Leader of the Pack Ch. 21

Jenna got up and left. She was more than a little nervous. Those damn druids had better be ready for me when I return.

Cadifor looked at Cullen as the door closed. "You don't believe her."

Cullen shook his head. "I know Jenna. She's up to something. It can't be the same as what Rafe was doing. But I don't know what she could possibly want with druids and a formula to create weres. Though I agree with you. I shouldn't have suggested the feds go after Jenna. We're going to have to get those books out of the Tairneach manor before someone else gets them."

"Not that simple. We can't just go raiding the Tairneach manor. It violates any number of laws we've laid out. The Pack Council cannot be involved. Since I've called this meeting and approached her already there is no way a raid wouldn't be seen as associated with the Council. We'll have to find another way."

Cullen growled. "The bitch has been causing me headaches since she was old enough to spread her legs. I don't see why I couldn't just deal with it and claim it was territory dispute."

Cadifor smiled at his friend. "Because you would never normally do that and everyone knows it. For now we'll hold the meeting. Deal with the feds. And wait and see what she's doing."

"What are you going to tell the others?"

"The same thing I originally intended to tell them. The same thing I just told Jenna. The Circle is real and they want our help. I'll have them keeping an eye on the druids on their territory. That will make it harder for Jenna to take any more of them for whatever she's doing. And it will have us keeping an eye on them at the same time. Two birds, one nicely legitimate stone."

Cullen cleared his throat. "Now that the serious topic has been dealt with, you coming to the mating ceremony?"

Cadifor smiled broadly. "Of course. I wouldn't miss scenting the woman who managed to get her claws into you." He chuckled. "When?"

"Probably this week. I'll need to talk to Sarah. She's been arranging things. But since Aislinn was in heat last week we're going to have to get the ceremony over with in relatively short order. Just in case." He was grinning again.

***

Aislinn woke incredibly uneasy. Her head was pounding as though she'd been hit with a sledgehammer. She looked around the dark room and decided that it must be evening. The nightstand where the clock had been was lying on its side. The clock was probably somewhere on the floor and she couldn't see where. So it was either under something or busted. Either was a possibility. And considering that it had been forever since she had cared what time it was she didn't even know how long it had been gone.

She closed her eyes and momentarily tried to find Cullen. He was there, just quiet. She could feel him in her mind. But it was like when she walked into the stone circle and his feelings fogged over. But this time it was like he was calling to her from very far away. She wondered how far he could go from her before she'd lose him completely and that bothered her a great deal. She tried to send her thoughts to him but he didn't hear her. Like she was yelling at him from across a large field. She didn't like it at all.

Aislinn got up and made her way through the dark to the shower. She turned on the light and ran the water. The bathroom, with the exception of the busted door, was the only room in the penthouse that was still in relative order. She stepped into the hot water and washed herself, feeling disappointed that Cullen wasn't there to present the possibility of help with scrubbing her back. She stood in the water wondering if she should call him about the vision or if she should wait until he got back.

There was no doubt in her mind that there was a great deal of trouble going on. She was meant to convey a message. Aislinn decided that she'd ask Sarah what she should do. Cullen had been so concerned about that meeting and this Cadifor guy. Aislinn didn't want to interrupt him if it would cause trouble and she'd end up sounding like a whining kid. He'd already told her that he didn't want anything to do with the people the Tairneach were holding.

When Aislinn left the bathroom and flipped on the light in the main room she winced at the mess around the place. That would be another thing she'd ask Sarah about. She knew that she was supposed to have an omega deal with it. But she figured it might be less embarrassing if she just cleaned it up herself. She went into the bedroom, tripping over a toppled chair, and fished some clothes out of the drawer, dressed, then headed for the elevator.

When Aislinn got out of the elevator onto the 13^th floor most everyone was settled in for a quiet evening, but there were still quite a few people around so she figured it couldn't be too late. She managed to catch a clock on the wall and saw that it was about eight. As she passed the large open doors to the great room she was spotted.

"Aislinn," Rissa's voice called.

Aislinn winced and tried to keep going. But Rissa vaulted the couch she was sitting on and was out the door grabbing Aislinn by the arm before she could get away.

"Hey. You've been missed," she said with sparkling eyes and a smile what was almost too wide for her face.

"Hi Riss. I was just looking for Sarah. You seen her?" Aislinn was hoping desperately that Rissa would just let her go.

"Sarah is currently in the middle of an argument with Terrick. Keith is in there too. So you'll probably have to wait in line. Something about a messenger. I don't really know exactly. But it seemed serious." She smiled again. "You can come in here and we'll entertain you while you wait for her." Rissa started to pull Aislinn into the great room.

Just then one of the new omegas approached them. "Excuse me." Rissa looked uncomfortable. The man was a theta before the incident. It made a lot of the lower ranked lycans in the pack uncomfortable to see someone they respected and sympathized with having to act as an omega. The punishment was harsh. But at least they weren't dead.

Aislinn recognized the man as one of the ones she had helped move the week before. "Yeah, whatcha need?" she answered in a friendly voice.

He bowed his head and lowered his eyes by then looked at Rissa in a way that asked Aislinn for some confidence. Aislinns stepped aside with him to see what he wanted and Rissa waited patiently. She wasn't letting Aislinn go for a second.

"Sarah asked a couple of us to take care of the penthouse when you came down. Will you be downstairs for a time?"

"Uh, yeah, about that. I mean, I don't know if anyone should really go up there right now. What did Sarah tell you?"

He smiled knowingly at Aislinn. "She didn't tell us anything. But most of us can guess. She chose a very specific few to deal with it. You have no need to worry," he said reassuringly.

"Alright. I guess if Sarah said so," she answered nervously.

He nodded at her.

"Yeah, I'll be down here for a little while. I'm going to get something to eat and talk with Sarah."

His smile broadened. "There's not much left in the kitchens at the moment. We've had a lot of people around here lately. If you like I could get someone to bring you something from the Taigh-Oèsda," he said eagerly.

Aislinn was going to refuse at first. But he looked so happy about it. "I hate to have people doing all this for me. Cullen may be used to it. But I don't know if I like it."

"That's half the reason we don't mind. What would you like?"

"I guess just a steak and a salad. Medium rare," she said reluctantly. It was going to take her some time to get used to stuff like this.

"I'll take care of it," he said and then headed off.

Aislinn walked over to Rissa, momentarily forgetting that she had been trying to get away from Rissa. "I feel so bad. He's trying to be helpful, but I still don't know everyone's names around here. Who was he?"

"Travis. His mate's name is Lisa. He's a good guy and sweet."

"I can tell," Aislinn said.

Rissa grabbed hold of her arm again and returned to her original intent. Aislinn followed her into the great room and was pulled down onto the couch into a seat that another woman happily vacated.

All Aislinn could think was that she didn't have the rank to be doing stuff like that. Vicarious rank really sucks, she thought. "You don't have to do that. I can sit-"

Rissa stopped her. "No you sit there. So," Rissa said with a grin and someone in the room turned the TV off, "where you been this week?"

Aislinn looked around at all the expectant faces. She felt like there were about a million eyes boring straight through her head. She counted seven people. She cleared her throat. "I wasn't really feeling well. I was in bed."

Rissa growled. "Come on. I believe you were in bed."

"Okay, so Cullen was there too once in a while," Aislinn said. She suddenly decided that she was not going to let Rissa play her. And the minute she got the girl alone they were going to have a serious conversation about respect and rank. Gods, maybe I am getting used to things around here. "What are you getting at Rissa?"

"It's just weird for two people to disappear like that. I mean there are reasons for it," she said with raised intonation as if the implication were obvious.

Aislinn sighed in exasperation. "I hate to disappoint you all. But I really wasn't feeling well. I was force fed some shit that turned me into a werecat and then my grandmother was killed. I attended a funeral and when I got back here all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and stay there. Cullen kept an eye on me."

Aislinn's tone was too convincing for Rissa's liking. In fact the entire scenario she had just proposed was incredibly plausible. "That's no fun."

"No it isn't." Aislin smiled to herself through the serious look she was giving Rissa. Technically she hadn't said anything that wasn't true. She just implied different slant to it. "Now, can we all stop staring at me as if I've grown a third eye and go back to watching television?"

There were a few head bows as if she had given and order, the TV came back on, and Rissa apologized. "I don't really know what I was thinking Ais," she said.

Aislinn leaned over to Rissa speaking very quietly. "You don't seem to have any concept of correct timing or decorum. We're friends and I'd like to stay friends. You were the only person to give me the time of day for a long time. But if you want to keep our friendship on the same level it was on, you need to start thinking about how to act with an alpha. Cause technically, I don't get to be an omega any more. At least that's what they tell me."

Rissa looked over at Aislinn wide eyed and nodded gravely.

"Now," Aislinn smiled and settled in for the movie, "what are we watching?"

***

Jenna was given the seat next to Cullen. It had belonged to Brennus. Cullen watched the pretty blonde take the seat with a resigned sense of change. He stared at the back of her head and Aislinn felt a distinct sense of loss and sadness filter through their bond. She closed her eyes and tried to let him know that she cared. Cullen was surprised to feel the sympathy returned and he smiled inwardly. Their bond had to be stronger than he had thought for her to have caught his upset and then answered. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he nearly missed the beginning of the meeting.

The lycan alphas from his area sat at one side of the table and around the opposite side gathered Cadifor and the Pack Council leaders from around the world. This was the room that made sure that the human population at large never found out about the lycan population. The men and women didn't all get along. But they all agreed on one thing. A human lycan war was out of the question.

Cadifor tossed a pile of paperwork onto the table that Cullen recognized as the reports he had sent in. "So here's the reason you're all here," Cadifor began.

***

Slamming doors and loud insistent growling told Aislinn that her movie night was over. The entire group in the great room looked up to see Terrick headed for the elevator. Anger radiated from his eyes. There were some amused glances exchanged in the great room and they all settled back into their respective seats to go back to the movie.

Aislinn put her take out box from the Taigh-Oèsda down on the table and got up to head for Sarah's office.

"Hey Aislinn," Christoff called after her. She turned around. He was a younger lycan. He had smiled at her with a more than friendly look a couple times that evening. But he was too smart to even consider hitting on the alpha's mistress. "You gonna finish that steak?" he asked enthusiastically and one side of his mouth turned up in a half grin.

"No," she laughed. "It's all yours." Aislinn headed down the hall as Cristoff and one of the other guys in the room descended on her leftovers like a couple of squabbling siblings.

Sarah's door was closed and Aislinn could hear venting coming from behind the door. She almost left. But she couldn't help the feeling that she needed advice now. So she tentatively knocked on the door. The room fell silent and then Sarah yelled for her to come in.

Aislinn cracked the door and poked her head in. "I don't mean to interrupt," she offered. "It's really just a quick question. I hope."

Sarah sighed. "Not a problem Aislinn. Come in. We've just be dealing with one of the problems Cullen left behind. That always tends to result in arguing."

Keith growled. "I still say we throw his ass in the muin holding pen."

Sarah eyed him to shut him up. Aislinn was only sort of in the main group. Cullen didn't appear to have any reservations about talking in front of her. But her rank still wasn't established yet. She wasn't an elder and she wasn't even technically a beta. As of yet the Terrick info was still need to know. Keith rolled his eyes at her and their unspoken conversation ended.

Aislinn glanced back and forth between them. "Okay?"

"Yeah Ais," Keith said. "What's up?"

"Another vision," she said despondently as she sat down in the chair next to Keith.

Both of them groaned. "Just what we needed," Sarah said. "What's going to explode now?"

"Well that's the problem. I still don't know. I was given a message to give to a druid named Nora. I can tell you that it's important that it be dealt with as soon as possible. But I personally don't know how to contact the Circle. The thing is that Cullen said there would be druids at that meeting he went to didn't he?"

Sarah considered the suggestion. "You want to call Cullen with the message."

"I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me if it was a bad idea."

Keith shook his head. "Pack Council meetings aren't something that should be interrupted unless you're willing to risk your throat over the information. Do you think it's that important?"

"I feel like it is. But he didn't seem to think the last few visions were important. I just have a terrible feeling that we're going to be too late," Aislinn said.

"Too late for what?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know. Just too late. The message was that I was to tell Nora Senach that they were using the bone dust of a dire wolf. The implication is that Nora will know what that means or be able to figure it out. But I can't help imagining what a fight with a lycan who changes into a dire lycan would be like," she said softly and looked at Sarah. "I don't know what Jenna is doing with those men or the books. But it's going to be too late to stop. Would you all rather take books and prisoners from her or get into a fight with an army of lycans three times your size?"

Keith and Sarah exchanged uncertain, concerned looks. "So let's call Cullen," Keith said.

Sarah nodded her agreement.

Keith grinned. "I say we have Aislinn do it. He might not yell first if her name's on the caller ID."

***

Maon leaned on the end of the table the druids were working at. He growled menacingly and smiled broadly at the same time. "Are you sure this will work?"

Jacob shrugged. "It's never been done. We believe it will do what your Mistress asked for. But we won't know until someone tries it. That's why Rafe experimented so much before he used his formulas on himself."

Maon grinned. "I guess then we try it on someone." He stepped over to the door and looked out into the hall. He spotted a relatively puny omega carrying a try of food somewhere. He stepped up to the young man and knocked the tray out of his hand onto the floor. The blonde lycan dropped to his knees to start cleaning up the mess, apologizing for being clumsy.

Maon grabbed the kid by the collar of his shirt. "You'll work perfectly," he said with a chuckle and dragged him into the room with the druids.

Jacob eyed the young man sympathetically. But there was nothing he could do about it. At least it shouldn't kill him.

Maon looked at the druids. "The whole thing?" He held up the bottle of foul smelling brown liquid that they had given him.

Jacob stepped up to Maon. "Acutally I need to make some marking on him first. Then yes he'll need to drink the whole thing if you want it to happen all at once. But that's painful and dangerous. If you want to do it right-"

"We don't have time for right," Maon said. "Just do it." He shoved Jacob toward the cowering boy on the floor.

Jacob walked past the boy and to one of the other tables in the room. He picked up a jar of blue woad and then walked to the boy kneeling on the floor. "You'll need to take your shirt off," he said sadly.

The boy was trembling but did as he was told. Maon was more than enough incentive for complete cooperation. Jacob knelt next to him and began writing in gaelic script along the boy's back and chest.

***

Cadifor sent Cullen a death glare when his ringing cell interrupted the meeting. Cullen silenced the ring as he pulled it out. He'd never had that problem before. Sarah and Keith knew better. Cadifor was staring at him as he looked at the caller ID. Cullen hesitated. He thought Aislinn should know better than to make this call. If he didn't answer it and there was something wrong he'd be pissed. If he did answer it and it was nothing then he'd be pissed.

The entire room was silent. Cadifor's glare turned sarcastic. "I don't believe I've ever seen Cullen Arnauk look so indecisive. You'd better answer it then." Cadifor leaned on the table expectantly. Cullen knew that he was about to be made an example of.

Aislinn felt a growl that shook her and she shot Sarah an uncertain look as the phone continued to ring. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea," she said with a wide eyed look.

Cullen flipped his phone open. Everyone in the room was staring at him. I'm gonna kill you when I get back, he thought forcefully. "What?"

"You know, I think I caught the threat," Aislinn said softly.

He closed his eyes and breathed out, trying to gather his patience. "What is it? I'm in the middle of the meeting."

"Cullen I'm sorry. But you need to find a druid named Nora Senach and tell her that they're using dire wolf bone dust. The vision was blatant and urgent. And you're the only one in a position to find a druid at the moment, so it has to be for you." Aislinn held her breath. She was praying that he'd find it important enough to not kill her when he got back. His silence felt like an eternity.

"Alright, calm down," he said gently. "Was there anything else?"

"No," Aislinn was relieved that he sounded less angry. "I got the impression that it took a great deal of effort to tell me that much. Like I said before, my visions usually don't interact with me. I think the men Jenna's holding prisoner must be druids."

Cullen stared at Cadifor with a meaningful look that had Cadifor standing straight again and looking less annoyed by the interruption. "Actually I know they are. Alright. Just wait for me to get back. We'll deal with it when I have the rest of the information."