Every Were Gets A Mate

Chapter 20

The facilities trailer was much nicer than I expected. Each of its doors led into a separate bathroom with shower stall, flushing toilet, sink, vanity, and mirror. A whirring fan in the ceiling sucked up air with enough force to feel it moving, helping the small room feel less claustrophobic. It also sucked up any steam and bad odors. Living like this for long periods of time didn't seem so bad.

After washing my hands, I looked in the mirror. Something struck me as different. I leaned in closer and studied my face. For years, I had seen a solemn girl, all emotions fully contained like a ship set to weather a storm. Since the night before, I had been opening up. Now I saw signs of happiness and hope warring with fear and doubt. I wanted to squash the later and gave myself a stern talking to.

Get it together, Jess. This is too important. No one else has gotten a chance to get help like this for Fury Pack. Not Fisher and Colton, for the real Fury Pack, the innocent weres controlled by fear or alpha command. Do this for them.

I closed my eyes and thought of the Fury weres that had been kind to me, the brave ones who met with my parents to discuss ways of thwarting Fisher, the children taught to fight in P.E. classes turning into teenagers forced to be fighters because they had shown promise, and the older single weres who hadn't found their mates because of Fisher's actions. They were all good or were once good. They needed help more than I did right now. They were more important than me and my crazy emotions.

I took a deep breath and let it out. I visualized myself as a deep pond with a perfectly still surface. Fish and snakes fought down by the rocks and plants covering the bottom of my pond, but each level of water buffered and smoothed the turmoil, making the surface a sheet of glass reflecting the blue-white sky. When the vision felt solid, I opened my eyes and left the trailer.

Cade led me through the camp while I concentrated on what I needed to say to Fidoro. Thick pine forest grabbed my attention as we approached a trailhead that wove into it. The temperature instantly dropped a few degrees as we entered the woods, but the sunlight filtering down kept the scene peaceful rather than spooky.

A few minutes later, the trail widened into a clearing where a campfire burned inside a circle of fallen logs. Fidoro and James sat on one log with empty logs to either side. Four men I didn't know sat across the fire. Thirty yards up the trail, another campfire burned with a larger group of men and women around it.

Cade stopped as we took in the scene. "Those are the four captains. All the lieutenants are at the campfire beyond. You can pitch your voice to reach whoever you want, depending on how big the problem is, who you need help from. I think you need to talk loud."

I took a deep breath. "Agreed."

Cade squeezed my hand, and we continued to the campfire.

Alpha Fidoro stood and smiled at us. "Welcome. Grab a beer and take a seat." He waved to an ice chest positioned away from the heat.

Cade brought me over, opened the chest, and offered me a bottle of beer.

I'd never had alcohol before. Lessening my self-control had never been desirable, and it still wasn't. The chest contained soda and water as well as beer. An alpha told me to take a beer, but I pulled out a 7Up instead.

Cade said, "You can have beer if you want it."

Perhaps he thought I was concerned about being considered underage in the human world. I shook my head and gave him a little smile. "No, thanks." 7Up was the best choice. My mother gave it to us as kids to help settle upset stomachs.

Cade smiled back at me, closed the chest, and popped the tops off both our bottles. We took a seat on the log to the alpha's right.

Fidoro asked, "How do you like Cade's camper van, Jessica?"