Page 76 of Guardians of the Pack

‘So what you’re saying is that you have nothing on the witch?’ I demanded. ‘Not even a name? You must have called her something.’

‘Yeah. I called her “Witch”.’

‘Great.’

Bastion gave me a brief hug. ‘I’ll take Charlize to Shirdal now. I’ll be in touch.’

They both shifted into griffin form. As they flew away, I heard Charlize complain, ‘We’re hugging wolves now?’

With nothing more to do, the rest of us piled in the car and drove home, leaving Liam and Greg to await the Connection to clean up the scene. It had been a long few days and I was tired. My bed was calling me.

Unfortunately, I had to ignore it a while longer. When I arrived at the mansion, a familiar Mercedes was parked in the driveway; Jess’s Mercedes. A zing of happiness ran through me. I definitely needed some time with my best friend. Screw sleep.

Maybe a cooler, more debonair alpha would have swanned in calmly and given their friend a chilled nod in greeting, butIjumped out of the car before it had barely stopped and ran into the mansion, eagerness gushing out of my every pore.

When I pulled open the front door, Mrs Dawes was waiting in the hall. She gave me a knowing smile. ‘All went well with the raid?’

‘Yes, thankfully the kids are fine, though the witch is still at large. She was trying to drain the children of their magic.’

‘My goodness,’ she said faintly.

‘I know. It’s utterly vile to target children like that.’

‘Some people can justify any action to themselves.’

I shook my head in disbelief. ‘How can anyone justify kidnapping kids and taking them away from their families? No, however important, the ends don’t justify the means. Anyway, Jess is here?’

‘I’ve put her in your living room. I trust that’s all right.’

‘Perfect, thank you Mrs Dawes.’

‘I took the liberty of pouring Jinx a glass of wine. The bottle is in the wine chiller if you want some as well.’

I absolutely wanted some, but Greg and Liam were still off site and I was responsible for our safety. I needed to organise the patrols around the grounds until they returned. Technically, Tristan was next in line but he hated my guts. I hesitated, but it would have been unprofessional not to use him in the circumstances. He was fourth, and it wasn’t fair to always make the others pick up the slack because I didn’t trust him. I decided to pair him up with Marissa and Seren; the three could patrol together.

‘Thank you Mrs Dawes. Please can you locate Tristan, Marissa and Seren and task them with patrolling the grounds this evening? I’ll let Greg know the arrangements.’

‘Of course, alpha. I’ll see to it right away.’

I knew that she would. I texted Greg to let him know the arrangements I’d put in place and that Jess was here. They had been through some dramas together, and they had a loose kind of a friendship, so I expected he’d be glad to see her.

Mrs Dawes hadn’t mentioned that anyone was with Jess, and I was pretty sure she would have told me if the Prime Elite of the dragons had arrived. I guessed that Jess was flying solo, though hopefully she’d brought her hell hound, Gato, with her. I’d loved that pup since the days when I thought he was a Great Dane.

I opened the door to my room and smiled. Jess was in her standard uniform of jeans and a shirt. Her brunette hair was piled in a messy bun on top of her head, and she’d used the barest swipe of mascara to line her blue eyes. She was smiling as she started to rise when I ran into the room. She just had time to get to her feet before I barrelled into her arms, propelling us both back onto the sofa behind her. She burst out laughing. ‘I’m happy to see you too, Luce.’

‘I’mecstatic! There should be a law that we’re not allowed to go longer than two weeks without seeing each other. This is your fault for moving so far away.’

‘I moved to Liverpool – it’s hardly Timbuktu. Besides, we can do video calls.’

‘We can, but we don’t. We’re both too busy. Trying to align our schedules is like trying to time a celestial eclipse.’

‘Can you time celestial eclipses?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘I don’t know, but you get what I mean.’

‘What are you wearing?’ Jess asked, her voice a shade away from a laugh.

‘A black tracksuit,’ I said, my tone matter of fact. ‘We have pack clothes on hand in case we transform and end up naked. I lost a bunch of clothes before I realised that they’d disappear.’

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