A Moment in Time(13)

Iben tapped his finger on the desk, an undecipherable look on his face.  "I am a little concerned that this mate of yours keep appearing and  disappearing, Apollo. He is obviously in my territory without  permission."

"He had no choice," Apollo said quickly. "He came here during the celebration for Ares and Simon's mating."

"With what intention?" Iben asked.

"To speak with you actually." Apollo felt his face flush. "He kind of got sidetracked when he found me."

"And yet he left you," Iben pointed out. "Not a good sign."

"His pack was attacked, he thinks by the council. Almost everyone was  slaughtered. The only reason Grayson and a few of the others survived  was because he was on babysitting duty while the others went for a run  and he drove the pups into town for ice cream. Whoever attacked the pack  did so while he was gone. There are only a few of them left."

"Fuck a duck." Iben's head dropped into his hands.

Apollo waited. Despite his alpha's less-than-stellar response, he knew  Iben would help him save his mate. It just wasn't in Ibenré Khenti's  nature not to help.

"All right." Iben lifted his head and looked up at Apollo. "Where are they?"

"Grayson had them hidden in an abandoned house several miles from here.  While he was explaining this all to me, he got a call on his cell phone  from one of the men he left to watch over the younger ones. Someone was  snooping around outside of the house. Grayson went back to help protect  them while I came here for help."

"You have it." Iben stood and turned, grabbing something off the shelf  behind him. When he turned around and started to spread out a map,  Apollo remembered the one he had brought with him.

He just didn't remember what he had done with it.

Apollo began to frantically look around for the map, mentally berating  himself for losing what could be the most important piece of paper he  had ever held in his hands-and now it was missing.

"Looking for this?" Hercules asked as he held up the map. "You dropped it back by the front door."

"Oh, thank god." Apollo grabbed the map like it was the Holy Grail.

Hercules shrugged. "I figured if it was important enough to get your  slobber on, it was important enough to pick up when you dropped it."

"Thank you." Apollo turned and spread his map out over the top of  Iben's. He pointed to the circle he had drawn. "This is where Grayson  said he had hidden the others."

Iben studied the map intently, leaning in closer to check it over.  Finally, after several agonizing moments, he stood back and looked up at  Apollo. "Do you trust this man?"

"With my life."

"That's good enough for me."

Apollo was floored by the confidence the alpha had in his word. It was  just another reason he had wanted to join Aberdeen Pack. Ibenré Khenti  was not a man to be trifled with, but when he gave his trust, he gave it  fully.

"Ares, call in the others," Iben directed. "I want Jack and Warren to  stay here and guard the alpha house. The rest of you are going to come  with us to rescue our new pack members."







Apollo's jaw dropped. "How-"

Iben chuckled. "Didn't think I knew about that part, did you?"

Apollo shook his head.

"That's pretty much the only reason I can think of for someone to sneak  into my territory wanting to talk to me." Iben frowned. ‘Well, unless he  was here to kill me and since you trust him, I'm thinking that isn't  it."

"No, alpha. Grayson was on his way here to talk to you about joining the  pack. Apparently, word has gotten out that you don't get along real  well with the council and so he decided to come to you because he fully  believes the council ordered the attack on his pack."

"Why, though?" The pain in Iben's voice was in the eyes of everyone  standing here. No one wanted to think of an entire pack being  obliterated. There was no explainable reason for something like that.  "Did he say why the council would attack his pack?"

"No. I'm not sure if he even knows that it was the council. It's just  what Brandon overheard." Apollo pulled his hand down his face,  shrugging. "There's a possibility that Brandon knows more than he's  saying. He's only talked to Grayson about what happened. Sometimes our  subconscious locks things away to protect us and he isn't aware that he  knows more. That could be the case with Brandon. But to be honest, I  haven't a clue, Iben."

"Fair enough," Iben said after a moment. He clapped his hands together,  instantly gaining everyone's attention. "Okay, let's get this show on  the road. There are some pack members out there waiting for us to come  rescue them."

Apollo felt almost light-headed as he followed the others out of Iben's  office to the great room where everyone was gathering. He nodded to a  couple of the soldiers as he made his way to the kitchen, cautiously  looking inside.

"Sissy?"

"What?"

Apollo winced. God, that woman needed to get laid. "I need to ask you a favor."

He could tell by her pursed lips that she wasn't in a giving mood. "I'm all out of favors today."

This is going sooo well. "Please?"

"Fine," Sissy huffed as she came around the corner from the pantry. "What?"

"We're on our way to go get my mate and several of his pack members.  They were attacked and most of their pack was wiped out. Grayson was  able to save a few of them plus some of the pups. They've been living in  an old abandoned house about twenty miles from here."

The angry glint faded from Sissy's brown eyes. "Pups?" she whispered.

Apollo nodded. "Grayson was able to save five pups, himself, and four others. That's all that is left of his pack."

Surprisingly, tears appeared in Sissy's eyes. At least, Apollo thought  they were tears. With Sissy, one could never be sure. The woman was  scarier than Iben.

Her whole demeanor changed as she asked, "What's that favor?"

"I hate to ask but could you and Simon-"

Apollo thought he might have overstepped himself when Sissy held up her  hand. He opened his mouth to apologize when she started speaking again.

"I'll have a table fit for a king-and a few pups-ready by the time you get back."

"Thank you." Going out on a limb, Apollo leaned down and brushed a kiss  across Sissy's cheek. "You're a gem." He jumped back out of striking  distance as quickly as he had leaned down. He wasn't stupid.

As he walked away, Apollo could have sworn he heard Sissy mumble  something about wishing someone else would figure out she was a gem. He  had gotten away with kissing her on the cheek. He wasn't about to walk  back in there and poke the lion again.

Apollo made a speedy retreat to the main room. While everyone else was  being filled in on the new mission, Apollo ran upstairs to grab a pair  of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. He left his feet bare, preferring to  go around barefoot. It was easier to shift with no shoes on.

Before opening his door, Apollo leaned his head against the cool wood.  One part of him was screaming to hurry, to go now, to get to his mate as  fast as he could. Another part of him knew he needed to wait for his  pack members before going to rescue Grayson.

His wolf was urging him to go now and fuck everything else. It whimpered  to have Grayson near, to touch the man, to hold him and know that he  was safe.

But Apollo knew that he needed the emotional support from his pack mates  as much as he needed the muscle his friends could provide. He could  handle Grayson. He just needed to get his mate alone somewhere and hold  him until the man dealt with his loss.







It was the rest of Grayson's pack that Apollo didn't know what to do  with. He knew they would be joining the Aberdeen pack. That was a given  as Iben had already given his blessing, but most of them were pups.

How would he and the others handle emotionally distraught pups?

Apollo didn't get the impression that their parents had survived, which  meant that Aberdeen Pack now had five orphaned pups on their hands.  There would always be someone to take them in and give them a new home.  Pups were the heart of a pack. But the emotional damage that they were  suffering had to be shattering.

Apollo was pretty sure he was going to have to ask Iben for a bigger  house. As protective as Grayson was, and considering he was one of the  faces the little ones knew, the pups were probably going to want to stay  with him. And since Apollo had no intention of letting Grayson stay  anywhere else but at his house, that meant he needed a bigger house.

A smile tickled the corners of Apollo's mouth as he opened his bedroom  door and started down the balcony walkway. By the time he reached the  stairs, the smile had worked itself into a full-blown grin. By the  bottom of the stairs, he was chuckling.

The things I get myself into.

"What's so funny?" Hercules asked as he frowned at him.

"I think I need a bigger house."

Hercules's frowned deepened. "Huh?"

Before Apollo could reply, Iben called everyone together in the middle  of the great room. A few last instructions were given, and then everyone  that was going on the rescue mission filed out the front door.