"I failed to protect him."
"So... how did she take it?" Selena asked as soon as Xavier entered his office.
The alpha sighed and dropped his body on the chair, "Not very well. But I didn't get much of the heat."
"Can't really blame her, can we?" Selena wondered.
Xavier didn't respond. It was clear from his face how absolutely tiring all this was for him. Selena got up from the window sill and walked until she was right beside him. Placing her hand on his head, she tried to calm him with her energy, feeling glad that Lorcan taught her this trick.
Xavier, however, had other plans. He pulled her hand and made her sit on his lap and nuzzled his head in the curve of her neck.
"Sel, she is pregnant, we can't wait anymore. She needs to be safe."
"I know that. But you gotta understand this too. Her whole family and her mate will be stuck here in the middle of a war. No wonder she is losing her mind."
"It is not just her! All the pregnant women are being sent away, along with the older people and babies. It is not safe to keep anybody who cannot fight here. We are keeping the teens and some old wolves here only because we cannot send all of them away. She needs to understand that."
Selena raised her face and looked at Xavier as if he had lost his mind. "She has the blood of alpha in her."
Xavier shook his head and leaned it back with a sigh. "I know. She must hate me right now. But it is for her own safety," he said with conviction.
"I am guessing Ryan will be facing more of her wrath."
"True," Selena nodded. Her fingers found his hair again, she loved the sensation of feeling his hair slipping past her fingers. "But as her mate, he will also be able to make her understand why it is important."
Xavier had just opened his mouth to reply when the voice of a very frantic Roy entered their heads.
'Get to the western border of the pack. Fast! FAST!'
Roy was never this informal with any of them so that already caught the leaders off-guard. Other than that, his distraught tone was enough to indicate that something terrible had happened.
They shared a look and in the very next second, both were out of the packhouse.
By the time the leading couple reached where Ryan and the others were, they had already started hearing the painful cries of a she-wolf. When Xavier and Selena arrived, the crowd parted sideways to give space to their leaders to come at the front.
Lorcan was pacing a few feet away from the crowd and had a furious look on his face. Selena noticed him first before she looked forward.
"Oh Goddess, no." The whisper slipped past his lips before she could stop herself.
Waves of anger were very eminent from the alpha who stood still on the spot. His hands were fisted by his side and his eyes had turned completely black with silver rings. He was barely holding on.
Taking a step forward, Xavier knelt down on both his knees. He extended his hands but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to touch it.
The alpha didn't want to cause more damage. More than that, he couldn't bring himself to believe that such an innocent soul was now gone without a reason.
There was so much blood seeping out of the body, the boy couldn't have been more than nine years old.
"What..." he whispered, his voice heavy with emotion and anger. He cleared his throat but that didn't hide the anger emanating off of him. "What the hell happened here?"
Sniffles were heard from more or less everyone. Ileana was there too but Ryan was holding her close to himself while shielding her eyes, not wanting her to see it.
"My baby!" Cried the mother as the father of the boy held her back, a few feet away from them stood the older sister of the boy who couldn't be more than thirteen.
"W-we were just pl-playing hide and seek and... and..."
"Shh..." Selena whispered as she gave the girl a hug, "It's okay, darling, it isn't your fault."
Ryan and Jayce made sure that the area was clear except for the family of the boy. Connor and Aiden were comforting the family while Selena stayed with the girl, Evelyn took Ileana back.
The boy's mother gave another loud heartbreaking cry as Xavier carefully picked the boy up, carefully to not let any part of his mutilated body drop.
Everyone was shaken. Were the hunters really this brutal? No one even had to ask, everyone knew it could only have been them.
As Xavier walked away cradling the boy to his chest, Selena walked to where Lorcan was.
The warlock felt her presence near him and he started speaking before she could say anything.
"They had the help of Asteria. There is no other way that they sneaked in without anyone knowing it."
"You couldn't have known..."
"But I should have!" He turned to look at her, "I have lived long enough to know how these work. We knew they are not fair. I should have put up a barrier. I should have..."
"You couldn't have held it up constantly." She placed a hand on his back, "Let's not blame ourselves now, the family needs us to be strong and avenge their son. Xavier needs us."
Lorcan sighed and nodded.
When they reached the hospital, Xavier was standing by the wall, leaning against it as the family stood surrounding the bed.
"He was just a kid... he was just a kid..."
The father kept repeating the same words, and Xavier couldn't think of anything to say to the man, what can he say to the man whose son just got killed?
Xavier closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stepped up to the man and put a hand on his shoulder.
The man, now having controlled his overwhelming emotions, looked at his alpha, "Avenge him, Alpha, I beg you."
He held his joined hands and pushed it down, "They will pay with their worthless lives. I give you my word."
He nodded towards the mother and left the room. Outside, Selena was sitting with the little girl who stood up on seeing the alpha.
"Is he dead?" she asked in her broken voice
"I'm sorry sweetheart," he whispered as he knelt in front of her.
A sob tore through her as she covered her face with her hands.
Selena pulled the girl in for a hug but her own eyes watered. The incident hit her a bit close to home. It wasn't too long ago that she was in the same situation.
Never once did Xavier move his hand from her knee. He didn't even allow himself to look away, he wanted to make sure he'd remember this exact feeling when he went to take on the hunters.
"He really looked up to you," she said once her sobs had stopped. "You were his hero."
Xavier rubbed the tears off her face and kissed her forehead and waited there for her parents to come out. When they did, Xavier didn't wait any longer and just started walking towards his office. On the way there, he linked Roy to take care of the burial for this family.
Everyone was present at the burial, everybody paid their respects. A young life was lost and no one was ready to just accept it quietly. Xavier spoke only about the boy, he spoke of the time he had seen Kennedy around the pack and how he was such a happy child. No mention was made of the hunters.
When Xavier entered his office later, his first action was to scream. All the pent-up fury, anger, resentment, came out in the form of a single terrifying scream. The door of the office was still open and the whole packhouse had heard the alpha scream. No one came out.
Soon after, Selena entered followed by the whole gang, including Lorcan. Everyone was quiet, all of them mourning the loss of the little boy.
"Kennedy used to randomly burst into my office on the ground floor sometimes," Xavier said, a ghost of a smile on his face, "He would sneak in, even if I could very well feel his presence, and speak about how I didn't see him. He wanted to train and become a warrior," he chuckled, "He said one day he will beat me in a duel..."
"It wasn't your fault, Xav," Evelyn said as Selena rubbed his back comfortingly.
"I failed to protect him."
Selena didn't let go of his hand.
Silence engulfed the room again as they all just sat together, trying to find comfort in the presence of family.
"Can I send Nic with Ileana?" Jayce spoke. Everyone turned to look at him, "I... I don't want him in the middle of this, especially after today."
Ileana nodded, "Sure, are you sure he will be okay without you?"
"I will talk to him, make him understand. This is my fight too, I can't leave. But I need to be sure that he will be safe."
"Jayce, if the outcome doesn't go our way..."
"I know. I also know that we will win, we have to. Their vile ways have gone on for long enough. We will put an end to that," Jayce said with assurance.
"I thought you didn't want to leave," Ryan said as he smiled sadly towards Ileana.
She met Ryan's look and gave his hand a squeeze before turning to look at Xavier again, "Send the other pregnant women and young kids away. The older members can still fight, but these people can't. These guys are ruthless. We can't take the risk."
"She's right," Evelyn and Connor agreed.
"That was already the plan, along with the younger kids," Xavier nodded.
"We shouldn't wait any longer," Selena added, "The more we wait the more we are losing members."
"There was a prison breach."
"What?!" Xavier growled at Ryan, his alpha voice making an appearance, making the beta slightly cower.
Even though they are best friends, Ryan had never really heard Xavier use his alpha voice on him. Xavier doesn't really let his alpha dominance make an appearance.
The beta lowered his head in shame.
"I went to check on the prison after we dispersed from the western border, and Stacy was gone. My guess will be that they came to get her out and somehow Kennedy came in their way, Alpha."
"Why were the prison guards not there?"
"They were there."
"So intruders got into my prison and took out a traitor, in spite of guards being there?! What is the use of having such prison guards?!" His voice rose and he slammed his hand on the table. With a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down, "Why am I hearing about this only now?"
Ryan remained quiet, not knowing how to frame it without angering the alpha.
"I asked you a question, Beta."
Ryan took a deep breath and answered more confidently than before, "I was waiting for the funeral to be over."
"You should have told me sooner, maybe then we'd have had a chance to catch them."
"I apologize, Alpha."
'Calm down, please,' Selena linked Xavier. The alpha glimpsed at his mate and his sister before closing his eyes and leaning back with a sigh.
"How many members do we have in this pack?" Selena asked looking at Ryan.
"Except the kids and pregnant women, we have around two hundred and fifty. A hundred and fifty of them are warriors."
Selena shook her head displeased, "We don't yet know how many hunters are there. I had felt the presence of at least fifty people in the beginning and I know they were expanding. Moreover, with the support of Asteria..."
"Let's find out."
Everybody turned to look at Lorcan with shocked faces.
"What?"
"Let's find out the number of hunters."
"And how do we do that?" Xavier asked.
"Are you really asking me that? Did you forget that we have a Royal witch with us here?" Lorcan smirked before turning to look at Selena, "Let's see how much you can take princess."
Lorcan stood up and Selena followed without any words. Everyone remained quiet and observed. Xavier wanted to stop her; he didn't want her going back there, even if she wasn't actually going. However, he also didn't want Selena to think he was doubting her strength. So he sat still, the fact that they wouldn't be able to harm her was the only thing comforting him.
"I will be helping you with my energy and so we need to be holding hands. You need to imagine the place where the hunters are most likely to be."
"Their office, the caves."
Lorcan nodded, "Marcella was one of the strongest, so I am guessing that you will be able to successfully teleport your soul."
When they held each other's hands, Selena muttered the spell that Lorcan told her.
At first, everything seemed normal, however, there was a sudden gust of wind and then Selena was completely still.
Connor was drawing circles on Evelyn's arm as Aiden was sitting extremely close to Jayce. Ryan's arms were around Ileana too.
"She's there," Lorcan said, his eyes completely focused on Selena.
Xavier glanced at Lorcan before his eyes returned to Selena. She was slightly trembling. Her eyes were tightly shut as Xavier could feel her hold tighten on Lorcan's hand. She was sweating badly and it was when a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye that Xavier spoke up, "Lorcan, what is going on?"
"Princess," Lorcan addressed Selena completely ignoring Xavier's question, "If it is too much let it go." Lorcan gritted his teeth when there were no signs of Selena acknowledging him. "A stubborn mate you've got here, Xavier."
"Why is she sweating like that?" Connor asked with a frown.
Lorcan didn't reply but when he spoke it wasn't for Connor, "Selena, it is okay. I will find out the number. Do not overdo this." Lorcan said with a little more force this time
"Answer my question Lorcan!" Xavier pushed.
He sighed, "Something bad. It is not harmful to her physically but I guess..." he trailed off when her breathing became ragged and his eyes furrowed, "Selena?"
The tears, now mixed with sweat, were continuously flowing down and she had a death grip on Lorcan's hand.
"Lorcan, stop her!" Ryan objected but Lorcan just kept looking at her.
It was three more minutes of chaos as everybody else started screaming, asking Selena to come back and let it go after which she opened her eyes. She felt weightless as her body dropped down.
Luckily, Lorcan already had a hold on her which allowed him to slow down her fall and in the meantime, Xavier slid under her, cradled her to his chest.
She wasn't unconscious, however, it wouldn't have been surprising if that had been the case. She wasn't sobbing either, but the flow of tears was still constant and she was breathing raggedly.
Xavier tried to pull back a little to look at her but she held on to him tightly, not letting him move back, like her life depended on him, like he was her anchor; and at that moment, he was.
Xavier's hold was the only thing keeping her sane.
Selena herself hadn't imagined that her reaction would be this bad. If their mere presence still had this much effect on her, how was she going to fight them?
"Stay," she croaked, her face hidden against his chest, "please."
Xavier didn't need any other word. He remained there, holding her.
Everyone remained quiet, but everyone had the same thought â Selena is one of the strongest wolves they know, just how bad could it be?