His Ghost

A New Alliance. 19

Erikas POV

Last night's rollercoaster of emotions spilled into this morning. By 10:00 am, after training, I was at the medical centre, checking Carter hadn't lied about Emma. The enforcers guarding her mentioned that Carter had told her Alpha she was not ready to travel.

I convinced them to do me a favour and then mind-linked with Tia, who I had linked with last night. "Tia, can you come to the medical centre? I have a job for you."

An hour later, I went searching for Ava. It had been a few days since I had seen her. Granted, I had a bit going on.

I assumed the healers were working with her. As it turned out, as soon as Aiden dumped Tia, all help ceased. Ava never mentioned any of this in training.

I needed to intervene and help fix the Ava situation. So far, I had been too gentle with her; it wasn't working.

As Lycans, we were known for our emotional distance and survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Unlike Shifters, who always ran hot, the constant drama surrounding them drained me. I had become a bit weary of everything going on around me. My focus on Ava had become indifferent to her problem.

Unlike human empathy, living in this world was not a quality we excelled in.

It was becoming clear that Carter and I shared similar traits. He wore his bad habits on his sleeve. I hid mine behind an elegant facade of self-righteousness and a privileged upbringing.

Entering "The Orchard Lodge," its worn-down state was evident. Sparse furniture, chipped paint, and school camp-style living arrangements were clear. It was cheap, nasty, and makeshift.

"Hey, where are you?" Greta came through the mind link. "We are all waiting at the cars to head into town."

I remembered Carter wanting to go into town. He wanted to see if anyone recognized the shifters that attacked the Estate. But I didn't see the point - everyone I saw was dead, except for one whose face I never saw.

Of course, the two shifter bodies I killed did not appear in the body count. I was confident they were still dead. Unless someone stitched their head back on and inserted their heart. I dropped down onto one of the few worn couches in the house.

"I am not coming; I have a few things here to do. Could you tell Monica to link with me, and I can look through her eyes if needed? But only if you recognize Lycans; the shifter problem is theirs; let's not get caught up in it."

With that, Monica's voice came through the link.

"If we do that, they will know we are all linked. Scrying between minds is not simple. It will be a dead giveaway to the power we are all sharing," Monica said.

"Good, tell them; I am no longer pretending to be a good little girl." Tia came and found me last night; she had a lot to say. I need to sort something else out. She mentioned she heard that the council is swaying its members, aka Benson Elders. Leon's Estate is the target."

"And how would Tia know that?" said Monica

"She overheard it from Clara, but I don't trust her either. I do need to look into it," I said.

There was silence when Greta said. "They are keeping us busy, so we don't look too deep. Give them pretty things, cool cars, and fancy accommodation, so they put up, shut up and miss the real agenda."

Yes, I thought. When I arrived in Monet, I was at Leon's for a week pre-transition. I had some suitcases with my clothes and personal items. Before we knew what the plan of attack was. I had to leave everything at his and play low-ranking lone wolf. After Leon's visit, my suitcases arrived.