Chapter 20 The Beacon
They took their seats in the heavy silence.Dinner at Blackwood's house was usually a competitive sport. Tonight, it was a wake.
Leela looked at the pile of roast pork and potatoes on her plate, but her appetite had vanished. She pushed a green bean around with her fork, taking tiny, polite nibbles just to look like she was doing something. Beside her, Finnegan wasn’t doing much better. He ate mechanically, his eyes constantly flicking toward the empty chairs at the head of the table.
Ten minutes later, the heavy double doors swung open.
Every head in the room turned.
Elana and Damon walked in. They weren’t rushing, but there was a stiffness to their movements that hadn’t been there at breakfast. Elana looked tired, the lines around her mouth tight. Damon looked like a storm cloud.
They didn’t stop to chat. They walked straight to the head of the table and sat down.
Damon didn’t reach for the food. He picked up his water glass, drained it, and set it down hard.
Elana scanned the room, her gaze resting briefly on Leela before addressing the hall.
“Eat,” she commanded, her voice cutting through the quiet. “We need everyone fueled.”
She paused, letting the order sink in.
“There will be a mandatory Pack meeting immediately following the meal in the Great Room. No exceptions.”
A ripple of uneasy murmurs broke out among the wolves, but one look from Damon silenced them.
Elana turned to her family. She lowered her voice so only Finnegan, Leela and Jax could hear.
“We have a situation,” she stated flatly, unfolding her napkin.
“Is it the borders?”Jax asked, leaning in, his playfulness from the training field completely gone.
“In a way,” Damon grumbled.
Elana cut a piece of pork with surgical precision, keeping her eyes on her plate.
“It seems,” she began quietly, “Our newest member has a louder signature than anticipated.
Leela froze, her fork hovering halfway to her mouth. “Me?”
“That little display on the porch last night,” Elana explained. “And the vines on the training field today. To us, it looked like nature magic. To the outside world,,,it looked like a signal flare.”
She looked up, meeting Leela’s terrified gaze.
“We just got a call from the council and there was a power surge that they felt at the monitoring station three territories over. They picked up a massive energy surge originating from Blackwood land. It was off the charts, Leela. You didn't just grow some flowers; you practically set off a magical EMP.”
Finnegan dropped his fork. “Who else felt it?”
“If the monitoring station felt it,” Damon said grimly, “then anyone with a nose for power felt it. We lit a beacon in the middle of a dark forest.”
Elana took a bite of her food, chewing slowly.
“We have eyes on us now,” she said. “Eat up. We need to discuss defense strategies.”