Rafe growled his concern again, drawing their eyes to him. He hadn’t meant to but the safety of his pack was at stake and it was hard not to react to that. “I suppose we should be thankful that it isn’t worse,” he finally conceded. “Can you fix it before there is another attempt at accessing either of your minds?” If they couldn’t, then he had no idea what they were going to do. They needed Caleb and Annie to keep them together.
“Be at ease, brother,” Anakatrine smiled reassuringly. “We were only at risk because we were not aware of the threat. Both Callain and I are more than capable of closing down any trap doors within our minds. Now that we are alert to these intrusions, we will be on guard going forward to ensure that should a further attempt be made, we will have sufficient traps in place that will hopefully turn the tables on our enemy.”
Callain nodded his agreement. “For now, we will safeguard each other and with your permission, check to ensure you haven’t been compromised either. Then we will need to see everyone else in small groups, but they cannot be told why. Anakatrine and I can then scan each person without alerting our enemy that we’re aware of his presence. I am of the opinion that whoever it is would have gone for the most prominent power players here as not all information is disseminated lower down among the packs or within the vampire hierarchy. There is no harm in checking pack members and the rest of the Ancients to be sure they haven’t been infiltrated.”
“What about the Vampire Council. Will you test them too?” Rafe asked. He wasn’t comfortable about the secret scanning of some of his pack, and it was well known that vampires couldn’t usually enter a Were’s mind, but he wasn’t one to bet on that stopping the Vampire Queen and King. There was no harm in checking just to be sure, and many of his pack now had some vampire D. N. A. within them.
“No, we cannot alert the Council to our presence and we keep most of what is happening away from them as it is. I believe our enemy classes us the most clear and present danger because we are aligned. Even if they had tried to get to the Council, they would have learned early on that they know nothing about what we do here in the pack and among our allies,” Anakatrine answered, her tone confident.
It settled Rafe’s concerns and he said no more, sitting back in his chair as the royal couple faced each other.
“I will do you first as there is less chance of alerting anyone that we have discovered them,” Callain said.
“Oh no, dear heart, we will eradicate the threat from your mind first,” his Queen answered with a soft smile. “Caleb’s mind is the most danger to our endeavours at the moment and therefore it makes sense to shore up that weakness immediately. I can hold off any attempt to sway Annie’s mind while I work on yours.” She didn’t give him any time to object, she slipped past his inner defences and went straight to the area he had found the incursion.
“Wow, this is such a beautiful light touch,” she breathed out quietly, unable to hide her awe at the delicate tendrils she found within Caleb’s mind. “No wonder we never noticed this. Whoever performed the entry is very powerful and in a way I have never witnessed before, even when I was alive.”
As she spoke, she carefully weaved tendrils of light around the small dark tendrils she found seated beside the core of Caleb’s emotions. Her mental machinations were so fast the darkness was completely obscured in less than five seconds. It took another second to provide a burst of mental energy so powerful, the darkness was completely obliterated by the light. Where it had once been there was now a translucent barrier, one that quickly grew to gently enclose all other possible avenues that their enemy could try to breach again.
“There, that will keep out any other unwanted guests,” she smiled, stroking Callain’s cheek once more and giving him a brief kiss. “My turn now.”
Callain had followed her movements within his mind, smiling proudly at her skilled technique as well as the obvious pleasure she felt at having protected her mate. He entered her mind and employed the same technique, mirroring her actions to the letter and not leaving until he had fully satisfied himself that she was completely free from their enemy.
As he sat back, Anakatrine turned to Rafe. “That’s done. Our minds are safe. May I check your mind now, brother of my heart? I give you my word that I will cause you no harm.”
Rafe didn’t need to be reassured, he knew that neither his sister nor the Vampire Queen would ever do anything to hurt him, and yet he wasn’t keen to have someone trying to wander inside his mind, though he knew it was necessary. “What do I need to do?”
“Just relax and try not to fight me when you feel my presence. This won’t take long.” Anakatrine rose to stand beside him, gently touching his shoulder to ease his discomfort.
Travelling inside a Were mind was not that different to a vampiric one, but only the oldest of their kind could do that and both Anakatrine and Callain knew why that was. Rhianna was coming to know why too, though she hadn’t vocalised any of her suspicions as yet. Perhaps now was the time for her to do so. There was much this generation needed to know and Rhianna shouldn’t be the only one to shoulder the burden of the knowledge. This was not the same era that Anakatrine had lived in; she should remember that and continue to allow Rhianna and Caleb to follow the paths that destiny had set in place for them.
In no time, the Vampire Queen had slipped back out of Rafe’s mind and given his shoulder another reassuring squeeze. “Your mind is clear, brother. No one has trespassed within it and to me that indicates that the Weres here are all safe, though I will ask Jared’s permission to walk within his mind as well to be sure of that.” His sigh of relief was enough to indicate how worried he had been about it.
“Can you start scheduling impromptu meetings for any pack member that has vampiric qualities? Both Caleb and Annie now know how to do this as they have been observing, so there will be no need for either myself or Callain to be present to safeguard anyone else.”
“I’ll get on that right now,” Rafe agreed. “The sooner this is checked the better.”
“Good,” Rhianna said, the royal couple relinquishing dominance now their task was complete. She moved back over to the sofa to sit beside her mate. “When everyone has been checked, we need to talk, Caleb. It’s important.”
To be continued…