Page 109 of Oracles Always Win

“It’smy fault,”Haydensaid, staring into his beer.He’dbeen working tirelessly to help the few surviving members of his brother’s fractured pack.Consideringhow they’d treated him and everyone else inWillowLake,Iwondered why he bothered.ButIwasn’t an alpha.Asmuch asIwas the leader of my team and would do anything for them, my connection to them wasn’t the same as an alpha’s.

“Itisn’t,”Vansaid flatly. “Giveit time.You’llsee.”

Thethree of us had commandeered the table in the back corner ofJake’spub, not that many people were there yet.Thepub had been deemed safe by the engineers and fire investigators a few days ago, butIexpected people would be leery about coming to a bombsite for a while yet.Thiswas the first dayJakehad opened his doors to the public again.

Mylittle oracle was worried his business wouldn’t recover, butIwasn’t.Itmight have been different if someone had died in the blast, but we’d been lucky.Ifigured the inn would become a local icon soon enough, a symbol of survival and resilience.Thenthe townsfolk would tell stories around what had happened, and it’d become a local legend.

HowdidIknow?

Well,Jakemight have had a vision about that.Ihad to say, it was handy being mated to an oracle.Andthere hadn’t even been any puking or passing out after he’d sketched the scene.

Thetether was working perfectly.

Assoon as we discovered that, we had another celebration.Aprivate one.Forjust the two of us.Inour bedroom in our motorhome.

Ijust wished he had more control over his visions.Havingthat ace in the hole would be an incredible asset toDavina, who’d decided to stay on theSupernaturalCouncil’spayroll but useWillowLakeas her home base.

Therest of my team were staying close too but had decided to pursue different challenges.Noneof them had told me any details yet.Iwas curious to see what each of them would do.Jake’svisions hadn’t revealed anything specific.TheEternalMagichad a mind of her own when it came to what she allowedJaketo show us.

Butnone of us were stopping completely, at least not right away.Weall agreed the trafficking case was still ours.Wewould find those people.

Overthe last few days, my team—although now that we weren’t taking on any new cases for theSCand were stepping away from their rigid definitions, perhapsIshould simply call them what they were… my family—andIhad scoured the hills inch by inch for survivors.Whilewe were out there, we’d started to gather the dead too.

Agrisly task, that.

We’dfound a lot of dead wolves and their mystery attackers.Wehadn’t been able to identify the dead goblins and trolls yet.Wehad no idea why they’d been there.Andthat kept me awake at night.SometimesIsworeIscented the other demon in the air, but whenIinvestigated, no one was there.IwishedIcould figure out if it was just my paranoia playing tricks, or if it was real.

Whilewe were in the hills,Jakeand a few of his regulars had tackled the pub, getting it ready for the public again.Itwasn’t perfect by any means, but it was functional and would work until we came up with a plan.Themost worrisome problem was the smell.Thispart of the building had been protected from any structural damage, but the smoke had still caused its own problems.

Sofar,Jakeand his friends had repainted the walls, scrubbed the floors, and tossed anything with fabric.Itstill smelled of smoke occasionally, so it wasn’t perfect, but it was getting there.

“Wehaven’t found any survivors in days,”Haydensaid, staring into his pint.

“Howmany have asked to come back toWillowLakenow?”Iasked.

“Twenty-three at the last count.”Haydengrimaced.

“Theycan’t come here.Youknow that, right?”Iasked.Icouldn’t allow those people in my territory.Yes, they were technically refugees, but finding those five supes caged and ready for transport had tainted them all in my eyes.Oneof the captured supes was a homeless teenager, for fuck’s safe.Thekid had been hitchhiking on the wrong stretch of road and ended up inRob’scare.Noone could argueRobdid everything on his own.Hispack knew, which made them just as guilty in my eyes.

“Iknow.”Haydenrubbed his forehead.Thenhe dropped his hand and stared me right in the eye. “So, you’re the guardian now.Doesthat make you the alpha?”

“Hell, no.”Ishook my head. “Iwill protectWillowLakeand its citizens with everythingIhave, butIam not its leader.That’syou.”

Hesnorted likeI’dmade a joke.ButIwas being honest.Iprotected the place andVanenforced the rules.Butneither of us was an alpha.WillowLakeneededHaydenjust as much as it neededVanand me.Buthe was too raw to see that right now.Ihad faith he’d come around, though.

Jakehad already had a vision about it, after all.

Ihadn’t toldHaydenthat.Noteveryone appreciated knowing their future.

“Wenever foundRobbieor any of his top wolves,”Vansaid, makingHaydenflinch.

Thewolf had to be struggling between relief his brother was apparently still alive and disgust over the guy using the rest of his pack as fodder for his enemy.Icouldn’t believe the guy had escaped.Iwanted to hunt him down and make him pay for what he’d done, butIwas still adjusting to being tethered toWillowLake, and she was turning out to be a greedy boss.

Aslong asIstayed within the territory,Iwas stronger thanI’dever been, but as soon asIstepped over the boundary line, the strength of my magic dropped substantially.Ihadn’t let that stop me from helping clean up the pack lands, but feeling so weak was frustrating.Ididn’t regret my decision to bind with the place, but it meantIhad to lean on my team more than ever.

“So,I’vebeen meaning to talk to you both,”Isaid, not wanting to think or talk aboutRobany more thanIhad to.Ididn’t fear losing control or snapping likeIwould have before tethering to the area, but it still made my blood boil and my power surge, which would just make the few patrons in the pub run away.Ididn’t needJakepissed at me for scaring away his few paying customers. “JakeandIhave a lot of work to do around here.”Iwaved my hand toward the room, butIknew they’d understandImeant the inn as a whole. “We’regoing to get the place fixed up.Theinsurance is dragging their feet, butI’vegot more than enough in my bank account to take care of it all.Afterit’s done, my team is going to move in here too.”

VanandHaydennodded, like they’d expected as much.