Chapter 13 All the Hounds of Hell

— Darren —

I was sitting in my car, waiting, near a small airport strip, for a plane to land.

I took my week off work so I could spend more time with Eva.

The private airstrip had no indoor waiting area or anything like that. There was a small traffic tower, and a few plane hangars, and that was mostly it. It was probably mostly used by smaller private crafts.

I put some music on to try and chill out. I was only half-successful as my thumb kept thumping on the steering wheel nervously.

Around one in the afternoon, I heard the roaring of the big engine coming.

I tried to keep my composure and not to run like an idiot out of my car. I didn’t feel comfortable with excessive display of eagerness in public. I mean, we barely know each other, I can restrain myself, right? So I walked instead around to where the plane would stop, like a normal, mature adult.

Around fifteen minutes later, Eva rushed out and ran straight for me, without any composure whatsoever.

Which made me grin.

She rushed into my arms and I hugged her harder than I initially intended.

I took in her scent, and holding her this way, it was the best I’ve felt in a long time. There was as much strength in her hug as in mine, and it made it even better.

Mads the bodyguard came a little later bringing a few bags, and I reluctantly disentangled from her to help him get them in my trunk. Once done, Eva hugged him.

“Thanks, I’ll be okay from here.”

He looked at her as if she’d just asked him to eat a full bowl of living worms.

“I’ll be safe Mads,” she told him.

“My job is to look after you.”

“I doubt you planned to stay here for a few weeks?” she said.

“I’m to assess your security and stay as long as necessary,” he said firmly.

“I can look after her, and the home of an Alpha is the best guarded house on the entire packland,” I said. “But if you want to come and inspect the place, I won’t stop you,” I added after seeing his expression harden.

“It’s an hour drive to the packland, then you’ll need a ride back here. So another back and forth for Darren, which means four hours of his day would have been driving rather than two. Plus the plane has to wait in the meantime, and it’s taking a lot of place on this small strip. Maybe even stopping other planes from using it. This is not reasonable. I’m gonna call every day if you want. You can always come back if needed, and you’re a lot more needed at home than here. I’m fine,” Eva said.

Mads opened his mouth to argue but she cut him short.

“Nope. I’m fine. Goodbye Mads. We’ll be in touch,” she said then got inside the car and closed the door behind her, shutting the conversation up for good.

“Sorry man,” I said apologetically. “She’ll be safe I promise.”

“If she’s not—,” he began. “All the hounds of Hell will come for your ass. Anything happens, you tell me. You have doubts, you tell me. Anything fishy, you tell me.” He gave me his business card. “And I’ll be in touch with her, if I don’t get contact for 24 hours, I’ll be here and I won’t be lacking transportation, or friends.”

“Sure,” I said a little higher pitched than usual. I got the threat clearly. I tried to get my voice back to normal. “Let’s keep in touch.” Then I got in my car and drove off with Mads gaze locked on us menacingly.

Eva waved at him enthusiastically, completely unaware and unshaken. And we made our way to my pack and home.

At least for now.

— Eveline —

We got to his place, and brought my luggage back to the guess’s wing, and I was given a different room from last time.

There was something in Darren’s face when he looked at my luggage that told me he was thinking I’d overpacked, but he said nothing. Good boy.

“Yes,” said Darren after someone knocked on the doorframe, and we both turned to look at the newcomer.

“Hi,” said a man. He was a few years older than Darren, with similar dark hair and dark eyes. He was of a similar height than Darren and I was pretty sure he was his brother. They had similar square jaws and kind eyes. He didn’t have many distinctive features. He might not model for a career, but he was quite pleasant to look at. “I just wanted to see if you needed anything?” he asked us.

“Nah, we’re fine,” said Darren smirking at his brother as if there was something there lost on me. “This is Eveline Devon,” he said to him. “Eva, this is my oldest brother Michael.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said marching forward to shake his hand.

“Pleasure is all mine,” he said sincerely. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling, and he gave me a hearty grin back.

“I hope you’re gonna have a good time here,” he told me. “Darren is going to take good care of you.”

“Thanks,” I answered. “I’m sure.”

“Well—,” he began.

“She here?” asked another male voice from the corridor. We could hear steps coming our way.

“Really?” asked Darren, shaking his head.

“Oh! Hey!” said the second newcomer, walking in.

“Timothy,” said Darren to me, gesturing at him. “My second youngest brother.”

“Hi,” I said coming to shake his hand. He had the same dark hair and eyes than his brothers, a little taller and slimmer though. The corner of his eyes were crinkled like he’d just heard a good joke and was on the verge of laughter. It seemed like a natural expression on him.

“Hey!” said a woman rushing in the room after him and throwing herself at me before I could give Timothy a handshake.

There was a mass of strawberry blond curls obscuring my eyes and a girl built like a gymnast hugged me.

“I’m so glad you’re here now. We’re in great need of estrogen here. There’s so little I fear I might start to grow a moustache. A big handlebar one,” she said finally pulling from me with her hand on my shoulders looking me up and down. She was a little shorter than I, pale-skinned with freckles everywhere.

“Hum. Hi,” I said to her.

“Let her breathe Ana,” said Timothy, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“And this is Anabella,” said Darren, coming to stand by me. “Tim’s mate.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

“You Betcha,” she said winking while clucking her tongue and making a finger gun at me. She seemed to have a personality that is very, very … well, yeah, very. I don’t know what other word to use but that.

We chatted a little then Darren walked me around the property and his siblings let us have our little moment. Well, Anabella didn’t seem like she intended to let us have any moment to ourselves, but Timothy railed her in. After a few tries.

We talked a lot, walking hand in hand. But eventually we moved back inside. Darren’s mother, Michelle, made him promise I’d have dinner with the family. Which seemed to make Darren anxious, but he said nothing about it.

“Oh! Finally,” Michelle said to me. “We get to meet. I was afraid Darren might keep you all to himself and hide you somewhere.”

“Happy to meet you,” I told her.

“Oh. Hi,” said a girl around my age who walked in hand-in-hand with whom I speculated was another Thomas brother.

“I’m Catherine, but you can call me Kate,” she told me as we shook hands. “This is Kevin,” she said pointing at the man next to her.

“Eveline, but you can call me Eva.”

“Nice to meet you Eva,” they both told me and I replied in kind.

Kate was blond and a little shorter than I. She had eyes the colour of the winter sky. Kevin was a little shorter than his brothers and a little stockier too. He wore the additional weight naturally, but something in his face made me think he was the goofy type.

We took seats around the table.

Timothy and the energetic Anabella joined us soon after.

“How do you find the place?” asked me Kevin.

“It’s quite charming.”

“At least we’re close to the city. My parent’s pack is so remote we had to drive three hours to reach the first town. You’ll be able to shop to your heart’s content here,” said Anabella.

“So you’re from a different pack?” I asked her.

“Yep. Small too. Sixty-three members the last I checked.”

“How about you?” I asked Kate.

“I come from here,” she answered.

“So you’ve known each other for a while?”

“My parents left, for work, when I was little. My father’s brother was Gamma here. He died a few years back, and my parents came back when his position was offered to Dad. So we haven’t known each other for that long. A few years,” Kate said.

“What about your pack?” Anabella askd me.

Two more men that I didn’t know entered the room to join us. One was wiry, maybe the tallest of them. The other looked much younger than the rest of them and still had the remnant of a baby face. They both had the same brown hair and eyes and tanned skin complexion had all the others. Not unlike their mother.

She had her hair cropped in line with her jaw and wore nice but comfortable clothes.

“It’s pretty big actually. I’ve heard there might be bigger out there, but I haven’t seen one yet.”

“How big are we talking?” asked Kevin.

“It depends on how you divide it,” I said as two more men entered. One being Michael and the other an older man with salt and pepper hair. Which I assume was their father. I could see a little bit of each of his sons in him. His height was somewhere between Kevin and the youngest. He had Darren’s broad shoulders, Michael’s posture. The eyes of the wiry one, the nose of Timothy, and a beard hiding his jawline.

“What do you mean?” Kate asked me.

The last men sat, and a few employees brought the food to the table.

“Well, Blakemore itself has a little over a hundred members, but the under-packs have a lot of members. Blakewoods alone as a few thousand at least.”

“Wait. What?” asked Timothy. His father scoffed at him, and I saw him looking between me and his father confused. “Under-packs?” he muttered.

“Blakewoods?” asked Darren.

“It’s my father’s pack. The one my brother originally inherited,” I said. “It has grown significantly the last few generations, it has gotten a lot of alliances with other packs too, but when a few offers of fusions with other packs got on the table, Kaden let some of them keep their pack structure and hierarchy,” I began explaining.

“So what they say is true?” asked Michael. “Blakemore is a pack of packs?”

“What?” said the youngest.

“Max,” Michelle chastised him under her breath. “Swallow your food at least before you talk.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” I answered them. There was no light chatter around the table, and everyone was listening.

“So it’s Blakemore or Blakewoods?” Kevin asked.

“Blakemore,” said their father.

“She just said Blakewoods,” said Max.

“They’re two different pack?” Darren asked.

“Yes and no,” I said. “Dad got sick before I was born, really sick, so he began transferring Blakewoods early to Kaden, and made him Alpha two years later. Dad had expended a lot in his time, but not on the level of Kaden. And when he began combining multiple packs together. Well, it got big. By that time, Dad was healthy again. And he’s had six more kids. I think Mom asked Kaden to give him something to do because he was driving her mad. Retired life was never really his shtick. So Kaden gave him back Blakewoods. He made him Alpha again. And he built Blakemore. So all the packs have some level of autonomy and control, but all their ranking members are also members of Blakemore, which is controlled by my brother.”

There was a short silence.

“So it’s a pack of Alphas?” asked Timothy.

I heard Max gulp audibly.

“Well, yes and no. Our entire family is in Blakemore, all the ranked members of the packs called the Council of Alphas, the Council of Elders—” I was counting them on my fingers. “—Which is all retired former ranked members—, the advisory council—which is a few key management positions—, and a few others. So Blakemore has not that many direct members, but when you consider all the packs under its control, then it’s a lot.”

“I never heard of packs like that,” said the tall wiry one.

“I don’t know if there’s another,” I conceded.

“That’s pretty badass,” he said.

“Fred. Language,” said his father. Fred lowered his head and focused on his food.

“I supposed that’s why your brother gets so many others on edge,” said Michael.

I shrugged.

“How many Alphas does your brother has?” asked Darren’s father.

“It depends. Active Alphas, thirty-six not counting himself. But there’s more from Alpha bloodlines. I don’t know the full number though.”

There was a collective freeze.

“Your pack has thirty-six, no thirty-seven Alphas? It’s made of thirty-seven packs?” murmured Michelle.

“More or less. Well, the smaller packs generally got integrated within the bigger packs, so the number of original distinct packs could be considered more, but I don’t know how many that is.”[ Do I correct the number of packs here?

Lyv Aiken 2021-06-08, 22:57]

“I suppose one as to be a pretty a strong Alpha to make that many Alphas subservient,” pondered Kate.

I couldn’t stop from smiling. “No one sane would want to fight one on one with my brother.”

“I guess he’s not called the Hellhound for nothing,” said Michael.

Two of the brothers, Kevin and Fred’s head snapped to Michael at his comment. I guess those were the ones who’d heard of the nickname before.

I was a little more used to dealing with people who already knew about Blakemore, or at least some. They didn’t seem to know that much though. Other than my brother’s nickname, I supposed.

I plucked a potato from my plate with a repressed smile.