The Calling

Chapter 15 ~ Ethan Woods

"Ethan, I haven't said a word to anyone about what you asked me to look into, but if you know something that could put the pack at risk, you need to tell Lucas."

"You're right Gavin, I do know more and I think it's time that I told Lucas what is going on."

"You might as well be a part of it because we're going to need your help with research. Let's go see Lucas."

As we head to Lucas' office, I'm still processing what Gavin said, and by the sounds of it, Shannon is likely apart of some kind of Vampire prophecy. If so, then what does this mean?

Lucas is in his office, in front of his computer. I knock on the door. He doesn't look up from his computer, but tells me to enter.

"Hello Ethan, how are you? How is your mate? I can smell her all over you, yet you still haven't brought her to the pack house. Why is that? I see you brought Gavin with you. What's going on?"

"You're right Lucas, I have been deflecting my mate from coming here, not only because she didn't know she's a Wolf, but for an entirely different reason. I needed more information, so this is when Gavin came into the picture. I didn't come to you until now because I wasn't sure what was going on, and in fact, I'm still not sure what is going on. But I'm going to share it with you now. I brought Gavin here because we will need his help."

"It's alright Ethan, I trust your judgement, if I didn't, I wouldn't have made you, my Beta. Now, tell me, what's the problem?"

"As you know, I have found my mate. Her name is Shannon. As I said, she didn't know that she had a Wolf. Shannon is unique, she has green eyes. So, I asked Gavin to look into our history to see if there is any mention of green-eyed Wolves. And he found something. Not in our history, but on an ancient Vampire scroll that we had in the locked archives. It mentions a prophecy with a hybrid species that has green eyes. What's even more confusing, is that today, I found out she also bares the mark of a Witch. And that's not even the mind-blowing part, she has more than one anchor, in fact, she has several of them. What I don't understand now, is why Vampires would be interested in a Wolf-Witch hybrid".

Lucas closed his laptop, gets up from his desk, goes over to the side bar and pulls out 3 glasses and a bottle of scotch. He sits down on the couch beside me and across from Gavin. He places the glasses on the table and pours each of us a double shot. Then he says,

"I think I need to have a drink to understand all of what you just said. Because if it's true, then we are likely going to be at war with two of the most dangerous Underworld species. Whatever Shannon is, she is going to be of high value to all of us. Everyone is going to want to study her, but thankfully with your bond, we might have the upper hand. She will need our protection. She will not fall into the protection laws written in the Underworld Accords because as you know, there has never been a hybrid before. This means that she will be vulnerable to everyone, and if another species decides to take her or do something, no laws will have been broken because she doesn't conform to one species."

As I listen to what Lucas says, I realize that he is right, about all of it. But I won't let anyone harm her, I will die protecting her. I don't even like the idea of my own kind doing testing on her, but when she realizes it's for her own safety, then maybe she will be open to some experimentation.

"I am sorry Ethan, but I will have to report this to Pack Headquarters. She will need to come here as soon as possible for her own protection. We can do a better job protecting her here at the pack house than out in the community where she is too exposed."

"Here is the next problem, she is adopted, and her adoptive parents are humans. This is why Shannon had no idea that the Underworld even existed. Until a few hours ago she had no idea that she has a Wolf, or that she is also a Witch. She doesn't understand our way of life. She's only known the mundane life, so she won't understand that she needs to leave her parents to come here for her protection. Plus, she also has school. How do you suggest we get her here?"

"Your mate is going to cause me to have more grey hair than I do now. This situation can't get any worse than it is right now. What do her parents do for a living? Maybe we can pull some strings and send them on some out-of-town conferences."

"Both of her parents are military. I don't know what their ranks are or their roles. But that's an option to look into."

"You're right. We have enough pack connections to use that to our advantage. For now, I need you to set up some surveillance teams at her house, around the clock. And Ethan, until she gets here, you can't be on watch 24 hours a day. She will need you rested so that you can protect her when the time comes."

"Agreed, I'll put surveillance teams together of our best men."

I don't like the idea of not being able to protect her 24/7 until she gets here, but Lucas has a point; I won't be any good to her if I'm sleep deprived. Lucas then turns to Gavin.

"Now Gavin, I will need you to dig further into more achieves and history, not just of our own history, but what we know of about the Witches and Vampires. Use whatever safe connections you have. We must keep this quiet until she is here under our protection."