Page 28 of Furever Bound (Hollow Oak Mates #7)
MADDOX
T he emergency Council meeting convened in the forest glade despite federal surveillance this time, the ancient protections woven into the sacred space providing their only guarantee of privacy as supernatural leaders discussed response options to unprecedented government intervention.
Maddox arrived to find the assembled members radiating the kind of controlled fury that preceded either complete capitulation or open warfare.
"Federal agents have been questioning residents all afternoon," Emmett reported with tactical precision that didn't disguise his anger at the violation of their sanctuary.
"Professional interviews designed to extract information about supernatural abilities, community organization, and defensive capabilities. "
"Any cooperation?" Varric asked.
"None," Maeve replied with savage satisfaction. "Hollow Oak residents know how to handle government overreach. Polite responses that reveal nothing useful, documentation requests that produce ordinary paperwork, abilities that remain carefully hidden."
"For now," Bram added with characteristic pessimism. "But Elena's federal colleagues aren't typical bureaucrats. They understand supernatural concealment methods and have technology designed to detect psychic energy signatures."
The mention of detection technology made Maddox's instincts surface with barely controlled panic as he processed implications for Sera's safety.
Federal agents who could identify psychic abilities through technological monitoring represented threats that traditional supernatural community defenses couldn't address.
"How sophisticated is their equipment?"
"Sophisticated enough to establish that Hollow Oak has concentrated supernatural energy readings far above normal baseline," Callum reported grimly. "They know something unusual is happening here, even if they can't identify specific individuals or abilities."
"Yet," Miriam added with the tired wisdom of someone who'd seen government investigations escalate beyond initial parameters. "Give them time and resources, and they'll develop methods to pierce our concealment entirely."
"Which brings us to our response options," Varric said with careful attention that meant crucial decisions were about to be made. "Cooperation, resistance, or alternative solutions."
"Cooperation means surrendering Sera to federal custody and exposing our entire community to government oversight," Emmett said with practical assessment that made every option sound equally unpalatable.
"Resistance means open conflict with federal agencies that have unlimited resources and legal authority. "
"And alternative solutions?" Maeve asked with the tactical focus of someone evaluating battlefield strategies.
"Evacuation," Bram said simply. "Abandon Hollow Oak, relocate the community, start again somewhere Elena's federal colleagues haven't identified."
The suggestion that they abandon generations of carefully built sanctuary seemed unacceptable to Maddox, especially when evacuation would mean separating Sera from the supernatural energy that was enabling her psychic development.
"Evacuation isn't viable," he said, his protective instincts overriding diplomatic consideration.
"Sera's abilities are tied to this location's concentrated supernatural energy.
Moving her somewhere mundane could destabilize her psychic development or sever her connection to manifestation phenomena entirely. "
"Which might solve the Grimjaw problem," Bram pointed out making Maddox force his wolf’s hackles down.
"It might also kill her," he replied with alpha authority that made even the elder step back slightly. "Psychic abilities that develop in response to supernatural community energy can become dependent on that environment. Sudden removal could cause psychological collapse or worse."
"So we're back to cooperation or resistance," Varric observed with diplomatic neutrality that didn't disguise the weight of the decision they faced.
"There's a fourth option," Maddox said, the possibility crystallizing as he processed their impossible tactical situation. "Direct action that makes federal oversight irrelevant."
"Meaning?" Emmett asked with sharp attention.
"Meaning we resolve the Grimjaw manifestation in ways that prove supernatural abilities can be beneficial rather than threatening," he explained, though the plan he was formulating involved risks that made his protective instincts scream warnings.
"Sera's communication attempt tomorrow night, witnessed by federal agents, could demonstrate that psychic gifts serve community protection rather than weapons development. "
"Or it could provide Elena with documented evidence of supernatural abilities that justify expanded federal intervention," Maeve suggested.
"True," he admitted. "But it's the only approach that doesn't require choosing between Sera's safety and community security."
"The manifestation communication attempt involves astronomical personal risk," Bram said with rare concern for individual welfare. "If direct psychic contact with Grimjaw fails, we lose both the catalyst and any chance of peaceful resolution."
"If we don't attempt communication, we lose everything anyway," Maddox replied with grim honesty. "Federal custody, community exposure, and escalating manifestation activity that could turn genuinely dangerous without conscious guidance."
The assembled Council members exchanged glances that suggested they were all processing scenarios where every available option carried unacceptable costs.
"The timing is problematic," Varric said finally. "Halloween night, federal observation, peak supernatural activity—too many variables for controlled experimentation."
"Halloween night is the only time when communication has optimal chance of success," Maddox argued, his academic expertise overriding emotional attachment to safer alternatives. "Peak manifestation energy, enhanced psychic sensitivity, traditional boundaries at their thinnest."
"And if the federal agents interfere with the communication attempt?" Miriam asked with maternal concern that focused on practical rather than theoretical complications.
"Then we defend Sera's right to use her abilities for community protection," he said simply, the declaration carrying weight that transformed academic discussion into potential act of war.
"Against federal agents with legal authority and unlimited backup?" Emmett asked with tactical realism.
"Against anyone who threatens my mate," Maddox replied with alpha finality that ended discussion about personal cost versus community benefit.
Through the glade's ancient protections, they could hear the distant sounds of federal investigation continuing throughout Hollow Oak, agents systematically documenting a community that had successfully hidden its supernatural nature for generations.
"Twenty-four hours," Varric said with the authority of someone making decisions that could reshape their entire existence. "If communication with Grimjaw succeeds, we have proof that supernatural abilities can be used as protection, not just dangerous outcomes. If it fails..."
He didn't need to finish the sentence. Failure meant losing Sera, losing their sanctuary, and losing any hope of maintaining the delicate balance they'd built between supernatural community and mundane world.
As the Council dispersed to prepare for whatever tomorrow night would bring, Maddox realized that protecting his mate had evolved beyond personal attachment into defending the right of supernatural communities to exist without government oversight—and that the cost of failure extended far beyond individual heartbreak into the destruction of everything they'd worked to preserve.
But looking up at the October moon that would be full tomorrow night, he also realized that some risks were worth taking when the alternative was surrendering everything that made life worth living.