Shea: The Last Hope (22 page)

She hated to tell people the person they chose to spend the rest of their life with was the wrong person. But she had too. Many of the shifters and magical people that mated incorrectly turned out to be abusive and sometimes deadly. Her mates were setting up an office for people to come and report abuse and to seek counseling. The combination of her potions and her abilities allowed her to be excited about the future of the Council.

Finally, she calmed down enough to take a real deep breath and blow it out. Her mates watched her expectantly like they were going to have to grab her hair again if she bent over. They had been great about this. Since they had covered her pregnancy, she thought they were safe. Somehow, the asshole found out anyway. Now she and her babies were going to be a target. She just didn’t understand why. He could get any Black Witch he wanted. Her mother and she had discovered months ago there were a lot of Black Witches out there.

"Ready to tell us what that was all about?" Sevi said worriedly.

She nodded and then they filed out of the bathroom back into the living room where they could sit comfortably. Lacy explained about the phone call, and her mates became more and more pissed as she spoke. She could see their nails growing on their hands like they were ready to shift and protect her at any moment.

"Shit,” Shawn yelled and then looked at his twin. "How did they find out? The spell works when you are in public still. No one other the Council knows, and there’s no way any of them told."

Lacy nodded and looked at her mother who was silent and thinking. She was a Red Witch the leader of their coven, and also one of the most powerful Witches she knew.

"They must have someone who can see through our spells."

Lacy sucked in her breath and looked at her mom with an astonished look. Mange?"

Her mother nodded and looked grim, "That is the only thing I can think of."

"What is mange other than a skin disease dogs get?” Sevi demanded, and Lacy looked at him with a grimace. This was one thing she was going to have to tell the whole Council but her mates first. She cleared her throat and, looked at them solemnly.

"Mange is like an infection just like the word means, but it is a person. Someone who should have been born with magical powers but for some reason, or another, their magic is reversed. They can see through spells, and they can infect a Witch with a disease of sorts, one that will take their power and transfer it to someone else."

"So what does that mean for you?" Shawn said and grabbed her hand and looked around the room like someone was going to pop in and attack.

Her mother spoke up. "Nothing directly right now, we have wards set up to protect her and the babies. Only in the compound if she leaves here, there is nothing that protects her in the open. That goes for the other females too."

"I need to call Devon and talk to him about what happened. Last we heard, they were staying in Ireland, and would be back sometime tomorrow." Shawn said, and Sevi nodded.

"I am calling Darien and the others to fill them in. I think we’ll have a meeting at the Pack house, it would be best if we were all together to explain this."

Adele nodded and said. "I’ll call the rest of the coven, talk to them about shoring up the wards on the compound, and see if we can even do something in the town. Milliken has grown so much, but we have a lot of our coven here. As the New Council, we have more protection than most anyway. Maybe we can start having some of the witches go through the Enforcer training?"

Lacy felt calmer as they talked. They were going to be able to solve this, she knew it.

The New Council did not come this far too suddenly fail now. She just wanted to see how Jordan was going to handle hearing that now Roarke wanted her as a mate.

"Wait, he said something about Jordan's parents losing their Pack. Has anyone talked to Jordan or Sid yet? We have to find out if something is happening." Lacy said urgently both of the twins began making phone calls.

***

Roarke lay back and smiled. He knew it would take them time to figure out how he had gotten her number, and then she would be devastated. He was so glad that Braden had left such detailed notes about when he stalked the two women. If only Jordan had not changed her number, then he would have called her directly to give her the good news.

It was so simple destroying the Northern Pack. Jordan's father had been arrogant, thinking that because his son and daughter sat on the New Council that he was untouchable. Well, he just proved that no one was out of his reach.

The men he sent to the Northern Pack had found it easy to gain support. Times were tough, with all that was going on in the world. The economy was in the toilet, and the humans were pissed. So the humans who had mated into the Northern Pack had been the weakness. Families were not being taken care of because all the construction in Milliken, it was like shooting a lame duck.

"So how are the prisoners holding up?” he asked into the phone.

His brother answered with a laughed. "Great, they are a little pissed though. We may have to do some convincing about helping us."

Roarke laughed. He put his brother in control of the people they already captured; the sick fuck loved that kind of stuff. He could torment and tease without having to leave his chair. He had seen what he could do, and Roarke was glad that Frank was firmly under his control.

"Wait for that, just tell them that sooner, or later they will have to come around if they want to see the light of day ever again." He laughed cruelly and hung up the phone. His plan was coming along nicely. The New Council was not going to know what hit them.

***

Lacy and her mates arrived at the Pack house at the same time as the rest of the Council.

Without Quin and Jaden, they knew that they would have to make some hard decisions.

Sid's brothers were also standing the foyer with a group of men she assumed belonged to the Northern Pack. They were all still in their work clothes.

Blaine was talking to them quietly, and her mates went to their brother and listened in as Lacy went in search of Jordan. She knew by now her friend had been told the bad news. Lacy found her with Ariel in the front room.

Ariel was such a great addition to their small circle. Although she was not part of the Council, she and her husband, Ryan were important members of the Were community.

In fact, Ryan had just been appointed the liaison that would work with Argus on getting the Were's and other magical people together. Ariel and Ryan had been at their Pride, helping all those who wanted to come to Milliken. With Blaze his Beta Warrior and best friend, a part of the Council also, it made sense for them to move here. All the girls were happy. And it was good to see that they were finally back now, and able to help with what was going on.

Jordan was sitting in the window seat of the room crying on Ariel's shoulder. As Lacy drew closer, she could hear what Ariel was saying. "Sweetie, there was nothing you could have done. Ryan and I left two days ago and the bastards waited until the Pride was gone, or we would have helped. Your father is a proud man, but he’s not stupid.

Someone set the whole thing up. But he and your mom are fine and one their way here now. Brian is arranging for them to stay with him and his family in the guest quarters of the Pack house. They will be fine once they get here."

"So what happened?" Lacy said softly, bent down on her knees in front of her friend, and took her hand.

Jordan sniffed and wiped her eyes, "I guess some of the Elders came to the house today and demanded answers about why some of the Pack members lost their jobs. Father had fired them because they were stealing supplies from their sites and selling them to another company. But the men lied to the Elders and said that father had fired them because he was running out of money, because of all they were spending here. They said the family company was not making money here, that Quin and Jaden had asked them to build for free advertisement or some shit like that. Basically, they filled their head with a bunch of shit and they believed it."

Ariel nodded. "We heard from some of our Pride mates that had not left yet, that they were all standing out on the front lawn of her parent's house yelling for answers. When her father came out, they just attacked. I guess it was crazy. Some of the Enforcers could get her mom and dad out of there safely, but the Pack had claimed that someone else now leads it."

Jordan snorted. "You know I haven’t talked to them in weeks. I kept thinking that I should call them and work things out, but I always had an excuse for why I didn't. Now look, at least if we had been talking, they could have called me for help instead of calling Ryan. Apparently, my brothers were not in cell range, and mom panicked. She called Ryan before even thinking about calling me," she said, and the tears began to flow. "I really fucked things up with them."

"No, you were hurt; you had a right to take time if you needed it. I’m sure they understand," Lacy said.

Jordan shook her head. "Brain said that when he talked to mom last weekend that she was upset about not hearing about the wedding until someone had mentioned it to her.

I was going to call, but then they wanted me to do research things and Romy and Larkin have been helping me. Most our nights are spent poring over papers and books trying to find some clue about what the hell is going on around here."

"No matter what they are your parents, they are going to forgive you and just be happy that they can renew the relationship with you." Ariel said and held her hand tightly.

"We have got to stop this whole sorry shit that you all have going on. Guilt is not going to fix anything, and it seems like you have too much around here. Damn, is it time for the, 'everyone makes mistakes' talk?"

Lacy giggled and said. "Yeah, let's get right on that now."

Chapter 19

Jordan smiled at her mates when she walked back into the conference room. Ariel was right; they had to just fix this and move on. And they needed to find the notes they needed and fast. It seemed like Roarke was taking up where Braden left off, but he had another agenda in mind, one that she was not willing chance could happen.

Romy stood up, and she smiled at him. "How are you doing sweetheart?"

"Better. I just needed a kick in the ass. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself for the last few months and acting like a spoiled brat. I guess I just needed a friend to tell me to knock it off. They were right. My parents did what they could, and it is time to move on.

Everyone has suffered enough."

Larkin grinned and said. "I’m so glad to hear that honey. Now sit down quick and we will share what we found."

Jordan looked at the eager expressions on her mate's faces and pulled up a chair. Since she had been hurt, they had pampered her silly. She loved every minute of it, but she needed to step up now. Too many people depended on her, and she was not going to let them down.

"What is it?" she asked and then made a noise when they plopped a huge old book in her lap and pointed at the writing.

"It was right in front of us the whole time, but we were reading it wrong. I swear, one of these days we're going to have to brush up on the Italian thing again. It's the Seers entry after Jo was taken read the passage."

Jordan frowned and said. "I have and I can recite it to you. 'If the Chosen are ever united, they will create a new power, one that can't be broken, one they will need to fight the Chosen's war, because only when all are united will hope be able to finish the battle.'

We know all this; we have united and defeated Braden, but there has to be something else, it doesn't explain why all these people are disappearing."

Romy rubbed his hands together and said. "Ok, now the Seer was not like Blaine, who just says things, the way they are. These older visions were always in riddles."

"Yeah, pissed Blaine off something fierce he could get headaches from trying to figure out what the visions mean. Surya would relay exactly what was told in her vision, whereas Blaine tried to figure them out. So far, he has been right, but what if this time, he wasn't. We took this passage to mean that since Jo was lost that we had to find her and the rest of the Council. But the Seer insisted from the beginning that Jo was alive. I don't think she was referring to Jo and the Council in this passage. Roarke is taking people from each of the different groups of magical people without rhyme or reason.

But what if that is it, what if he does have a reason."

Jordan held up her hand and said. "You lost me."

"Let's take it phrase by phrase. 'If the Chosen are ever united.' We are, you found all the Chosen that were lost. The Seer is the one who told them all to go into hiding. Until Jo was returned, we couldn’t do anything. We know that we have to find our mates, claim them, and have a child right?" Larkin said.

Jordan nodded slowly. Romy then said, "Once we have the children you would receive a gift. A new power would be born. Everyone's children are manifesting powers that are in some way linked to us. Jo's children are healers. Hope has the whole bubble protection leader thing going on. Casey said her children were fast and agile, Devin said they will make wonderful Warriors. But not all the children are born yet, what if the children are holding our new power until all of them have been born. What if their powers are going to be given to us too? We have assumed the battle they are referring to is the one we fought with Braden, but we are all frustrated about the fact the Roarke is raising his ugly head. He is talking about taking the children, and also he’s taking members we want to have united. What if we have not fought the war yet? The Chosen's war is the battle to unite all the magical communities."

"We were taking hope as being the literal meaning, not the name of one of the kids.

Only when all are united can Hope finish the war." Romy said, and a light bulb went off in her head.

"That's what he wants, that is why he wants our children. Once we have claimed our spots on the Council, he can't do anything to the Council itself. He has to stop us from uniting everyone to reveal themselves to the world. And Hope is the key."