One Fateful Night

Chapter 23

Opening my eyes, I am standing next to Matt in a large clearing. He looks over at me in pure shock.

"Uhhh, where are we?" He asked me.

"Shhhhh!!" I said to him. "Listen."

In the woods north of us, we heard the war cries of a large group. An unknown voice is shouting words of encouragement to the group.

"They have mistreated you your entire life!"

I look at Matt and point to the trees. Go up! I mouthed to him.

For what?? Because you didn't fit into their mold??

Climbing the tree, we see the army, close to a thousand Rogues, being led by one man. This man was indeed Gabriel Tull.

"We will show them how wrong they are about us, and they are not better than us!"

I look at Matt; my eyes are enormous in panic. "Oh shit, we are in trouble."

"We march at dawn!!!"

The crowd roared and cheered in excitement. Suddenly we were engulfed by a white light and woke up in our bed.

"What the hell was that?" He asked with his eyes wide.

"That's the Rogue Army. I guess now that we mated, you get a first-hand experience on why I thought I was crazy for months now" I threw my arms up in defeat.

"We have until dusk if we are lucky. After that, we need to contact the Alphas."

We quickly changed our clothes and headed down the hall to the Alphas office. Knocking, we hear the words coming in from the door's other side. We enter the room to see the Alpha, Luna, and Beta in the room taking.

"Good morning; we come bearing pretty disturbing news," Matt said. "Remember how I explained that Emily had a vision that Rogues would attack you?"

"Yes, I remember," Alpha Darius states cautiously.

"Well, it seems I can now share them with her, and we had one last night. It was the Rogue army preparing to march at dawn. The worst part is their numbers. There will be close to a thousand marching on us; if we don't get some help here, we will not make it."

The looks on their faces dropped as the realization of his words sunk in.

"How could he possibly collect that many Rogues for an army?" Leo asked.

"Dismantling packs and converting the survivors, taking peaceful Rogues and hiding their family members around forcing them to participate." But, I added, "The problem is half of this army is being forced to fight, so we are essentially killing innocents."

"Ty, let's start by sending the children, women, and elderly to Midnight Rain; please call Alpha Hedrick and explain what is happening. You will go as well. I can't lose you both. Link them; they need to be ready in two hours." Darius said.

"I will take care of it." She said.

He kisses her cheek and proudly puts his hand on her stomach. She stands up, nods to us, and leaves. "Leo. Contact all the local packs; I don't care if they are friends, neural, or enemies. Ask for their help. If we don't take out this army here, the Rogues will go after their packs next."

Leo nods his head and leaves the room. As he's walking away, I get an idea.

Roberto?

Yes, Luna?

Can you send my three Rogue friends to the Alphas office?

Yes, Luna.

As Darius and Matt discuss other ideas, Jack, Rob, and Alberto come knocking. Letting them in, I had them sit.

"I need help, you guys; I have a very serious question that requires your expertise."

They looked at me, and I handed them a map of Darius's area on his desk. Ok, I realize you three have been forced into this, and I'm not blaming you, but there are others like you with their kids and mates locked in the same little caves we were locked in. Can you show me where any of these caves are? We have a huge Rogue army marching on us, and we need to save some of these people to avoid killing any in your position."

They looked at me in appreciation and marked off five caves that could contain innocents.

"If I send you all to a cave with guards, could you determine who will help us spread the word that we are trying to rescue their families and hold back in the fight?"

"You have kept your word this far and treated us better than we thought. So we will do this for you." Jack said.

"Go see Roberto and take him that map. Free as many as you can. Those who are in the cave may be able to spread the word. We don't want to kill anyone we don't have to!"

They nodded and left the room; we were running out of time. I hope they can get to some of them before the Rogues attack. We decided to convene the meeting to check on the situation outside the pack house, so we prepared the warriors and ourselves.

Walking around the pack house, there is tension in the air. As we watch families say goodbyes to their kids, the elderly, and those unable to fight, he pulls me close. We leave the area to give them their privacy. Finally, we decided to talk to Alpha Darius. He was giving thorough instructions to his border guards to switch out hourly to allow for rest breaks; he also doubled their numbers. Leo was busy sending scouts into the surrounding areas to watch for the incoming army.

We then decided to check on the Blood Moon/Midnight Rain soldiers we had here. Surprisingly, their spirits were high. They were ready to get revenge for the attacks on our packs. Instructing them all to rest, we decided to follow our advice as we went into our room to nap. Laying in each other's arms, we held each other until we slowly drifted off to sleep.

Two hours later, we awoke to a knocking on our door. I jump out of bed and opened it, facing Roberto.

"Sorry to interrupt Luna, but I wanted to update you on the five groups we sent out."

"Sure, Roberto, come in."

"Three groups are back with survivors. We currently have them locked in the shelter because we would not have time to get them back without endangering them. A nurse is in there with them."

"Great! What about the Rogues? Were they able to spread the word?"

"A few left the caves and intermingled in with the armies, and I'm hoping they could get through."

"Thanks, Roberto; now go relax before they arrive."

"Thank you, Alpha and Luna."

He turned around, and we decided to get ready to go downstairs and await the battle.