Chapter 81

(**Sebastion**)

My morning has been filled with so much joy that I may have a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day. Jace wanted to stay home with his new siblings, but when I told him they were not going anywhere, he agreed to go to school. So, my mother took him and Zasha to school while I stayed with Irina.

“What did you and Zasha talk about?”

I lean back against the headboard with Oksanna in my arms. She is sleeping finally. Our baby girl is very opinionated already. She hates being separated from her brother and only calms when I am holding her in my arms, or she is being fed.

Glancing at Irina, I give her a grim look. “She had a bad dream. I told she was safe, and no one could hurt her. She said he can. There was no need for her to tell me who she was talking about.”

Irina gives me a scared look. “If he knows about her gift, then he will come for her. She is his prize. Out of all of us, he will want her more.”

“We need to send Theo and Oksanna away. When I told her I would do everything in my power to protect her, she asked me if I would protect you and the babies too. She said he will want her too, her sister.”

I look down at Oksanna with fear in my eyes. She isn’t even a day old, and I am suggesting sending her away. Yet, I will send her away if I have to, even if it breaks my heart to do it. However, I won’t send her away without her brothers or sister.

All four of my children will leave redwood tonight.

“Sebastion, I can’t send them away. We can’t.”

“Irina, I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought we had any other options. If our children fall into the motherfucker’s hands, they will suffer worse than we will.”

“Then we send every child in the pack away, too.”

“That is what we will do, then. I need to meet with Monroe soon, so I will see what can be done. We have no way of knowing when Treadstone will come, but I want to be ahead of him.”

“No Sebastion, please....”

The pleading tone in her voice is breaking my heart, but I know it is what we have to do. I know what I have to say next will hurt her. It is the only way to get her to see that this is the right thing to do. “Do you know what he did to some of his captives? The female captive in particularly? He used them as sex slaves. Do you want that for Zasha? For Oksanna? Fuck that shit. I know you know what he did. You may not have told me all the details, but I have seen those memories in your dreams. I don’t want that for our daughters. Do you?”

There are tears in her eyes when I finish my rant, but there is anger behind those tears. I hurt her, but I also pissed her off. I need that anger from her. That anger will protect our children and all the children of our pack.

“I will agree to this on one condition.”

“What condition?”

“The minute that sick fucker is dead, I want my children back. If you don’t have them brought back here after he is dead, then I will leave to go get them myself and never come back.”

I gently hand Oksanna to her, then get up off the bed. With swift strides, I walk over to the bassinet, pick it up, then walk back to the bed with it. I shove it against her side of the bed so that she can easily put the twins in it.

“I am not doing this to hurt you, but to protect them. Threating to leave me after this is all over isn’t fair. I am fucking doing this for you. This hurts me too.”

With that, I turn from her and leave the room. I want to slam the door, but I calmly close it behind me instead. I may be hurt and angry, but my first thought is for my children. Irina’s anger is understandable. She just gave birth last night and here I am all but ripping them from her arms.

I let my anger carry me down the hall to the stairs, then out of the house when I reach the front door. When I reach the boathouse, Monroe is already there, sitting on the ground with his feet in the water. He turns to look at me. A frown forms on his face as he sees me.

“You are earlier than expected. There are still thirty minutes until the meeting is to start.”

“Do you have any a way to contact Arabella?”

He nods his head, then pulls his feet out of the water and stands up. “What do you want her to come back?”

Because I trust him, I share everything about Zasha and Oksanna. I explain my idea of taking them and all the children in the pack far away from Redwood. I can see the surprise on his face at my willingness to send my newborn babies and every child in my pack away.

“Let me call Arabella and see if she can help.”

Before he can pull out his cell phone, there is a white puff of smoke followed by the rich smell of French perfume. When the smoke clears, Arabella, Jazmine and three witches I haven’t seen before are now standing in front of me.

Monroe takes a step forward when he sees Jazmine, but stops before he closes the distance between them.

“I have come with a warning. The shadows that swirl around your pack are closing in on you. They will be closer sooner than you wish. They are already in Oregon. I have brought a few of my friends to help solidify the spells Lynn and Jazmine did.”

The three witches nod their heads. I blink a few times when look at their faces after they lower the hoods of their cloaks. Identical triplets. Holy shit.

“Meet the Gem sisters. Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire. They are the leaders of a coven in Italy.”

Now I have a time frame. That helps to know. I have the advantage here. The woods that surround my pack are hiding hundreds of rogues. The walls have been fortified with a powerful spell thanks to these witches.

Now to ask for one last favor.

“Is there any way that you can hide all the children of my pack or take them to another location until the battle is over?”

Jazmine’s eyes turn cloudy for a moment before they clear, and she looks over at Arabella. “Three of the children in this pack have extraordinary gifts. They can’t fall into the Collectors’ hands.”

Three? I am confused. There are only two.

“Wait, no. There are only two. Irina suspected Zasha inherited her grandmother’s gift of foresight. We got confirmation of that this morning. Zasha gave me a hint that her baby sister has it too.”

The two witches share another glance before Jazmine speaks again.

“Only Zasha has that gift. Your twins have unique gifts. Each has a gift that balances the other’s. Like yin and yang. Light and dark. We can teach them when they are older how to use their gifts.”

That explains why they each get upset when they are away from each other for too long. I thought it was just a twin thing, like I had with Arianna. Now I know it is more than that.

“We will help you. There is a place that all the children of your pack will be safe from harm.” The Gem sisters say in unison.

That is creepy.

“Can you do this tonight? With Vicktor already in Oregon, our time is running out faster than I expected.”

This time, thankfully, the three of them merely nod their heads.

“Give me a few hours to talk to my pack. Separating parents from their children is going to be hard.”

It already is for me, and I can only imagine the push back I am going to get from the mothers and fathers in my pack. Maybe they will see that I am doing this for our children and the future of the pack. That I am not doing it to hurt them.

Flint, Justin, and Wade walk into the boathouse but stop when they see the Gem sisters. I can see that they are confused, so I give them a brief outline of why the five witches are here. Once that is out of the way, we get down to the reason I called this meeting.

Relief fills me when my three commanders assured me that everything is in order. Monroe tells me that all his rogues are well hidden in the forest surrounding my pack. We also have scouts in the human town not far from here that will link with Flint and Monroe if Vicktor shows up in town.

I showed my pack warriors his face, and Monroe did the same.

“Flint, can you call a full pack meeting? I want everyone there except our teachers and daycare staff. Tell them all to be in the large meeting room in thirty minutes.”

*Thirty minutes later*

The tension in the pack has already been high this last month, so calling this meeting isn’t helping anything. To my complete shock, Irina enters the meeting and comes up to me before I can step up on the stage. Her expression is soft when she looks at me, but there are tears in her eyes still.

“Where are Oksanna and Theo?”

“Your mother has them.” She nudges her head to the side of the stage, where I can see my mom with her back to the room.

“What are you planning?”

“As their Alpha, they will listen to you, but as their Luna and a mother myself, they will listen to me. I will appeal to them as a mother, not as their Luna. You are right to send our children away, and I am sorry for what I said.”

I give her a brief kiss, then help her up the steps of the stage. When we are both facing the pack, I raise my hand to get everyone’s attention. The room goes quiet as my pack waits for me to tell them why I called them here.

“As you all know, we are under threat. That threat is now here in Oregon.”

Just like I expected, the room erupts in shouted questions. Irina takes a step forward and motions with one hand towards my mom. The room goes quiet the minute she steps forward. When my mother turns around with the twins in her arms, the room applauds.

Irina takes Theo from mom then puts him in my waiting arms. She then takes Oksanna and turns to look at our pack members. There is a smile on her face as she does.

“I would like to introduce you all to our children. This little lady is Oksanna. Her twin brother, Theo, is with his father. I have a request for all the mothers and fathers in Redwood.”

She looks over at me, and I nod. I agree with her idea of appealing to them as a mother rather than their Luna. If it will help get all the children in the pack to safety, then I will do whatever she wants me to do.

“With the threat against us on our doorstep, fear is ripe in the air. I understand that completely. One thing every parent in this pack will fear the most is the loss of their children. Sebastion has a solution for this.”

She looks back at me, so I step up next to her. “I will send all my children and every single child in this pack to a safe location. They are our future. Normally, I would have everyone in the bunkers, but the enemy we are up against is ruthless. Taking the children out of their path completely is a better option.”

The room erupts in the expected cries from mothers all over the room. I understand what I am asking, but this is the safer option. This is best for our future.

“I don’t as this of you to hurt you. All I am thinking of is our children, not just mine, but every child that I am responsible for. I may not have always been the leader you needed, but I am trying to be that leader now.”

“Where will they go and how do we know they will be safe?” Someone asks.

“With the help of a few of our allies, they will be teleported to a location that is thousands of miles away. Then, when things here are safe once again, they will all be returned. This I promise you. This is a promise I will not break.”

“Yeah, because your kids are going too. What guarantee do we have that our children will be returned just like yours will?”

I expected this too.

“Because I am going with them,” my mother says as she steps up next to Irina. “We will take all the daycare workers, three teachers, and myself, along with all the children. Arianna and her mate Flynn will also join us.”

This is news to me, but I think it is a good idea. It also seems to pacify the crowd. I can see my mother and mate, but more thought into this than I did. Which makes me realize that I was thinking with my emotions and not logic.

“Please have your children here in an hour.” Irina asks of our members.

Without hesitation, everyone leaves the room to go prepare.

I turn to Irina and my mother, then walk off the stage. Theo lets out a cry as he gets further away from his sister. I stop at the bottom of the steps and wait for Irina to join me. She shakes her head with a sad smile on her face as she joins me. My mother follows behind her and puts her hand on my shoulder.

“You are doing the right thing for the future of this pack. Now, I need to go put together some things and help your sister. You take this bastard down while I am gone.”

“Treadstone will not leave here alive. This I vow to make happen.”

Mom gives me a sideways hug, then rushes out of the room. The next hour is going to feel like I am tearing my heart out. I can feel Irina’s pain through our link, so to give her privacy from those still in the pack house, I take her upstairs to Arianna’s old office.

Separating her from Theo and Oksanna is killing her and I will do everything I can to get them back in her arms as soon as possible.

I am ready for you, Treadstone.

It is time for you to die.