Page 49 of Escaping Wildfire
“Shut the hell up, man.” Jordan lightly shoved Cristian who fell back onto his bed. For a moment, I saw the same fire in Jordan that Luna Christina had when she was about to tell it like it is. He really was his mother’s son. “As far as I’m concerned, the three of us are brothers. We grew up together through thick and thin, and right now things are more thick than anything, but we’re all still here together, making it through. Yeah, your dad did something shitty, but that’s not on you. When we get our pack back, you are the only Beta I trust to stand by my side…and I bet our Gamma here thinks the same.” Jordan looked back at me to continue.
“Jordan’s right, it’s the three of us together or no one…just don’t get any ideas about making Evie our Beta Female.” I couldn’t help but poke fun at him even in this serious moment.”
“Fuck,” He hung his head in shame and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I was so drunk last night. To be completely honest, I don’t even remember what all happened, just that she was here this morning…I thought it would make me feel better, but waking up to a hangover and Evie is not how I wanted to start my day.”
“Let’s give you a redo then. Noah and I were going on a run, come with us.”
Cristian didn’t say anything but gave us a small smile before he stood up and grabbed his shoes.
“Let’s go then.”
The rest of the week passed by without another call from Gema. I had sent a text just letting her know I was thinking of her, but it didn’t look like she had even seen it.
Jordan and Cristian fluctuated between looking like they were okay to trying to keep their wolf calm to withdrawing from the world. It was a rollercoaster ride I was ready to get off of, but I suppose that’s how grief goes. Alpha Kedrick continued to help us out as much as possible, but short of getting us therapy, I wasn’t sure what else could be done.
Today was one of the okay days, the three of us showed up for afternoon training, worked hard, and then headed upstairs to get cleaned up for dinner. Everyone was in good spirits as today was the day we would have our meeting with the cat shifters. One of Ms. Castillo’s people contacted the Alpha last night to let us know she would be arriving this evening. We wanted to make a good impression, so Luna Ellis set up a nice dinner for us in the alpha residence.
Alpha Kedrick had asked us to be on our best behavior as we didn’t know what to expect from Ms. Castillo or her entourage. We were told it would be her and two others arriving with her. Their car had pulled into the pack border about 30 minutes ago, so they should be arriving any minute now.
‘Hey guys, the car is here, head up to the dining room with Luna Ellis, and Beta Gabriel and I will meet you there.’ Alpha Kedrick had taken to being less formal around us when referring to his ranked members, but for today, he was all business again.
We headed upstairs where Luna and Oren were already waiting.
“Guys! You’re here! Mom made chicken for dinner with spaghetti.” Oren ran up to us excitedly. The kid loved his pasta. He was dressed similarly to us in khaki pants and a button-down shirt. We all wanted to look nice but not overly dressed up.
We heard the door open, and Alpha ushered in a tall woman with golden brown hair who looked around his age. I had pictured someone older with how she had spoken on the phone. She was holding the hand of a little boy about Oren’s age, and a woman who looked to be in her early twenties followed them.
“Ms. Castillo, please allow me to introduce you to my family. My mate Ellis, and our son Oren. He’s just turned six this month. Oren, say hello to Jeremiah, he’s five.”
“Can I show him my toys?”
“How about you do that after dinner?” Luna Ellis guided us along.
“Ms. Castillo, let me introduce you to these three young men, originally from Cobalt Falls.”
“Cobalt Falls? That’s Wildfire’s latest conquest, is it not?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Jordan answered for us.
“Ma’am? I’m not that old, please, call me Olivia.” We each shook her hand in turn. “I thought you brought me here to discuss Harvest Moon, but seeing as these young men are also here, I’m intrigued as to what you have to discuss with me.”
“Well, if you’d like, we can go ahead and get started.” Alpha guided us to the table, and we sat as Luna Ellis started bringing out the food. We filled our plates before getting started.
“As you know, Cobalt Falls was attacked. The boys were here at Harvest Moon when it happened, so they lost their pack bond and are now members of Harvest Moon, at least for the time being. We took the issue to The Shifter Council, but they voted against helping, saying it was strictly a wolf issue, and there was no need for the bears and foxes to involve themselves in the matter.”
“Of course they did.” Olivia scoffed under her breath.
“Most of the wolf packs have agreed to work together, but it’s not enough. We asked you here, to see if you’d be willing to help, more specifically to see if the cat shifters would be willing to help us in the fight against Wildfire.”
“You plan to attack Wildfire?”
“Yes.” Alpha kept his cool throughout the conversation. He was taking a big risk by giving away a part of our plan, and we weren’t yet one hundred percent certain the cats were on our side.
Olivia looked at her assistant, whose name I didn’t catch, and then looked over at her son, and placed her hand over his. “What makes you think we’d be willing to help?”
“We know the Wildfire attacks have led to destruction in some of your territories and that there has been some loss of lives for your people.”
Olivia swallowed hard but continued listening to his words.