Chapter 201 Chapter 201

Chapter 201 Chapter 201
DERRIC: But not just her mind, all the orphans. And I turned a blind eye to it, even after I got informed about it.” I pulled the cards out of my desk and let them read them. “I’m not proud of any of it. And I learned a hard lesson from it and lost my first Luna because of her own prejudices.” I tell them. Then I showed them the pictures of Chi when she was in the coma. “It came down to this before I woke up to the kind of hate Louise had. What kind of cancer she was to the kids and to the Pack.” I said. “Who did this to her?” Emmery asked again. “None other than her ‘mates, my twins’, and their ranked unit and their siblings.” I said. Using finger quotes. “Damn Derric!” Emmery said. “I know.” I answered him. “Nash has heard a good part of this before. So, he knows. But now he knows more. And I can’t thank the goddess enough for having Chi give them a chance. It’s only because she wasn’t going to hurt her wolf that she didn’t reject them outright. Which she would have done if it hadn’t been for the goddess.” I said. “Explain,” Emmery said. “Well, from what I understand, when Chi was in her coma, she was with the goddess, and she got to help with the pups that would eventually be hers, Iesha’s, Valen’s, and the Gamma twins’ wolves.” I told them. “But now you understand why she says she wants to come with us tomorrow. She wants to make sure that Louise’s plans are now done and over with, and they aren’t going to try to take her again.” I said. “Is she strong enough to face them?” Emmery asked. “I believe she is.” I told them. “And now what about this Cory Brandson person? I heard that he has some knowledge of the Black Willow Pack?”  Emmery asked again. “Yes, he was from Pine Hill originally. But according to him, Black Willow destroyed that Pack when he was only about 12 or 13 years old. Also, according to him,that was Chiara’s original Pack as well. So that explains why no one claimed her when we first found her.” I said.“ I want to speak with this young man. And Chi can join us tomorrow.” He said. I nodded and linked Cory and Hayley to come to my office. 5 minutes later, Hayley and Cory entered my office. “Cory, this is council member Emmery, and you have already met Nash.” I said in the way of an introduction. They both nodded to Nash. “Cousin.” They greeted him first, then shook hands with Emmery. “I understand that you were a witness to the destruction of your home, Pack. Can you tell me about it?” Emmery asked. Cory launched into his tale of what he could remember about the slaughter that took place and how he and his few packmates survived. “We are going to go evaluate Black Willow tomorrow morning. I would like you to be there. And if you recognize anybody else from the time of the massacre, I want you to point them out to me, understand?” “Yes, sir.” Cory answered Emmery. I dismissed them. Then I got up and poured each of us a stiff scotch. I know that we can’t get drunk from it. But sometimes the burn helps to settle the nerves. “I will let Chi know she will be coming with us in the morning.” I tell them. They nod, stand, and head out of my office and to their rooms for the night.

CHIARA: I was grateful for the run. It was something I didn’t realize I needed right then. But it helped to ground me. I would even go so far as saying it relaxed me. I didn’t have any pretenses to have to play up to, no political correctness to pay attention to. Just the sheer joy of running, feeling the wind blowing in our fur. Feeling the protectiveness of my mates and the others around me let me be me. Thena felt like playing, so she nipped Storm in the heel and then dashed up to Steel. Playing innocent. Storm just huffed at her antics, though. Almost as if he was chuckling at her. Then she dashed between Axel and Rex, nipped him in the heel, and dashed back up to take her place between Steel and Axel. But Rex just huffed at her, too. Not getting the response she wanted from them, she nipped Steel in the heel. And backed down between Axel and Rex. Steel gave her what she wanted, though. He stopped running and looked back at her. Grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He jumped at her with a playful swat that caught her in the shoulder. She batted back at him, then slipped to the other side of Axel where Steel couldn’t reach her. But Steel jumped over both of them and nipped her back. She looked at Axel like: ‘Are you going to let him do that to me?’ Axel nodded his head to her. As if to say, ‘don’t get me into something you started.’ She didn’t like that answer, apparently. Because then she nipped him as well. It then became an all-out game of tag, so to speak.  But it was fun, our wolves were actually playing, having fun, and bonding with each other as a pack should. Not just when times are hard, but having fun too. After about an hour of playing, we all headed back to the packhouse. When we got there, all our clothes were changed out for things that were less formal and more comfortable. We all shifted, got dressed, and headed inside. I had fun after everybody had left, leaving just us. But now I was tired, all I wanted was a warm bath and bed. I know the twins want to mate. I’m still a little apprehensive, and I know now that they won’t hurt me. But I have heard that once a she-wolf is marked by her mate/s, that she is likely to go into heat shortly thereafter. How true that is, for sure. I don’t know. But what I do know is that I don’t want to be going into a heat cycle and have to be dealing with Black Willow. And I need to know that this is the end of all of Louise’s bullshit plans. Plus, I don’t know why, but lately I have been picturing taking both of their knots at the same time, and it’s making me crazy. So, maybe there is some truth to the whole heat thing after all. And maybe it’s not just being marked, but being near your mate/s that brings on the heat. Because I’ve only been marked for less than 12 hours. I don’t know, but I will be more than happy to explore that possibility after we deal with Black Willow.



CAIDEN: The run was fun yesterday. I didn’t realize how much Axel and I needed it. But this morning it’s back to work. I hope that Nash and Emmery decide in favor of Chi coming with us.