Ch. 451..460
Chapter 0451
"Fine. But let's get an idea of how extensive this is. We
need to know where any device that could be attached to this one is and how many. That could take the rest of the day."
"Like you had other plans." Lil laughed at me. "We actually have a mission, of sorts, you are just as bored as we are, don't act like there is something better to do." She keeps laughing.
We spend the rest of the day looking for and logging the locations of any camera that is for sure not a part of the school's security system. We went back to the office to see how Kevin was doing moving his worthless sh*t out. He actually thought he could appeal to the Alpha and was surprised to see us in 'his' office again. Apparently Alpha Lucas did not pass on whatever message Kevin gave him, so we helped pack any necessities and put them in his car for him, all in about twenty minutes. Principal Duncan wasn't going to challenge an Alpha in his face and no one could get in contact with Alpha Lucas for clarification. We told him, when Alpha Lucas gave us orders to vacate we would.
From there, Jena 'borrowed' a laptop from the tech department. She then proceed to do all kinds of computery things to it and the desktop on Kevin's desk. She plans on going through all of Kevin's hard drive just to make sure he's actually doing what he should be here at the school. She
made a copy of it to bring with us. She rightly doesn't trust anyone with digital information. Lil managed to change the lock on the door as well. Which will be funny if someone tries to break in.
"Skylar! Are you girls planning on coming home tonight? There is no way you still have things to work on at the school. Dinner is waiting."
"Oh sh*t! What time is it? Luna Ava says dinner is waiting." I look at the girls. We all jump up looking at the clock.
"Lost track of time, Luna, sorry. We are on our way."
"How is it six already?" We all pack up our stuff and head out the door. The school is eerily dark with the fall night already mostly set.
We run back to the pack house as best we can with all our bags, notebooks and laptops. Lil and I grabbed one each so we could help with any searches Jena needed. Once inside we all head up to my room to store everything, then back down to the kitchen.
Luna Ava looks frazzled when she finds us in the kitchen and we soon find out why as a screech of laughter comes from the formal dining room. Luna Ava leads us in slowly.
"Oh, it's so good you could finally join us. I know all of your jobs keep you so busy, I don't know how you're going to have time for your mates when you can finally find them. Isn't that right babes? But maybe they will all mate with other warriors who don't mind them traipsing around with who knows late at night."
Kaley has herself planted in between the twins, a hand on each of them and I can feel my blood boil. Jena places her hand on my back.
"Don't let her have this. She is nothing and now knows that you know that too. She's retaliating."
"Yeah, look at your guys. They are just as angry as you. We will be able to expose her. We have a ton of footage to go through. We will nail her ass to the wall for the whole pack to see."
I take a deep breath in and then let it out trying to not look like a raging bull.
"We have a pack to take care of, of course that takes priority. Luna Ava, if you will excuse us. We are going to eat quickly and then head up to the third floor and finish what we were working on. Thank you so much for dinner. Guys when you are done, let us know, we are still up for our nighttime rituals." I wink at them and get a smile out of everyone but the twins, who are still in Kaley's grasp.
She's trying to hold her smug look, but has no idea what I'm talking about. Her grip on the twins arms tightens, even as Kota tries to remove it rather forcefully.
We turn around and Lil can't hold in her laughter as we enter the kitchen again. "You are getting good at this game." She slaps me on the back. We eat quickly and head up to my room. Jena was able to mindlink Nathaniel and Wyatt earlier. Wyatt is getting better and bored because Doc Ganon won't let him do anything even though everything is
healed. Which means not everything is healed, but Wyatt wants out.
She gave them jobs to do and asked them to figure out how quickly they can get here.
About an hour later the guys come barging in my room. We are sitting on the floor in front of my couch with papers spread out everywhere. They have zero regard for what we are doing as the twins plop on the couch, Mateo and Olive drop into the two single chairs and Sam sits on the floor next to me.
"What the hell did you three do today?" Mateo asks
accusingly. "Those two are on a warpath and Kaley all but superglued her ass to Cam and Kota."
"It's not funny! Kota whines at us. "Do you have any idea how much that sucked? We didn't get anything done and we have a sh*t ton of stuff to do with all the new security protocols."
"That is a you guys problem. If you can't tell her to go away or leave you alone, how is that our fault? No one in your pack tells that girl 'no,' if anything it's your own fault." Jena shrugs.
"I wonder if she skipped school after she accosted us in the hallway if she was harassing you guys that long." Lil mused.
"What about her following me around when the twins got called in with Alpha Lucas? She said it was my job to be with her when the twins are busy. I didn't get anything done either. I tried to just work and ignore her, but she doesn't
know what silence is and everything is about her." My brother scrubs his face with his hands like he can wipe the memory away.
"Does she not realize that it would actually be Oliver's job to watch over her, technically speaking?"
"The f*ck did you just say?!" Oliver sits up straight and looks at me.
"Well, I'm pretty sure her comment to Mateo was referring to her never ending ploy to remind people that she thinks she is the next Luna of this pack. If that is the far fetched case, Oliver would be her protector, not Mateo. With all her leadership, Luna, better-than-thou talk you would think she would know what everyone's jobs are." I roll my eyes.
Chapter 0452
"I never really thought of that. She always talks about being Luna and we all just ignore her, but she has no idea what we actually do." Sam breathes out. "We have to get rid of her though. Do you know how hard it was just to come up here without her? She obviously knew that you have Lil and Jena up here. Thanks for ruffling those feathers, by the way. She tried to talk her way up here too. Even her dad tried to intervene saying we can't play favorites."
"Technically speaking you guys aren't playing favorites, Midge is. It's Kaley's fault for being a b*tch." Lil shrugs.
"How did you shut her down?" Jena asks.
"Dad actually interjected and Cunningham looked pissed, like he didn't expect Dad to side with us." Cam looks thoughtful.
"We did not hesitate though, slammed that door and ran. So you two are stuck up here tonight." Sam pointed to them." We are not opening that door for anything."
We all laugh. "It's still kind of early, can we do a movie or something? I don't think we can get any more done here tonight." I gesture to the piles of papers we have.
"Yes, Tiny let's do a movie night." Cam says standing from the couch and reaches for my hands, but instead of helping me to my feet he throws me over his shoulder as I screech." Old habits, Tiny, it's tradition for movie night."
"You guys are stupid." I roll my eyes but smile as he walks us into the hallway.
I hear my friends laughing at me until Jena's 'Oh sh*t' lets me know someone threw her over a shoulder. Mateo saunters out with her mumbling expletives about cavemen.
"You come anywhere near me, beefcake, and I will punch you in the balls." Lil says to I assume Oliver. Sam is a big guy, but I wouldn't consider him a 'beefcake.'
We head into the media room and get set up to watch an action movie. Thank the Goddess that Luna Ava keeps this room stocked with snacks and drinks so we really don't have to go anywhere. We all find places on the giant 'U' shaped couch and settle in. I actually made it through most of the movie before falling asleep. Something about these guys, I just feel warm and safe and my body and brain just shut down.
I woke up warm and snuggled with the now familiar cinnamon and citrus scent all around me. "Why do I even have a bed here?" I mumble into Kotas shirt. "I can count on one hand the amount of times I've used it."
"Why do we have our own beds?" Cam shifts behind me.
"Another great question." I roll over moving to follow Cam out of bed.
"Five more minutes Smalls." Kota snatches me back and I laugh as he cages me in his arms.
"Dakota, I need to use the bathroom and get ready for
training. The girls and I have stuff to get done at the school today. Let go and move your butt." I reach behind me and slap the side of his buttcheek and hear a sharp intake of breath, then he jumps out of bed, almost dumping me to the floor. "What the hell?"
Cam's smile is from ear to ear. "Apparently, he likes to be spanked." Then he winks at me.
I can feel all the blood rush to my cheeks. My face is on fire with embarrassment. "I'm gonna go get ready." I mumble running out his bedroom door and straight to my own room.
Once there I head straight for the bathroom to shower. I don't stop to grab clothes I just need to wash off the feeling of shame or unease or whatever this is. I hate feeling uncomfortable around these guys and the moments always come at the worst times.
I walk out to my room wrapped in a towel and drying my hair with another, not really paying attention.
"Yes Little Bit! Nice legs!"
"Oh, F*CK!" I jumped wrapping the towel around his throat while planting him face down on my bed. Causing Jena and Mateo to jump out of bed as well. "What are you doing in here?"
"I was just making sure everyone was awake, we need to get going so we can beat Kaley out the door." He grunts under me. "Nice reflexes by the way. Do you use a towel as a weapon often?"
"Just be glad she didn't have her blades on her. You'd be a shish-kebob right now." Jena laughs at his expression as I let him up. "I'm going to jump in quick to wake up, give me five and we can go. Is Lil ready?"
"Yeah, she used Kota's shower. You two might as well move your stuff up here. I mean if Luna Ava hasn't already."
"We do seem to have clean outfits each day." Jena says, walking into the bathroom laughing.
"I feel like we are on a recon mission, trying to find entrance and exit points." Lil laughs over the mindlink as I peek out the door from the third floor stairwell.
The coast seems clear and it wouldn't matter if it wasn't. If she thought we had started sneaking around to avoid her, she would try that much harder to attach herself to the twins.
"That's our next project. We need to hack into the contractor's computer and find out what the hold up is on the Cunningham's house. It's been a year. Even if they did start over from scratch, it should be done by now. They need to quit stalling."
"On it boss." Jena chirps back as we make our way down to the kitchen.
"Would you stop that? I am not your boss, Alpha."
This time Jena giggles out loud.
"Is it bad that I am jealous that I can't hear your
conversations?" Sam asks as we walk towards the island where Lenny has a pile of foil wrapped goodness for us.
"Yes. You and your FOMO are something special. But we have to move, creatures are stirring and we don't want to be here for that. Thank you Lenny! You are amazing!" I say running out the back door and the rest of my friends following.
We get halfway to the training grounds before I slow down and open one of my wraps. It is still steaming, filled with eggs and veggies, cheese and ham and I do not hesitate to devour it in about three bites.
"So how is it you could sense or smell her coming from a floor away, but you didn't notice me in your room this morning and almost decapitated me?" Sam steps up next to me, eating and for once serious.
"I really wasn't expecting anyone other than Mateo and Jena to be there and your scent is already all over my room so it wasn't something that made me wary or on alert. I am always on alert for her, it's like second nature now. I don't know if I could turn it off."
Training was far more effective this morning as we all are getting our bearings. After the guys all divide to their various jobs for the day. Oliver and Mateo decide to escort us to the school to see how we are set up and if there is anything they can do to help.
Chapter 0453
We talked a little about what we are up to, but they got the same story as Principal Duncan. Not because I don't trust them, but they are all really quick to jump in to save me and we need to really know the origins of the trouble here at school. I need to know what the Cunningham's are up to and what their angle is and I can't do that with the guys in tow. Actually they are going to be helpful in keeping them distracted for us.
"I can't believe you took Cunningham's office from him. I thought you were joking." Mateo laughs as we walk in.
The single mahogany desk is very upscale for a school, but very on par with his tastes and styles. Kevin Cunningham loves all things expensive and opulent. The wall behind the desk has a large window that overlooks they courtyard area behind the school between the elementary and middle and high school areas. This is where most students eat lunch on nice days. The wall furthest from the door has an extensive bookshelf that I thoroughly plan to look through. I'm not sure if all the books are decorative or if he actually uses them. The wall in front of the desk has a dark brown leather couch, similar to what Alpha Lucas has in his own office at the packhouse. The wall with his office door leading to the hallway has framed photographs of his family. Everything is very formal and no one looks happy to be in the photos.
"Perfect!" Jena growls, sitting behind the desk.
"What?!" We all ask at the same time.
"Lil, check your lock, has it been tampered with?" She doesn't answer any of us, but that is Jena. She's like a bloodhound when she's on a mission and nothing is going to distract her train of thought.
"Doesn't look like it from the outside. Why?" Jena puts her index finger up to her mouth indicating we should stay quiet. Someone has been here.
"I think someone has been in here, but they were good about covering their tracks." She gets up and starts to move around the room, not making a sound. I've seen this before. She thinks someone has eyes or ears on us. "High school students are probably trying to play tricks on us, since we are new in the pack and the building." She rolls her eyes as she looks through the books.
"What are you looking for? Can we help?" I ask over our team mindlink.
"Someone wiped the hard drive and then installed a mirroring code, but they are stupid or have no idea that someone in your team has basic computer knowledge and would have set up defenses for general, remedial level hacking. The microphone is live on the computer so I have to assume another one of those cameras we found in the hallway yesterday is probably here."
"Should we help look, or stay put and act as a distraction?" Lil is always hoping to be a distraction, usually in the form of destruction.
"Let's go with minor distraction in the form of talking too much, Lillian. Do not destroy the office!"
I link Oliver and Mateo to let them know what is happening while Lil rambles on.
"Well, I don't know sh*t about computers. So we are just going to have to wait. I know Alpha King Reggie wanted us to go through all the high school files and start to pinpoint potentials for the next trials. We didn't have as many people last summer as we did when Midge ran them. That was our biggest year yet."
"We had just started so hopefully we can recover the information we gathered. It's so frustrating to have to start over again." I whine a little, walking over to the wall of pictures.
"What does that mean for your investigation?" Mateo asks.
"Nothing, really, we will have to gather our candidates manually which will take up more time, so we will have more hours here. Less time to hang out with you guys." I keep up my pout while following my instincts to the family picture of the Cunninghams sitting on a side table. All the eyes seem to follow you no matter what angle you are to the picture. I get the chills thinking about any of them watching us, ever. 2
Then I see it, a small black camera set into the thick frame. If I hadn't been training with Jena and Nathaniel and looking
for sh*t like this for the last year, I would never have noticed
it.
"Jena, got it." She looks over at me and nods.
"Keep talking, I'll take care of that one. We need to look for more. If it was me I would have one on each wall to cover all angles and blindspots."
I relay to the guys and they keep playing along.
"You missed the first bonfire of the year, Shorty. We should
do another one to welcome you back, now that you are
stuck with us for a little while." Mateo says.
"That would be awesome. We really don't get a lot of downtime in between missions."
"Are there really that many problems? Doesn't Alpha Reggie have a lot of teams to work different missions?"
"Yeah, but our team has unique skills that make us the
obvious or only choice for certain missions." I shrug. Lil waves pointing to a camera inlaid in the frame of the window.
"Then we really need to relax one night."
"You still the DD or have you graduated into the land of underage drinking with the rest of us?" Oliver's attempt at being a smartass has Lil, Jena and I all laughing.
"I smile at him playfully, you'll just have to find out. And this time the girls get to take body shots."
"Yes!! I have no idea what you are talking about, but it
sounds like a challenge." Lil points at me. "I will always take a drinking challenge. When is this happening?"
"Sam is going to be so pissed he missed this conversation." Oliver laughs darkly.
Mateo smiles, but ignores his comment. "The twins should be done with their patrols around lunch and we will trade out with them. They have a few things going on with the Alpha this afternoon going over pack business since so many imported things have been restricted or slowed down because of the rogues. Maybe after dinner we can make plans. That's really the only time we are all together right now."
We get a thumbs up from Jena as she moves to the desk and opens her laptop then logs into the desktop. Her fingers are flying away on the keyboard, moving between the two devices.
"Is there anything we can do to help with supplies? That is one of Lil's specialties."
"Not sure, I think the twins have it handled. I mean I haven't seen any shortages yet, but we can mention it to them." I just nod not really knowing how to respond.
After about ten minutes of silence, the only sounds are our breathing and the keys, Jena looks up.
Chapter 0454
"Alright I have all of the cameras on a loop for now. I'll get a loop of the office empty here soon. Then we should be good to go. It doesn't appear that any of them are recording sound, but the microphone was on when we walked in, which means someone is trying to record conversations. I have control of that as well. It's just static now. That will eat up all the storage they are recording on and whoever it is will need to come and try to fix it sooner rather than later." She takes a deep breath. "I want to connect to the signals on the cameras in the hallways and we will need to do a full sweep of the school. I wonder if there are any cameras in the bathrooms or locker rooms too. It's disgusting, but blackmail always needs proof and your little girlfriend has some kind of leverage on people to get them to do what she wants."
"With the kind of pull her dad has, it wouldn't surprise me." Lil says, seriously.
"We also need to make sure that this isn't different people." I roll my eyes at their looks. "I hate the b*tch, but I'm not going to assume this is all her and her dad. Everytime we find something, this whole thing seems bigger than just the two of them. Maybe it's connected or maybe we just have more than one sh*tty person in our pack. But I won't just try to target because I don't like them."
"Let's go figure out how deep your leech is in this then." Lil jumps from her spot on the edge of Jena's desk, slapping
Mateo on the back.
"You need to stay here and figure out how someone got in here and how to prevent it without making any noticeable changes." I look at her.
"Ugh! Boring. We already know they came in through the window. And that is an easy fix."
"What?! How do you know?" Oliver seems genuinely curious.
"This window was set up to be accessed from the inside or the outside. The way the latch sits here, it can be flipped from this spot on the outside of the window." She quickly goes through what she is explaining. "Either someone was planning to break into the school or whoever designed this office wanted to be able to get in and out without detection and the first thing any intelligent person would do is check the locks on the windows and doors."
"Can you look at all the windows here and at the pack house for the same features? I'm curious, now that you are bringing it up." Mateo asks.
"Sure. It will be easier when Nathaniel and Wyatt can be here. They will help this process go faster."
"Who are they?" Oliver almost keeps the jealous tone out of his voice. My brother is not successful at all and I smile.
"They are part of our team. Nathaniel is probably the only person smarter than Jena with computers and Wyatt was here for trials, he was on my capture the flag team. I will need them for this project."
"You got it boss." Lil says laughing as I kick her in the ass as she runs out the door.
"Not your boss. Now get back here, you aren't going
anywhere until this lock is secure."
"Yes, boss." We all laughed this time. "I'll link you when I'm done, shouldn't take me too long."
The rest of us head out of the office and down the hallway towards the highschool end of the building.
"Mateo, why don't you stay and work with Jena here, and Oliver and I will go to the second floor and look around covering more space."
"Why do you automatically assume we will want to work together?" Jena attempts snark, but she can't fool me. She is getting close to my brother, whatever that means, and I think it scares her. It didn't go unnoticed that they were together in my bed this morning. I don't think they were doing anything nasty, she physically has no desires like that right now. but she is drawn to him the same way she is drawn to me. For the first time since I have known her, she slept in a room without me and didn't wake up screaming for me in the middle of the night. That has to mean something. I don't know if that is because we are siblings or something else. I am not opening that can of worms though.
"Because Oliver isn't going to let me out of his sight while I'm in the same building as Kaley. And it's my brother's job to protect the Alpha." I wink at them and head up the stairs before either can protest.
Once we get far enough away, Oliver touches my arm gently. "How did you know that I wouldn't let you walk around here with Kaley on the loose?" It's a whisper and it's almost
unsure.
"Oliver, of all the guys, you have noticed the most about me. At this point, it's an unacknowledged fact that Kaley has a massive problem with me, she always has. There is no way you were going to leave my side, even if Mateo was here with me. That is how reliable you are to me." I just turn and keep walking.
All in all, today was productive for us. We found a total of twenty two cameras and have every intention of searching the rest of the school. Jena was able to get schematics of the school so Lil could map them out for us as we found them. We don't see any common theme or direction they are pointing in. It doesn't appear like they are targeting any one in particular, but we also only found the ones in the most populated areas of the high school. We need to pinpoint more.
Jena was also able to find the plans for the Cunningham's house while getting the plans for the school. We now can prove the unnecessary changes and permit submissions are what is holding everything up. At a glance it just looks like red tape and paperwork that goes with all new buildings. Every time something is changed, everything needs to be approved and inspected again and they have done a decent job of making it look random, but something always seems to happen to make the permits expire and need reissuing.
Jena, Lil and I have decided that we are going to join the construction crew and get this house done this winter. I mean what else are we going to do with all of our free time?
We sat down to dinner in the formal dining room again. The only people who look comfortable here are Kaley and her dad. Even Alpha Lucas looks annoyed at the set up. It might also be that Kevin placed himself to the left of the Alpha where normally my dad, the Beta, or the twins sit. And he has not stopped talking since we sat down.
We decided to sit at the far end of the table, completely lost in conversation and ignoring the almost blatant begging of Kaley for the twins to sit next to her, since she posted herself next to Luna Ava. I don't know what the deal is, but if the Alpha and Luna are going to let these two continue to walk all over them they can be the ones to entertain them.
Chapter 0455
I love the Alpha and Luna with all of my heart, but I know this whole situation is not right. I can't help them though, if I don't know what is going on. As a group we decided to see what happens when we stay in our own little bubble at the opposite end of the table.
The twins placed me at the head, opposite Alpha Lucas.
Each of them flanking me. Lil and Jena sat across from each other. Naturally Mateo sat next to Jena, leaving Oliver and Sam to sit next to Lil.
We all walked in talking animatedly about everything that we got done today, although most of it was code so Kevin wouldn't get too suspicious. I could feel the different levels of stares aimed right at me.
"Why don't you children join us down here in your regular seats?"
We stop our conversation to look at Kevin, none of us moving. Kaley gently pats the two open place settings on either side of her.
"We're good here, thank you though Kevin." I say as sweetly as I can.
"I believe that particular seat is reserved for visiting Alphas and other important pack members. Not general seating."
"Oh, you are right, how silly of me." I get up grabbing my plate, the twins looking appalled at my actions until they
notice Jena getting up too. We switch places exchanging a wink.
I am now sitting in between Cam and Mateo, who looks at Kota and gives some kind of guy head signal and they both change places too, bringing a smile to all of our group's faces. They are clearly staking a claim in front of these adults. We go back to our conversation as if nothing changed.
Sam tried to make plans over the mindlink for having a bonfire, but it just became a pain to have to translate between my two groups of friends. So we decided to table that topic for later and I ventured into something a little safer.
"Sam, have you heard from Sierra? She hasn't responded to me in a while, so I don't know if she's on a mission or what. Is she coming to visit soon?"
"She is for sure coming for the spring ball, especially if you all will be here. I'm hoping to get her here for my birthday." He gives me a knowing look and our biggest player has been tamed and is hopeful for his mate.
That boy has been gone for her since the day they met, but it is so cute to see that look in his eyes, but there is a little bit of fear there too. He loves her and what if the Moon
Goddess decided they shouldn't be mates?
"I have to check in with Osiston and Alpha Reggie
tomorrow. I'll see what her status is." His smile is blinding.
"So, do you all turn 18 soon then?" Jena asks.
"Yeah, in the spring, We were all born within weeks of each other, so we usually just celebrate the whole month,
wrapping up with Little Bit's birthday."
"That must have been fun growing up." Lil says looking excited. "A whole month of parties. Why didn't you say anything Midge?"
"I was on a mission last year for my birthday, so I couldn't say anything and it kind of sucked anyway."
"I forgot about that, didn't Mina hijack your date?" She laughs and I smile at the memory. It's bittersweet now.
A clatter of utensils next to me makes me jump.
"What date?" Kota asks, sounding pained.
"You never said you were dating anyone, Shorty." My brothers look is accusing.
"First, I was on a mission, trying to get close to the rogues so we could get into their camp. It happened to be a good excuse to do that and second, I do not need to run my dating schedule by you, Mateo."
Chapter 0456
"The hell you don't. Who was this guy? Why did we never hear about him?"
"Did you run all the girls you were seeing by me?" I try deflecting, but regret it immediately seeing Jena flinch and knowing I unintentionally caused her pain.
"Don't change the subject. I'm going to need more information. Who was the guy?"
"You don't have to worry about him. He won't be an issue, trust me." I look at Jena again, but she won't make eye contact with me.
"Sky, what's up? Why won't you tell us?" Oliver tries for a softer approach. "If he isn't a problem, then it shouldn't matter if you tell us or not."
Why are they always so pushy with this kind of stuff, but can't seem to tell Kaley, Marnie and Jeanie where to stuff it? They can f*ack around however they want, but the first mention of me hanging with a guy who isn't them sends them into guard mode. Even talking about Nathaniel and Wyatt today made Oliver jealous. And they know, or should know, that there are guys on my team.
I take a deep breath and look each of the guys in the eyes making sure I have their full attention. "Tyler won't be a problem, because what's left of him is currently in a box." I stand taking my plate back to the kitchen. I have lost my appetite and just want to get away, before any more of that conversation fills the ears of Kaley and Kevin.
I don't think there is much they can do with knowing I was on a mission and as a part of that mission I went on a date with a guy who is now dead. But my guys sometimes get tunnel vision when it comes to me and they forget who is around and listening.
We already caused enough of a stir with our seating arrangement, I'm sure most of the focus was on us.
I head up the stairs and wait for Lil and Jena, who aren't far behind. "Let's just grab your stuff. I'm sure most of it is already upstairs, but I'm done pandering to the Cunninghams. These idiots need to see when they aren't wanted. You are my guests and you are staying in my room." I roll my eyes and head over to the two bedrooms housing my friends' belongings.
It takes them all of five minutes to gather up their gear and then follow me up to the third floor. We place their extra stuff in my closet and spread out on the floor in front of my fireplace. We have gone over the camera locations and the directions they were pointing when we found them. Still nothing significant, but Lil started penciling in the camera ranges and is now looking for blindspots.
Jena and I moved on to the Cunningham's house blueprints. It's significantly larger than the original home and actually more square footage than any of the homes on our block, with the exception of the packhouse.
"Do you think Kevin is compensating for something?" Jena laughs.
"Probably. If he is delusional enough to think that Kaley will be Luna, he will think his own importance should increase as well and his material possessions should reflect that importance. He tried to tell the Luna that she needed to redecorate the packhouse every year, so when visiting Alphas came they would see the changes and know that we were a rich pack and that alone would make them more likely to sign treaties and side with us in the event of a war." I rolled my eyes.
Chapter 0457
"But he puts no stock or emphasis on warriors or their training. We are just hired help to him, no better than Omegas." Lil adds from her corner of the floor, not looking up at us. "He's no better than the leeches who chase Cameron, Dakota and even Xander."
"Hey." There's a tap on my door as Sam pushes it open. "Can we come in?" Sneaky bastards, they know I can't say no to him.
"Technically you already did, but yeah, come on in." I shrug and go back to what Jena and I have been working on.
"We deserved that, sorry we didn't realize what the guy in the box meant to you."
I rub my face and take a slow breath in and out. "It's not that he meant something to me, not really. I had to make friends with the rogues to get into their inner circle. I had to get to their compound and figure out how they are hiding themselves so well. Getting close was part of the job. It usually is when we have to go in." I gesture to the three of us. "We always have to get close to people and sometimes lines are blurred for the sake of the mission."
"What kind of blurred lines are we talking here, Bitty? I don't want to hear anymore if I have to hear about any guy putting his hands on you." He puts his hands up in a surrender gesture before going on, I'm sure feeling the surge of anger at his statement. "I'm not saying don't do what you need to do to complete your mission and take care of you. I literally can't hear about any guy putting his hands on you. My wol is losing his sh*t at the mere thought, details might send him over the edge."
"Tell your wolf to calm his tits. Your 'Itty Bitty' is the innocent one of us, but for some reason everyone is drawn to her so she is usually our first point of contact with any group we are trying to infiltrate." Lil states matter of factly, stretching the truth, but I understand what she's insinuating to placate my guys. "Now, you guys need to help us get the diva and her daddy out of the packhouse. We have a plan. Are you in?" We spend the rest of the night finalizing what we are going to do over the next month. We have limited time before winter sets in and certain things need to be completed if we want to get them out before the
new year.
I'm sure this is part of Cunningham's plan, waiting for the weather to be too bad to move forward on the house and stalling all other projects at the same time.
I also told the guys I moved my team up here and when Nathaniel and Wyatt get here, they will be staying on this floor as well. We will make do, we always have. My team has slept in some pretty sh*tty places, so to have running water, bathrooms and food at hand we are all pretty set. I also told them I will make that announcement when the time comes. No more pussyfooting around what the Cunningham's decide is fair or not. Hopefully though, they will be moved into their brand new beautifully finished home by the time the rest of my team gets here. And some of the drama can be eliminated.
It's close to midnight when we wrap everything up. I rub my eyes and stand to stretch my stiff muscles. I notice Kota and Cam have been rubbing their temples like they both have headaches. "You guys okay?" I ask, walking close to them still seated on the floor.
"Yeah, just figuring out how to block certain people is tough and Kaley has been going at it for hours." Kota grumbles.
"What do you mean?" I kind of want to know and kind of don't want to hear this at all. They have everyone's attention now, so this is not common knowledge.
"She learned, most likely from her
dad, that we have the same access as our dad does to the pack link, but since we are still in training we can't always control the thoughts that come through to us. Our dad can open and shut the link at will. We aren't there yet and Kaley has learned how to push through while she's, uh, having an org*sm." Cam stutters on the last word. Is he
blushing? "She obviously knows we are up here with you three and
wants to distract us."
"What she doesn't understand is, that has never been a turn on for either of us. Especially if she is with someone else. Not my brand of entertainment." Kota shutters.
"So, you're telling me that if your mate was getting herself off and opened up her link to you, it wouldn't be a turn on for you?" Lil is always poking the bear.
"Our mate is a whole different story. She can send us dirty thoughts any time she wants. The pack bicycle can keep her s*xcapades to herself."
"Please call her that to her face the next time you see her and she's acting like a skank." Jena laughs. "I would also like to record it for posterity." We are all laughing as I move toward my bathroom. "Tiny, where are you going?"
"Uh, the bathroom, to get ready for bed."
"Just bring your stuff to our room, you know you're staying there anyway. It will just be faster."
"Fine. We have a ton to get done tomorrow. Oliver, are you up for another magic session? It will be easier when everyone is at school and work. I feel like we haven't had enough kickback from Kaley and her dad and I want to be ready for whatever they throw at us. I can feel something coming."
"You got it Bitty. We can set up after training, then if they need you mid day we should be good to go."
I nod and we all head our separate
ways. I shower and dress quickly,
feeling a little strange to be naked in.
Cam's bathroom, even though they
are being perfect gentlemen and
leaving me alone. I walk out in
my
usual tank and shorts. I don't know why Tam hesitating, I am put in their bed almost every time I'm here, but this is actually the first time I am choosing to sleep next to them and it feels important, special, for some reason.
"What are you waiting for? Get over here, I'm tired and I need to you shut my migraine off." Kota groans.
"So that's all I'm good for? A balm for your headache." I say with a smile, even though the room is dark and I don't know if he can see my face.
"You know it's more than that, but right now, yes, please, make it stop!" He whines as he grabs me around the waist and flips me in between him and Cam. Just like always, they don't hesitate to tangle our arms and legs and we all fall into a deep sleep quickly.
Chapter 0458
As I dream, it dawns on me that they will all be eighteen in six months and I could lose this. What am I thinking? I will lose this. No mate would want to share them, any of them. I hope that I am lucky enough to have Sam mated to Sierra. At least that friendship can remain, but what about Oliver and the twins? I am so close to all three of them, we have some type of symbiotic relationship. I don't even know if I will be able to leave them to go back to the training compound again. Just the thought of that hurts my heart.
I stir from my fitful sleep and notice my cheeks are wet. Was I crying in my sleep? This is worse than I thought.
I get up to go shower again. I can only imagine what my face looks like if I was crying. I let the scalding water make my whole body red as I try to wash away the sadness my dreams brought on. When I can't stall anymore, I hop out and get dressed then step back into Cam's room noticing both of them are standing in the middle of the room waiting for me, clearly having a conversation over their mindlink.
Kota grabs for me as I try to pass them and I let him pull my back to his chest as Cam steps in front of me placing his hand under my chin to raise my eyes to his. He doesn't say anything, just searching for something in my eyes. I just take a deep breath, breathing both of their scents and letting it calm me. I shake my head. We have things to get done today and I have months before any of my worries need to be dealt with.
He looks at his brother and something passes between them, he nods looking at me again and they both let me go, following me out of the room.
The walk downstairs is somber, or we are all just tired only getting a few hours of sleep. But the drama hasn't even begun yet. As soon as we get into the kitchen, Kaley's high pitched screech greets us. "Good Morning, my Alphas. I hope I was able to help you sleep well?" She bats her lashes suggestively, standing from the island where she was sitting with her dad. He's wearing a smug look of triumph. "Uh, no actually. Your nighttime activities gave us a migraine. Smalls had to help us out." Kota says wrapping an arm around my waist as Lil spits out and Jena chokes on their first sips of coffee. "Ah! Wha..?"
"Please try to keep your link closed when you are having s*x. It's inappropriate and disrespectful to whomever you're with." Cam follows behind.
"How dare y.." Kevin starts, but Cam cuts him off with a hand up.
"Lenny, thank you for breakfast." He leads us past the tray that Lenny has set for us with wrapped breakfast burritos piled high, we each crab a couple foil wrapped burritos then out the door to the training grounds.
We have settled into a good routine with training in just a couple days. I forgot how much I loved this. I love teaching and working with all the kids. I guess each of the lead warriors take turns doing the Sky training, because it is extremely early and kind of brutal since it is a punishment training. It is funny to watch the kids come from SKy training and then get paired with Lil, Jena or I directly after. Many of them are not repeat offenders.
We each shower and change after training. Lil and Jena head to the school with Mateo and Sam, the twins head back to the packhouse to work on the pack financials for the month and Oliver and I head down to the bonfire space, following instructions from Elena in the grimoire.
Today I am going to try to manipulate earth today. I have been able to levitate it, but not actually move it and if it comes down to a war Elena thinks that will be a good skill, I agree.
"So talk me through this, Bitty. What should I expect?"
"A lot of misfires actually. I started with water and I think for the first couple hours, Elena was soaked even standing directly behind me." We both laugh, but I am serious. I can only imagine what I will do with clods of dirt.
I sit on the ground with the book opened to the marked page and begin chanting. The reaction is almost immediate as chunks of earth begin floating around me. It feels like my mind is holding lots of strings pulling them up and suspending them in the air. Now I have to split my focus and suspend some and throw others. The first chunk I try to move explodes with a pop and shower of dirt. Oliver lets out a little laugh, so I focus on one closer to his leg, which also explodes, hitting him with some of the debris. He jumps and moves to the side and I focus on another close to him getting another
explosion.
I find that having him to focus on as a target helps me. I am still only making them explode but I can isolate better. After about two hours, I can make little dime sized pieces of dirt follow him around the clearing "Midge, we need you. Not an emergency, but wrap up what you are doing. I found something."
"Okay, give us twenty minutes."
"We are needed at the school, Jena found something." I pick up the grimoire and stand, brushing the small bits of dirt in my lap.
"Umm, Bitty?" I finally look at Oliver and almost fall over laughing.
My Gamma is covered head to toe in dirt. He looks like he was crawling around on the ground through a mud pit and then let it dry. I don't know if there is more than an inch of him that is left clean.
"You look good, you should totally rock the look." I choke out between laughter.
"Oh yeah?!" He comes at me and I drop the book to defend myself.
Oliver drops low to take out my legs, I spin, but he still manages to get one and Lam thrown forward so I tuck in a coll and he follows to try and gain the advantage, but I use his weight to my advantage. I flip us both around and end up sprawled out across his chest.
He could easily reverse our position, but he doesn't, he just stays on his back and holds me. I lay my head on his chest enjoying the closeness.
He takes a deep breath. "I know you
don't want to talk about it, but I have to ask." He rubs my back a few more times before he continues. "How fast are you trying to get out of here? I know you want to get back to training and you are doing all kinds of stuff with Alpha Reggie now that you know you are connected with them, but how long do we get to keep you? Last time was really hard.
I know none of the others are going
to say anything, but it was really bad."
"What do you mean really bad? No one said anything."
"No one wanted to make you feel bad about being gone so long and with how it went down, I think we just wanted to focus on having you back, but you need to know..."
Chapter 0459
"Midge! What are you doing? Time is of the essence here!"
"Lil, your timing is terrible, you know that?"
"Why? You banging your Gamma?"
"You know I'm not, asshole."
"Then move your ass, you can ogle your boy later."
I take a deep breath and press my forehead to Oliver's chest. "Can we table this? Lil is being insistent that what she has is time sensitive. I also feel like this is a conversation for all of us to have together and shots will be needed."
"Shots? You have grown up haven't you?"
"I had to learn how to keep up with college kids and stay safe, so yeah a little. We should maybe sneak out and do the bonfire tonight."
"Why not? Let's go see what your team found."
"We really should go clean up first."
"Nah. They interrupted something, they should know that. It will also help to spread some rumors at school." He winks at me.
I just shake my head, picking up my book, packing it back into my bag and we head out. He won't let us walk though and heads towards a black jeep.
"Is this yours?" He nods. "When did you get this? I thought you guys went everywhere in the truck." I copy him and climb in as he starts it up and pulls out of the driveway.
"We still take the truck when we're together, but we have been divided a lot over the last year really getting into our individual training and jobs. Like I said, lots of changes. I don't know if all they guys are going to come clean, you just need to know we were all in a dark place for a while after you left. For me, it was getting to you so late. The twins actually didn't speak...to each other... for almost a month. No one knows what happened there, but they stopped sharing a room too, and I've never seen them sleep separately in our lives. They did until you got back."
"Yep, drinks are needed, especially if we are going to trade horror stories like that.”
We pull up to the school and head into the office. We get strange looks from the few people in the hallways as we enter, making us both laugh.
For only two people. Lil and Jena have a flurry of things going on. Papers and blueprints are spread out everywhere.
"What is all this?" I ask, heading straight to the desk tracing my fingers on a stack of blueprints..
"We have them and we will be able to get the house built in a month. Cunningham is using pack funds to pay for this big ass house." She points at plans in front of her. "That he wants and he has no actual permissions from the Alpha or anyone that should have signed off on it. The original report shows that there was suspicion of foul play and arson, but no one followed through on the investigation and everyone just skipped to rebuilding the house." She hasn't made eye contact yet, she is back to typing on her computer.
"That's strange, I don't remember anyone saying anything about foul play and the guys and I were all a part of the teams that took care of the damage and cleared out the areas to make room for the rebuild. Cunningham's house was one of five that were really damaged to the point that the families needed to vacate." Oliver supplied.
Both of them looked up at us finally with different expressions on their faces. "Not banging your Gamma, my ass! What were you two up to?"
"I told you magic can get a bit messy."
"That's what we're calling now?" She laughs.
"You know none of us can do anything like that, stop."
"Like what? I want to actually hear you say it." Why my friend insists on embarrassing me I don't know. "Your Gamma is a hotty, none of us would blame you.”
My eyes go wide. "Stop teasing her and her Gamma. Even he's blushing." Jena chuckles.
I clear my throat then ask, "Where did the other four families go? We didn't kick them out of rooms at the packhouse did we?" Trying to change the subject.
"No, their houses were fixed within
six months. They all stayed at the packhouse while we rebuilt one house at a time and vacated as soon as they could. The Cunninghams project was the last to be started. Kevin said he was being generous and allowing the lower, more needy pack members to be taken care of first." Oliver rolled his eyes, going with the subject change. "He just used it to stall, we all know that. As people moved out of the packhouse they slowly took over more rooms on the guest floor, then there were constant problems with plans, or inspections, or materials. Kevin actually spent about two weeks going through each piece of lumber that was delivered and if he found anything wrong he would send the whole delivery back. We had a lot of angry suppliers. My dad had to placate them and then finally kick Kevin off the construction site because people were quitting."
"So, that begs the question 'why would it take more than a year for one house when four others were completed in six months?' Why did no one else catch this, or allow it in the first place?" Lil asks.
"I honestly think that they make so much noise and cause so many headaches, that having them focus on the rebuilding of their house was a break for so many people. While being a massive irritation for others. And Kevin was incharge of the rebuild project so any complaints about him didn't go anywhere." Oliver shrugs.
"But you guys can't even relax at home with them around. It used to be a safe space to be normal away from pack members and now you don't even have that. They are everywhere, trying to insert themselves in everything. I mean, just listening to Kevin try to insert his opinion about training programs when he doesn't even train himself is painful." I don't know why I'm pleading with them, they get it.
"That's what we are going to fix."
Jena looks like Christmas came early. "He expects the pack to pay for the full rebuild of his house since it was damaged in an attack. Then
recommendations Arom
improvements' were made. Recommendations that came from an uncertified inspector Kevin hired personally, mind you. And before you ask, yes I have concrete proof. With that knowledge alone he isn't eligible to have the pack pay for the extra expenses. So we are going to build his house as originally planned, when it was torn down."
"How long will that take? And how do we keep Kevin from stalling again?" I ask.
Chapter 0460
"You didn't say how you were going to keep the Cunningham's in the dark about this." I say.
"This is where you and I come in." Lil claps her hands. "He already is banned from the construction site, but has regular contact with the contractors. I have talked to the current contractors and they are going to basically move all communication to email, so we can have control over it without him knowing. That will cover that side of it. We will give him the plans and move forward, he will get what he is supposed to, we won't lie to or deceive him, but we will just word everything in a way to keep him placated."
"So how do we keep him from checking the sight?"
"We are scrutinizing all of the school's safety protocols as the Alpha King's first line of security. They, most likely, already know about the plans to move non-warrior pack members, but until we actually start the move, the safety of the pups is our," She points between herself and me, "Main priority and assignment from the Alpha King. Alpha Lucas has already sent him instructions to do as we say, which means he's going to be on our asses. We need to get really specific and have daily early morning meetings with him and of course since it has to do with taking care of the pack's safety, the 'future Luna' should be involved." Lil rolls her eyes. "I have already sent them both emails, we are starting right after training first thing tomorrow."
"That keeps us out of helping to build though." I exclaim. I really don't want to deal with Kaley for a month, even if Lil is there to be my back up.
"But you have such willing and strapping young men to do your bidding." Lil winks. "It's perfect. Kaley is going to be so focused on you that she won't pay attention to what is going on around her. She's also going to see this as a benefit since she will see you nowhere near any of your guys all day everyday for a month. And they can't claim you did anything wrong because you will be with them the whole time." I can't really argue any other points. We spent the rest of the day planning out our security detail for the school. Both plans were a go. We were able to get a hold of the contractors in charge of the Cunningham's house and they agreed that the constant changes were unnecessary and would only come back if we could guarantee that Kevin would not be involved at all. Alpha Lucas agreed to Jena's term and even offered to pay a bonus to the laborers if they could have it done before the new year. He seems to be more willing to go against Kevin recently as opposed to just letting him have his way. I would love to ask him about it...when we both have time.
Following training the next morning, Lil and I had a meeting with Kevin and Kaley highlighting all of the necessary changes for the school and several that were not required, but would take time and of course needs their input. Lil and I made a point to make fun over mindlink of the fact that Kaley was allowed to skip classes for this when Kevin tried to give me and my friends a hard time about setting good examples to younger students.
The more that Lil stroked her ego the more Kaley pushed for the extensive changes to her father, wanting to use it as her Luna project for the pack. He couldn't say no to her. She was on board with everything that Lil suggested and said I shouldn't f*ck anything up and make her look bad.
We were able to fill the guys in on what we were up to over the mindlink daily, but we didn't see much of each other until a few weeks later when they needed help hauling lumber to the Cunningham's property overnight for an early start the next day.
The whole crew was buzzing with excitement and anticipation of being done with this massive irritation. We were able to organize the entire site with all the tools and supplies and the general contractor was
confident that with this many
people, the second floor frami net
would be completed and the roof started by the end of the day tomorrow. All of the other
contractors have just been working quickly around adding pipes, ductwork and electrical as they can. It's been really impressive to see the camaraderie and teamwork. I know they are hoping to put the drywall up in the next couple days, then flooring, paint and appliances.
Kaley did throw a fit about Lil and Jena moving up into my room and repeatedly made comments at dinner each night, until last night Luna Ava told her to deal with it and she would run her pack house as she sees fit. And she doesn't even allow the future Alphas to act the way that she has been since our arrival. And with the expectation of warriors coming to the pack for the impending war, we need to make preparations. One of those is making room in the packhouse for those warriors to have a place to sleep and eat.
When Luna Ava told her 'that is what a responsible Luna does' Kaley went pale and didn't say anything the rest of the night. Alpha Lucas had a smile on his face the rest of the night.
I also heard from Elena this morning, she said that the coven was preparing to come and do a barrier spell around the Blue Crescent Pack borders and she wanted me to be a part of it. She had instructions that would be coming with Nathaniel and Wyatt for my part in the spell.
Alpha Reggie checked in with Alpha Lucas and I, saying they were ready for us to start moving any non warriors to the Royal pack grounds for safety. The plan is to move them in waves so no one suspects what we are doing and we will be placing warriors in the homes on the outskirts of the pack so it still looks like everyday life is going on.
Wyatt and Nathaniel were fully immersed into finding Gentry for Nickolas, but said that they could do that from anywhere so they were planning on joining us in the next week and they could help with our construction labor team.
By Christmas the Cunningham's home was complete and we even made time to pull all of their furniture from storage and place it all exactly as it was before the attack happened.
The air in the packhouse was light and giddy as we celebrated. Sierra was even able to join us which was a loud and girl-scream filled reunion. Although, I think the mistletoe got to her and Sam and they disappeared early in the night.
For the first time in a very long time I felt happy and light. All of my friends are here and safe.