Wolf Creek Alpha (Texas Pack 1) (37 page)

Blake grinned.  “
Hey,
buddy, never thought I’d see you again.  Figured once you escaped, you’d never come back.”

“I didn’t plan to.  I had to.” Dunstan told him. 

Blake nodded his head in understanding.  Looking at Lisa, he asked, “I’m curious, why did you lick my hand?”

Lisa turned bright red while Rafe growled.  “Um, I thought it might distract you enough to remove your hand,” she told him.

Blake chuckled, “I almost did
.
I was so shocked.”

There was a feeling of jubilation all around the castle.  It was
as if
a dark cloud had been lifted.

Robert spoke to the guards.  “You are no longer tied to this place.  Ciar has no control over any of you.  You may stay in this realm or come to the light
fae
realm.  My Queen welcomes anyone
who
leaves the dark
ness
and evil
behind
for good
.”

They looked at one another, not sure what to do.  They had been under Ciar all their lives.  They would have to learn what it was like to be free.

“Ciar, we will leave you now.  You no longer have anyone to do your bidding.  This is your home.  We will not take it from you.  We have no interest in staying here.  You will have a minimum amount of magic as a
fae
.  I suggest you use it wisely,” Robert told him.

“That’s it?  We just leave him?  Where is the justice in that?”  Anna asked.

“We are not his judge or executioner.  He’s been stripped of everything important to him.  Let it
go,
lass,” Robert told her.

“And my mother?”  She marched over to Ciar. 

“Where is my mother? Did you kill her?” she demanded of him.

Ciar looked at Anna, shaking his head.  “I would never hurt her,” he said
and then
he disappeared. 

Anna surprised herself by almost feeling sorry for him.  Her mother must have escaped when she left her with that family, she thought.

Lisa turned in
Rafe’s
a
rms.  She looked at Blake.  “Where did he go
?”

He
sighed.
“I don’t know,” Rafe said as he looked to Robert.

“He probably went into hiding.  He made a lot of enemies in this realm.  We no longer have to concern ourselves with him,” Robert said. 

Dunstan turned to speak with Blake.

“I have a place in Colorado.  Why don’t you come stay with me?  You can relax for a while and decide whe
re you want to go.  No summoning
needed,
since you’
re free of his hold
,” Dunstan told him, smiling. 

Grinning, Blake
nodded.  “I’ll take you up on that
.  I’ve got a lot of traveling to do
,
now that I’m free.”

Stephen came walking in, looking confused.  He had no idea what had happened to him, now that he was free of
Ciar’s
magic.

Niall stepped forward.  “I’ll take him back.  Don’t worry, he’ll think he’s been on vacation for the last few weeks,” Niall winked
at
them,
before taking Stephen’s
arm and disappearing.

The place was emptying fast.  The
fae
guards were disappearing faster than you could blink. 

Lisa walked over to Dunstan, handing him his dirk.  “I believe this belongs to you,” she told him.

Dunstan reached out and took the dirk.  “I wonder if we’ll ever figure out the power of this knife.  Doesn’t matter, I’ll put it away again and hopef
ully it will stay put this time.  I wish I
could
have questioned Ciar and found out how it got into that auction.”

“It was me,” Blake said.  They all turned to stare at him.

“He sent me to steal it from your home.  After I gave it to him, I saw him using it to find you, and realized what I had done.  The only time he did not carry
it,
was when he went to see his witch.  I believe he didn’t want her to know he had the dirk. 
I took it and used my magic to send it your realm.  I thought it would be lost forever, not put into an auction,” Blake told them. 

“So that’s when Stephen comes into the picture,” Dunstan said.  “As an authority on Celtic relics, he would have been notified of the auction.”

“But how would Ciar have found him?” asked Rafe.

“As Ciar said, he has spies everywhere.  Once he heard Stephen had it, he would have immediately sent someone after him.  It was no problem at all for Ciar to control Stephen once he was brought here. 
He used
him,
just as he uses everyone,” Dunstan said.

“Didn’t he punish you once he realized the dirk was gone?” asked Rafe.

“No, he had no idea that I was the one that had taken it.  I was shocked when I saw that he had the dirk again. 
Ciar is too self-absorbed to think that one of his guards would betray him.  I believe he assumed one of his enemies had somehow taken it,” Blake said.

“We are all in your debt,”
Rafe told him simply. 

“Without asking Ciar, we will have to assume
that we were correct that he wanted
Dunstan back
as
a way to find his mother.  And as such, Lisa was simply a bonus to him,” Ian said. 

“You
’
re right.  I know Ciar has been searching for her for years.  He thought Dunstan knew where she was.  His plan was to find her through him,” Blake told them. 

Blake’s words surprised none
of them.  They had already worked out his scheme themselves.  Sadly, they all knew Dunstan would keep searching.
 

Seeing no reason to hang around, Robert and
Jem
started transporting them back,
beginning
with the women first.

It wasn’t long before they were all back in the great room with Liz hugging everyone as they appeared.

Niall appeared, letting them know Stephen was fine and back in his home.

It was a party atmosphere in the great room.  Everyone was talking at once.  Colin and Stephanie came through the front doors, carrying two sleeping girls.
 
They all quieted down
so they wouldn’t
wake them.

“What’d we miss?
  Why is everyone’s clothing shredded?
” Stephanie asked.

They all had a hard time reining in their laughter. 

“Go put the girls to bed and w
e’
ll fill you in,” Rafe told them, smiling.
  After they left, he turned to look at the ladies.

“Weren’t you two supposed to find a place and hide if there was a fight?  And you,” Rafe said turning to Lisa.  “I believe you also seemed to miss that notice.”

“I didn’t have time!  Everyone started stripping and before I knew it, there were a bunch of naked shifters changing into animals,” Lisa complained.

“And we may be females, but we are predators too.  You had to know we wouldn’t hide out in a fight,” Melissa scolded him.

Anna shook her head, agreeing with Melissa. 

Rafe rubbed his hand over his face.  “I know, I just thought maybe someone would listen to me for once.”

Lisa put her arm around his shoulder in sympathy.  “You big, poor alpha.  Tough bossing around a witch, cougar, and a wolf that is basically your baby sister.”

Rafe sighed, looking so put upon
that
they all laughed. 

“What’s the chance Ciar will bother anyone again in the future?  I mean, will he get any power back?” asked Ian.

Robert answered.  “He’ll always have some
power,
simply because he’s
fae
.  It would take a
very
long time for him to be able to be what he once was.  He could try for a witch again or some other form of dark magic.  Problem is
,
he doesn’t have anything to bargain with.  No witch
would want to work with
a
fae
with such weak
magic
.  I’ll not spend any more time worrying about Ciar.  He’s done.”

Colin and Stephanie had come back in and sat quie
tly listening in.  Rafe started telling them of their latest adventure,
and
everyone
chimed
in to give their part of the story. 

Stephanie jumped up to hug Lisa.  “Wow, you
rock,
girl!  I’m so glad it’s over.  Now we can move on and plan your mating ceremony.”  She announced happily.

“Ceremony?” Lisa asked in a strangled voice.  She looked up at Rafe, afraid to know.

“Yeah, this is the part you run naked through the woods while we all chase you,” Devlin grinned at her.

“What!” Lisa yelled.

Ian tackled Devlin, taking him to the floor.  Once he had him pinned, he looked up at Lisa.  “He’s just kidding you.  Would you like to hit him while I hold him for you?”

“Yes,
yes,
I would.”  Lisa jumped up threateningly. 

Rafe pulled her back down to sit in his lap.  “I’ll beat on him for you later.”

“
Aw,
come
on,
Lisa, I was just joking.  Can’t you take a joke?” Devlin asked from the floor.

“Sure I can, can you?” Lisa said as she pulled up a little magic and pointed a finger at Devlin.

He jumped as he felt a zap on his ass.  “
Ow
, that’s not fair!”

Everyone laughed as Devlin whined
about mean sisters with out of control power. 

“What about Blake,” Robert asked Dunstan.  “Is he going to stay at
yer
place?”

“Yes, after he travels a bit.  It’s nice to know the kid I played with grew up to be a good man.  It had to be hard with my father controlling his life,” Dunstan said sadly. 

“I am sort of confused.” Lisa said.  “I assumed if you lived in the dark
fae
realm, you were automatically um, well, dark.”

“Not always,” Robert told her.  “It’s more the atmosphere and leadership that make
s
them bad.  They
don’t have a loving Queen to guide them.  The
ir
society is based on greed and power.  The stronger
fae
overcome that, and if
possible,
escape the realm.”

“I see.  It reminds me of people you hear about overcoming their bad upbringing, or poor start in life and bettering themselves,” Lisa said thoughtfully.

“
Exactly,
lass
.  It all comes down to working
to be better than you thought you could be,” Robert said.
  “We have it much easier in the light realm.  That’s why I’m always impressed with any of my dark brethren that manage to make it out.”

“But don’t get the wrong impression,” Niall told her.  “Many of the dark
fae
are happy to stay there and continue to work their dark magic.  Sorry to say
,
but Dunstan and Blake are in a minority.  Most of those guards you saw today will be looking to take
advantage of anyone they
can.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find the Queen having to send more guards into other realms if they get too out of hand.”

“I hate to be sympathetic to Ciar, but will they kill him to take his castle?” Lisa asked.

“No, he still commands a large region, even though his magic i
s considerably weaker.  They don’t have the political power to take over his area.
Also, they’ve been afraid of him for a long time.  They’ll want to get as far away from him as possible,” Dunstan informed her. 

“How will this Blake guy find you?” asked Colin.  “If he’s been stuck there all his life?”

Dunstan explained about the blood ritual
they had
done as a child.  “He can always locate me
and I can find him.
  And since Ciar sent him to my home for the dirk, he can transport there easily.
”

“So it was through him that Ciar found you?” asked Lisa.

“No, it was the dirk like we thought.  With my blood and him feeding power through it, he could find me.  I don’t think even Ciar knows what power that knife has.  If I do ever find our mother, maybe she can explain
to us why the stones
glowed in his hand,” Dunstan said.

Liz interrupted to tell them she had a big pot of stew simmering on the stove.  Since they hadn’t eaten since breakfast, everyone was starving. 
They all
ambled
in
to sit at the huge dining room table.
  She had ma
de her homemade cornbread that
everyone loved.