— Kaden —

The other bedroom also had an en-suite bathroom, which was convenient, so I used it, careful to wash all remnants of blood from my scent. Sam had brought my luggage up, so I changed and went down.

I smelled the food first.

There were a couple of domestic cooking—probably not Omegas as this pack was probably too small to have any, they might not even be domestics either—and my stomach rumbled loudly. I had told everyone to wash up. I didn’t want a bunch of men smelling of blood and whatever other gory things to scare her off, and I also asked them to dress casually and keep their weapons to anything small and easy to hide.

I was not exactly surprised by the fact she was a stray, but it didn’t make the situation any easier either. Adapting to a new pack is not always easy, but doing so when you have no idea how packs operates is even more complex. On the upside, she probably won’t compare Blakemore to other packs, as she doesn’t have much to compare with.

I also ordered my men to keep things under wrap about Elaeya. In a couple of days, I could go back home on my own, so starting the rumour mill too soon, might not be the brightest of ideas.

The house wasn’t really big. There were two small bedrooms downstairs with a couple of single beds, a small kitchen, living room. And there was a glass extension—more modern than the rest of the house—where there was a table and a series of wicker chairs.

I was afraid the thing would fall under my weight, but it held strong. The guys came in a little after me. We were all tired, but we were even more famished.

The moment Brandon sat next to me, he pulled his tablet and started asking questions about the proper disposition of the artifacts we’d acquired, and how to deal with what was left of Nubinero on their territory.

I was tired and wanted him to drop it, but I also knew from experience that this had to be taken care of rapidly. So I had him contact the Moonhunter Brotherhood about Nubinero, and relay with my father about the artifacts. Jayson, my Beta, was probably in bed now, or so I hoped. So I gave him a break.

The food came maybe fifteen minutes later, which shut Brandon up for a while.

Elaeya still wasn’t there. I know Mariqueen went to her to get her clothes, so I supposed everything was okay.

The sky was still dark and gray, and it was now raining. The water droplets hitting on the glass pane above our head in a gentle rhythm.

I smelled her before she walked in. I put my fork down and looked around.

Her feet were bare on the wood floor. She had a long dress, in a fabric so thin I could see her silhouette through. There was a band of strings artfully knotted that belted under her breast and two triangles of fabric going from her chest to behind her neck, leaving her back bare. What I’d thought I saw of her face in that dark forest was a travesty of her real beauty. Her hair was long, all the way to her upper thighs and flowing with every movement as if gravity was not affecting it the same way it affected everything else. And the tip of her hair went from white, to a pale shade of pink, fading into darker tones, all the way to black. I don’t think a dye job can be this smooth or natural.

Every man in the room had frozen, except Stellan who was on his feet for some reason—getting up as a reflex and froze with his bite halfway to his mouth, falling from his fork and splattering in his plate. I think Brandon completely forgot to breathe. I made an effort not to look as stupid as any of them, and I wasn’t sure how successful I was. But I did manage to kick Anders under the table beside me, so he’d get up and let her sit there. Sam pulled at Stellan’s arm and made him sit back.

When Brandon finally inhaled, most of the food that was still in his mouth went down his windpipe at the same time, and he started coughing.

Sam pulled the chair beside me for her, and she complied.

Her expression was hard to read. I don’t know if she was shy, or uncomfortable, but there were some emotions there that didn’t make me feel great and I had no idea what to do about this.

She wore no jewelry except for two identical silvery bracelets, with what looked like a crystal on her inner wrists.

She sat in silence, and the breakfast rhythm resumed slowly.

We all ate rather quickly. No one made small talk. We were all exhausted, and Elaeya’s presence cut down on a lot of it. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the silence, because I did.

Once we were done, I clapped my hands once and ordered everyone to bed. I walked Elaeya to her room, inclined my head once in farewell, and went to my room to catch some Z’s of my own.

I fell asleep nearly instantly, but awakened only an hour later. For the next four hours, I went through a cycle of sleep and awake every half hour. I was getting tired of this, but before my frustration really got the best of me, my phone rang.

“Yeah,” I mumbled.

“Did I wake you, son?” my father asked.

I grumbled, then sighed and got up. “Can’t really sleep,” I admitted.

“We’re having a few issues,” he told me.

“Of course, we’re having issues. When do we ever not have issues?” I whined angrily.

“Well, someone clearly got up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“I’m starting to wonder if I’m ever gonna get a single day off.”

“Since when do you ask for days off?”

“Since now,” I growled.

My father moved around and closed a door. “Are you sick?” he asked worried.

“I’m fine,” I exhaled. “What is this about?”

“The Brotherhood.”

The Moonhunter Brotherhood had been created a few centuries ago. They were a bit of a weird bunch. As human society grew, werewolves had to better organize to make sure everything would work without a hitch. On the other side of things, the supernatural world had always been a little bit touch and go, especially with humans, but the rise of organized religions, the evolution of centralized governance, and little issues like the Spanish Inquisition and a few other human vendettas against our kind, did create a desire for most supernatural forces to unite under more structured banners. A lot of pacts were created between various preternatural realms, but werewolves had always had this sort of tribal structure to it. There was like a gajillion different packs, and as the population went up, we needed a unifying structure. The Brotherhood became it for us. It became the organization who would deal directly with other supernatural nations, they would also install some code of conduct amongst us and control the wilder elements of our kin.

Anyone could create a pack, but it would not be a legitimate pack until it received approbation by the Brotherhood. They also established rules to interact and most of all settle disputes between packs in a civilized way.

Things like declaring open war was generally not a good way to make friends with the brotherhood. Creating a pack made of other packs was also another way not to make friends with them. I’m not a Brotherhood favorite, let’s just agree to that.

Nevertheless, whenever they had a situation on their hands, they loved calling on me to help settle things. Every member was required to answer if the Brotherhood called upon them. Being one of the strongest members, when the situation was particularly dicey, it was nearly guaranteed they would call upon me. But I was also strong enough to challenge them when they made decisions I didn’t like, which is why most Brothers kept me out of the loop as much as they could afford, and I got most of my information, either through obligatory mail to members, or from a few key allies.

Mostly, I tried not to get involved too much. I stayed out of their way, and they stayed out of mine. It was our non-verbal agreement.

Under Brotherhood laws, my war with Nubinero was absolutely justified through the kidnapping and attempted murder of my sister, the murder of Mads, and their attack on an ally. In that regard, Alpha Murphy has made it clear he was in full support of my decision, and as I was the one who had regained his pack for him, would be stupid to deny me support. Plus, our relationship with Ghealach has grown ever since.

And of course, this only added to the discomfort this situation gave to the Brotherhood.

Most packs would have asked official authorization before making a move. I just sent them a letter informing them of the situation around an hour before Nubinero received their package with my war declaration.

It hasn’t been unheard of from the Brotherhood to either have info leaks, or have them going behind other’s back and try to resolve this differently. Which would have included a lot of back and forth, and a lot of ass-kissing.

I hate ass-kissing.

Once I’d said what I needed to say, I still allowed talks, so it’s not like I didn’t allow any form of diplomacy.

“What do they want this time?” I asked my father.

“It’s the artifacts. I think some of them think you started this to get your own little collection, and now they’re getting on your ass about it,” he told me.

“Of course they are.” Now I’m the bad guy.

Great.