Free Fall: The Society Book 2

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p rumble. On the small dog bed by the door Bugsy, the part Staffordshire bulldog, part god only knew what, who adopted Russell as his big brother and default pack leader, echoed the deeper snor

e shields for the more at risk wolves of his and Russell's pack, the Council's demise changed things. While the most at risk were handled first, Ivy found herself moving from house to house, visiting any pack

of the various cows, sheep and goats. Rose looked after the ducks, geese and chickens and Danny made certain that an irrigation system was in place for the various plants they would need to grow. Ivy knew that once the plants did grow, it would be her

Danny as Water, Rose as Air and herself as Fire. While they were each individually strong, collectively they could produce shields that were

Shadow Council was called, were dangerous and bloody. Entire bloodlines were wiped out and everyone lived in fear. Now the Vampire Clans and the Clans of the Fae pulled their support for the Council. With the Seers departing to hidden strongholds, three fifths of the Sh

bloody stalemate ensued with no one able to gain ascendency. When the Shifter and Mage Clans united they were able to turn the tide and force the other Clans to the treaty table, creating the Shadow Council and stability. Ivy knew several mages who believed their Cla

curls were in disarray and where the morning sun shifted over them they turned from gold to bronze in the light. She still had trouble bel

e told her sliding an arm ove

priate volume, " she

e you up. They were too loud, " he to

gsy who was contentedly snoring in his little dog bed. He was rolled onto his back, his four paws in the air

re he does." Ivy smiled as Russell slipped a hand under her night shirt. Amusement quickly turned to arousal

tch her breath, Russell looked down at her. "

that a nice way to go to s

later he jumped and let out a s

lf up on her elbow and looked over. Bugsy was no longer conked out in his dog bed. She cou

uld have stuck his nose, " sh

oration, his tongue already hanging out, his stumpy tail wagging. Bugsy barked once. "Ready to run?' Russell

ing then, " he told

ed. Bugsy raced to the door. Russell opened the door for them both and Bugsy t

s when he reached the door so he could shift and run with the dog through the early morning, making clothing therefore pointless. While Ivy conceded that argument, knowing

t was Melisa, Danny's new wife. All shifters were male, the few females ever born to shifters couldn't s

hifters, remembered to wear clothing in public, they took the nudity in stride and Rose, who was only recently retired from a career as a ballet dancer was accustomed to costume changes backstage and odd moments of nudity. Melisa grew up as a norm and until she started seriously dating Danny had no clue t

e she was a mage mated to a shifter. Hackett asked her to move through the pack located around the town of Isliton, providing what protections she could. When fire was not the element for the job, she alerted the others and one of them took the le

to be her grandfather. As Ivy knew nothing of her father, the name of her father's father came as a bit of a surprise. Jerome did not realize she did not know of him, expec

g to beard the lion, or wolf rather, in his den today. Even if she didn't learn anything, she ho

the fact that they weren't a matched set. Even though she felt a little guilty about hiding information from the others, the truth was there really hadn't been time. Everything seemed to hit at once and in the ensuing maelstrom finding a quiet mome

anaged to come across dealt with finding a way to co-exist with the other shifter clans. While she could read about how disputes between the wolf packs and the feline intrigues were settled, none of the shifter clans felt the need to have any sort of forma

h a shake of the head. At times it was a refreshing change from the twists and

npack and settle in to wait for spring and the work outside to commence. There were never any completely down times, but the frantic pace slowed to normal working rhythms. It may hav

ised herself. Ivy tugged on her sho

s with any form of culinary skill and was voted unanimously as the kitchen manager. As working with fir

time everyone was on their own and Ivy found if there was anything she wanted to save for dinner time she needed to put a note on it or there was a good chanc

she muttered to herself as sh

rbidden from contacting any of her family by the ruling of the Shadow Council. Now she not only had to worry about her brothers raiding the fridge, but her mate Russell and any visiting

s needed for the concoctions she was planning to make and sell at the spa and store, there w

, " she decided. She chuckled at the thought of handing any of the wo

ays loved baking and growing up she routinely made a batch of cookies once a week to fill the jar up. Her grandmother considered the jar su

enough for storage over half the cookies were gone. She was lucky if the remainder lasted the day. As no one appeared to be expanding th

kies on Wednesday afternoons. It seemed that was generally when the lull in her schedule arrived. Picking up on the routine everyone passing through the kitchen took

of the shifters and a wolf who seemed to hold some sort of high ranking position with the wolves of Russell's pack, always peered into the jar with the shiny eyes of an excited three year

sighed. She already increased the batch si

far as food was concerned. Generally it was only those who slept under the roof that needed to be fed with a few others showing up and making the extra disappear well be

ull tray into the oven. She knew the extras would not go to waste. She wasn't sure she could actually pull

so they could be eaten at dinner time. As she reached for the fridge door, she heard barking and sound of nails on t

sported curls falling nearly to his shoulders and a full beard, Eric tamed his curls by clipping them short so his hair bristled up from his scalp a

helmets and giant axes, '

to be a natural part of Shifters and each looked as though they had just hurriedly thrown clothes on. As she was pretty sure th

ber of the pack that came by, regarding them as his pack. Even though they grumbled about the insanity of a dog liking them, they all e

un?" sh

answered. "Coffe

ook them to the table. The table was a large wooden farmhouse style table actually big enough to accommodate all

ng finished his meal, Bugsy moved to their feet and alternated between Eric and R

"They were down wind so they got a good head start, but

told him, visions of Bugsy dragging home his kills to

is with us, " Russell assured h

h out for, " Eric told her as he took his tu

as though looking to see what caused the interruption in his cuddling. He spotted Rose barked once and fairly bounced across the floor to greet her. Rose bent down

t saw Russell trying to hide a grin in his coffee cup so she figured it wasn't anything horrific. Ivy knew Eric often be

ur of them were each supplied with breakfast. As they began to talk over their plans for the day, the others filed in, claimed a beverage and scone, and settled themsel

oing to start working on the workroom space soon and we'll need to make sur

to be Russel's mate, essentially marrying into the pack, she was told someone was killing strong shifter children as well. The large building originally purchased as a safe place for mage children to be trained and where they could learn to hide exactly how strong they were

stine coffee klatch was that the Intrigues, the shifter clan of cats rather than wolves, and the second largest of the shifter clans, was

was saying. Ivy blinked realizing

at if not I'm open to another location." As Ivy's hobby, a hobby she put in storage when the family was sp

t out, " Alex

your plate?" R

by surrounds has a shield tied to their deadbolts. In addition I got the blockers buried inside the perimeter, with a few extra surprises outside the pe

through the washer and dryer as soon as they walked in the door seemed like a bit much. While the blockers wouldn't eliminate the spying spells, they would go dormant while on the property. Ivy didn't mention that she added a little something extra to the blockers this time when she buried them in the

iness, " Russell said. "Having those blockers up and the ability to know that no

of his back pocket and jotted down the request. "I think we have a space that will work." He smiled and shrugged. "At least we have a large room with no plans

r own dance club, " Max asked.

only way you'd enter a dance

to make fun of your da

lashing lights, "

ble volume that wouldn't leave yo

of clubs, it's the crowds. I happen to have a rather large personal space bubble." Max stretched his hands

you don't get more

. "I'm sure Alex could work up a retractable disco ball or something and we can gradually increase the volume of

therapy?" Ro

we are older than your typical club crowd. I'm not go

our personal space b

x said decisively. H

do today now that we are secure on the home front?"

actually unpack some of my storage before your sister-in-law

had history books that were different

our version of the witch trials, " Ivy reminde

r the latest knots to his tongue. "Watch out, she'l

d her. "It's all ready for any books you feel like adding. Then you can just

library?" R

n it?" he teased. "The one with the ladder on rail

did in fact exist. She hadn't taken the time to tour the house once the construction swu

in storage are filled with books. I figured if we just set aside one room it would be easier for e

l hoping they could find some answers to fill at least a few of the gaps in their past somewh

I'm not sure what time I'll be back, but maybe at dinner or af

ething more ou

ore and I'm hoping t

an extra pack mem

ep a few things contained for a bit while we sort the

from one another, " Eric acknowledged lookin

, " Russell said, guessing her intenti

to make certain they were covered as far as protections went. Thus far, I have yet to speak to