Call of the Wild (13 page)

“Sounds good. Marc, what’s your team doing?” Laura asked next.

“We have a smaller group because our section of the woods lies in between the other two. So we’re going in as a Search and Rescue squad on a training trip. That way we can double our numbers, with half of us going in shifted,” he said.

“Won’t someone wonder why you have so many wolf-dogs and no friendly chocolate labs—or other breeds?” Aaron asked him.

“Not very familiar with wolf breeds, are you? There will be enough of a mixture that they won’t realize they’re all wolves. Canis Lupus, or Gray Wolf, is only one of six different and distinct breeds,” Marc told him.

Laura turned to her brother. “Remind me to show you and the others my power point for Shifters 101. I started putting it together a couple of months ago with Mara’s help. Alex, his second, and George aren’t here. They’re going over their parts back in West Virginia. So let’s get back to ours.”

By the time the meeting broke up a few hours later, all the details had been worked out. He and Marsha would have a week to get their group trained on the particulars.

Laura was sad to see her family leave. Aaron was making plans to retire from the Army and move out to Montana. She knew Steven would follow as soon as his own hitch in the service was completed. Steven had always followed where Aaron led.

Before they left, though, she had to sit them down one more time as a family. Frieda had been explaining things to her, and all of her brothers had a decision to make.

“Don’t worry, sis, we’ll all be visiting often enough that you’ll be looking to get rid of us,” said her youngest brother, Evan.

“Bro, obviously she wants us here. Otherwise she wouldn’t have made the wonderful man cave for us,” answered Josh before she could speak.

“Yeah, but I’m thinking inviting Marshall and Marc in for a friendly game of poker was a mistake. Not only did they beat our asses off, but I could see the glitter of avarice in their eyes. They want our place,” put in Benji.

He was slouched on one of the couches, nursing a large mug of coffee. He had been up late and was still waking up, even though it was nearly one in the afternoon.

“Marc, Marshall, and the other alphas have a hard time using the recreation space in the caverns. Being alphas and all together in one space tends to overwhelm the others. You don’t really mind if they use your room, do you?” asked Laura in a worried voice.

She’d designed the space strictly for her brothers, not realizing the alphas also really needed a place of their own. Oh, they all had entertainment rooms in their own pack houses or homes, but ever since she’d built her house, it had become the hub for all the area shifters.

Before, the alphas would take turns hosting meetings—or Marshall, as the Area Alpha, would host. Now though, more often than not they were at her house. She should have thought of that.

“Laura, we’re all military. Well, except for Evan here, who wants to be a Feebie,” said Aaron, poking fun at his youngest brother.

“Hey!”

In fact, all of the older brothers had discouraged Evan from also joining up. They tended to try to protect him, the same way they did with Laura.

“What I mean to say is, we understand the difference between officers and enlisted. The enlisted personnel just don’t relax when there are officers around. Most officers can’t really relax around the enlisted men or women. Your alphas are the officers and they need a place. The guys are just pulling your chain. It’s perfectly fine for them to use that room. It’s too big for just us anyway,” said Aaron.

Laura thanked him as Josh and Benji threw pillows. They had planned to tease her a little longer before they gave in.

“Yeah, and the ladies can visit from time to time, just as long as it doesn’t go permanently coed,” added Steven.

“Now that it’s settled, we can move on to the main reason why I asked you all to get together. Frieda, would you explain it? You’re better than I am at that part,” said Laura.

Frieda sat up a little straighter in her chair. “Of course, dear,” she said, before turning to look Laura’s brothers and father.

“Let me give you a little history lesson. There were no shifters in this realm until the queens came here. The stories deviate from there. One story is they wanted to raise an army of shifters to fight battles in their own realms. Here, they could raise them in secret. The other story is that they wanted to come here because they were free to love whom they chose.

“They were the first changelings. Their sons were born as shifters and their daughters as changelings. If a shifter married a human, their children were shifters. If a changeling married a human, then their children were human. The changeling within the daughter would sleep until such time as she exchanged blood with a shifter, and then her gifts would emerge. This is what happened with Laura.”

“Because her mother married me, and I’m not a shifter,” said Doug Donahue.

“Correct,” said Frieda.

“What does that mean for us? Did we all exchange blood to be able to see the magical creatures? Where did they come from?” asked Evan.

“Patience. I’ll answer all your questions in good time. At this moment, none of you are shifters, though you are all more than human. You have some abilities in this form that you didn’t have before. If you choose to become shifters, those abilities will change.”

“What do you mean, choose to become shifters?” asked Doug, sitting forward.

“There is a ceremony that can be done to turn a human into a shifter. We don’t perform it often. When we changed Joanne Walker, it was the first such ceremony in over a hundred years. However, your sons aren’t fully human; they are part changeling. Therefore, a second blood exchange would give them the ability to shift,” Frieda answered.

“Really?” asked Evan.

“Cool!” said Josh.

Laura waited for her brothers to calm down. In the meantime, she kept her attention on her father. Everything he thought about his family was changing. She needed him to accept all the new things.

“Daddy?”

“Honey, I’m always going to worry about all my children. At the same time, I’ve tried really hard not to push my worries onto all of you. If I did, I would have argued against your brothers joining up and being put in harm’s way. I honestly can’t tell you how I feel because I just don’t know. Will this make you all safer or put you in greater danger? All of you are grown men and you need to make this decision for yourselves,” he said. Then, letting out a deep sigh, he added, “I need to decide what I’m going to do. I’m sure it’s not as easy as you all make it seem.”

“You are correct, Mr. Donahue. It’s not as easy, nor is it as hard. Being a shifter is just different. There are pros and cons to every change life brings us. This is no different,” said Frieda.

“You have time to think about it. One of the reasons I brought it up is you’ll need to be careful. There are a lot of shifters in the world. Usually, giving blood to humans is no big deal. Shifters donate to blood banks like everyone else. You could accidentally get a second blood exchange and become a shifter before you make a decision either way,” said Laura.

“Oh, shit! I hadn’t even considered that!” said Aaron.

“Do you have a problem with people being shifters?” Marsha asked Aaron softly. But not so quietly that everyone else in the room didn’t hear and stop talking amongst themselves.

Aaron squeezed her shoulder. “No, honey. For me, I want to become a shifter. I don’t want you to ever go running in the woods alone again.”

He still shuddered when he thought about her being shot.

“Of course, you may not be a cougar shifter like your mate,” Frieda said, dropping another bombshell in the room. “Since you are the sons of a changeling, the type of shifter you become will depend on your personality, and to some extent, on what you wish to be. Possibly, though I’m not sure, it could be whichever type of shifter you make your next exchange with. You could all end up the same or entirely different. The only thing I can tell you is that whatever form you take you will all be strong predators and alphas.”

“What if I end up as wolf to Marsha’s cougar? I mean, we all know how dogs and cats get along…”

“Oh, you!” said Marsha, slapping Aaron on the back of his head.

“Then your children would either be wolf or cougar. There are no hybrids in the shifter world,” said Mara, who up until this point had remained silent.

“What exactly does it mean to be alphas? I mean, I’ve met many of the guys here who aren’t alphas and they’re not exactly weenies,” said Josh.

“Mara?” said Laura.

Mara had been the one to explain shifters to Laura so she knew Mara could explain it better.

“Alphas are what you would call officer material. They are natural leaders. They’re just a little bit stronger, a little bit faster; which is probably a holdover from when they challenged for the leader position. Being the sons of a changeling, you’ll all be alphas. After all, that’s how the first shifter groups started and someone had to lead them.”

Laura could see her family thinking over everything that had been said. They had time. No one was going to push them into making a decision one way or the other. She knew they wouldn’t betray shifters now that they knew about them, because each one would rather die than hurt her.

Mara drove Aaron, Marsha, and Doug Donahue to the airport. They had the most urgent need to get back east as quickly as possible. Steven and the other brothers stayed on until the next morning and then left right after an early breakfast. They would drive straight through, taking turns driving and be home within two days.

A few minutes after waving them off, Laura was running for the bathroom. The stress of saying goodbye to her family, along with carrying twins, was too much for her poor stomach. She was reaching for some toilet paper to wipe her mouth when she felt her long blond hair being pulled back by gentle hands.

“Maggie House told us you were unwell. Come and drink some water. Lisa and I will make you a special tonic to fight the mother sickness,” said Lola.

Laura let Lola and Lisa baby her. It was a little strange; she felt as if she were being led around by two small children. She had learned though, how talented and strong these two were. Cooking a meal for three hundred was nothing to them. And the grounds had never looked as nice since their brother had taken over. He also kept the hydro-electric plant well maintained, as well as all the other machinery and tools. The girls kept the house and all the office space in the caverns sparkling clean.

Normally, it would take an army of cooks and cleaners, as well as a full maintenance staff, to complete everything these three siblings accomplished.

“You all do so much. Is it too much? Do you need more help? I had never expected you to take care of Moleville, too. I just thought you’d take care of the house. Now I find out you’re cleaning and cooking for all of our visitors also. I wouldn’t want you to ever feel I was taking advantage of you.”

“Thank you for your kind praise, Laura,” said Lola. “Kobold like to be helpful. We are not insulted because you ask if we need help. Some others might be. Lisa, Lars, and I understand you are still learning about the Kobold. Our abilities grow with the need we meet. In truth, I did not need Lisa’s help with the house; I could do everything myself. When you asked before, I had them come because I missed them. Are you angry for my deception?” Lola asked.

Laura bent over and gave Lola a hug. “Everyone should be able to have their family nearby. So you didn’t need the help? Go on with your story.”

“Well, I did appreciate Lars taking over the jobs with the garden and the maintenance. I can do this work, only not as well as Lars. Now, Lisa takes care of the cavern while I take care of the house. When we find our mates, then perhaps others would like to have Kobold,” Lola said.

“How are you going to meet your mate if you’re here and there are no other Kobold?”

“Kobold live in hearth. We see other Kobold in the hearth,” Lola said.

Laura knew she’d received the only answer Lola could give. If she wanted to know more, she’d have to ask Frieda. She had remembered when Frieda first arrived and went into the hearth. Maybe it was a changeling thing.

Sitting down in her office, she turned on her computer. With her family and mate gone, she was lonely in a way she hadn’t ever been before. Perhaps she didn’t know how to be alone anymore. For the time being, she would concentrate on gathering more intelligence on their enemies. The action in West Virginia was only one upcoming problem she’d heard whispers about. There were other teams and other problems. The Society wasn’t their only enemy; the Shayatin had their own plans.

Missing her mate and her family, Laura got to work.

*****

Aaron, Marsha, and Doug got on the plane heading for home. Doug needed to let the NSA know that Laura was fine; she hadn’t been taken by the North Koreans or become a security risk. He knew she was going to be too busy to continue working for the NSA so he’d have to give them some excuse. He couldn’t say she was using NSA technology and skills to gather intelligence on unknown groups hunting shifters.