The New World

I watched as Dylan accepted everything and even though he wasn’t my mate and just a good friend, I was proud of him for stepping up. I hadn’t seen many of the things Grayson dealt with on a day-to-day basis, but no matter what, Grayson was trained for this role from his dad. And Dylan stepped up to the role as Alpha without blinking an eye. And that was already rough but add-in that this war was coming and that even as an Alpha you had to serve a king and queen, which was worse.

“You are now this leader Alpha Dylan, change and run with your pack.” Dylan stripped and changed into a beautiful wolf and let out a howl. My eyes moved to Grayson who shifted to Midnight and I smiled all the more. Midnight’s eyes roamed the crowd and I nodded at him, encouraging him that I was okay. He returned the howl of the Alpha and like all the wolves, took off after Dylan for a run, even though he didn’t have to.

I stepped away, knowing I could go if I wanted to, Dylan even said, but Midnight would be hungry afterward and so would I. Besides, a gut feeling kept telling me not to let too many people know that I could do that. That it would be something to use to my advantage.

I walked around the premises though; still feeling like something was off. Seeing Francis and knowing he lied was not settling well with me. And knowing that Demonio had his wolf Alpha as well was unsettling. Unfortunately, I knew Francis merely by name and even that was vague as there were too many Alphas over the many years for me to keep track of.

I stopped as I picked up a strange sound but couldn’t pinpoint it. In fact, I wasn’t sure I heard it out loud so much as it was my mind; which was odd because that shouldn’t give me pause. I shook my head and turned to walk back when Mariana stepped in my path.

“We need to talk,” she told me, her arms crossed.

“Whatever could you possibly want to talk to me about?” She smiled at that and my eyes narrowed.

“There are a great many things but for now I will leave that Demonio is looking for that book so I would be extra cautious if he knows it was you because he knows you were at that party.”

“Mariana, no one has seen you, or heard from you, it’s like you fell off the face of the Earth. And now you want to give me advice about this God, is that it?”

“Not advice, of course, just a word to the wise.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked away, leaving me to stare after her. I shook my head at that, leave it to Mariana to be vague. Well not vague, that was pretty clear, just strange timing. I started walking to head into the house when I paused again, hearing some type of rustling, and looked around. But yet again, the noise was more in my head.

“Fire?” I turned around as I saw Grayson behind me and frowned.

“That was a short run Grayson.” I glanced behind him to see if there was anyone else from the pack and frowned even more. “What’s wrong?”

“I kept hearing the strangest things and I was uncomfortable,” he told me and I nodded.

“Like something rustling but it’s not outside?”

“So much as it is in my head.” He took my hand and sighed. “You’re hearing it too?”

“Yeah, twice. I was thinking it was just me. Oh, Mariana stopped to talk to me.”

“Anything of importance, like where she’s been? Or what happened to where no one can seem to contact her?” I glanced back to the house, seeing Mariana inside and catching her eye but shook my head.

“No, nothing like that. She just said that Demonio was looking for the book and to be careful.”

“How would she even know that?” he asked, looking back at the house before we started walking back to the hotel.

“I’m not sure. I think she might be closer to The General. Or at least talking to him, if not seeing him again.”

“Well if she’s fucking with the enemy, we better be careful.”

“I don’t know if she was exactly, but better to be cautious. But it’s not like she’s been around to talk to about anything. Nor did she know a lot about our plans.” Grayson nodded as we stepped off the elevator, this time both of us pausing and looking around. What’s strange is that my hearing was supposed to be the best here but hell if I could pick up where that was even coming from.

“Odd, very odd,” Grayson said as we walked to the room, not sure if we were surprised to see the kids or not.

“Oh good, you’re back. I talked to Anna earlier. I’m going to feed and then stop and see her,” Derrick said as we walked in.

“Thanks again for watching them. It’s not like I can get a normal babysitter and it’s not like I could have brought them.”

“Not a problem Fire. They aren’t hard to watch.” With that, he kissed my cheek and walked out. I sat down next to Grayson on the couch and picked up Rayne who was full of smiles, just like his sister.

“You two are happy....” I trailed off as Rayne grabbed my face and stared me in the eye, that noise now getting louder. And when I went to turn to look, his little hands held me tighter.

I got the message and focused on his eyes, seeing glimpses of the kids seeing outside and seeing someone. No, two someone’s but with the images jumping around, I couldn’t quite focus on who it was, although one did sort of look like Francis. The other had a glass in his hand but he was someone I hadn’t seen before. However, a memory was pushing its way forward but I couldn’t focus on it when I was looking at Rayne.

His gaze stayed locked on mine, unwavering and it dawned on me that they were communicating with us. They were too young to talk but they had other means being the creatures that they were. They were conveying, obviously, something that happened that very night. I frowned as I tried to focus a bit more.

Snatches of conversations could be heard. They were talking about us, about me being special, and something about Grayson. I couldn’t make much more, but it was enough for me to believe Francis was sent to spy on us, to gain information. But again for who? Who was this man? Why were they talking about me? I was just about to break the connection with Rayne when I heard the man say something about me being his niece and I gasped, breaking the connection unintentionally.

“Mama?” Rayne spoke, just one of the few words he could.

“I’m fine baby.” Grayson looked over at us and raised a brow.

“Who was that man talking to Francis? It’s obvious this was just a bit ago but didn’t see that man at the party.”

“You wouldn’t have. That’s Demonio, and my uncle.” Grayson opened his eyes wide.

“What the hell? Your uncle?”

“Whatever they picked up, little spies that they are, they heard snatches of conversation. And though I’d love to have more, what they gave us is enough to start questioning. It’s also enough for us to talk to the group. This is big if Demonio was here and knows about you. Or has any type of idea. And as for you two,” I said, taking Rosemina’s hand and looking between her and Rayne, “you two are beyond smart. And you both are using skills well beyond your age. This also scares me.”

“No,” Rosemina said with a giggle. That was also the very limited vocabulary they had picked up; mama, dada, and no. Can’t say I blame them when they heard it a lot. I mean, two magical kids, yeah they did reek havoc if you let them so 'no'; was it.

“Oh telling mama not to be scared.” She giggled again and I looked to Grayson. I would love to say I knew anything about Demonio but I didn’t. And it wasn’t as if we were translating the fucking book fast enough to gain a lot of insight. And yeah, it wasn’t like my own dad bothered to tell me anything about my uncle.

“You think Demonio knows about me?”

“No. From what I could gather from their snatches, he doesn’t; although he is curious. And he did take a glass. And both of that scares me. They should scare all of us. Right now you and I have a hand in this war and I’m going to bet these little ones do as well. For certain, he knows I’m here and around and mated. He knows you are that mate and will probably question. But he doesn’t have the book to confirm.” I paused and took a breath as I thought it over. “It’s also more important now that we keep these two a secret as much as we can. Especially if Demonio is out and about. There is no saying what he can or can’t do.”

“You know I wouldn’t let any harm come to our family,” Grayson said and I smiled.

“I know you wouldn’t. But I need you and I don’t want to bank on Demonio knowing enough about you or me that he baits you and takes you out so that I can die.”