Chapter 22
Blake walked back into the kitchen and saw food on the table and the other pack members and children eating and talking.
Baylan spotted him first and jumped up, meeting him halfway to his chair and pulling him into his arms, kissing the stuffing out of him.
Blake smiled against Baylan’s lips as fake coughs were made and slowly pulled back. “Morning, sweetheart.”
Baylan smiled. “Morning,” he said. He took Blake’s hand and led him to their seats. “You were up early this morning.”
“I was,” Blake said, sitting down. “I wanted to check on our dragon friends. Morning folks.”
“Notice we were here, did you?” Donovan teased.
Blake laughed. “I knew you were all here. I just chose to ignore you.”
That caused some laughter around the table.
Dishes were passed to him so he could fill his plate.
“How are they?” Dane asked.
“Waking up. The general woke up hours ago. Atticus and Paris not long ago, and Oz told me that Mateo has woken up as well.”
“That is good news,” Frederick said.
Blake nodded. “It is. I’ll feel better when they’ve all woken up,” he said, tucking into his breakfast.
“I’m glad Tudor was resting through all this,” Angus commented.
“I think we all are,” Donovan replied. “Alex is sat out with him at the moment.”
General chatter continued while Blake finished his breakfast. “As everyone is here, I want you all to know that yesterday, the Hayes Pack shaman came to request sanctuary,” Blake announced once he finished eating.
“What the hell?” Jason exclaimed angrily, practically slamming his mug on the table.
“I know. Anyway, Ash had him taken to the cells. We need information from him, and as soon as we have that, I’m sure Puff and Tudor will agree that his life is forfeit.”
“They will,” Donovan said. “Will it be a public execution?”
Blake nodded. “Yes, because of him, dragons and gargoyles died, Phil and Clara died. He’ll live long enough to tell us what he knows, and that’s it. He did tell us that Barnabus has sent his shadow to spy on us.”
“His shadow? How?” Angus asked, with a confused frown.
“Shadows can work independently from demons. Not all demons know this, thank goodness,” Tatum said, explaining everything. “So, Saxon, Wynter, Peyton and I are trying different ways to see if demon shadows can be tracked.”
“That also means that his shadow could be anywhere, hidden amongst normal shadows. So, if you need to discuss anything important, try to do it in a well-lit space,” Baylan said.
“Can things get any weirder?” Jason muttered, shaking his head.
“On the plus side, the defence teams have all started training and are learning to work as teams,” Ares said.
“I saw Julian’s group training yesterday. They were impressive. I’m expecting that team to grow, because of Battle and the angels,” Blake said.
Wynter sat up. “Angels?”
“Zeus wanted Battle protected. It started off with a legion, but we got it down to twenty, led by Maletayah,” Ares replied.
“How did I not know this?” Wynter asked, shocked.
“You’ve been busy,” Saxon said.
“True, I’ll go and see them later.”