Chapter 19

CAMRON: "I must take my leave. it was a pleasure meeting you again Luna Carla, James." I say shaking their hands, “Pleasure doing business with you Alpha Drake." I say as I shake hands with him.“Pleasure is all mine, thank you." He escorts me to the front door where Chase is waiting at the car for me. Before I get in the car I ask,"Alpha Drake would you be so kind as to link your mother-in-law and see if she is still open for tea.please?" He seemed a bit perplexed but did as I asked.

DRAKE: “Lilly. Alpha Camron is still wondering if the invitation for tea is still open?"“Of course it is. I want to hear his story." "What story is that?"“How he met Keska." "She is more than happy to have you." I tell Camron.“Thank you. Alpha Drake." I stand and watch as he gets in his car.and they drive off.

CAMRON: "Did they offer you anything to eat Chase?" I asked my driver“Yeah. I had a sandwich piled high with roasted pork and a salad that had some awesome dressing on it and water." "What did it taste like, the dressing I mean."“It was a little sweet, a little tangy, and creamy. It was some of the best dressing I have ever tasted." "I have to agree, it was unbelievably delicious. We are going to go to the cottage that we stopped at this morning."“Ok.”

CAMRON: We pull up to the first cottage and park the car. The place was a small two-story building, I am not great with architecture so I couldn't tell you if it was a Cape Cod or a Colonial. I just know it was quaint and clean, with faux shutters and a peaked roof. It reminded me of a Kinkade painting of the little white house with the picket fence, only she had no fence. It had nice curb appeal. The front door opened as Chase and I were getting out of the car.

LILLY:“Welcome Alpha Camron, welcome, come in."“And who might you be?" I asked the man who accompanied him. "My name is Chase, Ma'am."“Pushaw, no need to be so formal, young man, just call me Miss Lilly or Nana.""My but aren't the two of you a handsome sight.”

CAMRON: “Thank you, Miss Lilly." I say to ease my driver. And take the attention off of him. She led us into her house, the front door opened to the sitting/living room, which took up the whole front of the house. To the left of the door, there was a staircase going up. Along the stairs, there was a hallway that led to the kitchen I could see from the door. She brought us into the living room. "Sit, sit."“What kind of tea would you like? I have all kinds. Dandelion. Chi. Earl Grey, green, chickery. I can even do a special-order blend if you have one you especially like." "I am curious.what does Keska like to drink?" I asked her. "My grand pup likes a mix of horehound and chi." She answers.

CAMRON: "I will try that." I teller. "I am fine with just water.”Chase tells her. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked her. “Yes,actually,you can come reach the herbs down for me. My man servant is out running some errands for me." She states. She leads the way down the long hallway, and I notice a couple closed doors along the way. "That one is a closet." She says and points to the first door. It's under the stairway."The second is my bedroom, across the hall is the dining area, and the bathroom is there." She points to an open door between her bedroom and the kitchen. All of the interior is painted in a soft, light color palette. As I fallow her to the kitchen I notice she is not a small woman by any means,I am 6'7" and built like a pro football player, she is at least 5' 10", she has hazel eyes and still has auburn hair streaked with grey, she was still a very handsome woman, and looked like she could still give some of the warriors a run for their money. I can see Keska at that age looking at her.The kitchen is large and open, with an island centered between the sink

and the stove. The sink is like an old farmhouse sink, there are cupboards high and low for storage. and prep. I noticed she has a copper tea kettle.

LILLY: He follows me into the kitchen and looks around. I point to a cupboard next to the stove. "The horehound is in there on the second shelf to the left. I will need to start it with the water in the kettle to bring out its natural sweetness." I notice the slight wince he makes. “Don't worry, it's not real sweet. think of molasses, in terms of sweetness." I tell him. He walks over to the cupboard and gets down the herb bundles. “I'm sorry. I have no idea what is what." He tells me. "No need to worry. I do.I just needed you to reach it down for me." I fill the kettle with water and take the bundle of horehound out and hand it back to him to put back.And start the kettle. "Would you like to talk in here or go back out to the front room?" I ask. "Here is just as good as there." "Call your man then,so he can be a little more comfortable with eyes on his Alpha." I tell him.He chuckles but calls his man. "Now, tell me how you met my grand pup."

CAMRON: "I was just walking around the grounds near the Pack house when Alpha Drake spotted me. I stopped to chat with him about today's meeting,then as we were separating. I caught her scent, very light but there none the less, so I went in search of whoever it might have been that was eavesdropping on our conversation." I start to tell her, as the back door opens and a tall man with dark brown hair and green eyes, he has a swimmer's build, enters through the door with some bags, not groceries but fresh vegetables as if he had been to the farmers market, and herbs.“Ah, Stephen, there you are. Were you able to get everything I needed?"she asked him. This must be her manservant; he was just as tall as I was.“Not everything. Miss Lilly. I circled the ones they did not have, for you."He answers her. "Oh well. Come sit, this is Alpha Camron, and his man.Chase." She inatroduces us. He shakes hands with both of us. "He is telling me how he met Keska." "Please continue." She says. "I found her at the

table where they were putting out deli meats and snacks. Well, I just came up behind her and picked her up." “Oh, that was definitely a mistake."she says with a chuckle. The tea kettle starts to whistle. and she gets up and busies herself getting the tea for us.

20

CAMRON: “I found that out the hard way." I tell her. "My grand pup takes Aikido." She tells me. I take a sip of the tea. "Mmm, this is good. not too sweet, just enough to balance the chi." She just smiles.“Well,that all makes sense now. Well, she threw her head backwards and I was just quick enough to move my head and raise her slightly, so she only connected with my eye. instead of my nose,then she elbowed me in the ribs, and then dropped all her weight to her feet. I dropped her, she spun around and immediately took a defensive stance." I just chuckle remembering it now. "She is a Brookes." She says to me."I have a question for you, though." “What is it?" "She spoke to your wolf. Why is that?”“She was just being polite. after the confrontation at the food table.I spoke with Alpha Drake. got ice for my eye, and then went to go find her again to apologize to her. I asked her to dance, she did accept, but she wouldn't look me in the eye." "She knows not to disrespect her elders or her betters." She tells me. I smile at her. "So, Cercus spoke to her, to let her know that she was not disrespecting us." I told her. She just smiled at the story. "I can see why she left it out of her narration to me." She says,"I quite enjoyed that story. Sorry that you were hurt, but now you know not to sneak up on her." She chuckles at me. I finished my tea. "Thank you for the tea, but I must be going now, I have

several hours' drive to get back to my pack." "Thank you for the story,I will see you out.”

CHASE:“May I ask why you have an obstacle course in your backyard?"“Of course, I am training Keska and Mackie how to take down a Lycan."She says unexpectedly, like it's no big deal.“Wait,you are that,Brookes?"he asked like he was enamored. "Yes, young man, I am that Brookes,but sshh, don't tell anyone." She chuckles at him.

CAMRON: She escorts us to the front door and sees us out. "Alpha, do you know who we just spent the last hour with?" He asked me as we were heading out of the pack gates. “Alpha Drake's mother-in-law? Who?”“No.well yes, but the Brookes are the only werewolves that the royal Lycans have on their royal guard, because her grandfather killed a rogue Lycan.all by himself, that's almost impossible, for a wolf to kill a Lycan." He said very animatedly. Interesting, as she said that she was training Keska and Mackie, not James. or the rest of the family, makes me wonder if there is more going on.

KESK A: Finally, the last bell of the day. I headed down to my locker to switch out my books and headed over to Mackie's locker."I am looking forward to getting on that obstacle course and taking my frustrations out on it." I say to her. "I am curious to know what Alpha Camron told your Nana."She tells me. "Bad day?" "Yes and no. I had history, and we were discussing why the Brookes were on the royal guard, seems both James and Jessie told the tale, and told it wrong."

KESKA: "What do you mean?" she asked me. "Instead of them telling it like it was, they told everyone that it was Nana, not Nana's grandfather."I tell her. "So now I am a liar, and to fix it, I am going to have to have Nana come and set the teacher straight." I tell her. "Oh great,another screw up by the twins that you have to fix, will it ever end?" "No, because James and Jessie will never stop bragging and exaggerating.”****What are you talking about me for?'*** I hear Jessie's voice coming from behind me.“Because it seems that you and James have a bad habit of exaggerating facts." I tell her. "I do not!”"Then why does Mr. Greyson believe that Nana killed that Lycan and not her grandfather? I now have to have Nana come and set him straight, so that he can teach it right." I tell her. Jessie just tries to slap me again, and just like last time. I dodged her. “Knock it

off. Jessie, you are not the elder Mrs. Sutter. I don't have to let you hit me.""You little bitch, you will get yours! I can't wait till you have your punishment." She flips her hair and walks away to her friends at the end of the aisle. "Let's go." I say to Mackie, "I have an appointment at the library tonight. and I still want to get my workout in." We headed out to where we had the bikes locked up, unlocked them, and headed to Nana's to do our homework and then our training. After Mackie left for home. I hit the obstacle course hard and didn't slow down until Nana made me stop. "What's going on Kes?" She asked me. "Sorry Nana, but Jessie is just being a pain in the ass. and I need you to come to school tomorrow and set Mr. Greyson straight about who it was that killed that Lycan, because of James and Jessie I got in trouble, because I said that it was great grandfather and not you. so he gave me an F for the day.""What time is your class tomorrow? I will be there. 1:45 is when class starts." “Ok.Now let's have some dinner." "Ok. I need to go to the library tonight.though.""Why is that?" "Seth is pulling crap that is getting some students and Jessie in trouble, so I need to go set him straight." I tell her. “I think I will come with you; I want to see my grand pup in action." She says, and I just laugh.

KESKA: After dinner, Stephen drove Nana and me to the library. We both go into the library,she headed to the desk to ask the person for some help to find a book that had some herbal recipes in it. (LILLY: I secretly go and watch Keska after I get the book I wanted.) and I headed over to where I see Betsy's work group. "Hey, Betsy,” I say as I approach their table.“Hey Keska, what brings you here?" she asked. "I need to borrow Seth for a minute.""What do you need with me?!" Seth snips at me. "Wow, sorry,is that how you talk to a supposed friend?" I asked him. "Sorry, we are just having a rough time with this project." "I will just take a moment, then you can get back to your work." He follows me away from the table."What do you want. Keska?" "Glad to see that you finally dropped the act.

but you need to listen, if you keep pulling shit to get Jessie pissed at other students, you are putting this pack in danger of going back to Great Uncle Carson. Father swore an oath that there would be no bullying and here you are making Jessie pissed at other students, because of her being an Alpha what is hers is hers and you are using it against her.keep it up and there will be no pack for any of us. dumb ass!" I tell him “So whether you are doing it on purpose or not. you need to stop with the bullshit. I hope I have made myself clear. because I will tell my father that you are pulling this shit on purpose to make Jessie jealous."