“And this is it.”
“Agreed.”
“Those mages hurt my boy, and they’ll be facing me.”
“And me.” They both jumped at the voice behind them. Garon stood in the doorway to the kitchen with a determined look on his face. “They won’t hurt him, will they, Dad?”
“No, son. Not if I can help it.”
“They better not, or it’ll piss me off.”
“Garon! Language!”
“I’m sorry, Aunt Maggie, but Dad says that sometimes you just need a bad word to make your point, and I mean it.”
Gray tried not to laugh. “It’s fine this time, but watch it, okay?”
“Okay. Dad, can you help me with my math homework? Cade brought up my work for me today since I couldn’t go to school ’cause of being up most of the night.”
One of the mothers had stepped into the role of teacher while Valerie recovered. Although she’d regained consciousness on her own, she wasn’t ready to go back to teaching classes yet. Her husband was keeping Gray updated on her condition, and he knew from their link she was having terrible nightmares. She’d called out to him several times in the past week for help, only to wake up and apologize. Gray kept assuring her it was okay, but he didn’t know if she’d ever be able to teach again.
In the meantime, he had to keep Garon moving forward with his studies, as much as his son hated doing his homework. “Sure, kiddo.Let’s go into the office. Those multiplication problems still giving you trouble?”
“Yeah. Stupid sevens. I can’t remember them. Who needs sevens anyway?”
Gray winked at Aunt Maggie and followed Garon into the office. Several hours passed relatively quietly before the pack members began to gather for the meeting that evening.
Cade and Liam arrived first, followed by one parent of each of the cubs involved. The pack elders entered last, including Aunt Maggie, who set several trays of food around the crowded living room before taking a seat beside Gray on the sofa. Liam, as his beta, sat on his other side.
Gray waited a moment, his ears focused upstairs for the distinctive noises that came from Garon’s favorite racing video game. He heard the crashes and Garon’s laughter and knew his son was distracted for the time being.
“Tonight we’re here to discuss what’s going on with the cubs.” It seemed so simple to say it that way, when they all knew the situation facing their pack was very critical. Gray recapped what he’d learned so far and let the other parents describe the effects their cubs were experiencing.
The elders asked several direct questions to clarify points beyond what Gray had explained to them previously. It didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to Simon.
Gray fielded the questions as best he could before Aunt Maggie stepped in to help. “We need to give him some time. Those of you here this morning for breakfast saw as well as I did that he didn’t know what to do with all of us.”
Jessie’s dad spoke up. “That’s true. He didn’t seem to know how to act in a family.”
Aunt Maggie nodded. “Exactly. Now we just have to give him time. He’s”—she looked at Gray— “one of us now. We take care of our own.”
Cade leaned forward in his seat. “I agree. At the least, he’s earned our protection.”
Everyone nodded their agreement. Gray was glad they all wanted to keep Simon safe. He felt the same. “What do you suggest?”
It was Liam’s turn to add to the discussion. “I think we should alter the new guard routine and add Simon’s place to the schedule.”
“We can do that,” Cade said. “I’ve got plenty of volunteers for guard duty since this all happened, and I don’t think anyone would mind.”
Jackson, one of the elders, ran his hands through his nearly white hair. “I hope we know what we’re getting ourselves into with this. Gray, what has the Pack Council said?”
“Not much, Jack. They’re looking into it. Same as they were last week. No one seems to know what to think of all this, that’s for sure.”
They all seemed at a loss. None of them knew anything about mages or their magic either. In the end, the only thing they all agreed on was that Simon should be watched over.
11
On Monday morning, Simon gave his stomach a quick rub as he worked on weeding the flower beds in his backyard. Two trays of impatiens waited beside him, ready to be planted, but he had to get the beds cleared first. As he thought about the best place to get mulch this year, his stomach sent another pang of warning to him.
