Ian felt himself roughly pulled through the portal. Of course, he couldn’t keep his eyes closed, and it was extremely difficult to keep his balance. With his balance, off and his mind couldn’t find a place to lock his eyes on. There wasn’t a horizon to stare at, and everything moved about him in an unsettling way. Thankfully, it ended as abruptly as it started, and he didn’t embarrass himself by puking.
Once he composed himself enough. Ian took in his surroundings. They were all in what looked like was an unused storage warehouse. This wasn’t the same place they started in.
“Looks like we all survived in one piece. Now, where are the others?”
They spent many hours as Arianna worked with Larry’s blocks. Frustrating as it was, she finally made headway. He believed his people went on through the portals to the promised land. They were summoning powerful beings to open up this world to the promised land for all who were worthy. Whoever gave them the ability to open the portals lied to them about what would happen. The five portals were open, and the old, powerful ones now walked the Earth. Larry possessed an answer for everything. They were worthy yet of the old ones’ attentions. They must further prove their worthiness. The old ones would make this world like the other once they cleansed the world of the unworthy.  
They got back to pack lands before sunrise with the news. Arianna took it straight to a meeting of the NARC ambassadors. For Yolanda and Ian, their night didn’t end either. The packhouse appeared in chaos. Enforcers from all factions moved quickly through the building in various states of battle readiness. They readied to take on the first Host of Fae. They have numbers. The mages working with the druids to force the Fae from the dream realm and keep them out. Now they must take action against them. The Host was too close to Ottawa now. They’d create too much chaos there to not get noticed. The web of protective secrets would unravel. So Yolanda and Ian now oversaw the distribution of weapons to those trained to use them. Yolanda struggled
Yolanda woke up lying beside Ian in bed. Her brain to a moment to catch up to the fact they used an apartment in the packhouse. Rather than going back to their cottage. Once her heart slowed a little, Ian finally got to the alarm and turned it off. “Why do I feel like I haven’t slept yet?” She mumbled to herself as much as to Ian. “Because I think we’re running on about five, maybe six hours of sleep. Let’s get this show on the road. I feel we’re in for a rough patch if he’s asking for us.” Ian climbed out of bed and hit the bathroom for a fast shower. “I’ll head down for food. What do you want me to bring up?” “Whatever going is fine. Thanks, I’ll be quick.”
“This is going to be risky. We’re relying on Jaxon and Hal’s small amount of Fae blood to keep us safe. I thought these creatures fought among themselves. Wouldn’t they attack an unknown Fae in their midst?” Ian looked among the small group, searching for something he wasn’t sure of. “Hunts are an odd thing. There are hundreds of Fae within them. It’s not unusual for the Fae not to know each other because of their number and they have levels of status. I doubt they’d talk to them because they’ll believe they’re of a different rank. The worst thing that can happen is they’re called upon to give orders or they’re given orders to do something. I mean, we don’t know what type of Fae contributed their DNA to their bloodline.” Desire struggled to fin
Yolanda settled into the bunkhouse with the others going on the mission with her. The dragons went on ahead of them just moments before. For safety, they would rest in a different location. If the Fae located them within the Dream Realm, the Fae could shift realms and find their bodies. She found it difficult to settle down to shift her consciousness into the Dream Realm because her mind kept going to Ian and his safety. Eventually, she faded into the Dream Realm with her team around her. It took them only a few minutes to locate the location where they’d meet the Dragons to receive the device. “Thank you, Gorm. We’ll take it from here.” “I still
Ian stood watching shapes flit from one shadow to another. He could hear music from live musicians playing. These Fae lived up to every nightmarish tale he’d ever read. Dancing, drinking, and not caring about the world around them. They destroyed as much as they created. Now, though, he’d caught glimpses of humans within their midst. Humans were so far gone into drink and drugs, they probably believed this was all a drug-induced hallucination. These humans must have come from the streets mostly, but there were a few that appeared to come from other sectors of life. “Sickening to watch, isn’t it? They’re completely lost to the glamour of the fae. The only way to get them out of it is to remove the Fae from this realm.”
Yolanda now carried the device into a sling in her jaws. Her patrol followed her. All were in their wolf form. They were all highly strung, waiting for word to move out and place the device, or found by the Fae and attacked. No one wanted the last option, so they went out of their way not to attract Fae’s attention. There they lay lying in wait in the dirt beneath several bushes.These Fae appeared very busy partying and playing their twisted games. Some flitted in and out of the Dream Realm. Time meant little within the Dream Realm. With its perpetual twilight. It’s sky bearing no moon and the world itself giving off an odd ethereal glow from no specific place. The foot of a goblin appeared out of nowhere before Yolanda took her by surprise. She held strong and didn’t grasp. The goblin in all its ugly glory failed to see her behind him. So, moments later, he moved off into the distance
Ian and Jaxon paced one of the medical centre’s private waiting rooms with Gregory and several others. Hal was in surgery to have an arrow removed from his back. They’d been told over an hour ago that it would take time, but he’d survive. However, Ian only moments ago found out that Yolanda’s team returned safely except Yolanda. Now Ian paced for a new reason. Yolanda should have awakened with her team. Dr. Graves now worked on her with a team to find out why she wasn’t awake. Everyone in the room could all but taste stress and tension in the air. The medical centre was an example of organized chaos. Between medical staff, druids, and mages. Merfolk acted as orderlies, cleaning staff, caregivers, and even administrative staf