I awoke the next morning to a quiet house. Hmmmm, I wonder where everyone is? I thought as I reached out to find Khloe also missing. I sat up and spotted a note sitting on her pillow. ‘Dorian, T and I are going shopping up in Portsmouth. Meet us at The Coat of Arms for a late lunch. Call or text when you get there. All my love, Khloe’. Ok, one problem solved then the smell of coffee made its way to my room. Alright, that must mean that Joseph was still here.
I went downstairs dressed in tee and sweatpants, I found Joseph sitting at the kitchen table with Craig and Thomas, deep in conversation. All three looked up at my arrival. “Good morning, gentlemen,” I said as I made my way towards the coffee. After I poured myself a cup, I took a seat. “What’s the word?”
Craig spoke first “most of the pack will be here tomorrow night for the meeting along with most the Alpha’s for North America. We are also expecting Donovan and some of the Master Vampires from some of the smaller covens in the region. The vamps are scared, and unsure of what is to come.”
I nodded at that thought. Looked like we might be getting some vampire help after all. I wonder how many witches will join us? I turned to Thomas, “What about the bears? I know you guys tend to be loners or gather in families. Any chance any of them will come?”
“Yes, a few that I have contacted said they would come and listen to what you have to say. They said that’s all they could promise. You know how Bears are they don’t like to get involved unless they absolutely have to.” Thomas replied.
I finished my cup of coffee and stood. “Ok, good. I’m going to go the gym, Thomas, could you help me with something that I need to get the handle on?”
“Sure, what is it?” He asked.
“I need to spare with something big since Talia isn’t here you’re the next best option. Your bear form would be about the same size as I am in beast form. I need practice fighting in that form. I haven’t needed it in the past. The last time I let my temper get the best of me it almost cost me everything.”
“Dorian, we were outnumbered. You can’t blame yourself for what happened.” Joseph offered as he rose from the table. “I’ll help too. I could use the workout. Besides, we could team up on you too.”
I grinned at him then looked over to Craig “You want to join us?” I asked.
“No, I need to get back to Boston. I’ve got to keep running Fenris Security while you handle this situation. We still have paying customers to protect.” Craig answered.
“Do you need anyone to help?” I asked him.
“I’ve got Lela, and her mate, Danny, doing most of it. Call me when you know who is going to Central America with you. I’ve got a buddy who runs charter flights into Mexico and Central America. I’ll reach out to him to see if he has an opening in his schedule. We’ll also need to get everyone going outfitted with the proper gear.” He replied as he excused himself and headed to the front door.
We exited the kitchen and walked over to the large pole barn, that my parents had built when Talia and I turned twelve. It was a gift of a sort. Both Talia and I had tons of energy while growing up. They had this built to serve two purposes. First, was to give us both an outlet so we could vent our frustration. Second, was to start us on the path of learning martial arts. That’s when we first met Kenji.
Opening the door, I flicked on the lights to reveal a sixteen hundred square foot room with a twenty-foot ceiling. In one corner, there was a stack of those blue mats that every high school gym seems to have. The walls were adorned with various types of hand to hand weapons. Our father had been adamant about learning many if not all the known hand to hand weapons.
“What’s upstairs?” Joseph asked seeing the staircase over near where the mats were stacked.
“That’s where the weightlifting and exercise equipment is,” I answered as I took off my t-shirt. “How do you guys what to do this?” I questioned as I walked out to the center of the room. Just before I turned around I heard a bellowing roar that shook my bones. Opening my senses, I dodged to the left as a swift moving grey wolf flew past me and skidded to a stop, and growled as he turned to face me. I kept my eyes on Joseph and chanced a glance over to where Thomas had been standing. In his place and on its hind legs, and what had to be over nine feet was the biggest brown bear I had ever seen. Thomas issued forth another challenge before he dropped down on all fours, and ran towards me. So, this is how it’s going be then. I thought I let the change take me. Even in my beast form, Thomas’ bear form still beat me in height and weight. I was only a little over eight foot and weighed about 500 lbs., of muscle, claws, and fangs. He had to be pushing over 1000 lbs.
Joseph took that opportunity to strike. Smart of him too since most of my attention was on the massive bear headed my way. He struck at my calves making me jump out of his reach right into the bear’s platter sized right paw that caught me full on in the shoulder which knocked me into the wall about fifteen feet away. I think Joseph laughed at me while in wolf form. Thomas stood up in the center of the room and roared in triumph. I shook my head while getting up. I roared my response to his challenge. This time I was more reluctant to charge headfirst into the fight, instead, I circled the bear while I tried to keep the wolf from coming at me from behind.
A few minutes of us circling each other, I made my move. I feinted to my left expecting Joseph to bite. He did not disappoint. When he moved left, I caught him midair, shook him, and then tossed him towards the wall. After I tossed Joseph, I moved in on Thomas. He attempted to swipe at me with his paw again, I ducked and spun underneath his swipe which brought me up behind him. He was too big for a grapple. I punched him in the back of the head instead. He roared as he turned and I kept on the move, as I ducked and dodged his swipes. While he was bigger than me, I was quicker. We exchanged blows with each other for another ten minutes both of us getting in some good shots. I changed and held up my hands signaling an end to this sparring session.
They both changed back. Joseph and Thomas went to put their clothes back on with me headed back to the house to find another pair of sweats. The pair I had on were shredded with the change. I called back to them. “I’ll be right back. We can spar in human form with weapons when I get back. I would like to see what you two know.”
A few minutes later I returned to find the guys engaged in a lively exchange of blows with bo staffs. While Thomas had the obvious advantage with strength, Joseph’s agility allowed him to avoid some of the more crippling hits that Thomas delivered. As I sat down I placed a small cooler that I brought next to me so I could enjoy the show.
They went at it for what seemed like forever each giving as good as the other. When they called it, I stood up and tossed each a towel, and reached inside the cooler for two bottles of water giving one to each. “Good match?” I asked.
They both nodded as they drank the water. Joseph answered first. “The added strength of being a werebear is incredible. I’m glad we have speed and agility.”
“Just you wait until you spar with Talia. You’ll need every bit of your speed to keep ahead of her blades.” I replied.
Thomas drained his water bottle before responding. “The kid has some moves. I wasn’t too sure about him with his Boston PD training. It’s not like he’s had the same training that the two of us have had in the military.”
“Hey, we have training in the PD. Granted it’s not the ‘kill ‘em all and let god sort them out’ kind of training.” Joseph quipped.
Thomas and I laughed at that.
We spent the next two hours sparing with various hand weapons finishing up with Tai Chi to cool down and center ourselves.
We headed back inside, Joseph left to go shower so he could come with me to meet the girls for lunch, while I showed Thomas to the guest room. I asked if he wanted to join us. He declined saying that he didn’t want to impose on us since it would just be the four of us. I acknowledged that he was probably correct. I left him and headed to my own room so I could get ready for lunch.
Joseph and I left the house an hour later in my Ford Raptor, windows down, and headed up route 1A along the coast to Portsmouth. The smell of the sea air had a soothing effect on me. I was really looking forward to lunch with the girls. Something other than running from one life threatening situation to another. I chatted with Joseph on our drive asking him about everything from where he was from to his time with the Boston PD. I learned that he was more laid back and reserved than I originally thought making him a perfect match for Talia’s more outspoken nature.
After about fifteen minutes we wound our way around downtown towards the parking garage and after we parked, we made our way over to Coat of Arms. I stopped Joseph as we entered, “Shit! I forgot to text the girls to let them know we were on our way.”
Having stopped on the first step, Joseph inhaled deeply. A strange look crossed his face as he took off up the stairs. Then the scent hit me just as he left. Two foreign shifters were here in the pub. I caught Joseph just as he reached the second floor, and the pub proper. I whispered as I caught his arm. “Wait!” He froze understanding the command for what it was. “Let’s check out the situation before we overreact. Besides, T will skin your ass if you come barging in all dominant alpha wolf.” He relaxed a little understanding I was right, Talia hated that macho bull.
I scanned the pub while Joseph took a couple deep breaths to calm his wolf. The Coat of Arms is laid out in a rough L shape with the bar area separate from the dining area but not closed off from it. I spotted the girls in the bar area at one of the tables. The girls were sitting opposite of each other with the two other shifters standing next to each one. The one trying to chat up Khloe had his hand on her shoulder which caused my wolf to perk up. Joseph grabbed me before I killed the shifter for touching my mate. I might have growled because a couple, in the dining area, looked at me startled by it.
I nudged Joseph towards the girls. As I took everything in and scanned the pub to see if the two were with anyone else. The closer we got the stronger their scent became they were wolves but not familiar to our pack. This wasn’t good, they were either here for the meeting or there something else going one. One way to find out.
“Excuse us, gentlemen, I believe the ladies are waiting for us,” I stated as cordial as I could manage, my wolf howling to be free to kill those who would dare touch his mate. Damn, he was pissed.
They turned around and looked us up and down. “I think the ladies are preferring our company over having to wait on you two little puppies.” The shifter next to Talia said with a slight French accent.
Before I put my fist through his head Talia gave me a look that meant that she and Khloe had this handled. Joseph and I were not to interfere. “You know what? You’re right, we’ll leave you to it then. Girls, we will catch up with you later.” Grabbing Joseph’s arm, I dragged him over to the bar. As we approached the bar I nodded to the bartender to get us each a pint of Guinness.
“That’s right little puppies run along home to mommy. Your ladies want some real men.” The one next to Talia said to us.
“You know what? I want to know if any of that macho bullshit you use really works with women?” Talia said as both her and Khloe got off their seats and headed our way.
They grabbed each of the girl’s arms. “Listen here bitch, I’ll tell you when you and your friend are allowed to leave.”
Joseph and I grabbed our pints and took a drink when the girls both said, “Bitch? Allowed to leave? Are you fucking kidding me?” My eyebrows went up as Khloe stomped on the insole of dipshit number two. She was wearing boots with heels, damn that had to hurt. She then made two quick jabs at his throat, and as he grabbed his throat she kicked him in the balls. He doubled over with one hand on his jewels, leaving his head open for her knee. Joseph and I both winced with the headshot that dropped dipshit number two.
Talia was just as beautiful with her plan of attack, only thing is numb nuts pulled out a knife. In a blur of movement, had to be some jujitsu move, Talia disarmed him grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the table. She pulled his head back by his hair while she kicked him in the knee dropping him. She squatted down and lifted his head up. “The blond ‘puppy’, is my brother and alpha to the New England Pack. The other is my mate.” She said in a seething voice. She let go of his hair and his head bounce off the floor. As she stood up Khloe grabbed her hand and they walked over to us and our shit eating grins.
I wrapped my arms around Khloe as she came over and kissed her softly on the lips. “That was awesome.”
“I was worried you were going to kill him here in the bar,” Khloe said nervously.
“If it wasn’t for Talia’s signal I would have. My wolf sure as hell wanted to.”
After she kissed Joseph, Talia reassured him that she was ok while he was making sure himself.
“Nice moves T, you two want to get another table. You’ve got to be hungry after that, I know I am after all the sparring we did.” I suggested.
Patrick, the owner, came out from the back looking at the two shifters who started to moan and move. Then he came over to me with an exasperated look on his face. “Dammit Dorian, you’ve been in here for what less than ten minutes before you started a fight?”
I held my hands up to him. “Not me this time Patrick, it was Talia and Khloe.” They slapped my arms as I threw them under the bus for this one. “I’ll take care of them for you, Patrick.” I walked over to them and grabbed the one who Khloe beat down while Joseph grabbed the other. “Can we take them out the service entrance?” I asked him.
“That’ll be fine. Don’t let them bleed on anything will you.” Patrick commented as he led us to the service entrance.
After Patrick unlocked the service entrance. Joseph and I dragged them downstairs and unceremoniously dumped them next to the dumpsters. I knelt next to the one who, based on the conversation upstairs, I took for the leader. “Who are you, and why are you here in my territory, unannounced?” I demanded.
He sat up and leaned against the dumpster. “I am Patrice. He is Martin. We are from the pack in Quebec. We heard about the meeting that is supposed to take place tomorrow at the home of Maeve Callahan the Alpha of this territory.”
“That would be my mother, who is no longer the Alpha. My sister who you were hitting on and myself are now the Alpha’s for this territory.” I supplied.
“Please forgive us. We did not know.” His French accent becoming more pronounced the longer this went on.
“Let me get this straight. You two were sent down here for the meeting and thought while you were here you’d stop in, get a bite to eat and try to throw around your male superiority on female shifters?” I looked at Joseph and shrugged, “Maybe it’s a French thing? When the accent didn’t work, what then? Bully your way around.”
“I say we let girls have at them again. Those were some of the coolest moves I’ve seen in a while.” Joseph commented causing them to pale.
“No, I think getting their asses handed to them by girls once was enough. Am I right, Patrice?” I replied with a chuckle.
Holding up his hands in a pleading gesture he answered. “That will be unnecessary. Consider the lesson learned.”
“I would expect some kind of apology when you arrive tomorrow evening for the meeting,” I commanded, using my Alpha influence.
I gestured to Joseph to go ahead of me so we could return to the girls and our much overdue lunch.
We returned to find the girls had moved to a table in the dining area of the pub. As we made our way over to them I saw they were looking at the menu. “What are you thinking about getting?” I ask Khloe.
“Not sure, the fish and chips sound heavenly” She replied. “What about you?”
Before I could reply Talia interrupted, “Oh, he’ll have the bangers and mash. It’s what he always gets.” Laughing at me like she has always done.
“Is it good?” Joseph asked, causing my sister to shake her head.
“Don’t get him started on it, hun.” Talia replied, “He fell in love with them while he was in England, ‘Being all he could be’.”
“It’s ‘The Few the Proud’, I was in the Marines not the Army, T.”
She just waves a hand at me, and says “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
I look over at Khloe to find her dying with laughter while T and I banter back and forth. I just shook my head as I sat down, and picked up my Guinness, taking a long pull.
Patrick came over to take our orders and said before I could. “Don’t worry, Dorian, I know what you want?” Eliciting a round of laughter from the table. I hang my head in embarrassment as the others order.
Lunch went by too fast as we talked about the upcoming meeting with the pack, and the attending Alphas. “Most of our pack should be here later this afternoon to help get everything set up. Craig is going to handle the logistics involved with the Alphas.” I relayed to them.
“Who’s handling Fenris Security while all this is going on? We have customers and contracts that will be expecting our services.” Talia asked.
“Lela and Danny are handling the day to day operations while we are away until this whole mess is dealt with.” Answering her concern, knowing that Fenris was her baby since our parents turned it over to her while I was away in the military.
“I know you have a plan, Dorian. What is it?” Khloe asked, worry evident on her face. It was her parents after all that we were going after.
I grabbed her hand as I explained what I had in mind. “I am planning on inviting Esteban to information on anything that I might miss. Also, he’s one of a few who have dealt with these priests, besides us.” I looked at T and Joe, and continued, “We’re going to need all the help we can get.” They all agreed that this was the best course of action.
As we finished, Patrick came over to our table. “Is there anything you two require in order to get ready for this big to-do that you have planned?”
Talia and I exchanged looks before I answered him. “We could use someone to cater this shindig if you’re interested?”
“Your mother and father would have me by my short curlies if I didn’t help.” He quipped as he looked between Talia and I. “Consider it done. I’ll have my crew arrive around eight tomorrow morning.”
I reached out to shake his hand. “Thanks, Patrick it means a lot to us. We’ll see you tomorrow then.” I threw down six twenties for lunch and tip before we left the pub.
I let Khloe drive the Raptor home so I could text Esteban. I wanted to fill him in on what the plans for tomorrow were. The ride home was quiet after I finished texting with Esteban. Khloe didn’t attempt to fill the silence with chitchat for which I was thankful. She must’ve sensed that I needed the quiet. There was so much to done.
Khloe reached over and took my hand. It was such a simple reassurance, but it was enough for me.