Chapter 12: Trouble and Opportunity at Home

Ravyn POV

They took the long way back to Cresta House, even though Tulaska lived close. Lilia twisted her long blonde hair and strode like a wolf in the gentle breeze that caressed both their faces and carried the smells of the city, a varied bouquet.

"You and Jude seem to have gotten cozy sharing that tent," Lilia said.

Ravyn cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you assume–"

"MOTHER. It's simple logic."

"Jude could have slept outside the tent in wolf form or kept watch."

Lilia stopped to pick up discarded streamers and trash from the celebration of Dirge's mating. New ones, from the look of them. A Cresta royal bonding always demanded several days of rejoicing. "He could have, but even an Alpha is not going to spend the night getting sandblasted, I don't care how tough he is. DANE wouldn't even do that."

Ravyn impulsively asked, "Why haven't you and Anneliese become wolves the way you two said you were going to? It's been years since the pups were born."

Lilia threw a dubious look at Ravyn. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm your mother. Please humor me."

Lilia grimaced. "You remember when my pups were born."

Ravyn got lost in memories. Lilia lying in the special birthing room Azandra and Kyon had created, with Dane beside her. That room was full of new life just waiting to be born just as it was when she gave birth to Lilia–only she gave birth in an inn while she and Daxius traveled for business. It was a small roadside place with barely enough staff to keep it running–fortunately, the bartender happened to be a witch who had some midwife experience.

Lilia had given birth in comfort–but she'd still labored hard to bring those babies into the world, breathing when Azandra and Dane told her to breathe, letting Dirge massage her feet, straining as the twins appeared, Kodi's pink wrinkled head first, then Bentley's … then Lilia's and Azandra's shocked gasp when Tau announced himself to the world.

"Triplets," Ravyn said in the present with a soft smile. "And not even you suspected."

Lilia groaned. "Two would have been a handful, but three … all my plans to become a wolf went out the window. And Anneliese had a difficult birth …"

"Oh Goddess, I thought her father was going to break something, he was so worried."

Lilia sighed. "It took months for us both to adjust and recover–and then Dane and Jiro had the idea to start the Shifter Federation and Parliament. I know Patch and Anneliese got swept up in their adventures. Becoming a shifter is a major change and we'd both had more than our share … we've talked about the idea over the years, so it's not dead. I don't know if that's something Thessi would even consider …"

"I think she's quite open to bending like the bronze willow," Ravyn quipped.

"Change is hard for people sometimes." Lilia kept her eye on the ground, stopping to pick up scattered streamers, burned remains of fireworks. She stopped when she noticed someone dropped a silver flask. "SILVER? Did no one tell the wood elves anything?"

Ravyn picked up the flask, since Lilia didn't dare touch silver because of the bond. "Maybe they forgot. We've spent so much time around shifters that it's second nature … I sold or gave away a lot of my silver wands and objects and jewelry years ago … any that I kept are stored in a Witch Circle vault."

Lilia whistled. "We have vaults?"

Ravyn smiled. "That's an advanced lesson …"

Lilia casually said, "I think one of us should tell Jude that there's far more to magic than he ever realized. Especially if you two continue to get cozy in Wildefell."

And there it was.

"I have a spare bedroom for him–you know, the one where DANE slept. Not that it will ever be an issue! We only shared a tent out of necessity and we didn't think we'd even need it!" 

Ravyn lobbed the silver flask to a strolling wood elf along with a stern lecture on shifters, then resumed the walk to Cresta House, Lilia hurrying to catch up."

Lilia tapped her arm gently. "Jude is an attractive man–he's an Alpha."

"Who seeks a match to strengthen the alliance. Trust me, the bond between witchdom and shifterdom is unbreakable. He has no interest in me!"

Squinting, Lilia said, "He certainly acted protective–"

"But not nearly like your mate or Jiro or Kyon," Ravyn said, although that wasn't entirely true. Jude had been willing to fight Daxius.

A magical bird fluttered down and landed on Ravyn's shoulder, with a tightly folded parchment clasped in its beak. It bore the seal of Queen Ylavi Crystalsprite of the Ember Fairies. It dropped the message in Ravyn's hands in exchange for berries lying on the ground.

When Ravyn read the message, she smiled. "I think I may have just found Jude's alliance."

* * * * * 

Jude POV

"You have to return."

He was becoming familiar with every piece of furniture in Dane's and Lilia's downstairs parlor, from the velvet-covered sofa to the tables made by the wood elves. Observing the furnishings kept him grounded and not immediately rushing back to Faolan Castle upon hearing his daughter Mali's panic. 

"Someone has to get him away from those Hemmings," she went on in her sweet but insistent voice, so like her mother's.

"Mali, he's a grown man, I can't choose his friends–"

"You're the pack Alpha AND they're only sniffing around him out of spite. Do you think they cared about him before this?" Mali was insistent. "They're also petitioning the council to make him Alpha–"

Jude growled. "Let them. They have no more influence than rogues. Ransome Hemming wants nothing to do with them."

How he and Azandra's father could be related to such miserable people baffled him. They hated Alphas and rich people, and yet everyone in the territory knew they lived more than comfortably. Ransome had chosen his Evenhide mate Titania over them and never looked back. Jude had distanced himself from the Hemmings, especially Ransome's mother–the only bad part was that he'd never gotten close to Ransome. After Kyon and Azandra mated, Ransome approached him and they immediately bonded over the Crestas, business, and Ransome's unusual hobbies.

"I know, but they're still making trouble. Not that the council wouldn't toss their petition out and throw them out on their tails … Eamon wants to chase them into the Misty Swamps and make them get lost."

Honestly, he wished that his daughter and her mate wanted to take over, but he couldn't force them. And it wouldn't solve the problem of Bram.

"Have you found your Luna yet?" Mali prompted.

He smiled slightly. "One problem at a time. Do me a favor. Have your brother plan the music for the next Mate Ball. He likes that sort of thing and it'll keep him distracted."

"That's as close as he's going to get to the Mate Ball because no girl will want him outside of being the Alpha's son."

He winced, his ears hurting from her bluntness. "I'll be home soon, I promise. I may have to leave again to help Pack Mother Ravyn–"

Bram's voice joined them. "Leaving AGAIN? Why don't you just move to the Evenhide Pack, if you like them so much?"

Mali shrieked, "How dare you? This is a PRIVATE conversation."

The mocking tone felt like claws scratching at his brain. "Dad's favorite has spoken!"

He listened to five minutes of sibling bickering before his growl through the mind-link shattered them and made the tight knot of pain behind his left eye, the sign of a headache, ease up. 

"You two. STOP FIGHTING. I'll be home soon."

He ended the mind-link and felt the pressure of the headache vanish. He rested his head against a soft velvety surface and realized his head lay on Ravyn's naked thigh as she sat down on the sofa. Her beautiful fingers stroked his head and scratched behind his ears–an instant cure for a headache!

But he had another ache further down his body and heat bloomed inside him because he could smell the place between her legs, although he couldn't see it. He backed away, then shifted back to his human form and sat beside her. 

"Problems?" she said softly.

He nodded. "Family and pack headaches, and they're linked, unfortunately. I have to return home now to Silverpaw territory."

Ravyn gripped his hands in hers, staring into his eyes with deep intensity. "Your son?"

He let himself enjoy her touch. "I need to talk to Ransome before I leave …"

Her eyes narrowed. "Is his family involved?"

He shouldn't be surprised by Ravyn's quick mind. "They've stopped going after him here–"

Ravyn snorted. "Naturally–we're the Evenhide Pack." Her face reflected pride in her pack. "They did try to approach him once when he was visiting the Crimsontails–"

Jude's eyebrows shot up. "I hadn't heard that. It just proves what fools they are."

He took pleasure in imagining just how Jiro, Garnet, and their scrappy pack dealt with anyone that caused trouble.

Ravyn smiled with an edge. "Jiro and Garnet didn't want to give them the attention they so desperately crave."

He smirked. "A terrible fate for them. They feed on attention the way shifters do meat."

She squeezed his hands. "Your son has to know what kind of people they are–unless he's just rebelling. Even Lilia had her moments of testing me."

"If so, she grew out of it. I hope my son will."

Her hands massaged his wrists in circles without even thinking about it. It both soothed him and made his blood rush to his head … and other places. "I could say he needs patience–"

Cyran's voice echoed in the room, startling Jude. "People made the same excuse with me."

Jude looked up to see the former Crimsontail Alpha staring at them. The current spymaster of his pack, he had slipped into the room while he held his son Juneau and Kodi in his arms.

Cyran continued. "They ignored the company I kept even when it was people I'd never have given a second thought to before. They lectured. They coddled. They danced around me."

Ravyn tensed, smelling like a brisk autumn breeze. "Cyran, the Hemmings are not Hades."

Cyran's eyes flashed. "You're more intelligent than that, Ravyn. And I wouldn't put it past the Dark Goddess to use them. They're her perfect victims. But even if the Hemmings have no connection to the fiend, they still can wreck someone's life who's already vulnerable."

Ravyn lifted her head in a regal way. "Before you interrupted me, I was going to say that even though you never get over losing a parent, life's for the living. Bram still has a father, a loving and exasperated sister, and an entire pack. He needs a reminder–and so do the Hemmings."

"Right away," Jude added in a strong voice.

Juneau and Kodi started fussing and shoving each other and Cyran took them out of the room, giving Ravyn and Jude an approving smile.

Ravyn squeezed his hands again. "If I'm going to find a match for you, I need to see your home life. I'm coming with you–and then we can leave for Wildefell, where Queen Ylavi Crystalsprite will be next week on business. Maybe we can cool the temperature at home so that Queen Ylavi, if she is your mate, gets a warm welcome rather than a forest fire."

At the moment, all Jude could think of was bringing Ravyn home to show her Graywolf City, Faolan Castle, and his pack. After all, she needed to find out if Queen Ylavi would like it there. Yes, that was why his wolf Arcturus was doing a dance. He looked into her eyes.

"How soon can you be ready to leave?"