139 | FINAL REPORT

The powerful shifters leave the office and our group disburses like leaves scattering to the wind. Even Darine and Yuri leave so it’s just Blue and I in his office. I can’t relax fully here, not with the dragon’s presences still prickling against my skin, but I feel much better once we’re alone. Less like a caged animal and more like an in-control person.

“Great minds think alike,” I finally sigh, turning to Blue with a grim smile as I wave my phone at him. “I was just texting Craven to see where Kazamir was. I figured they were both near by, but…” I trail off and shrug.

“Yeah,” Blue sighs tiredly, running a hand over his forehead and eyes. “Cole’s become a problem. The Pack can’t contain him lately,” My mate admits quietly, lowering his hand and giving me a somber look. “I wasn’t sure what else to do.”

“You made the right decision,” I tell him gently, reaching over to pat his chest. “Your heart was in the right place, at least.” I add when he lets out a snort. “We know *draki* are L-Class, supernaturals that are way above our levels of strength.” I remind him with a shudder. Blue’s grimace twists into a thinner, flatter line as he thinks that over, then he shakes his head and lets out a defeated sigh.

“It’s just,” Blue runs a hand through his hair and grabs at a fistful of the unruly mess. “He’s my cousin, Red. My blood. My Pack.” He closes his eyes and leans to press his forehead to mine. The second our skin touches, a majority of the strain seems to drain from his expression. “I don’t know what we would have done if…” He shudders and pulls me closer, his emotions swirling twistedly from his side of the bond. I mentally reach out and send soothing vibes out towards him, trying to nullify the fear and despair that’s threatening to consume my mate.

Before I can think of something else to say, my phone buzzes in my hand. I let out a sigh, glancing at the now lit-up screen, and frown as I see Craven’s name on the incoming call. I hesitate on a second before accepting the call and putting it on speaker.

“Hey, Craven, you’re on speaker.” I tell him. Blue’s eyes open with a quirked eyebrow. I shrug back at him and look back to the phone.

*“Ah, you’re with your mate, huh?”* Craven asks with a knowing tone. *“Alpha Azure, how’s it going?”* He asks pointedly.

*“Craven,”* Blue acknowledges coolly, but igores my cousin's question. I chew my lip, knowing that the two have communicated just fine recently, but I’m reminded that Craven’s the one who hurt Caly, Blue’s younger sister. It’s been over a year, but I know Blue’s not entirely happy with him in general - even if Craven wasn’t really ‘sane’ at the time. Not that I blame Blue. If I were in his shoes I probably would have killed Craven for what he did.

“Is this a social call?” I ask Craven after a beat of uncomfortable silence.

*“Sadly, no.”* Craven sighs so loudly that the line crackles with static. *“I assume Kazamir is busy talking the Azure pup?”* I frown at the phone, not entirely surprised that he knows about Cole since Craven and Kazamir seem to be such good friends.

“Yeah, Kazamir’s here. Need me to locate him for you or something?” I hesitate before asking. *I hope he says no.* I don’t want to deal with Kazamir if he or Cole are pissed.

*“No, no, dear cousin, I called to talk to you.”* Craven reassures me. *“As a mater of fact, I’m calling to give you my last report.”* I feel my blood chill when I hear him say it like that.

“Craven,” I start, worry leaking into my tone. It’s all I have to say for my older cousin to answer my unspoken question.

*“I’m fine, Wisteria. Not a scratch on me, I swear.”* Craven tells me in a patronizingly sweet and slow voice. I cringe, his screwed-up vocal chords garbling the words so much that static burbles through the speakers.

“Then-”

*“I don’t believe there will be a way back to the West for me or Kazamir.”* Craen explains, cutting me off before I can start freaking out. *“The balance of* draki *has been settled. There are two new Clan leaders. Kazamir is leader of this side of the States’* draki *population, and another has taken over the West. I don’t know who the Clan leader is since it’s a fire-drake and, apparently,”* Craven delivers another static-filled sigh. *“Air and fire* draki *do* not *get along.”*

“Ah,” I sum up my thoughts ad relief in the little huff, instantly relaxing. “So, Kazamir is an air *draki*.” I think back to the instances when the air felt odd around the dragon-shifter the few times we’ve met in person. “I can see that.” I add under my breath and chew my lower lip as I think this through. “Okay, so no more recon missions until we can be friendly with the fire-*draki*. Got it.” I murmur.

*“Yeah, about that,”* Craven starts slowly. *“I’m apparently marked as an ally to air* draki *so I can’t exactly go into the West alone anymore, something Kazamir failed to mention before it became an issue. And if Kaz goes, it could be seen as a declaration of war.”*

“Huh,” I hum. “Yeah, let’s not do that then.” I shudder at the thought of more shit going on because of something I tell my cousin to do. He could die out there and I wouldn’t know. “We can figure something out later if it becomes an issue. But maybe now that there’re new leaders- uh, Clan leaders, things will calm down?” I dare to hope aloud.

*“I’m not sure what to tell you on that front, Wisty.”* Craven admits after a beat, another sigh coming across the line. *“But, on our way back, Kazamir was approached by some unlikely allies.”* I blink, not sure I’m about to like what he’s about to say by the dryness of his tone. *“Your Darklight friends work with another faction nearby that help them out from time to time. It’s a community in Red Valley. One of their three leaders made a formal alliance with Kazamir on the condition that his people stay in the mountains, and not hurt any humans.”*

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” I comment slowly, wondering what Craven’s holding back. It sounds like things are looking up…but I can’t shake the unease in my gut that tells me otherwise.

*“It’s…complicated. Red Valley is a major Hunter hub,”* Craven drops the bomb on me and I stare at the screen for a beat, wondering if I heard him correctly.

“Wait, they’re *all* Hunters?” I finally choke out, blinking rapidly. “I mean, I knew Shola works out of that city, that’s what I understood when I researched them, but an entire *town* of Hunters?” My head’s aching a little as I try to process this. “How does that even work when Darklight is right there and Colton is right behind it?” I don’t have to ask why this is even possible…because isn’t they exactly why Darklight is there? There are literally two strong forces out there- surrounding them - in case their system fails. It all makes sense, a horrible sort of sense, in my head. “That’s why it was an event.” I breathe out, the unease growing stronger in my stomach. “*Is* an event.” I correct myself, shaking my head and closing my eyes.

I really need to talk to Dr. Chambers and convince him to allow his adopted daughter to become both Enforcer and Executioner. The sooner the better…but it’s also not a good idea to drop in on them and start making demands. Last thing I want is to be killed if something goes wrong. *No, I have to be patient. Nikki told me that I have a few more weeks. I can do this.*

*“Yeah, it’s complicated,”* Craven reads into my silence. *“But at least they’re willing to ignore the draki presence so close to their home base for the time beings. The last thing we need is to have Hunters crawling all over this side of the trail.”* I silently agree with him, grimacing a little.

“Was that everything?” I ask hesitantly, worried he’s about to spring something else on me.

*“That was it,”* Craven confirms. *“I’m gonna go rest up,”* He adds after a second. *“Paris is going to be running us through drills tomorrow. She wasn’t all that thrilled with the reaction of the overseas allies and she’s starting to get us ready…you know, just in case…”* Craven doesn’t say it…he doesn’t have to. We both know what could be on the horizon, and neither of us dares to voice it and give the idea more power than it already has.

“Tell her to call is she needs anything. We’ve got two Packs and an entire Coven to back her up if she needs it.” I tell my older cousin firmly, feeling Blue’s agreement in my mind.

*“Yeah, Wisty, I’m pretty sure she knows.”* Craven chuckles, this time his tone is lighter. *“We’ll call you up if it comes to that, but right now she’s just trying to get everyone back in shape.”*

“Okay,” I reply reluctantly. “You can call me too, you know,” I add after a beat. “If you need anything-”

*“I know, Wisty.”* Craven tells me, and lets out another heavy sigh that crackles through the line. *“Let me know if that giant lizard doesn’t want to leave. I’ll drag his ass back to the mountains myself if I have to,”* He chirps eagerly.

“Right, we’ll do that.” I bark out a surprised laugh at Craven’s words, shaking my head. “Talk to you later, Craven.” I tell him before hanging up, still shaking my head, but I’m smiling a little as I do, and that knot of unease has relaxed a few degrees in my stomach. I turn to Blue, putting my phone away. “Think Cole and Kazamir are done talking yet?” I ask. Blue tilts his head, eyes unfocusing as he mentally seeks out the answer.

“Just about.” Blue murmurs with a nod, his gaze focusing back on my face. “Shall we track them down?” He holds a hand out to me, grinning mischievously. I smirk back and take his hand, giving a nod before following him out the door to go find the *draki* and Wolven-*draki* hybrid.