Hannah POV
Another couple of days passed by one by one...
I can feel my frustration growing. Everybody is tensed and frustrated with prolonged imprisonment in the packhouse, even though reports we get from the fighting zone are quite optimistic. We keep winning, and till now, there are not many casualties, although some warriors are injured quite seriously.
People are slowly getting more and more desperate, easier to irritate, or just sadder every time I look at them. Children keep asking about their parents or older siblings, and their relatives cannot give them a straight answer about when all of this will be over and when all of them will come back home, and if all of them can come back home safely.
Families of those who will not come back are devastated, and once again, I'm the one who tries to give them some comfort. After all, I understand how it feels when you get the news that those you care about so much will never come home again. I know that sometimes a simple hug is worth more than a thousand words. And I'm genuinely sorry for all the lives which have been lost; probably that's why somehow I managed to find the right words and say them to those who need comfort.
My brothers may not say it loud, but I know they are worried about Hayden. They keep saying they are not bothered by his absence, but I know they aren't honest. Hayden is now our family, whether they like it or not. They can still see him as the prodigal father, but I know they slowly started to accept him as their father.
I'm worried about him too; I haven't thought about him as a "member of our family" by coincidence. He was the one who welcomed us here, he was the one to make sure that we are taken care of and guarded, he was the one who guided us through the pack rules and daily life, and he cared about us from the beginning, even though giving our family situation he was no obligated towards Rosie or me. Yet he saw both of us as equal family and was there to shield us from everybody, including his own brother, because at the beginning, Mikkeli was nothing but an asshole to me.
Speaking about Mikkeli... I keep feeling him more and more, sometimes, I wake up in the morning, and I'm surprised that he didn't sleep next to me. Even though I miss him very much, the fact that I can feel him so intensively gives me a lot of peace of mind. I just know that he is safe. I know he's still alive. During any moments I'm depressed or doubtful, I just have to concentrate strongly enough, and I'm able to hear and feel his heartbeat, and that immediately brings me some calmness I'm so desperate to have.
Tony enters the room and interrupts my moments of wool-gathering.
"I have just got the call. If everything goes smoothly, the end of it should be in two days. Most of the hunters' forces were annihilated. It really should be over soon."
I immediately notice the change of mood; people seem more relaxed and happy, as if the long waiting they had to endure is finally getting closer to an end.
But the cheerful atmosphere is long gone when the next night, all pack members are wakened up because of a possible attack on the ranch. We follow the security protocol. Everybody but Tony and the warriors go downstairs to the safe rooms.
Tony informed us that the ranch is under threat of being attacked by a small group of rogues. He doesn't seem concerned, but still, I agree with him that percussion should be taken into consideration, so sending all of us to the safe room is a good idea. The ranch is located quite a large amount of kilometers away from the main pack lands, so it will take them at least a couple of hours to go over there and to come back.
"I really wish it would be over; I start feeling nauseous," Kyle complains after spending a considerable amount of time sitting in one place.
I understand him, the kids are slowly making me crazy too, and apparently, all families have exactly the same problem. After all, sitting for a couple of hours in a crowded room in the basement isn't comfortable, especially for children. I sigh, and I try to stretch my legs, which isn't an easy task considering the limited space we are sitting in now. I notice from the corner of my eyes that some ladies are constantly looking at Kyle and me, of course, pretending they are not doing that.
"Do you want to talk about something?" I ask them, I don't feel uncomfortable with their gazes at me, but I'm curious why they are doing that.
"Pardon us, Luna, we didn't mean to offend you," one of the ladies says.
Luna...
I think it's the first time someone called me directly by this title. I can feel my heart getting warmer. It actually feels really nice, I don't feel embarrassed, and I also don't feel the urge to deny them. Just like that, with one innocent sentence, I seem to calmly accept the responsibility, calmly accept my future by the side of Mikkeli if he has me.
"There is no problem. I've just got curious why are you looking at me like that? And I'm not a Luna, at least not yet," I say.
"But you will be; if our Alpha hadn't wanted you, he would've rejected you a long time ago. And you've mated, probably marked each other. You can also be pregnant so..."
"We didn't, and I am not," I say, and all of them suddenly look very surprised.
"But he was in his rut; it should've been impossible for his wolf not to mark you and impregnate you," one of them says, as the rest nods their heads as a sign of agreement.
"I was full of wolfsbane; he was full of silver, that's why. I didn't want him to make such an important decision with his mind so clouded that he couldn't have been able to know for sure where he was." I smile sadly.
"Then why did you mate with him, were you forced to do so?"
"No, I just didn't want him to suffer, and I was afraid that he could've died. " I say, lightly blushing.
"But that was very brave, you know. To be alone with an Alpha during his rut, and you are human, you know you were practically risking your life. He could've hurt you pretty bad."
"It wasn't that bad; I would say it was pretty amazing," I mumble, and I feel my cheeks getting redder.
I look at them, and I clearly see intense curiosity in their eyes, or should I say hunger for details. Fuck, how should I avoid more of their questions? Thankfully Kyle sees my inner struggle and immediately voices a sudden need to go to the bathroom and asks me to help him.
I wonder how much more gossip around my apparent Luna becoming is circling the pack. I understand the curiosity; I would also be curious about things like that. I didn't feel offended by their questions; I just didn't want to share with them the details of my and Mikkeli's intimate moments.
As I wait for Kyle near the bathroom door, suddenly, I spot two pack warriors and some older males talking with each other. They keep whispering, but I clearly see the look of concern on their faces; they also keep looking in my direction.
Something is wrong. I know that. I gulp my saliva, and not waiting for Kyle, I go in their direction.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"We have a problem, a big one. Hunters are in the packhouse," one of them says, and my blood runs cold.
"Elaborate," I say, but I keep my voice down. I don't want anybody else to panic.
"Somehow, they managed to pass the movement detectors unnoticed. We've spotted them in the house through the security system."
"Show me!"
They take me to the security room. Safe rooms in packhouse is a big underground area consisting of three large rooms, one bathroom, and a small office with security monitors, which allows you to know what is happening upstairs when you are locked in the basement.
Once we are here, I can clearly see seven people walking around the packhouse. The problem is there is one more standing on the stairs which leads the way downstairs to the security rooms. He looks heavy-armed. The others are moving around the house, and they look like they were planting something in different parts of the house.
"Do you think they're planting any explosives?" I say I don't see any other reasons why they would be here.
"Yes, we think so, the one which is guarding the doors to the basement shouldn't be a problem to handle, but you see that thing that is next to him," one of the older wolves says.
I notice at least three big canisters placed on the stairs. From all three of them, there is some smoke coming out.
"What's in there?" I ask
"It's wolfsbane, we checked. When we noticed him, Caleb went out to get rid of them, but the level of gas in the corridor was already so high that it almost killed him; plus, the hunter noticed him and shot him; thankfully, he missed, and it wasn't fatal. This corridor and stairs are the closed areas, there is no air ventilation out there, and none of us won't be able to reach the enemy through this polluted distance."
"We think their plan is to blow up the entire packhouse with us in it; they blocked the corridor to make sure we won't be able to attack them. I have no idea how the fuck they managed to get this close unnoticed. They not only passed movement detectors, but after they destroyed the main door, they went straight to the stairs leading to the safe rooms and released the poison to trap us down here."
"This means they knew; they knew we are here and where are safe rooms. They got this information from someone who betrayed us," I whisper.
They all snarl with anger. The anger I definitely share with them.
"We have to stop them before they kill us all," I say slowly, "and since none of you can walk past the corridor, I have to do this."
"Luna... I'm sorry, we talked about it, but we don't see any other options. We mindlinked Beta, but his too far away to help us on time."
I bite my teeth, trying to get my shaking under control. As a human, I am the only one who won't be influenced by the poisonous gas, but still, I have to attack and kill the hunter guarding the entrance. I have to make it quickly and silently enough that none of his comrades will notice because if not, they may detonate the explosives they have already placed. Probably it won't be enough to destroy the whole house, but still, the casualties can be severe.
"We also don't have any weapons here; as werewolves, we place too much trust in our teeth and claws, but now we cannot use it, and you cannot just go over there unarmed," one of them says in a shaky voice.
"I still have my silver knife. It must be enough for me," I reply.
"I have an idea. I want you to listen to my strategy," again one of the older wolves says, and he calmly presents his plan to me.
I know it will be difficult and very risky, but we are out of other options, and I cannot die here, and I cannot let all those people here, including my siblings and friends, die.
I have to do this.
When I ask Kyle to go back to my siblings and told them that I was stuck in the bathroom, I clearly see his lips shaking, and he is trying not to burst out crying. He is terrified, and I understand it. He holds me and whispers to my ear that it isn't a goodbye that I can manage, and I will survive it.
I focus one more time on the plan, take a deep breath, and slowly repeat all the steps in my mind. I try not to think about how afraid I am. I look around to see the looks the pack wolves are giving me. They are full of concern, but I also see determination and faith in them; they believe in me, and they believe I can save them.
I think about my dad, how he trained me, how he always repeated that when you were nervous, you should only focus on your breath. I fought before. I fought Mikkeli when he kidnapped us, I fought when we were attacked in the forest, and I will fight now. I can do this.
I nod, giving them the sign that I am ready as I get the stance to run. The lights go down as I stand in front of the door and wait for my eyes to get used to the darkness.
"Go, Luna," one of them says.
The door to the corridor gets opened, and at the same time, the light in the corridor goes down. That makes the hunter blind for some time as I run in his direction. Twenty meters, that's the distance I have to cover to get to the stairs, and then I have again about twenty meters up the stairs to get to him.
The hunter goes blind but still manages to shoot the gun twice in my direction. It misses because he presumes I am the werewolf and is expecting me to run faster.
I get to the stairs when the lights go up again as it was planned. He was almost accustomed to the darkness, so the sudden lightness blinds him again, but not me. My eyes were half-closed. I was expecting what happened. I run faster; I don't think as I manage to dodge another bullet he shoots blindly.
I almost reach him when he looks directly into my eyes, and I can see his fury. I jump and throw myself at him. I manage to push him onto his back, and stick my knife in the hand, he has a gun. He drops it, but his second fist land on my shoulder, and I feel horrible pain. I manage to push my body and hit his chin with my head. I pull the knife and cut his chest, but not deep enough.
"Fucking bitch!" he screams and uses his knee to kick me in my stomach.
I can feel the bile in my throat as an impact sends me to the wall, he comes closer, but I manage to raise my hand and stick my knife in his leg. He cries in pain and tries to reach my face with his fists, but I dodge.
I push him, and we both lose our balance and fall downstairs. As my body lands on the cold floor, I feel oxygen leaving my lungs. I pant heavily, trying to get my body under control. I need to get up on my feet now. I manage to do that, but surprisingly no one attacks me.
The hunter lies near the stairs in a pool of his blood. Now I understand, I must've cut an artery in his thigh, plus he probably hit his head when he's fallen down the stairs. His other disadvantage was that he looked exhausted; he was probably engaged in some heavy fights before they came here to get their revenge.
But I have no time to pity him. I ignore the pain in my whole body and my probably dislocated shoulder and climb up the stairs. I turn off the gas tanks and carefully open the door leading to the house. Thankfully no one is coming, and before I left the safe rooms, we checked the other guys; they were in the southern part of the house, far away from the stairs to the safe rooms.
I open the windows in the hall forcing stronger air circulation. The quicker the air will change downstairs, the quicker the rest of the wolves will be able to come and help me. For a moment, I wonder if I should take the hunter's gun. Finally, I decide it's a good idea. I know how to shoot; I'm just not good at it, but still, with one of my hands wounded, I won't be able to protect myself well with just the knife.
I go into Mikkeli's office and leave the door open. That way, I have a good view of the corridor and stairs where I suppose our enemies should come if they heard the struggle on the stairs. I keep focusing on detecting any sounds, but nobody seems to get closer, I was probably lucky, and none of our enemies heard what had happened.
Almost an eternity later, I hear fast wolf steps on the stairs, and I can see wolves emerging from down the basement. I finally let myself relax a little bit. According to the plan, I know they are now about to disperse and go directly in the direction of explosives planted around the packhouse to disarm them as quickly as possible. They will also hunt our enemies.
I take a deep breath, trying to ignore the dull pain in my shoulder and trying to fight the sudden feeling of tiredness and numbness. I guess it's a normal reaction after such a strong shot of adrenaline and fighting for your life experience; I also don't know why, but I keep sensing Mikkeli. I have a very strong conviction that he is coming closer with every minute.
I stop paying attention to my surroundings, and it's too late when I notice the dark figure entering the office, a hunter. I curse at myself because I put the gun down, and he's quick enough to make it impossible for me to get it again. He doesn't shoot. Maybe he lost his gun in a fight I see him bleeding, and maybe his plan is not to attract any attention.
He throws himself at me successfully, blocking my mouth with his hand; he doesn't want me to scream! I bite, but he doesn't budge, pressing his hand stronger into my mouth. With a little bit more force and he will break my jaw.
"Keep quiet fucking bitch; I won't die here," he whispers, squeezing his second hand around my neck.
The pain in my whole body is getting bigger since he pressed all his weight on me, and I have a problem with breathing. Mikkeli is near. I know that, and I can sense his panic because we both are aware that he won't be able to get in time.
I start seeing dark dots because of a lack of oxygen as I keep trashing in his grip. Fuck I cannot die here, not yet, not today, I try to move, but I feel so helpless. I know I have no chance, I know I'm getting weaker, and I know my time is slowly getting to its end...
Suddenly he reduces his grip on my body and spits a big amount of blood from his mouth directly on me. I raise my eyes and see the older wolf, the same one who came up with the attack plan, down in the safe rooms. His claws are stained with the hunter's blood, and he pulls his body away from me. I cough and fight the burning feeling in my lungs as it gets once again used to the oxygen.
He kneels beside me and gently touches me.
"It's alright, Luna, just breathe, it's over, breath with me," he keeps soothing me.
My breathing slowly stabilizes, and my vision gets clear, but the shaking of my body doesn't want to go away.
"Please, Luna, lay down and let me take care of that shoulder for you."
Honestly, I have no strength for anything. I follow his requests, happy that I no longer have to be in charge, then I can let it go. He slowly pushed the joint of my shoulder to its place, it hurts like hell, but the feeling of relief is immediate; the pain is gone.
"My siblings..." I whisper and make a move as if I want to go to them.
"Everybody is safe downstairs; let's wait here until all the explosives will be taken care of. All the hunters are dead now; it's alright."
I let him wrap his arm around me, which he does very gently not to irritate my sore body more. The shaking doesn't want to go away. I feel tears going down my cheeks; I know I'm going through a shock. But I also know Mikkeli is getting closer and closer. Just a little bit and I will be safe. Just a little bit, and I will be in his arms.
In the distance, I hear many sounds, and I know that the pack is getting closer. More voices, more howling and growling, I hear them entering a house, and then I see Mikkeli standing at the door. The wolf who was holding me slowly backs away as Mikkeli scoops me up into his arms. I see him inhaling the air sharply as he looks at my blood-stained figure.
"That's not my blood," I manage to say.
He presses my head into his chest as I hug him tight and let my tears flow.
"It's okay, feisty one, it's okay," he whispers, gently stroking my hair.
The rest of the day is a blur.
Families are reunited, pack members keep telling me "thank you", my siblings and Rose hug me, and Hayden presses me into his chest, saying that he's so proud of me. I get myself cleaned from all the blood, Gideon checking my bruises and wrapping up my cuts again.
All this commotion that you usually encounter when your long waiting is over when the time of stress and fighting is over.
And after that, Mikkeli takes me to his room, gently removes his clothes and mine, spreads my legs, settles himself between my thighs, and we fuck into oblivion. I barely have enough consciousness to notice that my bite on his neck still looks fresh, as if it hasn't started healing at all.