22. Finley #2
Eli opened his mouth, taking a moment, then spoke, “It is clear to me that my efforts to step in as your father are not wanted or needed. You’re right.
You did raise yourself and I’ve been deluding myself into thinking what I did was for you instead of just acting selfishly.
As I said before, I will always be there for you how ever you might need my help.
I know you have a press conference tomorrow.
Would you allow me to be there and to add some additional press that will ensure the correct story gets out into the world? ”
My attention went to Zander, trusting him to make the right call since this was more his expertise than mine.
“You may join us, but you will not speak unless you tell me exactly what you’re going to say. We have planned out how we want this to go and I’m not going to let your skewed ideals fuck it up,” Zander ordered.
“That’s fair,” Eli answered. “I’ve gotten myself a hotel room in town, so I will head back there. What time is the event set for?”
“Noon,” I answered. “Be here by ten thirty.”
Eli nodded in understanding and got up from his seat.
“I am sorry, Finley, for not being the father you deserved, but I’m thankful that whenever you choose to have children, they will have many wonderful role models to look up to.
” With that said, he headed out and got into the rental car that was parked out front and drove off.
“Every day is so exciting here,” Ayla announced, hopping up to sit on the counter. “So much better than living in one of the communes trying to hide from the world.”
“Would you care to share with us how visiting the communes went?” Rath asked.
Ayla waved him off, pouring herself some coffee. “Give a girl a minute. I get back and there is a knockout drag-out fight between father and daughter in the kitchen. That is not something you see every day.”
“Ayla,” Elias warned.
It was becoming clear to me that Ayla was the sister that none of my men wanted but were lucky enough to receive.
“Fine,” she huffed, sliding off the counter. “The three that Rath told me to check out were much larger than he remembered but still in the same place. I would expect there to be about fifty total elves that might show up.”
“From all of them?” Rath confirmed. “That’s better than I expected.”
“Oh, no, sorry,” Ayla cut in. “That’s per commune. So more like a hundred and fifty or more since some were still on the fence. We are going to have our first clan village up and running in no time. I made sure they knew they’d have to help build homes, so they are aware this isn’t a free ride.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor as she talked. A hundred and fifty elves would be showing up here in our pack over the next few days? That would be a third of the wolves that live here already.
“Where are we going to put them all?” I asked, looking at the others like they would have the answer.
“Oh, did I forget to mention that all elves living in a commune have a go bag and supplies to live on the run, aka, tents?” Ayla added.
“Tents, we’re going to have a whole clan of elves living in tents around our woods,” Noah mused. “That is going to make scouting work much harder.”
“That’s the thing, though. Elves live in a community much like yours.
They understand it will be expected for them to work and pull their weight.
It’s only going to help the pack, trust me because these are not all fighters.
You’re getting more craftsmen, green thumbs, and healers as well,” Ayla explained.
“There is an expectation they will be the founding group of people and they will have to help create the village from scratch because Kolvar can’t be doing it all by himself. That’s impossible.”
Understanding this part of the situation had me breathing easier.
These fugitives wouldn’t be coming here expecting us to have everything ready for them.
They would help create what was needed. Really they were the lucky ones since they got to decide how things were set up, creating the foundation of this village.
“We have a lot to cover tonight,” Colt grumbled as he kissed me on the cheek and headed out.
Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was later in the day than I expected, and they would need to start setting up for the pack meal.
We’d been doing them twice a month now instead of one a quarter.
It helped the whole pack integrate with the new members that weren’t werewolves.
It made my thoughts drift to Ben and I hoped he was able to find a home like this for himself.
He needed a break after all he’d been through and I hoped I was able to give it to him.
“You gonna be alright while we take care of things?” Lane asked, squeezing my hand.
I planted a quick kiss on his lips and waved him off. “Go, or Colt’s going to lose his mind when someone doesn’t start the charcoal correctly.” Lane laughed and jogged out the door after Colt.
Turning, I looked at the others with my hands on my hips. “Don’t you have things to do as well? I’m going to be fine, I promise, now scat.” I added, shooing them away with my hands.
“Yeah, sometimes women just need time to themselves or, I don’t know, with another woman for a change,” Ayla called after them as they filed out of the house. Once they were gone, she walked over to me and rested her arm on my shoulder. “We got rid of the men… Now what?”
“Wanna help me out with something?” I asked.
Ayla grinned. “Anything you need, my queen. I’m more than happy to help. Please tell me it’s taking out more Dark Ring people.”
“Yes, it’s taking out two more people to set the wheels in motion,” I answered.
“The guys already know about it, but I’m deciding to pull this off sooner since this press event is going to be so much bigger than I planned now with Eli involved.
After that goes live, I won’t be able to sneak around.
Thankfully one of our targets is in Nashville and the other in Charlotte. Both are about an hour away by plane.”
“Good thing I also got my pilot’s license so that when Derven’s busy, I can help out.” Ayla cheered, clapping her hands together. “Are we doing this now?”
“After the dinner, I want us all to be here for the announcement,” I explained. “But I think we should go over the plan. Grab what you’ll need for tonight and meet me back at my house. I’m gonna shift for a bit and run back.”
Ayla saluted me and headed upstairs. I hated that I was sending her all over the map now that she could fly the plane Zander bought for us to use.
She seemed to love it, though, appreciating being busy, and it kept her out of trouble.
Ayla was an elf that left idle for too long, she seemed to find ways to keep herself busy but not always in ways that people would appreciate.
The other day I had one of the pack members come find me because she was teaching the children how to fight with knives.
Then one of the younger boys took it upon himself to deal with a bully in the group and I had to heal them.
Ayla’s intentions were always good, but the follow-through was missing the mark just a little.
Stepping out of the house, I pulled off my clothes, folded them up so I could carry them, and shifted.
My wolf was thrilled to be out and feeling the spring breeze on her coat.
I didn’t shift as often as I should to make things more comfortable for her.
With my elf magic now present, I didn’t feel the need to shift like others did, but when I took the time, I felt more grounded.
Snatching up my clothes, I trotted off into the woods letting my magic seep into the earth as I went.
After the interaction with my father, I knew it was building up inside, and it was better to release it instead of allowing it to fester.
Everything was calm and peaceful until the forest told me a group of wolves it didn’t know were now on our land.
I stopped in my tracks and let the forest show me what was happening through the eyes of an eagle flying overhead.
Fifteen wolves were running as fast as they could in our direction.
Another bird showed me where they’d parked their SUVs and their clothes scattered on the ground.
I had a feeling they weren’t here looking for a safe haven.
“Guys we’ve got incoming. Fifteen werewolves heading at us from the northwest,” I alerted my men.
I checked back in with the hawk who was following them and noticed something hanging off one of the wolves. Giving in to my request, the hawk dove lower and I could make out a machine gun hanging around the wolf’s neck. It wasn’t just one of them either. All of them had a gun of various kinds.
Fuck me. I can’t believe they are coming at us armed.
“Alert the pack and get them into hiding. They’re armed with guns,” I yelled.
Reaching out to my pack connection to Ayla, I tugged on it, forcing her to find me.
Dropping my clothes, I bolted off deeper into the woods, sending out my magic to help bolster the forest as I made my request to slow them down.
Anything it could do to misdirect them away from the pack out toward the mountains was what would help us right now.