Moonlight

Chapter three: A plea for help

It has been a few days since Lucas and Shean found the envelope. Neither of them have had the time to think about it or investigate, because the pack has been under rogue attacks. All of them were small things, but they were frequent, a new attack every three hours or so. It is really weird and Lucas is in his office thinking about it.

His father comes in and asks "How's it going? Are you making any progress?" "No," sighs Lucas irritably. "I seem to be unable to find the reason why they are having these pointless attacks. I mean, it is only going to keep us on high alert if they are trying to have a bigger attack," says Lucas. "In all the years I have lived, I have never seen anything like this. It is really weird behavior for rogues, but they must be filling someone's orders," says Aiden, "yet no one has ever been good enough in the eyes of the rogues. They have never followed the lead of one wolf." "I know dad. I have dug through so many history books to see if anything familiar has happened before to no success. No book has anything like this in it. If there is a book with such a history, then it definitely isn't in our libraries and it is infuriating. I don't know how to stop this thing," mutters Lucas.

Aiden feels sorry for his son. He hasn't been an alpha for that long and already needs to find a solution to the rouge problem that has never happened in history before. "Have you captured one of the rouges to interrogate?" asks Aiden. "No," sighs Lucas, "we have tried so many times, but they purposefully get themselves killed by us or kill themselves when they know they won't get away." "That is extremely weird. It must be an order. They wouldn't be able to resist our torture, so instead, they end up dead instead of revealing any information," says Aiden. "Yeah, and that is the thing we desperately need to know, how to end this or what to expect. During the next attack I'll go fight myself and see if I can capture any of them," growls Lucas. Aiden nods in approval.

Lucas stands up, and his father follows suit. Both go downstairs to get ready for the next attack. Lucas is absolutely determined to catch a rouge alive and get some information from them. He has no room for errors and has to be ready the second the rogues attack. The ealrier he can join the fight, the bigger chance he has of catching a rouge. So Lucas is pacing around downstairs and waiting for the next attack. "You should sit down before I make you sit. All this pacing is making me dizzy," comments Shean. "No one is making you look at my pacing," retorts Lucas. "Yes but in case you forgot, I can feel what you and your wolf are feeling, and your wolf is becoming dizzy," says Shean. "Your point is?" asks Lucas annoyed. "My point is, even if I don't see you pacing, your wolf's dizziness would make me dizzy," answers Shean, making his point clear. Lucas has nothing to say back, so he just sits down, so his beta won't have any reason to annoy him.

Some time goes by, and both men are just sitting and waiting for the next attack. Then the former beta, Alex Lonreal, steps into the living room. "Why are you two pups sitting here like you're waiting for something?" asks Alex. "Because we are waiting dad," answers Shean. "And what exactly are you waiting for?" inquires Alex. This time Lucas answers "For the next attack." "Why?" questions the former beta. "Because I need to catch a rouge alive and I have a better chance of doing that, if I am a part of the fight from the beginning," explains Lucas. "Understandable. Though, you could have just told me you want to catch a rouge alive, and I would have gotten you a living rouge," says Alex and adds, "I am the previous beta after all." Lucas facepalms himself. "Of course I should have come to you with it. You always got the job done for my father, even if it was a crazy one. I'm sorry I didn't think of you. I have a lot of things on my mind right now, and it's a little harder to come up with somewhat easier solutions," says Lucas. "I understand that, my young alpha," says the former beta.

"What I don't understand is, why didn't you come up with it or at least didn't do it yourself?" asks Alex, turning to his son. "I guess I've been too busy," utters Shean. "With what?" "I've been helping our alpha with some stuff, so I didn't think of it." "You still have a long way to go before you can become the best beta there has ever been," mutters Alex, lowly enough so Shean and Lucas don't hear him. "If I may, then I shall take my leave now and go get ready for the next attack and mark my words, I will capture one of the rouges and bring them to you my alpha," says Alex, determined. "Thank you so much beta Alex," thanks Lucas. "Please, I am not a beta anymore, Shean is," says Alex. "You will always be my father's beta and as he already said once, you will not lose your title just because your son took over as beta. The same goes for him being called alpha," explains Lucas. Alex nods with a smile and bows before leaving.

Now the boys are left alone again and they both sit down. Lucas is positive the former beta is going to stay true to his word and truly capture a rouge, because he has a lot of experience. Meanwhile, Shean is pouting. "Why are you pouting?" asks Lucas. "Because I should have thought about asking my dad, or I should have gone and done the job myself just like he said," utters Shean, and continues pouting. Lucas grins at him. Shean notices it. "What?" he asks. "You look like a child whose candy has been stolen," laughs Lucas. "I do not," protests Shean. "You do. You can ask anyone who has seen your pouting face. They all agree with me." "No one thinks that besides you, Lucas." "Go ask anyone you want, and then we'll see if I'm telling the truth." Since Lucas is being absolutely confident about his statement, Shean isn't going to go and ask some random wolves, what they think about his pouting face. Even if he does look like a child whose candy has been stolen, he doesn't want confirmation of it.

They get to sit for a little while longer before a commotion is heard outside. It doesn't sound liek fighting. Shean and Lucas stand up to go and take a look outside. When they step out the front door, they find a rather disturbing sight. The pack house guards are holding down a young she-wolf, who is crying uncontrollably and saying something to the guards. She keeps trying to get up, but the guards push her back down, so she gets even dirtier than she already is. Her hair is messy with leaves and small sticks stuck in it, her button-up shirt seems to have been ripped open and her jeans are torn. There are bruises on the woman's arms and blood stains all over her body. She looks broken, yet determined.

Suddenly, she stops fighting the guards and looks straight at Shean and Lucas. The guards notice it and when they see their alpha and beta, they nod to them, indicating it is safe to come over, even though they would have come over even if it hadn't been safe. "Who are you?" asks Lucas from the female, when he gets to her. "My name is Layla and I need your help, please! My children are stuck in a cave in the forest, and they are surrounded by rouges," she says with a trembling voice while looking straight into Lucas' eyes, pleading for him to help her children.