The mage, Karl, entered the secret room. He’d watched his uncle, Rolo, one of the top experts in curses and necromancy, risk his sanity by taking chances with the unknown. They had taken Rolo into custody and were responding to treatment slowly, but it would be a long time before they could trust him to work again within his chosen field. He’d lost so much as the council’s representative for the Mage Faction. Now his cousin took up that Rolo’s mantel, and that left Karl floundering to make a name for himself within the University. The University was basically the hub of the Mage world. The centre of learning and culture. Everyone made it there at one time or another. Without your credentials, you were no one and one step away from being a hedge mage. Which Karl figured the feral rogue wolves were. Necromancy and most blood magics were illegal. Though a senior mage could get away with the lesser spells if they could prove that the spells would benefit others more than themselves. So,

Haden and Janine spent most of the night heading up the cleanup after the ceremony. They’d ended up with party several party crashers, but it was fine with James and Emily. It was also good for word of mouth about the resort. They had the wind come up, and it scattered much of the items left behind through the ritual garden. Janine knew now that they had to plan more time for cleanup or lessen the scattering of cups and decorations. Finally, they were done with the cleanup, and they settled down in the lounge with a drink before bed. “Well, I finally done my job for the night and look at that, Haden. James is now officially mated and a father all in the same year. I’ve gone from being a tired old matronly Luna to a tired old resort owner. Oh, and a grandmother.” “My dear, you performed a miracle that many would think was long past being possible.” They tapped their wine glasses. Haden smiled as he sipped his drink. “We’ll, I can’t claim the same succ

“Okay, now you have to tell me who pushed you to do that. I want to thank them. It was perfect.” Emily sat in the bath with James and a glass of wine. She couldn’t see her official mate as she sat between his thighs with her back leaning against his chest. “I’ll start getting offended if you won’t believe me. It was my idea and others just helped. I didn’t like how much you were doing with the pups, pack, resort, and trying to get the mating ceremony setup. It was too much for anyone. I wanted you to relax and enjoy this time.” “You really have changed. A year ago, you wouldn’t have cared if I collapsed from exhaustion.” Emily was a little beyond tipsy now after the refreshments at the reception and drinks at the spa. She’d been careful, but they added up. James, too, was nicely mellowed out. They handed their pups off with a pack caregiver on duty for the night. “Yes, I would have. I relied on you far too much. I think if things hadn’t gotten to the extreme, thi

“Morning Karl, I have a response from the council. The Fianna will send a representative out to assist you. I’m surprised they moved this quickly. They have requested we send them via a mage driven portal rather than flighting out there. You should see them after lunch. Let the front desk know where they will find you. We’ve arranged for their stay. Now, how is the translation coming? Those weapons can’t be handed over without an understanding of what their purpose and function is.” Mages were well ahead of the everyday man. Humans finally got video calling, mages always had that. They called it scrying and Karl used it now to contact his mentor. Who was within the grand walls of the great library? Mages had to have a mentor while they studied and proved themselves. “Thank you, that’s great news. I have most of it translated. Currently, I’m attempting to build a detailed catalogue. With entries about each weapon mentioned within the journal. After that, I must identi

Karl greets the Alphas as they file into the room he’s using as a study currently. Once they’re settled with tablets, notepads, etcetera, James opened the meeting. “Alright, I think we can skip the intro to the reason for this meeting. We all know why and who we are. Okay Karl, tell us what you have found.”“Thank you, Alpha De Marre. Yes, uh, this is extremely complicated, so please bear with me as I need to explain there’s far too much back story. First, I have received some upsetting news. The latest attack by the Fae was investigated by my life partner’s enforcement team. The entire team is missing. I want to leave and go help, but I have been told not to stay here to continue working. Second, there’s supposed to be a Fianna weapons expert coming, and they are now late. Now, what I found while translating the journal. Hold on, I missed a few disturbing facts.” Karl held up a smaller book. “All original surviving copies of the translation book for the Fae language at in the univers