Chapter 384: Chapter 384

Lanie

“Little cars are listening, love,” I said as calmly as I could to Xander, trying to remind him that the children

were present.

I didn’t want our pups to be scared, even though it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming at my

grandfather that I needed to talk to him. Stella’s small hand crept into mine and squeezed. When I looked down at her, she was

smiling brightly up at me.

Because she knew I was upset? Or just because she was my sunny-faced angel? I bent to scoop her up,

staggering a step under her weight. She was getting too big to be carried, but I didn’t want to put her down. It could be the last

time I ever picked her up.

I rubbed my nose against her cheek, and she hugged me hard.

“Love you, Mama,” she said, which was a nice change from being called Mother.

Malachi, Xander, and Mason were muttering about the lights, power surges, the evidence of strangers in

the nearby town. Alpha stuff. It was clear I’d have to wait my turn.

“Xander,” I repeated. “You and Mason should go with Malachi somewhere else to talk about this.”

Mason looked over at us. He put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She's right. Malachi, we should take

this back to the conference room.”

this.”

Xander frowned, meeting my gaze. He nodded silently and used our link to think, “Sorry, love.”

“I'll call for an emergency meeting of the leadership council,” Malachi said. “They all need to be told about

The three of them left the room.

I caught Zane’s eye as he turned away. His face was pulled into a mask I couldn’t interpret. H

angry, More like he was disappointed.

“Papa?” Stella said in her high, clear voice. “Will you play with me and Allie and Izzy?”

He smiled and walked immediately toward the stacks of board games on the bookshelves. “Of c

Stella gave me another grin. I still couldn’t figure out if she was reading me, or if she was making

what she wanted him to do. It made sense that he’d agree to play with them. It wasn’t out of character

anything like that. Even so, something in the way she looked at me made me think she was manipulating

situation.

I had to stop myself from doing this. No matter what my daughter was able to do, I had to find out, not keep guessing and making

silent assumptions about her motives. She was a child, for crying out loud!

Il

[e)

Another knock came at the door, and I answered it. It wasn’t the food this time, either, but Greyson, who stepped through the

doorway when I stood aside to let him in.

fine.”

“Everything okay?” Greyson addressed Zane. “You took off so fast. I wanted to make sure you were all

Zane and I exchanged looks.

“We're all good. The power surge startled us, that’s all,” Zane said. “That is what happened, isn’t it?”

Greyson nodded. “I’d assume so, since the lights were only out for a minute.”

“Come on, Allie and Izzy. Let’s go play in my room,”

Stella said and took her siblings by the hands. She shot a look at me over her shoulder right before she

closed the door.

I let out a breath I’d been keeping held tight in my throat. My entire body felt slumped but tense at the

same time. It might only have been a power surge like my grandfather and Greyson both said, but there was

no question it had felt more dangerous than that. All four of us had felt it.

Greyson lowered his voice., “Charlotte let me know that Malachi got word about the new arrivals in

Standard.”

“That's the name of the town?” Zane asked.

Greyson nodded. “The closest one, yes. We consider them a port of entry to the enclave. It's so remote,

the only people who go there have to have some reason for it.”

“Maybe those new people have a reason,” I said.

“New arrivals could also be the reason for a power surge,” Greyson replied. “Brightsky supplies Standard

with power for the entire town.”

“A few extra people could deplete the power so much it causes a surge in the enclave?” Zane sounded

suspicious.

“Im not on the tech team, so I can’t answer you with complete confidence, but it’s my understanding tha we create the power.

Solar, geothermal, steam, even methane dumps from the farm levels.” Greyson ticked th list off on his fingers. “It all gets sorted

and ported, as the tech team says. A portion of it is sent to Standard,

where it’s stored. So, yes, if they got new folks in town who used up the normal power stores, it would send a

bump over here.”

“Still feels wrong,” Zane thought to me.

Tagreed.

I also thought we had bigger things to worry about.