James' POV

We're the first ones to arrive at the Cabin and Jessie and I immediately take a seat side by side along the table, my leg bouncing beneath it.

Alex stands by the door, his senses thrown out into the surrounding woods, doing his best to detect any movements or arrivals.

"You okay?" I hear and I turn towards Jessie whose brows are furrowed in worry, but I smile, doing my best to reassure him, though I feel like I'm the one in need of it. "Stop that. I don't need you to tell me the situation will be okay, I need to know if you are okay so I can take care of you." He tells me with a pointed look, and my legs stops as I take a deep breath, wanting to kick myself for spiraling.

You're right. I'm scared. And anxious. And trying to figure out what the fuck this key thing is." I admit in one breath, anxiety clear in my voice, my legs back to bouncing in seconds.

"I'm scared too. And that's okay. If we weren't scared that would make us dumb and reckless. And we're not doing this alone." Jessie reminds me just as Alex straightens up.

"Winter Moon is approaching. Eta three minutes." He mutters lowly, still listening.

"I know. I know. I guess I was hoping for more of an adjustment period before anything crazy happening." I tell him but Jessie only laughed shaking his head.

"Yeah, welcome to life, Jamie." He tells me and I roll my eyes, but looking at his open smile and the dimple that appears when he laughs makes my own lips lift in amusement.

"You're an ass." I grumble but he only reaches over to offer me a kiss on my temple that melts away some of the anxiety that seems ready to pull me under.

"I'm your ass and that's what matters." He tells me with a grin just as Alex opens the door, seconds later, the Alpha and Beta of the Winter Moon pack enter the cabin, acknowledging Alex with a nod before heading towards Jessie and I who stand up to greet them. Alpha Lucas reached out a handshake, and his eyes zero in on the Mark nesting on my neck before flickering to the match one on Cody.

"Mated so soon. What luck Celeste has graced you." He says before heading towards his seat.

"Congratulations, James." Is all the Beta says though from his annoyed look at the back of his Alpha's head, his friend will get more than an earful.

"Limo coming from the northeast. Only one. Probably carpooled. Two minutes." Alex says shaking his head and I agree with the sentiment. The Royal Princess of Melamar going to pick up the younger brother of Lord Delwyn Wells isn't exactly lowkey.

But I keep my mouth shut, only rolling my eyes at Jessie. Sure enough, moments later, Taylor and Art comes through the door, Artemis laughing at something the Earth Faerie said. Both of their eyes light up and I watch as Taylor makes a beeline for Jessie the same time as Artemis rushes towards me with a huge grin.

"Oh my Celeste! You're glowing, James. Under all the worry, but still. Oh, look at that Mark! Are you happy?" She gushes, always one to be enthralled with Mating stories, the hopeless romantic in her stronger than she would care to admit.

"Very. Still trying to believe it's real." I admit with a smile that I can't hide, the joy the Mark I have brings me indescribable, and I don't try to, instead, shooing her to her seat, earning an annoyed glare and a slap on my hands.

'You know she's going to want all the tea. I don't know why you try to deny her.' Sloan snorts, and I only roll my eyes, knowing the the two of them can gossip for hours on end without missing a beat.

"Lord Azrin is here." Alex says before the Mind Faerie appears in front of the door before Alex gets the chance to open it, causing my Beta to jump to my amusement. "Celeste, Azrin how did you did that?"

"Easy, young wolf. I simply had to infiltrate your mind. Easy enough when you're so singularly focus. My offer still stands to help with some mind protection techniques." Lord Azrin tells Alex, and I shake my head in wonder, the Faerie always managing to teach something. I remind myself to take him up on that offer, especially since we don't know what we're up against.

He walks into the cabin and nears Jessie and I, grappling my shoulders proudly with a great smile. "I can see how happy you are, young James. And I am happy to see you this way. I pray Celeste grants you a long and loving Mating." He says with a slight bow of his head towards me and then Jessie which I graciously accept with a smile.

Everyone finally settles in their seat, though Alex stays posted at the door, straining his senses to pay attention to the conversation and stay alert.

I have to admit, it's a pain in the ass to not have Charlotte here, her Omega ability to camouflage with any background abundantly useful especially in look out situations. But after the attack last night it would be reckless to leave the pack undefended from its commanders and Alpha and Luna. And it will make the pack feel safer to see them walking around the pack.

So instead of focusing on the ideal situation, I turn towards those gathered around the table.

"Last night there was a murder of a Mated Wolf couple, their bodies slashed to pieces and their blood smeared into a message. 'Surrender the key or pay the price. Revenge will be had.' All of the important figures of the pack had their homes and belongings raided except the Elder Council whose home is protected by magic. The boldness of these crimes are escalating and this time there was a demand. We have our theories but I wanted to see if there was anything going on in your territory that has happened." I start, making eye contact with those around me, and it's Lord Azrin that answers.

"I encountered that Kalium Pond after Artemis was kind enough to fill me in on your impromptu meeting. It was at the castle after Tea. I shook his hand, claiming I realized I never introduced myself, but when I touched him, I couldn't get anything from him." He admits and I frown.

"What do you mean, like he doesn't have any thoughts?" Jessie asks, but Artemis shakes her head.

"No, and I had the same experience with Lord and Lady Mist. Unlike Lord Azrin, I don't need to touch someone to read their thoughts, only know their name and speak it aloud. It's not that they had no thoughts, it was that they were purposely preventing us from being able to access their thoughts at all. Which in Melamar is illegal. Since they're a Lord and Lady I would assume they thought they would be special privileges, but something about how Chelsea and Taylor keep describing their interaction with Kalium just doesn't seem right." She explains and I can tell that this has been bothering her.

"Is it possible that they could be involved with the shadows?" Jessie asks but Artemis shakes her head.

"I wish I could tell you for sure. To my knowledge every Lord and Lady of the Houses must be full blooded Faeries to even be approved. And if someone happens to be Knotted to someone that isn't a Faerie, then their position as Head of House is striped and given permanently to the Apprentice House that was serving you, and finds them their own that produces pure blooded heirs. It's a crude system that I intend to change but it's ensured that no Enchanted or Nightlies could every infiltrate the courts." She answers, and I agree that it seems to be as horrible as it sounds.

"Okay. While that's good information that's not the type of thing I'm looking for." I admit, deflated, but Alpha Lucas jumps in.

"Just like you, we had a murder and someone that went though all of our shit. The message was the same as yours. It was only one person dead though, a Nurse from our hospital. But ours seemed to have happened this morning before any of us woke up." Alpha Lucas says and it reminds me of something Jessie brought up, though it seems like he's already on it.

"So if this is a Daemon or Enchanted that
uses shadows that would mean that had been to the Winter Moon pack and had to walk. Which means you were right Jessie, the only way someone could have gotten those bodies to us is if they could have used Shadows to make them appear at the Pack House before having to walk from where ever their base is to Winter Moon." he admits, and there's no disagreement.

"So does that mean that there's a spy?" Alex asks from the door, the question that I keep wanting to avoid.

"Probably. But I don't think it's someone from our alliance. I think it would be easier to manipulate someone that's low on the ladder. Someone no one would notice." Alpha Lucas admits. "Clearly someone that knows the packs layout, when it's empty and they clearly don't care about what happens to who's there. So who could that be?"

There's a silence as he think before Jessie sighs. "I highly doubt this is the case, but I would rather cover all of my bases. A few weeks ago, Jessica approached me. She accused you of cheating on her with me and laughed when I told her we were Mates. Apparently she felt like you had hurt her and I was partly to blame. She was angry. But I don't think she was angry enough to help a Witch." Jessie says but Alex scoffs.

"A scorned teenage girl who has the opportunity to pay back her cheating lover? That's textbook right there." He points out, clearly too entralled with the dramatics of the story to think clearly.

"I doubt it. I know I hurt Jessica, but she's going to be apart of the Elder Council just like Zee. I don't think someone who's not her Mate would lead to something so extreme." I argue, and he shrugs, still looking out the window, and it's Taylor that pulls the conversation back in.

"Okay, so if it's not Jessica, who else could it be." And while I want to deny the answer that's right in front of me, I force myself to say the name that makes the most sense to me.

"What if it's my dad? What if it's Alpha Richard? His son and entire pack turned on him. And he's been banished. I would think he would have the most to gain from betraying the pack." I finally admit, my voice as thick as the air as the information is processed. It's Alpha Lucas that speaks up, his tone unsurprisingly amused.

"I had heard rumors of the great Alpha Richard on the run with his tail tucked between his legs. How comforting to know there's some truth to this story." He laughs earning a cool look from his Beta, but the comment doesn't sting, the pain of my father's betrayal something I'm working on healing from.

"That does make sense. He would have three best knowledge of the land and he would know who is who in order to search for the key." Lord Azrin admits and this time there's no disagreements.

"I can't help but notice that no one has mentioned the key and the threat carried with it. Are we going to pretend like that's not a concern?" Taylor asks his brows furrowed. "What key? You said you had your theories. So what are they?" He asks and everyone turns towards Jessie and I.

"As I'm sure most of you remember, the prophecy mentions the keys.

'cover ups, missing pieces, and keys
the official story isn't one to believe'

And because of that we're considering the fact that the prophecy and the murderer is referring to some type of key that may be able to open the portal to Hell." I explain and I watch as horror and realization crosses everyone's faces.

"Is this.....are you saying that you think that it's true. That we may be facing the return of Satan?" Artemis asks charging and James nods.

There's a beat of silence that hangs in the air before Lord Azrin speaks up. "So then, what is it that we can do?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cutting this a little short to keep on track with the chapters and because i'm starving lol. But book two chapters out of the way in less then three hours. we love to see it. Hopefully I can get at least one more thing done later.

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