Costin sat with his back against a tree and Sally in between his legs, with her back to his chest. He held her tight and Cynthia watched as every so often he would kiss her hair or gently brush his finger along her cheek. But his eyes never left those around him. He never looked down at her, but instead watched each person carefully. She looked at each male and saw as they held their mates the distrust in their eyes as they steadily watched one another.

Cynthia looked back at Peri who was watching her expectantly.

“Now you see?” She asked her.

Cynthia nodded. “We would never be able to stop a fight if it were to break out among them.”

Peri shook her head. “Not with these dominants.”

“What do we do?” Cynthia asked.

“We’re going to have to first make them aware of their behavior. So, that they might think before they act on instinct.”

“And second?” Cynthia prompted.

“Second,” Peri breathed, “hope against hope that no one does anything stupid.”

“Then we’re done for,” Cynthia told her.

“Pretty much,” Peri agreed.

Chapter 9

“If, when you find out that out the largest number of werewolves to ever gather in history are coming to your town, your first thought is, did I pee on everything I want to keep, then you might be a werewolf… or you have an over active imagination and an unhealthy fixation on the Calvin and Hobbes stickers portraying Calvin peeing on, well, everything. Choose your poison.” ~ Jen.

Skender stood in the library of the Romanian pack's mansion staring out onto the lawn. Rows of cars lined the drive as, one by one pack Alpha’s, and their top wolves arrived. It had been three days since the call went out and already six of the eleven other packs had arrived. The Alpha’s from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Ireland, Spain and Italy, plus their top three, were each currently in residence at the mansion. Only half of who would be coming had arrived and already things were tense.

He ran a hand through his hair and let out a low growl as his frustration and agitation grew. He was fourth in his pack. Dominant? Yes, but not dominant enough to prevent a war between any would be enemy Alpha’s . Where the hell was Vasile? It had been weeks since he and the others had set out and though he knew through pack bonds that Vasile was still alive, that was all he knew. Before three days ago, Skender had just thought that it was taking Vasile longer than he anticipated discovering Desdemona’s plan. But, then the call had gone out and that was when Skender realized that something had happened to Vasile and the others. For the Great Luna to send out a call to all her wolves it had to be bad.

A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts. “Enter,” he answered the knock.

Wadim walked in and without regard to formality, threw himself onto the large sofa in the middle of the library. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he let out a frustrated groan.

“We are never going to survive this,” he told Skender. “I mean, it’s not a matter of if the world will be destroyed. It’s a matter of who will destroy it and when it is destroyed; a hell bent, bat shit crazy witch, ooorr, a pack of Alpha werewolves in a pissing contest?”

“Please tell me that’s a figure of speech, and that there aren’t really pissing contests going on,” Skender growled. “We just got new carpet.”

Wadim laughed. “Unfortunately, no. There are no real pissing contests going on, however, Radim, Beta to the Poland pack did have the bright idea to share with Seraph what a shame he thought it was for him that he came from a pack where the Alpha betrayed his own kind.”

Skender rubbed his face with his hands as he shook his head. “Is either one of them dead?”

“No, and no blood was shed either. The Poland Alpha, Artur, has a good head on his shoulders and put his Beta in his place quickly and publicly. That seemed to smooth any rising hackles.”

“Have you heard from the Great Luna again?” Skender asked.

Wadim shook his head. “No, but I’m thinking it might not be a bad idea to see if we get in contact with the Fae council. If my records are correct, and they always are, then the Fae would have been the ones to send out the call.”

“Do you think they are going to finally step out of their safe little bubble and help?” asked Skender.

“The Great Luna set the plan in motion to force them into helping when she made us compatible mates with them, so yeah, I think they are finally going to get off their butts.”

Skender stood staring down at the pack historian as he thought about the idea of being mated to a Fae. It seemed a very strange idea to be mated to one not of their own race. But, then again, he had been waiting to find his mate for so long and the darkness was creeping deeper inside of him. If his mate were a Fae, then he’d take her in a heartbeat.

“So what’s the plan, Skender?” Wadim raised his brow at him.

“I think the next step will be to meet with all the Alpha’s once they arrive.”

Just then, the doors to the library flew open and in strode Dillon Jacobs.

“What the hell is going on and why are we just now hearing about the demise of mankind?” His eyes were glowing and his power filled the room. Dillon was pissed and unless they could get him calmed down, there was a good possibility that heads were going to roll.

Q

Skender stood at the front of the large gathering room and briefly met the eyes of each Alpha. The ten packs from other countries and cities had finally all arrived and with the Romanian pack and Serbian pack already present, that made twelve. All under one roof and they were antsy. The tension among the dominants was tangible and had a human been present, it would have choked them.

“I’ve been on this earth longer than I care to admit and never in that time have we received the call from the Great Luna. Why now?” Drayden, of the Canadian pack, asked.

Wadim took a step forward and began to explain all that had happened from the Gathering until now. He condensed it as much as possible, but made sure not to leave out any vital details. As his story continued on, with every word, the Alpha’s grew more and more tense.

“Why are we just now hearing of this witch that poses such a threat to us all?” Angus, Alpha of the Ireland pack spoke up.

There was a rumble of agreement across the room and Wadim fought the urge to back up a step. Unless he wanted to be chased, he knew better than to back away from these predators.