Spirit Wolves - 16. Chapter 16

It was the quietness of the predawn hour that woke Kellan. Sometimes the absence of sound made the loudest noise in one’s mind. As his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he slowly became aware of the soft puffs of air that came from Hunter as he slept. The room held a certain chilliness that could never be quite banished from the ancient stone walls, no matter how much updating the structure went through. It didn’t bother Kellan in the slightest, his wolf’s higher metabolism helped to keep him warm and combined with the comforting heat coming from his mate, it was enough.

His mate. Kellan still couldn’t believe that the handsome man lying beside him was his. Forever. After the initial shock of discovering his mate wasn’t female, amusement had settled into him. He had always pictured himself with a beautiful woman, several pups and living next door to Reilly. In the rare moments that they weren’t on the move and living day to day, it had been the dream that his brain had fixated on for a long time. The day Hunter entered his life was the day that his dream changed, and became a reality that he now knew he couldn’t live without.

The first couple of days had been awkward, to say the least. Neither of them knew what they were supposed to do. How the hell does one decide if they’re going to top or bottom when Fate all of a sudden decides that your mate is the same gender? In the end it didn’t matter. They did rock-paper-scissors to settle the top/bottom issue and Kellan had told Reilly the truth when he said it was the best sex he had ever had. Hunter had agreed wholeheartedly when it was time to switch things up. Ever since then they hadn’t had any problems, both of them thoroughly enjoying the whole ‘getting to know you’ phase. His wolf had certainly never been happier, not even when the whole family had been reunited.

The darkness slowly gave way to pale, silvery light making its way through the narrow windows as dawn approached. Kellan shifted closer to Hunter, his wolf needing to be as close as possible. The lingering anxiety clinging to all of them compelled their wolves to become extra protective, not only of their mate, but the others in their little group, who were now all considered pack-mates.

Hunter turned toward Kellan in his sleep, his nose inhaling deeply as the scent of his mate pressed up against him. Kellan smiled at the soft, contented noise that came from him. His arms immediately pulled Hunter closer and the man snuggled in, rubbing his face along his neck. It only took a moment before beautiful green eyes were staring into his own.

“Good morning,” Kellan said, kissing Hunter’s head.

“Mmmmm, it’s good so far. I’ll never get tired of waking up to you,” he replied, his voice raspy with the remnants of sleep.

Kellan responded by tilting Hunter’s chin so he could kiss him properly. His dick started chubbing up, like it did every morning. Hunter’s mirrored the action. Even though it had been rather late when they returned to the castle last night, they had still spent a couple of hours exploring each other and had fallen asleep happily sated.

It seemed like they were both ready for more. Hunter broke the kiss in order to slide his body down the firm planes of muscle that made up his mate’s torso. Kellan saw, felt, and heard him inhale deeply when he arrived at the trimmed patch of hair highlighting his groin. That was all it took for his cock to stand at full mast.

Hunter wasted no time engulfing it in his mouth. Kellan let himself enjoy the pleasant sensations that shot through his system, but he wanted something else. His ass was deliciously sore from Hunter last night, and this morning he needed to return the favor. He pulled Hunter off and chuckled when his mate grunted his displeasure at the interruption.

“Hush. Come up here and turn over. I need to be inside of you.” Another chuckle as Hunter’s grunt of disappointment turned into a groan of desire.

Kellan reached for the lube that had been tossed onto the bedside table the night before. He took his time stretching Kellan’s hole. They were still pretty new to all of this and had quickly figured out that generous amounts of lube made things a lot easier and less painful.

Time always seemed to fall into another dimension when they were making love. Hours seemed like minutes and minutes were either mere seconds, or an endless eternity. But, no matter how long the anticipation built, sliding into Hunter’s body was like coming home. Home, sweet home. Kellan stilled as he bottomed out, Hunter’s inner muscles gripping him tight. So different than anything he had ever experienced, and so much better. In that moment Kellan knew he loved Hunter, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“I love you Hunter.”

“Yeah?” Hunter’s head swiveled around, eyes wide, a shit eating grin spreading across his face.

“Sweet Hell yeah!” Kellan laughed.

“I love you too.”

Those words filled Kellan’s heart to the brim, making him feel whole. He pulled Hunter up to his knees and braced his hands on those sexy hips. Hunter pushed his ass back, giving Kellan just one more fraction of an inch. Slowly he started to flex his hips back and forth, determined to show Hunter just how much he was loved. The old bed frame creaked in rhythm to his gentle thrusts, gradually building up to a steady rocking, gently tapping the wall. The cadence of the headboard increased until it was a steady banging, wham!wham!wham!

Hunter hollered out as he came, shooting onto the tangled sheets beneath them. The tightness clamping down on Kellan’s cock pushed him into the abyss as well, flooding Hunter with his seed.

They collapsed into a heap of melted bones and gooey muscles, just barely avoiding landing in the wet spot. The first rays of sunlight burst in through the narrow window, illuminating the panting pair in an ethereal glow. Both wolves stretched inside their minds, reaching for the golden warmth.

Once again the passage of time became muddled, until finally, recovered enough to move, Kellan kissed his mate before sliding off of the bed to stand up. Not being able to help himself, he reached over and smacked Hunter’s ass with a resounding thwack!

“Hey!! Whatchit! What’d you do that for?”

Kellan snickered at the indignant look on his mate’s face. “Because if I’d tried to bite it like I wanted to, I would’ve broken a damn tooth. Do you not realize your ass is a sculpted tribute to Michaelangelo and his prized statue David?

A satisfied smirk replaced the look of indignation. “Well duh!”

Hunter jumped off the bed and managed to get a quick ‘pop’ of his own onto Kellan’s equally fine ass before sauntering his chiseled butt into the bathroom to turn on the water in the shower to warm up. One of the unique things about castles was the fact that modern rooms were created from space that originally served a much different purpose. Their current bathroom was originally a dressing chamber adjacent to the bedroom, essentially, a giant closet. Because of this, the room was huge, large enough to separate the commode and sink area. There was a large, claw foot tub in addition to a surprisingly updated shower which could easily accommodate two large shifters.

It wasn’t long before steam billowed up behind the frosted glass doors enclosing the large stall. Two showerheads, one on each side, jetted out a steady stream of hot water. Kellan stepped in and adjusted one of the faucets to just less than scalding. Hunter followed suit.

“No funny business. We have to meet the others in forty-five minutes,” Kellan said.

“If either of us can get it up in the next ten minutes it would be a freaking miracle,” Hunter shot back as he grabbed the body wash.

Seconds later the scent of amber driftwood soapiness permeated the steamy air around them as they lathered each other up. A few stolen kisses and a couple of quick head massages later, they rinsed off and shut off both showerheads. Hunter handed Kellan a towel and wrapped his own around his trim waist.

They both hurried once they were back in the bedroom, the air was at least fifteen degrees cooler than the bathroom and they pulled on jeans and sweatshirts quickly. After taking turns drying their hair they were ready to go with a few minutes to spare. Kellan took advantage of the time to kiss his mate soundly.

Sebastian and Reilly were just coming out of their room and a quick rap on the door across the hall brought Zev and Ben out too.

“You boys ready for this shit show today?” Sebastian asked, handing two rolling luggage carriers, each with two totes stacked on it, over to Hunter and Kellan for safekeeping.

“Bring it on Alpha, bring it on!” Zev joked, lightning the mood.

The six men turned and made their way down the castle hallway. After a couple of turns they merged into a much wider, well traveled hallway. They automatically spread out, six abreast, with Sebastian and Reilly half a step ahead of the others. Hunter and Kellan flanking them on the right, Zev and Ben on the left. To anyone facing them, they would have struck an imposing sight, similar to the scene from the movie The Right Stuff. As they approached the dining room the lesser ranked shifters quickly moved over to make way.

Kellan knew that Sebastian wanted to intimidate, and seeing the reactions of the staff, he knew they nailed it.

The dining room was the old banquet hall, an enormous fireplace spanning the north wall. It had been converted over to gas fuelled and the flames had been adjusted to provide a nice warmth, not too hot unless you were up close. Tables of various sizes, seating anywhere from four to ten were spread out across the large room. The windows lining the east side of the room were narrow, just like the rest of the castle. Apparently castle windows were intentionally narrow, as back in the day it made shooting arrows into the interior much harder.

Breakfast was buffet style, several long tables along the west wall laden with an assortment of breads, meats and cheeses. Much to Kellan’s surprise, there was also an omelet station where two chefs were preparing made-to-order creations.

All heads turned when they entered the room and conversations stuttered to a halt. Council members Diana Zimmerman and Simon Jones made their way across the room.

“Gentlemen, good morning,” Diana greeted them cordially. “I do hope you enjoyed your sightseeing excursions. Please help yourselves to breakfast. The other Council members should be here shortly. Simon and I would be honored if you would join us at our table.”

“I do say, our company will probably be better than those who just walked in,” Simon added, nodding his head toward the entrance.

Gazing back at the door they saw Alberts and Belland enter the room. Both wore a look of disdain upon seeing that their guests had already arrived.

Sebastian’s eyes locked with Alberts. Reluctantly, Alberts broke the contact a nanosecond before it could be considered a challenge.

“We’d love to join you,” Sebastian replied before turning to lead the small group toward the food that had begun to call out to their stomachs. Shifters had hearty appetites, and soon they had all loaded a couple of plates each with a variety of breakfast items.

Before long the rest of the council members arrived and after getting their food, took seats at the table next to theirs. Roberto Mata had three full plates of food, one of which was piled high with sausages and smoked meats. Another plate was heaped with fruit and the third had a rather large omelet filled with just about everything that was offered. If there was one species that could out-eat a wolf, it was a bear.

Zev let out a low whistle. “Impressive.”

Roberto chuckled as he tucked into his food.

“Robbie always pads himself at the start of winter, even though he doesn’t hibernate,” Nat Chusi, who was sitting next to him, teased as she swiped a chunk of pineapple off of his fruit plate.

“Nothing wrong with an extra layer of floof,” said Pieter Schultz, barely hiding a grin as he sat down on the other side of Roberto.

Roberto swallowed his food and let out a short, low growl. “I’m not floofy!”

Five sets of eyes shifted to Ben, who mouthed, “He’s floofy.”

That of course set off a round of laughter, which the rest of the council members caught until finally Roberto conceded, “Fine, I’m floofy! I’m a damn bear, what do you want?” He rolled his eyes and joined in the laughter.

The human side of Roberto clearly reflected his bear within. He was tall, nearly six and a half feet, and broad. Copious amounts of long, brown hair covered his head and he had a full beard as well. Tufts of fine hair peeked out from the collar of his shirt. There was no six-pack hiding beneath the long-sleeved Henley, but rather an extra layer of padding. In a way he reminded them of the Brawny paper towel guy, only without the flannel, lumberjack vibe. He exuded more of an NFL linebacker mojo.

The group’s laughter earned them a dirty look from Alberts and Belland. They had a small group of six other shifters that shared their table and by the looks on their faces, they also shared the same views of the newcomers as their tablemates.

Diana asked Sebastian if it was still alright to go ahead with the banquet they had originally planned for the following evening.

“There are a lot of shifters here who really want to meet you. An Alpha-Kappa pair is so rare. I don’t think anyone ever thought it would occur in this generation,” she said.

Kellan hoped they wouldn’t have to, but when he saw Sebastian nod, he knew they would be dining with the masses. He also knew that he and Hunter would need to be extra vigilant. Sebastian and Reilly’s new status came with extra responsibilities and they would be exposed to more potential threats.

“As long as my mate is willing, then yes, the banquet can still be held,” Sebastian acquiesced.

Reilly smiled a fake smile and agreed. “We’d love it.”

Nat and Robbie both laughed.

“No, you really don’t, but you’re a trooper for putting up with it. If it eases your mind, most of the shifters who work for the Council, especially those who live here, are nice. Only Alberts, Belland and a select few of their lackeys are assholes,” Nat replied.

A few of them snorted at her honesty.

Breakfast seemed to fly by, and all too soon the group was heading toward another room which they hadn’t yet seen. The room looked as if it had been some sort of common area at one time, an old-fashioned living room, but castle style. It was one of the few rooms where the stone floors had been covered with wood planks. The wood had been well cared for throughout the years and although worn in places from years of walking the same pattern in and out the door, the finish gleamed with a coating of modern sealer.

One end of the room housed a small library with six tall bookcases and a comfortable sitting area. In addition to the upgraded wood floors, the windows in the room had been enlarged and overlooked a small lake at the back side of the property.

The rest of the room held three long tables, two of which were stacked with boxes of files and piles of paper. It looked as if the Council had taken Sebastian seriously and gotten him the information he had requested. Damn, but there was a lot of it.

Alberts swept his arm out toward the material. “As you can see, the information you requested.”

“Not all of it. I’m still waiting for the information to access the electronic records. It should have been emailed to me already,” Sebastian stated firmly.

“I’ll have my secretary send it over,” Alberts replied curtly. “Is there anything else you require?”

“No,” Sebastian’s answer was direct and effectively a dismissal of the Council members.

He looked at Nat. “If we need anything else, we’ll let you know.”

“Certainly, here’s my number. If you want lunch sent in here, call me and I’ll arrange for it,” she handed him a slip of paper with her information.

Once they were alone, Kellan looked at the stack and said, “Well, shit.”

“I second that,” Sebastian replied. “Let’s get started.”

Kellan and Hunter unpacked the totes that they had brought along which contained four high-tech scanners, four secure laptops and the miscellaneous cords and other paraphernalia that seemed to come with all electronic gadgets. Hunter and Sebastian quickly got to work setting them up on the empty table. Reilly, Kellan, Zev and Ben started to sort the boxes of information.

It would take them more time than they had to go through everything, so instead, they were going to scan every page and send it back electronically to Montana so Caleb and Jack could try to make heads or tails out of it. With all of Sebastian’s pack now in Montana, including the three that had been in New Zealand finishing up that job, there were plenty of hands and eyes that knew what to look for.

The biggest hurdle was getting the stuff scanned as quickly and securely as possible. Sebastian booted up his laptop and set about making sure the wi-fi connection couldn’t be accessed by anyone else. Being a security expert came in handy. He then got each of the laptops connected to a scanner.

It took a while to sort through the boxes of information that had been left for them. They managed to group everything according to the council member it referred to, or by the specific business interest it belonged to. Most of the files were pretty well organized and labeled. A few however seemed to have been thrown together haphazardly. They didn’t need to guess who had provided those.

Kellan fed paper into the scanners with the help of Sebastian and Hunter, while Reilly, Zev and Ben continued to sort through the remaining boxes.

Reilly pushed away one of the boxes with a huff. “I don’t see much in the way of bank statements in any of these boxes.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. Those should be electronic anyway. I’m positive Alberts wouldn’t have included anything remotely related to what we’re looking for. He finally sent me the login and passwords we needed. I sent it over to a friend to work on. She’s also a genius when it comes to hacking. Belland must have hidden accounts and hopefully she can find a link,” Sebastian said.

Kellan kept the group working at a steady pace for the next few hours, the scanners going non-stop until they took a short break for some sandwiches mid-afternoon.

“Any chance we can be out of here soon?” Kellan asked. His wolf was getting tired of healing paper cuts and was getting cranky.

“The faster you scan, the faster we can be on the plane headed home,” Sebastian retorted with a chuckle, before resuming where they’d left off.

Sebastian called a halt to the scanning around six pm. They had made a considerable dent in the stacks of papers, only a few piles remained. Zev and Ben had meticulously cataloged the information as it was processed. All of the scanned material was repacked neatly and would be under lock and key until it was on the plane with them heading home.

Kellan didn’t envy Sebastian and his newfound status. As the highest ranking shifter, his life would be taking a much different turn from what he had probably envisioned. So many decisions would need to be made, it would’ve made Kellan’s head spin.

They had about a half an hour before they were expected in the dining room for dinner. As Zev and Ben packed up the last of the scanned materials and secured it against tampering, Sebastian reminded everyone to be extra alert to the conversations around them during dinner. One never knew what they might accidentally overhear.

By the time they had everything put away and brought the laptops and scanners back to Sebastian and Reilly’s room to be locked up, it was just past dinner time. It looked as if they were going to be fashionably late. As was becoming the norm whenever they entered a room, heads turned and conversation dimmed.

Alberts was once again sitting at the head of the long banquet table and greeted them with an expression just one tic shy of outright sneering. “Please have a seat, they are waiting to start serving Alpha McTire.” The mocking emphasis on Sebastian’s title did not go unnoticed. Kellan stilled as he waited to see what happened next.

Sebastian’s eyes were piercing as they merely swept across the room before he sat at the opposite end of the table. He knew Sebastian didn’t bother responding, knowing it would most likely piss Alberts off. Dinner turned out to be a rather tense, awkward affair, those stuck in the middle of the table at a loss as to exactly who to talk to.

By dessert, things at Kellan’s end of the table had eased somewhat. Most of the council members that they had shared breakfast with were at that end, and polite conversation centered around neutral subjects. Nat Chusi was the most outgoing, she willingly answered questions about her background growing up in the Amazon basin. She still called it home, and only came to Europe when needed for official High Council business.

When dinner was over, Kellan watched as Sebastian and Reilly got pulled into the general mingling of the council and some of the regular staff that worked there year-round. Zev and Ben quietly retreated to a quiet corner to observe.

Hunter led Kellan over to the side of the room opposite from where most of the others were so they could keep an eye on the whole room. It wasn’t long before they saw Alberts and Belland leave the dining hall, looks of annoyance crossing both of their faces.

Kellan smiled at Hunter. “Guess they’re not very happy.”

“They wouldn’t know happiness if it jumped up and bit them on the ass,” Hunter joked.

“I wouldn’t mind you biting me on the ass,” Kellan teased, quirking one eyebrow.

“Mmmmhmmm, maybe later.”

Before Kellan could reply they both heard a sharp ‘bang’, as if someone had slammed their hand down on a table. The sound of distant voices was coming from somewhere close.

“Shhhh,” Hunter said, looking around for the source.

Kellan backed away from the wall he had been leaning against and moved the tapestry hanging there to the side. A grate covering an old vent from an outdated heating system was concealed by the wall hanging. Using their wolves to focus their hearing they both leaned closer to the vents.

“For fuck’s sake Oswald, we need to get rid of these mangy mutts.”

“And just how do you propose we do that? They’ll be missed and any ‘accidents’ will be considered suspicious and you know it.”

It was Alberts and Belland, somewhere else in the castle. The old vents, coupled with the thick stone walls created the perfect acoustics for sound to carry. Kellan and Hunter both became very still and quiet, barely daring to breathe, wanting to take advantage of this opportunity to eavesdrop that had fallen into their lap.

Alberts sounded pissed.

“That asshole McTire should be shot. He’s up to something, and it’s not taking his place as a ranked Alpha. We need to move the operation, and soon. Find out if Nichols has secured the new facility. I have several more acquisitions in the works and we need to secure those pups as soon as possible. Powell has a new formula he wants to try out. Dammit! I hate shifting everything to the US, but we’ve seen this coming. Europe has too many individual governments and the packs here are too well established to try to hide things much longer. The only option would be Russia, and I’ll be damned if I let any of those Siberian dogs claim a piece of my empire that I’ve built.”

“The US won’t be so bad. Plenty of wide open spaces and stupid humans. Plus most packs are spread out and the communication between them is, mmmm, lacking.”

“The whole fucking country is lacking if you ask me.”

The voices drifted off and became indiscernible. Kellan and Hunter looked at each other and Hunter spoke first, after pulling Kellan away from the vent.

“Let’s go extract Sebastian and Reilly from the bullshit session they’re caught up in.”

They managed to school their expressions as they made their way back across the room. Kellan caught Ben’s eye and motioned for him and Zev to join them.

“Excuse me, Alpha, I had a message from Donovan. He would like you to call him as soon as you can,” Hunter lied, really hoping the others in the little group didn’t catch on.

Sebastian excused them, and once in the hallway asked, “What’s up?”

“Let’s find somewhere outside the walls to talk,” Hunter suggested.

They detoured from their route which would have led back to their rooms. Instead, Sebastian led them out a side door which opened onto a patio and walkway that led to a large garden far enough away to ensure they would not be overheard. The garden was probably beautiful in the summer when in full bloom, but right now all the plant life was dormant, which meant they had a clear line of sight all around them.

Sebastian took out his phone as if he was making a call in case someone was looking out a window.

“Okay, what happened?”

Hunter explained what he and Kellan had overheard. It was enough to confirm that Alberts and Belland were most likely the ringleaders and it was enough proof of Peter Nichols’ involvement.

Sebastian swore. “Shit. Well, it’s really not surprising. I guess now we need to get back home and figure out the best way to get someone inside that pack, or at least into the territory. Kellan, please call your dad and see what he knows about this Powell character. I’m thinking he might be one of the newer pack members with a science background if he’s fooling around with formulas. I’ll call Donovan and get on a call with him and Caleb. Hopefully our shapeshifter is ready to go. Donovan can book a flight for him. I have an idea, but I want everyone together to discuss it. It’ll be too suspicious if we pack up and leave right now, so I suggest we get up early, finish scanning, let them do their little banquet tomorrow night and then we can leave first thing Friday morning.”

Kellan and Reilly rolled their eyes in tandem.

“Just what I was looking forward to, a formal dinner party with a bunch of shifters we don’t know. Go ahead and throw me in a vat of melted silver now,” Hunter said sarcastically.

Zev and Ben wore resigned expressions that reflected the fact that they thought they were just handed a fate worse than death.

“Oh come on! It’s not that bad! If I have to play nice in the sandbox, so do all of you. If you prefer, consider it a command from your Alpha,” Sebastian decreed.

Kellan and the other four shifters harrumphed in unison before heading back to the castle to turn in for the night. The next thirty-six hours or so were going to be balls to the walls busy and they wouldn’t get to rest again until they were on the plane heading west.