Chapter 90

Chapter 90
Hours later, everyone had arrived back at Reed’s pack and worked hard to provide everyone with shelter for the foreseeable future. “I have Maverick working on a list that shows who has found their mates, and Johnnie is working on writing down all the names of the women and children that are here and what packs they are from. I have emails from the other alphas who have done the same and are sending me a list of all the women and what packs they are from,” Reed said as he sat back in his office chair. Kelly had just left the room and made sure he was okay before she kept with her tasks of helping everyone get settled. Her luna skills were perfection.

“That’s good. Devin and the other prisoners are in the cells for interrogation. We need to address them tomorrow. I have a feeling this cannot be pushed off. Since we have officially taken down the council, we need to hold a ceremony naming Nina queen, so she can start handing out punishments. The sooner this is done, the faster we can get to a new normal.”

Reed nodded his head in agreement. Raven was ignoring the guys as Nina had finally woken up.

“My head hurts,” I said to Raven.

“I expect so.” Raven chuckled and proceeded to fill me in on what happened.

“Raven?” Wyatt said as she looked up and saw both boys looking at her. Closing her eyes and opening them a few seconds later, they went back to their normal color.

“I’m back,” I said, rubbing my temples. “That was crazy.”

Wyatt jumped up and ran over to hug me. “I was so worried. Are you okay?” Wyatt released me and grabbed my face with his hands, looking into my eyes to make sure himself.

“Yeah, I just have a headache.” Wyatt nodded and let me sit back down. He grabbed me some water, and they waited for me to get comfortable before they proceeded. “I think Wyatt is right. We need to move quickly. Raven is concerned with how that went. Something isn’t right.”

“I am pretty sure Kelly has been researching how to do the ceremony. I will ask her tonight.”

“Zach didn’t have inside information of how everything went. He was with you tonight, Reed. How did it go?” I asked. I still had a bad feeling. Usually, it went away after the event happened, and it had not.

“He was fine. I was watching him all night. He acted like everyone else. Attacked full force and saved quite a few people. Your guys’ training was top notch,” Reed said, like he was actually surprised with how it went. “I am questioning him being the mole. He had the perfect opportunity to kill me and whatnot, but he didn’t take it.”

“I’m still torn. My heart was never on Zach, but the council knew things that happened that week that they shouldn’t unless someone talked.”

“We just need to keep our eyes open and pay attention to people,” Reed said as he checked his computer. “Looks like everyone’s mission was successful. All buildings of trafficking have been evacuated and burned down. Over the next few days, we will continue to get people back together with their families, and Nina, it would be the right thing to give back their land to them… with all due respect.”

“Already planned on it,” I said, waving off his last comment. “I will be in charge of the council’s interrogations tomorrow,” I said flatly.

Both boys looked at each other and eventually nodded. They understood my need to get things right within myself. “We will be there though,” Wyatt said after a few minutes of silence. Reed nodded in agreement.

“That’s fine. You can either help or stay out of my way,” I said. I pulled out a piece of paper from the printer from Reed’s desk and grabbed a pen. I wrote a list of supplies I would need and handed it to Reed. He looked at in confusion for a second before the lightbulb went off in his head. All he did was look at me with compassion and a hint of anger.

“Understood,” is all he said about it.

“We need to get to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day,” Wyatt said, and I stood to leave.

“Wyatt, can you hold back a minute.”

“Yes…” Wyatt started.

“Why can’t you say it to me?” I asked, instantly annoyed.

Reed simply looked at me, and without missing a beat, replied, “This is a surprise for you, and we have been working on it for a while now, and I rather not ruin it yet.”

I was shocked. I could tell he was telling me the truth. “When have you had any time to plan anything?”

Wyatt smiled and came up to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “You may be the queen, but I will be king. If I want to surprise you, I will. I am a man of many talents, so please, don’t fall asleep until I get there?”

Rolling my eyes, I turned around and walked out, glaring at them, And muttering under my breath about how surprises were stupid, and if I couldn’t have them now, then I shouldn’t know about it. I would need to do my own recon on it. I needed to know!

I was just climbing into bed about thirty minutes later when Wyatt walked through the bedroom door. He was smiling and was in a good mood, but I just scowled at him. “Come on, Nina! Don’t be that way!” he laughed.

“I hate surprises if I don’t get them right away!” I said stubbornly.

“You will love this one, and in about a week or so, you will know what it is. I am waiting until I can show you what it is.” Wyatt slipped into the bathroom and was getting ready for bed.

I just laid there, staring at the ceiling, contemplating what it could be. Couldn’t tell me until he could show me? Maybe redecorating his bedroom? But why would Reed help with that? Maybe a new car? Kelly said he had money… I didn’t even hear the bathroom door open or hear him walking toward me, so he scared the shit out of me as he plopped in bed.

I screamed like a little girl and tried to jump away, but his strong arms circled around me and held me close. “It is a good thing I put the electricity away or you would be laying in a pile of your own piss,” I said, half annoyed and half happy as I snuggled into him. I felt him chuckle behind me as he got himself comfortable.

“Don’t spoil the surprise for me. I am pretty excited about it!” Wyatt said in my ear.

As I laid there, I felt all the exhaustion creep into my bones. All the adrenaline had worn off and what little energy I had was gone. “Go to sleep, my queen, for today was a win,” Wyatt said. I didn’t need telling twice as my eyes fluttered shut and I passed out.

The next morning, my whole body was stiff again and it was hard to get out of bed. The alarm clock said it was 8:30 a.m., but I felt like I had just fallen asleep. Wyatt was already out the door as usual. Stupid morning people. Dragging myself to the shower, I turned it on as hot as I could stand it and just let the water run over me. This felt great. Between the heat and the massage setting on the shower, my muscles felt a little better.

Once I was done with the shower, I got out and put on athletic shorts, a sports bra, and top. As I was going to be getting blood over everything, I chose all black, so it hopefully didn’t stain. Putting my hair in my side braid, I kept my face makeup-free. I was lacing up my tennis shoes when Wyatt came into the closet.

“Looking good, babe!”

“Well, blood hopefully won’t stain the black, so this is what I am going with,” I said, standing up and shrugged my shoulders.

“Still going to do the interrogations, huh? I was hoping you would let us handle that.”

“No way! This is my payback time. Did Reed gather my requests?”

“He did…” Wyatt said slowly.

“What?” I asked as we made our way to the kitchen for breakfast.

“Are you sure, like really sure?”

“What are you asking, Wyatt?” I asked, hoping he would just get to the point of what he really wanted to say.

“I don’t want this to trigger you. You are still mentally healing, and I don’t want you to go backwards.”

“Some people talk to other people. Some people wake up and choose violence. Today, I choose violence, and I am happy to get my payback and be at ease after,” I said with full confidence as we entered the kitchen.

Brooke and Zach were leaving as we came in. They each said hi to us and continued out. Reed and Kelly were sitting at the table in conversation. “Go sit down and I’ll bring you something to eat,” Wyatt said, shaking his head.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked, causing Kelly to stop making out with Reed and her cheeks got bright red.

“No, it’s all yours!” Reed said smiling.

“How is everything his morning?” I asked vaguely.

“Everyone is accounted for. Twenty-three new mated pairs that are set up for therapy. We have the list of what packs they were from and locations. I will compare from the other list and set up the map while you guys are doing interrogations. Most people have eaten already this morning, and other than a few random issues, everyone is getting along nicely,” Kelly said as she tried to make sure she thought of everything.

“Perfect!” I said as Wyatt sat a plate in front of me. He gave me scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and some fruit. Although my appetite was getting better, I still ate smaller portions.

“Oh, and Grant is stable. He is in a coma for the moment, but he will make a full recovery. I have also had the documents of what the ceremony will need to have for you guys to officially take power. I have already got the calls out to the proper channels, and they should be here in a few days,” Kelly said, remembering the last little bit of it.

I took a bite of sausage and nodded. I was not sure what she meant by that. “Who will be here?”

“Oh, there is a hierarchy in France that is in charge of these ceremonies. They have all the requirements and things needed for this. They will serve as advisors from afar, from what I understand. In Europe, they didn’t recognize our councilmen as authority figures but kept the same rules and punishments that were held out by the last king and queen. So now, they are handing over all the responsibilities and tasks. They were quite happy to do so…” Kelly said as she scrunched up her face.

“Awesome,” I said flatly as I continued to eat. The rest of the meal was in silence. Kelly and Reed were having their own conversation that Wyatt and I tried to give them their privacy and not listen in to.

“You ready?” Wyatt asked me via mind-link.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I said as I was just pushing the rest of the eggs around. “Ready?” I asked Reed.

He looked at me and nodded before giving Kelly a quick kiss. We placed our plates in the sink and made our way to the cells.