Better Together

8

Leah’s POV

I went straight for Victor’s throat, knowing I would never make contact, but I had to keep everyone distracted enough for Elyse to work her magic. It took some time for her portion of the plan to initiate and we needed everyone looking the other way. What better way to distract a whole room of aggressive men than a good old fashioned challenge of authority? Ellinore joined me in the fight, I could see her take down Seamus almost instantly with a clothesline maneuver out of the corner of my eye. I’m not even sure if he knew how to put up a fight anymore.

Man that guy is a wimp, how was he ever an Alpha? Nyx exclaimed.

Honestly I didn’t have an answer for her, but I had a feeling his being Alpha had something to do with who his chosen mate more than him actually being a qualified Alpha, like many of the Elders, who clung to their superiority complexes like it was oxygen, he married into his rank. His chosen mate was the daughter of an Alpha and he a Beta or Gamma. She died mysteriously after giving birth to their son. I thought it was bullsh*t. My opinion is she produced a male heir and he had no more use for her, so he got rid of her. Leaving him to lead how he wanted and bed whoever he wanted.

There were fights all over the upper platform. I really couldn't focus on who was fighting with us or against us. I only had a second to think about that as I felt myself being lifted by the back of the neck and thrown across the room. I hit the door we had come through and slumped to the ground as all the air had been knocked out of my lungs. My whole body felt like it just got crushed. I tried to take a couple deep breaths in, but my whole rib cage exploded in pain. Before I could recover, I was dragged by my hair, lifted and slammed onto the planning table, the back of my head splitting as it made contact.

“You stupid little b***h, I will teach you to defy me.” Victor snarled close to my ear and raised a fist. Before he landed his punch I heard the most vicious snarl rip across the room and Victor was off of me in a flash. I rolled over and slid off the table, hitting the floor roughly and still trying to breathe properly. I manage to look over to find Damien straddeling Victor across his ribcage, effectively pinning Victor to the ground, arms by his sides, using his full body weight and had a murderous look in his eye. Damien had a good 6 inches on Victor's height and probably an extra hundred pounds of muscle. The benefits of being a young shifter who works out and trains obsessively. Victor tried to buck Damien off with his hips, but Damien started pummeling his fist into Victor's face, I lost count how many times. He wasn’t able to knock Victor out, but did damage all the same.

Before I could really process what Damien had done for me, I realized we had to get these guys in the cells. We were wasting time and had other more important things to get to. “Damien, grab him and follow Elyse, he should be weak enough to restrain now.” I said, stumbling forward and telling my dad to do the same with Erik. Demitri grabbed an unconscious Seamus and dragged him unceremoniously by one leg to the other side of the platform where Elyse had the door that leads to our cells propped open. We walked through the ante chamber, Alpha Drake helped Damien restrain Victor as they marched him toward the cells at the end of the chamber. I point to Alpha Bart and Alpha Roger, they didn’t put up much of a fight as they saw Victor, Erik and Seamus being taken down by us, after that Alpha Andrew just had to escort them in. I want these two locked up as well, they have never been loyal to anyone but themselves and they will just get in the way now.

Elyse's cells were solid gray walls of some kind of metal alloy. That is her department, I just understand how they work, not what they are made of. When the walls are activated they have an electric charge and are completely soundproof. Think of it as an industrial sized cow fence. We had to stay clear of the walls by at least ten feet. She hasn't completely figured out how to put the charge just on the inside yet. Ellinore figured that out the hard way. I still laugh thinking about it.

I had all of the loyal people retreat out of Elyse’s cells and into the ante chamber where you could see into the cells via monitors on the walls. Once everyone else was out of the cells I told Damien and Andrew to let go of Victor. As soon as everyone was clear and the door was quickly slammed closed and engaged, I nodded to Elyse. She typed a few things into her laptop and we heard a clunk then a low buzz rush across the cell walls, then a gentle hum. All the guys looked around at the sounds, looking a little worried about what was happening. Ellinore, Elyse and I exchanged looks of satisfaction.

We watched the monitors and saw Victor snarl and run straight at the door which has no outwardly ominous appearance. As soon as he was within 6 inches of its surface a loud sizzle, and a flash was all you could see before Victor was thrown into the opposite wall. He slid to the floor and stayed there dazed, just staring at the door in disbelief.

My dad and all the other leaders jumped, mouths wide open and then slowly turned to look at me, eyes wide. “What the hell was that?” He said half in excitement and half terror.

I just shrugged like it was no big deal. “You guys didn’t think we spilled all our secrets did you? We have at least three plans for each situation. Besides that was not me, that was all Elyse, she's the master electrician. All of our tech is run by her.” I look over at her and wink. “We should maybe check the voltage though, that might be a little too high.” I look over at her with an attempt at a grimace.

I really believed all of these guys deserved it, even the ones I considered loyal to us like my dad, Alpha Andrew and Alpha Drake. Many of them stood by and watched us being hit, demoralized and neglected, all in the name of rules and protocols and ‘just the way things are done and expected.’ The truth is, none of them wanted to make waves with certain, now trapped, Elders. People tended to disappear or have sudden breakdowns and had to be permanently hospitalized if they, or someone close to them went against the Elders. I'm sure they thought they were protecting us from harm, but we suffered daily anyway.

“Nah” Ellinore chimes in “That was just the right amount, he’s still breathing, but can’t be annoying for a little while. I was hoping he would be the first to test the feature.” She chuckles low, almost to herself. “I’m really glad we didn’t have to test that on any one of us. The prototypes were bad enough” She cringes and lets a dramatic shiver run down her body.

My dad, Alpha Andrew, Alpha Drake, Elder John, Elder Patrick, Elder William, Damien and Demitri watch our exchange warily. I think it was starting to dawn on them how far we had gone and what we were willing to go to set this whole situation right.

“Wait, you tested Elyse’s electroshock invention on yourselves?!” Demitri asked in bewilderment.

“Of course!” I responded. “I would never do that to someone without knowing what the basic prototypes feel like. Being a leader doesn't mean you demand sacrifices from your followers, you earn their willingness to stand next to you in any crisis, no matter the consequences.” I stared all of them down. I’m sure many of them have never thought of that. “That’s why our whole team is volunteer based. They need to want to be here. We have too much at stake for mistakes to be made by someone doing a half-assed job because they are forced to be here.”

“Alpha!” one of the Omegas calls. All the alpha males in the room turn and respond “Yes.” She just rolls her eyes, huffs and starts again looking directly at me, “Alpha Leah” She pauses making it clear who’s in charge here. “There's been a breach at the Black Lake borders near the Night Fang middle checkpoint. Alpha Caleb is on his way with warriors, but it looks like the new rogues we spotted earlier have decided where they are going to strike first, they are working through the rogues we were integrating into Night Fang. Alpha Caleb’s team won't be enough.

I jump into action, no longer caring about protocols. Running out of the ante-chamber of the cell room. “Omegas message all border patrols, anyone close to that location needs to head there now leaving 2 to monitor the borders for other breaches. Every able bodied warrior needs to be on alert and ready to go. Dad, you and the other Alphas head out to Night Fang to help. It will bring calm to the rogues who are peaceful to see all of you fighting together. Ellinore can show you a shortcut that will fast track your movements.” I look back to the omegas, “I need everyone that was on standby back here now, we need full surveillance up, this is not going to be their only attack. Something has been planned. I want to know all movements , including pack members. They knew we were moving members that are unable to fight today and I want to know how. Check in with all the bunkers at 30 minute intervals. We need to make sure everything is functioning properly. Elyse, monitor all of our life support systems, have your team get the border protections up and running and let us know so we can direct our warriors where to avoid, these are under your sole control.”

The omegas, Elyse, Ellinore and I start rushing around. All the volunteers that were in a secondary room off the war room while we dealt with the offending leadership came storming in and bustling to work clearing anything broken from the fight and getting our full operations running. The Elders and Alphas all just stand there looking stupid and very much in the way with people rushing around them. The omegas assigned to communications stand next to the surveillance monitors for their respective packs, reading and waiting for orders and information to relay.

“Look, I know you guys want an explanation, but right now I really need you to all put on your Alpha-male-need-to-fight-and-punch-things attitudes. Check in with the omega from your pack and then follow Ellinore and report in regularly.” I nod my head to the standing omegas. “We want to know the number of enemies, injuries, deaths, everything. We will relay information amongst everyone. GO!” I shout looking at the leadership as they stare back at me like I have grown 3 heads. “NOW!” I put as much force and Alpha tone into the command as I can. The tone isn’t supposed to work on other alphas, but in this case, I think it was more the pissed off female part of me that made them jump, even my dad was a little startled at the command in my voice. They ran down the short staircase to the lower level, single file, checking in with the Omega from their respective pack that was relaying information through the war room.

Ellinore ran toward a door near the one the standby crew came from, followed by the Alphas and Elders, giving out some directions, but I wasn't really paying attention. I have my eyes scanning the war room making sure that everyone is at their station before I leave to join the fight, but I can feel more than I can see that Damien hesitated beside me. I am determined not to look at him as I continue to scan the room. He clears his throat, and I turn slowly. He is standing not a foot from me. As I turn around completely our chests are touching and I have to tilt my head all the way back to look up at him. The tension was so thick and we only looked at each other for a millisecond. I had to break it and get back to work.

“It’s not like you to shy away from a fight, you should go before Ellinore leaves you behind.” I say teasingly, trying to forget the feeling of the effects of our last conversation, my legs still felt a bit like jello.

“It’s just…every time you do something crazy impressive, that actually surprises me, I never think you’ll top it, but you just keep doing these insane things…” he’s stuttering through whatever it is he’s trying to say with an expression I can’t really understand. “I just don’t know…” he trails off.

“Don’t know what?” I gesture with my hands, trying to get him to spit it out, we’re in the middle of an attack here.

He paces away from me then back, rubs the back of his neck, it’s almost like he’s nervous. He steps right in front of me looking me straight in the eyes. His light green eyes have this determined look in them, then soften. He takes a deep breath and then he does the last thing I think would ever happen. He grabs the back of my neck and smashes his lips into mine. I whimper a bit as he catches me off guard, but I relax into him, letting my lips mold to his soft ones, grabbing at the front of his shirt with my hands to keep me upright. I see stars explode behind my eyelids and my whole body goes numb and wobbly, pressed as close to him as I could possibly be. But, before I can get lost in him completely, he pulls away, turns and runs to the door Ellinore left through. Before he disappears, he looks back to give me a flirty wink.

I am completely breathless and frozen in place. I can only imagine the look on my face, what the hell just happened?”