Slate's Mistake (22 page)

Just a few hours later, Slate tuned out the fast
fluttered tapping of Ryker’s keystrokes next to him as he read over the list of
things he needed to discuss in this meeting. He rolled a pen between two
fingers while he sat in his seat waiting for everyone to arrive. They were
still waiting for Dultyn to come from his roost. That gave Slate time to
organize his thoughts and notes. He took his job seriously, but with the news
that he was going to be a daddy, his protective instincts suddenly seemed to
kick into overdrive.
Wow, a daddy. I’m
going to be a daddy.
As he looked over his notes, he grimaced at how
lacking everything was. Mentally squaring his shoulders, he made a silent vow.
I’ll keep them safe if I have to sacrifice a
week’s worth of sleep in the process.

Everyone looked up as Dultyn entered. After the round
of greetings, Alphy started them off. “To begin, I would like to formally offer
Dultyn the rank of tracker. Do you accept?”

Everyone turned to look at the clearly shocked
gargoyle.

Dultyn had remained standing when he arrived, but now
he stood taller. “I am honored and accept. Thank you.”

“Good. Our pack is growing, but so, too, is the threat
from others. I want more effort put into security even if we have to pull the
building crews off their builds and place them on sentry duty until we can get
more help. Nix was able to see the numbers on the plates. After running them,
we discovered it was rented by Damon Miller, the missing beta from the herd. It
seems as though he really does have a rich relative, although why this relative
would help him, or know what he’s doing with the money is still a mystery.

“That being said, I have gotten word from our shifter
council. They spread the word as we asked, and we have heard from several who
wish to join. Ryker is still doing background checks on them, and there are
more than a few. Add to that, the American councilman who is friends with
Tyler, was able to secretly contact us asking if we could take in a couple of
shifters he’s trying to keep safe. Ryker, can you tell us more?”

The fluttered tapping noise stopped as the bright red
headed man looked up and around the room. “Huh? Oh, right, yeah, uh.” Ryker
picked up a tablet and looked down at what was written on it. “One hundred
forty-five year old, wood bison shifter Neto
Locklear,
and his one hundred thirteen year old sister Isa are coming from the Yukon.
They were the offspring of Alpha
Hosa
Locklear, who
leads a large herd from Wyoming. What happened isn’t clear, but they fled the
herd. Our secret councilman has been trying to keep them safe ever since as
they are witnesses in a major case against another councilman.”

“Do we know who our friend is on the American
council?” Nix asked.

 
Ryker looked at
Alphy. Alphy nodded his head, so Ryker continued.
“American
councilman
Taima
Black.
He’s a bald eagle
shifter. In the information he sent, he said that Neto had found some documents
that incriminated his father, and others, in embezzling, money-laundering as
well as drug dealing, and alerted
Taima
.”

“So
Neto
was the next in
line for the herd? If he’s an alpha, how would that work here?” Enzo looked at
Alphy as he asked.

Alphy shrugged. “I’ve been assured he knows he isn’t
up for any rank, that he would have to answer to those who are, and that he
understands and agrees to this. We don’t know for sure how strong he is, but
they have been without a herd for almost twenty-five years. It won’t be easy
for them to settle into a pack culture, but I’m sure at the same time, they
will be thankful for it. I’ve said it
before,
I want
this to be a refuge for people who, for one reason or another, have been forced
from their communities. It’s hard on most of us, but harder on the ones whose
animals crave the communal pack structure. We won’t know until they get here,
but I think they are eager to belong someplace again. Although, I believe it
goes without saying that we could probably expect bumps along the way. They
have been on their own for a long time, so they may need time to adjust.”

Slate placed his pen on his paper and looked at his
alpha. “What’s their ETA?”

“Ryker?”
Alphy looked to the little vampire for the answer.

“Uh…” Ryker tapped on his keyboard and looked up.
“Depending on how fast he drives, which route he takes, any unforeseeable
things like roadblocks, and how much time he takes to rest, he could be here
anywhere between Friday and Tuesday.”

Slate scribbled the note down as Alphy spoke.
“All right, on to other matters.
Slate has been working on
our security issues. Slate, fill us in.”

Slate took a steady look around the room. “I’ve been
working with Ryker and Matteo on obtaining security equipment. The few pieces
we have right now aren’t working well with our systems, and when Ryker tested
them, he was easily able to tap into them, meaning anyone who knew how, would
be able to tap into the feed and view us. And in this day and age, the numbers
of people who can do that are rising.

“Thanks to Matteo’s contacts, we are going to be
getting some of the highest government grade security cameras. However, they
aren’t coming all at once, so we need to be strategic where we put them when we
get them, and the system is going to be something new for us to learn. We
should be getting the first shipment tomorrow. In the meantime, I was
entertaining another idea. I found a place online that is very reputable that
sells German Shepherds that are trained to protect and guard but still be
family friendly. The only catch is we would need to be trained to handle the
dogs when we purchase them. To do that, they need someone to bond them to.”

“What about Finn?” Everyone turned to look at Nix.

“He’s still in the military on active duty,” Alphy
answered.

“Who’s Finn?” Ryker asked.

“Staff Sergeant Finn North. He’s a military war dog
handler,” Alphy answered. “He’s a shifter. His animal is an African Wild Dog.
We met last year and formed a bond, but he already has a pack.”

“Couldn’t we offer him a job here?” Nix pressed his
argument.

“I’ll think about it. I’ll contact him and see what
he’s willing to offer.” Alphy’s tone wasn’t chastising, but it brooked no
further argument on the subject. Nix looked like he was satisfied with the
alpha’s answer.

Slate went on. “Also, I thought about organizing the
sentry duties into teams with each tracker as the team leader. The tracker can
choose any two pack members to be a part of their team.”

Alphy scratched his chin. “Huh, interesting.”

“Would these pack members have a rank?” Kace asked.

“Yes, sentry.
It isn’t really flashy, but with your permission,
Alphy, I wanted to draw up details for the new rank like privileges and such,”
Slate answered.

Alphy leaned forward and rested on his elbows. “This
will free up the tracker on duty if we need him suddenly without compromising
too much security. And it will give them back-up on certain occasions without
taking one of the other trackers away from their own tasks.”

“This will give members a sense of purpose in the pack,”
Nix added.

Alphy nodded and sat back again. “Yes, it will. It
would also give some of the newer members a connection to the pack.
Something to take pride in and boost their spirits.
Good
thinking, Slate.”

“Oo, oo, you mean I get my own team?” Ryker bounced in
his seat, and Slate couldn’t mistake the bright look of excitement that
radiated from his face.

“Yes. Actually, Ryker,” Slate continued, “this is an
ideal thing for you since much of the time you are stuck in here doing
who-knows-what on your computers. I figured for each team, two can patrol
outside while one stays inside watching the cams, when we get them set up.
Which brings me to my final proposal.
”

Slate glanced down at his notes briefly to ensure he
didn’t miss anything before he continued. “We need communication all around the
property. I’ve been looking into a two-way radio relay station. It doesn’t have
to be a large one. I would also suggest a separate jamming station. I was
thinking Ryker or even Matteo could come up with an encryption code and a
jamming program.”

“Great, but how would we carry a walkie-talkie when
we’re shifted?”

Slate looked at Nix. “I thought of some ideas for
that, but I haven’t had enough time to fully draw any of them up. I’m not an
engineer, but I thought we could discuss the idea to get it started. I know
what devices are out there. There are different kinds, and we can modify
anything. It would vary depending on the paranormal.”

Alphy grunted as he stared down at the floor. “It’s
something we definitely need to look further into.” Sighing heavily, Alphy
looked up around the room. “All right, trackers, once you choose your teams, run
it by me for final approval. Also, I’ll get in touch with Finn. Oh, and I have
some sensitive paperwork the shifter council is waiting for, and some for the
vampire council as well. Slate, I’d like for you to run them to Toronto. Matteo
can accompany you. Dex is also asking to return home for something, so he and
one of his friends will join you. However, the councils are closed until
Wednesday. You’ll have to wait until then. All right, everyone, anything else?”
After a look around the room and seeing everyone shaking heads, Alphy ended the
meeting, and they headed into the dining room for supper.

****

Over the next couple of days, he adjusted to the
mindset that he was going to be a daddy. Slate knew he had become overly
protective—as if he wasn’t before—but he couldn’t help his instincts. He’d
started to get a bit overbearing, and today Seamus wanted to do more testing on
Katie. Slate wanted to be there for her and the baby, but Alphy had ordered him
to travel to Toronto on some errands. He was absolutely incensed about not
being here for the tests, but his alpha had given him an order, so joined by
Pierce, Matteo and Dex, he trekked through the cold rain and climbed into the
new pack car and headed out.

They seemed to have sensed his mood, or maybe they
even sympathized with him, so as their tires splashed a path down the ON-28,
the men enjoyed bantering with him.

When they approached the city, Slate asked, “So where
to first?”

Dex looked down at the large envelopes. “We have
papers to deliver to the Canadian shifters’ council, and papers to deliver to the
Canadian vampires’ council. Take your pick which one to go to first.”

“Let’s just go in that order. We can stop at your
house after we’re done. Is that all right?”

“Yeah, that’d be fine.”

“You
gonna
tell us what
you’re getting and why?” asked Pierce.

“Something for
Elise,
and you
don’t need to know anything else.”
 

“Ouch, fine, be that way. It’s all good. You all
should see his digs. It’s a work of art. At least it used to be. Who knows what
it looks like since you got rid of your
donor.
She did
all your work for you.”

“You had a human living with you for your blood
supply? I didn’t think there were that many live-in donors,” Slate said.

Dex shrugged. “There aren’t. She’s the daughter of
donor family who wanted to work on her botany. In return for teaching her what
I know, she let me feed from her. But now that I’m mated, I can’t and won’t
drink from another, so I sent her back to the coven.”

“Did you tell Elise about her?”

Slate could see Dex’s cheeks slightly pink. “Yes. I
wanted her to know what to expect to see in the coven.”

“I take it she didn’t take the news so well.” Slate
would have chuckled, but he was actually concerned. No one wanted to hear about
their mate’s exes.

“It took a bit to get it across to her that my donor
wasn’t a girlfriend or lover even.”

“Wait, I thought your bites caused orgasms, so how was
she not a lover?”

“We may cause orgasms to whoever we feed from, but
most of us don’t have sex or even kiss our live-in donors. They generally start
to believe we loved them and get hurt when we find our beloveds. There are
several stories where beloveds were endangered, injured, and a few times even
killed by an ex-lover donor.”

Slate winced at the thought. Even if a vampire could
survive the heartbreak of losing their soul-mate, they couldn’t drink from
anyone else so they slowly starved to death. “Then, if you don’t mind my
asking, how do you get your rocks off? You can’t tell me you were a virgin.”

Slate heard Pierce in the back seat. “
Psh
, don’t be ridiculous. We go to clubs and whatever for
one night stands. That’s how most of us get our blood most of the time. The
donors are used as infrequently as possible. They’re only around for times when
we can’t get out for a feeding and for awakenings.”

Slate looked over at Dex. “The awakening is when you
go into a coma during puberty, right? Only coming awake at night to feed?”