Cody's POV

The rest of the drive is peaceful and lovely, my nerves calm and centered for the first time in years.

Uncertainty and insecurities are no longer constantly tearing me apart from the inside out, the warm spark pulsing slightly on my neck a testament to everything. Everything I've ever wanted and never dared to dream of.

The belonging and unconditional love of someone who truly understands me.

There's nothing better.

I'm happy, and granted a bit sleepy, by the time James pulls us up in front of the pack house. It's almost four in the afternoon, but surprisingly the front of the House is empty. I step out of the car, grabbing my bag from the back seat and waiting for James to round the car before walking towards the entrance.

Grateful I don't have to deal with a swarm of overbearing wolves like when I left, I try not to question the almost eerie silence but there's no mistaken the faint smell of blood that's lingering in the air. And from the stiffness of James' jaw I can tell he smells it too.

'Maybe one of the wolves gave birth.' Jessie offers, though even he doesn't sound convinced.

As if determined to relax and watch a movie as planned, James doesn't say a thing, just opened the door to the Pack House and ushers me in. And again, the main flood of the House is silent, not even a young wolf scavenging in the kitchen. Still, James presses on. I think about telling him that it's okay if he wants to check in with his team, but I realize that maybe he wasn't quite ready to get back to reality yet.

So I follow him up the stairs towards my room.

When we get to the third floor though, the eerie feeling that had sent chills down my neck now lands like a weight in my stomach. Because the door that I was so careful to lock when we left, is now left slightly ajar, one of the hinges broken allowing light to kiss the hallway.

When James sees what made me pause, he's quick to step around me and rush towards the door, swinging it open to reveal whatever horrid lay beyond the door. My hands are shaking so bad, In fear I might drop my bag full of leftover cake from the diner we tried this weekend. I take the few agonizing steps before turning towards my room, my throat closing up, stopping the screams of grief that claw up my throat from releasing.

Because it's all gone.

My room has been gutted, every pillow shredded, every book from the shelf too, several with spines broken or pages missing. My swing has been cut down and torn apart, my clothes in random piles around my room. From here I can see the bathroom is the same, and the reality of what happened comes crashing down on me at once.

Before I can think, I'm forcing myself into the room, going straight for the desk that sits in a corner. All the drawers have been emptied, but I get into my knees, and fumble for the release on the side of the seemingly smooth wood until I find it. The latch pops open and right there are the box full of things that I kept from my parents house, and the folder with all their information. I crush the items to my chest, sobbing as I thank Celeste that they're still here. One of my hands goes into my hair, pulling at it roughly, rage and sorrow and violation tearing through me as I cry. I can hear James trying to talk to me, but I can barely make out his words.

Eventually I feel large strong arms circle me, lifting me from the ground and placing me on a bed I hardly even recognize.

"Hey, bean. Look at me." I manage to make out, and with teary eyes I lift my head, my scalp stinging harshly from me pulling it, my hands safely in James' stopping me from hitting myself or the walls or everything, emotions tearing me apart from the inside out, the one safe haven I had, gone. "I know this is hard right now, and I'm sorry you have to deal with it at all, but this concerns you, and I need you. Can you let Jessie have control, please? Let us handle this so you can calm down, baby." James tells me and I nod more than happy to pull away into the soothing darkness away from the horror that James is sickeningly calling reality.

I barely hear his 'I love you.' before I'm gone, lost in the bliss of darkness.

✨✨✨

Jessie's POV

When I open my eyes, I find James in front of me, worry and fear drowning him entirely. When he sees it's me, his shoulders slump, the weight of them finally becoming too much to bear.

I look around at the only room and home Cody has known for the past six years, basically alone except for these four walls. And now it's all gone. It doesn't hurt me the way it does him, mostly because I've barely spent any time here, myself, but the rage that fills me is completely my own. How dare someone come into our home, our room and violate us so profoundly and brashly. The room of the next Luna to the Autumn Falls Pack.

How the hell does that get by anyone?

"I already contacted Alex. I didn't tell him anything, but from the way he sounded, this might only be a piece of the puzzle." James tells me as I get up and kiss his forehead, a part of me sad our vacation got cut so abruptly. "Celeste, I'm so dumb. Why couldn't I just accept that something was happening. We could have been prepared for this." He says, beating himself up, his head in his hands starting to pace, but I stop him with hands on his face and the most sincere words I can muster.

"Jamie, there was nothing you could have done. No one in their right mind would have allocated sources to getting ready for a threat that's more myth than history nowadays. But there's definitely something happening and beating ourselves up isn't going to clue us in." I remind him softly, kissing his cheek softly. He closes his eyes and takes a shuddering breathe, pulling his shoulder back and managing a mostly convincing smile.

"You're right. We won't find answers here. Let's go see what's going on. Apparently we've moved up to Conference room level." James tells me, attempting at a joke.

Even still, it's astonishing to see how far James and his handpicked members have come since meeting them. From secret forbidden meetings in Zee's office to now having an official meeting space which was once reserved for the very man that terrorized James. Not a bad turn of events in the slightest. Pride for my sweet Alpha fills my chest, but I make myself focus as we descend down the stairs and arrive at Conference Room 1.

James opens the door, and inside we find two chairs at the head of the table, Alex sitting on the right of the table and Zee on the left. The three Commanders and Charlotte take up some of the empty seats around the table.

I notice that the Head Warriors still isn't in attendance and I remind myself to ask James about that.

Alex is the first to look up, and from the bags around his eyes, matching ones from most of the team around the table, I can tell that whatever is going on, is a lot more than we bargained for.

The room is quiet and the air is tense as we take our seats. Alex only speaking once we're settled.

"Welcome back, James and Jessie. We have some news for you." He says tiredly, though it's Zee who finished the less than thrilling announcement.

"There was a murder right in front of the Pack House last night." She says, and the air is pushed out of my lungs, James going as white as a Vamp. "And that's not all. There was a message written in blood. 'Surrender the key or pay the price. Revenge will be had.'" She tells me.

"Celeste! What the fuck is with this revenge bullshit. And what key?" James explodes, but I can tell it's more out of nerves and uncertainty than anger. "Is this why your room was trashed?"

Right now I think we're all a little on edge.

All eyes turn towards me, confusion in their gaze, and I go to explain, my hand lower to settle softly on James' knee, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "We just got back to the pack no more than ten minutes ago. When we got to the third floor, my room was trashed and destroyed like someone was looking for something. Only mine." But before I can even finish explaining, Zee is shaking her head.

"Oh, no, not just you Jessie. My office was trashed, so was the Beta and Alpha offices. The only reason the Elder's didn't get ransacked is because of the spell that was casted a few decades ago. Even Alex's house was trashed." She tells us and I'm left speechless.

"What key are they looking for?" I ask, completely lost, and this time it's Timari that answers.

"We kept circling back to that since we found the scene. At first we weren't sure but then.... I'm sorry, Alpha, but we started to consider the Satan theory. What if the key that they're looking for is some sort of key that would unlock the Gates of Hell?" She says, admittedly a little timidly, but I get her hesitation. James has been adamantly against any mention of the Devil Queen and the conspiracy that's been brought up more than once.

But this time he sighs. "As much as I would like to deny it, that seems like the plausible explanation. Question is, do such things even exist? I've never heard of any magical keys to Hell or any other realm for that matter. So why would we be targeted?" James asks and I have to admit he brings up a good point.

This time it's Titan who answers, the big man rarely choosing to speak, so I make sure to listen carefully. "Maybe whoever it is, knows more about what's going on than we do. Didn't the prophecy mention keys?" Titan says, but the way he doesn't brings another unsettling point towards the situation.

"But how would they know the prophecy. Unless you're saying whoever is acting on Satan's behalf is someone's we've trust with its knowledge." I inquire, and sadly, there's no answer given leaving the doubts and worries alive the conspiracy growing out of control.

Though at this point, it feels like all we can do is speculate.

"Okay right now this isn't getting us anywhere. I need the details of what happened last night. Who was the victim?" James asks, rubbing his temples lightly as Timari goes to answer.

"There were two actually. A couple. Miranda and Dillan O'neil. They were able to get jobs in the capital so sometimes they would work late. Their son, Carson, stays here during the week after school until they come home. Now he's living with his grandmother but from what I've been told, he'll be living in the Home soon enough." She answers, and I remind myself that she grew up there as well having lost her parents to some rouges.

"Were there any witnesses? Do we know how they died?" I ask, hoping for any bit of information that might help.

"None. It looks like something with claws tore them to shreds. But the amount of blood that was there didn't add up. We aren't even sure if the murders happened here or if it happened somewhere else and the bodies were dropped off. And if it's a Daemon they could have popped in and out of the shadows with no one the wiser. It's impossible to know what happened." Johnathan explains and I can tell that admitting that is something he does not enjoy.

"Alright. Than that settles it, the first thing we need to do is call in all of our contacts and have them meet me at the White Cabin. Just the Leaders. I don't want to draw too much unwanted attention to us so it's better the less people that come, so I want you guys to stay here. Charlotte I want you to head to Revelia and see if there's anything that you can find out there. Maybe the Witch we saw isn't the only one causing problems. Timari and Johnathan I want you to go to Roma and see what the Vamps are saying. And everyone stay away from Vilin and Ameden. I don't want either the Hybrids or the Enchanted to know what we're up to or what we are asking about. That's only inviting trouble." James tells them and they all agree. "While Zee contacts everyone, I want Jessie and I to know everything we need to before stepping into that meeting. Alex you're coming with us, but I want you to be at the door in case someone is coming since Charlotte won't be there, inside though since you could be spotted."

And with that we get to work learning about everything that happened while we were gone as Zee finally gets the word out to meet at the White Cabin in an hour.

When I find a second, I pull James to the side, a worry gnawing at me from within. "What if it's not just one person. What if there's an inside job? Because unless you've been somewhere before, you can't Shadow Jump somewhere." I remind him thankful that I've been doing some research into all the lore and history of Kaulike to be prepared.

I can tell that the question disturbs him but I find myself mulling over the idea as we get ready to leave and head towards the White Cabin in the woods.

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Oooooooh things are getting intense! Who do you guys think did it? What do you think is going on? Do you think something has happened in the other regions? Stay tuned to find out.

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QOTD: Which Species would you want to be in this world?