She stood up, Mitchell in her left arm, and walked towards me without fear or hesitation. She was my size, about five foot eight. Her body was solid, not thin, but more muscular like a swimmer. She moved with a liquid grace. “I’m Black Ker.” The men in the room immediately tensed up, and forced the aggression back down. “I heard you may have a job for me.” She handed me Mitchell, I quickly checked to make sure he was unharmed. He was sleeping soundly. Black Ker just turned around and went to sit down again like she hadn’t just penetrated a Pack’s security and grabbed the Alpha’s child. We all watched as she sat down again. The men were torn, so they stayed focused on her as I put Mitchell next to his brother and went to sit on the bed.
“I didn’t realize we had an appointment,” Moe said.
Black Ker laughed. “I don’t do appointments, if someone knows I will be in a specific place at a specific time, it’s likely to get me killed. I’m sorry about making your security system look impotent, Moe. Consider it a demonstration of my talents. You know my reputation, no one is safe from me.”
Moe chuckled and sat down on the blanket chest at the end of the bed. Craig relaxed a little, moving over to sit between me and her. He would protect me if things went bad, I knew, while Moe would protect the babies.
Craig spoke up. “Moe said you were the best, I believe him.” She nodded at him. “The former Alpha of the St. Cloud Pack, Marvin Goodwin, was one of the Alphas who killed Ella’s parents during the forced mating attempt. He stole millions from his Pack and fled to South America. We believe he is being protected and hidden by a werecat in Argentina, but we don’t have contacts there. You also know that a werewolf down there will not be welcomed.”
“True, most panthers will not either. There are a number of cats powerful enough and greedy enough to take him in, but they stay remote and hidden. It will be difficult to determine which one has him, especially if he is smart enough to stay hidden.” She leaned forward a little. “So you want me to find him and kill him?”
“Find him yes,” I said. “I want to be the one that kills him. I want him killed in front of his former Pack, after he has lost everything he holds dear.”
She nodded. “I’ve done my research on you, I know you can pay so that isn’t my worry. Killing bad men is my specialty, but extractions are a completely different thing. You need a bigger organization; support staff, vehicles, air transport, bribes to Customs, medical staff. It isn’t something I can give you.”
My face fell. “So you can’t do it?”
“I can do the hard part for you, Ella. I can locate him and maybe make the person holding him realize the error of his ways.” She gave an evil smile. “I will call you when I find him, and you can decide then how you want to proceed. My fee is one hundred thousand dollars American, wire it to this account.” She stood up and handed Moe a card, on it were a series of bank numbers. Walking over to me, she shook Craig’s hand and then mine. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Alphas.” She walked towards the door.
“You’re just going to walk out?” I looked at Moe, shocked.
“Yes, I am.” She opened the door and walked out, waving at Matthew as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. Moe linked his Pack members as Craig linked ours, telling them to stand down. She walked out the front door and down the street like she had just dropped in to welcome us to her neighborhood.
“Fuck me,” Moe said. “She’s got huge balls for such a beautiful woman.”
“Maybe, but she waltzed right in here and held MY baby and nobody even noticed her.” Moe looked over at me, he was disappointed in himself and his team. “I need you to figure out why and fix it.”
“I will.” Moe stood and went to the door, opening it before he looked back. “You know, I’ve been in a lot of bad situations in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared as I was when she said her name. Everything they said about her, it’s true. My wolf was shaking inside me. I can see why they call her the Goddess of Violent Death.”
I laughed. “She looks like a model, and you’re afraid of her.”
“Yes, I am too,” said Craig. “Our wolves can sense it, that part of her that is so dangerous. I’d hate to see her mad.” He shook his head. “I did some research with Josh about her since her name was brought up. She scares the shit out of me.” I yawned, I wasn’t getting enough sleep still. The boys were starting to sleep through the night occasionally now, but not last night. “I’m going to bed.”
“Goodnight, Alpha.” Moe stepped out of the room.
“I have a few more calls to make, love.” Craig tucked me into bed and kissed me tenderly. I was out before the light was.
By noon on Tuesday, we had the party mapped out. Most of the Alphas wanted more time to discuss Pack issues and our alliances, so we decided they could come out a day early. Most of the single wolves would be arriving during the day Friday, but a good number were coming with their Alphas. It was turning into quite the event.
I had asked each Pack to contribute kitchen help to the party, since we would be overwhelmed by so much food to prepare each meal. Mabel took the lead on this, coming up with a menu plan and a strategy for using the multiple houses and my large kitchen to get it all done. She and Marge were busy ordering food; we pulled from as far away as Minot to get the quantities we needed. Some of the menu items were suggested; Moe liked to barbecue, and he saw this meetup as a chance to shine. He rented a huge smoker and bought four whole pigs to slow cook.
I was glad our home’s safe room had a huge walk-in freezer and cool room, because we needed it. Food that could be prepared ahead of time and heated up or cooked was made and put in there. When Thursday came and the Alphas arrived, the kitchen help did too. I left that to them, I was too busy acting as the Host Alpha for this gathering. It was exhausting fitting in all the greetings, hugs and meetings around the boys and their needs, but it was worth it. Doug and Remi had flown in from their Pack. Their eldest, Dave, stayed home as his mate Alice was getting too pregnant to travel comfortably. Derek and Amanda stayed home too, but my cousin Nathan did come, hoping to find his mate. Renee was here too, she even promised to babysit her young cousins if they would bring her along.