The Midnight Pard

Chapter 9

Anton

Bellamy had looked over both his list and Seth's, choosing his secondary Delta from Anton's list and both his primary and secondary Delta from Seth's list. Just in time for them all to head off to the council. The journey to the council had been long. At first he believed his eyes were deceiving him. In front of them appeared to be a shimmering wall. Their guide Lily pointed to it, "Right through there, it's a spell. Only the invited can see it." Anton stepped forward, Lev near the surface, ready to fight and defend if need be. Glancing to his side, he could see Seth keeping pace with him, Bellamy just barely behind them. Their guests a few steps further back. Lily turned smiling at them, "Those with invitations, step forward, state your name, and the names of those here on your invitation and you will be allowed to step through." He stepped forward, "Why this precaution?" Lily turned to him, "There are those whose ability is to look like someone they are not, if someone whose name is not invited tries to come through the wall will be solid, but if someone says their name and they are the ones invited the wall only exists visually. Courtesy of two of our other members. Now, if you'd please?"

Anton stepped up first, "I am Anton Guerin, my two guests are Devin Garcia and Jonah Harris." He glanced at Lily, who nodded, taking a deep breath. He stepped forward. Immediately, he seemed to be in a different place. He spun around, only to see everyone still standing behind him. He waved, but nobody reacted. "They can't see you." Anton spun at Oona's voice, "Hello again, they can't see or hear anything on this side." As she spoke, Devin and Jonah both came through the barrier. Anton turned back towards the barrier. Watching as Bellamy approached it next. "I am Bellam Greene, my two guests are Gregory Truman and Siobahn Lee." Soon Bellamy and his Deltas were standing near Anton, they turned to watch Seth as he walked forward. "My name is Seth Volkov, my guests are Max Hart and Liam Amery." Oona squealed as once they were all past the wall. "I'm so happy to see you all again, follow me I'll give you a tour oh and." "That's enough Oona, let them get settled," Leona's voice rang out surprising them all as she approached. "So this is where you ran off to, could have told me our guests were here early." Oona giggled at Leona's words. "Grumpy pants."

They walked through the Council's halls, Oona happily showing them where their rooms would be. They had quickly asked for separate rooms with embarrassment on all of their faces when she had suggested giving them the biggest guest room to be together. Leona had interrupted, "It's alright, it's more traditional to room you separately until after anyway." All three of their rooms were next to each other. Seth smiled, at least we will be close." Anton felt Lev agree. "Alright, forgive me for being blunt, but I don't know the customs here. So how long should we expect to be here? When are we going to talk to people about the ceremonies?" He hesitated, "and the secrets?" Oona stepped forward, "Set your bags down Alpha, you and yours come eat, and the three of you, plus whoever else you decide to bring will have a meeting for your answers."

Bellamy stepped forward, "Thank you Councilor." He placed his bag in the middle room, just inside the door. Anton and Seth picking their rooms as well. They followed Oona and Leona to a large dining area. The table laden with all different foods. Anton looked at the empty chairs, "There are only nine chairs here?" Oona shrugged, "We figured having a meal without us hovering over you would be more pleasant. There's a button next to each door. Pressing it will call someone to come check on you. If myself or Leona are busy, one of our helpers will come."

After the two left, everyone went to the table, pulling out chairs, Seth chuckling, "Am I the only one who feels like this is some childrens story?" Bellamy started laughing, "Oh the one where if you eat anything you can't leave the island? I heard a human kid say it was based on fairies, but the fae don't do that." Anton shrugged, "Humans have consistently made anything 'other' the enemy in their history. Those stories are no different."

The rest of the meal passed in small talk. Walking into the room, it had seemed like there would be no way for them to make a dent in the mounds of food piled on the table, but in under twenty minutes, half of it was gone.

Seth spoke up first, "About the other part, I think I'll have Max and Liam go back to their rooms." He held up a hand as they both tried to interject, "No arguing, this is personal to my mates. It is not my story and having you both there is unnecessary." Anton spoke up next, "Devin, Jonah, I also don't think you need to be there, however, since you two have been with me every day since whatever happened, happened. I would like one of you to join us. I'd prefer that person be Jonah." Everyone turned expectantly to Bellamy, "I think having someone who can keep tempers calmed is a good idea for us, at the very least for my anxiety." He turned to Siobhan, "I trust you with my life or you wouldn't be here, but Greg has calmed me down before, I know his strengths and I have memories of him calming Anton, Devin, and Jonah. I'm not in charge of either of you, I want us to be able to work together. Are you both okay with me taking Greg into this meeting and having Siobahn sit the meeting out?" Siobhan reached across the table taking his hand, "Sweetheart, I've gotten to know you during your last stay with the pack, and while I appreciate that you don't want to boss us around, I'd jump into a volcano if you told me to. I respect and trust your judgement. Just be safe, I'd never forgive myself if I let harm come to my Luna."

Bellamy

Sitting in what resembled a human corporation's office, with himself, Seth, Anton, Greg, and Jonah on opposite sides of the table from Starla and Desmond. Bellamy was feeling too many emotions to count. Greg reached over, taking one of his hands. Bellamy felt himself instantly calming.

Starla was the first to speak up, "I am sorry for all the secrecy, we both are. We don't want you to see the council as the enemy. All they have ever tried to do, all we have ever tried to do, is protect. Unfortunately, the ways we went about it weren't perfect, and have caused a lot of harm. Before starting our story, we must insist on vows. What is discussed here will not be discussed outside of these halls." Desmond pulled a dagger from his cloak. Bellamy took it. Immediately, Anton grabbed his hand, "Not to be rude, Councilor, but is it safe for you to be here currently?" Desmond smiled inclining his head, "I will never take someone showing care for their mate as rude, it is nice to see it." His eyes glanced to Starla before continuing. "I am quite in control of my own impulses currently. I would not permit myself to be here were I not."

Bellamy pulled his wrist away, "It's alright Anton, though I do find using an entire dagger a little silly. Considering you only need a drop of each of our blood", He pricked the tip against his finger, passing the dagger to Seth next. "What exactly is the vow?" Starla raised an eyebrow, "Not your first time young panther. Well, to answer your question. What is said in this room will only be discussed by those present, never with an outsider. Unless required to spare a life or to keep honest with one's mate."

After they made the vow, each giving a drop of their blood in the process. Starla nodded, "Thank you. Now we should start at the beginning. The story starts with my own story. I was barely an adult when I found my mate, Tyr. We were happy, but we didn't feel whole, and that isn't how most mate bonds work. We decided to travel. We traveled for many years until Tyr claimed he could feel his mate but it wasn't coming from me. I'm sure you can imagine I didn't take the news well. It took a lot of convincing and reassuring. I agreed to follow him. To my surprise, I also began to feel the pull of the mate bond. It was surprising and scary. We did research as we tried to find whoever it was. Unfortunately, our leads were all well over five hundred years old. It seemed it was possible, mate bonds between multiple people had happened, but they always seemed to be shrouded in lies, tales of insane powers. All surrounding something they called a triumvirate. It's when three people are all mates with each other. Eventually, we found a coven. We knew immediately our mate was amongst them. Unfortunately, our kinds were on shaky footing at the time."

Desmond placed a hand over Starla's, "I was in that coven, our leader, my creator wanted me to choose him as my mate. I found the idea hard to resist, it is hard not to want what your creator wants for my kind. A few days later, we heard about who I had been told was the enemy near our coven. I caught their scents, I immediately knew I was drawn to both. I hadn't heard of that ever happening before. I asked my creator about it. He called it Fae trickery. I wanted to believe him, but I didn't. I went out to see for myself. I had believed in fated mates, but I hadn't believed it would truly feel like love at first sight. I decided to turn rogue. My creator wasn't being honest with me. My fated mates offered to help me run. It was days before we realized they were following us. We got permission to cross onto Pard lands, and just in time. They were on top of us as we crossed the border. It wasn't until after we crossed that Starla realized there were two children."

Starla moved her hand away from Desmond's. "I begged them not to act rash, to leave the Pard's lands. They grabbed Anton. Bellamy, you ran at them, hitting them." She took a deep breath, staring only at Bellamy. "One of the other vampires grabbed you. I, Bellamy darling, he killed you. Anton started trying to shift, but Lev wasn't with him yet. Me and Tyr used some of our own abilities, but they were far stronger than before. Tyr put his hand on Bellamy, I don't know how, but he healed you."

"He passed away from whatever he did, nothing comes without a price." Desmond's voice was cracked. "Starla carried you both back to the Pard house, we refused to give the children to anyone except the Alpha." Starla interjected. "I couldn't bare the idea of anyone else hurting either of you. Not after Tyr gave his life for yours. We stayed with your pard for a few days, before a small group from the council showed up. They offered us a place here. Offered to help the young ones hurt by our fleeing attempt. We accepted. It came at a price. Council members are not allowed to take mates."

Bellamy felt Jax growl softly in his mind, "No, they can't force them to do that. It isn't right." Bellamy agreed, it wasn't right, but neither he nor Jax was going to change anything. "In the memory I did recover. I heard the word triumvirate. You've mentioned it again in your story. What is it?" He didn't miss the way they both tensed.

"It's a rumor, mostly." Starla started, quieting at a look from Desmond, "We told them we would be honest, half truths wouldn't be honest." She nodded before taking a deep breath and starting again. "We have no concrete proof that it is anything more than rumors, but we know what we felt. When we were all together, we felt stronger, faster, like we could do anything. There has never been a documented case of anything being strong enough to bring someone back from the dead. There's undead, but Bellamy, you are back entirely. We don't know what it means, but we do believe you will grow stronger. We've been gathering all of the information that we could find on it. You will, of course, be permitted to look over it. The council is harsh with some of their practices, but they mean well, they want to protect us all."

It had been two days since they had spoken about the past. All of them were currently helping to set up the event that was to publicly acknowledge and officiate their fate bond. The event itself was set to take place the following night. It was intended that by holding the event there on neutral grounds, no other beings would have reason to cause an issue. Nobody wanted another war.