Chapter 25

“Do you ever have that feeling where the hairs on the back of your neck rise, goose bumps suddenly appear all over your arms and your stomach feels like hornets are buzzing around to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic? Take that feeling and magnify it a thousand times, then you will have a small idea of what it’s like to walk into a room full of dominant wolves.” ~Lilly


“For the pack!” The entire room repeated Peri’s declaration. They stood as one, united in purpose, and joined by a common goal.
Peri let the light around her fade until she finally looked like the Peri they all knew. It was apparent to everyone in the room that, though she now looked less majestic, she still wore power equal to the strongest of Alphas.
“I know it has been a very long time since any of you have seen a healer … if you ever have. That does not excuse rude behavior. You who are Alphas and dominants know better than any, how protective your males are of their mates. So, show the respect they deserve. Show the healer just how precious she is by not acting like rampant idiots.” Peri met each Alphas eyes and held them, letting them see that she was not going to play dominance games with them. She was here as their equal and they would either accept that or not. It would be much wiser of them to just let it be.
Peri saw Vasile and Alina as they approached the entry. She motioned for the wolves to look behind them.
Vasile and his mate walked through the wolves as they parted, each of them dropping their eyes and the Alphas bowing their head slightly to Alina in respect. When they reached the front of the room, Vasile turned to face them.
“We all know why we are here,” he told them. “Our creator, the Great Luna, has seen the evil that threatens our species, as well as all of the others, and she has called us to stand against it. She created us for such a time as this.” Vasile’s voice carried throughout the room, strong and clear. “She made us stronger, more resilient, and more cunning than other species. She made us wolves because a pack protects its own. Pack protects the weak. Pack protects when all others choose to look away. Thankfully, we are not alone in our stand against the evil that has grown. We have friends who have agreed to help and we will welcome them into our pack and hear what they have to say.”
Vasile motioned towards the back of the room where Cypher, Lilly, Thalion, and Cyn stood with a slew of warriors behind them.
Cypher turned and said something to the others and the warriors stayed behind as the four proceeded forward. The room was quiet as they walked. Cypher and Thalion kept their head straight forward not making eye contact with any of the wolves. Lilly looked everywhere, searching for Jacque, Jen, and Sally. When Lilly’s eyes finally landed on Jacque and her friends her face broke into a huge smile.
Jacque was out from behind Fane and running towards her mother faster than Fane could react. She was barreling through the males not caring who she ran into or how it might affect Fane to watch his mate sprint through a room full of males that he did not know. Sally and Jen were right behind her and all three males tore after them.
Jacque knew what she had done was foolish, but all she had seen was her mother and all she could think about was making sure she was safe. She should have known that Sally and Jen would be right behind her because they loved her mom every bit as much as she did.
Jacque reached her mom and ran straight into her arms, and for a brief moment, she thought that her little stunt might not be a disaster. She should have considered that a pregnant chick was running full speed behind her in a room jam-packed with bodies.
Jen stumbled and Tyler reached out to catch her, but Decebel was there before he could touch her. Decebel glared at the Alpha and Tyler held his hands up and took a few steps back. The room was still as they waited to see how Decebel would respond.
“Hey B,” Jen elbowed him. “Help a pregnant chick out and carry me through the masses?”
Decebel looked down at his mate and shook his head as he swung her up into his arms.
“You are a pain in my a…”
“Tsk, tsk, Dec, no cursing remember?” Jen admonished, as she patted her stomach. Decebel growled but held his tongue.

Lilly wrapped her arms around all three of the girls as the huddled close. She hadn’t realized just how badly she had needed to see that they were okay. She wiped tears away as she stepped back to look at each of them.
“Look at you three,” she swooned. “You’re beautiful. Romania agrees with you.”
Jen laughed. “That’s about the only thing.” Decebel raised a brow at her when she looked back at him and winked.
Decebel, Fane, and Costin had formed a protective circle around the women and Adam, Sorin, and Gavril had stepped forward as well. The ladies were completely oblivious to their surroundings as they fired questions at one another, barely giving themselves time to answer. A loud throat clearing finally tore their attention from one another.
“I realize that you all want to catch up, and I assure you there will be time for that,” Vasile told them, not unkindly, “but there are other matters that need to be dealt with.”
“We are going to talk as soon as this pow-wow is over,” Jacque told her mom as Fane tugged her by the hand back to where they had been standing. Decebel, Jen, Costin, and Sally followed close behind them. Everyone seemed to gather themselves back together and the four newcomers commenced the progress towards the front of the room.

Cypher pulled Lilly close to him as they reached the front of the room. He didn’t feel threatened by any of the wolves, but he still didn’t want Lilly away from his side. He shook Vasile’s hand and nodded to his mate.
“Vasile, it’s been a very long time,” Cypher told him.
Vasile nodded. “That it has. I see that the Fates have blessed you,” he nodded toward Lilly.
“Hi Vasile,” Lilly smiled. “Good to see you again, though I wish it were under different circumstances.”
“Likewise.”
Alina stepped forward and gave Lilly a hug. “How are you holding up?” She asked her.
Lilly gave Alina a small squeeze as she answered, “I’m good.”
Alina looked at her face as she stepped back from the hug and she could see in Lilly’s eyes that, despite all that was going on, she was happy at Cypher’s side.
Thalion stepped forward and bowed slightly to Vasile and Alina.
“I am Thalion, Prince of the Elves.”
The room erupted into murmurs at Thalion’s introduction. Vasile silenced them with a look and then turned back to Thalion.
“I’ve heard of you, though in all my time we have never met,” Vasile bowed in return.
“We have kept to ourselves for far too long, and for that I am sorry. I have come to hopefully right some of that wrong.”
Vasile reached for the Elf Prince’s hand and grasped it tightly. “We welcome you, friend of the pack.” He looked at Cypher and Lilly and added. “We welcome all of you.”
The rest of the meeting was spent with Cypher telling them of everything they had been through since Mona showed up in his forest with her proposition. Several times Vasile had needed to remind the group of dominants to pull themselves together when they growled at something Cypher said and they disliked. But, by the end, everyone seemed to be on the same page.

Vasile addressed the room a last time before dismissing everyone.
“I need each Alpha to stay, the rest are free to go eat and relax as much as possible because the time for that is quickly coming to an end. Do not be foolish with dominance games or I will save your Alphas the trouble and kill you myself.”
The room began to empty until all that remained were the Alphas and Vasile’s core group.