Chapter 7
Jade
Alice prepared the children for the move. I no longer had work I had to filter through and figured I needed to work for my money somehow. I couldn’t simply sit in an office all day and do nothing. At least not around here. If they didn’t expect me to do anything, that was fine. But my wolf and I weren’t content with sitting idle.
Just as we were clearing the manor and all the children had their belongings, an explosion rocked the ground beneath my feet. The children flew from their footing and I watched in slow motion as the force threw me too. I grunted as I made impact with the side of the house. Something wet trickled down my hairline as I lifted my head to check on the kids.
They all seemed fine, they hadn’t been hit with the force like I had. Alice shouted something but I couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in my ears. I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear the sound but it only made it worse.
A whimper escaped my lips as I made it to my feet. Alice grabbed as many hands as she could and they took off running. Were we under attack? We hadn’t put together protocols for this yet. Guardians surrounded me within seconds. Mav had transformed and his hands had longer talons than mine did with a partial transformation.
Archer put his hand on the small of my back while we ushered the rest of the children forward. Where was Tracey? Knox? Had anyone been injured? The bleeding in my forehead had stopped almost immediately. The ringing in my ears was gone now. The sounds of children crying and people shouting made my heart hurt. Rafe wouldn’t let this stand. Had he managed to get the elders out? Mav and Archer watched over us as we made it to the safe house we had created for the children. We had planned to put a wall up like a barndominium style like we discussed but didn’t have time. Now I wondered if this would do anything. Once the kids were all in the building, Granny smiled at me before she closed the door behind them. As long as all the children were safe and accounted for, that was all that mattered.
“We have to find Rafe,” I said to Mav.
His yellow eyes turned to me. He shook his head. “Those aren’t my orders.”
Archer clenched his jaw together. “We are to get you to Rafe’s home and keep you safe with Ford.”
“I need to find Rafe, I need to make sure he’s okay.” The two men before me were no longer my friends, they were soldiers.
“He can take care of himself but only if he knows you’re safe. The rest of the Guardians are with him, as well as Tracey.” Mav’s back was straight as he looked through me.
I pouted. “Fine, I know you can’t break an Alpha order but I’m not happy about this.”
Neither one of them said a word. Ford was waiting in the living room when we got there. He jumped from the couch immediately when we walked through the door. “Where’s my mom?”
I opened my arms and he immediately dived into them. He pressed his face into my shoulder and I scented sadness and desperation in the air. He didn’t like feeling like he couldn’t help. I understood the feeling. “She’s with the witches and Granny. She’s going to watch over them and help the best she can.”
“Archer?” His eyes snapped to mine. “Please go make sure that the kids and Alice will be okay?”
“I can’t break Alpha orders unless you give me orders,” His voice was strained.
“Archer, go watch over Alice and Granny. Make sure nothing happens to them. I will obey the orders Rafe gave the both of you if you do that. I don’t want to cause trouble but this will help ease both of our worries.”
Archer slapped to attention before he bowed his head. He was gone before anything else could be said. It hit me what I had done. I took a step back and Ford wrinkled his eyebrows. “You must have accepted the mate bond or that would have never happened.”
I shook my head. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t want to even focus on it right now. I pressed my hands together and watched as Archer shifted midrun in the front yard. Mav watched us both with careful eyes but didn’t say anything about what I had done. There was no time for words, he was a soldier today. He was a soldier now.
“We must get you both into the basement,” He reminded me of someone meant for the secret service and as he led us down the hall, I realized that was exactly what he was. He was Rafe’s personal guard. It was completely out of my element. Ford tucked his hand into mine and I gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Rafe will let me know when it’s safe.”
As far as I knew, the Guardians didn’t carry cell phones. Even though I had overheard Knox trying to convince Rafe that OnlyFans wasn’t a bad website and it was a valid form of income. “How will he tell you?”
Mav tapped his temple with his pointer finger. “We all have a special bond as Guardians but when you formally swear into the pack, you’ll get Alpha link as well. Rafe will be able to reach you anywhere unless magic is involved.”
That would have been nice to have when I was taken. Mav pulled a key from the pocket on his jeans and unlocked the door with a soft click. I expected something more tactical waiting for us on the other side, but it was just a set of stairs that went down into the darkness.
A shiver shook my shoulders as it reminded me of all the horror movies I had watched growing up. But I knew Mav and I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to us. Ford’s hand grew clammy in mine and I wondered how afraid he really was. He looked angry more than anything else with his eyebrows pulled together and a scowl tainting his lips. I gave his hand another reassuring squeeze before we descended the stairs. Mav went down first and checked all the corners of the room before he flicked the lights on. They buzzed overhead and there was that creepy feeling at the back of my neck again.
Except the basement was nothing but an in-home gym set up. It had a little couch in the middle of the room but there was only workout equipment everywhere else. There were zero windows which gave me some reassurance.
Ford withdrew his hand from mine and threw himself down on the worn couch. He didn’t look as afraid now. Mav marched up the steps quickly and relocked the door. I watched as sparks exploded across the door. Mav didn’t even blink. “He has this place magically reinforced. You don’t have to worry about anything happening down here. These spells were done probably one hundred years ago.”
Ford smiled. “Granny put them to protect the Alpha family when my dad first became Alpha. It wasn’t a gym before. My dad kept all of his guns and military weapons in here, as well as a first-aid center.” He pointed to the door on the other side of the room. “Rafe had it all reframed in and now there’s a fully functioning bathroom in there. I miss what this place used to be but it was important to Rafe to make this home his own now. He has to make his own new memories here. He can’t be tainted with the past.” Ford’s words were wise for how old he was but I didn’t make a comment. Alice had raised him right and had made sure he was well taken care of.
Mav sat down with a straight back beside Ford. He ruffled his hair slightly but other than that his face and body remained stoic. “We work out here with Rafe during the week. Each Guardian has a key and we are welcome whenever. There is also another entrance so we don’t always have to go through the house but that’s Guardian knowledge only.” He winked at me and I felt some of the tension leak from my shoulders. “I think the coast is clear.” He squinted his eyes as he listened to his Alpha’s voice in his head. “They aren’t sure where the blast came from. It was magical but there is no one around the border of the Pack Lands.”
“Does Pack Law know what’s happening?” I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought to ask before.
