CHAPTER 18: THE PRICE OF PROTECTION

"Okay, I'll get everyone inside, then come to help," I say as I turn to gather everyone inside.

I freeze at Zane's next words.

"No, you stay inside," he says.

Oh, hell to the no, if this idiot thinks I'm going to wait inside like some poor defenseless mate, then he's dumber than he is sexy. Hint, he is really fucking sexy.

He must have seen the 'go fuck yourself' look I had on my face. Why would he think that I would stay inside, away from the action? Did he seriously not listen to me last night when I told him who I was? Maybe I should tell him to go inside and protect the women and children and see how he likes it.

He quickly added, "I need someone to protect the women and children inside in case any get through. We don't have any warriors close enough to get there in time to protect them. Please? They need you more."

"Well, how can we say no to that? He even said please," chuckled Cece.

Damn, Cece, I thought you would be more independent than that. One little please, and you're a sappy little schoolgirl. I chuckled. I do have to admit, it was a nice save on Zane's part.

He's right, there aren't any warriors close enough to protect them. I would hate to leave them alone, then by some miracle on their part, someone gets through. Those children are my responsibility until their Alphas come to get them. So, it has to be me protecting them.

Mind made up, I let Zane win. "I will this time because you said please, but if you think I'm going to hide every time, then you are fucking wrong. I fight beside you, or you don't deserve me." I leave no room for arguments as I turn around and head to the playground to get all the kids inside.

On my way to the playground, I use the skill set of faking my facial features by plastering a happy expression on my face. They may be my responsibility, but it doesn't mean I like being left out of the fight.

When I get to where they can all hear me, I excitedly say, "Okay, who wants an ice cream break inside?"

This has every kid running past me and into the house, cheering and yelling, "Me, me!" There are a few who had a late start or are not as fast as the others. They have a sad look on their faces at being the last ones to the house.

I try to cheer them up by saying, "Last one in has to share with me." I pretend to run as fast as I can, but I am actually running slowly so they can catch up and pass me. This has them all giggling and running inside. I turn to the adults, and they gather around me.

"Rogue attack, what is the protocol? Where do we take cover? We can take the ice cream there," I say, which has them all in serious 'mama bear' mode.

They tell me to follow them. We immediately go inside, ushering the kids to the gym in the basement. A couple of the mothers and I grab the ice cream and follow while my mates link everyone in the pack to take shelter.

I now see why the gym is so big. It can hold almost the whole pack if they were here. It also has reinforced blasting doors. I go to the wall and pick out a couple of blades, just in case, and have everyone head to the back of the room against the wall.

I bet Jason feels like an idiot commenting on the blades I slipped on before the tour. Suck on them apples, I smirked at being right.

Luna Amelia approaches me and says, "Clever trick with the ice cream. The kids know something is going on, but are happy and distracted by the ice cream. You are going to make an amazing Lu-"

Luna Amelia is cut off by banging on the door. This has all the kids snapping their eyes to the door, ice cream forgotten. Some even get scared of the loud noise. The older ones are smart enough to put two and two together. They go to the younger ones and distract them in different ways.

"We have the best teens," I say to Amelia. She looks back at them and smiles at what we see.

The banging on the door gets louder than before. So, Amelia quickly runs to the wall and presses a button. A section of the wall moves back a few inches before parting to reveal camera monitors. We can see several cameras that show each hallway and room on the main floor and basement. Then just the hallways on the other floors.

"Can you pull up the camera outside this room?" We need to see what they are doing.

Amelia selects one specific camera, and it is now in full-screen mode. There are dozens of men outside the room. There are four men at the door trying to break it down with a battering ram.

"That's not good. Do you recognize anyone, Amelia?" I ask her, hoping the answer is yes, but knowing we aren't that lucky.

"No, I don't recognize any of them. What are they doing?" she asks.

They have made it into the pack house. Amelia doesn't recognize them. I link my mates.

"We are on our way, hold them off until we get there," answers Zane.

When they see that it's not getting them any closer to their goal, they all start to split and move aside. I can see one person walking through the hole they made towards the door and start to mess with it.

I have a bad feeling in my gut as the guy continues to put something on the door. Since they couldn't break down the door, they are trying a different approach.

When I finally figure it out, it is too late. Suddenly, they all run away from the door.

"Shit," I immediately say, "Quickly, get to the back of the room, now. Go. Go. Go."

There are a few of us by the monitors that start to take off running towards the back of the room. Amelia and I wait to make sure everyone is in front of us before following.

When Amelia and I get about halfway across the room, the door explodes, causing us to fly forward from the impact.

We cannot let them hurt the children, I tell Cece, trying to get my bearings and stand up. We still have the children from the other packs. Alpha Deek won't be here for another 30 minutes.

He texted me a little before the end of the tour. So, if we can hold off a little while longer, maybe they will be able to help.

"They breached the room, hurry," I tell my mates.

"Max, we are still a couple of minutes away. You need to protect everyone in that room," Zane growls.

Well, no shit, Sherlock, I couldn't help it. I get sarcastic when in battle mode with unknown attackers. It reminds me I'm still human.

My head and ears hurt from the blast, so I cut out those senses from distracting me. I know that they are going to use this disorientation to their advantage, but they have no idea they messed with the wrong pack. I will make sure they know it.

On my way to my feet, I decide to leave the swords on the ground and grab two throwing knives. I will be able to take them out much faster by throwing knives than by fighting with swords. Someone might slip by, and that will not happen.

As soon as I am on my feet, several guys come through the door to attack.

Let's play, boys, I think with a smirk on my face and get excited.

"Happy hunting," says Zane.

Oh, so you do have a funny side, I joke. Then I block him out and focus; he will understand what that means.

I release my blades two at a time into our oncoming attackers' necks to slim down the numbers. I notice that they have really thick vests, so trying to pierce through them is a waste of time and blades. Soft areas like under the armpits, hands, feet, and above the neck are the best places to strike.

As I continue to drop them two at a time, there's a nice pile of bodies building around the entrance. As more attackers come through the door, they will have to climb over them, which slows them down and allows us to take them out easily.

"This should slow them down, having to crawl over the dead," I tell Amelia.

"That's genius, I am so glad to have you here," she says as she runs to pick up a bow and arrows.

"You aim for the ones in the hallway, see if we can make two piles on either side of the door," I suggest.

Amelia nods her head and starts firing. She has a rhythm and is smooth with it. She is a damn good shot.

When the number is manageable, I pick up my blades and charge towards them.

I would rather do this outside but I don’t have a choice. I slash and cut, causing deep wounds. These guys are tough, so I stick one of my blades in a chest and leave it. That way, I can throw a knife if I need to. I cut them only once or twice, but never more than that.

With each slash is another opportunity for an attacker to get past me, and I need them to stay in front of me and away from the pups and Amelia.

I keep going and don't stop, slashing and throwing blades while arrows whiz past me. My movements are fluid and graceful, almost like a dance, a deadly dance.

Finally, after about five minutes, I hear reinforcements coming, and soon, it is all over. I see Zane and Jason in the hallway helping to dispatch the rest.

When the last one falls, Amelia and I run to the women and children.

"Is everyone okay?" We immediately ask, and a couple of kids run to me and give me a hug, crying. Others run to Amelia. I tell them soothingly that we are all okay as I rub their backs.

Amelia is the one who answers, looking at me, "Yes, thanks to you, we are all okay."

"You're not too bad yourself, Luna," I say with pride in my voice and eyes.

I hand the two girls to Amelia, then walk to the monitors as I see Zane and Jason check them all to make sure there are none hiding elsewhere on pack land.

I also see men checking to see if everyone is dead. It seems they have experience with enemies who play dead, thinking they can get the jump on you.

When they see me heading their way, Jason opens his arms, and I walk straight into them. After a minute, he hands me to Zane, who holds me for another minute or two.

I look up at him and say, "Are all the warriors and packmates okay? We need to find out how they got through. It should have been impossible for that many to have gotten in here."

"I was thinking the same thing," he says, nodding. He lets me go but keeps a hold of my hand as he pulls up the cameras where both rogue groups entered the pack lands.

We watch on two different screens, one at the south border where my mates ran to for the oncoming attack.

After a few minutes, another smaller force attacked from the north. They quickly took out the patrol and headed straight to the pack house with little resistance.

"The southern attack was a distraction while the second group attacked from the north. We need to learn from this and rethink how we place our patrols and react in the future," Zane says, looking and sounding pissed.

"I agree, brother," Jason replies.

I begin to think about what would have happened if I hadn't been here, and I start to think the worst. Everyone in front of the monitors would have been dead from the blast. Then they would have come and taken the women and children and done god knows what.

Jason must have felt my distress and thoughts of the worst-case scenario rabbit hole of 'what if' through the bond. Jason walks to me and wraps his arms around me and pulls me tight against him.

"Stop, mi alma. Stop playing those scenarios through that pretty head of yours. What's done is done. You protected everyone in this room. You should be proud and focused on that. Don't focus on what could have happened because you made sure it didn't happen. So there is no point in acknowledging it," Jason says in a soft, soothing voice that calms my thoughts and nerves. That was exactly what I needed.

I reach up and press my lips against his in a sweet, tender kiss.

"Thank you, that was exactly what I needed to hear," I tell him truthfully.

"Anytime, mi alma," says Jason sweetly before bending down to kiss me back.

When Jason releases my lips, I see movement out of the corner of my eye on the monitor. The next second, I push myself out of Jason's arms and run out of the room and down the hall.

As soon as I reach the last step to the main floor, I run into Dean's arms and hold Luke's hand. I stay in Dean's embrace for a while before he passes me to Luke. I am so thankful that they are okay.

I take each of their hands in mine and lead them down to where Jason and Zane are and wait for Zane to update them on everything we saw.

I pull away and move some of the dead bodies aside to make a path for the children to walk through.

"Luna, would you like help?" asks one of the warriors, Warrior Thomas, as he walks up to me.

"Yes, please. Let's start by making a path from the children to the stairs," I say with a nod of thanks.

Once Thomas and I clear a walking path, more people come to help. I ask Thomas and a few others to start removing the bodies from inside the gym first.

Once the gym is clear of bodies, I say to the mothers, "It is safe for everyone to leave. We have cleared a path, but I recommend we cover the children's eyes. They have seen enough blood and death today. If they would like to stay longer, we understand that too. We will work on clearing out the bodies here first."

Some of the women and children leave, and some stay. I walk out the door and tell a few of the packmates who had just arrived the clean-up plan.

We do our best to clean the gym, but there is still blood everywhere. Zane and Luke take a few people to clean outside the gym, and Dean, Jason, and I stay to clean inside the gym. Finally, the last body is carried out in our area, so we follow them out as the Omegas are coming in with mops.

"Ladies, please let me know if you can use more to help clean up the blood. I will find you help," I say to the Omegas that arrived with more cleaning supplies.

"It's okay, Luna, we can clean this up. No problem. Plus, if we get too many in there, it will only slow us down," says Caroline.

"Okay, just holler if you need anything," I say before following my mates up the stairs.

As soon as we reach the main floor, the doorbell rings. Dean, Jason, and I answer, and there are three men waiting outside.

"Hello, Alpha Deek, Beta Aaron, and Gamma Olga. Come on in," greets Dean.

They led us to the sitting area, followed by my mates, followed by me at the rear. As we arrive at the couches, our guests sit down while we stand since we are all dirty and bloody. Well, actually, Jason is halfway to sitting down, but with a 'don't you dare' look from me, he immediately snaps to a standing position. This makes our guests chuckle. It isn't long after that Luke and Zane join us.

"We would like you to meet our mate, Luna Maxann. Max, this is Alpha Deek, Beta Aaron, and Gamma Olga of the Green Forest Pack," introduces Luke, chuckling.

When I step forward, they see me, and the Beta and Gamma gasp. The Alpha controls himself a little better and stands to shake my hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Luna Maxann, and thank you for reaching out to us and for finding our children. Tell me, how did you find them?" Then he couldn't hold it in any longer. "I'm sorry, and excuse my rudeness, but what the hell happened?" Alpha Deek says, looking at our clothes some more.

Apparently, they are used to seeing blood and guts on my mates' clothes since they didn't say anything or look at them twice.

"We had a rogue attack, and we just got done cleaning up downstairs when you arrived," I say.

"They got downstairs. Is everyone okay?" asks Alpha Deek with genuine concern. I can see why my mates like and respect him. He doesn't pretend to be concerned; he is honest and real.

"Yes, we had our fierce Luna protecting the women and children, so there were no casualties," says Zane proudly.

"You let your Luna fight," Gamma Olga blurts out.

Zane, Dean, and Luke growl while Jason chuckles.

"My friend, we don't let our mate do anything," says Jason, with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "However, next time, watch what you say, or I will let my Luna teach you manners."

Gamma Olga lowers his eyes, "Apologies, Luna Maxann. That was inappropriate and disrespectful."

I continue to answer Alpha Deek's first question as if I hadn't heard their comments. "I overheard a couple of people talking about kidnapping more children after dark. After midnight, I saw them and followed them to an abandoned military facility. We got them out and brought them here," I say, leaving some finer details out, but they don't need to know them.

"Well, thank you, we owe you a great debt," replies Beta Aaron.

I am surprised when he speaks. He is super-tall and skinny but has a super-deep voice. I was expecting a normal to high voice. What a pleasant surprise.

"You can repay us by taking great care of those pups. I will tell you the same thing I told our pack. They went through something very traumatic. I don't know what, but they are not their usual selves. Wait until they are ready to tell you what happened. They will be reliving that trauma all over again if you don't let them share on their own time," I say, and everyone nods in understanding.

"I never thought of that, thank you," replied Alpha Deek.

Then he turns to my mates and whispers, "I like your Luna, Alphas. You got lucky with her."

They agree, and I chuckle.

"You may call me Max," I say, "if you find anything out from them, please let us know, and we will offer you the same courtesy."

"Absolutely, Max, and you may call me Deek," replies Deek, and I give him a nod.

"Thank you," I say, "oh, and when I was talking to the children, I asked who took them, and none of them remembered. I tried to have them close their eyes and think back to the day they were taken to see if they could remember hearing anything or smelling anything. The newest ones said they remember hearing footsteps but not a scent."

"How did someone carry our pups away when we were already on high alert?" asked Gamma Olga.

"They didn't," I say, then all eyes snap at me. "There's a reason why I asked them if they could remember anything using their senses. There is a drug that can wipe the last few minutes of someone's memory. If the kidnapper timed it right, they could use the drug within a certain amount of time to erase all their memories of them. After that, all they had to do was keep them asleep some other way to get them to the final destination."

"How do you know this drug exists and how to use it?" asked Gamma Olga accusingly, and my mates growl. I am surprised to hear Alpha Deek growl and give Olga a 'we will discuss this disrespect later' look.

"I have come across it many times in my line of work," I simply say before ending the conversation. I quickly redirect them by saying, "Now, if you follow me, there are little ones who will be excited to see you." Then I led the way outside.

When we exit the door, we watch as the pups all approach the leadership of the Green Forest Pack and give them hugs.

We then give everyone a sack lunch with a sandwich, chips, juice box, and a freshly baked cookie for the road.

As they each get on the bus, I give them each a hug goodbye. We wave at each other until they are out of sight.

I let out a big sigh because I had come to care about them in the short time I knew them. I turn and walk into Dean's embrace, and he holds me until I pull away. I hold his hand and reach out to Luke, who is on the other side of me.

"When should we expect the other Alphas to arrive?" Luke asks.

"Not for a couple more hours," I answer. We walk in silence to the stairs when I stop, remembering I have a Cadet to train.

"I will see you all later. I am heading to train Cadet Summers. I'll tell the kids goodbye, but can you get them all on the buses for me?" I ask. I can't wait to teach Summers some manners, but I want to make sure I get and give my goodbyes.

"Don't you want to eat something first? You are going to need some energy after the fight you just had," says Dean.

"No, I don't want it to come up like Summers’ will," I chuckle. I hope he eats lots and lots of food.

I walk to the back of the house to where the kids are playing and yell, "Simon says freeze." All the kids freeze as if they were statues.

"Simon says, come give me a goodbye hug," I say, and they all look at me in confusion. "I have some training to do, and I don't know if I will get to see you off once your Alphas get here. So, I want to make sure to get my hugs in case I'm not back in time," I explain, and they all come running to me for their hugs.

I really am going to miss them.