Be without fear in the face of your enemies.
Stand brave and upright,
Speak the truth even if it means your life,
Protect the helpless and do no wrong.
Templar oath.
There was an audible buzz of excitement around the Reiver Pack house as the Croziers arrived and parked in the unusually crowded car park. It was the day the Macgregor Clan were to be initiated back into the Reiver Pack and the entire place was a hive of activity. The Reivers had spared no expense on this celebration and seemed keen to impress, or perhaps the correct term would be to intimidate the MacGregors with an ostentatious show of wealth. Omegas were flitting around either taking coats or filling glasses and making sure everyone had whatever they needed. Annie linked her arm in Hugh’s as they climbed the steps and entered the impressive hallway where an omega took Annie’s coat before they walked across to the ballroom. The room couldn’t have looked more different than it had for Annie and Hugh’s wedding almost a year earlier but once again the omegas had outdone themselves. The room was adorned in pack colours with red, green and black ribbons and the tables set with silver tableware and fine china. While Annie thought the room looked beautiful, she was still annoyed and if she had been given a choice she would not have attended this dinner in support of those MacGregors who had not been invited. All those with human mates were not welcome, Pete and Sarah included, even half wolves were not permitted onto Reiver Territory which Annie thought was ridiculous, Pete and Sarah were the very reason that the MacGregors were being accepted as Reivers and had done more for this pack than any other MacGregor, but they were excluded and to Annie it was so unfair.
Annie and Hugh were led to their seats by an omega and Annie was surprised to see they were placed on the Alpha table along with the Beta, other ranked Clan members and a huge wolf she had never met before.
Annie couldn’t help but notice that he had strange celtic symbols tattooed on the back of each hand and he emitted a presence of serene calmness, even Sabine was picking up on his aura and had come forward to look at him through Annie’s eyes. Annie saw he had a red lapel pin in the shape of a cross, with the horizontal arm of the cross going through the centre of the vertical one. Each arm of this cross flared out at the ends and Annie knew she had seen this kind of cross before. Hugh had noticed her interest and mind-linked her.
“He’s called Brother Andrew and he’s a Templar.”
“Templars are wolves?” answered Annie, surprised. “I thought they were human and had died out, Friday the thirteenth and all that stuff.”
“Some survived, some live in the Highlands and the others in Edinburgh.”
“Oh!” was all Annie could say, how did she not know about this?
Hugh shot her a smirk as he felt her confusion through their mate bond and told her they would talk about it when they got home.
Annie found herself eavesdropping on his conversation with Alpha Armstrong, she listened with interest as the Alpha asked how the Edinburgh Pack were getting along and if the new school was open yet. Brother Andrew answered with an affirmative and told Alpha Armstrong that the latest batch of warrior monks had been trained in the Highlands and the relics are well protected. Her interest piqued she mind linked Hugh,
“Relics, what relics Hugh?”
“When we get home Annie!”
Hugh smiled at her, he could tell she was intrigued with this Holy Man.
“Still recruiting rogues?” asked Alpha Armstrong, his distaste obvious.
“Of course,” Brother Andrew replied calmly, “They make good warriors, they have been through a lot in their lives which makes them tough, resourceful, they have much to offer.”
Alpha Armstrong snorted, it was clear he didn’t agree.
Brother Andrew didn’t react to Alpha Armstrong’s negativity towards rogues and as soon as Annie saw the Alpha had started talking to someone else, she took her chance to engage this enigmatic monk in conversation.
“You have opened a school in Edinburgh?” she asked, curious.
“Yes, it is for everyone, wolves, half wolves and rogues alike. We have had the nursery and a junior school for a while but we have just opened a high school. Every child, regardless of their background deserves an education.” he said, smiling at her, she glanced at Alpha Armstrong but he was deep in conversation with his Beta and hadn’t heard.
“You mentioned some relics, what relics are they? I’m sorry for all the questions but it’s just I’m a historian and I’ve never heard of them.”
Brother Andrew didn’t seem phased at all by her question.
“They are the relics of Menai, daughter of the Goddess herself whom she had sent down to the earth along with her many sisters at the beginning of time to find their wolf mates, thus creating the race of werewolves. We have protected the relics since the foundation of the Templars, our founder was from Menai’s blood line so we have had them ever since. ”
Annie felt her jaw fall open in shock but Andrew just smiled at her.
“Not many people are interested in the relics anymore but if you ever want to come and see them I would be more than happy to take you and your mate.”
“I would certainly like that!” replied Annie, she glanced at Hugh and he nodded his agreement.
Once dinner was over they watched as Alpha MacGregor was invited by Alpha Armstrong to come to the front of the room. Once the men had shook hands, a ceremonial knife was brought out and both palms were cut before being pressed together. There was applause, especially from the MacGregors and then Alpha Armstrong gave a toast. Annie bristled as she knew that the following day the rest of the MacGregors would swear their allegiance to the Reivers, well most of them anyway, Pete and Sarah hadn’t been invited because of Alpha Armstrong’s ‘pure wolf’ obsession. Hugh had tried to placate Annie by pointing out that even though Pete couldn’t be there, as long as he had pledged allegiance to Alpha MacGregor he was still a Reiver, but it hadn’t placated Annie at all, she was well aware that she was powerless to do anything about it however.
Once they were home and in bed, Hugh told Annie what he knew of the Templars. He knew they were warrior monks and they had escaped to Scotland after being disbanded by the French King hundreds of years ago. After their escape, they had been hidden by the Reivers to keep the relics safe and had eventually moved to Rosewell just outside Edinburgh but had also maintained a training school and monastery in the Highlands. Annie was astonished, she had heard of the Templars but had always believed they were humans. How could the humans have missed that they were wolves, and how had they remained hidden from even their own kind for so long? It was baffling. She fell asleep in her mates arms promising herself that she would do some research.