Page 17 of Branches of the Willow (The Ancients #3)

16

Act of War

S couts were sent out with cameras, to record the goings on at Freedman’s pack. They never sent back any intel about Malachi being there, but a particular cabin received a lot of visitors, including John Freedman. Food was brought in and empty trays were seen leaving. Someone special was staying there, and they didn’t leave the cabin at all. Asi and my father determined that it was probably their best bet for Malachi’s location, and they finished up the plans to raid Freedman’s pack with that information in mind.

The final cog in the wheel of our plan was to send out notice to all the packs that anyone caught harboring known fugitives, Malachi, Eleanna, and Clarissa would be given no quarter when punishments were handed down. It was also made known that Malachi was the illegitimate bastard of Antoine De’ Lune and Eleanna before they were a mated pair and while he was bonded with another, therefore relinquishing his title to the next eligible in the family line, Mikael DéLune.

It only took one day after that message went out, and Jameson St. Marks got word from his scouts that they were picking up defectors from the Freedman Pack who confirmed that Malachi was living among them and that he had brought two women with him as possible trade for his stay. My father, Evan, Mikael, Asriel, and a few of the pack’s best warriors, including Dimitri, the new Ancient to our pack, set out to bring Malachi to justice, and hopefully nab the two women as well.

Since it had already been decided that I wouldn’t be able to go along, I was going to test out my white wolf skills and chalk it up as a training exercise. It would take a little over three hours for our men to get to the Freedman Pack, and just before they were due to arrive, I was going to try to induce a vision so that I could watch firsthand, even if I couldn’t be there. All I had to do was convince my mother it was a good idea.

“Please!” I begged.

“Jessica, it’s not going to be good for the baby for you to be so stressed out.”

“I’m not going to be stressed. I’m going to be watching what happens, that’s all. We may need to know. What if something goes wrong, and we have no warning that we’re going to be invaded by Freedman?”

“Then we will fight, just like we prepared to do with the dark ones and the hunters.”

“Mom come on. I’m only asking that you put me to sleep. I mean, I need the rest anyway.” I poked my lip out in a pout. “Please! I will be more stressed out not knowing.”

“Fine! I wish you hadn’t inherited your father’s stubborn streak. I don’t think you should be doing this, but I can’t disagree about the not knowing being any less stressful.”

“Thank you!” I jumped up and kissed my mom, who followed me upstairs to the old bedroom I used to occupy in her house. It was weird to be there again. All my personal things had long since made their way to Mikael’s house, but the old bed with its trundle was still there, and so was my trusty Papasan chair. I chose the chair to settle myself into so that I would be comfortable enough to drop off to sleep quicker.

When the vision finally hit, and the fog lifted, I was a bit disappointed to be standing in the cave where the white wolves always stayed. I noted that the little sapling in the dirt in front of the dais had grown a bit, a proud sprig of green burst forth from the damp earth, stretching to reach the little bit of light that filtered through from a tiny pinprick of space in the ceiling that allowed it through.

“You have come to beg favors of the white wolves.” The voices echoed through the cavern.

“No, actually, I was hoping to witness what takes place with my mate today.”

“Behind you.” Their whispered voices wrapped me in chills, and when I turned, the cave wall that had been behind me melted away, allowing me to walk out into a thick forest. Correction, I was at the edge of the forest, bordering a little pack town. It was set up a lot like the St. Marks’ pack, but the buildings were showing obvious neglect from lack of upkeep.

“Where the bloody hell is he?” I heard Dimitri’s voice boom loud and obvious from off to the right somewhere, and I turned to see him holding a rather scraggly looking man up by the neck.

“I swear it, I dunno.” The man managed to get out as he gasped for air. One swift motion from Dimitri, and the man’s neck cracked with that pop, and he went still, falling from Dimitri’s grasp to the ground at his feet.

“You do know he’ll wake up from that later, right?” Asi had been watching the happenings from his perch in a nearby tree before he hopped down to come harass Dimitri. The man had been one of Freedman’s watch dogs, and he hadn’t been very good at it. That only meant that they were bound to run into the stronger members of the pack the closer they got. I turned a full circle, trying to gage who all was with Asi and Dimitri. A little way off to the right I saw Evan, and my father, but I didn’t see Mikael anywhere, and that’s when panic took hold of me.

I turned a full 360 degrees looking for him, and still, he wasn’t there. “Asi, where’s Mikael? Asi?” It was no use. I knew from previous times I’d been somewhere in vision mode that they couldn’t hear me. I was a silent witness and nothing more. This certainly wasn’t like the time I took over Mikael’s unconscious body. I looked down really quick to be sure. The first thing I saw was the swell of my own chest. I was definitely riding in my own astral body, unless Mikael had some serious work done.

“Where’s Mikael?” Asriel voiced his concern out loud, while also keeping his voice low. “Damn it. Tell me he didn’t head for the cabin we had under surveillance?” Asi looked around, and made sure all the other men were in the positions they were supposed to be in. “Stay here,” he commanded Dimitri. “Hold the ranks, I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”

I followed behind Asi as he made his way swiftly, and quietly toward the cabin. There, just up ahead, I saw the slightest hint of movement. The back door on the cabin cracked open, and a tall man slipped out, running quickly behind a tree. That’s when I noticed who else was behind the same tree, trying to get the lay of the land.

“Mikael!” I yelled. Of course, no one heard me. Asi saw what was about to happen though, and he took off at a dead run. I was hot on his heels, wishing I could fly, since technically I was in a spirit realm. Sadly, the ability still alluded me. When I rounded the space that the tree had been blocking, my heart immediately lodged itself inside my throat, and threatened to spill right out of me. “Oh God, no!” Malachi was there, with a silver blade, and he had already pulled back, ready to deal a death blow to my mate’s neck.

Asriel didn’t hesitate. He ran forward with greater speed than I thought possible of our kind, and dove for Malachi, tackling him before his blade had the chance to drop even an inch towards its destination. Sounds of a woman crying carried on the wind and dulled the cracking sound I heard in the background. I saw just a little further off, a blond woman tied to a tree. At first, my heart went out to her, and I closed ranks on her position. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help since I was basically a spirit walking around, but I went anyway.

I turned back long enough to see Asriel helping Mikael up off the ground. Malachi’s still form was next to them in the grass, and neither man seemed worried about it. I figured I knew what that meant. The blond woman was still crying, but she seemed relieved as she noticed that Malachi wasn’t getting back up. I heard skirmishes taking place a little way off, but I didn’t bother paying attention to what was happening over there.

Something was on the ground beside the girl who was tied to the tree. I moved a little closer, almost afraid of what I’d see. I was thankful that I was in the spirit realm as I glanced down and noticed the river that I was standing in. That wasn’t right. It wasn’t a river, it was too dark, and thick for that. Blood. I was standing in someone’s blood, and the thing I had seen near the girl was another woman’s body. I bent down to take a closer look and realized that there wasn’t a head attached. There was only a stump of a neck with blood crusted bone sticking out of the top. The woman’s head had been severed clean from her body.

“Please, help me.” The girl who was tied to the tree started calling out. At first, I thought she was talking to me, but then I turned to see Mikael walking up behind where I stood. He glanced down at me and frowned. Of course, he could see that I was there. I wonder if he had heard me call out to him too.

“I had to see that you were okay.” He didn’t seem to hear me as his attention was now on the woman tied to the tree. For the first time, I looked up and saw more than the blond hair that framed her face. It was a face I knew all too well.

“Clarissa?” Evan’s question came from behind me. I turned to see the anger painted there, until he looked down and noticed the body I was kneeling beside. “Who was this?”

“Leanna.” Clarissa sniffled. Malachi got so mad when the notice about us being fugitives, and him having no claim to his father’s throne, came out. He screamed and cursed at her, wanting Leanna to tell everyone that it was a lie, but she didn’t. She admitted that he was her son, and he…” Her eyes widened with shock as she looked back over her shoulder beyond the body, and the tree she was tied to. “Her head… it’s back there.”

As morbid as it was, I had to see for myself, and make sure. Unfortunately for me, it was face down in the grass, so I couldn’t tell if Clarissa spoke the truth or not. Asriel walked over and moved the head slightly with the tip of his boot. “It’s her.” He growled out.

“My sister…” Clarissa was crying again. “He told me she ran off one night, but all I’ve thought about is, what if he did that to her too?” Funny how she cared about her sister now, but not when she was trying to steal Annabelle’s mate. Unfortunately, I was just a spirit observing so I couldn’t say that out loud and have it count.

“Your sister is fine, for now.” Evan stated, keeping emotion from his voice, and his face neutral, even though he stood mere feet from his own mother’s dead body and severed head.

“Please, take me to her,” Clarissa begged. Still, no one had bothered to untie her. I watched as the men seemed to all be having an internal debate about what to do with the woman.

“Should we bring her back to her sister?” Mikael was the one to speak out loud, and he wasn’t looking at the others. He was watching me for my answer. I tipped my head down and back up again, deliberately signaling a ‘yes’ to him. They could both rot together in the locks.

My father, being the astute man that he was, looked at the void he must have seen, and back to Mikael again. “She’s here?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn it, Jess.” My father growled out. “You shouldn’t have to see that.”

“She wants us to bring Clarissa back too.”

“Can you hear her?” Asi asked.

“No. I can see her though.”

“What of John Freedman?” Asi asked, looking between the void where I stood and Mikael.

It was my father who answered. “He’s dead, as is his number two man. The rest of the pack can choose a new leader and fall in line, or we can come back and scatter them to the wind for their betrayal.”

I nodded in agreement with my father. “Jess agrees with you.” My father smiled as Mikael told him that. Dimitri strolled up behind them with a man who was bound and gagged.

“That’s my girl.” My father smiled slightly, before turning to face Dimitri. “What’s this?” He motioned towards the bound man.

“Hunter.” Dimitri stated simply. “I thought you might want to have a word with him when I found him trying to slink off into the shadows over there.” My father looked towards Asi. “Can you take care of that until we get back?” Asi nodded while Jameson St. Marks put his command voice to use, and told what remained of the Freedman Pack, in no uncertain terms, that we’d be back to take care of business if they didn’t get themselves together and fall in line. He then gathered his pack, and my mate, and they all got ready to come home with their prisoners.

“Get some rest now, Jess.” Mikael said to me as they all started walking by. My vision dulled as the gray mist settled in, signifying the end of my time in the astral-dream realm. When I woke, I hadn’t expected anyone to be leaning over me, so when a face was within inches of my own, I let out a blood curdling scream.

I was greeted with a similar scream in return as the face backed up. My eyes adjusted, and I realized it was Ashley. “Holy shit, Jessica!” Ashley clutched at her heart. “You almost gave me a goddamn coronary.”

“Me? Why in the hell were you all up in my face like that?”

“I was making sure you were breathing, you idiot.” Ashley plopped down to sit on the floor in front of my Papasan Chair as my mother came running into the room.

“What is going on? Are they okay?”

“They’re all on their way back, Mom. Sorry, Ashley scared the crap out of me when I woke up.”

“Likewise,” Ashley countered without hesitation.

I told them both what happened, and my mom went to alert the rear guard that they needed to have two cells readied. Truth be told, we only had four cells on pack lands. It was rare that we had a crime here worthy of needing to hold a werewolf captive, but once upon a time, when my grandfather ran things, he had needed the extra cells. I was thankful for his forethought since we were about to have three occupied.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that a hunter had been captured, or what it took to contain one. I figured we would need to double up on things if we were bringing the enemy home though. I was lost in thought, wondering what was going on with the hunters, the dark ones, werewolves going crazy, witches meddling in affairs they had been forsworn to leave alone. It seemed odd to me that things had gotten so far out of whack from the norm for each of our groups.

“Are you sure they’re all okay?” Ashley grilled me, touching my arm to pull my attention back to her. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“They are all fine.”

“You said you think Asriel killed Malachi. He didn’t get hurt, did he?”

“Not a scratch on him, Ash, I promise.” I stood up on shaky legs. Staying in the vision had taken a toll on me. I wobbled off balance but righted myself almost immediately.

“You need to eat.” Ashley looked at the clock on the wall. “Mikael’s going to kill us if he finds out we let you stay knocked out so long.”

“He didn’t seem thrilled about me being there,” I admitted. “I’m sure he’ll read me the riot act when he gets back.” We walked downstairs to the kitchen. “Mom, did you tell the guards that one of the prisoners is going to be a hunter?”

“Yes, I did. They’re going to put him in the reinforced witch cell instead of the normal ones.”

“That’s good.” I just hoped that it would hold his kind. I’d never met a hunter before, and certainly never anticipated having to jail one either. Life had taken a strange turn over the course of the past year, and I found myself doing things I never imagined for myself or the people that I loved, but the people who mattered in that equation were all alive and well, and that was all I could hope for until we got to the bottom of all the craziness.