Something was going on with those cookies and the coven’s not answering me about them proved it. Maybe one or two got lost in the mail, but fifteen letter requests to look into them didn’t. That was just math and logic.
Dakota asked, “What are you thinking about so hard?” I answered, “Huh? What? Me? Do you mean MaryBeth?” Marybeth snorted, “He does not mean me. I was kissing Dane.” Jason said, “Which I was ignoring so thanks for pointing it out.” She winked, “You’re welcome, nephew.”
I asked, “Is Uncle Duncan coming for Elise’s mating ceremony?” Tristan answered, “We don’t know. He’s invited, but he’s on a mission with his mate.” I reasoned, “We could link him.” Jason replied, “You know some packs ask families not to link their family members on missions once they join a new pack. Uncle Duncan’s is one of those packs.”
I muttered, “Which is a dumb rule.” Dakota chuckled, “Ladybug, you’re being more bug than lady today.” Dalton teased, “You have NO idea brother.” I followed them to the path and grumbled, “No, I’m not. I’m being right. Which I am….a lot.”
“It’s silly to ask us not to link him. It makes me wonder why we can’t. Because he’s not obligated to reply to a link so he’d just have us in his head which would soothe his wolf in any situation. It feels shady… and it’s not a protocol either. It’s just that pack’s rule. I checked.”
Jason stopped and turned around. He said, “Whoa, hold up. You checked what?” I answered, “The Werewolf Supernatural clauses for packs… and the Supernatural Council’s. There is no rule that dictates that. Some packs have adopted it, but most are considered shady by the Werewolf Council.” Tristan groaned, “You can’t call Uncle Duncan’s pack shady.”
I said, “I mean… technically the Werewolf Council did….and I just repeated it. Which doesn’t really feel the same. Plus, it’s not like they consider the Nashville packs. Or even some in Louisiana. They are just in the murky area, not fully bad… but...”
Jason groaned, “No but’s.” I pursed my lips. MaryBeth nudged me, “Tell me about the shady, murky areas. I’m all ears.” Tristan huffed, “No, you’re not.” MaryBeth retorted, “I will protect my brother how I like. Tell me all the statistics Ladybug.”
I shrugged, “I don’t have enough data sets for statistics yet, but I can say that over one hundred transfers got cut off from their families. All because they started out doing missions when they joined and abided the rules about no linking while on them.”
Tristan stopped walking and so did Dalton and Dakota. I added, “Uncle Duncan’s missions on average are two point five weeks longer than everyone else’s. For the transfers his are three point six days longer. I could give you the hours if you’d like.” MaryBeth shouted, “WHAT?!” Dane wrapped his arms around her.
I replied, “He said he’s better trained than others.” Jason groaned, “You told him?” MaryBeth snorted, “Of course she did.” Tristan said, “He’s right. He is better trained than they are. He’s a Beta wolf.” I argued, “No, that’s not right either. They’ve had Alpha blood’s and other Beta blood’s transfer too. Their Gamma blood’s aren’t sent out as much as Uncle Duncan either. Uncle Duncan is the one closest to his family though… which is an interesting data set point.”
Tristan gently said, “You don’t have an unobjective point of view in this.” I replied, “Which is why I have another group observing my data sets.” They all yelled, “WHAT?!” I frowned, “I mean… it’s true that my objectivity in the study is clouded. So, I gave the data points I had collected to a third party using code names and situations. It’s a psychological group studyproject. They haven’t rendered their findings… but their analysis is leaning towards me being mostly right.”
Dalton asked, “Mostly?” I said, “Well, they didn’t get my analysis… where I might… have called the Alpha a few names… along with their pack leadership… so yes… mostly, their analysis is trending towards agreeing with mine. They just don’t feel as strongly as I do about it.”
Jason said, “You can’t just share pack data.” I pointed out, “They aren’t in packs.” Tristan groaned, “You gave the data to humans?” I replied, “Well, there is a human in the group, but he’s mated to a Supernatural. It’s a Supernatural college group. It’s not a big deal… since they don’t know who I am… or that it’s a pack. They think it’s a human study.”
Dalton asked, “Did you tell them that?” I said, “I mean… I implied it in the email… we don’t talk on the phone or anything… because…” Tristan snorted, “Because we’d hear that.” I argued, “Umm no… because it’s a chat group… for ideas and stuff… so… like… the chat is online. They don’t have each other’s numbers…” I did have theirs. I hacked all their information using Prince Gunner Cambridge’s papers.
Jason sighed, “Don’t use Uncle Duncan’s life for research.” I pointed out, “Someone uses everyone’s life for research. There are roughly over one million scenarios used in the psychological world, human and Supernatural, about Princess Luna Haley Conners. If someone is going to run them on our family… I really feel like it should be me.”
Dalton gasped. Tristan blinked several times and everyone stopped walking. I pointed out, “It will take us a very long time to get to the destination of this hike if we keep stopping.” Jason asked, “Are you serious? Someone is using Haley’s life like that? Does she know?”
I replied, “If she looked at the studies she would? Prince Gunner definitely knows because he has keywords searched andsome of the papers didn’t publish… because the author died… suddenly… which was totally them. She’s a public figure, even to humans. Her background fascinates people. Alpha Eric has killed a lot of tabloid stories and gossip about her…”
I added, “Plus… some were killed via King Aiden for sure… based on the patterns of elemental problems that followed the story or data cancellation.” MaryBeth asked, “So, you think Alpha Eric knows about them?” I answered, “All of them? No. He’d have killed a couple… I might have sent some to people… for reasons… and things… maybe…”
Jason groaned, “You emailed Eric?!” I snorted, “Uhh no.” MaryBeth snickered. Cooper asked, “Who did you email then?” Dane answered, “She’d have emailed Prince Gunner, Caleb, or Aiden.” Tristan sighed, “She’d have Aiden’s email because she reads his books from Faerie.” I said, “His email is not in those books, or everyone would email him… and he doesn’t know I emailed him.”
Dalton busted up laughing. I asked, “What? He doesn’t. He could suspect… but he didn’t come ask me. No one did. You didn’t even know about it. I’m not grounded for life for helping… so they definitely don’t’ know about it.” Dane said, “She’s not wrong.” Obviously.
MaryBeth said, “Well, this is a cone of silence thing then. Get me everything about my brother’s pack and the data sets. I’ll talk to him.” I shrugged, “He didn’t seem to care and thought I was ‘cute’ for doing it all.” Jason rubbed his face.
MaryBeth gasped, “You put cute in quotes! HE SAID YOU WERE CUTE!?” Dane rubbed her back, “MB.” She shouted, “CUTE?! That information isn’t cute. He’s a Beta blood, he knows better.” I agreed.
I said, “Yes, well factoring in the mate bond… and the fact that I am biased… with my age because people love to point that out… I’m hoping the new analysis from the online group getshim to see it better.” Tristan instructed, “You guys keep moving. Ladybug, hang in the back with me.”
The group started to leave but he stayed back with me. I pointed out, “They can hear us back here.” He said, “I’m just going to try an explain something.” I gestured for him to continue saying, “Ok.” He said, “You can’t just analyze people’s lives and tell them they are wrong. It’s rude.”
I replied, “It’s rude to use people and alienate them from their families. It’s actually textbook gaslighting, narcissism and abuse.” He sighed, “Ladybug, people make choices in life. You can tell them how much you love them and point things out, but if you constantly tell them they are wrong they will cut you out of their lives.” I frowned.
He added, “It hurts to hear you’re wrong all the time. I know you understand when to back off because unless you’re pissed you don’t mention the cookies to mom. You’ve realized where that gets you. That applies to more than cookies.” That was magic… or it had to be… I was pretty certain. The probability was ninety nine point nine nine nine percent.
I said, “I’m not saying his mate is bad… just the pack.” He reasoned, “A pack he wanted to join for her.” I asked, “And?” He said, “These are his choices to make because it’s his life. We have to respect the choices people make.” I opened my mouth to argue but he held up his hand, “Even when you think it’s the wrong choice.”
I snorted, “People tell me not going to New York would be a strategically stupid decision and waste of my talents because I don’t want to go. So, why doesn’t that rule apply to everyone else? They use feelings as their argument. I have literal data and facts that prove I’m right. It’s a psychological study so there is a margin of error based on perception, but it’s still a data set instead of feelings. I added factors.”
He growled, “Who the hell said that you?” Robert. All the time with his friends. I answered, “A lot of people.” He said, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, and we will all respect the choice to make about school.” I asked, “Even if I say I don’t want to go, and mom makes me?”
