— Eveline —

I could barely stop myself from crying.

Darren was numb, sitting on the couch in one of the drawing rooms like a zombie. I’ve seen him go through difficult times before, but I’ve never seen him fall apart like this.

He has spent a full hour holding me by the waist, his face pressed against my belly, crying.

I had to call back the last number he’d talked to, which had been his brother Michael, to learn what had happened.

I tried to stay strong, but as I heard Michael’s broken voice on the other side of the receiver, recounting the murders of their two youngest brothers, my tears could not be contained for very long.

That time, everyone heard the conversation on the other end, and silence reigned.

Mom took the girls, Jean-Philippe, and Elaeya’s parents to another room. Dad went somewhere making phone calls, and Kaden went in another direction doing the same.

I didn’t realise Elaeya had stayed behind, until Darren calmed down, and she helped me move him off the floor to one of the smaller drawing rooms. She closed the door behind her as she left, leaving us along in our chagrin.

She returned maybe ten minutes later with a couple of cups and a teapot. She poured us each one. It smelt strangely floral.

“You will leave when ready,” she told us.

“Where?” I asked, while blowing my nose for the umpteenth time.

“Stonewillow,” she said.

Darren’s head perked up.

She sat before us moving the tea tray aside to sit on the coffee table.

“Things will move quickly,” she explained. “Kaden will dispatch warriors to accompany you. You will be with your family, and prepare for what is to come. There will be a war. You will prepare the way.”

“Is that what Kaden said?” I asked her.

“He doesn’t know yet, but will soon.” She turned to Darren. “The support you wanted. You will have it. See your brothers, mourn, and prepare the way.”

Darren blinked at her.

“How do you know?” I asked her.

“I know things.”

“Like the future?”

“Sometimes.”

“You knew this would happen?” Darren asked. It was the first time he said anything since it happened. His voice was hollow and it made me want to cry again, I furiously tried to blink away the tears.

She shook her head. “I don’t control what I learn.”

“What else do you know?” he asked again.

“There will be three wars soon, one of words, one of loss, one of betrayal, this is the first.”

“What does ‘words’ mean?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I do not know yet. All that I know is that it will be a battle for words.”

“Words,” he said, his voice gaining back a little colour as he thought aloud. “Like information?”

She tilted her head, pensive. Her eyes shifted to a beautiful gem-like quality.

“They protected something important,” she said, her voice distant, strange, calm. “Find it.”

She blinked rapidly a few times, and her eyes returned to their lovely pink.

“I should go,” she said raising up, unstable.

I helped her up. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, just tired.”

She left us soon after.

“I’m going,” said Darren.

“Me too.”

— Kaden —

I was sitting in one of the big chairs in one of the drawing rooms in the packhouse. Elaeya was on my lap, her head on my chest, fast asleep.

I’d wrapped my blazer over her shoulders.

I had just finished my last call.

When she came in, Elaeya told me her three wars insight. It disturbed me to no end, let alone that she knew nothing of the other incoming two.

She said to send Darren, Eva, and warriors to Stonewillow. At this point, I didn’t question her anymore. She operated with far more information than I, even as fractured as it was. My father managed to get some information from one of his contacts, but it was still limited. I decided not to call the Thomas’s, they had enough to deal as it was. I could call later, or simply let Darren and Eva give me the information once they got there, which was probably the most respectful thing to do.

Three fucking wars.

First, this, I thought. Words. Informations. That sounded a lot like the issues Darren was talking to me about. Hard-drives and black books being stolen. Information. They were werewolves infiltrating packs, most probably under the leadership of a new ambitious Alpha who wanted to gain something. Probably exploiting the fact that the Brotherhood is both stretched thin, plus dealing with the aftermath of the war with Nubinero, and now Greysky and Akayume.

I had had to ask Jean-Philippe to find me the rundown of Greysky, because no one in the Brotherhood wanted to give it to me, but what I’ve gotten was worrisome. They were building up to something. And Akayune had not been accounted for yet. Technically, it was none of my business, but I’m not the type to look away because it doesn’t concern me. I’m going to know and be ready, if I had to get involved, or simply get splashed as this pass me by, I’ll be ready.

There is nothing like a prepared warrior to face any situation. No weapon is as strong as information.

We’ll have to deal as we learn more, which lead us to the next point.

A war of loss. So, probably, something will be lost. Which is way too vague to get any conclusions out of this. But the other one is what worries me the most.

A war of betrayal.

Fuck me!

Someone knocked gently on the door.

“Yeah,” I replied, not too loudly so not to wake Elaeya.

Jean-Philippe’s head popped up. “Can we talk?”

I nodded.

He closed behind himself and came to sit next to me.

“It’s—.” I looked at my watch. “One thirty in the morning, you should be sleeping.”

He shook his head. “I want to talk first.”

“Okay,” I said.

“I thought a lot about what you told me last time.”

Man, it’s all good and everything, but this could have waited until the morning.

“I don’t think I’d be able to deal with all this like you do,” he said.

“No one asks you too.”

“But—,” he hesitated. “Your mother spoke of family. Doesn’t that make me one too?”

“Technically.”

“You will do something for Darren’s family, won’t you?”

“It ain’t my pack,” I said. “But you’re right, he’s family. If his brother ask for my help, he will have it, and regardless, Darren will have my support whatever he chooses to do.”

He nodded. “If it was me, would you do the same?”

I quirked my brow at him.

“You would, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t drop an ally without a good reason.”

“Is that all that I am, an ally?”

“I believe it’s a little early to say otherwise, and I hadn’t had time to talk with Jasmine since all this chaos started.”

He nodded. “But it could change?”

“It could,” I conceded.

“So Darren is my family too?”

“You see it how you want to.”

“You’re worried about her?” he said, changing the subject, looking at the sleeping Elaeya.

“I am.”

“She’s family too.”

I let him finish his own train of thought.

“What if we’re not just allies?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully.

“What if it’s family?”

“Like?”

“If we’re to become brothers, wouldn’t it be better for our packs to be sisters.”

I looked at him intently.

“I mean, I’m not saying for Boisclair to become another pack under Blakemore. Besides, the distance is too great it would be difficult, but it could mean a stronger alliance, working in tandem. I know I’m probably not the greatest asset on a battlefield, but I was serious when I said I wanted to expand and gain assets outside of packland. Maybe even train my warriors a bit more, make sure we can work well together. It could be, like, guaranteed asylum, financial and military support of one another, any decision with ramifications outside of the packs could mean a common approval, that sort of thing.”

“You might not have noticed, but I’m not super strong on asking for permission,” I said, my voice lower.

“I know, that’s not what I mean, maybe something like our own little UN or Eurozone or something. We wouldn’t have to ask for permission, but there would also be a sort of NATO agreement too, so if anything happens we support each other.”

“You’ve been studying politics a lot lately,” I noticed.

He smiled sheepishly.

“I want Jasmine to be safe. And happy. She won’t be happy if she has to leave her family when in trouble. And you said the brotherhood is struggling. I didn’t put two and two together, but there as been issues with them on my side too. If I keep relying on them, if they become unreliable, I’m going to regret it later. But I can’t do this entirely on my own. I’m young, but I’m not an idiot. I know I’m too much of a target to keep living in a bubble. I want to place my bet on Blakemore.”

“You know that this could lead you to trouble.”

“Your mate could lead you to trouble, but you’ll fight regardless.”

I nodded.

“What kind of man would I be if I ran and cowered.”

I looked closely at him.

He appeared full of doubts and insecurities which was to be expected at his age, with the things that were asked of him, I knew this intimately.

He kept his eyes on Elaeya, there was something there. I don’t think it’s Elaeya he was thinking about.

“Let me think about it. And so should you. Let see where it goes with Jasmine, how things go in the following weeks, work out how this would function exactly. There aren’t many pack who has become sister packs, especially lately. The Brotherhood is not too fond of any entity that gets too big. You have the biggest fortune in the wolf world and I the biggest army. I still qualify in the top ten financially, we both have generations of accumulated pacts, and allies. My pack is the fourth biggest. It’s not just two random packs becoming sisters. Anything that happened in the last few years has probably not freaked the Brotherhood like such an alliance would.

Before any such decision is made, we should both talk to our teams. It’s gonna attract a lot of attention if we do. The biggest reason why no one gave you too much trouble so far was mostly because you stayed out of everything. Last time I went to the capital, there was one Brother who mentioned I could lose my position as a signatory because I’ve kept growing the way I did.

They hate my power structure, and I know one of the bigger packs in China is interested in replicating it. I’ve been having calls from that Alpha a lot lately. But those packs have been better tolerated because they don’t have as many Alphas and ranked members as I do. I’ve more non-ranked members of Alpha bloodlines than most have ranked members and their families.

If the two of us pools our resources, even without fusing the packs completely, it’ll still be a lot of accumulated power at the same place. Let’s think it through first.”

He nodded.

“I don’t know what I can do for Darren, but I want to do something,” he told me. “You got a better grasp on the situation, tell me what you need.”

I nodded. “I need sleep. Tomorrow, Darren and Eva move to Stonewillow. I think you should go home, prepare, when I have information from them, I‘ll keep you posted.”

He hesitated. “What about Jasmine.”

“She’s not eighteen yet.”

“I know, I mean, later.”

“You need to prepare the way for her,” said Elaeya, her breath warm against my chest. “She has to prepare too. Three months. You will return five times before the end of the year, then she will go. You will talk to your people, about her, and Blakemore. What it all means, and find the path to take. You will need that time. You will choose before the third war.”

“Wait, what?”

“Choose what?” I asked.

“What is family,” she said.

I nodded.

“I don’t understand anything,” he said.

“Sleep. I’ll explain tomorrow,” I said.