Den of Sorrows (The Grey Wolves #9)(27)

“How long is the incubation period of the virus?” Sally asked.
“It takes six days for the virus to fully infect the host,” Alston answered. 
“So basically they could start making vamps as fast as we can kill them,” Jacque said as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
Peri understood Jacques worries; she had thought of the same things.
“I don’t have the perfect solution for you,” Peri admitted. “I’m trying to keep from getting every wolfpack in North America involved, and I have other wolfpacks dealing with the whole Volcan crap. I could see if the elves would be willing to help—”
Peri’s words were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Cyn.
“Speak of the devil,” Jen said with a grin.
“I am not an elf,” Cyn told her in her usual matter-of-fact, no-nonsense way.
“No, but you’re doin—OW!” Jen lifted the foot that Peri had just stomped on.
Peri stepped away from Jen just in case the she-wolf decided to retaliate. “Cyn, glad you could join us,” Peri said with a small amount of bite in her voice. She’d expected the fae warrior two days ago.
Cyn met Peri’s eyes and, because Peri knew her, she saw the pain there.
“What’s wrong?” Peri asked, stepping toward her.
“I was delayed in coming because, before I was about to flash to Romania to join you, I decided to check in on the pixies who have been monitoring Canada. It took me awhile to track them down. I picked up their trail of magic on the outskirts of Toronto. But they weren’t alone. Someone was following them.”
“Please don’t tell me what I think you are about to tell me,” Peri said in a deadly whisper. “Please, Cyn.”
“I am sorry, Perizada. The vampires got to them before I could get there.”
“They killed the little pixies?” Decebel asked through gritted teeth.
Peri felt as though she couldn't breathe. She tried to suck air into her lungs but her throat was so constricted that none could get through. Why the hell couldn’t she keep her people safe? Why, at every turn, did it feel like she was failing?
“What about children?” Vasile spoke up. “Have there been any more children missing or killed?”
“I honestly don’t know. The pixies that were helping in the United States have fled after finding out their kin were murdered,” responded Cyn.
“Now we have no way to monitor the kidnappings or deaths,” Peri spat.
“I do have an idea about that,” Cyn explained. “We are going to need to start monitoring the humans’ police force.”
"Perizada." Her mate’s voice rushed into her mind and the concern, urgency, and love that came with it eased her enough that she could breathe again. "Are you alright? Do you need me?"
"I always need you." She paused and considered Cyn's news and then swallowed her pride as she turned to her mate. She told him about all of their concerns regarding the sheer number of covens and how quickly the vamps could multiply. She told him about the pixies and how that they now had no real way to monitor the abductions and deaths without going through the human police. She explained that every time they took out a coven all of the death and horror was hurting Sally and that the residual magic left after the vamps were killed was causing some intense emotions for them all. "I don't know what to do. We can't just do nothing, even though the problem seems so much bigger than our little band of heroes. What do I do?"
Peri listened to the group milling around her, talking quietly amongst themselves as she had stepped to the side to converse with her mate through their bond. She could feel his mind at work and knew that he was attempting to see things from multiple angles, not just the ‘kill all vamps’ angle that she seemed to have latched onto.
"Get in contact with Tayna and have her wolves deal with the coven in Colorado and any that you know about that are nearby. There is no reason they can't help. Also get in contact with Tyler, the Springfield Alpha, and have him deal with the coven in his territory and any other covens nearby. You don't have to do it all, love. Lean on those willing to help.""Tyler owes us anyway after hesitating to give up the cabin where Jacque was taken after being kidnapped," Peri said, getting angry at the stupid Alpha despite the fact that she hadn't even been there. The girls had been happy to share with her in grave detail everything that had happened to them up until the point when Peri entered the picture.
"No wolf would let the death of innocent children lie. As soon as those wolves hear about what's going on, they will be more than happy to help. What about the pack in Coldspring, the one with the Alpha that Fane had to kill? Any covens near them could be their responsibility."
"Thank you," she said when she realized his matter-of-fact thinking was exactly what she needed.
"I am always here. I love you."
"I love you too, fleas and all." He chuckled at her and then left her to do what she needed to do. Peri could only do what she was doing because she knew Lucian was protecting the healers they still had in their care and waiting and watching to see if Volcan made a move. If he weren't there taking care of those things, her mind wouldn't be in the game where it needed to be.
She turned to face the group feeling more grounded and less frantic. Thank you for that, mate, she thought to herself. "Okay, I've got a plan," she spouted to those around her.
Vasile stood silent, his arms folded in front of him, as he considered the things his brother had suggested to Peri.
"I understand why you didn't want to get the other wolves involved, Peri," Vasile said.
"Would someone please enlighten the little people?" Jen spoke up as she looked from Vasile to Peri.
It was her mate who answered. "You know of the darkness that lives in the males of our race," Decebel began.
Jen nodded.
"It's one thing to speak of the darkness, to simply acknowledge that it's there. It is a whole other thing to be the one living with it. When we are without our true mate we battle it hourly. So take a male already dealing with that, throw him into a den of vampires, have him kill them, and then be surrounded by the dark magic in them."
"But why don’t the mated ones just do the fighting?" Jen asked.
Vasile watched as his longtime friend’s eyes softened at his mate. "Jennifer, I know you, Sally and Jacque have only experienced this" —he motioned to the group— "for the most part. Over the past year, half a dozen in our packs have found their true mates. That's more than has been found in decades in all of the packs."
Her eyes widened when she finally understood.
Vasile took over. "The majority of the pack members in any pack are unmated males," he said just to be clear. "There just aren’t enough mated wolves to fight this threat. But we have to weigh the options. If we don't ask for the other packs to help, we have to do it all on our own. Which, as Jacque pointed out, would be futile if the vampires began making more of their kind. So instead, in order to protect the greater good, we must have our unmated males fight." 
"Will they be willing?" Sally asked.
The men in the group, including Vasile, scoffed. He looked at the healer and nodded. "We protect what is ours and we protect the innocents. They will be more than happy to hunt."
The Romanian Alpha turned back to Peri. "So how will you divide the few among them? Your power will be needed to deal with the aftermath and any survivors that might need to be helped."
Peri glanced at Alston and Nissa and then Cyn. "Yes, each pack will need the assistance of a fae. Nissa," —she said looking at the high fae woman— “you will go to Coldspring. Cyn, you will go help Tanya in Colorado. Alston," —she paused, seemed to consider something and then continued— “you will stay with this group. You aren't as well known among the other packs. Nissa isn't either, but she isn't an ass like you. So it would be better if I dealt with the Missouri pack."
The group tried to bite back its laughter. Well, some of them did, Vasile conceded as he looked at the three American female who were chuckling outright. The sparkle he saw in Peri's eye told him she'd meant for the comment to lighten the mood.
"So where is the fellowship headed next?" Jen asked once everyone had gathered themselves.
"Washington," Peri answered.
Vasile's brow furrowed when Jen, Jacque, and Sally's eyes all lit up.
"Forks?" they all said at the same time.
Chapter 12
"It is amazing to me the things we forget. At the time of their happening, they seem so important, so devastating, or so grand. But then, years later, we can scarcely remember what we were even wearing that day." ~ Alston
Drake was on autopilot. He was obeying his Alpha’s instructions; he was listening to every word said, and yet his wolf and soul seemed to be somewhere else. He could feel them searching for something. Drake kept forcing down the need of his wolf to run, to hunt, and to ferret out whatever it was that had him so focused, but the pull was getting harder to ignore. And the more he ignored this pull, the stronger another pull—the pull of the darkness—became. It whispered to him to come and get lost in the chaos and blood. It whispered that only the darkness could save him now.
"This is not Forks," Jen said, her hands on her hips and her foot tapping restlessly as she glared at the White House as if it had somehow offended her.