RYAN’S POV
When we all dispersed for the night, I watched Emily run down the hall, hand-in-hand with Ana, towards Ana’s room. I smiled as my heart exuded my love for my sister. It had been ages since I had seen that smile on her face without an attached sadness in her eyes. Maybe this would be good for her, having Ana around.
Since we found out that Ana was indeed an orphan, I no longer felt the urgency to go
EMILY’S POV My alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., just like it did every morning. It was time to get up and start the day with the mandatory training. I reached over and gently pushed on Ana’s shoulder, “Hey sleepyhead, time to rise and shine,” I said cheerfully. Ana rolled over, glared at me, and in a not-so-nice fashion flipped me off before telling me I was crazy and to go to hell before rolling back over, pulling the duvet over her head.
CHRIS’S POV I was pairing up some of the more advanced wolves to spar when I received the mind-link from Ryan. Emily was having a meltdown and has essentially demanded that we meet her at her office. I wasn’t sure what could have possibly happened this early in the morning to ruffle her
RYAN’S POV It was 6:45 a.m., and I was on the front porch of the packhouse waiting for Chris. I was formulating in my mind how I was going to address this whole situation with Janice. One thing I knew for sure was that Janice was no longer in charge of the sweet, innocent souls that depe
FREDA'S POV Janice came to the kitchen to tell me that Alpha Ryan had summoned me and wanted to speak with me. She surmised that it was because of all the files that had not been digitalized yet. I had been working on getting the information onto the flash drive, but it was a lengthy process. Not only did I have other house duties to attend to, but I was also Janice's unofficial assistant to whatever she needed me to take care of usually something she felt was beneath her to do herself. Couple that with the fact that I did not have access to the flash drive whenever I wanted it, but only when Janice deemed fit to allow me to h
RYAN’S POV I could not fathom how utterly and ridiculously incompetent Janice was. First, she ratted herself out about not even considering the implications or consequences if something like loss or theft happened to the flash drive, which had hundreds, possibly thousands of children’s private and personal information. I had concluded that Janice was a completely brainless idiot. I will never know how she was ever able to secure the position of “On-Site Housemother.” We were all standing in Janice’s office when I linked Chris and Ophelia. In no uncertain terms, I said that first and foremost, we were searching for Ana’s file. Janice did not know that was the plan. Chris and I would be working through the six boxes of hard copies. Ophelia was directed to search through the flash drive and make sure to take it with her when we left. This information also was not to be shared. I ended the link and was about to verbally state the instruction that I wanted Janice to hear when I caught her
RYAN’S POVJaniceand I had just finished the tour of the downstairs areas and was about to venture upstairs when she requested to finish the tour at a later time, feigning not feeling well, blaming her age. I knew she was only in her early 50’s, which is relatively young for a werewolf, but I let it slide. I quickly agreed, showing my distaste at her request, thinking to myself how lucky I had just
JANICE’S POVI left Alpha Ryan at the foot of the stairs that lead up to the “living quarters” of the children as well as for Freda’s and my bedrooms. I had requested that the alpha allow me to continue the tour either later today or maybe tomorrow. I used my age as my excuse, telling him I was really feeling it in my bones. I fully expected him to force me to accompany him for the rest of the “tour” of the house. I never dreamed that he would be so cooperative and allow me to beg off. But honestly, with the exception of the “enchanted door” that led to Ana’s old room, there was nothing to see up there but b
RYAN’S POVAs soon as the smoke cleared and we all realized that Janice had disappeared without a trace, I could feel my wolf, Hunter, trying to claw his way to the forefront. I was beyond pissed. I was furious. I yelled out, using my bull Alpha Voice to “FIND HER!”. Ophelia tried to calm me by hugging me from behind, wrapping her tiny arms around my waist. Ophelia was always good for a calming embrace. It usually worked, like she has some kind of mellowing magic, but I was incensed beyond what a simple hug was going to calm. I simply could not believe that not only was Janice gone, but that we had no inclination that she was in cahoots with witches. It was the only explanation as to why she had a potion in her possession that enabled her to vanish into thin air.“Did anyone here have any knowledge that Janice had ties to witches?” I asked, my voice still booming in the Alpha octave, ra