Hell Hounds

Chapter 51: Armoury Changes

Trying to sneak into a room full of shifters that are ready for war was not as fun as it sounded.

The image of a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs came to mind. In this case, the rocking

chairs were half of her armoury and she was the cat.

So here she was, looking for her mate in a dark room full of armed shifters. The only thing she

could think of was the word crazy. It kept ringing through her head.

Finally, Yolanda found him in a lower bunk by the far corner of the entrance. She stood there,

looking at him. Yolanda so wanted to climb in beside him. But wouldn’t look good from any angle. If she

shook him, he’d make noise in a panic.

Okay, going in for a sleeping beauty with a role reversal. Why did her brain go to great efforts

to make her laugh at moments like this? Gods, she hoped Ian found it funny. She leaned in and planted

a kiss on his lips, praying she wouldn’t get attacked by him or someone else.

Sure enough, his eyes shot open, and the kiss ended with him crab-walking backwards on the

bed. Giggling, Yolanda whispered, “It’s me. We need to check in on things in the armoury.”

“What? Why? You’re the arms master. Why can’t I sleep?”

“You’ve heard of a fox in a henhouse?”

“Yeah…”

“We have Fianna in the armoury and as my new assistant your ass is by my side so when it

comes time, we both know where they’ve moved shit.”

“Wait, when did I become your assistant?”

“Shh… and come on. I’m assuming you slept with your boots on.”

“Teleporting fairies damn right I kept my boots on.” They tried unsuccessfully to whisper talk to

each other, but as it goes three others woke up and there were a few complaints about the noise they

were making.

“Fine, come on, we can talk outside.” Ian grabbed his gear and followed Yolanda out of the

room. Outside, he dropped his gear and grabbed her. He planted a far more attentive and insistent kiss

this time.

He leaned back from the kiss. “That’s better, okay, now what is this crap about being your

assistant?” He frowned down at her, waiting for a response.

“Simply, they are enlarging the armoury as we speak, and I needed an assistant before. Now I

need one even more. You have the skill and training for standard weapons and the ability to learn

quickly. Being my mate is a factor. It also helps that you need a job here beyond being our fixer within

the RCMP. Now we need to get down there before they change everything so we can’t find anything.”

“Fine, let’s go.” Ian waved Yolanda ahead of him while he picked up what he dropped and

followed.

Once in the lower basement and past the heavy door. The armoury was abuzz with people.

Hear was everywhere. Items were being examined, others were being tested, and there were clear

signs of new gear coming in and fresh symbols around the space.

Yolanda stopped someone passing by her. “Who’s heading this up and where are they right

now?”

“Armoury’s run by a Yolanda Redgrave, but she’s not here. Something about a mission

keeping her busy.” Yolanda rolled her eyes.

“Either you’re new or you think you are a comedian. I am Yolanda and I am looking for the

Fianna in charge of this upgrade.”

“Oh, geez. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. They didn’t show us a picture of you. It’s been lost from

your pack’s file.”

“Thank you. I will get that rectified. Now who and where, please.” Ian watched her with

amusement. She could be such a hardass.

The young guy gave her directions, and she set off in that direction. The young Fianna turned

to Ian. “Wow. How do you would with that?”

“I kiss her. It a perk about being mated.” That brought forth a few snickers.

“It’s not my day, is it?”

“No kid, it’s not.” With that, he followed Yolanda further into the armoury. The lighting within the

armoury now shone at a blinding level in one place and almost non-existent in other spaces. But there

were people everywhere. “Okay, now I see why you needed me down here. Wow, I didn’t expect to see

so many people this deep within here.” He said, stepping up behind Yolanda.

“Yeah, we take things like this seriously. You know why. This affects us all, it’s just humans

don’t know about it yet.”

“This one does.”

“Ha! If you claim mated status, your status changes to whatever your mate is, and that species

rules and laws are yours now.”

“Wait. What?” Ian meant this as a joke and now he’s learning a lot of things he wasn’t aware of.

“Brian, you must be Ian, Yolanda’s partner. Sorry for the surprise. Yeah, mates and life partners

take on the identity species of the partner or partners for simplification. For you, that means you are a

Black River Pack member, and you are under the rule of Gregory Wolversen. Your NARC

Ambassadors are his parents, so that means you have insider influence.”

Yolanda snorted. “What Brian isn’t saying is every Fianna is related to the next, and they can

give rabbit shifters a run for their money on mass reproduction. It’s a long hard story that’s messy and

bloody at the same time. But they came around eventually, and it just might give us the edge we need.

It’s another change the Fae don’t know about. Back then Fianna numbered only a handful of

empowered monster hunters. They annoyed the Fae, and now with technology and research into how

the magic works… Well, we have a small army of weaponsmiths and hunters with a bone to pick with

the Fae.”

“Wow… okay so now I’m a wolf shifter even though I can’t shift.”

“The term you are looking for is a Black River Pack Member. It means you belong lumped with

them and no one will expect you to go all furry or ruin any hardwood floors if you get pissed off.”

“Enough. It’s good to see you and your lovely crew, but what in all the hells are you doing to my

armoury. I don’t recognize it. Now tell me what new toys do I have and what improvements.”

“Fine, I’ll stop scaring your mate. Though you should update him on how his life is changing.”

“What do you have for me? Come on. I need to know and I’m dying to know. It’s like a birthday

waiting for all the presents to be unwrapped.” Brian gave her a tablet with a document open.

“I don’t have time to ramble on about everything, but it’s all in there along with a briefing video.

I need to get back before someone over there blows us up.” Brian jogged off, yelling at a group of

people unpacking something in the dark.

“I guess we’re stuck reading for god knows how long? The lighting, I assume, is because of

certain weapons?”

“Yeah, and I recommend we make a note of the lighting configuration just in case of a

screwup.”

“Okay, you read I’ll get a photo of the lighting panel. I’ll leave a message for the guys they

teamed me up with, so they know where to find me as well. If they need me.”

“Good idea. You do that, and when I’m finished with this. I’ll pass this to you, so you can study

up on this.” Ian jogged off and snapped a few photos. He’d add notes if he found any reference within

the notes when it was his turn to read it. Damn, he’d just fallen right into this. The part that freaked him

out the most was how easy it was. How did all this supernatural stuff become normal, and why wasn’t

he questioning everything? From Fianna to Dragons, different realms, and fairies. What were unicorns?

Shifters? He’d never be able to eat another rabbit again. If there were so many types of shifters, how

did they tell each other apart when they were in shifter form? Ian felt like his brain was going to

explode.

Ian trudged up the ramp to the ground floor. His phone wasn’t working down there. Which

wasn’t surprising at all. All this technology and magic and a cellphone still can’t work in a basement.

His cellphone rang as soon as he got to the top of the ramp. Accepting the call. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Ian Bennet.”

“Ian, where are you and your team? All hell has broken loose here at the office.” Gregory, true

to his word, was shaking things up there.

“What are you talking about? I’m not in a secure location to talk.”

“Fine, I’ll do the talking. The boss is now on leave pending an investigation. What the

investigation is, no one knows. They’ve also ordered the office to move into the middle of nowhere,

Ontario. You’re the only one in Ontario, and it’s the region they are moving us to. You’ve got to know

what’s going on.”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Keep me updated, I really can’t talk here. This is insane. I guess I’ll see

you here when you show up then.”

“That’s bullshit, Ian. You know something, why can’t you say? What are you working on that’s

so big?”

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m just investigating the case I received. It’s all in the report I just

sent in. Read it.” With that, Ian hung up. Served Paul right after the crap he shovelled onto Ian and his

group over the years.

He sent out texts to the others in his patrol group, so they knew he couldn’t respond to texts.

Someone would need to find him. Ian may have woken up to do something, but if they didn’t need to

wake up, then he wasn’t waking them for this.

Back in the armoury, Yolanda was looking over things and catching him up to speed, before

giving him the tablet to read. Ian quickly realized why she wasn’t sitting down to read it. He, too found it

easier to look at the items and weapons within the documentation. Complications abounded with each

special item, but Ian made notes to clarify much of it and questions to ask later. After all, he’s the dumb

human around here.

“How are you doing? Do you understand why I woke you up?”

“Time, or the lack of it, is boggling my mind. This is insane. If we need any of this within a fight,

that fight will be of the darker fairy tale nightmare variety and my exhausted brain can’t wrap itself

around the whole thing.” Ian looked straight into Yolanda’s eyes and saw the same thing there.

“Yeah, this will be here in a few hours, and I promised the Alpha we’d get some shuteye at our

place. I’ll tell Brian how to contact us if something needs our attention, then we can go get some

shuteye.”

“I’ll be here waiting for you.” Ian hauled his butt out of the one chair he’d finally found. Yolanda

returned the tablet to Brian with the instructions to download the files into the main computer so they

could reference it later. With that done, the pair made their way back up to the surface. They took the

most direct path through the kitchens after suiting up. Ian snagged some snacks and drinks, knowing

that he would not have the strength or coordination to cook anything for himself or Yolanda.

Once inside their cottage, they went about getting ready for bed and eating while cuddled

together in the bed. It wasn’t long, and they didn’t communicate much at all. It was more like stuffing

their faces and then passing out.

He’d not once asked her what she encountered or how she felt about it. There wasn’t a

question there, really. Yolanda responded to whatever she saw within the Dream Realm with extreme

prejudice. He wouldn’t question that at all. But he wanted to know what happened to her while she was

within it.