Chapter 6
Jack and Bonnie heard someone coming down the stairs and listened for a second before they looked at each other. “Niko,” they both said.
“How you know it’s me?” he asked, breezing by them on his way to the kitchen.
“Rhythm of your footsteps,” Bonnie said.
“Damn. You got us all nailed down like that?”
“I do. I can tell who’s getting home, and who’s leaving. Who’s cooking, who’s going out for a midnight swim.”
“And here I think I’m being all elusive and sh…
stuff,” he said, catching himself as he glanced quickly at the kids at the table before he said what he’d planned on.
He backed up to focus on the table again and counted kids.
“One, two, three… no, that doesn’t seem right.
There should only be two. Who are you?” Niko asked, grinning as he addressed Griffin.
“I’m Griffin. Everybody calls me Griff.”
“Well, then I’ll call you Griffin, so you’ll know when it’s me,” Niko said.
Griffin shrugged. “Okay. Hey, do you know that as long as you don’t hit Bella, Izzie won’t hit you?”
“I do. You learned that already, huh?” Niko asked.
“Yep.” Griffin watched as Niko grabbed a cup, filled it with coffee, then walked over to the leftover food and rolled up five pieces of bacon and some scrambled eggs in a pancake and took a bite. “Who are you?”
“I’m Niko. I live upstairs.”
“Like a maid or something?” Griffin asked.
Niko stopped smiling. He finished chewing and glared at the child. “I am not a maid.”
“Then why do you live in the big house if you’re not Alpha?”
“Because the Alpha is my best friend and I’ve lived here for years to help keep him and his family safe.”
“Are you good at that?” Griffin asked sincerely.
“I am,” Niko said.
“Can you help keep my mom safe now? She’s worried.”
Bonnie’s hand came up to gently cover her throat in surprise that the little boy would ask such a thing, and from the look on Jack’s face, Griffin’s words touched him, too.
“We’re going to keep everybody safe,” Jack said.
Griffin nodded.
Niko walked over and squatted down beside Griffin’s chair. “You know what, my little man? I will. I promise that I will keep you and your momma safe as long as you are on this mountain. Alright?”
“What if we stay here always?”
“Then you’ll be safe always,” Niko said.
“Even if the bad guys come here, too?”
“They’re not coming here,” Jack said.
Griffin looked at Jack, and while he appeared to understand what Jack had said, he didn’t seem ready to believe it. He looked at Niko again.
“No matter who comes, no matter when, or where, I’ll protect your mom and you. And so will Alpha Jack, and all our friends. You got here in the middle of the night, so you didn’t see them all, but there are a lot of people who live on this mountain. You’re safe here.”
“Okay. But you’re still going to protect us, right?”
“I am,” Niko said, holding up his hand for a high-five.
Griffin slapped his hand, then picked up his juice and took a sip.
“Griffin, is your daddy with you?” Niko asked.
“I don’t have a daddy,” he said, taking another sip. “That’s why I need you to protect my mom.”
“Where’s your mom?” Niko asked.
“Over there,” Griffin said, pointing to the far side of the formal living room.
Niko looked over toward the living room and saw a lot of females scattered around on pallets, sleeping. “Good. She’s here in Alpha’s house, so y’all are both safe. I’m going to go help a friend of mine get their house cleaned up in case somebody needs to stay in it, and I’ll be back later. Okay?”
Griffin nodded.
“Rance call you?”
“Yeah,” Niko said, chuckling. “He’s overwhelmed with how to clean out the mess he allowed to pile up. I’m going to prod at him a bit.”
“And help him,” Jack said.
“Of course, but not without giving some sh… stuff, too.” He stood up, took another bite of his pancake roll up, and went back to the kitchen to grab his coffee. “I will see you later, Griffin.”
“Okay,” Griffin said.
Niko went outside and closed the door behind himself, thinking about the little boy who was terrified no one would protect his mother because he didn’t have a father. “I got you, little dude,” Niko said, as he drank his coffee and took another bite of his breakfast.
“Where did Niko get that pancake?” Izzie asked.
“And the bacon,” Bella added.
“We have all kinds of food that we cooked for our guests while you were sleeping,” Bonnie said. “There is even some steak and peppers and rice.”
“Can I have some?” Izzie asked.
“You can. Come show me what you want,” Bonnie said.
“Me, too?” Griffin asked.
“Yes, you, too!” Bonnie said, taking all the children into the kitchen.
There was a knock at the front door and Jack walked over to answer it. “Steve? Is that you?” Jack asked as he stood in the open doorway.
“Yes, sir. Hello, Alpha Laighin. Rance sent word to come see you,” Steve said.
“Come on in. I didn’t know you were one of the males that escorted Gwen here.”
“Alpha Grail said to get them to you, so I did.”
“Bonnie, baby? Look who’s here,” Jack said, as he led the way to the kitchen where Bonnie was making plates for the kids.
“Steve! Hi! I’m so glad to see you,” Bonnie said.
Steve nodded and smiled but the emotion wasn’t behind it. “Hello, Reigna.”
“Are you hungry?” Jack asked.
“No, thank you. I ate when we first arrived.”
“I need to let you know that I hate the reason you are here. I give you my word that I will give you all justice. It won’t be today, we have some things we need to look into as we move toward it, but it is on the way. I am so very sorry for all you’ve all lost,” Jack said.
“Thank you, Alpha Laighin,” Steve said.
“Bonnie? You have this for a minute?” Jack asked.
“I do. We’re going to take our time eating and when you come back, we’ll go play on the splash pad.”
“I won’t be long,” Jack said, kissing her cheek before he and Steve headed toward the front door. “Mind taking a quick walk with me so we can talk a little?” Jack asked Steve.
“Glad to,” Steve said, as he followed Jack outside.
“You alright?” Jack said as he looked over at Steve as they strolled casually away from the house.
Steve huffed an attempted laugh, but didn’t even come close to making it convincing. “I’m breathing. That’s a good thing, right?”
“It is. Means you’ll live to fight another day.”
“Hoping so. Still hoping some more of our people show up, too. Doesn’t look very promising, though.”
“Can you tell me what happened? From your point of view?” Jack asked.
“Middle of the night, everything was calm, or seemed to be. By the time we figured out what was happening they’d already taken out sixty percent of our sentries.”
“You saw that for yourself?”
“No, Alpha Grail updated us. The alarm was sounded right before I spoke with him. We jumped up, or I did, and rushed through the house to get outside. Others were racing in every direction. Grail was standing in the living room, he bellowed at everyone to stop. We did and just waited for him to speak. He said as far as he knew sixty percent of our sentries had fallen, the rest were engaged in battle. Others had rushed to contain the attack, and he was on his way to join them. He said if we had families or children, to send them to safety with Gwen. If we chose to accompany them, to go now and do so quickly while there was time. A few changed direction and ran back to where they’d come from.
Some of us continued on. Grail called my name, I turned back, he said that I was accompanying Gwen and their sons to a point of safety in the forest nearby.
I was to take three or four more with us to ensure the safety of all those who sought shelter with Gwen.
If he wasn’t there twenty-four hours after we made it to that spot, we were to come here and ask for sanctuary.
I just grabbed the first few males I found that were nearby when I started toward the safe place in the forest.”
“And Grail didn’t show.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“You only had forty-seven with you when you arrived. Was there not room for any more in this ‘point of safety’?”
“There was room for a hundred more. It’s a cave you can’t see the entrance of unless you know where it is. But no more came.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I’d like to think that it’s because they got away and sought sanctuary with family members of other Prides.
I do believe some did exactly that, but not many.
And maybe some just decided to go it alone for a while instead of a Pride affiliation.
But I’m afraid those ideas are more hopeful than reality, for most any way. ”
“You think they’re all dead?”
“Or forced to submit and join the attacking Pride. And if that’s the case, knowing what some Prides are capable of, I think I’d rather be dead.”
“Do you know who the attacking Pride was?”
“Falwells. But they weren’t alone.”
“How do you know that?”
“I saw a few lying dead as we slipped out of the compound on our way to safety, some were Falwell, several more were unknown to me. Falwell Pride is big, but this was more than just one Pride.”
“Were they all shifters?”
“Some. The majority were, but others weren’t. They were like your male, Three. Nothing against him, he’s a good male, but they were like him. I didn’t see them, though. Grail told me. He said to be careful, not all of them were shifters, some were Variant, or like the Variant.”
Jack nodded as he looked off into the distance thoughtfully.
“Makes me sick. The way we just slunk away and left them to die,” Steve said.
“You didn’t slink anywhere. You were entrusted with his family. You did what he asked, and successfully so.”
“We might have been able to make a difference.”
“You might have died with them. And so would Gwen, and her babies, and the rest of these females and their kids, too.”
Steve nodded, but didn’t seem convinced.
“We’re planning to see what’s left,” Jack said.
Steve’s gaze snapped to Jack’s quickly.
“You can come if you like, but you can stay here and watch over Gwen like Grail asked. It’s your choice.”