Dominic was uneasy as he began to settle into the office space on the first floor of the building they lived in.
The first morning was going to be a fun one as he was now officially on his own, handling his son's co-owned businesses, and for once in his life, he was nervous.
When it came to defense, battle, fighting, and anything of that nature, he was a beast.
Truly.
When it came to the balance of business and the intellect of multimillion-dollar corporations, well, that was something he just wasn't accustomed to.
Dominic was ready for the challenge, though.
Readying himself, he laid all the books out on the desk in front of him and pulled the monitors up to glance at the streets surrounding them, the restaurant, club, town square, and most importantly, the entrance to the woods.
The last thing he wanted was any surprises.
As far as anyone who mattered knew, he was dead.
He was ready to make sure it stayed that way.
Alexander had entrusted two members of their staff to help Dominic in every way before the group embarked on their journey.
Now he sat on high alert, waiting for the lucky duo.
From the restaurant that sat within the town square, which had a great position to keep an eye on things, Deva had been chosen.
She would travel to and from the home office and work location, keeping Dominic up to date.
The same with Rollo and the club, which sat on the farthest side of town.
They had both been with Alexander and Julius from the beginning and had been trusted not to let anyone know what was going on.
Both employees had been instructed to keep the fact that their employers were out of town a secret.
That also included who they were working with in place of the secret CEO's, which was even more of a secret.
If anyone asked, their bosses were working from home for a short time, and they were reporting directly to them until they decided otherwise.
This wasn't the first time the co-CEO's had worked from home, so the two appointed managers didn't think twice about it.
Loyalty was not a question for them.
Honestly, they were fully devoted to them and didn't even think to question them, as they had always been done right by the pair of orphans.
They had been sprinkled with bonuses, gifts, vacations, and the best jobs that most of the time didn't feel like work to them in the first place.
Now that the plan was in motion, it was time for Dominic to meet these loyal followers whom his son's best friend put his trust in.
He sat looking over the screens intently, as he waited for the two managers to make their way to him for their first encounter as the newly formed pack made their way through the woods.
As the six wolves did just that, ran with fury through the trees, wind in their fur, it was a form of freedom as much as it was a mission.
They had their mission ahead of them, obviously, but their wolves wanted to enjoy it as much as they could at the same time.
Their tails were moving side to side as they ran with a sense of grace.
It was pure beauty to watch the pack running through the forest toward the Moonlight Shifters pack.
Their first real pack encounter.
The wolves' spirits couldn't be more excited.
Their formation as they ran was perfect, too.
Ayla was slightly ahead of the rest of the pack, with Alexander's head just at her shoulders.
Then the two ladies, Stella and Rhae, flanked them on both sides just behind that, followed by Phoenix behind Stella, and Raphael behind Rhae.
Looking at them from above, it was like a triangle starting with Ayla.
Phoenix and Raphael almost seemed to purposely take the back of the triangle formation as a form of protection for the females.
They were the eyes and ears constantly on the prowl for enemies and danger lurking as they pressed forward, and they took their job seriously.
Raphael was no longer the soft teddy bear that he had always shown to Ayla, and she was overwhelmed at the aura of protection that emitted from him.
For the first time, she understood how he ended up in the position he acquired with Dominic.
He may have liked to be the kind, sweet, attentive man that he had shown her, but he was the beast that he needed to be when he needed to be it.
The same with Phoenix, except he wasn't nearly the teddy bear that his counterpart was.
They were locked in, and they were making incredible time as they let the wind blow through their fur, being careful not to push too hard.
Moonlight Shifters was a long way from them, so they would have to pace themselves, or they would burn out.
As they ran, they found their first clearing, which wasn't too far into the woods.
Not in relation to how far they had to go.
Time-wise, they had been running for maybe an hour, and the sun was just starting to wake up.
It was a sight to see, with the bright rays just beginning to make their way over the tops and through the trees, illuminating the dew on the flowers, rocks, and grass that lay before them.
Raphael started to get a feeling that something was off, or that something just wasn't quite right.
He couldn't put his nose on it, but he sensed something that made him want to stop.
Without hesitating any longer, "Guys, stop. Don't go in the clearing," he told them in the mind link.
Not sure why he told them to stop, they all listened, stopping instantly, and turned to him.
"What's wrong?" Ayla asked.
Being cautious was her standard setting, so when someone else used it, she was quick to comply.
Raphael didn't know how to explain it, but Phoenix started looking around and investigating while listening for the reason.
"I can't explain it, but we shouldn't go into the clearing. It's just a bad idea."
At that point, Phoenix had started to break away from the pack and began sniffing around to see what spooked his partner.
What he didn't notice as he inspected the edges of the perimeter was the extra glow that seemed to be coming from the flowers.
It appeared to be just a bright morning, but on the side of the clearing that they were coming from, there was an extra brightness to the shimmer that the morning-lit dew was emitting.
None of the group members happened to notice the two shadowy figures watching them from the trees, either.
For that matter, they didn't pick up on the dark fur the shimmer was hiding.
Before the remaining five members knew what was happening, they had been guided by some force toward the clearing as they investigated as they stepped over the edge of the shimmer.
That was when they felt their bodies jerk forward, and they lost all control, writhing in pain.
Shifting when it isn't your choice is painful, and that was exactly what was happening to the small pack at the edge of the vast, beautiful patch of cleared out nature.
Confused, they looked back and forth at each other, when it was over.
Trying to calm their breathing and shake their minds clear, as the hooded figures, gracefully, came down from the trees, and made their presence known.
"So, you are werewolves then," one of them said with a soft, siren-like voice.
Ayla was the first to step forward, covering her breasts to the best of her ability.
Maintaining her dignity, she spoke with confidence, "Who are you, and why does it matter what we are?"
After a short, taunting laugh that really got under Ayla's skin, "Oh, honey, you don't want to take that tone with us. I assure you. We are the reason you don't know who you are. I'm assuming none of you know who you are yet, correct? Just the one you're going to rescue".
Ayla had her chance to laugh and took it, wholeheartedly, "Wrong! You think you know everything, don't you? That's cute. Doesn't it make you mad when you're wrong?"
At that moment, the ladies took their hoods off, and they were beautiful.
It wasn't real beauty, though; it was a glamour.
Each person from the group saw what they thought was beautiful.
Those witches were clever because none of them knew what they really looked like, just what they wanted them to look like in that moment.
Ayla was getting under their skin, though, and it was making their glamour glitch.
The one that was doing the speaking was changing before their eyes, to solid caramel skin, dark hair, with piercing green eyes.
Why she would want to glamour herself was a mystery to Ayla, but when you have magic, you use it, right?
"And they say werewolves are greedy," Raphael chimed in.
Ayla cut her eyes and chuckled as both witches looked at him with eyes that looked at him like they were cursing him.
Then they stopped suddenly.
Knowingly.
"So, you know who we are then, do you? I doubt that very much. Why are you trying to pass our clearing, and in wolf form?"
Raphael stepped forward, "You don't own this clearing. Try again. Witches are not allowed to settle down because of the disasters you bring. The hurricanes, famine, curses, and death. All you do is curse and kill. You are allowed to live in cities, but you cannot claim land. You were wrong, we are not cursed like you, though, and this is not your clearing. Why are you using magic on us?"
The young witches looked at each other and back to the woods.
"We have a companion that says otherwise. You say you are not cursed, but is that the truth? Are you all uncursed?"
Ayla was being disturbingly quiet as she realized Phoenix was missing and scoured the woods for their lost friend.
"Where is our friend?"
The second witch was not intrigued, "You decline to answer then? Are you worried about telling us the truth for some reason? We don't bite as you do. Honestly. We just want to know who you are, beautiful."
Ayla knew they were up to something at that point, "Who wants to know if we are cursed wolves and who we are? You two, or whoever is too scared to come out of the woods?"
The quieter of the two witches began to tap her chin, "You know, I don't like you. You have an attitude, but you're smart. Not much gets past you. If you can find him, you can have him. However, these woods are full of magic, and if you go after our friend, you'll never get to the friend you're after. So, do you go after the black wolf or your friends? Tick tock".
Just as she finished her ultimatum, Phoenix returned from searching the area and hit the barrier.
"Damnit, what the hell. Guys, why am I in human form?"
Raphael grabbed his shoulders and turned him around to see the witches, "Oh, witches, great. Just what her need."
He turned just enough that he could see the group and the witches, "What do they want?"
The mouthy witch added a bit to sweeten the deal, "Oh, and if you go to find your friend, we will clear our magic from the path forward. We can't promise there isn't other magic, but we can clear ours."
Ayla cocked an eyebrow, "There's a black wolf with them, that I'm pretty sure we want, and they are protecting. We can forfeit getting Julius back and go after him, or we can keep going. Witches suck. They thought we were all cursed."
She was doing her best to give him any idea that he needed to keep his trap shut, but Phoenix was Phoenix.
"No way. Raphael and I would never have gotten you guys this far if we had been cursed, too."
He had no idea that he even said anything wrong, or that the group was doing their best not to give the woman in front of them any information.
That man was just so proud of himself.
The witches were just thrilled, too, because they got what they needed.
They didn't have a choice now; they had to move forward, because they needed to get somewhere safe, before anyone realized it was her, and where she was.
"We are ready to get moving, seeing as it's time sensitive, and we are getting these girls home. You said you would remove your magic. Will you keep your word?" Ayla asked as patiently as possible.
With a smile and a face full of humor, "Oh, of course. We knew who you were, we just wanted to verify it. Safe travels," as they gave a sarcastic wave in unison.
As they started into the clearing, Raphael slapped the back of Phoenix's head, "Could you be any more of an airhead. Our whole conversation was up in smoke in two seconds because of you. Really?"
"What did I say wrong?"
Phoenix really didn't get it.
Ayla didn't want to yell at him while they were anywhere near the witches, "It's fine, we can all talk about it later, wolves, now. Ears, everywhere."
That's when they saw him walking up to the witches behind them.
The black wolf, just before he turned into the man that Phoenix and Raphael recognized as Lucas.
He walked up and kissed the snarkier of the pair.
The wolf that nearly killed Dominic was still working against them, and now he was in bed with the witches.
Why?
That was all it took for the boys to lose it, and they were on the warpath, but that was against the rules.