In The Beginning, Chapter 134
Daniel POV
I woke up the morning after Valentine’s Day with a sense of unease, I was about to wake Charlie when I saw a cuckoo perched on the windowsill. I glanced around for Theia; I had the distinct feeling of being watched, she was sat in the chair, which she had moved into the corner, invisible to anyone outside looking in. She raised her finger to her lips, and pointed to Charlie, then held her hands out, like she was telling me to go steady. I took it to mean act natural and ran my hand over her stomach.
“Charlie? Wake up?” I called her gently, kissing her bare shoulder affectionately. She didn’t even open her eyes, she rolled over, and lifted her chin expectantly, making me smile as I placed my lips on hers. “We have company, but I don’t think she wants to announce that.” I linked her, she squinted up at me her brain needing a couple of seconds to process before she shot up, barely remembering to grab the sheets to cover herself as she tried to spot the intruder. I could feel her gearing up to tell Theia off, so I grabbed her, letting my fingers get tangled in her messy curls, capturing her mouth, then pinning her to the bed. “Just wait, I think someone other than Theia is watching.” I linked, she blushed uncontrollably, but allowed me to adjust us, so we were both facing the windows, and to anyone watching, I hoped it looked somewhat natural. Theia gave Charlie a pointed look, before closing her eyes.
“They have surrounded the house, but at varying distances, some are close enough to hear every conversation, and that is the point! You need to make a little more noise.” Theia’s voice echoed; it was closer to how Hyacinth had sounded than a typical link, like I was listening to it first-hand from Theia and a split second later from Charlie, or maybe it was Charlie interpreting it, as I realised, I was hearing Theia through the link. Like they were both in Charlie’s mind, it was bizarre. I pushed it aside and sucked on Charlie’s mark, hard.
“Daniel!” She moaned, her cheeks getting redder. “The other Alphas will hear us!” She gasped, pulling away from me, her humiliation burning her from within.
“I’m sorry, I got carried away, it’s been a while since we’ve spent some time alone, it’s effecting me.” I confessed aloud. “I am sorry. It was the quickest way to make it seem like the silence was from me... you know...” I had started via the link just to Charlie, only for Theia’s presence to make it more and more uncomfortable to talk about. “Forgive me?” I asked, running my nose along her shoulder. She smiled and rolled her eyes at me, but her hand covered mine as she encouraged me closer, wrapping my arms around her, her silent way of reassuring me, things between us were good.
“You have to alert the others; the attack will be today... I saw it.” Theia explained making eye contact with me.
“Why don’t we go to the meadow this evening? Spend a little time alone? I know it’s still a little cold for a picnic, so we couldn’t recreate one of our dates... but we could spend some actual time alone?” I asked, on cue, Charlie was quiet for a moment, as she squeezed my hand.
“I’d like that.” She whispered, Theia’s face lit up, before she disappeared. I didn’t care who could see or hear us as I pulled Charlie’s face to mine again, kissing her deeply, relishing in the last moments of tranquillity.
After we were showered and dressed, we were downstairs drinking our coffees, while I tried to convince Charlie to eat something, anything. I had let Lander and Kasa know today was the day, and the men were on standby. Kasa, who would typically say very little, found himself having to carry any conversation with Lander, as the man became almost mute after discovering we were under surveillance. Hyacinth appeared, thankfully, her smile and gentle squeeze of my shoulder told me Theia had informed her too.
“I was wondering if I could steal Charlie for a few minutes?” She asked holding up the many shopping bags with a smile before they both disappeared upstairs.
“How do you men feel about a run? Maybe we could stop at my Beta’s home, and you could spend a few hours there, and I could get time with my mate, alone.” Thankfully even a ham-fisted attempt at getting them to take the hint could be mistaken for being a result of my situation.
“Of course... but do you really want to leave the Luna basically alone?” Kasa asked, his natural unease about this part of the plan playing out perfectly.
“She has Bailey, Hyacinth, and a constant patrol around the house. Plus, I’m hoping I’m back within an hour, so she will be fine.” I chuckled, even though I felt like crying. Lander began to move past me, clamping his hand on my shoulder in sympathy and solidarity, which helped me keep it together.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here. It’s unlikely to reveal anything, but we could run the border?” Kai suggested, giving me a half smile. I didn’t think it would be so hard to leave her. They all but pushed me towards the rear of the house.
“We are heading out now. If something goes wrong-” I linked her.
“I teleport somewhere safe and call your phone every hour until you answer and tell me I can come back to you... promise.” She interrupted and swore, even though I couldn’t see into our bedroom I looked up, wanting one last glimpse, one last anything. I led the men West, there was a small building we had outfitted with lockers for the patrols, behind the barn, there were several dotted around the pack, making it easier for the warriors to run the border. We undressed and shifted in silence, everyone feeling the anxiety, and the enormity of what we could lose, and what we could gain. Once we were all ready, I linked the patrol, two of them moved closer to the house, while we ran through the trees, cutting through the forest, behind the barracks, where we ran into a squad going on a patrol. We weaved our way through them, getting lost among the warriors momentarily, before coming out the other side and continuing around. We made sure to stay off camera, and away from the roads as we made our way around the furthest reaches of the pack’s land, circling the small cul-de-sac that Ben lived in. I led the five men through the trees, very few wolves had fences separating their gardens from the surrounding forest, allowing their wolves easy access if needed. With the exception of the pack house staff's street, (lodgings being part of the allure of the job) the houses with access were given to warriors, while the rest of the pack lived in the centre of the town. Ben had enclosed the back porch with a dark tinted mesh, providing a level of privacy when he or Maria shifted, but it was only big enough for two wolves at a time, the rest of us kept scanning the trees around us as the first two knocked on the back door and grabbed sweats out of the laundry basket common in most Lycan homes. Ben, already aware of the plan was a little loud welcoming everyone, until someone calmed him down, and he went inside. The men followed him, until it was just Kai and I left. I was the last inside, the men waiting patiently for me in the dark kitchen, the curtains were still drawn, the house felt strangely lifeless with Maria, I noted before nearly having a coronary when Theia appeared in the middle of the open plan room.
“They sent a scout to trail you, but he is positioned too far away to hear us.” She whispered, joining us around the kitchen island. “I need to get back, I dislike leaving Charlie alone.” She added lowly, a frown permanently etched into her forehead.
“So far so good. Do they suspect anything?” I asked Theia, she shook her head emphatically.
“No, or they would have got reinforcements. One of them left this morning. But he came back alone, they are waiting for you and Charlie to leave the pack house, it's the only thing that makes sense based on their behaviour. But I worry they will see through us if your men keep conveniently keep overlooking their positions!” She stressed, biting her nail, looking genuinely worried.
“Overlook my ass!” Ben hissed. “Some of our men deserve fucking Oscars for the performances they’ve been putting on! Following their fake trails like we know they are anything but a farce! Allowing themselves to be pulled away from a real trail by another member of the squad and pretending that masking shit they are doing does anything but make them smell metallic as fuck, which is a dead giveaway in the middle of a fucking forest!” Ben growled lowly; ever mindful the eyes could become ears quickly. Theia remained unconvinced, rolling her eyes dramatically.
“Just stick to the plan.” She sighed disappearing in a puff of sparks.
“You know what to do?” I asked the men, they simply nodded. I heard Ben turn the TV onto replay coverage of the Super-Bowl or something as I left. I had never run through the forest so fast as I did that day. My every instinct screaming danger at me, I could almost feel them, Theia hadn’t given me a definitive number of eyes on us, but it felt like at least twenty. Vampires don’t smell of anything particularly, their clothing and products far more easily identifiable than the vampire itself, or that’s what I thought until I was on that ship. They had been using it for so long it was permeated with their stench, in the open it is too faint, it could be a million things, but there, it was unmistakable, they smelled of rot, and death, almost sweet, but in a nauseating way that makes you want to avoid it. I shivered involuntarily as the memory of their creatures’ cold sharp claws washed over me, I could almost smell the anoxic fumes their mouth emitted, it was like you could smell the body decomposing through its breath. I got around the pack house to the laundry room door, taking deep breaths, relieved they weren’t stupid enough to take me again, but my legs went from beneath me, as I stood under the tepid spray of the shower, when I realised, I was really going to have to walk Charlie into a trap.
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