Otherworldly Darkness [Book 5]

A Family Affair.

Only the distant sounds of the night echoed into the house at this time. Every shifter was asleep except for the wolves that were supposed to be guarding our new guests. The soothing melody of the crickets that lulled the forest around us to sleep served as the background for our nightly conversation.

Rue sat before me looking quite different from when I last saw her. The top of her hair was bright red as usual but the bottom tips had begun to fade into a dark blood red and then into jet black. Her eyes were bright red and narrowed as she looked more serious than the usual cheery demeanor I had become so accustomed to.

The three of them had gotten in about an hour after our uninvited guests had arrived. Of course they showed up in style with Rue teleporting all of them right into the middle of the living room that we were sitting in. Some of the warrior wolves had shifted instantly ready to attack until Mateus ordered them to stand down.

"Daddy, I don't think it's a wise idea to have our enemies under the same roof as us." She sighed as she lifted one leg and crossed it over the other. Kaya sat besides her at the dining room table and Amun sat on her other side snacking on cookies that he found.

"Just because he's in the same house as me doesn't mean I didn't take any necessary precautions Rue darling. I put them in our special guest rooms, the one with the silver lined doors. No matter how big and bad the Alpha is he's a wolf, it'll burn and thankfully they're all wolves." Nicholai replied.

"Why don't we have a room like that for the feline shifters?" Damien whined breaking the serious tension that had been building.

"We're not dumb enough to have our weakness brought to light." Imani smiled. I knew that smile. It was the one that Imani wore anytime he thought about how lucky he was to have our fathers as mates. He had once told me that although he had once hated Damien now he loved him with every fiber of his being just like he felt with our other dads.

"What's wrong with Rue?" I questioned switching the topic to one that I found more interesting. There was something different about her, more than just her appearance.

"Nothing. She's fine." Kaya replied a bit tensely.

"Really? Something seems a bit...off." I replied.

"I'm going through a few changes my dear brother." Rue answered turning to face me flashing her pearly whites at me. I noticed that her teeth were much sharper than before. Her smile fell when she noticed where I was looking.

"Well I think you look gorgeous." Owen smiled brightly trying to brighten up the mood. Mentally I thanked him because I didn't want it to seem like an inquisition but I guess that's what it had ended up sounding like.

"Thanks." She muttered shyly as she turned towards Amun who grinned at her. He reached out and rubbed her back soothingly. A low purred rumbled in her throat, her eyes closed and she leaned into his touch. Kaya shifted into a much larger version of himself with the tips of his fur turning a bright red.

He lept up into Amun's lap and nuzzled his big furry face into the crook of his mate's neck. It was a sweet sight to be sure. We were all sitting around the dining room table like one big happy family with our current enemy sitting right upstairs plotting out different ways to try and kill us.

"So what do we do about our guests?" I questioned trying to change the subject back to our problem at hand.

"We all sit down and see if we can't talk this out. If that's not going to work we kick them out and prepare for a fight." Mateus sighed.

"Well I guess we're going to prepare for a fight because I doubt that Reynolds will ever listen to a word that we say that doesn't have anything to do with giving up our land and having me marry and mate with someone who isn't my mate." I replied with a sneer.