Chapter Ten
1341 Words
Chapter Ten
The shower after that was uneventful. He helped her clean up, paying special attention to some of his favorite parts, soaping her up and rinsing her down. He washed her hair for her. She seemed placid, thoroughly and well loved. He grinned at her.
As they left the shower, there was an eager knock at the door. He threw on a towel and went to answer it.
Melissa and Naomi rushed in. “We know how to stop it!” they said excitedly, ignoring the fact he was only in a towel.
“You do?” he asked.
They both eagerly nodded and thrust a book at him.
“What is this?” he asked as he carefully sat down, using another towel to lie over his lap.
“It’s a book about the Peacekeepers!” Melissa said excitedly and Naomi nodded her agreement. “We learned that Naomi is one of them and so am I! Naomi already knows how to communicate with the werewolves and she can teach me. We can solve everything!”
Hayden glanced at the two women and looked at the book. “Give me a moment...” He got up and headed for the bedroom. He found some clothes and threw them on quickly. As he came out of the bedroom, Eliza came out of the bathroom, dressed.
Melissa looked between the two of them and gave a little knowing smirk. Eliza looked a bit too pleased, too relaxed to have been doing any innocent showering. Eliza blushed.
“Let me call Theo and get him over here,” Hayden said and picked up his phone to do just that.
A few minutes later, Theo showed up and they sat down together to talk about this discovery. They explained to Melissa and Naomi what the role of a Peacekeeper was; what it meant and what the duties were that came with that role. It was a very important role and one to not be taken lightly. Especially in the light of a new pack moving in on the territory.
“Under normal circumstances, this would require a full council and pack vote, but because of this emergency, I will approve it. Hayden, is there a second?”
Hayden nodded. “I second.”
“So it is passed. Naomi and Melissa will serve as mediators and Peacekeepers of the Birkbridge pack.”
At that moment, something overcame Naomi. Her eyes cleared, her body seemed to fill in, and her skin became flush with health and vigor. She blinked and cried out in delight. “I can see, I can see clearly, the fog in my mind is gone!” Naomi stood and threw her arms around Theo, nearly tackling him in the process. “I never meant to hurt your family. I am so sorry... thank you for the forgiveness and the faith.” Naomi kissed him on the cheek.
Hayden and Theo glanced to each other then back to Naomi, accepting for the future and safety of their pack, for having forgiven Naomi. The circumstances then were accidental, and if they wished their pack to remain intact, they would have to make some sacrifices to ensure the longevity of their lives and their pack. They wouldn't blame her, no; they would blame those that hadn't taught her how to use her abilities properly, leaving everything to chance and accident.
Melissa beamed and soon she was being squeezed by her mother. Eliza was crying again, but tears of joy for the change in Naomi. She was healed.
“I think we need to send...” Theo started, but then a knock came at the door.
Hayden got up to answer it and found at least five pack members.
“We felt it. We felt the change, like a ripple through the pack,” the one who knocked said as he entered the cabin.
Before Theo could close the door, three others came. Pretty soon the entire pack was in Hayden’s cabin, all twenty of them. Theo quickly explained the change and the pack felt relieved, like a collective breath had been let out and the entire room seemed lighter. There were congratulations going around to Naomi and Melissa.
“Since the pack is all here, we have a situation to deal with. There is a rogue pack trying to move in on our territory, killing people and leaving them to be found. The hunters are on it and aren’t being too open minded. We need to run the other pack off and send our new Peacekeepers to talk with the hunters and put our truce back on the table. Now that we are once again complete with our Peacekeepers, we can fully defend ourselves without the need for war.”
There was a hearty agreement and a few pack members agreed to go with Melissa and Naomi to talk with Andrew and his family. Eliza was welcomed to the pack as well and she and Hayden were sent off to the location of the jogger. Hayden would try to pick up a scent to track the offending pack and Eliza would do her own job.
The members of the pack split up and went their ways to fulfill the tasks they had been given. Eliza and Hayden went to the scene of the latest attack. Eliza did her civic duty and reported the grizzly details of the third wolf attack, the second one in less than a week.
Hayden slinked across the park, locating scent spores and tracking the other pack. Once he had a definitive direction, he texted it to Theo. Theo, in turn, released his wolves into the woods to round up the other pack. The other pack was caught off guard, thinking the Birkbridge pack was weak because they lacked a Peacekeeper.
Theo, in human form, walked into the other pack’s camp and demanded their alpha leader. With twenty wolves surrounding the camp, the other pack was at a disadvantage. Their numbers were lower. The only reason they were stronger was because they were a complete pack with a Peacekeeper and others to fulfill rules needed to keep power in check and at full capacity.
Melissa and Naomi went to find Andrew and try to talk some sense into him. Naomi and her fully restored powers were able to settle him down and assure him the other pack would be brought to him, or at least their alpha. The three of them discussed the danger they were all in if the other pack was not dealt with.
A hard severe punishment was what was needed to send a message to other packs planning on moving in and taking over the territory. Hours had gone by with a back and forth between the pack’s new Peacekeepers and the hunters. When Theo showed up with the rogue pack’s alpha, Andrew settled down a bit more. His feathers were soothed and he was much more agreeable with someone who was responsible for the multiple attacks in his town.
The truce between the hunters and the Birkbridge pack was settled. Andrew questioned the other pack’s alpha and learned they were aggressive and often shouldered in on other territories, chasing off the weaker packs by killing their members or killing innocents so the hunters would blame the local pack. Once the local pack was dispersed, run out of town or killed off, the pack would settle in for a while then send out stragglers to pick up rogues and find another town to do the same. They had a large network spread out all over Indiana.
Andrew took in all this information. He told Theo he appreciated his help in the situation and an agreement about the truce came to pass. When the others left, Andrew conferred with his family, who all agreed they needed to spread the message about the aggressive tactics of the rogue pack.
Each member took on a different location in Indiana and called the prospective hunters of that region and explained the situation in Birkbridge. With the help of Naomi, Melissa, Theo and Hayden, news spread fast throughout the state and the rogue pack was picked off and sent for the hills or killed. The network of the pack was disassembled. Truces between peaceful packs and hunters were made all over the state with detailed treaties that could not be broken.
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