Amber did return to Ceurian after their hasty departure from Cartnan. Her group instead went to Yulian to see with their own eyes what had happened. Amber was not even able to bid Xander a proper goodbye because of what the news.
Along the way, she got a brief report from Zael through the phone of what had happened. While listening to it, the frown on her face deepened as she gritted her teeth. The tapping of her fingers on the window sill echoed inside the silent car. She could not believe that Yulian would be destroyed that easily.
The moment they stepped down from the car, they could already see the destruction in front of their eyes. No infrastructure was left standing and there was even smoke rising to the sky. They walked deeper into the place where there were supposedly children and adults bustling about but all they could see were destroyed homes.
The deeper they walked, they then found bodies lined up on the plaza and the warriors from Ceurian who were currently covering the bodies with white cloth. They stopped and gave respect to Amber and the elder when they noticed their presence. Amber waved her hands so the warriors continued with their work.
Zayier came to meet them with a somber look on his face. "You should have rested first before you came here."
"How can I rest if something like this happened?" she was not in a good mood and when she saw the aftermath of the brutal attack. Even the elder and the warriors who were with her were gritting their teeth and clenching their fists in anger.
"I apologize." He saw that the alpha was not in the mood and he could feel the vibrating anger from the pressure coming from her. "The attack happened yesterday night. The moment we received the distress call from one of our warriors stationed here, we did not waste time and came here but what we saw was Yulian in this kind of state. We tried to scout around the territory and look for any survivors but we found none thus we decided to gather all the bodies and placed them all here in the plaza. Even the warriors we sent here to help them with security are all dead."
Amber clenched her fists and closed her eyes. She took several deep breaths in order to calm the anger that was surging inside of her. The moment she opened her eyes they were golden in color as she started to give orders. Zayier led her to where Alpha Gidou's body was together with his family. Amber saw how brutal the way they died. She could also see how the alpha fought fiercely until his last breath.
She kneeled down and placed her hand on the alpha's chest, "You fought well alpha and I promise that I will do everything in my power to bring justice to you and to your pack."
Once all the bodies were on the plaza, she asked everyone to close their eyes and speak to the moon goddess to guide the souls of all the werewolves who died in that place. The whole place was surrounded with silence. The gentle breeze of the wind carried their whispers towards the sky to where the moon goddess was watching them.
After that short silence, Amber opened her eyes and with a wave of her hands the bodies on the ground caught fire until there was nothing left, not even a speck of ash. The moon goddess had taken her children with her. What was only left of the pack was its empty territory and destroyed buildings.
They were a pack who had suffered an attack and did all of they can to stand up once again. Alpha Gidou was a reasonable and rational alpha who always thought of how his pack would continue to thrive despite them being only mediocre compared to the other packs. He was even willing to ask Ceurian for help and refuge. When they thought that everything was going good, a fierce attack had brought them down to their knees once again and now they won't be able to recover once again.
"Instruct Zael to inform the other packs of what had happened here and warn them that surprise attacks like this might happen to them. Tell them to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Make one last round around the territory and leave some of warriors to keep watch for the night before you return. If no suspicious people nor creatures comes here during the night, recall the warriors and let them return to Ceurian." After the order, Amber left together with the elder and their entourage.
They were already losing their time and they were obviously losing this battle since they do not have any solid information about their enemies while on the other hand, their enemies seemed to know all about them and all of their movements.
Amber held her phone and dialed Mykel's number. After the other answered on the second ring, she spoke without letting the mayor finish his greeting. "Yulian was destroyed so I want you to be very careful Mykel. The enemy knew about us and despite everything, I think the reason why Yulian was wiped out was because Alpha Gidou had helped us once and I'm afraid that they might do something to you or to your family."
Mykel leaned on his chair and massaged his head, "I understand. Thank you for your concern alpha. I will inform my father because if they try to attack us, I'm sure that they will target our information center. Alpha Amber, be careful too because they might attack you or your pack anytime. Make sure that you send enough people to protect Xander and his family, if what you have said is true, then the enemy might also be aware of his existence. They might not be able to touch him in broad day light but they might act during the night or when they see a chance."
After a few more words were exchanged before both of them bid each other a good bye. Amber knew that the mayor was right, she can't just leave Xander and his family vulnerable since the enemy might use him against her.
She was about to call Zael when her phone rang and the name on the screen was the person on her mind. She did not want to answer the call but she still did despite her reluctance. The desire to hear her mate's voice during this kind of depressing situation was stronger than any hesitation she has.
"Hello," his deep soothing voice caressed her being and the raging flame inside of her was slowly quenched. "Amber, how are you? How are things on your side?" she could hear the worry in his voice since he was there when the news reached Amber and she left without properly bidding him goodbye.
"I think I'm good now since your voice had calmed me down," she answered with her eyes were looking at the scenery that was passing by. "Actually, before you called, I wanted to destroy something to release this anger inside me."
Xander arrived home and he was in his home office staring outside the window. He was holding the phone on his ear while listening to Amber who seemed to be down and may be frustrated. It was a feeling he often felt in the past but he knew that it was different from what she was feeling.
"I'm glad that I could be of help with just my voice. I hope that you are doing fine now." He wanted to ask about the news she received earlier that day but he did not have the heart to do so especially now that he felt that Amber was not happy.
There was a moment of silence before Amber spoke once again, "I'm so sorry Xander, they're all gone now even those children." She could not directly tell him but she knew that Xander could understand what she meant. Although it was a bit difficult to accept, he needed to know. There was another silence after she said those words but she knew that Xander was still on the other side.
He had known it. That one piece of news was already enough to tell him everything and now Amber had confirmed it. "I see." He did not know how to react but one thing was for sure he was sad. Those children were still young and they had great dreams for themselves when they grow up but now, they won't be able to fulfill it. To know that he won't be able to see them again was heartbreaking and despite himself a tear slowly fell from his eyes then followed by another droplet. He was silently crying and he did not have the strength to speak.
"We have already sent them to the moon goddess and we hope that they will be reborn to have a better life." This was the only way she knew to console Xander because even with the silence she knew that he was not okay.
Xander wasn't able to answer for a while but she still waited for him. He wiped his tears and it took him a couple of deep breaths before he finally answered. "Thank you for doing that, Amber, I'm sure that they will definitely be happy in their next life." After that brief call, Xander bid her goodbye and ended the call. He needed time to think of things and how he should accept what had happened.
On the other side, Amber was also lost in her thoughts after the call. She was busy sorting the information on the book regarding the vampires. If vampires and those rogues had decided to work together then they will be in a disadvantage. 'Was the person behind the rogues was also the person behind the vampires?' She thought to herself and there was a high chance of that conjecture to be true. What is their end goal? She did not know and there were some lists of reasons she could think of but none of them seemed to be plausible.
While thinking about all of this, another call connected to her phone and this time it was Zael. "What is it?" they still did not arrive to Ceurian and for Zael to call her abruptly like this was because of an urgent matter.
"Something happened, not only was Yulian attacked some other packs were also wiped out because of an attack last night. Although only the small packs were destroyed like Yulian, the fact that they were attacked means that the enemy forces are not to be underestimated."
Her anger that was subdued a while ago came back full force but amidst all this, she realized one thing. "Since the big packs were not wiped out, it also only means that they don't have enough power to topple them down so they went after the small packs. All they could do was to harass us."