The Lycanwolf

The Library

Jane woke up really early the next morning, and felt stiff from what she and Todd had done last night. She liked the name that the Moon Goddess had given him.

She walked to the center of the open area in front of the bed, and began her first stretches.

As her muscles loosened she began the first of her kata that she knew would help focus her mind as it was meant to channel the earth. She closed her eyes as she fell into the familiar moves of the martial arts forms that she knew so well. She had mastered 9 of the different forms of Martial arts, and she had combined some interesting kata techniques from each of them.

She focused solely on the Karate that she had mastered first, and felt the energy ripple through her as she finished the first series. As her foot came down she created a field of wildflowers, and she could suddenly smell them as the magic flowed through her. She continued into the next form without ever opening her eyes, and Todd had awoken from the wave of power she had released. He looked around and smiled as her recognized the healing forms of spell casting, and was surprised she was so fluid with it.

The plants that she had created swayed with her as she focused on completing the second form and a tree erupted in the center of where the room arched. Todd laughed as the small tree opened up a canopy into the rafters of the ceiling and Jane turned to look at him and glare. She had been doing the forms naked, and he had enjoyed the show she had given him. But the look on her face as she realized the flowers and tree were growing right from the floor surprised her a bit.

"What the???" she trailed off as she looked up into the leafy canopy of the tree.

"That's what you get when you cast Earth Spells in the house." Todd laughed enjoying the look on her face as he said this.

She looked at him like he had rocks in his head as she pointed at herself, while he nodded and pointed at her. "But I can't cast spells!?" she said stamping her foot and sending out a small wave of fire the singed the flowers within a few feet of her. She had felt that spell as she looked around her at what she had done and her eyes widened in shock as she realized. She could cast spells.

"I would say you can and are a natural at it. How many forms of Martial Arts do you know?" Todd asked her curious now as she raised her eyebrows again.

"Mastered in 9, Grand Mastered in 4." she said proudly of her accomplishments in that field.

"We used to train 7 of them for magic casting, the forms taking on certain level spells in each kata." he explained to her what was occuring. "Now that my prison has shattered, I think the flow of magic has been restored to the realms below Olympus." he theorized on what had happened.

"What would have stopped it?" she asked.

"What my prison was made of." he said guessing. "Somehow it absorbed the magical power as it flowed from the Well of Eternity in Olympus, and prevented it from flowing to the lower realms." Todd said becoming more sure of what he said as he realized that they needed to find the shards of his prison. He initiated a mind link with one of the warriors, and dispatched several squads of warriors to begin scouting for the remains of his prison.

"So magic is a real thing?" she asked.

"Oh yes my dear, and I think you will find you will be incredibly powerful in it." he said amazed at what she had accidentally done.

"We need to alert all of the packs to the possibility of their members casting magic as they train." Jane said worried as the computer at her desk started ringing. She walked over to her the computer and turned the monitor on. She was a little surprised when the screen came to life with a Skype Call from the Alphas Council.

She moved the mouse and clicked the button to accept the call, and was a little surprised to see about 20 different Alphas on the call already.

"Well, I suppose that answers that question." One of them that she didn't recognize said.

"How do you mean, and good morning." she said as she sat down.

"Our call is in regards to some incidents that have occurred this morning, and it appears you have experienced your own training mishap?" Alpha Jacob Jackson asked her pointedly looking at the tree behind her.

"Yes, that is one way of describing my bedroom." Jane said blushing slightly. "According to my mate it is a result of Magic returning to our realm, and those that are sufficiently trained in several forms of Martial Arts will have the chance of this occuring." she informed them, and most of them nodded as the incidents had occured during the Pack morning training rituals.

"I suggest we add this to the list of things we discuss at the Alphas meeting in 4 days time." Alpha Henry Wilder of the Silver Lakes Pack suggested.

"Agreed, have we heard from the humans?" Alpha Jackson of the Red Moon Pack asked.

"Not to my knowledge, however it is still before my pack has begun training yet." she informed them as the clock now read 0530. She knew she had another half hour before her pack began it's training, and she planned on being there to ensure there was no mishaps.

"Understood Luna Jane, we will begin arriving in 2 days, so far 29 of the 37 clans have accepted the invite. We will see how many of them decide to join with these new developments." Alpha Jackson said as she received the email alert to what was going on.

"Very well, I must prepare my pack for it's morning training. Blessed be." she said in the traditional departure greeting to the Alphas Council.

Jane rushed to the closet, and was surprised when Todd joined her and they both got dressed for what they were about to witness. They both dressed in outfits meant for exercise, and made it to the training grounds just as the first of the warriors arrived.

By the time 0600 came around, 250 warriors of the Dragonian Pack had assembled for morning exercises, and Beta Brian stride to the front before he noticed that the Alpha and Luna were standing there. He approached and spoke lowly so none of the others could hear what he was saying.

"Alpha, Luna, how can we warriors assist you today?" Brian asked curious.

"For today we will observe, however I suggest you have them separate more than usual this morning prior to the kata." Jane said knowing that the aggressive pack forms would likely produce fire spells from the warriors that were capable.

"Very well," Brian said as he turned and pretended the Alpha wasn't there. "Warriors, this morning we will begin by spreading our formation further apart. 5 feet between each person in every direction." Brian ordered and the warriors quickly obeyed.

It took less than a minute for the men and women in the warrior Corp to spread out as they stood at the ready for the first exercises to begin.

"We will begin form 3 this morning." Brian said as he took his stance in the front center of the formation. It went almost exactly as Jane thought it would, when the warriors finished the first spell form, and nearly 3/4 of the warriors cast a fireball with their first shout.

She noticed that most of the others that did not had different patches on their shoulders, indicating that their specialty lay elsewhere l, and she knew a few of them would specialize in different spell areas.

"What the hell!" Brian shouted as the dozens of fireballs dissipated after a few feet as the warriors lost focus on what they had just done.

"Do not fret, we expected something like this after we received a call from the Alphas Council. We will need to retrain ourselves so that we will not injure each other with these new abilities." Jane said projecting her voice so that all of the warriors could hear her. "For now, ensure you maintain your distance from each other, train hard and master your new abilities."

Jane knew they would definitely be learning a whole new way of training their warriors, and she hoped she would be able to find older book now that dealt with magic. She knew the pack had a library that only a few had access to, and she knew as the new Alpha she would be able to access it. She listened to the training continue, and mind linked Brian to report to her once the training session was finished.

It did not take her long to get to her office, or to find the books that detailed the packs finances. She suspected the pack was well off, most of the Omegas had jobs at pack owned industries, and most of the local town was controlled by them. She sat with the books, and opened them to the current month, and her jaw about hit the floor when she found her dad's hand written notes and ledgers.

According to this, the pack would be well off for several generations at least. The ledger stated that they had about $300 Million that was liquid assets right now, with another $1.4 Billion in different investment areas.

She found the logins for the Pack Bank accounts, and used them to login to the portal. She looked everything over and used the calculator to determine there was another $500 million in the separate accounts.

She was a little surprised at just how many accounts there were, and knew what most of them were for as they were labeled. She was just getting her bearings in all of it when Brian walked on and was not surprised to see what she was looking at.

"Thinking of a shopping spree?" Brian asked her as he came in and took a seat.

"No, had a different idea. Yes it will cost money, no it will not be for me." she said and he laughed.

"Its ok Luna, we can absorb it. You actually have a significant budget and allowance for your expenses, and there are a lot of investments that make us significant amounts of money." Brian said casually.

"Yeah about that, how much exactly does the pack have?" Jane asked looking through everything.

"There are 3 primary account patterns you need to know of. The Alphas fund, it holds $250 million and generates roughly $12 million a year. Those accounts are for yours and your parents use, and you will handle that between you and them.

"The primary pack accounts have $375 million at the moment, and is where the tribute funds go, and all pack expenses are allocated from. The final account is the investments, and it looks like those are the accounts you are logged into. I believe the total in those accounts is $1.8 billion, but those numbers could have changed." Brian said.

"How much could we afford to spend on a new training facility and grounds?" Jane asked.

"I believe your dad left $30 million from the defense fund left for you to make any changes you deem necessary." Brian said.

Jane finally arranged the ledgers as she knew which was which. "What is this $475 million liquid account in the investment portfolio?" she asked and showed him.

"The $1.3 billion marked as non liquid are investments that are currently long term and cannot be accessed without paying penalties. That fund there is one your father has been setting up. That is the dividends from the investments for the past year, and the 25 percent of the investments that were due to be reselected this year. That amount is where you will get the opportunity to test your business ability as you will be in charge of how that money is invested." Brian told her of Jon's plans. "Oh that reminds me." he said as he walked to the filing cabinet and pulled out an envelope.

It contained all the account cards in her name, and the checkbooks for the other accounts she would need. Some of the bills were big enough it required both of their signatures to process, and she started the process.

"Ok, so essentially dad left me enough money for this year that any changes I wish to make we can begin?" she asked.

"Actually, we could probably manage to make any changes you want for the next 5 years before we would need the tribute payments from all of the pack businesses next month." Brian said seriously.

"Ok, get the engineers to start designing a new training center." she said walking over to a map of the pack territory. She spotted the area that she wanted that was slightly isolated, and she would be able to start the training with the young. She placed a pin in the map and pointed.

"Here, new schools, training facilities, and we will establish a second medical center for training injuries. We will need separate warrior and mage areas so we can begin relearning the magic we have lost." she said as Brian and Todd both nodded in agreement.

The area was isolated, and would provide an excellent area for what she was proposing.

"How big are you thinking?" Brian asked.

"Once we get it finished we will require all pack children to attend our new academy. I have a terrible feeling the next several years is going to be the ultimate test of our ability to survive. I will be using the funds that dad planned for me as I see fit, and it may not entirely be in the manner he expected." Jane said to him.

"Will all warrior training be here as well?" Brian asked.

"Yes, we will begin a new education regiment that focuses on training for the future." she said as she began having ideas. "Plan a meeting with all those in charge of the different aspects of the pack for Friday morning." she said knowing it would be 2 days away.

"What shall I tell them the topic of this meeting shall be?" Brian asked as he stood.

"Tell them it will be about the future of the pack, and we will have funds available for investment. I will also need the accountant reports on the different businesses available for this meeting as I expect them all there." Jane said.

"All department heads, and economic leaders as well." Brian said nodding. "Friday morning at 0730?" he asked and Jane nodded.

"If you need me, I will be in the library." she said as Todd stiffened next to her as Brian walked from the office.

"Ares," he whispered. "My dear, once the Alphas Meeting begins it's second day I will need make a journey to take care of business."

Jane narrowed her eyes as she felt some of his emotions through their bond, and knew he was hiding something. She didn't want to push it so she nodded. "I am going to look in the library."

"Very well, I will begin my report on the Army and our warriors for the meeting. Need to do my part." Todd said as he opened the door for her.

Half an hour later Jane opened the door to the library, and was excited to finally see this section. It had always been restricted as she was not of age, and there were strict rules of what each rank could access. She knew what she needed would not be in the general access area, and as the Luna she had full access to everything.

She walked up to the Alphas Section, and slid the key into the lock and walked in. It was apparent that this section was rarely used as only the Alphas and Elders had access. And she could clearly tell that most of them had no interest in this section.

She grabbed a lantern and carefully lit it, before she made her way around the room. She was glad she could read the titles, and knew some of them were very old books. She didn't think any of them would be helpful, as most of them seemed to be books of historical figures from after The Treatise. She walked into a darker section, and was trying to light a torch in a bracket when she snapped her fingers concentrating on the flame.

All of a sudden she saw a flicker of light from behind a bookcase that had two lanterns on either side. One hadn't lit at all, but she knew there was a reason. She walked over and examined the lantern, when she saw a very slight wear pattern.

She pulled down on it, and heard a distinct click from the lock system on the bookcase as it popped open.