Chapter 20

Chapter 20
Gary lowered her head, but it did nothing to hide the tears dripping off her face. “I-I don’t know.”
Merlot sighed. “Stop stressing her out. We can figure all of that out later. We need to find the others first. Now, let’s get going. For this one, we will need everybody. The Black Diamond Pack are cruel bastards. They won’t just hand the triplets over.”
Joyce pulled Jenna closer to her side. “What about our mates?”
Merlot sighed as he took Margo’s hand. “We take them. They know enough about their abilities to be able to protect themselves and help us.”
Margo squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”
Nomad tugged Nalani close to his side as he opened a portal. “After you.”
Margo’s skin changed under Merlot’s touch, turning hard as barklike material encased her body. Merlot let out a sigh.
“Let’s go.”
He led Margo through the portal, and as soon as they stepped out, the pungent odor of scorched land assaulted their noses. They made room for the others, who also grew worried. They all looked around curiously, taking in the destruction around them. Trees lay on the ground, very clearly burned. As they walked toward the packhouse, they passed more and more destruction. Buildings had huge holes in their sides, and many more were completely ruined. Bricks were scattered along the road while dead wolves lined the edges, almost as if they were meant to guide the party to the center of the pack lands, where the pack house stood on fire. Jaida, Johan, and Beckham all took off toward the building before Merlot managed to catch them in his aura to make them stop.
“We have to be smart about this, guys. There’s no screaming, and the building isn’t crackling. This is not a typical fire. We need to figure it out.”
Gary walked up to the fire with Keith by her side, ignoring Merlot’s words. Gary smiled up at Keith.
“That’s Easel!” She cried excitedly as she moved her hands through the fire. “Look, feel!”
Keith reached into the fire before relaxing. “Okay, so how do we get inside?”
She frowned at him. “Do you think Easel is inside?”
“No.” He wrapped his arms around Gary. “But we will find her, I promise.”
She sighed before pulling away to jog down the stairs and lift her arms towards the sky. She took a deep breath before tilting her head back. Seconds later, a downpour of rain started, tempering the fire until it went out. When the rain stopped, Keith growled before sending a heated breeze around everyone to dry them off. Everyone approached the pack house cautiously before groaning when a hard layer of mud-like substance coated the entire outside. Jaida, Johan, and Beckham all rushed forward to claw at the barrier, desperately trying to get in. Margo let it go on for a few minutes before sighing.
“Nalani?”
Nalani moved to her side before spitting acid onto the vines snaking out of Margo’s body. The vines rubbed themselves through the acid before beginning to contort as they worked their way under the mud. Merlot put his hands on her shoulders, pushing his power into her as she breathed in and out slowly. The vines mimicked her breaths, swelling before thinning out again a few times before cracks appeared briefly seconds before the mud exploded outward. Koda’s wings came out to wrap around Margo to protect her from the debris. When it had all settled, Johan started tugging at the door, growling when it wouldn’t budge. Jenna moved forward with Joyce by her side to put her hands flat on the door. When it melted away to a stump at her touch, she turned in triumph toward the rest of them, beaming.
“Come on.”
They all followed Jaida, Johan, and Beckham inside to the living room, where around 200 people were huddled. Three women got between them and the others in the room.
“Please, don’t hurt them,” one said as she trembled.
Beckham moved around the women to pull one of the more frightened females into his arms, growling, “Mate.”
Johan grabbed another girl, while Jaida threw herself at one of the males, who stood stiffly in her hold for a moment before wrapping his arms around her. Merlot looked around the room at all the frightened children, young adults, and other people. One of the women knelt at Merlot’s feet with her head bowed.
“Are you Alpha Merlot?”
“Yes. What happened here?”
“Two women came and destroyed the pack. They said that we were caught in the middle of a war, and they would avenge the people that were taken. They left all the people they deemed innocent here in the pack house to wait for Alpha Merlot and Luna Margo.”
“Do you know who the women were?”
“Yes, sir. They left me a message to pass onto Gary.”
Gary stopped checking out the kids to come back over to them. “That’s me. What was the message?”
“Easel said that she was okay and that she missed you. Shadow-”
Keith pulled the woman up to grip both of her arms. “What did you just say?”
“E-Easel said-”
“NO! Who was she with?”
“S-shadow, sir.”
Keith turned his head to look at Merlot. “How is she my mate? She wasn’t when we met.”
Merlot eyed him. “Who? Shadow?”
“YES!” His head snapped around to glare at Gary. “Did you know?”
She shook her head. “No. I knew Easel was, but I didn’t know about Shadow.”
He took a deep breath before looking at the woman. “What did Shadow say?”
“S-She said that she was keeping Easel safe and that she promised when this was over that she would return her in one piece.”
Gary put her hand on Keith’s arm. “Is she going to leave us?” She asked quietly.
Keith let the woman go to take Gary into his arms. “I promise you, we will do everything in our power to make her stay.”
Margo touched Merlot’s arm. “While they’re tending to the kids, can we go and collect the dead?”
He nodded before guiding her back outside. She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“You got my back?”
He smiled at her. “For all of eternity, Margo.”
She turned back toward the destruction before starting to root. About an hour later, Emily walked out with a little boy on her hip. Merlot eyed him.
“Who’s that?”
She sighed. “His name is Adam. He won’t go to anyone else. I’m going to have to take him home. One of the other boys knows where he lives, so after Margo is done, do you think you can go with us?”
Merlot nodded. “How are the triplets doing? Do we know what they are?”
She nodded. “Yes. Beckham’s mate is Bea. She is, get this, she is Brachiosaurus.”
Merlot burst out laughing. “Just like Great Grandpa Sterling.”
“Yep. The original dragon.”
“What about the other two?”
“Jaida’s mate is Joel. His other half is even weirder. He’s a male siren.”
Merlot looked at her. “Like a merman?”
“Kind of. He is what led to modern-day mermaids. His power lies in his voice. He has refused to speak. Jaida wants him to sing to her,” she giggled.
Merlot groaned. “Jaida is a freak. And what about Johan’s mate?”
“Her name is Jordan. She’s… don’t get mad, okay?”
“Why would I get mad?”
“She’s a mirror.”
Merlot bared his teeth. “A mirror?”
“Yes, a mirror, but she’s nothing like the mirrors our ancestors had to defeat. She’s a sweet girl.”
“Mirrors almost killed our entire line, Emily. We wouldn’t be here if they had succeeded!” He snapped.
“Do me a favor, cousin; get to know the girl before you judge her. Her mirror is Lynette.”
Merlot looked at her. “The Lynette?”
She nodded. “The one that mated with our Great Great Great a million times Great Grandfather before she submitted herself to death. Without her, our family line wouldn’t be able to turn invisible. There’s so much more to the mirror powers. She can legitimately camouflage herself in front of anything. I’m sure if we work with her, we can teach her how to shield other people, too. She was only 19 when she was killed. Please, for Johan’s sake, give her a chance.”
Merlot sighed as cocoons came to a stop in front of Margo. “I’m glad mirrors went extinct, Emily. They were slimy demons that never deserved to be here, but I will give her a chance.”
She hugged him. “Thank you.”
He got up to take a distraught Margo into his arms. “This isn’t even all of them. There are more coming. 547 innocent people lost their lives here. I can only save the recently deceased.” She gripped his arm as her head tilted back to look into his eyes. “How can anybody be this cruel?”
He kissed her softly. “I don’t know, baby, but they are gone. I promise you they will never be able to hurt another person.”
“I want to bring them back and kill them again. I want to kill them a thousand times, and even then, it won’t be enough.”
He pulled her against his chest with his cheek on top of her head as more cocoons were pulled into the area.
“I know, sweetheart, I know.”