"Mmm… what?" Marcy mumbled as someone shook her out of her sleep.
They were up late to watch the live stream of the event where Alpha Maddox and Luna Tatiana tied the knot, and then they watched the ceremony again before calling it a night.
Marcy was not sure how much she slept, but she knew that it was not long enough.
She opened her eyes to see a girl tugging on her hand vigorously. It was Jane.
"What's going on, Jane? You can't sleep? Did you have a bad dream?" Marcy asked.
Jane's expression showed panic, and she was pressing on her hears and then pointing at the door.
Marcy noticed that her two roommates were not there, and the messy beds showed they had left in a hurry. Something was wrong.
"You want me to go out?" Marcy asked, and when Jane nodded, Marcy scrambled off her bed.
Marcy put on jeans and shoes and followed after Jane. The hallway was empty, but Marcy could hear muffled noise from outside.
"Come on!" An irritated male voice shouted from the end of the hallway. "Why are you still here? Get in the shelter! Didn't you hear the emergency signal?"
Marcy rushed with Jane toward the stairs, and she asked, "What signal?"
The man frowned at Marcy when he recognized her as Kim Dorsey, a female without her wolf. "No wonder you didn't hear the signal." Without her wolf, Marcy was like a human, which meant that she didn't hear the high-frequency signal.
He looked at Jane sternly. He saw her outside before, but the girl was looking around, and then she rushed back inside. He was the one assigned to come and get her, thinking that the crazy girl went to get something or maybe hide under a bed. If rogues come here, they can smell her within a second! When he saw Marcy with Jane, he realized that Jane had returned to get Marcy, and he couldn't scold her for that.
He moved to walk downstairs and shouted, "We are under attack. Get into the shelter! You should know the procedure! Why are you lingering here? Do you expect us to carry you?"
His eyes lost focus for a moment, and he cursed under his breath as his brisk walk turned into a full run, and he disappeared through the main door.
Marcy's adrenaline shot up as she realized that this was real. There was danger, they were under attack, and she needed to hide. Where was the shelter? Right… there was one underground shelter with several entry points, and the closest one was less than a minute away in the forest.
Marcy looked at Jane, who was clutching her hand nervously.
"It will be OK," Marcy was unsure if she was comforting the child or herself. Probably both. "It's not safe here. We need to head to safety. Can you do it?"
Jane nodded in small choppy movements, and then the two of them descended swiftly down the stairs.
They walked outside, and Marcy stared into the darkness while trying to determine from where the noise of fighting could be heard. The darkness was filled with growling, whimpering, kicking, punching, and crunching noises that made Marcy's hair stand on ends, and the only thing preventing Marcy from collapsing was Jane, who was sticking to her closely.
Marcy's sight was just like human's, and everything looked pitch black because they emerged from an illuminated hallway. Marcy would need a minute to adjust to the darkness, a minute they didn't have.
The sounds were coming from every direction, and Marcy decided to head toward the entry into the shelter. If she can punch in the code, get in, and close the door behind them, they will be safe. Hopefully.
"Let's go," Marcy said, her voice barely above a whisper.
They needed to cross a small clearing until they reached the trees and bushes. That clearing was ominous because there was no one in sight, yet the noise was a giveaway that they were surrounded.
"Ahh!" Jane screamed when two big wolves dashed toward them from a bush. The first one almost reached them when the second one tackled him, and Marcy couldn't believe they were this close. She had never seen anything so fierce in her life, and this time she thanked the darkness for concealing the gruesome parts.
Marcy tugged Jane to move.
They didn't have the time to linger or to check if the one on the top was a friend or a foe. They needed to get out.
Marcy's insides tightened when they entered the cover the first bushes provided. Yes, they were out of the clearing, but they were also surrounded, and as much as this provided cover, it could be walking into a trap also.
Marcy gritted her teeth and forced her legs to move. There was no point in thinking about what-ifs. They needed to reach that entrance into the shelter, and she prayed silently that they don't bump into anyone on their way there.
The group of werewolves was almost at the warehouse when Maddox stopped at one clearing to shift into his human form. He waved at others to do the same, and soon several wolves changed shapes. Beta Oliver, Damon, Caden, Maya, Keith, Caleb, Tony, Kai, and James.
Maddox rubbed his face. The adrenaline helped dispel most of the numbness caused by his excessive drinking, but he still didn't feel right.
Maddox didn't want to shift into his human form and waste time, but they needed to communicate, and outsiders didn't have the mind-link. He was getting information while they were running, but now that they were there, it was necessary for others to know what was going on.
"Why did we stop?" Damon asked impatiently. There was a lingering scent of blood in the air, but there was no sign of an active fight. Did the rogues leave? That would be for the best, but that would also mean they came out of bed for nothing.
"Rogues are at the shelters, not at the warehouse. I want you to double-check their scent before attacking. It is not uncommon for people we have here not to have a pack link. They can be easily mistaken for rogues.", Maddox responded.
James didn't like this. "Didn't you say they came for supplies?"
Beta Oliver responded. "That's usually the case. After they were found here, our warriors confronted them. They thought that rogues were retreating, but only a handful of them went toward the border while others headed toward the shelters."
Maya felt her skin crawling. Why did this sound like a diversion? But… a diversion from what? Unless… "Did they come here to kidnap females?"
"It wouldn't be the first time," Maddox said. "However, they would usually grab the isolated ones that wandered close to the border and not attack head-on."
"There is no point in discussing their motives," James said. "They are here. Let's get rid of them and try to catch a few alive and question them. As long as we can prevent them from committing suicide, they will talk."
Everyone felt uneasy at the iciness in James' tone; there was no fear, no compassion, and if not for bloodlust, they would assume he was a machine. He didn't sound like a teenager but like a mercenary who killed and tortured many, but then… under Alpha Edward's tutelage, no one could guess how James grew up.
James was looking at Maddox now. "Which way?"
Maddox gestured to his right, and then they all shifted back into their wolves and rushed into the darkness.
