Chapter 28-Betrayed Again

Roe woke up the next morning to a knock on the door.  She had to fight with the two men who had her sandwiched between them on the bed in order to get up to answer it. When she finally wiggled herself out from between them, she opened the door to find Janie, the girl from yesterday who had shown them to their room standing there.

"Alpha Joe told me to come tell you that breakfast is ready, and to bring you some clean clothes."  Janie said, holding a stack of clothes out to Roe.

"Thank you."  Roe said, taking the clothes.  "Please tell Alpha Joe that we'll be down shortly."

"Yes ma'am."  Janie said, then left.

Roe shut the door and took the clothes into the bathroom to change.  When she was done, she left the guys' clothes on the counter in the bathroom, and walked back out to try and wake them up.

They were both moaning and groaning about having to get up until Roe said.  "I'm hungry and I'm going downstairs to eat with or without you."  At that, they both jumped up and started getting ready. They really don't want me out of their sight. Roe smiled to herself. I wonder what we're going to do when this is all over, and we go back home? I have to talk to them about that at some point.

When they were all ready, they went downstairs to the dining room. There were a few people left, but most of the pack had already eaten and gone about their business. Roe and the guys served themselves from the buffet table, which even had bottles of blood sitting on it, then walked over to where Joe and his mate Marcy were sitting. They sat down across the table from them. Roe asked Joe "So, where's Agent Maitland this morning?"

"He's still asleep." Joe answered. "He stayed up late last night, trying to get everything set up to coordinate the raid on that place you were held captive." When Roe nodded, her mouth full of food, he continued. "He's bringing in some of his people, and some of the military guys that know about PBI are going to meet him here."

"Here?" Shane asked. "Wouldn't that be a danger to your pack?"

"The guys that're coming from the military already know about us. They either had a hand in the forming of PBI, or they're the ones Maitland reports to." He shrugged. "If they come here, they get a better look at how we really are, and not just the ones that Maitland goes after."

"Not a bad idea." Adrian said. "And here, they see all sorts of supernaturals getting along."

"Yes." Joe agreed. "That's another reason I agreed for a few of them to come here. I agree with Roe that we all need to get along, and not just us, the humans that know about us too."

They all thought about that for a few minutes, while they finished eating. Special Agent Maitland finally showed up to breakfast, fixed himself a plate, then sat down with the others.

"Alpha Joe, some of my people will be showing up soon. Will we be able to use your conference room?" He asked.

"Yes, it's been cleaned." Joe replied.

"Okay. While we deal with your pack issue in your office, if you don't mind, my guys will set up in the conference room."

Joe nodded, then Roe asked "What did you do about Jack?"

"I called my supervisor and asked that he be held in solitary until we get this taken care of, and I can get back there to present all of the evidence against him."

Roe nodded. "Good idea. I'd hate to not catch these guys because he tipped them off."

"Me too." Special Agent Maitland said. "That's why I told my supervisor about him first, got him taken care of, and then told him the rest of what's going on and what we're trying to do. He understood."

"Good." Roe said. They chatted amongst themselves while Special Agent Maitland inhaled his food.

When he looked like he was finished, Joe asked "If you're done, does everyone want to go in my office and finish the other business we have together?"

They all got up from the table and went into Joe's office, except Luna Marcy. She went to oversee getting things ready for the military men to arrive. Once in the office, they all sat down where they had been yesterday. Roe and Special Agent Maitland in front of Joe's desk, and Adrian and Shane on the couch again.

"All right." Special Agent Maitland said. "Let me see if I understand what happened. Adrian hypnotized Angie, and she told you that she had conspired to have Roe and the other two captured by Major Marsden's men."

"Correct." Joe said.

"As a result of that, you lost your temper and killed her?"

"Yes." Joe said.

"Well, there is one thing that's being left out." Roe said. "When Adrian was reading her mind, he discovered that she was planning on getting rid of Luna Marcy next and told Joe. That's when he lost his temper and killed her."

"She posed a threat to the Luna?" Special Agent Maitland asked.

"Yes. She said she'd already gotten rid of three females from the pack." Roe answered.

"How did she get rid of them?"

"I'm not sure yet." Joe said. "I've got Marcy and the Beta's wife asking around and taking a closer look at rumors that involved Angie."

"Okay." Special Agent Maitland said. "Is there any other evidence?"

"I think that about covers it." Roe said.

"Alright. As far as I can see, Alpha Rogers, this wasn't a discipline issue. What you did was remove a direct threat to the Luna of this pack. I don't see where there was anything improper with that." He paused to make sure everyone understood what he'd said. "I would be glad to tell your pack what I think about the situation."

Joe let out a long breath, and visibly relaxed. "Thank you. It would be greatly appreciated if you'd make an announcemen to that effect."

"No problem." Special Agent Maitland said, then smiled at Joe. "This was one of the easiest cases I've ever had."

"Glad to help." Joe said, laughing with the rest of them. Then he sobered up. "My Beta said that your men are here, and he showed them to the conference room."

"Thank you." Special Agent Maitland said to Joe.

"Lunch will be served soon in the dining room." Joe told them, then added to Special Agent Maitland "Your men are invited too, as well as any military men who show up soon."

"Thank you again." Special Agent Maitland said. "We appreciate your hospitality, and I'll tell them about the food. I think we should plan on meeting again after lunch, whether the military representatives are here or not."

"I'm not sure what all of your people are, but if they have any dietary restrictions, or need anything that isn't set out for lunch, just ask. I'm sure we can find something for them to eat."

Special Agent Maitland inclined his head toward Joe. "I believe you have everyone covered, though you may need to order more blood."

"I will. If anything turns up, just let me know."

"I will. Thanks." Special Agent Maitland said, then walked out of the office.

"Well, I think we'll leave you alone until we're needed." Roe told Joe.

Joe nodded. "Okay, Roe. If you need anything, just ask."

"We will." She smiled at him. "I think we're going to go for a walk out back. We won't go far, so if you need us, you'll be able to find us."

"Okay, Roe. Have fun."

Roe smiled at him, then walked out the door, with Adrian and Shane following her. They walked down the hallway and out the back door. In the back yard, there was a bonfire area with logs for seats surrounding it. Roe led the way to a log that would comfortably hold the three of them.  They sat in silence for a few minutes then Roe asked them the question that had been bothering her all morning.  "What're we going to do when this is over?  Are we all going back to our homes?  How is this going to work?"

"I... Well, I don't know."  Shane said.  "I guess I hadn't really thought about it."

"I can go wherever you go."  Adrian said, with a shrug.

"What about your coven?  Aren't you supposed to be the next leader?" Roe asked him.

"Well yes, but it doesn't really matter.  I'm next in line because of my age, not that there's a lack of suitable people.  It wouldn't matter if I went back or not.  They don't need me, and I have no family, though my... brother will probably want to visit."

"Brother?" Roe asked.

"Well, he's not really my brother, but we pretty much adopted each other when we were young.  His name is Sasha, and he's only a few years younger than I am."

"My mate."  Shane suddenly started talking.  "You said you'd help me find my mate."

"And I will, after we get done with this situation."  Roe reassured him. Well, that was kind of odd.

"And the witch who may or may not need rescuing."  Adrian put in.

"Okay.  What I'm trying to figure out is who's going to be involved in what."  Roe said.  "We need to find out if there's a witch that needs rescuing, and I hate to tell you Shane, but she comes first.  Are you both going to be involved in that?"

"Of course she comes first."  Shane said.  "And yes I'll help with that. I may have to go home while we're trying to figure it out, but I'll help rescue her."

"I'll follow you wherever you go, Roe."  Adrian shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

"Adrian, I don't understand. You don't even know me." Roe told him. Why would he blindly follow me? I know I'm a witch, but I'm not that special, and I'm not in love with him. I possibly could be eventually, but not yet. I don't think it's possible for him to be in love with me, either, so why follow me?

"But I know enough to know that I want to be around you. I want to find out if there's more between us than a mark." Adrian told her.

"Okay. I can understand that."

"I hate to say this Roe, but I don't think my wolf can handle being away from you for long. At least not until I find a mate." Shane said.

Ah, that explains why he's been acting weird. He's trying to figure out how to deal with his wolf wanting to be around me. "That's fine, Shane. Who knows, we may find your mate while we're trying to rescue the witch." She told him. "And if not, I'll take you to visit some friends of mine, and see if your mate is with them."

"Friends of yours?" Shane asked.

"I have friends everywhere." Roe laughed, then decided to stop teasing him, and tell him what he really wanted to know. "I have some friends in a shifter pard."

"Shifter pard? What's a pard?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot you don't know about them." Roe said, apologetically. "Werewolves live in a pack, vampires and witches have covens. Shifters have groups too. Lions live in a pride, but the other species of big cat usually live in a pard. The others have their own names, but I don't remember them right now."

"So, you have some friends that are big cat shifters?"

"Yes, I do. As I told you before, I was being petitioned by multiple groups to mate with one of their members." She shrugged. "As part of that, I went around to the different groups and saw how they did things, and made some friends while I was there. But before we do that, you need to take one of the classes on how to recognize your mate."

"I know how to recognize my mate." Shane said huffily.

"Shane, after all of the stuff we've mentioned that you haven't heard about, I really do think you need to attend the class. Even if it's just a review of stuff you already know."

"If I already know it, why do I need to hear it again?" he asked petulantly.

"Shane, think about it this way," Adrian started "what wouldn't you do to find your true mate? And if, just if the class helps you find yours, it might be something to start doing at your pack. It would definitely help your pack to be able to find their true mates."

"Well, you do have a point." Shane said, thoughtfully.

They didn't have any more time to discuss their plans for the future, because at that moment Janie ran up to them. "Alpha told me to come tell you that the military people are almost here. He asks that you come into the conference room please."

"We're on our way." Roe told her, standing. Janie spun around and ran back into the building. Roe laughed. "I guess we better be going, before she hurts herself coming to get us again."

Shane and Adrian laughed with her as they stood up and started toward the building. "I guess we'll finish this conversation later." Shane said.

"Yeah, we will." Roe nodded.

They walked through the back door, down the hall, and into the conference room. Special Agent Maitland's people were already there, sitting around the large oval table that took up half of the large room. Officer Pierce gestured for Roe, Shane and Adrian to take seats toward the end of the table away from the door. They sat down in the chairs Officer Pierce had pointed out, with Roe in the middle. It's nice to see Pierce again. I didn't realize he was here.

A couple of minutes later, Joe and Special Agent Maitland escorted three men into the room. They all looked to be in their fifties, and were wearing military uniforms. The one who looked like he was the highest ranking of them had a scowl on his face. "I still don't understand why we're here, Agent Maitland." He sneered.

"Sir, you know what the PBI does, and why. You're here because information has come to light that one of your men, a Major Charles Marsden has been kidnapping both supernatural creatures and humans." Special Agent Maitland told him, then gestured for him and his men to sit across the table from Roe and the guys, leaving two chairs at the head of the table for Joe and himself.

"I'm well aware of that. General Jackson informed me before we left." The man said snobbily as he and his men sat down.

"Then you should be aware that we are planning on taking down the facility that Major Marsden is working out of. General Jackson has agreed that this needs to be a joint effort, because of both Major Marsden's involvement as well as the humans that are involved."

"But why did we have to come here?" He asked grumpily. "Why couldn't we have done this at my office?"

"Because we are closer to the facility here, and the people who can lead us to it are here as well. General Jackson felt it was better for you to come here, and be involved than it was for us to drag them to your office then back here again." Special Agent Maitland said, obviously getting aggrivated with the man.

"Fine." He spit out. "Let's get this over with."

"Gladly." Special Agent Maitland said, still standing along with Joe. "First, we will do a few quick introductions. I'm Special Agent Maitland, and this is Alpha Joe Rogers. We are on his land, and in his pack house." He said, gesturing to people as he introduced them. "This is Adrian Vladimescu, second of the Istrati Coven, Roweena Wynter Cavenaugh, and Shane Girouard soon to be Alpha of the Woodbridge Pack. Our military representatives are Colonel Allen, Captain Mills, and Lieutenant Green. Everybody else is from the Paranormal Bureau of Investigation."

There was a chorus of hellos from around the table. "Can we hurry this along?" Colonel Allen asked, impatiently.

Adrian, can you read him and find out what his problem with this is? Roe asked.

Maybe. Give me just a minute.

"As you all know we're here to formulate a plan of attack on the facility that Major Marsden is running. According to the information I recieved from General Jackson, Major Marsden is not active military. The General was going to look into it further to see if he was a Major at one point, or if he was impersonating a military officer." Special Agent Maitland paused, then when no one spoke, he asked the Colonel "Do you have that information now?"

When the Colonel still didn't answer Special Agent Maitland, Roe held up a hand to get Maitland's attention. "Give him a minute. Adrian's having a conversation with him."

Special Agent Maitland stared at her, speechless. Captain Mills and Lieutenant Green glanced at each other, then at Roe. Captain Mills finally asked "What do you mean, they're having a conversation?"

"I asked Adrian to see why your Colonel was so against being here." She shrugged. "So that's what he's doing."

"But...but how?" Captain Mills asked.

"Telepathy." She answered him.

Lieutenant Green burst out with "That doesn't exist!"

"Actually, yes it does." Roe stated matter of factly, then turned to Special Agent Maitland. "I thought these guys were supposed to know about us."

"Yes, well, they are, but apparently they haven't been fully briefed." He said frowning at them.

"Alright, Roe." Adrian said, breaking into the conversation. "I've got what you wanted. Apparently Major Marsden was kicked out of the military, because he was spouting nonsense to anyone who would listen about werewolves and vampires being in the military. My guess is that he was already mentally unstable, someone shifted in front of him, and that threw him over the edge."

"How did you know that?" Colonel Allen asked angrily. "There's no way you could've known that." His two aides looked at him oddly. Apparently they didn't know that about Major Marsden.

Adrian went on, like the Colonel hadn't interrupted what he was saying. "The Colonel here hates everyone that's not human, and wants Major Marsden's work to continue unimpeeded."

"I do not." Colonel Allen said loudly.

Adrian gave him a look, then continued "Thankfully, he decided to come here before he alerted Major Marsden to what's going on."

"How dare you tell these lies about me." Colonel Allen yelled and stood up. As he did, the majority of Special Agent Maitland's men stood as well.

"He planned to discredit whoever discovered Major Marsden's little experiment, as well as Special Agent Maitland. He intends to report to the General that there wasn't anything going on, and that Special Agent Maitland has lost his mind, associating with filthy supernatural creatures."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Colonel Allen screamed. "I'M GOING BACK TO MY OFFICE. I'M NOT WASTING ANY MORE TIME ON THIS CRAP!"

Special Agent Maitland stepped back from the Colonel, and said "Colonel Allen, you're under arrest."

"YOU CAN'T ARREST ME!" He screamed as he tried to head for the door. "I OUTRANK YOU."