Extinguishing Wildfire

Jordan

Two-thirds of our warriors had headed out to Yugen Vale already. The guys and I had asked to leave with the final group as I wanted to spend the weekend with my sisters. We had a fun weekend and were able to destress before heading out this morning.

Olivia had headed up the first group as she wanted to number up with some of the cats that hadn’t joined up with us yet. Ellis had agreed to watch her son, which worked out as Oren was excited to spend the week with his friend.

Alpha Kedrick left with the second group yesterday, and Isaiah came with us in the last group. It took us about five hours to get there. It was an uneventful trip, and we were all led into the hotel lobby when we arrived. Alpha and Olivia were both there to greet us and help us get situated. A slightly older-looking man in a three-piece suit and slicked-back hair stood next to them. He looked like he could disarm a man with just one look.

“That must be Alpha Kenzo,” Cristian whispered as he nodded towards the man. I had never heard of Alpha Kenzo before now, but I did some research on him on the way over here. He owns several businesses and hotels and leads one of the wealthiest fox packs in the country. I watched as he looked over at someone to his left and waved them over to help us without saying a word. He had a commanding presence. Alpha Kenzo raised his hand and everyone turned his way and stopped talking, he had silenced the room in a matter of seconds without making a sound.

“Welcome to Yugen Vale. I am Alpha Kenzo, and I am honored to have you stay in my pack for these next few days.” His voice, while commanding and elegant, carried a tone of kindness and peace. It was unexpected from a man with such a strong aura.

“Dude…I want to be him when I grow up,” I whispered over to Cristian, and he just nodded and smiled, clearly knowing exactly what I was talking about. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of warrior he was as he moved with such grace in his human form.

As I looked around, I noticed that everything here was state-of-the-art and sleek. While we liked our tech, wolves were usually more rugged and liked cozy comforts, so this was an interesting change to what I was used to both back home and at Harvest Moon. We were given our key cards and left to rest for a few hours. Alpha Kedrick wanted to see us, so we’d be joining the rest of the leaders to finalize our strategy before sharing it with the rest of the warriors.

Luckily, we had all been given room down the same hallway, but not right next to each other. I knew what both Cristian and Noah would be up to with their girls, and even though the place was soundproof, I didn’t want to be anywhere near them while they messed around. I hadn’t been sleeping well since Aaliyah was taken, so it was no wonder I was so tired. I didn’t want to fall asleep as I always woke up more tired than before when I took naps, but I sat down and before I knew it, I had fallen into a deep sleep.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I was actually asleep or not as I was blinded by a bright light when I walked outside, finding myself in a forest. I heard the familiar sounds of a waterfall and followed the path until I saw the Cobalt Falls. It felt like an eternity since I was here, and I couldn’t help but think that this was all a dream. I ran my hands through the cool water, remembering how it felt to swim by the waterfall and feel the mist of the cascading water on my face. I was about to jump in when I heard a voice that I hadn’t expected to ever hear again.

“Jordan…Mijo.” I turned around and froze in my spot.

“Dad?” My voice cracked at the end and I was unable to stop the tears from coming, “How are you here? I’m dreaming, right?” I rubbed my eyes, making sure I was seeing right.

“Yes, and no. You are sleeping, but the Moon Goddess has allowed me to come visit you.” My hands were still on my eyes as the tears kept coming. I heard my dad walk towards me, and I looked up as he put his hand on my shoulder. By this point, I was bawling my eyes out. He pulled me into an embrace, and I hugged him like I never wanted to let him go. Maybe if I hugged him hard enough, I could take him out of this dream world with me.

“Come, let’s sit.” He led me to a soft patch of grass where we sat. “I wasn’t given a lot of time here, but I just wanted to let you know not to worry about me and Mom. We’re happy here with the Moon Goddess.”

“But you weren’t supposed to die yet…and I wasn’t supposed to be Alpha yet, and you were supposed to be there for Jasmine and Jade’s first shift…and…”

“Jordan,” He stopped my words with a hand on my shoulder. “Yes, we’ll miss a lot, but we raised you, so there will always be a part of us that’s with you and your sisters. You know, I myself didn’t feel ready when your grandfather made me Alpha, but I was more ready than I thought I was, and so are you. You’ll win this war and lead our pack to peace again.”

“Do you know something I don’t know?” He looked at me with a gleam in his eyes. I always wondered how much people in the Moon Goddess realm got to know about life and the future, and I hoped that gleam meant good things for me. My dad just chuckled without saying a word, though.

“I’m proud of you Jordan, you’re a good Alpha, a good friend, and a good brother. Be there for your sisters, they’ll need you in the next few years…and don’t worry so much about that Alex kid. He’s a good guy.”

“Are you sure about that? I bet you wouldn’t be saying that to the kid’s face if you saw him with Jade.” He just chuckled again and looked out at the water. We sat in silence for a moment, enjoying just being together again.

“I’m glad you gave Aaliyah a chance to come around. You’ll find your happiness, Mijo.”

“You were the one who told me to wait.”

“I was, wasn I.” With those words, he stood up and dusted away at his pants. “It’s time for you to wake up now, tell your sisters I love them, and remember I’ll always be with you. You’re strong, and you’re right where you need to be.” He embraced me one last time, and I again held on, trying to keep him with me, but I woke up before I could.

***

Cristian

“This room is amazing!” Evie went around opening doors and peeking in all the drawers. When she was finished, she came around and started kissing my neck. “I was thinking…once this is all over…” She kept talking in between kisses, “I could go with you…back to Cobalt Falls.”

I immediately pulled her hands off my neck and held her back, “That’s not happening. I told you from the start that this wasn’t anything serious.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said, but things have changed now. It might have started as a one-time thing, but now we’re together almost every night…I just thought…”Her normally confident demeanor broke, and her eyes started to glisten, but I was in no mood to care.

“You thought what? That you were my girlfriend now?” I raised my eyebrows waiting for her response.

“Well, yeah…you haven’t been with anyone else since me, and I’m in your bed every night.”

“That doesn’t make you my girlfriend, Evie. I have a mate out there, and it’s not you, so don’t go thinking you’re going to take her place. This is just a bit of fun for now.” Her mouth widened in shock at my words, “I’m out, don’t follow me. I have a meeting, so I’ll be gone until late.” With that, I took off, not caring that I had been a complete ass to her. Ax was on edge, and I needed to let off some steam, just not with Evie.

***

Jordan

I woke up just in time for the leadership meeting. Noah and Gema were coming down the hall, and I couldn’t help but smile as I met up with them.

“You’re in a good mood, what’s going on?” Gema pointed towards my face, “You haven’t smiled this big in a long time.

“Yeah, I’m just happy, had a good nap, going to get my girl back, and we’ll be getting rid of the asshole who murdered my parents soon. Things are looking up, so I’m smiling.” I didn’t want to tell anyone about my dream yet, it was too precious of a moment to share with anyone, and a part of me felt that my sisters should be the first ones to know.

We made it to the meeting room, it was a large space as there would be several of us

Here. They had also set up the screen to video conference with the packs that gathered at Mistwood.

“We have a lot to discuss, so let’s get started,” Alpha Kedrick called us all to order. I had gotten used to seeing his more private side, so it was strange seeing him in Alpha mode with his aura in full force. He wasn’t the biggest or physically strongest Alpha in the room–I think that honor went to Alpha Tate who was a mountain of a man–but Alpha Kedrick certainly had the strongest aura.

“My guys and I have spent the last few days analyzing the fighting style of each species and discussing things with the different leaders. We have an advantage that we’re coming in from two sides at once. I know it’s not ideal, but we’ll have to enter from Golden Glen. If that’s too hard for some of you, speak now and we’ll look for alternatives.” He paused to give everyone a moment to think things over, really he was giving Alpha Kenzo time to make sure his foxes would be fine going through the ruins of a fox pack where they might have known people. Alpha Kenzo was the last to agree with the plan, but all he did was give a firm nod to Alpha Kedrick.

“Good, we’re all in agreement.” A map was put up on the screen for everyone to follow along. “The medical crew will set up over here by this stream, a few of our warriors will be left here as protection for those who do not fight. Olivia and the cats will be the first out, they have the most stealth and can warn us in case our presence is revealed early. They’ll be spread out along these points.“ He pointed to some blue marks on the map. “The foxes will come next. I want all foxes to start in fox form. It’ll be easier for you to attack while WIldfire is still in human form, and you guys are quick enough to surprise them. The wolves and bears will remain back until the entire force of the army emerges, and we’ll shift as needed. Remember that we wolves fight as a team, so always be on the lookout for more than one wolf to attack at a time.”

Alpha Kedrick asked if there were any questions before moving on, but everyone seemed to be following along so far.

“Alright, now, this next part is important. We have been getting help from Alpha Marek’s son, Larkin. He will be issuing a challenge to his father and wants our support. As soon as the challenge is issued, we need to back off and let the two of them have their fight. Our goal is to defeat Marek with the least amount of bloodshed possible, we’re not fighting just to fight and not every warrior in Wildfire is on Marek’s side. We are also there to free some of the people that Marek has kidnapped, Alpha Jordan and his Beta and Gamma are in charge of finding and getting them to safety, so be sure to protect them along the way.”

We shared the maps with everyone and made sure all questions were answered. The next few days would be spent making sure every warrior knew the plan and that we were ready for the fight both physically and mentally.