Valkyrie's Revenge

Chapter 8

                As they relaxed after the run Valkyrie and Raven could not help but feel more connected to their family again; almost like their parents were there. They had reconnected with some familiar faces and met some new family members to others. It had not escaped any of them that her mate had allowed so many to come and join in the run. While she knew he had an angle he was working she took the win while she had it, he had given her the opportunity to rebuild her home and she was over the moon about it. When the run ended, she promised all those in attendance that she would discuss possible shifts from one pack to the other to allow them to come home. This would mean she would have to meet with her mate, but after the conversation she had with him, and this gesture, she felt more drawn to the idea of spending time with him. It had started to become clear to her that avoiding him would continue to get more difficult.

                “Val, why do you think your mate let all those wolves come tonight? What’s his name again?” Raven asked her; intrigued by the notion that he had been so amenable to the notion. “He could have easily done the same as that d**k from Cross Woods and left us hanging but he was a decent Alpha instead.” His words his home with Valkyrie, like he had read her mind.

                “I don’t know, but I think I need to spend some time getting to know him. He is my mate, which I cannot ignore forever, and he has also bought himself some leeway. His pack likely has information from when our pack was attacked, maybe he will share some of that information with me, and I can see what all he is looking for out of this.” She stated, gaining an agreement from the three men. “What about you three, anything caught your eye we should be keeping our attention on?” She asks looking between the guys, noticing that they all looked a bit distracted.

                “During the run I thought I smelled something, it seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it or find the source.” Emery stated, which seemed to surprise everyone. Despite his concern he had not shared the information with anyone else on the run. Thanks to a disapproving glare from Valkyrie, he cleared his throat before looking down to continue. “I know, I should have said something immediately, but it was brief and there was no specific sign of someone being there. It could have as easily been a sent that I remembered from my childhood, or one of the new wolves. If I pick it up again, I will let you all know immediately.” Despite her annoyance, Valkyrie accepts his reasoning and nods her approval to wait and see what happens.

                Raven shifts in his seat then decides to speak up as well; “I have something actually; I met my mate.” He finished with a slight blush looking at the stunned group. “She works at the hospital, as a nurse, and is amazing. Her name is Mary.” Once he finished speaking, he looked up to see his sister grinning from ear to ear at him; she seemed much more excited for his mate than her own. “What is that look Val? Don’t go overboard yet.”

                “Overboard? Never! Now, tell us everything! Why didn’t you tell us immediately, which pack is she from?” Valkyrie asks, noticing as soon as she asked about a pack he tensed. She ran through all the options in her head as to what could be happening; is she a rogue? Maybe she has rejected him based on his pack or standing. She was eager to find out what he had to say.

                “Well, she’s human. That’s why I haven’t said anything, we can’t get her involved in our lives before I take the time to get to know her. I need to figure out how to date a human, as you all know it was not something I did well previously.” Raven said with a blush, not used to being so vulnerable in front of the others.

                “Bro, this time you have an edge; she is your mate. I am sure she is already smitten with you, so now all you need to do is show her that you live for her and no one else. Once you do that, she will be putty in your hands.” Ethan said with a smirk. Raven agreed, it would be easier to form a relationship with her, but he would also need to take the time to introduce her to the supernatural world. That would take much more time and he would want to make sure that everything was in a safe and settled place before showing her all of this. The four laughed and talked well into the night, feeling confident that things were starting to become clearer to them, that maybe they could really find a home after all.

                Across the city Mary’s sleep was interrupted by the sound of someone throwing things around in the kitchen. Bleary eyed she pulled on a housecoat and staggered into the living room then the kitchen, following the lights and still present sounds of someone destroying her well organized space. As she rounded the corner, she realized she had not brought anything with her to defend herself, therefore she always knew she would be killed in a horror movie first, no forethought to her safety. Knowing there is nothing she can do now to grab something to protect herself she just needed to be quick on her feet. Finally, the back of the intruder came in to focus and she could breathe a sigh of relief. “Noah, what are you doing here? What have you been doing in here? It sounded like World War Three in here.” She finished as she looked around her destroyed kitchen, then back to the tall chestnut-haired man in front of her. As he turned around, she could not stop from laughing as she realized all the banging was him making a sandwich. “How does someone make that much noise, and this much of a mess making a peanut butter sandwich?”

                “Hey, it’s an art being this great at mayhem.” He said proudly, with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. He always did like to push the boundaries of her world, which often had kept her working twice as hard to keep things safe for both. “So, tell me, have you learned anything else about those mutts? You know how they get when you don’t report in.” He asked through a full mouth of food. She disliked it when he spoke with his mouth full but what could she do about it, her brother had been like this for as long as she could remember.

                “Nothing yet, I know there are wolves at the hospital and have a good sense on a few, but nothing definitive yet. Once I have a better idea who is what I will be able to break out who belongs to what pack. Mostly, it seems there are two packs that maintain most of the power. One piece of new intel, an old name has popped back up; what do you remember about the Grace family? I seem to remember it being mentioned a few times when we were kids but that was it.” She explained to her brother through a yawn, she needed to be up soon to get ready for work, but she needed to get this info out as well. As much as she did not want to tell her brother about the beautiful man she found so captivating she knew if she did not mention it and she was discovered withholding intel her safety would be compromised.

                “Grace? Yeah, they were a pack when we were kids. They were part of what made us orphans from what I remember. If Uncle hadn’t stepped in, we would have been thrown into the system.” Noah reminded her of what had happened all that time ago. She did not remember much from that night just that when her uncle arrived to tell them their parents store had been attacked and they would be living with him now. She remembered feeling numb for so long, her uncle swearing revenge on the ‘old blood’ that had taken his brother and sister-in-law, and then what it was like growing up both in a pack but removed from it. They never did accept her or her brother because they did not carry the gene to shift like their father did, but their uncle was still responsible for them. When they were old enough, he moved them to an apartment of their own on the neutral land and made sure no one knew of their connection to him, tasking them with finding all wolves that they could to fulfill his twisted ideas.

                Suddenly Noah’s voice snapped her out of her daydreaming; “why do you ask about the Grace’s? They are all dead, aren’t they?” He questioned.

                “I don’t know, someone arrived at the hospital claiming to be a Grace, saying he has moved here with his sister and cousins. I knew the name sounded familiar, but I was sure we were told they had all been killed as well. I’ll monitor it, see what else I can find.” She told him, trying not to look concerned that she is so enamoured with a man whose family is responsible for the death of her own.

                “I need to get back, let me know what else you figure out about this Grace group. If they really are who they say they are then there is hell to pay, someone lied to our uncle about them being dead.” Noah reminded her before wrapping her in a hug and kissing her forehead as he headed back out. She knew this would be bad for everyone, she wanted for once not to have to play both sides of this life. She liked the people at the hospital and did not care if they are human or wolf, just like she loved her brother and uncle, whether shifters or not. Being a human raised with full knowledge of the supernatural world it had become a lonely place, never knowing who to trust and who to run from.

                Mary sighed as she looked around her destroyed kitchen, her brother had polished off almost an entire loaf of bread, all her milk, a box of cookies and two apples. How had he even found time to eat all of that while they talked? She smiled to herself as she tidied up the mess he had made; despite it all she had her strongest loyalty to him. Whatever came of from all of this she knew that what she needed to do most is keep him safe and both remain happy. She looked over at the clock and saw she still had an hour and a half before she needed to be up and eagerly went back to her bed. Morning would come too soon, and she knew that her day would call for a lot of energy, being a nurse in a major hospital was a lot of work already; being a spy for her uncle was an even bigger task.

                Drifting off to sleep the last thing she saw in her mind was Raven, his smile, and his gleaming kind eyes. She knew she would have to come clean to him one day, and she knew deep down that despite what her uncle said there is no way a family he came from could have been so terrible. How could someone so kind and gentle also be a ruthless killer? How could someone she already wanted with all of her being, be part of this ‘old blood’ cleansing? Her uncle had taught her that they wanted to hunt down any that dared to pollute the oldest bloodlines with human blood, but that is not what she had seen. Why would someone that hated humans so much be a doctor and help them as well?

                His smile put her to sleep, and she looked forward to seeing it soon, the rest she would figure out later. Surely, she could have a bit of fun with him first.