Legend Has It Book I ~{COMPLETE}~

Chapter 13 Small Army

GENEVIEVE

Alpha Khane was pissed. He believed his oldest son’s group had gone on a drinking binge but had sent his men to search regardless.

“It's a damn good thing I wasn’t here to kill the lot of you!” Alpha Khane had a booming voice, still pissed.

Conrad and Phillip were busy filling the retired Alpha in on everything that had happened when we made our appearance.

I noticed that I didn’t sense anyone but werewolves. No Josephine, no Sophia and Rhett, and no Mary, or Catherine, or Francis.

A note on the fridge read simply, “Jack’s.”

“And you didn’t think to send me a message?” The former Alpha demanded.

“It was chaos,” Phoenix told his father. “A lot happened in a really short period of time.”

“A lot happens in the middle of war and you still keep me apprised!” Khane fixed his gaze on me. “You got lax because of a female!”

“s**t!” Phoenix scoffed. “Then what’s these two yay who’s excuses?” He nodded his head towards Conrad and his unmated brother.

“They take their orders from YOU, their ALPHA!” Khane was in full blown father mode now. “If this is your mate, why isn’t she marked yet? You could’ve at least marked her then I’d have known and wouldn’t have brought a small f*****g army in search of you!”

“I don’t have to answer to you for that,” Phoenix replied a lot more coolly than I knew he felt. “But for your information, by the time we got a minute alone, we Passed. The. f**k. Out.” He emphasized the last four words with such sarcasm, I had to tamp down a chuckle.

“Excuse me, old man,” Phoenix said next. “I need to get to that coffee pot behind you. Genevieve, yes, she has a name, would like some coffee.”

“Genevieve?” Khane raised an eyebrow at the name. “That was to be the name of…”

“The missing alpha child?” Phoenix finished for him. Both of Khane’s brows went up. “I see you haven’t been given the whole story yet, father.”

“Apparently not. However, we’ll have to finish that on the way home. The Hunters aren’t happy we’re here and yes, they know.”

I froze again. Not because of The Hunters, though. Khane had said home and I suddenly didn’t know where my home was to be now. I’d been traveling with Josephine the last four years and we simply rented along the way. I’d never been to Jack’s, but I knew I wasn’t really welcome there by the Amish community. I didn’t know if the Blood Pact would let me reach out to Josephine without alerting the others or not and Phoenix and I obviously hadn’t had the discussion of where I now fit into his life as his mate.

::He is home for us now:: Lady’s voice was weak and tired, as it had been in the days after Juanita died.

I knew SHE was content to be with Isaac again, and the thought of not following Phoenix wherever he led me disturbed me. But I didn’t know him from Adam and I’d never left Earth.

It was time to be assertive. I really wasn’t sure how werewolves greeted each other, but from what I did know, they followed a lot of the same ethics as humans. I offered my hand to Khane.

“Let’s start over. I’m Genevieve and pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Surprise briefly crossed his face, but he took my outstretched hand and gave it a squeeze.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he replied. His voice a little softer.

From behind his father, where he was pouring coffee, Phoenix gave me a wink and extended a cup my way. I took that as approval and gained a little confidence.

“So, I was raised here on Earth by Guardians and I don’t really have a home of my own now that I’ve completed my first shift,” I announced. “I think I understand this Mate Bond thing, but I really don’t know where I truly belong.”

“With me, of course,” Phoenix brushed past his father to stand by me. “That is, if you’ll have me.”

Confidence, girl! Confidence!

“I know absolutely nothing about you, except that we each posses a legendary wolf, we’re now part of some f****d up Blood Pact, and…”

I was enjoying the changing expressions on both he and his father’s face, “We’ve seen each other naked. You’re not bad to look at. I think I’ll give you a chance, but, f**k up, and I’ll f**k YOU up!” I winked at my mate who suddenly roared with laughter.

“It’s a deal!” He winked back as Conrad began to clap.

“What the f**k?” Alpha Khane questioned.

“We’ll fill you in when we get home, dad.”

We finished our coffees and one by one, the rental began to clear.

I remembered to tell Phoenix about the weapons Josephine and I had stashed. The need to retrieve them before The Hunters found them gave us an excuse to finally be alone for a while before we left for the Death Moon Realm. I still didn’t know how to travel there, but Phoenix promised it was easy.

Since Conrad could handle some of the Alpha duties that had piled up while we slept, he and the other four left first. I was a little sad to see Conrad’s mate, Kelli, go, too, but she promised we’d meet again soon and she would help advise me of my new role as future Luna.

Pleased that I did have some combat skills from my martial arts training, Khane left only four men behind, just in case. I learned there wasn’t much difference between a warrior and a soldier, except that both males and females preferred the term warrior. Most were addressed by their rank anyway. After the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma came the Deltas in 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree. The whole regiment was usually referred to as The Guard Unit.

I was nervous as hell, yet thrilled beyond my own imagination to finally be alone, and awake, with Phoenix.

“You handled my father well,” he complimented as we set out to the first hiding spot. “You figured out that he was up my ass without knowing the full story, and you gave it to him in a few short words. I was highly impressed and owe you a thank you.”

Despite my confidence self talk, I felt my cheeks blush. “I may not have been raised by our kind, but I read a lot of books and had some pretty decent mentors.”

“Note to self,” he remarked. “When unsure what to buy for a gift, she likes to read,” he laughed.

I felt his husky laugh deep within my soul. Something told me he didn’t laugh often, except in sarcasm. That caused him to let his shield we were using to conceal ourselves slip.

“Sorry,” he muttered, a little embarrassed. Something else I didn’t imagine he felt often. All of the trashy romance novels had some fierce, unshakable warrior of an Alpha, softened in some aspects, by his mate. I didn’t want a soft mate, I instinctively knew, but I did want the power of knowing I could make him expose a softer side.

“I’m not used to needing a shield.” As a powerful Alpha, he wasn’t used to hiding from anything, but he also didn’t visit Earth often and had never been in a Blood Pact with Goddesses, either. With The Hunters already upset that a small army had come down to find us, he agreed we’d better be safe than sorry.

You generally had to be a Mage to create a shield. Or you had to at least have what was referred to as a “key” to one that had been made for you. Josephine had shown me how to use the “key” to the one she had created for me and I had been able to use it to duplicate one for Phoenix. The concept of a key was similar to that of computer code. I didn’t know exactly how it worked; I just knew it did. I helped him get his shield back in place.

Now that I was a fully mature shewolf, it didn’t take near as long to reach the first spot as it had when Josephine and I took the walk. Or maybe time was just flying with my new mate. Humans often joked that the tingly feeling you get when you meet someone new was all the common sense leaving your body.

He definitely made my body feel things it hadn’t before. I’d wanted to kiss him this morning, when we were so rudely awakened. I wanted to kiss him again. But I had shields to teach him about and weapons to retrieve.

The first satchel was stashed in the Y of a younger tree, about eye level.

“Ok, so, the way to retrieve a shielded item without being noticed, is to use your imagination a little. It sounds crazy, but it works.

“And this is how you were kept hidden for so long?” He asked. I nodded in response. Josephine hadn’t trusted anyone with my true identity.

“So imagine I have a cup in my hand and that I’m going to use it to trap a spider,” I continued. As I reached with the imaginary cup, I realized that it strained the fabric of my blouse against my breasts. I caught a brief hint of lust on his face as he noticed, too.

“A spider?” He asked huskily. “Are humans really that afraid of spiders?” He teased with amusement in his voice.

He was flirting with me now and I was going to give what I got.

“Oh yes,” I replied as seductively as I could. I wasn’t skilled in seduction yet, but my wolf was. I made sure I lightly brushed his arm as I placed my imaginary cup over the satchel and voila! Satchel #1 was retrieved.

Awe crossed his face along with curiosity. “It’s really that simple?”

“It’s really that simple,” I replied. “But only if you have a good shield in place and you respect it.” That was the first lesson Josephine had taught me and it seemed appropriate to make this the first lesson I taught him.

I wasn’t just referring to shields, either. I knew that women weren’t always respected, no matter the species, no matter the realm. Khane’s angry outburst at why I wasn’t marked had reminded me. I would strive to be Phoenix’s equal.

“Duly noted,” he answered, staring deep in my eyes. “You were going to ask me something earlier. In the bedroom, after you laughed at my bed head.”

I knew my cheeks darkened, but this time, it was less from being shy and more from want. “I was going to ask you if I could kiss you,” I told him, boldly matching his stare.

Lifting an eyebrow ever so slightly, perhaps in amazement at my boldness, he grinned and said, “I thought you’d never ask,” as he closed the final inch between us and claimed my lips.

I was vaguely aware of his arm snaking around my waist to mold my body to his as the kiss deepened. I tasted his morning coffee and under that, his unique essence.

He kept this kiss chaste, but it still set my veins on fire and my wolf sighed in relief. As if she were an addict and he was her drug.

I could definitely get addicted to him, I thought, as he pulled back and looked deep into my eyes again.

{~>*•**•*<~}

THE HUNTER’S COUNCIL

BOLO

1.) The scent of a new shewolf was caught near Salisbury, but was broken and scattered except in one clearing, approximately 2.4 km away. She may be traveling with a Mage.

2.) The scent of werecats was reported by an untrained spotter, but was not confirmed by Officials.

3.) A group of five werewolves that included the Young Alpha, came down from the Death Moon realm on Beltane and were in the same clearing as the shewolf. A 6th werewolf was killed. Believed to be a rogue. Trails of the shewolf and Death Moon pack of 5 disappeared for 3 days. We suspect they were shielded during this time.

The moon put on an intense show on Beltane.

4.) A dozen more men, including the former Alpha, came down from Death Moon 3 days later.

5.) No sightings reported by humans, but please stay on alert.