I will be your reaper...

Planning and capture

Noris Carswell POV

Our lives have certainly been different these last two weeks. The twins came barrelling into our lives like wrecking balls and brought with them two Alphas, a Beta, a Luna heir, a witch and a warlock. On top of that, we've all done something we never had to before - Dive into different Gods and Goddesses along with the many different cultural lores that came with them. Being wolves, we serve and worship one Goddess - Selene, the Moon Goddess, mother of wolves. However I have to say, the twins are a blessing. Due to Gamma Chelsea's mother being a witch mated to the ex-gamma from our pack, she locked her magic away and joined the pack. So we always had a good relationship with her coven. Unfortunately, Chelsea's father, Gunner, died during a rogue attack and my father had to find a new gamma because Lorraine refused the position and just wanted to focus on her daughter. So, when Chelsea was two, a year after her father died, Scott Harrison was chosen to take the role. His wife died giving birth to Evan, so it was determined that Lorraine would help Scott with the female Gamma duties. When it was time to step down, Evan took over as Gamma. Unfortunately, he had yet to find his mate. It wasn't until Chelsea came back that she found he was her mate. At age sixteen, Chelsea was sent to her Coven to learn magic. She's the only person in our pack that is a wolf-witch hybrid. My father's willingness to allow Chelsea into the pack regardless deepened the bond between her coven and our pack.

Chelsea and Evan got married a week after marking and mating, Evan decided to take her last name in honour of her father. When they had their first child, Chelsea opted for the name Nicholas - the male version of Nicola, after Evan's mother. A beautiful story, really. For Talia and I, our parents always knew we would be mated. Our mothers said it was a 'sixth sense'. But despite that, we'd long been in love and were sweethearts our whole life. We dated all through high school, attended the same college and university and remained together. Being wolves, our schooling is different from humans. So Talia and I finished university when we were nineteen, mated and marked when we found each other to be mates at eighteen and married when we got home from University.

Lily and Quinn were rivals all their lives. Lily very nearly rejected Quinn because of her ego. Today, however, they're one of the more openly lovey-dovey couples.

The twins not only blessed Lily and Quinn with parenthood but the pack with more and stronger connections. Alpha Felix Monroe's pack is one of the more wealthy packs that believe in bravery and justice. Alpha Michael Storm's pack is wealthy also, but they don't flaunt it like most and remain humble, and kind and are fantastic warriors. Luna heir Jessica Grey's pack is a very strong ally - Especially when it comes to fighting, war and strategy. Her father, Alpha Elias Grey, is hailed as the best warrior in the country - Minus the Royal family of course. Beta Sophia's mate is the second-born child of the Alpha of the Howling Cove pack. This pack has deep connections with the Royals due to a lot of their bloodline being members of the court or mated to high-ranked members of the Royal pack. They're fantastic allies when it comes to information and reliability. Then we have Celeste Hawton, High Priestess of the Gaia Coven. We've secured a steady alliance with this Coven as well as Elder Jaxon's Blue Grove Coven. We're in back-and-forth communication with both Covens to share information that we find. They also wish to protect the twins.

Talia and I were shocked enough to learn about the whole 'Artemis and Hodr, younger siblings of Selene' thing. Then we had 'Mother is Theia, brother is Apollo, Erebus has Theia's eyes of prophecy and Aradia is a powerhouse but we don't really know the extent of her abilities and what they are'. On top of that, it appears that the twins have magic in their blood too. Jaxon suggested inviting the leaders of each race to confirm their bloodlines. But...I'm still thinking about it. Would they trust us? Can we trust them? It's a lot to think about...But Jaxon made a very good point. We would be better prepared for their future if we knew what bloodlines they held.

I'd think about it more later. For now, we had a traitor to catch and Erebus was certain he knew who they were. I sat on the bed beside him and offered my hand to him. His eyes twinkled happily as if melted gold sat under the sun and he grasped my large hands with both of his tiny ones. Goddess, must you make these twins the cutest children I've ever seen? No offence to my own children but...They looked too much like me and not enough of Talia. Besides, now that these children were cleaned up and dressed properly, they looked as if they were moulded by a divine artisan to perfection. These two would be heartbreakers when they were older. Erebus was obviously so happy to be holding my hand, poor child. Both of these children had been through too much. I knew from the moment we saw them that they were to be protected at all costs. "Erebus, sweet boy. Tell Uncle Noris about the bad lady you saw. We'll go get them, I promise."

Erebus nodded and looked at Dia who was sitting beside him. Neither said a thing to the other, but Dia got up and got a sketchpad and some crayons "Uncle Noris, Erebus is going to show you his art talent!" Dia laughed as she handed the sketch pad to Erebus. I watched the boy in his trance. Ten minutes...Fifteen...Twenty...He was done. He sketched an amazing portrait of a woman from the waist up. She was of average build, dressed in a staff uniform. blondeish-brown hair cut into a messy pixie. She had a few freckles dotted across her face and black-brown eyes. Quinn rubbed his chin looking at the picture. The gears in his head were turning for a hot second before he gasped "Yes! I knew she was familiar. Her name is Katie, she's actually nursery staff but volunteers in the kitchen sometimes when someone calls in sick. So that's the bad lady that keeps poisoning Lily?" Quinn looked between Dia and Erebus and they both nodded in unison.

"Alright then. Quinn, Evan, come with me. We'll go arrest her." I went to walk out of the room but Dia tugged on my hand and shook her head. Evan stepped toward me with a sigh "Dia's right. If we just arrest her out of the blue, we'll tip off any other traitors. Besides, people like her typically have nothing to lose. That's the last kind of person we want to back into a corner. Since Quinn knows her, why don't we have him bait her?" Quinn rubbed his chin with a frown and Talia walked over to Dia, shuffling her to the bed with Erebus "That's a good idea. I'll be here with the children so if Quinn must, he can use my pregnancy as a topic and bait her." Chelsea shook her head "That's no good. It's Lily they're after. Since she's nursery staff, maybe Quinn can go over and lie about Lily finally having conceived and say they're looking into how many spaces there will be in the nursery for next year" I nodded with Quinn and was about to leave again when I heard a gasp behind me.

I quickly ran over to Talia in a slight panic. She was frowning at Erebus' hand on hers, the boy's golden eyes swirling with darkness. We all look at the two, much too worried to pull his hands away from Talias. Dia patted my arm and smiled "Don't worry, Uncle Noris. Ere is having a prophecy." I felt the weight lift off my shoulders and after a few minutes, Erebus returned to normal. His face was lit up like a Christmas tree and he looked between Talia and I. "Uncle Noris, Aunt Talia, do you want to know the gender of your baby?" I looked at my wife and she nodded at me, so I nodded at Erebus with a smile. However, Erebus just grinned silently at Dia, leaving us all confused until she spoke up "Is that so? Congratulations, Auntie Talia! You're getting the daughter that you wanted! And she's going to be super loved and protected, I promise!"

My eyes watered as I looked at my wife. Finally! A girl! After five boys, we finally had our Princess! And Dia reassured us she was going to be cute, loved and protected. That meant the world to us. We hugged the twins with a thank you and Quinn smiled, his hand on my shoulder. "Come, let's go catch a traitor. You and Talia can finally pick some girl names when we get back!" I nodded, kissing my wife's forehead and quickly shuffled from the room. Evan and I agreed to wait in Quinn's office while he carried out the plan. In the meantime, Evan and I had a conversation about the bloodline situation. "Well, Noris. I personally agree with Jaxon. Not only would it make our lives easier, but the twins as well. We'd know how to properly support their future. Other than that, it could be a very good opportunity to open more connections. Especially to other races. But..." Even scrunched his face a little and I frowned "What? What is it, Evan?" He sighed and, knowing we still had time, dialled a number on Quinn's desk phone. He placed it on loudspeaker and after a couple of rings, I heard the voice of Alpha Felix say hello.

"Alpha Felix. Sorry to bother you, it's Gamma Evan. I'm here with Alpha Noris. Forgive me for this, but I overheard your wife speaking to Lorraine about your sister and was wondering if it's okay with you to tell us about your sister and what happened. From what I understand, she was quite a special wolf." I grimaced, the pit in my stomach telling me I wasn't going to like this conversation. There was silence for what felt like forever but was only twenty seconds. "Alright. I'll tell you about Violet. She was a very cute child. My younger sister by five years. When she was born, she already had her wolf. My mother said that her eyes flashed orange at birth. The pack was over the moon - Something we'd only heard about in legends was real and was happening to our very family. The legends say that within the wolf species, there were very rarely special wolves born. I'm sure you've heard these legends before as kids and thought nothing of them as mere false myths but they're very real. Special wolves are born with special abilities and rare fur colours. As you know, most of the time, our wolves' fur is based on our hair colour. But with my sister, her wolf was a beautiful lilac colour with orange eyes and she had the ability of telekinesis. She was able to communicate with her wolf from a very young age and her wolf, Lila, taught her how to use her abilities from the age of six. Our pack loved Violet deeply, she was so kind and helpful. Only using her abilities to protect and help others. Unfortunately, there were a few in the pack who were jealous and opened their mouths in places they shouldn't have outside of the pack. Violet being a special wolf was the biggest secret we ever had and we kept it tight within the pack. But after a few blabbed about it outside, Violet was kidnapped and from what we can gather, whoever did it tried to extract her abilities and wolf to make their own. But it failed and Violet died. Those with loud mouths were executed in public in front of our pack as an example and the entire pack went into mourning for Violet. In present, we don't really talk about her. She's still a very sore spot for our pack".

My breath hitched and I gripped the desk in front of me, Evan's face looking pained as he looked away from the phone "So...We need to keep the twins' abilities to an inner circle only. The pack can't know..." I felt a lump crawling up my throat as I spoke and Even nodded in agreement "Forgive us for bringing up such a tragic topic, Felix...I'm so sorry for your loss. Violet sounded like a beautiful soul..." I heard a sniffle on the other end and then Felix cleared his throat, pain evident in his voice "Indeed. She was beautiful, thank you, Noris, and Evan. I'm glad you asked me. I know what Jaxon wants to do, he consulted all five of us before bringing it to you. So while I agree with Jaxon, you need a cover to bring the leaders of each species to the pack. Unless we can take the twins to them under the guise of a vacation. Their birthday is coming up, after all." Evan smiled at the idea "When is their birthday, Felix?"

"February 12th. So it gives us plenty of time to plan. I'm still getting rid of traitors in my pack, so as soon as I'm done, I'll head over and we can all begin brainstorming when we're ready." I nodded and stood up straight "We're doing the same right now. Erebus has been a great help in finding the main perpetrator, so let us know when you're done and we'll notify the others of the meeting. I'll have to get going now, I can smell Quinn getting closer to the office with the traitor" With that, Felix wished us good luck and the call ended. Evan and I took our seats and as the door opened, Quinn kicked the woman inside and she crashed onto the floor at our feet. Goddess, the confusion on her face was priceless. She tried to scramble out of the office, colour drained from her face. But it was too late. Quinn injected her with the smallest amount of wolfsbane, enough to keep the traitor's wolf done and make her pretty much human.

Let the interrogation begin.