Talons

Chapter 151: The Attack

Mandy’s POV

B and I are deep in the woods, and Carter has his block up. He’s in a pack safety meeting with Colt and Trey, and while if I push hard enough I can break through, my cousin has my undivided attention. 

She’s so calm it's scary, but at the same time, it's working to keep me from panicking. After sparring with Holly, I found out that I’m pregnant. I’m not supposed to tell anyone before Alpha Stone, but B is smart enough to figure out why I can’t shift when I’ve never had a problem before.

“Congratulations,” she says, handing Carly back to me with a smile. Then, as if we aren’t in a life-or-death situation, she kneels to Tyson and gives him a tight hug. “I will need you to do something very important,” she says to the boy, who stoically nods.

It’s now that I realize B isn’t panicking to keep the children calm, but I’m so scared that Carly is beginning to react, and she’s becoming irritated with how tight I’m hugging her.

“What are we going to do?” I whisper, and B stands, resting a hand on my shoulder that forces me to take a deep breath.

She doesn’t speak, instead she goes back to Tyson who she hoists onto a tree branch. The boy pulls his body up, uses his shirt to tie his leg to the branch, then reaches down.

“Give him Carly,”

“What?” I exclaim, and when my cousin repeats herself, she does so with authority. 

The boy can’t quite reach, so B gets down on all fours, and with a grimace I stand on her back. Tyson gets a good grip just under Carly’s arm, and I help him by pushing her feet up as he pulls her into his chest.

“Now you,” Rhea says, and I jump to snatch the nearest branch to Tyson and Carly, not wanting to stress the one they are already on. “Climb higher than them and pull Carly up. Tyson will know what to do after that.”

I do what B says then watch in awe as the little boy breaks the branch he is sitting on, preventing it from being used to get to us. He jumped to another branch just as it snapped, and as a parent, my heart is racing for him.

“Are they close?” B asks, but I’m too high up and can no longer smell their proximity. I can only tell that they are still around.

“We’re right here,” a rumbly male voice replies.

Rhea’s POV

Three men come out from the woods, and after sizing them up, I’m pretty certain that I can take them. Mandy, however, is shouting for me to run, clearly terrified.

“Why don’t you tell me why you are here? You watched me put them into the tree, so my guess is that you aren’t interested in them.”

“We might get to them later, but for right now, we have a specific target.” I nod at the man, who seems to be in charge, and while Mandy called them rogues, I have a feeling that they haven’t been for long.

“So how can I help you?” I put my hands in the air, wanting to show the men that we don’t have to go this route, but based on the way they are prowling, they don’t really want to talk. “Listen, you're running out of time, so if you want something from me, it's best to tell me now; otherwise, leave.”

“We’re out of time?”

“That woman up there,” I point to Mandy who has gone silent. “Likely mind-linked her mate: this pack’s beta.” The men to my left and right look to their boss, who gestures for them to grab me, but they should have been paying attention because my claws have been slowly extending since they showed themselves.

Both men lunge for me, and because my hands are still up, it's easy for me to dig my nails into their throats and pull. One of them managed to nip my shoulder in response, but the injury isn’t serious and is little more than a scratch. 

The third man promptly shifts, realizing that I’m not as defenseless as he may have thought. So, to further throw him off I crumple to the ground, pretending that the weight of the bodies is too much for me.

I can sense how close he is and just before his wolf is hovering above the corpses, I leap forward and pull his wolf's heart out. It always bothers me to see the light in a person’s eyes dim needlessly, but this man couldn’t be allowed to live after threatening my family.

Colton’s POV

Mid meeting, Carter suddenly runs out of my office. Neither Trey nor I question him and as soon as we are outside, we all shift. 

“What?” Orlin sends a link to our beta, who tells him that rogues have approached Mandy and Rhea.

I take the lead, mind-linking his mate for an exact location, and when the strong scent of blood hits my nostrils I find myself pulling away from my beta and gamma in fear.

I should have followed my mate, not sent Mandy after her, and although the worst-case scenario is going through my mind, I arrive at the scene, just in time to see Rhea tossing what looks like a heart onto the ground.

She wipes her hands on her clothing before looking toward us, and it's only then that I notice that neither of our wolves are moving. We watch Rhea strip the bottoms off all three men, and toss them to us before turning around.

“I love her,” Orlin says, and it’s not the first time.

Once decent, but not actually dressed, Carter starts sniffing around for his mate, who I hadn’t even noticed was sitting up in the tree with Carly. Tyson is also in the tree, and he is staring at my mate in awe.

“What happened?” I ask.

“They were looking for a fight,” my mate says.

“And they got ended,” Trey says while inspecting the bodies. 

I can hear Mandy excitedly talking, likely explaining what happened to the still worried Carter, who just wants to get her down, while I’m just staring at Rhea. I have so many questions, but my beta needs my help, so I go to him instead. 

I can’t actually reach Carly, but I’m tall enough to guide her fall while her father plays a support role just in case she slips from my hands. 

As expected, the little girl is not happy, and my mate approaches, but stops a few feet away, to ‘talk’ to the child.

“Hey, stop that; Mommy had to go up the tree to keep you safe. You aren’t hurt, you're just scared, but didn’t daddy and uncle catch you?” I screw my face up at Rhea, who I think is wasting her time. 

It sounds crazy, but when Carly doesn’t like something, she can hold a grudge for days. However, unlike what I believed, she stops whining, and buries her face into her father’s chest as if she is embarrassed.

“So… As interested as I am in how three dead bodies ended up over there. I’m going to need you to tell me how you did that first.” My mate just giggles before extending her hands to catch Tyson.

“I’ve got him,” I say, not for any other reason than to feel useful to my mate who I can now see doesn't need me for protection at all. 

As soon as the boy's feet touch the ground, he tightly hugs Rhea’s legs, and while no words are passed between them, her wink lets me know something is up.

“Babe…?” I say, making Rhea look up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers.

“I will explain everything, but I feel really gross right now. Can I please shower first?”  I know it's not her blood, and since I don’t like seeing it on her, I agree.

We all head back to the Packhouse while Mandy excitedly tells her version of events, using descriptive words that make it sound more like she is reading from a book instead of recounting what just occurred.

“Hey Trey, do you think you can get Tyson back safely? I’m sure you’ve already alerted the pack of rogues, but someone needs to tell the omegas.” My face goes blank as I consider the simplicity of what Rhea just said.

We have lost so many omegas to rogues that I just considered it a normal part of pack life, but that was never the problem. When links go out, omegas aren’t included because they can’t mind-link without an active wolf spirit. 

“If you don’t have one already, you may want to appoint a liaison in each department so that everyone gets the alert when it goes out.”

“Spoken like a true luna,” Trey says as he gestures for Tyson to take his hand, and while I know his words weren’t hinting at anything, my mind went straight to my mate’s abilities, but Orlin has something else in mind.

“She didn’t deny it,” he says. “She didn’t even flinch.”

"I told you it would work. I told you that she just needed to know that I won't force her." Orlin humphs in my mind, letting me know he is still unhappy with what I told my mate, but if she just needs a little trust to open up fully, I'm willing to do it.

"And if after six months, she leaves, then what?" Ignoring my wolf, I help Rhea open the door to her room. 

I could tell she didn't want to get blood everywhere, and because she can't smell I know she was doing it for me.

Like she said, she went straight to the bathroom, and while I wanted to strip and climb in with her; I forced myself to close the door and back away.

"Coward," Orlin teases.

"Realistic you i***t. We haven’t even seen her wolf, and you think she would want us to walk in on her while she showers?”

“Can she shift?” Orlin questions, but I don’t want to get into that thought right now. She’s never mentioned it, and because I know that she shifted prematurely, it may be because she can't.

I don’t want to think about that, and in order to distract myself I go into my mates closet to pick something for her to change into. Truthfully, I have no idea why I’m choosing her clothing, but I feel like I have to. 

I leave the room before she finishes her shower, and feeling disgusted as well, I also bathe.

“Please don’t do it,” Orlin begs, as I towel off in my closet.