Crossing Paths With The White Wolf
Chapter 59

Gonzalo

POV

I heard her whistling and we all turned to stare at her. To my dismay, Kassie looked good. Her hair in a high pony tail and what looks like workout clothes on her long slender body. Her amethyst eyes turned red and then began to glow. Her fangs extend and I see the rescued shifter and one of my guys sit on their haunches, looking adoringly at her. I was amazed at how many she'd been able to enthralled at once and how powerful she looked.

I am surprised to see the puma she mentioned sitting behind me, its tail wagging as he looked at her. I hadn't sensed him behind me. He shifts back, at her order, I'm assuming, and I begin to lead him to his room when I see him limp. He might still be in pain from something, so I turned around and started leading him to the medical side.

"Can you release that one? He's one of ours." I pointed to Isidro. She nods and I can see the strain on her face. "Get behind a shifter and let her know when you're ready for her to release them. Lead them to their rooms and if they become agitated, be sure to give them the medicine Dr Castle left to calm them down until they adjust." I instructed the other warriors. I turned to look at Adrien who was still just standing behind her. "Grab a friend Adrien, you know the drill." He nods and moves away and towards the nearest shifter. "That one needs to be restrained on one of the beds. He's the one that started this whole thing. There's something wrong with his eyes. We'll need Dr West to take a look at him." I told him.

'Nat, I've got a limping shifter. Can you come take a look to see if it's healable?' I mind link her.

'On my way.' She answers.

By the time I came back to the common area, there's only one left. I nod at her and she slumps as she releases the last one to me. She saved our life. You know she did. Thank her - Dario suggests. I grit my teeth knowing he's right. "Thank you." I told her and looked away before she could respond and began to lead the shifter to his room.

'Which one' Nat links. I put the man in bed and he begins falling asleep almost instantly. That was the problem in the first days. These guys are still so weak. It only takes one episode for them to pass out.

I head back out and Nat is waiting by the stairs, scowling at Kassia's back as she's talking to Adrien. Kassia sees me and looks like she wants to move towards me when Nat intervenes. "Which one needs healing, Gonzalo? Can you take me to him?"

I smiled gratefully to her. "This way Luna," I said, and caught Kassia's disappointed look from the corner of my eye. I show her the shifter and linger around in a very cowardly way to avoid talking to Kassia. I am not ready and I don't want to listen to anything she has to say.

The longer you put it off, the harder it will get. Celeste said we had to deal with it in order to be happy with our mate - Dario said. He was so patient with me. Sometimes I felt like he was given a bum deal. Having a good heart that was broken doesn't make you a bum deal. I am lucky to have been paired with someone who has empathy and a capacity to love as deeply as you. - He assured me.

I tried to chuckle, but it was a little choked. Stay out of my head I teased.

Now that's just petty, I'm kind of stuck - He barked at me with humor.

Once Nat was able to fully heal the puma's leg, whose name was Tony, I asked him if he would like to go back to his room. I was relieved to see that Kassia wasn't there anymore. Tony apologized 10 times in the 2 minutes it took me to escort him back to his room. I felt bad for the guy, so I assured him I'd come down and eat supper with him later to assure him there were no hard feelings.

I busied myself with work after that. Helios approved speeding up the rescue center and after settling on a plan, I called Alpha Rhett, who agreed to join us tomorrow for dinner to go over the plans and the inter-pack full moon run details. It would be a good time to introduce Kassia to the Crescent Moon ranked members if Helios is satisfied with her fighting skills tonight. I went down to the basement again for supper when we brought down food for everyone. I didn't immediately see Tony and I went to look for him. He was in the closet, rocking back and forth.

"Hey, are you OK?"

"I'm sorry." He kept saying over and over, and I worried that he had been there since I left him a few hours earlier.

"He's had flashbacks for years. He tried to escape when he first got taken. He injured a guard and they brutally punished him in front of us as a lesson. Since that night, he can be fine one moment, then it's like he is back in the middle of his punishment. He keeps flashing here when he replaces himself outside the room, he thinks he's going to get punished for leaving his cage so he crawls in there until someone comes back and snaps him out. I've been checking on him every hour so I can get him out of the closet. I've found him in there 3 times today." A man at the door said.

"What's your name?" I asked him as I helped Tony out.

"Blake, sir."

"Call me Gonzalo. How are you feeling with all the changes?"

"I am...struggling at night and when I wake up. It takes me a bit to remember I'm not still in the lab. Otherwise, not so bad. The white coats make us nervous. It's been a long time since a white coat meant something positive." I understood his point and made a mental note of speaking to the medical staff. That was an easy fix.

"Do you know what caused the trouble earlier?"

"Bastian, the tiger, got agitated when he tried to go up the stairs and was told he was not allowed up yet. He overreacted and shifted. Since we haven't been allowed to shift in years, it hurt him. He started screaming and that set everyone else off."

I nodded, "We're not keeping you locked up forever. We just need to make sure you are in better health physically and mentally before you can walk around without an escort. The council is also going to be looking to see if we can replace your pack or family so we can get you home, so we have to make sure you don't run away and get hurt or hurt someone accidentally."

"I know. We all know, deep down. Most of us have been at that place for a long time though. Just...have patience. We will assume we're going to get punished for anything we do for a while. It's been the only way we survived."

"We know. You're not the first we've rescued from labs. We raided 3 other labs before yours."

His eyes widened at that. "I know there were a couple of people that were already down here when we arrived, but I didn't know they were also rescued the same way we were."

We'd walked out to the couches by now and I sat Tony down. "Everyone but the medical staff and..." I paused, thinking of the best way to identify everyone. I grinned as I addressed the room. "Everyone but the medical staff, the Mexicans and the Luna that are part of Guardian Moon were rescued from these labs before you. About half of them found their way back home after they got better and the other half decided to stay and help rescue more people being experimented on in other labs. You are not alone. We will help you get better." I had garnered the attention of all the shifters by now and they looked a lot more at ease after I finished. I grabbed some food for myself and Tony and we just tried to chat about small things that wouldn't overwhelm him. People started sitting around with food of their own and slowly started asking questions. Soon, Theo came down and sat with us, helping me answer everything getting thrown our way. We stayed there until it was time for training. I paused on the way out and called Dr. Castle to request that they wear something other than white coats. He was unsure at first, saying that he needed a way for his people to be identified as medical staff by the shifters so that they could better assist, but then paused and said he had an idea and to leave it with him. Finally, with nothing else to keep me away, I made my way to the training grounds. There were more people gathered than usual. I guess word had spread that we were testing the skills of the Queen's personal assassin. I made my way to Helios. I could feel her eyes on me like a physical touch. I knew eventually, I would have to talk to her, but I wasn't going to make it easy for her. Nothing I had to say to her would be something she would be happy to hear.

"Good job this afternoon. Nat said she walked downstairs for a bit and you had all the shifters engaged and calm,' Helions mentioned.

"Just explaining how it worked and what we're doing. Nothing that we wouldn't have told them eventually." I shrugged.

"You should give yourself more credit. They already appeared to trust you and were comfortable with you," Nat said, "you know that's no easy feat."

"As you wish Luna," I winked at her. We laughed for a bit before I saw her approaching from the side. I cleared my throat and took my place next to my Alpha. I told myself I wasn't hiding, I was simply being formal to someone that was not in my group of friends. I could feel Dario laughing at me in the back of my head.

You're supposed to be on my side. - I huffed at him.

I am always on your side. Doesn't stop me from replaceing your logic funny. He laughed, his tail wagging in amusement.

"Adrien said you start us from the bottom up. Who do you want me to fight first, Alpha?" While Kassia's sweet and polite voice was close to what I remembered from 200 years ago, something in her eyes told me she was making an effort to be this polite. Adrien's derisive snort at her words and the glare she sent him confirmed my suspicions.

"I feel like starting you from the bottom would be a waste of time. Adrien has spoken a lot about you, so how about you start with one of our top warriors instead and work yourself up from there?" Helios said as Markus joined the group with Celeste. "Hi Kassie! Nice to see you again!" Celeste said. Kassia looked surprised at how friendly she was towards her but quickly recovered and smiled back. It was probably the first genuine smile I had seen on her and I hated the way it made my heart beat faster. "Isidro. You're up," Helios instructed, and that had Dario laughing in the back of my head again. Isidro doubted her ability to fight due to her seizure and he was the only one that was enthralled earlier. He had the motivation to prove himself right now. Isidro walked into the middle of the ring and removed his shirt, flexing his muscles at her. I rolled my eyes and saw Kassia turn to Adrien and make a small gag noise, making Adrien laugh. He went in and whispered something to her and I saw anger flash through her eyes. She looked back at Isidro, no smile on her face anymore. I'm guessing Adrien told her what he'd said the night she arrived. She cracked her neck as she approached with her hands and started rolling her shoulders to loosen them up. The entire audience quieted down.

"On your go, Alpha." I heard her say, but her eyes never left Isidro. They were red now and Isidro was no longer flexing. I saw him visibly gulp at the creepy smile she gave him, her fangs elongated. In spite of my own anger towards Kassie, I smiled at her confidence. It looked good on her. Kassie had always been shy and delicate. I used to encourage her to be more assertive and to trust her skills and develop her gifts. She had told me about her ability to enthrall two to three people at once, but she had trouble sustaining it, so she never tried. It surprised me earlier today to see her do it to close to 10 people and sustain it for as long as she did. She certainly had changed since the last time I had seen her.

The fight is basically a joke. I can see her playing with Isidro. Each time he got close enough to hit her, she moved at lightning speed and slapped him upside the head, making the other warriors laugh. Isidro went red with rage and embarrassment until he was breathing heavily and yelled "Fight me you, b***h!"

In the blink of an eye, Kassia was in front of him. She turned around and hit him square on the nose with the back of her arm. Even from here, I can see the elbow connecting to the nose and the spurt of blood. She turned again, dropping to the floor and sweeping his legs from under him with her own, making him land on his back with a huff. She put her knee on his chest and her extended nails on his jugular.

"You will respect me. Call me b***h again and I will tear your skin strip by strip until you do." She seethes at him. After a brief panicked nod from him, she gets up and smiles at Helios, her teeth still elongated, her irises red but her nails retracting. "Who's next?" The entire place is in silence until suddenly Danny whoops from behind us and the entire audience starts cheering at her, "f**k it! I'll go next. This is going to be fun, though please not the face. It's how I make my money," he said as he took off his shirt and approached while the rest laughed.

Kassia looks at Helios, who smiles and nods "This is Daniel, Gamma of Crescent Moon."

Kassia smiles and heads to Adrien. She removes her shirt and I can't help but stare at her toned abs and perky breasts in the sports bra. The subtle curves of her body are more noticeable without the shirt. If it wasn't for the fact that I was very aware of all the unmated males looking at her hungrily, I think I would be drooling. Instead, I looked at Adrien, trying to tell him to tell her to put her shirt back on with my scowl.

"Uhhhhh nuh uh. No disrespect, you're a pretty lady, but I'm a mated wolf and I would like to keep my balls. My mate may not be a warrior but she will cut them off if she sees me in a friendly fight with a woman in a bra," Danny said, backing away. Kassia freezes and I can't read the look on her face.

"Fine, but if I put it back on, so do you. No double standards or unfair advantages. My shirt is as restricting as yours," she smiles, and returns to Adrien to put on her shirt. I relax once she is clothed again, but can't help but feel annoyed that the lustful look isn't going away from the unmated wolves. Damn horndogs.

I toss Danny's shirt back to him and he nods gratefully. I look back up into the ring and I make eye contact with Kassia, who once again has a look on her face I can't read. Danny stops in front of her and her eye contact breaks as she smiles at him and shakes his hand before they take a few steps back and wait for Helios to give the go ahead.

"You can do the honors, Markus. He's your Gamma." Helios said.

Markus laughed and clapped his hands together. The noise quieted back down. "Begin" he said.

It was like watching a ballet dancer. I was entranced. She looked like she was born fighting. Her movements were graceful, fluid...Sexy - Dario added unhelpfully. I ignored his commentary and continued to watch her match with Danny. Danny was a good warrior. Hell, he'd taught most of us, even if, as Beta, I was stronger than him, he still could get the upper hand because of his experience.

They fought for 25 minutes. Neither quite getting the upper hand for long. I could tell though, as the fight went on, that Danny was getting happier and happier and Kassie looked to be having fun too. I had a sneaking suspicion that neither of them were throwing their full strength into the fight anymore and were instead trying to get it on technical proficiency and strategy. They had gained each other's respect for the other's skill quickly to try to win based on skill, not strength. Eventually, Kassie managed to get on Danny's back and they ended up on the floor. Kassie landed on the floor with Danny on top with his back on her front. She locked Danny's chest with her legs and his head to her arms and squeezed. Danny wasn't able to get out of her hold and he gracefully tapped out after two minutes, getting up and giving her and slapping her back.

"This woman is a hell of a warrior. Luna. I want to see her fight you!" He said excitedly.

"Uhh no, how about we leave the Luna out of it tonight. She hasn't trained since half way through her pregnancy. Let her get back into training before you sign her up for sparring with a trained assassin." Markus said seriously, which made Celeste laugh at his protectiveness.

"I think we've seen enough for one day? That was impressive. I'm curious about how you'll do with someone of a higher rank, though I must say we are all trained by Danny, so I'd imagine it would be longer fights with the same outcome," Helios stated, "How about we have a spar a day and would you be opposed to teaching us a few moves? I saw a few I hadn't seen before."

"Of course, Alpha. It would be my pleasure. I honestly have a few questions on a few of the moves you did that caught me off guard. When you have a minute, Gamma Daniel?" She asked.

"Hell yeah. I saw a few too that I want to add to training. Come over tomorrow for lunch and we'll chat. I'll introduce you to my mate and son." Danny responded happily.

Kassia bit her lip to keep from laughing and my eyes were drawn to the gesture.

"She's a vampire, Danny, or didn't you notice? Can't be out in the Arizona daylight in the middle of summer." Sebastian laughed, making Danny's face flush red.

"s**t. Right. Sorry. I forgot. I was just excited. Come over after supper time." Danny said as every one laughed at him.

"Why don't you two take a break? Sebastian will start the evening training? You can rejoin after you've had a bit of a rest." Helios suggested.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could get a tour of the packgrounds? I haven't really had the chance and I don't want to go wandering around where I'm not supposed to." She said, her eyes shifting to me.

"Why don't Markus and I show you around the patrols to Crescent Moon first instead?" Celeste said, drawing her attention away from me. I sighed and slipped into the crowd gathering in the training ring for training as I heard her continue, "If you're coming around tomorrow, we need to introduce you to the night patrol so they don't treat you as a potential threat when you try to cross our borders."

I made quick eye contact and she winked at me. I looked at Helios. 'Did you tell her?' I asked him.

'No, maybe she made conclusions after we told her what happened to her that night she arrived? Or maybe she talked to her while we were gone?' He responded.

"She's pretty good, isn't she?" Adrien's voice brought me out of my thoughts as he started warming up beside me. I frowned. I would have imagined that he would have stayed with her now that she was awake and she would have told him about me. Maybe I wasn't even worth that, I thought with a pang in my chest. Then why did she seem to want to talk to me so badly? To tell me not to tell him? Maybe she didn't want him getting word back to her Beloved that she had encountered her previously human ex. Dario whimpered in the back of my head at my words and I sighed. Of course, he would take a shine to her. He had my memories but never actually experienced the heart break.

"Yeah, she's OK." I answered him and didn't acknowledge the snort he let out as we partnered up on the side of the group.