Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

I dwell in possibility,
A fairer house than prose,
More numerous of windows,
Superior – for doors.
Of chambers as the cedars,
Impregnable of eye,
And for an everlasting roof,
The Gambrels of the Sky …
-- Emily Dickinson

Novembre 3920 PG (27 years ago)

Chatoyant Court
Stormway, Manchester

Asset 106 jerked awake at the first buzz of his commlink. His handler was trying to get in touch with him. And it wasn’t the first time.

He turned to look at the blonde lying next to him. Samantha looked so serene, smiling even in her sleep. He slid a lock of hair out of her face, couldn’t help but smile back.

Outside a violent squall raged, third night in a row. Stormway sure lived up to its name. Lightning flashed across the windows, punched through the darkness to flicker in his cobalt blue eyes. Thunder rolled in lazily behind its more flamboyant companion, stuck around for a lot longer. Asset 106, or Lincoln – the only name he recalled having – didn’t feel like moving. For the first time in a long time, he felt content. Here with Samantha – in this provincial town where nothing ever happened, the sun rarely broke through the clouds, and it rained incessantly day and night – he wished for nothing else but to be left in peace.

Unfortunately for him, and his kind, peace was simply too much to ask for.

The commlink buzzed again. He stood up, careful not to wake Samantha from her blissful sleep. He donned a pair of black sweatpants and went to the living room, the only other room in this small but comfortable apartment provided to Samantha by her employer. He sidestepped her easel and the tubes of paint she’d left scattered all over the dark hardwood floor. Cracked the farthest window open to let the whistling wind in, just a smidge, and reached for that cursed little nub behind his misshapen left earlobe.

The last time he’d ignored his handler’s calls, he’d been on the run. He’d ripped the commlink out of where it was surgically embedded in his ear with his claws, causing searing pain for weeks and significant nerve damage that never fully healed. Or maybe they made sure it never would, once they recaptured him, as a reminder of what’d happen if he tried to run again. And he'd learned his lesson all right.

He took a deep breath, then activated the link. “I’m here.”
“It’s been twelve days since your last update. What’s the hold-up?”
He bit his lip. “Nothing, I’m just… I need to be sure.”
“There is no doubt. You know your final target is in the monastery.”
“But he’s just…”
“Thought you wanted this, 106. Or are you no longer interested in your freedom?”
He froze. “I’ll get it done.”
“You have 12 hours. The commlink will deactivate and dissolve on confirmation. Remember, we’re honor-bound to keep our blood pact with your friend.”

Norman… his guardian angel, his only friend. Norman had gone to great lengths to secure Lincoln’s freedom. Who knew what consequences he might suffer if Lincoln didn’t hold up his end?

He’d located his target the same day he landed. And yet he was still hanging around here, dragging his feet. Running into Samantha at the Turkiyesh café two days later hadn’t helped things either.

“Get it done, 106. And you’ll never hear from us again.”
He disconnected without a word.

“Rick?” He turned towards the voice seeking him. Samantha.

She was the most beautiful sentient being he’d ever laid eyes on. Not because she was aesthetically symmetrical, which she was, but because when she smiled it reached all the way up to her eyes. When she looked at him, there was never any judgment in her almond-shaped eyes. And when she spoke, she spoke plainly, not an ounce of treachery in her words. Lincoln hadn’t met anyone like her. Even Norman was never wholly truthful with him. Sam didn’t even hide the fact that she was a shifter. A fata morgana, as they said back in the old west.

Too bad ‘Rick’ couldn’t return her honesty in kind.

He walked back to her, crawling into bed, engulfing her in his arms. Samantha smiled and nestled against his bare chest. The warmth of her skin against his was still a novel sensation. He’d been deprived of basic sentient contact for so long… decades… that he’d forgotten what it felt like to be touched with kindness. Let alone love.

“Work?”
“Yeah. I have to go, will be back in the morning.”
She lifted her head up. “Are you okay?”
He tried to be as sincere as he possibly could. “I’m going to be. Got this one last thing to do, then I’m all yours.”
“Hmm, try not to rip another set of clothes this time.”

His smile was dim, filled with regret and guilt. She’d noticed his frequent need to buy new clothes and joined certain dots to conclude he was lycan. He hadn’t corrected her.

“Sleep. Be back before you know it.”

She believed him, and he was grateful to her for it.

He stepped out onto the balcony, in the pouring rain, stood there for a few precious moments. He didn’t notice the tall, statuesque redhead standing at her own window on the top floor of the Chatoyant Court, watching him morph into a supernaturally large wolf, then disappear into the darkness.

Bridgettina Monastery
Stormway, Manchester

His powers had an impact radius of 50 klicks. Powers that made him uniquely valuable to his latest employers from the south. That was how he’d done in the others – four alphas and three betas undefeated in battle, enormously powerful, impenetrably protected. There really was no need for him to get this close. Hell, he could have done this from the comfort of Samantha’s apartment.

And yet, here he was, steps away from the abbey. He leapt over the wrought iron gates in a single bound, climbed to the top of the centuries-old bell tower, then swan-dove to the ledge of a keyhole-shaped attic window. That was where the target was being kept ‘safe.’

He shifted back to humanoid form and climbed in, alighting next to the little pre-glacial style crib that held within itself, his final target. A child… no more than two years old.

He shuddered, and not just because he was wet, cold, and buck naked. He stood silently in the dark, silhouetted by the occasional lightning flash outside. The child slept on, unaware of the danger he was in, the danger he’d been in for the past four weeks. 106’s employers had known about the child’s existence. They just didn’t know how to find him. That’s also where the Reedus asset’s ability to telepathically geo-locate his targets anywhere in the world came in handy.

Just one little twitch of his mind, and it’d all be over. Quickly, painlessly, the aneurysms he gave his victims usually lasted no more than 30 seconds. His freedom, his future with Samantha, everything rested on him getting this final job done. Just one thought…

But it was just a little boy!

So? Lincoln had been a little boy when he was taken from his parents (whom he no longer remembered) and sent to that wretched lab… the lab that became his home, his internment, for so many years (decades) that he forgot his own name. The lab where he was experimented on, brainwashed, and turned into a weapon for hire. No one took mercy on him, why should he?

At least Norman tried. And if it weren’t for Norman, would 106 even be hesitating to kill an innocent child in cold blood?

As fate would have it, he was spared from having to make that impossible decision. Another bolt of lightning struck the walls of the monastery. His superlative ears picked up sixteen sets of footsteps creeping up the stairs towards the nursery.

“You four – guard each floor and stairway,” someone whispered. “Rest of you – surround the abbey, don’t let him get away!”

It was that damn hunter couple again, who almost caught him on his way out of Ballarat five weeks ago. They were old, with several hundred years between them, which was strange… all other LEOs he’d encountered before had been a lot younger. Maybe they were something else, something special, re-drafted into hunter duty just for him.

He smirked sadly, but backed up until he was at the window once again. The toddler was stirring awake, and 106 was too ashamed to remain in his line of sight.

Echoing booms of thunder couldn’t drown the explosion that shredded a 2000-year-old oakwood door to splinters. A tall, dark lycan was the first to march in, a firearm set to stun aimed right between Lincoln’s eyes. Lincoln froze, but so did the lycan. Their eyes met, and locked. He saw surprise, and so many questions, in the hunter’s eyes. He wondered if his own eyes reflected the exhaustion and relief that he felt… like this rescue was meant for him as much as for the child.

For a moment it looked like the hunter was going to say something. He didn’t get a chance. Lightning struck again, and his female companion flew in through the open doorway.

“No, Hil’ wait!” the first hunter cried, but it was too late. Her weapon was not set to stun, and she fired, hitting Lincoln in the right shoulder.

Hot, raging pain erupted through his nerves as the aconite from the laced bullet pierced its way to his heart. Instinctively, he shifted to combat the poison. A jet-black wolf with snow-white socks on all four paws and a collar of white around his neck, now stood in place of his humanoid form.

The child started screaming, drawing the female hunter’s attention away from the asset. “I’ve got the kid. You get the chimera!” she yelled out to her partner.

106 didn’t wait to see what they’d do next. He dove out the same window he came in, hurtling himself 40 meters down to the ground, landing sorely on his front paws. He turned and looked up to find another wolf – a majestic golden-brown beast – sailing through the air, right towards him.

He picked himself up with considerable effort, the severe blood loss and aconite poisoning starting to take their toll. Survival instinct is a stubborn thing. He knew he had to run. Leave Stormway – and Samantha – and all his hopes and dreams of a normal, peaceful, life behind. He could never stop running, never look back… because he'd gazed into the depths of that hunter’s eyes.

He knew that damn lycan was never going to stop coming after him. He wasn’t wrong.

Avril 3938 PG (9 years ago)

Oxbridge University
Oxbridge, Manchester

Alpha Hoechlin was running. Fourth day of his freshman year and he was already twelve minutes late.

He snuck in from the back door, panting silently after his mad dash from his apartment off-campus. Not his hardest run, in fact nowhere near it. It was just nerves really, causing his heart to race like a pre-glacial beast of burden. He was, after all, the first lycan granted entry to the prestigious Oxbridge university in 50 years. Expectations were sky-high, as was scrutiny from the humanist trumps, some of whom still stood outside the Dean’s office protesting his admission.

“Now the term ‘Anthropological’ is a misnomer,” Professor Steven Williams was saying, addressing a class of fifty-odd students. “Because we’ll be spending a lot of time in this class discussing everyone but humans… like our good friends, the Lycans of the North.”

This lycan applied all his Luna-given stealth to stay out of the professor’s line of sight and grabbed the first empty seat he spotted on the back bench.

“Frankly, the term ‘History’ is also misleading. A lot of what we’ll touch on is ongoing… like the relationship our friends have with their counterparts in the south. A fascinating discussion that requires active participation from you, provided you can join us on time…”

Hoechlin froze and looked up to find the professor smirking right at him. So much for stealth. Thankfully, the room was mostly shrouded in darkness and others barely noticed the exchange. Williams moved on, and Hoechlin leaned back in his seat. He looked up at the giant screen behind Williams projecting a map of post-glacial earth and tried to guess what today’s class was about.

That’s when he noticed the lanky kid sitting next to him. He’d seen him around a few times, the one with goofy bangs that dropped all the way down to his eyebrows, and a perpetually wide-eyed expression that humans might describe as ‘like a kid in a candy store.’

“Padalecki, right?”
The kid glanced at him briefly. “Hey, Hoechlin,” then turned right back to focus on the professor.

Most Mancunians who knew him, addressed him with his title ‘Alpha’ as was the appropriate norm. Hoechlin smiled, grateful to be sitting next to someone who didn’t seem to care who, or what, he was. Before he could open his mouth to ask for the favor he needed, the kid slid his digipad over himself, allowing Hoechlin to quickly skim the page they were on.

Great. The Lycan Civil War. His favorite subject in all three continents.

“So as the name suggests,” Williams continued. “The conflict was, and still is, internal to Lycans. But it ended up embroiling other Loric races into it, and has had vast and everlasting impact across the globe. That’s why it is sometimes also referred to as World Loric War. It started 700 years ago, when a faction of the northern pack broke away and migrated to the Southlands. In the process, they plundered and annexed lands from the indigenous Lorics down under – does anyone know who these natives are?”

A petite blonde sitting in the front row raised her hand. “Equideans and Olyphants, Sir. They were… peace-loving, non-predatory races who didn’t know how to retaliate.”

“That’s correct, Ms. …” Williams glanced at her digital nametag flashing at the edge of her desk, “Tal. This faction wreaked havoc across the Southlands for a hundred years before Albion, with significant help from the Sherans, succeeded in boxing the invaders into the western half of the continent, restoring over 60% of the landmass back to its indigenous people.”

Hoechlin bit his lip and looked down at his notes, suddenly not so keen to be in this class after all.

“You know,” the kid beside him whispered. “There was a saying back in pre-glacial times: history is written by the victors.”
He scoffed. “Well, they got it right this time. Either way, I-I’m from Westworld. I don’t have a fox in this fight.”
“Dog.”
“What?”
“Never mind.”

“So eventually in 3318 PG,” Williams continued. “The north and the south finally came to the table to discuss a real truce. High Alphas Gregory Ackles of Albion, and Alaric Sharman of Wehea, signed a blood pact to bury the hatchet and stop intruding in each other’s territories. And that peace held for 600 years. Imagine that! Imagine the power, and the sanctity, of a blood pact in the Lycan way of life.”

“What’s a blood pact, Professor?” A student asked from the fourth row.
“Good question, does anyone want to take this?” Williams threw it back to the room. He waited and waited. Until one hand went up in the last row. 

“Yes, Alpha Hoechlin,” Williams smiled, not needing to look at his nametag. Everyone turned toward the only (known) non-human in their midst.

The lycan steeled himself against the gawking eyes. He needed to do some damage control with the professor for being late anyway. “A blood pact is a solemn vow signed in blood by two or more parties. Everyone in the signing bloodlines is honor-bound to uphold the vow for as long as a single member of their bloodline lives. And honor is a really, really big deal among lycans.”

“What happens if someone breaks a blood pact?” someone else asked.
“No one has so far, far as anyone knows. But if you do break the pact, you essentially lose your standing in the pack, and you are exiled, forever. That’s like… the worst thing that can happen to a lycan.”
“Thank you, Alpha Hoechlin,” said Williams. “The blood pact of 3318 PG meant that as long as an Ackles and a Sharman led their respective packs in the North and the South, peace would prevail. And it sure did, until 18 years ago in 3920 PG, when the Sharmans were overthrown by a splinter group within their own pack.”

Hoechlin lowered his head into his digipad, trying not to let the memories show on his face.

“So, under the new regime in Wehea, the blood pact stands null and void. Violent skirmishes between the North and the South have started up again. It’s not all-out war yet, but that may simply be a matter of time. And unlike the last time, the Lycans don’t seem to care as much if their conflict spills into neighboring human territories.”

An audible murmur rose across the room, several students shifted in their seats. Hoechlin watched them, observed their body language, the unmasked apprehension and outright hostility they subconsciously, or intentionally, sent his way.

“Ignore them,” his neighbor muttered, startling him again.
“I don’t blame them,” he whispered back. Heck, he even empathized with them, having experienced first-hand the horrors of war.
“Actually,” Padalecki interrupted his trip down memory lane. “You probably should blame them… us… humans, I mean.”
“Really, why’s that?”
“Well, didn’t the conflict first start to brew when Grand Alpha Gordon Ackles gifted Manchester to the humans 3000 years ago? Things probably just got worse over time as his descendants continued to go against the wishes of their sub-packs, carving out more parts of Midworld for new human territories. Reykia was the last one, I believe, bequeathed a little over 700 years ago? That might have been the last straw, I suspect…”

Hoechlin turned to look, really look, at the kid beside him. He was far too lean for his height and far too pale, so not an athlete. The ill-fitting, rough-worn clothes likely meant he was on scholarship, which would make him one of the smartest people in the school.

“You’d think the source of racist ideas would be ignorance and hate…” Padalecki quoted. “In reality, it’s something far more basic than that.”
Hoechlin smiled, not even surprised the kid was familiar with such rare pre-glacial texts. “Self-interest,” he responded.
Padalecki smiled back, looking impressed as well. “You know your Kendi!”

They bumped fists, careful not to get caught by the Professor who was now talking about the theological beliefs of the Fenrir-worshipping North versus the Luna-worshipping South.

“This class is probably a waste of your time. You might as well have slept in.”
“Brother, you are reading my mind.”
Padalecki chuckled softly. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“What makes a Lycan Alpha want to attend a human college?”
“Teenage rebellion? That’s still a thing, right?”
The kid chuckled. “Seriously though…”
Hoechlin shrugged. “An insatiable thirst to learn, a need to understand… events, and people, and stuff? And because humans are way better at record-keeping than lorics? I don’t know.”
“Hmm, or you’re trying to get away from your family’s legacy, maybe?”

Hoechlin swallowed and turned to look at Padalecki, who seemed to realize he’d probably said too much.

“I’m sorry, your mixed accent is a dead giveaway. A-And I just got the feeling this topic is somewhat personal for you. Like you might have even… lived it.”
It wasn’t framed as a question. Hoechlin sighed, but for some reason he didn’t mind sharing with Padalecki.
“I was ten when the coup happened. My family had no choice but to flee.”
Padalecki kept his face blank, but Hoechlin could tell he was both sympathetic, and riveted.
“You’re right, I’m originally from Wehea, but that’s not who I want to be. After what Pileggi and his confederates did…”
“You mean how they poisoned the Sharmans and to this date no one knows exactly what they used?”

He started again. “Yes, the public record stated aconite but… how do you know that?”
“Multiple Wehean refugees reported witnessing the Sharmans die in the same way… brain aneurysm. Aconite doesn’t cause that.”
“…”
“I read. Like, a lot. Insatiable thirst to learn and all that…”

The lycan couldn’t help but grin at his suddenly sheepish companion. “I think you and I are going to be really good friends, Padalecki.”
The kid grinned back. “Well in that case, you probably should call me Jared.”
They shook hands, “Tyler, you can call me Ty.”

For the next two years they were inseparable – the Lycan Alpha of Westworld (but really the South,) and the super-smart human from Inverness (but really a shifter from Stormway.) Then Tyler went pre-med, and Jared chose pre-law. Eventually, Tyler transferred to Stanford, stuff happened, and they lost touch. But their friendship quietly endured and would one day go on to play a crucial role in the conflict between the North and the South.

They just didn’t know it at the time.

Juin 3947 PG (3 months ago)

Aboard the Nyctimus
Alaskan Ocean

A little after midnight, Jensen’s phone beeped.

He hadn’t been asleep. He was just lying in bed, warm and comfortable, holding his bond-mate in his arms, letting his mind wander in calm languor. When the phone beeped, he reached for it immediately to silence it before Jared awoke.

It was a text message. “CALL ME. NOW.” All caps, holy continents.

Jared slept on, carefree, safe in the knowledge that his mate was watching over him. Or at least that’s what Jensen hoped. He gently extricated his forearm from Jared’s grip and slid out of bed. He pulled on a gray striped sweater to go with his white joggers, then stepped out of the cabin to head to the lower deck.

“Mother?” He asked, frowning, once the line connected.
Hilarie’s voice came over the airwaves hushed and urgent. “Come home. It’s that time.”
Jensen halted mid-step. His jaw hardened. “You know I can’t. Not anymore.”
“He’s refusing to accept anyone else. It’s been two days, Jensen!”
Jensen felt his hackles rising. “What happened to the last service alpha we hired?”
“Same thing that happens to all of them. Daniel won’t let anyone else near him, you know that.”
Jensen was outright angry and didn’t bother to hide it. “He cannot keep doing this. And he knows I’m bonded now, right?”
“Who doesn’t?” Hilarie sighed, making Jensen roll his eyes.

He knew his mother was not thrilled that he’d chosen a shifter for his mate, or that he’d made such a public splash and shaken up the global Loric community by doing so. But it’s not like he’d done any of it on purpose. Either way, it was done. He was Jared’s and Jared was his. And he couldn’t jeopardize his relationship with his soulmate for anyone. Not even his mother, or Daniel.

“You know I wouldn’t ask you before having tried everything else.”
“…”
“Tensions are mounting. Every alpha, resident and visiting, is growling, and snapping, every beta is cowering and utterly useless. Won’t be long before someone figures it out…”
“You sure they don’t already know?”
Hilarie sighed. “Do you really want to take the chance?”

Jensen started to pace, gazing up at the full moon that for once was failing dismally to comfort him.

“No. But it’s his choice to suffer, so let him. I cannot help him anymore.”
“Come on, son, don’t be cruel. I know you can’t stand to see him in pain any more than I can.”
“…”
“Jensen Ross Ackles!”
“…”
“W-What will I tell his mother when I see her in Fenrir’s halls, hmm? On her death bed, with her last breath, she entrusted me with her sole surviving pup. And what did I do? Let him waste away to nothingness because we couldn’t find an alpha to service his heat?”
“Okay, okay! Enough with the emotional blackmail already.”

Jensen grumbled as he climbed the stairs down to the swimming deck. Trust his mother, Hilarie Burton Ackles, High Beta of Albion to conveniently become religious just when it suited her purposes.

“If I start now, it’s still going to be morning before I–”
“Look up.”

Jensen looked. A2, Jensen’s pam-jet, was hovering silently above the anchored Nyctimus. Fenrir knew how long it’d been there.

“Great. Just great.” He huffed and disconnected. He turned to head back to Jared, hopefully still sleeping peacefully. Pangs of guilt and misery racked his frame, and he wondered if his mate could feel it through the bond. It had only been a few weeks since they got together, they were still figuring things out.

Back in the captain’s suite, he found Jared sitting up in bed. Bare, lean chest glistening with beads of sweat, sleep-filled eyes squinting in search of his mate in the semi-dark.

“Jensen?”
“I’m here, jaan,” Jensen climbed back into bed and took Jared in his arms, pulling his tousled head into his chest. “Did I wake you?”
“I… felt something, like… restlessness. Are… are you okay?”

Jensen trembled and tried his best not to project it through the bond. He didn’t have time to explain, and frankly even if he did, he wouldn’t know where to begin.
“Sorry, Mom just called. She needs me to come home urgently. J-Just for a little bit. I have to leave now but will be back in the morning.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, nothing to worry about. Just… official business while Dad’s away. Papers to review and sign and stuff.” His gut churned at how easily the false words slipped out.
“Okay, anything I can do?”
Jensen kissed his lips with all the gentleness in the world. “You could come with me…?”

Jared blinked, sat up a bit straighter, and cleared his throat. It made Jensen smile, albeit guiltily. He knew Jared would refuse, was even counting on it.

“Kidding, I know you’re not ready for the circus that is your lycan-in-laws.”

Jared flashed his perpetually apologetic smile up at him. He craned up to kiss his alpha, lovingly, thoroughly, until Jensen forced himself to break it off or he’d never make it back to Albion in time.

“Sleep love, be back before you know it.”

Jared believed him, and he was grateful for it.

Ackles Mansion
Albion

The autonomous jet landed 40 minutes later on the terrace of the north wing. Jensen stepped out and was met by beta Briana Buckmaster, Daniel’s caretaker.

She was dressed in bottle-green scrubs, the kind she wore while working with Daniel in the infirmary. Her dark-blond curls were pulled back into a tight bun, though several strands had escaped and stuck out in many directions. Jensen could tell she was exhausted. Must have been a trying two days. 

“Alpha,” she began, lowering her head in a quick bow.
Jensen was in no mood for pleasantries. The immense guilt he felt for lying to Jared, plus this feeling like he’d just been ‘entrapped’… overrode any gladness he might have otherwise for returning home after weeks. He nodded curtly and strode past her to head inside. 

“Infirmary?”
“Yes, Alpha. Isolation room three.”
Jensen turned left. He knew exactly where he’d find Daniel, sequestered in a soundproof, negative pressurized room, inaccessible by anyone but Briana and the First Family.

“So, is it true? Are the suppressants not working anymore?”
Briana had to trot a little to keep up. “He’s starting to build immunity towards them. The only thing that might help, as you know is-”
“- Is illegal, and for good reason.”
“O-Of course, Alpha. But given what I know of the omega physiology, soon nothing else will work.”

Jensen winced. They didn’t much like to use the o-word around here. The fact that the Ackles were harboring one right here on the cordillera might well be Albion’s second-biggest secret. But Briana had been Daniel’s nanny since he was two. Now, as a 28-year-old, he of course wouldn’t allow her to be referred to as such, hence the new title of ‘caretaker.’ They trusted Briana completely, with this secret, and with Daniel. Per protocol, the first thing she did the moment Daniel went into heat was evacuate the north wing. Jensen strained his ears and confirmed as much. Even Hilarie was disallowed, he could hear her pacing in the west wing.

He resumed walking and didn’t stop until he found the room. Outside its sealed door he halted, bracing himself.
“You know I can’t…”
“Of course, Alpha, you never do. Just appease the five senses, let the machine do the rest.”

Appeasing an omega’s senses meant using his alpha voice, scent, gaze, touch, and saliva. Jensen had done it before, and knew it would take longer this way, but in lieu of actual penetration (which Jensen never did and wasn’t about to start now,) this was the next best option.

“Here we go,” he mumbled, before unlocking the door with this thumbprint.

A strong and thickset wave of pheromones rushed out and threatened to overwhelm the lycans where they stood. Anyone else would have succumbed to the irresistible siren-call that was an omega in heat. But Jensen and Briana had had years to adjust and inoculate themselves. The rest of the mountain was shaking at its knees, and the poor residents didn’t even know why. A lot of sex would have been had these past two days in and around the estate.

For Jensen, the coldest splash of water was the incredibly sorry sight of the omega himself. Because Hilarie was right; the last thing he wanted was to see a kid, especially this kid, in pain.

Daniel was face down, naked, skin glistening with sweat under the yellow overhead lights of the isolation room. His frantically flailing, overheated body was bent over what was often called a breeding bench. He was held down with leather straps against a cushioned bench that supported his torso from sternum to navel. His slender arms were pulled above his head, thick leather cuffs restraining him at the wrists. Long, gangly legs were spread wide and held by the ankles on either side of the bench, leaving room between them for an AI-controlled appendage to open up his orifice and service it. In crude terms, a mechanical dildo slowly and rhythmically moved in and out of Daniel’s ass, kneading his prostate at a steady cadence every three seconds.

Daniel craned back towards the door. “You came…” he rasped feverishly, smiling bravely despite everything.
Jensen sighed. “Hi, Daniel.”

He didn’t waste any time. Closing the door behind him and leaving Briana outside, he got to work.

He never enjoyed this, never once derived any pleasure out of what he essentially considered a clinical procedure. His presence had a balm-like effect on the omega who had for some reason fixated on Jensen as his fantasy-alpha ever since he hit puberty. Feeling the alpha’s eyes on his naked body, breathing in the alpha’s scent also provided much-needed relief. Jensen pulled up a stool beside Daniel and stroked the back of his neck. He dipped a soft washcloth in a bowl of iced water and sponge-bathed his body to bring his temperature down. He pressed intermittent little kisses to the heaving back, adding his saliva as salve to the mix. With another washcloth he wiped around and under the dildo to get rid of the copious amounts of slick Daniel’s body produced in heat.

“Please, Alpha, please… please…”
But Jensen ignored his begging and left the genitals untouched. Daniel twisted and struggled against his restraints in an attempt to force contact, even if accidentally. His efforts were in vain, and he thumped his head down on the bench, moaning pitifully.

Voice, Jensen reminded himself. He sighed and opened his mouth, but the words that came out probably weren’t what Daniel wanted to hear.
“You know I love you, like a little brother. Right?”
Daniel looked back adamantly at the alpha, eyes filled with desperation, discontent, and a sense of betrayal… irrational as it may be.
“I do. I have… since the moment Mom brought you home when you were just a little pup. I used to babysit you. I taught you how to hunt and fish. You remember, don’t you?”
Daniel just grunted unhappily and turned away.

Obviously, he didn’t expect Daniel to respond. Chances were, none of his words were even registering in the omega’s near-catatonic, heat-addled state. What mattered was his voice, soothing the aural senses. Jensen swallowed his own discomfort and pressed on. He soaked a fresh set of washcloths and continued to ice the omega down.
“Hey… remember the first time we went fishing? You were nine years old, and you swore up and down the river you saw something with golden fins in the water…”
Jensen chuckled softly, his mind supplying visuals for one of the happiest memories he shared with Daniel. Daniel whimpered softly but gave no real indication he was listening.
“I assured you there were no Mers in Albion. But you had that book of ancient fairytales you lugged everywhere with you, and in it that picture you kept pointing to… and we spent the rest of the evening looking for a damn mermaid that wasn’t there…”
“…”
“I tried telling you what you saw was just a mirage… rays of sunlight glittering in the water can sometimes cause illusions. You were so disappointed you refused to eat after we got back. But mostly, you were upset I wouldn’t believe you. You were so hell-bent on proving yourself right and me wrong… you’ve always been stubborn that way.”

Jensen smiled to himself wistfully. The omega was struggling less, also producing less slick by now. His heartbeat had slowed down as well. Jensen lowered the machine’s intensity by two levels.
“You have to grow up, kiddo. You must choose to stop believing in fairy tales, that’s the only way you’ll get to live an actual life.”
Daniel didn’t react, aside from his usual cadence of whimpers that were likely more in response to the treatment. Jensen had no more words left for Daniel that night.

It took the rest of the hour before the heat-fever finally broke, and Daniel’s pulse and body temperature returned to normal. He was passed out by the time Jensen released him from the bench, swaddled him in a soft blanket, and carried him out of the infirmary.

Briana met them at the door and accompanied them to Daniel’s suite. “Alpha, once again, I’m really sorry for…”
“You don’t have to apologize. But you know this can’t go on, Briana.”
Briana nodded timidly.
“I know how hard it’s been for him. Being stashed away all these years, living his life in hiding…” 
Briana reached out to push Daniel’s hair back from his sweat-drenched forehead. “I don’t need to tell you this, Alpha. But you, me, and your mother are the only, truly meaningful relationships in his life. So, you can imagine how he’s taking this news of your… new… bond-mate.”

They reached the bedroom, where Jensen gently put Daniel down. “I’d do anything to keep him safe. But this delusion of his… I won’t indulge it anymore.”
“I understand. But it’s hard reasoning with someone who’s been in love with you for as long as he can remember. You made no promises, you were always clear. But he never really gave up hope, you know?”
Jensen straightened up. “All I know is, next time he goes in heat, I won’t be able to help. You tell him that.”
“I-I’ll talk to him, Alpha. Millionth time’s a charm, as humans like to say.”

Jensen ignored her blatant impudence and walked out to the terrace where his jet still waited to return him to the Nyctimus. Briana bowed again as he climbed aboard and waited till he was out of sight, then returned to her charge back in his bedroom.

“He’s gone,” she whispered as she approached the bed.
Daniel exhaled a long-held breath and opened his eyes. In the dim glow of his bedside lamp, Briana could see tear-tracks running down his face. Two days of excruciating agony, and not once had he shed tears for himself. But Jensen’s rejection had broken Daniel like no physical torture ever could.
“He’s never going to love me, is he?”
Briana took Daniel in her arms, doing her best to comfort him.

“You can say it… you told me so.”
“I did tell you so.”

Jensen had been right to be suspicious. Briana had allowed Daniel to induce heat by skipping his last two doses, albeit reluctantly. She never could say no to him. Not that it helped.

“He’s bonded, child. Nothing can be done now.”
“I refuse to accept that,” Daniel ground out, holding back sobs.
“Shh, all right.” Briana hushed him.

Eventually, his self-inflicted ordeal caught up with him and he surrendered to sleep. Briana sat in a rocking chair beside the bed and watched over him. They’d spent many a night in this chair, the two of them when Daniel was little and awoke screaming from his nightmares… visions of a dark monster standing over his crib.

“Sorry, Alpha,” she whispered to herself, traitorous thoughts she couldn’t share with anyone. “But Daniel’s my responsibility. My loyalty is to him, above all.”

Bonds with shifters couldn’t possibly be as strong, right? Mutts were after all, the bottom of the pile, mere sub-humans for Fenrir’s sake. And once Jensen brought him to Albion, their archaic society wouldn’t let them have a single moment of peace together.

Briana smirked. How long could they possibly last?

Chapter Text

21 Août, 3947 PG

Aboard the Nyctimus
Bay of Eritrea  

It had been 16 weeks since the earthquake.

Sixteen weeks of living on a yacht at sea. Of avoiding media drones buzzing about everywhere they went. Of supporting post-earthquake recovery efforts and the ongoing investigation in Cathedral. Of feeling frustrated at the slow pace of progress, followed by feeling hopeful for a brighter future, often feeling both at once.

It was also 16 weeks of making love until the sun came up, kissing every inch of skin on each other’s body, talking for hours, laughing so hard they’d have tears in their eyes, discovering each other as intimately as two people possibly could. Sixteen weeks of blissful togetherness. Sixteen weeks of unconditional love.

So, this was what it meant to be bonded.

Jared never thought he’d have something like this. He’d come close with Adrianne, but that was a lifetime ago. This… what he had with Jensen… was so pure, and primal, so complete… so far beyond what he thought was realistic, he often wondered if he was just dreaming…

“Seriously, jaan. Yes, this is real.”

Jared started. He’d been staring into the vast expanse of the Aegean Sea for the last… who knew how long. Well, Jensen probably knew. He turned around to find the alpha walking over to join him on the upper deck.

Jensen had just wrapped up a meeting with Alan and members of Albion’s High Council. He wore his favorite black slacks with a black silk shirt, an ensemble that made him look both alluring and intimidating. It also brought out his sea-green eyes, sparking like rare gems that could cut you with one searing look. In contrast, Jared was dressed in his usual, street urchin sort of way – old, distressed jeans faded from blue to nearly white, a brown khaki jacket that’d seen better days, and a sky-blue t-shirt that stopped an inch over his leather belt.

“You’ve been doing that a lot, lately,” Jensen teased, kissing Jared on the lips.
“Spacing out?”
“Yes, but also, questioning all of this… our life together.”
Jared lowered his eyes. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s just… lately I’ve been having these dreams that are so… so vivid that when I wake up, for several minutes I’m not sure where I am or what’s real, and what’s not.”

Jensen wound his arms around Jared’s waist, pulling his mate close to himself. “What kind of dreams?”
Jared blinked rapidly like he did when he was trying to recall something. “Okay, like, last night… I-I saw… mm, never mind.”
“What is it? You can tell me… how bad can it be?”
“It wasn’t bad, exactly…”

A slight tinge of red blossomed across Jared’s cheeks, making Jensen grin. “You had a sex dream.”
“Noooo…”
“Disappointing. So, what was it then?”
“Well, it was… something I’ve never thought of before…”
“You’re killing me here, jaan.”

Jared licked his lips. “I-I saw a little girl. Maybe four years old, with a square jaw just like yours, same dark-blonde hair, long eyelashes, and…”
“And?”
“… and hazel eyes, shaped like mine.”

Jensen’s smile widened, and Jared blushed brighter. “We… I mean the Jared and Jensen in my dream… called her Annabelle. It was my mother’s middle name.”
“Annabelle. That’s a beautiful name. I love it.”

Jared smiled, his eyes dropping to his favorite spot at the base of Jensen’s throat – his jugular notch. “The three of us were standing together, posing for a digital maybe, in what looked like… a baroque-style balcony, overlooking a mountain range covered in fresh white snow. Uh, baroque is like this human architecture style from…”

“I know what it is… Jared, you saw the Ackles mansion in your dream!”
Jared frowned, “I did?”
Jensen laughed. “Remember I was showing you pictures on my digipad the other night? You obviously retained some of it and dreamed of us being home!”

Jared’s smile faltered, just a little bit. The thought of facing the Northern pack, expecting them to accept him into their exalted First Family… it was all too much to even think about. But Jensen looked so happy, like he’d somehow won an unspoken debate. Like the dream proved beyond doubt that Jared secretly did want to return to Albion with him. But did he, really?

“Hey, I’m not saying it, your subconscious is saying it,” Jensen declared.

Jared rolled his eyes and followed Jensen as he led them both back to a white cashmere sofa set. 
“But there is something I wanted to talk to you about…” Jensen began as they sat down, putting their feet up on a giant ottoman.
“What is it?” Jared asked, curious because Jensen suddenly looked very serious.
It was Jensen’s turn to pause and collect his thoughts, and Jared was patient enough to wait.

“The Council is about to elect a Zeta. And I put my name down for it, months ago. I have to be there for the meeting.”
“…”
“Sorry, a Zeta is –”
“- a wartime general for lycan military,” Jared finished the sentence for him.

Jensen smiled, only mildly surprised.

Jared dug into his memory bank going back to Oxbridge days and continued. “Albion hasn’t needed one in a long time. In fact, the last Zeta was your father, Alan Ackles, some 200 years ago, before he was High Alpha.”
Jensen nodded. “That’s right. But with tensions escalating at the southern border…”
“Since the Pileggi pack took over the south…”
Jensen smirked again, while Jared simply shrugged. “Anthropology 101, and HBO documentaries.”

Jensen nodded, then got to his original point.

“Jared, I have responsibilities to my pack. They’re all counting on me to lead them. I also don’t want some hothead hell-bent on proving themselves to take on the role and end up making things worse than they have to be. I mean, if there’s any way all-out war can be averted, we could save countless lives on both sides. That’s what I’d want to do as Zeta. This is very important to me…”

Jared reached out to grab Jensen’s hands in his. “This isn’t just important to you. It’s important, period.”
“Wha-What does that mean… ‘period’?”

Jared chuckled. It happened very rarely that he’d have to explain a humanish figure of speech to Jensen, but it did happen.
“It’s like saying end of discussion, no need to debate things further. You don’t have to explain it to me, love. I get it.”
Jensen sighed. “But of course, what that means is…”
“We have to go back to Albion,” said Jared. And he meant it.

He resolved to put his own reservations and fears aside. He needed to do this for his mate, and for the global lycan community.

“Thank you so much, jaan,” Jensen squeezed his mate’s thigh and pulled him into a deep, loving kiss. Then he stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bridge, to put in new coordinates.”
“W-What… you mean now? We’re leaving now?”

Jensen smiled reassuringly at his fidgety not-so-little mate. “Yes, we’re leaving now, jaan, but we’re making a pitstop first.”

Jensen wasn’t blind to Jared’s reservations and fears, obviously. He could sense them all through their bond, and frankly they weren’t entirely irrational.

A bond was the most sacred element in lycan society. It was the very bedrock of their laws, social values, pack structures, their entire way of life. Albion was duty-bound to accept Jared as his bonded mate. But would Jared be welcomed with the same warmth and hospitality they would have shown were he not a shifter? For that matter, would they even want Jensen back in the pack?

Shifters had been denigrated in their culture for as long as Jensen could remember, worse than humans. No doubt they had an extremely difficult, uphill battle ahead of them, especially Jared. Fenrir knew Jensen didn’t want to put his mate through it. If they could just live on their yacht, floating on intercontinental waters, he’d gladly do so for the rest of their lives. But Albion was teetering on the edge of war. Any moment now, something as menial as a gust of wind might well tip it over and put all life on the entire continent of Midworld in peril.

Jensen’s mind tumbled through all these thoughts and scenarios – alternately happy and harrowing, determined and nervous – as he steered the Nyctimus towards the east. Returning to Albion was inevitable, but they didn’t have to do it right away. The circle meeting wasn’t until next week. Jensen would rather his mate have the warmest possible welcome into the family. And that’s why he decided to start with his biological father.

“Damn continents, I don’t know what to wear…”

His wolf ears caught his mate whining to himself in the captain’s suite, and Jensen chuckled. He let the AI take over and dashed down to his mate, grateful for the happily mundane distraction of choosing clothes.

22 Août, 3947 PG

Ellis Pier
Santorini, New Tibet

It took them 25 hours to reach the remarkably well-preserved ruins of Santorini. Jeff and Andy were both waiting at the pier, eager to greet the newly-mated couple.

Jared recognized them from the photos on Jensen’s digipad. Jeff was the tall one, dressed in blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a blue-and-white flannel shirt hanging open over it. He also wore glasses he didn’t need, and sported a salt-and-pepper beard that suited him well. Andy was shorter, slimmer, clean-shaven, with longish hair that curled at the base of his neck. He wore a denim shirt that matched his jeans, and boho leather sandals befitting the artist Jared knew him to be.

“There you are!” Jeff yelled out for all and sundry to hear. “MY SON!”

Jensen laughed as he ran down the dock and into his father’s arms. They stood holding each other for a few seconds. Then Jensen turned to give Andy a big hug, effortlessly lifting the human right off his feet.

Eventually, they turned to the newcomer. Jared hung a few steps back, almost as if waiting to be allowed any closer.

“Dad, Andy,” Jensen announced proudly, “I’d like you to meet the love of my life, Jared Padalecki.”
Jared raised a hand to wave a tentative ‘hi.’
“Don’t be shy, son,” Jeff called out to him. “Come give us a hug, won’t you?”

Jared approached tentatively and let Jeff enfold him into a gentle embrace. There was no hesitation, no shortness in the lycan’s actions. Jensen smiled as he felt his mate’s apprehension melt away slowly in his father’s arms.

Finally, Jared turned to Andy.

The two men looked at each other, knowing this was a momentous occasion and wanting to put their best forward. But they didn’t quite know how to begin. They shuffled around a bit but eventually figured it out and gave each other a quick hug.

“Jared…”
“A-Andrew?”
“Andy is fine.”
Jeff jumped in, “Or Dad-2 if you prefer!”

Jensen and Jeff chuckled, while Andy and Jared just smiled awkwardly, but said nothing.

He was a lonely kid who grew up with no father figures. And now, he apparently had two. Jared didn’t quite know how to process it yet.

Town Market
Santorini, New Tibet

They walked back to their cottage, located on top of a cliff and quite a distance from the pier. Jared looked around the unique prehistoric architecture of the village… sepia-colored little houses with bright blue domes and arches, narrow cobbled streets… it was truly a miracle that all of this had withstood the test of time, literally, for thousands of years.

He watched bemusedly as Jensen and Jeff pulled a little ahead of the group. Father and son were completely engrossed in each other, laughing and jostling each other playfully all the way. That left Jared to walk alongside Andy, a refined man who didn’t speak much, but his presence was warm and his smile sincere, almost comforting in a way.

“Brilliant weather,” said Jared, looking up at the dazzling afternoon sun, just to make some small talk.
“Yeah,” Andy replied. “Santorini is blessed with perfect sunny weather all year round.”
“So, the exact opposite of Stormway. Always raining, all year round.”
“Never been. Is that where you’re from?”
“Born and brought up till I was eight. It’s a sleepy little shifter town, forgotten by the rest of Manchester.”

Jared looked sideways at Andy, waiting to see how the human reacted. Maybe he was looking for signs of prejudice, reasons to distrust this seemingly perfect man.

Andy smiled, a little sadly. “I know little towns like that in Reykia. That’s where I’m from… or so I’m told.”
Jared frowned. “What do you mean?”

Andy bit his lip. “Not sure how much Jensen told you? I was… ‘found’, 27 years ago, washed up on the Gelidian shoreline in Reykia. When I came to, I’d lost all memories of my past life. Whoever I was before, it’s all just… gone. I don’t even know my real name.”

Jared listened intently to the ordinary-looking human’s extraordinary story.

Andy chuckled, a bit sheepishly. “Usually when folks ask me where I’m from, I just say Reykia. Trust me, I don’t go around sharing my backstory with everyone, in fact, no one. But since you’re family…”
Jared felt a sudden rush of warmth fill up the cavity in his chest. “Thank you, Andy. Th-that means a lot.”

The human reached out to touch the shifter’s forearm, just for a second. He didn’t need to say anything else.

Up ahead, the street they were on was about to fork. The right lane went up to their cottage and Jensen and Jeff were already on it. The other one turned towards the quaint little town center.

“Come on,” Andy nodded towards the left. “Let’s give these two some time to catch up. You up for a longer walk through the market? I’ve a feeling you’ll enjoy it.”
“Absolutely!” Jared blurted, excited already.

The day kept getting better and better.

Jared got to explore the village and couldn’t have asked for a better guide than Andy. Turned out they shared a love for art and architecture and ended up talking for hours about it. The flea market brought back fond memories of Adrianne – she was a collector of prehistoric art and antiquities, and they’d spent many Sundays browsing bunker archives and fairs like this one. One little wooden sculpture, in particular, caught his eye.

“It's called a chimera. A mythological beast, stuff of pre-glacial legend,” Andy shrugged. “That's all I know.”
Jared smiled. “Think I remember this from Adrianne's books. Not man, not woman. Neither human nor monster. A mishmash of multiple genetically distinct entities...”
“Do you want it?” Andy started to pull out his wallet. 
“Oh no, no, thanks Andy! Just...” Jared started to back away, waving a hand dismissively around his temple. “Memories, you know...”
Andy made a face. “I actually don't.”
Jared and Andy looked at each other for a quiet two seconds, then burst out laughing.   

Later, Jared convinced Andy to show him his studio, where he painted and sold his own work.

“I have no words, Andy. These are… miraculous!”
“Well, that’s a new one,” Andy laughed shyly, standing in a corner of his workplace with his arms crossed. “I’ll take it…”

Jared spun around and admired each piece of art on display. Gorgeous neo-glacialistic paintings of birds soaring in clear blue skies, breaking out of gilded golden cages, or flying away with their cage in one painting, perching atop the tallest trees, evading shadowy fingers, flying past a shimmering, orange-tinted horizon…

“There’s clearly a theme here.”
“Yeah, the artist is obsessed with avian creatures.”
Jared squinted. “I’d say the artist’s obsession is with freedom.”
Andy winked at the young shifter. “Close…”
Jared glanced at him, then back at the paintings. “Oh. That’s right. Not freedom… an end to captivity… more like.”

Andy smiled, expressing his silent approval.

Jared bit his lip. “My mother used to paint.”
“Did she?”
Jared stood before a painting that reminded him of the rocky, fog-engulfed shores of Stormway. “That’s what I’m told. I found a few of her pieces in her things after… she passed on. She had a thing for natural landscapes too.” 

Andy bowed his head and waited, gave Jared a much-needed minute.

“Come on, let’s head back before your mate and mine start to prowl the village looking for us.”
Jared chuckled, then followed Andy out the door.

Jeff and Andy’s Cottage
Santorini, New Tibet

It was a crescent night, when the new moon holds the old one in its arms for all to see. The breeze was cool but not chilly. Perfect night to take advantage of the gorgeous outdoor space Andy and Jeff had created behind the cottage, overlooking the lagoon.

The four of them ended up cooking together, with Andy doing most of it and Jared the least.
“You can’t trust him to boil water, believe me,” Jensen teased. And Jared stuck his tongue out at him, before admitting his mate was quite right.
“How about you pour the wine then, kiddo?” suggested Jeff.
“That I can do, yes sir!”
“All right, let me show you the cellar.”

The two of them strode out of the kitchen, leaving Jensen alone with Andy for the first time that day. He turned to his dad’s mate and couldn’t stop grinning like a lovesick loon.

“Look at you,” Andy shook his head, snickering. And then on cue, laughing together for no particular reason, they hugged.
“He’s perfect, isn’t he?”
Andy squeezed the lycan’s shoulder. “He’s perfect for you, that’s what matters.”

Soon, the wine started to flow, as did the conversation. Passersby could hear them talking and laughing. And if they peered through the cozy cottage windows, they could tell it was a family that loved and valued each other tremendously. No one could tell who was human, or shifter, or lycan among the lot.

A couple hours later, Jared was happily drunk. Jensen could feel it through the bond, and not just because this was the chattiest he’d ever seen him be.
“So, Andy,” Jared began after the third course, consisting of pilaf rice and slow-roasted lamb that Andy was famous for in all the village.
“Now that you two know everything there is to know about how Jensen and I met,” he pointed at the couple seated on the other side of the wooden picnic table. “I want to know your story.”
“…”
“Come on guys, how does a 190-year old lycan alpha, fall in love with a… what… 20-something amnesiac human from Reykia?”

Jensen reached for his mate, squeezing the back of his neck gently, but really trying to hold him steady as he was starting to sway a little. He raised an eyebrow at his dad curiously. Jeff just bit his lip and turned to look at his mate instead.

“Yeah, okay, why not?” Andy said, smiling as he had been all day. He turned towards Jared. “It’s not very interesting, rather anticlimactic in fact…”
“Let me be the judge of that, please?”
“Okay, okay… so… I woke up in the back of an ambulance, no memory, no ID, no known family, no home, nothing. They put me in a sanatorium. What was the name of that place, jaan?”

Jeff was in the middle of a huge gulp of wine, so it took him a second to reply. “Uh, St. Andrews in Vivamayr.”

“Right! So… obviously I was lost. My body healed quickly but my mind remained a blank slate. Think I was in there a month when one day, a tall, dark, and handsome man in military threads rode in through the gates on a magnificent black Arabian steed…”
“It was a black Nuo-Ducati hyperbike, but carry on…”

Jensen chuckled as the couple teased each other, and he felt relieved. In the past, he’d always sensed a ton of tension in Jeff’s voice every time anyone brought up Andy’s past. But they seemed willing to share today, for Jared’s benefit.

“Jeff was a LEO in Albion at the time.”
“Loric Enforcement Officer,” Jensen added helpfully, and got a napkin thrown in his face from Jared.
“I know that!”

Andy snorted and continued. “He was chasing a fugitive and his investigation led him to Vivamayr. He didn’t find his fugitive, but fortunately for him… he ran into me.”
“Very fortunate indeed,” Jeff butted in.
“It was like… we imprinted on each other at first sight, wasn’t it?” Andy looked at Jeff. The alpha nodded.
“No one was more surprised than I. I’d given up, you see. I was almost 200 years old. I didn’t think I was meant to have a bond-mate in this life. Everyone knew me as the lone wolf, and honestly if it weren’t for my son, I’d have no reason to stay in the pack at all.”

Jensen empathized deeply. He had started to lose hope once he hit 80.

Andy took Jeff’s hand in his. “Anyway, he started visiting. Often. And I started looking forward to seeing him more and more.”
“Wait,” Jared interrupted. “How did you introduce yourself? I mean what name…?”
“Oh, the nurses had christened me Andrew by that time, for obvious reasons. And later when I got myself a new identity, I chose Lincoln for my last name as a, um… I believe as a nod to…”
“That fugitive I never caught, remember, jaan? You said that if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have met, so…” Jeff smiled, rather somberly.

“Amazing. How come you never told me this before?” Jensen whined.
“Because you never asked,” Jared retorted on Jeff’s behalf, and Jensen made a face. “What happened next?”
“Well,” Andy continued. “We started dating and one thing led to another and… we bonded. And that was it… the sanatorium couldn’t keep me anymore. So, my knight in shining armor and I rode into the sunset on his hyperbike… and here we are.”
Jared made a soft ‘aww’ sound making Jensen roll his eyes, but he couldn’t stop smiling either.

“Did you go back to Albion?” Jared asked, voice dropping to a whisper. Jensen squeezed his mate’s nape a little harder.
Jeff regarded him kindly. “No, son. The pack wasn’t ready to welcome a human back then. So, I quit the force, and we moved out here. This is home now, and forever.”
“…”
“But it’s a new day today, a different world. And you – my favorite son in the world–”
“Your only son in the world…”
“And you, my son’s bond-mate – shifter, lawyer, activist – Jared Padalecki – you have changed the world. In ways that cannot be undone.”

Jared plonked his forearms on the table and stared into his empty wine glass. All his reservations and fears were in plain sight now, even though he hadn’t said a word about them to anybody, including Jensen.

“Hey, son,” Jeff continued, reaching for Jared’s hand. “Albion is not going to be easy on you, and that’s the truth. But remember, you are no ordinary bond-mate. You’re bonded to the Alpha-Apparent of Albion, the third-most influential lycan on the planet. That gives you an incredible amount of power that you can wield the way you want, for causes you deem worthy. You understand me, right?”

Jared swallowed but nodded. Silence reigned for a few seconds as all four men seemed lost in their own thoughts. Then Jensen cleared his throat. “Hey, didn’t the ancients used to say: with great power comes great capacity to drink?”

Everyone laughed. Jared just shook his head. “You’re a dork.”
“That’s not the saying?”
“You know it’s not.”
“What is it then?”
“I’m not going to tell you. And for the last time, stop making fun of my love for ancient idioms!”
“Andy doesn’t know it, do you, Andy?”
Andy shrugged, playing along. “Tell me, Jared.”
“Come on, tell us!” Jeff added.
“Say it, say it!” Jensen egged him on.
Jared rolled his eyes and stood up. “With great power, comes great… responsibility to keep pouring the wine.”

They laughed again, then Jared headed down to the cellar for another bottle.

Once Jared was out of earshot, Andy looked at Jensen. “I know you’ve heard this from Jeff already, Jensen, but I’ll say it again… you two are always welcome here. No matter what happens up there on your mountain, Santorini is your home too.”
Jensen smiled. “I know, Andy, thank you.”

Andy stood up. “I’ll get dessert.”

Eventually, they switched from wine to tea, and from the patio to the living room. Exhaustion soon caught up with Jared, and he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
“All right, time to get this one into bed,” Jensen announced as he stood up and pulled his mate up to his feet as well.

They said their goodnights and the younger couple made their way to the guest bedroom upstairs. Andy and Jeff lingered, lounging on the shag-rug by the couch. All the lights were off, save for the fireplace and a few candles on the center table.

“You okay, jaan?” Jeff asked, watching firelight draw pretty shadows across Andy’s pensive face.
Andy turned towards him. “Doesn’t it bother you? That you don’t actually, really know me?”
Jeff leaned forward. “I do know you. I know you better than you know yourself.”

Andy looked away, focusing on the flames again. This wasn’t the first time they were having this conversation. And it wasn’t the first time he seemed disappointed at the lack of answers to his questions.

Jeff sighed. “Let me refresh your tea. Then we can head to bed, okay?”
Andy nodded absently.

The alpha stood up and went to the kitchen island. He brewed a fresh pot of chamomile and dropped two dollops of honey into it just the way Andy liked it. Then, carefully, without drawing Andy’s attention, he reached for the little box of chrysoberyl he kept hidden underneath the spice rack. Scooped a tiny pinch of the silver-colored powder into Andy’s cup, stirred thoroughly until the herb disappeared, then brought it to his mate.

“Here you go.”

He resumed his place on the rug beside Andy and watched him slowly sip his nightly tea.

“You know I love you, jaan, don’t you?”
Andy leaned his head back on Jeff’s sternum. “Obviously. Who else will tolerate your snoring, you canine?”

Jeff rested his chin on top of Andy’s head and tried to suppress his perpetual fear of the day Lincoln discovered the truth about himself.

25 Août, 3947 PG

Western Front
Albion  

Three days later, the Nyctimus dropped anchor on the northwestern shore of Albion.

It was a military pier. Jared scanned the long line of lycans standing guard around the dock, dressed in Albion’s combat uniform – deep green cargo pants and shirt with short black leather jackets and mid-calf black combat boots. No cover. No name tags, except for the Albionian flag emblazoned on the left patch pocket. They stood at attention, heads up, eyes straight ahead watching the shoreline. Except Jared could sense a lot of those eyes on him. He tried not to show how much it rattled him.

“Relax, jaan,” Jensen came up behind him, engulfing him in his arms and resting his chin on Jared’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Jared nodded, then started to pick his duffel bag up from the deck floor.
“I got it,” Jensen grabbed the bag instead.

It didn’t have much: a few clothes, his only other pair of shoes, his toothbrush, digipad, gifts he’d bought for the Ackles family at the flea market, and a digital frame with images of the four of them together – Jeff, Andy, Jared and Jensen – happy memories to sustain him when times got rough (as they undoubtedly would.)

Jared looked at the yacht that’d been home for four months one last time. Then he let Jensen take him by the hand and lead him off the yacht onto the grounds of Albion.

One lycan standing at the head of the line of soldiers stepped up to meet them. He shoved his right fist against the left side of his chest in a military salute. “Welcome back, First Alpha.”
Jensen saluted back the same way. “How’re things on the western front, Sergeant Beta Jones?”
“Slow. Quiet. SF is where the party’s at and we’re missing it.”

Before Jared could ask, Jensen turned to him and mouthed the words “southern front.” Jared nodded and stood by, quietly observing the rest of the exchange.

Jones was the commanding officer here. His uniform featured an item that, Jared just realized Jensen was wearing too, over his casual jeans and t-shirt. It was a long black leather coat with ancient gothic-style straps around each sleeve, a similar belt around the waist giving it an A-line structure, and a fur-lined hoodie. The fur was obviously faux, and Jared remembered reading that its color indicated seniority or rank of some kind. Jones’ hoodie was lined with blue fur, the foot soldiers’ jackets had black or brown furs, and Jensen’s coat fur was a shade of dark metallic gold.

There was a chill in the wind, and Jared was glad for his own brown shearling jacket that Jeff had insisted he take to Albion. Though he could have used another layer over his white t-shirt and as-usual-ragged-thin jeans. He pulled up his collar to shield himself, and immediately his mate’s right arm came up around him, pulling him closer into the alpha’s significantly higher body heat. Jared smiled, he wanted to lean in but the audience they had at the moment gave him pause.

“I can take that, Alpha,” Jones said, reaching for Jared’s bag slung around Jensen’s shoulder.
“It’s all right, David. By the way, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Sergeant Jones looked at Jared then, for the very first time. His face was stern and blank. Jared willed himself not to look away.
“A-Apologies, I didn’t know how to address…”
“As is protocol, Sergeant, you will address my mate as Onur Gelin, or Onur for short,” Jensen commanded.
“Wh-What… uh,” Jared interrupted, “what does that mean?”
“It’s just, what you call in humanish, um… a title, like ‘Sir’.” Jensen explained almost dismissively.
“Sir? No, no…” Jared reacted instinctively, making the lycans look at him in surprise. Neither was likely used to Jensen being disagreed with.
“I’m sorry, Alpha. But… ‘Jared’ is just fine.”

Jensen sighed and without a word, turned to Jones. Jones looked at Jensen once, then at Jared, then back at Jensen. Then he took a step back and made a deep bow in Jared’s direction.

“Welcome, Onur Jared.”
Jared opened his mouth to protest but didn’t get a chance.
“Good choice, Jones!” Jensen declared, then smirked at Jared. “Let’s go, jaan.”
It was Jared’s turn to sigh, but he let it go.

“We have your pam-jet ready, Alpha,” said Jones a few meters later.
“Pam-jet?” Jared queried, studying the two-person airship standing just ahead.
“Personal. Autonomous. Mach.” Jensen explained. “Actually, mine’s a Mach 2, fastest in all of Midworld. Solar-powered hovercraft, vertical takeoff and landing, the works.”

Then he turned to Jared. “Okay, two options… we could ride this baby and reach the mansion in minutes. Or…”
“Or?”
“I could show you my home, my Albion… my way,” Jensen smirked.
It was a challenge. Jared bit his lip and chose to rise to it. “Let’s do it your way then.”

Jensen grinned.

He put Jared’s bag down and took off his coat. “Here, put this on, so you don’t get cold.”
Jared took it gratefully, then slung said bag across both shoulders. He watched, enrapt as he was every time his mate shifted into his wolf form. The transformation was instantaneous and spectacular, as always. His clothes lay tattered around him, but Jensen obviously didn’t care. Commander Jones also acted like it was all in the day.

“Hop on!” Jensen the wolf said, his voice in this form heavier and deeper than usual. It sent warm tingles down Jared’s spine.

Jensen lowered himself to the ground so Jared could climb onto his back. Jared gripped handfuls of the jet-black fur, surprised as always by its softness considering it was one of the strongest fibers on the planet. He could feel Jensen’s pulse pounding at a mystical rate three times faster than in human form. His own pulse started to race in anticipation of what was about to come.

“Hold tight, jaan. We’re going for a ride.”

Jensen took off galloping across the vast, lush landscape of grasslands mixed with wooded forests, rivers, and lakes as far as the eye could see. Jared wound his arms around Jensen’s neck and held on for dear life. They must be traveling at over a 100 klicks an hour, Jared guessed, and this was Jensen being extra-careful, for the sake of his passenger. Every time Jensen took a gigantic leap, Jared felt his stomach lurch. Soon enough though, he remembered that he was safe with Jensen, and got used to the novel and thrilling sensations. He even found himself hooting and cheering every time they went flying through the air. Jensen was right – this was definitely the ride of a lifetime, and most assuredly the best way to experience Albion.

He soaked in the sights, sounds and scents of Albion, remembered how sorely he’d miss greenery back in the city of Cathedral. Wild animals of all sizes merrily grazed the land or played with their young, despite a gigantic wolf bounding past them. There were actual fish in the river that jumped out of the water as if to welcome their favorite leader home. Some of the trees in the forest they ran through must be a 1000 years old, if not more. He'd never seen trees grow this tall or this wide in circumference before. Jared felt so free, so exhilarated, and so damn happy he could cry. He actually did cry, until he realized he was also experiencing his mate’s happiness through their bond. Jensen was undoubtedly happy to be back.

“That’s right, my love. We’re finally home. Our home.”

Jensen’s words telepathically echoed inside his head. And for as long as the journey lasted, Jared found himself actually believing them.

Ackles mansion
Albion

The rustic, 40-feet high gates started to slide open soon as they came into view, and Jensen and Jared sailed right through.

Jensen expected to see the guards at the outer gates, and a couple of beta helpers up ahead at the mansion entrance. But to his surprise, there were a lot of lycans lined up on both sides of the approximately klick-long, stone-paved road between the gates and the mansion. Word must have traveled fast from the pier all the way up to the cordillera. In both human and wolf form… some cheered loudly while others stood solemnly. Some were clearly there to show love and support. Many stood projecting suspicion, and some even outright hostility. A few looked directly at Jensen, but practically everyone was watching the shifter he chauffeured on his back.

“Keep your head up, jaan,” he mumbled softly but firmly, making sure his mate heard him despite the ruckus around them. He felt Jared’s grip at the scruff of his neck tighten. He sped up to clear the crowd and get them both inside the mansion as soon as possible.

Second Alpha Kathryn Newton Ackles and nine staffers stood in a diamond formation – part of a traditional welcoming custom – at the mansion’s open doorway. The younger Ackles sibling was dressed less grungily than the last time they met her… black skin-tight leather pants, and a white floral-design sheer lace top with full sleeves and a high collar.

“You’re here, at last!” Kathryn shrieked. She came over and helped Jared climb down to his feet.

His hair was wind-swept, his cheeks reddened by the cold, and he teetered just for a moment, striving to regain his equilibrium. But he smiled, visibly relieved to see the first face be a familiar – and friendly – one.

“Welcome, Jared, welcome to your new home!” she said and pulled him into a tight hug.

The staff parted into two neat lines and let the couple through. Then the doors closed, leaving the crowd outside.

Once inside, Jensen transformed, and a beta stood ready with a black, plush floor-length robe that he donned gracefully and tightened the gold sash around his waist. The A-line structure and material of these robes were such that once wrapped around the wearer, they covered every inch of skin from the throat to the end of one’s toes, with the exception of hands, of course. Jensen stood with his hands clasped behind his back and watched the lycans surrounding his mate like a hawk. All his senses were on high alert, ready to pounce at the first sign of danger or… discomfort… threatening the well-being of his mate.

“Relax, son,” a voice hushed him from over his right shoulder, startling him.
Of course his mother knew what he was thinking, and of course she would be the one to sneak up on him so. No other lycan could, or would even dare. 
“Mom,” he gave her a tight, lingering hug, eyes still trained on Jared who was now being accosted by a beta trying to take his bag and he was refusing to let it go.

“Why are the sub-packs outside?”
“Your father and I have done everything lorically possible to keep this low-key. But our society isn’t as isolated anymore as the humans think. Everyone has HBO now. All 180 channels streaming 24/7.”
Jensen rolled his eyes. “I have no intention of hiding my bond-mate from anyone. I could’ve used a warning, that’s all.”
“Let’s worry about them later. Come on, introduce me to our Onur Gelin, won’t you?”

Jensen heard a subtle tinge of skepticism behind those two words but chose to ignore it. He took her hand in his, and together they walked up to Jared and Kathryn.

The entire mansion staff of maybe 30 betas had gathered in the majestic foyer. Many bowed to Jared, as was the norm of course (and some didn’t.) The first time it happened, Jared almost made to bow back, until Kathryn stopped him.

“Don’t do that.” She whispered as she hooked her arm through his and pulled him back upright. “You’re part of the First Family now, Onur. You command their respect by standing tall and proud. Understand?”

Jared looked at her blankly, his face still red but not just from the wind. He craned his neck back to look for Jensen and found him walking right towards him. With Hilarie.

The staff moved aside, making room for the High Beta and her son as they approached. Jensen felt his mate’s nervousness through the bond and tried to send some assurance back the same way.

Hilarie Burton Ackles was a tall, beautiful, and mesmerizing being… a lycan queen who was loved and admired the world over, and not just by lycans of the North. The Southern lycans wished she was one of them. The Sherans valued her political savvy just as much as her husband’s. The humans featured her in their lists of top 100 most influential beings on the planet, and often tagged her with a moniker that, according to Jared, was an enormous compliment of some kind.

“Princess Di of the Post-Glacial era,” he heard Jared whisper under his breath. Jensen tried not to laugh, knowing that if he could hear Jared then… of course so could Hilarie. And she loved that moniker.

In her metallic blue, full-length shirt dress with rolled up sleeves and black stiletto boots, Hilarie looked at once dressed for a family dinner, and for battle. She looked right at Jared as she approached, and held out a hand, palm facing the white marble floor. Jensen reached for Jared’s duffel bag and took it from him, before deftly handing it to a staffer.

“Take her hand, jaan.”

Jared did as his mate instructed. Then as Jensen had shown him back on the yacht, he lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand once, before briefly pressing his forehead to it. When he looked up, Hilarie smiled. It was a polite smile, warm but distant, and probably the best they could hope for at the moment.

“Welcome, Jared. Trust your journey was… educational, if not the most comfortable?”
Jared chuckled nervously. “It was definitely eye-opening. A refreshing color palette change, for sure.”
“Yes, Manchester was always too gray for my tastes. Glad we agree on something.”
“It’s a start.”

Hilarie squinted, in a way that meant she was trying to read between the lines and look for signs of effrontery of some kind. Jensen was quietly impressed that his mate wasn’t cowering like even the toughest of alphas often did in his mother’s presence. Still, he held his breath until she smiled again.

“Come on, you two, the rest of the family is waiting!” Kathryn grabbed Jared’s arm again and dragged him to one of the two grand spiral staircases.
“Uh-oh, who’s up there?” Jensen asked, twitching again, as he followed Hilarie.
“Don’t worry, the aunts are in Odessa for the summer.”
Jensen sighed gratefully, pretty sure she had something to do with that.

At the top of the stairs, stood the rest of the welcoming party. Jensen walked up to stand beside his mate, then took his hand in his. It was sweaty and trembling ever so slightly. Jensen squeezed it as tight as he could without crushing it and resolved to get through the formalities as quickly as possible.

The first person in line to greet them was Thomas Welling. A big lug of a lycan, he had the bluest eyes on the continent and the strongest loyalty streak that went back generations in the Welling bloodline. He was dressed in a long military coat similar to Jensen’s (that currently Jared wore) except his hood was lined with red fur. Tom and Jensen saluted each other with stern faces that immediately melted into big smiles as they hugged each other. 

“Jared, I’d like you to meet our head of loric enforcement, and my best friend, Commander Tom Welling.”
“Welcome, Onur,” said Tom and he bowed deftly.
Jared had by now, surmised that he wasn’t about to change an age-old lycan tradition just by requesting politely. He just sighed and lowered his head in a deep nod himself.

“Tom also happens to be bonded to my cousin here, Katie Cassidy Ackles, who’s a terrific mother but a terrible cook, you’ve been warned.”
A tall blonde, dressed in a long and elegant white dress, stepped forward. She bowed to Jared, smiling widely, then punched Jensen in the ribs.
“Oww?”
“Welcome to the family, Onur,” she said, ignoring her cousin. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for months, but someone was being selfish and keeping you all to himself!”
Jared chuckled, as was the polite thing to do. “H-how are the pups?”
“Hyperaggressive little monsters, as always,” she said, dead serious. “Joshua is at school and Kiera is taking a dance class. I’ll bring them around once you settle in.”

The small talk was surprisingly not as awkward as Jensen had feared. His relief was short-lived though when he spotted who stood next in line.

“Councilman Roche?”
The politician was not a member of the First Family, so his presence here was surprising, to say the least.

Sebastian Roche bowed to greet Jensen, albeit curtly. “I just got out of a meeting with the High Alpha, figured I’d stick around to see what all the fuss was about.”

He smiled, as if to soften the gibe. His eyes slid towards the shifter in their midst, the one who now held the fourth-highest station in the mega-pack. He did not bow to Jared.

“Nice of you to stay to welcome my son and his bond-mate home, Sebastian,” said Hilarie, drawing his attention away from Jared while adroitly reminding him why Jared was here. The sanctity of bonds must be honored, always.

Roche bowed before Hilarie. “Of course, High Beta. On behalf of the High Council, I congratulate you and the High Alpha on your son’s bonding. A momentous event indeed, even if it technically happened half a year ago…”
“Thank you, Sebastian. We are all, indeed, very happy.” Hilarie retorted.
“I shall take your leave now. Alpha, see you at the circle meeting, I trust?”
Jensen smirked. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Excellent!” Roche said, though his eyes implied the exact opposite.
“Walk with me, Sebastian,” Hilarie commanded, and purposely led him away from the group.

Jensen rolled his eyes and silently mouthed “I hate him” to his mate. Roche was precisely why Jensen didn’t like politicians, and to think that as Zeta and eventually as High Alpha, he’d have to deal with his kind every day…
“Hey, it’s okay,” Jared squeezed his hand, bringing Jensen back to the present.

“Don’t mind him, Jared,” Katie remarked. “Roche is old school. And sure, he’s not the only one, but they’re also not the majority. Fenrir knows how they gave Tom a hard time when Alan made him head LEO.”
Jared frowned. “Why?”
“Because I’m a beta,” Tom responded nonchalantly.

Katie and Tom grinned at each other, as if sharing an inside joke. “Yeah, I’m the alpha in our relationship. Roche and his cronies believed only alphas should hold positions of power, some rubbish like that.”
Tom put an arm around his mate. “But that was 40 years ago. Times change. And if history has taught us anything, it’s that those who adapt and evolve with the times… survive.”
Jensen chuckled softly, watching his mate smile the brightest he had ever since they entered the mansion. “You just made a new friend, Thomas.”

Jared blushed lightly.

The last two people waiting for them at the end of the staircase landing, so far away they might as well not be here, were Daniel and Briana. Jensen sighed.

Daniel was dressed in a black shirt that was missing its top three buttons, hanging loose over black silk pants that sat low on his narrow hips. He stood leaning against a wall with one bare foot planted squarely against the white brick surface and the other one on the floor with its toes curled up. His arms were crossed tightly, hugging himself. His hair was a wild mess, his skin pale and almost anemic, with dark smudges under his eyes.

Briana left Daniel’s side and walked over to the new couple. She bowed properly, first to the Alpha-apparent, then to his mate.
“Welcome to Albion, Onur. Hope you like it here.”
“Thank you, I already do,” Jared replied politely.
“I’m Briana, a caretaker. I look after Daniel, that’s him over there…”
“Daniel’s a cousin too?” Jared asked, watching the lycan standing aloof with curiosity.
Jensen jumped in. “He’s my mother’s best friend’s son. She died when he was a baby, so he’s been living with us ever since. But he’s like a little brother to me.”

That prompted a loud and bitter scoff from said lycan. Jensen raised his voice a bit. “Which is why I’m disappointed he won’t come say hello to my bond-mate.”

Daniel didn’t respond. He just glared squarely at Jared, his face contorted in an expression that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but disapproval. If Jared was taken aback or offended, he didn’t let it show. A few seconds later, Daniel turned and stomped away, like he couldn’t get away fast enough.

“Sorry, Alpha… Onur…” Briana said before taking off after him.

“Is he unwell?” Jared asked softly. “Is that why he needs a-a caretaker?”

Jensen swallowed. He spotted Kathryn, Tom and Katie subtly eye each other. Everything he’d said so far about Daniel had been the absolute truth. But the answer to this question was a complex one that couldn’t be shared so easily.

Fortunately, his mother came to the rescue. Again.

“Good you’re still here!” Hilarie called out, walking back to the group after having seen Roche off. She was now accompanied by someone new.

“Jared, I have a homecoming gift for you,” she announced cheerfully and pointed at the female walking beside her.
“This is beta Felicia Day. She has been one of my aides for 21 years. And now, she’s yours.”
Jared looked at Felicia, then back at Hilarie, eyebrows raised. “A-Aide?”
“Personal assistant, if you will.”
Felicia bowed. “It’s my honor to serve you, Onur.”
“I- uh… Jensen?”
Jensen cleared his throat. “It’s actually a great idea, jaan. Albion is new to you. You’ll need help getting around while I’m not around.”
“While you’re not ar-?”

“You’re also going to have a lot of new responsibilities, Onur, now that you’re officially a part of the First Family,” Felicia butted in. “Like a whole lot of folks will be lining up to seek an audience with you, some you’d want to meet and others you’d rather not. I can manage your schedule and run interference as needed… you wouldn’t have to worry about a thing! And I’ve already arranged for the official interior designer to visit so you can…”

The beta rattled on for a whole minute and amazingly no one in the group dared interrupt her. Jared gaped at Jensen again, who just shrugged, leaving the decision up to him.

“Felicia…” Hilarie put an end to her tirade, at last.
“Yes! Apologies, High Beta. I’m just so excited to get started!”

Jared gave in then, seemed like the easiest way out anyway.

“That’s settled then,” Jensen clapped his hands once. “Felicia, first order of business, please have some tea sent up to our suite. We’ll be there shortly.”
“Right away, Alpha.” With that she left.

“What does she have for breakfast?” Katie mumbled to Kathryn, who muffled her giggling, while Jensen and Tom bit back their own smirks.

“I think we’ll take your leave now,” Jensen said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “Thank you so much for showing up for me and my mate today. I know things are going to be a little… inconvenient… for a while around here. But with your support, I’m sure we’ll all get through it and be better lycans for it.”

“Hear, hear!” cheered Tom. The ladies just rolled their eyes and waved them off.

After Jensen led Jared to the east wing, the group dispersed. Katie went looking for her children, muttering something about how she’d take the grumbling sub-packs outside over her little monsters any day. Tom headed down to monitor the hubbub from his security command center. The staffers went back to work too. And Hilarie turned to head back to her suite, only to find her daughter standing in her way.

“What are you up to, Mom?” Kathryn asked, crossing her arms.
Hilarie flashed her best diplomatic smile. “Whatever do you mean, honey?”
“Felicia is your trump card. Your secret weapon. You don’t just give Felicia to anyone.”

Hilarie started to walk back to the west wing.

“Mother!” Kathryn followed, “You better not be planning anything or…”
“Oh, stop your nonsense, Kat.” Hilarie hissed at her, stopping to look her daughter in the eyes. “I trust Felicia, more than I trust any of my aides. That’s why I’ve asked her to watch over the boy.”

Kathryn pursed her lips, listening but not believing.

Hilarie huffed and looked around to make sure they weren’t being overheard. “He’s vulnerable,” she whispered, her voice cold and adamant. “That means my son is vulnerable. Do you understand?”

There was a moment’s silence, then Kathryn dropped her voice to a whisper as well. “Don’t forget, Mom, there’s someone else watching over him too.”
“…”
“Me.”

Hilarie watched Kathryn walk away before she exhaled and shook her head. That girl was growing up to be more and more like her grandma every day.

Minutes later, she entered the High Alpha’s offices and locked the soundproof doors behind her. She walked over to Alan’s desk, and found her husband leaning back in his chair, watching a news update on MNN about the Mancunians’ case against Armstrong Industries.

“Felicia’s in position,” she reported, leaning against the desk.
“Good,” Alan remarked, not taking his eyes away from the screen.
Hilarie sighed. “They do look cute together.”
“I told you.” He’d seen it first-hand months ago, back in Manchester.

Hilarie chewed on her lower lip. “It breaks my heart. You know how much Jensen loves kids. He’s helped raise Daniel, Joshua and Kiera like they were his own pups.”
“They’ll adopt.”
“Of course, but still…”
Alan scratched at his right temple. “We cannot risk it, you know that. Besides, it’s called a blood pact for a reason, love.”

He swiveled towards the wall nearby with a set of digital frames. One in particular caught his eye – the one with him and his good friend Michael Cudlitz, Chief of the Sheran pride in Westworld.

Hilarie sighed again, and looked down at her feet, lost in thought. “How did we get here?”
“…”
“Our son is about to lose everything he’s worked so hard for all these years, Alan. All because of that… that accidental mate of his.”

Alan switched off the news and turned to her. “Did you speak to Kat?”
Hilarie scoffed. “She would never.”
“Did you ask?”
Hilarie straightened up and huffed loudly again. “Both your children are so goddamn obstinate, for Fenrir’s sake. I wonder where they get it from.”
She stalked off, leaving Alan behind to throw his hands up in the air in resignation.

Jensen’s love for a shifter was about to cost him dearly. And there was nothing his parents – the two most influential lycans on the planet – could do about it.

Chapter Text

26 Août, 3947 PG

Ackles Mansion
Albion  

Jared stood on the balcony and gazed up at the endless moonlit night. The same balcony from his dreams, overlooking the same mountainous landscape laden with snow. Needless to say, the Ackles mansion stood atop the highest peak in Albion. The moon looked three times bigger here than it did in Cathedral. Its glow masked the thousands of stars that Jared couldn’t wait to map on another night.

Here he stood… a shifter, looking down on the cordillera. A patchwork blanket of shimmering yellow lights literally laid out at his feet.
“Changed world, indeed,” he mumbled. And, of course, his mate heard him.

Jensen came out to stand beside him, leaned his back against the railing so he could face his mate. He took his mate’s hand, kissed it almost reverently. “How’re you doing?”
Jared exhaled slowly. “I’m… still… processing.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“No, not at all! Everything is more fantastical than I could ever imagine…”
“I meant my family,” Jensen coughed. “Which is of course now your family…”

Jared rolled his eyes. “For the hundredth time, Jensen, dinner was fine! So what if it was a little awkward? That’s to be expected. You’re being too hard on them, you know.”

Jensen scratched his nose like he did when he was annoyed but unwilling or unable to voice it. It made Jared smile. Sure, the questions had been a little intrusive, and some of the staffers were a bit shifty-eyed. Yes, hushed whispers followed him everywhere he went, words he didn’t understand but doubted they were flattering. There was just one phrase he recognized, a well-known, if rarely used, slur for shifters.

Fata morgana…

Jared shuddered and slid closer, ducked a little as if to make himself smaller, then planted himself right underneath his mate’s chin. With both hands, he clutched the front of Jensen’s black dinner jacket and pressed his lips to Jensen’s jugular notch. The lycan snorted, quite used to his mate’s antics by now, and brought his own arms around him, cuddling him tightly.

“You know what I think?”
“Hmm…”
“I think they’re worried about you.”
“…”
“I’m an unknown entity, an outsider. And you’re asking them to trust me with your life. No wonder they’re spooked.”

Jensen tugged at Jared’s hair, making him look up to meet his eyes. “Then show them who you are. Let them see why I fell in love with you, why I trust you enough to make you a part of my family.”
Jared lowered his eyes. “But what if… I’m not good enough?”
“Hey!” this time Jensen tugged harder, pulling Jared’s face so close their noses collided. “You are perfect, jaan! I chose you to be my bond-mate and I’m never wrong.”
Jared blushed. “Of course, one might argue you didn’t actually choose me.”

Many puritans were making that argument, they both knew that.

“Au contraire, my sweet! I chose you the first time I saw you in Cathedral. Even after I lost you, the wolf in me found you again. Even when the human side of me thought you were dead, my wolf spirit recognized you as my mate and brought us together. If anything, the puritans should see that as proof lycan genetics are more advanced than humanoid genetics, give them something to gloat about. And that’s how I’m going to convince them.”
Jared’s dimples deepened but a little sardonically.
“Any other questions? Doubts? Concerns?”

Jared straightened up. He was planning to look it up later, but maybe he should ask.
“What does Onur mean, exactly? And don’t bullshit me this time.”
Jensen smiled and kissed Jared’s forehead. “It means honored, or just ‘honor.’ Because you represent the honor and pride of the Ackles pack now.”
“Oh, wow, no pressure at all.” Jared chuckled nervously. “And what about the second word, uh, Ge-Gelin?”
Jensen squeezed one eye shut and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“Ackles?”
“Um, the literal translation to humanish is… uh… bride.”
“BRIDE?”
“Also, daughter-in-law. But also, bride. Their daughter-in-law, my bride.”

Jared threw his head back and just laughed out loud. “There’s never been an honored groom in your family before, has there?”
“Strangely, no. With lycans, you know everyone has a social rank they’re born with. But you don’t, so… protocol says this is the next best title.”

Jared sighed heavily. Lots of firsts. Lots to live up to. His reservations and fears kept growing instead of receding.

“Jaan, it’s past midnight. Can we sleep now, please?”
“Yes, yes, all right.”

Jared let his mate drag him to bed. He stood demurely, letting Jensen strip him out of his best dinner clothes (which wasn’t saying much.) Jensen undressed himself with equal urgency, and obviously didn’t care if his infinitely more expensive ensemble got ruined in the process. They climbed into a giant four-poster bed and slid under luxurious charcoal-grey sheets. They took their usual positions on their sides, Jared scooching down just a bit to let Jensen be the big spoon, and Jensen bringing his bulky arms around the leaner frame of his mate.

Jensen ordered the lights off. The bedroom fell to darkness except for soft moonlight streaming through tall picture windows. It was quiet, except for the north wind rustling through the trees outside.

“Um, jaan? I thought you said you were bone-tired…”
Jared giggled then purposely wiggled his ass against Jensen’s groin again. “Hm… maybe, not anymore, Alpha… how about you?”
The lycan gasped, growled, and groaned all at once, so Jared wiggled again. Jensen laughed as he reached for the lubricant jar on the bedside table behind him.

As always, the preparation seemed to go on far too long for Jared, yet for Jensen, not nearly long enough.
“Unghhh seriously, A-Alpha, if you keep this up, I’ll c-come undone on your fingers alone…”
“Go ahead, jaan. I’ll just build you back up and break you apart again, like I always do…”
Jared groaned and undulated desperately around his mate’s prodding, scratching, teasing digits.

Eventually, Jensen pushed in, and Jared mewled loudly, with both pleasure and relief. The alpha’s knot instantly surged to full size, locking them together. Jensen rolled them over until Jared rested on his elbows and knees, and blanketed him with his supernatural deadweight, holding him utterly immobile. He then proceeded to make slow, gentle love to his mate. Working in and out of Jared’s well-oiled orifice, he made the shifter moan incessantly and come not once or twice, but four times. And only once it became clear Jared could not possibly manage another round, did Jensen allow himself the sweet satisfaction of release, emptying his knot into his mate with a loud, protracted, sigh.

It felt like hours before they cleaned up and resumed their original positions, by now pretty shattered and ready to fall asleep. 

“Uh, Jensen?”
“Yes, jaan?”
“How soundproof is this room again?”
He could feel Jensen shaking with suppressed laughter behind him.
“No, seriously… it is soundproof, right?”

By the time Jared woke up the next morning, the sun was well high in the sky. He sat up with a start and looked around, disoriented. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was.

Albion.
Ackles Mansion.

He looked around the lavish yet minimalist interiors of Jensen’s private suite. The color scheme was off-white and charcoal grey, mixed with bronze finishes, a décor that was clearly modern, quite unlike the mansion exteriors. The only exception was an ornate white mantel above an enormous fireplace. That little touch of baroque amid everything else made for quite a centerpiece. Just this bedroom was larger than the whole apartment he once shared with Adrianne in Cathedral. Suddenly feeling quite out of place, Jared sought the one (and only) person he knew he truly belonged with.

“Jensen?”

He waited, but it soon became clear he was alone. A short pang of melancholy threatened to overcome him, until he spotted a folded note on the pillow next to his.

Good morning, jaan. Sorry, I’m not there for your first morning in our new home. Something came up. But I promise to be back before dinner.
Burn this after reading.
Just kidding.
Love you.

Jared rolled his eyes, his mate the kidder. He grabbed his digipad from the bedside table and looked at the time – 0900. He flopped back down on the bed and huffed. Dinner was hours away. What was he to do with himself till then? He stretched lazily and realized he was still sore from their impromptu lovemaking last night. Maybe he could just sleep in today…

Someone knocked on the door, startling him fully awake. Jared considered ignoring it and maybe whoever it was would go away. They knocked again. More insistently this time.

Jared sat up, drawing the sheets up to his chest. “Uh, come in?”

The doors burst open and in strode his new aide, Felicia Day, followed by three staffers. Their black-and-white uniforms made them look like pre-glacial butlers.

“Good morning, Onur! Trust you slept well?”
“G-Good morning…”

Felicia proceeded to pull back the curtains that Jensen had drawn before he left to let Jared sleep in. Two staffers started straightening up the place. The third one brought in a breakfast tray, and basically plonked it over Jared’s lap.

“Thank you, Daria,” Felicia dismissed the beta, then turned to Jared.

“Coffee from the rainforests of Romancia, I’m told these are the particular beans you favor. And fresh creamberries from Gothenburg flown in this morning. They’re having the best season this year! So, as they say in humanish, Bon Appetit…”
“Thank you, but you didn’t have to…”
“We’ll of course work to customize all your meals once I get your preferences down. So much we need to learn about you…” she rambled on as if talking to herself. But her words reminded Jared of the conversation he had with Jensen last night.

Let them get to know you.

Jared sighed, all right then.

“I’m allergic to shellfish.”

That stopped Felicia mid-rant. “Everything else is fair game. Oh, and I have a major sweet tooth. But I haven’t been getting a lot of exercise of late, so probably best not to indulge me too much.”
Felicia smirked. “Good to know.”
Jared tried the coffee and loved it. “Won’t you join me, Ms. Day?”
“No, thank you, Onur. You’ll find most lycans can’t stand the taste of coffee.”
“Huh, I thought it was just Jensen.”

Felicia ordered the housekeeping staff to return later, they were just standing around waiting for Jared to get out of bed so they could make it. Then she opened a brown leather dossier she had tucked under one arm, took out a digipad, and placed it on the breakfast tray next to Jared’s coffee.

“Would you like to review what I’ve scheduled for you today?”
“Do I get any say?”
“Of course, just tell me what to change and I’ll do it right away.”
“All right. But can we do it after I’ve put on some clothes?”
Felicia bit a smile back. “Yeah, about that, Onur… maybe you should take a look at item number one on the list?”

Jared looked at it, and his eyebrows went up. “Uh, I don’t think that’s…”
“You’re the Alpha-apparent’s mate. The Onur Gelin. Apologies for my bluntness, Onur, but you simply do not have the luxury to walk around dressed like a vagrant anymore.”
Jared muttered, “It’s… street urchin, actually.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing,” he pushed the tray aside. “When do we start?”

An hour later, Jared sat on an ottoman, wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe, knees pulled up close to his chest. His hair was still wet, his skin wrinkled from spending too long in the shower. If he thought the bedroom was impressive, the bathroom’s opulence was simply atrocious. He imagined Jensen and himself spending many hours luxuriating in the marble bathtub, and that shower stall with the rain-showerhead and body-jets… holy continents. No wonder Felicia nearly knocked his door down to get him out of there.

He stared agape at the array of clothes that had just been rolled in and presented to him by Fabio Versace, a world-famous celebrity designer, who also happened to be the official couturier for the Ackles.

“This is the best collection I could put together at such short notice, Onur…”

Fabio was a stern-looking man, all of five feet and four inches tall, with pink hair, umber skin, and a sapphire-blue tuxedo. He was rumored to be a descendant of the original Versace family. Or he just took the name and made it his own, who knew.

“I assure you though, these are absolutely the latest trends in Midworld. If you could step up here, let’s make sure they’re your size…?”
Jared looked back and forth between Felicia, the insanely huge rack of clothes, and the over-stylized little man. He wished Jensen were here.
“Onur, if there’s a different designer you’d prefer…”
“No, no, it’s… uh…”

He was at a loss for words, didn’t know where to start articulating all the reasons why this didn’t feel right. For one, he couldn’t afford any of this. And for two, why did he even need any of this?

Reluctantly he stood up and let Versace’s associates take his measurements. Soon after, they scurried off to make some alterations, and Felicia stepped out to take a call, leaving Jared alone with the designer.

Fabio sized him up from head to toe, as if judging him for a contest of some kind. Jared crossed his arms tightly and tried not to fidget. Fabio picked something up from a chair beside him and approached Jared. In his hands, he carried a neatly folded pair of light-gray mohair pants, and a white cashmere sweater.

“Here, these are already your size. And a good look to introduce yourself to Albion in. Not too formal, not too casual. So they know you’re cool and approachable, but also not someone to be dismissed, or taken lightly.”
Jared squinted at the designer. “You seem to know what I need…”
“I’ve been following your story closely, Onur. In my line of work, it helps to know who the next big influencers and change agents are.”
Jared’s eyebrows went up. “A-And you think that’s me?”

Fabio looked around, as if to ensure they were still alone, then took a step closer to Jared. His voice softened when he spoke, as did his eyes.

“My husband is a shifter. He spent all his life afraid of, and unable to be, his authentic self. I can’t begin to describe the damage that’s done to him, to us, for years.”
Jared blinked, deeply empathetic.
“But that day, before the earthquake hit, we watched you on the plasma, talking to the world about yourself so freely. And I saw this… spark of light, in my sweetheart’s eyes, something I’d never seen before. It hasn’t gone out since.”
“…”

Jared took the clothes from Fabio, who then bowed and stepped back. “You’re making a difference, Onur. And for that, all eyes are on you. Whether you like it or not.”

Jared took a deep breath. Jensen wasn’t here. He needed to decide for himself.

“We’ll take the formals and the casuals. But let’s leave out all the fancy ‘party’ stuff, please. Oh, and Ms. Day?”
The aide was just walking back into the suite. “Yes, Onur?”
“Would it be okay if I got one of those traditional dress robes made for myself? You know, something I could wear to the circle meeting tomorrow?”
“Absolutely!” Felicia smiled and nodded at Fabio who immediately got to work. “It’d be a really nice gesture on your part. Although, you know the proper, puritan, way to wear the robe is to have nothing on underneath, right?”

Jared’s eyes scrunched up. “Maybe not that traditional?”

Both Fabio and Felicia giggled.

“So, what’s next, Ms. Day?” Jared asked Felicia after enjoying a lovely lunch together on the balcony of the suite he shared with Jensen.
“Next up: the official interior designer is on her way. I figured you might want to make some changes to the suite, customize it to your tastes and needs. She’ll be here in-”
“Cancel that.”
“Uh, okay. May I ask why?”
Jared shrugged, looking around. “I feel no need to make any changes. And there’s something more pressing I’d like to do.”

The aide scratched the appointment off her digipad and leaned forward, eager to hear her next assignment.
“Jensen mentioned a library. With actual books. Can you show it to me?”
Felicia smiled. “How about I give you the grand tour?”
Jared grinned happily.

Minutes later, they were standing in the mansion foyer, where they’d entered the day before.

“So, this mansion was built 2000 years ago; but has been renovated several times since. It suffered some serious damage about 700 years ago during a huge winter storm that-”
“Don’t you mean the civil war?”

Jared stood with his hands in his new pant pockets, smirking softly. He was wearing the ensemble Fabio had picked out for him, along with a pair of brown Oxfords. In her purple pantsuit and shiny black pumps Felicia was dressed a lot more formally, but that was to be expected.

She bit her lip and nodded. “The Second Alpha warned me about you, I should have listened.”
“I’d prefer the non-touristy version, Ms. Day, if you will?”
“All right then, Onur. When the war first broke out, it was fought right here in this courtyard. In the aftermath, the pack lost about a quarter of its members who migrated down south. But it was also an opportunity to rebuild and expand. That’s when the north wing was constructed.”

Jared looked around the courtyard they stood in. Unlike the baroque exteriors of the mansion, the courtyard featured a blend of several styles, but leaned heavily towards Moorish architecture. Marble columns, water fountains, black granite statues of wolves sitting on their hind legs, ceramic pots with colorful mosaic patterns, and so many green plants, made it an absolute masterpiece reminiscent of archived images Jared had seen of a prehistoric palace called Alhambra.

“As you can tell,” Felicia explained, “a number of architects have worked on the mansion over the centuries, each one adding their own unique style and flair...”

The courtyard was enclosed by four wings of the mansion – each wing shaped like an arc. The wings formed a circle around the courtyard and were joined together by a spectacular glass domed ceiling, sixty feet high. Jared couldn’t stop staring up at it. The things that dome must have seen…

Felicia cleared her throat. “That dome isn’t just for aesthetics, you know. It produces enough solar energy to power the whole Ackles estate. We’re completely self-sufficient up here.”
“Good to know!”
“So, there are four floors in each wing. You, the First and the Second Alpha share the east wing. You’re on the top floor, of course, Alpha Kathryn lives on the third. And together, the siblings use the last two levels and the adjacent eastern grounds to run border military operations.”

Jared turned to Felicia. “Is Kat involved? I thought she was more like… a free spirit, you know.”
“She was, until very recently. You know how things are with the South…”
Jared nodded. “All hands on deck?”
“Something like that. She takes care of new cadet training for the most part.”
“Hmm. What about the other wings?”

They started walking towards the south wing as Felicia described it. “This wing is where Alpha Katie, her mate Commander Welling, and their children live. They reside on the top two floors. Children are home-schooled on the second floor. Commander Welling uses the ground floor and the adjacent southern grounds to run homeland security operations.”
“Cool.”
Jared started to turn away but stopped when Felicia continued. “Also, the second floor is where great aunt Ellen and her long-time companion Esther stay when they’re in town.”
“Who are these aunts, exactly?”
“The High Alpha had an older brother, Alpha Christopher Ackles. Ellen is his mate’s grandmother, and Alpha Katie’s great-grandmother. She’s over 400 years old. That’s…”
“Old!” they whispered together and snickered softly.
“So, Katie is Christopher’s daughter. What happened to him?”

Felicia shrugged. “All I know, Alpha Christopher was passed over for Zeta, and the Council chose his younger brother Alpha Alan instead. And traditionally, for as far back as anyone can remember, a Zeta general is always the one who goes on to become High Alpha.”
Jared whistled. “That must have devastated him. Do you know why?”
“Not really. All I know is he went into exile soon after. Then about 90 years ago, his mate died in a hunting accident. Alpha Christopher held on for a few days, just long enough to return and deliver their daughter, Katie, to the mansion. She was nine.”

“So sad that lycans almost always lose both parents at the same time.”
“If they’re bonded, yes. But bonds are not that common, you know. Maybe one in two couples is bonded spiritually. You and Alpha Jensen are very lucky.”
Jared just smiled shyly.
“But you’re right, a lot of orphans among us.” Felicia sighed. “That’s why the pack structure is so important. The pack always takes care of its young.”

“Hmm,” Jared ran a hand through his unruly hair, willing it to behave for once.
“You know, I can have the official coiffeur come in within the hour.”
“That bad, huh?” Jared smoothed his hair back again.
“Well, if the First Alpha doesn’t mind…”
Jared snorted and chose to ignore the snub. “So where to next?”
In response, Felicia led him to the north wing.

“As I was saying, this is the newest wing. It includes a grand kitchen and pantries that take up all of the first floor. The second floor has guestrooms plus a big family room where the First Family hangs out socially. It’s where you had dinner last night…”
“I remember.”
“The third floor belongs to master Daniel. And the top floor is an infirmary. Master Daniel has… health issues. It’s unusual, I know. The lycan physiology is pretty robust. We hardly ever get sick, at least the rest of us.”
Jared nodded, then a thought occurred to him. “Hey, is Daniel an alpha or beta? Sorry, I think everyone else’s social ranks were mentioned but not his. Is… is that appropriate to ask?”
Felicia shrugged nonchalantly. “Yes, of course! Daniel is a beta.”
“Got it, thanks.”

They walked through the bustling kitchen, and Felicia grabbed a couple of apples off one of the counters. She flung one at Jared, who caught it with one hand.
“Mmmph…” he closed his eyes and savored each bite. “I’ll never get used to how good grown food tastes, compared to printed food, you know?”
“Actually, I don’t…”
Ah, the joys of living amid nature as opposed to the middle of an overcrowded human swarm. “Good for you!”

Felicia led Jared towards the last remaining wing.

“And here we are… the hallowed west wing! Also the largest wing. This one belongs to the High Alpha and High Beta. Their residential suites are on the top floor. Their offices are on the third floor, that’s where they run state affairs out of. And their staff – including me - have cabins on the second floor. On the ground level is the ballroom, a conference room for visiting dignitaries, and of course, the library. Actually, the library is a long, vertical construction spanning all four floors. Top to bottom.”
“Brilliant!”
“Should we head in there now?”
“Uh, wait, are the parents home? I mean… Jensen’s parents, of course.”
Felicia looked at her digipad. “Yes, they’re both in a meeting right now. Why?”

Jared squinted. What were the chances he’d run into Alan or… sweet continents, Hilarie?

“M-Maybe later. Thank you for showing me where it is.”

Felicia looked confused, understandably. Jared distracted her with another question. “Hey, the conference room, is that where the circle meeting will be?”
“Fenrir no, circle meetings are attended by the heads of every sub-pack or family present on the cordillera. That’s like hundreds of lycans. They’ll never fit in there.”
“So where?”

Felicia started to walk towards the other end of the courtyard, prompting Jared to follow her.

The far wall of the courtyard stood between the north and west wings, and was basically a row of fourteen-foot tall picture windows, plus a pair of antique-french doors that opened to an enormous terrace overlooking the edge of the mountain. They walked out to the terrace, and Felicia let Jared take a minute to just stand and absorb the breathtaking landscape.

Dense rows of insanely tall Douglas-fir trees in the foreground, snow-laden summits in the background, and the bright shining sun casting a sheen of gold on everything… Andy would have loved this, Jared mused.

“This is the Circle Terrace. As you can tell, we’re very creative with our nomenclature. And down there…”
She pointed out a set of stairs to the left of the terrace that led down the mountain but not to the valleys. Instead, they seemed to disappear into the slope itself. “That’s where the meeting will be.”
Jared tilted his head to get a better look. “Is that a cave? Inside the mountain?”
Felicia smirked. “You’ll get to see it soon enough, let’s not ruin the surprise, all right?”

Jared relented. Then he spotted a second set of stairs on the right that did go down to the valleys.
“Fine. How about you show me the town instead?”
“I thought you’d never ask!”

Town of Pendragon
Albion

The walk down the mountain and into the first valley was an easy trek. Given how steep the stairs were though, Jared wasn’t looking forward to the return trip home.

Home, Jared mused privately. He could get used to the sound of that.

“Are you sure you’re okay walking barefoot, Ms. Day?” Jared asked again. His own Oxfords were comfortable, but Felicia’s new heels were a safety hazard, so she’d taken them off.
Felicia grinned as she walked ahead while Jared followed her down. “You do realize I’m lycan. Our natural state happens to be barefoot and bare-naked everything else with not a care in the world, if you recall…”
Jared laughed and let her be.

“Okay so, the mansion is where the First Family lives. And the sub-pack families are spread all across the cordillera?”
“Well, think of the cordillera as the capital city, and rest of Albion as the ‘countryside.’ About a third of the pack lives in the countryside.”
“I see.”
“But all these families are a part of the Ackles mega-pack. Also called the Northern pack. I prefer to drop the ‘mega’ because of how ostentatious it sounds.”
“Speaking of…” Jared tapped Felicia on the shoulder. “We’ve gotten to know each other, right? How about we drop the ‘Onur’ too?”
“Sorry, Onur. Protocol is protocol, cannot deter from it.”
Jared pouted and resumed walking.

They were halfway down the mountain by now, and the view from here was even more enchanting than before. Gorgeous cottages of all shapes and sizes, with gambrel roofs and smoking chimneys, reminded Jared of images he’d seen of Old Haven in Westworld. A stream ran through the middle of the town, and Jared spotted three drawbridges across it from his vantage point. Lifting his eyes to the surrounding mountains, he saw a number of brick houses at higher elevations, going all the way up to the top of the peaks.

“I bet there are more valleys and glens beyond these two ranges that we can’t see, right?”
“That’s right, but Pendragon is the biggest town by far. It has the most popular main street, known for its shops, taverns, open-air theaters…”
“Theaters, really? What kind of shows?”
Felicia squinted, trying to remember. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of this prehistoric writer who wrote in riddles… Sheikh Spears?”
Jared laughed. “Yeah, I might have.”

Felicia rambled about a play she saw but didn’t like very much because everyone in it did bad things to each other, lost their sanities, then died. He strolled leisurely, taking in the thoroughfare and marveling at how similar life was here in the deep North, compared to other human and shifter towns he’d seen in his short life of twenty-six years.

There were shops of all kinds – food, drinks, jewelry, clothing, shoes, drinks, hats, scarves, drinks, musical instruments, drinks – basic necessities of life that all humanoid races valued equally. The only difference he could spot was their advancement (or lack thereof) in technology. Lycans weren’t too keen on gadgets, which was probably a good thing. Gave them more time to go out and enjoy the natural wonders surrounding them, spend time with family and friends, have drinks.

Some of the lycans that passed him seemed to recognize him. Some halted in their steps, gawking at him openly. Others were a bit more discrete but clearly intrigued. Jared saw the same mix of conflicting sentiments as he had the day he’d arrived in Albion – hostility, suspicion, fear, curiosity. But there was also something else… something that prompted a few townsfolk to smile at the stranger amidst them. Some even bowed. But most just went about their day like it was business-as-usual.

“Don’t worry, Onur,” his constant companion whispered. “Nobody here would even think of causing you any harm.”
“I know, they love Jensen too much.”
Felicia said nothing, and that was confirmation enough.

They were walking by a row of shops, when a little girl came running out of nowhere and barreled straight into Jared, before promptly wrapping herself around his left leg.
“Oh, hey… hey!” Jared awkwardly patted her back and waited for her to let go. He looked at Felicia who just smirked, being no help at all.
“Um, okay… that’s… cool, hi!”

She could be no more than six or seven years old. Jared was mesmerized by her deep caramel skin, light-gray eyes, and black hair that fell in shiny little curls around her plump cheeks.
“How are you, beautiful?” Jared smiled brightly at her.
“You are beautiful!” she babbled, grinning impishly.
“Am I?” Jared winked. “Why, thank you. That’s very kind of you.”
“My mama says so, and dada says mama is never wrong. Even when she is wrong.”
Jared laughed. “Where is your mama, sweetheart?”

The girl unwrapped one arm from around Jared and pointed at something just behind her. Jared looked up at the little confectionary shop. Beside its counter stood a woman in a short yellow dress and white apron, with the same caramel complexion and the same impish smile. She waved at him, urging him to come over.

“That’s Yadira,” Felicia supplied. “The best dessert chef in all of Albion. Trust me, her sweet spoons are to die for!”
Jared winced. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

Felicia swung the child up in her arms and the little girl squealed happily. Then she headed towards the shop, leaving Jared no choice but to follow.

“Welcome, Gelin, welcome!” said Yadira, smiling warmly.
Jared grimaced. “Um, Jared is fine, really…”
“But you’re Jensen’s Gelin! We’re none of us all too proper down here, and you’d best be used to it. Come on in, Gelin! Come on in!”

Fifteen minutes later, Jared had sampled practically every type of dessert available, twice. Between Yadira’s talent and her daughter Amira’s cuteness, he didn’t really stand a chance.

“You’re good,” he said, wagging a finger at Amira. “What’s your favorite?” 
“What’s your favorite?” The child threw back again.
Jared’s eyes landed back on the tray of colorful candy that, according to Yadira, were called ‘lokum.’

“I think I might be in love,” he moaned, popping one more piece into his mouth. He looked up to find his audience gaping at him, and gulped down hard. “Please don’t tell Jensen.”

The women laughed.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Jared mock-grumbled again.
Felicia held two bags full of candy that she showed off quite smugly. “Your wishes are my command, Onur. Even the ones you try to hide from me.”

They had walked quite a distance across town and were coming up on the end of the market. The afternoon sun was starting to wane. Jared looked at his digipad – now in watch mode on his wrist – it was a little after 1700.

“Wow, where did the day go?”
“Should we head back?”
“Yes, let’s do that, Ms. Day. I’ve taken up too much of your time today.”
Felicia grinned as she started to lead them back to the mansion. “Honestly, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. I’m really grateful for the outing, Onur.”
Jared looked sideways at her. “Enough to start calling me by my name?”
“Uh…”
“It’s okay. We’ll get there,” Jared nodded confidently, and Felicia bit another smile back.

They walked past a narrow alley, deeply engrossed in conversation. Someone crashed into Jared from his right, nearly knocking him off his feet. Two voices exclaimed simultaneously, one apologetic, the other not so much.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”
“Watch where you’re going, blockhead!”

The voice was male, the figure tall, though not as tall as Jared. He wore a black robe with the hood pulled up covering his head and face. But as he tried to regain his balance, the hood slipped.

Felicia was the first to recognize him. “Master Daniel?”

Daniel looked scared, or nervous, like he’d been caught someplace or doing something he shouldn’t be.

“What are you doing here in town? Is Briana with you?” Felicia asked, her tone reflecting a high degree of urgency.
Daniel glared at her. “Watch how you speak to me, beta. Know your place.”
Felicia immediately withered. Jared frowned as he watched her lower her eyes and voice.

“Apologies. I only meant to ask if… if you needed assistance.”
Daniel sneered, then looked up at Jared. His face twisted further into an expression of such derision it took Jared aback.
“Just do your job. Show the mutt around and mind your own damn business.”

Jared pursed his lips, and his spine stiffened on reflex. With his peripheral vision, he skimmed the dark alley Daniel had just run out of. Most shops in there were shuttered, and the few that were open didn’t look like very safe or honorable establishments.

“If there’s something you’d like to say to me, Daniel, say it… to me.”
Daniel glared at him, as if deliberating his next words.
“You’re in my way,” he hissed at last, and tried to walk past Jared. The taller being didn’t stop him, not physically.
“I don’t blame you, you know,” Jared called out. “For wanting to escape the mansion every now and then.”
“Excuse me?” Daniel spun around, frowning.

Jared shrugged. “Everyone up there is so protective of you. Must be stifling. I don’t understand why though… you seem like a grown, capable person to me. In fact, that’s exactly what I’ll tell Jensen and Hilarie… when I let them know we saw you down here, alone, in a shady part of town, and you were perfectly fine, all on your own.”

Daniel understood then. His face hardened more, if that were even possible. He huffed, wondering what Jared wanted in exchange of his silence.

“You owe Ms. Day an apology,” Jared answered his unspoken question softly.
Daniel’s eyes widened as he looked at Felicia, then back at Jared. Even Felicia looked up at Jared, clearly stunned.

Daniel’s face reddened, but eventually, he cleared his throat. “Sorry, Felicia.”
“It’s a-all right, Master Daniel…”

The dark blond didn’t wait to say or hear anything more. Swiftly he turned around and strode away, pulling his hood back on to hide from prying eyes. Once he was gone, Jared exhaled, and Felicia let out a low whistle.

“That’s… never happened before.”
“You mean the brat has never apologized before? I believe that.”

They resumed walking back to the mansion. A minute later, Felicia bit her lip and looked up at Jared. “Hey, I’m… really sorry for… what Daniel said.”
Jared just shrugged. “Nothing I haven’t heard before.”
“Still, it was… very rude.”
“Well, Daniel just seems to be that kind of guy.”
“He wasn’t like that as a child. But since his health started deteriorating, he’s just so lonely and miserable and perpetually angry. Not that any of that excuses his behavior today…”
“No, it doesn’t. Definitely explains it though.”

“Onur?”
“Hmm?”
Felicia looked down at her shoes, and shuffled her feet. “Thank you, for… standing up for me.”
Jared shrugged again. “You were just doing your job. You didn’t deserve that. But, hey, if you really feel like expressing your gratitude…”

Jared wiggled his eyebrows. Felicia looked confused for a moment, then she laughed. “Oh, all right, but only privately when it’s just the two of us…”
“Yes!” Jared pumped a fist up in the air in victory.

Soft dusk light greeted them at the base of the peak they had yet to climb to return to the mansion.
“Come on then, Jared,” said Felicia, albeit shyly. “It’s a long way up, are you ready?”

Jared craned up at the incredibly long, scarily steep stairs winding up to the Ackles mansion. And of course, he groaned.

Daniel was already halfway up the same stairs, moving at a pace faster than usual for his human form. He was still seething from his encounter with the shifter and his overambitious aide. But that was nothing compared to his utterly distressing visit to the only bootleg apothecary in town.

“What do you mean you don’t have any chrysoberyl left? How the fuck can you be out of the only thing I ever buy from you, Ruth?”
Ruth Connell was the petite, redheaded beta he’d dealt with last time. But today she just shrugged uselessly. “Sorry lad, supply chain issues, taking longer than expected this time.”
Fucking excuses, Daniel thought angrily, but out loud he asked, “Shall I come back tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so sweetie, but check again next week, okay?”

Daniel’s eyes teared up despite himself.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Ruth asked. And that enraged Daniel even more.
“Just make sure you have it next week, if you don’t want a visit from the LEOs the week after that.”

He stomped off, not waiting to see if his threat wiped all that pity off her face. The medically-prescribed heat and pheromone suppressants he’d been on for fourteen years had stopped working. Omegas usually mated long before they turned twenty-one and didn’t usually need to stay on suppressants this long. Unfortunately for Daniel, he was fated to be alone and unmated for the rest of his cursed life.

Briana and the Ackles, as wonderful and protective as they’d been, would never approve the use of chrysoberyl. It was banned in Albion, for good reason. It could suppress loric powers to the point of leaving one no different from an average human. Also had debilitating side effects on the subject’s mental faculties, such as loss of rational thinking and long-term memory.

But what choice did Daniel have? He wouldn’t survive another heat… not without help, which, Jensen had made amply clear he would not be offering anymore. Everyone kept insisting Daniel accept a service alpha. But he refused to submit to a stranger just to satisfy an unfair biological imperative he didn’t ask for. He didn’t ask to be born omega, he refused to be a slave to his physiology. And if he couldn’t have Jensen as his alpha, then he didn’t want anyone. Even if it meant his death.

Although, to be honest, he wasn’t too keen on dying either. So he’d take slow (as in years in the making) death from chrysoberyl to dying a humiliating, painful death from his next unresolved heat any day.

Daniel ran up the rest of the stairs and didn’t stop running until he was in the privacy of his bedroom. He resolved to keep himself isolated. Sometimes just the scent or voice of Jensen was enough to trigger his heat. He needed to stay away from the alpha, and pray to Luna, the moon goddess his dead mother used to believe in, that Ruth would come through for him in time.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jared walked into his bedroom to find his mate sitting in a tall wingback chair by the fireplace. Jensen wore a formal suit – black jacket and slacks with a crisp white shirt, and black embroidered roper boots. He sat with his legs crossed, chin resting on the knuckles of his left hand, as he stared into the flames.

“Hey, you!” Jared called out softly.
Jensen looked up, clearly expecting him. He smiled and stood up, opened his arms. Jared sped up until he was right in front of Jensen, who pulled him into his chest.

“I missed you.”
“I missed you.”
 They kissed.

“What’s wrong?” Jared asked, looking into his mate’s eyes.
Jensen’s eyelids fluttered. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“You look a little spaced out.”
“Oh, it’s… just been a long day. Nothing to worry about. You ready for dinner?”
“Uh, do I have time for a quick shower? I just climbed a mountain and I’m sweating like a horse.”
“Sure, but make it quick.”

Jared’s eyes twinkled, and he poked Jensen’s shoulder playfully. “You could join me, if you like…”
“Ah, I wish, jaan. But we’ll be late, dinner starts in fifteen minutes.”

Jared tried not to let his disappointment show. “Got it. I’ll be done in ten.”                          

Dinner was a casual affair, compared to the night before. For one, Alan wasn’t there so everyone at the table was a lot more relaxed. Daniel was also missing, and when Jensen asked a staffer about him, they were told the beta wasn’t feeling well.

Jared spent the hour chatting with Kathryn, Tom, Katie, and the kids. Joshua was seven, Kiera nine, and they were curious as hell about life in Manchester. Jared was more than happy to answer their questions, and in the process kept everyone else regaled as well. But a part of him remained unsettled… restless, like a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that said something wasn’t quite right. It took him a while to realize the feeling wasn’t originating within him.

He glanced at his mate, found him picking at his food, lost in thought. Before he could lean towards him, Hilarie who was sitting on the other side of Jensen, beat him to it. He let mother and son have a private, whispered conversation and turned back to the children whose attention he did have.

After dinner, as folks started to clear out, Kathryn pulled Jared to herself. “Hey… would you like to join us next door? I’m teaching the kids how to play chess.”
“Really?”
Kat grinned. “I’ll have you know I’m still ranked nine on the post-glacial world’s grandmasters list.”
“That’s great, Kat!” Jared cocked his head, really impressed. “I have to beg off tonight, though. I had a really long day and I think so did Jensen, so…”
“Say no more. Go take care of your mate, Onur.”

Jared gave her a quick side-hug then turned to look for Jensen, who was still engrossed in conversation with Hilarie.

“Jensen…” he approached them tentatively, and they abruptly cut short whatever they were talking about. “Shall we…?”

Jensen put a hand on the back of Jared’s neck. “You go on upstairs, jaan. There’s still some stuff I need to get done tonight. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
Jared could still feel his mate’s stress rippling loud and clear through the bond. “A-Are you sure everything’s okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, nothing to worry about. Go on… I’ll see you soon.”

The smile on Jensen’s face was terse, as was the kiss that followed. Jared nodded, then turned swiftly to escape before his mate sensed his dejection.

Obviously, he couldn’t sleep. Part of him was angry… it hadn’t even taken a day for Jensen to abandon him. Another, bigger, part of him was aware his mate was dealing with something, most likely related to the escalating tensions with the south. He’d had Jensen all to himself for months. Going from that to this new reality in which Jensen was so much more than just Jared’s mate… it was obviously going to take a little getting used to. Still, they were soulmates for all continents’ sake. They had vowed to love and support each other through thick and thin. How was Jared supposed to do that if Jensen wouldn’t even let him in on whatever was bothering him?

Jared tossed and turned in bed for an hour before giving up. He padded barefoot to the massive walk-in closet that he shared with Jensen. The lights came on automatically soon as he entered. Versace and his associates had done a great job stocking his new wardrobe on the left side, while Jensen’s stuff had been moved to the right. Jared shuddered. Jensen probably didn’t even know how his personal space had been rearranged (without his consent) to make room for Jared. So much had happened today, so much that Jared had been looking forward to sharing with Jensen. But Jensen hadn’t even asked Jared how his day went.

Jared looked at his reflection in a full-length mirror.

“It’s not what you’re feeling. It’s what he is feeling. Don’t make this about you.”

He pulled on a pair of blue sweatpants and matching sweatshirt, and his worn-in pair of canvas shoes. Maybe it was time to check out that acclaimed library after all. And if in the process, he managed to check up on his bonded mate, then really, where was the downside?

He had no delusions about his ability to sneak past the eleven odd lycans who lived in this mansion. So, he didn’t even try. He walked purposely, but casually, as if strolling in the courtyard enjoying its lovely moonlit ambience. It was nearly midnight by the time Jared made it to the library’s entrance at the base of the west wing. The whole wing was shrouded in darkness and silence, except for the third floor. That meant the High Alpha and High Beta were still in their offices. And Jensen was up there with them.

Jared pushed the little reproving voice in his mind down. He looked up at the glass wall of the vertical library. The glass made for a magnificent showcase for stacks upon stacks of books, and it also allowed a clear view of the wrought-iron spiral stairs connecting all four floors to each other. He took the stairs two at a time, careful not to make too much noise.

Just browsing books in the library, he rationalized mentally as he climbed. That’s all… done with the first-floor collection, now hitting up the second, and finally, here we are…

Jared held his breath as he reached the third floor, and waited for the inevitable army of lycan guards to break through the heavy oakwood doors and nab him. Any moment now.

Nothing happened. Jared exhaled, and willed himself to step out of the library. The lights were dim, warming up the wood-paneled corridors connecting several closed doors to each other. Only one door was slightly ajar, and Jared could hear voices coming through it, albeit muffled. He stood still for a long time, and when he moved it was very, very slowly. As he got closer, the voices got clearer.

“What’s the error rate on the polling again?” a male voice asked. Jared recognized the deep tenor as Tom’s.
“The polling’s never wrong,” retorted an even deeper voice. Jared started… that was Jensen, and he sounded very unlike himself… almost… resigned.

Jared inched closer, desperate to get one look at his mate, find out why he sounded like that. He peeped through the sliver of light streaming through the door and spotted Jensen, sitting on a couch in front of the High Alpha’s desk. He was still wearing the same suit he’d worn all day, minus the tie. He sat leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring vacantly at the shag-rug under his feet. And he was wringing his hands discretely. Jared had never seen him do that before.

A female voice began, “None of this would be happening if…” but didn’t finish.
Jared recognized the voice to belong to Hilarie.
“If what?” Jensen prodded. “Go ahead, Mother. Say it. You’ve been dying to get it off your chest all day.”
“You know I’m right,” she rose to the challenge. “If you’d just respected our wishes and accepted Daniel as your bond-mate… but no, you just had to go indulge your fascination with the bunker-rats and now look-”
“Hil…” a third male voice chided her gently. It was Alan, and something about how he said it made her halt mid-sentence.
Jensen looked up at Alan too, and then just as abruptly spun to look… right at Jared.

Jared nearly jumped and took a step back. Red-hot flashes of something unpleasant and overwhelming rose to his neck and cheeks. His heart thumped so hard it threatened to break out of his ribcage.

Jensen stood up in a rush. “Jared?”

Someone pushed the door open, casting a bright light directly at the shifter, who wanted nothing more than to disappear into the sleek marble floor.

“I… I was just… looking for you,” he stuttered, looking at no one but his mate.

“It’s all right,” Hilarie said to the others who were, by now, all standing, staring right at Jared with indecipherable expressions.
“I’ll be back, gentlemen, please continue.”

The High Beta stepped out of the office and closed the door behind her. Jared watched Jensen take a step towards him, but he didn’t make it out. The door closed, leaving him and his mother-in-law standing in the corridor, facing each other.

“I-I’m sorry…”
“What’s done is done,” Hilarie said, her tone soft and yet full of steel. Jared’s gaze reflexively fell back to the door behind her, wondering if Jensen could hear them.
“All our doors are soundproof. They have to be, or we’d never get any sleep, you know.”

So, he was truly alone. Hilarie took one step forward. Jared quelled his instinct to step back.

“Onur, you’re a part of this family now, and you’ve earned your place by sleeping… I mean, bonding with my son.”
He swallowed, hard.
“But you have yet to earn our trust. And I don’t think it’s an irrational expectation on our part, do you?”
Jared sighed. “No, it’s not, High Beta.”
Hilarie narrowed her eyes. “Glad you agree. But see this is why I’m confused to see you here. How do you intend to build trust with us if you’re eavesdropping on us?”
“I-I didn’t mean to…”
“No? Why are you masking your scent then?”

Hilarie took another step forward, and this time Jared did step back. Jared’s eyes shimmered despite his best attempts to keep it together.

“You’re right. I-I… I was just so worried. I can feel his stress through the bond. But he isn’t talking to me about it, I just wanted to understand…”
“The loric bond is unbreakable, you won’t be left in the lurch.”
“That’s not what I’m worried abo-”
“As for the rest,” Hilarie continued as if he hadn’t spoken at all. “Like I said, there are some things you’ll have to earn the right to know. Perhaps in time, if you can learn to curb your shifter tendencies…”
“…”

“Good night, Onur.”

Two hours later, two hours of guilt and humiliation and agony later… Jensen returned. Jared couldn’t bring himself to face his mate, so he stayed curled up on his side of the bed, facing away from Jensen. The alpha didn’t bother to undress. He slid into bed behind Jared and gently tugged at his bare shoulder, making Jared turn towards him.

Jared couldn’t stem his tears anymore. “I’m so sorry…”
“Hey, shh… don’t, jaan, come here…” Jensen gathered him in his arms effortlessly, lying back down with Jared’s head pillowed on his chest.

Jared’s tears continue to fall silently, leaving damp spots on Jensen’s white shirt. He gripped said shirt in his fists and clung to his mate with all his might.

“I’m sorry too, jaan,” Jensen whispered, lips pressed into his hair, hands rubbing his back in long, loving strokes. “I know you have questions. And you will have answers to those questions soon. Just have a little bit of patience, okay?”

Jared shivered despite the furnace-warmth of his mate wrapped around him. Jensen tightened his embrace in response. Jared could still feel the tension radiating from his mate in droves, but there was nothing he could do about it. The least he could do maybe, was to not add to it.

“Sleep now, my sweet jaan, sleep. It’s okay, shh… no matter what happens tomorrow, I’ll be right here, with you…”

His mate’s voice washed over him, taking at least some of his guilt and misery away. He let sleep take him at last, though the wheels in the back of his mind continued to spin. He hoped tomorrow would be a better day, but something in Jensen’s eyes and words… warned him not to count on it.  

Chapter Text

27 Août, 3947 PG

Ackles Mansion
Albion  

The next morning when Jared woke up, he was alone. Again.

Jared sighed, partly relieved not to have to face his mate in daylight so soon after his disastrous west wing debut. He wasn’t surprised Jensen didn’t leave a note this time. The lycan probably needed time to figure out what to say too.

Felicia walked in an hour later with her entourage of housekeeping staff and breakfast. This time, she found Jared showered, ready and waiting for her. He decided to go casual today: blue jeans, a green-and-white checked shirt with sleeves folded up to his elbows, brown leather belt, and the oxfords he wore yesterday.

“Good morning, Onur,” she smiled, brightly enough to get Jared to smile back.

Breakfast was laid out on the coffee table by the balcony doors. He grabbed the coffee first, then spotted a little silver bowl piled high with different flavors of lokum. His smile broadened.
“I’m going to have to start working out,” he griped, even as he put a piece of the delightful candy in his mouth.
“We don’t have a workout area, Onur, what are they called – gyms? Yeah, none of those. To exercise we just… go about our day. But you’re welcome to lap the eastern grounds if you like. Just let me know though, so I can give security a heads up.”
“Sure,” Jared said, shortly. Order the guards not to shoot the shifter; he’s only jogging, not trying to rob the place, or whatever.

After breakfast, one of the housekeeping betas came back in to clear the table. As she walked past the table, Jared stood up and accidentally brushed his bare forearm against hers. She gasped and flinched so violently, the tray she held fell to the floor with a loud clang. At first, Jared didn’t understand her overreaction. And then… he did.

He snorted. “Don’t worry, Nicki, is it?”
The beta barely nodded at him, eyes bright with paranoia.
He smiled as politely as he could. “You know, that much contact is nowhere near enough for me to sample your genetic code. Also, I have to be the one touching you, with my fingers or lips, doesn’t work the other way round.”

Nicki just stood there, in stunned silence, looking up at the shifter practically towering over her. Jared crossed his arms, and waited.

He had no delusions of converting her deeply engrained hate into tolerance in one day. At best, she learned something new and might share it with others, help him combat misinformation about shifters. At worst, she wouldn’t believe a word and use this non-incident to buy her fifteen seconds of fame… a first-hand encounter with fata morgana herself…

“Clean this mess up, quickly,” Felicia ordered, her voice professional but clearly ticked off.

Jared retreated several feet away to the fireplace, then sank into the same wingback chair he’d found Jensen in last night. He was starting to realize that escalating tensions with the south may not be the only reason behind his mate’s stress.

After Nicki left, Felicia ambled over to him, waited until he raised his head and looked up at her. “Would you like to go check out another town today, uh… Jared?”

What he wanted to do was slink under the gigantic bed and hide there forever. But when had hiding from his problems ever solved them? Jared took a deep breath in, let it out, and stood up.

“Let’s go.”

Town of Little Falls
Albion

“Gelin! Over here! Gelin!” a shrill voice called out, making Jared turn.

He found a little boy waving at him, jumping up and down with excitement. Jared laughed and waved back, then watched him trot away joyfully to catch up with his friends.

“How come folks here aren’t as protocol-abiding as the ones upstairs?”
“What do you mean?” Felicia asked, as she steered Jared through the town’s main street.
“I mean, they call Jensen ‘Jensen’ not ‘Alpha,’ and they call me ‘Gelin’ not ‘Onur.’ Actually, I wish they just used my name too…”

Felicia smirked up at him. “We’re not a monarchy here, as you know. People are free to be as irreverent as they like, no laws against sassing! Honestly, the common folk have always loved Jensen. He’s like one of our own, down-to-earth, approachable, and generous. If you ask me, they’re all just really happy Jensen’s finally found his mate, it’s been a long time coming, you know?”

Jared bit his lip as Hilarie’s words rushed back into his head.
If you had just respected our wishes and accepted Daniel as your bond-mate…

He blinked away the disconcerting memory, and focused on his companion instead. “What about you, Ms. Day? Do you have a mate waiting for you at home after you’re done babysitting me today?”
Felicia shook her head. “Too busy. No time to date.”
“Why? Is the job worth it?”
“I’ll have you know, not everyone gets to be personal aide to the High Beta herself. And it only took me like 22 years to get there so it’s a really big deal, all right?”
“Of course, it is, I didn’t mean to offend…”
Felicia winked, letting him know she was only kidding.

“Seriously though, it’s hard dating when you’re on call day and night, and living in staff quarters on the mansion grounds, so far away from town. Not a lot of opportunities to meet like-minded lycanesses.”
“I see…”
Felicia squinted up at Jared. “You’re not surprised?”
He grinned. “I saw how you looked at Yadira yesterday.”
She blushed, and he bumped her gently with one shoulder. “I’m going to ask again though, is the job really worth it?”
She shrugged. “For now, it is. The High Beta has been incredibly kind to me. I don’t think I can ever leave her side, not unless she orders me to.”
“Cool.”

Must be a reason why Hilarie commanded such fierce loyalty, Jared mused. Too bad he’d never get along with his mother-in-law, not as long as he was a shifter.

“Maybe after she steps down. And Jensen takes over as High Alpha, with you as his… High Gelin? Honestly, I have no idea what title they’ll make up for you, that seems like the most likely one.”
“I hate it.”
“I’m sorry,” she tried not to giggle, but then she saw the face Jared made, and laughed out loud. 

Ackles Mansion
Albion

It was dusk by the time they returned. Felicia accompanied Jared to the east wing stairs.

“Fabio just shipped your new robe for tonight, Onur. I’ll have it sent up to your room in a bit.”
“Okay, thanks, Ms. Day.”

As he walked up the stairs to get to the top floor, he heard loud, agitated voices coming from Kat’s suite on the third floor. Someone slammed a door and stalked out. A second later the same door was opened and slammed again.

“Look, I have no interest in your stupid circle meeting, all right?” Jared would recognize that petulant voice anywhere – Daniel.
“For once in your life, stop being so selfish!” That was Kathryn. She wasn’t yelling but she was pissed all right.
“Your vote is crucial tonight, you hear me? You cannot abstain today, no matter what.”
“I can’t be there. Kat please, don’t make me…”

Jared frowned. That sounded genuinely desperate.

“I thought you said you’d do anything for Jensen. Was that a lie too?”

Jared took one more deliberate step up the stairs, making absolutely no effort to hide the fact that he was there. He was done giving anyone else a reason to accuse him of eavesdropping.

The duo stood facing each other at the top of the next flight of stairs when they spotted Jared coming around the bend. He paused at the bottom of said stairs.

“Everything all right?” he asked, coolly.

Kat leaned back, moving out of Daniel’s way, who used the chance to make his escape. He ran down the stairs, his grungy black netted cardigan sweeping the floor behind him. He glared up at Jared, for just a moment, then he was gone.

Jared didn’t take offense since he now understood the reason for Daniel’s behavior towards him. When he looked up at Kat, she had collected herself and was smiling again.

“Excited about tonight?” she asked, as Jared approached her.
He frowned. “Should I be?”
Kat slipped her arm into his. “You’re kidding? You, Onur Gelin, are about to be formally introduced to the High Council tonight. Didn’t anyone tell you?”
She took in his blank expression and winced. “I suppose it was decided sort of last minute. But don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything. Just stand there and smile, and wave, like this…”

She showed him how to wave with one hand. It didn’t seem that difficult as to require a demonstration.

“Might need to make small talk with Council members, if they approach you.”
“Like Roche?”
“Yeah. Him,” Kat sighed. “Not everyone’s like that, I promise. And you won’t be alone! Jensen will be with you the whole time.”

It was Jared’s turn to sigh. He’d barely seen Jensen these last two days, including the stolen glimpse last night that lasted no more than ten seconds.

“What about the election? All set there?”
“Of course,” She waved a hand dismissively. “Albion loves Jensen and Albion needs Jensen… he’ll do fine. But I don’t think you realize how historic tonight is going to be. The First Family of Albion will officially, and publicly, accept a non-lycan into their pack. Jared! This is a huge deal!”

She grabbed his arm and shook him damn near violently. Jared struggled to stay upright given her lycan strength. But her enthusiasm was infectious, and he ended up smiling too.

“I wish Steven and I’d had this chance…” Kat looked away, holding her emotions at bay. Jared hugged her gently to himself.

“All right, enough of that,” she sighed, shaking herself out of her own funk. “Time to get ready, Onur. You need a shower.”
Jared snorted, feeling his shirt sticking to his sweat-soaked back. “No argument there.”
“I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
“Yes, Second Alpha.”

They parted ways and Jared went up to his bedroom. It was empty, as always.

He sighed heavily.

He peeled his clothes off and stepped into the shower. It had been a nice, sunny day, and the walk through the beautiful town of Little Falls had been just what he needed to distract himself. But now he was back, once again caught in a vortex of emotions he couldn’t escape. He sensed a storm brewing on the horizon, and the mansion air seemed thick with collective anxiety about it. He felt alone in the midst of it all, but more than that, he felt guilty… like something very, very bad was happening, because of him.

The shower stall door opened behind him, breaking Jared out of his thoughts. An overwhelming sense of relief flooded his senses once his mate pressed his naked body against Jared’s, bringing his arms around Jared’s chest and holding him lovingly.

“You’ve been thinking so loud all day, jaan… I could hear you from across town.”

He leaned back, resting all of his deadweight on his mate. Jensen planted a string of kisses on his shoulders and the back of his neck, all the while caressing his torso with big, warm hands.

“What did Mom say to you?”
“Nothing I didn’t deserve.”
Jensen tightened his arms around his mate, as if apologizing wordlessly on behalf of Hilarie.
“Jensen, about l-last night…”
“Shh, you don’t have to explain anything.”
“But… why?”

Jensen turned Jared around, pushed his wet auburn hair out of his face. “Because I know my mate. I know how keen-eyed and curious he is, how he can’t resist a damn mystery.”

Jared frowned, not sure what to make of it. His confusion probably showed because Jensen was smirking.
“Jensen, be serious.”
“I am! But hey, can we please forget about last night? There are more pressing things to deal with right now.”
“Like what?”

Jensen hiked his eyebrows and, with his right thumb, pointed downwards. Jared looked down, utterly surprised at himself for being aroused despite everything. He laughed and grudgingly surrendered to his mate’s administrations.

Jensen pressed him up against a glass wall, lifted his right leg up and used shower gel for lubrication, which worked beautifully. In time, Jared closed his eyes as Jensen pushed into him, made soft ‘ah’ sounds in tune with every well-aimed thrust against his sweet spot. He reached behind himself to wrap an arm around Jensen’s waist, forcing their bodies to move as one. Back and forth, in a scintillating rhythm that dived and crested and dived again, until they reached the pinnacle of pleasure and tumbled over the edge together.

“Jensen?” Jared panted.
“Yes, jaan…”
“I missed you.”
“I missed you.”

Later, Jared stepped out of their walk-in closet, dressed in a black silk shirt and black dress pants. He parted his bangs in the middle to reveal more of his forehead than he usually did. It had the amazing effect of making him look somewhat older, more mature for his 26 years.

Jensen hummed in approval. “Is that on purpose?”
Jared shrugged. “I don’t want to look the way I feel.”
“And how’s that?”
“Like a deer in headlights.”
“What does that… uh, never mind,” Jensen nodded, looking like he got the gist of it.

The alpha was dressed in a similar black ensemble. But he also had his traditional robe on – a long, black, slim-fit coat that hugged his torso from high collar to waistline, and with an A-line silhouette that fell to the floor around his ankles. Dark, semi-tarnished, gold buttons clasped the double-breasted ends together, and also adorned the ends of his full sleeves like cufflinks. The material was some combination of wool and velvet that gave it nearly the same sheen as Jensen’s fur in wolf form, almost but not quite.

Jared looked his mate up and down, and back up again. Albion may not be a monarchy, but tonight Jensen looked like a regal prince of old.

Jensen smiled, reading his thoughts. “Wait till you see yours.”

Jared blinked, then followed Jensen’s gaze to a large gold carton sitting on their bed. Jensen opened it and pulled out a similar robe tailored for Jared by the house of Versace. The only difference was that his buttons were a brighter shade of gold, new metal not tarnished by years of use.

He let Jensen help him into the robe, buttoned up the front as Jensen had, and then looked at himself in the mirror.

“You look…”

Fake? Pretentious? Like an imposter who doesn’t belong?

“…absolutely beautiful, jaan.” Jensen ogled at him, feigning breathlessness like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. “No one’s going to be able to take their eyes off you.”

Jared turned away, pretended it was out of shyness and not his anxiety surging up like bile into his throat.

All eyes are on you. Whether you like it or not.

Genesis Cave
Albion

Jared felt the big green vein on the left of his neck throbbing incessantly as they approached the cave. But it wasn’t just anxiety. With his arm hooked around Jensen’s left one, Jared felt safe enough to relax and really let the gravity of what was about to happen sink in.

“The Genesis cave…” Jensen explained, as they climbed down the steps carved into the face of the mountain. “…was where the first High Council met 6000 years ago, organizing lycans into a single sovereign society. And this is where the Council has met ever since.”

Here, halfway between the mansion and the valley towns, the night sky seemed darker than ever. The moon in its waxing gibbous phase tried to light the way. Solar torches and uniformed LEOs on each side of the stone-paved stairs guided them towards the mouth of the cave. Jared couldn’t help but look around in wonder. There was a long row of lycans dressed in similarly styled floor-length robes of various earth-tone colors, walking ahead of them. Many greeted and waved at Jensen and Jared, no one looked surprised to see the Alpha-apparent and his bond-mate walking among them. Jared smiled to himself. Hilarie may be akin to Princess Di for humans, but it was really Jensen who was the people’s prince here in Albion.

At the entrance, two guards saluted Jensen and bowed to Jared. The entrance was smaller than he expected, and they both had to duck to make it through. Jensen held his hand and led him through a passageway that felt like it went on forever. In reality, it couldn’t have been more than forty feet. Voices echoed from the distance, and a warm yellow light bloomed at the end of the tunnel. Jared watched the light grow bigger, and louder, until at last, he found himself standing in a colossal subterranean chamber literally in the belly of a mountain.

A massive fire pit stood burning brightly in the center, at least nine meters in diameter. At the other end of the chamber were two levels of elevation. The higher dais held two majestic thrones made of cast bronze and black velvet. A massive carillon composed of 24 digitally controlled bells was built into the cavern wall just over the dais. If its gorgeous neo-gothic architecture ever failed to draw attention, the synchronized cast-bronze bells surely would. The next level was wide enough to hold a dozen or so very important people: members of the ‘inner circle.’

Jared spotted Kathryn, Katie, and Tom mingling among the crowd, and was glad to see familiar faces. Soon the din of voices started to quieten across the cavern, and heads started to turn in his direction. Jared tightened his grip on Jensen’s arm.

“Stay with me, jaan,” Jensen whispered. “Don’t leave me alone in this crowd, okay?”

Jared wanted to roll his eyes, his mate the kidder. The words did bring a smile to his face, which had the happy side-effect of several onlookers smiling back at Jared.

“Come on,” said Jensen, then plunged head-first into the melee, dragging Jared with him.

Folks approached Jensen and bowed or saluted (if they were military.) Jensen greeted each one cordially before immediately turning towards Jared.

“This is my mate, Jared Padalecki.”
This is my bonded partner, Jared Padalecki.
Please meet the Onur Gelin, Jared Padalecki.
Hey, have you met my life partner? Say hello to Jared. Jared Padalecki.

And on and on he went, working his way through the crowd, not hesitating to direct everyone’s attention towards Jared, though it was obvious Jared already had it.

Jared played his part… smiling, nodding, even shaking hands with a few more familiar with Mancunian etiquettes (and unafraid to be touched by a shifter.) It bolstered his smile, gave him the courage to not hide behind Jensen, and ignore all those who didn’t approach him… the people who watched him with suspicion, disapproval, even outright hostility.

Jensen and Jared eventually made it to the front of the chamber where Kat caught up with them. 

“Well, well… if it isn’t the prince of Albion himself…” Someone called out from behind them, drawing Jensen’s attention.
“Mayor Ferris! You have to stop calling me that.” 
Ferris laughed. “How many moons has it been?”
“Too long. May I introduce my bond-mate, Jared Padalecki.”

Jared turned towards the dark-haired female lycan, older than Jensen, dressed in a wine-red robe. Only a few others wore that specific color, Katie and Tom being among those few.

“Hello…” he offered shyly.
“Jared, meet Samantha Ferris, our very good friend, inner circle member, and mayor of Little Falls which is…”
“The town you were exploring today,” she completed, addressing Jared directly.
Jared bowed back just as she did.

Samantha studied him with a neutral expression on her face. “Surely someone has told you by now, you don’t need to bow back to us.”
“Yeah… um, Samantha was my mother’s name. I guess it… just came out.”
Mayor Ferris smiled at him then, and held his gaze for a precious moment.
“Well met, Onur. Jensen, may I speak with you?”
“Yes, of course,” Jensen left Jared with Kat and stepped over to a corner where they could have a private conversation.

The sensation of Jensen’s arm slipping away from Jared’s grip nearly sent Jared’s heart sinking to the pit of his stomach.

“Hey,” Kat distracted him by pulling him towards another lycan in a wine-red robe waiting to speak with him.
“This is Councilman Julian Richings. He has been an advisor to two High Alphas including Dad.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jared nodded respectfully, quietly observing that the councilman didn’t bow to him. Just like Roche, who stood a distance away and hadn’t approached them yet.

“Strange times we live in,” Richings intoned, rather randomly. “Tell me, Onur, is Manchester aware of the threat Albion faces from the south?”
Jared hiked an eyebrow. “Yes, the media has been monitoring the situation.”
“And do they care? Do they intend to return the many favors Albion has bestowed upon them over the years?”

It was like Jared was being tested. “I-I don’t know, Councilman. But given our historical precedents, I’m sure they just want the world to be at peace.”
“What humans want is to see the lycan race eradicated from the face of this planet.”
“A few factions, maybe. Just as there must be some folks here who feel the same way about humans.”

Richings frowned. “And whose side is your kind on? Shifters live on human land, disguised as humans, I suppose that’s where their loyalties lie. So how can you expect lycans to trust you?”

Jared bit back a smirk. He saw the question coming from oceans away.

“Shifters have been criminalized, hunted, detained without reason, ostracized and deported from lycan lands. Let me ask you, Councilman, how can you expect any loyalty from a race you’ve oppressed for many millennia?”

“Oh, please. What has the shifter race contributed to the world anyway, besides perversions of pleasure tourism maybe?”
Jared kept his tone utterly polite. “Considering so many live in disguise, I suppose we’ll never know, will we?”

Richings glowered for a second, then looked at Kat. “The security and sovereignty of Albion hangs in the balance, while our First Alpha consorts with… núíosachs.”
Kat opened her mouth, clearly intending to retort with something biting and sarcastic. But Jared discretely squeezed her hand, making her pause. She took a deep breath.
“I assure you, Julian,” she said, utterly politely, “Albion is in the safest hands.”
The councilman pursed his thin lips. “We shall see. I wish you well, Kathryn.”

Kat watched him go, then turned to look up at Jared. “Shouldn’t have stopped me.”
“He’s a member of the inner council isn’t he?”
“How did you-?”
“The wine-red robes? I counted twelve of them.”
Kat smirked at him, clearly impressed. And then she frowned. “One is missing…” she looked around, then huffed. “Damn it, Daniel.”

“Hey, Kat… can I ask you something?”
“What’s a núíosach?”
“Oh, that I know. It’s ancient Gaelic for foreigner or maybe… newcomer, right?”
“Very good! What did you want to ask me?”
“Why is Daniel an inner circle member?”

Kat briefly glanced at Jensen before looking back at him. “The First Family holds three seats on the inner circle. It used to be Katie, Tom and me. About seven years ago, when Steven died, I had a… crisis of sorts, and quit the pack for a while. So, to retain my seat and the vote, mother had it assigned to Daniel. It was… sort of… widely assumed at the time that…”
“…that Daniel would bond with Jensen and become a member of the First Family?”

Kat looked startled, but didn’t ask how Jared knew. “Yes, well, as you can see, I couldn’t stay away from the pack but did stay out of the politics. Nasty business, not my thing.”
“And what about now? Why does Daniel get to keep his seat?”
Kat shrugged. “It’s a rule. Once you’re in the inner circle, you can’t ever be kicked out, unless you die or resign. And Mom won’t let him resign.”

Jared still had so many questions, but he didn’t get a chance to ask them. Someone rang the carillon, and everyone turned towards the cave entrance. The High Alpha and High Beta stood at the cave entrance, dressed in long white robes with bright gold trimmings, the only two wearing that color. Jared sensed his mate making his way back to him and he held out his hand. Jensen grabbed it and deftly pulled Jared close to himself. Together they moved aside as the mega-pack leaders walked past them, up to the dais.

Everyone bowed.

It didn’t take long for the room to organize itself. Jensen, Jared and Kathryn lined up on the upper dais to the right of the High Alpha and High Beta’s thrones. The inner circle members stood in their assigned spots on the second-level dais (with the thirteenth spot conspicuously empty.) Everyone else gathered around the fire pit and in front of the daises.

“Welcome, esteemed members of the Northern High Council!” Alan Ackles stood in front of his throne as he addressed the lycans gathered inside the Genesis cave. “The High Beta and I want to take this opportunity to introduce the newest member of our pack – my son’s bond-mate – Jared Padalecki.”

Modest applause broke out, echoing simply by nature of the acoustics in the cavern. Jared resisted the urge to hide behind his mate. Instead, he stood tall, one hand gripping Jensen’s as tightly as it could, and kept his eyes trained on his mate’s face while everyone else stared at him.

“By now everyone knows, Jared is not lycan. And therefore, he doesn’t fit our social ranking structure. Which is why I have decreed he be addressed in the language of our ancestors. In doing so, we honor our son’s bond-mate just as we honor our proud lycan heritage… so please join me in welcoming Jared as the Onur Gelin of the Ackles family!”

Another round of applause followed, led by the High Alpha and High Beta themselves. It sure seemed to last longer this time.

“Now, as you all also know, my son Jensen’s bonding was accidental. The First Alpha didn’t set out to break our age-old traditional rules that denounce interracial bonding. Rules that were created for good reason!”

“Oh boy,” Jensen huffed, such that only Jared could hear him. 

“The others do not live as long as we do,” Alan continued. “Once bonded, their death in most cases means early demise of our loric brothers and sisters. Our ancestors deemed it to be a waste of the loric miracle that helped them survive a nuclear ice age. Especially because their numbers were, at the time, perilously low, and numbers implied strength back then. So, no wonder they wrote down some laws that made perfect sense back then… but have since lost some relevance in this new world we inhabit today.”

Everyone listened with bated breath. Some nodded, others remained unmoved.

“The last time someone sought acceptance of a núíosach into the pack was 300 years ago, and we refused them. We ostracized and eventually banished that couple. Since then, a number of lycans have chosen bond-mates outside the pack and left with them…”
Alan looked directly at Jensen when he said that, clearly referring to Jeff and Andy. Jensen stayed stoic, his face not giving anything away.
“I’d like to think we know better now. That we can do better now. I don’t want to lose anyone else from our pack,” Alan implored, letting a bit of emotion rise to his voice. “I don’t want to lose my son.”
“Hear, hear!” A resolute female voice boomed from the inner-circle gallery. It was Mayor Ferris, pledging her support loudly for all to see. Both Alan and Jensen smiled gratefully at her.

“So here is why I have invited you all tonight,” Alan took a step forward. “I call for an outer circle vote to abolish the 4000-year-old law that prohibits interracial bonding, and usher in a new age for Albion. One in which everyone has the liberty to love who they love. One in which we open our hearts, and our homes, to the núíosachs. And one in which we lose no more of our people to the human territories. What say you all?”

The applause resumed and seemed even more thunderous than before, if that were even possible. Jared felt his heart race. He looked at Kat, who was looking back at him, smiling, with tears in her eyes. He looked at Jensen then, who stood still and expressionless.

A number of staffers started making the rounds, passing out large, black pillar candles to everyone gathered beyond the two daises.

“What’s going on?” Jared asked Jensen in a hushed tone.
“Old tradition,” Jensen explained. “The fire in the pit will be lowered and those who agree the law should be abolished will light their candles. The amount of light flickering across the cavern will decide which way the vote goes.”
“What if it’s close?”
Jensen smirked, leaning closer to Jared. “Such a nitpicker. Don’t worry, the candles are digitally tagged… if needed the AI will tally them, and results will show up on a plasma up here.”
He nodded at the wall space just below the carillon.

Jared hiked his eyebrows. He couldn’t wait to see how Albion voted on what was basically his future with Jensen. Jared felt a little giddy. What was the worst that could happen – that they’d be asked to leave, and would have to go back to the Nyctimus? Or go live in Santorini with Jeff and Andy? Where was the downside again?

“Douse the pit!” Tom called out, giving the go-ahead for the voting to begin. One by one, the candles started to flicker on. There must be hundreds of outer circle members present - head alphas and betas of the numerous sub-packs of Albion. It took no more than a minute for the verdict to reveal itself: three-fourths of the chamber was lit up with the warmth of yellow candlelight. No need for a digital tally.

“Look at this…” Alan spoke, visibly pleased with the outcome. “Here and now, we herald the new era of the North. Albion has spoken!”

The mountain erupted into joyous celebration, complete with more booming applause and wolf howls that echoed through the cavern for what felt like hours. The energy was infectious. Jared and Jensen found themselves in the spotlight yet again. They looked at each other, and couldn’t help but smile.

Kathryn was right. Albion had turned a critical page in its history tonight.

Festivities commenced around the fire pit that burned brightly once again. A magnificent dinner buffet fit for royalty was arranged. A legion of betas went around serving hors d'oeuvres and homegrown champagne to the council members. Lycans ate and drank merrily, caught up with friends and kin they hadn’t seen in a while. The high-spirited chatter echoed through the cavern for about an hour, until Alan rose once again and held up a hand. The cave slowly but surely descended into respectful silence.

“Hilarie and I thank the outer circle for coming out and helping us shape the future of Albion. You are all excused for the night. Go home and share the good news with your families, kiss your pups goodnight, and we’ll see you soon.”
Jared frowned. “Closed-door election? Why?”
“That’s how it’s always done, jaan.”

Jensen watched the crowd as it slowly dispersed. He nodded politely at the many who bade him farewell, or wished him luck. Minutes later, the total count of sentient beings inside the cave dwindled to a mere seventeen.

Correction – eighteen. Jared spotted Daniel slinking into the cavern soon after everyone else left. He wore a wine-red robe as well. His entire countenance was of someone who just slid out of bed, even though his eyes were red and dark-rimmed like he hadn’t slept in days.
“Full house, I see,” Alan remarked, nodding at the latecomer in their midst, albeit with significant affection.
Jared shook his head. That kid might get away with murder around here. 

“All right, now for the next order of business…” Alan began. Hilarie stood up and joined him this time.
“Brothers and sisters… you all know why we have gathered here tonight. War is knocking on our door. And we need a general to lead us through this very difficult time.”

Jared crossed his arms and watched the thirteen members now seated in tall green chairs arranged in a semi-circle on the lower dais. He knew Tom, Katie, and Daniel of course. He’d met Councilman Roche and Richings – career politicians or ‘advisors to the High Alpha’, as they liked to be called, and Mayor of Little Falls, Samantha Ferris. He’d been very briefly introduced to the other seven members – three mayors of the three biggest valley towns besides Little Falls, two more political advisors (by virtue of being pack elders who commanded respect from the High Alpha himself), and two chief justices of Albion’s judicial system.

“Honestly, I think this is just a formality. You all know my son, Jensen. You have seen the marvelous job he’s done managing our forces for years. Jensen is the most capable alpha for the job, so much so that his is the only name up as candidate. So, seeing as there is no contest…”

“Pardon me, High Alpha…” someone interrupted him from the right. It was Councilman Roche.

The politician rose from his chair, interlocked his fingers loosely in front of him. “Everything you said was absolutely germane… up until four months ago. But now, we must acknowledge that things have changed quite drastically since then.”

Jared didn’t like the sound of that.

“I… don’t want to beat around the bush here, High Alpha. So let me just come out and say it – I no longer have confidence in the First Alpha’s ability to lead us through the coming war.”

Jared turned to look at his mate. Jensen just stood there like he had all night – one hand in his pocket, another wrapped around Jared’s in a death grip, spine ramrod straight, head held high, face blank as a canvas. But the bond between them was pulsating harder than usual… like a telltale heartbeat.

“What exactly do you think has changed, Sebastian?” Hilarie challenged the councilman. “Jensen had led our military as a peacetime general for 40 years. He has 20 years of experience negotiating with humans and the south, more than anyone else in the inner circle. That includes you, Sebastian.”
“Yes, High Beta, all of that is true. But we also cannot ignore the fact that Jensen has exposed the north to new dangers with his irresponsible actions.”
“What new dangers?”
“Thanks to your son and his bond-mate… the lycan way of life has become the latest topic of reality television gossip in human territories. Our sacred secrets, that we have protected for thousands of years, have all been revealed and are now available for anyone to study, scrutinize and use against us.”
“What – you mean the transformation?” Kathryn spoke up, voice full of incredulity. “For Fenrir’s sake, what can humans possibly learn from watching a thirty-second video?”

Hilarie raised a hand to pacify her daughter. “May I remind you, Councilman Roche, we’re on the brink of war. This is no time for your ridiculous isolationist politics. The tide is turning. I would think the outer circle’s resounding vote tonight would have made that plenty clear.”

Sebastian smirked. “Yes, I see now why you felt it necessary to organize that… last-minute stunt of a vote. But I’m sorry to report, High Beta, it did nothing to assuage my primary concern which is still the safety and sovereignty of Albion. Something that is so precious to me, that I cannot, in good conscience, put it in the hands of a lycan who left himself vulnerable in front of a… a shifter, and allowed himself to succumb to an accidental bond.”

Katie frowned, genuinely confused. “Sebastian, what does any of that have to do with…”

“Signs of weakness!” Roche screamed dramatically. “Dangerous, fatal weakness! Weakness that one might be able to forgive in an ordinary lycan but in a general? A Zeta at that?!? How do you expect to control all the alphas under your command if they don’t respect you anymore, Alpha Jensen? Are you really so naïve to believe that they see you the same way they did before?!?”

Jared spotted a couple of the inner circle members nod at that. His heart was racing to the point of hyperventilation now. “I have to say something.”
Jensen squeezed his hand so hard it hurt. “Don’t,” he hissed, coldly.

“Oh, come off it, Councilman Roche!” Hilarie challenged him again. “What era do you think you’re living in? Albion voted for change and progress tonight. You want to pull us backwards to a regressive time when we were judged for who we loved?”

“The fact is…” Alan interrupted, calmly. “There is no one better equipped, or better prepared for the role. Can you all think of anyone else who could do the job?”

The inner circle members looked at each other, hesitating. A few seconds later, Richings stood up. “I nominate Councilman Roche for the job.”

“You can’t be serious, Julian!” Tom practically yelled, standing up as well. “What experience does Sebastian have exactly, besides shaking a few hands and fucking a few beta sailors?”
Roche adjusted his robe, jerking it in anger. “I served at the southern front honorably for years before you learned to walk, Welling. I commanded respect without having the privilege of being adopted by an Ackles.”
“Your definition of honor and respect needs calibration, Councilman,” Tom retorted. “Everyone knows you only served because your father put it into his will as a precondition for your inheritance.”
“Tom,” Alan ordered. Tom sat back down, but didn’t stop fuming.

“Someone must second the nomination,” Alan stated plainly. Jared watched him slump a little in his throne, like he’d already given up.

The polling is never wrong, Jensen had said the night before. Jared looked back up at his mate. “You knew this would happen.”

Jensen didn’t reply. He just warily slid his gaze towards the tall blonde with severe features seated in the middle of the semi-circle – Mayor Elizabeth Blackmore, of the town of Pendragon.

The very next moment, Blackmore raised her hand. “I second the nomination,” she declared, though she steadfastly refused to look at Sebastian. It didn’t look like wholehearted endorsement to Jared.

“Lizzie!?” Katie’s face contorted in shock. “W-Why?”
Blackmore sat up straight. “I’m sorry, Katie, but by bonding with a… a núíosach, Jensen has made himself vulnerable on the battlefield. All our enemies have to do to take out our Zeta is to go after Jared. Bonded mates must be able to protect each other, especially in times of war. But now…” she looked up at Jensen. “Frankly, Jensen, your mate is a liability.”

Jared reflexively took one step back, one step away from his mate. Or at least he tried to. Jensen didn’t let go of his hand.

“Your argument is based on the false assumption that shifters are a weaker race, Elizabeth.” Jensen spoke for the first time that night. In defense of not himself, but his mate. “I assure you that’s absolutely not true. Physical strength isn’t everything. Jared has other strengths that…”
“This is not about xenophobia, Jensen,” she interrupted. “I’m sure Jared is a wonderful, gifted person. Believe me, in times of peace, I wouldn’t care. But we’re going to war with the Pileggis, who have turned the South into an extremely savage and technologically advanced enemy, one we’ve never fought before! I’m sorry, we cannot afford to go soft right now.”

Alan sighed, a bit more heavily this time. “I’ve heard enough. Mayor Blackmore’s seconding makes it official. We now have two candidates. Let the voting begin.”

Jared trembled. He was good at reading body language in people. And what he saw was not a promising picture. The two pack elders, Davos and Singer, were sitting next to and visibly leaning towards Richings – fuck. Justice Gilliam sat upright yet relaxed, comfortably meeting both Alan’s and Jensen’s eyes. But Justice Serratos slouched, and her eyes shifted rapidly from one direction to the next – fuck again. That left mayors Adams and Hogan of the towns of Smoky Hills and Nadasdy respectively – they both seemed conflicted… like they didn’t want to vote for either candidate. FUCK.

“This isn't right,” he whispered, to no one in particular. How could they do this? How could Jensen just stand here and let this happen?

He looked up at his mate again, and found Jensen craning his neck to his left to look at something… someone… standing behind them. Jared followed his gaze and found the person who had all of Jensen’s attention at this critical moment.

Kathryn stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall behind the dais. She had the sole of her right boot planted firmly into the wall, and her head was lowered. She probably knew she was being watched, but refused to look up to meet her brother’s eyes.

“Kat,” Jensen called out to her, pleading, ever so softly. That was all he said.

The Second Alpha exhaled deeply, then strode to the center of the dais.

“Wait, Dad…” she came to stand beside Alan. “It sucks that the inner circle no longer has confidence in my brother, despite his years of service to Albion. Fine, we just have to accept that. But I cannot believe you all have more confidence in Roche? Really?”
“What other choice do we have?” asked Mayor Hogan, ignoring the glare Roche tried to pin him with.

Kathryn looked at Jensen one more time, and at her big brother’s nod, she turned back to the mayor.
“How about me? I’m Second Alpha. I have been training under Jensen for as long as he’s been managing our military. And I’m not a douchebag.”

Jared’s mouth fell open at the turn of events, and he wasn’t the only one. He could feel the energy in the cave shift dramatically.

“Now, wait a m-moment!” Roche objected. “This, at this time… you… no, you c-c-can’t do this!”
“Can’t I?” Kathryn smirked.
Jensen stepped forward. “I withdraw my candidacy,” he declared loudly and without hesitation. “And I nominate Kathryn to be our next Zeta.”
Tom stood up, as if on cue, as if he too knew this was going to happen. “I second the nomination.”

The members who had earlier been conflicted, looked like they’d finally reached a decision. And it was their vote that was about to make all the difference.

Alan smirked. “The nomination is accepted. Two candidates – Second Alpha Kathryn Newton Ackles, and Councilman Alpha Sebastian Roche. Any other objections?”

When no one spoke, Alan stood up. “Let the voting begin. And obviously Roche you cannot vote for yourself. So, how many for Roche?”

Four candles lit up – Richings, Serratos, Davos, and Singer. Roche’s face fell at the same time as it reddened with humiliation. 

“And how many for Kathryn?”

Five of the eight candles that lit up were expected – Tom, Katie, Daniel, Ferris, and Gilliam. The other three were uncertain and therefore a huge relief: the three Mayors – Hogan, Adams, and even Blackmore – swung the vote in favor of Kathryn.

“There you have it.” Alan declared, nodding at his daughter proudly.

The applause was brief and polite, an essential closing ritual to the election. Kathryn stood in the center of the throne dais as everyone approached to congratulate her.

Justice Gilliam broke away and quietly sauntered over to Jensen. “For what it’s worth,” he said in a husky voice. “I would choose you as my Zeta any day.”
“Thank you, Seth,” Jensen murmured. They exchanged nods, before Seth left to rejoin the group.

The First Family including Kathryn put up a brave face. But that somehow made their sadness even more obvious.

“Jensen,” Jared looked at his mate, squeezing the lycan’s hand fervently. “Are you okay?”
Jensen didn’t reply. He just waited to catch Alan’s eyes, and when he eventually did, he made a small bow… asking permission to be excused. Alan nodded back. Quietly, without attracting anyone’s attention (though Jared suspected they never actually lost it) the First Alpha and his mate walked out of the Genesis cave.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

“Say something,” Jared tried again, in vain.

He sat on the floor in the balcony, crouched against the mansion wall, watching Jensen. His mate stood at the railing, gazing into the distance with his back turned to Jared.

News had spread of the surprise results of the Zeta election, which would explain the brighter than usual light-show on the valley floor below. A thunderstorm approached ominously from the west.

Jared sighed. “I’m so sorry, love. I know this is happening because of me, b-because I’m a mutt.”
“Don’t!” Jensen almost shouted, turning towards Jared for a second, just a second. “Don’t use that word.”

Jared hugged himself tighter, wishing it were his mate doing so instead. But he understood why Jensen couldn’t even look at him right then, let alone touch him. Snippets of conversations he’d had or overheard in the past two days flashed through his mind.

“Alpha Christopher was passed over for Zeta. And traditionally, for as far back as anyone can remember… a Zeta general is always the one who goes on to become High Alpha.”
“That must have devastated him.”
“He went into exile soon after.”
“None of this would be happening if… you had just respected our wishes and accepted Daniel as your bond-mate.”

Jared shivered violently. What happened tonight… had effectively crushed all of the dreams and aspirations Jensen must have ever had for himself. And it was all because of Jared. His heart was crumbling to pieces for his mate, making it hard for him to breathe. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Jensen was thinking right then. But he could feel some of it through the bond. And it felt… the worst.

“M-Maybe, we should go to Santorini after all…” he whispered, hoping to remind Jensen that they still had options which weren’t half-bad.
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

There was a hint of bitterness in Jensen’s voice. It sliced through Jared like a ceramic knife. Jared resolved not to open his worthless mouth anymore. There was nothing he could say, or do, to fix what had been broken today.

Jensen stood in silence for a few minutes. Then he exhaled deeply before turning to look at Jared. For a moment it looked like he might apologize, or say something to reassure Jared, though Jared should be the one doing it. But words had completely and utterly failed Jared tonight, as they were now clearly failing Jensen too.

“I-I’m going for a-a run, clear my head.”
“…”
“You’ll be okay?”
“Ye-yeah… yes, absolutely.”

Jared watched as Jensen turned away and started to strip right there on their balcony. He shed his robe, boots, and clothes, one by one. Then he swan-dove four floors, transforming on his way down. Jared jumped up to his feet and ran to the railing to track his mate. Jensen the wolf landed gracefully on the terrace, then immediately sprang up to race down the mountain. Jared lost sight of him in the darkness soon after.

He kept searching for his mate for several moments, hoping maybe Jensen would change his mind. Maybe he was just kidding and would come right back, his mate the kidder. Jared stood there, alone, for a very long time.

Jensen did not return all night.

Chapter Text

28 Août, 3947 PG

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Two wolves raced each other across the cordillera. One had jet-black fur and sea-green eyes. The other was a grey wolf, with crystal-blue eyes, a few inches taller than the first one. The grey wolf followed the black wolf through dense woods, over babbling brooks, and across grasslands for many klicks until the one he chased finally decided he’d had enough. The black wolf stopped at the edge of a tall cliff, panting rabidly. Then he lifted his snout up and howled furiously at the moon. The grey wolf stood beside him trembling, in empathy, in fear, fury of his own… a combination of all three.

Just as the two wolves started to relax, their ears pricked up, sending them back upright. A third wolf emerged into the clearing. This one had golden fur with the same sea-green eyes as her brother, but smaller and clearly younger. She approached with her tail down, cautiously, even as the big black wolf stood up tall and snarled at her angrily. She bowed, but didn’t back down. The black wolf growled again, as if in warning, his stance aggressive to say the least. But the female wolf didn’t listen. And when she took one more step forward, the black wolf pounced.

Jared woke up with a gasp, his limbs jerking frantically in bed. He looked around, struggling to identify his surroundings… their bedroom. Or Jensen’s bedroom, to be accurate.

He panted, out of breath like he’d been the one running through the woods. But it was just a dream, one that was already fading away, fast. He couldn’t place exactly what had so violently thrust him back into consciousness. But he did remember feeling enraged, cornered, helpless. A special kind of anguish, like he’d lost something valuable and irreplaceable, with no hopes of ever getting it back. But he also remembered he wasn’t left alone… 

The knocking on the door shook him out of his thoughts.

“Onur? May we come in?”
Jared rubbed his eyes and sat up, gathering the sheet to his bare chest. “Come in.”
Felicia and the staff walked in with breakfast and his schedule for the day.
“Good morning!” Felicia greeted him, as cheerfully as she had since the first time she met him. He smiled back, even as he felt daggers in the eyes of Nicki and the others, sharper than before.

Jared pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, hugging himself. But he held his head high, refusing to look away every time a beta dared glance his way.

“All right, enough tidying up for now, come back later,” Felicia ordered, and the staffers cleared out.

She picked up the silver bowl of lokum from the coffee table and brought it over to Jared. He shook his head.
“Come on, Jared, a little sugar makes everything better. Isn’t that a humanish saying?”
Jared sighed. “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
Felicia’s eyes flitted away for a moment, before turning back to Jared and thrusting the bowl into his face.
“Oh, all right.” Jared took a couple, then slid out of bed. “Probably the last time I get to enjoy these anyway.”
“Why do you say that?”
Jared smirked sadly. “Looks like I’ll be leaving soon Ms. Day. It’s been fun, but clearly I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

Felicia held a plush white velvet robe up for Jared to wear over his boxers. “And where would you go, Santorini?”
“Most likely. Have you been?”
“Not a popular destination for pack wolves, unless one’s considering their exile options. Anyway, I don’t think you’re going anywhere.”
Jared clasped the robe’s belt around his waist. “But… didn’t Christopher exile himself after losing the Zeta election?”
“Yes, but Jensen is no Christopher.”

He turned towards the balcony. It was a bright sunny day. Another of those beautiful days in Albion that he was left to ‘enjoy’ on his own.

“And now that Kathryn is Zeta, Jensen will most definitely stick around to guide her. What the siblings did yesterday, it was very clever. Everyone knows Kathryn does nothing without her brother’s say-so. Jensen might as well be Zeta himself. That’s why you will find, Onur, once you step out of this suite today… that things aren’t as bad as you’re imagining them to be.”

Jared turned to look at Felicia. Something in his eyes prompted the beta to stride up to him and hold out her hands.

“May I, please?”

Jared let Felicia pull his right hand out of his pocket, then hold it in both her hands. Her hands were smaller but just as warm as Jensen’s, just as comforting.

“Of course, you can always tell the First Alpha if you really want to leave. It’s not like he has a real choice in the matter.”
“…”
“But I think he’s counting on you loving him as much as he loves you, and knowing how important it is that he be here, defending Albion against our enemies.”
Jared sighed. “Why do you think we came here in the first place? If I wanted, we would have never left the yacht, right?”
Felicia smiled again and squeezed his hand, “That’s true, and that’s why we’re so fortunate you are our Onur Gelin.”
“Whatever,” Jared blushed and pulled away, making Felicia grin.

“So, what’s on our schedule today?”
“Still don’t want to see the decorator?”
“Definitely no.”
“Well then, your calendar is wide open. Would you like to explore Smoky Hills today? Or Nadasdy?”
Jared bit his lip. “I think I’ll check out the library today.”
Felicia sighed. “You don’t have to hide, you know…”
“I know. I’d just like to spend the day reading.”
“As you wish, Onur.”

Jared walked into the bathroom, closed the solid oak door behind him and leaned against it, exhaling deeply.

He missed Jensen.

Something Felicia said kept grating on him.

“You can always tell the First Alpha if you really want to leave. It’s not like he has a real choice in the matter.”

This cursed biological imperative was quite an albatross around a lycan’s neck, wasn’t it?

Mayor Blackmore had called him a liability.

Being a non-lycan, he didn’t know if he’d feel the physical effects of being parted from Jensen like Jensen would. Nor did he know if Jensen getting hurt would affect him through the bond, like it’d affect Jensen if something happened to him.

Jared scratched at his chin, absently noting he needed a shave. Albion seemed to have no need for him or his kind. He served no purpose here besides staying alive just so the First Alpha stayed alive. Like that ancient fable about a bird that was kept in a golden cage because an old king’s life was tied to the bird’s life. But what if there was a way to alter the link, maybe even sever it? That way, Jensen could have everything he’d always aspired for.

Of course, this was all speculative. The information he needed to be sure didn’t exist in any public (human) archives. He knew, he’d checked. But what about the archives here in the heart of the lycan stronghold? Jared stepped into the shower, determined, and for a change, calmer. He had a clear purpose, a reason to be here in Albion. At least today.

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Sometime after lunch, Alan Ackles walked back into his office.

He had a rare gap in his schedule. Thirty minutes with no meetings, no urgent memos to send out, no matters of civil or criminal justice to preside on. On any other day, he would have enjoyed the little reprieve with a catnap on his divan, or maybe streaming his favorite telenovela from Westworld. But the events of last night weighed heavy on his mind, and that was something he feared he’d never get a reprieve from.

He'd imagined his son’s ascension ceremony so many times in such vivid detail that he’d often forget it hadn’t actually happened yet. And now it never might. The dreadful realization pierced his chest like a blunt blade, hellbent on keeping him alive through its inflicted agony. 

And even though he was thinking about Jensen, Alan was still startled when he stepped into his office and found his son lying on his favored divan.

“Hi, you…”
“Hey, Dad,” Jensen sat up when his father walked in.

Compared to Alan’s formal attire, a smart blue suit with a loosened tie, Jensen was dressed in a crumpled white shirt with his sleeves rolled up, hanging over creased khaki pants, and grimy white sneakers. His hair was still wet, and his pulse was racing faster than usual. Alan smiled; clearly his son had just gotten back from an all-night romp in the woods.

“How’re you doing, son?”
Jensen shrugged. “Nothing new to report.”
Alan sighed. He knew his son rarely discussed his feelings, with anyone. “Okay, how is Kathryn? She’s been avoiding me all day.”
Jensen scuffed his nose. “She’s fine. We sorted it out.”
“Last night?”
“Yep.”
“Is that why your arms are so scratched up?”

Jensen started to roll his sleeves down, but it was already too late. For the scars to still be visible, the gashes must have been pretty deep.

“It got a little heated. First I was mad and needed to vent. Then she got mad and needed to vent it all back, and then some more.”
“And poor Thomas got caught in the middle, of course?”
Jensen smirked. “He volunteers for this stuff you know. I didn’t ask him.”
“And yet, where would you be without him?”
“Very true.”

Alan came over and sat beside his son. He put an arm around his broad shoulders. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We start swapping things tomorrow. Kat will take over border operations and I’ll take over recruitment and training here. I’ll fly out with her to the southern front tomorrow, introduce her to the field commander, show her the ropes. She’s always been a fast learner, I’m not worried.”
“Good. But I still expect to see you on all strategy and operational meetings.”
“Of course.”

“Well, our recruitment numbers will go up now. Kat was good, don’t get me wrong, but the younger ones want nothing more than to be trained by their youth icon, their hero…”
Jensen scoffed sadly. “Actually, I’m worried no one will show up…”
Alan squeezed his son’s shoulder. “You underestimate our people’s capacity to love, son. They love you. And they love the fact that you finally have someone to love too.”

Jensen swallowed, looked down at his intertwined fingers. “I don’t know, Dad. I seem to be failing at everything right now…”
“What happened last night was not your fault, Jensen, you know that.”
“Roche and his cronies have been looking for an excuse to usurp power from our family for years, and I just gave it to them.”
“Careful son, that’s a slippery slope of self-reproach you’re on. Starts with you, ends with your mate.”

“What? N-No…” Jensen’s eyes widened with horror. “Jared might be the only true innocent in this whole mess. He didn’t ask to be bonded to me. He didn’t have to come back here to Albion with me. I could never blame him for this.”     

Alan looked at his son for a while, then leaned in to whisper in Jensen’s ear. “Does he know that?”

Jared skipped lunch to continue wading through the Ackles library. He felt exactly the way he’d felt in Yadira’s dessert shop. Except his objective today made him both giddy and anxious. He was about to challenge the very bedrock of loric societies, maybe even blow through it.

The Ackles family had spent many millennia rescuing ancient script-books from the wreckage of the nuclear ice age, and preserving them here in this fully climate-controlled vault. In addition, there was the ancient library of the lorics that was never digitized, likely on purpose to hide them from human eyes. Jared could spend his whole life and still not get through this treasure trove. But his heart was set on more contemporary, and therefore more likely digitized, post-glacial literature today.  

He found an air-gapped console with twelve screens on the third floor, designed as the only way to access the library’s very exclusive digital archive. Two full-time librarians were tasked with curating and storing publications from all over the world. Especially the scientific journals section was bigger and better than anything Jared had ever seen online, or in Eyton, Oxbridge, or any of the libraries in Cathedral.

“Jackpot,” he whispered to himself. He imagined what Jensen would say if he were here.

“What does that mean, jaan?”
“Um, it’s like… striking gold.”
“And what does that mean, striking gold?”
“For continents’ sake, love, let me concentrate.”
“You don’t know, do you?”
“No but it’s easy enough to deduce. Why don’t you give it a try?”
“Well, I think… striking lustrum would be more accurate.”
“Maybe gold was the lustrum of pre-glacial times.”
“Why didn’t they call it goldpot then?”

Jared chuckled, again for an audience of one, then sighed.

He missed Jensen.

He typed in a few search terms related to lycan bonds to see what popped up. Most were over-romanticized ramblings by lycan wannabes, fan fiction and such. Some results were speculative, or philosophical waxing at most. Humans were good at scientific research, but they didn’t have enough access to the lycan world to write intelligently about it. And lycans weren’t interested enough in the science of it all to even want to investigate it. Jared sighed. Weren’t there any lycan scientists who crossed over to the human world, either exiled or by their own will?

A burst of visions – like quick film cuts – exploded in the back of his mind.

“Tyler… Tyler Hoechlin.”

Jared fumbled for his watch, yanking it off his wrist and flipping it into full-screen digipad mode. He searched the grid for his old friend from Oxbridge, suddenly very curious to know where he was, what he was doing…

The first link took him to a profile page on the Stanford University website. “Professor Hoechlin, MD, PhD… School of Post-Glacial Medicine…” Jared smiled at the picture of his friend in black-rimmed glasses he probably didn’t need. “And, of course, you got yourself a double doctorate degree in seven years. Go Tyler.”

Jared dropped him a quick text saying ‘Hi, long time! Catch up soon?’ hoping to gauge Tyler’s interest in reconnecting. He’d always admired Tyler for being the only out-and-proud lycan on an island jam-packed with 40 million humans (and shifters.) And now he was living in Westworld, completely comfortable being himself among humans, shifters and sherans alike.

“Sherans…”

Something occurred to Jared then. He’d only been searching for lycan bonds when actually he should be searching for all loric bonds, shouldn’t he?

He went back to the library’s console and entered a new search: loric bonding. This time he got a few results that hadn’t shown up before. One of them was a paper published by the Reedus Foundation. They were a well-known philanthropic organization based in the capital city of Niagara, in Old Haven. Jared frowned, searched for the same paper online with his own digipad but it didn’t show up in the public domain.

“Huh. That’s what I thought.”

Jared started reading the obscure paper. The author, someone called Dr. Norman Reedus, completely rejected the spiritual connotations related to loric bonds and suggested that they were in fact a source of strife and weakness, not strength. He went on to propose that a loric bond was more psychological than physiological, explained by the fact that some lorics did survive death of their mates (though less than 1% according to statistics Jared found elsewhere). Reedus recounted a series of experiments to prove that loric psychology could be re-trained, re-conditioned to break their co-dependency with a mate and survive, even thrive, in their absence. What he didn’t explain was how to do this reconditioning or retraining.

Jared finger-combed his hair back with both hands. There was no actionable guidance, only the assertion that it was possible.

“All of this is cool but… how does it help me, dude?” he asked out loud. Except this time, he wasn’t asking just an audience of one.

“What do you need help with?”
Jared nearly fell off his chair. He closed all screens and turned to the voice behind him.
“High Beta… w-what are you doing here?”
Hilarie stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the door frame. She wore an off-white pantsuit with golden stilettos, seven inches tall. 

“You’re looking for answers. Maybe I can save you the effort.”
Jared stood up. He spotted the coffee mug she held in one hand. “Thought lycans disliked the taste of coffee.”
“I’m starting to realize lycans can… and must… learn to love a lot of things they’re not used to.”
She stared at Jared like she always did, like she was still making up her mind about him. “Come with me.”

He grabbed his digipad and followed her out. Not like he had a choice. 

Hilarie walked a few feet ahead. She didn’t bother to check if he was still following, just kept walking till they were inside her office. Jared looked up at the cathedral ceiling and the crystal chandelier hanging off a long wire all the way down to a mahogany roundtable in the middle of the room. A plush ivory sofa set stood on the left, and a sleek mahogany desk by the windows on the right.

“Have a seat.”

Where, Jared wanted to ask. But Hilarie had her back turned to him as she stood by a kitchenette and brewed two cups of coffee. She wanted him to choose. Okay, he chose the roundtable. If Hilarie was surprised, she didn’t show it. She came over, handed him a mug of steaming coffee, then gracefully took a seat right beside her son-in-law.

“So… what exactly are you looking for in our digital archives?”
Jared tried not to fidget. “Just, curious to learn more about loric culture. Not a lot is known outside of Albion so…”
“You were a lawyer, weren’t you?”
“Still am, I think.”
“Let me guess… you were looking for a legal loophole to contest the inner circle decision from last night?”

For a moment Jared considered saying yes, letting Hilarie assume whatever she wished to about his intentions. Then he sighed and decided to curb his shifter tendencies.

“Far as I know, council vote results are binding and can be overturned only by another vote. If Jensen wanted to fight it, he can just call for another election. But I don’t think he minds his sister being the Zeta.”
“He told you that?”
“He didn’t need to.”

Hilarie sipped lightly on her coffee. “And what about being the High Alpha?”

Jared lowered his eyes.

Hilarie didn’t push. She just looked away, out of her picturesque windows.
“All my son ever wanted… was to be just like his dad – a father, and the High Alpha.”
And you’ve taken both those dreams away, Jared imagined her saying next. She didn’t.
“Funny. I thought all Jensen ever wanted was to be like his biological dad – in love, and at peace.”
Hilarie’s face hardened, “And is he? At peace?”
Jared swallowed, not knowing how to respond.

“Close your eyes.”
“What?”
“Close your eyes and concentrate on the bond between you two. Find it in your mind’s eye.”
Jared did as Hilarie asked.
“You’re a shifter, not human, Jared, which means there’s something mythical about you too. Try and visualize, you can do it…”

Hilarie urged him on, until sure enough, Jared felt the connection between Jensen and himself more tangibly than he had ever before. He saw a length of red silk rope pulsate softly, sending little specks of scarlet flickering through the air around him.

“I see it.”
“Good. Now follow the link until you find your mate. Can you sense him? What is he thinking? How is he feeling?”
“He’s… he’s nearby, I thought he left. But he’s here and he’s…” Jared’s eyes watered. He jerked them open and stood up.
“You’ve made your point, High Beta. Your son is miserable! And it’s all because of me. What do you want me to do? Just tell me… what can I possibly do?”

Hilarie crossed her legs, watching Jared carefully. “For starters, think about what just happened. This bond… it’s a psychic connection between you and your mate. I know science has made a ton of advancement, but can they explain that yet?”
“I… I don’t understand.”
Hilarie smiled. “I saw what you were reading, Jared. I’ve researched everything there is to know about bonds myself.”
Jared gulped, unsure how to respond.

“I’ve been around lycans all my life, obviously I know that bonds are real. But accepting something as real doesn’t mean you have to like it, right?”
“Right.”
“Imagine you were me… a female beta, growing up in a traditional loric society, that demands you ‘submit’ yourself to an alpha, follow him around as if on a leash for the rest of your life…”

Jared sank back into his chair, while Hilarie leaned forward.
“Yeah, I resented the idea of bonds too, for a long, long time. It’s probably why I had Jensen out of bond-lock, my way to rebel, I suppose.”
“…”
“But then I met Alan, and it changed my outlook entirely. That Reedus paper is right about one thing – the bond is more psychological than physiological in nature. It’s such an intensely strong thought, that it invokes something mythical, something science cannot explain. I know this because the moment I accepted in my mind that I’d fallen in love with Alan, was the moment I bonded with him. It was a choice that we made together. To be with each other for the rest of our lives, to not let even death part us. You know lycans feel things more intensely, more passionately than all other races… and when we make a promise, we bloody well keep it. Fenrir knows if a lycan decides life is not worth living without the one they love, nothing will change their mind.”
“…”
“What’s my point, you want to ask, don’t you?”
“…”
“My point, Onur, is that with or without a bond, my son is deeply, passionately, foolishly, and stubbornly in love with you. And he would rather die than ever leave your side. He will not prioritize his ambitions over his love for you. So please… don’t do anything stupid like… maybe try to break your bond. Because one – it’s not possible, and two – it won’t help because the bond is not what’s holding you two together. It’s your choice to love one another that is. Do you understand?”

“Y-Yes, High Beta.”

“Good. Now…” Hilarie rose and turned back to her kitchenette. A moment later she returned with a silver bowl in her hand, full of Jared’s favorite candy.

“I’m told you skipped lunch. Can I interest you in some lokums instead?”

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jared walked back to his bedroom in a daze. That was not the conversation he’d expected to have with his mother-in-law. The woman still didn’t like him, that much was painfully obvious. But as far as Jensen’s well-being was concerned, they were on common ground.

“Accepting something as real doesn’t mean you have to like it, right?”

He shook his head to rid himself of the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions caught inside his head. It didn’t help. He felt exhausted. He felt purposeless again. He missed Jensen.

Stepping into his room, he closed the door behind him. Without switching on any of the lights he started stripping on his way to the bed, strewing his clothes, shoes, and socks on the floor. In just his black boxer-briefs, he sank into the perfect firmness of the mattress and pulled a charcoal sheet over his body, ready to lose himself to oblivion, if only for a little while.

Seconds later, the bed dipped. Jared opened his tired but sleepless eyes numbly. “You left me, again.”

Jensen pressed up close behind him, and brought an arm around his waist. “I just went for a run, jaan. Promise you I was never more than a few klicks away from you at any time.”

He rubbed Jared’s belly making short, warm circles around his navel, kissed his shoulder blades softly.

“You can’t keep shutting me out, J,” Jared said after a while, sighing deeply. “We are in this together, aren’t we?”
“Always and forever.”
“Then you need to talk to me.”

Jensen pressed his forehead at the base of Jared’s neck. “I know, I’m sorry. I just… didn’t know how to explain what happened last night and why it…”
“I know. I get it.” Jared turned over so he could face his mate. “Believe me, the gravity of what happened last night is not lost on me.”
Jensen frowned. “You know that Zeta generals always…?”
“Go on to be elected as High Alphas, yes, I know. But it’s not a law, love. It’s not written down anywhere, just conventional wisdom. Which means you still have a chance.”

Jensen basked in the sparkle of Jared’s eyes, so full of hope and optimism. “I suppose that’s true. And Dad’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Maybe… the inner circle will change their minds in time…”
“I know they will.”
Jensen smiled. “And if they don’t, we’ll always have Santorini.”
Jared leaned in and kissed his mate fervently. “It won’t come to that. I promise.”
“I don’t know why I worried. You, my love, are a force of nature. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you.”

They kissed each other again, like they were kissing for the first and last time ever. Jensen rolled them over until he was flat on his back and hauled Jared on top of him, holding his mate effortlessly, devouring his mouth with his own.

“Um, can I ask you something, J?”
“Anything, jaan.”
“Why… do you smell like a wet dog?”
“No! Still?” Jensen pulled away a bit and pouted. “We got caught in the storm last night and…”
“You, Kat, and Tom?”
“Yeah. How did you…?”
“Lucky guess. Hey, I’ve got an idea…” Jared pushed himself up and off the bed. He winked mischievously at his mate. “Think it’s time we took that big old marble tub of yours for a spin. What say?”
“Uh, I say… that tub is stationary, jaan. I don’t believe it spins.”

Jared laughed and sashayed his hips teasingly as he walked into the bathroom, leaving no choice for his mate but to jump out of bed and follow him.

An hour later, Jensen stepped out of the bathroom in a black bathrobe. He voice-commanded the fireplace to turn on. It was a little after 1800, so he turned a couple of torchieres and the bedside lamps on. Then, because he couldn’t not see it anymore, he shook his head at the mess that was his bedroom. How Jared’s roommates and Adrianne had left him alive, he would never know. He started gathering Jared’s things and all the knick-knacks he’d been buying from the town markets that lay strewn all over the suite.

Jared walked out of the bathroom and watched his mate tidying up after him. He stood with his ankles crossed, leaning against the door in a fluffy white bath towel wrapped around his waist.

“Sorry about that,” he drawled, not sounding sorry at all.
“Oh, sure, like you were sorry on the yacht?”
“You told me to make myself at home.”
“By throwing everything you’ve ever owned onto the floor?”
“To give the place a more lived-in look!”
Jensen groaned. “You’re going to help or-?”
Jared grinned. “Not. I like watching you do housework.”

Jensen mock-scowled at him. “It’s my pleasure to serve the Onur Gelin. It’s not like I have much to do ‘round here anymore.”
“Oh, come on!” Jared’s voice dropped a couple of decibels. “If you’re really looking for something to do, I might have a few ideas…”

Jensen heard the bath towel drop. He spun towards his mate, then promptly dropped all the stuff he’d just collected back on the floor.

Jensen crossed the length of the bedroom in four giant strides until he was standing right in front of his naked mate. With lightning speed, he hoisted Jared up and over his shoulder effortlessly. He patted Jared’s plump ass all the way as he leisurely carried his giggling and squealing mate to their bed. Jared squirmed ardently in mock-indignation, which only earned him an extra volley of smacks designed not to hurt, just to warm his rump up a bit.

On the bed, Jensen arranged his quarry on his hands and knees, then took a seat on the velvet foot bench just behind him. He held Jared’s narrow waist in both hands and pulled him back towards himself, making his back arch in that beautifully obscene way that Jensen was in no way ashamed to admit he loved. He parted the exquisite alabaster cheeks with both thumbs and blew on the fluttering little orifice.

Jared shuddered. “Oh, continents, Alpha, no need to prep. Not after the hour we just spent in the tub…”
Jensen smiled and licked at the throbbing furls of Jared’s hole, making him quiver near-violently. “Oh, this isn’t prepping.”
“What do you- oh…”
“Like I said, my beautiful Gelin, it’s my pleasure to serve. And serve, I shall…”

He licked again, once, twice, three times, making Jared mewl and push his rear-end back into his mate’s face. Meanwhile, two fingers closed around each of Jared’s nipples, tweaking the hypersensitive little nubs in rhythm with the eternally repetitive tongue action inside Jared’s ass. The younger being jerked and moaned and cursed in the most wanton way possible, not giving a damn who heard him tonight.

“I’m going to make you come again, and again, and again, using nothing but my tongue tonight. And I don’t care how long it takes…”

Jared whimpered loudly but could do nothing but surrender his entire being to his mate, who then proceeded promptly to deliver as promised.

Sometime after midnight, Jensen blinked his eyes open. A scintilla of urgency crept up his spine, breaking him out of sleep. He was very familiar with that feeling. Jared called it the ‘bat signal’ from the High Alpha, though he could never satisfactorily explain why it was called as such.

He looked down at Jared sprawled on top of him and smiled. His beautiful bond-mate was a warm, gangly deadweight in his arms, out like a light. Jensen had kept him on the edge of impending, mind-numbing, climax for basically hours. Afterwards, Jared managed to stay awake just long enough for Jensen to order room service and get some much-needed food into him. Jensen smiled, pressed a few feathery kisses into the soft auburn hair. Reluctantly, he extricated himself, quite proud of himself for doing so without waking Jared. Then he threw on some sweats and trotted barefoot to his father’s office.

“You called, Dad?”
Alan swiveled around in his chair behind the massive mahogany desk. Hilarie was there too, sitting cross-legged on the couch nearby. 
“We didn’t get to finish our conversation earlier today.”
“About what?”

“Well…” Alan looked at Hilarie, then stood up. “I know you must have questions about this whole business of Zeta generals going on to become…”
“It’s not a law, Dad,” Jensen cut him off. He remembered Jared’s words from earlier. “It’s not written down anywhere, just conventional wisdom. What happened to Uncle Chris doesn’t have to… happen again, right?”
“Right!” Alan smiled, a little stiffly. “I see your afternoon with the Onur Gelin has improved your outlook quite a bit.”
“He has a way of framing things with more positivity than I’m capable of.”
“Good, that’s good. I just think you should know the whole story, what happened with Chris."
Jensen crossed his arms, "Okay."

Alan stood up and walked over to the couch.

“Chris was four years older than me. And an extremely capable alpha. But we were both very young and he… made a mistake.”
Hilarie looked down at her hands folded in her lap. “He had a fascination for all things human… like yourself, son. And like me, he also had a whirlwind romance, but with a human.”

Jensen’s eyebrows went up.

Alan continued. “Her name was Aretha Abernathy. Chris met her on one of his travels through Westworld, in Romancia. And they didn’t bond, no. Chris met his bond-mate, Katie’s mom, 50 years later. But he and Aretha had a child out of bond-lock. And the politicians found out.”
Jensen shook his head. “Consorting with a núíosach. Don’t tell me, Roche’s father was on the inner circle, wasn’t he?”
“He was,” Hilarie confirmed it. “And he wasn’t too keen on interracial procreation either. He called it muddying the bloodline.”
“Fucking bigots,” Jensen muttered. “Worked out just fine for you though, didn’t it?”

Alan didn’t reply, and Jensen immediately regretted his words. “Sorry.”
“What happened, happened. We can’t change history. But I thought it was time you knew.”
Jensen nodded. “Thank you for letting me know. Anything else?”

Alan cleared his throat. “Yes, well, the main reason I called you in the middle of the night is that I have a new assignment for you. We have a new crisis…”
“What is it?”
“I received a final invoice and termination notice today, from Armstrong industries.”

Jensen closed his eyes and threw his head back.

“We just lost our only defense contractor.”

29 Août, 3947 PG

Ballarat, Wehea
The Southlands

While Jensen was conferring with his father up north, a pam-jet was flying south from Cathedral to Ballarat, the capital city of Wehea. The sun was high in the morning sky, considering the south was about eight hours ahead.

Curtis Armstrong peered through his window on the airship that flew him into the belly of the beast, or the heart of the southern lycan territory to be precise. He thought he was ready for this. He’d read everything his aide, Chad Lindberg, had dug up on the very elusive south. But now that he was finally here, about to land, he realized he was woefully, pitifully, unprepared.

Wehea got its name from the indigenous lorics, who gave it to the lycans who broke away from the northern pack and settled here in the south. Wehea meant ‘the separated.’ Apparently, the previous administration hadn’t been very fond of the moniker. But the Pileggis found the name quite apropos – a necessary reminder – so it was recently made official.

Curtis gawked at the majestic skyline of Ballarat. Amid the sand dunes, mangroves, and man-made water bodies, stood a lone skyscraper breaking through a thick stratum of clouds. That was the home of the First Family, the Pileggis, and their seat of political power. The skyscraper was over a hundred floors tall, in the midst of a much shorter set of buildings.

The city, no more than 600 years old, stood at the northwestern corner of the Southlands, at a breathtakingly magnificent spot where the Namib desert met the Alaskan ocean. Population: scarce. Curtis envied the lycans with all this undeveloped real estate and natural resources. What he wouldn’t give to get just a little bite of this enormous bounty. It would definitely help make up for the losses he’d been facing elsewhere…

The pam-jet landed on a terrace on the 91st floor. Curtis and Chad stepped out and were greeted by nine lycans standing in a perfect diamond formation behind a severe-looking alpha, all dressed in navy-blue military uniforms, the Wehean insignia featuring their pagan goddess Luna emblazoned on their sleeves.

Curtis recognized the man from his virtual meet three days ago. “First Alpha Lehne! So nice of you to-”
“My squad will search you now,” Lehne cut him off. It wasn’t a request.
“Uh, okay.”

After the frisking was complete, Lehne nodded to the two humans. “This way.”

Curtis pursed his lips, and followed Lehne into the building. Mentally, he recounted what Chad had told him about Frederick Lehne.

“He’s a 200-year-old alpha known for his savagery and undying loyalty to his High Alpha, who also happens to be his best friend. Lehne commands the Wehean forces as their Zeta. He’s the one assessing our goods and signing our purchase orders.”

In other words, the second most important man Curtis had to win over today.

Minutes later, Curtis and Chad were shown into a monstrous hall with steel grey walls, a dome vaulted glass ceiling, a black brick fireplace that went all the way up to said ceiling, and no windows. The hall was completely bare save for a giant blackwood desk. No chairs.

A tall, bald man in a sharp white suit stood behind the desk, his back to the door. He turned when Lehne and his entourage saluted, left fists thumped against the right side of their chests.

“High Alpha, Mr. Armstrong is here.”

Little was known about Mitch Pileggi in the human world. Only that he rose to power 27 years ago after ‘allegedly’ murdering the whole bloodline that was in power before, the Sharmans. Many urban legends swirled about this enigmatic lycan. Curtis’ favorite was the one that claimed Pileggi was apparently bonded to a Sharman beta, but his ambition and lust for power was so much stronger than his love for his bond-mate, that he survived her death, quite easily in fact.

Mitch Pileggi stood with his hands behind his back, face expressionless. Curtis had been warned not to approach the High Alpha, so he bowed in place.

“It’s good to finally meet you in person, High Alpha. Thank you for inviting me into your beautiful home. Ballarat is just… a little piece of heaven on earth.”
Pileggi seized him up in a quick glance. It didn’t take long.
“Little?”
Curtis stuttered. “I-I only meant…”
Pileggi laughed. “Come now, Curtis. Unlike humans, we don’t feel the need to make small-talk ‘round here. We’ve got business to conduct. Freddie, join us please.”

He led the humans out through another door that opened onto a terrace, and Lehne followed. The bright sunlight after the dark room they just exited made Curtis screw up his eyes. At least there was actual furniture here: beige velvet chairs and a round table set under an ornate wrought iron gazebo. 

“So how did Alan take it?” Pileggi asked as he sat down and gestured for Curtis and Chad to take a seat.
“He’s obviously shaken, but all indications are he won’t be challenging the contract termination in court.”
“No, he’s too proud for that. I don’t want you having any ties whatsoever with the north.”
“Of course, High Alpha. Even though the monetary losses I’ve incurred are immense, like… catastrophically so…” Curtis fished tentatively.
“Don’t worry. As promised, I have something for you that will make up for all of it, and more.”

Curtis leaned forward. Pileggi smirked.

“So, how’s the case going?”
Curtis grimaced, and leaned back again.
“Not getting your lustrum deposits in the Bay of Eritrea back anytime soon, are ya?”
“It’s looking more and more unlikely, High Alpha. Tapping has lost her nerve. Reinstating our drilling lease would be political suicide for her. They’ve even confiscated everything we extracted.”

Pileggi waited for a server to pour the tea and leave.
“I’m going to lay it all out for ya, Curtis. How you say, all cards on deck, yes?”
“On the table, but close, sir, very good!”

Pileggi picked up his tea. “Us lycans… we’re more close-combat type of folks, you know? Soon as you humans stepped out of your bunkers, y’all started building and amassing weapons. Us damn wolves… we never bothered to equip ourselves, until the southern pack broke from the north. War, it turns out, is a huge motivation for advancement, isn’t it?”
“That’s been our experience, sir. As humans, I mean…”

Pileggi continued. “Seven hundred years ago, when our ancestors left those cursed northern shores they came here with nothing. They built this territory from scratch, and for a while we prospered. Until those high-horses crushed us in the Hundred Years War. But we rose up again, we rebuilt this land with our bare claws. It’s been hard though. We’ve been living on scraps, forced to abide by their dirty dealings and unfair blood pacts. We have half the weapons arsenal Albion has. Less than half of their naval fleet, nowhere near enough fighter jets, all because of how those assholes hacked the very knees out from under us. No more, Curtis, no more!”

Curtis nodded heartily, and Chad followed his example.

“We’ve been in a state of cold war with Albion for a quarter of a century. But now is the time to strike. The iron has never been this hot. Did I say that right, Chad?”
“Uh, yeah, sir, you did.”
Pileggi squinted at Curtis. “Do you know why the iron is hot, Curtis?”

The CEO of Armstrong Industries looked to his aide for an answer. It didn’t help. One thing was clear: Pileggi was not making an empty threat, not this time. Which meant the planet was on the verge of a second loric world war.

And Armstrong was being tapped to supply the big guns for it.

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jensen paced back and forth, his hands on his hips. His parents sat next to each other on the couch, watching him.
“This is really bad timing. If the inner circle finds out… h-how can Armstrong cut us off like this? Don’t we have binding contracts?”
Alan shrugged. “He’s paying the penalties to break them. Apparently, we aren’t as important a client as we’d assumed. And after what happened in the Bay of Eritrea…”
“You mean after I ruined our relationship with Armstrong…”
“Again, not your fault, son. You were protecting the Mers and defending your mate’s honor. I stood with you then. I’m with you now.”
Jensen sighed. “Thanks, Dad.”
Father and son shared a meaningful glance, and that was enough.

“Anyway, we need to figure this out and soon. In an extended conflict, our ordnance cache might last a couple of months, maybe three. After that we’re in trouble.” 
Jensen started to pace again. “So we find another supplier. Far as I know, there is only one other defense contractor that is licensed by the Earth Tribunal to do business with lorics.”
Alan nodded. “Brown-West Industries.”
“I’ll schedule a meeting with the CEO first thing tomorrow.”

Hilarie coughed lightly at that.
“Oh Fenrir,” Jensen took in his parents’ solemn faces. “What’s wrong now?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Alan rushed to assure him. “Just something you need to know before you meet the CEO, Sterling Brown.”
“What is it?”

Alan sighed and decided just to come out with it. “He is a descendant of Aretha Abernathy. My brother, Christopher’s great-great-great-great grandson.”
Jensen’s eyebrows went up again. “Oh. Does he know that?”
“I don’t think so.”
“So… no loric traits in the family?”
“Not in four generations at least.”
“How do you know?”

Alan smiled. “Chris told me, of course. He kept tabs on Aretha and her family while he was alive. I know he would’ve wanted me to do the same. Who do you think helped Brown-West get their license to sell to lycans?”

Jensen wondered if Alan’s intentions in doing so were altruistic or strategic. Probably both. “Do you expect this to be a problem or a solution?”
Hilarie and Alan looked at each other again.

“We abandoned Aretha and her son, Jensen,” Hilarie said quietly. “Six generations of cousins who share the Ackles bloodline. Fenrir knows how Sterling would react if he found out. Let’s not tempt fate, okay?”
“And if he already knows?”
Hilarie shrugged. “Then let’s hope he doesn’t hold Chris’ actions against us. Because if he does, we’re… how do you say it in humanish?”
Jensen grimaced. “Screwed.”

Ballarat, Wehea
The Southlands

Pileggi repeated himself, and he didn’t like repeating himself.

“I asked you a question, Curtis. Why is the iron hotter now than ever before?”

Armstrong bit down on his quivering lip. “Because… the North is in internal turmoil right now? The alpha-apparent is no longer the alpha-apparent, their society split down the middle now that he’s brought a mutt into the pack…?”

“Not split down the middle, exactly. But it’s a wedge big enough to be just the opening we need. You know, all it took was a fourth of the Northern pack to break out and form the separate state in Wehea. Once Alan dies, Albion will break again. Not everyone will want Jensen and his shifter mate in power. The sister, I’m told, doesn’t want it either. But that’s not the only reason…”

Pileggi looked at Lehne who smiled, and that made Pileggi smile. A matching pair of equally eerie expressions.

“The iron is hot, my future-friend, because we know you have been building just the weapon we need. And we have it on good authority, that you’re just about done.”

Curtis blinked, and this time his face was the one utterly devoid of expression.

Chad attempted to speak for his boss. “W-We’re working on several experimental technologies at the moment, sir, to what are you referring exa-?”
“Oh, he knows.” Pileggi winked at Curtis. “Don’t you, Curtis?”
“…”
“Your R&D wing in Xiyang… the latest reports on Project 106 coming out of there have been quite promising, have they not?”
“How do you…?”
“Let’s just say mutts have their uses too, and for a price they’ll do pretty much anything you ask them to. Infiltration is one of their key strengths.”

When Curtis stayed silent, Pileggi leaned in. “I just opened all my cards to you, Curtis. You know we cannot defeat Albion in a head-on confrontation, not even with you cutting them off and supplying to us everything we can afford.”
“Yes, but project 106 is…”
“Exactly the kind of surgical strike weapon we need.” Lehne interrupted. “You think we don’t know what the inspiration for your ‘very special’ project was? You’re trying to replicate the Reedus asset 106’s M.O. Who do you think ran his final contract on the Sharmans?”

Curtis swallowed, mentally processing everything he’d just heard. He hadn’t been invited here to quadruple Armstrong industries’ supply of arms and ammunitions to the Pileggis after all.

“Do you know what happened to asset 106?”
Lehne shrugged. “Not seen or heard from in years. Presumed dead.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Could have helped accelerate development.”
Lehne scoffed. “If we still had 106, why would we need you?”
“Good point.” Curtis demurred. “But whatever you’ve heard, Alpha, I assure you, our product is nowhere near ready.”

“What do you need?”
“Resources. Investments. A way to recover from our catastrophic losses…”
“Lustrum?”
“…”
“Would a 50-klick deep deposit of lustrum do?”

Curtis and Chad both leaned forward at the High Alpha’s words.

“Where?” Curtis asked.
“In my backyard. That’s all you need to know right now. So, what say you?”

For the first time since landing in Ballarat, Curtis Armstrong actually smiled.

“I say… are you familiar with the ancient human religious texts, gentlemen?”
Pileggi and Lehne looked at each other, confused.
“Never matter. But this I must share with you, Alphas. I’ve always thought of the Lycans of Wehea as Lupus Dei. It means… wolves of god…”

Chapter Text

29 Août, 3947 PG

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

The soft light of dawn gently tapped on Jared’s eyelids, stirring him awake. He nuzzled against his warm, comfortable and somewhat firmer than usual pillow. He smiled. Today would go down in history as the first morning in Albion when he did not wake up alone.

Jared lay on his stomach, partly on the bed but mostly on top of his mate, who lay supine with an arm pinned under Jared. Not that he seemed to mind. Jensen snored softly with his face turned away from Jared. They were both naked under the charcoal sheets, multiple toes sticking out at the foot of the king-sized bed.

Jared rubbed his cheek against his mate’s shoulder, once, twice, three times, until he heard a deep, rumbling laugh.

“Yes, I’m still here, jaan.”
Jared looked up as Jensen turned towards him. “I thought I heard you leave in the night.”
“Didn’t hear me come back, did you?”
Jared kissed his mate’s nose, almost in apology. “Everything all right?”

Jensen sighed, and quickly filled him in on everything he had discovered last night. Jared listened intently.

“Armstrong turning down business worth trillions, just for a bruised ego… that doesn’t sound like good business to me.”
“It’s not.”
“So he’s getting compensated elsewhere.”
“By Pileggi, obviously. I didn’t think the south had that kind of wealth, but apparently I was wrong.”

Jared propped himself up on an elbow. “What if there was a way to block Armstrong industries supplying to the south?”
Jensen frowned. “How?”
Jared bit his lip. “I drafted your agreement with Manchester, remember? I know it was revised significantly, but if we’re lucky, there should still be a clause or two in there to put some pressure on Tapping’s administration.”
“Check today and let me know?”
“I’ll get on it now.”

Jared started to scoot off the bed, but was stopped by Jensen’s arms that refused to let him go. “Not now, jaan, breakfast first. Then I need to take Kat to the southern front.”
“Right. How long will you be gone?”
“Back by sundown.”

Jared nodded. Jensen pulled him into a deep, long kiss. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
Jared kissed him back, before slowly climbing on top of Jensen, his knees on either side of his mate’s hips.

“Knock knock!” Someone was at their door, left slightly ajar. Judging by how they said the words while also actually knocking, they knew who it was.

Jared and Jensen broke their kiss and threw their heads back together.

“Tell her to come back later, jaan. She works for you, you know.”
“Have you met her?” Jared slid off Jensen to sit beside him. “By the way, where is your personal aide? Why isn’t a hyperactive beta knocking the door down for you?”
Jensen grinned. “I have lieutenants who follow my orders, not aides hired to manage me.”

Felicia knocked on the door again. “Should we come back later, Onur?”
Jensen hiked his eyebrows, nodding vigorously.
Jared smirked. “Come in, Ms. Day.”
Jensen slapped one hand against his heart, pretending to be wounded.

“Good morning, Onur! First Alpha! It’s a beautiful day, let me get those curtains for you…”

Jared greeted her warmly. Jensen just grunted, then pulled Jared back onto his lap again. Jared blushed and tried to shirk him off, but his mate was in a playful mood. As the staffers went about tidying the place and setting the coffee table for breakfast, the couple tussled gently, whispering in each other’s ear, giggling.

Jared noticed the coy glances thrown their way by some of the betas. Even Nicki smiled a little, probably despite herself.

“You really need a shave, Alpha,” Jared rasped in between lip-locks. “You’re giving me a stubble-burn.”
“I’m sorry, jaan. Here, let me kiss it better.” Jensen bent his head and started lapping at every inch of skin across Jared’s long neck, making him giggle more.

The staffers barely even tried to avert their eyes or suppress their tittering anymore. Jared slid off Jensen’s lap and pushed him away. “Okay, that’s good, thank you. Please go now, you have dibs on the shower. Right, Alpha?”

Jensen pouted. “You see that, Ms. Day? The Onur Gelin is ordering his alpha around, the First Alpha! What a world…”

They pretend-glared at each other, until Jensen trudged into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Felicia winked teasingly at Jared, who chuckled and waved her off.

“So, today there’s a request from the Third Alpha – she’d like you to join her and the kids for lunch.”
“Done!” Jared didn’t need to think twice.
“Your schedule is wide open until then. Anything you’d like to add, Onur?”
“How soon can we arrange a call with Jensen’s lawyer?”
“Misha Collins, sure. I’ll get on it now. He always prioritizes the First Family’s calls, so it’s up to you, really.”
“First thing after breakfast?”
“Very good, Onur.”

Felicia walked over to him with the familiar silver bowl of lokums in one hand. Jared took one eagerly, then grabbed a second before she could turn away.

As he chewed on the candy, Jared picked up his digipad from the bedside table and clicked on a notification. It was a response from Tyler:

Jared! Long time indeed! You’ve been on the news quite a lot lately, couldn’t help but follow. But I wasn’t sure how to ping you after being out of touch for so long. Glad you did! How’ve you been buddy? Sorry about Adrianne by the way.

Jared smiled sadly, then wrote back:

Thanks buddy. As you can tell it’s been a crazy few months. It all happened so fast. Losing Adrianne, meeting Jensen, leaving Manchester, and now here in Albion. Probably best to talk when we meet, hopefully soon.

Felicia was by now ushering the staff out. Jared made to get out of bed when he noticed Tyler’s status, he was online. He smiled and settled back to chat with his old friend.

TH: I can’t wait to hear all about it, buddy. What’s it like, living among lycans of the north?

JP: Bit like how it was for you living among humans of Manchester. Eyes follow you everywhere you go, some kinder than others. You know how it goes.

TH: That I do. But I’m proud of you for being yourself. And being bonded to an Ackles gives you ultra-secure status, the highest there is. So don’t be afraid, okay?

JP: I’m not afraid as such. Just very conscious and anxious all the time. Jensen’s mom clearly dislikes me.

TH: Because you’re a shifter? Man, I had the biggest crush on her growing up. Please tell me she’s not a xenophobe.

JP: No, but she envisioned a certain future for her son. And me being both male and a shifter has gotten in the way of that.

TH: I get it. She wants grand-pups. But Jensen has always been into men, surely she’d accepted the fact that it won’t be so easy BEFORE you came along? Unless of course she was hoping Jensen would find an omega to mate with.

Jared frowned. He’d heard of this rare social rank but didn’t know much about it.

JP: Hey Ty, what are omegas? Exactly?

Jensen kissed him goodbye soon after breakfast. Jared stood in the balcony, watching Jensen and Kathryn’s pam-jet fly away. It was a big day for Kat… to be introduced as Zeta to the forces she’d be leading into battle. Jared had wished her good luck, and hoped the forces won’t hate him for causing this upheaval in their military order. She had promised him she would kick their asses if they did.

He stood soaking the sun for a while. He had a real purpose today. He felt useful, content, loved. He still missed Jensen though. Like there was something still holding his mate back from him. Or perhaps something his mate was holding back from Jared… 

“Onur?” Felicia called from inside. “I got Mr. Collins on the line. And I figured this might be a good opportunity to show you your office as well.”
“M-My office?”
“Well, yours and the First Alpha’s. Jensen doesn’t use it anymore, so it’s been shuttered for a while. But I got it up and running for you.”

Felicia led Jared out of the bedroom and turned left, a direction Jared hadn’t explored much before. At the far end of the corridor, she pushed a door open, and Jared’s jaw nearly hit the ground.

The office space was just as lavish and enormous as the High Beta’s office. Except Jensen had more digital consoles, a wall of shelves stacked with books, and minimalistic but functional furniture.

“This is…”

Felicia waited, but when no more words followed, she started rambling. “O-Of course, we can have this redone per your requirements, Onur. Now might be a good time to call the decorator, perhaps?”

“No! No-no… this is perfect,” Jared squeezed Felicia’s shoulder.

He walked to the mahogany desk in front of the wide picture windows. Once there, he hit the blinking light on a console. A 70-inch tall plasma materialized before him, and on it a familiar lawyer’s facsimile in high definition.

“Mr. Collins! Good to see you!”
“Please, Jared. I thought we were past these formalities. It’s Misha, remember?”
Jared smiled. Felicia sat across from his desk, her nose crinkling in disapproval at Misha using Jared’s first name. Jared sat down in the big chair – Jensen’s chair – and focused on the task at hand.

“So, what can I do for you?” Misha asked after some chitchat.

Jared quickly explained the situation. The lawyer pulled up the Albion-Manchester treaty document on the screen.

“There!” Jared instructed Misha to stop scrolling once he found what he was looking for.

“See here… Albion has the right to void the deed on its lands as well as on the Bay of Eritrea, if Manchester ever used or attempted to use these deeded properties for any acts of military aggression against Albion.”
“I see it. But this agreement is between Manchester’s government and Albion, not Armstrong?”
“Well, the state of Manchester has a 15% stake in Armstrong industries. That’s enough for us to argue that Manchester, through Armstrong industries, is supplying arms and ammunitions to Albion’s enemies which is a violation of the treaty. And they must cease and desist immediately else Albion is well within its rights to seize the deeded assets back.”
“All right, that sounds plausible. What about this second part of the clause – ‘the use of these deeded properties’?”
Jared smirked. “How does Armstrong ship to Wehea? By sea? By air?”
“Both I presume.”
“And who owns both the water rights and air rights for the Bay of Eritrea?”
“Ah, I see. But they could start taking the long way around through the Alaskan Ocean…”
“If that happens, at the very least, we would have slowed their supply chain down. That could make a world of difference during the war.”

Misha’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, did you say w-war?”
Jared tried to soften the shock. “Hypothetically speaking, of course.”
“The way you said it, sounded like you were pretty sure, buddy.”

Jared swallowed, not sure how to explain it. He could feel it in his gut. And this wasn’t the first time he’d felt this way either. Jared couldn’t explain it to anyone, not even himself… but he’d had a feeling something horrible was about to happen just before Adrianne died too. He’d written it off as just a nightmare. He wasn’t so sure he could or should do it now.

“We just need to be prepared for all possibilities, Misha.”
Misha stood up. “I’ll start drafting this motion right away. What am I aiming for exactly?”
“A permanent injunction. Worst case: we’ll settle for a temporary restraining order. Send me your draft for review by tonight?”
“Will do.”
They signed off.

“You think this will work?” Felicia asked, standing up just as Jared did.
“Won’t be easy. They’re going to fight us with everything they’ve got.”
“And we’ll fight right back.”
“Yes, we will.”
Felicia bowed softly. “It’s nice to have you on our side, Onur.”

Jared smiled back. 

South Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Lunch with Katie and the pups was a revelation.

It was Jared’s first time on the top two floors of the South wing. Katie gave him the grand tour, while the pups pointed their favorite things out to him excitedly. Everyone dressed casually – jeans and full-sleeve jerseys for Jared and Joshua, and summery dresses for Katie and Kiera. Perfect day to lounge on their terrace and enjoy the sun with lemonade and fresh seafood (no shellfish for Jared, of course.)

Watching Katie in action as a multi-tasking mother was a treat. She avidly kept up her side of the conversation with Jared, while responding to one or both of her kids’ never-ending questions, switching back and forth between two (or three) conversations without missing a beat. She also ate heartily, made sure the kids ate only what she wanted them to eat, and kept an eye on Jared’s plate, making sure he overstuffed himself.

“So anyway, I told Mayor Ferris, there’s no point in celebrating Nowruz without the annual olive festival! Like you wouldn’t celebrate an ordinary Nowruz without olive-fest and this year happens to be extra-special. It’s coinciding with the Calvert meteor shower, you know.”

Jared recalled a piece about it on MNN. “That’s right… it’s coming so close to the planet we’ll be able to see it all day long.”
“Yep! Of course, Ferris went on and on about our recent olive shortage and supply chain issues with the South. But honestly, Nowruz without olive-fest is like… like Thanksgiving without the parade.”
Jared started. “I didn’t know you were so familiar with human festivals.”
Katie preened. “You won’t be the first to presume I’m just a princess-y figurehead. Besides, Cathedral sends an invite to the First Family every year to attend as an honorary guest.”
“Ah, to thank you all for gifting the island.”
“Between you and me, it’s all just political posturing. I bet they want nothing more than to see the north and south in-fighting continue in perpetuity.”

Jared lowered his eyes, choosing not to respond. Not because he thought she was wrong. But because the probability of her being right was too big to refute.

Seven year-old Joshua came running to his mother’s side. “Mommy! Where is Uncle Jensen? You said he’d be here today…”
Katie pulled the little boy into a side hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, he had super-duper important work stuff come up at the last minute.”
Joshua pouted sadly. “But he hasn’t come to visit in such a long time. Doesn’t he love us anymore?”
“Awww, pup, you know this melodramatic pout of yours doesn’t work on me anymore. Especially since I know you spent an hour playing on your PS960 with Uncle Jensen yesterday!” Katie rolled her eyes at Jared, who strived to keep a straight face.
Joshua whined again. “But I miss him! I miss him so much that my blood sugar has gotten really, really low, from all the missing.”

Jared couldn’t stop laughing anymore.

Katie just shook her head. “See what I have to deal with?”
She took a cupcake and split it into two. “Take one half, give the other to your sister. Joshua! Share!”
“Okay!” Joshua grinned as he ran back to his big sister who was busy building an elaborate castle from blocks of willow glass.

Jared kept chuckling for a while. “Jensen really loves these kids, doesn’t he?”

“Oh yes!” Katie trilled. “Jensen loves all kids, and kids love him. Before all this military nonsense started, he used to spend a lot of time at the town orphanages. Tom, Jensen and I grew up together, you know. We played together, went to school in Pendragon together, got into fights together… Jensen is the youngest of us, but he was still the most protective. Even back then I could tell he was going to make a great father someday.”

Jared kept nodding, but his bobbing Adam’s apple probably gave him away. Katie smiled kindly. “Oh, Onur, please don’t be sad. You can always find a surrogate or adopt. Fenrir knows there are enough orphans in Albion that could use a good home.”

“Y-Yes, of course. You’re right.”

Jared agreed with Katie completely. But still, visions of his ‘daughter’ were as clear in his mind today as they were that night on the yacht…

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have mentioned Annabelle to Jensen. He shouldn’t have shown his mate a dream that would never come true.

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

After lunch, Jared wandered over to the library. He checked his messages on the way, and re-read a few he’d exchanged with Tyler earlier today.

JP: Hey, Ty, what are omegas? Exactly?

TH: Extremely rare lycans. Like one in a hundred-thousand. All males but they can bear pups. It’s said omega-born wolves are stronger, smarter, faster, basically better in every way. Gordon Ackles was omega-borne. 

JP: Oh, wow. I didn’t know that. And I’m surprised the topic hasn’t come up at all since I got here.

TH: That might have something to do with the hyper-sexualized perception of omegas in our society. Some old trumps think of them as nothing but breeders, mindless objects to be possessed. Many are ashamed, don’t want to admit they have an omega in their family. It all stems from lycans’ general inability to discuss their heats and rut cycles. Anything they associate with weakness they’d rather suppress and never speak about. Losing control, being vulnerable.. they’re all signs of weakness.

Jared recalled vividly the inner circle meeting two nights ago. 

JP: Ah yes, that part I totally get.

TH: I can send you some papers, if you like. I still remember your insatiable thirst for learning 😉

JP: Yes please, that would be fantastic, Ty. Thank you so much!

TH: Most welcome, buddy. All right I have to run. Let’s plan to talk sometime. I want to know what Albion is like. Do you live in little cave dens? Do you get hot water? What about shoes?

JP: Stop it 😊 I’ll see you soon, brother. Take care.

He devoured the papers Tyler shared, then found a couple more in the Ackles’ library on the unique nature of an omega’s biology. So very similar to shifter biology. Every heat cycle, the omega’s body shifted to generate a womb and produce eggs, waiting to be impregnated. That was their biological imperative… to procreate and strengthen the lycan nation. If impregnation was successful, the body continued to shift and grow around the embryo. And nine months later, the body shifted again to create a vagina-like opening for the baby to be delivered, which then closed shortly after. To Jared, it all seemed so miraculous.

But the way lycan society treated their ‘lowest social ranking members’ was appalling, to say the least. Which was something else shifters had in common with omegas. Clearly, omegas lived in hiding among other lycans, just as he’d lived in hiding among humans. This society’s fascination with ‘strength’ was the root-cause of all their social discrimination. Omegas were perceived as weak because their heats rendered them vulnerable and out of control. But that wasn’t the only reason. They were ostracized because an omega going through heat made other lycans – especially the alphas – weak in their presence too. Sacrilege!

Jared kept reading late into the evening, well past sundown. At some point, he closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the desk.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!”
Jared frowned, annoyed at the loud intrusion into his lovely nap. He ignored it and continued to snooze. They were probably talking to someone else anyway…
“Padalecki, seriously!”

Okay, that was his name. Jared tried to remember who in Albion called him that. He’d been collecting nicknames ever since he met Jensen – jaan, onur, gelin, núíosach, fata morgana…

Someone threw a solid object at his head, hard enough to hurt but not bleed. He groaned, one hand pressed against the sore spot on his scalp, then looked around. He was still in the library. He turned left then right to locate the culprit who…

“No more dawdlin’, bro. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

That suave, south-western accent…

“Tyler? W-What are you doing here?”

Tyler Hoechlin rolled his eyes behind his thick spectacles. He was standing just behind Jared, dressed similar to his profile picture on the university website – in a checked shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and khakis known as the Indiana Jones pants in Westworld.

“Seriously, buddy. You asked, nay, commanded me, that I help you with your new paper! You said your deadline for submission is tonight. Do you really think I’d rather be here with you in this dreary library instead of with my mate?”
“Your m-mate?”

Jared blinked rapidly, when did this happen? Last time they chatted, Ty said he was single.

Tyler made a face that was part sheepish grin, part sympathetic wince. “He’s still exhausted. I want to be there when he wakes up. This cycle took a lot out of him, probably because it was his first in such a long time.”
“First one since the delivery…”
“Exactly. Not sure what triggered it, maybe being back here in Albion? I’ll do some tests later…”
He then clapped his hands and looked at Jared expectantly. “So, are we doing this or what?!?”

“Jared? Hey… wake up…”

Someone shook him, gently, but insistently. Jared frowned hard, not sure anymore if he was asleep or awake. He struggled to open his eyes, even though he could have sworn his eyes weren’t closed…

“Time to go, come on…”

Warm hands clasped his shoulders and pulled him up from the desk, back into an upright position. Jared squinted against the double-vision images to make out a face that he knew he knew, a face that wasn’t Tyler’s…

“Jensen?”
“Who else, jaan…”
“Where… where did Tyler go?”
“Who?”

Jared looked this way and that. Maybe there was something in the lemonade…

Jensen sighed, then effortlessly tugged Jared up into his arms, carrying him out of the library like the bride he was supposed to be.

“W-What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Jensen asked, looking worried. “I’m told you skipped dinner, and you’ve been holed up here all day.”
“I… fell down a rabbit hole.”
“WHAT? How big was this rabbit hole? Did you hit your head?”

Jared rolled his eyes. He did not currently possess the mental faculties needed to explain it, or anything really. “Never mind. I… I thought…”
“I’m going to call the medic.”
“No, no, it’s… just a dream. Sorry,” Jared pushed his face into Jensen’s neck and wrung his arms around him tightly.
“I’m just tired, love.”

Jensen smiled as he ambled to the east wing. “To bed then. I got you, jaan, I got you…”

30 Août, 3947 PG

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

The next day, Jensen accompanied Kathryn to the western front to continue her training. They left after breakfast, then Jared headed to Jensen’s office – he still wasn’t quite ready to call it his yet – and spent the day working with Misha, revising the motion to stop Armstrong from supplying weapons to the south. 

“Okay,” Jared exhaled a deep, loud, breath. “I think this is it.”
“I think so too.” Misha agreed on the plasma. “Should I do the honors?”
“Yes, please.”
“All right! Sending it now. I’ll let you know what he says.”
They exchanged equally anxious looks. Then the connection ended.

“So,” Felicia stood up from her usual chair. “What next, Onur?”
“Now, we wait,” Jared leaned back in his chair – technically Jensen’s – clasped his fingers behind his head and stretched. Then remembering something, he sent out a voice command. “Screen two: MNN please.”

The news channel from Manchester came on.

/// The verdict is finally out on the Manchester people vs Armstrong case. Curtis Armstrong has been found guilty on two counts of negligence, resulting in damage to the Eritrean pier, and non-fatal injuries to passengers aboard Armstrong’s cruise ship ‘Celebration.’ However he has been found not guilty on the charge of ecological destruction. The Earth Tribunal determined that Armstrong’s lustrum extraction process was in full compliance with the clauses laid out in the Albion treaty, therefore he cannot be held responsible for damages to the bedrock of… ///

“Fenrir’s tits!” Felicia cursed. Jared couldn’t agree more, though he wouldn’t have used those words. “That was the big one, wasn’t it?”
“It was.” Jared sighed. “A guilty verdict for that would have sent him to jail and bankruptcy. We’d still be a supplier down but so would Ballarat.”

/// The prosecution failed to prove the treaty parameters were fudged. And since there were no deaths, thanks mainly to our Lycan and Mer friends, the penalties Armstrong is expected to pay can range anywhere from two to 12 million coins… ///

“So he pays a menial fine for property damage and goes free?”

Jared shrugged, disappointed but not surprised. “Maybe he has someone very powerful in his pocket. Someone high up enough to influence the Earth Tribunal…”

He pulled up another screen and started coding some searches. Felicia watched him from a distance, curiously. “I’m sensing a pattern, Onur.”
“What’s that?”
“You are physically incapable of sitting idle.”
Jared squinted at her. “That obvious, Ms. Day?”
“You need a project, at least one at any given time. I don’t know what you would do with yourself otherwise…”
Jared laughed wryly. “I would go insane. Literally. I need to feel…”
“Feel what?”

“Useful, I guess. Everyone in this family serves a clear purpose. They’re not just figureheads sitting on their royal bottoms. Hilarie manages relations, foreign and internal. Jensen is recruiting and training the forces. Kat is the Zeta, of course. Tom is in charge of domestic security. Katie is raising the next generation of Ackles while also organizing social and charity events…”

“And what am I doing, Onur?”
The High Alpha strode in unannounced. Jared nearly fell off his chair in his rush to stand up. 
“High Alpha! We would have come to you if you’d called… did you call? D-Did we miss your call?” Jared stuttered.
Alan clasped his hands behind his back. “I can use the exercise.”

His blue shirt and black trousers were way crisper than Jared’s pink shirt and beige cargo pants.

“So, tell me, what is my purpose?”
Jared cleared his throat. “Uh, well, t-to lead, of course. Provide the leadership the pack needs, and can feel safe under?”
The barely-there smile on Alan’s face didn’t waver. “I don’t just have to make them feel safe. I need to keep them safe too.”
“V-Very true, High Alpha.”

Alan shook his head. “One of these days, Jared, you will look at me and see more than just the High Alpha.”
“…”
“I like your idea to file for an injunction. Especially now, this is our only legal recourse left. You heard the verdict?”
“Yes, just.”
“The draft is perfect. I have no edits.”
“Thank you, Al- Alpha. We’ll get it filed today.”
Alan nodded. “Good work.”

Then he turned, and just as swiftly as he’d entered, he was gone.

Jared collapsed into his chair, a big rush of air escaping his mouth. Felicia came over, smiling proudly. “High praise from the High Alpha.”
“Yeah, well, let’s not count our chickens just yet.”
Felicia tilted her head. “What are chickens again?”
“Never mind. Can you message Misha to go ahead and file?”
“Doing it now.”
“Thanks.”

Jared texted Jensen to give him the good news. Jensen replied promptly with a “SO PROUD OF YOU JAAN!” and three heart emojis. It made Jared’s whole day. A day that wasn’t over yet.

“Olives…” It came to him then. “Katie said we need a new supply source to make olive-fest happen. That’s got to be our next project!”
Felicia tried not to look too exasperated. “You sure you don’t just want to meet the decorator?”
“I’m sure, Ms. Day.”
“As you wish, Onur.”

It was a little after ten pm. Jared was sprawled practically on top of Jensen as they lay in bed, watching a classic documentary. Something about food from pre-glacial times, from the ancient region of Italy.

Jensen was frowning, really hard. “That’s the ninth layer of cheese he’s put on that pasta.”
“Mm-hm.”
“No wonder these people didn’t live beyond 70.”

Jared didn’t reply, but Jensen could feel him smirking against his sternum. They were both too tired to do much else. But after not seeing each other all day, they weren’t ready to close their eyes either.

Someone knocked on their door, insistently, thrice.

“I got it,” Jensen stopped Jared from rising, and got up himself.

The door wasn’t locked. In fact it was, as always, left slightly ajar (Jensen didn’t like that the soundproof doors blocked him from picking up on any possible emergencies in the mansion.) He could have just asked whoever it was to enter without moving. But his pulse had quickened at the sound of the very first knock. He pulled on a black t-shirt over his black joggers, then went to the door.

“Briana?”
The beta was dressed in her green scrubs again. Jensen sighed, stepped out and closed the door behind him, completely this time. “Alpha, please…”
Jensen steeled his heart. “You know my answer, Briana. I’m not doing this anymore.”
Briana shuffled her feet. “The High Beta has called for two service alphas.”
“Two?!?”
“You know what happened with the last one. Daniel nearly gouged that poor wolf’s eyes out.”
“All he has to do is stop fighting! Accept one of those alphas, send the other one home. Why is this so hard to process?”
“His heat-addled hindbrain is fixated on you, Alpha. He doesn’t listen to reason when he’s in control. How’s he supposed to understand anything in this state?”

Jensen felt his temper and his heartbeat escalating rapidly. He took deep breaths to calm himself down. Because if he didn’t…

“Jensen?”
Too late. The door opened, and Jared peeked his head out. “What’s going on?”

Jensen schooled his face before turning to his mate. “Nothing, jaan. Just a little medical situation with Daniel. But sounds like Mother has called the, uh, medics and… he should be taken care of now. Right, Briana?”
The beta looked dismayed, but played along. “Yes, I…I just wanted to let the Alpha know. Because he cares so much about Daniel, h-he wouldn’t want anything to happen to him…”

Jared frowned. Jensen could see the doubts swimming in his eyes.
“J, if you need to go…”
“No, I don’t. I’ll just be crowding him. Thanks for letting me know, Briana.”

Jensen nodded deliberately at Briana, ignoring her silent pleas. He put an arm on his mate’s back and gently steered him around, not looking at Briana who just stood there, as they went back into their bedroom.

“Jensen, are you sure? Briana looks like she’s freaking out.”
“She’s… overreacting. Everything’s fine, jaan.”
Jensen hated himself in that moment with a fiery passion. And judging by the look on Jared’s face, the cursed bond was relaying that to his mate too.

“Let’s just sleep, okay? I have a big meeting tomorrow, remember I told you about Brown-West?”
He couldn’t meet Jared’s eyes. So he busied himself switching off the plasma and the few lights still on around the room.

“You’re shutting me out again.”
“…”
“I thought we talked about this, Jensen.”
“Y-Yes… yes we did.”

Jensen paced, his footsteps heavy with guilt and worry. Both for Jared and for Daniel.
“I should be angry with you, for breaking your promise, again. But how can I be angry when I can feel your anxiety all the way from here?”
Jensen stopped pacing. He looked up at Jared, his beautiful, kind, wise-beyond-his-years mate. He didn’t have the strength to keep this massive secret from his mate anymore.
“What do you know about omegas?”

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Daniel had barricaded himself in his bedroom.

He was prepared this time. He’d stolen the admin codes from Briana’s digipad a week ago. And this morning when he felt the heat come on, he changed the security codes to his doors and windows, then changed the fucking admin codes too. Not even Briana could get in. That door could only be knocked down by the strongest of alphas.

He ripped his clothes off, they chafed against his overheated skin. He stood under a cold shower for hours, not that it helped. He cast the whole suite in utter darkness to make the painful photosensitivity go away. Every sense, every nerve ending in his body was literally on fire. He longed to throw open the windows and let the cool mountain breeze wash over him. Except one of those rent-alphas might climb up and get too close.

Daniel had been battling this cycle for 18 hours now. The vibrator inside him, even at its highest setting, was entirely ineffectual. He couldn’t trust himself in the proximity of any alpha right now. He didn’t want to die, obviously, but the cost of living seemed so unbearably high…

“No.” Daniel rasped, his wolf gnarling deep in his throat. “No. No. NO!”

He was determined to wait it out. To wait… Jensen out. How long could the First Alpha stand by while Daniel writhed in debilitating agony? How long could he possibly resist?

Daniel crouched in the farthest corner of his bedroom and waited, burning, shaking, leaking, praying… that Jensen wouldn’t be so heartless as to leave Daniel to be violated by a couple of strangers in his own house.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jared’s eyes widened at Jensen’s question. He hadn’t told Jensen anything about the research he’d been doing on the side. So why would he…?

And then it hit him. “Daniel’s an omega…”
It came out as a statement, even though he meant it as a question.

Jensen wheezed. “I wanted to tell you so many times. But it’s just… it’s one of those secrets the First Family has kept for so many years that…”
“And I’m still a núíosach…”
“Don’t say that!” Jensen took a step forward in what looked like pure rage. It made Jared flinch on reflex. 

Jensen’s face fell and he immediately pedaled back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I couldn’t tell you because… there are just… so many complications…”
“Why was Briana here?”
Jensen blinked. “He’s in heat.”
Jared had guessed as much. He still didn’t understand though. “I know he’s not mated. And he needs an alpha to… uh…”
“Yeah, he does. But the problem is he… he is… stubborn and bullheaded and…”
Jared didn’t bother telling Jensen those two words meant the same thing. “Jensen, please just say it.”

Jensen took a seat on the edge of the bed. Then he began. He told Jared about Daniel’s obsession with Jensen and his refusal to accept another alpha. About how he had helped Daniel get through his heat cycles in the past. But now that he was bonded, how he’d put his foot down.

Jared felt the ground beneath his own feet shake. For a moment he thought he might swoon and fall on his face. He blinked rapidly and shook his head like a wolf to regain his equilibrium.

“So you’ve slept with him.”
“No! I have never had sex with him, not conventionally. I mean, I’ve never touched him down there, or ever penetrated…”
“But done other things?”
“What other things are there?”
“You tell me!”

Jensen wheezed again, and did his best to explain.

“Okay,” Jared swallowed, hard. “Appeasing the omega’s five senses using your Alpha voice, scent, gaze, touch and saliva.”
He’d read something about that just yesterday. Jensen nodded, looking everywhere but at his mate.
“And that’s all you need to do today, to help Daniel out?”
“Yes.”
“And if you don’t, he’ll stay in this state of extreme physical, sexual, and mental agony for days, until either he dies or is too tired to resist the service alphas? Is-Is that what happens?”
“Pretty much.”

Jensen closed his eyes, as if bracing himself for the next outburst.
“I want to see it, for myself.”
Jensen’s eyes shot open. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting that.
Jared pulled on the blue sweatshirt that matched his sweatpants, and his usual sneakers.
“Jared? Are you… sure?”
“I want to be sure. That’s why we’re going. Now.”

Jared tried to picture the ashen-faced, moody, and perpetually miserable lycan he’d only met twice, and realized he’d never actually paid much attention to him. Daniel had kept to himself ever since Jared arrived. He hardly showed up for family dinners or in the rec room where they sometimes hung out afterwards. Of all the members of the First Family, he seemed to be the only one who didn’t serve a purpose. Jared had blatantly held that against Daniel, until now.

Now, he felt nothing but intense sympathy for the youth. But he still wanted to be sure. The lawyer in him was trained to not accept things he was told at face value, instead to verify as far as possible. Sure there was also a mild element of jealousy niggling at the corners of his heart, but he reminded himself that whatever Jensen did with Daniel, was before their mating.

Jensen, meanwhile, stood fervently shaking his head. “If you insist, we’ll go. Don’t know what you expect to see though. If I know him, he’s holed up in his room and won’t come out for anybody.”
“But he will let you in.”
“Yes, but… Jared, what do you want to do?” 

Jared just stood up and headed out the door. He wished he knew.

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

“Just help him!”

That was the last thing Briana thought she’d hear the shifter say. She watched from a distance as the First Alpha stood outside Daniel’s bedroom arguing with his mate.

“Jared, are you absolutely sure what you’re asking me to do?”
“I-I’m sure I don’t want to see him in so much pain. Jensen, he’s going to die.”

The couple had arrived on the third floor of the north wing minutes ago. Briana had met them at Daniel’s door and showed them the security feed on her digipad from inside the bedroom. She watched their faces. Jensen’s jaw hardened and he looked away immediately. Jared looked like he would throw up, but forced himself to assess the video for… not sure what. Eventually he seemed to make up his mind, handed the digipad back to Briana, and implored his mate to go inside.

“No,” Jensen crossed his arms. “I can’t keep indulging him. This has to stop!”

Just then the two service alphas Hilarie had ordered arrived. The wolves were over six feet tall, well-built, and between the two of them, weighed a hundred kilos more than Daniel. Briana gasped, tried not to imagine how traumatizing this would be for her poor pup.

“Please stand clear, First Alpha. We’ll take it from here.”
Jared looked crestfallen when Jensen moved aside, even pulling his mate behind him. The alphas started to kick and shove their shoulders against the solid oakwood door. The entire wing shook under their violent assault. 

“Jensen, you can’t let this happen. This is rape.”
“Rape? He’s an omega, Jared! He needs to do this, or he will die!”
Briana flinched, utterly saddened that the First Alpha, for all his wisdom, still didn’t understand. Consent was just a ‘grey area’ when it came to an omega in heat.

The door didn’t budge. The service alphas were clearly getting tired, and more embarrassed with every passing second. Briana watched Daniel curl up tighter around himself on the security feed, crying his eyes out. She couldn’t stop tearing up herself.

“If you don’t go in, J, I will.”
Briana’s eyes flew up to Jared at that.
“What do you mean, jaan? What can you do?”

In the next instant, before Briana and Jensen’s awestruck eyes, the Onur Gelin shifted. Seamlessly, gracefully, just like lycans transformed into their true selves, Jared transformed and in his place stood the First Alpha himself.

Jensen stared at his mirror reflection with his mouth wide open. Even the service alphas took that opportunity to take a break and gawk.
“Fenrir save us all…” Briana hissed under her breath.

Jensen – the real Jensen – gulped hard. His chest heaved, and Briana could only imagine what went through the First Alpha’s mind in that moment.
Jared – as the fake Jensen – stood undeterred. “If you won’t help Daniel, I will. I can replicate your voice, your scent… everything.”
“…”
“It would still be rape, of course. And I would absolutely detest myself after its done. The best we can do is never tell Daniel, let him believe it was you.”

Briana took a step forward. This could actually work…
“No,” Jensen’s command sent her reeling back. He looked at his mate and huffed loudly. “You made your point. I’ll do it.”
Jared looked visibly relieved, and shifted back to himself. He grimaced, as if the morphing caused him physical pain of some kind.

“You two!” Jensen tilted his head at the service alphas, and they quickly did as commanded – they scrammed.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Jared said.
“Why don’t you head back to-”
“I’ll wait.” He even managed to smile encouragingly at the First Alpha.

Jensen’s chest heaved again but he didn’t smile back. With a single kick, he brought the door crashing down. He went in, picked up the door, and placed it back against the frame behind him. Then there was nothing left to do but wait.

The Onur Gelin leaned against the corridor wall, then sank to the floor. He looked exhausted, conflicted, yet determined to see this through. He sat with his knees pulled up into his chest. Briana slowly approached him. When he didn’t protest, she slid down beside him, mimicking his pose.

“Thank you so much, Onur. What you did… no lycan I know would ever… ever allow their alpha mate to… be… with an omega.”
Jared didn’t respond. He just stared out the full-length glass windows at the storm raging outside. Lightning and thunder chased each other around the cordillera. It was Briana’s favorite kind of weather.

“The last time this happened, we were so sure Jensen wouldn’t come that we had to strap Daniel down. So this time, he resolved not to give us that chance again.”
“Smart kid,” Jared rasped.
“Yes,” Briana chuckled. “That he is. But also really stubborn and in denial. Thank Fenrir the First Alpha came. Daniel knew he was bonded but still…”
“Wait. What… when… was the last cycle again?”
Briana blinked, and replied as innocently as she could. “Oh, like three months ago?”

She watched the information sink in. She watched the shifter’s physicality shift from someone calm and composed, to someone about to hyperventilate.

Jared stood up. “T-Tell Jensen I went back to… our… to the east wing.”
He didn’t wait for a confirmation, just strode away as fast he could.

Briana leaned back against the wall and smirked. The mutt had foolishly exposed his soft heart tonight. But softness equaled weakness in the den of lycans. It was high time he learned that.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Seventy-two minutes. That was how long it took for Jensen to return. He would know, he counted every minute.

He paused outside his door, not sure what to expect. Jared had taken the revelation better than expected. But then, his mate did make a habit of surpassing everyone’s expectations on a regular basis. Not all was perfect on the other end of his mythical bond though. Jensen could feel Jared’s restlessness, his confusion, his discontent… as clear as he felt his own.

He took a deep breath, and stepped into their bedroom. He found Jared in one of the wingback chairs next to the fireplace. He sat with his legs crossed, his digipad on his lap. He looked up at Jensen, but said nothing.

“I-I’ll be right back.”

Jensen couldn’t face his mate just yet. He didn’t know if he ever could. He went into the bathroom, stripped and stood under the shower for several minutes. Jared may not be able to smell it, but Jensen felt like he was drowning in Daniel’s pheromones, and he couldn’t stand it. But he couldn’t hide in here forever. He dried himself off, pulled on a fresh white t-shirt and joggers, then stepped out to… as his lawyer friend often liked to say, face the music.

Jensen sat down in the other wingback chair facing his mate. “I know you have questions.”
Jared looked down at his digipad. “Just two, I suppose.”

Jensen leaned forward, bracing himself.
“Can a bonded lycan… bond with another while their first mate still lives?”
The alpha exhaled. “Nope. Impossible.”
Jared nodded, then bit his lip. “And… can a bond break if… mates l-lie to each other, or cheat on each other?”

Jensen felt a cold shudder wrack his spine. His wolf thrashed to break free and run away from this one question that was so simple and yet deadlier than an aconite bullet through the heart. He took another deep breath.

“In my 86 years on this planet, I’ve never seen a mated couple separate or have their bond severed. That’s not to say that lycans don’t lie or don’t cheat. They just find ways to forgive each other. I suppose because their love is stronger than… everything else.”

Jared looked away and into the fire. But Jensen knew him well enough to see this time he was definitely relieved. His wolf settled back down.

“I thought you understood why I had to do this, jaan…”
“I do. What I don’t understand is why you lied to me, J. Why couldn’t you just tell me that night on the yacht, when you left to come back here for Daniel?”
Jensen felt his heart jump up to this throat, wondering how Jared knew. “I-I couldn’t, you weren’t officially a part of the First Family back then and…”

Jared stood up at that. “See that… that part I still don’t get. What is this ‘state secret’ you all are keeping? Just that Daniel’s an omega? Why are you all so ashamed of him?!?”
“We’re not ashamed…”
“Oh yeah? Is that why the mansion staff believes he’s a beta?”
“Jared, it’s true that we’re hiding his identity but…”
“Here I thought I was the only one being treated like a second-class citizen in Albion. But omegas seem to have it even worse than mutts around here!”
“…”

Jared was pacing now, clearly agitated, hands flailing in every direction.

“Now that I think about it, he’s sequestered up there all on his own, isn’t he? I bet he has no friends, no contacts outside the mansion. I did see him lurking in a shady part of town once, but he was alone. And that night in the Genesis cave, hundreds of lycans gathered for basically a big reunion party. But Daniel waited until everyone left and showed up only to perform his civic duty as an inner circle member. Even his obsession for you is some form of social anxiety disorder, isn’t it?”

Jensen saw the heady mix of emotions spattered all over his mate’s face. Once again, Jared had found a way to surprise the heck out of him. A second later, Jared halted mid-step and glared at him.

“What?”
“What?”
“Why are you smiling?”
Jensen tried to bite it back, only ended up smiling wider. “I’m just so grateful for you, jaan.”
Jared crossed his arms. “Excuse me, I’m trying to have an argument here?”
Jensen laughed wryly. “You’re more concerned for Daniel than yourself.”

Then he sighed and stood up. Time to come clean, completely.

“It’s true, we are hiding Daniel from the world. But not because he’s an omega. It’s because he’s a Sharman.”

Jared and Jensen sat on the rug in front of the fireplace, facing each other. Jared hadn’t said a word in a long time. He was still processing everything he’d heard tonight. And looking at his mate’s resolute face, he could tell Jensen was nowhere done yet.

“Jared, you have to understand this is a secret the First Family has kept for a quarter of a century. Not even Briana knows he’s a Sharman. She probably thinks he’s an illegitimate Ackles. We’ve never corrected her.”

“Okay. Start from the beginning?”

Jensen didn’t hesitate. “Daniel, the Sharmans’ youngest, was born an omega. If you think Albion is conservative and puritanical, Wehea is way worse. They sent the child away to grow up in a monastery in Manchester. Stormway, actually.”
“Stormway?” Jared frowned. “When was this?”
“This was soon after he was born, so… Avril 3918.”
“Oh, and two years later, the coup happened.”
“That’s right. Pileggi and Lehne took the all-powerful Sharmans out in a single strike. To this day no one knows exactly how they did it. Reports out of Ballarat claimed it was aconite poisoning but…”
“Aconite poisoning doesn’t cause aneurysms,” Jared finished.
“Exactly.”

“How did Daniel survive? Did Pileggi know about him?”
“He knew the child had been sent away but didn’t know where. An assassin tracked him down and went after him a month later.”
“In Stormway?”
“Yep. Danica, Daniel’s mom, was my mother’s best friend. After her mate Alaric died, she held on long enough to reach out to us and her dying wish was that we take in Daniel, keep him safe. Mom called my dad – Jeff – to accompany her to Stormway. She says they got there just in time. Dad says the assassin hesitated, and that was his fatal mistake. They rescued Daniel and smuggled him home in the dark of night. Reports of a dead child in the monastery hit the airwaves the next day.”
“You spread a false rumor.”
Jensen shrugged. “Our Mancunian lawyer at the time helped. Humans are apparently good at that kind of thing.”

“So Pileggi thinks the omega is dead. But given their rarity, if he found out there was an omega living here in Albion, about the same age as the Sharman child would have been… he’d put two and two together.”

Jensen looked relieved that Jared finally got it. “It’s not an ideal way of living for Daniel, believe me, I get that. But it keeps him alive.”

Jared couldn’t argue with that. Not anymore.

“What about the assassin?”
“Dad lost track of him in Reykia. The possibility that he might still be out there, makes our paranoia worse when it comes to Daniel.”
“This the same guy Jeff was chasing when he ran into Andrew?”
“Yeah.”

Jared tried to imagine it… baby Daniel, and both of Jensen’s biological parents in his hometown just a year before he was born. Small world indeed.

Beta Hilarie Burton was a LEO before she bonded with High Alpha Alan Ackles. And her partner was the famous fugitive hunter, Alpha Jeffrey Morgan. No wonder she trusted Jeff to accompany her on this mission to save the last of the Sharmans.

That’s when it hit him.

“The blood pact of 3318 PG… that’s why Mitch Pileggi wanted every last Sharman dead! Because it voids the pact and allows him to move against Albion. But if Daniel reclaims the pack, the pact gets reinstated… he can do that, can’t he?”
“The Sharmans still have loyalists in Ballarat, so yeah if he showed up tomorrow and by some miracle stays alive long enough to stake a claim, he’ll have backing. But…”
Jensen sighed, knowing how Jared would react. “A beta or an omega must be mated to an alpha to be able to claim pack leadership. Can’t do it on their own.”
Jared rolled his eyes, but he’d guessed as much. Lycans and their hierarchical hang-ups.
“So that’s why Hilarie wanted you to bond with Daniel. To unite the north and the south, end this conflict once and for all…”

…and produce the strongest litter of grandpups as an added bonus.

Jensen smiled gently. “You and that crazy-smart brain of yours…”
Jared looked away, studying the flames intently. “I was eavesdropping when she said it.”
“Still. I’m just glad you’re not running for the hills after all this.”
Jared made a wry face but didn’t say anything.

“What’s on your mind, jaan?”
Jared didn’t know how to articulate it. So he deflected. “Daniel. I feel really bad for him.”
“You’re capable of way more empathy than he is, let me tell you that.”
Jared just shrugged.

“So…” Jensen began tentatively, sounding nervous. “Now that you know everything… do you forgive me?”
Jared bit his lip, then let a yawn escape his mouth. “Wow, look at the time… shouldn’t we try and sleep? You have that big meeting tomorrow.”
He got to his feet, and tentatively held out a hand for his mate. Jensen sighed heavily, and stood up on his own.

They slept on opposite ends of the bed that night. Jared lay with his back turned to Jensen, but he could sense Jensen’s eyes on him. He felt his mate’s dejection too, simmering in the wide-open space between them. Jared stayed awake, well into dawn. When at last his eyes closed, he dreamed.

Quick film cuts zooming at high speed… of sparkling smiles, twinkling eyes. Jared’s basal forebrain willed the film roll to slow down until he could tell there were two faces – one he recognized instantly, the other took a while. The first was his old friend, Tyler… handsome and noble as always. Still, Jared had never seen him laugh so hard before. The other face looked happy too, maybe that’s why Jared had so much trouble recognizing it. Without the dark circles under his eyes, the sickly pallor of skin, the unkempt greasy hair, and the permanently etched scowl on his face… Daniel really was beautiful beyond words. And judging by the way Tyler was looking at him, clearly he agreed.

“Good morning, Onur!” A cheerful voice, inhumanly so, dragged him out of sleep.
“Or should I say, good afternoon?”
Jared frowned and rubbed his eyes open. The first thing he did was turn towards the other side of the bed. It was empty.

“W-What time is it?”
“12:15, Onur. I figured I should check on you, in case you weren’t feeling well and needed to see the medic?”
“No, I’m fine, Ms. Day. Sorry I overslept.”
“No worries at all, Onur. The First Alpha told me not to disturb you before he left, said you didn’t sleep until dawn.”

Jared sat up and shook his head. Of course his mate would know.

Like every morning, he was surrounded by Ms. Day and her hardworking elves. Felicia brought over the lokums for Jared to pick one, then rattled off a couple of housekeeping updates and informed Jared his calendar was wide open today. Thankfully, she didn’t bring up the decorator.

“So, how can I help you today, Onur?” Felicia asked.
Jared looked up at her, thought about it for a few long moments, then with his eyes indicated at the staff still tidying up. 
Felicia quickly understood. “Ladies, come back later, please.”
She ushered the staff out and closed the door, before turning around to face the Onur Gelin.

“How is Daniel?”
The beta blinked. And in the few micro-seconds of silence that followed, Jared confirmed what he suspected. Felicia knew. Just as Felicia now knew that Jared knew too.

“Onur, I’m sorry. I wasn’t allowed to…”
“It’s fine, Ms. Day. You were doing your job. How is he?”
Felicia sighed. “Better. But he’ll probably sleep all day today.”
Jared nodded. “Who else on the staff knows?”
“Just me and Briana.”
“How does the circle stay so tight?”
“Loyalty, Onur. To the pack and to the First Family. We will die before we betray the High Beta’s trust.”

He nodded again. And then he exhaled, thinking about the dream he’d just had.

“Ms. Day… is it possible for me to invite a friend to stay over for a few days?”

Chapter Text

30 Août, 3947 PG (The Night Before…)

Mancunian Parliament
Cathedral, Manchester

President Amanda Tapping was wrapping up for the day. She couldn’t wait to get home. It was her weekly dinner night with Cassie, her 13-year-old daughter. Christ only knew how many of these she had left before the teenager decided her friends deserved more of her time than her mother.

Someone knocked on her door just before she could get up. She sighed and looked up. It was Vice President Sheppard.

“Got a minute?”
“Uh, sure. What’s up?”

Sheppard pointed to the plasma on a far wall, playing the latest political debacle on MNN non-stop. It was that pompous, blustering lawyer, Misha Collins, talking to every reporter he could find about Albion’s motion to block Armstrong’s supply of weapons to Wehea. Amanda had him on mute.

“We need to put out a statement before the court rules. I can take care of it if you like.”
“No need,” she said the same thing she’d told her team 30 minutes ago when the news broke out. “Let the judicial system take its course.”
Sheppard crossed his arms. “Whitfield is presiding. You know he can’t be bought. He’s going to accept the motion and we’ll be the laughingstock of the capital. Again.”

Amanda smirked. She stood up and smoothed her tan-colored pantsuit down with both hands. “Okay, let’s play it out. If I fight the motion, I look bad in the eyes of the anti-war progressives. Even the evangelicals will see it as disloyalty to the ‘guardian angels’ of Manchester. My numbers go down, parliament calls for a no-confidence vote, I get the boot. And you get to be interim president. Did I get all of that right?”

Mark licked his lips. “Would I ever do that to you, Amanda?”
“Yes, you would,” Amanda retorted. “So let’s look at option two: I don’t fight the motion. Instead, I accept it graciously, and sure it looks bad with the trumps, but I bet I still keep the parliament’s support, and my office. But you will be out of a, what, 2% kickback on the weapons deal? Let’s see… I can live with that.”

Mark hiked an eyebrow. “It’s not just me that’ll be down a revenue stream.”
Amanda sighed. Yes, being on the board of Armstrong industries sure came with its perks – official and unofficial. “True. But how many islands do you need to own anyway, Mark?”

Her voice lowered. “Don’t you think this has gone too far? It was fine until there was only a distant threat of war but now… we must put an end to this. I’ve decided to tell Curtis to shelve project 106, and inform Pileggi that the pilot was a failure.”

Mark Sheppard prided himself on his ability to keep calm in stressful situations. Most people only ever heard him speak in low, husky whispers, because he rarely felt the need to raise his voice. This though, was not one of those occasions.

“Why the sudden change of heart?”
Amanda shook her head. “Not sudden. It’s been on my mind since the earthquake. I think it’s in our best interest and the planet’s… to have an Ackles be in charge, not a Pileggi.”
Mark huffed. “You knew the risks going in when we made the deal with the devil. We can’t change horses mid-race, Amanda.”

Amanda turned away to grab her satchel. “Well, we must, because circumstances have changed. We didn’t plan on Pileggi finding out about project 106. And we definitely didn’t plan on just handing it over to him.”

Mark wanted to scream at the woman. They weren’t just handing it over to him for free. They were getting paid in tons of lustrum, for fuck’s sake!

“Amanda…” Mark tried to reason with her again. “Be rational. Pileggi is a monster. He allegedly killed his own mate to claim the southern pack. What do you think he’ll do to us if we renege on our deal?”
“Without the weapons and access that we provide him, what can he possibly do? We made him no promises, drew up no contracts. Curtis told him very clearly that 106 doesn’t work! We just have to keep it that way.”
“But…”
“Think of everything Albion has done for us, Mark. If it weren’t for those two wolf siblings and the Mers that day, we would have had a colossal tragedy on our hands, of our own making. We can’t hand over 106 to Pileggi, Mark… we won’t! And that’s my final word on it.”

She stared him down. Sheppard read the conviction in her eyes, and decided to conserve his energy.

“You’re a capable man, Mark. I know you will find a way. And by God, I never took you for someone who’d ever be afraid of a loric.”

Now she was trying to appeal to his ego. Mark sighed audibly and nodded. “I’ll talk to Curtis. Enjoy dinner with your daughter, Madam President.”

For a split-second Amanda let relief show on her face, then replaced it with an approving smile, before striding out of the office. Mark looked around the empty office, his lips pursed into a thin red line. He flicked his phone open and called Curtis.

“We need to meet… tomorrow night?... At my island house… no, the one in Marseille… All right.”

31 Août, 3947 PG

Brown-West Industries, El Renacido
Romancia, Westworld

Jensen sat in the CEO’s office, where he’d been shown in with the utmost cordiality, then left to wait for ten minutes. To wait and to fidget.

He adjusted his pristine black jacket that he wore with matching slacks and a green silk shirt, played with his bronze cufflinks. He looked around the postglacial-modern office, all glass and metal. Not his style, but it was naturally lit and airy, so he gave it five stars. His thoughts wandered back to earlier that morning before he left for Westworld.

Jared hadn’t had a peaceful night. He’d tossed and turned, and finally fell asleep around 0400. Jensen had yearned to take his mate in his arms, cuddle and comfort him till he couldn’t remember what he was so upset about. But he knew it wasn’t going to be so easy this time.

He’d applied all his Fenrir-given stealth to get ready without disturbing Jared so he could be here for his appointment at 1000hrs. Then he’d lightly pressed his lips to Jared’s temple, before making his exit. He smiled, picturing how ethereal his mate looked asleep.

He missed Jared.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Alpha Ackles.”
A deep baritone drew him back to the present. Jensen stood up as Sterling Brown walked into the office. He charged straight at Jensen with a hand outstretched.
“We do handshakes ‘round here, does that work or should I curtsy?”
Jensen chuckled and shook the human’s hand sturdily. “Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Brown.”

Brown wore rimless glasses, a snappy blue suit, and snow-white sneakers with gold laces and gold tips that instantly caught Jensen’s eye.

He grinned. “You like my shoes, do ya?”
Jensen tilted his head. “They’re impressive.”
“You’re one to speak. Aren’t those cowboy boots under your trousers?”
Jensen hiked his eyebrows. The human was observant. “I might be a tad obsessed.” 
“Well, glad we’ve something in common – our love for defying the rules of fashion with our taste in shoes!”

Brown’s cheery south-western twang amused Jensen. He also took that to mean Brown didn’t know about the other thing they had in common.

“So, how can I help you, Alpha Ackles?”
Brown gestured at Jensen’s chair and took the one next to him instead of sitting on the other side of the desk. Westworldian informality. Jensen sat down and crossed his legs, as did Brown.
“I’m assuming you’re aware of the situation between Albion and Armstrong Industries.”
“They’ve terminated your contract, and you’re lookin’ for a new supplier.”
“That’s right. And Brown-West is-”
“The only other defense contractor licensed to deal with lorics.”
“That’s why I’m here.”

Sterling studied Jensen for a few seconds. “Well, I’m really sorry, but you’ve wasted your time comin’ here. We should have just talked on the phone. Brown-West will not be supplying any arms, ammunition, or weapon systems to the North or the South.”

Jensen blinked, taken aback. “Is this some kind of negotiation tactic, Mr. Brown? Because I’d really rather just get to the point.”
“I could not be more direct, Alpha. The planet is on the brink of a second loric world war and Brown-West Industries for one is committed not to add fuel to the fire.”
Jensen glared at Brown. “Interesting decision coming from a weapons manufacturer. Shouldn’t this be… what… sales boom time for you?”
Brown laughed wryly. “You’d think, right? But, sorry, no can do.”

Jensen couldn’t believe it. The man was not giving him any leeway. He couldn’t tell if he was angling for a side deal or being genuine.
“So you’d stand by and watch Albion succumb to Wehea’s invasion? They’re building a war chest supplied by Armstrong, positioning ships on our borders as we speak.”
“I get it, Alpha, I really do,” Brown maintained steady eye contact with Jensen. “But when the history of this new post-ice-age-apocalyptic world is written, I refuse to let the name of this company that my grandfather built be slotted in the wrong column. I’d like us to go down as the ones who tried to dissuade war, not profit from it.”
“I’m still hopeful it wouldn’t come to that, Mr. Brown. But we must be prepared, surely you get that.”

Brown looked away for the first time in this conversation.

Jensen sighed. He saw the logic in Brown’s words, even admired him for it. He’d done everything possible to avert war for over two decades, of course he understood.

“You know, my mate, Jared, he loves all things history. Especially historical idioms and quotations. I’m constantly learning new humanish sayings from him. He once said… the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Brown uncrossed his legs. “I got a similar pitch from Alpha Lehne last year. It’s always interesting to hear how people justify their side of a conflict, usually by casting themselves as the good guys.”
“You misunderstand me, Mr. Brown. I was casting you as the good guy.”

Brown sighed. “I cannot in good conscience put more weapons in the hands of Albion, especially since you already have an imposing arsenal, at least twice the size of Wehea.”
“And I’m supposed to just take your word for it?”
“Verify it if you like. But there is somethin’ else that I discovered recently that you should know, Alpha. If you choose to believe me.”

Jensen frowned. Sterling leaned forward in his chair.

“The weapons deal between Armstrong and Pileggi? There’s something hinky about it.”
“Hinky?”
He voice-commanded a plasma to appear and display a digital map of the planet with what looked like flight paths connecting multiple locations to each other. Some of those paths were blinking red.
“As you know, all military equipment in the post-glacial world is geotagged. So our satellite imaging system can pick up arms, ammunition, explosives, and ordnance of all kinds, all over the globe. Yet we haven’t seen any movement from Midworld to the Southlands whatsoever. If the deal was struck last week, why haven’t any deliveries been made?”

Jensen frowned harder. He could hear the human’s heart beating at a calm, steady pace. Either this man was a professional liar, or he was telling the truth.

“How reliable is your satellite… image… doo-dah?”
“Very.”
“Maybe the delivery was made before, and the deal made public after?”
“Nope. I can track all their weapon caches, yours too by the way, and there’s been no change in their arsenal all year.”
“Maybe they plan to ship later. Maybe it’s still in production.”
“Well, they waited too long. Your injunction was just filed, yet not a peep from Armstrong himself. Why is that?”
“Don’t know. How would you explain it?”

Brown deliberated for a few seconds. “I think the whole thing is a smokescreen. The real deal is something else. And it may not be in traditional weaponry at all.”
“What do you mean?”
Brown shrugged. “Honestly, I’m speculating. Armstrong is good at hidin’ his digital tracks and the southerners barely have any. So it’s hard to be sure.”

Jensen let all the information sink in. Brown’s suspicions must be confirmed. Who knew what fresh hell was waiting to unleash itself on Albion?

He stood up, and they shook hands again. “Thank you for your time. This was… enlightening.”
“Thanks for comin’ out, even though we couldn’t help you.”
“Perhaps we can come to an agreement after this tension subsides.”
Brown smiled. “You’re really tryin’ to avert it, aren’t you?”
“Very much so, Mr. Brown.”
“Then I wish you all the best, Alpha. I hope you succeed.”

Sterling accompanied him to the landing zone where the Ackles jet stood. Before boarding, Jensen turned to him one last time.

He studied the man who stood before him. Handsome stature, razor-sharp features, an intelligent personality, and the brutish stubbornness of a wolf. Jensen smirked softly… an Ackles all right.

“Are you… absolutely sure there is no other reason, Mr. Brown?”
“Should there be?”
“You tell me.”
Brown smiled. “I assure you I’ve got no ulterior motives. But I promise you this, Alpha… if circumstances change, and there emerges a damn good reason to change my mind, I will not hesitate to do so.”

That’d have to be enough. Jensen nodded deeply, then bade goodbye.

“A2: Back to Albion, please.”

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

After a light lunch (that Felicia insisted he have,) Jared escaped to the solace of the library. He didn’t have research on his mind today. Just a need to find a good old tale of adventure and lose himself in it. He found The Hobbit, one of the last remaining copies printed on 10,000-years old paper, and settled in an armchair by the window to read.

Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

Jared chuckled at the clever words. Maybe he’d try it on Felicia next time she barged in on him sleeping.

“That good, huh?”

Jared jumped and nearly dropped the book to the floor. He looked up to find Daniel, standing four meters away, leaning against the doorway.

“You startled me! H-How long have you been standing there?”
Daniel smirked. “Long enough to discover you shifters are way too easy to sneak up on.”

Jared made a face. The surly lycan stood with his arms crossed, head tilted to one side. He was dressed in all-black, in exact contrast to Jared’s lighter attire. While Jared sported a white shirt with beige pants, Daniel wore a black t-shirt that barely covered his pale midriff, black skinny jeans frayed at the ankles, and a baggy cardigan that fell to his knees. Barefoot again.

The face looked more tired and pallid than ever. Hollow eyes, sunken cheeks. But his crystal blue eyes gleamed brighter than usual.

“I see you’ve taken a liking to this… mausoleum of dead ancient trees.”
Jared looked around sheepishly. “I like the classics.”
“Same seven stories, different millennia,” Daniel drawled, then looked away. He walked towards the north wall stacked from floor to ceiling with books.

Jared noticed he moved rather sluggishly, limping a bit. His long, skeletal fingers shook as they reached for a shelf about a foot over his head. Jared stood up, just in case.

“You need help?”
Daniel scowled at him like Jared just insulted his mother. “You’re tall, but not that much taller than me.”
“I didn’t mean…” Jared sighed. “You really should be resting in bed. You look like you need it.”
“I’ve spent more time stuck in bed these last 14 years, than anyone else in this mansion has their whole lives, believe me.”
Daniel wobbled as he went up on his toes. Jared took one step forward, again just in case.
“Time that… can be really… really hard to kill without getting creative, you know?”

It took a couple of attempts, but Daniel finally got the book he wanted. He lowered his head to admire its cover, a little smile pulling one corner of his mouth up.

“Time… that I used to teach myself to hack into the mansion’s security systems with my digipad. You probably noticed, they have a lot of cameras in my wing, just to keep tabs on one wretched little omega…”
Jared wasn’t sure how to respond. Was Daniel testing him, trying to find out how much he knew?
Daniel glanced sideways at him, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Looks like you finally got inducted into the First Family for real.”
Jared shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

Daniel turned away, towards the windows. “I saw the security feed from last night… of the corridor, right outside my bedroom door.”
“…”
“I saw what you did, heard what you said… to convince Jensen to h-help me.”
Jared swallowed. Daniel didn’t bother to thank him or anything, and that was fine with Jared. He didn’t do it for anyone’s gratitude or favor anyway.

Daniel turned to him then. “C-Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
If Daniel was looking for an explanation, Jared wasn’t quite sure he had one. Except for the profound sympathy – and empathy – that he felt for Daniel. He took a deep breath and braced himself.
“Why doesn’t it bother you?”
“What?”
“That your m-mate was… intimate with someone else?”

That was not the question Jared expected. He crossed his arms, pondering how much to say. He looked up at Daniel, at the sincere need to understand plainly evident on his face.

“I grew up in a Court… a high-end brothel basically, Manchester has legalized prostitution. My mother was aide to the lady who ran the court. So I… have a pretty nonchalant relationship with sex. It’s also why I can always tell the difference between physical or sexual intimacy, and an emotional one.”

Daniel’s face looked like a lightning bolt just struck him. It was a heartbreaking mix of surprise, dismay, befuddlement, and what could only be described as… a defeat of sorts. 

“So, if… when… the next time happens, would you…?”
“Send Jensen to you again? If you need him, then… yes, I would.”

Daniel looked away, and Jared did the same. Daniel looked so lost and so young. Jared reminded himself of all the times Daniel had been a jerk to him, just to quash his insane urge to go hug the lycan.

“That… that version is incomplete,” Daniel said, his tone no longer mocking or condescending as it had been since the day they met.
Jared frowned while Daniel pointed at the book in Jared’s hand.
“The last few pages are torn out, see?”
Jared opened the book from the back, indeed there were many pages missing.
“Oh… dang it.”
“Here,” Daniel held out the book he’d just retrieved. It was a much better preserved copy of The Hobbit.
“Thanks, Daniel.” Jared smiled gratefully. To his amazement, Daniel smiled back. It even reached his eyes. 

“You’re welcome, Onur.”

The omega turned and gingerly walked away. It occurred to Jared much later that Daniel had never addressed him with his honorific, until now.

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

They saw each other (awake) for the first time that day at dinner. Jared walked in to find Jensen in his usual seat, chatting with the pups. Their eyes met briefly, then looked away, lest someone see or sense the tension between them. Full table tonight… even Daniel was there. Kathryn had a lot of stories to tell from her first solo day on a front, and kept everyone’s attention on herself. Jared ate quietly, listened intently, but his heart and soul stayed pointedly beside him, focused on nothing but his mate.

He missed Jensen.

They kept up the farce until everyone retired to their respective suites for the night.

“You’re still mad at me,” Jensen declared soon as they were alone in their bedroom. Right to the point.
“No, that’s…” Jared kept his face turned away as he peeled out of his jacket. “I’m not mad… at you.”
“Then what? I know it’s not about what I had to do… with… Daniel.”
“I sent you in there, of course that’s not it. I’m just…” Jared sighed, at a loss for words, struggling to explain what he was feeling even to himself.

Jensen grimaced bitterly. “It’s the lies, isn’t it? I already apologized for those, but if it helps I’ll do it again.”
Jared felt hot under his collar, like he couldn’t breathe. “I don’t need another apology, Jensen, I just… need some time.”
“Time to do what?”
“To… process things, that was a lot of information shared in a very short time, and I… I just…”
“Need time. Got it.”

Jensen sighed, in resignation it seemed, and thankfully changed the subject.

“H-How was your day?”
“Fine,” Jared shrugged, deciding his little run-in with Daniel wasn’t worth mentioning, though he was quite happy the gruff lycan seemed to be warming up to him.
“I invited a friend over to stay for a few days. Felicia had it cleared with the High Alpha.”

Jensen looked at him with a strange look in his eyes. One Jared had never seen before. “Yes, Dad asked me about that. Tyler, is it?”
“Yeah. We’re old college buddies.”
“And someone you still dream about.”
Jared frowned. “How…? Oh, that night in the library…”
“You didn’t tell me he’s a lycan. From the south. An alpha at that.”
“Yeah, it… never came up? We just got back in touch after nine years, so…”

Jensen pursed his lips and nodded tersely but didn’t say anything. Jared wanted to roll his eyes. Surely his mate wasn’t jealous…

“How did your meet with Brown-West go?”
“Not good. In fact, I need to go talk to Dad about it. You go ahead and sleep, I’ll be back in a bit.”

You’re leaving because you’re uncomfortable here with me. But you don’t have to go. Please don’t go… Jared wanted to say, but the words stayed lodged obstinately in his throat. He watched Jensen turn and walk stiffly out the same door he’d just walked in. His face crumpled soon as his mate was out of sight.

Jensen didn’t look back once.

2 Septembre, 3947 PG

Circle Terrace, Ackles Mansion
Albion

A pam-jet landed at precisely ten in the morning. Out of it stepped a tall, handsome, virile young alpha. And the whole Ackles mansion collectively lost its… Hilarie squinted, trying to think of the proper term… she settled on ‘marbles.’

She stood in the balcony attached to Alan’s office, on the third floor of the west wing. Alan and Jensen were inside conferring about the whole weapons supply situation. Hilarie didn’t much care about that. Mitch Pileggi was dishonorable and conniving to his core. He knew he couldn’t win against Albion in a direct confrontation, and wouldn’t even try. So what was the point in planning for one? 

She wore an emerald-green shirt dress that stopped at her knees, with five-inch gold stilettos. They weren’t comfortable, obviously, but there were days she felt a grand need to tower over others, to feel in more control than she really was. This was one of those days.

When Alan told her that Jared’s friend hailed from Ballarat, it immediately got her dander up. Maybe it was the LEO in her. Or the mother, always on high alert around her pups. Despite the background check and Alan’s assurances, she just couldn’t believe they were making such an exception for the Onur Gelin.

“Maybe the boy is lonely. Your son is hardly around these days…”
“But inviting a stranger into our home at this time? A southern deserter at that?”
“Southern refugee, Hil’. Where is that compassionate heart of yours I fell in love with?”
“It was trampled by the Pileggis when they murdered my best friend and her whole family, while those proud southern wolves stood by and watched.”

Her protests were noted but dismissed, nonetheless. So here she stood, watching with eagle eyes the proceedings on the terrace below. She needed to check this lycan out herself. One false step, and she wouldn’t care whose friend he was. She’d personally kick him out on his southern… Hilarie squinted again, then chose to screw propriety… ass.

Jared and a welcoming entourage stood waiting on the terrace to receive their guest, the first they’d had in a while. Hilarie had limited the number of visitors to the mansion ever since Daniel hit puberty, for obvious reasons. No wonder the staff didn’t quite remember how to behave in the presence of this latest núíosach.

Professor Tyler Hoechlin was dressed as if he was going to deliver one of his lectures. Classic khaki pants, a sleeveless grey sweater over a light blue shirt, and a checked tweed jacket hanging off his left arm. In his maroon velvet blazer, black dress shirt and slacks, Jared looked overdressed in comparison. Tyler stepped out with a duffel bag slung across one shoulder. He adjusted his glasses and looked around. His face split into a thousand-watt smile when he spotted Jared.

“Ty!” Jared ran towards his friend without any propriety whatsoever.
Tyler opened his arms and literally yanked Jared off his feet in a hug that lasted several seconds.

Felicia, her five beta aides and four security personnel stood in a perfect diamond formation. They were dressed in their best uniforms and clasped their hands behind their back, heads held up high and proud. Yet despite their formal stance, each one of them peered curiously at the alpha who was now practically spinning Jared around like there was no one else present. The females’ postures slid into something more feminine… hips jutting out in one direction, ankles crossed with toes pointed in the direction of the alpha. And the males straightened up, chests puffed out, chins jutting up…

Hilarie just palmed her face.

It got worse. Slowly but steadily, the rest of the mansion staff trickled onto the terrace, caught in the gravitational pull of the new alpha among them.

“Look at you, Jare’… you look so good.”
Jared laughed. “Yeah, they’re dressing me to look the part, all right.”
“I wasn’t referrin’ to your clothes.”
Jared blushed and tried not to grin so brightly. Everyone stared, even at Jared, as if they were seeing him for the first time too.

“I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“Well, you know I’d never miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the cordillera for myself.”
Jared pretended to be affronted. “Nice to see you too, by the way.”
Tyler laughed. “Too long, buddy, too long.”

Jared looped his arm with Tyler’s and turned towards his aide. “Ms. Day. Please meet my great old friend, Professor Tyler Hoechlin.”
Tyler beamed at Felicia. “Not that old.”
Felicia shook the alpha’s hand, visibly impressed by his strong grip. She waited until he turned away to wipe the microbeads of sweat off her neck.

The entourage parted seamlessly into two neat lines creating a passage.
“Quite the red carpet,” Tyler murmured, even as he nodded warmly at every lycan assembled to greet him.
“Well, you are my personal guest. Apparently, that’s like a really big deal,”

Jared led his friend towards the east wing. They spotted the gathering crowd of spectators, and looked at each other, shrugging.

“News is clearly spreading fast of your arrival,” Jared whispered.
“Probably because the Ackles have never let a lycan of southern heritage this close to y’all’s mansion before.”
“You’re a westerner now. Even if they don’t believe me, they have to believe that outstanding accent.”
“I’m here all of two minutes and you’re already makin’ fun of my accent!”
“I’m getting a head-start, before you start ribbin’ on me!”
“We haven’t grown up at all, have we?”
“Not one bit.”
They chuckled together.

Felicia followed a few steps behind. She disbanded most of the entourage except for two security betas. Professor Hoechlin was clearly not the kind to stand on ceremony. She ordered the gawkers to disperse, even had to forcefully glare some of them away. She could only hope Tyler hadn’t heard the whispers she’d caught herself.

“What is it about this fata morgana? How is he enthralling so many alphas?”

“Are they just friends? What if the First Alpha sees them like this?”

There was a split-second in which Tyler turned to look at the crowd. From behind his glasses, his golden-green eyes flashed and halted the prattle in its tracks. Silence descended instantly, until he strode through the tall mansion doors. Then the gossiping started again.

Hilarie lost sight of the southerner once he went inside. That’s when she realized she wasn’t alone. She spun around to find Jensen standing behind her, mimicking his mother’s stance – crossed arms, feet set apart, all senses trained keenly on the terrace below.

“Jensen… you okay, son?”
When Jensen looked up at her, his face was expressionless, but his eyes spoke volumes.
Hilarie frowned. “Oh, no sweetie, I don’t know this Hoechlin, but I do know my body language. They’re obviously very good friends. Nothing more.”
Jensen nodded, a little too eagerly for her liking. “I know. Of course. I was looking at something else.”
“What?”

Jensen lifted his chin to gesture softly, discreetly, at the building on the other side of the terrace. Hilarie followed his gaze to the top floor of the north wing, where she found her youngest pup standing on his own balcony. He was leaning forward, hands gripping the rails tightly, as he craned to catch a… or another… glimpse of the new alpha. Hilarie couldn’t remember the last time Daniel looked so curious about anything, or anyone.

“Come on inside, Mom,” Jensen broke her out of her swirling thoughts. “Dad’s asking for you.”

“Armstrong didn’t fight the motion,” Alan rasped, pointing to the plasma playing MNN’s latest news update.

The injunction was in place. Tapping’s spokesperson just announced that she supported it.

“It’s what we wanted,” Hilarie shrugged. “But I suspect shenanigans.”
Jensen snorted. “Looks like Brown was right. Something else is going on.”
Alan scratched his chin. “How do we find out what it is?”
“I’ll go to Cathedral. Look into it myself.”

Hilarie’s eyes widened. “Jensen, no… the last time you were in that wretched city, the humans threw you in jail.”
Jensen planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “Don’t worry, Mom. I have friends there who can help.”

Before she could say anything else, he turned and walked out of the door.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jared couldn’t stop laughing. Tyler’s stories of living in Westworld surrounded by sherans and humans were simply insane. They sat across from each other at the coffee table. Felicia had had some refreshments sent in.

“How do you do it, Ty?” Jared asked, wiping the tears from his face.
“Do what?”
“Find the comedy in all your tragically xenophobic encounters?”
“Practice?” Tyler squinted, making Jared laugh more.

“I’ve been at it a lot longer than you, buddy. You’re just starting. But from what I’ve seen so far, you’re doin’ pretty well yourself.”
“It helps to have a mate like Jensen. He doesn’t have a single prejudicial bone in his body.”
“And what a body that is,” Tyler winked. Jared mock-scowled at him.
“My point is, I don’t have to do it alone. I have Jensen. What about you? Why are you still single, Ty? And serious answer, please…”

The lycan chuckled. “Turns out despite being a person of science, I’m rather old-fashioned that way. I just know my wolf spirit will know my mate when I see him.”

Jared grinned, quietly celebrating the fact that Tyler said ‘him.’

“Well, I hope you find him soon.”
“Not too soon, I hope. What, you got yoked so you won’t let anyone else enjoy their freedom either?”
“That’s exactly it. You got me.”

Tyler grinned. “So… can I ask you somethin’?”
“Anything.”
Tyler took off his glasses. “Why am I here, Jared?”
“…”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to be here and it’s so nice to see you after all this time. But I can’t shake the feelin’ there’s a reason you wanted me here…”

Jared sighed. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“When I reached out to you the first time, Ty, it was just to reconnect. Talking to you makes me feel less… alone, you know? You’re the only one who can relate. But you’re right, there is another reason.”

Tyler leaned forward as well. Jared hated being dishonest, but he couldn’t betray the First Family’s secrets.

“You’re the only person I know who is familiar with both lycan biology and human advancements in medicine. And there is someone here who is… very sick. A… lycan who, I suspect, is not getting the care he really needs. So, I’m hoping you can help him.”

Tyler smiled, looking relieved to finally just know. “Lycans don’t trust human medical practices. So I’m guessin’ this is a matter of… discretion?”
“Very much so, Doctor.”
“Then I’ll do my best.”
Jared clasped his hand. “Thank you, buddy, I know you will. And I can’t wait for Jensen to meet you, he’s going to love you!”
Tyler snorted. “I don’t know about that. North versus South and all.”

Before Jared could start to defend his mate, a third voice answered from across the room. “I thought you were from Westworld.”

The First Alpha strode into the room.

Jared jumped to his feet. “Jensen!”

He was dressed casually, in blue jeans and white shirt tucked in with the sleeves rolled up. His hair was a little windswept and his cheeks flushed as if he’d just run all the way to the east wing at super-lycan speed. Jensen smiled at Tyler and extended a hand. Tyler bowed first, then shook the offered hand.

“I’m honored to meet you, Alpha Ackles.”
“First time in Albion, right, Alpha Hoechlin?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, I just wanted to come say hi, and welcome you to our little corner of the mountain.”
“Thank you, Alpha. It’s a privilege to be here.”

Jensen turned to Jared. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

The couple stepped outside. Jared bit his lip, still unable to meet his mate’s eyes. The tension between them hadn’t dissipated, instead it seemed to be getting worse.

“I… have to go to Cathedral.”
“What? Why?”
Jensen quickly explained the situation. “I called Detective Berry. She’s agreed to help.”
“Take me with you,” Jared said without hesitation.
Jensen quirked a lopsided smile. He reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Jared’s left ear. “You have a guest to entertain.”
“He’ll be fine. Let me come with-”
“Shh, it’s okay, jaan,” Jensen cut him off. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“But…”
“The sooner I leave, the faster I’ll be back, okay?”

Jared made no attempt to mask his dejection. But he also couldn’t bring himself to do what he longed to do… wrap himself around Jensen and never let him go. Jensen leaned in and gently kissed Jared on the lips, before nodding a quick goodbye.

Jared watched him leave, and cursed himself for his complete and utter incompetence as a mate. Jensen deserved so much better.

He missed him already.

1st Precinct, Capital PD
Cathedral, Manchester

Detective Berry was on her late evening coffee run when she felt a presence materialize on her left. She turned to find a tall man ambling next to her as if he’d been there all along. Except he was no man. Lisa smiled, then turned to face forward, not missing a step.

“Nice jacket. Please tell me you paid for it, or I might have to arrest you.”
Jensen smirked. “Souvenir shop around the corner.”
He wore a black Manchester United windbreaker and a red ball cap to blend in.

“Thanks again for meeting me at such short notice.”
“The people of Manchester owe you a debt of gratitude, Al…” she paused looking around. “Sorry, Jensen. I’m just doing my part. Besides… after you called, I found something new. Turns out your investigation and mine have intersected.”
“How so?”
“You asked me to track Curtis Armstrong’s digital footprints, see if anything hinky showed up, and-”
“There’s that word again, hinky. What does it mean exactly?”
Lisa just dead-eyed Jensen.
“Sorry, not important. Go on?”
“Think it might be easier to just show you. But not at the precinct.”

Twelve minutes later, they sat in a private booth in the back of Madeleine’s, her favorite coffee shop. The first thing Lisa did was unpin the little metallic brooch she wore on the lapel of her short brown leather jacket. A black silk blouse and blue jeggings with thigh-high leather boots completed her casually-intimidating look.

“What’s that?” Jensen asked curiously.
Lisa pressed a little nub on the back of the brooch, and it started to glow a muted red. “It creates a dead-air bubble around us, so we won’t get detected or recorded by any surveillance.”
“Clever.”

She pulled her phone out next, flipped it into a digipad, and brought up an app to show the alpha.

“Armstrong’s team has cyber-bots that go about systematically erasing his digital traces across the grid. It’s why connecting him to Pellegrino on the Palicki homicide case was impossible. But for the last month, I’ve been working with a cyber-sleuth, DJ Qualis. He wrote an algorithm to hack the cyber-bots. Everything the bots erase, Qualis’ anti-bots recreate in a sandbox allowing me to monitor Armstrong’s every move.”

Jensen coiled his arms around himself, nodding vigorously as she spoke. “I understood none of what you just said.”

Lisa huffed. “Yeah, that’s on me. Bottom line: we know what he’s been up to for the last month. For instance, I can tell you when Curtis flew to Ballarat and how long he stayed there, even though there is no official record of his ever going there.”
“Great! Anything else jump out at you I should know about?”
“Well, correlating the amount of time he’s physically spent in various locations with the volume and urgency of communications he’s sent or received from each location, the algorithm has thrown up two points on the map that are of note.”

Lisa zoomed in on the map of Midworld and pointed two blinking dots out to Jensen.

“This one,” she said, indicating the dot on the western shore of Manchester, “is a little island off the coast of Marseille, a hundred klicks north of here. On paper, this island is owned by a private corporation. But if you dig deeper, you’ll find the private corporation is owned by another private corporation owned by another private corporation that’s registered to…”
She pulled up another image. “…this guy.”
Jensen looked at it and sighed. “That’s the politician in Armstrong’s pocket. Jared was right.”

“Looks like it. In fact, DJ alerted me an hour ago that Curtis’ pam-jet was programmed to fly there today. In fact, he’s on his way there right now.”
Lisa sighed. “Oh, to be a fly on that wall…”

Jensen furrowed his brows. “Not sure about a fly. How about a Mer?”

Lisa gazed up at him in question.

Somewhere off the coast of Manchester
Bay of Eritrea

Mer Prince Tahmoh Penikett was relaxing with his three children on a sandbar off the southwestern tip of Manchester. They’d just raced each other 200 klicks from the school, and had stopped to catch their breaths. The family lay side-by-side on the soft pink sand, letting their magnificent golden tails bask in the still-warm dusky sun. Beautiful yellow and orange hues formed the backdrop of an evening sky with darker clouds floating in the foreground… a sight so breathtaking, so peaceful, so…

A phone buzzed right next to his ear. Tahmoh jolted and spun towards his 15-year-old. “Tariel!”

The youngest Mer had the sense to grimace sheepishly while her brothers sniggered. But her father’s admonishment didn’t stop her from checking who it was.

“Just one day, that’s all I asked for,” Tahmoh grumbled, getting ready to deliver another scathing lecture on the harmful effects of human technology.

“Dad, it’s for you.” Tariel held the phone out to her father.
“For me?” Tahmoh frowned and grudgingly took the device, holding it with two fingers like it was covered in toxic algae.
“Who is this?”
“You’re a hard Mer to get a hold of.”

Tahmoh’s eyes lit up. “Jensen! How are you, my friend?”
“In need of an urgent favor, buddy. Do you have a diver you can spare for a little recon?”
The Mer Prince quickly morphed his tail into scaly legs and stood up. “Where?”
“In the Alaskan, off the coast of Marseille. Manchester waters, but limited human presence. Do you have anyone in the area, someone who can make it there within the hour?”

Tahmoh looked at his children. He could always trust Taos, his oldest, to navigate the others back home. “I’m halfway there already, I can do it.”

Jensen hesitated on the other end. “A-Are you sure, your highness? I don’t want to impose…”
Tahmoh chuckled. “After the earthquake, you and Jared helped rehabilitate the outer shoals with everything you had. Perhaps that was an imposition I should apologize for?”
“Come on, Tam…”
“Exactly! Now tell me, Jack…” Tahmoh put his free hand on his hip. “What am I looking for?”

Madeleine’s coffee shop
Cathedral, Manchester

“So, what’s this other location?” Jensen asked, soon as he disconnected his call with Tahmoh.

Lisa zoomed in. “This is an Armstrong R&D facility in Xiyang. And this is where your case and mine collide. As you know, all the lustrum extracted from the Bay of Eritrea was confiscated by the government while the Earth Tribunal tried Armstrong for crimes against Manchester and the ecology. That lustrum has been quietly disappearing from the government’s warehouse in small batches, and my investigation led me to this facility. But I have no jurisdiction in Xiyang so there’s very little I can do from here.”

“What kind of R&D?”
“No idea. My contacts in Zanhae PD don’t know, or aren’t willing to share.”
“Well, then, that’s where I’ll go, find out what he’s hiding.”

Jensen started to rise but Lisa grabbed his arm, remembering a second too late who she was dealing with. She bit her lip, looked up into Jensen’s eyes, and found him smirking as he sat back down.

“I take it you don’t want me to go?”
Lisa leaned forward. “I don’t want you to go alone.”
“No, Lisa, it could get dangerous.”
“I’m human. I am welcome in Xiyang. How about you?”
Jensen pouted. “I can clear a hundred meters in a single jump easy, and do it fast enough to avoid detection. Especially if you loan me this dead-air thingamajig?”

Lisa gave him a look suggesting how little she thought of his intellect.

“Even if you got into the city, how exactly do you plan to get into the facility? Break into it?”
Jensen made a face. “Considering you’re law enforcement, no comment.”

Lisa snorted. “We’re talking about a potential world war. I’m willing to look the other way if this helps you prevent it. But the problem is… this facility is exceptionally secure. It’s completely off the grid, for one, so it can’t be hacked. They’ve got eight-factor authentication on every door, window, air conditioning duct, even the plumbing! Maybe if Jared came along, we might have a chance…”
Jensen balked. “I don’t want him mixed up in all of this. He’s been through enough.”
“You’re not listening, Alpha. There is no way to get in there unless they let you in themselves!”
Jensen sat back, scratching his chin. “Well, then, let’s make them.”

Isle of McLeod
Marseille, Manchester

The island home stood at the edge of the water, glimmering like a petite lighthouse in the middle of nowhere. Tahmoh emerged from the depths of the Alaskan ten klicks away. He used his loric senses to scan for dangers… boats, floating sensors, autonomous fishnets… and found a clear wading path to get closer to the glasshouse.

It was well after sunset. The house was lit up, every room extravagantly staged for onlookers or sailboats passing by, not that there were any. Tahmoh sensed only two humans on the isle. He inched closer until he had a clear view of two middle-aged men standing around what looked like a green game table. The one with long sticks and shiny balls.

Like all Mers, Tahmoh could control his range of hearing, and selectively filter what he wanted to hear based on the circumstances, or the conversation.

“So when it does arrive?” asked the man with the slithering husk of a voice.
Tahmoh didn’t know who that was, but he did recognize the mousy little man he was talking to. Curtis Armstrong.
“It’s on its way, should be at my downtown office in a couple hours.”
“Risky. Why not run it here?”
Curtis sighed. “We only managed an impact radius of five klicks. Beyond that, the formula breaks down and is rendered inert.”
“That’s disappointing. The Reedus asset’s radius was fifty.”
“It’s what you get trying to build a minimum viable prototype for him. He’s rushing us. I don’t like it.”
“He’s making us rich beyond our imagination.”

Tahmoh wasn’t sure he knew who this ‘he’ was. In fact, he wasn’t sure he understood anything that was just said.

“By the way, do we have to choose a test subject that’s so… high-profile?” Curtis asked the other man. He looked so familiar. Tahmoh narrowed his eyes, trying to remember…
“Tapping has grown a fucking conscience since the earthquake. She’s a liability now.”
Tahmoh frowned.
“Doesn’t hurt that with her out of the way, you’ll be stepping up, won’t you?”

Curtis grinned, pure malice coloring his expression. The other man just slurped his beer. Tahmoh remembered then where he’d seen him. At one of the treaty discussions last year… an oily little man standing in the shadows behind Tapping.

The Vice President, Mark Sheppard.

Border Control Post 23
Zanhae, Xiyang

The Ackles pam-jet landed for customs and immigration control. Detective Berry, as expected, got an on-arrival visa – a digital tag around her wrist that allowed her to move freely across about a quarter of Xiyang. Probably less.

“Traveling alone, Ms. Berry?” the inspector asked.
“Yes, sir. Just me.” Lisa smiled as wide as she could.
The inspector eyed A2. “That airship is registered to Albion.”
“That’s right. I’m borrowing it to make this very urgent trip. He’s a friend of mine, First Alpha Jensen Ackles. Here’s the proxy license he granted me.”
She showed it to him on her phone.

“And where is the Alpha himself?”
“Oh, he knows very well his kind are not welcome in Xiyang.”
The inspector fidgeted. “It’s not that they’re not welcome, Ms. Berry. Premier Jinsing is a benevolent leader to all. There is an application process Lorics must follow to-”

Lisa waited patiently, smiling, as the inspector rambled on. Even interjected with questions about this prestigious permissions protocol lorics must follow to enter the land they themselves gifted to humans, way back when. Anything to give Jensen the time he needed to make the 100-meter jump he’d boastfully promised back in Cathedral.

Her commlink crackled. “Okay, I’m in.”
Lisa flashed her pearly whites, and snatched her phone back from the inspector.
“Thank you very much, inspector. It’ll be my distinct pleasure to leave a glowing review for you.”
That finally earned her entrance through the 80-foot tall wall surrounding the human territory of Xiyang.

Lisa flew the pam-jet in manually, then hit a button to slide the backdoors open. She passed over a stretch of dense forests and slowed down. A minute later, a gigantic wolf came sailing through the air towards her. Her eyes widened but she willed herself not to let go of the controls or veer away reflexively. Just as the wolf leveled with the pam-jet, he transformed. The figure that dropped into the backseat, rattling the ship momentarily, was the lithe form of Jensen Ackles.

“Nice flying, Detective.”
“Uh, Jensen, are you naked back there?”
“Oh, don’t be such a prude. I keep spare clothes in here, give me a minute.”

Lisa bit her lower lip, then craned upwards to watch the handsome lycan get dressed in her rearview mirror.

3 Septembre, 3947 PG

Armstrong R&D Center
Zanhae, Xiyang

It was well after midnight when Lisa landed the pam-jet at the facility’s main gate. She stepped out and glanced up at the tall, skinny building on the edge of the Wusong River. The place even had its own power and water generation unit.

“Why so paranoid, Curtis?” Lisa mumbled to herself. “What are you hiding?”

She walked up to the security check-post, flashed her visa and badge.
“Sorry, Detective Berry. We can’t let you in without-”
“Oh, I don’t need to go in! Just need to speak to your head of security. I have crucial intel about a terrorist threat to this building?”
The security guards stared at her for a few seconds. She waited. Then they scrambled. One made a phone call, another started barking orders in Mandarin that Lisa didn’t understand.

“You can go in, Detective. Someone will meet you at the reception.”
“Thank you!” Lisa smiled and ambled right in.
“Good job,” whispered the disembodied voice in her ear.

Chief Security Officer Henry Yan met Lisa in the lobby. He strode towards her in a sharp black suit and a conspicuous earpiece. In contrast, Lisa and Jensen’s commlinks were the size of microdots pasted behind their ears.  Practically invisible.

“Detective, what is this threat you speak of?”
Lisa spoke calmly, and slowly. “Your facility received a shipment sometime in the last forty-eight hours from Cathedral, Manchester?”

Of course they did. That’s when the most recent batch of lustrum disappeared from the federal warehouse.

Yan stayed impassive. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lisa’s mouth twisted. “Look, my intel suggests the shipment is rigged to cause a massive explosion. If it hasn’t gone off yet it’s probably not on a timer, which means the trigger could be anything.”
“Where is this intel? Show it to me.”
“Sorry, no can do. My sources need protecting.”
“How do I know this is real?”

Lisa hiked an eyebrow. “I just flew Mach 3 on a borrowed airship to track this shipment. Why would I do that if I didn’t think it was a credible threat?”

Yan just glared at her. Lisa emulated her mom’s best I’m-so-disappointed-in-you face. “Look, I did my part. But if the lives of your people matter so little, I might as well have just mailed it in.”

Yan’s jaw seized up. “Wait here.”
He stalked away, whispering hurriedly in his earpiece.
“Tell me you got him,” Lisa mumbled behind a hand.
“Loud and clear,” Jensen replied.

Yan switched to Mandarin… an ancient pre-glacial language spoken by very few humans anymore. Fortunately for Jensen, he’d had a lot of time to spare, and had studied Mandarin as a hobby. He stood on top of a building next door, well out of sight, but he could see and hear everything.

“He’s asking where the shipment went…” he relayed to Lisa. “Apparently most of it went up to the 29th floor… to something called… Project 106? Oh, he’s panicking now…”

“Evacuate the building,” Yan ordered his men loudly enough for Lisa to hear herself. His men ran in various directions to execute his order. A fire alarm rang out, kickstarting the commotion that bloomed across all 60 floors of the building.

“They’re calling an EDU,” he shared what he heard with Lisa. “That’s my cue.”

As they’d predicted, the city’s emergency response units were deployed, including an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit. Jensen leaped and landed gracefully just behind the EDU’s van. His black duster glided in the wind around him, hiding his green cargos that were standard wear for Albion’s military.

“Remember,” Lisa whispered. “The city of Zanhae usually deploys a dozen bodies for a building this size.”
“Copy,” Jensen waited for the last man to step out of the EDU van.

Soon as the straggler stepped out, he pounced. One hand on the man’s mouth, another around his throat, Jensen soundlessly hauled him up to the roof of the van and pressed on the man’s throat till he passed out. Seconds later, he alighted wearing the man’s bomb-suit, helmet and digital tag, hunching a little because the man he’d just taken the place of was three inches shorter. Lisa watched with her peripheral vision as Jensen caught up with the rest of the unit and walked right through the secure gates of the building.

“Good luck,” she crossed her fingers.

Jensen kept an ear on Yan’s conversations. He was instructing EDU to start on the 29th floor. The unit split to take two different elevators. Jensen slipped away in the commotion towards what looked like an atrium on the ground level. Once there he looked up and realized he could see all the way up to the top floor. Stacks upon stacks of open corridors on each floor were exposed, protected with nothing but metal railings barely three feet tall.

Jensen pressed the brooch in his pocket till it glowed, rendering him invisible to surveillance equipment, or so he was told. He leaped, clearing nine floors in one jump. He levered against the edge of the railing to propel himself into another jump, then another, until he reached his destination.

The rest of the EDU was still on its way. Jensen estimated he had 60, maybe 90 seconds. Employees had been evacuated. Sirens rang out incessantly on each floor. Jensen sped through the corridor until he found a door labeled ‘Project 106.’ Yan was on his way to secure this floor, and especially this room, himself. Clearly there was something here of utmost importance.

Per the standard evacuation protocol, the lab staff had done exactly what Jensen and Lisa had hoped… left the door unlocked. Jensen smirked as it swung open easily. But then he peered inside.

“Holy Fenrir…”

Jensen switched the dead-air whatsit off, held his phone up, and called Lisa.
“Hey, what am I looking at?”
Lisa studied the streaming video as she retreated swiftly to their pam-jet. “It looks like a biochemical lab. And… shit… that’s a row of gene editing platforms.”

Jensen frowned. “Armstrong has a biogenetic wing?”
“Apparently. Wait, back up a second.”
Jensen panned the camera back to a section of the lab he’d just passed.
“Those look like… 3D-printed hypersonic drone missile models.”
“I don’t understand…”

Lisa blinked. “Bioweapons, Jensen. The payload might be biochemical, and missiles look mid- to long-range so, lustrum might be the fuel.”
“But these are just models. Where’s the actual weapon?”
“Go back to that last wall, yes there…” Lisa squinted at her phone. “Empty slots. Looks like they’ve been moved.”
“I’m afraid to ask, what’s in the payload?”
“Look for an active console. Maybe someone left one up in a hurry as they evacuated…”

Jensen looked around and found a plasma still up at the back of the lab. “We got lucky.”

Jensen put the phone down but his commlink was still active.
“Hurry, Jensen, the EDU must be reaching any second now.”
“I hear them. They’re two floors below.”

Jensen flipped through volumes of what looked like clinical trials data he didn’t understand. He searched ‘project 106’ and the first result was an old case file titled ‘Reedus Lab – Asset 106.’

“Jensen, I’m getting nervous…”
“Almost there…”

Jensen clicked the file. It was illegible, seemed to be both in Mandarin and encrypted. He held up his phone and started recording, swiping through the pages rapidly until he hit page nine. The image there stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Jensen! Time to go…”
Jensen snapped out of his shock. Yan and the EDU were right outside the door. He dove out of sight just as they entered.
“I’ll show you where the shipment is. Do not touch anything else!” he barked in Mandarin, and led the men towards a locked vault.

Jensen blended in like he’d been with them all the while. A minute later, he slipped out the same door he came in without anyone noticing. Switching the surveillance blocker back on, he swan-dived 29 floors and landed on his feet on the ground level. Then snuck past security and the rest of the emergency response crowd to meet Lisa at the pam-jet.

“That was close,” Lisa wheezed as she got into the pilot’s seat and Jensen got in the back, stripping out of the bomb suit.

“Call Tariel Penikett,” he ordered the jet’s AI, looking at the nine missed calls on his phone. A second later, Tahmoh picked up.

“Sorry, Tam, I was-”
“Tapping’s life is in danger!”
Jensen and Lisa looked at each other, as Tahmoh recounted everything he’d seen and heard at McLeod.
“So the prototype… weapon… is heading to Manchester.” Lisa let her worry show for the first time that night. “Jensen, we better hurry.”

Jensen was torn. He wanted to drop Lisa home then go straight to Santorini to talk to his dad. But now he had no choice. He wasn’t a fan of President Tapping, but he couldn’t leave Lisa behind to deal with this threat alone.

“A2: Back to Cathedral, please.”

While Lisa and Tahmoh wrapped up their conversation, Jensen looked at the image he’d captured on his phone. It was an old, blurry photograph taken using archaic technology that no one used anymore, except maybe the sherans. Jensen squinted at the young, emaciated, pale-skinned figure. He was dressed in dark-grey hospital scrubs. Unkempt hair, shackled wrists, sheet metal gloves on his hands. Jensen would’ve missed it entirely amid the rest of the file if it weren’t for that face. That face was familiar, especially those sad, heavy-lidded eyes… that unmistakable shade of cobalt blue…

It was Andy. Andy was Asset 106.

Chapter Text

2 Septembre, 3947 PG (The Evening Before…)

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

“Do I have to?” Tyler asked, once again.
Jared rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”
Tyler chuckled nervously. It was just dinner. With only the most prominent lycan family in three continents, practically lycan royalty. No big deal, right?
Jared tugged at his arm. “Come on, Alpha – Doctor - Professor Hoechlin. You’re one of the most accomplished sentient beings on the planet. Doesn’t suit you to be so insecure.”

“It really doesn’t, does it?” Tyler fixed his tie. Then he braced himself and opened the door, let Jared step in first, and followed.

Everyone but the High Alpha and First Alpha was gathered around a stately oakwood table in a charming hall with a cathedral ceiling, tall picture windows, and fireplaces on both ends. Sounds of children laughing and a family bantering filled the room, giving it a warmth that gradually put Tyler at ease. The chatter paused when everyone turned to greet him and Jared.

“Uncle Jared! Uncle Jared!” Joshua, the seven-year-old, seemed most excited to see his friend and immediately cornered him into a conversation.

That left Tyler to deal with all the curious pairs of eyes sizing him up. He smiled, as widely as his facial muscles would allow him to. This was going to be an interesting two hours.

“Here, Ty…” Jared called out to him, after what felt like an eternity.

Relieved, he walked over to his friend, and took the chair next to Jared. He was starving, and the generous spread was enticing all his senses at once. Just before he could reach for the salad, Jared cleared his throat.

“Tyler, have you met Daniel yet?”

Tyler blinked, who? Jared, who was on his right, gestured with his eyebrows to his left. Tyler turned to find a young lycan sitting next to him. Huh. He hadn’t even noticed him there.

“Oh. Hi! I’m Tyler.”

The lycan was clearly shy, painfully so. He sat hunched over, his shoulders tucked in close to his chest. His legs were pushed together and under his chair as far back as they could go. As if he were trying to take up as little space as he could.

“H-Hello.” Daniel barely glanced at him, fixated on his plate instead. An empty plate, save for a few peas that he pushed around with a fork.

Tyler glanced at Jared. This him?
Jared nodded.  

“Daniel, Tyler is an old buddy from college. We went to Oxbridge together.”
Daniel briefly looked up at Jared but not at Tyler. “A lycan alpha in a human university. You like being the resident freak, Alpha Hoechlin? Get off on the attention?”
Jared’s jaw seized up, but Tyler just laughed. “I wish. Most of my students steer far clear of me. My weekly cupcake budget is the highest in all of Stanford U, I’ll have you know.”

Jared snorted. But either Daniel didn’t get the joke, or didn’t find it very funny. At least it made Daniel sneak a peek at Tyler, he considered that a small victory. The crystal blue eyes were full of suspicion, but also questions, a need to understand. Tyler also noticed a deep well of pain… and yearning… in eyes far too young for such heavy emotions.

The next course arrived, and Tyler dug into the food excitedly. Jared teased him for his bottomless pit of a stomach again. That hadn’t changed since Oxbridge and probably never will. But he noticed Daniel wasn’t eating much. Tyler pushed a tray of appetizers towards him.

“Don’t like fried green tomatoes? Beta Ackles?”
Daniel glared up at Tyler, as if accusing him of a crime he didn’t know he was committing. “None of what you just said is accurate, Alpha Hoechlin.”
“So… that’s a no to the tomatoes?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “I like green tomatoes. I just don’t like that pistachio relish on top of it.”
“But it’s darn right delicious.”
“It’s disgusting.”
“Have you tried it? You should try it.”

Daniel huffed, fixing Tyler with a sideways scowl that conveyed his low opinion of him. “North or south, all you alphas are the same. Why do you assume you can go around telling others what to do?”
“I was simply suggestin’-”
“You couldn’t force me to eat that crap even if you were my alpha. Alpha.”

Tyler put the tray down, tilted his head, and waited until Daniel had no choice but to look up and meet the alpha’s eyes.

Tyler smiled gently. “If I was your alpha, Daniel, I would never force you to do anythin’ you didn’t want to.”

Daniel said nothing, just fixed him with his dispassionate blue eyes. Tyler squashed a sudden, unexplained urge to caress his thin face. His attention was drawn away by one of the pups, Joshua again, who had a super-duper important question about Westworld that only he could answer. So he did just that, engaging the hyper-curious child in a conversation for several minutes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he continued to watch Daniel. The lycan kept to himself, didn’t talk to anyone, and barely ate during the rest of the courses. He did pick up a single piece of green tomato, brushed most of the relish off it, and discretely popped it into his mouth. It made Tyler smile.

He also noticed the High Beta and her daughter, Kathryn, staring at him from the other end of the table, whispering to each other.

“Hey,” he nudged Jared. “What’s that about?”
Jared just shrugged and looked away, a little too quickly.

3 Septembre, 3947 PG

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jared didn’t know it yet, but he was twitching in his sleep.

Kathryn was exhausted from a long training session. She walked up the east wing stairs to her suite, dragging her military coat behind her. Jared felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He tried to warn her… no… don’t go in there. It’s not safe…

Kat couldn’t hear him. She pushed her door aside and walked in, eyes half-closed, her guard down, completely missing the shadowy figure in a long, red robe, hiding behind said door. It was after all her bedroom, her private sanctuary. Nothing bad could ever happen to her here…

“Kat! Watch out!!”

Jared woke up with a silent scream lodged in the back of his throat. He blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He was in his bed, alone.

Jensen never came home.

His heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Already the last catches of his dream were slipping away. He could no longer recall what he was screaming about. All he could think of, was how much he missed Jensen.

Jared got out of bed and started pacing. He spanned the length and breadth of the bedroom. When that wasn’t enough he threw open the doors to the balcony and paced there.

He’d messaged Jensen 14 times since he left. Jensen hadn’t seen a single one. He was starting to get worried. Not that Jensen wasn’t okay. The bond assured him his mate was alive and well. But the bond had also been jittery all day, like Jensen was dealing with a heightened sense of urgency… perhaps even fear.

Okay, so he was busy. But really, would it kill him to send one text? Jared continued to pace. His phone buzzed. He ran to pick it up and look at the message, only to be disappointed. It was from Tyler: I see you can’t sleep either.

Jared frowned and looked out the balcony. Across the dark moonless night, he noticed the dim glow of a phone somewhere on the grounds below. Obviously, Tyler could see him clear as day. Jared rolled his eyes and gave his friend a call.

“What are you doing?”
“Came down for a walk then spotted your lights on. Want to join me?”
“Be right there.”

Jared threw on his blue sweats and sneakers, and ran down to the eastern grounds. Tyler had ditched his jacket and sweater, but wore the same shirt and pants.

“What’s on your mind, buddy?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Tyler smiled. “I’m just too excited. Still can’t believe I’m in Albion.”
Jared grinned. “Believe it, buddy. This is happening. This is insane. But real.”

“So, what about you? Is everythin’ okay with you and Jensen?”
“Intuitive and blunt, as always, Alpha Hoechlin.”
“That’s because you’re transparent, as always, Padalecki.”
Jared shrugged. “I don’t know. Things are a little… strained between us. For reasons that… honestly I’m not at liberty to divulge…”
“Just like you weren’t allowed to tell me that Daniel is an omega?”

Jared started, and stopped walking. Tyler stopped beside him, and they looked around to make sure they couldn’t be overheard.

“How?” Jared whispered.
Tyler tapped his nose twice. “Guess I was sittin’ too close to him tonight. His suppressants are doing a decent job masking his pheromones, but I suspect not for long. Besides, I’m also a doctor, Jare’. I recognize the signs of extreme dopamine burnout. Physical fatigue, socially withdrawn, loss of appetite, dysphagia, his hands were shakin’, he’s obviously suffering some kind of chronic pain… he just came out of a heat cycle, didn’t he?”

Jared nodded. Tyler sighed. “He shouldn’t stay on this regimen of suppressants for too long. It’s not good for him. Ideally, he should be mated by now…”
Jared laughed wryly at that. “And that’s my fault too.”
Tyler frowned. “What do you mean? Jare’… look at me.”
Jared tried to turn away, but the stubborn alpha held his arms. “What’s goin’ on? Talk to me.”

Jared wanted to cry. He had been suppressing his traitorous thoughts… reservations and fears… ever since they left the Nyctimus. But they’d only been heightened in Albion. He missed Jensen so much. And with every passing day it felt like he was being pushed farther and farther away from him.

Everything came pouring out of him in a deluge. How Hilarie had wanted Jensen to bond with Daniel. And how that would have been the best thing for everyone. Daniel would be healthy and happy. Jensen would be a father of his own children, not to mention have a litter of the strongest lycan pups that would continue his bloodline and make him proud. If he hadn’t accidentally bonded with a shifter, he’d be Zeta, and still be on the path to become High Alpha of Albion. Jared’s presence in Jensen’s life had ruined everything for everyone, especially Jensen. Hell, they wouldn’t even be at war if only…

“Wait, hold on… Jared, this war is not your fault! W-Why would you even think that?”
Jared bit his lip, cursing himself for almost giving away another state secret. No matter how much he trusted Tyler, he couldn’t reveal Daniel’s true lineage.
“Tyler, please,” Jared rasped, biting back the sobs pooling in his throat. “Just help me fix one thing. Help me with Daniel, please…”

Tyler grunted, clearly not satisfied, but he had no choice. “I guess I could synthesize some beryllium in my lab and have it shipped over. It’s a stronger suppressant and in small doses will work for now. But we can’t keep Daniel on it for too long, Jared. It has other unwanted side effects.”
“Temporary solution. Got it. Thank you, Ty.”

Tyler stared at Jared, then abruptly pulled his friend into a hug. Jared melted into the alpha’s arms. Absently he compared Tyler’s scent to that of his mate. It was pleasant, comfortable, and warm. But it wasn’t Jensen. And it made him miss his mate even more.

“Let me tell you somethin’, buddy,” Tyler began, pulling back briefly. “A lycan bond is a rare thing. Not every lycan finds their bond-mate, you know that, right?”
“So I hear.”
“And once it’s made, it is for life. No one can break it. Believe in that. You and Jensen… you were meant to be. No force in this world is strong enough to separate you from him.”
Jared sighed. He needed to hear that. He pressed his face into Tyler’s shoulder, and allowed the tears to slide down at last.

Somewhere over Cathedral
Manchester

“Goddamn secret service bureaucracy!” Lisa cursed at her phone again. This was the seventh time she’d tried to reach Tapping and got the runaround from someone on her security detail.

Jensen gazed at the skyline of Cathedral as their pam-jet hovered above it. “It shouldn’t be so hard to let someone know they’re in danger.”
“They won’t connect me to her, and I don’t know who to trust! What if there are others on her team loyal to Sheppard?”
Jensen looked at his watch. “It’s just after 0400. We don’t know when Armstrong plans to launch his test weapon. I say we go straight to her place.”
“And what, break in? 10 Downing is the most secure residence in all of Manchester, you know that right?”
Jensen smirked. “Didn’t you say the same thing about the facility we just broke in and out of?”
“I’d really rather not be tried for treason against my own government, thank you very much.”
“Okay, how about we score us an invite instead?”
“Oh yeah, how? She won’t even take my call.”
“Not yours. But there is someone whose call she can’t possibly ignore.”
Lisa pouted skeptically. “Who?”

Ten minutes later, they were flying straight for President Tapping’s residence.

“Thanks, Dad,” Jensen said to the High Alpha on the phone, then disconnected. He waited for Lisa to show some appreciation, who just rolled her eyes at him.
“You’re a hard one to impress, Detective.”
Lisa tried very hard not to smile. “Sorry, Alpha, I have very high standards.”
Jensen laughed wryly. “Let’s go save your President, then we’ll talk.”

President Tapping met them in her living room, wearing a purple kimono-style night gown. She crossed her arms and fixed them with a glare that made it amply clear she wasn’t pleased to see them.

“Alpha Ackles. Detective Berry. What is so urgent that it had to be discussed at 4.30 in the morning?”
“Madam President,” Lisa began. “We believe your life is in danger.”
Tapping did not seem fazed. “Detective Berry, do you know how many threats I receive on a daily basis?”
“Curtis Armstrong and Mark Sheppard,” Jensen yelled, preempting whatever Lisa intended to say. 
He watched the blood drain rapidly from Tapping’s face.

“They’re planning to test some weapon Armstrong is developing… on you.” Lisa added. “And it’s supposed to happen today. Not sure exactly when.”
“A-Are you… how do you… what’s your evidence?”
Jensen huffed impatiently. “Does Project 106 mean anything to you?”
This time Amanda didn’t even try to school her face. Her hand flew up to her mouth and her eyes blew wide.

“I have to get my daughter. We need to get to the bunker right now.”
Lisa frowned. “Bunker?”
“Wait, there’s a potential missile heading downtown. What about your citizens, Madam President?” Jensen asked, incensed that she was only thinking about herself. But Tapping didn’t miss a beat.
“They’ll be fine, Alpha Ackles. Give me a minute, I’ll explain everything.”

Tapping ran upstairs and Lisa followed to help. Jensen stayed downstairs but could hear everything. Amanda woke her daughter, Cassie, and dragged her down despite her sleepy protests. Two secret service agents led them to the basement, and through there to a secret elevator that ferried them forty levels below ground.

“Can’t believe I’m in an actual pre-glacial era bunker…” Lisa whispered, looking around the cavernous hole in the ground fully furnished with modern-day facilities.

Jensen didn’t much care for it. Amanda got her daughter settled in one of the rooms, then came out and went straight to a digital console. She scanned her iris and fingerprints, and used a secret keycode to switch it on. Four plasma screens materialized, casting security footage from in and around the building above.

“Agent Lopez. Call my brother, Henri. Find out where he is.”

One of the agents headed to a corner to make the call.

Jensen was rapidly running out of patience. “Are you sure your people are safe up there?”
Tapping turned to him, and at last, she smiled. “Thank you for your concern, Alpha. But I promise you, nobody else is in danger.”
Jensen crossed his arms. “I think it’s time we talk, Madam President.”
Tapping leaned against the console. “Please, call me Amanda. And yes, I couldn’t agree more.”

She bit her lip, as if deliberating where to start. “It’s a biogenetic weapon.”
That much he’d guessed, but it was still unnerving to hear it out loud.
Lisa shuddered. “But Madam President, genetic weapons like nuclear weapons, are outlawed by the Earth Tribunal.”
“Except Xiyang never signed that accord,” Amanda sighed heavily. “That’s where Armstrong is building it.”

“How does it work?” Jensen asked.
“It’s a pathogen that targets specific pre-programmed DNA sequences. It’s transported in liquid form using drones and aerosolized at the target location.”

Jensen’s heart skipped a beat. “And by specific DNA sequences you mean…”
Amanda couldn’t meet his eyes anymore. “S-Specific bloodlines. F-Families who share the same DNA… C-Curtis… he got the idea as a young man three decades ago from asset 106 of course, and since then he’s been trying biochemically to-”

“Wait, back up.” Jensen held a hand up, alarm bells ringing like crazy. “Asset 106? What is that?”
Amanda frowned at him in confusion. “You don’t know?”

Jensen stared at her blankly. He opened his mouth to say something when Agent Lopez came rushing back.

“Ma’am! Your brother, Henri. I finally got him on the line.”
Amanda took the phone from him and went to full-screen video mode. It showed a middle-aged, balding man rubbing his eyes open and yawning. Apparently it had taken several attempts to wake him up.
“Henri! Are you at your apartment in Soho?”
“Where else, Amanda, what’s going on?”
“You have to get out. And get as far away from 10 Downing as possible.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“There’s no time to explain! Get in your car and start driving, Henri.”

Lisa interjected softly. “Impact radius is five klicks, Ma’am.” That’s what Tahmoh had overheard at Sheppard’s place.

“Go north, as far north as you can. At least ten klicks from here!” Amanda barked into the phone. But it was obvious Henri wasn’t moving as fast as he ought to. He’d clearly been drinking.
“All right, all right, I’m going. I still don’t understand-”
“No time to explain now! And keep your phone on and with you. Please!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Henri grumbled as he headed out of his apartment.

Jensen watched as Amanda physically restrained herself from pitching the phone across the room.

“Is Henri your only blood relative in the area?” He asked.
“As far as I know,” she mumbled.
Lisa had a map pulled up on her phone. “Soho is four klicks north of here. We still don’t know when the attack might happen. You made the right call asking him to go further up, ma’am.”
Before Amanda could respond, Agent Lopez spoke up. “Uh, Madam President?” He drew everyone’s attention to one of the screens showing an aerial shot of the residence above.

A drone missile could be seen speeding towards the president’s house. It was barely a meter long, too small to wield a big explosive payload. Before they could react, the missile exploded. A bright silvery blue liquid rained down the neighborhood, turned into aerosolized form, and just as quickly dissipated in the atmosphere. The drone disappeared too, as if it was never there.

Silence reigned for a painstakingly long moment.

“The wind’s blowing south to north tonight,” Jensen rasped, sadly.
Amanda looked back at the screen that showed her only sibling walking sluggishly towards his car. “Henri! Hurry! Get in the car!”
The man frowned and picked up pace. Just as he reached his car, he stopped. A soft groan emanated from somewhere off-camera.
Amanda frowned. “Henri? What is it?”
“Uh, nothing, just a headac- AHH!!”
“Oh no, Henri! Henri!”

Agent Lopez called 999, but it was too late. Henri Tapping, President Amanda Tapping’s only brother, dropped to the ground holding his head in both hands, screaming in excruciating pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, tried to say something, perhaps call for help. No words came out. Seconds later, he lay flat on the ground, his face turned towards the camera, his lifeless, bleeding eyes fixed on his helpless sister.

Lisa’s hands flew up to her temples as she watched in helpless horror. Jensen put a hand on her shoulder, steadying her.
“We didn’t do anything!” she hissed, miserably.
“We couldn’t have,” he whispered back. “That was a cerebral aneurysm, Lisa.”

Nothing and no one could have helped the man. He was dead the moment the missile launched from Armstrong headquarters. 

Agent Lopez left to oversee the situation in Soho. No one spoke for several minutes. The other agent led Amanda to a couch nearby. She sat ashen-faced and still, though Jensen could see the tremors racking her frame.

“I’m sorry, Amanda,” he said, rather uselessly.
“It’s okay. W-We’d drifted apart, although growing up we…” Amanda looked away, opting not to finish the sentence.
“That could have been… m-my d-daughter.”
“How long does the poison stay in the air?” Jensen inquired.
“No idea,” Tapping sighed. Which meant it wasn’t safe for her or her daughter to leave the bunker just yet.

“I tried to stop them, Alpha,” she said, eventually, her voice laden with emotions more intense than sadness or anger.
“Mark and Curtis made a deal with Pileggi behind my back. I was not consulted but when I found out, I told them not to do it.”

Jensen could hear her heartbeat, worked up but steady, not spiky like it would be if she were lying. “Let me guess, he’s targeting the Ackles.”

Amanda’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I’m so sorry, Alpha.”
Jensen stayed stoic, not even surprised at this point.
“But they need a very generous sample of Ackles DNA to program the weapon. Preferably blood. You know what that means, right?”

Lisa looked up at Jensen. The only way to get Ackles blood was…

“Someone on your cordillera is a traitor, Jensen. Someone is abetting the Pileggis in their attempt to orchestrate a coup in Albion.”

Jensen exhaled, doing his best to keep his own heart from racing. “The same way they did the Sharmans. Twenty-seven years ago. Except last time, they used…”

“Asset 106. A trueblood.” Amanda finished the sentence.

Jensen’s heart plummeted, and he closed his eyes. He just… couldn’t… wouldn’t… deal with that right now. Not without talking to Jeff. But he had to warn Alan first. His family was in grave danger. There was a traitor on the mountain. And Jensen could only think of one person who was there in Ballarat back then, and was in Albion right now, at this very moment.

Tyler Hoechlin.

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Daniel ran his long skinny fingers through his hair in a last-ditch attempt to tame them. It didn’t help. He buried his hands in his grey cardigan pockets instead. He was lurking in the corridor just outside the guestrooms for half an hour.

He looked at his watch and scowled. What was the alpha doing? Didn’t he want breakfast? He was pretty sure he’d overheard Jared and Tyler make plans to meet at 0900. Not that he was eavesdropping, he was sitting right next to them after all.

He'd practically pushed Briana out the door, asking her to take the day off. Something she did like, never. But he insisted, and since there was no risk of him going in heat so soon, she relented. So here he was, alone, unchaperoned, and curious as all hell. He didn’t know why, he just needed to see the alpha again. Needed to smell that peculiar scent of his, the one that reminded him of the desert and the ocean all at once. But most of all, he wanted to ask the alpha a million questions. Like why did he need those glasses? Was he really from the southlands? What were the people like in Ballarat?

And did they mourn… when his family was massacred by the monster they now followed as their leader?

“Hey, Daniel!”
Daniel started so hard he almost stumbled down the stairs.
“Yes, hello…” he said, barely audible to himself, let alone the alpha.

Tyler was dressed less formally today in blue jeans and a maroon t-shirt that showed off his big biceps. His hair was combed back and behaving itself, and the glasses did nothing to hide his golden-green irises. Daniel squashed an insane omega instinct to purr at the sight. 

“Were you waitin’ for me?”
“What? N-No, why in Luna’s name would I do that?”
Daniel scowled as unpleasantly as he could. Tyler’s smile dimmed, just a little.
“Okay, I was just going to grab somethin’ to eat…”
Daniel fidgeted. He could smell the alpha now, a heady musk that washed over him, erasing every bit of rational thought from his head.

He wanted to get close. He wanted to run away.

“Good for you.”
“Oh-kay,” Tyler looked around awkwardly. “Well, um, we were plannin’ to go to the town square later. If you’d like to join?”
“I-I… have better things to do with my time.”

Daniel, you colossal idiot.

Tyler tilted his head, as if trying to figure him out. Daniel tried not to shuffle his feet like he did when he felt self-conscious. Dead giveaway. He scowled harder instead. What was even the matter with him?

“Okay, well, let me know if you change your mind! Good day now.”

Daniel turned and ran up the stairs to hide in his bedroom. He was glad Tyler didn’t ask him what ‘better things’ he had to do. He’d had several minutes to think about it and for the life of him, he couldn’t think of one.

Southern grounds, Ackles Mansion
Albion  

Commander Welling looked at his phone, at the last text he received from Jensen at five AM this morning: Keep an eye on Hoechlin.

That was it. No explanation. Which was frustrating. But he’d do it anyway.

He’d had his team do a thorough background check and cleared Hoechlin to visit Albion. He’d met Hoechlin at dinner last night, and actually liked him. He seemed normal, grounded, good with children. At worst, he thought maybe Tyler had gone soft, living a sedentary life among humans for years. But maybe that was his cover. Maybe Tom was missing something?

He went to the security control center in the south wing and pulled up all the recorded footage on Hoechlin. No red flags. The live feed showed him and Jared taking a stroll on the grounds, watching cadets go through their daily drills. Tom donned his long black military coat, hood lined with red faux-fur, and stepped out. Perhaps an interrogation would shed some light on the southerner’s intentions.

“Good morning!”
Jared and Tyler turned to him and greeted him with big smiles.
“Come to join my combat training session, Onur? I could teach you how to throw a punch or two.”
Jared snickered. “If it ever came down to me having to fight, you know it’s already too late, Tom.”

Tom smirked. “What about you, Alpha Hoechlin? Do you remember any of your training, back from… when you were in Ballarat?”
Hoechlin adjusted his glasses. “I was a diplomat’s brat, Commander. Never got to do any military trainin’ in Wehea.”
“Ah.”
“But I assure you, I can defend myself and those I care about.”

Tom looked into Tyler’s eyes, and knew he meant it.

“You know, I met Ambassador Hoechlin once in Reykia. Your family was close to the Sharmans, weren’t they?”
“So I’m told.”
Tyler crossed his arms defensively. Jared noticed it too. “You were just a kid when the coup happened, right, Ty?”
Tyler nodded. “After the last Sharman fell, the violence soon spread to every loyalist family left in Ballarat. We sailed to Westworld as refugees, along with many others. The sherans gave us a glen to settle in just outside Romancia. That’s where I grew up.”
“Happy childhood?”
“Other than the fact we’d been disowned by our mega-pack, and had to rebuild in a foreign land from scratch, sure, why not.”
“You probably resented the north for not doing anything, huh?”
Tyler frowned. “Why would we? What could you do, anyway? Not your fault our house couldn’t get itself in order…”

Tom sighed. Fenrir help him, he believed the kid.

“Sorry if I brought up anything painful for you, Alpha. I was just curious.”
Hoechlin smiled and waved it off. Jared stepped in again. “Hey, Tom, I wanted to show Ty around in town. Okay if it’s just the two of us?”
“Absolutely!” Tom nodded. “You two enjoy yourselves.”

He bid goodbye, then turned and immediately buzzed one of his men on the commlink to shadow them for rest of the day.

“So you finally heard back from Jensen, huh?”
Jared nodded. “He texted me this morning. Apologized, said a lot happened, but he’s okay and he’ll fill me in when he’s back.”
“That’s good, very good,” Tyler mumbled, clearly distracted.

“All right, out with it.” Jared demanded.
Tyler scowled. “Bet you a grand the commander’s sending someone to tail us.”
“Of course he is. Look at me,” Jared pointed to all of himself. “I’m a walking, talking security risk for Albion.”
“Not you. ME! They obviously don’t trust me.”

Jared sighed. All those questions about Tyler’s past had definitely stirred some old, repressed feelings. He tried to lighten his buddy’s mood.

“We could always mess with them. I am a shifter, you know…”
“How do you mean?”

Jared looked around to make sure they weren’t being watched. Then he willed himself to transform, shifting to take the form of his great old friend, Tyler Hoechlin.

“Crackin’ continents!” Tyler watched ‘himself’ in Jared’s clothes – a pink cashmere sweater that was baggy on Jared’s frame but tight on ‘his’, and black pants that stopped two inches above Jared’s ankles but draped all the way down to ‘his’ toes.

He laughed. “I look like I’ve been dressed by Kiera.”

Jared giggled, feeling a sense of accomplishment. He also felt a wave of dizziness come over and adjusted his stance to keep from teetering. A dull ache sprang at the base of his skull. Ignoring it, he focused on shifting back. But that’s when the pain spiked all the way up to his temples.

“Ahh!”
“Whoa… Jare’? You okay?” Tyler was at his side in an instant.
“Sorry, I-I… don’t know what happened.”
Tyler wrapped a hand around his wrist, checking his pulse. “Does this happen every time you shift?”
“What? No, yes, it’s… uh, recent thing.”
Tyler gently lifted Jared’s left eyelid to look into his pupil. “I’d like to run some tests. I have my kit upstairs, let’s go.”
“Ty, that’s not necessary,”
“Oh, I think it is, buddy. I’m not takin’ no for an answer. Come on…”

Jared groaned in more protest than pain. “Damn you alphas.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what Daniel said too. Come on.”

The Courtyard, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Tyler’s ears pricked up as they approached the mansion, though they were still a good distance away.

Jared frowned at him. “What’s happening?”
“Some sort of argument in the courtyard.”

They picked up pace, then Tyler suddenly paused.
“It’s Daniel!” He started running, and Jared immediately followed.

They entered and found a crowd of staffers gathered to watch the ruckus. In the middle of it all stood Daniel, baring his teeth at someone in a red robe. Councilman Sebastian Roche.

“How dare you question me, you insolent little orphan!” Roche shouted.
“Hey!” Tyler yelled, striding towards him with an air of aggression and authority that Jared had never, ever seen on him before.
“What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?”
Roche glared at him. “None of your business, núíosach.”
But he did take a step back from Daniel.

“Name-callin’ is a sign of a weak mind, Mister… whatever your name is.” Tyler smiled at him, quite amiably at that. Then he turned to Daniel.
“You okay?”
Daniel looked a little roughed up. Someone had yanked at his clothes and there was redness encircling his throat like he’d been held in a stranglehold. Still, he threw his shoulders back and glowered at Roche. “I’m fine.”

Jared ran to Daniel and instinctively put an arm out shielding him. “Councilman Roche, what’re you doing here?”

Before Roche could respond, Daniel spoke. “That’s exactly what I asked him before he went feral on me. Ask him what he was doing in the children’s nursery, exactly, and with a housemaid?”
Jared spotted Nicki pressed up against a far wall just beside the south wing door. She looked like she was hyperventilating.

Roche advanced on Daniel again. “Watch your slanderous tongue, bitch, or I will cut it out of your -”
“I’d like to see you try, Councilman.” Tyler stepped in between them, hiding Daniel behind himself, and bringing the politician’s gait to a full stop. Roche’s face turned a dark shade of red.

“Nicki,” Jared asked the beta. “Did he hurt you?”
Nicki’s eyes darted from Roche to Jared. “N-No, Onur. W-We were just… t-talking.”
“You’re lying!” Daniel shrieked. “I saw him twisting your arm behind your back. Don’t be scared, Nicki. You know this guy’s reputation. Speak up!”

“Okay, okay,” Jared placated Daniel softly, then turned to Nicki again. “Do you have anything to say, Nicki?”
Once again, the beta just shook her head. Roche sneered at Daniel. 

“If you must know, Onur Gelin,” Roche spoke with condescension. “I have a meeting with Commander Welling, on matters of homeland security. I was told I could find him in his office in the south wing, that’s where I was heading, that’s all.”

Jared pursed his lips. He didn’t believe Roche for a second. But Roche was an inner circle member who held a lot of clout around here. And it so happened that no other member of the First Family was present to deal with this situation. So he had to be the one to do it. What would Jensen do?

Jared took a deep breath. “Tom is on the grounds overseeing cadet training. Daria will call him for you.”
He nodded at the beta he knew from Felicia’s team. Daria took off running to obey his order.
“Would you like to wait in my office until he arrives?”
Roche scoffed. “Your office?”
Jared just smiled, choosing to ignore the slight.
“Thanks, I’ll wait here.”
He looked around, spotted a black iron bench nearby, and imperiously plonked himself on it. Jared signaled a security guard over.
“Stay with him,” he instructed loudly enough for Roche to hear. The Councilman’s nostrils flared but he held his tongue.

“Nicki, report to Ms. Day right now.” Jared waited until she disappeared from sight. The disappointment on Roche’s face was unmistakable. What a bastard. 

“And you…” Jared turned to Daniel, “come with us.”

Daniel seemed more interested in staying right there and make the statesman as uncomfortable as possible. But Tyler took Daniel by his right arm and just started walking, leaving him no choice but to walk or be dragged like a ragdoll in the alpha’s strong grip.

As they headed to the north wing, Jared spotted Hilarie entering the courtyard. She looked at Roche and the crowd dispersing around him, clearly confused. Then she spotted Tyler and Daniel, and her face melted. She watched Tyler gently manhandle the reluctant omega, barely exerting any effort doing so. She watched Daniel abandon his stubborn streak and cede to the alpha’s will like he’d never done to anyone except Jensen before. And she saw the same sparks between the two that Jared had been seeing since the moment he’d introduced them to each other.

As they walked past her, the alpha and omega were too engrossed in each other, but Jared met her eyes. He bowed, she nodded back. And for the first time since he met her, he noticed a glimmer of affection in Hilarie’s eyes. Directed right at him.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Daniel was barefoot again. Jared watched him saunter around in Jensen’s bedroom, perusing the place like he’d never seen it before. Jared and Tyler sat next to each other on the wingback armchairs by the fireplace.

“Ow?” he whined, jerking softly.
“Don’t be a baby,” Tyler chided him. “It’s just a little pin prick.”

Jared sighed, purposely not looking at said pin in Tyler’s hands as the doctor collected his blood sample to run it through a portable diagnostic kit, linked up to his digipad. He kept his eyes on Daniel instead. The omega was wearing a white t-shirt and grey cardigan today instead of his usual all-black outfit. And he had started to smile at the word ‘prick’ but stopped. Guess there was some mischief left in him after all.

“Can I leave now?” Daniel asked, though it didn’t look like he wanted to leave, not really.
“Not until Roche clears out,” Jared repeated. “Sit down, eat something.”
He indicated the bowls of fruit and lokums on the table. Daniel ignored him.

“Daniel, you mind if I run a diagnostic for you too?” Tyler asked.
“You mean, test my blood?”
“Uh-huh.”
Daniel sniggered. “Hil’s going to kick your ass if she hears you say that.”
Tyler moped. “You have a point. But hey, if you want to learn about your own biology, I’m here all week!”
He grinned, Jared grinned, Daniel just rolled his eyes.  

“So when did these episodes start again?”
A minute ago, Tyler had wordlessly checked if Jared was okay to discuss his health with Daniel present, and Jared had nodded, hoping to set an example for Daniel to follow.
“It’s only happened twice. The first time was four nights ago.”
Daniel spun towards Jared at that.
Tyler probed. “You shifted four nights ago? For how long?”
Jared avoided Daniel’s eyes. “Just a couple minutes. And it only hurt a little bit. But today, it felt worse.”

Tyler looked at the test results on his digipad. He started to frown. “This shows you have unnaturally high levels of beryllium in your blood.”
“Is that bad?”
Tyler looked up at Jared, still frowning. “I take it you’re not takin’ any chrysoberyl on purpose then?”
“What is chrysoberyl?”

Tyler blinked. His gaze slid towards Daniel, who obviously knew what Tyler was talking about, because he was frowning too.
“Jared, chrysoberyl is a naturally occurrin’ mineral that’s banned in most loric states because of its ability to suppress loric mutations.”
“I’m confused.”

Tyler stood up. “Shifters are lorics too, reptilian. Remember Anthropological History 101? Even if the so-called upper echelons of loric society vehemently deny it. If a lycan takes chrysoberyl it makes their transformation into wolf form difficult and painful. Prolonged use can kill their ability to transform entirely, effectively renderin’ them… human, basically! It also has other bad side-effects like long-term memory loss, loss of physical strength and agility, weakened senses, really everythin’ that makes a lycan a lycan. Looks like you’ve been micro-dosed, Jare’. How long has this been goin’ on?”

“I-I don’t know!”

Jared felt dizzy. If what Tyler said was true then, someone was poisoning him. Possibly ever since he got to Albion.
Someone was poisoning him!?

“Is there aconite too? In his blood?” Daniel asked, not unkindly.

Tyler looked at his digipad again. “Minute traces. But aconite doesn’t hurt shifters. In such small doses, it’s often used as…”
“A contraceptive.” Daniel finished.

He bit his lip, then turned to Jared. “I’ve been looking for chrysoberyl for weeks. It might be the only thing strong enough to…”  he stopped, glancing sideways at Tyler.
Tyler stepped closer. “Daniel, I know. I figured it out myself, Jared didn’t tell me.”
Daniel’s eyes watered. “Yeah, I knew the moment you knew too. I saw it in your eyes.”
“…”

He exhaled and turned back to Jared. “So ironic that I need it so desperately but can’t find it. While someone in this mansion has enough of a stash to dose you with it against your will.”
He walked over to the breakfast leftovers Jared had pointed him to, earlier. His hand hovered over the fruit bowl for a couple seconds, then moved to the silver bowl with a few pieces of lokums still left. He lifted it up to his nose, sniffed it.

Jared stood up on unsteady legs. He looked at the familiar bowl. Hazel eyes darkened to black. Then without a word, he turned and stormed out of the room.

“Jare’, wait…” Tyler started after him, but Daniel grabbed his hand.

“Let him go, Alpha,” he whispered sadly. “This is a First Family matter now.”

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Felicia was in the courtyard, intending to head towards the east wing to check on Jared, when Jared charged out, slamming a door so hard it rattled the whole courtyard.

“Onur?”

Jared looked down at her. For a second it looked like he’d stop and say something. But he didn’t. He just walked past her and headed to the west wing.

“Onur, what’s wrong? J-Jared…?”

His eyes were drawn into slits and reflected a kind of rage she always thought he was capable of, but never let loose before. His jaw was squared up, his gait fast, his tall frame teeming with a potent energy that made Felicia feel… fearful.

She followed him up the stairs in silence. She’d stop if he asked her to, but he said nothing. Something told her he was heading for the High Beta’s office. And Felicia would be needed there.

“WHY?” Jared yelled, walking into Hilarie’s office.

Hilarie sat on the couch with her legs crossed, barefoot, reading something. She wore a rust-colored shirt dress today, paired with gold earrings and a hammered gold cuff bracelet on the right wrist. She looked up when Jared stormed into her office, startled.

“Onur?”
“Why did you do it?”
“…”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Why do you hate me so much? Or is it fear? Are you afraid of me, High Beta?”

Felicia ran into the office after him, but hung back, unsure what to do. Jared turned to look at her, and the first display of emotion other than rage showed on his face.
“I trusted you,” he said to her, his lower lip trembling. “But you were just following orders, weren’t you?”

Felicia’s face blanched, and she lowered her eyes. Jared turned back to Hilarie. “Just tell me why. What do you think I’m capable of, exactly?”

Hilarie stood up, sighing, wishing she hadn’t taken off her stilettos.
“Onur, if you’d just calm down, I-”
“How can you expect me to calm down? I just found out the second-most powerful lycan in three continents – one who happens to be my…”
Jared’s eyes watered. “…my mate’s mother – is poisoning me. What does your royal protocol dictate I do in this situation, High Beta?”

Hilarie’s face crumbled. She could feel Jared’s pain, his usually tranquil demeanor shattered by what he saw as absolute betrayal at the hands of the people who were supposed to be his family. He wasn’t wrong.

She took a step forward, which instinctively sent Jared a step back. So she halted, held a hand up in placation.

“You’ve been misinformed, Onur. No one is poisoning you. It’s just…”
“Chrysoberyl, to stop me from shifting, I know. And again, I ask you, High Beta, why??”

“If you want to know why, Onur…” a deep voice called from behind him, startling everyone in the room. It was the High Alpha.

Alan stood in the doorway, hands clasped behind his back as usual. He wore his black military coat, the one with golden faux-fur at the hood. “…you should probably ask the person responsible.”
Jared frowned. “And who would that be?”
“Me.”

Jared felt the ground beneath his feet give out. Of all the lycans present in this room, he’d trusted the High Alpha the most. He’d ignored all the hate, suspicion, and outright racism because he thought that no matter what, Jensen and Jared were one team, and that team had the backing of the most powerful lycan of them all. He’d even dared to look up to Alan as… a father figure.

Jared balled his hands up into fists, and forced his head up high. Resisted the desperate urge to just bawl his eyes out.
“You ordered Felicia to dose me with chrysoberyl?”
“Micro-doses, every other day. Not enough to hurt you.”
“No, just to take away everything that makes me, me.”

Alan didn’t reply, though his Adam’s Apple bobbed once.

Jared felt an insane urge to laugh. “Wait, don’t tell me… I was researching how to break loric bonds myself. That’s what this is, a way to turn me human. And maybe that makes it easier to break the bond and set your son free. That’s it… isn’t it?”

Felicia looked utterly alarmed, and Jared did laugh then. Tears shook loose from his eyes and ran down his cheeks, but he couldn’t stop laughing. So much for the unbreakable-bond-bedrock-of-loric-culture crap.

“The bond is sacrosanct, Onur Gelin. Nothing and no one can break it.” Alan stated firmly, as if reading Jared’s mind.
“Then why?”
“Because I didn’t want you to get pregnant.”

Jared started. He jerked his head, maybe he didn’t hear him right…

“You heard me,” Alan said, his face blank, his body language unchanged. “If you can’t shift, you can’t get pregnant.”
“But… I… c-can I…?”
“Yes. Male shifters, like omegas, can get pregnant and bear a child to term. But only if they bond with a loric. The bond awakes something mythical and… dormant… in shifter biology.”

Jared’s heart skipped a beat, or six. He felt faint, overwhelmed by a strange farrago of emotions he doubted he’d ever be able to untangle. There was shock, of course, confusion and skepticism, and oh so many questions… there was also giddiness, a relief of sorts, happiness even. Visions of Annabelle swam in front of his eyes, blurring everything around and beside her… could it – she – really be possible?

“It’s true,” Hilarie added, her voice gentler than he’d ever heard her speak.

Which brought Jared to the last and most dominant emotion of all… rage.
“Are you telling me that Jensen and I can have children of our own… together… that I can give Jensen what he’s always wanted… but you two won’t allow it? WHY?”
“Because…” Alan sighed heavily, his shoulders drooping for the first time since Jared had known him. “…there is a small possibility your progeny might be a chimera. And we cannot allow that.”
“A… what?”
“The standing blood pact between the Ackles and Cudlitzes requires us to hunt down and eliminate any and all chimeras in our territories. It’d kill me to have to murder my own grandchild, Jared. And of course Hilarie wouldn’t allow it, so it’d divide us like nothing ever has before. I just couldn’t take that chance.”
“Wait, wait… back the fuck up…” Jared frowned, blinking rapidly, struggling to process what he was hearing.
“Chimeras?”

“Abominations…” said Alan, his voice ardent and foreboding. “With strange, unpredictable, out-of-control mutations that give them powers beyond what lorics or shifters can do. They’ve ravaged territories, massacred people in droves, upended our very way of life, several times over. They cannot… must not be allowed to exist!”
“…”
“They’re the reason why shifters were written out of the loric hierarchy a long time ago, why any commingling between the two races is discouraged with extreme prejudice. It’s one of the biggest secrets we’ve kept from our people for thousands of years. Shifters and lorics cannot be allowed to mate and procreate because that’s the only way to avoid creating these… what you call them in the human world… truebloods!”

Jared flashed back to his Oxbridge days, to Professor William’s class…

“… the ability to shift into anything. Human or animal …”
“… the truest form of adaptation there can be … Stanford even had a term for it – ‘trueblood’ …”
“Imagine a being that could be anything it wanted, anyone it wanted … blessed with all the loric powers, and shifter abilities to slip away without a trace. There may be no limit to what this being could do …”
“… And yet where does a trueblood’s allegiances lie? What race and which pack will it belong to? …”
“… who would control this all-powerful being?”

His head felt woozy, and his knees threatened to buckle. Before he could start to tilt or maybe roll up into a ball on the floor, a strong pair of arms came up around him, grabbed him, held him close. Jared grasped at the hands and melted into the warm body behind him, not seeing yet intuitively knowing who it was. The relief that washed over him was as strong as the shock of this whole conversation itself, threatening to send him reeling once more.

“Jensen…”

Jared closed his eyes and waited for his world to stop spinning. Someone turned him around and held his face in their warm, safe digits. Jared blinked his teary eyes open.

“I’m here, jaan, I’m here…”

Chapter Text

3 Septembre, 3947 PG

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

As A2 approached the cordillera, Jensen took his phone out and drafted that text he’d been deliberating all night. He wrote one line: “Do you know what this is?”, attached the picture of Andy he’d found in Xiyang, and sent it off to his dad, Alpha Jeffrey Morgan. Then he closed his eyes and laid back, exhausted to the bone and ready to drop if only for a little while…

His eyes flew open when the bond tugged urgently at his heart. Something was very, very wrong with Jared. Wide awake, Jensen manually flew towards the mansion at top speed. He spotted Jared in Hilarie’s office through the windows, opened the jet’s door, and dived out to land silently onto her balcony, right after instructing the pam-jet to land itself.

He pressed an ear against the doors and heard everything, from Alan’s admission of guilt… to the truth about chimeras, or truebloods, that’d been kept from him all these years. His decision to keep the blurry photograph of asset 106 to himself (and Jeff) felt righter than ever.

“I’m here, jaan, I’m here…” he whispered into his violently shaking mate’s ear, holding on tight with no intention to ever let go.

The bond was still sparking angrily, like an overheated circuit loaded with too much electricity and nowhere for it to go.

“Son, when did you get back?” Hilarie asked, relieved he made it back from Manchester in one piece.

Jensen ignored her, pulled out a chair, and led Jared to it. Jared refused to let go of him, so he stood by him where Jared could cling to Jensen’s waist. Jensen cupped the nape of his mate’s neck with one hand knowing how much that helped calm Jared’s nerves.

“I know you and Ms. Day are tight, Mom, but maybe the rest of this conversation should be for the First Family’s ears only?”

Hilarie nodded at Felicia gently, almost apologetically. The door closed behind the aide, leaving the four of them alone. Alan stood up straight, bracing himself. Hilarie collapsed back onto the couch and looked away.

“Jared isn’t the only one feeling betrayed here. Mom. Dad.”
He kept his voice even, mainly because he was too overwhelmed (and too exhausted) to raise it.

Hilarie wheezed. “We had no choice…”
“Why didn’t you just… tell me?”
“…”
“We could’ve kept using aconite as a contraceptive. Why take away Jared’s agency, his control over his own body?”
“The aconite isn’t foolproof. And it would have hurt you in the long run,” Alan grumbled.
Jensen yelled. “But it was okay to hurt my mate?”

Alan yelled back. “What would hurt him more – not getting pregnant, or having his child killed if it turned out to be a trueblood?”

Before Jensen could respond, Jared spoke up, his voice colder than it’d ever been before. “It should have been my choice, mine to make, with my mate. Not yours!”

Alan opened his mouth, but no words came out. Probably because Hilarie was in his head, communicating telepathically with her mate. Jensen could only hope she was using the most colorful words in her repertoire.

Jared scoffed bitterly and sat back. “How would you understand? You’re so used to controlling everything and everyone around you…”
“We were trying to spare you unfathomable pain, Jared!” Alan whispered. “We were thinking about you! And the blood pact that cannot be broken.”

Jensen sighed. “How long until the chrysoberyl clears out of his body?”
Hilarie replied, “A few days.”
Jensen looked down at Jared. “Let’s put off our roleplay plans for a while, okay, jaan?”

Jared glared up at him, not appreciating his attempt at levity at this time.

He stood up. “If you’re so willing to bend your own laws and smuggle an illegal substance into the mansion, you might as well give it to Daniel. He needs it.”

Circle Terrace, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Tyler paced back and forth, his arms crossed, biceps bulging impressively. Occasionally he looked up at the West Wing building, squinting against the afternoon sun. Daniel watched him closely, every expression, every measured step, every movement of his long, elegant fingers, adjusting his glasses, scratching his head…

“What the hell is going on up there?” Tyler muttered.

Daniel smirked, his own gaze lifting up to the third floor. He was sitting against the terrace railing, his legs folded boyishly underneath him. They’d watched Jensen forward-dive out of his pam-jet right onto that balcony. For a split-second those doors had opened when Jensen went in, but didn’t stay open long enough for Tyler and Daniel to hear anything.

“I just hope Jared’s okay…”
“He will be, now that Jensen’s there.” Daniel meant that with all honesty.
“Wonder what lame excuse they’ll come up with. I mean what could they possibly say to justify what they did?”
Daniel scoffed. “What they did… you mean playing Fenrir? Or Luna if you prefer… controlling everyone’s lives here on the cordillera? Who you meet, who you love, what you should or shouldn’t dream about?”
Tyler stopped pacing and looked at him, clearly alarmed.

Daniel backtracked. “Don’t get me wrong. I was an orphan. The Ackles took me in, gave me a home, a family. I’m not ungrateful. I love them. It’s just…”

Tyler sat down beside him, waited patiently for Daniel to finish his thought.

“They believe in not stirring the pot. They’re not big fans of what they consider ‘unnecessary’ trouble, and prioritize keeping the peace both within and beyond the borders of Albion. If they have to sacrifice the happiness of members of their own family to do that, then so be it.”

Tyler nodded slowly. “So Jare’ ain’t the only one getting shortchanged.”
Daniel shrugged. “I mean, look at me. I’ve been stowed away all my life. And it’s screwed me up in ways that can never, ever be undone.”
Tyler didn’t hesitate. “I disagree, Master Daniel. You and I see yourself very differently.”
Daniel bit his lip. “And what do you see that I don’t, Alpha Hoechlin?”
“I see a young wolf who is intelligent, resilient, and doin’ his very best under impossible circumstances.”
“…”
“And despite your best efforts to hide it… I see that you have empathy, you have courage. And hope.”
“…”
“You wouldn’t be out here keepin’ me company if you didn’t!”

Daniel tried his best not to blush too hard. “A-And what about you, Alpha? Why are you out here, exactly?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Tyler grinned. “I like the company.”

Daniel blushed softly, his black-painted toes curling up without his say-so. He felt the alpha’s now-familiar scent waft through his senses, comforting him. He imagined what it might be like to immerse himself completely in it… to find that place where a desert meets an ocean… and live there for the rest of his life.

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

“Jensen, can we go now?” Jared asked, sounding all of six years old.
Jensen shook his head in apology. “Not yet, jaan. There’s a lot we need to talk about. And I’d rather have you here in these conversations from now on.”

Jared looked at his in-laws, and when neither spoke up in protest, he sat back down in his chair, a little smugly.

Jensen turned to his father. “I get it, Dad. Truebloods are dangerous. I just wish you’d warned me. Did you know the Sharmans were killed not by some unidentified poison, but by a trueblood who had the power to psychically kill entire bloodlines by targeting their specific gene code?”

“WHAT?” Jared’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Jensen was more interested in his parents’ reaction. Neither looked surprised.

“You knew…”

“That’s what chimeras do,” Alan segued. “This guy – asset 106 – he could read people’s DNA like a shifter, but do way more damage. He could burst a specific artery in your brain just by thinking it.”
“Could turn into a wolf, and a lion.” Hilarie added.
Jensen swallowed nervously. “So… you, uh, know who asset 106 is?”
Alan and Hilarie looked at each other, and shrugged.

Hilarie recalled, “The last time anyone saw him was in Stormway when he attacked Daniel. I shot him with a lethal dose of aconite. No way could he have survived that.”
“Chimeras wreak havoc wherever they go. No news, no activity… he’s obviously dead.” Alan then tilted his head. “How do you know about 106, Jensen? What did you find in Cathedral?”
Jensen swallowed. “You better sit down, Dad.”

Once he was done, everyone’s jaws were – metaphorically speaking – on the floor.

“So, Armstrong’s building a bioweapon for Pileggi so he can get rid of the Ackles bloodline just as he did the Sharmans,” Hilarie summarized.
“And there’s a traitor in the mansion who is helping them by stealing our DNA to program the weapon,” Alan finished.  
“How the fuck are you two so calm?!” Was all Jared could say.
“Language, Onur.” Hilarie chided gently, and it shut him up. Jensen bit a smile back.

“What if we went public?” she suggested. “Surely the Earth Tribunal would have something to say about Armstrong building illegal weapons right under their noses?”

Jensen shook his head. “Not illegal in Xiyang. Plus, it would implicate Tapping and right now we need her support. If she’s removed from office, Fenrir knows who’d succeed her, and we’d have to start all over with them.”

Hilarie huffed. “We should check on everyone in the family.”

“Uh, wait…” Jared began, tentatively. “Something weird happened about an hour ago. Daniel found Roche lurking in the children’s nursery. He thought maybe Roche was attacking Nicki, but what if…?”
“Wait, Roche?” Alan asked. “Granted he’s been difficult of late. But treason, really?”
Alan looked at Hilarie, who just said, “Really.”

Jensen immediately went to the desk and called everyone. Hilarie buzzed Felicia. “Get Nicki up here, right now.”

Fifteen minutes later, Alan was sitting with Katie and the kids on the floor rug beside Hilarie’s couch. They checked them for injection marks, asked them how their day had been. Both Joshua and Kiera were in perfectly good spirits, nothing out of the ordinary. So now they were just keeping them busy with a board game. It was a gift from Jensen, apparently quite popular in Westworld – The Lost Ruins of Vancouver.

On the other end of the office, Nicki was being questioned by Hilarie and Felicia, and she confirmed their suspicions.
“Alpha Roche asked me to draw blood from one of the kids while they napped. I told him I wouldn’t do it, I didn’t, High Beta! I swear by Fenrir’s fangs…”
“Okay, okay,” Hilarie believed her. “He must have been very angry. Did he say anything about what he might do next?”
Nicki shook her head.

Tom, Jensen, and Jared huddled together in the center of the office.
“So, I guess Hoechlin’s in the clear?” Tom asked Jensen, who immediately looked at Jared sheepishly.
“REALLY?!?”
“H-He was the only common link between then and now, it seemed logical!”
“Except he was a tween back then.”
“Well, I didn’t know that. He looks older than he is!” which earned another scathing look from Jared. “All right, I was wrong. I admit. Can we focus on Roche now, please?”

Jared opened his mouth to quibble again when something occurred to him. “Wait. Why isn’t Kat here yet?”
“I thought she went to the northern front,” Jensen said.
Tom shook his head. “That was yesterday. She was training the new border recruits this morning.”

A beat of silence followed, then all three ran out of the office together.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Consciousness returned to the Second Alpha in painful waves. When she opened her eyes, she was in Tom’s arms, being carried out of her room.

“Tom?”
“Easy, Kat, you’re all right now…” Tom said, sounding rattled, which was really unusual for him.
“What happened?”
“You have a gash on the back of your head,” someone else said worriedly, as they ran beside her. No wonder her head hurt so much.
“Jared? Who got me?”
“You tell us, sis.”

That’s when she spotted Jensen. They were taking her to… the north wing infirmary, most likely. She didn’t know how long she’d been out, what else had happened meanwhile, and why. Adrenaline surged up her veins mounting into full-blown panic.

“I-I… don’t remember… wha- why am I not healing?”

Jensen thought back to a few minutes ago when the three had rushed to the east wing and Kat’s suite.

Jensen kicked the door down, only to be accosted by a cloud of invisible poison. Tom and Jensen both instinctively drew back, covering their mouths and noses with their hands. Not that it helped… one whiff was enough to send them coughing, tearing up and gasping for breath. Jared was the only one left standing.

“Guys, what’s happening?” he asked, peering into the suite that seemed perfectly normal to him, except for a weird herbal incense burning inside.
Jensen rasped from the distance. “Aconite!”
Jared rushed in, found the incense, and stamped it out. Then he threw the windows and balcony doors open to let the contaminated air out.

He then ran to Kat who was lying face down on her bed, unconscious. He checked her pulse. “She’s okay!”
“Thank Fenrir,” Jensen rushed into the room even though he was still coughing violently, and Tom who was in the same state, followed suit.

It took them another few minutes to fight through the residual effects of the aconite and return to normal. By that time, they were in the infirmary. Briana was looking over Kat, while they called for a real medic.

“She’s lucky you found her when she did. Every second she breathed in that aconite vapor…”

Jensen swallowed, hard. If it weren’t for Jared, the only non-lycan on the cordillera, they probably wouldn’t have reached Kat in time and even ended up the same way instead.

Once again, Jensen thanked whoever was writing his destiny up there, for bringing him his mate.

“Jensen…” Tom called him over and pointed at a little red mark on Kat’s forearm.
Jensen tilted his head. “Needle mark?”
“Blood was drawn.”

Jensen shuddered, and his eyes saw red. He wanted to gather his little sister in his arms. But he also wanted to find Roche and tear him apart, limb from limb. Jared slipped a hand into his, squeezing it hard. It gave him strength. The rage and the fear will have to wait.

“We can’t let Roche leave the shores of Albion with that blood.”

Tom didn’t need to hear more. He strode out of the infirmary, nearly running into Hilarie and Katie as they ran in.

“Kathryn? Baby…?”

Jensen and Jared moved aside, letting Hilarie climb onto Kat’s bed beside her.

“She started to heal soon after we got her out. She’ll wake anytime now.”

Hilarie held her daughter’s hand in hers, and didn’t care who else came and went for the rest of the hour, not until Kat woke up.

“Please try, Kat… you must remember something?” Jensen prodded, earning an unhappy glare from his mother.

Kathryn rubbed her temples. “It’s fuzzy. I remember wrapping up training at 1100. I walked back to the mansion, stopped to chat with Katie for a bit, then came up to my room. It’s all… blank after that.”
“Someone hit you from behind, knocked you out, then lit the aconite vapors in your room to keep you that way,” Jared surmised.
Katie frowned. “But how could they breathe the aconite themselves, if they were lycan?”
“…”
“It wasn’t me. I swear!” Jared exclaimed. 

Surprisingly, it was Hilarie who spoke up. “Of course we know, Jared. Don’t be ridiculous.”
Jared bit his lip, oddly touched by the short reprimand.
“They could have been wearing a mask,” Jensen speculated. “Maybe Roche was hiding one in his robe.”
“It couldn’t have been Roche,” Jared said quickly, and everyone looked at him.
“Didn’t Tom say he and Roche were in a meeting till 1030 after which Tom personally saw him out? And Kat was attacked after eleven…”

Hilarie’s eyes blew open wide. “An accomplice?”

Jensen slammed the brakes. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. Maybe Roche snuck back in after meeting with Tom, we don’t know. But the fact that he is conspicuously missing, that’s telling. Let’s just focus on finding him, then we’ll get his accomplice’s name out from him, if one exists. Okay?”

“Even so,” Kat said, feeling strong enough to sit up. “We need to secure the mansion. Let’s send every non-essential staff home. Now.”
“I’m on it,” Katie volunteered, and stepped out to make it happen.

Hilarie looked back at Jensen and Jared. “You two, go. Get some rest.”
The couple instantly started to protest. So she turned her High Beta voice on.
“Alpha Jensen, you look like you haven’t slept in days. You’re no good to us like this. Onur… please take him back to your suite, make sure he gets some rest.”
That made Jared look at Jensen and pause. “Y-Yeah. Yes, High Beta.”

Jensen ceded. He leaned in to give Kathryn a long, smothering hug until she groaned and pawed at him to let go. Then he kissed Hilarie softly on the cheek and left with his mate.

As they started to walk up the stairs to their floor, Jared tugged at Jensen’s arm. “Jensen, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it, jaan?”
“I-I… had a dream.”
Jensen frowned. Jared looked, of all things, ashamed.
“I… last night, in this dream, I saw Kat… g-getting attacked in her room by someone in a-a red robe.”
“…”
“I should’ve said something, I’m so sorry, J…”

“Hey…” Jensen held his mate by his arms, stared into his brimming eyes.
“You’re an intuitive little bastard, aren’t you?” he teased gently, but it didn’t make Jared feel any better.
“It’s okay, jaan, how were you to know that what you were seeing was more than just a dream? I won’t pretend to understand whatever this is… and… Jared, neither should you.”
Jared swiped at his eyes. “I should’ve warned her.”
“And said what? You’re clairvoyant? That’s one of your shifter powers?”

Jared scoffed. It looked like he wanted to say something else, but decided against it. Jensen felt his gut churn. This really was too much to deal with… all of it… too much.

“Fenrir, we’re both exhausted, aren’t we? We’re not thinking straight. Mom’s right – we need rest. Let’s go, jaan…”

Jensen filed it – whatever ‘it’ was – away for a later date, even as his wolf spirit growled in silent disapproval. He knew he’d have to reckon with it sooner than later. But damn it, just… not today.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jensen kissed the top of his mate’s head lovingly. They were back in the bathtub, Jensen leaning against the marble tub wall, and Jared resting against his chest, sitting between the alpha’s legs. It was their favorite position. Jared called it being little spoon to his big spoon, a strange humanish reference that made no sense to Jensen. Why would you stack spoons of uneven sizes together?

Lights were dimmed in the luxuriant bathroom, save for a few candles on the floor, and on the window ledge in front of them. The suite’s soundproof doors were closed for a change, separating them from the madness of the world around them, just for a while.

Jared folded a leg up, making his bony knee stick out of the water. He made a soft sniveling sound, clearly disliking the cold sensation, then dunked his knee back into the hot water with a splash.
Jensen smiled. “That’s what you get for having such gargantuan limbs, Onur.”
Jared looked up into Jensen’s eyes, mirth shining in his own. “You’re too fond of that word.”
“I love how it sounds. Gar-gan-tu-an…”

Jared shook his head, his wet hair tickling Jensen’s chin and neck. Jensen had his elbows resting on top of the tub sides, his fingers gently gliding through the bubbles in the water. He cupped his hands to lift up some warm water and dribbled it over the top of Jared’s shoulders peeking out of the tub waterline, massaging them generously. Jared hummed softly.

They’d been sitting here, comfortable, cuddling, for quite some time now.

“Should we head to bed now, jaan?”
“A little while longer?” Jared pled, not like he had to.
Jensen kissed the side of his face and leaned back again.
“Tub: heat the water please,” he commanded, and the bathroom AI obeyed.

He’d do anything to make his bond-mate happy. He was acutely aware that he hadn’t been around enough for Jared. Ever since he brought Jared to Albion, they’d been running from one crisis to the next, each getting progressively harder to resolve.

They were standing on the edge of inevitable war. Facing a devious enemy they had grossly underestimated. His family was in more danger than ever before. His mate was feeling alone and betrayed because of all the lies and the secrets. Jared’s rights had been violated by the people he trusted. Plus he was having weird predictive dreams that couldn’t be explained.

Of course his troubles didn’t stop there. Daniel was on the brink of severe health deterioration. There was a traitor (possibly two) on the cordillera. Jensen himself was mad at his parents. Oh, and his biological father might be bonded to a trueblood who murdered the Sharmans twenty-six years ago.

Did he miss anything?

Jensen and brought his arms around Jared’s chest, holding him tightly to himself. He decided to prioritize his mate. And maybe that was selfish and self-serving. But it was the only thing he could control at the moment.

“Jaan?”
“Hmm…”
“We haven’t exactly talked about it… but you know, I’m perfectly happy adopting, right?”
Jared opened his eyes. He craned his neck towards Jensen.
“I know, love. I just… would’ve liked to know that I actually had a choice in the matter. And I’d like to be able to decide for myself someday. Not right away, of course.”
Jensen kissed his lips. “Just remember that I’m adopted myself. So it doesn’t matter to me if our kids are biologically ours or not. And frankly, I don’t know how this male pregnancy thing works… sounds dangerous to me.”

Jared chuckled. “If it’s anything like omega pregnancies, it shouldn’t be.”
“I just want you safe, healthy, and happy, and with me forever. That’s all.”
Jared smiled, this time he initiated the kiss. “I want the same thing for you, my love. But you know what I want now, right this very moment?”
Jensen smirked. He had a pretty good idea. “Here?”
Jared hiked his eyebrows and shrugged seductively.

They made love.

Jared straddled Jensen, sank his eager and ready opening down onto the alpha’s equally eager and ready member. Slowly and steadily, he pulled Jensen into himself until the lycan was fully sheathed and pulsating inside an insane confluence of sensations that felt like nothing else in the world. They rocked together, back and forth, slower then faster, until their minds cleared out, their hearts filled up, and nothing existed in the universe except the two of them together.

Later, as the sun slowly descended behind the mountain range, Jensen lay in bed holding his mate, watched him snore softly. His own eyelids weighed heavy, and pretty soon he wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of sleep either. Yet he wished desperately he could stop time. He wished this beautiful, comfortable reprieve would never end. Given the shape of things, Fenrir only knew when they’d get this precious time together again. It’s not like he could see the future… like maybe Jared could.

4 Septembre, 3947 PG

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

First thing next morning, Kat called for a strategy meeting in the High Alpha’s office. The First Family was there (minus Daniel and the kids.) Justice Seth Gilliam was also there at the behest of the High Alpha. He was Alan’s childhood best friend, the man Alan trusted most outside the family.

Kat stood at the head of a long table and others gathered around her, ignoring the chairs. She used the digital console built into the table to convert its surface into a gigantic plasma, on which she pulled up the map of Albion.

“All right, everyone in this room now knows what we’re dealing with. We lost track of Roche, so we have to assume that he’s delivered my… the Ackles blood to Pileggi by now. Which means, the bioweapon is now in play.”
She lowered her voice. “And that’s my fault, I’m sorry.”
Alan interjected. “We talked about this, Zeta. Focus, please.”
“Yes, High Alpha…”

She turned to address the room again. “We must prevent any further incursions on the mansion. Chances of missile strikes are high. So, first order of business – evacuate the cordillera.”
Seth stepped in politely. “I don’t need to tell you this, Zeta. But you must prioritize protecting the Ackles bloodline, or the entire lycan order across all three continents will be destabilized.”

Kat straightened up. “That is the plan, Justice Gilliam. But I will not risk our people unnecessarily. If missiles are heading our way, they could be of any kind, and I don’t want to take any chances. And Fenrir only knows how far the Ackles’ seed traveled in the last four millennia so…”
“Kathryn!!” Hilarie gasped, while everyone else sniggered.
“Seriously though,” Kat continued, “Not taking any chances. Also, the last thing we want to do is put all the Ackles in one place. So… we scatter us.”

She went on to explain what she had in mind.
After a few minutes, she crossed her arms and stood back. “So, you all know your marching orders, let’s hear them one more time.”

Seth spoke up first. “I’ll coordinate with the mayors to evacuate all towns that fall within twenty klicks of the mansion. After that, I will accompany the High Alpha to New Tibet.”
Alan sighed. “I still see no need for you to do that, Seth. The Equideans are our friends. I expect no aggression on that front.”
“Then why are you going?”
“Like I said, just to talk. Make sure the status quo remains.”
Seth smirked. “And because you’ve always thought the New Tibetans to be soft, and Santorini to be a harbor for traitors and assassins, Alan. I can only hope you’re wrong. But I’ll come along just in case you’re not.”

“And I’m grateful to you for that, Seth,” Hilarie said smiling, then went next. “I will lead Tom’s elite LEO squads in guarding the mansion, but I’ll do it from the inside. We’ll be in full lockdown, with me and the children. I will also be coordinating across the four fronts from this office, until Alan returns.”

Tom continued. “Katie and I have sent all mansion staffers home except Felicia and Briana. My squads will create three concentric parameters around the mansion. Then we’ll head to the northern front and set up guard there with the rest of my troops.”
He pointed on the map to the northern rim of the mountain range they called home. Wehea’s ships would have to sail a mighty long distance to come around to the northern front. But once there, it was optimal distance for raiding the mansion.
Kat nodded at the couple. “That’s a lot of ground for both of you to cover. But you’ll be close enough to fly home quickly if the pups need you.”

She turned to Jensen next, who pointed to the most vulnerable point on the map of Albion. “Jared and I will take the southern front.”
Kat nodded at Jensen, thinking back to the conversation they’d had earlier at dawn. She’d visited him while Jared was still asleep, to solicit her big brother’s feedback on her plans.

“I want you to take the west, Jensen. You have the fastest airship in Albion and that’s the longest border to cover so…”
“Send me to the south, Kat.”
Kat frowned. “Why? As Zeta, I should be leading from the front, shouldn’t I?”
“It’s where Pileggi will likely send the bioweapon. Because he is thinking the same way you are, and expecting you, our Zeta, to be there.”
She blinked. Of course. But since Jensen didn’t have Ackles blood, he’d be safe there. Plus, if they did end up in a head-on military conflict with Wehea, that was also most likely to happen at SF because of its proximity to Ballarat. Jensen would prevail, of course, and when he did, he’d become the inner circle favorite once again to be elected as High Alpha. It was the perfect posting for her brother.
“I’m guessing Jared will go with you?”
“Wild Equideans won’t keep him away, he says. Though I don’t see why those mild-mannered pacifists would even try.”
“South it is.”

“And finally, I will take the longest border, the Western front. Thanks to our good friends, the sherans, we’re getting some help with this extensive coastline. They’re turning one of their satellites our way to give us ‘eyes in the sky.’ Why don’t we have one of those things, again?”
Alan sighed. “Because I didn’t think we’d need it so soon. That’s on me.”
Kat smirked. “We talked about this, High Alpha. Focus, please?” 
Alan chuckled. “Touché.”

“So, your troops are already mobilizing in phases. Field leaders, head out immediately. Any questions?”

One hand went up, tentatively.
“Yes, Onur?”
“W-What about Daniel?”
Hilarie smiled. “He’s one of the children I’ll protect, of course.”

Jared bit his lip, looking around, especially at Justice Gilliam, wondering how much to say.
“Speak freely, Onur,” Alan assured him. “We have no secrets in this room.”
“Okay, now that Roche has defected, we have to assume all state secrets that Roche knew are no longer safe. How sure are we that he didn’t know about… Daniel?”

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

“What do you suggest, jaan?” Jensen asked.
Jared bit his lip. “I think the High Beta has a lot to do, what with watching the pups and running point on coordination. She could use some help protecting the mansion, especially Daniel. And I know just the guy… if we’re willing to extend the trust circle.”

Jared looked at Hilarie directly, who in turn looked at her mate. After a time gap that seemed long enough for a full telepathic conversation, Alan nodded.

“Tom,” Hilarie turned to the chief LEO. “Send Briana home too. I don’t think her services will be required.”

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Two lycans and a shifter huddled outside the closed door of Daniel’s private suite.

Tyler narrowed his eyes at Jared and Jensen who stood before him, holding hands, brimming with nervous energy.

“So what did you want to talk about, fellas?”
“Alpha Hoechlin,” Jensen began, solemnly. “You see how things are heating up around here. You should leave now. Head west, save yourself.”
Tyler frowned, and instinctively glanced back at Daniel’s door. That little tell was all Jensen needed to see, and he smiled.
“Of course, if you decided to stay, we’d really, really appreciate the help.”
Tyler took a step forward. “You bet I want to help! Any way possible.”

Jared and Jensen looked at each other, then Jared stepped forward too.

“Ty, there’s something you need to know about your… family friends, the Sharmans, and…”

Tyler’s eyes darkened.

“… and Daniel.”

Tyler pushed the door open; it wasn’t locked. He found Daniel curled up on the floor by a full-length window, watching the tumultuous activity on the grounds surrounding the mansion.

Daniel looked at Tyler, smiled at him sadly. “Things are getting crazy, Alpha. Why are you still here?”
Tyler shrugged. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Daniel squinted. There was something different about the alpha today. He was walking a little more deliberately, more cautiously, as if on eggshells. He also kept adjusting his glasses a lot more frequently.
“They enlisted you… to keep an eye on me, didn’t they?”

Tyler didn’t confirm or deny. Daniel sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms loosely wrapped around them. He was barefoot as always, his hair was a mess as always, and his all-black ensemble was back with one exception – a long, baggy green pullover instead of his usual cardigan – its color just happened to match the alpha’s eyes. At Tyler’s silence, he just shook his head.

“Can’t believe they conned you into this shit detail. Babysit the precious orphan omega,” he muttered sarcastically.
Tyler came closer. “I volunteered, actually. To protect the precious Sharman omega.”
The way he said the word ‘precious’ was nothing like the way Daniel said it. He looked away, practically hiding his face behind the nearest curtain.

Tyler settled on the floor beside Daniel, grunting softly. “So… I should probably be like… bowing to you, shouldn’t I?”
Daniel just rolled his eyes and bit back the smile endeavoring to soften his face.

Troops were assembling in regiments, receiving instructions from Tom or Kat, and moving out. Military helos flew in and out of the cordillera every few minutes. The mansion walls rattled with the force of heavy military equipment being moved out of the basement armories.

“Look at us…. two southies in the heart of enemy territory. We barely made it out alive of the last coup, and here we are again…”

Tyler didn’t respond, but he shifted closer. He held an arm out and waited. Daniel eventually shifted too, tucked himself under the offered arm, rested his head against the alpha’s sternum.

“I’m here, I won’t let anythin’ happen to you.”
“I’m more worried about the others.” Daniel shuddered, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Can’t lose my family again.”
“You won’t.” Tyler pressed a kiss on top of his head. 

Daniel sighed, flummoxed by how Tyler could sound so confident with not a shred of evidence to support that assertion. And yet, he was immensely grateful for it.

“Damn you alphas.”

Tyler grinned.

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Jensen looked around his office and whistled. “I haven’t been here in a while. Good you got this place up and running, jaan.”

Jared beamed at the praise. He stood at the desk and typed into the digital console to set the call up.
“All right, do your thing, Alpha. I’ll see you when you’re done.”
Jared started to leave.
“Wait. Stay, please? I could use your counsel.”
Jared smiled. “Whatever you need, my love.”
Jensen waited until his mate sat down across from him on the other side of the desk. Then he took his seat, and made the call.

Sterling Brown’s face emerged on the plasma. “Alpha Ackles! I was just about to call you myself.”
“Good to see you again, Mr. Brown. You have news for me?”
“Yes,” Sterling cast his screen to show Jensen (and Jared) a live satellite image. “As predicted, Wehean ships are starting to move in, surrounding Albion from three sides. Six to the north, twelve to the west, and eight to the south. Judging from the distance they’re anchoring at, looks like they’re plannin’ to attack with mid- and short-range missiles.”
Jensen wasn’t surprised. “Except, they don’t have enough missiles to make this a winning strategy, do they?”
Sterling nodded. “Like I said before, Alpha, it’s dinner theater for a global audience. The real play is somethin’ else.”
“You were right. It’s a bioweapon.”

Sterling’s jaw dropped.

“Armstrong built it in Xiyang for the Pileggis. It’s genetically targeted to eliminate anyone in the Ackles bloodline.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised but… dear sweet lord…”
“We don’t know how many, or where they plan to deploy from. We’re flying blind, Mr. Brown. And that’s why I called. I know your company policy doesn’t allow you to supply us any offensive weapon systems but how about defensive ones?”
“O-Of course, Alpha. We… we have a missile approach warning system that can give you a heads-up of several minutes, depending on range of attack. We must get this to you right away. I will personally fly up there today to oversee the installation and do a quick-”

“NO!!”

Sterling frowned, clearly taken aback by the loud overreaction. Jared held a palm up towards his mate. Jensen took a deep breath. “It’s not safe here on the cordillera for you, Mr. Brown.”

Jared gestured again. Someone else?

“Uh, is there someone else on your team you could send?”
Sterling blinked. “S-Sure, I’ll send Trevor Brown, he’s my right-hand man and a foremost expert in the area. I’m sure he’ll-”
“Brown?” Jensen bit his lip. “Is he related to you?”
“Y-Yes, my cousin. He… Alpha, what is this about?”

Jensen looked at Jared who had his ‘thinking’ face on. A second later, he seemed to reach a conclusion and nodded at Jensen. Jensen sighed.

“I’m sorry it has to come out this way, Mr. Brown… Sterling… but under no circumstances should you or any of your blood relatives come anywhere near Albion.”

Sterling froze, literally. Jensen saw the light of realization spark in the man’s big brown eyes before he sat back in his chair with an audible thud.

“Fuck…”

Jensen set his mouth in a resolute line. “Is there someone else you can send?”

No response came from the other end for several excruciating moments. Jensen glanced at Jared who silently urged him to be patient.

Give him time.

 “H-How… w-when… who?”
“Oh, like… 200 years or so ago. My uncle Chris and, your… great-great- … actually I don’t know, um, Aretha Abernathy?”

More silence followed. Sterling stood up and walked out of his camera’s range. The smart device tried to follow him, in vain. Jensen bit his lip, and waited.
A minute later, Sterling returned to his chair, adjusted his glasses.
“We should talk about this, but later, Alpha. We’ve got more urgent business to take care of right now.”
“Yes, we do.”

They discussed sending someone named Tyler Johnston to the northern front to meet Tom and get the installations done. After all details were hashed out, Sterling took his glasses off and exhaled.

“You know,” he squinted at Jensen’s face like he’d never seen him before. “We always used to joke in the family that great-grandma Ariana was part feral. She’d wander around naked in the woods at nights, howling at the moon.”
“…”
Jared was the first to break, then Jensen chuckled too. Sterling grinned, even as he continued to shake his head in sheer disbelief.

“Stay safe, Sterling. We believe the bioweapons have a limited impact radius, but let’s not take any chances. Find a bunker, just in case. Secure everyone in your family.”
Sterling nodded. “I will, Alpha. I will secure everyone in my family.”
“…”
“The last time we talked, I promised you that if circumstances changed, I won’t hesitate to change my mind.”
“I remember.”
“Well, Brown-West Industries may not be, but I’m at your service, Alpha Ackles. I won’t leave you to fight this war alone, no matter what.”

Pileggi Tower, Ballarat
Wehea

A cantankerous gray wolf with yellow eyes loomed large over a mousy little human. At first, he just snarled. Then he pounced, pinning said human to the black granite floor. The human barely managed a squawk, his voice-box petrified in terror.

“Enough!” Pileggi roared. “Let the idiot up.”
First Alpha Lehne grunted but lifted his gigantic paw off of Curtis Armstrong’s chest. The human sat up, and eventually found the balls to join Pileggi at the coffee table.

“That was a tad unnecessary, don’t you think, High Alpha?” he whimpered, fixing his jacket and tie.
Pileggi glared. “I asked you to test your prototype, quietly. Not to show our damn hand to the enemy, Curtis.”
“I-I really don’t know how they found out. We were very discrete, I promise.”

Lehne, back in human form and in a long blue robe, strode over with a digipad in hand. Curtis tilted his head to skim the video of Jensen Ackles and that notorious detective, Lisa Berry, in a pam-jet, flying past the Armstrong building in Zanhae.
“Not again, those two meddlesome-”

“Forget it,” Pileggi waved Lehne away. “What’s done is done. They foiled your attack on Tapping, but at least we know the weapon works.”
“That it does, Alpha. We’re still trying to fix the impact radius problem of course. Maybe in the next iteration we-”
“We’re not waiting for your next iteration. We need to move, now.”
Curtis sighed. If he weren’t being paid in raw, untagged lustrum…

“O-Okay, but as you know, we’ll need a generous blood sample from an Ackles.”
“It’s being arranged. Our inside man is making his way to Ballarat now.”

As Pileggi sipped delicately on his tea, his thoughts wandered to the last contact he’d had with the traitor, Sebastian Roche.

“I’ve just entered Silanka, High Alpha,” said the heavily panting voice on the phone. “Coastal borders are sealed up tight, only way to get out was on foot running through the grasslands of New Tibet.”
“Do you have the blood?”
“I do.”
“Good. You’ll have a helo waiting for you at Roodran pier.”

By way of explanation, since Curtis was clearly waiting for one, he elaborated. “It’s just some career politician. He’s resented the Ackles for centuries. Letting a mutt into the First Family was apparently his last straw.”

Oh, Curtis remembered that damn shifter all right. The bane of his existence, the architect of his downfall… the reason he was in this mess to begin with.

“How much did Tapping tell them, about the weapon?”
Lehne jumped in, angry again. “You should have finished her off the old-fashioned way. Now she’s gone into hiding, but she’s ordered Mancunian navy to block our ships from entering the Strait of Moher. We have to go around Manchester to get to the western front of Albion now. All thanks to that vindictive…”
“Calm down, Freddie,” Mitch drawled. “Sure she’s caused an inconvenience but that’s all she can do. She can’t go public without incriminating herself, so let’s not worry about her, for now.”
“She probably told Jensen about our radius constraint,” Curtis mumbled, albeit fearfully.

Mitch raised an eyebrow. “Did she know about your stealth prototype?”

Curtis shook his head.

“They also don’t know about the second traitor,” Lehne added.

Mitch Pileggi nodded, and smirked softly.

“I don’t know about you, gentlemen. But I like our chances.”

Chapter Text

5 Septembre, 3947 PG

Southern Front
Albion

A2 jetted its way to SF with the First Alpha and the Onur Gelin on board. It was far from a smooth flight though, the Onur kept fidgeting.

“This is the latest model, top of the line, isn’t it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Fastest pam-jet in Albion’s fleet? Mach 2?”
“Yep!”
“Why did they skimp on leg space though?”

Jensen smirked as Jared tried to contort his long, gangly legs into some sort of comfortable position.

“Lose the nerves, jaan. You’ll be all right.”
“I’m not worried about me. I-I… it’s just…”
Jensen turned to him and waited.

Jared sighed. “What if my presence there, with you, undermines your authority or-”
“Jared…” Jensen squeezed his mate’s hand. “Human or lycan, soldiers respect and uphold military ranks above all. They check everything else at the door. And my dearest Onur Gelin, guess who is the second-highest-ranking officer on that base after me?”

Jared’s eyes went wide. Jensen nodded. He pulled a brown-paper package from behind their seat. “This is for you.”

“Um, it’s not my birthday…”
“Just open it.”

Jared peeled it open, looked at the fabric inside, then squinted up at his mate. “Do I have to do the salute too?”

They landed at the helipad behind the bivouac. A smartly arrayed row of soldiers snap to attention. Jensen and Jared step out, both wearing the standard Albion green cargos along with their military black coats, distinct golden furs gleaming around their necks. Jared felt the weight of his brand-new duster as its long silhouette fluttered in the wind behind him.

“Sergeant David Jones!” Jensen greeted the field commander, both saluting each other.
“Thank you for approving my transfer request, Alpha,” Jones bowed.
“You deserved it. So how are we looking?”
Jones provided an update as they walked towards the camp where they’d established the command center. When a familiar face popped into their view.

“Mayor Ferris?”

Samantha was dressed in military greens as well. Her coat with a red fur hood signified her officer rank on the field. She had her hair tied up in a tight bun, and she smiled warmly at the couple as they approached.

“Didn’t think I’d sit on the sidelines and let you boys have all the fun, did you?”
Jensen gave her a quick hug. Jared followed suit.
“Jared, Samantha is a legend around here. She fought alongside Dad and uncle Chris in the last skirmish with the south as well.”
“We’re very lucky to have you on our side, Mayor Ferris.” Jared smiled at her.
Samantha waved them off. “Enough of that. Shall we get started?”

Pileggi Tower
Ballarat, Wehea

Mitch Pileggi wanted to punch the plasma. More accurately the face of Curtis Armstrong currently cast on it.

“What do you mean you can only build three?”

Curtis was dressed in a lab coat. He stood in the Project 106 lab at his Xiyang facility. He rubbed his temples and tried to explain again.

“We asked Roche for three vials of blood, that’s the minimum amount we needed to synthesize an accurate chemical replication of Ackles DNA. But he only brought one. So basically there is only enough to create a single batch of pathogen that’ll be enough for three missile payloads.”

Both Lehne and Pileggi looked up at Roche, who sat on the other side of Mitch’s desk.
“My accomplice was interrupted before…”
Pileggi growled. Roche shut up and sank further down in his seat.
“If we just had m-more time…” Curtis begged.
“You don’t.”
Fred huffed. “Albion is on high alert. We won’t get another opportunity if we don’t move stat. And we’d look like damn fools if we retreat now.”
“I-I’m sorry, Alphas, but those are the limits with experimental science as it were.”
“Yeah?” Mitch scowled. “Well, then we’ve reached the limits on all the lustrum you get from us too.”

He hung up before Curtis could say another word.

Mitch turned to Fred. “The Sherans have been calling. Threatening ‘economic sanctions’ if we don’t stop now.”

He made air quotes to convey his contempt and hide the fact that he was worried. This bioweapon better work. All his eggs were in this one basket, Armstrong’s basket so to speak.

His Zeta, meanwhile, was also grumbling. “That damn adopted Ackles keeps blocking all our attempts to breach the southern border. He’s destroyed two of our battleships already and we’ve barely just begun!”
“Calm down, Freddie,” Mitch chided. “We have three payloads. Let’s find the best way to get one directly inside the mansion.”

Roche raised a hand tentatively. “W-What about the mutt?”
Mitch frowned. “What about him?”
“Well, he is Jensen’s mate. Maybe we can use him. Where do shifter loyalties lie anyway, right?”

Mitch palmed his face. He’d never known a lycan so entirely oblivious to his own hypocrisy. But he had a point. The two Weheans looked at each other, then at Roche.

“Does the shifter have any family?”

8 Septembre, 3947 PG

Southern Front
Albion

Three days of intermittent shelling on the southern border followed. Wehean ships stayed on the offensive and Albionian forces both on land and sea retaliated in defense.

On the third day, Jensen and Sergeant Jones hunted down a group of twelve insurgents trying to enter through the southernmost tip of Albion territory now deeded to Manchester. But they lost three soldiers in the process. By the fourth day, it looked like the southern fleet had pulled back and swapped its arsenal of short-range missiles out for mid-range ones. They hit a little town just north of their basecamp that was supposed to have been evacuated. But a day later, Jones found charred bodies of nine civilians still sleeping in their beds.

Jensen stood with Jared and Jones in the command center. They studied the table-plasma casting a digital map of the southern border on it. They were surrounded by plasma screens on all four walls. Thanks to the hookup into the sherans’ satellite, they had eyes on the entire Albion coastline with ability to zoom in as needed.

Jensen gripped two corners of the table and leaned over it. Jared noticed he was scowling, harder than usual.
“Something’s bothering you. What is it, J?”
Jensen huffed. “Just wish we could do more than play defense, that’s all.”
Jared swallowed. “Pileggi doesn’t care about civilian casualties. But we do, and that’s not going to change. Will it, Alpha?”
Jensen eyed his mate. “Of course, it won’t change. And that rat-bastard knows it too, which is why he’s not evacuating Ballarat. He knows we won’t fire on him when he’s surrounded by all those innocent people.”

“There are other ways to take the fight to the enemy, son,” said a deep baritone voice from behind, prompting all three to turn towards it.
Jensen’s face lit up. “Dad! What are you doing here?”
Alpha Morgan smiled and opened his arms, waited for his son to walk into them. They clapped each other’s backs. That’s when Jensen noticed a shorter man enter the camp. His grip slackened, his heart skipped a beat, and his father noticed it.

Jeff met Jensen’s eyes. Father and son made a vow of silence, at least for the moment.

“Andy… good to see you!” Jared was the first to greet the human… chimera… trueblood… assassin… Jensen didn’t know what to think anymore.

He stood on guard as Andy and Jared hugged. They’d always shared a kindred spirit, the two of them, since the moment they met.

Then Andy turned to Jensen, and Jared turned to Jeff.

“Come here, son!” Jeff pulled Jared into a hug. Their reunion was a lot more joyful than Jensen’s with Andy, of course.
“You all right?” Andy asked Jensen, in that soft, serene voice of his.
Jensen tried to remember how to smile. “Just… tired, I guess.”

Jensen hurriedly looked away and at Jeff. “Dad, is that your old LEO uniform?”

Jeff grinned. “Still fits! We’re here to help, son, however we can.”

They spent the evening catching up, outfitting Jeff with weapons and a commlink, and strategizing how best to use their fleet of autonomous destroyers to push the Wehean ships further back. Outside, the shelling started to peter out.

Jensen waited patiently for an opportunity to talk to his father alone. It came when Andy quietly yawned, and his mate caught it.
“Hey, Jared… can you show Andy to the barracks? He won’t admit it, but he hasn’t slept in two days.”
Andy shook his head. “I’m fine, really.”
Jensen nodded at Jared, who straightened up. “Hey, Andy, how about I give you the grand tour today?”
Andy sighed but relented.

As soon as the two left, Jensen turned to Jones. “Hey, why don’t you go get some rest too?”
“I’m good, Alpha.”
“It’s an order, Sergeant.”
Jones bowed and reluctantly left. Jensen switched the privacy shield on to make the tent soundproof. Then he turned to his dad, hands clasped behind his back.

“You knew, didn’t you?”
“…”
“That’s why I haven’t heard from you. I sent you that photo five days ago. You already know who… what… Andy is.”

Jeff leaned against the table, his shoulders sagging.
“He’s the one who killed the Sharmans, and would’ve killed Daniel too if you and Mom hadn’t-”
“He wasn’t going to kill Daniel,” Jeff cut Jensen off. “I saw it in his eyes clear as day. He was just… standing there, over Daniel’s crib, miserable.”

Jeff stared away into nothingness, reliving old memories. “He had no reason to be there, so close to his target. He could kill psychically from like two towns away, so why?”
Jensen didn’t have an answer to that.

“Then he hesitated to attack your mom and me too. But that night, I… I imprinted on him. So, later, when I found him in Reykia, injured, weak, his memories completely gone… it was like fate was giving us a second chance.”
Jensen listed for a moment. “And what if his memories return?”
“I-I’ve been…” Jeff hesitated, voice dripping with self-loathing. “…dosing him with chrysoberyl to keep his powers suppressed. And I suppose a side-effect of that is, his long-term memory never rebuilt itself.”
“Sweet Fenrir, Dad…”
“I know, I know… there was no other choice! I just… I’m bonded to him, Jensen. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.”
“…”
“What would you have done?” Jeff implored, looking into the First Alpha’s eyes. “If it were Jared instead of Andy… what would you do?”

Jensen swallowed, hard. He didn’t have an answer to that.

“Alpha Ackles!” Sergeant Jones’s voice crackled through their commlinks, breaking father and son out of their trance.
“Go, Jones.”
“Unmanned battleship, approaching fast from the east, looks like it’s getting ready to ram into the coral reef!”
“For fuck’s sake, not the reef, I love that reef!!”
Jeff sighed, and followed his son to a digital console to plan a counterattack.

There’d be time to finish their conversation later.

9 Septembre, 3947 PG

Southern Front
Albion  

At dawn the next day, Jared’s phone buzzed. He opened his eyes and first thing he looked for was his mate. But Jensen wasn’t in their tent. Jared remembered he’d been called back a couple hours ago. He picked up his phone and clicked on the alert icon. It was a video message from an unknown sender.

WATCH ME. That’s all it said. Jared contemplated taking it to Jensen first. But something told him he needed to deal with this himself. He flipped to digipad mode and air-gapped it from Albion’s grid, ran a bunch of security checks on the file to make sure it was not a trojan of some kind. Then he took a deep breath… and clicked play.

It was footage from outside the Chatoyant Court. Timestamp indicated it was from last night. Jared sat up straight. The camera panned to the manor next to the court and moved inside. It came to a stop in front of a woman in a chair, her wrists and ankles bound to it. She wore a long maroon velvet dress, one sleeve torn to expose a bruised and battered arm. Her head was lowered into her chest. Someone in a blue military uniform that Jared recognized to be Wehean reached for her. The bastard pulled at her hair to make her lift her head up.

“Oh no… Alaina…”

She stared up into the camera defiantly with a split upper lip and a bruise by the side of her neck. She’d clearly put up a strong fight. The camera panned to show two more Weheans standing behind her with weapons. A cold, male voice spoke up from behind the camera.

“Come alone if you want to see her alive. You have four hours from the moment you click this link.”
The video went to black.

Jared got out of his bunk, panic and rage rolling through his nerves. Every instinct in his body told him he should go find Jensen… but his hyper-analytical brain told him that was exactly what he shouldn’t do. They were trying to draw the First Alpha out, get him out of the way and clear the coast for Wehea to breach through. Or maybe they were luring Jared out to kill him, serving exactly the same purpose.

“Damn this stupid bond!” Jared hissed, and realized he needed to calm down, else said stupid bond will alert Jensen to his current predicament.

He started to pace in his tiny tent. No, he couldn’t put Jensen at risk. Jensen was needed here. But he couldn’t let Alaina die either.

He looked up the distance to Stormway. Manchester had prohibited use of the channel between Manchester and Albion for any lycan military activities or vessels. So, he’d have to go around the human island. And by a regular pam-jet (Mach 1), it would take him exactly three hours and forty minutes. Fuckers planned it that way.

He changed into civilian clothes and left his military coat behind. He looked at the weapon Jensen had saddled him with, the day they landed in SF.

“You’ll need it, jaan.”
“I don’t like guns, J.”
Jensen sighed in exasperation but proceeded to demo the weapon to him.
“It’s a T-8000 phaser pistol. Doesn’t need ammo. You can set it to stun if you like. At full blast, it will hack a lycan wolf in two. Safety lock here…”

Jared grabbed it and stuffed it into a side pocket inside his shearling jacket. He crept out of his tent as quietly as he could. Avoiding the soldiers in the barracks, he snuck out towards the makeshift garage where a fleet of two-seater and four-seater pam-jets were parked. He hid behind the nearest tent to watch the entrance and waited. No one seemed to be guarding the garage. If he could just commandeer a small ship, fly it out without anyone noticing…

“What are we doing?”
Jared jumped. “Holy continents, Andy!”
He twisted around, his heart up in his throat. Andy laughed, but he had the good sense to keep his voice down. “Sorry, I saw you sneaking out of your tent. I was just coming to wake you.”

Jared looked at his watch. He was running out of time.
“Jared, what is it?”
Jared turned his puppy-dog eyes at Andy. “You can’t tell them.”
“Okay, I won’t. Can’t tell them what?”
“I need to get to Stormway to help a friend. Right now, or it’ll be too late. And we can’t tell Jensen, or he’ll insist on coming and that’s exactly what they want and…”

“Okay, okay, son…” Andy shushed him, looking around furtively. “Jensen can’t go, but I can. If you let me?”

Somewhere over the Strait of Moher
Alaskan Ocean

“That was easy,” Jared leaned towards Andy who sat in the front flying his pam-jet manually. “I thought the Mancunians would stop us from crossing the strait for sure.”
Andy shrugged. “This is a civilian rental registered to a human. I insisted on it, else Jeff would have just galloped all the way.”
Jared chuckled. “Thanks again, Andy. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
He looked at his watch. Andy’s help had already saved him over two hours, time that he could now use to his advantage.

“So, what’s the plan?”
“Well, infiltration happens to be a shifter specialty, you know. I know a secret underground tunnel that connects the Court to the manor next door where Alaina is being held.”
“And what am I doing?”

Jared sighed. No way was he putting Andy at any more risk than he already had. “There’s a hill ridge just behind the Court. I want you to land behind it and wait, keep the engine running. I’ll get Alaina and meet you there.”
“You sure we can’t call Jeff to help? He’s pretty handy in life-threatening situations, you know. So, I’m told.”
“Jensen was planning to work with Jeff on something today. He’ll notice if all three of us are missing. If this damn bond hasn’t notified him already.”

He took a deep breath again, trying to calm himself down.
“Well, everyone’s anxious right now. But just in case, do you know how to meditate?”
“Uh, not really.”
“Okay, how about you just try to sleep for a bit? That usually simmers the bond down.”
“Really?”
Andy shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a shot.”

Jared closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

He was back at the mansion. In the courtyard. He spun around a couple times, wondering what he was doing there, and where everybody was. He heard voices coming from the west wing… an argument of some kind. He watched the Second Alpha come down the stairs first, and behind her emerged the High Alpha and High Beta themselves.

Kathryn was livid. “I can’t believe you two, are you even listening to yourselves!”
“I just think it’s time to change tactics, Zeta,” Alan replied patiently.
“What would Jensen say, hmm? Would you dare suggest this to him?”
“Sweetheart, just listen…” Hilarie tried to mediate but Kathryn just kept walking. Straight towards Jared.

“Onur?” She stopped, frowning. “What are you doing here?”

Jared didn’t reply. He looked around the architectural magnificence that was the Ackles mansion. Somewhere on the south side, he could hear the loud, carefree laughter of children. He steeled his heart, remembering he had people of his own to save and protect.

He reached for the side-pocket of his jacket, where he’d stashed his weapon. But instead of a phaser, he drew out something else. It looked like… a test tube or a tall vial. Eight inches long, encased in two layers of tempered glass. Thick black lid with a familiar logo engraved on top: Armstrong Industries.

Kathryn’s face drained of all blood. “Jared, no…”

She ran towards him, but it was too late. Jared hurled the vial to the marble floor, smashing it to bits. The silver-blue liquid spilled free from its broken shards and vaporized immediately, releasing the poison within. Kathryn was the first to start screaming. But soon enough, she wasn’t the only one.

“Jared? Jared! Hey!”

He jolted awake, gasping for air. He whirled his head about as images of the mansion slowly dissolved away. They were replaced by the interiors of a pam-jet, and the familiar landscape of Stormway below.

“Are you all right?” Andy asked.
“Y-Yeah, sorry, uh… nightmare.” Jared rubbed his eyes wearily.
“Well, we’re here. Guessing we don’t have time to do any sightseeing…”

A few minutes later, the pam-jet was parked in a spot Jared identified as the best place to hide it.

Andy turned to Jared, looking dead serious. “Remember, kid. If I lose contact with you for more than ten minutes, I’m calling reinforcements.”
Jared nodded. “Agreed.”

He looked down at his right hand, the one that was holding the vial in his vision. It was still shaking.

Chatoyant Court
Stormway, Manchester

Jared knew every nook and corner of the Chatoyant Court like the back of his hand. As a child, he’d run around these corridors like they were his own personal playground. For the longest time he’d only known the Court as the place momma worked at, with their little apartment in the staff quarters building attached to it. Only as a teenager did he realize its true purpose. And of course, as an adult, and as a fugitive from the law, presumed dead by some… he experienced first-hand what the Court was all about. A shining epitome of the only shifter-dominated industry in Manchester.

It was after 0800, but the sun wasn’t out. Just another bleak storm-cloudy day in the hometown. Approaching from behind, Jared made a beeline for the drainpipe he’d used many a times to climb up into his old apartment. The place was dark, empty, and unlocked, as Jared knew it would be. Alaina never reassigned it to anyone after she lost her close friend. He crept slowly and soundlessly towards the main building, remembering to mask his scent, so no lycans could catch a whiff of him.

Minutes later, he opened the door that connected the staff quarters with the Court’s rear foyer. A discrete exit that some patrons appreciated very much to avoid being accosted by a spouse or the media upfront. He waited and listened. Heavy footsteps. Scared whimpers. Coming from directly above this foyer.

Jared recognized that to be Alaina’s office. He spotted a couple of Weheans patrolling the first floor and waited for the moment when they both had their backs turned, to sneak up the stairs. All the lights were off in the Court. The main door was locked to give the impression they were closed.

Jared crouched outside the office’s backdoor and looked in through the keyhole. It was just for show – the keyhole – a pre-glacial architectural flourish that served no real purpose anymore. All the doors in the Chatoyant Court opened by thumbprint scan, and in some cases retinal too. And guess whose credentials were still in the Court’s security system.

Jared spotted an average-sized lycan seated on a chair with his legs crossed. He wore a long blue military coat similar to the Albionian officers, while the two lycans patrolling outside wore short jackets. The man in charge then. A high-ranking officer. Alpha most likely.

“Stop makin’ that incessant noise, mutt,” said the alpha to someone whimpering in the background. “Or I’ll break your other hand too.”

The hurt voice belonged to Liane, Alaina’s current assistant, a frail but kind shifter who didn’t deserve this. Jared spotted her huddled against the far wall, tears streaming down her face, holding her right hand with her left one. Next to her sat Matt Cohen, the star courtesan of the Court, someone Jared got to know quite well earlier this year. He was uninjured but clearly roughed up. He had an arm around Liane, comforting her in whatever little way he could, all the while glaring up at their captors. And they weren’t the only two hostages. Jared counted six more employees of the Court beside them.

“Two hours to go,” the alpha griped, then turned to his hostages. “This waiting ain’t fun for me either, I’ll have you know.”

Three more soldiers inside, possibly. The only way to be sure was to get to the security room. He waited until the guards were farthest away and snuck down the corridor towards the back-office. He moved slowly, cautiously, mindful of superlative lycan senses. Once he reached the slightly ajar door, he glanced inside and found one guard at the console, monitoring the whole place.

Jared steeled his nerves and pulled out his weapon, set it to stun. He regretted not taking Tom up on his offer to teach Jared how to fight. But then he noticed the guard’s cap left carelessly by the door. He stealthily slid it out to himself, placed his fingertips on the inside of it, and smiled. A minute later, he swung the door open, not making any attempt to be quiet whatsoever, stepped in and closed the door casually behind him.

The lycan turned around, expecting one of his co-workers no doubt. Instead, he looked up and his eyes went wide, as he gazed into a smirking version of ‘himself’ towering over him. That sole moment of befuddlement was enough for Jared to make his move. He Jared fired, stunning the Wehean, hit him a couple more times just to be sure, then turned his commlink on.

“Jared? What’s going on?” Andy’s voice sounded panicky.
“I’m in the security center. I see…” he scanned all the screens quickly. “Eleven lycans in total. The twelfth man seems to be their leader, an alpha. They’re holding eight hostages in here.”
“Do you have eyes inside the manor?”
“Yes, it’s all one big system. I just have to…” Jared pressed a few keys to pull up the right camera angles.
“I see Alaina. She’s being held in the basement. There are… only two guards on her. The rest of the house is empty.”
“That’s strange. They’re holding Alaina as leverage over you, in the manor. So who are they holding these hostages in the Court for?”

Jared squinted. “I’m not sure.”

Huffman Manor
Stormway, Manchester

Alpha Lehne looked at his watch, sighed, then turned to the lady of the Court. Alaina’s eyes had not left him since the moment he walked back into the basement.

“Fifteen minutes until his deadline is up.”
“…”
“You better hope your boy loves you as much as they say, else you know what’ll happen, right?”
Alaina narrowed her tired, liner-smudged eyes. “You’ll realize Jared is too smart to fall for your tricks and leave?”
Lehne smirked. “Oh, I’ll leave. But not before making another video – make sure that ungrateful mutt sees y’all’s decapitated heads lined up on the gates of the world-famous Chatoyant Court.”
Alaina glowered darkly, making Lehne lean in closer. “What you lot deserve… for contaminating lycan heritage all these years.”

Lehne’s commlink buzzed. “First Alpha! Come in, Alpha!”
It was Spence, the beta he’d left in charge of the security monitors.
“What is it?”
“Albionian pam-jet approaching from the south, coming fast.”
Lehne smirked at Alaina again. “He’s here…”
“He’s not alone. Looks like four bodies on board!”

“He disobeyed us.” Lehne’s smirk disappeared as he glared back at Alaina. “And you’ll pay for that, of course.”
He turned to the two guards. “Watch her, like a hawk. And when the time comes, you know what to do.”
The guards nodded, then Lehne spun around and left.

Two minutes later, Spence came bursting through the door. The guards had been standing on high alert, but seeing who it was, they relaxed.

“Sebastian, what are you doing here?”
Spence grinned brightly. “Rescuing my friends, of course!”

The guards looked confused. Jared – as Spence – rolled his eyes but didn’t waste any time. He whipped out his phaser and shot the guards on stun mode. One went down immediately, but Jared had to shoot the other again, and again to knock him out.

“Really, shouldn’t you have been expecting this, you’re in Stormway for fuck’s sake!”

Jared transformed back to himself.

“Oh continents, my boy!” Alaina gasped, in equal parts relief and fear. Jared quickly undid her bonds. Soon as she was free, Alaina stood up and grabbed Jared, pulled him into her arms.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
Jared shushed her, fixing her fiery red hair back into the high bun she favored. “Listen to me, Alaina, this is important. Did he… that guy…”
“Lehne. Frederick Lehne. First Alpha of Wehea.”
“Did Lehne give you anything?”

Alaina frowned, her fingers gripping Jared’s Wehean sleeves tightly.

“Like a… a vial with blue liquid in it?”
“H-How…” Alaina wheezed. “How did you know?”
Jared didn’t know how to explain it, and besides, they had no time. “It doesn’t matter, just tell me…”

Alaina swallowed. “Their plan was to allow you to rescue me. And take me to Albion, from there I was supposed to make my way to the mansion, wait until the High Alpha returned and then… I’m so sorry, Jared. They… they murdered Cliff and Biff, those two have been our security guys for decades! And they’re holding eight others hostage at the Court. They’ll kill each one of them if I don’t do as they say!”

“Nothing will happen to them. They’re being rescued as we speak.”
Alaina looked up at him, confused. “By whom?”
Jared smirked. “That pam-jet I told Lehne about… I wasn’t lying. It’s comin’!”

Chatoyant Court
Stormway, Manchester

Jared grabbed Alaina a coat, then led her to the Court the same way he came into the manor… through an underground passage that connected the buildings to each other.

“I haven’t been down here in decades!” Alaina laughed hysterically, as she ran besides Jared, her high heels in one hand instead of on her feet.

“I’m just glad you didn’t take me out of the security system.” Jared replied.

They stopped short of the door to the other side. They heard loud, angry growls, claws raking across floorboards, and screams that sounded more shifter than Alaina wanted them to be. She grabbed Jared’s arm again, terrified for her people. Her courtesans, her assistants, the ground staff… they were all so young. Compared to her overly long life, they’d barely lived.

More screams and wolf snarls followed, along with sounds of furniture breaking, glasses shattering, weapons fired back and forth, and more screams. Alaina shuddered hard. But she wasn’t the only one.

“I should go help. You stay here,” Jared started to open the door.
“No! Jared!”
“That’s my mate, Alaina, I have to!”
“Then we go together.”
Jared bit his lip and warred with himself.
“Come on,” Alaina took charge. “I grabbed the guards’ guns. Both of them!”

Jared didn’t get another chance to protest before Alaina pushed through the door, leaving him no choice but to draw out his own weapon and follow.

The first thing he saw as he emerged from the dark tunnel and squinted against the light was – Jensen, transformed into his glorious black wolf form. He was fighting another wolf with dull grey fur, irate yellow eyes, and the same battle scars he’d seen on the Wehean alpha’s face. Lehne.

Jared froze, too focused on Jensen to notice anything else. He almost got shot but didn’t realize it until a massive brown wolf stomped on his assailant just in time.

“Oh, thanks Jeff!” he squeaked. Jeff just shook his head and went back to fighting the three remaining Wehean wolves invading the Court.

Alaina ran up to her office, shooting the last guard standing in her way. She threw the doors open and ran to her people. They collectively let out a huge yelp of relief as Alaina freed and hugged them all, starting with Liane and Matt.

Jeff dispatched the others almost effortlessly. Jared helped a little, stunning a wolf that came a little too close to gouging Jeff’s eye out, just in the nick of time. But his attention remained on Jensen and the violent battle he was caught in with Lehne.

“Back up, jaan, please,” Jensen the wolf said to Jared, as he circled his opponent in the decimated lobby of the Court.
Jared took a step back, but not too far.
Lehne, the wolf, slid his tawny eyes towards Jared. “Stupid mutt.”
Jensen growled at him angrily, making Lehne turn back to him.
“This wasn’t the plan, Ackles. But if I get to kill ya here today, it won’t be a complete loss after all.”
“Yes, well, you can try.”

Before Jared could send an admonition back to his mate for baiting Lehne, both wolves pounced. Jensen leapt up on his hind legs and caught the grey wolf with his front paws, digging his razor-sharp claws into the other’s neck as deep as they could go. Lehne howled and swiped his own claws at Jensen, catching him on the right side of his face before he could pivot away.

“Jensen!” Jared screamed, holding his gun up rather helplessly. He couldn’t fire, he might hit Jensen.

Jeff snarled from a distance and was about to run to his son when Jensen practically barked at him to stand down. The two wolves flung each other through the glass façade of the Court, bringing the whole thing crashing down. Together they landed on the cobbled stone patio outside, rolled around as they fought, kicking and punching and stabbing until finally, finally, Jensen landed on top, pinning Lehne to the ground.

“Surrender, Lehne! Last warning.”

Lehne lay back and panted listlessly, then suddenly lunged upwards at Jensen again. In that moment, Jared forgot to breathe. Before he could react, Jensen lifted his right paw and brought it down with full force onto Lehne’s neck, crushing his windpipe.

Lehne’s dying moan reverberated in the air of Stormway for a long while. Alaina and the others slowly but cautiously stepped out through the rubble and joined Jared on the patio. They watched Lehne struggle to take his last breath, until he struggled no more.

Jeff and Jensen were the only two wolves left standing amid the rampage.

Jared looked up at his mate, at the two bloody gashes that ran across his right eye and down to his snout. The sea-green eyes gleamed feverishly at him.
“You were supposed to run in the opposite direction, jaan.”
Jared rolled his eyes, and just surrendered to the grateful arms of the courtiers that came around him from all sides.

Chatoyant Court
Stormway, Manchester

The sleek Santorinian pam-jet hovered silently over the debris that was once a portico. A larger, Albionian pam-jet stood a few meters away, having miraculously escaped any damage from the scrimmage.

“Just land already,” Jeff threw his hands up at his mate flying his airship.
“Land where?” Andy shot back on the commlink.
“Find a clearing, jaan. You didn’t need my help flying the damn thing all this way to Stormway, alone. Surely you can land it?”
Andy sighed. “All right, I deserve that. Can we talk about it when I’m on the ground, please?”
Jeff just pasted a sulking smile on his face and crossed his arms.

Alaina sat with Jared and Jensen on the patio stairs. She’d had Matt find clothes for both the alphas – basic black t-shirts and jeans with combat boots that fit them well.
“Thanks for the gear,” Jensen subtly bowed.
“Well, considering you just saved all our lives, I’d say we’re even?”
They chuckled.

Jared tried to dab at Jensen’s face with a piece of gauze again. Jensen ducked, again. “Seriously, jaan? Knock it off.”
“They just look so angry, and they’re still oozing!”
“They’re nothing. Kat scratches me harder when she loses a chess match.”
Jared pouted but let it go. It’d be an hour before the gashes closed completely.

Matt came up to them, handed them bottles of water. “No serious injuries on our side. Liane’s hand will heal by tomorrow.”
Alaina nodded, then sighed heavily. “Cliff and Biff… they had no other family, did they?”
Matt shook his head sadly. “Just each other.”
“Nine dead lycans,” he continued, looking around. “That means three escaped. Might they come back and try again?”

Jensen and Jared looked at each other.

“I doubt they’ll use the same trick again,” Jensen said. “But I’ll have three of my men stand guard here for a few days, just in case. They’ll also help you with the bodies, have them shipped back to Wehea.”

Jared turned to Alaina. “You should come with us.”
The redheaded matron flinched. “I can’t leave my people in this situation. Look at this place!”
“Jared’s right,” Matt said. “You should go, Alaina. So you don’t get used as ‘leverage’ again.”
“I agree,” Jensen averred, then stood up. “And we should leave immediately, I need to get back to the front.”

Alaina sighed, and accepted Jared’s hand as he helped her rise. Liane packed her a bag with some essentials. Alaina hugged everyone goodbye, left instructions for rebuilding though she had full faith in Liane’s abilities, and then they were off.

Jeff nodded at Alaina gently as he helped her board Andy’s jet. She exchanged smiles with Andy next, then settled in the back of the pam-jet while Jared climbed aboard next to her. She looked down at her people, her Court, feeling morose… but promising herself she’d be back soon.

Once they were in the air and on their way, something occurred to her. Something she’d noticed in passing earlier and ignored it in favor of other concerns. But now, the longer she looked, the more convinced she became about it.

She had seen the pilot – Andy – somewhere before.

Somewhere over the Strait of Moher
Alaskan Ocean

“So how come Jensen’s military jet got to pass through here?” Andy asked as they flew past another human ship patrolling the strait.
Jared smirked. “Something tells me Tapping’s never going to say no to Jensen ever again.”

Alaina looked at the two of them, confused. Jared promised to explain everything later. She had so many questions, starting with what genius allowed her boy to put himself in peril in the first place.

“So, whose cockamamie plan was it exactly to come rescue me on your own?”
Jared threw her one of his smart-aleck grins. “Mine, obviously. Until good sense prevailed-”
“-after we landed in Stormway,” Andy quipped.
“Yeah, all right,” Jared rolled his eyes. “That’s when I called Jensen and explained everything. And his jet is Mach 2 that’s two times faster so-”
Alaina grabbed his jaw and pulled him closer to herself. “That was stupid. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”

She let him go. “You still haven’t told me how you figured out Lehne’s real plan.”
“Well, their objective is to eliminate the Ackles bloodline. I figured they wouldn’t go to so much trouble just to get Jensen out of the way, although that would be a great bonus.”
Jared’s gaze wavered as he spoke. Alaina nodded, but she knew him well enough to know he was hiding something.
“Strategic thinking, eh? That’s my boy!” Andy turned and ruffled Jared’s hair with such pride, it took Alaina’s breath away.

“A-Andy, that’s short for Andrew?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Andy smiled warmly at her, but did not volunteer a last name.
“Are you sure we’ve never met before? Maybe you visited Stormway in a past life, perhaps?”
Andy’s smile faded, and he looked at Jared, before turning to face the front again. “It’s possible. I don’t remember.”
“…”
“…”
“M-Maybe I met your wolf. What color wolf do you turn into?”

Andy and Jared both looked taken aback, letting out eerily matching, awkward chuckles at that.
“Alaina, Andy is human. He’s Jeff’s bond-mate.”
“Oh. Sorry, you just look…”
“Familiar, yeah, I get that a lot. One of those faces.” Andy tried to make it easy on her. Jared chuckled supportively too. Alaina decided to let it go, for now.

In her 214 years on the planet, and given the nature of her business, Alaina must have met thousands upon thousands of beings. Impossible to keep them straight after a while. And yet for some strange, undecipherable reason, she was sure as nuclear rain that she’d seen, maybe even met, Andy before.

And maybe it was nothing, maybe she was just traumatized and confused. But her gut was screaming at her to stay on it… that somehow unraveling this mysterious connection between herself and Andy, was of the utmost importance.

Southern Front
Albion

The moment Jared’s feet touched the ground, his mate was upon him.
“What the hell were you thinking?!?” Jensen grabbed Jared by his lapels and nearly shook his slender frame. But not without remembering his own strength. Never without that.
Jared sighed, and put his own hands on Jensen’s shaking shoulders.
“I’m sorry.”
“Damn right you should be!”
“I should have come to you first.”
“Damn right you should have!”
“But I was worried you wouldn’t let me go.”
“Damn right I wouldn’t!”
“Okay, well, then how would we have retrieved… this…”

Jared pulled the vial out from his jacket pocket. Jensen’s jaw dropped and he stepped back immediately. Alaina, Andy and Jeff gathered around the two, staring wordlessly at the lethal bioweapon in Jared’s hands.

“What do we do?” Jared whispered.

Jensen took it very, very carefully from him. “I know who to ask.”

Back in the command center, with the privacy shield on, Jensen called Sterling Brown. The CEO of Brown-West Industries picked up on the second buzz.

“Jensen? I mean… Alpha…”
He was dressed in a teal suit and seemed to be surrounded by people, in some sort of office gathering.
“It’s okay, Sterling. We’re family now. Sorry to bother you…”
Sterling made a face on the video that conveyed his amusement. “Dude, you literally just said we’re family.”
Jensen chuckled. “I did. Look I need your advice urgently. We just acquired one of those, uh… R&D thingies we talked about?”
“Hold on.”

Sterling started to walk away from the crowd, found a private office and closed the door behind him. “Show it to me.”
Jensen pointed his phone camera at Jared who stood holding the vial delicately in both hands.
“Oh, wow, is that the celebrated social activist Jared Padalecki?”
Jared blushed, “Hi… nice to meet you.”
“You know, we’ve been wondering if you’d like to come to El Renacido and join one of our summits as a guest speaker-”
“Uh, guys? Really?” Jensen interjected.

Jared bit back a grin and Sterling cleared his throat too.
“I’m so sorry. Bioweapon. Right. What do you want to do – destroy it? Or preserve it for further examination?”
Jared and Jensen spoke at once, without missing a beat. “DESTROY IT.”

“Good choice.” Sterling zoomed in on the contraption.
“I studied the footage from 10 Downing, also acquired a copy of the post-mortem report on Henri Tapping. This formula needs to be aerosolized to work.”
“That’s what Tapping said,” Jensen confirmed.
“From what I can tell, it stays in the air for an hour before it dissipates. I’d say… the best way to get rid of it is to break the glass under water. As deep as you can go, preferably the same distance as its impact radius, just to be 100% sure.”
“Five klicks, far as we know,” Jensen replied.
“And it goes without saying, you can’t be the one to do it.”

Jared nodded at his mate, who then sighed and turned his camera back towards himself. “Uh, time for another explosive family secret, cousin…”
“Uh-oh,” Sterling looked worried. “What is it?”
“I’m adopted.”
Sterling took all of two macro-seconds to process that. “Cool! Just make sure there are no Ackles in the water when you do it. You sure Uncle Christopher didn’t get busy with the mermaids?”

Jensen made a wry face, and Jared outright laughed.

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot and call you back. Thanks, Sterling.”

Sterling smiled and waved goodbye.

Word had spread of what they’d brought back from Stormway, and a band of soldiers had gathered along the southern shoreline.

“Why do you have to be the one every time?” Jared grumbled as he stood with his arms crossed beside his mate. Jeff, Andy, and Alaina stood a few steps behind.
Jensen patted his cheek. “Don’t worry, jaan. You did your part, now let me do mine.”
They kissed briefly, then Jensen ambled to the end of the pier, vial in hand.

A united holler of encouragement echoed as Jensen turned to face his troops. He launched himself into a back dive, clothes and all, hit the water twelve feet below with a loud splash, and disappeared out of sight. Everyone ran to the edge of the pier, trying to catch a glimpse of their First Alpha.

Few minutes later, Jensen emerged zipping out of the water, and landed gracefully onto the pier on one knee. The soldiers hooted and clapped and welcomed their victorious but dripping-wet leader back. Jensen stood up shaking his head like a dog, or wolf, to be more apropos. He threw his arms up, pumping fists in the air to rally his troops. Jared and the others stood by, smiling, letting Jensen enjoy his moment.

“All right, enough. Everyone, back to your posts. Now!”
The soldiers moved to comply immediately. As Jensen approached the group still standing on the pier, he sensed a collective anxiety, directed at him.

“What is it?”
Jared looked at Alaina, who crossed her arms and leaned closer. “Jared just filled me in on what that bioweapon was meant to do…”
She looked uncomfortable. “I overheard Lehne talking to someone on the phone. He said the words: We’ve only got three shots at those damn high-horses. Let’s make this one stick.”

High-horses – that was the South’s derogatory speak for the leaders of Albion. Three shots.

Jensen blinked. “Three vials?”

Jared reached for his hand. “Now two.”

As they started walking back from the pier towards the basecamp, Alaina hooked an arm around Jared’s.

“I still don’t understand, Jared. How did you know?”

Jared gulped, knowing that even though she was whispering, she was audible to the alpha walking beside them, as well as to the other alpha walking several meters behind them with Andy.

“Know what?” Jensen asked from the other side of Jared.

Before Jared could stop her, Alaina replied. “Oh, he knew Lehne gave me the vial. He even knew what it looked like. H-How… have you seen the weapon before?”

Jensen clammed up just as quickly as Jared had, his eyes stuck to the ground as he walked. Jared sighed… he didn’t see a need to hide it from Alaina (or Jeff and Andy for that matter.) These were the closest people he had to parents, and he trusted them all.

“Of late, I-I have been getting these… visions…”
“Jared…” Jensen murmured, making Jared look up at him. He realized he’d missed all the silent warning signals Jensen had been sending his way.
“Vision? What sort of visions?” Alaina asked, still whispering.
“Uh…”
“Of the future, you mean? And they come true?”
“Not always. Not if I change what h-happens…”

Jensen glanced at Jeff, confirming his father heard everything. They exchanged grave, apprehensive looks… looks that Jared didn’t understand. Jeff and Andy stopped walking and chatted briefly. A second later, Jeff whistled, drawing the others’ attention to himself.

“We’re beat,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear. “We’re going to head to the barracks, okay?”
“All right, see you in a bit!” Jensen and Jared waved back, and waited until they disappeared out of sight.  

Jared then turned to Jensen, nonverbally asking for his support, not permission. What was the harm, anyway? Jensen didn’t look happy, and his nose-scratching made it plain as day.

“Don’t hold back now, Jared,” Alaina pleaded. “I knew you were hiding something. What’s going on, tell me.”

Jared sighed.

He told her everything that he’d predicted would come to pass… and had. Starting with the very first time in Cathedral, his nightmare in which he saw Adrianne die, but didn’t tell anyone about it. He told her about his visions of seeing himself (and Annabelle) in the Ackles mansion, the dream he had of Jensen, Tom and Kat in the woods right after the Circle meeting, seeing Daniel and Tyler together, to knowing Kat was attacked by someone in a red robe. And then, just this morning, seeing himself break the vial, yet inherently knowing it wasn’t really him but someone wearing his face…

“Holy FUCKING continents!”

Alaina halted mid-step. Her eyes dilated as she looked up at the boy she helped raise. And just like that, like a pre-glacial lightbulb snapping on… she remembered.

“Jared… you’re a trueblood…”

Chapter Text

9 Septembre, 3947 PG

Southern Front
Albion  

Her right hand immediately flew up to slam against her mouth. But it was too late. The word had been spoken. And heard.

Jared and Jensen stared at Alaina. No one said anything for years. Jared frowned so hard she feared the big vein in his forehead would pop. But it was the look on Jensen’s face that stunned her into silence. The alarm and mortification on his face were so profound, it nearly stopped her heart.

“I-I… sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

What the hell was she thinking? She started to walk away but a hand gripped her forearm and refused to let go. She turned about, expecting it to be Jared. It was Jensen.

“Come with us,” he ground it out like an order, but she could hear the desperation beneath his words.
Jensen turned to Jared, who stood frozen, listing a bit, staring at Alaina wordlessly.
“Patience, jaan,” he whispered to his mate, then took him by the arm too and led them both towards a personal yacht docked nearby.

They boarded the Nyctimus, and waited until Jensen ensured they were completely alone. Jared settled on a white ottoman, pulled his knees up to his chest and practically folded himself in three. Jensen paced in short laps, never straying more than a few feet from his mate.

Jeff boarded the yacht a minute later, having been summoned by Jensen on the commlink. He was alone.
“You should be very careful before throwing names like that around, Ms. Huffman,” he said coldly, leaning against the lower deck railing. “An accusation like that can get your boy killed.”
“Well, in my defense, Alpha Morgan,” Alaina retorted sharply. “I thought I was talking just to Jared and his mate.”

She stood with her fists on her hips, feet set apart. She stared at Jared. She’d always thought the boy looked like his mother, but now, the more she looked at him, the more of his father she saw in him.

Something struck her, belatedly. “What did you mean, killed?”
Jensen rasped. “The Ackles and the Cudlitzes have a blood pact. They’re sworn to eliminate all truebloods soon as they find one.”
Alaina gasped. “I thought that was just an urban legend.”
Jensen practically charged her. “What do you know about truebloods? And why do you think Jared is one?”

“Uh, besides his mutant ability to see the future?” Alaina sighed. “I’ve lived a very long time, Alpha, and in my line of work, I’ve encountered a lot of people who felt safe enough with me to share their secrets. I know you lycans think truebloods are nature’s abominations. But they’re extremely rare. I know that they’re products of a mating between lycans and shifters. It’s why your kind hates my kind so much, isn’t it? Because they can’t stand anyone being more powerful than them, so they discourage the birth of new truebloods?”

Jensen’s silence spoke volumes.

“Alaina…” a soft voice came from behind Jensen. She looked at Jared, who was still grimacing painfully. “A-Are you… are you saying that you know who m-my f-father is? And that he’s… lycan?”

Alaina let out a deep shuddering breath. This was harder than she ever imagined it would be. She swallowed against the hot lump of coal in her throat.

“I didn’t know him, per se.” She tried her best not to look at Jeff. “I-I just saw him a couple of times. The first time was in the Turkiyesh café. Samantha introduced me to this slender, beautiful man, blue eyes you could never forget. And that misshapen left earlobe with a chunk of flesh missing right here…”

She touched her own left ear, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Jeff stiffen. Jensen wheezed harder too. So, they both hadn’t known. But they did now, and were still reluctant to reveal the truth to Jared.

“One night, I saw him transforming into a wolf. All black, with snow-white socks on his paws, a ring of white around his neck. Samantha told me later that, that was the night he disappeared.”

Jared kept his eyes lowered. He tilted his head to one side, but didn’t say a word.

“I should have told you,” she whispered, longing to take Jared in her arms and fix this somehow. She looked up at Jensen. His eyes were on Jeff instead. She turned to Jeff then, who was looking right back at her. And his brandy eyes were gleaming, screaming, pleading… Don’t. Not yet.

Alaina turned back to Jared. She knelt before her boy, put a hand on his knee to draw his attention.

“Jared, you have every right to be mad at me. I made a promise to your mother to keep her secret, but I think now was the right time to break it. You need to know yourself, child, so you can understand your powers and continue to use them for good. Like you have been, all this time!”

Jared looked up at that, his frown gradually melting. Alaina smiled, glad to finally meet his eyes. “Think about it, where would we be without your visions? You saved me, you saved the courtiers, and you saved the Ackles! Screw all those self-proclaimed overlords who’re afraid of what truebloods can do. You’re gifted, Jared. Your gift of foresight is a godsend that can keep Albion and all lorics everywhere safe!”  

Jared slid off the ottoman to his knees and fell into her arms almost ferociously. Alaina gasped in relief, held him tightly to herself. She looked at Jensen, who also seemed more settled than before. Then she looked at Jeff.

I’ll keep your secret. For now.
Thank you.

She kissed Jared’s face over and over again, in apology, in gratitude, in love. He just held on to her tight like he used to when he was little and needed comforting.
“We’ll have all the time in the world to talk about it. But after. Okay?”
“Yes, after.” He nodded into her shoulder.

They were in the middle of a war. And they needed Jared. They couldn’t distract him with the whole truth just yet. The father-son reunion, twenty-six years in the making, would just have to wait.

Jensen and Jeff stood at the pier, watching over the yacht docked nearby. They’d left Alaina and Jared on board to rest.

“You trust her?” Jeff asked, his voice lower than a whisper any human or shifter could hear.
Jensen responded in kind. “Completely.”
As they spoke, they could hear Alaina insisting Jared eat something, and Jared was being adamant that he’d eat only if she joined him.

“I don’t understand. If Jared is a… why didn’t his powers manifest until now?” Jensen wondered.
“Don’t know. He’s always been very intuitive, maybe just didn’t realize it before? Or maybe being bonded to you awoke something dormant inside of him.”
“Huh. So it’s like with his ability to bear children…”
Jeff’s head spun, literally. Jensen sighed. “Don’t ask. There is so much about shifters we don’t understand. So much that’s been kept from us.”

Jeff dug his hands in his jacket pockets. “Son, the truth about Jared and Andy…”
“It’s all too much,” Jensen hissed. “Andy is the tru- the one who killed the Sharmans and went to Stormway to kill Daniel, where he hooked up with Jared’s mother instead? You find him and bond with him, and years later I find his son and bond with his son? H-How… in Fenrir’s name… is all this even real?!?”
“Our wolf spirits see a lot more than we do, Jensen. Maybe it’s more than just a coincidence. Maybe… it is fate?”
Jensen shook his head. “We can’t deal with this right now, Dad. How are we going to explain any of it to Andy? He doesn’t remember anything!”
“I know, I know…” Jeff massaged his aching temples. “Do you think Jared saw Andy’s ear? He’s been wearing his hair long of late, so…”
“I doubt it. The bond would have gone nuclear if he knew.”
“Okay.” But Jeff knew the ruse could only last so long.

Jensen struggled not to buckle under the immense weight of it all. “Now I know two… two of them. Like we didn’t have enough to worry about already… this is what humans call a clusterfuck of the umpteenth order, Dad. And what of the blood pact with the sherans?”
Jeff grabbed Jensen’s collar. “The sherans can never know, son. Promise me!”
“O-Of course. But… Andy killed so many people, Dad. He’s… a fugitive.”

Jeff’s face hardened. He pulled up the image of Asset 106 on his phone.
“Look at this photo, son. Look at it closely. What do you see?”
Jensen grimaced, not wanting to set eyes on the grotesque image again.

“Those are shackles around his wrists and waist, pretty sure those chains go down to his feet. He’s clearly been starved and beaten. He’s covered in scars, old and new. And that background isn’t just any prison. It’s a biogenetic lab in Westworld, run by Victor Reedus, a mad eccentric scientist who experimented on people like Andy. Reedus tortured them, brainwashed them, conditioned them to be assassins for hire and set them loose upon the world, at the mercy of the highest bidder. You tell me… who’s to blame for the deaths you talk about, Andy, or these bastards who weaponized him?”

Jensen swallowed, hard, and shuffled his feet.
Jeff put his phone away, glared at his son. “I know your allegiance is with your High Alpha. But the man isn’t perfect, son. Hell, far from it.”
“…”
“I’m going to take Andy home, where I can keep him safe.”
“Dad, come on. I didn’t mean…”
“I know,” Jeff squeezed his shoulder. “But he’s my bond-mate, I can’t take any chances. Besides, best we put as much distance between Andy and Jared as we can, for now.”

Jensen sighed. He couldn’t argue with that.

Half an hour later, Jensen stood on the pier by himself. He watched the twilight sun painting the sky in its myriad shades, so reminiscent of Andy’s art. He could still see the civilian pam-jet gliding off in the distance, heading east. Jensen missed the strength of his biological father by his side already. Though Jeff promised to come right back if Jensen needed him. He just needed to send word.

Yet he couldn’t help but feel desperately alone. His wolf railed against the wall of silence and secrets he’d erected between himself and Jared. But Jared had enough to deal with on his own right now. And they were still in the middle of a fucking war.

Jensen turned away from the water. The time for self-pity and soap operatic family drama was over. Right now, Albion needed his undivided attention. He headed back to the command center to get a sitrep.

Aboard the docked Nyctimus
Southern Front

Jared stood in front of a mirror in the captain’s cabin, staring at his reflection.

Jared Smith. Of Stormway.
He was still wearing Wehean military blues. Why was he still wearing Wehean military blues? He started to strip down to his skin.

Jared Padalecki. Of Inverness.
He found some of his old clothes in the closet: blue jeans so tattered they could disintegrate at any moment, and a brown crew-neck sweater that barely touched his waistline. He put them on, felt like himself again. Not an imposter prancing around in fancy designer wear he didn’t pay for.

Onur Gelin. Núíosach.
Coming to Albion, Jared had quite literally lost himself, his identity, his very purpose. But he’d been given new creds as Jensen’s bond-mate, a member of the First Family. He resented it at first, being so defined by others around him. But the more people told him he couldn’t have it, the more he wanted it. The more they told him he didn’t belong, the harder he fought to make a place for himself.

Scholar. Lawyer. Courtesan. Activist.
He was smart, in real-world, practical ways, not just academic or bookish ways. Jensen valued his counsel. Tyler believed in his instincts. Hell, even Hilarie had come around to trust him. So of course, Jared couldn’t just sit on the sidelines of battle and be a… a liability for his mate. His strengths were assets that Albion needed, even if it didn’t know or appreciate them.

Shifter. Mutt. Fata Morgana.
All his life he’d pretended to be human to have the life he thought he wanted. Where did that get him? Everything meaningful he ever achieved came after he accepted himself for who he really was. Why did he let stupid social norms dictate how he felt about himself? Norms that, as it turned out, were based in nothing but fear and paranoia.

Mutant. Chimera. Trueblood.
And what if his identity was changing again? So, what if he was the product of a shifter mother and a nameless, faceless lycan father? Did it change how smart he was? Did it change his status as the First Alpha’s bond-mate? No. If anything, these powers gave greater purpose to his life.

Bastard. Orphan. Dear Boy.
Jared sighed wistfully. He loved his momma more than anything, but he couldn’t let her perpetually ashamed gaze color his perspective anymore. He’d rather follow the example set by Alaina Huffman, Lady of the Chatoyant Court, the proud shiftress who never hid her abilities, but used them instead to empower and enrich shifter society in Stormway. He resolved to embrace his new identity, his new gift, and make the most of it for as long as it lasted.

… jaan…
Jared stood up straight, turned to his left and studied his profile. The only other gaze he still cared about, was his mate’s. He thought back to the look on Jensen’s face earlier when Alaina called him a trueblood. He didn’t need the bond to understand how utterly terrified Jensen must be.

Jared turned away from the mirror. He looked out the porthole instead, at the vast Aegean Sea, and the endless possibilities she symbolized. Decided it was time to get creative, and try what Andy had suggested: meditation. If he could figure out a way to harness these powers… maybe he could prove to Jensen (and to the High Alpha and High Beta,) that truebloods need not be feared after all.

“Ballarat. Show me Ballarat.”
Jared perched on the edge of the bed, his feet planted on the floor, leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs, hands clenched into fists. He screwed his eyes shut, lowered his head as if in prayer.
“What’s Pileggi planning? Please show me…”

Nothing was happening.

Jared opened his eyes, cursed at no one in particular. He wrung his hands and grunted in frustration.

This wasn’t good. The visions came and went on a whim. Granted they appeared when Jared needed them the most. But surely there was a way to control when and what and who and where, somewhere inside his head. His subconscious mind chose what visions to throw up when. If he could just communicate with it…

Nothing happened again. Jared nearly pulled his hair out.

“Maybe you’re trying too hard.”

Jared started, and turned to find Alaina smirking, leaning against his cabin door. She’d found a set of Albion greens and had changed out of her torn red dress. Her hair was wet and loose, burgundy curls falling to the middle of her back.
“Any suggestions?”
“For one, you’re restricting your energy here in this claustrophobic cabin. Come on out.”
Fresh air didn’t seem like a bad idea at all. Jared took her hand and let her pull him up to his feet, then they headed down to the swimming deck.

Jared stood with his hands in his pockets while Alaina stepped out of her boots and sat at the edge of the deck. She got busy rolling her cargo pants up to her knees. Then she slung her legs into the sea and leaned back on the heels of her palms.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Jared drawled.
“Well, I just found out… this little boy I once knew, grew up to be a superhero… so yeah, it’s a good day.” Alaina grinned, flapping her feet in the water.
Jared pursed his lips. “I don’t know about that. And being out here isn’t helping either. The last couple of visions happened when I was indoors by the way, so maybe I should… go back inside!”

Jared turned to leave when Alaina called after him. “What’s the rest of the pattern?”
He stopped. “What do you mean?”
Alaina shrugged. “You just said it yourself. The last couple of visions happened when you were indoors. What else is common across all your visions?”
“Ye-s…” he understood then. “Yes. Alaina, as always, you’re a genius.”
He came over to sit beside her, folding his feet underneath himself.

“I get them when I’m asleep but not like all the way. More like drifting between sleep and wakefulness, semi-conscious.”
“That explains your poor attempt at meditation. I can teach you, by the way.”
“I love you so much,” Jared kissed her cheek and she preened.
“What else?”
“Um, they’re always about people I care about. Like I don’t get visions of people I don’t know or have never met.”
“Good, that’s specific. What else?”

Jared closed his eyes and tried to recall all his visions.
“They’re not mundane shots of someone doing the laundry, or… strolling down main street. The visions make me… feel things… deeply and poignantly.”
“Such as?”
His chest heaved. “I… I felt Adrianne’s resignation as she faced death. I felt Jensen’s paternal pride when I saw Annabelle.”
Alaina beamed at that.

“I… I felt his frustration when he was passed over for Zeta. I felt the immense love that Tyler and Daniel shared… or will someday share. I felt Kat’s terror when she was attacked, I felt your helplessness when you were forced…”

Alaina grabbed his hand, and Jared blinked himself back to the present. “That’s it, dear boy. That’s your north star… emotions of the people you love. Let them guide you.”

Alaina showed him how to fold his legs underneath himself, place his hands on his knees, palms facing up, thumbs and index fingers touching each other.
“Close your eyes, Jared. Concentrate. Pick one person you love, focus on their strongest emotion.”
Jared did as she instructed. He chose his buddy, Tyler, and his most prominent character trait: his protective instinct.

It took a while, a long while. But Alaina kept encouraging and guiding him to not let his focus stray.

Just like that, it happened. The blank canvas behind his closed eyelids started to fill up, with colors that went from dull greys and whites to vivid earth tones. A beautiful intermeshing of Wehean blue with Albionian green. Amid those blooming colors, emerged the vision of a young lycan couple.

An Alpha and an Omega.

Tyler and Daniel.

Jared smiled as he watched the couple hold each other, their foreheads conjoined as Tyler wrapped his arms around a visibly pregnant Daniel. Six months at least. Jared had never seen Daniel smile like that, ever. They looked happy together.

“It worked,” his voice a thready whisper.
Jared opened his eyes and exhaled a huge breath he didn’t know he was holding. He looked around to find Alaina resting against the wall of the boat, fast asleep. He smiled gratefully at her. The sky had darkened in the time he’d been under. He felt wrung out, like he’d run a long marathon. Still, he decided to go one more time.

Jared closed his eyes. “Jensen.”
And the alpha’s strongest emotion at the moment – his concern for his family's well-being.

The canvas dissolved into a mess of illegible characters and geometric shapes like puzzle pieces his psyche strained to put together. He concentrated, hard, until the image of a familiar mountain range laden with snow emerged in the background. The Ackles mansion magically materialized into the foreground. But it wasn’t the mansion Jared knew. For one, it was on fire.

Intermittent explosions wracked the peripheries of his vision. Smoke and embers floated up into the sky emanating from where the north wing once stood. Jared heard terrified screams echoing in all corners of his mind. And that’s when he noticed the spires on top of the mansion. The spires that once used to hoist green Albionian flags, face of a fierce red wolf in the center. Now they held blue banners with triple moons, the face of a goddess in the center. The Wehean flag.

Jared jerked his eyes open. He found himself wheezing like he was having a panic attack. It was just one possible future, he reminded himself. A dark alternate future that could only come to pass if… all the Ackles were gone.

Jared struggled to control his erratic breaths. Then closed his eyes to dive in once again. The last thing he wanted was to go back into that horrific nightmare. But the only way to prevent it from becoming real was to find its trigger event… the thing that would turn the tide of war against Albion, and put Jensen and his family in danger…

Flashes of… things, occurrences, sped past his rapidly fluttering eyelids too fast to apprehend. Jared took deep breaths and forced them to slow down until eventually, he saw things that made sense. A deceptively peaceful milieu of a partial sunrise, a meteor shower visible with the naked eye, and a tiny missile… sneaking past Albion’s defenses from the west… racing towards the cordillera.

13 Septembre, 3947 PG (Four Days in the Future…)

Parliament Offices
Cathedral, Manchester

Vice President Mark Sheppard locked himself in his office, and waited. When it was time, he called Curtis Armstrong, who was still at his facility in Xiyang.
“Ready?”
Curtis winced. “Let’s get this over with. You’ll lead, right?”
“Yes, yes,” Mark dialed again… a private line only two humans in all of Midworld had been granted access to.

The call connected in Ballarat, in the Pileggi tower.
“Good evening, High Alpha,” Sheppard said, in his usual hiss of a voice. Curtis stuttered a quick greeting too.

Pileggi had his back turned to the console. He reclined in his chair, head sagging against it, eyes gazing up vacantly at the vaulted ceiling above. The northern traitor, Roche, stood quietly in the background, probably gunning to be the next right-hand-man. Now that the position was empty.

Sheppard waited, then cleared his throat. “My condolences for your loss. Alpha Lehne was a strong comrade. He’ll be missed.”
Pileggi turned towards him at last. His eyes were bloodshot, like he’d been drinking aconite-laced mead in gallons and not slept ever since he received news of his best friend’s martyrdom. That was four days ago.
“I don’t need your thoughts and prayers, Mr. Sheppard.”
“…”
“You know what I need.”
Sheppard nodded. “Revenge.”
“And how will you help me get it?”

Sheppard hit an icon on his console and cast an image of the new prototype that Armstrong had been developing in Xiyang.

“This is Mildendo. Smallest hypersonic cruise missile ever invented. Mach 4.”
Mark looked at Curtis, wordlessly asking him if he wanted to take over the presentation. Curtis shook his head. Mark rolled his eyes and continued.
“Powered by a lustrum-based fuel source, it can travel 6000 klicks in under two hours. Best of all, its nanostructured stealth coating makes it damn near invisible. The probability of this missile being detected by any missile warning or satellite imaging system in the world is less than 0.5%.”

Mitch leaned forward in his chair. “WHEN?”

Sheppard continued. “Thanks to your second ‘inside man’ in Albion, we know the High Alpha is back in the mansion tomorrow morning. He’ll be there to meet Third Alpha Katie Cassidy Ackles and Commander Welling for a super-quick super-secret check-in at around 0600. That’s our window.”
“And the pups are already there,” Mitch whispered, mostly to himself.
Mark continued. “We can use the third payload to get the last standing Ackles, Kathryn Newton, later. She’ll be all alone on the southern front, per your own source. This is our best opportunity yet, but we have to move at first light.”
“Where will you launch it from?”

Mark opened his mouth to speak, then paused as if he thought of something else. “We need you to send the rest of the lustrum you promised, Alpha.”
“WHAT?”
“If you ship it now, it should reach Xiyang in four hours. That’s enough time for us to prep the missile, isn’t it, Curtis?”
Curtis nodded meekly. “Y-Yeah, absolutely.”
Pileggi didn’t appreciate the arm-twisting, but he didn’t care about the lustrum anymore, anyway.
“You’ll have it. Now tell me, where are you launching it from? What front?”
Mark pressed on. “If we have your word, Alpha, I give you mine to personally oversee this mission. I own an island just off the western coast of Stormway. All Albionion eyes are on the ocean. Nobody is watching Manchester because they’ve assumed Tapping will keep us out of it.”

The High Alpha glared at Mark for what seemed like hours. “If you get this done, Sheppard, I will double the amount of lustrum I promised you. But if you fail…”
“It won’t come to that, High Alpha.”
“It better not.”
Pileggi disconnected.

“That’s one tough sonofabitch, literally!” Curtis snorted.
“Yes well, he’s going to cripple the northern pack for us. And then Jensen Ackles will kill him in retaliation. The whole society of man-wolves will descend into chaos after that.”
“Amen to that, brother.”
“Two hundred million souls in this post-apocalyptic world. Lorics are a mere 10%, still they own two-thirds of this planet. Not bloody fair, is it?”
“Not at all.”
“Well, this is how we start to balance the scales.”

Mark clasped his hands together on top of his head. “Do you realize what we could do with all that lustrum, Curtis?”
“Buy another island?” Curtis teased.
“Remember what Pellegrino used to talk about? His dream to buy Connecticut back from the Sherans?”
“Yeah, I remember that.”
“Hell, Curtis,” Mark rasped. “We could buy half of Westworld from those fucking tabbies, and never have to look back at this human cesspit called Manchester ever again.”

“Hell yes! I mean… amen brother. Ay-Men.”

9 Septembre, 3947 PG (Present Day)

Southern Front
Albion

At midnight, Jensen was still in the command center, monitoring the latest skirmish south of the border. Another Wehean ship tried to blast its way through the reef. Jensen had an unmanned destroyer maneuvered in place to block its path.

“Stupid dumb charades,” he grumbled under his breath.
Sergeant Jones and Mayor Ferris turned to him frowning.
“What was that?” Samantha asked.
Jensen huffed. “Just something humans say. Ballarat keeps sacrificing its ships as if we don’t know what their true game plan is. This is a charade and it’s dumb! Dumb charades!”
“I don’t think that’s what the term refers to, J…” said a voice at the door.

Jensen turned to find his mate standing at the tent’s mouth, failing to suppress his amusement. Jensen rolled his eyes. He wasn’t in the mood for a corrective linguistic lesson right then.

“What’re you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you,” Jared said, walking in, before nodding at Samantha.
She nodded back. “Jensen, I can keep an eye on this while you two-”
“It’s all right. I’m busy, jaan, can’t it wait?”

Jensen turned his back to his mate, willing him (mentally) to leave.

He couldn’t deal with Jared right then. He needed to… as they said in humanish (and this one he was completely sure of) … compartmentalize. One problem at a time. And he was in no position to solve the ‘Jared’ problem just yet.

“Jensen, this is important.”
“We’re under attack. What could be more important?”
Jared bit his lip. “Yeah, okay. I’ll wait.”

He looked around, searching for a place to park himself.

Jensen tried to ignore him. Except he couldn’t. He noticed Jared had just stepped out of the shower, was wearing fresh greens under his military coat. He looked great. He smelled great.

Jensen shook his head to get himself to focus. The next phase of escalation was about to commence. Wehean missiles would soon come flying at Albion’s intercepting ship and try to create a diversion big enough for their grunts to attempt another infiltration amid the chaos. But not if Jensen preempted their missile strike with one of his own.

“A.L.S McCall. Missiles at the ready.”
A digital voice from the ship responded. “Awaiting your command, Alpha.”
Jensen turned to the field leader. “Jones, your men are on high alert, yes?”
“Yes, Alpha. No one’s sneaking past my squads, I promise you.”
Samantha crossed her arms, “And definitely not with a vial full of poison, that’s for damn sure.”

Jensen heard Jared sigh, loud enough for the others to turn to him too. Jensen closed his eyes and willed him not to…
“That’s not how they’re sending the vial in.”
…say anything.

“How do you know?” Samantha asked.
Jared shrugged. “It’s just not a viable strategy. And they only have two shots left, right?”
“Yes, but how can you be so sure?” she pressed.

Jensen huffed and handed point over to Jones. “Get McCall to intercept the missiles in the air before they drop. I’ll be right back.”

He started to walk out the tent. Jared was leaning against a pole right by the entrance. Jensen grabbed his arm and dragged him behind himself. Jared stumbled for a bit but quickly got his feet back under him and pointing in the right direction.

“Jensen, I just…”
“Don’t say a word.” Jensen kept walking until they found an empty barrack far away from prying eyes and ears. Once they got there, Jensen couldn’t help but grab Jared by his collar and drag him so close, their noses collided.
“What is wrong with you? Do you want everyone to find out you’re a tr-…?”

He stopped himself just in time. Jared’s expression twisted into one of bitterness. “You can’t even say it, can you? I repulse you so much, you don’t want me around anymore. Why? Just because I’m a trueblood?!”
“Shh!!!” Jensen pulled him closer still. “Why would you say that? And when has your race ever mattered to me?”
“Because you’re ignoring me? You’re refusing to even look at me?”
Jared’s eyes glittered, and Jensen cursed himself under his breath.
“For Fenrir’s sake, jaan, no… just… come here.”

He pulled Jared into an embrace, despite the taller man not helping at all. Jared just stood there, his hands hanging by his sides listlessly. Still Jensen held him to his chest, like he was something fragile and priceless.

“We have to be careful, jaan. I don’t know what I’d do if someone…”
Jensen couldn’t finish. He just held onto Jared and rocked him gently, from side to side.

Jared pulled away after a while. When he spoke, he kept his voice down to a whisper. “I just think we should be taking advantage of these… powers. What’s the point of me even having them if we bury our heads in the sand and pretend they don’t exist?”
Jensen snorted. “Head in the sand. Like that big southern bird that went extinct.”
“Ostrich.”

Jensen sighed, pecking at Jared’s lips almost reverently. “You know how important you are to me, jaan, don’t you? I just need to protect you, keep you safe from danger.”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
They kissed again, fervently, like they might never get to kiss again.

“All right,” Jensen said, stroking his mate’s face lovingly. “Tell me. You had another vision, didn’t you?”
Jared nodded slowly.
“What should we do?”
“For one, you and I need to get to the western front as soon as possible. You need to swap places with Kat for a few days, send her here.”

Jensen frowned, not understanding, but knowing enough not to question his mate. “Anything else?”

Jared dropped his gaze down to the top button on Jensen’s coat. “Um, can we ask the Mers for another favor?”

14 Septembre, 3947 PG

Aboard the Nyctimus
Alaskan Ocean

It was the morning of the fall equinox. An important day for both people of faith, and of science. The day that could make all the difference between peace… and annihilation.

Jared stood in the wheelhouse with his digipad in one hand. He calibrated his compass one more time, just to be sure. His mate who sat beside him at the helm smirked. “Checked the ship’s nav system too. Pretty sure we’re facing west. Wait, which way is west again?”
Jared rolled his eyes, looked out at the sky through the slanted windows, and frowned. “Feels a little off.”

He took off running to the upper deck, leaving Jensen no choice but to follow.
“We’ve tried twenty different bearings, jaan. Tell me again exactly what you’re looking for?”
“Sure let me just paint it for you, J. The exact scene… the exact position of the sun and the tide, seeing as we have so much time…”
“Very funny,” Jensen pouted. “Let’s just walk through it again.”

Jared sighed. “The Calvert meteor shower. Brought about by comet Calvert that swings by every twelve years. It’s burning a little brighter than usual this time. So, it’d be visible pretty much all day today.”
“Okay, that gives us a date and a time. What else do we need?”

“A more accurate time and place.” Jared looked up at the still dark pre-dawn sky. “According to the Manchester meteorological department, sunrise is at 0517, and the meteor shower starts at 0519. Now, given where we are anchored right now, according to my calculations, it should take approximately five minutes for the sun’s whole disc to clear that horizon. And in my vision, the disc was still not entirely past the horizon yet. Which means we have less than a three-minute window to spot the missile, and it starts in…” he looked at the clock on his digipad, “Thirty-three minutes. But only if we’re looking in the right place…”

Jared continued to talk as he paced, back and forth in perpetuity. Something about tide gauges and echolocation and shades of orange Jensen never even heard of. But he didn’t interrupt. Jared reached the farthest point on the stern and abruptly froze, his mouth open, one hand pointing up at the sky.

“I think this is it.”
“…”
“I-I think.”

Jensen walked over to his mate, put an arm around his waist. “Alright. If you say this is it, this is it.”
Jared looked at him, eyes flickering with disquietude. “This thing is moving very, very fast, Jensen. We cannot afford to be wrong.”
“We won’t be.”
“How do you know?”
Jensen shrugged. “I have faith.”
Jared winced. “Well, what I have is science. And it looks right… but…”
“What I meant is… I have faith in you.”

Jared smiled and leaned gratefully into his mate. “Then let’s hope you’re right.”

Western Front
Alaskan Ocean

/// The world continues to be on high alert as the war between the northern and southern pack of Lycans enters its third week. Wehea claims that its offensive military actions at Albion’s borders are part of a “special operation” to disarm Albion and protect it from the rise of fascism. Albion has vehemently rejected these claims and denounced Wehea’s actions as misguided and miscalculated attempts to invade a sovereign nation. ///

News anchor Emily Perkins was beyond excited. She was out on the field after five months, working on her second story about Lycans. The first one had made her so popular she’d been nominated for a Trevor-Noah, and landed her own primetime show on MNN. And now here she was, jet-setting around the globe in her own plane, reporting on the biggest story of the planet. She opened her digipad and re-watched her last episode.

/// In a joint statement issued by the Earth Tribunal and signed by eight out of nine human territories, Xiyang being the only exception, the human world has strongly condemned Wehea’s actions. But they’ve unanimously agreed not to participate militarily in the conflict to avoid escalations into all-out world war. The Sherans are also calling for strict economic sanctions against the South. But given their isolationist way of life, it’s unclear how effective sanctions would be in dissuading Wehea… ///

“Um, Emily?” Julia Maxwell, her pilot slash apprentice, turned to her. “Every channel in the world is at the southern front. So why are we heading west?”
Emily smirked. “Because this is what happened the last time. Everyone else was focused on the cruise ship on pier 28. I was the only one on pier 14 covering the protest rally. Which is why, I got the exclusive on the Lycan transformation, the first ever to be caught on film. And my years of honed journalistic instincts are telling me, Julia, that west is where the real story is.”
Julia narrowed her eyes. “But… how can you be sure, really?”
Emily huffed. “I got a hot tip, okay? Can you please just… drive?”
Julia smirked, that made more sense. She sped up, following the GPS heading to where the ‘action’ was supposed to be.

/// Wehea has been indiscriminately targeting the territory of Albion with ballistic missiles. But Albion’s General Kathryn Ackles has committed not to harm any civilians in Wehea, a promise that is preventing her from going on the offensive. Total death toll on the Albionian side now exceeds ninety, including civilians, while the Wehean death toll is less than fifty soldiers. How long can Albion possibly maintain its defensive strategy under constant onslaught from the invaders? ///

“So, what is this hot tip we had to chase down at 0430 in the morning?” Julia tried to stifle a yawn. They’d started from Cathedral three hours ago and had just flown past the town of Stormway, now heading towards Albion.

Emily figured there was no harm in sharing now. “My contact is in the coast guard. Apparently they’ve been tracking a lot of unusual activity in the Alaskan waters. It started about twelve hours ago.”
Julia frowned. “What, like battleships?”
“Think underwater.”
“Submarines?”
“Uh-uh…”
Julia’s eyes went wide. “Mers?”
Emily smirked. “Bingo. And you know the Mers are friends of Albion. If they’re leaving the Bay of Eritrea to swim all this way up north, they must have a bloody good reason.”
“I bet.”
“Of course, it could all be much ado about nothing. Maybe they just migrate north in droves this time of the year, who knows…”
“Um, Emily?”
Emily turned to find her colleague craning out the window towards the waters below.
“What is it?”
“Not a migration pattern.”

Emily’s eyes went wide. The lustrum-encrusted bodies of several Mers glittered even in the dim glow of a twilight sky. There was a Mer in the water every few hundred klicks or so.

“Lift up, lift up!”

As Julia ascended, Emily used her night vision scope, and the pattern became clearer. The Mers were positioned in a concentric circular grid from the coast of Albion to the coast of Old Haven. Clearly, they were patrolling the Alaskan for their lycan allies. Curiously enough, they were all facing due west, away from Albion.

“What is going on?” Julia asked again.
It took a second before comprehension dawned, smoothening the lines out of Emily’s face. “It’s a warning system.”
“…”

She turned her gaze towards Westworld. “Julia, something tells me we shouldn’t be streaming this live.”

Coast of Stormway
Alaskan Ocean

Taos Penikett, son of Mer Prince Tahmoh Penikett, had to beg his father for this assignment. At eighteen, he was the youngest to volunteer. Tahmoh had been reluctant, but eventually agreed. Of course, as it turned out, he was stationed as far away from the front as possible, practically behind the island of Manchester.

Taos huffed again. It’s not like they were expecting any active combat. Albion had merely asked for the Mers’ help watching the seas. Honestly, he would have volunteered even if it were dangerous. There was nothing Taos wouldn’t do for Uncle Jensen.

He drifted just north of Stormway, facing west. That’s where the missile was expected to come from. Heck, he wouldn’t be surprised if the sherans were helping the south against the north. Always did seem like a bunch of opportunists to him.  

The sky started to lighten, about an hour to go before sunrise. Taos had his sights set squarely on the shore of Westworld, when he heard a sudden burst of thunder rolling from somewhere to his left. Taos spun towards it violently. No forecast of storm today, even in Stormway. The sound reverberated through his scales like a song of lament he never wanted to hear again.

He knew what he had to do. Taos dove head-first into the water, opened his mouth, and let out the loudest siren call he could summon up through his gills. Sound traveled faster in water, faster than the hypersonic missile threatening to destroy Albion. The call was picked up by another Mer a hundred klicks away, who immediately relayed the call onward. Then further onward and onward… until it was received by a Mer stationed closest to the Nyctimus.

Taos surfaced back above water and watched the sky turn an ominous shade of scarlet. He closed his eyes in a quick prayer, hoping he made his father, and uncle, proud. Then opened them up instantly and swiveled back to face west again. Just in case the damn sherans tried to sneak another one past while nobody expected it.

Aboard the Nyctimus
Alaskan Ocean

Jensen’s ears pricked and he spun around. There was an urgent tremor in the air, supernatural in origin. He scanned the airwaves until he located the source… a Mer general was transmitting the last signal in the relay system surrounding the western front.

The missile was approaching. Small, fast, stealthy enough to be invisible even to Mer eyes. But not soundless, as it blazed past the sound barrier at a terrifying velocity.

“Jared!”
His mate came running towards Jensen from the other end of the deck.
“It’s on its way. Southwest direction, about nine degrees off.”
Jared frowned, shifting his gaze in the direction Jensen was looking at. The sun started to color the horizon a dark shade of red. His eyes widened.
“That’s it,” he rasped, feeling surer than before.
Jared looked at the clock on his digipad. Five minutes to sunrise.
“Five-twelve.”

“Ready, jaan?” Jensen asked, starting to shed his clothes.
Jared smiled sardonically. “As we’ll ever be.”

Jensen Ackles stood stark naked at the stern. His tall, perfectly chiseled form flawless in every detail, spine ramrod straight, head held high. His hair, longer than he usually wore it, lifting away from his neck to chase the wind. Hands clasped into fists, bulging biceps heaving alongside his broad chest, heart thumping so loud, the Mers could hear it. Sea-green eyes gleamed, lit up with myriad emotions: Anticipation. Anger. Exhilaration. Resolve.

“Five-fourteen,” Jared announced. “Three minutes to sunrise. Five to meteor shower.”

The MNN crew hovered half a klick away. Emily and Julia had spotted the Nyctimus but decided wisely not to approach it, so as not to disrupt whatever the power couple and their friends were planning to do. Their cameras were recording, but not transmitting. Through their high-powered telescopic lenses, Emily Perkins captured for the second time, an epic loric transformation.

“Dear sweet lord,” she whistled, as she spied on Jensen’s Grecian human form, only to gasp louder when he shifted into a wolf with effortless grace.
“It’s happening.”
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s happening now!”

“Five-fifteen,” Jared yelled, “two minutes to sunrise!”

A thunderous boom started to emerge from the direction they’d both been staring at for four days. Jensen the wolf stood up on all fours, snarling, crouching backwards, ready to pounce.

Out of the blue, a Mer sprang out of the water several hundred klicks away. Jared couldn’t see it, but Jensen did, as did the telescopic lenses on the MNN jet’s cameras.

“Holy continents, Julia, are you seeing this?!?”

The Mer dove up into the air, as if aiming to grab something. But they missed, and dropped back into the ocean, drawing a clockwise watery arc in their wake. A few seconds later, another Mer tried, diving up from the other direction reaching for an invisible entity racing past them in a straight line. They failed as well, drawn an arc anticlockwise before falling back in the water. And on and on it went, with several Mers trying to snatch the missile and break its trajectory.

At 0517 the sun rose, rearranging the sky into hues of browns, oranges, purples and blue. Jared blinked, feeling dizzy as his vision started to come alive.

“Five-nineteen! Any second now, Jensen!”

The meteor shower began. Balls of fire rained down across the horizon, intersecting with the rising sun in a picturesque scene that would have taken his breath away, were he not hyperventilating already.

Looking across the distance, he realized what the Mers had accomplished. Their watery ripples created a trail outlining the path of the missile, making it easier for Jensen to track as it got closer. He couldn’t be off by even a microsecond, he just couldn’t…

“There!” Jensen howled, before leaping up and off the yacht, slicing through the air, snapping up the missile between his unyielding jaws, then swinging back down into the ocean.
Jared shrieked at the top of his lungs. “Yes! Yes!! YES!!!”

The wolf disappeared into the depths of the Alaskan and was gone for several minutes.

“Shit! Shit! That was incredible!! Did we get it? Shit!!” Emily was freaking out.

“Oh, we got it,” Julia confirmed, and they high-fived. They had no idea what any of it meant, what that thing was that Jensen just swiped out of the air, but they knew it was important. And they were journalists after all. They were going to figure it out.

Jared leaned over the upper deck railing almost dangerously, searching for Jensen. Like with the vial, he must be wading five klicks below the surface to smash the contraption with the poison inside it. Something beeped behind him. Jared turned to find Jensen’s phone lit up beside his clothes.

Jared ran to pick it up. It was Sterling. “Hey, Jared! What’s the word?”
Jared pushed his hair out of his face, and panted. “I-I think, we did it.”
Sterling crossed his fingers. “Are you sure? Two down?”
Jared laughed abruptly. “One to go.”
“Not bad! The mansion was evacuated though, right?”
“Oh yeah, of course!” Jared waved a hand dismissively. “Still, we didn’t want the poison anywhere near the cordillera.”
“Agreed. Where’s Jensen?”
“Still in the water.”
“Okay, listen. That missile was a sneaky little low-flyin’ bugger. But our satellite managed to pick up a faint thermal signature pinpointing the location of the launch.”
“O-Okay,” Jared knew they had no time to waste. “Sterling, can I connect you to our Zeta? She’ll decide what to do.”
“Of course.”

A few seconds later, Kathryn jumped on the three-way call from the SF command center.
“Alpha Kathryn,” Sterling bowed virtually. “I have the coordinates, whenever you’re ready.”
“Go for it, Mr. Brown,” she said, her voice calm and professional. Sterling rattled out the requisite numbers.
“And you’re absolutely sure this is the launch-point?”
“Positive.”
“How many heat signatures do you see?”
“Just one. But I should warn you, Alpha, this is the Isle of Sparrow, a private island in Mancunian territory. And according to the New Tibet Accords…”
“Something tells me President Tapping won’t mind,” Kat replied smoothly.

Then she turned to someone off-camera. “Jones. Get Captain Abel on the line. His ship the A.L.S Abernathy is closest to these coordinates.”

“Abernathy?” Sterling asked, taken aback.
Both Kat and Jared looked at him, blinking a little sheepishly.
“Uh, yeah,” Kat swallowed. “I didn’t know the significance of that name until very recently myself.”
Sterling nodded, at a loss of words. Instead, he shared his screen to show Jared and Kat the satellite image he’d been watching.

“Captain Abel,” Kat spoke into her console. “You have a go, fire at will.”

Two minutes later, they watched together as a couple of short-range missiles fell on the tiny island, razing it down to the ocean floor.

“So, Sterling,” Kat turned back to the phone, her face melting into a smile more suited to the free-spirited person she really was. “You and I should catch up sometime, cousin.”
Sterling smiled back. “Yes cousin, we absolutely should.”

Soon after the call ended, Jensen climbed back on deck, and started pulling his clothes on. “Sorry! I stopped to thank the Mers and send everyone home. What did I miss?”

Jared ran to hug him even though he was drenched from head to toe, and quickly filled him in.

“Okay, I know there’s still one more out there. But I still think this victory calls for a celebration. Don’t you?” Jensen asked.
“Well,” Jared began coyly. “It is the fall equinox.”
Jensen pulled his mate close. “That’s right. Happy Nowruz, jaan. So how would you like to celebrate?”
Jared hummed. “By going to bed?”
“Ooh, I like the way you’re thinking…”
“Not that!” Jared smacked Jensen’s chest lightly. “I haven’t slept in three days, and neither have you.”
“All right, you go on ahead, jaan, I’ll join you in a bit.”

He took his phone from Jared, intending to make some calls.

“Hey,” Jared put a hand on top of his phone, whispering softly. “It’s all right, J. We can stay put here for now. And you can rest today. You should.”

Jensen blinked, gulping hard. “A-Are you sure, like really sure?”

Jared smiled, and kissed Jensen on the lips. “I’m sure.”

Emily Perkins and Julia Maxwell went on to create a huge splash with their exclusive story that aired later that night. Jared and Jensen were, sadly, fast asleep and missed it.

/// Breaking News: Wehea fired a hypersonic missile at Albion’s capital this morning, in what is understood to be an attempt to assassinate the First Family. The attack was foiled by First Alpha Jensen Ackles who intercepted the missile just in the nick of time. We have exclusive video of this incredible event, only on MNN. In other news, the fire that broke out in the home of Mancunian Vice President Mark Sheppard on the Isle of Sparrow earlier today has finally been put out. According to unconfirmed reports, the Vice President was home, and has tragically, succumbed to his injuries… ///

Chapter Text

19 Septembre, 3947 PG

West Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion  

Kathryn was livid. “I can’t believe you two, are you even listening to yourselves?”

She came charging down the grand stairs into the courtyard. Behind her emerged Alan and Hilarie, otherwise known as her stubbornly persistent and annoying parents.

“I just think it’s time to change tactics, Zeta,” Alan implored, impatiently.
Kat didn’t miss the emphasis on her title, and thought about stomping her feet like a kid just to spite him. “And what would Jensen say, hmm? Would you dare suggest this to him?”
“Jensen would understand that it is time. Time to end this.”

Kat reminded herself she was speaking not just to her dad, but to the High Alpha of Albion himself. In the five days since the second bioweapon was destroyed, Wehea had escalated their missile attacks on all three fronts. The death toll among Albion’s naval and ground forces was rising. As it was for Wehea for that matter, but the difference was that Mitch Pileggi didn’t seem to care.

“Jensen and Jared will take care of the third one,” Hilarie said, confidently. “You have to take care of your forces, Zeta. Remember, our arsenal is not unlimited. We’ll be completely depleted in another month or so.”
“Wehea will run out long before we do, Mom. Half of their naval fleet has been decimated already.”
“And how many more Albionians will die before that happens?”

Kathryn put her fists on her hips. She was dressed like a Zeta… in her black coat with golden furs, green cargos… but she still felt like a frikkin' flower-child underneath it all. In contrast, Alan’s black tux and Hilarie’s black ballgown reflected exactly who her parents were – regents, political animals, veterans far more experienced in conflict than herself.

“I made a commitment not to stoop as low as Pileggi. Any long-range attack on Ballarat no matter how targeted, will take innocent lives, Dad. It’d be unavoidable.”
“Those are unfortunately the tough choices a Zeta must make. We cannot keep fighting an endless war, Kathryn. Unless you can think of a better way to end it?”

Before she could retort - though she didn’t know what to say - Kat heard voices, and laughter, coming from the far end of the courtyard. The trio immediately shut up, mortified at the thought of having an audience to their argument. They turned to look at the source, or sources to be more precise.

All staff (except Felicia) had been evacuated for their own safety. All security guards were stationed outside the mansion walls. The children were up in Hilarie’s suite with Felicia, playing on their PS960. The only other people in the mansion were the two lycans calmly strolling in from the terrace.

Daniel and Tyler held hands as they walked, leaning against each other. Completely engrossed in each other as if the world around them simply didn’t exist. Kat’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe how different Daniel looked.

The dark circles under his eyes seemed to have disappeared overnight. He looked like he’d actually brushed his hair, or maybe someone (Tyler) did it for him. He was still barefoot, but he wore a shirt that wasn't black, rather a light pastel color they’d never, ever seen on him before. Probably didn’t even belong to Daniel. What was that – peach?

“Fenrir bless us, I never thought I’d see him so happy…” Kat heard the tears in her mother’s voice, and couldn’t agree more.
“Kat,” Alan came to stand beside her. “Can you see it?”
“See what, Dad?”
“Use your wolf eyes, concentrate.”
She squinted. Suddenly it appeared, a shimmering golden string of pearls linking Daniel’s right hand to Tyler’s left one.

A bond!

Kathryn felt her own eyes water, and she couldn’t stop grinning. Alan Ackles put one hand on his wife’s back and another on his daughter’s shoulder. “Ladies… I believe we just found a ‘better way’ to end the war.”

Aboard the Nyctimus
Northern Gelidian Ocean

Jared squinted against the soft light pressing on his eyelids, and groaned. How was it morning already?

Jensen chuckled beside him, ruffling his hair. “No need to wake up yet, jaan. We’ve got time.”

Jared turned over and buried his face in Jensen’s chest. They were in bed in the captain’s cabin, naked under white satin sheets, warm, comfortable. He burrowed a place for himself in the alpha’s arms, entangling their legs together, removing any and all ideas Jensen might have about getting out of bed by himself.

“What time is it?” he asked out of curiosity, not that he cared.
“0730.”
Jared’s eyes shot open and landed on his mate’s face. “Wow, I actually slept the whole night through.”
“You did. Guess our… post-dinner activities really wore you out, hmm?”
Jared smiled coyly, “Maybe that’s what I needed. A good, long, hard…”

Jensen started coughing and laughing simultaneously.
“What?” Jared grinned. “I was talking about this pillow… I really missed it, you know.”
“Ah, your pillow! I see,” Jensen slipped a hand under the sheets to pinch Jared’s butt, making him both squirm and laugh. Then Jensen kissed the tip of his nose to make up for it.
“It was a beautiful night. Long overdue.”
“Loooong overdue,” Jared concurred.

“So, any more dreams?” Jensen asked, pushing strands of hair back from his mate’s face.
“Nope, just the one I had two days ago…”
“Which is why we’re heading to the northern front. Should be there in a couple of hours.”
“And what time does Alaina get there?”
“Oh, she’s there already. Sent a text to your phone.”

Jared nodded, his eyes fixating on his mate’s jugular notch, the spot he often anchored himself to, as a source of comfort, or strength. He put his right index finger on it, stroking its bony perimeter repeatedly. This obsession of his was probably not healthy, but Jensen never discouraged it, never complained, never shirked him off.

“Hey,” Jensen tapped his chin until Jared’s gaze lifted back up to meet his. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”
Jared sighed. “Not me, I think something’s bothering her. She’s… holding back, unable to talk to me.”
Jensen looked away, before Jared could read the guilt in his eyes. “Everyone’s on edge these days, jaan.”
“I know. Everyone’s dealing with this constant threat of violence and death in different ways. Jeff was really jittery before he left too, Mayor Ferris kept gnashing her teeth…”
Jensen smiled. “You obviously see more than you let on.”

Jared tilted his head and scanned his mate’s face. “And you, my love, you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I don’t know where to even begin with you.”
Jensen exhaled and let his head fall against his pillow like a deadweight. “I just can’t wait for this to be over.”

Jared bit his lip. “I hope I’m not adding to your stress, J.”
Jensen frowned at him. “I’m worried for you, jaan. Not because of you. There’s a difference.”
“I know, I know…”

They lay like that for a while longer, comforting each other. Then Jared’s stomach growled. Jensen laughed and sat up.
“All right, I’ll go catch us some fresh salmon for breakfast. And you…” he kissed Jared’s lips and scratched behind his ears, making Jared purr. “Take your time, okay?”
He left Jared stretching lazily in bed, picked up his clothes from the floor, and stepped out of the cabin.

Jared watched Jensen go, sighing morosely. The lines of stress and weariness on his mate’s exquisite face got deeper with every passing day they spent at war. Jared couldn’t wait for this to be over either, just so Jensen could have a good night of sleep himself.

He thought back to their conversation last week, recounting his vision of the second bioweapon. Jensen hadn’t reacted in words. But he punched a hole six feet deep into the ground of the empty barrack they’d been standing in. Once he did decide to speak, his voice was lower and angrier than a serpent’s hiss… a reptile long extinct so chances were, Jensen wouldn’t understand the reference.

“We can’t do anything yet, can we?”
“We need to let things play out exactly as they will, so Pileggi doesn’t change his plan to fire the missile on the morning of Nowruz. If we change anything, who knows when he might fire it next. I’m already nervous about making you and Kat swap fronts, but far as I can tell, the vision is still valid, the missile is still coming.”
“Okay. So, we evacuate after the missile is launched. Let it fall on an empty mansion, like a dud.”
“Yes, but also…” Jared raised an index finger. “We intercept it mid-way. Why risk letting the poison get that close to the people of Albion?”
Jensen nodded. “Agreed. We stop it over the Alaskan.”

But sitting on their hands for three days had been sheer hell on Jensen. It was on the day before Nowruz, that Alan revealed his plan to return to the mansion to see the pups on their most important festival of the year. That’s when he also shared his wish to meet the front leaders.

“You know we can’t gather in one place yet, Dad,” Jensen chided Alan.
“Okay, how about I meet Katie and Tom with the pups in the morning, and then fly over to see you and Kat later?”

That’s when it clicked… why Pileggi was sending the missile at sunrise on Nowruz. Jared had been right: there was a second traitor in the house of Albion. Someone close enough to know the High Alpha’s plans and movements. There was no one they could trust except the one who had the most to lose. So Jensen called Tom.

“We received new intel from Sterling. Expecting trouble tomorrow morning.”
“Should we cancel the meet?”
“No.”
Tom hesitated, though for only a second. “Understood. I’ll have the mansion evacuated before sunrise.”

Good old, dependable Tommy. He got to the mansion at 0500, woke every living soul up, and took them through a network of underground tunnels and caverns to the town of Nadasdy, nine klicks away from the mansion. Once he got confirmation from Jensen that it was safe to return, he led the same sleepy, cranky, grumbling party (mainly Daniel and the pups) back to the mansion, with none the wiser.

“We still don’t know who this traitor is…” another reason why Jensen wasn’t sleeping at night.
“We’ll flush him out soon enough, J, have patience.”
“How? C-Can you try to invoke another vision?”
“I’ll try.”

And try Jared did, this time focusing on Tom and his love for his family, which happened to be closely intermeshed with his fealty towards the Ackles. Jared succeeded in inducing a vision, but it turned out to be about the third vial instead of the traitor. It was being sent on another hypersonic stealth missile. So, they decided to table the traitor problem for now and concentrate on the bioweapon instead.

“Hey, jaan. Are you up?” Jensen poked his head in, breaking Jared out of his memory palace. He was in a bathrobe, dripping wet, meaning he’d just gotten out of the water.
“Yeah, I’m up. Do you need help with the cooking?”
Jensen outright laughed, making Jared pout. “Sorry, ahem, yes jaan. I could use your help in… pouring the coffee. Are you up for that?”
Jared got out of bed. “I don’t know, love. I mean I can try, but those pots are hot and all…”
Jensen laughed again, then left him to get ready for the day.

They ate on the foredeck. Breakfast turned out to be voluminous amounts of grilled salmon, creamberries, coffee for Jared, and sparkling water for Jensen.
“This was amazing, thanks love,” Jared leaned over and kissed his mate.
“Mmph,” Jensen started a sentence in the middle of their very passionate kiss. Jared hiked an eyebrow in question.
“I almost forgot. Something came for you, from the cordillera.”
Jensen stood up, ran down to the kitchen, and a minute later, he returned with a familiar-looking jute bag in one hand.

Jared’s smile dimmed. “Lokums?”
“Lokums!” Jensen echoed, albeit more cheerily.

Jared hesitated.

“Come on, jaan, I know these are your favorite. Yadira from the town market shipped these especially for you. Our folks do that, you know, send care packages to soldiers and family members on duty.”
When Jared still didn’t reach for them, Jensen sat down beside him and leaned closer. “These aren’t laced. I checked.”
Jared sighed, and tentatively picked out a small piece. He squinted as something occurred to him.

“I wonder if I could have controlled my last two visions like I did, if I still had any chrysoberyl in my system.”
“Probably not. I talked to Felicia, or rather she talked to me.” Jensen watched Jared’s face intently. “She is very sorry, you know. She hopes you will forgive her one day and go back to being friends again?”
Jared shrugged. “She was just doing her job. And look at the irony… your parents were so afraid we’d make a trueblood baby. Turns out they already have a trueblood under their roof right now.”

Jensen scoffed sadly.

“Jensen?”
“Yes, jaan.”
“What did you say to them? When they asked you how we knew about the second missile?”
Jensen smirked. “I told them the intel came from Sterling. That’s what I’m going to say about the third one too, to anyone who asks.”

Jared lowered his eyes. He knew his mate would do everything to keep Jared safe. He just wished Jensen didn’t have to go against his parents to do so. He sighed again and changed the subject.

“Speaking of… I’d feel so much better if Sterling called.”
And just then, perfectly on cue, Jensen’s phone buzzed. He hiked up an eyebrow and pointed at his mate. “My own personal crystal ball.”
“Shut up,” Jared blushed.

“Whoa, are those silk pajamas?” Jensen teased by way of greeting.
Sterling grinned. “It is the weekend, and I’m at the lake house on my own. So yeah, silk pajamas all day long!”
“Very nice,” Jensen approved. “So… tell me you have some good news, cuz.”
The human nodded. “I do have what we need. Sending it now.”

The CEO of Brown-West cast his screen to share another proprietary satellite image with Jensen. He’d spent two days chasing approvals from the board to recalibrate the company satellite. He’d also begged off a big family get-together this weekend citing work to get this done. Truth was, he couldn’t possibly relax until the third bioweapon that threatened the Ackles was taken care of.

“So, whoever your source is, they deserve a medal, Jensen. They were right. There is a stealth ship in the Gelidian, anchored 3000 klicks north of y’all. That’s so far up north of any civilization, our eyes in the sky weren’t seeing it at all. But now we do.”
“That’s awesome. Thanks, Sterling,” Jensen squinted at the image. “That ship looks damn near invisible. You can barely make out its outline in the water.”
Sterling snorted. “Yeah, it’s using the same stealth technology that the missile did. Very, very hard to locate on any radar or satellite. And being surrounded by all that ice diminishes its thermal reading too.”
“Wow. How did you get the board to agree to lend us your satellite by the way?”

It had taken all his political and corporate goodwill, but he wasn’t about to lay that on his cousin.

“They won’t say it on record, but they know you’re the good guys. And they rationalized that any activity you might conduct in Gelidian’s neutral intercontinental waters does not violate any human accords, so there.”
“Thanks again. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”
“While we’re being candid, are you allowed to tell me who your source is?”

Jensen sighed, and his face did that grimace thing Sterling was starting to recognize as contrition.
“Someday, when it’s safe, I’ll tell you the whole story, promise.” 
Sterling nodded. “Understood. Sending you the coordinates and the satellite video link.”
“You don’t want to stay for the fireworks?”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before. Also, plausible deniability,” he winked. “Good luck, cuz!”

Sterling hung up, and went right back to bed. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while either. But something told him, tonight he will.

Northern Front
Albion

Jensen and Jared entered the command center, and found Tom and Katie leaning intently over a digital console, while Alaina sat on a chair beside them.

“Hey!” Jensen called out, making everyone turn towards them.
Alaina rushed over to hug Jared, while Jensen went to hug Tom and Katie.

When Jared turned to greet Tom, he noticed the commander looking unusually haggard. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and there were bags under his eyes. Jared could only imagine how extreme exhaustion must be for a lycan to look like that.

“Tommy, are you all right?”
Tom smiled wryly as he hugged Jared, then looked at Katie.
“Sweetheart, you remember those ancient movies Jensen would make us watch when we were pups?”
“Yeah?”
“Tell Jared what my favorite part used to be.”
Katie grinned. “The End. Tommy hated watching those movies.”

Jared and Alaina laughed while Jensen rolled his eyes.
“Just saying,” Tom folded his arms. “Can’t wait to watch the end-credits roll on this overlong saga, brother.”
“It’s coming, brother, it’s coming,” Jensen promised, then linked up his phone to cast Sterling’s satellite stream on the plasma for all to see.

Jared thought back to the vision he’d had two days ago. A beautiful sequence of Tom sweeping his mate, Katie, off her feet and whirling her around as they celebrated something. They were looking at something far off in the distance, facing due north. Jared could see the Albion flag fluttering impassionedly in the wind, the military pier on the northern front behind them, and the sun high in the sky but at a slight westward slant, signifying a little after noon…

“It’s over, my love. The ship has been destroyed. You, the kids, we’re all safe.” Tom whispered, kissing Katie fervently. She held him tight with tears glistening in her eyes.
“We can make it home in time for Joshua’s birthday after all!”

For a change, it wasn’t a vision of something they had to stop, rather a vision they just had to ensure actually came true. Lisa called Jensen a day later. She was still tracking Curtis Armstrong’s digital footprints and discovered he had helo’d out to somewhere in the Gelidian ocean, and was traveling at speeds of over a hundred knots, heading north. That penultimate piece of the puzzle had been enough to put the rest of it together. And Sterling provided the cincher – coordinates of the ship itself.

“Commander Welling,” Jensen said, his voice more formal all of a sudden. “Missiles at the ready.”
“Three long-range cruise missiles. Mach 3. Ready and awaiting your orders, Alpha,” Tom replied.
Jensen looked at Jared, who nodded subtly. Then he turned to his cousin. “The northern front is your command, Third Alpha. You want to do the honors?”

Katie smirked. “It’d be my distinct pleasure.”
She turned to her mate and nodded. “Fire at will.”

Tom fired.

Two hours later, they all stood outside in the sun, celebrating the decimation of Wehea’s bioweapons. The lycans were off talking to their forces, while Jared and Alaina sat on a pier bench watching the MNN news coverage on Jared’s phone.

/// Breaking News: The Albion administration has just released a statement sharing details of the military activity they conducted earlier today, in the neutral waters of the northern Gelidian ocean… ///

“Do you really think it’s over?” Alaina wondered aloud.
“Well, the war is far from over, but the constant threat to the First Family is gone.”
“So I can return home now? To Stormway?”
Jared turned to her, clearly alarmed. “W-What if Pileggi gets desperate again?”
Alaina sighed. “My people need me, Jared.”
“You’re needed here too!” Jared held her hand. “Kat told me you’ve been helping out in the infirmary, first at the southern front and now here too. Please stay, a little longer…”

Alaina sighed, but relented.

/// This just in… it’s being reported that Curtis Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong Industries was on board the ship just decimated by Albionian missiles. But what was Mr. Armstrong doing on a Wehean military vessel? According to the recent injunction issued by the Mancunian supreme court, Armstrong Industries is forbidden to supply weapons or technologies to the South… ///

“Oh, my Fenrir! WHAT?” Katie was on her own phone, and her vociferous exclamations made everyone turn towards her.
“Kat, are you sure? Really, REALLY, sure??!”

Jensen frowned and looked at Tom, who just shrugged. They started to walk towards Katie, and on the way, Jensen glanced at Jared. His mate was watching Katie too, listening to the same one-sided conversation. And yet, he was smiling sagely. Like he knew exactly why Katie looked as happy as the day she had her second child.

21 Septembre, 3947 PG

Pileggi Tower
Ballarat, Wehea

The High Council meeting was not going well.

Hundreds were gathered in the open-air atrium on the ground level of Pileggi tower. They wore traditional robes that looked like thawbs – floor-length gowns with large, winged sleeves made out of black fabric, and decorated with colorful patchwork. Robes befitting the proud lycans who self-identified as nomads roaming the great south.

These nomads had made Wehea their home and given it their all – their blood, their sweat, their tears, to build a new pack they could belong to and feel safe in. So, it was no surprise that they had a lot to say today to their pack leader, High Alpha Mitch Pileggi.

“Silence…” Pileggi tried to cut through the din of angry, dissenting voices. It didn’t work.

He looked at the elite guard squad standing behind him, the squad that was once led by his best friend, First Alpha Freddie Lehne. But was now led by First Alpha Christian Kane.

Kane was his late sister’s son, his only family by blood left alive. As such, Mitch should be able to trust him. But he didn’t. Kane used to be friends with one of the Sharman betas, Mitch couldn’t remember which one. He probably never knew. All he knew was, after she died, his beloved nephew never really looked at him the same way again. Kane was ambitious though, something he had in common with his uncle. He’d accepted the rank of Second Alpha, and at twenty-two, became the youngest commander of Wehea’s domestic security forces. And he’d fulfilled his responsibilities to perfection ever since.

So yes, he seemed like the logical choice to promote to First Alpha and Zeta now that Freddie was gone. Not that Mitch had many choices left. His decision to go to war with Albion had alienated him from many of his erstwhile supporters. Which brought him back to the commotion around him.

Mitch looked at Kane. The kid quickly understood and signaled his squad. Twelve lycans pulled out their weapons and fired in unison, nozzles turned up to the sky. The gunfire first led to a collective shriek of terror, followed by sudden and utter silence. Mitch nodded at Kane for a job well done.

“As I was saying,” he began, leaning forward in his throne and looking down at the crowd gathered before him. “I’ve called this meeting to announce a seven-day mourning period for our fallen comrades, who gave their lives to-”
“Exactly what did they give their lives for, High Alpha?” a voice interrupted him, quite rudely at that.

Mitch seethed but turned to look at the source of that familiar voice. Mayor Scott Wilson, the 400 years old alpha who simply refused to die.

“What is this war about? Please… enlighten us, we’d all like to know.”
“How can you ask me that, Mayor Wilson?” Mitch stood up. The crowd took a step back reflexively.
“You, of all people, must remember how the north humiliated us in front of all three continents! Forced us to cede more than half of all the Southlands that we had claimed, fair and square! Boxed us into territory less than half the size of Albion on purpose, so that we’d never become as powerful as they are. How can you forget?!?”

“The Sharmans resolved that issue 300 years ago. We were compensated handsomely in exchange for giving the Impalans and the Olyphants their lands back, and rightly so. This skyscraper that you call home today, was built out of that very compensation. We closed those wounds, High Alpha. What’s the point in reopening them? Look at what it’s cost us already. Seventy of our sons and daughters are dead, all to do what – satisfy your personal grudge against the Ackles?”

Mitch wanted to growl. He wanted to pounce and rip Wilson’s head off with his teeth. Yes, his grandfather was one of the last soldiers to fall in the last war between the north and the south, before the Sharmans and Ackles signed their 'peaceful co-existence’ blood pact. His grandfather’s death went to waste, and Mitch’s father never let him forget it.

“This is not about a grudge, I assure you, Mayor Wilson. It’s about reclaiming our lost dignity and glory in the world. It’s about showing those high-horses they cannot keep us down forever. The lustrum deposits we’ve just discovered in the Parisian Bay-”
“Should be used to build the pack, High Alpha,” another voice interrupted him. Beta Cindy Sampson, the city librarian. Mitch sighed. He knew letting them construct a library in Ballarat was a bad idea.

Sampson stepped forward. “We need housing, energy production, access to digital knowledge that could benefit our people in so many ways. And we could achieve all of that with the lustrum. Instead, you’re using it to buy weapons that are of no use to our people at all.”

Soon enough other people started chiming in. Mitch fumed, wishing he hadn’t called the meeting at all. He’d wanted to whip up public sentiment against the North by highlighting the dead, but this was getting out of hand.

“People! People! Please!”
A voice shouted from beside him, trying to mollify the crowd. And for a while he even succeeded. It was Sebastian Roche, the northern defector.
“You’re not listening to your pack leader! You do a disservice to yourself by disrespecting your High Alpha!”
“Oh, really? And what exactly did you do to your High Alpha, núíosach?” Sampson snapped at him loud enough for all to hear. The crowd laughed, shutting him up immediately.

Mitch sighed, and opened his mouth to try again. But before he could utter a single word, a loud buzzing sound drew everyone’s attention away. The alphas heard it first, with their sharper senses, the betas followed soon after. One by one, everyone turned away from the throne, and towards the back of the atrium.

From the north, a fleet of pam-jets approached in a tight V-formation. They kicked up a minor sandstorm in their wake as they crossed the desert to enter the capital. The crowd squinted against the dust and sun, but kept their eyes glued anxiously to the airships. They weren’t Wehean.

“What in Luna’s name?” Mitch yelled. “Where’s your security, Kane?”
Christian Kane looked up at the eight Albionian crafts in Wehean airspace. His hitherto expressionless face shifted into a mild smirk.
“I received a message from an old friend. You may not remember him, Uncle, he was just a kid when you ran him and his family out of here.”
Mitch glowered at Kane. He’d been right not to trust the bastard.

The gathered lycans started to panic and disperse.

“Stay calm, Weheans!” Kane called out, stepping forward. “Stand your ground! You have my word… you’re going to want to hear this.”

Two pam-jets landed amid the crowd, while the other six continued to silently hover overhead. A2 landed on the left, and from it stepped out three beings – Albion’s First Alpha Jensen Ackles, his Onur Gelin Jared Padalecki, and Tahmoh Penikett, Mer Prince of the Bay of Eritrea.

“We come in peace!” Jensen announced, knowing they didn’t need any introduction. Apparently, Weheans got HBO too. Maybe not all 180 channels, but enough.

The din of voices started to rise again as the southerners shared their shock and confusion with each other.

“And we come bearing gifts,” Jensen continued, grinning as he pointed a finger at the pam-jet on the right.

Two lycans stepped out. The blond one with the angelic face wore a long black cardigan over a silk white shirt and black pleated trousers. With his left hand, he clutched the end of his cardigan’s sleeve, while his right gripped the other lycan’s hand tight, as if for dear life. He wasn’t barefoot, for a change, wore black loafers that looked brand new. The dark lycan was dressed in classic khaki pants, a blue shirt, a checked tweed jacket and brown oxfords. Also thick, black-rimmed glasses.

“Weheans!” Tahmoh began in a booming siren-voice that reached every soul gathered in the atrium. “I’m here in the capacity of a neutral loric, to attest to the identity of these two lycans. These are your sons, returning home to you – Omega Daniel Sharman, the last of the Sharmans. And his bonded mate, Alpha Tyler Hoechlin!”

The gasps became louder. Mixed with sounds of denial, outrage, amazement, doubt, hope… and recognition.

“Luna Mia!” Mayor Wilson cried, as he walked up to Daniel. “He’s a spitting image of his mother Danica. Isn’t he?”

And suddenly everyone saw it.

Kane stepped off the dais to greet the men. Tyler smiled at him, his spectacled eyes brimming with nostalgia.
“You got tall, son,” Kane chuckled, before pulling Tyler into a tight hug.

“That’s Ambassador Hoechlin’s boy…” someone in the crowd shouted, and others concurred.

Everyone clamored to get a closer look at the couple. Jensen and Jared stepped aside to clear the way. Jensen gripped his mate’s hand, while Jared wrapped his other hand around Jensen’s arm and together they stood, bearing witness to history being created in Wehea.

“No, no, wait!” Pileggi cried from the dais. “This… this is an imposter. How c-can we be sure he’s a Sharman?!? Just because these northerners and their Mer friend say so?!?”

Daniel swallowed. For a moment Jensen feared he would turn away, maybe hide behind his alpha. But he didn’t. He stood up straight and advanced towards the dais.

“I am the last Sharman son,” he replied to Pileggi directly, his voice mellow but firm. “The assassin you sent after me spared my life.”

He turned to the crowd. “I’d be happy to submit to whatever DNA testing you need as proof. But as true southerners, you must know in your heart, you can see with your own lycan-sight, can’t you?”

The crowd gathered closer. Daniel sought Jensen’s eyes across the atrium, and Jensen nodded back at him. Daniel held onto his mate’s hand and continued.
“My mate, Alpha Hoechlin and I – hereby claim the Southern pack of lycans as your rightful leaders. And I call for a High Council vote to decide. Now!”

The crowd expressed their astonishment in absolute silence. But they still leaned forward, didn’t pull back.

“If you want this war to end,” Daniel pressed on. “If you want justice for the Sharmans like I do, and for the Weheans who’ve died pointlessly these last few weeks… then you know what to do.”

“As an inner circle member, I second his claim,” Mayor Wilson announced.
“Mayor Wilson beat me to it by half a second,” Kane added.

“Stop this nonsense!” Pileggi yelled. “Guards! Arrest that imposter! Shoot him! Shoot him dead!”

The guards looked at their commander, and Kane crossed his arms. “I think we should let the vote decide who gets shot today. Don’t you?” he demanded of the entire High Council.

“Aye!” The crowd echoed.

“Do you really want an omega and a nerdy college professor to lead you? What is wrong with you?” Mitch bellowed. “That sorry excuse for an alpha can’t even see for Luna’s sake! The High Alpha of the South must be strong…”
“Strong, like you?” Daniel scoffed. The crowd spun around towards him. “A strong alpha would have challenged Alaric Sharman through a Council election, not poisoned him and his entire family like a coward. He would lead in battle from the front, not hide in his tower, surrounding himself with innocent civilians for protection.”

Pileggi didn’t have a response to that. Kane spoke up again. “Those in favor of Sharman and Hoechlin’s claim to pack leadership – raise your hands now.”

Jensen watched, amazed, and moved… but not entirely surprised… as one by one, practically everyone in the crowd raised their hand. Only a handful lycans loyal to Pileggi held back, and huddled behind him on the dais.

Kane turned to Mayor Wilson. “You want to do the honors?”
“With pleasure,” Wilson replied, then stepped up to the dais, glaring at Pileggi. He raised his voice. “By nearly unanimous vote, Wehea, you have chosen your new pack leaders. All hail, High Alpha Tyler Hoechlin and High Omega Daniel Sharman!!”

The crowd erupted into a thunderous cheer that echoed through all corners of the atrium endlessly.

“You little bastard,” Mitch growled at Daniel, deep in his throat.

In the next instant, he transformed into a massive white wolf with blood-red eyes, and charged towards Daniel. Jensen ran to intercept him, as did Kane and the guards. But before they could reach Daniel, Tyler slid in front of his mate. Just as Pileggi descended towards Daniel, Tyler’s right arm stretched out, grabbed the front of the wolf’s scruff, and stopped him dead in his tracks. The wolf snarled. The human snarled right back.

Jensen, like the others, stood stupefied. He’d never seen a lycan in human form manhandle a lycan in wolf form before. Tyler thrust forward with all his might, pushing Pileggi down to the ground on his right side. Pileggi growled and swiped with his left paw, six-inch long claws aiming for Tyler’s throat. Tyler swung backwards out of his way, only to straighten back up and punch the wolf with his left fist. Pileggi went down again, this time toppling over on his left side.

The people of Wehea did not need to see anything more. They erupted again, cheering, hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs, in favor of their new High Alpha. Tyler turned to a slightly shaken Daniel.

“Stand back, jaan, will ya?”

Jensen’s mouth fell open again. He turned to Jared. “Did you hear what… did he just…?”
Jared who was barely controlling his own excitement, bit back a grin and pulled Jensen back. “Let it go, love…”

Even Tahmoh laughed at Jensen’s outrage, like he had some sort of copyright on certain endearments. Eventually he just crossed his arms and pouted.

Another collective gasp swept through the atrium when Tyler transformed. A handsome wolf with golden-green eyes and reddish-brown fur stood in the human’s place.

“Great, he’s red. He’s a red wolf,” Jensen sulked again, while Jared practically jumped up and down in his spot.

Kane and his guards rushed down the dais, not to stop the battle that was now inevitable, but to safeguard the High Omega. Daniel watched, stunned beyond words, as they surrounded him protectively. The wolves fought, rolling around, scratching, and clawing at each other. It didn’t last long. Tyler had Mitch pinned on the ground on his back, with one paw pressed down on Mitch’s neck strategically. Being a doctor, he knew exactly how much pressure to apply and where.

“Wait, Tyler!” Daniel yelled.
Tyler the wolf turned to him. “Jaan, this guy killed your family and ruined so many lives, includin’ ours! He doesn’t deserve to live.”
“I know,” Daniel said. “But we should first find out if he has any vials left.”
Pileggi the wolf sneered. “If I die, you’ll never know.”
Tyler snarled at him again, then looked at Jensen, who in turn glanced at Jared.

Jared took a deep breath. “We know.”

He gripped Jensen’s arm again and nodded at Tyler. This wasn’t pleasant, but he was ready to see the end-credits roll as well. Pileggi knew his ruse had failed. He tried one last time to stab Tyler, but didn’t get a chance. Tyler snapped his neck with his bare paw.

The crowd stayed quiet. Death was horrifying no matter whose, and they’d seen too much of it already. The silence was broken only by Commander Kane, as he ordered one of his men to bring a robe for the High Alpha. Then he turned to Daniel, smiling softly. “So much for a nerdy college professor. You chose well, High Omega.”

Daniel smiled back, his blue eyes shimmering brightly.

From the corner of an eye, Jensen spotted Roche trying to slink away.
“Oh no, you don’t,” he started to go after him when Jared stopped him again.
“What?”
“Just wait,” Jared winked, and nodded towards Daniel. The new regent of Wehea hadn’t missed the escape attempt either.

“Going somewhere, Councilman Roche?” Daniel’s voice stopped Roche in his tracks.

Meanwhile, Tyler returned to stand by Daniel, dressed in a floor-length blue robe with gold trimmings on the collar, cuffs, and belt cinched around his waist.  

Roche gulped and cowered where he stood. “Uh, I-I just…”
“Arrest him,” Daniel ordered softly, and Kane’s squad obeyed.
“I assure you, Alpha Jensen,” Daniel clasped his hands behind his back. “The traitor will pay for his crimes. As for the war,” Daniel turned to face his people. “We’re done. It’s time for peace.”

Jensen felt his chest swell with pride. A grateful crowd cheered and applauded again, and it lasted a very, very long time.

23 Septembre, 3947 PG

West Wing
Albion

“A toast!” Hilarie declared, to members of the First Family gathered around her.

They were in Alan’s office, standing around his desk, celebrating the end of the war. They were joined by Alaina and Seth. Everyone was dressed in their black military coats, having just returned from their respective fronts or official meetings. Everyone except Hilarie who’d been home and wore a white shirt dress with gold accessories, and Alaina who wore a burgundy pencil dress with snow-white running shoes.

Hilarie raised her glass of homegrown champagne. “To everyone in this room, I cannot thank you enough for everything you did to keep this family safe.”

“And if I may add,” Katie began, raising her own glass. “To everyone who isn’t here in this room, but without whom we couldn’t have possibly made it through. Sterling Brown, Lisa Berry, Prince Tahmoh, Alpha Morgan, Andy Lincoln…”

Both Jensen and Alaina subtly twitched at the last name. And caught each other doing so.

“To the New Tibetans!” Seth added. “For a bunch of pacifists, they sure know how to deal with brigands at their border, and they’re bloody good at it!”

“To Amanda Tapping,” Tom added. “She may have started off on the wrong side, but her support proved vital to our naval defense.”

“To Felicia…” Jared added, politely. “Some of us won’t be able to function without her,” he looked at Hilarie, and they exchanged knowing nods.

Alan chimed in next. “To all Albionions who did their jobs to the best of their ability. And to our troops who stood their ground in the face of senseless hostility. I couldn’t be prouder.”

“Hear, hear!” Tom echoed, and everyone drank to that.

“To Daniel and Tyler,” Jensen said after a pause. “To their epic love that literally ended the war. They’re not here today, they’re in Ballarat, building their new home together. And ushering in a new future in which the northern and southern packs will no longer be divided. Instead, we’ll stand together, stronger than ever.”

“Still think you shouldn’t have left him there,” Hilarie mumbled.
“Relax, Mom,” Jensen assured her. “I left behind some of my strongest men, three pam-jets, and a dozen Mers patrolling the seas around Ballarat.”
“You should have seen that crowd,” Jared added. “They’re genuinely happy to see a Sharman return to their throne. And Daniel offered the Pileggi loyalists amnesty provided they quietly left the Southlands. He’s being smart, plus he has Tyler.”
Hilarie sighed, “Of course. I just can’t help but worry about my boy.”
“I know how you feel,” Alaina supported her kindly. She felt the same way about Jared being in Albion, after all.

Kathryn hugged her mother then changed the subject. “I have a toast too.”
She raised her glass, and looked directly at Jared. “To the Onur Gelin.”
Jared started, and his face warmed up.
“For his amazing strategic insight, or should I say foresight, without which… I don’t know if we’d have succeeded. We owe you our lives, Onur. Thank you.”
She gave him a side hug while others applauded.

“I agree, Jared,” said Alan. “Just like Hilarie, you will make a wise consort to your High Alpha one day.”

Jensen frowned at Alan, wondering if what he just said meant…

“That’s right, son,” Hilarie smiled at him, reading his thoughts. “Everyone knows this war couldn’t have been won without you. Even Richings has thrown his full support back with you. There’s no one left to oppose your nomination anymore.”

Alan put a hand on Jensen’s shoulder. “You will be High Alpha.”

Jensen didn’t know what to say, feeling both overwhelmed and skeptical. He turned to Jared, seeking his mate’s eyes as if searching for the truth in them. He found that, and love, and strength, and the realization that they would be just fine either way. Jensen turned to his sister next.

“Oh, thank Fenrir,” Kat threw herself at him, who caught her easily in a tight hug. “I can go back to being myself, this Zeta business is killing my vibe!”

“Now this is an end worth fighting for!” Tom declared, and everyone agreed.

Alaina’s chest heaved as she watched the indescribable expression on Jared’s face. She started when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Hilarie. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore, Lady Alaina,” she whispered kindly.
Alaina swallowed and simply nodded. There was so much the High Beta didn’t know, who knew how she and Alan would react if they found out…

“I have to say something to you too, Onur,” Hilarie turned to Jared. She walked up to him, held his hand in her own. “We thought you and Jensen bonded by mistake. But we were wrong. There is nothing accidental about your presence in my son’s life, or here, in Albion. Fenrir sent you to us, to save us. You and Jensen… you were meant to be.”

She opened her arms, and waited. Jared looked at Alaina, then at Jensen. Slowly, he leaned forward and let his head fall on top of Hilarie’s shoulder, as she closed her arms tightly around him.

“Thank you, Jared.”
“Thank you,” he whispered back.

“As for your progeny,” Alan said, once Hilarie and Jared separated. “I trust that you two will know the right thing to do, when the time comes.”

Jared blushed brightly while the group aww-ed at him. Jensen did both.

They lingered about, together, chatting, laughing, reminiscing. Until the exhaustion of the past few weeks finally caught up with them. One by one, they said their goodbyes and trickled out of the High Alpha’s office, leaving Alan and Hilarie alone, at last.

They looked at each other, and sighed in perfect synchrony. “I suppose it’s time to make the call.”
Hilarie walked over to Alan, slipped her arms into his. “Let’s get this over with.”

Sheran Chief Michael Cudlitz came online after two rings. He looked pensive, resolute. “So, what have you decided?”

Alan and Hilarie looked at each other, but said nothing. Cudlitz waited, but soon ran out of patience.

“I take it you have chosen not to keep your end of the blood pact after all.”
“…”
“So much for lycan honor,” he muttered as if talking to himself, but not really.
“Before you question our honor, Chief Cudlitz,” Hilarie began, her tone as salty as his own. “We have only your word. How can we be sure?”
Cudlitz scowled. “Don’t tell me you two actually believe the lies they told you about where the intel on the bioweapons came from.”
“…”
He huffed. “Fine, you want proof?”

He turned to his left and gestured with two fingers at someone standing off-camera. A moment later, said person joined him on the call.
Hilarie’s eyes went wide. “Mayor Ferris?!? I don’t believe it… W-WHY?!?”

Samantha Ferris scoffed with all the bitterness in the world.

“Why? Because the Ackles have been sullying the purity of the lycan race for generations, that’s why. I loved your brother, Christopher. I should have been his High Beta! Instead, he scorned me for a human woman, and lost his own chance to be High Alpha! Your daughter, Kathryn, almost bonded with a human. I had to take care of him personally to prevent that travesty.”

Hilarie’s hand shot up to her mouth.
“Then your son goes a step further and bonds with a shifter?!?”
Hilarie looked away.
“And now it turns out he’s not even that. Jared’s a chimera! And you two, despite knowing his truth, continue to harbor him in the First Family! Shame on you!”
Hilarie clenched her jaw. “Michael, I thought you said you had proof.”

Before Cudlitz could respond, Ferris shouted again. “I overheard them! At the southern front, they were whispering to each other in an empty barrack, arguing over what to do with his dirty mutant powers. I heard them with my own two-”

“Good for you.” Alan cut her off abruptly. He stared directly at Cudlitz, not acknowledging Ferris again for the rest of the conversation.
“Look, Michael. I understand you’re worried about the geopolitical advantage this might create for us,” he smirked vaguely, making sure the sheran saw it.
“But think of what you’re asking me to do. You have children too, don’t you?”
Cudlitz raised an eyebrow. “Your son might yet survive. Like Norman did. Chimeran bonds aren’t pure, how strong can they be?”
“You have no proof of that,” Hilarie snapped at him. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. You asked us what we intended to do…”

She looked at Alan once, and he nodded. She turned back to the console.
“We intend to announce our retirement.”
“WHAT?!?”
“We’ll be handing the reins over to Jensen and Jared. So you see, we can’t really do anything. But feel free to take it up with the next High Alpha.”

Both Cudlitz and Ferris sported identically pissed off expressions.

“Oh, wait,” Hilarie gasped dramatically. “I almost forgot… Jensen is adopted! So technically, he isn’t bound by the Ackles-Cudlitz blood pact now, is he?”

The sheran looked beyond miffed. “You can’t subvert the blood pact like this.”
“Oh, we just… did.” Hilarie grinned brightly. “And you know what, maybe this will finally balance the scales between us.”
“W-What do you mean?”
Alan snorted. “You really think we don’t know about the trueblood you have harbored all these years?”

Even Ferris frowned at the sheran. Cudlitz’s jaw hardened. “I don’t know what you’re-”

“Oh come off it, Chief.” Alan stood up, losing patience. “I know that after we took care of 106, there was one last Reedus asset who remained, 109. I know you kept 109, used him to get rid of your competition until you lost him a while ago. And you’re still looking for him. Don’t you dare talk to me about honor when you’re the one who hasn’t honored our blood pact in years!”

Cudlitz glared into the console. “You’ll risk our friendship, the friendship of our two races, over one trueblood?”
The fact that the sheran didn’t deny the allegations wasn’t lost on anyone.
Alan stepped closer to the console. “I will risk anything for my sons – both of them.”
“…”
“Good night, friend.” Alan signaled at Hilarie with a finger slashing across his throat. Hilarie disconnected the call just as Cudlitz started to say something.

They sat next to each other atop the desk, looking out the windows at a pristine sunset.

“He looked mad.”
“Oh, so, so mad.”

The couple started giggling then, and they couldn’t stop for a good while.

Chapter Text

05 Octobre, 3947 PG

East Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion  

Jared sat in his baroque balcony, his eyes closed, legs folded beneath him, hands folded above. It was his favorite spot to meditate, facing east towards the rising sun. His few moments of consummate calm every day, silencing the chaos outside and the storm within.

He had a vision of Annabelle again. He saw his beautiful, perfect, daughter hugging Alaina, then hop-skipping away to her cousins… Joshua and Kiera who were teenagers now, and Xander, a precocious little child who looked exactly like his omega father. They were all gathered in the family room around a fireplace, celebrating Nowruz. Everyone Jared loved and cared for was there. Even Jeff and Andy…

Jared frowned skeptically even as the vision brought a lopsided smile to his face. Shifters, lycans, humans and truebloods all under one roof – one big happy family?
“That’s quite a reach, Padalecki. Even for you.”

“Say something, jaan?” Jensen called to him from inside their bedroom.

Jared slid his eyes open and exhaled deeply. He looked up as his mate approached. Jensen was dressed in his favorite black shirt with black slacks, while Jared was wearing an all-white ensemble today. Jensen leaned over his right shoulder to capture Jared’s lips with his own.

“You were mumbling again,” Jensen teased him, scratching softly behind Jared’s ears lovingly.
“It’s nothing. I just miss Daniel.”
Jensen’s brows furrowed comically. “Really?”
“I’m getting too kumbaya for my own good. I need more cynicism in my life.”

Jared took Jensen’s hand and lifted himself up to his feet. He kissed his bewildered mate’s pouting lips, then sauntered back inside.

"You know, jaan…" Jensen put his fists on his hips and exhaled deeply. “I know you’re probably thinking… I didn’t follow any of that. But I did. I understood you, completely, one-hundred percent.” he smirked, nodding quite vigorously.

Jared hiked his eyebrows and smiled. “Good for you, my love.”

Jensen bit his lip. Jared waited.

“All right, fine. I don’t get it. WHAT???”

Jared laughed.

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

Alaina’s guestroom faced north, so her balcony offered a fantastic view of the Gelidian shoreline in the distance. It reminded her of home – Stormway – her sanctuary, her purpose for living. A place she’d been away from far too long. She sighed, threw on a white lace cardigan over her long garnet dress, and stepped out. Only to almost run into someone coming down the stairs, carrying a stack of boxes.

“Oh! I’m so sorry,” Alaina said, reaching out to steady the female lycan, keep her from tripping. The said lycan peeked from around her boxes, and grinned.
“Briana, right?” Alaina smiled back. “Do you need help?”
“I’m all right, Lady Alaina. And don’t worry, it’s my fault really, I can’t wait to get all packed and ready to go!”
“Here, let me get some of these for you.” Alaina took half the boxes and carried them down with Briana to the courtyard.

“I see you’re very excited to move to Wehea.”
“Oh, just looking forward to being with Daniel again. I’ve taken care of that boy for so long. And soon, hopefully, I’ll get to care for his pups.”
“That sounds wonderful. When do you leave?”
Briana grinned. “This afternoon, he’s sending a pam-jet.”
Alaina put the boxes down where Briana asked her to, then straightened up. “Well, good luck with the move!”

She smiled and started to head toward the east wing.

“My lady?”

“Yes?” Alaina stopped and turned. Briana stood demurely with her hands clasped together, clearly struggling with something.

“I just… I wanted to say thanks. For raising… your boy… right. I, uh, underestimated him, so many of us did. But he came to us like a blessing from Fenrir, forgave us our prejudices, touched our lives and made them better. I suspect we have you to thank for the man he is today.”

Alaina blinked her tears back, and meekly nodded. “Thank you, Briana. Take care of yourself.”

She waved one last goodbye, then turned to go see her boy. It was time for her to go home. But not before telling Jared where he came from.

North Wing, Ackles Mansion
Albion

“Jared?” Alaina knocked tentatively and waited.
Jared came running to the door.
“Hey! Come on in.” He gave her a big hug, then led her inside.

“Hi! Bored?” Jensen asked, grinning, before she could say anything. “Let’s go swimming in the river. What say?”
“I’m up for it!” Jared said immediately, and they both looked at Alaina expectantly. She just shook her head and smirked.
“When are you two going to grow up?”
“Uh, if growing up means we don’t get to swim in the river, then never,” Jensen quipped promptly.

Alaina sighed. “I just need to talk to you, both of you.”

Jensen’s smile faded. He knew what she was here to talk about. Guess it was that time after all. Jared and Alaina sat on a sofa next to each other, and Jensen took the wingback opposite them. He crossed his legs, bit his lip, and waited.

Alaina took a deep breath. “Jared, it’s time I headed back to the Court.”
“What? No…” Jared pleaded. “Stay for the ceremony, at least! It’s just three more days.”

Soon after the war ended, Alan and Hilarie called a Circle meeting in the Genesis cave, where to everyone’s shock they announced their retirement. Jensen tried to talk them out of it, he thought it was too soon for them to step down, but they were adamant. And then in the same meeting, Jensen was voted unanimously as their next High Alpha. The ascension ceremony was mostly a formality, followed by one big party on the cordillera.

“You cannot miss it, my lady, come on!” Jensen said cheerily.
“Oh dear boy, after the ceremony and after-party in Ballarat just last week? I don’t think I have another one in me…”
Jared snickered. “Yeah, that was crazy. But it was also a one-of-a-kind occasion. First time in the history of the known world, humans, shifters, and lorics from every continent in one place, celebrating the same cause!”

Jensen smirked. “And wow, was it hilarious watching the humans try to hold their liquor. Even Tyler’s gone soft living with them in Westworld…”
Jared just rolled his eyes, then turned to Alaina. “Please just stay. It’s a big day for us. Daniel and Tyler are coming too, and we’re already bummed that Jeff and Andy can’t make it.”

Alaina looked down at her hands, then sighed and looked up again. “All right, dear boy. I’ll stay a few more days.”
“Excellent!” Jared hugged her. “And then after that, we’ll take you to Stormway ourselves. By sea, if you have the patience for it?”
She frowned. “Are you two…?”
“Mm-hm,” Jared licked his lips. “That’s where my… father was last seen. I figured I should try and pick up the trail there.”
Alaina looked at Jensen, who now looked somber and awkward. “You’re going to look for your father?”

Jared simply shrugged. "I just want to know what happened to him, after Stormway."
Jensen cleared his throat. “We talked about this just last night. And, I agree, it’s time for Jared to know the truth, the whole truth.”

He nodded at Alaina, conveying wordlessly that he knew she wanted to be the one to tell Jared, and he wouldn’t step on her toes. Alaina smiled gratefully at him, then took a deep breath.

“Jared, there’s… something that… something I discovered recently, about your father-”

“I know, Alaina.”

She started, as did Jensen.

“You know what, dear?”

Jared pulled one leg under himself and sighed. “Things weren’t adding up. Truebloods are supposed to be a product of a bond between a shifter and a lycan. If my parents had bonded, how did they survive parting from each other? That’s… pretty rare, isn’t it?”

He looked at Jensen directly at that, who nodded.
"If they did bond, it's possible Samantha survived the parting because she wasn't lycan. But for your father to survive would be statistically quite improbable. So chances are he's… well, no more."
Jensen looked at Jared, and expectedly his mate picked up where he left off. “Yeah, that's the simplest explanation. But statistically, bonds themselves are so rare that… it’s more probable they did not bond, and had me out of bond-lock, like Hilarie had Jensen. But, if that's true, then how did I turn out to be a trueblood?”
“…”

Jared continued talking out loud. “Only one alternative comes to mind… what if my father wasn’t lycan?”
Jensen held his breath…
“What if, what if he was a trueblood himself?”
…and let it go slowly.

Alaina frowned so hard her temples hurt. She turned to Jensen, found him smiling subtly at his mate.

“Let's just play it out, hypothetically. So… get this,” Jared continued, his voice dropping a couple decibels. “My father, whoever he was, shows up in Stormway around the same time that a trueblood assassin comes to Stormway for Daniel. What were the chances of two truebloods in the same little town at exactly the same time?”
Alaina rasped. “None…”
“None.” Jared echoed. He looked like he’d given this a lot of thought. He swallowed and looked at Jensen.

“I talked to Hilarie about that night she and Jeff hunted asset 106 down. I asked her if she remembered what he looked like.”
Jensen gulped, hard.
“She couldn’t remember his humanoid form, only saw his silhouette in the dark. But she did see his wolf on the ground, from an attic window. It was a long way down, but between two lightning strikes she saw enough. And she described that wolf the same way that you did, Alaina. All black, with snow-white fur on his paws, a ring of white around his neck.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, jaan?” Jensen implored softly. Not that he was upset. Heck, he was relieved the truth was finally coming out.
“Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I was just… processing what it all meant. My father… a trueblood. And not just any trueblood, the same one who was hired by Pileggi to kill the Sharmans. The one who almost killed Daniel but for some reason didn’t… or couldn’t. I believe he’s the same fugitive that Jeff chased all the way to Reykia, only to run into Andy instead. The timeline all fits…”

Alaina stood up then and started to pace. “I feel like my head’s going to explode,” she grunted. “Holy continents… all this time he's been… and right under our…?”

Jared was studying the tips of his fingers like he usually did when he was deep in thought. Jensen’s eyes flitted from Alaina to Jared, and he held his breath, wondering if his mate would pick up on that little slip… His super-smart mate did not disappoint.

Jared started to frown as he looked up. “Sorry, what did you just say?”
“…”
“Alaina?”

She stopped pacing, and literally froze in her spot. Jared stood up.
“You do know who he is. And he’s alive,” he whispered. Again, no questions, just statements. “That’s what has been weighing on you all this time.”

Jensen shook his head. This dynamic duo knew each other better than was good for either of them.

“Our turn, Jared,” Alaina exhaled slowly, putting a hand on his heaving chest. “Let us tell you everything.”
Jared started again. “Us?”

That was his cue. Jensen stood up too, pulled his phone out of his pocket and slowly approached Jared with the image of Asset 106 that he’d retrieved from Xiyang.

“This is your father, jaan.”

They told them everything then. Whatever was left to tell, since Jared had figured most of it out on his own. Just filled in the gaps, dotted the i’s, crossed the x’s, explained the why’s… why they couldn’t talk about it before, because of the war. And why the one person who could confirm it all was in no state to do so, because his memories were gone. Likely forever.

Jared didn’t scream, didn’t yell, didn’t react as expected at all. He just walked out to the balcony and stood there, staring at the cordillera in silence. Every once in a while he’d glance at the image on Jensen’s phone. He studied it with his astute eyes, ran trembling fingertips down the portrait of a man he knew, and yet didn’t, not really…

An endless pause followed… a wide chasm opened in space and time, separating the three of them from all of existence. They were an island where time didn’t exist. Alaina sat back down on the couch. Jensen leaned against the balcony door with his arms crossed. They waited.

Eventually, Jared turned around and slowly walked back inside. On his way, he put a hand on his mate’s shoulder and squeezed it, hard. Jensen closed his eyes and sighed, he needed nothing else. Jared kneeled on the rug in front of Alaina. He lowered his lips to place a chaste kiss on the back of her right hand, then pressed his forehead to the same spot in reverence. Just like he’d greeted his mate’s mother the first time he met her.

“Alaina… you have been my family for as long as I can remember. You’ve been more a mother to me than Momma had a chance to be. You were there for me before Adrianne, before Jensen, you’re here no matter what. Would… would you like to come with us to Santorini… to meet m-my father?”

His eyes watered, so did hers. They smiled at each other. And she said yes.

06 Octobre, 3947 PG

Reedus Foundation
Niagara, Old Haven, Westworld

The sheran drummed his fingers on the armrests of his wheelchair.
“Play it again, Josh,” he ordered, gently.

McDermitt, his personal aide, hit rewind for a third time. A giant plasma came alive again, projecting a surveillance video recorded by one of the Mancunian coastguard vessels at the Strait of Moher. It showed a man in a black leather jacket and blue jeans, flying a civilian pam-jet manually, with someone sitting in the back. It was a fifteen-second clip at best, and the closeup of the man lasted barely three.

“Freeze it. There…”
The image froze.
“Zoom in.”
The face got clearer.
“His name these days is Andrew Lincoln.” McDermitt adjusted his glasses.

Doctor Norman Reedus sighed. “H-He kept the name I gave him…”
“Stupid but sweet. He’s a reasonably successful but mostly unknown artist.”
“Artist?”
“Yes, Doctor. Doesn’t have an online store, or any grid presence for that matter. These… were incredibly hard to come by…” McDermitt projected a few digital copies of Lincoln’s paintings up on the screen beside – but not covering – the zoomed-in face shot.

Reedus exhaled slowly, chest heaving with the effort. He wheeled himself closer, raised a trembling hand to touch the screen.

“He’s good, very good,” he whispered. A flicker of a smile lifted the left side of his face up, the side he still had full control over.

“Do we know who the other guy is?”
“Yes, he’s the famous shifter activist from Manchester, soon-to-be the High Consort of Albion, Jared Padalecki.”
Reedus sighed, shaking his head. “If that’s the company Lincoln is keeping these days, he won’t be able to stay under the radar very long. Where was the pam-jet rented?”
“Sanctuary city in New Tibet.”

Reedus nodded. He’d always known that’s where 106 would go to live out his free life.

“Should I have him picked up, Doctor?”
“No, Josh, why on earth would we do that?”
“T-To… keep him safe, of course, from the Ackles? As you just said, he’s on their radar now.”

Reedus turned to his assistant of fifty-seven years. Like lycans, sherans tended to live long lives too, almost five hundred years. And between Josh and himself, they were halfway there.
“That’s the logic my father used for decades to keep him caged,” he murmured, his voice dipped in regret, but not sadness.
McDermitt smirked. “I figured you’d say that, just wanted to be sure.”

Reedus turned back to the plasma. “My dear friend has earned his freedom. Let’s let him enjoy it. He can take care of himself now. But you know what this means, right?”

McDermitt nodded. “Lincoln’s been careful for 27 years, but he slipped up. And if we discovered this footage, then so will he.”

The doctor rubbed his brows like he often did when he felt anxious. Or excited.

“Well then! This is our opportunity to recapture him. 109 will come looking for his old cellmate. And when he does, we’ll be ready for him.”
“Very good, Doctor. But what about the Chief?”
Reedus shook his head. “Cudlitz must never know. No one in the pride should.”

Reedus wheeled himself away from the console and closer to the wall of windows, overlooking the massive thundering waterfall in the backyard of his foundation’s headquarters.

“Send a squadron to keep an eye, Josh. I’ve a feeling that’s where all the action will be. Santorini.”