Althena

33. Alarms

I fall asleep in the helicopter. It's a nice 30-minute nap. Then we get out into the central district. The door guard at Safiri gives us a lot of weird looks but eventually lets us in.

We step out at 5, completely formal and dressed to kill. Chris has a custom fitted black suit. I chose more of a formal style for a dress. Then we got new shoes. We got our hair and nails done. Then I got makeup. Then he got his face hair straightened up. He looked a little homeless being in a car for 10 days. We get new sunglasses and head back to the packland.

He gets out of the helicopter first and gives me his arm. He helps me out like a perfect gentleman. Then we watch everyone in the pack staring at us.

The alpha nods. "That's how it's done. You both look very nice. Thank you for taking this seriously."

I smile. "You're welcome, sir. We clean up nicely."

We take our seats and make small talk. Clover sits by us.

I lean towards her and whisper. "Are you dating that warrior?"

"He asked me out. He's sweet."

"Which one?" Chris nearly sits on me.

She points one of them out. "His name is Oden. We're going to have dinner tomorrow."

"He is sexy, girl. I can tell that from here. Good for you."

She giggles. "I like him."

Then another helicopter lands. An alpha. Probably the king climbs out. All the tables with the pack members are lined up. He walks to the front of them and talks to our alpha. Then he addresses everyone. "The Dark Moonlit Gala will be in 3 weeks. 50 people and their dates from your pack are welcome to attend. Formality and courtesy are a must. All 3 cities will be represented here. Your alpha can distribute the tickets as he sees fit." A light pole falls over and nearly hits him. He dives out of the way and shakes his head. Prina cracks up laughing over everyone. Then the light bursts into flames. "I will be leaving now. Everyone enjoy your evening."

"He doesn't even stay?"

Clover shakes her head. "He only drops off tickets and leaves. No idea why we have a big dinner. Every time he comes here, we have a big dinner. Then he leaves before we eat. He will not eat with us."

"Maybe he's scared of magicians."

She shrugs her shoulders. "Could be."

"Will Oden get an invitation?"

"I don't know. I have no idea how they decide who goes."

"When will we know who has tickets?"

"Few days, probably."

Chris throws his fork down. "Well, this was pointless."

"You're the one who went insane on that one." I eat my chicken.

"Oh well. It was nice to get fancy."

"Yea, it was."

Then an alarm goes off.

Beta yells something and everyone takes off running in different directions. Chris and I keep eating. 20 minutes later, another alarm goes off.

Chris looks around. "Should we be concerned?"

"I don't know. Nobody ever told me what the alarms mean."

"Well... If any rogues get this far, we'll kick their asses."

"Good plan. This is amazing chicken."

"Try the beef." He pushes some onto my plate. They left us with all the food.

"They are such good cooks."

10 minutes later, Jax runs up to us with a bunch of warriors. "What direction?"

Chris shakes his head. "We don't know. They ran everywhere."

"MOVE INTO THE TREES. GO." Jax pulls me up. "Go take cover. This is an attack on the city. They are coming in from all sides. There should be a bunker. Find it."

"Ok."

He takes off running as soon as I say it.

"I don't know of any bunker."

"Sounds like the fight is bad. Maybe we should help." Chris stands up. "I shouldn't have eaten so much."

"It's so good though." I toss another bite in my mouth.

"Let's go see if we can help them."

I follow him into the woods. "What are we gonna do?"

"I have no idea. Give directions."

"We're screwed. There aren't any signs in the woods."

"How do they find places?"

"Moss on the trees."

"You have got to be shitting me. What kind of back ass woods place is this?"

"You said it. Back ass woods. That's where we are. And I cannot wear heels here." I carry them with me.

We get to the area that's usually empty and there are wolves and people everywhere. They fight hard.

"It's like this all around the city?"

"That's what he said."

"This is not good."

I hear a wolf scream and see it get ripped apart. Wolves are circling each other. The smell of rogue is intense. Another wolf screams. I'm kind of like a statue watching a war happen right in front of it.

A wolf sinks his fangs into a warrior and the warrior shifts back to a human. I think they do that if they get injured too badly. His body hits a rock and the other wolf jumps for him.

I rip its arm off with my fangs. I didn't even think about it. My instincts took over. I couldn't let anyone in the pack get hurt.

The wolf whose arm I ripped off, backs up and howls. A few of them glance my way. Then they back up. They all run away after that.

Monte runs over and pushes me with his head.

"Time to go." Chris takes off. I follow him back to granny's. Then I get another dress on and we go back to dinner.

There are a lot of people on phones here. And warriors in only shorts. We enjoy the view and eat some more. Jax stands in front of the tables. "They retreated from the entire city. We're good for now."

Alpha nods. "We're good. Everyone eat. Plenty of food."

Clover sits down. "That's Jax. They went out to dinner."

"Nice dinner?"

"French restaurant. It was very good. They had the most amazing stuffed mushrooms."

We chit-chat until everyone is about gone. The only people left are the head table and the Night Stalker warriors. They seem ready to go home. Then a fight breaks out at the head table. Monte and Jax are yelling at each other.

We spin around in our seats and watch.

"YOU CANNOT PROTECT HER."

"AND YOU CAN?"

"MY TERRITORY IS NOT ON THE EDGE OF THE CITY."

"SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE."

"Who are they talking about?"

I shake my head. "No idea."

"YOU ARE GOING TO GET HER KILLED."

"WE HAVE BEEN DEFENDING THIS AREA LONGER THAN YOU'VE HAD YOUR PACK. WE KNOW HOW TO DEFEND. WE HAVE WARRIORS AND MAGICIANS. WE ARE NOT NEW TO THIS."

"THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHERE SHE IS NOW."

"Who?"

Chris shakes his head. "No idea either."

Jax says something else then storms off. His warriors leave with him.

"Well, that was a sad ending." Chris stretches.

"Yea, rather abrupt. Let's go to sleep."

Granny made Chris his own room. It's nearly identical to mine. She is good with magic.

I lay down and try to relax. Then I turn my phone on. I miss Mike. But I couldn't deal with it anymore.

I got a lot of voice mails. 10 from Chris. 27 from Mike. He's called every couple of hours since I shut it off.

In the first voicemail, he's mad. I can tell by his voice he's mad. He says he's sorry and wants to talk. That's about it.

Slowly the voicemails get less mad and more desperate. By the last one, he sounds broken. He's crying and begging me to talk to him. I give in and call him.

"Hi, babygirl. I miss you."

"I miss you too." I sigh. "I can't fight anymore. I don't want to fight."

"I know. I'm sorry. I need to trust you and not get so jealous. I know you wouldn't be with someone else behind my back. I'm crazy without you. Other men get to be around you and I can't. I can't even take you to dinner. I am lost without you, baby. I'm so jealous of them. I need you beside me. I can't handle this."

"A few more weeks."

"You going to be at my side again?"

"No."

"No? Please, baby."

"I'm going to be under you and over you. And on you."

I can tell he smiles. "I'll be inside you."

"I love you, Mike."

"I love you too. I'm sorry this is making me crazy. And I'm sorry I'm so damn jealous."

"Trust me."

"I do, baby. I really do. I know you're mine. We're just having a hard time right now. It'll be over soon. We'll get through it."

I fall asleep listening to him breathe.