Deacon - Nicholas Bella Page 0,68

of other more powerful packs and kingdoms, both vampire and dragon. We could not survive a siege on their land. Therefore, we had to keep our booked passage across the ocean to America.

As much as I didn’t like the idea of having to leave my home, the place of my birth and all things I loved and enjoyed, I knew we didn’t have a choice. If we stayed, we would be killed and I’d rather travel to that barren wasteland with its savages that was America before I let that happen.

Julie squared her shoulders before responding to the King. “I accept your conditions and thank you for your mercy.”

The King gave a curt nod and waved over Darius. “See that they perform their ceremony and leave. Once they are gone, burn the bodies. Let the wind carry their ashes off into the distance. Then, send some dragons to make sure they leave my territory in the time allowed.”

Darius bowed. “I will see it done, my Liege.”

“I know.” With that, the King flew up and away.

The dragons, to their credit, didn’t mock us. They stood back, respectively giving us room to give our love and reverence to our dead. Julie conducted the ceremony and it ended with a communal howl. While during the ceremony, I took into account other wolves who were no longer with our pack. I saw that James was among the dead. Which was sad. We weren’t close, but we were pack brothers and I respected him. I also saw Elias’ body, his chest was ripped open and his heart was lying beside his corpse. Had we still been friends; I would have taken his death hard. As it was, he’d turned his back on me years ago. So, I didn’t care that he’d died along with Bernard. Good. We watched the dragons burn their corpses, which completed the ceremony. We once again had to return to Julie’s mansion for a pack meeting. We were all given instructions to pack our things, as much as we could take, and head east to the docks where we were to board a ship.

I had never been on a ship before, amazing, considering how old I was. But I’d never needed to leave my territory and to have traveled otherwise would have caused problems. I was actually excited about the first-time experience. I instructed Charlene and Elliot to return to our home to pack while I went into the city to take care of my businesses. I had made the prior arrangements I needed to finalize, because if we lost the territory, I had also lost my businesses. No way could I trust that the dragons wouldn’t take it over and no way could I run the businesses from overseas. When a pack lost a territory battle, they lost everything.

I had a manager who helped me run my bordellos, it was to him I sold my deeds for a fair price. He didn’t ask questions as to why I was selling such a profitable business. I hated that I even had to, but I would be able to re-establish myself in America. I was determined to regain all that I had lost. I also closed out my bank accounts, taking my money with me. Other wolves were doing the same, with so little time left to leave with our lives, we had no choice.

I met up with Charlene and Elliot, and together with two carriages full of our most precious belongings, we began to travel toward the dock where a ship was waiting to take us to a new world and new territory. It was early morning by the time we made it to the docks, way past the time the dragons had given us, and they were there, watching to make sure we were vacating their territory. They didn’t take to the skies, instead, they traveled along our caravan on horseback. At least, they didn’t attack us.

The ship was huge, with massive masts and sails. It looked like a man of war ship, and I wondered if it had cannons on it. “I suppose you will help with the navigation?” I asked Elliot, since he was a seasoned sailor.

He laughed as he climbed off the carriage. “If I’m asked, I will. Who would be the captain?”

I shrugged. “Graham probably, or Royce,” I said, naming the two older wolves still alive. “Gregory is also a seasoned sailor who was a former soldier. I recruited him myself.” Our pack really took a