Ch. 561..570

Chapter 0561

"Is there a way for the two of you and Bitty to do a controlled burn so it only affects the house, but actually incinerates everything?" Oliver asks.

That's a thought. We could help her with that, I'm sure. Along with the rest of you Alphas. We also have the Rogue King to think of and Adrielle." Elena steps forward too. "Our sources tell us differing lines of information. So either their followers have no real idea what they are up to. Or, more likely, they have different agendas, but need each other to get to you, Alpha Skylar."

"The 'Alpha' thing is going to take some getting used to." I mumble.

"Everyone already calls you 'boss.' What's the difference?" Wyatt asks and everyone in the room laughs.

"What are the different thoughts, Elena?" Cam asks, not letting us get off track.

"The first is that the Rogue King thinks that he can absorb Skylar's powers by sacrificing her." A deafening growl shakes the entire room and I'm sure the windows would have been broken had we not been in a reinforced room.

I head straight to my guys, sit in Cam's lap and grab Oliver and Dakota by the hands. Keeping contact with three of them when I only have two hands is going to teach me to get really creative. "Breathe, wee need to know this no matter how bad it sounds, because I can't imagine Adrielle's want for me is going to be any better." I look back at my witch friends.

"No, it doesn't get any better, Alpha Skylar. She seems to want you to mate with Mike so he can absorb whatever extra abilities you will give to your mates and she wants you to reproduce with him since he is half wolf half witch." Gentry says softly.

"WHAT?!" We all shout at the same time.

"She is Mike's mother and we know his father is the Rogue King. We are still trying to understand their different agendas for you, but either way, they both want you to mate with Mike to make him more powerful and then utilize you to achieve their other goals

"But, she's marked by all of us. He can't claim her now." Dakota squeezes my hand.

"You haven't mated with her yet. You are all still vulnerable, she is still vulnerable. You missed the full moon, and that might have been by design because we still don't have any idea how the vortex formed or why it kept you for so long, but I'm sure the full moon played a part. So, Alpha Skylar will need at least two of you with her at all times." Gentry looks around the room and all of my friends lose a little color in their faces because they know how I feel about protection detail.

"Ugh! It's fine, it's fine." I'm not sure who I'm trying to convince more, them or me. "I'm not typically alone anyway. Don't make a big deal and I won't actively be a pain in the ass." I let go of Oliver and Dakota and rub my hands over my face. "So, it still sounds like a lot of hurry up and wait. What can we do, right now, to be proactive? The Rogue King and his witch bride are coming for me, that's a given. Magic is going to be used against us, also a given. Mike is still being a cocky ass even though he's locked up and being tortured, so there is something else at play. What. Can. We. Do?" I look at everyone in the tiny office.

 

Chapter 0562

"I think we should move Mike. His presence here, so close to you, is not good for anyone. He thinks that he will survive this because of magic or whatever. He thinks that his mother will save him. He thinks that he will have you, still. If he is here, it's a beacon straight to you." The deep growly voice of my father comes from the back of the room and I just stare. "We have a location on our Eastern border, it is not something that is general knowledge, but it is something the former Alphas had for particularly nasty prisoners that they didn't want in or near the packhouse. It will place Mike the furthest from the mainland entrance and from the Alphas."

I just stare. I have no thoughts in my head at all. I heard my father's voice and saw him speak... to me... but I still can't process the idea. Where the hell did this 180 come from? All it took was his second chance mate to treat me like a person? Or Maybe it's because I am one of his Alpha's now and his sense of duty and loyalty are still just ingrained in his job.

"What do you think, Love?" Cam pulls me out of my shock. "What does your gut say? Keep him close or get him as far away as possible?"

"I think that it would ease everyone's mind if he was gone. The packhouse needs to be our safe space. I think I would like our warriors close when they aren't on duty, though. Can we fit all the warriors in the ranked housing? I don't want everyone scattered when they are off duty. With all the mind control stuff that Adrielle is capable of from a distance, I want to know where everyone is all the time."

"I think that can be arranged. Ava and I will take on that organization." Brett raises his hand from near the door. "We'll let you know if we come across any complications."

"Thank you, Dad." Oliver runs his hand up my arm.

"How are the people we collected from Robbie? Did we capture or keep any of the people that fought us that day?" I try to move on quickly. My wolf is thrumming with the idea that Mike might still be able to take us from the guys and I don't want an audience for that conversation, because if she gets angry enough we may shift.

"The ones Robbie brought us are still at the school. Many of them have started helping with meal prep and organizing supplies for the warriors. They have been checked over thoroughly by both the healers and Gentry and Elena. They don't leave the school, but we have allowed them to use the playground and outdoor eating area to give them a small bit of freedom. Only time will tell where their loyalties lie." Kyle says from near the window. "All of the fighters are being contained in the small fighting arena. We have temporary shelters set up for them, but we are still working through them with the healers. Many had injuries and all of them had the tracker implanted. They all seem very dazed and confused as they come out of whatever chemical control they had. We just don't know if there is any other magic going on." "Anyone who died in the fight we did a mass burn. I hope that released them back to the Goddess. We did keep your pack members separate from the fighters that came with Mike so they could be celebrated. You only lost three warriors." Wyatt knew I needed our number. I always had a count. I don't know why it matters, but it does. I just nod my head, my wolf is getting agitated.

"Wyatt, can you help Daniel relocate Mike? Brett and Ava can work through organizing the warriors. Nathaniel will you need anything else since we will be moving warriors away from the borders?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think so, but let's put a pin in it until I can reassess."

"Kyle, keep working with the captured fighters. If they are anything like the people Robbie brought us, we might be able to offer them a home here after all this is over with. It seems like these people are unwilling participants. I don't think we have seen

Pet

of their fighters." He now he worst

at me. "I have a couple more questions for Gentry and Elena, and then the rest of us can start to work on this fire situation."

"Wyatt, Nathaniel and Lil, will you three stick around for a second and then you can go to your assignments. Sam, Mateo, Jena and Sierra, we will meet you out back to discuss this fire thing in a few minutes." Cam finishes assigning tasks.

Once everyone but my team has cleared out, I stand up from Cam's lap. This feels like such a big deal. Cam looks to Oliver, who starts talking, walking around the edge of the desk.

"We know how close you all are to

Skylar and our situation is beyond unusual. Now that I am one of the Alphas, being her mate." He rolls his eyes at his own comment. "Not gonna lie, that sounds so

his face. He doesn't like talki

pretentious." He rubs his hand over

about his own accomplishments, unless it's to compete with me. "Our Gamma position is open. Lil, we have discussed it and would like you to fill that position, if you want it. You would round out our female leaders."

Her eyes go wide and look at me. "Are you serious?" She breathes out.

"Of course we are. I know your contract is up at the end of the summer and I want you here with me." I look at her hoping she says yes.

"OH HELL YES!!" She shouts and pushes past Oliver to jump on me. "I have been trying to figure out how to talk you into letting me stay." She laughs, squeezing my neck and jumping.

"I'm so glad you were such a hard sell." Dakota laughs. "And Nathaniel and Wyatt, you both obviously have a place here too. Sky's whole team means the world to her and you guys have proven time and time again why. Our warrior team would be lucky to have you."

I walk over and give them both hugs too. They are happy, but not trying to strangle me like Lil is. They each shake hands with my mates. "Alright, Alpha Midge, we'll see you outside." Wyatt follows Nathaniel, dragging Lil.

We all turn to Elena and Gentry. "So tell us more about mating with Skylar."

 

 

Chapter 0563

"I thought that might be a sticking point with you four. You marked each other because of Dakota, to help him heal. No one was thinking about the fact that you are Alpha's, or I guess at the time two Alphas, a Beta and a Gamma. We weren't concerned with rights and rituals that you would normally take into consideration when marking and then mating. We were concerned with your mate living past the fight. We originally put the wind spell as a barrier to the fighters that were still attacking and sent more waves to try and recover Mike."

"How many more people were harmed in this fight?" I interrupt, hating the idea that anyone was hurt while we were working through personal sh*t. "I know Wyatt said we only lost three, but that means they lost so many more." I sat in the chair Cam vacated. I know they were trying to kill us, but I also know that most of them are not fighting of their own accord. They are possessed, under the influence of some kind of drug or being manipulated.

"You were in the vortex for twenty-one days. The full moon happened just days after the fight. We would have been able to have your Alpha ceremony and you could have completed the mating ritual as it was designed with no problems. I think the idea was to get to Skylar in plenty of time to disrupt a ceremony for the next full moon as well. The longer you hold off the more opportunities Mike, Adrielle and the Rogue King have to claim you for their own. You are all exceptionally strong now, but having the four of you in tune with magic collectively and the powers you all will unlock when you complete the mating ritual makes each and every one of you prime targets. But, as with all things related to Skylar, we don't know if any of the general rules apply. Those powers show up following the full moon after the eighteenth birthday. Will she have to wait? Who knows. Will you guys gain powers even if she doesn't because you are all eighteen now? Who knows. What I do know is that the full moon will rise on Skylar's birthday, we have been watching it closely. That is when we should be prepared. Too many things are lining up to be exceptionally amazing or absolutely life threatening."

"Thanks for letting us down easy." Dakota mumbles. "So what can we do? What should we do? I feel like we just keep flying by the seat of our pants because no one has answers." I can feel his anger start to spike and it's not a controlled burn, it's threatening to take him over, so I stand up and walk to Dakota and wrap my arms around his waist. I can feel his helplessness and I hate it. I hate that it's because of me and his need and desire to keep me safe "I'm sorry." He says kissing my hair. I tilt my head all the way back and look him in the eyes, giving him a small smile. "I just feel like we keep reacting to things and I know you are special, Sweetness, but you can't be completely unique, right?" He looks from me to Gentry. "I mean there has to be others in the Alpha King's line that have had issues like us. With the extra mates and the weird ass magic abilities and someone trying to kill them every five minutes."

"We don't actually know. That's the problem. The females from his line never really made it that far in life. Obviously, Skylar's mother and grandmother were exceptions, telling us that her bloodline is very strong. From what we know of the Rogue King's lineage, he killed and or experimented on all of the females because of their enhanced abilities. No other Alpha King line that we have researched has had this kind of history. Each Alpha King line has some enhancement or attribute that sets their line apart from the others, but this is a unique situation as much as you don't want it to be Alpha Dakota. My suggestion is to talk with your mother about the Alpha ceremony and if we can do it sooner rather than later. She needs to be mated, for all of our safety."

"F*ck, I keep forgetting you're a princess too." Oliver laughs darkly. "Can someone please explain why I am here? Like seriously, I don't doubt my abilities, and I don't regret any of this, I'm not giving her up for anything. But, she is literally the best warrior with every advanced enhancement a wolf can have and then some. Why is she mated to a basic Gamma?" He sits in one of the chairs that's on the visiting side of the desk looking everywhere, but at Cam, Kota and I.

 

Chapter 0564

I walk over and stand right in front of him. With the height difference his eyes are right at my lips. He parts his legs so I can step in, but I shake my head and he looks confused until I push his knees closed and sit on his lap, thankful he chose the armless chair so I can scoot close enough to wrap my arms around his neck. His hands naturally find my waist and hold on tight.

"You are not and have never been basic any more than I have been normal." His eyes fall closed as I rake my fingers through the short hairs along the side of his head and interlock them behind his neck and rest my forehead on his. "And you aren't a Gamma, you were never meant to be a Gamma, you were meant for so much more. That's why you never took the title, because you are one of my Alpha's."

I leaned in to kiss him and it started sweet and slow, but something snapped and I inhaled sharply, pulling myself as close to him as I could get and it still didn't feel close enough. He deepened the kiss, wrapping one arm all the way around my waist and the other found the back of my head, and I didn't hesitate to let him take over exploring my mouth with his tongue. I have no idea what I am doing so I follow his lead, but I think a lot of firsts are getting checked off of lists today.

Just as the thought crosses my mind, I feel a hand grip my ponytail and pull my head back, exposing my neck to Oliver who doesn't hesitate to start planting feather light kisses down the column. I open my eyes to see Cam's emerald green orbs circling with gray, a sure sign a storm is coming and I think it is aimed for me. He leans forward and with just as much urgency and a little more aggression than I would have imagined he explores my mouth, hungry to taste every inch, while Oliver continues to explore my neck and shoulder.

I feel a sudden cool breeze on my hot skin and I gasp. It was enough of a distraction for Oliver and Cam to let me go for the briefest of moments when my shirt is ripped off my body and Dakota's tongue is trailing up my spine causing a shiver to rock my body and goosebumps to erupt everywhere.

"So beautiful." He whispers and starts trailing kisses along the different scars on my back. I froze for a moment. It's been so long since I have even thought about them, I felt self conscious for a minute and I can't look at anyone. "These are a part of you Sweetness and we love you the way you are." He plants another kiss to my spine, then Cam claims my mouth again and Oliver finds their marks on my neck and elicits a moan from me as he bites down. I arch into him pressing my sports bra clad breasts into him and lean back into Dakota. Cam firms up his grip in my hair deepening the kiss, before pulling away. A whimper leaves me involuntarily and he smiles a wicked smile.

"Don't worry, Love, we aren't done. But we aren't going to take you here in the office, Like Oliver said, you're a princess, our princess and we want to worship you." He leans in for another small kiss, but I grab the back of his head and deepen it, already addicted to his taste. I can feel his chuckle vibrate through my

body and straight to my core.

"Stop teasing her and let's get her upstairs. I'm gonna blow, just from the smell of her arousal." Dakota growls and bites the back of my shoulder. I yelp in surprise and smash myself closer to Oliver.

"Yeah, well I'm not doing much

better the way you're making her

move on my c*ck." I bury my head in

his neck to stifle my whimper. I like

ovel?

the dirty talk way more than I thought and yet it's still

embarrassing that they are talking about me.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

"You all better be decent! You have five seconds to hand over Midge, fully clothed. We have a problem." Lil yells and then starts counting down. I try to jump up but Oliver has his hands around me, Dakota has his hands on my shoulders and Cam has my ponytail wrapped around his head.

"Guys!! She will actually barge in here no matter what you say and I don't want her to see me like this." I am terrified and kind of embarrassed while still really turned on. I don't hate the feeling, but I don't love it either.

 

 

Chapter 0565

They seriously try to hold me down as Lil counts, "5...4...3..."

"Oliver, if you don't let me go right now I will not let you touch me until AFTER my birthday."

I have not been righted, standing on my feet so fast ever in my life and he looks a little terrified.

"Well, we know who will cave first in a fight with her." Dakota laughs and then catches my eye and blanches.

"So you can keep your hands to yourself then." I say pulling my shirt over my head, thankful he didn't rip it to shreds. When I pulled my head through I shot him a look and headed for the door.

When I open it Lil just looks like she is barely holding down a laugh. "Should I be thanking my lucky stars that the Alpha's office is soundproof? I figured that Gentry's comment about not being mated would get to them, but damn, they work fast." She giggles, like actually giggles at me and I know my face is on fire.

"Shut up, nothing happened." I grumbled. "Nothing happened." I follow her down the hallway. I don't have to look behind me to know my guys are following. I don't want to look and see the states I left them in. I kind of feel bad, but she said 'we have a problem' and I can't ignore that either with everything that is going on.

"Only because there wasn't enough time. There's three of them and only one of you. I'm sure the twenty minutes we all left you alone was not even enough time for you to relax your overthinking mind, let alone do anything else, but based on your crooked ponytail you did get some action." She wiggles her eyebrows at me as I frantically pull my hair down and try to smooth it into a respectable look before we get all the way outside and I hear my guys all chuckle low behind me.

***" Just for the sake of proving a point, let's drag this out."*** I tell my wolf and roll my eyes. She's not super happy about waiting on the mating, but she agrees with Lil and thinks we are going to need lots of time since there are three of them and I am still a virgin. I'm not a nun, but I also hope they take their time. None of them are small by any means and I'm afraid one interaction might break me for days and there's no way two will hold off if I give one a chance. We are going to have to suck it up no matter how sore and painful the first few times are.

"What was such a big problem?" I tried changing the subject. I can still feel their desire and arousal and it's a bit distracting. Who am I kidding? It's a lot distracting, but I have to figure out how to tune stuff like that out.

"You'll see." She pushes through the door leading from the kitchen out to the back patio. All our friends are standing around the firepit. Nothing looks out of the ordinary to me, but we've been gone for a while so sol maybe I'm missing something. I look over at Lil and she seems confused. "It flared up right before came to get you. It got at least twenty feet high, I swear."

She's not really one to exaggerate, none of my friends are. I look around at everyone and there is some kind of feeling or vibe around them. I can feel it more than I can see it. Something happened and they are or

trying to understand ess

what it was. They don't believe they imagined it.

"What the hell?" I say more to myself at my observation than to anyone else.

"What is it, Bitty?" Oliver walks up behind me and locks my body to his with one arm. I always saw this gesture and thought it would feel suffocating or controlling, but the way Oliver does it, it's reassuring, like he's letting me know he's here just for me.

I open my mouth to speak and relax back into him when the fire jumps up a few feet and in response we all jump. Both Cam and Dakota grab my hands and the flames raise again.

"See what I mean? Something weird is going on." I step away from my guys and towards the fire and as soon as the contact is gone the fire goes down to it's normal height. "What did Gentry and Elena say?"

"Nothing yet. They haven't seen it. They headed to the Beta house to get a few supplies and then I think their plan was to talk with Ava about the Alpha ceremony and what we can do to speed up the long ass process."

I reach back and grab Dakota's hand again and the fire gets brighter. Huh, I wonder... I pull him close to me and wrap my arms around him in a tight hug. He doesn't question or resist, but squeezes me back, again the fire gets brighter. I look up at him and I know he can see where I am going with this, he leans down to give me a kiss and the deeper he makes it the higher the flames get.

 

 

Chapter 0566

“AH hahahahahaha! It's a ‘getting busy' beacon for Midge." Lil and Jena both start laughing hysterically at me and I bury my beet red face in Dakota's chest. This is so embarrassing. I can't look at anybody, because everybody knows what we were doing in the office.

"It's not just me." I say not moving my face from Dakota's chest.

"Yeah, but you are currently the only one who's embarrassed" Jena Laughs.

"I wonder what will happen when she's full mated? Do you think it will explode? Maybe that's how we get ride of this thing, by getting Midge laid." Lil sounds half serious as she suggests it, but I have no idea what her face looks like.

"Considering that we all live in the packhouse, I don't really want to test the theory." Nathaniel mutters.

"So that means all of our Alphas are going to be sexually frustrated until we figure out this new connection?" Mateo asks incredulously. "I'm moving out, you guys can deal with that fall out." "Bitty? What's the matter?" Oliver walks up behind me and kisses the crown of my head, but doesn't pull me from Dakota.

"It's just another freak thing about me that's making things difficult. I'm sorry. Mating shouldn't be this complicated, it wasn't for anyone else. I keep my hands around Dakota's waist, but lean back into Oliver. It's so strange how fast I have taken to their presence as my comfort space, when just months ago, I hated the idea of anyone needing to comfort me. Lost in my thoughts I didn't notice Cam walk close to us and he plants a kiss on my temple, then whispers in my ear.

"We will figure this out. I don't actually care if everyone knows what we are doing. In fact, we should make it a point to blow that bonfire up several times a day, everyday The fire flares as my

desire spikes at his words. I look him

in the eyes and see his decook

Ou

blazing. He's always the peacemaker, the calm and controlled one. I wonder how that will translate when he finally takes me. "I'm pretty sure your fire is openly challenging us, Love. And if I wasn't worried something might happen to you, we would all drag you upstairs and not come down until after your birthday."

I don't even know if I'm breathing at this point, but I can feel the heat from the extremely large fire near us. He leans in to kiss me and it's not the same gentle one that Dakota gave me. This one is heated, like up in the office. I hesitate, remembering the audience that we have, but my the wolf shuts my thoughts down, she needs this as much as I do. She wants her mates and we were blessed with ours earlier than anyone ever expected, she wants to claim them after all this time putting up with Kaley and all the other bullsh*t we have been through. This is one thing that we are owed and we are going to take it.

"Oh my! What do we have here?" The gasp breaks us out of our little bubble and I reluctantly pull away from Cam and lean back into Oliver, jumping forward after I leaned into the steel pipe in his pants.

He chuckles and wraps his arms around me, pulling me back into him and breathing in my ear. “That will never stop being hot, Babe. I will probably have a permanent hard-on just watching you kiss those two.' My only response is a whimper and the fire grows bright for a second and then goes back to its normal height. I am so screwed.

"Well at least the fire seems to be under your control, Skylar. That is a good thing." I laugh sarcastically at Gentry's comment as we all turn to face her. Oliver shuffles me forward, not letting me put any space between us.

"Yeah, but it changes with my

contact with my mates. I'm not

really sure I want to publicize what I am doing." The rest of my friends laugh and I am just going to have get used to it, no matter how embarrassing. If I show that it bugs me, they will keep making little digs and comments and I really don't want my barely explored sex life to be a joke. So I have to pretend I was mortified for a second, and now I have accepted that there is a fire sending smoke signals when I am intimate with my mates and I'm completely okay with it.

 

Chapter 0567

"I'm sure if it was connected to Sam and Sierra, they would be putting on a show just to see how crazy they could make it." My brother laughs and I'm thankful for the attention shift.

Gentry moves over by the fire and sits on the ground, Elena came though the kitchen with a book like my grimoire but this one is a bright blue. She sits next to Gentry and sets the book in between them. "Skylar, come here please. Your mates can stay, but need to keep their distance. We need to see what level of connection this fire has to you specifically before we bring them in." Gentry calls to me.

I squeeze Oliver's hand, he's reluctant to let me go. He's seen what magic can do, how sensitive I am to it and is probably more protective of me because of that. I slowly move toward them and sit in front of the grimoire. The fire immediately turns black with a purple tip. I can hear all the gasps around me, but like always with spell work I get lost in it and everyone else around me is a blur. My wolf bristles at the color and energy coming off of the flames.

"It's a domination spell with an emphasis on control and staying hidden. This is designed specifically for you Little One. I wonder why it hasn't shown itself before now though? We have all sat in front of this fire for months, knowing about and feeling the magic and never feeling anything harmful, but now it is angry." Gentry doesn't look at me while she talks, it's more like she is speaking to the fire confirming its feelings like you would with a child.

"Is it here to control the pack, or me, or the pack through me? How do we figure out what it's meant for specifically? Is it angry with us, with me, with whoever set it?" I ask, not taking my eyes off it either. "Those are all great questions that will take some time to answer. But we will get our answers now that it wants to communicate." They both start humming and chanting something I don't understand, but the flames seem to slow down almost like they're getting sleepy.

I want to touch it. I have since we came out of the vortex. I'm drawn to the fire now for some reason, but that makes me hesitate too. Am I drawn to it because I can sense it's my element or because of some crazy spell from Adrielle trying to trap me?

"Does Adrielle know about my connection to the fire? Is that why it's at the center of the pentagram? Or is that a common thing to place at the center?"

"The pentagram is used for so many things, mostly protection. She has manipulated it to hold you here and control many members of your leadership. The everburning flame is a rarity. Fire needs something of earth to consume making it difficult to sustain. I thought it might have been attached to the former Alpha, but it is still burning. I do not believe it is attached to the former Luna, but that is something we will have to test eventually. But the fact that the flames turned black and purple on your approach tells us it is being used against its will."

"You keep talking about the fire pit like it has a mind of its own, a personality." Mateo says from somewhere to my right. I forgot the rest of our friends were here with us.

"In a sense it does. This flame was

set with the intention to help capture Skylar." The rumbling growls behind me remind me how much my mates hate hearing that, but they need to get over that sentiment quickly. "But since she has begun releasing the spells that are holding your pack hostage, it wants to be set free too."

"Is the black part of the flame a curse or protection? It means both right?" I ask, not wanting to get too off track. Magic is a rabbit hole none of us are ready for a crash course in.

"It does." Elena replies. "I think it was

a curse to begin with, but it wants to protect. Remember magic is neither good or bad, it is the caster that makes it one or the other. In this, case, the magic was set to curse your former Alpha and your pack, nothing more nothing less. But, somehow setting the rest of the pentagram free from the curse gave this flame something akin to a personality and it wants to be set free."

 

 

Chapter 0568

"Can I touch it? Now that I know I'm connected, will it hurt me if I touch the fire?"

Elena and Gentry look at each other. "We don't know. And, until we know if it is harmful or helpful, I would advise not making contact." Elena pushes my hand down, I didn't even know it was raised. I look at my hand confused. Why was I about to do that?

"Let's see if we can connect you to it now that it appears to have a consciousness of some kind. If you can connect with it we can make sure that Adrielle no longer has control which will protect your pack." Gentry holds her hand out to me and I take it without any hesitation.

If I can protect my pack and keep all my mates and friends safe, there is no question of me doing everything in my power.

"Wait!" Cam stops Gentry's chanting. "What can we do? We aren't leaving her to do this on her own, but we need directions."

I look around and Cam, Kota and Oliver are only steps behind me, but not making contact like Elena asked. Jena and Mateo are to our left. Sierra and Sam are to our right. Nathaniel, Lil and Wyatt are across from me. None of our team has left me. They are here for anything and everything that is thrown our way.

I look at all of them feeling kind of helpless. None of us know what we are doing or what could happen. I'm so sick of reacting to what Adrielle, the Rogue King and Mike are doing. If they want me they are going to have to f*cking fight for me. I can feel my temper flare and my wolf's anger at our whole life being threatened. The black and purple fire in front of me flares to match my thoughts. It has gone from a normal height to at least four feet tall. And I can see a red hue crawling up from the center of the basin it sits in.

I can no longer hear anyone, but I can feel all of their fear and uncertainty. I can't allow those three to inflict so much havoc on us. I watch the red crawl through the black and purple flame and I feel the flames relax as if the red color of my anger is burning away some impurity. Then the base of the flame turns silver. This time eating through the black and purple of the flame leaving an almost invisible flame behind. I keep focusing, letting my instincts guide me. My wolf says this is a clean slate, we can build the protection the way that we want.

I imagine my mates, my friends and family, the pups, all of the new wolves that have come to us for refuge from the Rogue King. An orange light flashes in the flames.

***"For Endurance. To last through the tests we are about to face."*** My wolf breathes out.

Then three different shades of blue swirl in the flame.

***" For intuition, healing and

communication. Your new pack net

members need to heal just

and Jena."***

I keep pushing the flame for what can I

what my pack. I will accept r it is willing to give. Gel

swirls through this time.

****For Prosperity and it will help fight off any curses that are sent our way."

Yellow swirls into the mix and the black joins in, licking the edges of all the flames like a cartoon drawing.

***"The yellow is success, pink is to return everyone safely and the black is the protection to maintain these spells for everyone under your protection."***

***"Is it done then? Are we free from Adrielle's hold on the pack, for now at least?"***

***"I believe so Little One."***

 

 

Chapter 0569

***'Whoa! Elena. You can mindlink now?"

****Apparently so, being your father's mate and accepted by the leadership of this pack has allowed my magic to connect to the magic of your wolves. That is also a subject that we will have to navigate at some point in the future Little One. I have heard many different versions of your upbringing. I would like to hear your point of view, but for now you have more pressing matters. Like mates who are at their wits end from sharing you all day."***

****All day?! What do you mean 'all day?”****

***"It took a significant amount of energy and time for you to undo each spell that was attached to your flame. But it is 'your' flame now. I think you could even touch it if you still feel so inclined.”***

I blink a few times and feel the haze around my vision clear. I didn't realize how hard I was staring at the flames while my wolf and I were releasing it from its own shackles. The sun has just started to set behind the forest. I have been here all day, breaking spell after spell. I'm sure I've had help. There's no way I did any of this on my own. I was glad my wolf was able to tell me what the colors and the spells meant. She has clearly tapped into our connection with Elena more than I thought. Maybe she was doing that while we were stuck in the tornado figuring out our feelings. Who knows. I have so many questions for so many people that will probably not get answered any time soon. But after today I feel more sure of my magic now than I ever have. I'm not drained and exhausted like I usually am either, which is a strange feeling. I actually feel light and energized. Maybe I was what the fire was tied to after Lucas passed, since I set him free, and it was burning away at my energy stores maintaining all of those spells. Just another question for the list.

I am just about to open my mouth to ask when I am lifted off the ground by my armpits, tossed in a half turn and caught around the hips by Dakota.

"Don't even think about it Smalls. You are done working for the day. I thought it was tough getting Cam to clock out, but I think you are going to be worse." He leans in to give me a kiss and I smile wrapping my arms and legs around him and he groans when I pull away to look for my two other mates.

"Right here." Reading my mind, Oliver grabs me in the same way and kisses me then passes me to Cam, who kisses me while walking into the house. He doesn't take me upstairs though, he takes me into the dining room where a whole bunch of food has been laid out on the massive table.

"You all have been working so hard today, well for many days if we're being honest. We are going to get back to a few normal things since the world seems to be conspiring against our pack at the moment. I want to try to get everyone together at least once a week like we used to. I know you are all adults now, but I miss having you kids all here all together." Ava is on the verge of tears.

I slide down off of Cam and walk

over to her, wrapping her in a hug. So many things have happened to all of us in just the last couple months and we all have our different ways of processing. She is in 'mom mode' right now. It's her way of doing a head count like we are all her little ducks. She can see us and

Know that we are at the and

least

alive and accounted for. Since that is about as good as any of us can give right now. None of us are okay, not really. And it's going to take some time after the dust settles for us all to process our different traumas from this.

We all move to sit with her. None of us want to sit at the head of the table, it still feels wrong somehow. Cam and Kota sit on one side of the head of the table and Oliver and ksit across from them. Mateo and dena sit next to the twins, while Sam and Sierra sit on our side. Lil sits next to Jena and Wyatt and Nathaniel divy up the middle of the table. The adults start to file in, filling up the second half of the table.

"Umm, I know we aren't supposed to be 'working,' I air quote, "But, I am not tired at all and I really want to train a little before it gets too late. Are there people in all the training arenas?" I look down to Kyle and Nickolas who have been handling all of the people we have taken in, but can't really trust to help us in the fight yet.

"The small arena is still open, Sky. If you want it, it's yours." Kyle says without any hesitation.

"Seriously?! You're going to give her permission to go out and train? Tonight?!" Dakota asks incredulously.

Kyle smiles, and I see where Sam got his mischievous look. I bet he was just as big of a handful at our age. "Are you telling me, that you are going to look at your mate, who can, not only beat you physically with her eyes closed, but can also now light your ass on fire, literally, that she can't do the thing she wants to do? After she has been siphoning and filtering magic in ways you and I will never comprehend in order to save the whole pack. And since when has anyone, ever, given her permission to do anything? The minute someone says 'no' she finds the workaround. I dare you to tell her 'no'

and see what happens."

 

 

Chapter 0570

I want to say that I'm sitting right here, but this is way too much fun to watch. Dakota turns to look at me and under the table he rubs the inside of my foot with his.

"I was kind of hoping we could hang out tonight, just the four of us." He tries to sound sweet. "We finally have you after waiting forever for confirmation that you're our mate and now it just feels like everything is dividing our attention. I figured we could just be for the couple hours, hopefully, all the drama gives us a breather, that's all.”

I can tell Oliver and Cam are both listening intently, but they are both better at the poker face than Dakota. I bet they chose him to plead their case. They chose wisely, he's very good at this, but I have a feeling they will gang up on me a lot if I give in too easily now.

"What if we compromise? I actually feel really good right now. Better than ever, actually. I think the magic tied itself to me after Lucas passed, since I set him free and I think it has been draining me slowly. I think I was the source of the forever flame." I look between Elena and Gentry for confirmation.

"I was thinking the same thing, Little One. The fire seems to be of a friendly, helpful nature now." Gentry says calmly. "It is yours to wield now. Elena and I will begin working on adding to your grimoire so you can study and connect with it like you do your wolf to protect your pack."

***"It's like another wolf in here. It's so crazy to have a voice in my head."***

****Now you know how I feel."*** I laugh at my wolf.

***"You have to understand I am used to being the voice inside the head. But, I can communicate with the fire. Like, right now it is content to burn in the backyard, by itself, now that it is a part of your pack as opposed to being the spy."

11***

***"What do you mean 'spy?""***

***"It was gaging the power in the pack and communicating with someone, but it doesn't know who was pulling the knowledge, just that someone was using it to see into the pack. It doesn't think it was Adrielle though."***

***"How can you talk to it, but I can't? I feel left out of the multiple personality session in my head."*** I joke with her.

****I have only been able to talk to it since you set it free, so maybe in time you will too. It is a part of you just as much as I am. Give it time to warm up." ."*** She laughs at her own joke and I internally roll my eyes at

her.

"Hey, babe. Where did you go?" Oliver squeezes my thigh and I can't stop the gasp and the rush of heat that surges over my whole body.

"My wolf has been able to talk to the fire, like it's another voice in my head, but I can't talk to it yet." I shrug like this is all normal, Like I am normal. I give him a smile.

"Do you really want to train?" He sounds concerned almost, whispering to me even though I know the twins can hear him and I'm sure the rest of our team.

"Yeah, kind of. It's like my whole

body is buzzing. Like it just woke up

from hibernation. Does that make

sense? For the first time in, I don't

even know how long, I want to train like we used to, at the training grounds, sparking, trying to best each other. I'm too amped up to just

go upstairs..I'm sorry." I look from t

him to Cam and Kota. Worried I might hurt their feelings or make them feel like I don't want them. It's the exact opposite, but I can feel my head spinning all over the place, like I can't keep a thought straight. I know that not being mated is really bothering them, and it's going to take time since it will be my first time and there are three of them, but

I just want to move for a little while with our whole team. The new team that we have pulled together, naturally. The new family we are creating through all of this hardship and heartache. "Please? Just a little while. I will even leave when you ask." I look at Cam, he's going to be the hardest sell. "An hour?" I question. I can already feel Dakota give in and I know Oliver won't stop

me. He will just get me through what

I need as fast as possible.

"Seriously, we are so f*cked." He scrubs his face with his hands like he's frustrated, but I can only smile.

"Yes!" The adults at the other end just laugh at us. I almost forgot they were here.

"Yes, kiddo. You are f*cked. But, she will be worth the effort." Brett winks at Cam. "Your mate always is."