~~

Reece

~~

With all the changes that have been going on around me, changes in my wife's status, in mine, in the whole order of the pack, I knew there were decisions I had to make. There were going to be more people around my pack than there was before. And after hearing what Gabriel had to say about the type of people who joined the Sentinelle it had me thinking about another project I wanted to undertake.

But right now, I had to focus on the situation at hand. I would not let these rogue warlocks get away with what they had done. And now that my pack was stronger than it has ever been before we could expect things to go better.

One thing I noticed when the meeting with what effectively became the Goddess Guard was over is that my sexy little mate smelled differently, again. This time, I knew what I could attribute it to though. I had most likely been given the ability to smell warlocks, like she had intended. And since my mate was half warlock it altered her scent to me.

It didn't alter her smell too much. In truth, it added a slight lemon scent to her already intoxicating smell. I didn't know if that smell was distinctive of the warlocks or not, but I would find out soon I guess.

All my mate's female friends were still staying at the house, and with them all of their mates. Ella was coming to the house today so that she could be protected as well. She was going to be driven here by her mom. Gia was in quite the state with her son missing and her daughter attacked. From what I gathered she was barely holding it together.

Little Bunny suggested having her meet with Juniper while she was here, the emotional calming would do her a wonder of good. So while we waited for Ella to arrive we were in that same sitting room as before. In the room with us were Cedar and Paul, we were just waiting on Juniper to arrive. Both of the men wanted to join us on the mission tomorrow and had even joined the ranks of the pack warriors. They both showed such initiative and skill among them that I wanted to do something for them. Honestly, it had nothing to do with them being friends with my mate. Ok, very little to do with it.

I had a sudden inspiration and decided to run with it.

"Paul, Cedar, I want to talk to you guys about something." I saw the looks of shock and panic wash over them. Honestly, am I that scary? I know I could be but come on guys, you've been around me for a while now.

"What about?" This came from my Little Bunny, like she was going to protect them. She's always been very protective of her friends and family.

"Nothing bad." I smiled to soften the mood. "No need to be worried."

"I'm not worried." Paul tried to sound convincing when it was clear on his face that he was nervous.

"Look, you're both great warriors. You've done a lot for the pack in such a short amount of time. And I am finally starting to fill out the ranks like I should have done a long time ago. There are a lot of roles I should have assigned and delegated when I took over but I admit I didn't trust anyone enough to do so." That seemed to shock them both completely.

"What kind of roles?" Cedar was at least curious by my words. Paul was too I guess, it's just he still hadn't recovered enough to speak.

"I've added a gamma, though I should have two. And there are other small things that need to be addressed. I'm thinking that the two of you should each take a role."

"Did you have anything in mind?" Little Bunny asked me, seemingly more curious than those two warriors were.

"I do. I want Paul to be the new trainer for the warriors. He has progressed in training faster than any warrior I have ever seen before. And as for Cedar, he is a go getter and extremely capable. I want him as my second gamma."

Those two looked at me like I had grown a second head or like I was speaking gibberish. And my little mate was looking at me with joy filled eyes. At least I could tell that she was thankful for what I had done.

"What do you say?" I smirk at them, letting them know that they were essentially staring at me with their mouths agape and eyes popped open. They reacted instantly. Their mouths closed and they both cleared their throats. It was clear that they were best friends even though Paul had married Cedar's sister. I wondered briefly if there had ever been that protective big brother urge from Cedar like I was dealing with Noah. I guess it wasn't exactly the same thing. I doubt Paul had ever said he hated Juniper, and then admitted it to the brother. No, Noah had his reason, but still I was better now wasn't I?

"Are you sure?" Cedar was in disbelief.

"I will happily accept." Paul seemed more willing.

"I am very sure. You both deserve this." I answered Cedar's question. "In fact, how about you make them part of the Goddess Guard Trinity." I knew she would do it with or without my prompting, so I decided that we should get it over with now.

"I was thinking the same thing." She smiled. "If they want to join that is." She looked at them expectantly with hope in her beautiful blue eyes.

Both of the men smiled excitedly at her words. It was easy to see that they were more than happy to join her.

"Yes." They said in unison. These two often acted more like twins than the actual twins in their group did.

"Then I will add you. Paul, I am so proud to hear that you have progressed so much since joining. Perhaps it's easy for you to see where your strengths lie, and maybe even those of other people. And Cedar, you have advanced and sown the seeds of your usefulness among the pack. It seems you've truly grown your roots here." That now familiar glow was once again accompanied by those words.

"Welcome to the Goddess Guard, use your new abilities to serve your Queen well."

"What just happened?" Paul asked her.

"You're now part of the Goddess Guard and have been granted a special ability." She smiled looking at them. "True to my words, Paul you can see where someone's strengths lie, effectively helping to train your people better. And you Cedar, like how you've rooted yourself you can control foliage, primarily the roots of the plants around you. Practice will make progress, and over time you will get very skilled in your abilities. Also, as part of the Goddess Guard, you have also been given enhanced strength and speed as well as the ability to track the scent of warlocks. Oh, and one last one, you can communicate telepathically with any other member of the Goddess Guard as well as Reece and myself."

"Really?" I was surprised by that last part, that was something that I hadn't learned from her yet.

"It was just something that I thought would help us a lot. You can do it now too, just so you know."

"Sweet, it will be cool to be able to talk like that." Paul was excited now.

"Just so it doesn't come as a surprise, you both will now have a mark. There is one for the power and one for the guard. They are on your collar bone."

"Really?" Paul quickly pulled his shirt aside and looked. "Dude it's true. This is awesome." The grin on his face was clearly showing how excited he was.

Without warning, Juniper came running toward the room.

"Hey, Trin, Zeek at the gate said that Ella is on her way up to the house."

"Thanks Juniper." Little Bunny thanked her immediately.

"Hey, Ju, I got a mark from Trinity." Paul ran up to her immediately and with so much excitement that it looked like he was a toddler.

"You too?" Paul's face fell so much at those two little words that I nearly laughed.

"You have one too?" Cedar asked her.

"Yeah, the two of you weren't here last night and I hadn't told you yet, but Trinity granted me a special power last night."

"That's awesome." Cedar looked excited.

"You joined the Goddess Guard?" Paul was clearly not happy.

"Goddess Guard? Hell no." Juniper seemed to put an end to that right away.

"No Paul, she just got an ability, so she only has one of the two marks that you have." I assured him.

"Thank the Goddess." Paul spoke with obvious relief.

"Haha, I just thought of something." Cedar looked like he was about to explode. "When we say thank the Goddess, we're really thanking Trinity."

"Haha, that's funny. The great Goddess Astro." Paul's joke annoyed me but I saw my Little Bunny smile back playfully.

"Wanna see what a goddess can do to you, Paul?" She spoke with a bit of mischief in her voice which made Paul go pale.

"N-no, no I don't."

We were still laughing from Paul's mini freak out when the car pulled into the driveway out front. We went to go meet them and officially welcome Ella to the house. The only problem was that it wasn't her mother that had driven her.

Trinity and I stood on the porch and watched as two people got out of the black mid sized sedan. The car just screamed that it belonged to a cop. Ella was getting out of the passenger side as Detective Devon Scott got out of the driver's seat.

"Ella?" Trinity called out in a pleasant voice but I noticed the hint of unease. "I thought your mom was going to bring you."

"She wasn't feeling up to it." Ella hung her head as if she was unhappy.

"I was hoping we could have offered her some solace." Trinity was the one who looked sad now. "I will send her something to make her feel better." I understood her words, Juniper would be going to see Gia now and bringing her to stay at the house.

"Detective Scott, it's a pleasure to see you again, but to what do we owe this pleasure?" I tried my best to keep my voice level and I think I did a pretty good job. It helped that I was standing there with my mate pressed against my side to give me a little extra stability.

Before he answered, I watched as Detective Scott walked around the vehicle and wrapped his arm around Ella to match the way I was holding my Little Bunny.

"I think that I have a right to be here, do I not."

"Huh." Little Bunny gasped. "Ella, does this mean what I think it means?" My adorable little wife didn't see a problem with what was happening in front of us. Neither did I, as long as Scott didn't cause problems. I guess we would find out.

Ella smiled at her Luna and nodded her head. "Yes, it does." The happiness shining in her brown eyes and the rosy tint to her cheeks was a very good sign. I know a human can mate with a wolf, a true mate bond. At least, I did now that mom had knocked some sense into my head.

"This is amazing Ella." Trinity ran away from my side and down the steps. She threw her arms around Ella, who was just a little taller than her. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thank you." Ella smiled more broadly.

"And I take it that you are the Detective Scott I spoke to on the phone yesterday?" She asked the man who stood dumbfounded before her. He just nodded.

"Ella, how much have you told him?" I asked her, needing to know the extent of what we needed to explain.

"Not much, I was nervous. But he knows we're not….. normal." Her hesitant words were not comforting.

"What do you know?" I asked the man, blunt and to the point. He quirked an eyebrow.

"I know that as soon as I even heard Ella's voice it was like I had found my destiny. I don't know what is different about her from other people, she just told me that she was not like other girls and that she would like to leave the explanation up to you guys."

I smirked at the man's smugness. "Ella, it seems that you wanted me to blow your new mate's mind." I joked. "Come on in and we will explain everything."

Scott seemed to take it well….. enough. He didn't have a freak out. But just like Jackson he was apprehensive. But once he saw Ella turn into a wolf he believed us. He wasn't as gung-ho about it as Jackson who now thought the whole supernatural world was amazing. But Scott did good. He didn't reject his mate, and he actually started looking at my mate and I with respect.

"Well, at least I don't have to wonder about your motives now. I see you had your hand in everything to protect your people and that you weren't some wanna be mobster."

"You thought I was a mobster?" I asked him incredulously.

"He did say wanna be." Trinity laughed. "So he obviously thought you weren't doing a good enough job. Really you own what sixty, maybe seventy percent of the city. You're not a mobster unless it exceeds seventy-five percent." Scott found that funny. Me, not so much.