Craig nodded. “We did some tests while you were gone. It appears that the glow doesn’t show up in their eyes until their wolf starts to move forward in their minds. Mitchell and Darryl can pass for human, Natalie can’t.”
“When do they change?” I looked over at Tony and Tina. I prayed to Luna that we didn’t kill their wolves for nothing.
“I’m not sure, let’s find out.” Jacob went to the drawer and pulled out a flashlight with a black light. I watched as he went over and knelt at the kid’s table. “Hi guys, my name’s Jacob. I need to look in your eyes with this funny light, it won’t hurt and will only take a second.”
“Why?” Theo looked at him, I could tell he didn’t trust him yet.
“Well, I want to see if your eyes glow like mine.” He shined the light at his left eye, and the kids squealed as they saw it start to glow. “All right?”
“Yeah, that’s cool!” Theo leaned forward as he shined the light.
“Wow, they are glowing,” said Reggie. “Try me!” Jacob went through them all, and all of their eyes glowed.
We got to the babies, and they were fine. “So… looks like the line is somewhere between six months and three years,” I said.
Estelle nodded. “We first start seeing signs of the wolf at about eighteen months, so that’s probably the break point.”
“And the contacts only work if you are wearing them. Craig, when they attacked the Anderson pack they had no warning. Even with our surveillance, we’d only have a minute or two.”
Jacob stood up and turned back to the table. “And if they are monitoring with infrared or x-rays, they will know how many people are here at the beginning of the attack. If they don’t find enough bodies, they’ll keep digging until they find the safe room.”
“I hate to do this, but…” I looked at Craig as he stood up. “It’s my first responsibility to keep everyone safe. From now on, werewolves will only be allowed out of the safe room if they are wearing the contact lenses. Even with those, I don’t want any werewolves to leave the property unless absolutely necessary.”
“Good thing these contacts are 30 day wear,” said Nadine.
“But… the children! We can’t lock them up in the safe room, can we?” Maggie looked at them with sorrow.
“We will make it as comfortable as we can,” I said. “You’ll be shocked at how big it is. They will be fine.” I didn’t like it, but my mate was right. The children couldn’t be exposed. “Mabel, I’m putting you in charge of getting them settled in the safe room. Make a list of anything we need and we’ll get it for you.”
“You got it, Alpha.” She looked at Marge. “Ha, got out of dish duty sis!” She stuck out her tongue and went down the hall to the safe room entrance.
“I have some other stuff to do right away,” Craig said. “Bring the orphaned children forward to Ella and I.” When they were in front of him, he knelt down to their level and smiled. “I wanted to welcome you all to your new home in the Belden Pack. Your Alpha asked me to take care of you, and Ella and I will. Would you like me to be your Alpha?”
Little Sally started to cry. “Our Alpha died. It hurt when he died, just like when Mommy and Daddy died.” Her sisters hugged her, also crying, and Craig pulled them into his arms.
“I know. I’m your Alpha now.” The other children joined his hug, and he said the words that caused the Pack bond to form with him. The other Pack members smiled as the bonds reached them. When they were ready, he handed them over to Natalie to take them downstairs.
When they were gone, the rest of us sat down again. Craig looked at us all. “Now, I know you four still have your Pack bonds with Derek and Amanda, so it’s up to you if you want to change Packs.”
“I’d rather wait,” Jacob said. “This war could end in a few weeks and I don’t want to cut my ties yet, and I don’t want my mate to worry.”
“Same with me,” Maggie said. The elders nodded as well.
“All right then. If you change your mind, know you are welcome in our Pack.” Craig looked around. “I really didn’t expect to be opening an orphanage here, I don’t know what to do.”
Estelle looked at me. “I think it would be best if we took care of them, Alpha. They already know us and it gives us something to do.”
Jimmy nodded. “I agree, it will be good practice for me for when Melody and I finally have pups.”
Marge looked up, she had been linking. “Mabel said she will stay down there and help. They have their own kitchen and everything down there, it makes sense for one of us to take that.”
“That sounds good,” I said. “Those of us who are human or will pass for human will stay up top. Craig and I along with Marge will stay here. Nadine and Natalie can stay here until they return to their Pack. Olivia, Mark, the Greens are gone, so it would make sense for you to take over their house. It’s still fully furnished.”
“That’s fine,” Olivia said. “We’ll take Tony and Tina with us.”
“Tom and Shelley, you will stay in your house. Jacob, Melanie, you should take a house as well. You can have the one next to Olivia. John, Angela, you’ll stay in your house. Josh?” I looked at our hacker.
He looked up, he was tired from spending long hours hacking. “Yes Alpha?”
“We need to get some records developed and planted in the government systems. Identities first, including driver’s licenses so they aren’t tied back to their previous Packs. Once that is done, arrange for title transfers of the houses from my corporation to their persons. We need to hide the trail a little so suspicion of one house on this road doesn’t spread to everyone else.”
“I can do that, I’ll backdate the transactions and spread them out a little,” he said.
“I’ve got a contact who does identities; he’s good, it costs you but they are solid,” Nadine said.
“That would help,” Josh said.
“All right, let me know what you need, Nadine, and we’ll transfer the funds. As long as we are doing this, get new identities for everyone; heck, get new ones for everyone who isn’t from here AND get backups for everyone. If we have to run for it, we’ll need it.”
Nadine nodded, she’d take care of it. “Also, I want things readied in case we need to bug out of here on short notice. Vehicles, food, at least two places we can go. Tom, work your magic with the corporations, and we’ll put them in their name.”
“I’ll take care of it, Ella.” Tom smiled and squeezed Shelley’s hand.