Finding What Was Lost
I stood still and silent, breathing steadily, while I focused on watching my youngest sister do her thing. It always amazed me how willing the vine keepers were to help her. Amazed, though not surprised. Since Annie could walk, she had been saving the forest’s sick, injured, or orphaned creatures. I had known since the vines had taken Bella’s pups when they passed that Annie had been chosen. Our father, Falcon, had the same relationship with the vines, but it didn’t come close to the strength of Annie’s bond with them.
We all watched as she lowered her snout to the ground with her eyes closed before letting out a small, whimpering growl. Alpha Korbius took a step back as the vines continued to cover the ground, slithering past all of us to gather around Marsha. Tara growled warningly at Korbius, who immediately froze. We all knew how quickly the vines would retreat if disturbed. I opened my link to Annie, letting my amazement give her encouragement.
When Marsha froze, I lowered my head submissively, cueing the others to do the same. We kept our heads down until Marsha began to utter little growls of appreciation, thanking the vines. I let out a slow, relieved breath, knowing that the vines had honored our request. I added my own growls of thanks before carefully kneeling on the ground with my hand, gently moving through the vines to bury them in the soil.
One of the vines wrapped around my wrist before moving up my arm. It lingered on me for a moment before almost melting back into the forest. When the vines were completely gone, Marsha walked over to me, gently placing a long, thin crystal into my hand with a thick, black, woven-leather-like chain attached. I turned it over in my hands while the wolves Alpha and Luna approached me. I held it up and let everyone see the small fetus inside.
“I am not sure how this is possible, but here is your child,” I said loudly as I handed the necklace to the Luna wolf, who was standing anxiously in front of me.
She immediately cradled it to her chest with her hand over it, almost as if she were trying to protect it from everything, including her mate.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“It’s my pleasure to be of service to your pack and to your sleuth,” I said, turning to meet Alpha Korbius’s eyes. “Now that you have your pup back, I would like for you to explain to Alpha Korbius and his Alpha Sow why this all happened. We must come to an agreement on how to handle future issues.”
Annie cleared her throat. “If I may…”
I smiled at her encouragingly. “Go on, Annie.”
“The vines have agreed to create a bond between the Alphas, Alpha Sow, and Luna. That way, they cannot harm each other or their families,” Annie informed me.
I slowly looked around at the four Alphas with a raised eyebrow. “Speak first, and then if it is okay, we will allow the vines to create the bond.”
Both pairs glanced at each other while holding their own private conversations before nodding. The wolves’ Alpha began to speak, telling the bears everything. Annie came to my side, standing half behind me and half beside me while we listened to the conversation. It took them a little under two hours to get everything out there and develop a plan on how to handle rogues and trespassers. Once the Alpha males shook hands, Annie opened our link.
‘You will have to ask the vines for help, Gerry. This is your lead, and it wouldn’t be right for me to take over,’ she told me softly.
‘How can I be sure they will help me?’ I asked.
‘They promised me they would.’
I glanced at her before walking up to the two men. As I walked, I uttered low-pitched growls that summoned vines from beneath the ground. They wrapped around me as I walked before extending themselves out toward the men when I stopped beside them. Both men looked at me curiously, just as unsure as I was about what to do next.
‘Have them extend their wrists. The vines will inject them with a chemical that will immediately poison them if they break the bond,’ she murmured in my head.
“Extend your arms out. The vines will inject you with the bond serum.” I repeated Annie’s directions out loud.
They both held out their arms, and we all watched as the vines wrapped around each of their wrists briefly before reaching out for the Alpha females, who repeated their mates’ actions. Once all four of them had been injected, I thanked the vines as they retreated back under the soil. I smiled at the two Alpha pairs.
“If either of you breaks the agreement, what they injected you with will turn into poison and kill you.”
They all nodded in understanding. Priscila stepped up by my side, still smiling.
“Is there anything else that we need to address before we retire back to our rooms for the night?” She inquired.
“No, Priscila. Thank you two for all of your help. You are going to make fantastic Alphas,” Alpha Korbius told us.
I cleared my throat before pulling Annie forward. The wolves’ Alpha pulled Annie in for a hug.
“Thank you for bringing our pup back to us. We will always be in debt to you.”
She awkwardly patted his back. “I’m glad that I could help.”
He let her go before taking his Luna’s hand. “Come. Let’s go home. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
My family and I all followed Alpha Korbius back to the gate that marked the entrance to the sleuth land. We quickly said our goodbyes, telling them that if they needed anything else, let us know and we would come back to assist them. Annie and I climbed back into Beanie’s car to drive to the hotel a few miles down the road. Our parents had rented us four rooms so we could sleep safely while we handled the problem. I was ecstatic that we had completed our goal on the first day. When we were divvying up rooms, Annie made it clear that she wanted to sleep in my room, so I grabbed our luggage to carry it to our room.
I hadn’t done the hard part, but I was exhausted and ready to sleep. After getting Annie calmed down enough to sleep, I climbed into the bed closer to the door so that if there was an intruder, I could protect my little sister. I was almost asleep when Annie called my name softly. I groaned as I rolled over toward her.
“Yes, Annie?”
“Is the adjoining door locked?” She asked.
“Yes. I made sure.”
“Can you double-check?”
I groaned but got up to tug on the door, showing her that it was locked. I turned back to her with my eyebrow raised.
“Satisfied?”
“Yep. Thanks, Gerry.”
I mumbled angrily as I threw myself back down on the bed. I closed my eyes and was out in seconds.
I was gently shaken awake a few hours later. I grumbled as I pushed Annie off my bed.
“Go to sleep, Annie!”
“But, Gerry, there’s somebody at the door,” she whimpered. “They are trying to get in.”
I sat up, completely alert, as I scanned the room. It didn’t take me long to realize she was right. I got up, slowly approaching the adjoining room door.
“GO AWAY!” I called out, and the scratching immediately stopped. I turned back to Annie. “See? They stopped.”
Before I could go back to the door, the adjoining door was kicked open, and a petite figure flew into the room, heading straight for Annie. I grabbed the woman around her waist, and the speed at which she was moving took us tumbling onto the bed. I rolled on top of her, restraining her to the bed so she couldn’t hurt Annie, who was hiding under the covers on her bed. I turned my furious glare at the woman thrashing under me.
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” She screamed at Annie, who trembled.
I gripped the woman’s chin to force her to meet my gaze, which instantly melted when I met her brown eyes.
“Mate…”