The Midnight Pard

Chapter 13

Seth

Sitting with Anton in their office, he stared at the few papers in their basket, "Since it looks like we might actually catch up today, would you like to go for a celebratory run later? Cedar's been dying to stretch." He didn't miss the way Anton's eyes softened, the stress seeming to melt from him. "That would be fantastic, Lev has not shut up about feeling caged all week." Anton glanced over, as he spoke, a genuine smile on his face. Seth grinned as he reached for the next envelope. He paused reading the outside of it, The American Southern Pack. His hands shook slightly as he opened it.

Seth Volkov

Anton Guerin

Northern Pack - Pard Alpha's

This is a formal request to unite our Pack with the north's combined Pard-Pack. The former Alpha of the southern pack has been slain in a brutal rogue attack. We seek shelter and safety. Should you approve our request, we can make it to your land within a week. All of my wolves are ready to bow to the wolf and panther alpha's.

Sincerely, Luna, Grace Marrin

He stared at the letter, "Uh Anton, we may have a big decision to make." Anton was out of his chair and at Seth's side in an instant. "What's going on love, you okay?" Seth silently handed Anton the letter, he knew Grace, his mom's best friend auntie Gracie. Anton interrupted his thoughts, "I don't know the wolves that well, and I've never had dealings with Grace Marrin. What do you know about her? I mean, what do you make of this request?" Seth looked up, "Gracie, uh Grace sorry, is a nice woman, a good Luna. Her pack is kind of a joke though. They are tiny. If they were ambushed, she is lucky any of them are still alive. I want to help her." Anton chewed his lip, "I am a bit worried forging anymore big alliances like this will make it look more like we are trying to amass an army, but if your sure they are a small pack, it might be alright. You should ask your mom if she has Marrin's number. Some Lunas like to stay in touch, and if she does, we can get this sorted far quicker, which will be needed if they are at risk from rogues. Especially without their Alpha being gone. Actually, you may want to bring her in here. The news might upset her." Seth smirked, "Wow, you are a born leader." Anton put his face in his hands, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to just start making decisions, let's talk about this." Seth shook his head, "No, no, I agree with what you said. Thank you, I should go get my mom." He stood, hugging Anton before heading out of the office.

Seth stood outside the door to Bellamy's office. He had no idea what to say to her. Cedar grumbled, "Be honest, she knows when your hiding things." Seth smiled softly, his mom was the only person that made Cedar nervous. "Yeah, you're right." He raised his hand and knocked. Bellamy answered the door immediately, smiling at him, "Hey love, something up?" Seth pecked a quick kiss on his cheek, "Actually I'm looking for my mom, is she in here?" Bellamy stepped to the side, "Emily, Seth is looking for you." She stood walking over, "Hun, is everything okay?" Seth smiled, "No, but its nobody here. Please, I need you to come to mine and Anton's office. We need help with something." She studied his face for a moment. "Okay hun," She turned, "Bellamy, I'll be back when I can, are you good here?" Bellamy nodded, "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later. Don't worry, I'm sure Mellissa can keep me from making to many mistakes." Emily chuckled, "You are doing marvellously dear."

By the time they made it back to Seth and Anton's office, Anton was pacing. Emily walked into the room, sitting in one of the spare chairs, "alright you two, what's this all about?" Anton bit his lip handing the letter to Seth, Seth sighed, holding it out to his mom, "I'm going to let you read this, but it's confidential, you cannot tell anyone this exists, and we are going to need aunt Grace's number." Emily pulled her phone out of her pocket handing it to Seth, "It's saved in my contacts." she took the letter, giving them another concerned look before she started reading it. Seth took a screen shot of the number and sent it to himself, looking up in time to see her wiping her eyes. "What did you need my help with beside the number dear?" Her voice sounded hoarse and scratchy. Anton stepped up, "we know this is hard, but we've mostly come to a decision, we want to call her and tell her to come here, send a convoy to meet them on their way. We just wanted to bring you in on this. You didn't need the shock." Emily took a deep breath, her tears spilling freely, Seth ran to her hugging her, "I'm so sorry mom. I know how close you and aunt Gracie are. We are going to do everything we can to bring her home." She hugged him back before standing, "alright, thank you dear, I'm going to go spend time with your father. If you need people, he would probably be willing to go on that protection detail." Seth nodded, "Alright, thank you mom."

Seth waited until after the door closed behind her before dialing the number, pressing speaker and holding up the hush sign. Anton nodded, sitting at his desk and writing. The phone rang twice before a familiar voice came over the line, "Hello? Grace Marrinn speaking." Seth breathed a small sigh of relief. "Hey aunt Gracie." his voice was soft, there was silence on the other line for a few seconds before she responded. "Seth? oh thank the goddess, I didn't think you'd get back to us this soon." Seth took a deep breath, "Well this isn't a catching up chat, we actually already came to a decision." He heard the nervous inhale, "We understand if you can't, it is a huge ask and you're dealing with so many new things. It was really unfair of me to send that." Seth glanced at Anton, he stood holding up the paper he had been writing on. Seth glanced at it and nodded. "Auntie, of course you and your people can come here. I'm actually sitting with Anton right now. The only thing we need to know is how many warriors you have, so we know how many to send to help you move safely." Her voice clearly held tears, "Thank you Seth, we aren't in a good place, there's only about 50 of us total, and none of us are warriors." Anton growled softly, "Luna Grace, this is Anton, one of Seth's mates. I'm organizing the group now. Do you want me to talk with the local Pard near you and get their help transporting you sooner?" Her sobs were audible over the line, "Please, I'm scared for our people, I don't care what we have to do as long as they are safe." Cedar growled softly, "If we find those rogues, I am ripping them to pieces." Seth felt his wolfs rage and for the first time felt genuinely scared of the violence he was capable of.

After they got off the phone, Seth slumped into his chair, "Can you handle delegating with the other Pard? Cedar really needs a run, and so do I." Anton walked over, hugging Seth, "Of course, I'll go find you once I've got something figured out." "Thank you" Seth stood, leaving the office. Cedar stayed silent as they made their way outside. As Seth was starting to strip, Cedar spoke up for the first time, "I would never harm those you care for." Seth froze, "I'm not scared of you, I'm scared of me, because part of me wanted that, I wanted you to rip the rogues that did that's throats out. I wanted to feel their blood drip down our maw. I'm a monster." Cedar shifted, "They hurt family, the desire is reasonable. The fact that you feel horrible about it, shows your humanity is in tact, you are not a monster. Just hurt."

They ran for almost an hour before they saw Lev charging towards them. Seth shifted back, watching as Anton shifted back as well. "It's worse than we thought, there's been rogue attacks all throughout the southern territories. The pards, herds, and flocks have all been being targeted. I've been on the phone with the council, we are going to be using the old Pard house as a sanctuary for the groups who don't want to join, and those who do will be joining us. Orders of the council. Something is hunting us."

Cedar roared in his head. He ignored it as he saw Anton sink to the ground, "I had family in the Pard down there, my dad's little sister and her whole family. The entire Pard gone, even the kids. I had to tell him, he's currently blowing off steam in the training room. I feel bad for anyone looking for a sparring buddy." Seth pulled Anton into his arms. "I'm sorry love, do you want to go back to the room, I can run you a bath." Anton shook his head, "No, let Lev run, if he doesn't get some of it out I'm worried about what he might do. What I might let him do." He shook his head, "Sorry, I'm in control, promise." Seth hugged him again, "No, I get it, in a similar place with Cedar. I'm sure a run will do them both some good."

They both shifted, Cedar circling Lev once before starting on their run. Lev was fast, but Cedar was able to keep up, not like when they ran with Jax. He loved how fast Jax was, but it confused him. Alphas were generally the fastest and strongest. Bellamy and Jax definitely weren't Alphas. He half wondered if they were a true Omega. True Omega's, hadn't been recorded in some time. Supposedly wiped out due to being weaker, but the stories said they were unusually fast, and that definitely sounded like Jax. If that were true, he had a few other abilities none of them knew about yet. "Wait, what do you mean?" Seth's thoughts brought him back to reality, "I hadn't meant for you to hear that." Seth growled, "Cedar. Don't you dare keep secrets from me." Cedar's ear twitched, "Leave it alone, we have enough to deal with. We will figure it out later." Seth snarled, "You'd better explain it later." Cedar slowed his run to a trot, glancing over at Lev as he felt Seth retreat further in their mind.

Lev circled him, nipping at his ear. Cedar huffed, bumping against his side until he laid down. Cedar sat next to him, slowly leaning over until he was lying half on top of Lev. The panther squirmed, purring under him. He huffed in response, he'd move if he thought he was actually hurting Lev, but he needed cuddles to and the panther wouldn't purr if it caused him pain. Lev eventually quit moving, but continued purring softly.

Cedar had no idea how long they'd been out there. A branch snapping had his attention, he and Lev both spun around to see a dark form with emerald eyes stalking closer to them. Jax growled softly before jumping on him. He stood effectively knocking the panther off his back, and moved to lay on both of them. Jax huffed, settling in to cuddle with both of them. Cedar dozed as they lay out under the stars. They eventually all woke up, and headed back to the house.

Seth curled up with the other two on their bed. He had planned just to go to sleep. That was until Anton's lips met his, Bellamy sat up, grinned and straddled him. Seth pulled away from Anton, "Not that I don't love where this is going, but are you both sure? Emotions were high today, I just want to make sure everyone's okay." Anton gave him another quick peck. "I'm sure, I do want this. I'm not so upset that my judgment is clouded." Bellamy glanced between the two of them, grinning, he rolled his hips, eliciting a gasp from Seth, "I'm very sure I want this. It's been a few days, I miss my mates." Anton sat up, "Well, we should really fix that." Anton started kissing Bellamy, Seth watching, it was so hot watching them together, he rolled his hips up grinding his hardening c*** against Bellamy, grinning at the way the smaller man moaned into the kiss he was sharing with Anton.

The next morning, Seth woke up to Bellamy poking his arm, "Morning wolfy." Seth groaned, "Morning is too early." Anton sat up smiling at him, "Maybe, but we have guests. Apparently, the council feels just awful about all of the American groups being targeted, has the survivors being privately flown here. The first group lands in two hours. It should have Luna Marrinn and her group. Me and Bellamy both figured you'd want to be awake for that." Seth sat up, practically jolting out of bed and to their closet. Bellamy chuckled, "At least shower alright? We will hop in after you, and we can all head to the airport after, it's been forever since I've seen auntie Gracie. Is that alright?" Seth turned, "Yeah, thank you Bellamy. She's going to be stoked when she sees you. You know she wanted to arrange a chosen mate for you if I found my fated mate and it wasn't you. I overheard her and mom talking about it." He saw Bellamy blush, and heard Anton's growl. "Easy Anton, it was because she liked him, he's a good person. She's ecstatic that he has us." Anton nodded, pulling Bellamy closer to him, "alright, I believe you."

As the plane landed a few hours later, Seth practically barreled past the other two to greet the people coming off of it. A woman came racing off of the plane, immediately throwing herself in Seth's arms. Seth could barely hear Bellamy whispering to Anton, "I hope your a hugger, we're up next."