"Yes, because we're all in danger. They need our help, and we need them."
If it wasn't too late already.
Chapter 3 - Ken
The black of night cloaked Ken as he slumbered, tossing and turning to nightmares of losing Beth over and over again. He'd dreamed of every possible variation of losing her, and when he jerked out of sleep to rest his head on the hard headboard, he didn't scream with terror as he had those first sleepless nights years ago.
No, he was used to the nightmares now, the longing, the dread. It was why he sometimes went days without sleeping if he could help it. Nothing made the nightmares go away.
Sometimes, when he was in a bad state of mind, he tortured himself with sleeping pills to trap himself in those nightmares for longer. To make him feel the grief and pain of losing Beth, forcing himself to feel responsible for her loss.
Only in the real world, Beth wasn't dead—at least as far as he knew.
She was alive out there, living another life. Happy, probably. Without him.
And here he was, unable to get over a ghost.
His phone pinged, and with a reluctant sigh, he rolled over. The message notification was from Rick.
Ken ignored it and buried his head under his pillow. The blackout curtains ensured that he could trap himself in the darkness for days at a time if he wanted. As dark as his dreams of Beth were, it was the only time he could see her face clearly anymore.
His waking memories weren't as reliable. She'd been gone so long his brain was starting to forget.
Was that a sign? Was he meant to give up?
He'd searched for her for a while. After she left, Ken went after her. But a year of looking, and it was like she'd disappeared into thin air.
His phone pinged again. Rick.
This time, Ken at least glanced at the messages:Alpha wants you at town hall pronto. Sounds important.
"Important, my ass. Ryel just wants to chew me out for snapping at Lily at the meet-and-greet yesterday," Ken muttered under his breath.
He let his phone go back to sleep, cursing himself for letting the message go toread. Now Rick would know he was up and just ignoring him, and the last thing Ken wanted to do right now was see him or Ryel.
The last thing he needed wasanotherlecture about his behavior. Fuck, as if he hadn't had enough of those over the past two years. As much as Ken tried to keep a low profile, it was getting harder and harder.
After another ten minutes of sulking in bed, dreaming of Beth's curves and those blue eyes that had tamed his fire long ago, Ken reluctantly pulled some clothes on. Rick had texted him another four times to complain about being ignored, and though Ken had put his phone on silent, he knew better than to keep the alpha waiting.
Ryel was still young and thought he was a hotshot, so Ken wouldn't put it past him to try and make an example out of Ken if he pissed him off. It wasn't worth it, even if Ken didn't look forward to getting chewed out for something that wasn't his fault. At least Ryel was more likely to listen to his side of the story before doling out punishments.
A few minutes later, Ken was out his front door and into the mid-morning chill. He could have walked to the town hall, it was only about fifteen minutes, but he'd already kept them waiting. So Ken hopped in his red beater trunk and hurried on down, eager to get this over with.
His truck lumbered into the parking lot in front of the town hall, where all but two or three parking stalls were filled. Ken slid into the one farthest from the entrance. Town hall was never this busy unless there was a big meeting. What was going on?
He walked into the wide-open space, which had recently been remodeled and now had gleaming tiled floors. Outside of the waiting area, the building split in three directions: stairs that led to the second floor, to the main offices on the left, and then to the big meeting hall on the right.
He could hear voices coming from the hall, so he strode in that direction. The receptionist nodded to Ken as he passed, and since she didn't make an effort to try stopping him, he had to be in the right place.
The double doors parted beneath Ken's firm hands, and he found a steady dozen or so other wolf shifters dominating the room. Ryel stood at the head with several council members seated at the big oval table in the center, but even more people lingered on the outskirts of the argument enveloping in the center of the room.
Ken scanned over the sea of faces. There was Rick up front beside Ken's old friend Marcus. He was one of the few who would speak to Ken these days, even if he still hadn't forgiven Ken for what had happened between them all those years ago.
"I don't see why we should waste our time on this," one of the councilmembers spat out, obviously trying to put an end to Ryel's argument. "We eradicated the goblins years ago. The only threat they posed to us was the last of the treasure they'd hidden close to our town, but that's been dealt with. The goblins are not coming here: they're dead."
Another voice chimed in, "Yeah, it's ludicrous!"
A chorus of discontent agreement broke out amongst the assembled party. For once, just about everyone in the room seemed opposed to Ryel. Ken furrowed his brow as he took in the scene. Goblins? He had to have heard them wrong. Ryel and his close friends had seen to it that all the goblins were dead, and Ken had been there when the last of the goblin treasure was destroyed.