What was it about this group that was so unique that they were so deeply devoted to each other?
It was like they would do anything to keep each other from harm.
Like family.
A real family.
How could Dominic know who was actually loyal and who was pretending with this bunch?
There was no way of telling who he could trust to even ask for help without digging a hole for himself.
One thing was certain: something was absolutely special about one of the managers that Alexander picked to come and update Dominic on the daily happenings with the businesses.
It just wasn't clear if it was both of them or just what exactly that was.
They seemed unique; there was no doubt that that was the only clear thing.
Deva was such an addictive person, and she used it to her advantage.
That was obvious after watching her that morning.
She used her bubbly, bright, warm personality to charm people from the second they came within her sight.
The only thing Dominic knew was that she knew just how powerful a personality she had in that tiny little body.
Rollo, on the other hand, appeared fiercely loyal.
In his experience, that was a trait that was rarely seen by anyone other than wolves and their Alphas, normally.
Or, in rare circumstances, wolves that had become a family of sorts.
Instinctively, they become more than protective of those they deem those that are part of their family.
Like Dominic with Raphael and Phoenix.
Dominic hadn't been sure where the missing wolf pups ended up, but he was starting to have a strong suspicion that more than a handful wound up right under his nose.
Had he been walking around with an unknown number of wolves?
Was he about to find so many of the missing children?
He had already found five of them that he knew of.
He didn't have time to focus on that at the moment; he had a job to do.
That was something he was going to be looking into every spare second he had, though.
With that being said, he needed to focus on the job standing right in front of him.
Now was not the time to have a pissing match with Rollo, so it was time to embrace his loyalty.
"Okay. Then, since you want what is best for Alexander and Julius, as I do, let's get to what they want us both to do. Shall we?"
Rollo was surprised by the way that Dominic submitted so easily.
He was ready for a fight, so to speak.
The scars were visible, and the man before him did not look like one who backed down easily.
"That easy? You just want to move on and get down to business?"
"Yes, Rollo. That's what you were sent to me for. Business. The most important of it being that you cannot tell anyone about me. Both of your bosses were very specific about that detail. I'm a ghost in retrospect. Do you understand?"
He grimaced a bit, "Yeah. Got it. Why?"
Of course, he would ask why.
"Because it's important that no one knows your bosses are out of town and I am running things. You don't want anyone to take advantage of the situation, do you?"
Rollo still didn't like the answer, "I get that. What I don't get is why you have to be a big secret. Why do we have to hide you and pretend like you don't even exist? WHY do you have to be a secret? It's not like you're some secret agent gone rogue or something."
Dominic was looking at him like he had two heads that he wanted to smash.
"It doesn't matter why. It's what Julius wants. Well, and Alexander. They don't want anyone to know about me. Can't you stay loyal and forget I exist unless I'm in front of you?"
"Actually, yeah. I can forget your face, no problem. Just not a fan of all the secrets. Something is going on with them lately, and not something good. I'll bring all the reports from the day before every morning. Here is yesterday's. Anything else?"
Dominic huffed, "Can you handle anything else that might be secret, like?"
That got his attention.
"Of course I can, if it is helping them."
Dominic pulled the side of his mouth up in disapproval, "I want to get along with you. You know that, right? We are on the same side. With that being said, would you be able to keep your eyes open for anyone who is visiting from out of town?"
"You mean like you?"
"Yeah. Like me. It helps them in more ways than you know. It helps with all their businesses. It gives us the data that we need. Where they are from and all that."
The fact that Dominic was making him seem superior and needed gave him a little pep in his step.
"Of course I can do that. I would do anything for them. They can count on me. See you in the morning."
He didn't waste any time getting out of the home office after that.
Rollo bolted out ten times faster than he strolled in.
Now Dominic felt a little bit better.
If other people had spies running around, at least he had two local ones himself.
Whether they were any good or not, he would find out over time.
Maybe he could even modify it as he learned what he could and couldn't talk about with each of them.
What would be even better would be if he could access the orphan network that Stella and Rhae had mentioned.
That would take a little time, though.
In time, he would infiltrate it and have his own team of spies and be able to rest a lot easier in his new home.
Now that Rollo was gone, and he checked over the screens and saw that everything seemed secure, he had to check back on the traveling wolves.
The last time he connected with them, Phoenix was alone, the others had changed, and he wanted to personally run off and kick Phoenix's tail for leaving the pack.
As he urged his wolf to connect to theirs, he was put to rest when he could just barely sense them all running together, but sensed them together running on the edge of his reach.
Dominic knew he wouldn't be able to reach out to check on them anymore, but he also knew that meant they were making reasonable time on their journey.
Something held them up, but hopefully they would tell him about it soon.
More than anything, he wished he were there running toward his son with them to save Julius.
...
As the six wolves ran their anger off, they realized there was no turning back, not that they wanted to.
They had to get to Julius before anything happened to him, but Ayla had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy to just get their friend and leave.
She just had to use the journey there to prepare herself for whatever they might have to deal with when they finally got there.
One thing she did know was that the woods were full of all kinds of spies.
Now that she was fully aware of that, she was on high alert, as were all the others after the unfortunate encounter with the pair of witches and Lucas.
With their wolves now conscious of the essence of witches and their magic, they picked up on it, almost as well as Raphael's, which seemed to have a gift for it.
He was truly a blessing to have in the pack when it came to dodging magic traps, because he saw the majority of them, even when the others missed them.
There was just something special about Raphael, and they all loved him for it.
Having to shift unwillingly was not as much fun as the group anticipated, so the more times they could catch the little glimmers of magic left behind and dodge them, or even go around a spelled area, the better.
That was, if that was the spell left behind.
Some of them weren't so nice, as the group was about to find out.
At that point that witches had been talking, and they knew that there was a group of young wolves traveling through the woods to get to a lost friend.
What made them angry was that the majority of these wolves had once been cursed by them, and they couldn't have that.
Those wolves were never meant to break the curse.
Cursed wolves were never meant to find themselves or a pack.
They paid dearly for putting that curse on those children and taking them, so they were going to do everything in their magic little hands to ensure the worst possible outcome they could.
The forced shifting spells were just appetizers and distractions so they could gather ahead and lay a fun spell out.
It had to be something worth the time of them gathering and breaking sanctions against them if they were to get caught.
Not like they completely cared to begin with, because they would just say a forgetting spell to whoever caught them, and be on their way.
More than anything, this coven in particular just enjoyed wreaking havoc and causing chaos.
The coven they were facing currently was the reason all other witches stayed in hiding and got a bad reputation.
Dark witches.
For their next trick, the young wolves were running full force into an undetected spell laid on the ground of the forest that would take away their sense, leaving them completely lost.
But wait, there's more.
When a wolf doesn't have its senses, it allows its fears to take over, all of them, without filter.
Inevitably, they turn on each other.
The six young wolves were potentially in for the fight of their lives, each other, and the spies were there with their fried spiders, waiting for the show.
Just as the coven of witches circled them in the woods, Ayla and the others were crossing into the soil that had been soaked in spells that would render them defenseless.
It was quickly stealing their abilities to follow their instincts on what way to go, affecting them all within seconds, causing them to stop in their tracks as if they had a brick wall in front of them.
Each one of them began to look around, dazed.
None of them knew what was going on or who to follow.
Fear, just as the witches intended, was taking over.
Without the wolves' intuition and instincts, they only wanted to protect themselves.
Ayla was the first to start backing away from the others, as she had always been a loner and the least trusting to begin with.
Alexander wanted to stick with her because he had genuinely begun to care for her, but she lunged at him when he tried to follow her.
His fear was in more than one way then.
He feared being lost, attacked, and losing Ayla forever.
With his tail between his legs, he began to run away through the brush, making sure not to be followed.
That's when it occurred to him that something was wrong.
Unsure what was wrong exactly, he knew something wasn't right.
She didn't seem to have the same fears as him, though, because she was already running from him, and that scared him more than any of the effects of the spell.
It was enough to lessen the spell just enough for him to notice the others acting the same way as Ayla.
Separating and running off on their own.
A lone wolf rarely survives.
As he was looking around, Alexander noticed a shadow move.
It wasn't clear what it was, but he knew that something moved.
All he knew was that he had to think fast, or none of them were making it through this adventure together, or maybe even alive.
Something was out there, and they needed to stick together.
That's when he decided to figure out who the best person was to try to reach.
Who could he get through to, that wouldn't let fear overrule their reasoning?
Well, it was clear that it absolutely wasn't Ayla.
Time was running out, and he had four other wolves to choose from, and he had to pick now.
That's when he heard it, the cackling.
The witches were behind it and enjoying the chaos they were causing.
His party was getting more vicious and further apart, and he was losing hope that he would be able to get through to any of them.
Then he saw her, the one who had been a royal bitch earlier that day.
She purposely got in his line of sight, just long enough to give him a smirk and a small wave before glimmering away from his line of vision again.
He lost it.
All the composure that he was maintaining was out the window as he took off after her.
If one thing the witches of the coven of chaos hated, it was the wolves breaking their spells and curses.
One thing wolves loved more, it was a hunt, and that bitch just had to give him one.