Wishing all my readers a very Happy New Year!

Chapter 7

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Sebastian plopped in to the chair opposite to Roma on the other side of her desk.

She looked up from what she was reading, looking over her reading glasses at him.

"We have a problem" he started, grimly.

She raised her head at him giving him her full attention.

"The private contractors we hired? Two of them wound up dead. Necks broken, these guys were pretty heady duty guys themselves, ex-navy and all" he stated.

"Charles?" she asked.

"Most likely, definitely werewolves though." He voiced. From what he heard there were no marks of resistance on the bodies. There were marks on their wrists indicating they were being held.

"Do we know what happened?" Roma asked.

"Nope, but from the description I got, there was no fight involved, should have taken them by surprise." Sebastian summarized.

"What now?" she asked, trying to figure out their next course of action.

"I think he was sending us a message" Sebastian voiced his opinion "These guys were caught unaware, underestimated the enemy, they will not do it again. With two of their guys dead they will be out for blood, so I say we continue using them. I spoke to their boss, he is taking it personal. This should only help us in our cause."

"All right" Roma readily agreed.

"But, I am concerned" Sebastian said "This Charles is very, resourceful and I believe highly motivated. Were you able to identify any links?" He asked her.

"No. None what so ever, I looked at everything we had on every enemy we had. No Charles" Roma added.

"I could not find anything either, but there is a connection for someone to have such vendetta against us" Sebastian added.

Once Roma and Sebastian returned back from USA the first thing they did was to look back and identify all possible enemies they made. That itself was a challenge, Maxim Roma's consolidation of power was not peaceful, it had been bloody and messy and they made lot of enemies along the way. The real threats they neutralized without delay but, it was impossible to execute everyone that hated them, however convenient it would have been. They could not find any reference of this Charles character. They would not stop looking, Charles would be their number one priority until found and neutralized.

"He is planning something, that is for sure" Sebastian declared and added "And my fear is that with Maxwell in USA, he would be a prime target"

Roma rubbed her temple in frustration and sighed.

"What is his progress on his mate?" Sebastian asked "Can we get them both over?" he asked hopefully.

"The girl is skittish, these things cannot be rushed, Sebastian. As much you and I wish them to be" She said in resignation.

"Then we need to protect them proper. They are surrounded by enemies Roma and Nick just has enough people to keep an eye on his pack but the borders of Colorado are big and totally unguarded right now." Concern seeped in to his voice. There was real danger there.

"You think they will attack?" Roma asked.

"Not directly but I am sure there will be an attempt made. Now look at this piece of information I received from one of our guys" he said pulling out a piece of paper and handing it over to her "some of the scum of the American werewolf has gone missing. Either someone is doing a service by taking them out or...hiring them." Both of them knew what was more likely.

"You think?" Roma asked reading through the message. It was basically a collection of alerts that Alphas in USA raised, indicating some of the wolves they were monitoring went missing. Most of them were rogues, mostly kicked out of their packs for crimes committed. The alert system was in place across the world for packs to warn each other.

"So the missing rogues..." Roma stated.

"Can be used against us. Plausible deniability. That is how I would have done it" Sebastian grimly confirmed. The rogues could not be linked back to any packs or the council and would be perfect weapon to utilize.

"So what do we need to protect Maxwell and his mate?" Roma asked. Their safety was primary first and she would think of ways to get them out of there as soon as possible.

"Get them out of there" Sebastian stated.

"While I work on that" Roma said "What do we need to ensure they are safe there."

"Send in additional troops. Arm them to the teeth and make Nicks pack lands a fortress."

She nodded "All right. Done. Can you get the twins on this, keep Maxwell out, he has enough on his plate. I want him to focus on his mate."

"Ok" Sebastian agreed "But let's try to get them home before it becomes common knowledge why Maxwell is in Colorado" he gently warned, the news of mate was still a secret, it would not be for long. Things like this rarely were and once it got out, it would attract all kinds of attention. Mostly the unwanted kind.

With that he walked out of the room leaving Roma to her thoughts.

***

"Alex!" Evelyn exclaimed and flew at him.

When her doorbell rang early in the morning, he was the last one she expected. But she was glad.

"Hello. Pumpkin" he greeted her affectionately giving her an awkward hug.

"Miss me?" he asked pulling back and grinning with a twinkle in his eyes.

"What's your name again?" she grinned.

"And just for that" Alex said stepping aside reveling someone behind him. His grim faced twin.

"Adrian" Evelyn greeted politely and he nodded back to her.

"The one and only" Alex quipped and added "And your personal trainer as well"

"Oh" Evelyn said lacking any enthusiasm.

"And" Alex said grinning "Your training starts from today, as ordered by yours truly."

Every morning she had a training session with Jeff before she left to school, now Adrian was to replace Jeff but her session would continue, there was no escaping.

"But the upside is" Alex added "I get to drive your to school and if we have time feed you some breakfast and catch up on gossip" he said wriggling his eyebrows.

She smiled at his antics "Why don't you guys come in and wait, I will go change" With that she moved in to the house and they followed her.

"Who is it honey?" Jeff asked coming in to view and confused looking at the un-invited guests.

"Jeff" Evelyn said "You know Alex and Adrian"

"Hello Jeff" The twins greeted.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" Jeff asked, trying to figure out what there were doing so early in the morning in his house.

"I" started Alex "Wanted to catch up with Evy, so was planning to drop her to school and hopefully catch breakfast on the way and he" Alex said pointing to Adrian "Is her new trainer."

"New trainer?" Jeff questioned. When did this happen? He had been getting ready for their routine morning training session.

"Yes Jeff" Evelyn jumped in "Max mentioned that Adrian will be training me, starting today" She thought Maxwell would talk to Jeff or Nick but apparently he had not, so she had to do some damage control "and I agreed" She added.

"Oh..ok" Jeff said taken aback. Did she not want to train with him?

Evelyn knew what Jeff was thinking and added softly to him "It would make Maxwell happy."

Ah! Pleasing the mate, now that was a different thing all together. Even though Jeff was not happy he did not want to create problems for her. But instead he added "Speaking of Maxwell, don't you think your mother and I should meet him?"

"Um..Yes...sure...will plan it" She stuttered at the request and looking at Alex who was grinning away to glory like a Cheshire cat. Even Adrian had a small smile.

"The sooner the better Evy. And I will join the training too just to watch" Jeff added and turned and walked in to the house leaving her no choice to reply.

She looked at the twins "Have a seat, will be back in five minutes." With that she also went in to her room to change.

Alex and Adrian were sitting in silence and taking in the room when Adrian's phone beeped indicating an incoming message, he whipped it out and read it a frown forming on his face and quietly handed it over to Alex for him to read through. Both brothers were grim by the time they read the message. It was about the dead security guys in Montana and also on the additional security on Maxwell and Evelyn.

"This is not good" Alex broke the silence. "And he does not want us to tell Maxwell?" Alex said in disbelief.

"I agree" Adrian added quietly "Let him focus on what he need to focus on, no point in worrying him"

Alex sighed "what about additional security? Surely they will notice, the pack will notice and questions will be asked."

"Let's call it a security assessment and drill. I don't want Maxwell to be exposed to the pack more than needed, if someone identifies him it would cause all kinds of problems."

"I will put that as a suggestion to Max" Alex said.

Both of them sat in silence.

"Shit!" Alex said in frustration and lapsed back in to silence.

When Evelyn joined them trailed by Jeff she saw the atmosphere in the room had changed.

"Shall we?" she asked "Is everything ok?" she couldn't help but ask looking at the twins.

"Everything's fine" Alex said smiling but it did not reach his eyes "Let's go he added."

They walked to the pack training ground in relative silence.

As Jeff and Alex settled down as spectators. Adrian removed his jacket and turned to face Evy "Today let's start at basics, we will spar in human form for this session. Let's see what you have got, try to attack me and land a punch on me, anywhere on my body" Adrian added.

They soon took positions and she started to attack him, but every attack of hers he blocked with relative ease, it was as if he was fighting with a baby. For the next forty five minutes they tried the same thing. Not once could she land a punch on him.

"I think it's enough for now, we will meet again tomorrow morning" Adrian said.

"What about evening, I generally have an evening training as well" Evelyn said panting covered in sweat. She had put in her hundred percent effort and was dejected with her own abysmal performance.

"Let's stick to one session per day for now and we will take it from there" Adrian added.

She snorted "At that rate, I would never learn"

"You are not bad" Adrian stated "Actually, not bad at all. I think Jeff trained you well. But, you will never with brute force, what you need is tact and agility. That's how you can overpower a male wolf or if need be even multiple ones." Adrian added as Evelyn listened to him with attention.

In terms of pure might, male werewolves were much stronger then female ones. That was nature and there was not a lot anyone could do about it. So for a female to level the playing field she needed to be cunning in a fight.

"What could I have done better?" Evelyn asked, curious to know his take.

"You were trying to hit me on the face, it is easy to dodge. Always pick something which is large, the bigger it is the easier it is to hit. Aim for the torso, you would have a better chance. Also use diversions, try to punch but your actually aim is to land a kick. Your punch will be a diversion, I will be focused on blocking it and that will give you a better chance to land a kick. If you are trying to kick a man, try and aim for the family jewels" He said with a small smile. Werewolf or not, a kick in the balls would hurt like a bitch.

She nodded assimilating this information.

"Let's start again tomorrow and remember, you just started training a few months ago, while people like me and Jeff have been training all our lives. So if you land a punch on me in the next one month, I will have to doubt my own skill" He added honestly.

She narrowed her eyes at him "May be I will" She said defiantly.

"Let's see, shall we?" Adrian added nonchalant.

"Tomorrow same time" He remained "Jeff" he nodded to Jeff and walked off, leaving Alex with them.

"He is good" Jeff reluctantly murmured. He had observed his skill, it had been very good. Jeff knew he was better than him and if it came to a fight between him and Adrian. Adrian would mostly win.

"Why don't you freshen up and I will drive you down to school and..." he said looking at his watch "We have time for breakfast. I don't know about you but all this fighting made me hungry" he grinned at her.

"Give me fifteen minutes and I will be ready" Evelyn said as the three of them trekked back to her house.

***

Alex and Jeff were talking in hushed whispers when she stepped out of the house. When they had reached the house post training. Alex had stopped Jeff outside the house to discuss something and asked her to go ahead and twenty minutes later when she came out of the house they were still there busy discussing something. Jeff first spotted her and put his hand gently on Alex's arm and the conversation they were having stopped and Alex turned around and smiled.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep" she responded.

And SUV had appeared in front of the house with one of the Roma men standing near the driver door.

"I will talk to Nick" Jeff said and walked towards Evelyn. "Enjoy your day Evy!" he said and walked past her in to his house.

"What was that about?" she asked walking towards Alex. Referring to their huddle before she came out.

"I will tell you later" Alex dismissed it. "Let's go, I am starving. Where do you suggest we stop for breakfast?"

"Let's stop at Joe's, It's on the way to school." She suggested and he nodded in agreement.

As they walked to the SUV, the man standing, who Evy assumed would be their driver, quickly opened the door.

"Sir" he nodded his head respectfully and then looked at her and bent his head respectfully and greeted her "Princess"

She stopped walking, rooted to the spot "What did he say?"

"Don't fret about it Parker" Alex said pushing her in to the vehicle and he got in as well.

"Didn't, daddy dear ever call you his princess?" Alex teased.

"Nope, not really" She responded with a straight face. Her father had little time for her or her mother.

"Oh well, his loss" Alex shrugged "Because you just became one."

"Since when?" She asked shocked.

"Since you went dental on your mate" Alex added and looked at her.

"You do realize you completed the mate bond with him right?" he asked with all seriousness.

"I know that" She hissed "But princess?"

"Your dear mate is a prince you know? Ergo, princess. Capisce?

"The only thing left for you guys to make it more official is to do the horizontal salsa." He added with a silly grin.

"ALEX!" She hissed mortified as he broke in to laughter as the Vehicle slowly drove out of the pack lands into the town towards her school.

Two more SUV's fell in place behind them and one was already in the front. All of them looked similar with glasses tinted to a one hundred percent. You could not see in.

But, this convoy, unusual for a small town, did not miss to grab attention.

Attention of the unwanted kind.