Fate Stained - Part Two
Chapter 37 - Secret Squirrel Business

Everything with Quinn’s baby checked out ok. Moira’s medical equipment was now able to pick up what it needed to and Jayce and Quinn had finally been able to see their daughter on an ultrasound. Her stats were fine, as were her measurements and Moira estimated the baby to be the equivalent of a thirty seven week gestation.

But, as I was replaceing out happened quite a bit here in Fern Creek, this happy and exiting news was soon overshadowed with the news that the Point Invictus pack was on the move. One of our scouts had reported back that approximately fifteen wolves, including the Alpha and two of his three sons, left their compound approximately an hour ago and seemed to be headed this way.

It wasn’t hard to tell from the look of both Jayce and Cameron’s faces that this was not good news. Fifteen wolves was a lot, especially when we’d only just lost some of our own in the fight against the Yo-Na bears.

“Even in their shifted state, it will still take them at least another four hours to reach us” Cameron said, looking down at the map that was spread out on the pack house table.

“We don’t want them to reach us” Jayce grunted.

I noted how his gaze darted over briefly to Quinn, who lay down on the couch, then back to the map. He was right. If Alpha Rhys and his wolves reached the Fern Creek compound walls then we risked them breaching and putting all of our vulnerable in danger, which included my sister and unborn niece.

“You plan to meet them halfway?” I asked.

The Alpha rubbed his jaw and traced his finger over a line on the map.

“Perhaps not halfway, but a safe distance from the compound. We don’t have time to meet them halfway. My wolves need to be briefed and have the opportunity to say goodbye to their families; I would never take that right away from them”

What Jayce was saying was right and I respected the honourable way in which he treated his men, but having Point Invictus come any closer to Fern Creek than the halfway mark, left me very anxious indeed. Yes, I didn’t want them anywhere near Quinn - but I also didn’t want them anywhere near Fern. My concern was that the moment she discovered fifteen of her pack’s best wolves were running towards this compound, that she would leave and hand herself over to them. There was no doubt that this confrontation would end in carnage, both sides losing many wolves, and I knew in my heart that Fern wouldn’t want it to be all because of her.

While Jayce and Cameron devised their plan, I used the distraction to slip out the back door of the pack house. The last thing I wanted to do was undermine Jayce’s role as leader of this pack, but I had a plan and I knew even if he agreed to it, that my sister wouldn’t.

There was one person here though, that I knew would jump at the idea. Kyanite.

Kyanite POV

I think maybe I was the only one in this god forsaken place that was happy to hear the Point Invictus pack was marching on Fern Creek - not because I wanted anyone here hurt, but because the sooner we got this over and done with, the sooner I could leave and never look back.

I didn’t want to be at their little meeting, for obvious reasons. Whatever that Alpha prick decided, I would agree with. I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t want to be involved in the plan making, I would just need my men and I to have a quick briefing and we could get this shit done. Alpha Rhys needed to die; to be honest, I didn’t really care about his sons, but if the plan was to kill them too, then that’s what would happen.

A knock at the door had me standing from chair and heading to the front of the small flat to see who was there. My thoughts were that it would be the Beta, here to tell me the plan; I’d thought it would have taken longer for them to sort their stuff out, maybe the Alpha was more efficient than I’d given him credit for.

“Flynn” I stated, opening the door, “Not who I was expecting to see”

I moved to the side and the tribrid-warlock gave me a weak smile before stepping inside.

“You alone?” He asked.

“Yes. My two remaining panther warriors are on the training grounds with a few of the Fern Creek wolves, showing them how we do things back home”

I watched Flynn closely as he nodded and sat down at the kitchen table. The man, usually so focused and calm, appeared distracted and on edge. I guess I would be too if my mate’s sadistic father was on his way to take her away and kill anyone that tried to stop him. But I didn’t have a mate now - a blessing in disguise really. One less weakness. One less thing to keep me away from being the King I was born to be.

“Flynn, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you in the meeting about Point Invictus?”

“I was” Flynn sighed and combed his fingers through the thick dreadlocks that were bundled up on top of his head.

“And? What’s the plan?” I asked.

“I left before they finalised one; but I think it was along the lines of - wait until Alpha Rhys and his men are a few miles off Fern Creek and attack them with everything we have”

I figured as much, but something on Flynn’s face told me he wasn’t quite stoked with the idea.

“And you’re not happy with that because…?”

“Because letting those barbarians get any closer to Fern Creek than wherever they are now is too close for my liking. There are fifteen of them, Kyan. Fifteen. And that includes an Alpha and two of his sons. If they manage to get passed our fighters and breach this compound…”

I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t thought the exact same thing, I guess I just didn’t really care as much anymore. Harsh? Perhaps. In the last few hours since my bond with Quinn had been severed, I’d unintentionally been distancing myself from this pack. It was an odd feeling, it was as though every moment that went by, the positive associations with this place and it’s people gradually melted away.

It actually confirmed a belief that I’d had right from the start, before my connection with Quinn had deepened too much - that the fated mate bond forces feelings and emotions that aren’t naturally there. I’d despised Quinn when I first discovered her. I was drawn to her, obviously, but the thought of acting on my impulses made me sick. Then as the fated mate bond worked it’s magic, I started to develop feelings, regardless of how hard I fought them. It was becoming very clear to me now that those feelings weren’t mine, they’d been essentially programmed into me as the bond that should never have been there, wound it’s disgusting claws into my heart and soul.

But now that Quinn was gone…those feelings were fading also. I didn’t hate her, not at all. Thinking about her with that dickhead wolf still made my fangs elongate - but that thread, that invisible tether that had once held us together, was gone - as was my love and need for her.

“Clearly you have something in mind” I said, leaning on the table and looking across at Flynn, “and something that the Alpha and Luna wouldn’t agree with…that’s why you’re here and not there”

Flynn laughed and ran his hands down his face.

“You’d be on the money there”

“I’m in”

The tribrid-warlock blinked and stared up at me. His eyes narrowed slightly as if trying to figure out my angle. But then, clearly realising he had no other options, he shrugged and nodded his head.

“Good. It’s just you and me though. I’m hoping by the time the others realise we are gone and try to catch up, that all of this will be over”

“So what’s the plan?” I asked.

“I teleport us to Alpha Rhys’s current location and I challenge him as Alpha to the Point Invictus pack”

Wolf packs were different to panther kingdoms and bear tribes, in the sense that another member of the pack or an outside pack, could challenge the Alpha for their spot. It was essentially a fight to the death - may the stronger man win. Bears and panthers, on the other hand, were all about the family you were born into. Being an heir was a birthright and couldn’t be challenged unless there was a question of legitimacy.

“You’re going to fight Alpha Rhys? You realise, even if you win, that his sons will immediately challenge you afterwards. That will be potentially three fights to the death in quick succession. Are you really up for that?”

“I am up for whatever it takes to keep my sister, my niece and my mate safe”

“And you know packs laws state you can’t use any abilities that aren’t naturally that of your species? That means no magic”

Flynn nodded and rose from the table.

“Yes. I’m aware of all that. Now, are you going to come with me or not? I need a witness and you’re the only one that I didn’t think would try to talk me out of it”

“Fuck oath I’ll come with you. Are you sure you want to be the one with your mate’s father’s blood on your hands though? You don’t think that will drive a wedge into the relationship?”

Flynn rolled his eyes.

“Did the fact that my sister was a tribrid shifter Queen and already had a mate of another species, drive a wedge into your relationship?”

“Well…yeah, it did actually”

“Was it enough to keep you apart?”

“—No”

“Exactly. Are you trying to talk me out of this?”

Throwing my hands up in the air I shook my head.

“No. Just— never mind. When are we leaving?”

Flynn stretched his open palms out into the centre of the room and his eyes blackened over. Within seconds a swirling, buzzing, blue sphere began to expand in front of us.

“We are leaving now” he uttered.

The ease in which Flynn opened portals would never cease to amaze me, this tribrid was powerful indeed. But for a battle against an Alpha wolf he would need to prove that he was powerful in other ways. There would be no magics, no illusions, no shifting between animals. It was his man and his wolf, that was it - and as much as I wanted to believe that he could do it - the horrible feeling that I was going to have to return to Fern Creek to tell Quinn her brother was dead, was eating away at me.

Pushing those feelings to the side, I smiled at the tribrid-warlock and stepped towards the portal.

“See you on the other side”