Page 45 of Branches of the Willow

I told them both what happened, and my mom went to alert the rear guard that they needed to have two cells readied. Truth be told, we only had four cells on pack lands. It was rare that we had a crime here worthy of needing to hold a werewolf captive, but once upon a time, when my grandfather ran things, he had needed the extra cells. I was thankful for his forethought since we were about to have three occupied.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that a hunter had been captured, or what it took to contain one. I figured we would need to double up on things if we were bringing the enemy home though. I was lost in thought, wondering what was going on with the hunters, the dark ones, werewolves going crazy, witches meddling in affairs they had been forsworn to leave alone. It seemed odd to me that things had gotten so far out of whack from the norm for each of our groups.

“Are you sure they’re all okay?” Ashley grilled me, touching my arm to pull my attention back to her. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“They are all fine.”

“You said you think Asriel killed Malachi. He didn’t get hurt, did he?”

“Not a scratch on him, Ash, I promise.” I stood up on shaky legs. Staying in the vision had taken a toll on me. I wobbled off balance but righted myself almost immediately.

“You need to eat.” Ashley looked at the clock on the wall. “Mikael’s going to kill us if he finds out we let you stay knocked out so long.”

“He didn’t seem thrilled about me being there,” I admitted. “I’m sure he’ll read me the riot act when he gets back.” We walked downstairs to the kitchen. “Mom, did you tell the guards that one of the prisoners is going to be a hunter?”

“Yes, I did. They’re going to put him in the reinforced witch cell instead of the normal ones.”

“That’s good.” I just hoped that it would hold his kind. I’d never met a hunter before, and certainly never anticipated having to jail one either. Life had taken a strange turn over the course of the past year, and I found myself doing things I never imagined for myself or the people that I loved, but the people who mattered in that equation were all alive and well, and that was all I could hope for until we got to the bottom of all the craziness.

17

The Locks

MyfatherandAsiboth went at the hunter for three days straight. They grilled him, hurt him, played nice with him, and even called Serena to watch the proceedings and give her two cents on what was happening. The man would not talk. Clarissa and Annabelle were useless and had to be kept separate from one another. Annabelle blamed Clarissa for running off with her mate, and him ultimately dying. Clarissa thought she was just being loyal to the true king. It was like turning on Lifetime and Spike Television all at once, and letting the networks’ shows duke it out. Drama, action, drama, and more action. They were exhausting.

“I’ve had enough. It’s time to take the women to the locks, at the very least.” I looked up at my weary father, who wasn’t getting near enough sleep. My best friend’s mate wasn’t fairing much better. I had heard enough complaints from Ashley about Asi not making it to their bed with any energy to spare, and I was tired of our people being bound up by this mess. “In a way, I feel like this was their plan ‘B’ all along. The joke is on us, because they’re making us all miserable, and a little crazier than normal.”

“I second that motion.” My mother said, prompting some chuckles from around the table.

“Beyond our little prison, drama-fest, we have seventeen former captives of the King to still deal with, and that needs to be taken care of soon, or the meeting hall is never going to smell right again.”

“That is no joke! We should burn it down and start fresh. Some of those ladies are rank!” Ashley wrinkled up her nose. She looked around the table when no one spoke up. “Oh fine! I volunteer. You all owe me, so I’m collecting my debt now. I need Evan to stay behind with me to help out with transitioning the women.”

“Why do I need to stay behind and help out with women things, exactly?” Evan piped up.

Ashley rolled her eyes and held up one finger. “Number one, your little lover girl in there will be devastated if I try to move her, and you aren’t there to hold her hand.” Evan huffed, Asi and Mikael laughed, and Ashley continued. “Number 2,” she held up another finger. “I don’t speak Romanian, Czech, Polish, or whatever the hell else you guys have to translate in there. I need someone in there who I trust to do that for me.” She held up one more finger. “Three, Evan is their hero for rescuing them in the first place, and he’s the only male they trust around here.” She smiled at him. “And four, I’m not doing this shit alone, and I know Jess is going to want to make the trip to the locks, which means Mikael’s going to go. Asi’s going to go, because Jameson is going to order him to, so that leaves you!”

I smiled at Ashley, and then looked at Evan. “Okay, so, that’s settled. Sierra is all set to help too. I had a talk with her, and she has been going over and working with the women, trying to figure out what they want to do from here. Some are still in their mating prime and will likely want to go to packs as part of the Immersion Program. I don’t think it matters if they’re Ancients or Lessers, either way it introduces new blood into the mix.

“When we get back from taking the prisoners to the locks, Mikael and I will escort Brian and Nicholai to the Daniels Clan.” I looked around the table at all the watchful eyes of my family and friends. “When all that is said and done, I am taking a damn vacation, and putting my feet up somewhere. I don’t care if it’s just on the couch at home.” Mikael’s head shot up from across the table, and he was beaming at me. That was all I wanted. He hadn’t been smiling a whole lot lately, and with everything going on, the most that we would see each other during the day was when we had these meetings and sat around the table to discuss what was happening. I missed him, and it was evident that he missed being with me just as much.

“Make sure Avery knows that those two guys you’re taking to him served us well. Brian and Nicholai both did a fantastic job when we skirmished with John and his second. Nicholai is the one who took John Freedman down. It will go far in endearing that man to Avery, and I have a feeling he’s going to need all the help he can get.” My father chuckled. We all knew that Nicholai had an ego that was bigger than he was. He rivaled the DéLune Brothers when I first met each of them. That was saying something.

“What are we going to do with the hunter?” Mikael asked, glancing back and forth between me and my father.

“We haven’t been able to get anything out of him. Even with the witch’s help, we are sitting dead in the water, so I say we cut our losses there.” My father spoke candidly.

“Are you talking death sentence or Locks?”

“I’m willing to go with either, so long as he is gone.”

“We’re already making a trip to the Locks. We might as well pack him in there too,” I suggested.

“That might turn out to be a crueler fate than death. I’m not sure how the others inside the Locks will deal with a hunter being tossed in among them.”

“I don’t know. Can we put some sort of tracker on him, so we can see what happens?”

“Jess?” Mikael sounded almost disgusted. “The chance that this guy is going to be torn apart is far greater than anything else, and you want to watch that?”

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