“Keep him contained. Lock him up, knock him out—whatever it takes to subdue him without taking his life. As soon as we’re done with this call, I’m going to contact the high witch and let her know what’s going on. If anyone can help us with this, it’s her. One more thing before I end this call.” Everyone’s attention turned to the screen. “If you know any alphas who missed this call, get ahold of them and fill them in. We need everyone on the same page. I have a feeling this is going to take the strength and effort of werewolves everywhere.”

  Everybody spoke at once. I raised a hand, and they grew quiet again.

  “Let’s discuss anything else over email and texts. If anything vital comes up, I’ll call another of these conferences.”

  We all said our goodbyes, and I ended the call. My body ached—everything from my head to feet. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. Would we ever catch a break?

  I walked to the window and leaned against the wall. Rain poured down, melting the snow from the ground. I noticed a few buds on one of the trees outside. A tiny spark of hope flickered in me. Could that be a sign of newer, better things to come?

  My phone vibrated, indicating a text. I sighed. Hopefully, the coming spring would bring new beginnings in life as well as nature. Unfortunately, the winter wasn’t over yet. I pulled out my still-buzzing phone and read through the texting conversation. It was mostly alphas who hadn’t made the call asking questions, and thankfully, the other alphas were filling them in.

  While they did that, I decided to check on the pack. Everything was quiet, which could either be good or bad. I prepared myself for the worst and headed for the living room. Jet and Ziamara sat on the couch with our youngest pack member.

  “How’s everything going?” I sat next to them.

  Ziamara put a finger to her mouth and whispered, “We just got him to sleep.”

  I nodded. Having a baby in Moonhaven was going to be an adjustment for everyone. “Where’d everyone else go?” I whispered.

  Jet pointed around toward the kitchen and made gestures, pretending to eat.

  “Thanks.” I got up and headed that way. Most everyone sat, eating. Laura had her back to everyone, taking care of three pots on the stove. Victoria and Tap were both missing. I sat next to Soleil. “Did Tap head back to the Faeble?”

  She nodded and wiped her mouth, chewing.

  “Where did Victoria go?”

  Soleil swallowed. “She’s up in her room, admiring the necklace.”

  Stella shook her head. “She’s admiring the dress Laura and I have been working on. It’s almost done—so don’t go up there yet.”

  I grabbed a plate and piled some roast beef, potatoes, and creamy vegetables on it. “You’d better warn her that I’m headed that way after I eat.”

  Stella’s eyes widened. “You can’t see her in the dress—it’s bad luck.”

  “Then you’d better tell her I’m headed up there.” I took a bite of the meat.

  She stuffed some carrots in her mouth, took her plate to the sink, and rushed out of the room.

  Soleil finished the food on her plate and turned to me. “I hope you don’t need me for anything, because I’m exhausted from all the teleporting and traveling today. It doesn’t seem possible that I woke up in Egypt.”

  I yawned. “I feel for you. It’s like we crammed a month’s worth of activities into a single day.”

  “A year’s worth.” She rose. “Goodnight.”

  “’Night.”

  In my pocket, my phone kept buzzing nonstop. I reached down and checked the text conversation to make sure I hadn’t missed anything urgent. It was still more of the same, with more alphas joining the conversation.

  Several of the guys around the table got up, all saying goodnight.

  “Rest up,” I warned them. “We have no idea what tomorrow will bring.”

  “We can always count on you for a good pep talk.” Bobby laughed.

  “I wish that was all we needed.” I dug back into my food, eager to get upstairs for some rest myself.

  Laura brought some more food to the table. “Is anyone going to want more food than this?”

  We all shook our heads and continued eating. My stomach rumbled, despite having just received a plateful of food.

  She smiled. “Good. I’ll get to the dishes in the sink.”

  I swallowed. “Nonsense. You’ve been taking care of us all day plus making the wedding dress.”

  “I’m happy to do it all. You don’t know what it means to me being part of such a wonderful pack.”

  My heart broke for my fiancée’s mom. She’d been married to an alpha-hole for centuries. “I couldn’t be happier to have you here. Seriously, get some sleep.”

  Her mouth dropped. “But you’ve been busier than me, what with traveling all over the world today.”

  I shook my head. “Go. Alpha’s orders.”

  “You’d better listen,” Sal said. “He doesn’t invoke those often. When he does, he means business.”

  Laura wrapped her arms around me. “More alphas should be like you.”

  I returned the embrace. “Maybe they would be if they had a pack mom like you.”

  She ruffled my hair, hung up her apron, and headed out of the kitchen.

  “You okay, sir?” Sal scooted to a chair closer to me.

  I nearly told him to stop calling me sir, but having been a pack member since the beginning, he insisted. He reminded me of Brick in a lot of ways like that. My chest constricted, thinking of my best friend.

  “Sir?”

  My head snapped toward him. “Just tired. Thanks.”

  “I know you miss Brick. If you ever want to talk, I’m here. I don’t say much, but I do listen good.”

  “I appreciate that, Sal.” I gave him a weak smile. “It’s just been one hell of a year, you know?”

  “That it has, but at least you got Victoria back. I never thought I’d see the day. Now you guys are planning your wedding.”

  “So much for not talking, huh?” I teased and placed my hand on his shoulder. “You’re right, though. That’s what I need to focus on. This time last year, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see her again. I had no idea if she’d actually crossed over from the other side.”

  I piled some more food on my plate, and the two of us ate in silence. Once I’d had my fill—and my exhaustion had lessened—I rose and gathered some of the dishes. Sal helped me, and without a word, we got everything cleaned. I washed, he dried.

  As we headed upstairs, he stopped and turned to me. “I considered Brick my best friend, too.”

  “We were both really lucky.”

  “That we were.” He turned and headed upstairs. “Goodnight, sir.”

  “’Night, Sal.” I trudged up the rest of the way and stared at Victoria’s door. It was open a crack. I knocked.

  No answer.

  Knock, knock.

  Silence.

  I pushed open the door, keeping my gaze down. “Victoria?”

  Nothing.

  Glancing up, I saw her sleeping on top of the bed. Stella would be happy to know the wedding dress was nowhere in sight. Victoria wore sweats and a hoodie. Her hands both rested on her chest, probably holding the stone.

  I crept toward her, swept some hair from her face, and kissed her lips. She didn’t even flinch. I pulled the blankets from under her and covered her before giving her another quick kiss and adjusting her covers. Her hands still clung to the necklace. I pulled one away, but she only grasped it all the tighter.

  Victoria mumbled something I couldn’t understand, and then she said something crystal clear. “Fen.”

  My stomach dropped. I’d been planning on calling Gessilyn after I got some sleep, but I pulled out my phone and found her number.

  Chapter 127

  Toby

  I sat on my bed, a range of emotions pumping through me—anger for what the stone had done to Victoria, disgust at my father for bringing it into our lives, and guilt for my part in it. If I hadn’t mentioned it, Victoria never would have gotten the fever and gone in search of it.

  None of these thoughts were helping. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Then twenty. Thirty. All the way to one hundred fifty. I took a deep breath and finally called Gessilyn. Likely she would be busy, but I would have to insist. Dealing with Fen would require the high witch, and I wouldn’t back down on that point.

  “Hi, Toby,” Gessilyn answered. “How are things with the stone?”

  “Funny you should ask.” I filled her in, being as brief as possible.

  She groaned. “I’ve just acquired the library of the last high witch. Maybe there’s something in one of the books about the stone or the wolf. What was his name again? Fenrickrin?”

  “Fenrisúlfr.”

  “Can you spell that for me?”

  I heard the scratching of a pencil on paper as I spelled the ancient Icelandic name.

  “Get some rest, and I’ll look into this. I agree with you—a high witch had to have been the one to imprison him in the stone. If he’s to be trapped again, it’s probably on my shoulders.”

  “You don’t know how much I appreciate this, Gess.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Someday, I’m going to need something from you.”

  “I already owe you about fifty favors.”

  “Well, then, I can’t let anything happen to you, can I?”

  “That’s one way to look at it.”

  “I’ll touch base in the morning. Get some rest.” The call ended.

  I tossed the phone onto my bed and dragged myself into the bathroom. Sand from Egypt spilled onto the floor when I took my shoes off. Yawning, I considered skipping a shower, but after such a busy day, I needed it.

  When I finally fell onto the mattress, my phone buzzed again. Without getting up, I reached it with my foot and kicked it over to my hands. The text conversation with the alphas was more of the same until I got near the end.

  One of the werewolves from Nova Scotia claimed a sighting of Fen by the sea. I took that with a grain of salt because nobody from North America had actually seen the original werewolf. Another text came in. An alpha from Prince Edward Island said an entire neighboring pack had been annihilated.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. Fenrisúlfr was definitely on our continent, probably bored with killing European werewolves.

  My phone nearly exploded as text after text came in at lightning speed. Pain squeezed the back of my head and radiated down toward my neck. Everyone wanted answers. Adrenaline raced through my body.

  So much for getting any rest.

  New texts came in, this time directly to me instead of to the general conversation.

  I had no answers. Certainly nothing that would put anyone’s mind at ease.

  Finally, I send a quick message to the group:

  The high witch is on it.

  Countless more messages flooded my phone. They wanted more. I couldn’t blame them. I wanted more. But we had no other choice but to wait—while a murderous werewolf took out more of our kind.

  My stomach twisted in knots. It was no wonder so many other species despised us. Fen had probably done enough damage in his prior lifetime to leave everyone for the rest of time hating us.

  I sat on my bed and read each new text as it rolled in. They almost came too fast to keep up with, but I managed. At least until my eyes wouldn’t stay open any longer. I sent a text, but it took several tries because my fingers felt like rubber.

  I’ll let you know when I have more information. I’m going to bed.

  They would want more from me, but I had nothing left to give. I turned the phone off and closed my eyes, immediately falling asleep.

  “Toby?” came a voice, sounding distant.

  I rolled over, hoping it would go away.

  “Toby.” This time it was closer and more urgent.

  Had I even slept for an hour? I pulled my pillow over my head.

  Hands grasped my arm and shook me. “Toby!”

  There was no escape. I pushed aside the pillow, rolled onto my back, and opened my eyes. “What’s going on?”

  Sal stood next to my bed. “Calls are flooding in. Werewolves everywhere want to know what to do about Fen.”

  I rubbed my eyes and sat up. “What time is it?”

  “Eight.”

  Four hours of sleep. I groaned. “Okay. I’ll get back to everyone. Do you know where Fen is now?”

  “A call came in a few minutes ago about a pack in Alaska.”

  “He really gets around.”

  Shrieks sounded downstairs.

  Terror ripped through me. Sal ran out of the room. I scrambled out of bed, ran into the hallway, and crashed into him.

  “It’s not Fen. Roska just arrived through the mirror and scared everyone.”

  I sighed in relief and headed for the stairs. “I need to find out what she knows. Maybe Gessilyn found something.”

  Sal arched a brow. “You might want to put some pants on.”

  I glanced down and saw that I only wore boxers. “Good call. I better check my texts, too. There are probably twelve thousand new ones. Tell everyone I’ll be right down.”

  He nodded, and I hurried into my room. After getting dressed, I checked my messages, and sure enough, there were well over a thousand new texts, mostly in the alpha conversation. I sat on my bed and read through them quickly, looking for any news on Fen’s whereabouts. If he’d been in Alaska recently, he could easily head our way.

  Since hearing all the reports of death and destruction, it seemed odd that he’d left us alone. The only thing that made any sense was that Victoria had freed him. Even if we did have special immunity, I wasn’t going to stand for his killing spree. I’d gladly head up the efforts to stop him. I just wished I knew if killing him really would kill the rest of us.

  Soleil and Roska needed to study the stone. We had to find out what we could. I also needed to see what, if anything, Gessilyn had found in her books. If those books were passed down from one high witch to another, there had to be something about him since a high witch had trapped him before.

  At last, I finished reading through the texting conversation. Fen’s last spotting had been in Alaska, just as Sal had said. Not that it helped me to rest any easier at the rate he was moving around the globe. I checked my private texts and half a dozen voicemails.

  Knock, knock.

  “Hold on!” I glanced at the clock. It had taken me half an hour to get through all the messages. I stuffed the phone in my pocket and opened the door.

  Victoria stood there. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. Her hair was damp and she smelled of fruity hair products.

  “How did you sleep?” I asked.

  “Good, but it sounds like Fen’s been on the move all night.”

  I stepped back. “I know. We have to find a way to stop him.”

  She pulled the stone out from her shirt. “Think this’ll help?”

  “It might. We’ll have to see what the witches and Soleil say.”

  “Do you blame me?”

  I gave her a double-take. “For his killing spree?”

  She nodded.

  “No. You can’t control what he does.”

  “But I woke him. I’m the one who found the stone.”

  “Because you wanted to free us all from the curse of the moon.” I kissed the top of her head. “You never intended for any of this to happen. Come on, I need to get down there and talk to Roska.”

  We headed downstairs. Victoria grasped the stone, keeping it close. Conversation sounded in all directions. Moonhaven was full and busy. Four wolves gathered in the entryway, deep in conversation. Voices sounded from the kitchen and living room, also. The scent of coffee hung in the air. I put my arm around Victoria and headed for the kitchen.

  The table was packed with werewolves, eating and in deep discussion. There were more non-pack members than pack members. More were probably on their way.

  It was beginning to look more and more like I was returning to my role as head alpha over all regions.

  Laura turned to me. I expected her to look frazzled with all the extra mouths to feed, but she had a big smile—she loved it. “Can I get you anything, Toby?”

  I stifled a yawn. “Some coffee would be great.”

  “Coming right up.” She turned around and grabbed a mug from the cupboard.

  I turned to Victoria. “Do you need anything?”

  She shook her head. “I already ate.”

  “Hey, Toby!” someone said from the table. It was an alpha I’d trained about fifty years earlier.

  “Mark! Good to see you. Have you met my fiancée, Victoria?”

  He shook his head.

  I introduced them, and then turned my attention back to him. “How’s it going? Every time I hear about you, your pack is thriving more than the previous time.”

  “Until now. Everyone’s beyond freaked out over this Fen character.”

  “You’re not alone.” My phone hadn't stopped buzzing in my pocket since I’d put it there.

  Laura handed me a large, steaming mug. I closed my eyes and sipped. It was the perfect blend of coffee and cream. She knew just how I preferred it. “Thank you.”

  “Let me know if you want more. I sent some young wolves to the store for more coffee and food. It appears we’re going to keep getting new guests.”

  “It looks that way.” I turned to Mark. “We’ll catch up later.”

  He nodded and went back to his conversation. Victoria and I headed to the living room. I sipped the coffee, allowing it to warm and energize me. Roska sat at the couch, deep in conversation with Soleil and Jet. I didn’t see Ziamara or the baby. They were probably upstairs, resting.

  I went over to Roska, gave her a hug, and thanked her for coming.

  “My pleasure. Gess is busy poring over those ancient books.”

  “Has she found anything?”

  Roska patted the couch. “Make yourself comfortable.”

  “That much, huh?” I sat and realized Victoria wasn’t standing with me. My heart plummeted. I scanned the room and saw her in the corner by the full-length mirror, mesmerized by the stone. I turned back to Roska and Soleil. “Is she okay wearing that thing? It’s so powerful, and it’s been on her for nearly a day now.”