Luna Catalina (ENG)

Chapter 13

I ran down to my room and put on my uniform. Meanwhile, I gave orders to all my warriors on how we were to respond to the attack. I grabbed my bow and silver-tipped arrows. If a silver arrow pierces a werewolf's heart, it is immediately fatal. Anywhere else in the body is a serious wound. I ordered Maria, another of the warriors, to take her bow as well. All my warriors and I ran at superhuman speed to the border Cas had indicated. 

Maria and I each climbed a tree and readied our bows. The rest of the warriors came to the battlefield. From my tree I had a good view of the battle. Cas had said 30, but from here I could see at least 50 rogues. How was that possible. I loaded my bow and started shooting at all the rogues in range. 

The battle was raging fiercely. I visualized Kayden's wolf, Ian and Cas on my left, charging the rogues without mercy. They were accompanied by the warriors of their pack. To my right, my brothers and Miguel, still in human form, were fighting another group of rogues. There were at least three rogues attacking each warrior, while Maria and I tried to even the odds. My mind was thinking as fast as it could. It wasn't typical for rogues to attack in packs, let alone in such large groups. There had to be someone organizing it. "I want at least two or three prisoners for interrogation," I instructed my warriors through the mind link. 

Electra began to howl nervously inside me, which made me turn my head to the right. There were six rogues attacking Kayden at once. I quickly loaded the bow and killed one of the rogues. Then a second and then a third. Kayden disposed of the other three. Relieved, I scanned the battlefield again. More warriors from Kayden's pack began to arrive, matching the numbers. 

A howl of pain caught my attention. I turned my head and saw five rogues on top of Nico. One of them had plunged a dagger into his abdomen. Another lunged at Nico, straight for his neck. I shot an arrow, piercing the rogue's heart. I ordered Maria to shoot the rest and ran towards Nico. There were two left alive. I pulled out my claws and fangs, ripping the throat out of one of the rogues. When I turned to attack the next rogue, there was no longer one, but three. 

Nico groaned in pain. I needed to get the dagger out of Nico's abdomen as soon as possible, especially if it was silver. I stood in front of Nico, protecting him. One of the rogues lunged at me. As we fought, I noticed another one bite my arm from behind. I managed to pull one of my daggers out of my pocket and plunged it into the rogue's heart. I spun around, and before I could focus my eyes, huge claws pushed me backwards, sending me tumbling down. 

A huge black wolf bared its fangs dangerously at me. Death was in its gaze. Before I could try to defend myself a huge grey wolf with white paws ripped its head off. Then, the grey wolf stood in front of me in a defensive position. I stood up quickly and looked around. Kayden had killed all the rogues that had attacked me. Knowing that Kayden had my back covered, I leaned over Nico. 

Nico had lost consciousness but was still breathing. I looked nervously at the dagger stuck in his abdomen. It was silver. s**t, I thought. I had to get it out as soon as possible, but it would bleed a lot. I slipped off my t-shirt, staying in my sports bra. I took a deep breath and, as I grabbed Nico with one hand, I pulled the dagger out of his body with the other. Gouts of blood began to emanate from the wound. I pressed hard into the wound, praying to The Moon Goddess that Nico would survive. Kayden moved quickly, preventing anyone from getting close to us.

Gradually the battle died down, until there were no Rogues left alive. Juan ran to us. He took off his shirt and replaced mine, already soaked in blood.

-“Go get Miguel, we have to take him to the hospital," Juan ordered me.

I got up to look for him, but before I could move Miguel and Cas arrived at our side. Miguel helped Juan carry Nico, and they quickly left for the hospital. I was paralyzed. The image of Nico bleeding and unconscious wouldn't leave my mind. I looked at my hands and body. I was covered in Nico's blood. My hands were shaking uncontrollably.

A huge body stood in front of me. I looked up, looking away from my bloody hands. Kayden was studying me closely. He looked worried. He was wearing trousers that someone had given him and no shirt. In his hands he was holding a towel and a T-shirt. He held out the towel. 

-“It's not mine," I said, referring to the blood that covered my body, as I picked up the t-shirt.. 

I started wiping the blood off with the towel Kayden had given me, and that's when I noticed a huge pain in my arm. I looked at my arm and saw the deep wounds that had been caused by the teeth of the rogue that had attacked me. Kayden was staring at my wound. When he took a step towards me, I instinctively stepped back. 

-“It's nothing," I said and turned to leave. 

Kayden's huge hands stopped me instantly. He held out his shirt. I groaned in annoyance. With everything that was going on, all he cared about was that I was in a sports bra. But I knew he wasn't going to budge, and I didn't have time for stupid arguments right now, so I took the shirt and put it on. 

Kayden was the Alpha of his pack, so he had to take control of the situation. But I was the leader of my warriors, and I had to take control of everything to do with them. Besides, we were here to help solve his pack's problem with the rogues. That was what he had hired us for. I was responsible for everything that happened to my warriors and the members of Kayden's pack. With these thoughts I turned to Casandra, who was talking agitatedly with Ian and Luis. 

-“Casandra, report. What has happened."- On the battlefield there were no friendships. Right now, I didn't need my friend, I needed a diligent soldier to explain what had happened. 

-“I'm not sure," Cas said, standing up straight and speaking to me respectfully, "The night was quiet. Without incident. At about 4:45 three rogues showed up. They were few in number, so we didn't raise the alarm. When we were fighting with them, more and more started to appear. That's when we called it in. Several of them sneaked into the territory. That was my biggest worry. But..." -Cas paused, looking at me cautiously,- "After five minutes they came back. They were carrying a girl in their arms. We couldn't stop them, they took her."

Once again, the story didn't fit. Rogues go to the territories to kill and steal. But not to take prisoners. 

-“Was there anyone else?" I asked.

-“A boy appeared a while later." -Cassandra continued. –“He kept shouting that his girlfriend had been taken and that we had to do something. But we were fighting thirty rogues and we couldn't help him."

-“Where is that boy?" I asked, as I tried to understand what was going on. 

-“I don't know, I lost sight of him during the battle.” I nodded. 

-“Cassandra, Luis, take two warriors and look for him." They nodded and walked away. 

I walked around the battlefield surveying the situation and helping where I could. Kayden's best warriors took the prisoners to the dungeons. The rest of the warriors began to pile up the bodies of the dead rogues. They would be burned before dawn. 

One of Kayden’s warrior had lost his life in the battle. There were at least 13 wounded werewolves, including two of my warriors. I sighed, massaging my temples. I felt guilty. I was responsible for security and for these people. I had failed them.

The image of Nico still and bleeding flooded my mind. 

-“Catalina," Mark said, pulling me out of my own world. –“Are you all right?" he said, looking at me with a worried look on his face.

-“Perfectly." I answered seriously. –“What can I do for you?”

-“Alpha Kayden has instructed me not to leave your side until Miguel or your brothers return.”

-“I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself." I replied annoyed.

-“I'm just following orders," Mark said, shrugging his shoulders.

I looked around for Kayden, but he was nowhere to be seen. I sighed with resignation. No matter what I said, Mark was going to do what Kayden had told him to do. So, resigned, I walked towards the hospital, followed by Mark. We met Juan and Miguel in the waiting room. They were both bloodstained and tired looking.

-“How is he?".- I asked, trying to keep the anguish out of my voice.

-“We don't know much," -Juan said, -"They said the wound was deep and the silver had spread quite a bit. They're operating on him right now. They said it would take at least two or three more hours.” I nodded silently. 

I couldn't wait around, because I had to call Marcos and Lucas to let them know what had happened and meet with Kayden and Ian to review the situation. Michael wanted to come with me, but I insisted that he stay with Juan and inform me of any changes. After all, I had Mark for a babysitter. I went out into the hospital garden and called my older brothers.

When I told Lucas and Marcos what had happened, they were furious. They wanted to come immediately to make sure Nico was okay and to investigate the bizarre mass attack by the rogues. After some time arguing with them, I managed to get the idea out of their minds. I'm sure Kayden wouldn't want another Alpha interfering in his pack's affairs at all. After all, even though Nico was injured, the attack had been directed at Blood Moon. 

When we finally got off the phone, I slumped against a tree. With my back against the trunk, I shrunk into myself, clutching my head in my hands. I was exhausted. I also felt a huge guilt in my chest that wouldn't let me breathe. I knew I couldn't breakdown right now, as I was responsible for everything. I had to be calm and collected. I had to solve the situation. But first I needed to calm my tortured mind, because in this state I was not able to make any decision. 

-“Are you OK?" I looked up and found Mark's face. 

-“Yes," I replied wearily. –“I'm just trying to decide what my next move should be.”

-“Maybe a shower wouldn't be bad," he said with a friendly smile, holding out his hand to me. 

I accepted it and we walked together to the packhouse. The house was full of hustle and bustle. People were moving about quickly and hardly noticed us. Mark escorted me to my room. Afterwards, he said goodbye and went to take a shower himself. I promised him I wouldn't leave my room until he returned. 

The shower felt great. I managed to get all the blood out of my body. I saw that the wound on my arm was practically healed. I smiled with satisfaction. I put on a clean uniform and put my hair in a braid. I stopped at the mirror and analyzed myself. My face still looked terrible, but at least it was clean. Just then, I heard Cas in my head, "We got the kid. He's in Kayden's office." "Perfect. You're released until a few hours from now, get some rest." I instructed. 

I walked out of my room. Mark was already waiting for me. I started walking and Mark followed me without asking. When we got to Kayden's office, I knocked on the door, and, without waiting for an answer, walked in. Kayden and Ian were standing there, both tense and with their arms crossed. On one of the sofas sat a boy. He couldn't have been more than 15. He had copper hair and brown eyes. His eyes were puffy from crying. His whole body was tense, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. He was terrified. 

-“Alpha, Beta.” I said dryly by way of greeting. Kayden c****d his head slightly but said nothing. 

-“You're just in time," Ian said, looking at Mark and me. –“David's going to tell us what happened tonight.”

I stared at David. The boy wouldn't look up from the floor, unable to address his Alpha and Beta. He was probably afraid he had done something wrong. I walked over to David and squatted down in front of him. I placed my hand on his knee to convey confidence. David finally raised his head, looking me in the eye. I tried to smile at him, but the smile didn't reach my face.

-“David, we all want to help you. We're going to do everything we can to find your girlfriend alive, but we need you to help us, do you understand?"- David nodded- "Good, I need you to tell me in detail what happened."

- "Melany and I were in the woods. Near the north border there is a small stream where we usually go at night. There are usually no people there, so we can have privacy. We were there quietly when..."-His voice broke and I noticed his eyes glaze over. I squeezed his knee with the hand that was resting on it, inviting him to continue.-"When five rogues appeared. I tried to defend her, I really did, but there were too many of them and they took her away. I ran after them. When I reached the edge, I saw that there were many more rogues, and that the warriors who were on guard were fighting them."- His face began to rage. He stood up and looked at Ian. “The Beta’s female was there. I knew who she was, so I went to her. But she didn't do anything, she didn't do anything!!!. 

David was screaming and pointing at Ian accusingly. From Ian's mouth came a loud growl of warning. David began to tremble with fear and sat back down on the sofa. While all this was going on, I stood up and stepped back. Kayden, Ian and Mark were David's superiors, and David should speak to them with respect, no matter how angry he was. David looked down at the floor again.

-“What can you tell us about Melany,"- I continued, ignoring the tension in the air, -"Do you think there's anything you should tell us about her, is it possible that she knew the Rogues, that she has some kind of relationship with them?

David did not answer but remained absolutely silent. 

-“Answer loud and clear," Kayden said using his Alpha tone. When an Alpha uses that tone, any member of his pack must obey him. 

-“No,"- David said, shaking his head. –“She's a normal girl. She's a hard worker and a good person, she'd never get into any kind of trouble. Especially not with those people.

We continued to ask David questions for another hour, but we didn't get anything useful. When we saw that the interrogation was going nowhere, we let David go. 

-“Something is not right about this attack. It's not normal for rogues to behave like this," I said, looking at Kayden, Ian and Mark. 

Ian and Mark nodded, but Kayden looked at me with a blank stare. 

-“That's what you're supposed to be here for, isn't it?" -he said, staring at me,- "Although there's no point in you still being here anyway. You haven't solved the rogue problem and you haven't made us react better to attacks.”

His words pierced like daggers into my heart. My wounded pride demanded that I answer Kayden's hurtful words with an attack, but I repressed my urge. 

-“I'll have all my werewolves investigate the matter right now," I said, looking at Kayden, trying not to let any emotion show on my face. I knew how to play that game too. –“The moment you deem our services are no longer required, we'll leave without any trouble."

Ian and Mark looked at the floor uncomfortably. Electra cried at the thought od leaving our mate. The tension in the air was palpable. Kayden and I looked at each other defiantly, waiting for one of us to take the next step. When Kayden didn't say anything, I decided to end the conversation. 

-“If that's all, Alpha Kayden, I have to leave for training," I said, and without waiting for an answer I left. 

I went to the hospital to see Nico. He was out of surgery and resting peacefully in his room. The doctors told us that he was not out of danger yet, but that we could hope. My stomach twisted with guilt as I saw my brother lying there, pale and badly injured. I ran my fingers through his blond locks.

-“It's not your fault, you know that, don't you?" Juan said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked away from him, I didn't want to answer that question. 

-“I've rearranged all the patrol and training schedules so that one of us can be with Nico at the hospital at all times," I said without taking my eyes off Nico. –“In addition, I have extended the training schedules and our patrol schedules. I want there to always be at least six of us on the border of the territory.”

Miguel accompanied me to the training camp. I would be in charge of our group and he would be in charge of Nico and Juan's group. The training went slowly. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened this night.

I had to get to the bottom of this whole thing.