LILY

I was enjoying my day keeping Luna Quinn company. We’d mostly talked through the morning, stopping by the kitchen to make lunch before we headed out to the park. We settled near the shore of the pond to relax and bask in the quiet break from kids and responsibility. Lyssa was picking the kids up from school today, and Damien was out training with Liam and Michael. He said to expect him gone all day, so we had plenty of time to ourselves. We settled onto a blanket, and I read a manuscript that Quinn had given me to look over. She brought it for Azalea but didn’t mind me reading it as we ate our lunch. I still couldn’t believe Quinn wrote about our world and published it as fiction for humans. She explained that this one was about how she and Michael found each other. As I read, she looked around dreamily, taking notes in the notebook she carried everywhere and talking to herself.

“I just love your pack lands and the packhouse here,” she told me, smiling as I looked up. “It would make such a lovely setting for a book.”

I laughed, “You don’t even know the half of it. Azalea and Liam could be their own book series, let alone the other members in the pack. I bet you could do a series just on the women, too.”

“Hmmm,” she pondered, chewing the end of her pencil. “A series? Care to elaborate?”

I spent the next few hours retelling the events of the past decade to Quinn, her asking questions as we went along. She took notes the whole time, and I started to wonder if she was seriously considering writing this. It would probably be best to make sure Azalea was okay with this; I trusted Quinn to get permission first. I did leave out quite a few private things so, Quinn would have to ask her anyway. I looked at my watch and realized Lyssa had been watching all of the kids for a while now. I wondered if I should get them. She’d just lost her mate, and I felt mildly terrible about having her watch them so I could play host.

“Would you be upset if we grabbed mine and Azalea’s kids? They’re with Liam’s mom, and she just lost her mate. I’m sure she doesn’t mind, but I feel bad about asking her to watch Delilah and Lucas along with her three grandkids,” I asked Quinn, hoping she’d understand.

“Of course! I have plenty of pups of my own, and I don’t mind them around at all. Let’s get this stuff packed up, and we’ll go,” she replied, already putting her notebook in her bag and moving to stand.

“Thank you,” I sighed in relief. With all of the violence to come, I just wanted to hug my babies. Quinn dropped her bag, her mouth agape as she stared into the distance with glassy eyes.

“Are you okay?” I asked in confusion; there was nothing but the training field in that direction.

She snapped herself out of it, and I realized she’d been talking to her mate, “Michael is on his way here, but the vampires are attacking. Liam’s daughter is being attacked, and apparently, his mom too.”

“The kids are there!” I yelled, launching myself to my feet.

“He sent patrols. Based on what Michael said, they should be close,” she told me, but I didn’t have time to think. I didn’t care who was on the way to help. Vampires were near my children, and I needed to be there. The serene, calming day we’d been enjoying was over. We were under attack.

That’s when I heard Liam’s voice.

“Liam just linked us all at once,” I said, astonished. I didn’t even know he could do that. “He said they think that the vampires are having trouble fighting us in human form and to try to fight unshifted as much as possible.”

Quinn nodded, “That makes sense. Most packs only train to fight as wolves.”

“Luna, I have to go. You can go back to the packhouse or wait for Michael here, but Lyssa will need help getting all the kids to the packhouse. I am not going to wait for someone to protect my pups.”

s**t, the packhouse. I needed to link Lacey! “Lacey, vampires are attacking! Get everyone in the safe room!”

Quinn smiled softly, “I’m not letting you go alone.” She looked weirdly calm, but then again, she wasn’t exactly normal.

I hesitated for a moment after turning toward Lyssa’s house. I couldn’t decide if I should run in human form or shift. If they surprised us, I didn’t want to be in wolf form after Liam’s advice, but it would be much slower to run in human form. Eventually, the faster method won out in my mind, but I didn’t get the chance to act. We smelled their stench, our noses burning uncomfortably. I looked up, and multiple vampires were coming towards us from both sides of the shore. I could see more of them across the water on the other side of the bank, too. There were too many of them for us to handle ourselves. My stomach plummeted, and a chill ran down my spine. I prayed to the Goddess that the patrol would get to the kids in time because I wasn’t sure I would make it there myself.

“You said Alpha Michael is on his way here?” I asked her, looking at the leeches approaching us much faster now that they’d zeroed in on us.

“Yes,” she said simply.

“I guess we need to try to hold out until then,” I sighed, gritting my teeth and preparing myself. I’d trained with Damien on occasion before we had Delilah and Lucas but clearly not enough for this. I wasn’t going to attack Warwick, and we weren’t expecting them to attack here. I was confident I could hold my own in a typical fight, but this was more. We were far outnumbered and fighting an enemy that didn’t play by our rules.

“s**t, I have too many books in this bag, so I left my sai in Michael’s bag,” Quinn fussed, rummaging through her bag as the vampires drew closer.

“You just casually carry around sai?” I asked in confusion.

She shrugged, “We’re here to teach Damien how to use weapons. It’s what our pack does.”

Grabbing a book in each hand, she let the bag drop to her feet. Shaking my head, I turned my focus to the vampires about to reach us. I wondered if we killed the ones on this side fast enough, if we’d have enough time to break through to get to the kids, but then I realized I’d be bringing more vampires to the kids behind us. Plus, from what we knew, they’re either as fast or almost as fast as we are.Belongs to © n0velDrama.Org.

I stepped one foot back and got into a fighting stance, my hands coming up to my face and my body blading to my incoming opponent. I took a deep breath, trying to remember anything I ever learned. A vampire reached for me, his arms outstretched and his mouth wide open as he snarled, trying to get to my neck. I lashed out toward his nose with my left hand and then his jaw with my right. Both resulted in satisfyingly solid hits and b***d flowing from his nose. For a moment, I was confident that I might be able to do this. That’s when I realized he was walking through my punches because they didn’t phase him even though I drew b***d. I panicked, and I shifted while jumping backward away from him.

I growled, a warning to stay back, but he didn’t care. He charged in, losing a hand in the process as he tried to strike my face. I spit his hand and b***d onto the ground, but he’d already gotten too close. His arms wrapped around me, and then I felt another set of hands doing the same. I could hear Quinn fighting behind me, but there were too many vampires to hope for help. It hurt to breathe as the two vampires squeezed me together, one around my neck and the other around my ribs. I could feel my ribs starting to crack as I growled and snarled, trying desperately to bite the one around my neck and get ahold of him. No matter what I bit or ripped off of him, he stayed firm in his resolve to crush the life out of me. As my vision began to fade to black, I felt the pressure release from around me, and I was able to take a deep breath for the first time in several minutes. The air burned my lungs, but I gulped in the air greedily, staving off the darkness I’d almost fallen into. The spotting around my vision subsided, and I watched as Quinn used her b***d-soaked book to hit a vampire in the throat, throwing it aside as it crumpled into a wet useless mess. She looked down at it sadly, like she regretted hurting it, and then she kicked the vampire in the knee, dropping it to the ground. Quinn put her hands on its shoulders and shifted. Her hands were replaced by paws, and she looked down at the vampire in her much larger form before tearing his head from his body and throwing it to the side. Amidst the violence and bloodshed, I couldn’t help but notice. She was blue. Her fur was the same color as her hair, and it shimmered in the sunlight as she moved. I didn’t think her hair was naturally blue, and I wasn’t sure how this was possible.

“Not important right now,” I thought, turning towards the vampires who just kept multiplying from around the bank as they were killed. I could feel my ribs begin to heal slowly.

Then, I heard a roar from behind the vampires and then saw a flash of silver jump over them. The strange wolf landed next to Quinn, nuzzling her with his forehead; it was Michael. He shifted back, patting her gently on the back as he stood next to her, and then they jumped into the fray together without another word. I stood, my breath coming easier now, and followed them. I was determined to do my part to save our pack from these monsters.

LACEY

“Fight as long as you can unshifted; they have trained to fight you as wolves. Go now! Protect your home!” Liam linked. I stopped, surprised by his words.

“Lacey, vampires are attacking! Get everyone in the safe room!” Lily link came suddenly. I sat in the kitchen, snacking and chatting with Miss Marci while Felix was busy with Azalea. We were supposed to be going to the doctor late this afternoon. I dropped my fork as soon as I heard Liam’s voice, and Lily’s pushed me into motion.

“Lacey?” Miss Marci said, concern lacing her voice.

“Vampires,” I said. “Vampires are here. We need to get everyone to safety!” I exclaimed, jumping up from my stool. I wobbled for a minute, my roundness causing balance issues.

Miss Marci’s terror mirrored my own for a moment before she squared her shoulders. “Alright, you go to the third floor and get the safe room open; tell everyone up there. I’ll start getting everyone down here,” she instructed.

I nodded, my hand going protectively to my bump. I didn’t waste any more time; we both moved, starting to collect everyone in the packhouse. It suddenly occurred to me that none of the kids were here, and I hadn’t seen Lyssa with Azly all day.

“Felix,” I instinctively linked him.

“I know,” he said. “Get to safety; help get as many pack members as you can into the safe room.”

“Junior, Leo, Delilah, Lucas and Azly, where are they?” I asked him.

“With Lyssa. Austin went to get them,” Felix informed me. I rushed up the stairs as fast as I could with my large belly. Our pup was due in only a couple of weeks, and my walk was beginning to resemble a waddle. A ripping pain shot through my lower abdomen. I stopped, clutching my stomach.

“What happened?” Felix linked me worriedly.

“Nothing,” I told him. I could get up to the safe room so he could focus on keeping Azalea safe. The vampires would target her more than likely. “I’m okay.” I panted slightly as I stood straight again. Other wolves were rushing up the stairs. I could hear shouting downstairs; warriors must be arriving to help get pack members to safety and keep the vampires at bay.

“I am coming for you,” Felix said. I squeezed my eyes shut as I started up the stairs again.

“Keep Luna safe,” I told him. “I’ll be fine.” My pace was slower now with the residual pain in my sides. I got to the next flight of stairs before it happened again. I stifled my g***n, trying to breathe through the pain.

My wolf was telling me to calm down; my body was reacting to the stress. A hand came to my back, and I turned my head to see Abigail, Austin’s mate, behind me. “We need to get upstairs,” she said softly. I nodded my head.

With a little encouragement, we began to move. Her little ones were clinging to her arm as we got upstairs. We rushed down the hall to the safe room; two younger warriors stood in the entrance, waving us inside. Abigail immediately found a chair and sat me down. Another pain ripped through my stomach, this one worse than the first two.

“Lacey, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I breathed through the pain. “It hurts right below my stomach. It feels like something is ripping apart inside of me.” My eyes were screwed shut as I tried to wait out the pain. I sat there rocking back and forth slowly, desperately wishing I had Felix with me. I knew he needed to get Azalea to safety and protect her, but I needed him right now.

“Oh no,” Miss Marci’s voice said from nearby.

“What if she is going into labor?” Abigail whispered. My eyes shot open at that.

“No,” I said quickly. “It’s too soon. No, no, no.”

“We may not have a choice,” Miss Marci tried to say calmly.

“No,” I told them, shaking my head sharply. “I still have weeks. Felix isn’t here. There are vampires outside. This pup is not coming right now!” I could feel my heartbeat speeding up.

“Lacey, please relax,” Abigail said. “If you don’t, this pup is sure to come right now.”

I stood up, feeling panicky. As I did, I felt another pain, this time over my entire stomach. “Lacey,” Felix’s voice came into my head as I let out a little whimper. Then it felt like my bladder lost all control. Liquid gushed down my legs.

“Lacey, we have no choice,” Abigail said. “You are having this baby now!”

“Felix!”