Frozen Atonement - The Beginnings

The Crew

Atticus had been running a little late as something had held him up, but Keturah assured everyone he would be there and to go ahead and go and he would meet them all in The Village.

Dax, Kailin and Alex had been enthralled by seeing all the different places in the castle and being told that their pack could use it anytime they wanted. His pack was free to roam, explore, if they stayed out of the places marked that they weren't supposed to be. Alex was going to have to let his pack know and try and figure out a way to keep Finn from trying to get into restricted areas. Watching the girls in the back of the SUV made him smile and he could imagine Taz would have had a good time if she weren't sleeping.

Drax was an interesting fellow. Alex had noticed that most of the Dragon men were tattooed. He was big, burly and quiet. He was every bit the bodyguard and Alex had learned he was the head of the Dragon Guard. “Do you have many dealings with Atticus, aside from the girl’s outing?”

Drax glanced towards Alex as he continued to navigate the icy roads headed for The Village and gave a shrug. “We train together a lot and train our recruits together. Unlike other caerns and packs that try and keep them separated, we all have one training agenda for everyone.”

“Everyone? All Shifters?” Alex was impressed, to say the least.

Drax gave a nod of his head. “Yes. If you want to come with me on Monday, you can see how it is all done and meet the head of each guard.”

“Thank you, I think I would like that.” Alex glanced back towards his brother for a moment and watched him as he watched Skylah and her giggling with the girls, smirking a bit as he mind linked Dax. “Let her have some fun, I am sure she will have her fun with you later.”

Dax looked forward, shooting his brother a glare as he retorted through the link. “Says the one that already got to mate with his woman, without permission, I heard.”

Alex rolled his eyes a bit and sighed. “Yeah… Atticus being here later should give dinner and a show.”

Dax couldn’t help laughing through the link. “You got into trouble all on your own this time bro. Can’t blame me and Finn for your woes.”

Drax slowed the car down a bit on the outskirts of a town that was well lit and pulled into a covered parking garage that had a card reader. Rolling the window down, he swiped a badge across it before driving into the guts of the garage and finding a parking spot as the women all started to get giddy. “Let me remind you all, I am the one in charge…”

Skylah looked forward towards Drax at his reminder and tipped her head to the side. “Oh? Are you now? Because I thought Faith was your keeper…”

Faith just laughed; Dax groaned aloud as he realized his mate was a trouble maker just like his little sister. With a sigh, he got out and began to open the doors for everyone to get out of the large SUV, watching as the women filed out and glanced behind them to the second rig before looking towards Drax. “Who are the others?”

Drax looked towards the rig, moving over to shake hands with the good-looking man that had exited the rig and then the second passenger, as he gave a nod and made a motion towards the men, he had with him. “I will do the introductions, since I seem to be the only one that knows everyone.”

Drax made a motion around the circle they had formed: “Tane, Gryphon Royal Guard. Vance, Second in command of the Werecats. Jace, head commander of the foxes. You should all know King Alex, and this is his brother, Dax.”

Everyone gave their respective nods and general agreement as to who was who, but it was Alex that looked upon the one introduced as second in command, as everyone else here seemed to be the head person, which made him more curious. “Second? Who is the Head Commander?”

All the men seemed to look at one another a moment before speaking aloud in almost a groaning tone of “Nix.”

Alex and Dax both looked rather shocked at this revelation as they looked towards Finn as he was running up from the third rig that had just pulled in, watching as Atticus was exiting the vehicle as well and with a tired looking Tazina in tow, making Alex tense.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. The cats have a female commander?” Dax seemed astounded by this revelation.

Vance laughed a bit at the shock they seemed to have. Obviously, their dealings with Nix had been limited.

Jace shuddered a bit as he looked around to make sure no one else would hear him as he murmured to the group. “Nix is the more brutal of us all. I have watched her skin a man alive and never blink while the rest of us were busy trying not to wretch. She is fierce, and I mean fierce.”

The others seemed to nod their heads in agreement before it was Tane who thumbed his way towards the women. “I will take my chances, pissing them off as a group and face the ire of them all, rather than even remotely upset Nix.”

Finn arched a brow at this because it was fascinating to him that all these big powerful men were fearful of a little ole pink-haired cat. He just laughed, until they all glared at him.

“Wait until you make her mad, we will see who is laughing.” Atticus had walked up after handing Tazina over towards the group of women that were getting impatient as all hell. He glared at Alex a moment, before he straightened up and turned towards all the women. “The same rules apply as always. Everyone stays together or with a guard. You will no…”

Atticus paused, seeming to choke on his words as his gaze immediately shot towards Faith as she climbed out of the rig with Kailin, a deep reverberating growl leaving him as he bellowed out. “Mate” and was moving towards her.

Kailin’s head had snapped up as she heard that growl, her gaze falling upon the man that claimed her as his mate and a gasp leaving her lips as she looked towards Atticus and then beside her at Faith.

Faith stepped up between the pair, blocking Atticus from grabbing ahold of Kailin as she smiled. “Att… breath, deep breath… we are here to do a bit of shopping and you should probably talk to Alex…”

Alex was perhaps just as shocked, but at the same time, clearly Selene had a sense of humor about her. Of course, his little sister would be mated to his own mate’s older sister, because why not? He shook his head for a moment, but moved towards Tazina and wrapped his arms about her as he dipped his head to murmur in her ear. “You should be sleeping.”

Tazina felt weak, she was tired, and she couldn’t help but lean back on Alex and his embrace with a heavy sigh as she smiled. “We have planned this for four months; I am not going to miss it.”

Atticus couldn’t help but growl, he really didn’t like it when Faith got in the way. Faith and his sister were always in the way. He loved Taz, truly, and it didn’t matter that she wasn’t really his sister, but he was annoyed they hadn’t told her and him the truth before now. But right now? He wanted Faith to move as he breathed deeply, little rolling growls coming forth.

Drax moved over to lay a hand on Atticus and tugged at his arm. “Come on man. Let the women have their fun. We don’t need any distractions tonight with them all out here.”

“Them all?” Dax looked towards all the men around and his good wolf hearing had caught Tazina’s words. They had planned a long time for this, and suddenly he was curious who was there.

Tane stepped up then, letting out a whistle to get everyone’s attention. He looked towards the women then and made a motion towards them. “Introductions, ladies, please and thank you.”

Faith was the one that stepped up, which, judging by the look on most of the guards’ faces, wasn't surprised. Drax looked amused, as if he was used to the woman and her boisterous personality.

“Keavy, Gryphon Princess.” Faith made a motion towards a female that was oddly quiet and stood next to another one that was just as quiet. Alex and Dax hadn’t seen them say a word since they arrived, and he was curious. Keavy was every bit the royal. He assumed the princess’ heir as he knew the Queen had no mate and no children. The aura about her wasn’t as strong as the others, but he could also tell it was well hidden and locked away. She wasn’t overly tall, taller than Faith though, but everyone seemed to be taller than Faith. Keavy had almost snow-white hair and beautiful hazel eyes with soft features and creamy skin that looked delicate, but not as delicate as the one beside her that was even more quiet than the others. She almost seemed to hide in the background with her dark hair that had a natural wave to it. Stunning deep blue eyes and youthfulness, clearly, she looked the youngest here.

Faith made a motion to the counterpart beside Keavy, then. “Sorcha, Heir to the Fox Crown.” Bouncing past the others most knew already, Kailin, herself, Tazina, Catori, even a face Finn and Alex both realized they knew. “Malia, heir to the Fae Kingdom.”

Alex and Finn shared a look then, no wonder they had ended up in a hallway after being with a beautiful woman and had no memory as to how they got there. Both men looked pointedly towards Malia, who just smiled sweetly and flicked her violet-colored hair back behind a shoulder, looking right proud of herself.

“The others were not able to join for issues unforeseen, but the others are our personal friends.” Faith made motion to the group of other women there with them, taking it to mean that they were not heirs or a direct heir. Suddenly, Alex, Finn and Dax understood it well. These were almost all the heirs to the Kingdoms going out, together, at once, to the same place. Alex bristled a bit, not thrilled that Tazina was out here in this… he could only hope that nothing would go wrong, and that Keturah had been right about the number of wards in place on palace lands.

It was going to be a long and tense night and Alex hoped they all made it back successfully and the women had a good time.