Within the Pack

RORY

I hear something in the distance—someone else, coming closer. I turn to see who it is, afraid it might be another enemy.

Maybe that’s the game this rogue is playing. Just to keep me frozen here while more come, so they can pounce on me from all sides.

The sound of crunching twigs and leaves gets louder as they, whoever they are, approach. I can tell it’s more than just two feet stomping across the ground. Four paws, perhaps? Maybe more than that?

I hold my breath in terror, glancing from the wolf to the approaching uncertainty. He’s stopped his slow, halting approach, again seeming more like a statue of a wolf.

I see the silhouette of two wolves heading in my direction. I close my eyes, praying they are from my pack. Tears burn my eyes as I wait for them to come closer—for better or for worse.

When they finally get close enough for me to identify them, I let out a gushing breath of air. Ace and Lucius rush toward me, ready for a fight.

The wolf suddenly wheels and sprints off, disappearing into the trees. Ace and Lucius look confused, but all I feel is relief. The pressure and voices die away, too.

“Well that was anticlimactic,” Ace says, watching the wolf disappear from sight.

“Tell me about it. Guess our reputation precedes us,” Lucius responds with a smirk.

I turn toward the direction the rogue ran, furrowing my brow. Everything about that was weird. If the rogue wasn’t going to fight, he should have run as soon as he heard Ace and Lucius.

He should have known they were coming before I did. It was like he was completely unaware of his surroundings. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it gives me a creepy feeling.

“You wanna tell us what happened here?” Ace asks with a look of disapproval. “What are you doing outside of pack lands at all, much less this late?”

“I was walking and the wolf came from behind a tree. I was sure he was gonna kill me, but he just… stared at me.” I don’t mention Mariah. I don’t want to have this fight twice.

“That’s strange,” Lucius replies, looking after the rogue like he’d like to chase after him.

“It is strange, and I think we should finish this conversation back at the office,” Ace says, turning back toward the pack lands.

“You’re right. Got to get our Luna home safe.” Lucius offers me his arm, and I take it. At least I’ll trip less. They don’t ask any other questions, and I’m grateful for it.

The trip through the woods is a breeze with Ace and Lucius guiding me. The sense of foreboding is completely gone. The rogue wolf almost feels like a bad dream, now.

It feels amazing to step into the pack house. The hot, dry air warms my freezing body, helping me return to normal, but adrenaline is still surging through my veins.

Knowing I’m about to have to face Everett doesn’t calm me down any. I try to find the right words to explain to him why I left, but nothing seems right. The fact is, I went behind his back.

As we get closer, I can feel his disappointment and fear. I look to Ace and Lucius for a hint of how he may react but they just shrug their shoulders. I steel myself and open the office door.

EVERETT

In my office, I sit as I wait for Ace and Lucius to return with my mate. I’d sent them as soon as I realized she was gone. Staring at the door, I watch as it slowly opens.

Aurora enters the office followed by Lucius and Ace. I’m filled with relief but overwhelmed with anger and disappointment. I’m fairly certain I know where she went.

I sent Ace and Lucius toward the rogue’s hut, and it seems like my guess was right because here they are with Aurora. What I don’t understand is why.

“I know you’re upset, but I can explain,” she says, walking toward me. I stand up to meet her. I don’t want to lecture her from behind my desk. Ace and Lucius stay by the door, trying to give us space.

“What explanation could you possibly have that warrants gambling with your life, Aurora?” I snap. “You knew I didn’t want you going to see that rogue.”

She winces, and I’m glad to see she does feel a little bad at least. But she also lifts her chin defiantly. “Yes, and I also knew I had to! She helped me, Everett, she sent me to the spirit realm—”

“She did ~what~?” I yelp. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Normally she has to die to get there. “Aurora, that sounds ridiculously dangerous. You let a stranger cast a spell on you?”

Aurora looks frustrated, probably because I interrupted her. “I can trust her, and it was important!” I can’t believe she’s arguing that she can trust a complete stranger.

“More important than your life, Aurora?” I ask, crossing my arms. “I asked you to keep yourself safe. I asked you not to put yourself in danger, but you did it anyway!”

She doesn’t back down, actually defending what she did. “I didn’t have a choice, Everett. We need answers, and I knew someone who could give them to me.”

“So you snuck away. You broke my trust.” My voice breaks a little, and I see her face fall. Our anger is cooling, and now we’re both just miserable. Her green eyes are pleading for me to understand.

“I can’t sit back and do nothing, Everett. People we care about are sick. I can’t just sit and wait for a miracle when I know there is something I can do to help. You would have done the same thing!”

I scowl at her, offended. “I would not! I know better than to chase after rogues and magic.”

She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean, Everett! You do dangerous things for me and the pack all the time!”

I shift a little, uncomfortable. “That’s different.” Of course it is. I’m a wolf, first of all, I’m stronger and sturdier than she is. Plus, it’s my job to protect her.

She steps closer to me, putting her hand on my arm. “Why? Because you need me? You don’t think I need you just as much? That never stops you from putting yourself in danger.”

“I’m Alpha,” I protest. I know she understands an Alpha’s duties. Surely she doesn’t want me to ~not~ do my job.

“I know that, and I’m Luna,” she smiles up at me, sweet and a little triumphant.

“That’s true,” Lucius chimes in, causing us to stop and look at him. “What? It is true.”

“Yeah, you have to admit, she has a point,” Ace adds with a shrug.

She does. I can’t argue. As Luna, her job isn’t just about supporting me. Her care for others is one of the things I love about her. But I also want to keep her safe.

I run a hand through my hair, irritated. “I understand you want to help the pack, little one, but it is dangerous to leave the pack lands.”

“She should understand that now. We found her with a rogue staring her down,” Lucius adds, causing Aurora to flash him a disapproving look.

“A what!?” I yell. I can’t believe I’m only just hearing about this. “Another one? You don’t think that seems like an obvious trap?”

Aurora’s temper flashes back to life alongside mine. “He wasn’t working with Mariah! I met him on my way back. But he was acting strange, I think—”

I interrupt her. Chaos is snarling inside me, wanting to hunt down every rogue in a ten-mile radius. “You are lucky it didn’t kill you! You can’t do this, Aurora. You’re too important.”

She takes a deep breath, calming herself down. “I don’t want to go behind your back. I hope I never have to again. But I need you to listen to me. Achlys told me Nemesis isn’t dead.”

I was about to interrupt her once more to let her know she definitely wouldn’t be going behind my back again, but her revelation stops me.

Now I stare at her, horrified. “Not dead? How?”

Aurora shakes her head. She looks haunted, hugging herself. “She said that I killed her body, but not her spirit, and now it’s in pieces and causing trouble.”

I pull her to me, and she doesn’t resist. She lets me hold her close and I give her a moment to gather herself. Ace and Lucius look grim, too.

Aurora pulls away and I let her go. She looks steadier. I gesture for Ace and Lucius to join us. This is pack business, now.

“I’m almost sure she’s what’s making everyone sick and I think she was influencing the rogue I met in some way, too,” Aurora says. “He was acting really weird, and I could feel her presence.”

“That’s bad news,” Ace says. “If she’s working with rogues, she could gather herself an army.”

Rogues working together. It is a chilling thought. But we don’t know for sure. “Did you learn anything else?” I ask Aurora.

“No, that’s all.” She looks exhausted and she’s rubbing her forehead like she’s got a headache.

I look at the clock and realize it’s midnight. “Enough. We need to get to bed. I called a pack meeting first thing in the morning.”

Aurora looks surprised. “A meeting? I thought we were keeping it quiet, that we didn’t want to panic anyone?”

“I don’t,” I agree. “But we need to know how many others are sick and this is the best way. And, now that we know where it’s coming from, we should tell them that, too.”

“But we barely know anything. I don’t even know how Nemesis’s soul split apart!” I’d almost say she was afraid to be addressing the pack.

Lucius speaks up. “I might have the answer to that, actually. I’ll look into it tonight and share it tomorrow.”

“Agreed,” I say. Then, I take Aurora to our room. We don’t fight, but we don’t really talk either. We lay awake and quiet for a long time before finally falling asleep.

The next morning, the pack gathers in the main square. I’m on the stage along with Lucius, Ace, and Aurora, ready to address them. They’re all wondering what this is about.

As the last few arrive, I start talking. “Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming. I’m investigating, along with my Luna, Beta, and Gamma, a possible threat to our pack, and I need your help.”

I see the news hit them, everyone talking to each other about what the threat could be. I see nerves and fear and pride on every face. They want to know if it’s something they can fight.

I’d like to know that, too. “First, I have a question. Have any of you been sick lately?”

A bunch of hands go up, about a quarter of the crowd, I’d say. Hopefully some of them are just colds or the flu or something. This many would be a bad sign.

I don’t reveal any of my worry, keeping my energy calm and confident. “Great. Now, I want to know if you’ve had any of these symptoms. Have you felt fatigued, cold? Are your wolves feeling uneasy?”

Most of the hands go down, which is a relief. Only six people are being affected by Nemesis. For now. I call on them, one by one.

“Yes, Riot’s been restless, telling me that something’s wrong,” Leslie says. She’s wearing a sweater, even though it’s seventy degrees.

Michael looks worried. “It’s not me, it’s Jean. He was too tired to even come to the meeting.”

I get similar reports from the other four. Still no fatalities. Good. I nod appreciatively. “Some children at the orphanage are being affected, too. It’s not a normal illness. Aurora will explain.”

I step back and offer her the microphone. She takes it hesitantly. I see her hands tremble a bit and she swallows nervously, but her voice is pretty steady. “You all remember the goddess Nemesis.”

A ripple goes through the crowd at the name, people curling their lips and muttering unhappily. Their anger and fear ratchets up another notch.

Aurora holds the microphone tighter. “Well, I went to the spirit realm to investigate this illness, and I was told that her spirit was fragmented. I’ve felt at least one piece here on pack lands.”

They don’t like that any better. I can see some people starting to panic. Aurora glances back at me, and I give her an encouraging nod.

She takes a deep breath. “I believe its influence has something to do with the symptoms you all have been feeling. Unfortunately, we don’t know yet how to find these shards or destroy them.”

Michael steps forward. He looks furious. “Then there’s nothing we can do? Is this illness deadly?”

Aurora tries to answer. “No one’s died of it yet—”

Christian interrupts her. “You’re not even a wolf! How can you understand a wolf sickness?”

That opens the floodgates. Everyone’s chattering at once, and I hear someone yell. “This human has brought a plague down on us!”

I step forward and retake the microphone. “Everyone calm down! Aurora is helping, she cares for all of you as much as I do.”

“Why come to us with a problem with no solution?” Delilah asks. She’s one of my best warriors.

I keep my voice firm. “There is a solution. I told you, we’re working on figuring this out. I needed to know how far it had spread, and you need to know what’s causing it.”

Aurora reaches for the mic and I hand it to her. “It would be dangerous to use common medicines, since this isn’t a physical sickness.”

Our words have worked to calm them somewhat, but there’s still a lot of unrest. “Lucius has some news, too,” Aurora says, and hands the microphone to him.

Lucius clears his throat. “On our patrols, we’ve found several new portals. That led us to check the known ones, and we’ve found that some of them seem to be damaged.”

It’s not good news. I wasn’t happy when I heard it, and I can tell the pack doesn’t like it either.

He continues. “Nemesis and Xander were making use of these portals for their own purposes. I believe that, after Rory weakened her, she went through one of these portals and that’s how her soul broke.”

“We’re recommending that everyone avoid using any portals for the time being, since we don’t know exactly what’s wrong with them.”

Everyone knows and trusts Lucius. I see them nodding, and I know they’ll do as he requests.

He gives me back the mic. “That’s everything we have for now. I promise, we’ll let you know when we know more. In the meantime, keep an eye out for these symptoms and don’t hesitate to come to me.”

I turn off the microphone and leave the stage, taking Aurora’s hand. “You did great. Let’s get you back to our room now. You could use some more rest.”

“Thanks, Everett,” she says quietly. She’s still subdued. I wish I could make them see her the way I do.

Halfway to the pack house, I see Aurora’s face turn pale and she stumbles slightly. I grab a hold of her arm to steady her, worried she might be sick.

Before I can ask if she’s okay, she doubles over in the hallway and vomits. The crowd moves out of the way of the flying bile. “Aurora? What’s wrong, little one?”

She sways, her face completely bloodless. “I…I don’t know…Something…” Her voice is so weak. Her eyes flutter, and she faints. I barely catch her. She feels cold in my arms.

“Aurora? Aurora?” I call her name, but she doesn’t respond. My heart pounds, and I can’t help but be sure this is Nemesis’s doing.

Her sickness has gotten my little mate.