Page 60 of Escaping Wildfire
We went to training in the morning as usual, and then Alpha wanted the three of us to meet him in his office after lunch.
“Come on in guys, Isaiah and I were just finishing up a phone call with our sister.”
I didn’t miss how Jordan’s eyes shifted for a second as Neo came out at the mention of his mate. I knew he was still hurting over her, even if the pain of losing his parents superseded the pain he felt over his mate.
“Ellis has been making sure Nora is taken care of, but we put her on the same floor as you guys hoping it would make her feel safe. Maybe you guys can work on making her feel welcome once she is up and about.” We nodded in agreement. I wanted to help her, but I also wanted to ask her all about how Gema was really doing.
“I did have something else I wanted to talk to you guys about.” Alpha continued with the real reason he called us here. “As you know, Alpha Tate and I are good friends. He’s been instructed by The Council and other bear alphas to stay out of Wildfire business…but he’s never been good about following orders.”
“Does that mean he’s going to help us?” Jordan looked at Alpha to confirm.
“He hasn’t said that outright, but he’d like to meet with you boys…on his territory.”
“At Brown Claw? You want us to go down there?” I was certain my eyes lit up at the chance to head back to Texas. Brown Claw wasn’t quite home, but it was as close as we could get right now. Cosmo perked up at the thought of being back near Cobalt Falls. “When can we visit?”
“You’ll head out tomorrow. I can’t leave the pack right now, but Isaiah will drive out with you and serve as our pack representative. I consider you guys fully Harvest Moon right now, but I want you to make the right decisions for Cobalt Falls when you meet with Alpha Tate.”
“Yes, Alpha.” We all agreed to be ready to head out in the morning as the drive would take all day.
None of us had ever been on bear territory, so we were unsure of what to expect. I felt hopeful though, Alpha Kedrick was coming through as he promised, and for once, I didn’t feel the usual despair I did at the thought of Gema and Cobalt Falls.
As we reached our rooms, we saw the door next to my room click open, and a tall, slender girl with light brown hair and green eyes stepped out. She froze as she saw the three of us.
“You must be Nora.” I held out my hand for her to shake. “I’m Noah, and this is Jordan and Cristian. We all shook her hand in turn. She looked like she was about to cry. “You’re Gema’s brother?” She nodded towards Cristian. “You have the same eyes…” She looked towards me, seemingly not knowing what to say. “And you’re her…the twins’ brother.” It looked like she decided to change her mind about what to say at the last minute. “So, you must be Jasmine and Jade’s brother.”
“How are they?” Jordan blurted out the question on all our minds.
“They’re sad…” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “I didn’t really get to know your sisters well as they mostly kept to themselves, but the twins seemed to adjust well once they were allowed to start training.”
“Training?” I asked.
“Yes, Alpha Marek made training mandatory for all your siblings. Gema has even been helping teach the pup’s training group.”
“She has?” Nora nodded and pride swelled up in me for Gema. As the Gamma couple, my parents had always led the training classes together, and my whole life I had imagined myself with my mate doing the same. Picturing Gema leading the pups made me yearn for that life with her.
We offered to give Nora a tour of the pack, which she accepted and invited her to dinner with us afterward. She was polite and readily answered all our questions about our family but was also quite shy. Once we finished eating, the three of us headed back upstairs to pack for our trip tomorrow.
As directed, we headed out early and had a pretty uneventful ride. Gamma Isaiah was a good guy. I had gotten to shadow him during our training and learned a lot from just watching him interact with his pack and warriors. He hadn’t found his mate yet, and he had shared with me that he was planning to go on a mate-finding trip after our training, but now his trip was put on hold indefinitely due to our predicament with Wildfire.
Once we hit the Texas state line, Cosmo and I felt more at ease. The air here was different, and I had missed the feeling of being home. We got to Brown Claw a few hours later and were greeted at the entrance by Alpha Tate himself. He led us to their main house where we would be staying the night.
“You guys got here just in time for dinner. We’re a smaller clan, so we usually all have dinner in the main hall together. We can head to my office and talk after eating.”
We all nodded and were led to a table with a few others already eating. “Here, let me introduce you to my mate and son, Sydney and Tristan.” We greeted everyone and were directed to sit down as plates were brought out for us. Our parents had always told us to keep a safe distance from the bears as they liked to keep to themselves, so it was strange getting such a polite greeting from everyone.
Gamma Isaiah had seemed a bit uncomfortable since we arrived. He was usually the picture of a calm and collected wolf, but he was slightly fidgety, and his heart rate was a bit faster than usual. As for dinner itself, the bears had made delicious food and had given us more than enough of our fill. I thought wolves ate a lot, but these bears could put us to shame. We finished dinner, and the Alpha led the four of us to his office.
“I don’t think I thanked the four of you for coming yet but thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I’ve been trying to keep an eye on Cobalt Falls since you guys called me about the attack, but things seem to be running the same as always. I’ll be honest, I never paid much attention to you guys before this, so I’m not sure I would notice any changes.” We nodded our heads in understanding but didn’t say anything as we were still waiting to hear what Alpha Tate had to say.
“I’ve been thinking about this for the last few weeks, and the Council’s decision doesn’t sit right with me. Wildfire has been allowed to do as they please for too long, so I want to help. I want to pledge my clan to help Cobalt Falls and Harvest Moon defeat Wildfire.”
“What about your seat on The Council and The Council itself?” Gamma Isaiah asked.
“My seat?” Alpha Tate chuckled humorlessly. “I was playing nice with the other council alphas as I didn’t want to rock the boat too much before I officially took over the third bear seat, but Alpha Keenan informed me just this week that he has decided to extend his time as Alpha. He told me his son isn’t ready to take over, but the reality is that Alpha Keenan isn’t ready to let go of his power as both an alpha and a member of The Council. One good thing, though, is that him doing this frees me up to do as I wish, and I want to help with the takedown of Wildfire.”
“Thank you, Alpha Tate, we appreciate all the help we can get.” Jordan, ever the diplomat, spoke up for us. “You mentioned that you’ve still been watching over Cobalt Falls. Would it be possible for us to go over and see how our pack is doing?”
“We’ve mostly been doing virtual surveillance. We set up some nearby cameras in inconspicuous places, and I’ve had my tech guys checking on them. I’ve gotta say, once you guys get your pack back, you have to step up your tech game. It was too easy to get these cameras set up on your lands.”