Extinguishing Wildfire
Chapter 16: Again

Gema

The drill last night went off without a hitch. Alpha Kedrick and Luna Ellis thought of everything that could possibly go wrong during an attack and prepared the pack well. I loved watching them work together and hoped Noah and I would have the same closeness in our relationship one day.

The drill going well helped us all feel better after the news we got yesterday of Alpha Marek's plan. I was glad I was marked now and couldn't be taken by him again. He thought me dead, but if he ever saw me, I was certain his rage would bubble over at discovering my escape.

Larkin’s call put us all on edge, but I was glad he called as I knew it was Rory’s birthday and was able to wish her well. Alpha Marek has kept being the asshole that he is though. Larkin told me about his plans to mate Rory off to the highest bidder, so to speak. He asked if we would be able to take Rory should their father choose to have her leave before the attack, and I agreed to talk to Alpha Kedrick and Olivia about Rory. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that though. Rory has the purest heart of anyone I know, and I want to believe that Moon Goddess has good things in store for her. She deserves a mate who loves her more than anything. Someone who can show her everything she missed while being under her father’s thumb.

“Hey, you okay?” Jasmine always knew when something was bothering me. “Is it about the upcoming war?”

I let out a deep sigh. “Kind of. I was just thinking about Rory. Her dad is planning on mating her to an Alpha on the East Coast. She’s had it rough in that house.”

“You two got really close while you were at Wildfire, huh?”

“Yeah, she’s a great person. Rory and Larkin are nothing like their dad. It’s like they got all of the good parts of him while he kept the bad.”

“I hate him. I never want to see him again in my life.”

“Me, too. Unless he’s dead at my feet, I don’t want to see him.”

She chuckled mirthlessly, “Is it wrong that I wish him a painful death for everything he’s done?”

“I don’t know, but if you’re wrong then I am too because that bastard deserves everything that’s coming his way.”

Jasmine and I were heading to lunch together after our morning training session. She was in one of the teen groups I led and had been getting better with her fighting each day. The guys were kept busy with some of Alpha Kedrick’s preparations for the war, so we went on to eat without them.

“Gema! I’m so glad you’re here!” Evie of all people sat down right next to me as I set my plate of food on the table.

“I’m not in the mood for whatever you have to say to me right now.” There was no patience left in me for Evie today, so I brushed her off.

“Please, just hear me out.”

'Wait, I'm curious, I want to hear what she has to say.'

“You have one minute.” Amora's nosiness convinced me to at least see what Evie had to say.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed your brother and I have become quite close, so I thought you and I should make more of an effort to be friends since we’ll be seeing more of each other. Also, I wanted to see if Cristian was going to ask me to the Harvest Moon festival. Do you think you could maybe check on that for me?”

'Is she serious right now? In what world does she think we’d ever be friends?' Amora snorted at my comment.

I looked over at Jasmine to make sure she was also hearing the crap spewing out of Evie’s mouth. Jasmine did not disappoint as she was trying to stifle her laughter at the situation.

“That’s not happening. There’s no world where you and I become friends. I’ll be honest with you here. I don’t like you, and my brother is not at all serious about you. You may be warming his bed now, but that’s because you’re readily available. Come back and see me when he actually takes you somewhere that isn’t surrounded by the four walls of his bedroom.”

She looked at me with both contempt and disgust, but I could also see the hint of pain in her eyes. “You bitch.”

“Call me what you want, but I might have been nicer to you if you were nice to me first instead of trying to steal my man and talk badly about me. You can’t treat people like crap and expect royal treatment back from them.”

She stomped off without another word, but it felt good to tell her off. Other than people saying she was a good warrior, I had yet to hear anything else good about her. I don’t know what my brother sees in her, but I hope he replaces his mate soon and comes to his senses.

“That was harsh.” Jasmine cringed my way.

“I know,” I cringed back, “I just can’t stand her. She tried to get with Noah knowing he had a girlfriend, and now this thing with my brother is just as bad. Why can’t she just wait for her mate to come along before pouncing on other people’s potential mates?”

“You’re lucky you found Noah so soon, maybe she’s just lonely since she hasn’t found her mate yet?”

“You’re not usually the voice of reason, why so empathetic all of a sudden?”

She laughed, which was a welcome sight after her months of depression. “It must be the counseling, it just helps to see things from all perspectives sometimes.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that, it’s what my mom always says, too. Put yourself in other people's shoes and all that. I’ll think about being nicer to Evie next time…even though she’s the one who called me a bitch. And I’ll think about other people’s perspective from now on...not Alpha Marek’s though, that bastard can rot in the hell he crawled out of.”

‘Gema!’ Noah’s concerned voice came through the midlink cutting off my laughter. I hope he’s not worried about me because he sensed my anger through our bond. ‘We need you in Alpha’s office right now.’ Not what I was expecting, but it didn’t seem to be about me.

“Noah’s looking for me, so I’ll see you at dinner.” I stood up to hug Jasmine.

“Alright, have fun, and tell your lover boy ‘hi’ for me,” I said my goodbye to Jasmine as I headed to the office.

Jordan

We had been working on our battle strategy when the call came in from Olivia. We were just waiting for our ladies to get here before she spoke further. In the meantime, Alpha filled her in on what we’d found out about Aaliyah potentially being a target. I was surprised she agreed to the guards. There was no way I could sit here so calmly while my mate was out there on her own, so I was glad to know Emma and Ethan were with her.

The ranked females arrived almost at the same time, and we got started. “We’re all here now, Olivia, what’s going on?” Alpha moved the call to speaker.

“There’s been another attack this morning. As usual, there were no survivors and everything was burned afterward.” The mood in the room immediately changed upon hearing the news.

“Which pack?”

“Golden Glen”

“Golden Glen?” Alpha responded incredulously, “But that’s a fox pack? Are you sure?”

“Yes, unfortunately, I'm completely sure.”

Dread washed over the room, and we listened to the conversation.

“Do we know why he attacked them?”

“Not yet, they were a neighboring pack, so I’m assuming Marek wants to expand his immediate territory. I have my people looking into it to confirm. Alpha Dawson has already been informed about the loss, so I’m sure he’ll be calling an emergency Council meeting once he assesses the situation.”

“Maybe now the Council will step up and help or at least the foxes will help.” Alpha shook his head, wondering about the attack. He seemed to be talking things out with his wolf.

“I’ll make plans to visit this week. I’ll text you the details once I have them. It seems we have to move more quickly than anticipated. Either way, I’m ready to get rid of Marek. You have to be heartless and deranged to kill off entire packs. To do it twice in one week is just…” She cut off unable to finish her thought due to her emotions.

“I know…it’s unfathomable. The Council can’t just sit on this. I won’t let them. I’ll let you know what happens with the Council. Let me know if anything changes on your end. Thanks, Olivia.” Alpha hung up, and we all just sat there quietly soaking in the information.

Larkin

James had asked to see me privately this afternoon, so I had him accompany me to some off-pack business I had. My plan was to say he was going along as my guard, but my father was nowhere to be found this morning, so we left with no problem.

“What’s going on, James?” He was tense, and I could feel the frustration coming off of him in waves.

“How much longer until you issue the challenge? Your father has attacked two more packs this week, and I can’t take it anymore. I’ve been lucky that my squad was chosen to stay behind both times, but I can’t be involved in another attack. I don’t have it in me.”

My father had trained his warriors to be ruthless and follow orders. I thought they were all as psychotic as my father, robotic and unfeeling. But as James was showing me, he was struggling with this.

“He destroys everything, and I’m done helping him do it. Scarlett feels the same way. She had a breakdown this morning when another attack was announced, so she’s lucky we weren’t chosen to go. That girl puts on a strong front, but she’s as broken as the rest of us.”

I sighed, and I felt Flint stir in my head.

‘Issue the challenge.’ He practically roared the words out.

‘We need to wait for Harvest Moon. I have to make sure Rory will be safe if anything happens to me.’

Flint didn’t say anything but growled. I felt his anger as deeply as my own, and I knew we couldn’t just sit by and watch my father burn the world around us anymore.

“Let’s do something then. I can’t issue the challenge until I know Rory will be safe if anything happens to me, but we can start getting people on our side. You said you knew of more people who want my father gone. Can you get together a list of everyone willing to go against my father?”

“I can do that.” James nodded his head with conviction. “What’s the plan once we have a list?”

“If Harvest Moon doesn’t make a move soon, then we’ll revolt on our own. I’ll issue the challenge, and if anything goes wrong, then we’ll have to fight against our own people. I didn’t want it to come to this, but we can’t let innocent people continue to get hurt and killed. If we have to, then we’ll start our own war against my father.”