What made this group so special that they were incredibly devoted to one another?
It was as if they'd go to any lengths to protect one another.
Like family, truly a real family, a pack.
How could Dominic tell who was truly loyal and who was just faking it in this group?
He had no way of knowing who he could trust enough to ask for help without getting himself into trouble.
One thing was clear: there was something truly special about one of the managers Alexander chose to update Dominic on the daily goings-on in the businesses.
It wasn't clear whether it was both of them or exactly what it was, but they stood out as unique; the only certain thing was just that Deva had an addictive quality about her, and she knew how to use it to her advantage.
It was clear after seeing her that morning.
Her bubbly, bright, and warm personality charmed people the moment they came into view.
The only thing Dominic knew was that she was fully aware of the powerful personality she carried in that tiny little body.
Rollo, on the other hand, appeared fiercely loyal.
In his experience, that was a trait rarely seen by anyone except wolves and their Alphas.
Or, in rare cases, wolves that had formed a sort of family, which made him curious about the network Rhae and Stella had talked about.
Instinctively, they become fiercely protective of anyone they consider part of their family.
Similar to Dominic with Raphael and Phoenix.
Dominic wasn't entirely sure where the missing wolf pups had gone, but he was beginning to suspect that more than a few had ended up right under his nose.
Had he really been wandering with an unknown number of wolves?
Was he on the verge of discovering so many of the missing children?
He had already found five that he was certain about.
He couldn't worry about that right at the moment; he had work to get done, but he wouldn't let it wander too far from his thoughts.
He planned to look into that every spare second he got, though.
That said, he needed to focus on the task at hand, knowing Rollo probably wouldn't make things easy.
This wasn't the moment for a pointless clash with Rollo, so he decided to lean into their loyalty instead.
"Alright, since we both want what's best for Alexander and Julius, let's focus on what they're asking us to do. Shall we?"
Rollo was taken aback by how quickly Dominic gave in.
He had been bracing for a fight, so to speak.
The scars were plain to see, and the man in front of him didn't seem like someone who would surrender without a struggle.
"That easy? You just want to move on and get down to business?"
Dominic took a deep breath and tilted his head to the side.
"Yes, Rollo. That's exactly why you were sent to me, business. The most important thing is that you can't tell anyone about me. Both of your bosses made that very clear. Think of me as a ghost from the past. Got it?"
He grimaced slightly.
"Yeah, got it. But why?"
'Of course, he would ask why,' Dominic thought to himself.
"It's important that no one knows your bosses are out of town and that I'm in charge. You wouldn't want anyone taking advantage of the situation, right?"
Rollo still wasn't satisfied with the answer.
"I get that, but what I don't understand is why you have to be such a big secret. Why do we have to hide you and act like you don't even exist? Why does it have to be this way? It's not like you're some rogue secret agent or anything."
Dominic stared at him as if he had two heads, and he felt an urge to smash them both.
"It doesn't matter why; it's what Julius wants, well, and Alexander too. They don't want anyone knowing about me. Can't you just stay loyal and forget I exist unless I'm right in front of you?"
Rollo scoffed, the corner of his mouth curling up on one side.
"Actually, yeah, forgetting your face is no problem. I'm just not a fan of all the secrets. Something's been going on with them lately, and it's not good. Seems to be since you came around. I'll bring all the reports from the previous day every morning. Here's yesterday's. Anything else?"
Dominic huffed, "Can you handle anything else that might be, you know, a secret?"
That caught his attention.
"Of course I can, if it helps them."
Dominic smirked slightly in disapproval.
"I want us to get along, you know that, right? We're on the same side. That said, could you keep an eye out for anyone visiting from out of town?"
"You mean like you?" he asked, furrowing his brows.
"Yeah, like me. It helps them in more ways than you realize, supporting all their businesses and giving us the data we need, where they're from, and all that."
Knowing that Dominic made him feel important and in demand gave him a little extra bounce in his step.
"Of course, I can handle that. I'd do anything for them. They can rely on me. See you in the morning."
He wasted no time leaving the home office after that.
Rollo shot out at least ten times faster than he'd wandered in.
Dominic was starting to feel a bit better after that, but he had a feeling Rollo was going to be an issue.
If others had spies roaming about, at least he had a couple of local ones of his own.
He'd figure out sooner or later if they were any good.
Maybe he could even tweak it as he figured out what he could and couldn't discuss with each of them.
It would be even better if he could tap into the orphan network that Stella and Rhae had talked about, which would be the spies he really needed.
That might take a bit of time, though.
In time, he would infiltrate it, assemble his own team of spies, and feel much more at ease in his new home.
With Rollo gone and the screens showing everything was secure, he needed to check in on the traveling wolves.
The last time he caught up with them, Phoenix was by himself, the others were different, and he felt like running over to give Phoenix a piece of his mind for ditching the pack.
As he urged his wolf to connect with theirs, he found peace when he could just barely sense them running together, but lingering at the edge of his reach.
Dominic realized he could no longer check in on them, but he took it as a sign they were making great progress on their journey.
Something held them up, and he knew it, but hopefully they would tell him about it soon.
More than anything, he wished he could be there, running toward his son alongside them to save Julius.
...
As the six wolves ran off their anger, they knew there was no turning back, and they didn't want to anyway.
They needed to reach Julius before anything happened to him, but Ayla had a sinking feeling it wouldn't be as simple as grabbing their friend and walking away.
She just needed to use the trip to prepare for whatever they might encounter when they finally arrived.
One thing she knew for sure was that the woods were crawling with all sorts of spies.
She'd heard the rumors, of course, but seeing it with her own eyes was a whole different story.
Now that she fully understood the situation, she was on high alert, just like the others after the unlucky run-in with the two witches and Lucas.
With their wolves now aware of the essence of witches and their magic, they could sense it nearly as well as Raphael, who seemed to have a natural talent for it.
He was an absolute asset to the pack when it came to avoiding magic traps, spotting most of them even when the others didn't.
There was just something special about Raphael, and they all loved him for it.
Shifting against their will wasn't nearly as fun as the group had imagined, so the more often they could spot the faint glimmers of leftover magic and dodge them, or even skirt around a spelled area, the better.
That was, if that was the type of spell left behind.
None of them were all that friendly to werewolves, as the group was about to discover.
At that point, the witches had been talking, and they knew a group of young wolves was traveling through the woods to find a lost friend.
What really made them angry was that most of these wolves had once been cursed by them, and they just couldn't accept that.
Those wolves were never meant to break the curse.
Cursed wolves were never meant to discover themselves or belong to a pack, fated instead to live among humans for the rest of their days, bringing an end to the era of pack life and hopefully their species as a whole.
The coven had paid a steep price for cursing those children and taking them, so they were determined to use every bit of magic at their disposal to guarantee the worst possible outcome to the travelers.
The forced shifting spells were just appetizers and diversions, giving them time to move ahead and set up a playful spell they truly enjoyed.
At one point, they stumbled into a cloud that warped their sense of smell for a few minutes, unknowingly leading them toward the witches.
After that, they stepped into enchanted water that burned the pads of their paws as they began moving in a direction that led them away from where the witches wanted them to go.
Each time, the spies moved along the path, setting traps in just the right spots for them to discover, moving like ghosts, invisible to everyone in the group.
The final spell at their last destination had to be worth the effort of gathering and the risk of breaking sanctions if they were caught.
It's not like they really cared in the first place, since they'd just cast a memory enchantment on anyone who caught them and be on their way.
Above all else, this coven especially loved stirring up trouble and creating mayhem.
The coven they were up against was the reason other witches stayed hidden and ended up with a bad reputation.
Dark witches.
For their next trick, the young wolves charged full speed into a hidden spell woven into the forest floor, one that would strip them of all their senses and leave them utterly lost.
But wait, there's more.
When a wolf loses its senses, it lets all its fears take over, unfiltered.
Inevitably, they turn on anyone around them, losing the ability to even trust themselves.
The six young wolves were possibly facing the fight of their lives against each other, while the spies, munching on fried spiders, waited eagerly for the show.
As the coven of witches closed in around them in the woods, Ayla and the others stepped onto soil steeped in spells that would strip them of their defenses.
It quickly stripped them of their ability to follow their instincts on which way to go, hitting them all within seconds and making them freeze in place as if a brick wall had suddenly appeared before them.
They each started glancing around, looking a bit dazed.
None of them had any idea what was happening or who they should follow.
Fear began to seep in, just as the witches intended.
Without their intuition and instincts, the mindless wolves just wanted to look out for themselves.
Ayla was the first to step back from the group, being a natural loner and the least trusting from the start.
Alexander wanted to stay by her side because he had genuinely begun to care for her with his human side, but she lashed out when he tried to follow.
After that, his fear took on more than one form.
He was afraid of getting lost, being attacked, and losing Ayla for good.
With his tail tucked between his legs, he dashed through the brush, careful to avoid being followed.
That's when he realized something wasn't right.
He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he could tell something was off.
She didn't seem to share his fears, though, as she was already running from him, and that terrified him more than anything the spell could do.
It weakened the spell just enough for him to see the others behaving the same way as Ayla.
Breaking away and going off on their own, with no sense of direction or loyalty.
He remembered Dominic saying that a lone wolf rarely survives.
As he glanced around, Alexander caught sight of a shadow shifting.
He couldn't tell what it was, but he was sure something had moved.
Maybe it was the fear gnawing at him, but something told him he had to think fast, or none of them would make it through this adventure, alone or together, or even stay alive.
Something was out there, and they had to stay together.
That's when he decided to figure out the best person to reach out to.
Who could he reach out to that wouldn't let fear cloud their judgment?
Well, it was obvious that it definitely wasn't Ayla.
Time was slipping away, and he could feel it as the others raced farther and farther away.
With only four other wolves to choose from, he had to make his choice.
That's when he heard it, the sound of cackling.
The witches were behind it all, reveling in the chaos they created.
His party was growing more hostile and divided, and he was starting to lose hope of reaching any of them.
Then he saw her, the one who had been a royal bitch earlier that day.
She deliberately stepped into his line of sight, offering a quick smirk and a subtle wave before slipping out of view once more.
He completely lost it.
All the composure he'd been holding onto vanished as he took off running after her.
If there was one thing the witches of the Coven of Chaos despised, it was wolves undoing their spells and curses.
Wolves enjoyed nothing more than defying witches, except perhaps hunting one, and she just had to hand him the perfect chance to do exactly that.