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Chapter 7

3 days later

Its 7:00 in the morning, and I need to get ready for the pack meeting that will be taking place in an hour. I get up from my comfy bed and drag my feet into the bathroom for a quick shower. After the shower I tie on my fluffy mint robe and my hair into a towel. I make my way to my closet and grab my black dress pants and teal blouse that are neatly hanging. Then I grab my black ankle high heel boots and lay my outfit on my bed. I make my way over to my vanity and put my wet hair into a Dutch braid and put on light makeup for a natural look. Then I throw on matching lace underwear and my outfit over it and grab a note pad and a clip board with my favorite pen and head out of my room. I find Aiden waiting outside my door in a white dress shirt and black dress pants with his shirt nicely tucked in. His chestnut hair is nicely sleeked back and stinks of strong cologne.

“Yikes Aiden, you should have eased up on the cologne.” I scrunch my sensitive nose and we start walking down the stairs.

“Sorry I went for a run this morning and didn’t have enough time for a shower.” He looks away guiltily. We make our way downstairs and find a few guests that live in the village already arrived. We look around for Mom and Dad and find them talking to Beta James and his mate Esme. They were discussing a rogue problem that has been an issue for packs in the west of Ohio. We are in a village deep in the Appalachian Mountains in Southeast Ohio. We are well enough hidden from the humans but not too far away so we can stock up on supplies. If humans have found us, we just tell them we are an isolated community called Evergreen. We really haven’t had an issue with humans in many years.

“Maybe we should send a small team out west to assess the situation.” Beta James suggests and my father nods. “Yes, I believe you’re right. If these rogues become high in numbers, they can get the upper hand on smaller packs. Maybe we should send the gamma and a few commanders to review the situation so we can decide what course we should take.”

Pack members then start filing into the meeting room. Each family sends one person to be their representative to state issues and make decisions. Aiden and I make our way to the head of the table where Dad and mom sit. I take my seat next to Aiden who is seated to the right of dad. Mom takes her seat across from us and Beta James takes his seat next to her. Gamma Chione, Atlas, and Celeste make their way into the room and take their seats.

Dad stands up and signals the start of the meeting. “Good morning all of you and thank-you for coming today. We are going to start off with any issues that families the live outside the pack house want to bring up. Commander Grant, do you want to start us off?” Dad points to a commander sitting in the middle of the table.

“Yes Alpha, an issue that is regularly reported is the lack of jobs. Some pack members are having difficulty getting jobs because there are very few and are all workplaces are filled. I suggest expanding some of these businesses and maybe the pack hospital to make more jobs available.” Commander Grant states and takes his seat.

“Thank you, Commander, yes this will definitely be considered. I will also look into sending grants to families who are having this issue. I will speak to some businesses and the pack hospital tomorrow. Does anyone else want to bring anything up?” I carefully take my notes and observe how dad handles these meetings. So far, an Alpha need to be willing to be open to suggestions and solutions. Every problem should be taken into consideration no matter how small.

The meeting is running smoothly until a commander stands up and announces. “Alpha I was just notified by my team of pack warriors on border patrol. A group of rogues entered the territory and killed two warriors.” The regular pack members become frantic. Beta James and Mom start yelling for everyone to calm down.

“Silence!” Dad yells powerfully and everyone quiets down. “Now, Iris lead the women, children and non-pack warriors down to the basement to the attack shelter. All warriors follow me and the Beta to fend off the rogues.” Aiden and I follow dad out of the pack house with Atlas and Celeste. We all transform into our wolves.

“You ready Blanche?” I yell out to her. “I was born ready Athena.” She says in my head with pure confidence. I transform and look to Dad and his black and brown wolf looks back at me.

“Athena, take to the sky and scout them out. Report to me their numbers and stay a good distance away.” His voice rang in my head.

“Understood.” I nod and I spread my magnificent wings and take off. I fly up a good distance and glide over the forest hoping to not be noticed. Toward the pack boarder I see movement. There are about 30 creatures scouting out the area before attacking. They look like wolves, but they look like freaks of nature. They are black, not a midnight black more like a slimy tar black. They have huge black wings like I do, and they have sinister horns. Each of their horns were different among them. Some had horns like rams or goats, but one stood out. He was huge and he had massive black horns that looked like the devils. He must be the leader of the group. I manage to stay out of sight, and I turn back and fly as fast as I can and mind link Dad. “There are about 30 of them and they are not normal wolves. They have huge wings, horns, and black coats. They look like something the devil unleashed. It’s strange they also seem to have an alpha or leader of some sort.” Usually, rogues don’t have leaders they stay in small groups and try to terrorize smaller packs.

“Hurry back Athena, we need to be ready for them.” We can’t afford to underestimate these wolves. We have a real fight on our hands because they can fly. That leaves my pack at a disadvantage.

I finally make it back to the pack house and landed next to dad. He was informing the warriors of the potential danger and how we can be preparing for them. Only I will be a true match for them so I’ll need to be ready to take down as many of them as I can.

“We should take them on near the border so we can keep them away from the pack house.” Beta James broadcasts a mind link.

“I agree, we need to keep them away from the non-fighters. To the forest!” Dad commands and we all make our way to the boarder in stealth to try to gain the element of surprise. Then we hear a few twigs snap as we get closer. We all get low and waited to see the enemy.

Finally, the rogues come in sight, and they are still scouting the area looking for signs of pack warriors. I look in dad and James’s direction and see them look at each other with wide eyes. Did they recognize these wolves? Then we hear a growl from one of the rogues and they all look in our direction. Our position has been discovered.

“Attack!” Dad yells in my mind and his wolf howls a battle cry. Each of us howl with him and we run towards the rogues. I take off and focus on my powers of ice. An orb appears before me, and I focus on my target. I unleash the orb and lands in the middle of the group and freezes the ground. They look up at me and growl. Then they take off from the ground. A loud rumble sounds above me, and I see a huge storm cloud appear out of nowhere. It was Dad, his eyes are glowing, and he uses huge strikes of lighting to bring some of the rogues down. I fly towards an enemy wolf and latch onto his neck. He puts up a fight, but I manage to fly towards the ground and crash him into a tree. He then laid on the ground motionless. I fly back up and found Aiden and Atlas taking on a group of three. Atlas howls and the ground beneath them shakes and cracks open while everything Is being enveloped into flames. However, the Rogues can withstand it and run into a deep thicket of trees and split up and they each follow a rogue.

Then a rogue collides with me, and we go tumbling to the ground. I snap and try to get me teeth onto the him as we are falling, and he tries to do the same. He collides on the ground, and I get on my feet quickly and take my fighting stance. The rogue does the same and I growl menacingly before I pounce towards him. He dodges out of the way, and I see dad fighting in the distance. He is facing off the Rogue leader. They circle each other looking for an opening and finally they launch towards each other teeth bared. It is brutal, blood is splattered on the ground and dad is taking many injuries. Then the Rogue collides with him and throws him off his feet. Dad lands on the ground with a yelp and tries to get up but ultimately fails. The Rogue slowly approaches him with a murderous look. I try to break off from the enemy I’m facing to assist Dad, but the Rogue is intent on keeping me away. I desperately try to break off and time is ticking. The Rogue leader is standing above father with his teeth bared.

“I love you all so much.” I hear dads voice sound in my head. No, I need to help him. I need to get to him before it’s too late. But then the rogue moves with lightning speed and sunk his teeth in Dad’s neck. No! I finally manage to get away from the rogue I was facing and run towards Dad. The Rogue Leader looks back at me and howls to his companions. They all stop fighting and they all retreat over the border. Almost as if they got what they came for.

***Author's Note ***

Hey guys! With college finals and holidays i havent been able to update in a while and i apologize. Now im on winter break and i should be able to update more often now! I really hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and stay tuned! More chapters are on the way! :)

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