The Cursed Shifters - Mateless

Lunch Time

One after another Shiloh’s friends slowly trickled into her room looking more rested than the night before, but their movements were stiff. Lennon was the last to make it into the room, Shiloh jumped up and ran over to hug him, he seemed fully healed, no limp or soreness and honestly looked better than the rest of them now. Kira had loosened up around the group, but Shiloh suspected she would still seem like a scared rabbit around others, the girl was strong but broken, and Shi knew exactly what that was like.  “So that hike is going to be the biggest obstacle, I think.  If we go in as wolves, they will probably scent us coming but on foot takes too long and wears us out.”

                                “We could just drive up; the way you drive we’d be at the front door right about the time they realized we were there.” Dre chimed in.

                                “It’s an idea,” Bex said, “not perfect, they’ll know we are there, but it does limit their prep time and they could find out we are there no matter what we choose.

                                “We can carry more weapons if we drive up, carrying them up limits us and shifting limits us even more. Cars also provide the ability to get out quickly if things go south.” Michael had a point.

                                “Ok, so we are throwing stealth out the window this time. Kira, can you provide us any information on the layout of the cabin? Where might we find Vareese inside?” Shiloh was hopeful that Kira could help, the group had not been able to figure much out from outside and knowing the layout could mean life or death if things got difficult.

                                Kira nodded, “I can draw you the floorplan and label the rooms, they may have switched it up some though.”

                                “There’s paper and drawing pencils in my desk over there.” Shiloh jerked her chin toward the desk. Kira walked over to it and retrieved the materials, having a seat at the desk she began to sketch out the floorplan as she remembered it. Shiloh turned her attention back to her team lounging about her room. “I have something to tell you guys about our other mission.” All eyes snapped to her in shock. “The Goddess,” She paused finding the words. “She came to me in a dream about a week ago, before the party for Alpha Terry and Vanessa, who I pissed off today but that’s another story. She said that we are the ones that will break the curse, she urged us to hurry.”

                                “Well did she tell you anything useful? Like whom the fairy wolf is or where to find them? Where the heart is? How to return it?” Lennon asked, obviously annoyed that there seemed to be nothing useful said.

                                “She didn’t tell me who the fairy wolf is or where to find them or their mate, she did tell me that the heart is in the Summer Court. As far as returning the heart she said the path would be clear once all the pieces are together.” Lennon let out an irritated groan running his hand over his face, Michael, Bex, and Dre were just staring al Shiloh in shock, still processing that she had talked to the Goddess. “There’s more, she said finding the two is the easy part, they have to actually accept it and be mates and apparently they aren’t going to want to.”

                                Bex snapped out of her shock at the last part. “Who wouldn’t want their mate? Haven’t we all learned our lesson about that for the last who knows how many years this curse has been going on!” Her voice got louder and more strained with each word, anger building.

                                “She didn’t tell me why.”

                                Lennon spoke again still irritated, “So the Goddess came to you just to add pressure to us and not really help at all, that’s what you’re telling me?”

                                “Well, she did tell us where the heart is.” Michael chimed.

                                “Yeah, which we pretty much already knew we just hadn’t confirmed it. Does she even want the curse broken?”

                                “Perhaps not but at the very least I am sure she wants her daughter’s heart back.” Lennon looked like she had slapped him across the face, that little fact had escaped his attention in his frustrated state. Bex felt a little proud of herself, it was hard to get a reaction like that out of Lennon.

                                Kira walked back over handing Shiloh the paper she had been working on, Shiloh took it and spread it out on the carpet in front of her. The rest of the team abandoning their seats for the floor, scooted in around her to see. Kira took a now vacant spot on the couch and sat quietly while the team looked over the outline.

                                “Looks like the converted a lodge from the floorplan, explains the appearance of the building the other night.” Michael said seeing the main entry and all the rooms off it on two floors.

                                “It makes sense, they would need a lot of rooms to support a larger nest.” Bex agreed.

                                “Not gonna lie I was hoping there wouldn’t be that many rooms, indicating few vamps inside.” Shiloh conceded. “Hopefully they will rush out when we pull up or maybe they’ll be expecting someone and not pay any attention. If they rush out, we can mow them down and if they pay us no mind, we might have the element of surprise back.”

                                “There’s the front door, back door, one on the side off the kitchen, and balcony doors. Are they all accessible Kira?” Michael asked, hopeful eyes turned toward Kira, finger still on the paper pointing to the balcony.

                                “They usually are, it’s hard to say if Vareese would seal some off when expecting an attack to fortify or leave them open in case they need to escape.”

                                “Ok so we assume they are all open for now, if they don’t come rushing out after us we go in, Bex and I will take the ends of the balcony, putting us on the second floor, Dre you take the back door, Lennon you’re the fast so I want you at the front in case there are quite a few of them there, you can out maneuver them. Michael, you have the side door at the kitchen. Its open from the second floor so Bex and I can try to provide cover from up there as we work our way through. If they rush out, we fight our way to those positions to work through the building.”  Everyone nodded in agreement. Shiloh’s voice dropped into a low growl full of malice with her next words. “Vareese is mine.” Eyes locked onto her everyone nodded once again.

                                “So how long do we get before we have to cram ourselves back into little red?” Dre asked eager to fight but dreading the ride.

                                “Take two days to stretch your muscles, eat, train, and rest then we will head out. We will camp about an hour away from the cabin so we can stretch and rest before we go in without alerting the locals to a large group passing through.” Echoes of ‘sounds good’ and ‘alright’ sounded agreement. “Now let’s go get lunch, I’m starving.”

                                “Me too!” Bex all but yelled.

                                “Y’all are always hungry.” Chided Lennon, but Dre was already up and moving, headed for food. Bex and Shiloh just shrugged and headed out the door, motioning Kira along with them. Michael made eye contact with Lennon, shrugged, and followed Kira out, Lennon a few steps behind him rolling his eyes.

                                The dining room was packed, tables full of people and still more dipping plates from the lines. “Must be Mexican food today.” Dre said and hurried to get in line. Bex, Shiloh, Michael and even Kira laughed, everyone calmly following after Dre to the food line. Shiloh saw Vanessa enter the dining room as she was making her plate, Vanessa came in, looked around the room with wide eyes and stormed out.

                                “What’s her problem?” Bex asked, Shiloh just shrugged and continued piling polo bandido on her plate and spooning the cheese sauce over her rice.

                                Vanessa stormed into Terry’s office for the second time today, thankfully he was the only person present this time which saved him some embarrassment. “Why is the dining room full of people?” Her tone was demanding and outraged which confused Terry to no end.

                                “It’s lunch time that’s why.”

                                “I mean it is full of people, people who don’t live in the packhouse. Why?” Her reaction finally clicked. She wasn’t reacting to the fact that people were eating lunch but to the number of people she thought didn’t belong.

                                “They’re members of the pack,” He began to explain but she cut him off.

                                “Yeah, obviously they all smell like your pack but it they don’t live in the packhouse why the hell are we feeding them?” Vanessa was practically screaming, her attitude making her uglier by the moment.

                                “Sit down and shut up.” Terry growled; Vanessa’s mouth snapped shut but the look on her face was anything but obedient. “Every member of my pack is welcome to eat in the packhouse whenever they want. I instated the concept, though I am not solely responsible for the idea.” Vanessa opened her mouth to interrupt again, telling him the idea was ludicrous, but Terry bared his teeth silencing her again. “Every member of my pack can eat here as they wish, it keeps my pack fed and healthy, it keeps bonds close, and boosts moral.”

                                “Well, when I am Luna, it’s going to change, there are ranks for a reason and the lower ranks don’t belong eating from the Alpha’s table.” Snotty and spiteful, her words dripped venom.

                                “I assure you Vanessa there will be no such change. The sharing of meals is good for my pack and your classist ideas will not be tolerated by myself or the others holding high rank and weighing in here.” Terry was speaking calmly but the threat was clear, if she pushed, she’d be sent back to her pack. Vanessa slipped her wide-eyed mask of innocence back into place and nodded that she understood.

                                “I will go eat with the pack then, get to know more of them.” Her words were softer now, feigning acceptance as she turned to leave. Her mind was anything but, she mulled over what he had said as she left the room and walked back down the hall, there were others here making decisions, not just him. She needed to know who they were, she had to sway them.