Chapter 36 - The fight

***Callums pov***

When I wake up the sun has set outside. It takes a minute for me to remember where I am.
The room is dimly lit by a wall lamp that gives off a soft, pleasant light.
I sit up and look at Hope. Her lips are pink again and I feel her warmth as I take her hand, putting it against my cheek. Relief is washing over me as I see her eyelids flutter. She is dreaming, thats got a be a good sign. I can't feel the light arousal from Luna though. It has become much milder since me and Hope took the plunge together, but it is there when Hope is sleeping. I love it and I’ve gotten used to feeling it around me at night. I long to feel it again. Beacon whines sadly in my head.
*I know..I miss them to..*

A piercing pain goes through my head when several links open at once.

“Vampires!”
“We are under attack!”
“They have breached the border!”
“They are everywhere!”

I try to sort them out before I close them while walking out in the corridor, finding Reece on his feet, newly awake, proving he got the same links. Seeing the bench he has been sleeping on makes me surer than ever before that he is the right pick for pack beta.
He is staying close to his Luna, no matter how uncomfortable his wait is.
“Where is Cathy?” I ask
“I think she is a sleep in the next room”
I walk in to the room next to Hopes, Cathy was sleeping curled up in an armchair under a blanket..I take a few seconds to look at her. She always fell a sleep like this as a child, knowing our father would carry her to bed and tuck her in. She was his little princess and he was her hero..until the day he wasn’t and I have to step in, raising her.
“Hey sis..wake up” I say in a soft voice, stroking her back.
She sits right up
“Is she awake?”
“No..but she is looking much better..I need you to stay with her, we are under attack” I say and help her stand up from the bed and out of the room and in to the next.
I walk up to Hope and kissed her forehead, taking a deep breath.
“I'll be back soon, I promise” I whisper in her ear.
I hate to leave her but I am not that kind of an Alpha that let my warriors fight alone. I turn to Cathy and she walks up to me, placing her arms around my waist.
“Lock this door when I leave, and if she wakes up before I come back, keep her calm”..
“Callum..about before..”
“No need to say anything, you were right, I fucked up..” I say and kiss her on the head.
I pull off my t-shirt and place it on the pillow beside Hope, perhaps she will find it soothing if she wakes up and I’m not there. Before leaving the room I turned back to Cathy.
“Do you mind speaking to Zandra? I’m sure she already knows everything but I feel kind of bad for not reaching out to her but I can’t deal with her right now.”
“No problem, be careful…”
Reece is waiting for me and we jog down the corridors and as soon we pass the entrance we shift midair and land on our paws.
The reports lead us towards the western border where the attack took place.

Fifteen minutes later we arrive and it's a small war. I jump right in, closing my jaws around a leeches head, crushing it before I go for the next.
“ I want prisoners!” I growl through the link while clawing a face off, leaving the parasite to bleed out on the ground
Beacon pours all the anger and frustration of today in to the fight. We rip, claw and crush everyone that comes our way.
This is mostly new vampires, They are aggressive, but inexperienced and untrained, so one by one they fall.

“There, between the trees about 50 feet to your left” Reece say through the link.
I turn to my left and I see what he is referring to.
There are four vampires standing still, observing the fight. Leaders of some kind I assume.
I can see that they are pointing discreetly and talking quietly to each other but it is too low for me to hear what they are saying. They don’t seem worried or combative at all, they look more like talent scouts at a baseball game
“I want atleast one of them alive” I answer him
I see him and two warriors sneak away to go around and surprise them from behind.
A stupid vamp jumps my back and trying to get its arms around my neck. I stand up and fall on my back and hear a woman’s scream as several bones brake in the body under me. I don’t bother to kill her, instead I’m back up and look for a new one.
Several of my warriors holding their ground against two or three bloodsuckers each, but they are doing good, we haven't lost anyone so far.
Kevin, our youngest and newest warrior is cornered by three, but as I’m about to help him he spins around and shift, grabs a long stick from the ground and impale it in one of his opponent’s chest, before the body hits the ground, he shifts again and rips the head of the next, making the third back away before Kevin jumps at him, finishing him of.
I look at the young wolf, mighty impressed. Thinking of it, it looked a lot like Hopes moves as she spun around avoiding me earlier today.
Thinking of the training hurt, in both me and Beacon.
I’m sorry buddy..I will make it right..I swear it! I will make it right for all of us…

A man steps up in front of me, rye blond hair, dark blue eyes and not at all as pale as others I’ve seen, reminds me of Brad Pitt in the movie *Interview with the Vampire*.
He is tall but he doesn’t tower me, broad shoulders, and a muscular body. He is dressed in a shirt and ordinary jeans, like he is going to the movies and the look on his face tells me this is not a new vampire. I look to my left, of the four there is only three still standing and overlooking the fight. I turn back to the man, bared my teeth and growl.
“The Alpha of The great falls I presume?” He says in such a nonchalant tone, I almost expect a yawn. What an asshole! His attitude fuels Beacons anger and we get ready to wipe this motherfucker of the map.
Suddenly his arm goes up to the right as if he caught something in the air..and he did.
Kevin struggles for air, his airways closed off in vamp-Brad’s grip, making him shift involuntary. The fucking leech brings him to his chest, creating a shield so I cant attack. The young boy locks his eyes with mine and I see the panic rises in them. The thought of shifting myself strikes me, I really need to tell this dude to go to hell, but Beacon growls at me, he’s right, I stand a better chance as a wolf than a human in this situation.
“ I guess this dog belongs to you? Maybe you should keep it on a leash.”
I turn my eyes to him, and a mischievous smile plays on his lips before he sinks his teeth in Kevins neck. Never letting go of my eyes as he drinks.
I let out an earth-shaking roar and he lets Kevin fall to the ground, he tilts his head up and and whistles a high note, loud enough to be heard for miles and suddenly every leech stops fighting and runs off, retreating.
The man gives me a cocky smile, his mouth still red of the blood he just stole. He turns around and takes off, almost too fast for me to see. What the hell was that? I know they are fast, but this was something new, I have never seen one that fast.
“After them!” I scream through the link and every wolf able to fight starts the chase.
We stopped at the border, we managed to kill a few on the way but the rest of them were long gone.

Even though we mostly came out on the winning side I feel like I’m missing something. This was a test, I’m sure of that..the question is, did we pass or fail…
“Reece, alert a clean up crew and please tell me you caught one!”
“ I’m dragging him to the cells as we speak..link..you know what I mean. I already made the call“
“Perfect, I'll see you there.”

I jog back to the place Kevins body hit the ground, he has already been taken away. My heart is heavy but I haven't felt the loss in the pack-bond so I know he is still alive.