack working together and on the same page is something we need to keep doing. The ideas you’re putting in place are good and should hold us over going forward,” I told him, deciding to start with an easy subject first.

  “But?”

  “But Calli is exhausted,” I stressed. “We need to be taking stuff off her plate, not adding to it.”

  “I know. I do, I really do. But now, she has the most experience in nearly everything we’re facing. We need to learn from her before we can do it ourselves. But trust me, I aim to level everything out and make life easier for her.”

  “Then we need to find someone to run the homeschooling, so it doesn’t fall to her. And we need to make sure that the work around the packhouse goes more to others than her, at least until she’s had time to recover.”

  Grey nodded in agreement, then with a wry grin, he said, “Did you hear what she did today?”

  “No, what?”

  “Well, apparently, she ran into a shadow demon at Sam’s Club of all places. It killed a man in front of her and Aidan. She’s not admitting to it just yet, but I think she’s a bit shaken up about it.”

  This was news to me and my eyes widened in alarm. When was that girl going to catch a break because fate was whooping her ass at the minute.

  “That’s not the whole of it,” Grey continued. “Because then she started talking about contributing to the pack, and I thought I’d negotiated her down to a reasonable sum of money by only letting her add thirty percent of hers to the pack,” he laughed.

  “That doesn’t sound too bad,” I said, knowing it was a sore subject for Grey but also knowing that Calli would never let him hold her back from contributing.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t sound too bad until you find out that thirty per cent is $3.6 million.”

  “Fuuuuuuck! Who knew Calli was rich?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

  “Apparently, we did, because she told us on multiple occasions.”

  “No, she told us she was ‘well off’ there was no mention of millions,” I pointed out, wondering if we should’ve worked it out for ourselves.

  “I dunno, maybe ‘well off’ is British for millionaire,” Grey shrugged.

  “That makes the whole technology and information systems a lot less stressful. I was wondering how we were paying for that. Urgh, God, we’re going to have to sit through another one of Nash’s investment talks, aren’t we?” I realised.

  “Probably,” Grey laughed before looking around the empty room. “Things are changing fast.”

  “It’s what we’ve always wanted—a bigger pack.”

  “Yeah, I’m starting to wonder if here is the right place to have it, though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The bigger we grow, the more the humans are going to notice us. Maybe we would be better going off the grid, finding some land somewhere remote and setting up almost our own town,” he shrugged.

  “That’s an ambitious plan.” I thought about it for a moment. He was right about the humans noticing, though. We were too close to the town and other populated areas to go unnoticed. As soon as we had the kids homeschooling here and more people moving to join us, we’d get branded as some kind of cult if we weren’t careful.

  “Something to think about for the future,” Grey shrugged, hauling himself up to his feet. “Let’s go see what people are rustling up to eat and find our mate to make sure she’s not cooking.”

  “She should be in the bath,” I told him, and a wicked smile plastered across his face. “No! No, she needs to rest, and it was my idea anyway.” I sprinted for the door before he could answer, there was no way I was letting anyone else steal the chance to wash Calli’s back from me. My momma didn’t raise no fool!

  Grey’s laughter followed me as I darted up the stairs. He could laugh at me all he wanted as long as he wasn’t following.

  40

  Calli

  I woke up the next morning, snuggled against Tanner’s chest and feeling a lot better than I had the night before. Tanner was right; I was exhausted. I needed to take better care of myself, or I was just going to burn out, and I wouldn’t be much use to anyone.

  Checking my phone, I was glad to see it was only 7:00 am. It might have been Saturday, but the kids would be up early anyway, and I wanted to make them breakfast and hang out for a bit before I went to see Cassia.

  Thankfully, after we had dinner last night, Hunter had sent me a message saying Cassia had fallen asleep and asked if I’d mind coming by in the morning instead. I had a feeling Grey might’ve been involved because there was no reason why I couldn’t have healed her in her sleep, and at least then, she’d have felt even better in the morning. But selfishly, I took the offer as the gesture it was meant to be and crashed instead. At least this way, I wouldn’t be completely drained and pass out after I’d healed her. I could feel my magic happily simmering away inside of me, almost like it knew it would be used today and was excited about it.

  I tried to slip out of Tanner’s arms, but he stirred as soon as I moved.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To make pancakes and bacon,” I grinned, knowing
I had him right where I wanted him.

  “Stop talking dirty to me, woman,” he laughed. “How are you feeling? You look better than you did yesterday.”

  Normally I’d be insulted at the insinuation that I looked like crap. But I’d seen myself in the mirror last night, and I had absolutely looked like crap.

  “A lot better, thank you. I definitely needed the sleep and a night off.”

  Tanner kissed me on the forehead and then sighed. “How about you make breakfast, and I’ll make you a cup of tea and see what the kiddos are up to?”

  “As long as I get the tea first, I can definitely get down with that idea.”

  Ah, tea! Was there really any other way to start off the morning?

  “You’re thinking about it, aren’t you? You’re lying in bed with all of this,” he said, sweeping a hand down his body, “and you’re fantasising about tea.”

  I just shrugged and then leapt out of bed before he could catch me, cackling like a maniac. I really was feeling better this morning. “Maybe it’s my special type of kink,” I laughed as I flew out the door and down the stairs.

  Luckily, I’d fallen asleep in joggers and a tank top, so unlike Tanner, who was just in his boxers, I didn’t have to get dressed before I got my head start. He didn’t catch up to me until I’d come to a stop and quickly opened the fridge door.

  Maverick was sat at the kitchen table with an alarmed look on his face. He was the most dressed-down I’d ever seen him, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a dress shirt. His long hair was slicked back but had already started to fall forward in front of his face. He really did make my mouth water, and by the smirk on his face, he knew it. Probably from the fact that as soon as I’d seen him, I’d checked him out and then proceeded to just stare at him without saying anything.

  “Good morning,” he finally said, saluting me with his cup of coffee. “Can I get you a cup?” he offered.

  I wrinkled my nose and was just about to say something when Tanner came hairing into the kitchen. “Nice try, brother, but Calli only responds to bribery if it’s tea shaped.”

  Maverick nodded thoughtfully, like he was filing it away for future reference. I was about to deny I was that easily persuaded, but then I realised it was actually pretty accurate. With a shrug, I turned back to look inside the fridge.

  “Have you eaten yet?” I shouted into the fridge even though I was actually speaking to Maverick.

  “Erm… no, not exactly.”

  I remembered his confession that he didn’t know how to cook and felt terrible for putting him on the spot, especially if Tanner didn’t know yet.

  Pulling my head out of the fridge, I asked, “Do you want to help me? Tanner is going to go and gather the kids up, so you and I can throw some food together if you’re not busy.”

  “I’d love to,” he said with a grin.

  All of the time I’d spent with Maverick so far had been deep and meaningful type of discussions. We’d never actually just hung out together. It would be good for us to do something normal like this. Maverick could practice a new skill, and we could start to get to know each other better.

  Tanner disappeared to find the kids, and Maverick walked into the kitchen area almost like he was expecting to catch on fire at any moment.

  “Breath out as well as in; it prevents you from passing out,” I quipped as I pulled some bacon out of the fridge.

  I was met with his wry smile when I straightened up, and I passed him two full packages of bacon. His eyes widened in alarm as he took in the raw meat, and I could see him already formulating an escape plan in his head.

  “Trust me. It’s going to be easy.”

  He didn’t look convinced as he gingerly took the packets from me.

  “Okay, so this is what you’re going to do. Turn the oven on to 350, lay out the bacon on a baking sheet which I’m going to pass to you, put it in the oven for 15 minutes and then take it out.”

  He looked at me like he was waiting for the catch, and it was pretty adorable.

  “That’s it,” I shrugged.

  “I feel like I’m being set up for failure because there’s no way that’s it,” he said suspiciously.

  “I swear on every tea bag in this house that I’m telling you the truth,” I said, crossing my heart and raising one hand.

  “Wow, that’s like the most sacred vow Calli could ever make,” River quipped as he walked into the kitchen. “You need a hand, sweetheart?”

  “No, it’s okay, we’ve got it,” Maverick quickly told him, even though he didn’t look entirely convinced.

  To be fair, he got the oven turned on after carefully examining it. I tried to help, but he glared at me like I was committing the worst crime imaginable and I backed off. Maverick then meticulously laid out the bacon for the next five minutes so painstakingly slow it was starting to make me twitch in annoyance.

  Thankfully, I’d grabbed the world’s biggest bag of pancake mix from Sam’s Club, thinking it would save time in the mornings and was thanking my past self as I whipped up a quick batter and got started on cooking them. I was going for four flavours, maple syrup, lemon, blueberry and chocolate chip. Considering how many people we had to feed, I was starting to think everyone would need to fend for themselves or we’d need to hire a whole staff for the kitchen because this would take ages.

  “If you’ve got another frying pan, I can start making up a stack as well,” Holly’s voice said, surprising me because I hadn’t expected her to be here. “You need one of those grill plate thingies,” she said, waving a spatula around and nearly swiping Maverick across the face as he lifted a tray of bacon out the oven with a look of complete awe on his face.

  “Nicely done, Mav,” Tanner said as he came back in the kitchen with the kids following behind like a row of ducklings. He went to swipe for a piece of bacon, but Holly was there with the spatula to defend Maverick’s creation.

  “At the table,” she scolded, swiping for him again.

  Tanner ducked out of the way with a laugh and started to herd the kids over to the table while we plated everything up. It wasn’t a huge amount given how many people we were cooking for, but it would keep us going, and the kids were beyond happy with the prospect of chocolate chip pancakes.

  Once we’d finished eating and everyone made sure to congratulate Maverick on what was actually perfect bacon, the guys headed off to the garage to get their Saturday morning work cleared. I, on the other hand, had the unfortunate task of making my way to the love shack that was also known as Cassia and Hunter’s nightmare cabin.

  Knocking on the front door, I could hear them bickering about whether Cassia was allowed to have a shower. I made sure to knock loudly just in case they couldn’t hear me over Hunter’s current rant about open wounds and potential mildew exposure.

  Hunter opened the door, and I could tell by the look on his face that he just needed this to be over with. If I were a meaner person, I’d pretend I wasn’t ready and needed more time, but the puppy dog eyes he had going on just made me feel sorry for the poor guy.

  “Let’s get this show on the road,” I said cheerfully and then laughed when I heard Cassia’s sigh of relief on the other side.

  “Oh, thank god, I can’t take a second more of this,” Cassia sighed as I walked into the living room and found her lying on the sofa with a blanket tucked around her legs and a look of death on her face.

  “Let’s get a look at ya, sicky,” I laughed, getting far more enjoyment out of this than I should be.

  Cassia rolled her eyes and pushed the blanket down as she pulled her top up to show me the old stab wound. I winced when I saw it. It hadn’t healed very far, and black lines were tracking out of the wound.

  “This doesn’t look like any infection I’ve ever seen before,” I said, leaning in close and examining the wound.

  “It’s the mildew! I told you not to get into that shower before I bleached it down,” Hunter said, throwing his hands up into the air as he started to pace the room.
/>   “I will pay you if you heal his mouth shut,” Cassia hissed through her gritted teeth.

  “And Sean thinks Grey and I are bad,” I laughed. “Okay, Hunter, this isn’t mildew, and it’s not a normal infection. But if it makes you feel better, you could definitely go and bleach the bathroom while I’m doing this.”

  “Good idea,” he said, rummaging through the kitchen and almost sprinting out of the room with whatever supplies he’d found.

  “Oh, thank god, how do you cope with four of them?” she asked, peering at the door Hunter left through in horror like she was expecting him to leap back out.

  “He’s just upset because you’re hurt, and he doesn’t know how to help you. Once we sort this out and everything is mostly back to normal, it will be better, you’ll see,” I promised. “Now, tell me what this is. I know you already know.”

  Cassia sighed and rolled her eyes. I bloody loved her snarky attitude.

  “Fine, it’s my magic leaking out,” she admitted. “I haven’t been able to siphon it out in any way, and I don’t have the ability to heal myself. It’s pooling in my system and slowly corrupting it.”

  “So what do we need to do to fix this?” I asked, holding my hands over her stomach; terrified to start until I knew what we were doing.

  “Once the wound is healed, I’ll need to find a way to siphon off some of my magic and then we need to find a routine way to do it going forward.” She looked almost ashamed as she admitted it. It must’ve been hard for her to go through life with magic that everyone saw as different, wrong even.

  I nodded thoughtfully. “Well, the first step is going to be healing this. You ready to start feeling a bit more like your old self?” I asked her, already knowing the answer.

  “Like you wouldn’t believe. Juice me up, baby!” she cheered.

  Shaking my head in amusement, I gently laid my hands on her stomach as close to the wound as I could get without having to press down on it or any of the black lines. I’d barely closed my eyes when I felt my magic come rushing to the surface. There was no need to centre myself, no turning inwards to find that flickering flame. It was just there, and it meant business.