After my shower, I stood there in my bedroom with a towel wrapped around me as I looked at my closet. A suit seems a little much and obviously, the Marine battle dress uniform was a no go for the office. Jeans seemed a little too casual for work even if the office is in my own house. Talia always dressed for her work wearing business attire. I decided on a pair of pressed cargo pants, a nice polo, and some desert combat boots. After dressing, I pulled out my pistol to put in the holster I had on my hip. I may be a werewolf but one can never be too sure.
As I approached my office I found Craig and Thomas waiting for me with someone I didn’t know, but he had the scent of a Were. Probably the leader of our QRF team. “Morning gentlemen, if you’d please follow me inside we can go over everything that we now know.”
Once inside, I bid everyone to sit and started the meeting. “First thing you should know, I’m not big on formality. We’ll get along a lot better if everyone knows and does their job. I know from your background, Craig, that you and Thomas are former military and know what I’m saying.” I looked at the newcomer and continued “I know from your scent that you’re pack but I don’t think we have ever met before.”
Craig spoke up, “Dorian, this is James, he is a former Boston PD SWAT commander and now currently heads up our QRF for Fenris Security.” I got up and shook his hand.
“Thanks for coming in this morning. We had quite an eventful evening and now all we have are more questions, but I have a feeling that when we get a lead we will need to move fast. I would like to have a small team of 4 or 5 ready to go at a moment’s notice. Is that something that you could arrange, James?”
“Yes, I can think of a few of the guys that would be more than willing to do that,” James answered.
“Good, make sure one is a communications specialist. I have a feeling that this is going to take us to Central and South America. As soon as you can get them here the better, that way Khloe and I can begin training with them.”
James left to make the calls while Craig, Thomas and I went over the events of the night before by watching the recording of the meeting and going over some of the items that they were going to research. I also asked them to reach out to the packs in the surrounding territories and discreetly send feelers to the other vampire covens to see what they know or if they might be in league with Kirin. As we were finishing up with our meeting there was a soft knock on my office door. I excused Craig and Thomas at the door as I watched Khloe sit over by Lela’s desk talking with her about who knows what. She looked over when the office door opened and when our eyes met she blushed slightly and smiled. I grinned back at her as I walked over to them.
“Good morning ladies.” They both returned the greeting and I continued, “Lela, is Talia in or did she have court today?”
“She had court and won’t be back until this afternoon,” Lela answered.
“Ok. Khloe, you ready to do whatever you need to do?”
She nodded, stood up and grabbed a large messenger bag that smelled of herbs and aromatic oils. She pulled the strap over and across her body as she led me towards the back entrance.
I spent around three hours following Khloe as she went about doing her thing. It was truly amazing watching her go around and place runes in charcoal around the perimeter of the building. “Khloe, what happens when the charcoal washes away from the rain or someone rubs up against it?”
“Nothing, the charcoal rune just acts as a pattern for the spell. Once I push my will or magic into it the rune becomes active and will remain until I either dispel it or the building is damaged.” She answered.
“What exactly did you do?”
“These runes are ancient Incan runes that will detect death magic if it comes within one hundred feet of the building. Death magic gives off a particular feeling that a witch can sense and an odor that Weres can smell.” She said as she finished the last ward.
“Smell? You mean like decay and rot, right?”
“Yes, but probably ten times stronger than any you’ve smelled in the past. There is no mistaking that scent.” She answered.
I looked at Khloe and took her hand as we walked back towards the entrance to the building. “Would you like to get away for a few hours and let our fur out or in your case your feathers?” Her face lit up at his suggestion, which made him think he just won the lottery.
“Really? I would love to get away, if only for a couple of hours.” She replied.
“Awesome! I know a friend of the pack who lives up near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts border that has about twenty acres that we can use.”
We headed over towards my truck and I texted Lela and Craig that we were leaving for a few hours, and where we would be. I then texted Talia separately, letting her know what was up, and she replied with the ‘middle finger’ emoji. I didn’t know they had one of those. I laughed out loud and told Khloe what Talia sent and that she was going to be stuck at the courthouse all day but told us to have fun.
We jumped in my truck and we made our way up route 1 towards New Hampshire. I brought up my music playlist and cued up Wash It All Away by Five Finger Death Punch.
We made great time to the property. I pulled up to the small guest house and parked. “I have a key to the guest house. We can undress and change in there. I usually do that so my clothes don’t get wet if it starts to rain.”
“And this ‘friend of the pack’ knows about us?” She asked a little hesitant.
“Yes, his daughter is a bitten Were and a member of our pack. She lives up in New Hampshire and mostly deals with my mother.”
I led her inside to one of the bedrooms, “You can use this one. I know we aren’t as conscious about nudity and all, but since we are beginning something together I thought for at least the first time we could change in separate rooms.”
She nodded and went to the bedroom. I began to undress and after a few minutes, I felt someone watching me. I turned to see a Peregrine Falcon resting on the end table, eyeing my half naked form with her head turned, sideways waiting for me. I just shook my head when I saw that she wasn’t leaving and turned back to strip off the rest of my clothes and let the magic of the change take me. I wish I could explain the change better, but one minute I’m a man and as I fall forward there appears to be a flash of power and whoosh of magic and I land on four paws. Talia has said that my wolf is quite striking at three feet at the shoulder, black coat with four white socks on my paws, and a strip of white that looks like I dipped my tail into a paint container. My eyes are the most striking while in my wolf form. My normal indigo peepers appear to be fluorescent with a soft glow.
After the change, I shook myself and from head to tail, looked over at Khloe in her falcon form and yipped at her, and then I dashed out the front door into the field. I heard her cry as she followed me.
After a couple of hours of me running around like an anxious pup stalking small wild animals, I went and laid down and watch Khloe in her falcon form as she would glide around the clearing catching thermals, she used her keen vision to search for smaller prey. Then, without blinking, she tucked her wings in and dove like she was shot out of a gun and caught the small unaware chipmunk in her talons and then she took off, came my way and dropped the small animal at my feet. I was just as surprised as the chipmunk that he was still alive. He was frozen, staring at me. I woofed at him and he took off like a bat out of hell back towards his home. Khloe dropped down next to me and I noticed that she was bigger in her animal form than I thought. We sat there in companionable silence for a long time, enjoying each other’s presence. She then turned to me, made a noise, then she took off and headed back to the house. I got up and padded after her.
Once inside we changed back. Khloe walked over to me wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down for a kiss. I returned her kiss and wrapped my arms around her to pull her closer. We lost ourselves in that kiss for a time and when she broke it off she looked up at me. “Thank you for that. It has been a long time since I have been able to just relax. I’ll be going back to Harvard tomorrow. What will you be doing?”
“Your welcome. I’m glad we’ve had some time together alone. I will get with Talia about what needs to be done with Fenris Security. I’m sure Craig and Thomas want to go over the company protocols. Ugh, corporate life.” I said running my hands through my hair.
Snorting, Khloe patted my chest. “Poor baby, I’m sure you will be fine. Look on the bright side.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You can at least sleep in. Most companies don’t start work until 8 am sometimes 9 am.” She offered.
“Yeah, I should have most of the day’s work done by then,” I said and chuckled at the thought of sleeping in.
“You do know that you’re not in the Marines anymore, right?”
“Yes, but I am used to getting up early,” I said.
“Well, I’m sure I can think of a couple of things to keep you in bed,” Khloe said as she teased me into another kiss.
We parted with the anticipation of what was to come and returned to my truck for the drive back to Boston.