Ebony and Benedict slipped away to have time alone together in what felt like was forever. When they locked the door and looked at each other. “This feels weird.” Was the first thought Ebony could think of what to say aloud as she stood there looking at the wolf who insisted he was her mate still. The last one standing, the last one here. “I don’t think it’s us being together that feels weird. It’s realized the others aren’t here and we feel guilty because we don’t need to consider them into what happens between us,” Benedict said to her. He agreed, but didn’t agree. She looked down as she thought about it. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, trying to spread my time out between three was a full-time job. I always wondered in the back of my head if I was being fair to everyone.” Ebony said. She continued her thoughts from what he thought happened inside both their minds. “I must admit, it was exciting and a learning experience. But I wis
The Council finally called in the wee hours of the morning. Benedict expected his phone to ring and perhaps Ran’s. Not Ebony’s father’s, Magnus, and Con’s phones as well. The Council wanted him to show up as soon as possible with added demands. Benedict must appear with his prospective mates or mate in tow. The Council representative didn’t want to know about his loss of Peter or that Franco had left him. One or one hundred possible or current mates and pups must appear with him. The only issue was they must be with him. There were more demands, and Benedict wasn’t sure how he was supposed to achieve one of them. He must arrive with proof of his blood ties to the pack. A human DNA test would work if they had time, but they didn’t have that time. He might have a week or less. They wanted him to give them a list of his skills, education, and work experience. They wanted to know what his hobbies were. “I feel like I’m applying for a job, not verifying who I
“They will accept this?” Benedict had waited for Ebony’s mother to finish with the testing. She’d taken a lot more than blood from both he and Ran. Hair, skin, blood, and more that he wasn’t willing to talk about. Then she warned them and the council it would take time. If they wanted it done properly, they’d have to sit on their hands for a while. That’s what Benedict overheard her say. He’d come to like her over the last week. She didn’t take guff from anyone. No wolf of her own and she still stood toe to toe with Michael and other alphas. It wasn’t something Benedict expected. “If they don’t accept it then that’s their problem and you will never find anything that would make them happy. This is your copy, and they are right now mulling over theirs.” Benedict had to sit down for this. Ran entered the room. “Are you ready? Do you have everything? Benedict?” Ran stopped and stared at them. “Are those the results?” “Oh, yeah,
They left the colorful swirling void through an icy blue portal. It closed behind Con with a snap. With only six people using it, the mages didn’t need anyone present to manage keeping the opening open for everyone. They stood there in a stone cave where a carved entrance stood. “Well, this is the home portal for the pack. We have a cave system that runs through the mountains that border our territory. The packhouse is not far, and we aren’t deep in the cave.” Magnus said as he watched the light of the mage portal close behind him. “I guess this is one way to keep the portal quiet around here.” Ebony said as she looked about what appeared as a cave that someone worked the stone into an almost hidden room. “Oh, they’ve used this long before we settled here. No one at the University could tell us who built it. That somehow became lost to time. So don’t listen to anyone if they try to tell you the Fae built it. They never needed these thing
“This way. Can you please take this up to the rooms? You know what goes where. Thanks Clay.” “Hey, what are you doing?” “Taking Benedict to meet mom and dad. It’ll take a minute, but can you see mom waiting any longer?” “Okay, yeah. That’s something I want to see, but I don’t think I want to experience when dad sees him.” “I thought your mother spoke to your father and explained what happened?” “Okay, I don’t know the entire story. I thought she’d have to before the council said something, and dad found out that way.” “Maybe we can manage it differently then.” “What are you thinking we might do differently?” “Warn her. I’m here and she can prepare your father before that. Tell him I am here and who I am to him?” “I guess, but wouldn’t the results arriving be enough to have triggered it?” “It may have, but no one heard them
“Don’t worry Benedict. This will not cause any problems worse than we’ve met in the past. If anything, I can finally tell the story of how we met and not heavily edit it so your father doesn’t look like an evil monster.” “Me! You’ve been lying to me and everyone for decades, Loni. How am I the evil monster? I would have been out there ready to rip him apart. Gone to war with whoever harboured him.” “No one harboured us. He kept us moving around and in territory assigned to lone wolves. He had a fear of any type of pack organisation. I think the loneliness made him take his life in the end.” There was a silence in the room for a while before Hayle spoke. Hayle blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Of course, he did. The selfish prick. He couldn’t allow her to leave, even though your mother was my fated mate. Something wasn’t right in his head, Benedict. I’m sorry. I don’t know if you have some kind of bond w
Once they settled everyone into their rooms. Then they ate lunch. Hayle grumbled because he couldn’t put off the Council anymore. They wanted to meet their missing pack member and assess who he was and where he fit. Talk of prison or killing him was now on the back burner with the test results. The reason they didn’t toss out those options was because they feared Benedict might bring some sort of mental instability with him from his kidnapper or some twisted understanding of reality. Hayle wasn’t sure which, but he took offence to it reference as a possibility. He saw the three she-wolves interacting with his pack. Hayle had to remember these three were litter mates and now members of the McConnell Packs. Well, all but Ebony. They were nothing alike. The extremes in their personalities were fascinating. Sapphire and Ivory appeared to have a truce of some sort going on between them. Ebony appeared friendly with both, but distant at the same time. Hayle won
The large screen television masqueraded as a painting over the fireplace in the study, now held several images of the Board members of the McConnell packs. They headed the McConnell Clan around the world. These were elder McConnell pack Alphas. One of which was Hayle, Benedict’s father. Now he saw why no one feared what would happen to him. They had someone on the inside with a personal stake in his survival. But it explained why Hayle didn’t want to let his indiscretion become known. He’d found and lost his mate. Now he learned he’d fathered a pup who stood there as a lone wolf. His parents didn’t look good because he wasn’t that small pup anymore, nor had he been for many years. “So, you’ve gone by a false name for most of your life and you were unaware of your connection to the pack. Is that what you would have us believe?” “Sir, I don’t know what else to say about that. My father, or whoever he was, never told me we were members of the