Bursting into Asteria’s house, the heavy door hitting against the wall, I march towards the direction where her scent is the strongest and spy her about to serve breakfast to the pups. They all stare at me in shock as I glare at her in anger. Footsteps thundering behind me tells me Quincy has finally caught up after I commanded him to sit still for five minutes knowing that I would need a head start with my body still not at one hundred percent from the ordeal I went through.
“We need to talk.” I do my best to stay calm in front of the pups so as not to scare them. Asteria sighs as Gale gives her a reassuring smile, telling his Mate to go outside with me. She smiles to her pups, promising that she will be right back before walking towards me. I turn on my heels, retreating outside and glaring at Quincy who silently watches me. I know he means well, but he tried to stop me from storming down here claiming I needed to rest. Screw resting. Pine Moon turned their back on us, how dare they ask for help now.
“I am guessing Quincy told you.” Asteria sighs out as soon as we are ten feet away from the house.
“He told me and I am pissed. Not at you, but at them.” I answer, letting my rage out. Quincy winces, taking a spot behind Asteria so as not to get the brunt of my out-of-control rage.
“Don’t worry, I am not going to attack anyone.” I reassure him as I pace. I wince when I turn to face Asteria, thankful that she isn’t telling me to calm down, but at the same time I can sense her unease. She is worried about me.
“Jett and I have been in contact since we left. He is an old friend of mine and is Rune’s godfather.” She begins to explain, stopping me in my tracks. I nod, deciding to give her my full attention so that she can explain the situation better to me.
“He has been keeping an eye on Pine Moon and many of the wolves, mainly Omegas, need to escape. Valor is allowing Tanya to abuse them much to Rune trying to stop her and they need a fresh start.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I know Tanya. She is a spoiled, power-hungry bitch. I’ve had to save many of the Omegas and pups from her bullying since I was a child, even having to help take care of their wounds that she caused them.
“How bad is it there?” I ask, my heart aching for those left to the tyranny.
“Bad. Rune and Jett are trying to protect them. But Valor is making it difficult.” Shocked once more, I run a hand through my hair as I let the fact that Rune is trying to get the Omegas out of Pine Moon for their own good. He always cared about the pack. Cared about protecting them from harm whether they were pups, Omegas or even our Warriors who sworn to give their lives. Maybe him rejecting me has something to do with this – with protecting Pine Moon.
“I can see the gears shifting in your head, Brynlee. You figured something out didn’t you?” Quincy calls out, finally joining the conversation.
“I did. It might be why he rejected me and why he is engaged but I have a feeling Asteria doesn’t know the reason why Rune is engaged to Tanya.” I nod, stepping closer to the two. My anger has dissipated. Asteria left Pine Moon and wouldn’t step in unless the situation is dire. If she is talking to me about having wolves move here then the situation is dire.
“I don’t. If I did, I would have told you by now.” I sense truth to her words and accept her answer before I turn in the direction where many of the pack lives. Asteria’s house and my cottage are on the outskirts of the pack just inside the forest treeline. We would need to plan where to build new houses and maybe a few dormitories for single wolves without a Mate or Family.
“Will it be just Omegas?” I ask, worried about the strength of Crescent Phoenix.
“No. Jett has a list of Warriors and Trackers that want to leave as well. All of them are under thirty years old.” My body relaxes with relief. More Warriors and Trackers are a good thing, even if they are the weakest of the bunch. We can train them up, get them to help make Crescent Phoenix stronger.
“We need to stager the wolves coming into the pack then. We can’t have a large group just appear out of no where after the damage Onix Moon caused. If we can have at least a group of ten come every fourteen days that would be reasonable.” Quincy chimes in. It is a smart plan actually. It gives us two weeks between each batch of wolves to weed out anyone loyal to Valor and send them back as Rogues.
“We will need at least three weeks to prepare though. Start the building process of a new dormitory and a few houses for those with pups.” I turn back to see Asteria nodding in agreement, motioning for Quincy and I to follow her back towards her house stating we should continue this subject inside her home office. We stop by the kitchen to grab some breakfast and I apologize to the pups and Gale for scaring them before the three of us make our way inside the office.
“We can have a meeting with Holton tomorrow to flesh out the deal before I call Jett back but Brynlee is right, we need more housing for those coming to join Crescent Phoenix.” Asteria states as we settle down at the small table she has for meetings.
“You also need to talk to him about the business you will inherit.” She adds, giving me a smile. In her hand is a notebook that she passes to me.
“I can deal with that tomorrow.” I agree before I begin to write down what we have previously discussed outside.
It takes us another hour to flush out the plan on how to help those in Pine Moon escape unnoticed as well as help them make their way quickly to Crescent Phoenix. Quincy suggests buying a large charter bus and using that to pick up and drive them here to which I thought was a great Idea. We could send two or three warriors and have them relay information to us about the Pine Moon wolves while they travel to Crescent Phoenix. Sending three wolves also meant they can take turns driving and only stopping to fuel the charter bus.
The main problems will be changing their cell phone and banking information so that they can’t be traced. I suggested having a wolf apply to work in the bank and the cellphone company that Crescent Phoenix uses at the local town. It would give us an inside man that could help each new wolf set up an account at each location.
With the plan mostly vetted, Asteria ends the impromptu meeting and tells me to go back to my cottage and rest for the day. Tomorrow we will meet with Holton to prepare a contract for Jett and Rune to sign while also take care of the legal matters that pertain to the businesses Gale and Asteria left for me to own.
Quincy is adamant that he will take me to my house and make sure I rest and Asteria thanks him for this. To be honest, I don’t even know how I managed to march the twenty-minute walk to Asteria’s house and chalked it up to a rage-fueled endeavor.
It is when I am saying goodbye to Gale and Asteria that I stopped at the bottom of the porched steps. We knew that Jett reached out to us for help, but he wouldn’t have done that unless someone else is backing him. Turning to face Asteria, I take a deep breath and finally ask what I should have asked before we planned to open our pack to the people that turned they backs on me.
“Who gave Jett the okay to reach out to us?” I inquire, getting a soft smile from Asteria.
“Rune did. He eventually plans to make his way here and abandon Pine Moon to make sure the wolves he sends are being treated well. Then he plans to leave and search for you.” She answers. Shocked, I can only nod and turn to head home. I am not sure how I feel knowing that my ex wants to look for me, but I am positive I am not happy about this news.