Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

I send six of the wolves in one by one to spread themselves around the packhouse. The more confused pack members are by seeing Lex look alikes, the better.

“Leticia, no shifting. No magic,” I warn before she enters.

“Yeah, yeah. You've already told me,” her wolf tilts her head curiously at Lex before she bounds off into the pack house.

“Alright, ladies. The back staircase to the dungeon is to the left. I'll shift. You stay in wolf form until we get to the safe. Let's make this quick,” I say to Sophie and Thea, who are twins. Sophie has the power of telekinesis and Thea can control electricity.

Throughout the packhouse we can hear yelling, barking, and claws clacking on the marble floors. When we get to the door to the dungeon staircase, I shift and quietly use a spell to break the lock. I crack the door open and sniff deeply. There are no fresh scents. No prisoners means no guards are down there. We won't have any interruptions until someone has time to check time to see why the dungeon door alarm triggered. With the other wolves running around the packhouse creating a grand diversion, we probably have four minutes. I allot three and a half to be on the safe side.

I hold the door open for the giant black wolves, who silently pad down the steps, then close it tightly behind me and follow them.

The motion sensor lights turn on as we reach the bottom of the steps, startling the wolves. I hold my finger to my lips and wave them toward the back of the dungeon where the security desk is. We hide from view of the stairs by crouching behind the desk.

One wolf spits out a leather bag she has been carrying before she takes her human form. The twins are two inches taller than me and have more angular features, but they have the same violet eyes and sparkly silver hair. I hand them shirts and shorts from the bin next to the security desk and we quickly dress.

“Ready?” I say into their minds.

When Sophie and Thea look at each other, wicked smiles form on their faces. They look back at me with cold, violet eyes and nod in unison. If I wasn't their leader, I wouldn't trust them. Hell, I am their leader and I barely trust them. If they didn’t trust me, they would double cross me. I'm certain of it. They would have no problem using their abilities to strangle and electrocute me at the same time until my brain is fries.

For now, they're counting on me to change their lives for the better. That means they will comply with my orders without question. The growing dark and stormy part of me feels a sense of satisfaction knowing they take pleasure in having such a major role in this heist.

We take our places and simultaneously press the three nearly invisible buttons around the room that open the hidden door embedded in the brick wall behind us. The open door exposes a steel door to the safe where the cursed shards are being stored.

Thea steps forward and puts her hands an inch away from the door. She looks like she is assessing the situation by using the ambient electrical energy coming from the door. Typically, you need the biometrics of two ranked members plus the personal security code for each of those ranked members to open the door.

She looks at us and mind links a message of warning, “Look away.” Sophie and I turn our heads away from Thea. The bright light makes us have to shield our eyes as the crackling electricity creates a burning smell in the air. There is a series of small clicks as the safe releases its lock and pops open. A thick, black smoke pours out from inside as Thea steps back, waving her hand in front of her face, trying not to cough.

Sophie jumps up and takes Thea’s place. She quickly locates the glass box with the cursed silver shards inside. Using her mind, she picks it up and slides it into the leather bag her wolf carried without coming close to having to touch it. She slides the bag over her head and across her body.

“That's a hundred eighty seconds, Kas,” Lex calls out the three-minute mark for me.

“Let's get out of here,” I mind link them and wave my hand to lead them back up the backstairs. We silently slink our way up the stairwell until we pass the main level. 1 block the broken door so they can go ahead of me up the stairs toward the fifth floor where we are meeting the rest of our Mavri Magea. From outside the door, I can hear wolves snarling and snapping. My little storm cloud is happy to hear my sisters refusing to go down without a fight.

As we get to the fourth floor, we hear the stairwell door on the main floor crash open and guards rush in. Without being able to see them, I can't freeze everyone. I curl my hand into a fist and hope it at least slows them down. I grab Sophie and Thea’s hands and pull them the rest of the way to the fifth floor. When we get to the top, I take a quick pause, then push the heavy stairwell door open and peek out.

I concentrate and say a quick spell to unlock my apartment door from the distance we are standing, then nod to Sophie. She pushes opens the stairwell door the rest of the way and we take off running with Thea.

“Kas?!” I hear Bronx yell from the main stairway. Based on the echo, it sounds like he is on the third or fourth floor landing.

“Shit. Get inside!” I mind link to my sisters. They nod and continue to sprint down to the apartment. At the other end of the hall, I see two more violet eyed women, half dressed in shirts they found. They are hiding in the shadows, looking at me pleadingly. One has a large wolf bite on her arm. The other has a swollen eye.

I run to the staircase and meet Bronx at the fourth floor landing, giving them a chance to make it into my apartment. Four down, five to go.

“I'm right here!” I cry out, running up to Bronx. Before he can go any further, I turn him to block his view of the fifth floor hallway.

“Kas, why did you take the necklace off?” Bronx grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me toward him, hugging me tightly, “Oh, Goddess, I was so worried.”

“I'm okay, Bronx. I’m okay,” I hug him back, “I-I saw wolves and got...scared.”

“Alpha, we found these three on the main level,” Marco approaches, also only wearing shorts, flanked by Lenora and Tessa. Each of them has one of my sisters.

That makes seven. Two left. Leticia and Desiree are still somewhere in the packhouse.

Marco has his handgun on the back of Ellen’s head. She has a bloody nose and a complicated look on her face. I can’t tell if she’s scared or ready to attack and turn Marco to stone.

Lenora has her claws and fangs extended while she holds Simone by the neck. Her eyes are pitch black, with Justice just under the surface. Simone isn't struggling, but looks defiant as she wipes blood away from her mouth, just waiting for an opportunity to poison Lenora with one touch of her hand. Estelle is struggling hard against Tessa, who is dragging her tightly by the neck. Tessa's claws extend into the sides of Estelle’s throat, blood flowing freely while Estelle gags and grabs at Tessa helplessly.

“Tessa, stop it!” I step out of Bronx’s arms. My heart clenches at the sight and my storm cloud grows, urging meto confront Tessa. I hold it back, but just barely. “You're hurting her!”

“Sorry, Kas, Estelle has a banshee voice,” Tessa advises, not aware that I'm familiar with Estelle’s ability and that I have also been practicing it ina soundproof room at our magical apartment, “If she utters one word, we're all dead.”

“Tessa,” Bronx puts his hand up. I see a concerned look cross his face as the instinct to protect the Mavri Magea kicks in, even if they are trespassers in his packhouse, “You can ease up. We have a soundproof room in the dungeon. We can take her there.”

“Can we go to the apartment and talk this through first?” I ask, my voice cracks when I speak, “I'm their leader. They must have a good reason to be here. If they wanted to hurt our pack members, they could have but from what I can sense, they haven't. We can hear them out before we pass judgement. Please.”

Bronx looks at me and back at my sisters. His shoulders drop slightly, disappointed that he is giving into his protective instincts, “Fine. Let's go.”

I watch as he turns and heads up the stairs to the fifth floor. Lenora and Tessa follow him.

“What should I do, Kas?” Marco asks in a mind link.

“Play along,” I say simply and turn up the stairs.