During the waiting period, I got the dress off as soon as possible. I contemplated burning it for a few minutes, but the idea of Frannie maybe one day asking to see it again saved its sorry life. In its place, I put on a pair of jeans and a black shirt that mentioned that I refused to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person.
Feeling much better, I ran downstairs to wait for the rest of the gang. I wasn’t sure where Vinnie and Nate went off to, so I settled for relaxing in one of our new recliners while I waited for them to reappear. We had to buy new furniture for the living room when we brought four people home to live with us.
Our house had become one giant clubhouse for the uniques in the area. Having the king of the wolves as a resident meant wolves in the area kept stopping by for visits. It was a bit overwhelming realizing how many people I walked by on a daily basis who were uniques. I didn’t necessarily recognize anyone, but the amount of people showing up told me I probably rode the train every day for years with people who knew I was special and never said anything.
Surprisingly, I’d been enjoying the extra company the last week. We were planning to start some training groups that I got to help teach. If we got enough teams together, we’d be better equipped to go after the warlocks, wherever they decided to cause problems.
Along with the training plans, we’d also been loading up on weapons. That very day we received crates of grenade launchers, fully automatic shotguns and flamethrowers, just to name a few of my early Christmas presents. I wasn’t sure who Nate knew, but I assumed they weren’t selling those things in the pawn shops. Even though I was a knife girl, I couldn’t wait to try a few things out. I’d heard the automatic shotguns were loads of fun.
As I was sitting, pondering what to use as a target, the rest of my roommates returned home. The guys had all become brotherly figures. I already had one of those, so adding three more made things interesting. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about introducing boyfriends to them.
“Finally, you guys are here,” I said, jumping up from my seat.
“We watched you sneak out only about an hour ago, so you couldn’t be going through withdrawals already,” Liam said.
“You’re right, if it wasn’t for the news I found out when we got home, you guys could have stayed out all night. I heard the bridesmaids were easy pickings.”
“So Vinnie found something?” Rick asked, ignoring any implication that he could’ve gotten lucky.
It seemed to be engrained into phoenixes that they needed to find a mate, but Rick resisted, and had for eons. It hurt knowing I was the reason he wasn’t out there looking. I wanted to change that, but before I could, I had to save his life.
It was ironic that he’d been born to be my protector, and in the end, I was praying I could save his life. Remembering the brief vision I saw was a bad idea around mind readers, so I hurried to think about what awaited us in Massachusetts.
“Yes, I did,” Vinnie said as he and Nate walked into the room. Neither one of them showed any indication of what they’d been up to, which usually spelled trouble for me.
“Hey, it’s my news to tell,” I announced.
“How is it your news, dollface?” Kyle asked. “If Vinnie found it, it seems like it would be his news.”
“But he’s already told it once, so now it’s my turn,” I said. Before anyone could say anything else, I rushed to say, “Crazy things that can only be caused by magic are happening in New Bedford, Massachusetts. We think it’s the minions we’ve been looking for, and I don’t have to fly to get there.” Getting it all out, I took a deep breath before filling them in on the specific things that had drawn Vinnie’s attention.
“That’s not fair,” Rick whined, like a two-year-old getting his favorite toy taken away. “The best thing about any trip is watching you go all nuts about getting on a plane.”
“I could just do what I did the last time and basically teleport myself wherever I want to go,” I suggested.
“You will do nothing of the sort. Until we find a sorcerer or sorceress we can trust to help train you, or you somehow figure out what’s going on from your memories, you’re only allowed very limited use,” Nate scolded me.
“I know. I’m the one who feels the headaches, and believe me, I’ll try to avoid them at all costs.” After the last big magic trick left me feeling dazed and confused, I’d only preformed minor miracles as I worked to see where the limit was.
“Good. I know the spells may give us a nice advantage in a fight, but if it weakens your ability to fight hand-to-hand, it isn’t worth it,” he added.
“So how much time do we have to pack before we take off?” Rick asked.
“We won’t be leaving until tomorrow. Miranda, would you mind staying behind with the dogs? I don’t think we’ll be gone more than a couple of days,” Nate said.
He’d moved into the room and had wrapped an arm around me. It was rare for us to be in a room together without touching. I didn’t like to admit I liked the touch as much as he did.
Miranda wasn’t really a fighter, so I liked the idea. Our other option was to call my parents, but I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. I had gotten over the fact that they lived within a few hours driving distance, but I still tried to stay as far away as I could from my mother.
“Sure. I have some reading I want to finish up, and then I want to start following Avery’s suggested workout routine, so I won’t be as much of a burden on future cases,” she replied.
“I know of a small wolf pack in the area. I think I’ll give them a call and see if they’ve heard anything,” Joseph said, taking out his phone. He walked away to make his call.
“So you guys ready to take your new toys on the road?” I asked the berserker brothers.
Since we were a motorcycle riding family, as soon as we’d returned from Alaska, we made sure the new arrivals all went out and got something decent to ride. The blonde bombers, as I started calling them, both got new Softail Deluxes. Liam’s was red, while Kyle’s was black. They were still deciding on the custom paint schemes they wanted on them.
Miranda ended up getting a Sportster SuperLow, because she was just learning to ride. With how small she was, we thought anything bigger might be too much bike for her. Her bike was also black, waiting on a new paint job. Joseph’s bike was a Softail Blackline in flat black. It was actually a really sharp bike and it sounded like he wanted to keep the color, but maybe add some wolfy bits here and there.
“Of course we are,” Liam answered the question. “The little short rides we’ve been on are nowhere near satisfactory. We should have enough miles from those short rides to consider the engines broken in, though.”
“That isn’t good,” Joseph said, coming back to our circle.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Joseph didn’t get worried unless someone was dying, at least that’s what I’d witnessed.
“There was no answer,” he replied. His words didn’t match his furrowed brow.
“Maybe whoever you called was in an important meeting or going to the bathroom,” I suggested.
“Doesn’t matter. If the wolf king calls, you drop everything to pick up that phone,” he said. “And everyone has my number on speed dial, so there’s no chance someone was just screening calls and didn’t know it was me. I even have my own ringtone.”
“Do I want to know what it is?” I asked.
“Leader of the Pack, of course,” he answered, shrugging his shoulders.
I laughed. “That’s really good actually. I’ll have to set it for you on my phone too. I’ve never really played around with ringtones, but it sounds like it might be fun picking one out for all of you. I have the perfect one for Miranda already, Jimi Hendrix’s Foxy Lady.”
I saw a lot of heads nodding in agreement. “I might just have to use that one for her, too,” Joseph said. He and Miranda had been spending a lot of time together, and I thought it was just a matter of time before they announced they were boyfriend and girlfriend. It was kind of
cute to watch the relationship develop, especially since it hadn’t been that long since Miranda was almost pronounced dead.
“So, back to the issue of the wolves not answering, any legitimate causes you can think of?” I asked. I’d studied up a little on the general kinds of uniques out there, but I hadn’t got into the books that explained how different species operated.
“No, someone has to be preventing them from taking my call. They’re a group of ten, so it’d take a lot for all of them to be incapacitated,” he replied. The look of worry I’d noticed was quickly changing to anger.
“You don’t think they’re doing the no shifting, remove the heart trick on them, do you?” I inquired. I’d assumed the warlocks had change tactics after we learned what they were up to, but the “master’s” original plan had been evil enough that they could still be trying it out in different cities.
“God I hope not. Let’s just hope the other oddities that are going on up there have somehow affected them,” he responded.
“Since we aren’t leaving until tomorrow, what do you want to do with the rest of the night?” Liam asked.
“You mean you don’t need all that extra time to pack?” I asked jokingly. I knew the only reason we were waiting was because we wanted to see things by the light of day, and the sun was quickly setting.
“Sometimes you’re just so funny, little girl,” Liam responded. It was hard to get mad at a giant for calling me little, but I usually managed it. “You’re the female going on the trip, are you sure you don’t need the extra time to pack all your shoes?”
“All five pairs? You know it would take me hours just to find them all,” I said with a dramatic sigh.
“With a group of ten wolves M.I.A., are there any concerns of them going rogue?” Rick asked, directing the conversation to more serious matters.
“Outside of books and movies, I’ve never heard of any group of uniques going rogue,” Nate said.
“They’d be picking a very odd time to be attempting it,” Joseph responded. “I’d say not one of my wolves would ever contemplate such anything, but I’d also say that about not answering the phone when I call for them. Wolves are probably the group of uniques who have the most trouble with authority and following the rules, so you never really know. I know no one has ever disrespected me in such a way.”
“Do you think the six of us will be enough to battle whatever is creating magical havoc in the town, plus a group of potentially hostile wolf shifters?” Nate asked.
“Our group is made up of well-trained warriors. Even Miss Bossypants could put most of the uniques I’ve met to shame, and I’d say that without knowing who she really is,” Joseph said, indicating me with a little smile. It wasn’t like anyone needed him to point me out. “I don’t think ten wolves will be a problem for us, but I could ask Sean and Trey to come along for some added backup. They’re the two best-trained among the local wolves.”
“I don’t see how it could hurt anything. If they don’t have their own bikes, they could either borrow a couple from our garage or they could drive a breakdown truck,” Nate replied.
“I’ll give them a call and ask what they prefer,” Joseph said, taking out his phone again.
It was a little surprising that Trey and Sean weren’t there. They and a female wolf named Elisa had practically moved in. Because of that, we were in the process of turning the basement into kind of a dormitory. Since it was a huge amount of space, and we had no need for the massive wine cellar, we had plans drawn up for an extra ten bedrooms. Each set of two rooms was connected by a bathroom.
When the training started up, it would be nice for my exhausted students to have a place to crash. With the beatings I was planning on putting them through, I didn’t think they’d be able to make it to their homes without falling asleep.
“They’ll be ready first thing in the morning,” Joseph told us, coming back to the group. “I liked the idea of them driving a breakdown vehicle, so I didn’t give them an option to ride.”
“Meanie,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him. “How about I make us up a quick supper, and then we can hang around and have a movie night. It will give us a chance to unwind and get to bed early, so we can leave first thing.”
“Dollface, you always have the best ideas,” Kyle said.
“You’re just saying that because, like your brother, any mention of food is a great idea to you,” I replied, heading off to the kitchen. It was easy to bend the berserkers to do my bidding, and I liked that.
“How, after only a couple of weeks, do you have us figured out so well,” Liam asked.
“It’s not hard when your subjects only have a one track mind,” I retorted.
“Avery, wait up,” Miranda said, running after me. “I want to help you with dinner.”
With all the additions to the family, I rarely ever found myself alone in the kitchen. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it had made for some very interesting food fights. I was sure one day I’d want to be alone again, but until that day happened, I was going to enjoy sharing my love of cooking with the others.